Thursday, March 8, 2018

ENG102--Ballet of Death: Red Smoke at Tango 2--TONGO TONGO VIDEO TIMESTAMP



ENG102
Prof M Judd
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018 09M18
JC Langelle





 
Ballet of Death: Red Smoke at Tango 2--
Oct. 04, 2018
The enemy has released a video of the recent firefight in Niger; below is an examination of the sequence of events according to the timestamp, done in Photoshop.
 
[00:00]
Opening sequence, center stage; two standing actors in uniform, another in white, crouched down.
 




[00:11] Actor in white exits stage right
[00:12] Footsteps of principal actor, note direction of shadow.
[00:15] unidentified blue object appears, actor continues to move.
[00:17] A number of actors appear moving downstage, in a hurry.
Note angle of (lighting) shadow.
[00:21] Second sequence begins with new set of actors
 




. One principal exits downstage right., others remain in scene downstage.
[00:29] Original set of actors, one crouched behind vehicle 001, vehicle 002 , white, beyond.
[00:36] Yet another actor at the white technical mounted weapon, wearing soft cover and either glasses or goggles. Doors of technical are open. Camera moves around and principal actor sets weapon on front seat, climbs into driver's seat. To front of technical, actor is crouched.
[00:43] Another actor is framed in the technical front passenger seat window, in full combat gear.
[00:45] Several actors of the troupe visible onstage: one crouched  in front of passenger side windshield, one to his back, another standing in the passenger window, and another in the passenger rear view window. Behind him upstage left another is crouched. Technical begins to move, actors disappear.
[00:55] Technical stops, actor reappears in passenger window. Principal actor steps out of technical as second technical appears stage right, actors crouched behind it. Principal actor crouches down, holding barrel of weapon in right hand.
[01:02] Shadow of principal actor seen on ground as he crouches by driver door, another actor weapon shadow protrudes from rear of technical. Principal moves toward tailgate as another vehicle appears downstage left. Camera sweeps back to second technical where three actors are crouched on passenger side. Principal actor takes up position behind first technical, tailgate # 1539.
[01:06] Principal actor now appears to be behind the second technical, blue SUV type vehicle. It does not seem reasonable to assume that he covered the distance in 00:04 seconds, the video has a redacted segment here. Principal takes up position behind blue SUV, passenger side, and it begins to move.
[0:01:17:16] spent cartridge seen ejected from weapon. Appearance of white smoke at treeline downstage center.
 




[01:23:19] Blue SUV is on the move as second actor appears stage left. Red smoke appears downstage center between two trees. Engagement sporadic.
 





[01:33] More spent cartridges ejected from principal actor's weapon at position rear SUV, passenger side.
[01:47} SUV reaches red smoke, several cannisters have been popped. Second principal actor crouched and moving along, using SUV as cover. Principal actor takes up position on front hood, passenger side. Signals driver to move to passenger side.
 




[01:51] Principal signals driver to turn left away from red smoke, at least two distinct cannisters popped.
[02:04] Another break in the sequence as the principal appears not at the front hood, but at the passenger rear once again. Spent cartridges ejected from weapon. No indication of the status of the red smoke.
[02:10] passenger door open, actor face down on seats, legs protruding from SUV. Principal removes something from the front seat. The SUV is still moving forward as seen by the right rear hubcap in motion, principal actor may have been knocked down by the movement. Camera goes skyward and sun seen overhead, passenger door open, SUV in motion, possibly driverless. SUV now appears to reverse direction as principal regains footing.
The red smoke is gone from the stage.
[02:29] First casualty on ground downstage center. Principal actor inspects casualty.
[02:42] Driver of SUV exits passenger side, joins principal. Casualty inspected, there appears to be no entry wound.  KIA actor dragged by driver to passenger side of SUV, there is no blood trail.




 
[03:21] another break in the sequence. driver crouched by KIA at passenger front of SUV. Driver and principal abandon position begin running.
[03:34] driver in front of principal, running, a vehicle appears stage right behind a tree.
[03:35] sequence again has a gap as running actor appears to right of principal and falling behind.
[03:38] driver appears stage left again, running. camera obscured, driver no longer visible, reappears running a few seconds later.
[03:47] principal raises weapon toward flank of running driver.
[04:03] principal is hit, falls to ground. camera shows blood spatters, glove extended from body, motionless.





[04:16] bursts of gunfire strikes principal.
[04:34] principal appears to be moved. more bursts of gunfire, dust kicks up immediate center.
[04:53] first enemy actor passes by principal, one large step
[04:58] principal appears to be on knees, possibly still alive at this point.
[05:05] second enemy actor enters above principal stage left, three steps to leave camera.
[05:11] third enemy actor enters, four steps, leaves camera.







