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Ed Wood (film)

Ed Wood is a 1994 American biographical comedy-drama film directed and produced by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, the eponymous cult filmmaker. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, and Bill Murray are among the supporting cast.

The film was conceived by writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski when they were students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Irritated at being thought of solely as writers for family films with their work on Problem Child (1990) and its 1991 sequel, Alexander and Karaszewski struck a deal with Burton and Denise Di Novi to produce Ed Wood. Initially, Michael Lehmann was chosen to direct the project, but due to scheduling conflicts with his work on the film Airheads (1994), he had to vacate the director's position which was taken over by Tim Burton.

Ed Wood was originally in development at Columbia Pictures, but the studio put the film in "turnaround" over Burton's decision to shoot in black-and-white. Ed Wood was taken to Walt Disney Studios, which produced the film through its Touchstone Pictures label. The film proved financially unsuccessful, returning only $13.8 million against an $18 million budget, but was met with critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise for Depp and Landau's performances and the makeup. It eventually became a cult classic and won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Landau and Best Makeup for Rick Baker (who designed Landau's prosthetic makeup), Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng. The film is now considered to be a cult classic and one of Burton's best works.

Plot
In 1952, Ed Wood is struggling to enter the film industry. Upon hearing of an announcement in Variety magazine that producer George Weiss is trying to purchase Christine Jorgensen's life story, Ed meets with Weiss to direct a now fictionalized film titled I Changed My Sex! but is not hired. Ed then meets his longtime idol, horror film actor Bela Lugosi, with whom he becomes friends. Ed persuades Weiss to let him direct the film by convincing him that having a star in the film would sell tickets, and they could sign Lugosi for a low price. During production for Glen or Glenda, Ed and Weiss argue over the film's title and subject matter, but Weiss eventually plays by Ed's rules, on the condition that the film's footage meets seven reels. Filming gets going, with the story now about a transvestite. Ed takes to film production with an unusual approach; shooting only one take per scene, giving actors very little direction, and using stock footage to fill in gaps. The movie is released to critical and commercial failure, preventing Ed from getting work at Weiss' Screen Classics or making a partnership with Warner Bros. executive Feldman (who at first believes the film to be a practical joke played on him by William Wellman). On the advice of his girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, Ed decides to finance his next film independently. Ed is unsuccessful in finding money for Bride of the Atom but is introduced to a psychic called The Amazing Criswell who advises on how to sell himself better. During this time, Ed has discovered that Lugosi has developed a morphine addiction.

Ed meets Loretta King, whom he mistakes for a wealthy heiress; he asks her to fund the film and ends up casting her as the lead instead of Fuller, with Fuller being assigned a smaller role. Filming begins but is halted when it is revealed that Loretta is actually poor, so Ed convinces meat packing industry tycoon Don McCoy to continue funding the film, who agrees as long as his son is cast as the lead and the film ends with an explosion. When filming wraps up, with the title being changed to Bride of the Monster, Fuller breaks up with Ed after the wrap party because of Ed's cross-dressing, his circle of misfit friends and the poor quality of Ed's movies. Lugosi attempts to conduct a double suicide with Ed after the government cuts off his unemployment benefit but is talked out of it. Lugosi checks himself into rehab to cure his drug addiction, and Ed meets Kathy O'Hara, who is visiting her father there. He takes her on a date and reveals his transvestism to her, which she accepts. After Lugosi is checked out of rehab, he and Ed shoot a film with Lugosi outside his home. Ed and company (along with TV horror icon Vampira) attend the premiere of Bride of the Monster, where an angry mob chases them out of the theater.

Afterwards, Lugosi passes away, leaving Ed without a star. After learning that his landlord's church is struggling to produce a series of religious films about the twelve apostles, Ed convinces him to allow his church to fund his script for a sci-fi film, Grave Robbers from Outer Space, which could result in a box-office success and generate enough money for Reynolds' dream project. Ed hires Vampira and Kathy's chiropractor Dr. Tom Mason to star in the film (the latter being a stand-in for Lugosi) and also has conflicts with the Baptists over the title, script content and Ed's B movie directing style, eventually renaming the film Plan 9 from Outer Space. Ed soon leaves the set out of frustration to go to the nearest bar, where he has an encounter with filmmaker Orson Welles, who rekindles Ed's inspiration by advising him to assert his vision and resist artistic changes imposed onto him by sponsors. Filming finishes with Ed taking action against his producers' wishes. After attending the premiere, Ed and Kathy go to Las Vegas to get married.

