Rick Beyer's Blog, page 2

THE GHOST ARMY WANTS YOU!

From now until March 24, The Ghost Army documentary is streaming for free at PBS.org.
If you:

-Don't have Netflix
-Don't have Amazon
-Don't have the DVD
-Don't have any money
-Don't have any friends who have any of the above
-Are dying to see The Ghost Army

This is your best chance!!!

Here's the link: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365012023/

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Published on March 10, 2015 09:37

Whats that inflatable tank doing there?

Two weeks ago, with the temperature hovering around ten degrees, we shot a video book trailer for The Ghost Army of World War II, which is being published by Princeton Architectural Press in April. For the opening sequence, we recreated World War II in the back yard.

Well, not exactly. But we did shoot a sequence involving our inflatable tank and four WWII Living Historians with incredibly accurate period clothing and equipment. Then we cleared out the living room so videographer Dillard Morrison could shoot interviews with co-authors Liz Sayles and myself.

It was a small-scale production for sure, but I am really pleased with the way it came out. Here's the trailer, with behind the scenes photos below:

It was so cold the skin of the tank felt hard, almost crunchy. We inflated it using air we piped in from the house, to keep the fabric flexible while it expanded.

World War II Living Historians Brian, Louis and Tom on the march to the battle of Outlook Drive. We were careful to notify the neighbors so they weren't worried about the appearance of a tank and men with guns in the back yard. They seemed remarkably unfazed.

(Above) Videographer Dillard Morrison getting the shot. We scouted the location carefully earlier in the week, as well as other potential locations, and together we planned it out shot by shot. (Below) Makeup artist Joe Rossi, who carefully detailed faces and hands for the look of men who have been living in the field for weeks or months.

The result couldn't have been better!

The tank held up really well, considering the temperature. Once the sun got high enough to warm it a bit, the skin softened up, and we could safely deflate it. The camouflage net is a genuine WWII artifact.

For this shot, we used an actual WWII German grenade case like the one that Ghost Army artist Ned Harris kept his art supplies in. We dressed the case using a photo of Ned's original. One of the two crates below is also a genuine WWII artifact, as are the Stars and Stripes and GI Sketchbook in the grenade case.

Our living room as an insert stage! Liz and her daughter came up from New York to be part of the spectacle.

A great day and a fun book trailer. A few days later I received my first advance copy of the book, and now I can't wait until it comes out and other folks get to see it. I think you will be pleased!

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Published on January 22, 2015 09:24

For The Record

<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Recent references to the forty-fifth anniversary of the moon landing bring to mind one of my favorite journalistic correction stories. On July 17, 1969, the day after Apollo 11 took off for the moon, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> ran a correction of an article that had appeared in the paper forty-nine years earlier.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qwvrztT17Dg..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qwvrztT17Dg..." height="400" title="" width="325" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goddard and one of his early rockets.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">The original article, which appeared in 1920, mocked rocket pioneer Robert Goddard for suggesting that it would be possible to launch a rocket to the moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article asserted that a rocket could not operate in a vacuum, and belittled Goddard’s understanding of basic science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div>“That Professor Goddard, with his “chair” in Clark College, and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to reaction , and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react—to say that would be absurd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.”<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Goddard survived this assault on his scientific acumen, going on to launch the world’s first liquid powered rocket in 1926.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His work helped pave the way for the space program of the 1960’s. With three men actually rocketing their the way to the moon, the <i>Times</i> decided it was time to rectify their sarcastic assault on Goddard from a half century before.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">“It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum,” stated the correction, with admirable understatement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">“The <i>Times</i> regrets the error.”</div>

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Published on July 21, 2014 08:26

An Incident in Normandy

Lt. Fred Fox was an officer in The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, also known as the Ghost Army. This deception unit used inflatable tanks, sound effects and fake radio transmissions to fool the Germans on the battlefields of Europe. Here's an excerpt from an article about Fox I wrote for The Princeton Alumni Weekly.