[05:18] another burst of gunfire directly in front of camera.
[05:23] large puddle of blood forms to left of camera on ground.

For those in ANTHROPOLOGY  281, University of Nevada, Reno,  who do not believe there is a "War on Terror"..





Wednesday, March 7, 2018

DANCE 101--Essay on Balanchine's "Jewels"----THE MARIINSKY BALLET THEATER

DANCE APPRECIATION 101
Prof EA Garza
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018 08M18
JC Langelle


“Jewels”-- Three Part Ballet by George Balanchine
 

 


    Russia, not the birthplace of ballet but certainly a major contributor to its preservation and development. St. Petersburg, the Mariinsky Theater, where the art form has moved from the court of Romanov to the proletariat, although aesthetically and financially, it may still be beyond the reach of the masses.  I will be the first to admit to a complete lack of the basics of ballet, but have been able to review the three part performance in Photoshop so that an accurate timestamp of the movements could be recorded. Below, are those recordings. Hopefully, I have given credit to the various dancers as they appear in the sequences, and apologize for not being able to identify completely and correctly.


“Emeralds”-- Female dancers wear green costumes, the male dancers have light colors with dark vests. The stage is immense, dwarfing the performers, draped in large green curtains on each side with a large green backdrop, obviously alluding to “emeralds.”


[00:00] Open, credits run:
The Mariinsky Theater presents “Jewels” Ballet in three parts
Choreography-George Balanchine
Ballet Director -Makhar Vaziev
Art-General Director-Valery Gergiev
Orchestra Conductor- Tugan Sokhiev
Scenery-Peter Harvey
Costumes- Karinska
Director-Brian Large
Music by Gabriel Faure.
Cast: Zhanna Ayupova, Denis Firsov, Daria Sukhorukova, Dmitry Semionov, Yana Selina, Xenia Ostreikkovskaya and Anton Korsakov
[01:39]  Conductor enters pit






[02:10]  Curtain rises to Denis Firsov & Zhanna Ayupova, flanked by female couples, five in all; two downstage to right and left, the others upstage, all perfectly still.
Various stage maneuvers, up, down, hither and yon, away and together; eventually breaking at 7 1/2 minutes to

[07:38]  Ayupova solo, bows, exits stage right

[10:35]  Sukhorukova solo, enter stage left,

[14:44]   Dmitry Semionov





[16:58]  following a series of ballet moves, Semionov exits stage right leaving single female dancer, she is replaced by the second dancer.
principal male returns with first dancer from stage right and second dancer exits stage left  All dancers soon are onstage to complete the sequence, taking a bow upon exit stage right.

[18:45]  Korsakov enters from upstage left and is joined by Yana Selina (?) from upstage right. Movement, exit stage right.

[22:00] 2nd principal male and female dancers enter stage left, go through routine, exit stage right.


[25:24]  Firsov returns for solo, stage right. He is joined by two male, two female dancers. More females, males exit. Males, females platoon on and off the stage.

[29:34]  end.

                                       **
“Rubies”--

[00:00]
Again, the performers begin from a freeze frame, wearing tight red (ruby) outfits, an extreme from the classical first "emerald" cut. Stage curtains and backdrop in red. Zhanna Ayupova appears to be the lead again.





The movement is far more risque and suggestive compared to the seemingly innocent patterns of "Emeralds." The stage clears except for a happily bouncing duet. While in the first part, the flute played a key role in the composition, the piano is more noticeable here.


[06:18] principal female , flanked by the rest of the troupe, is placed into a number of positions by four male dancers.


[07:21]  male female duet slinking center stage to piano. The two appear to be Xenia Ostreikkovskaya and  Dmitry Semionov.



 
[14:19]  Ayupova is back with the troupe in a rather avant-cosmo off Broadway style.  Piano enhanced by the string section. One segment of five male dancers romping around the stage.

[20:41] The curtain drops to applause and raises as cast bows to audience.

[23:20] Following flowers and a number of bows, the curtain closes.

                                          ***
“Diamonds”--

Cast: Ulyana Lopatkina and Igor Zelensky, supporting dancers.
Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

[00:00] It is back to basic classical costumes as the stage is glittering in white with the troupe introducing the principals. The females are decked out with tiaras loaded with diamonds. Wind and string instruments replace the piano from the last section.

[06:32] Lopatkina appears upstage left, Zelensky enters downstage right; both in white. Impressed by Lopatkina's legs which seem to bend in physiologically impossible angles.

