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Do Not Criticize the Muslims

Here is a brutal way to die: getting shot eight times and then have your throat slit by a knife that almost decapitates the head and stabbed in the chest. Yes, not a pretty way to go, especially if it is only because of a movie.

There are not many people that actually die for a cause, especially in making a film, but Theo van Gogh was murdered for making a movie that criticized the Muslim religion.

The movie was based on something that he did not even write himself, Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote Submission. The ten-minute movie that van Gogh made was about violence against women in some Islamic societies and told stories of four abused Muslim women.

Submission is what Islam means in English. The aftermath was all on 60 Minutes in 2007. The Dutch were sad of learning of van Gogh’s death and had a big ceremony. He was a very controversial, but also did a lot of work as a director, producer, columnist, author, and actor. The Dutch really liked his work and he received two Dutch Oscars (the equivalent anyway) for the movies he directed.

Although van Gogh was murdered, Ayaan Hirsi Ali remains alive, but in protection.

The Dangers of Hatching Eggs in Volcanos: Galapagos Land Iguanas

Land iguanas are an interesting species and not too much is known about the creature. The National Geographic tried to capture these lizards and their birthing patterns no matter how dangerous the task was.

They followed the female land iguana after the male and female mated and went seven miles to the rim of the Galapagos Volcano where the found 30 females getting ready to lay their eggs.

This was no ordinary task. They had to travel down the volcano, which took them three hours and they knew that it could erupt at any minute. Walking down was a challenge in itself, as they walked on dried magma that was very thin, almost glass like, and could break at any minute. They could not have a vehicle to drive down the volcano’s layer so they had to take all of the heavy equipment themselves. The dangers of the volcano erupting was not the only fear they faced as the volcano also had many avalanches.

There were positives and negatives about filming the experience. The positive thing was that land iguanas simply were not afraid of humans, so they could get great close-up shots. The negatives came from being inside the volcano. Even with shoes, the volcano’s hot ash was burning their feet. They had troubles getting the shot because hot ash would get on the lens and the fog would get in the way.

The National Graphic group found that they laid the eggs inside of the volcano because the steam rises up and warms the eggs. They lay anywhere from two to 25 eggs. Being cold-blooded, they absorb heat from the sun by lying around on the volcanic rock and at night sleep in the burrows to conserve their body heat.

These lizards, which have a yellowish-orange belly and are brownish-red above, have a 50 to 60-year lifespan and start mating around the age of eight to fifteen years old; depending on which island they are from.

The Galapagos iguanas certainly are of interest, especially risking their lives trying to lay their eggs even if though the volcano could erupt and kill the eggs anyways. National Geographic used their talents to film the lizards and now we have much more information on the Galapagos land iguanas.

Ace Junkyard Cars

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Steven Spielberg: Jaws from Near Failure to Classic Film

Some people have to find their calling in life, while other people are just meant for greatness. For Film Director Steven Spielberg, it was clear at an early age that he was going to blow minds around the world and he has done exactly that.

Spielberg made short films since he was 12 years old as a Boy Scout. When he moved to Hollywood he made television films and shows until his debut in The Sugarland Express, which was a dud in the box office, but received praise from reviewers.

From there he went on to make the classic Jaws, and as with any movie it ran into a few roadblocks along the way. At one point, Spielberg feared the movie would be career ending for him because of an array of problems like mechanical problems with the shark. The movie was almost shut down because of delays and budget over-runs. But, Spielberg’s genius came out and he figured ways to finish the movie. He made the mechanical problems of the shark his advantage and turned it into the fear of the unknown. Most of the movie the shark can only be seen with the fin coming out of the water with an eerie sound.

The movie was immensely successful and turned into a box office smash. It was the highest grossing film at the time. He received instant fame and became one of America’s youngest multi-millionaires. Spielberg didn’t care about his lifestyle, it was the work he loved and he was happy to be a millionaire mainly to have higher budget films and work with more.

He since has been an icon and one of the most important people in the movie industry, making films like Jurassic Park, E.T., Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and many others. He has won many Academy Awards throughout his time as a director.

Jaws almost became a failure because of budget restrictions. With any other director it could have been shut down, but Spielberg was born to be a director. His genius created a phenomenal movie with a small budget and thus is why he has since become a legend in the industry.