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D-Day found Fred Fox aboard the troopship John S. Mosby under bombardment from German shore batteries, waiting to go ashore with a 24-man radio platoon. Their job was to pretend they were three regiments from the 9thInfantry Division in order dissuade the Germans from counterattacking paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne who had landed inland. The plan fell apart in the confusion of the invasion, and they ended up being attached to the 82nd for several weeks. It wasn’t until the end of June that the rest of the deception unit came ashore, and they were all united.
While working with the 82nd Airborne in the early Normandy, Fox was profoundly disturbed by some of the things he saw. “The company was too rough for me” he wrote home. “I did get some more strong anti-war material –especially from boys who had just killed Germans or were just going out to kill some more." @font-face { font-family: "ＭＳ明朝"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }span.MsoEndnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }p.MsoEndnoteText, li.MsoEndnoteText, div.MsoEndnoteText { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }span.EndnoteTextChar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; } On June 10, 1944, he was reading in his jeep, waiting for the troops to move out when he smelled a pot of coffee being brewed by some paratroopers. He headed over to see if he could get some. Then he noticed two American soldiers working over a smoldering staff car with the bodies of two German officers inside. The paratroopers were using their commando knives to gouge gold fillings out of the corpses teeth.
That was the moment he decided to become a minister. Years later he wrote about the meaning it held for him. “There is hope for the world if Churchmen would leave their storybooks and climb out of their jeeps. Fires have to be put out and men—even enemies—treated as human beings.”
After the war, Fox became an ordained minister. He also wrote freelance articles for The New York Times, an aide to President Eisenhower, and Recording Secretary at Princeton University. He died in 1981.

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Published on June 06, 2014 06:46