[16:28] Lopatkina's performance is stunning, certainly befitting the title of diamonds it portrays. Flawless, the en pointe impossible, the pirouettes will make you dizzy watching them. Zelensky, on the other hand, served more as the dancer's bar throughout the sequence.





[17:00] the dancers return to the floor. followed by a Zelensky solo, upstaging his own previous performance with Lapotkina. He exits downstage right and the floor fills with male dancers. The orchestral accompaniment leans toward a military type horn salute. The ladies return and join the troupe.

[20:37] Lapotkina enters upstage left for a solo. The two principals dash in and out from each side of the stage, matching pirouette spin for spin.

[23:19] dancers, in pairs, enter, upstage right performing a sort of grand march. For a minute I thought I was watching a Paris ballet, the influence is somewhat evident, with a bit of a waltz tossed in.

[26:06] the dancers disappear and are replaced by the principals.

There are at least three cameras, as many as five,  covering the ballet, the main one is directly in the center.
 



[33:49] presentation of the conductor and the flowers








finis.

    Initially, Bolshevism and ballet did not mix. Balanchine, originally Balanchivadze, (1) became an expatriate and left Russia when it became the Soviet Union. He was hired by Sergei Diaghilev, another expatriate and eventually migrated to the United States. As for ballet behind the Iron Curtain, Joseph Stalin, following a great deal of convincing, allowed it to continue as a cultural heritage program to influence and persuade the lowbrow capitalists of the superiority of the socialist movement. (2)





    A Footnote: I would highly recommend watching this on Photoshop, as the clarity is unsurpassed, there is a time counter and the file in the program does not suffer many of the glitches encountered watching it online at the rather crude, and ever so proletarian, “YouTube” site.

References:

  1. George Balanchine, by Brian Seibert, Rosen Publishing (2006)
  2. Dancing Up a Storm, the 1917 Revolution and Russian Ballet, by Carolyn Pouncy, published in Culture Matters, 19 March 2017
  3. Links for downloading the entire three parts of the ballet can be found at: http://hdvidzpro.pro/video/Mariinsky-Orchestra-and-Ballet

ENG 102-- "The Power Principle", Segment 3: "Apocalypse"--RAW TEXT OUTLINE & TIMESTAMP

ENG 102-1105
Prof M Judd
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018 07/18
JC Langelle




Following text transcription to serve as rudimentary reverse outline within the range indicated by the included timestamps--


[0:36:59-0:37:58]
In 1989. Berlin Wall fell Soviet Union collapsed and anybody who believed the propaganda of the list fifty years was a NATO will be disbanded. And in fact there was a promise to Gorbachev it was George Bush number one the first president who was president on made sure that the promise was never in writing it was a verbal agreement this one will study is a verbal agreement which Gorbachev naively took seriously and not realizing who is dealing with it was a verbal agreement that if the rich off permitted Germany to be reunified and incorporated within NATO which is quite a concession then NATO would guarantee that they wouldn't extend one inch to the east
as the phrase that was used that wouldn't go to East Germany and certainly not beyond
but Bush was careful not to put it in writing so that promise went out the window very quickly and effectively Clinton quickly expanded it to the east and so on but why wasn't NATO disbanded. Well there's no Russia to defend against. But still reason you've got to make sure that Europe doesn't go off in an independent course. And may do prevents that keeps it under U.S. command and if I made it was expanded after the Russian Russians disappeared and I was expected in the east is extended the world and NATO has been turned into a U.S. run global intervention force in the Balkans in Afghanistan and effect beyond the current NATO mission officially is to protect the oil resources energy resources pipelines and sea lanesso as to protect the global energy system protect means make sure we run it.


March 1999 the U.S. and its NATO allies bomb Yugoslavia armed forces joined our NATO allies and air strikes against Serbian forces responsible for the brutality in Kosovo.
March 2011 America's next president and a new coalition of the willing attack Libya


"the U.N. Security Council passed a strong resolution that demands and to the violence against citizens. It authorizes the use of force"


[0:39:26-0:40:19]
to me it was sanctioned by the one Security Council in contrast to the bombings of the Slavia there was no such greenlights in 1999 in the bombings were led by need of the first time the military alliance atop the sovereign nation a non NATO member posing no threat to the group similarly Libya poses no external threat and there are other striking parallels between the conduct of these wars.


the enemy then Slobodan Milosevic dubbed the new Hitler the enemy of today the eccentric one mark and power for over forty years now similarly villainize to by the US

*************************************
The Photoshop analysis of the film with a text box included to add transcription of the narration-dialogue.