Cast

 * Johnny Depp as Ed Wood: Burton approached Depp and "within 10 minutes of hearing about the project, I was committed," the actor remembers. At the time, Depp was depressed about films and filmmaking. By accepting this part, it gave him a "chance to stretch out and have some fun" and working with Martin Landau "rejuvenated my love for acting". Depp was already familiar with some of Wood's films through John Waters, who had shown him Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda. To get a handle on how to portray Wood, Depp studied the performance of Jack Haley as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, and the acting of Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan and Casey Kasem. He watched several Reagan speeches because the actor felt that "he had a kind of blind optimism that was perfect for Ed Wood." Depp also borrowed some of Kasem's cadence and "that utterly confident, breezy salesman quality in his voice".
 * Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi: An old popular horror film actor whom Ed helps. Rick Baker created Landau's prosthetic makeup. Baker did not use extensive make-up appliances, only enough to resemble Lugosi and allow Landau to use his face to act and express emotion, which consisted of a set of ears, nose, chin, and an appliance that covered his upper lip. For research, Landau watched 25 of Lugosi's films and seven interviews between 1931 and 1956. Landau did not want to deliver an over-the-top performance: "Lugosi was theatrical, but I never wanted the audience to feel I was an actor chewing the scenery... I felt it had to be Lugosi's theatricality, not mine."
 * Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller: Ed's girlfriend before his relationship with Kathy. Dolores is embarrassed by Ed's transvestism, which leads to their breakup. Dolores later becomes a successful songwriter for Elvis Presley.
 * Patricia Arquette as Kathy O'Hara: Ed's girlfriend after his relationship with Dolores. Kathy does not have a problem with Ed's transvestism, and eventually marries Ed. Their marriage lasts until Ed's death in 1978. She never remarried. Arquette met her real-life counterpart during filming. The actress found her to be "very graceful and very nice".
 * Jeffrey Jones as The Amazing Criswell: A local psychic TV entertainer. Criswell helps Ed with usual production duties, finding investors and acting in Ed's films.
 * G. D. Spradlin as Reverend Lemon: a Baptist minister who funds Plan 9 from Outer Space.
 * Vincent D'Onofrio as Orson Welles: Appears in a cameo late in the film. Maurice LaMarche provided Welles' voice in an uncredited performance.
 * Lisa Marie as Maila Nurmi / Vampira: Hostess of the local Vampira Show. She is dismissive of Ed at first but decides to join the cast of Plan 9 from Outer Space, on the condition that she has no lines.
 * Bill Murray as John "Bunny" Breckinridge: Ed's drag queen friend who helps him with Plan 9 from Outer Space.
 * Mike Starr as George Weiss: Short-tempered and foul-mouthed Z movie producer, known for his work on exploitation films. Weiss hires Ed to direct Glen or Glenda. He threatens to kill Ed over the phone following Glen or Glenda's critical and commercial failure.
 * Max Casella and Brent Hinkley as Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks: Two of Ed's all-around production assistants and frequent actors. Paul is hired to find the Lugosi stand-in for Plan 9 from Outer Space, while Conrad accidentally has a brief dispute with Lugosi during Glen or Glenda.
 * Juliet Landau as Loretta King: King replaces Dolores in Bride of the Monster after Wood mistakes her for an heiress able to front the money for the production costs.
 * George "The Animal" Steele as Tor Johnson: A Swedish professional wrestler hired by Wood to be in two of his films, Bride of the Monster and Plan 9.
 * Ned Bellamy as Tom Mason: Kathy's chiropractor who is chosen to be Lugosi's stand-in for Plan 9.
 * Stanley DeSantis as Mr. Feldman: an executive at Warner Bros., to whom Ed shows the first cut of Glen or Glenda in an attempt to make movies for Warner Bros.; he later tells Ed over the phone that it is the worst picture he has ever seen.
 * Rance Howard as Old Man McCoy: a meat packing tycoon, who agrees to fund Ed's next picture, Bride of The Monster, in exchange for his son Tony being the leading man and the film ending with an explosion.
 * Korla Pandit, credited as "Indian Musician", essentially appears as himself; like he originally did on his 1950s TV program, Pandit plays organ and does not speak in this cameo.

The film also includes cameos from actors who worked with Wood on Plan 9 from Outer Space, Gregory Walcott and Conrad Brooks.

Production
Writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski conceived the idea for a biopic of Ed Wood when they were students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Alexander even proposed making a documentary about Wood, The Man in the Angora Sweater, in his sophomore year at USC. However, Karaszewski figured, "there would be no one on the planet Earth who would make this movie or want to make this movie, because these aren't the sort of movies that are made." Irritated at being thought of solely as writers for family films for their work on Problem Child and Problem Child 2, Alexander and Karaszewski wrote a 10-page film treatment for Ed Wood and pitched the idea to Heathers director Michael Lehmann, with whom they attended USC film school. The basis for their treatment came from Rudolph Grey's Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr., a full-length biography, which draws on interviews from Wood's family and colleagues. Lehmann presented their treatment to his producer on Heathers, Denise Di Novi. Di Novi had previously worked with Tim Burton on Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a deal was struck with Lehmann as director and Burton and Di Novi producing.