Remembering The Ghost Army, Memorial Day Address, Lexington MA, May 26, 2014

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_IvXySYM2KE..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_IvXySYM2KE..." height="192" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was honored to be the main speaker at Lexington's commemoration of Memorial Day this morning on the Lexington Green. They asked me talk about <a href="http://www.ghostarmy.org/">The Ghost Army</a>, and here's what I said:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What a great honor to speak under this flag, on this spot, where men first gave their lives in the revolution that would breathe life into these United States. I want to salute everyone involved in today’s ceremonies, especially parade marshal Jack Ryan, and all of the other veterans who have joined us today.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seventy years ago today hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were readying themselves for the Normandy Invasion. On June 6, 1944, along beaches code-named Omaha and Utah, these GIs would begin the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Among the multitudes gathered for the invasion were the men of the 23<sup>rd</sup> Headquarters Special Troops, the remarkable unit that became known as The Ghost Army. This traveling road show of deception went into action shortly after D-Day, using inflatable tanks, sound effects, illusion and impersonation to deceive Hitler’s legions on the battlefields of Europe. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They did not employ the steel of the bayonet, or the power of artillery, but instead wielded imagination, bravado, and creativity. They staged 21 different battlefield deceptions to keep the Germans guessing about the real strength and location of American forces. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Extraordinary as it is, their story is just one of many from the global cataclysm we call World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why is it worth remembering today?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was first of all a marvelous example of leadership and daring. All too often, when the stakes are high, the tendency is to go conservative. But here we see the U.S. Army reaching for something out of the ordinary. Nobody knew if it would really work. Blowing up inflatable tanks on the battlefield? Using sound effects records to conjure up phony troop movements? What a crazy idea! Yet high-ranking generals had the vision and guts to take the risk. They dared to innovate. And it worked.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Ghost Army also demonstrates the power of America’s most remarkable resource: our diversity. It begins with the mismatched pair of officers who dreamed up this madcap idea: a flamboyant left-wing journalist named Ralph Ingersoll who was drafted under protest, and a buttoned down West Pointer named Billy Harris from a family with a long military tradition. It took the divergent talents of this <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>odd couple to bring the Ghost Army into existence. They also coordinated its deception missions throughout the war. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And who carried out these missions? High society artists from New York City working alongside truck-drivers from Tennessee. Radio writers from Hollywood and bartenders from Louisiana. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As on soldier told me: “It was a big war. It was a big war and everybody went.” For many it was the first time they had ever been exposed to people so different than themselves. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Future fashion designer Bill Blass, one of many artists who served in this unit, recalled that you could hear Beethoven’s Fifth at one end of the barracks, and “Pistol Packin’ Mama” at the other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These men of staggeringly different backgrounds worked together to pull off their battlefield illusions. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Today, when our nation is divided in so many ways, we do well to remember the power of embracing those who look or think or speak differently than us in pursuit of the common good. </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No man who served in this unit considered himself a hero. Each would tell you that the real heroes were the infantryman and tankers who bore the brunt of the fighting. But it has always struck me that their deception mission demanded a special kind of courage. To operate on or near the front with no heavy weapons…to project strength when you have none…</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">t</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">o purposely draw </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">enemy fire, in order to keep it from falling on others? A dangerous business, not for the faint of heart. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And yes, they did take casualties. Men died to carry out these missions. It is fitting and proper to remember them by name. Captain Thomas Wells, Sergeant George Peddle, and Corporal Chester Peliccioni made the ultimate sacrifice, and on this Memorial Day we honor their memory</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Many more, of course, have died in the years since. Today the Ghost Army is increasingly an army of ghosts. Most of the men have left us. The youngest surviving veterans are nearly ninety. In another decade or so I fear they will all be gone, along with almost every one of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It will be up to the rest of us to make sure they are not forgotten. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Five hundred years ago, the brilliant and cunning political philosopher Machiavelli wrote these words: “Though fraud in all other actions be odious, yet in matters of war it is laudable and glorious.” The men of the Ghost Army were not textbook soldiers or heroes, yet they served with ingenuity, courage and honor. By fooling the enemy, they sought to lessen the number of men destined to die, young, trembling, in a muddy field so very far from home. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Veteran Stanley Nance summed it up this way: “If one mother, or one new bride, was spared the agony of putting a gold star in their front window. That’s what the 23rd Headquarters was all about.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Which truly does strike me as something laudable and glorious, worth recalling on this Memorial Day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thank you very much. </span></div>

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Published on May 26, 2014 11:14

Farewell to Spike Berry

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I am sad to report that Ghost Army veteran Spike Berry passed away in Las Vegas on Monday. He was 88 years old, and had been ill with Parkinson’s Disease for many years.
Spike hailed from North Dakota, and served in the Signal Company Special, the radio deception arm of The Ghost Army. He also had a side job – showing films to the men in the unit in off hours. Since the codename of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops was BLARNEY, this was known as the "BLARNEY Theatre." Here’s a quote from the official history of the unit:
“The irrepressible Sgt Berry helped save the nights with his BLARNEY Theatre. This wasn’t the first or last location in which he set up his 16 mm “gun,” as he called it. He estimates that he shot 2,741,523 feet of film…during his tour of the ETO. (…)Berry maintained his Blarney Theatre in eight different CP’s across Europe and toward the end of the war he also had a “mobile unit” which played anywhere.Irrepressible is a great word for Spike! Jacqueline Sheridan and I interviewed him back in 2006, and he was a joy to speak to, a great storyteller! Here's a clip from that interview.