Monday, March 5, 2018

ANTHROPOLOGY 281--The Phonetics of Deceit--WAVEFORM & TRANSCRIPTION ANALYSIS

ANTH 281-1001
Dr. J Ferguson
University of Nevada, Reno
Spring 2018 06M18
JC Langelle

     A recent essay assignment in English 102 references the video "The Power Principle, Part 3, "Apocalypse". (2010), released by Metanoia Films and directed by Scott Noble. The essay required analysis of part 3, with a focus on two minutes of the video.

     Background: The film represents an effort to trace the proliferation of atomic weapons from the post-World War Two era, through various events such as the Cuban missile crisis, the fall of the Soviet Union, and at least two other non-relevant conflicts, Kosovo and Libya. Various speakers are either edited into the video or have some direct relation to its development. This essay is not interested in the cast of characters, but will focus on the technique used to purvey the message.

     Narration: the soft-spoken woman's voice with the intense and varied music attempts to lull the viewer-listener into a state of semi-comatose hypnosis. One would think that presentation of the catastrophic events surrounding a nuclear detonation in a major metropolitan center would cause the narrator to be screaming in the ears of the audience. Instead, she continues throughout the video in the monotonous monotone, possibly intended by some speech expert to be the style necessary to convey the message. Here's what the overall pattern of the speech analysis looks like on the SIL Technology Speech Analyzer. (NOTE: The MP4 video was downloaded from Vimeo and  converted to an MP3 file for use on the analyzer.)




The film is about 70 minutes long and jumps from speaker to news clip to what-if scenarios to direct interviews of persons, some well known, others insignificant.

     Another method for analysis which allows for viewing the MP4 along with the sound file utilizes Sony's Acid Music Studio program:






In the above image we can see several functions at once including the location of the sound file at the video in time at the upper left corner along with a numerical frame reference. The image on the bottom has a notepad transcription placed in front of the program so that the text file can be analyzed as the film is running.

     The transcription itself was unavailable at all of the locations where the film was located, both at Vimeo and at YouTube. A third party online source was used to decode, transcribe the text and of the two, neither provided one-hundred percent accuracy. Editing was possible on both and a timestamp on the other. Below is one done at Vocalmatic with a timestamp:




The inaccuracy in the transcription requires following along the video in the Acid MS file and making corrections, this is due to the raw transcription done by a machine. For more money, the transcription can be done by "humans"

     Certainly, if there was an attempt to deceive the viewer, it may be uncovered in technical analysis such as the above, which could act as a lie-detector test for the content. Further investigation into the above process is necessary before any hard conclusions can be drawn.

...


RED FLAG
Checkpoint Charlie: NATO, Article 5 and the Berlin Wall

There was no North American Treaty Organization, NATO, immediately following the close of World War Two. By the close of the decade, due to pressure from the Soviet Union, particularly in Germany, the alliance was formed with 12 initial members. The concept of “collective security” had been around for over 30 years, at least on the Continent, with respect to the World War One League of Nations; neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were members. (09 March 2025)
Red Flag: The U.S.-Japan Security Pact of 1960
The recent statement by the White House concerning a “bilateral” treaty between the United States and Japan from 1960 raised the issue of the former’s lack of a security-military commitment, with the latter doing the heavy lifting. It comes as no surprise in light of other treaties such as NATO in Europe with the U.S. again carrying The Weight.
Part and parcel to how it all unfolded had to do with certain ambiguous positions by the two nations coupled with the American public not totally informed of the agreement. The situation was quite different in Japan. (09 March 2025)

...


BORDERLANDS
Ukraine: The Art of the (Peace) Deal
Nations are big on treaties, enforcing them is another matter. This paper traces some of the more recent, failed and otherwise, then takes a close look at one of the most controversial in history, The Versailles Treaty at the end of World War One. (09 March 2025)

Ukraine and The Rubio Doctrine The purpose of this report is to test the secretary’s three core principles against the Ukraine conflict to see if they are viable and would have been if he became president in the 2015 election. (09 March 2025)

Ukraine Betrayed: American Robber Barons to Steal Rare Minerals
Ukraine possesses significant reserves of rare earth minerals and other critical raw materials that are essential for modern technology and industry. According to reports, Ukraine has deposits of 22 out of 34 minerals identified as critical by the European Union. (09 March 2025)

...


MOONDUNES
Space Station Freedom 1993: The “Fiscal Black Hole"

Space Station Freedom was a NASA-led initiative proposed in the 1980s aimed at creating a permanently crewed space station in low Earth orbit. The project was initially announced by President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address, highlighting its potential as a platform for scientific research and international collaboration in space exploration. (09 March 2025)