National Geographic Photographers: Best job in the world? Or the toughest one?

The traveling, seeing places not known to many eyes, and taking award winning pictures are all in a days work of being a National Geographic photographer. So, it begs the question: is it the best job in the world or the one of the toughest?

Sure, traveling millions of miles around the world yearly sounds like a great time, but the photographers risk their lives almost every day in getting close-up shots of dangerous animals or people that could easily attack them.

The job can be disgusting. One day they could have insects covering them as they shoot pictures. The next day they could be walking through swampy waters and not knowing what is under their bare feet, or have worms tunnel themselves into their skin and climb around.

These photographers are trained to take pictures that can tell a great story without any words behind it. Sometimes that has to be a very intimate shot and that territory is normally as close-up as possible. One National Geographic photographer said, "Without intimacy you cannot get the pictures that people from the magazine are used to seeing."

The job is great for those who can handle it. But, it brings a lot of lonely times because they are normally alone when they work and it can be tiring traveling so many miles a year.

There is a discrepancy about their work: it is both one of the most rewarding and interesting jobs that anyone could have, but on the other hand, there are many reasons why it would be the toughest.

More ways to make their work tough is finding different angles to shoot from both bird's eye view and ant's eye view, close-ups, and dynamic shots of action and movement (most of their subjects are moving around). As aforementioned the job is very dangerous, but they worry more about trying to get authorization to do a shoot than they do in actually taking the pictures.

The job is simply not for everyone, but it is one of the more interesting opportunities out there. Danger is always lurking, but that does not phase the photographers at National Geographic because that is what they bleed for and that is why the magazine consistently has some of the greatest pictures ever taken.

Look at some pictures on the their website here: National Geographic

Looking for the Wild Bactrian Camel

Image from wildcamels.com

According to Animalinfo.org, wild Bactrian camels are a critically endangered species. A video crew from Planet Earth on BBC went out and tried to get a better grasp on the group before it becomes extinct, but their travels were incredibly difficult.

They found a man who had a great understanding of the Bactrian camel to help them on their journey. He helped the animal by killing a few wolves that had attacked and killed several of them. The group had to stock up on food, gas, and any other items they thought were necessary. They were gone for weeks and the food was not quality and consisted mostly out of a can. There were no gas pumps along the way since they were out in the middle of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

The man leading them on their journey would find small clues such as footsteps to know what direction the camel was heading in. There was one footprint that had a tiny rock in it that was covered with sand. The man knew that the camels had just come across there because otherwise the sand would have already blown off of the stone.

As the days went by, the crew’s headsman increasingly became more and more frustrated. His frustration came because every time they would get within shooting distance of the camel they would run away. The camel had good reason to be frightened and nervous of people after several of their kind has been poached.

The desert had different climates and even though the team had off-road vehicles, sometimes it would take five or six people to get the car out of the snowy sand. They knew anyway, that if they were going to get some good shots of the camels they would have to do it on foot, so they walked. They would walk hundreds of miles just to get some close-ups of the animal. After a little over a month they finally were able to get close-ups of the animals and they were great shots.

The Bactrian camel is a very interesting animal. The camel has thick and long darkish brown/tan hair tint. The animal has adapted to the desert where there are very few sources of water and the vegetation is meager. Sometimes snow is the only source of water that they have. The mammal can drink up to 200 liters of water at a time, but eating too much snow can be fatal so they limit themselves to about 10 liters a day. The camel does not sweat or urinate often so that helps them not be thirsty. In the Gobi Desert they disperse widely in search of water.

The weather in the desert gets so hot after winter that the snow does not melt, it turns straight into vapor. Camels have the harshest of weather; in the summer it can reach a blistering 140-160 degrees and in the winter it can get down to -22 degrees. (Animalinfo.org)

Bactrian camels have interesting ways of mating as the mail animal will crouch and let its tail slap up and down about every second. This lets the females know that they are ready to mate.

The crew did not feel that their attempt was successful at first until they were finally able to reach the animal to get some shots of one of the more fascinating species that planet Earth has to offer. Poaching has put them on the brink of extinction, but hopefully people can now help the animal grow into a larger number. Living in the United States, people do not have a good grasp of the camel and hopefully with technology, crews can get to understand the Bactrian camel even better and share that knowledge with Americans.