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Published on March 05, 2014 07:26

Musical Merry Go Round

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof:yes;} h1 {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char"; mso-style-next:Normal; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; page-break-after:avoid; mso-outline-level:1; font-size:18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-font-kerning:0pt; font-weight:normal; mso-no-proof:yes;} h2 {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char"; mso-style-next:Normal; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; page-break-after:avoid; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; font-weight:normal; font-style:italic; mso-bidi-font-style:normal; mso-no-proof:yes;} p.MsoEndnoteText, li.MsoEndnoteText, div.MsoEndnoteText {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-link:"Endnote Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Times; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof:yes;} span.Heading1Char {mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char"; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 1"; mso-ansi-font-size:18.0pt; mso-no-proof:yes;} span.Heading2Char {mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char"; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Heading 2"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; font-style:italic; mso-bidi-font-style:normal; mso-no-proof:yes;} span.EndnoteTextChar {mso-style-name:"Endnote Text Char"; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:"Endnote Text"; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-no-proof:yes;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-ascii-font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:Times; mso-hansi-font-family:Times;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style><span style="font-size: small;">It is a striking fact that in the last 100 years, the Russians have had more national anthems than even the most patriotic citizen could reasonably be expected to keep track.</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Up until 1917, the anthem was “God Save the Tsar.” Tsar Nicholas’s overthrow that year necessitated a new choice. The provisional government went with a Russian variation of the French patriotic song, “La Marsellaise.” When the Bolsheviks took power the following year and created the Soviet Union, it was out with the old anthem and in with “The International,” another French song identified with world communism.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">During World War II, the Soviet Union was locked in mortal combat with Nazi Germany. Soviet leader Josef Stalin decided this was the perfect time to hold a national contest for a new locally-produced anthem, which was adopted in 1944. The lyrics were full of praise for Stalin. That proved a problem after his death, when the horrors of his regime began to leak out. The Soviet government solved the problem by banning the lyrics for its own anthem. It became known as “The song with no words.” It wasn’t until 20 years later that new lyrics were adopted.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">The fall of the Soviet Union required yet another new anthem for Russia. This instrumental piece called the “Patrioticheskaya Pesnya” lasted less than a decade. Once again the Russians had an anthem with no lyrics, and a tune that most people didn’t even know.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">In 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided that the country should go back to the old Soviet anthem, but with new lyrics. Putin was moved to re-adopt the old anthem after watching Russian athletes gold-medal winners at the Sydney Olympics unable to sing along with their wordless and largely unfamiliar national anthem.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Poet Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov may be the only man in history who got to write lyrics to his country’s national anthem three times…over the course of 60 years. In 1944, Stalin picked him to co-write lyrics to the new anthem by Alexander Alexandrov. In the 70’s he was called on to write new lyrics that dropped any mention of Stalin. And in 2000, at the age of 87, he picked up his pen once again to write yet another set of lyrics dropping all references to Lenin and the Soviet Union and singing the praises of Mother Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin presented him with a special award in 2008. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span> <br /><i>From <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/d... Greatest Music Stories Never Told </a></i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span>

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Published on February 24, 2014 04:49

CINE GOLDEN EAGLE

<br /><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I'm thrilled and honored that THE GHOST ARMY has been honored with a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For over 50 years, the CINE Golden Eagle Award has signified excellence within the film and television industry. Winners are chosen through a rigorous two-tiered judging process. Previous honorees include such notable filmmakers as Stephen Spielberg, Ron Howard, Ken Burns, Werner Herzog, and Albert Maysles.Which is pretty decent company to be in!</span><br /><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This award is shared by the 700 plus donors who made the film possible, and the many talented professionals who brought it to life. It is also a great tribute to the veterans whose stories we told.</span><br /><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Huzzah!</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ghostarmy.org/">&l... style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Ghost Army</span></a><br /><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.cine.org/">CINE&lt... /><br /><br /><br />

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Published on December 20, 2013 03:00

Future Shock

Forty-five years ago today, Doug Engelbart unveiled his revolutionary new invention: “The X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System.” Or, as he and his team liked to refer to their new wooden device: the mouse. “I don’t know why we call it a mouse,” he said that day. “It started that way and we never changed it.”
For years Engelbart had been thinking about how to made computers adapt to people, instead of the other way around. He and his team at the Stanford Research Institute had been working on ideas to do just. On December 9, 1968, they presented them in a demonstration at a San Francisco computing conference that was astonishingly ahead of its time
In a day before email or internet, when entire companies might have just one computer (or none), Engelbart asked his audience to consider the farfetched notion of a computer on their desk responsive to their every need. Then he grabbed his prototype mouse and took them on a tour of the future. He showed them such radical things as cutting and pasting, folders, hypertext, making a graph, using different windows on the screen, even working jointly with a remote user—all of which seemed about as fantastic as a Flash Gordon death ray. People in the audience actually started climbing on stage to see him use the mouse to move around what he called a “tracking spot” on the screen.
That demonstration, recorded on video available on Youtube, is referred to as “the mother of all demos.” It not only introduced the now-ubiquitous mouse—it offered a 20/20 vision of a revolution to come.
And that is just one of the stories in The Greatest Science Stories Never Told.

Englebart’s mouse was a block of wood with two wheels, one for up and down motion, the other for back and forth. It had three buttons on it. It worked in conjunction with a mounted to the left of his keyboard that featured five special function keys.

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Published on December 09, 2013 14:31

A Ghostly Inspiration for Artist Chris Dacre

<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kzBnIJ1Ydhw..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kzBnIJ1Ydhw..." height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy Chris Dacre </td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">I recently came across a description of an upcoming installation at Ohio University<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by artist Chris Dacre that said his work “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">draws from military surplus and the recent documentary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ghost Army </i>as he attempts to create a platform to discuss the broader issues of world conflict and surveillance.”</span></span> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chris describes his own mixed media art installations this way: “Like a political cartoon, I use humor and a critical eye to tackle the complexities of a subject that has been around since humans have been in existence and will probably stay with us as we propel into the unknown and unstable future. “ I thought it was exciting that this film, about creativity and artistry in war, had itself inspired a contemporary artist trying to come to grips with war in his own way. I reached out to Chris to find out more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s what he told me: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“When </span><span style="font-size: small;">I<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> first saw that a documentary was being made about the those secret units during WW2 I was excited to watch it. What got me interested in The Ghost Army-type stuff was the units that experimented in creating the inflatables, deceiving the 'enemy' with simple tactics- which led to me discovering Dazzle Ships and the units that were tasked with experimenting in creating camouflage- and then discovering that artist like Ellsworth Kelly were involved in that undertaking- all of which make its way into my installations.”</span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YG40ZZVMHSs..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YG40ZZVMHSs..." height="520" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The SS Osterly Courtesy of <a href="http://camoupedia.blogspot.com/"... class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Chris sent along some images of his work-in-progress (in studio shots) that will be installed at the OU exhibit in a few weeks. They include the tank at the top, and the two photos below. </span>“The reason that I included the name of your film in the description of my upcoming show is because you have managed to gather together what I have only been able to piece together, in a clear and concise way. In a roundabout way, I am also referencing your film title in a more literal sense by painting the surplus uniforms white, thus leveling the 'playing field', negating rank, sides and allowing the possible question of "what are we really doing here?" to be asked. Also, the white uniforms can reference the ghost aspect. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T7P0_rbNDBM..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T7P0_rbNDBM..." height="640" width="457" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy Chris Dacre</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">“The Ghost Army has definitely been inspirational in the way that I construct my work. Similar to how the directions for inflatables were, most of my work can be broken down and reassembled at the next installation space. At Ohio University, I will be working with graduate students creating an updated version of Target Kites using silhouettes of drones, which will then be installed in the gallery along with the life-sized soldiers I made over the summer, which use some deceptively thin weaponry." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7R09CYfvlg..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7R09CYfvlg..." height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy Chris Dacre</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">You can find out more about Chris, his work, and his upcoming installations <a href="http://www.chrisdacre.com/">at his website.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ghostarmy.org/">&l... style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Learn more about The Ghost Army here. </span></a></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

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Published on August 13, 2013 08:21