Burton began reading Nightmare of Ecstasy and some of Wood's letters. He was taken by how he "wrote about his films as if he was making Citizen Kane, you know, whereas other people perceived them as, like, the worst movies ever". Burton admits to having always been a fan of Ed Wood, which is why the biopic is filmed with an aggrandizing bias born of his admiration for Wood's work, rather than the derisive attitude of Wood's detractors. The relationship between Wood and Lugosi in the script echoes closely Burton's relationship with his own idol and two-time colleague, Vincent Price. He said in an interview, "Meeting Vincent had an incredible impact on me, the same impact Ed must have felt meeting and working with his idol." Meanwhile, Burton had been asked to direct Mary Reilly for Columbia Pictures with Winona Ryder in the title role.

However, Burton dropped out of Mary Reilly over Columbia's decision to fast-track the film and their interest with Julia Roberts in the title role instead of Ryder. This prompted Burton to become interested in directing Ed Wood himself, on the understanding that it could be done quickly. Lehmann said, "Tim wanted to do this movie immediately and direct, but I was already committed to Airheads." Lehmann was given executive producer credit. Alexander and Karaszewski delivered a 147-page screenplay in six weeks. Burton read the first draft and immediately agreed to direct the film as it stood, without any changes or rewrites. Ed Wood gave Burton the opportunity to make a film that was more character-driven as opposed to style-driven. He said in an interview, "On a picture like this I find you don't need to storyboard. You're working mainly with actors, and there's no effects going on, so it's best to be more spontaneous."

Initially, Ed Wood was in development with Columbia, but when Burton decided he wanted to shoot the film in black-and-white, studio head Mark Canton would not agree to it unless Columbia was given a first-look deal. Burton said black-and-white was "right for the material and the movie, and this was a movie that had to be in black-and-white". He insisted on total creative control, and so in April 1993, a month before the original start date, Canton put Ed Wood into turnaround. The decision sparked interest from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and 20th Century Fox in optioning the film rights, but Burton accepted an offer from Walt Disney Studios, who had previously produced The Nightmare Before Christmas. Similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney released Ed Wood under their Touchstone Pictures banner. With a budget of $18 million, Disney did not feel the film was that much of a risk, and granted Burton total creative autonomy. Burton also refused a salary, and was not paid for his work on Ed Wood. Principal photography began in August 1993, and lasted 72 days. Despite his previous six-film relationship with Danny Elfman, Burton chose Howard Shore to write the film score. Under the pressure of finishing the score for Batman Returns, Burton's relationship with Elfman became strained and Burton admitted he and Elfman experienced "creative differences" during The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The film was shot at various locations in and around the Los Angeles area.

Historical accuracy
When describing the film's accuracy, Burton explained, "It's not like a completely hardcore realistic biopic. In doing a biopic you can't help but get inside the person's spirit a little bit, so for me, some of the film is trying to be through Ed a little bit. So it's got an overly optimistic quality to it." Burton acknowledged that he probably portrayed Wood and his crew in an exaggeratedly sympathetic way, stating he did not want to ridicule people who had already been ridiculed for a good deal of their life. Burton decided not to depict the darker side of Wood's life because his letters never alluded to this aspect and remained upbeat. To this end, Burton wanted to make the film through Wood's eyes. He said in an interview, "I've never seen anything like them, the kind of bad poetry and redundancy– saying in, like, five sentences what it would take most normal people one ... Yet still there is a sincerity to them that is very unusual, and I always found that somewhat touching; it gives them a surreal, weirdly heartfelt feeling."

According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, the film's portrayal of Lugosi is inaccurate: in real life, he never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. Additionally, contrary to what was presented in the film, Bela was not thrown by a comic's ad-libbing in a skit on a TV show involving Wood, but on another show years earlier before the two ever met.

Burton biographer Ken Hanke criticized the depiction of Dolores Fuller. "The real Fuller is a lively, savvy, humorous woman," Hanke said, "while Parker's performance presents her as a kind of sitcom moron for the first part of the film and a rather judgmental and wholly unpleasant character in her later scenes." During her years with Wood, Fuller had regular TV jobs on Queen for a Day and The Dinah Shore Show, which are not mentioned. Fuller criticized Parker's portrayal and Burton's direction, but still gave Ed Wood a positive review. "Despite the dramatic liberties, I think Tim Burton is fabulous. I wished they could have made it a deeper love story because we really loved each other. We strove to find investors together, I worked so hard to support Ed and I".

Release
Ed Wood had its premiere at the 32nd New York Film Festival at the Lincoln Center. The film was then shown shortly after at the 21st Telluride Film Festival and later at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it was in competition for the Palme d'Or.

Home media
The DVD edition of Ed Wood initially had difficulty reaching store shelves in the United States and Canada due to unspecified legal issues. The initial release had a featurette on transvestites — not relating to the film or its actors in any way — which was removed from subsequent releases. An initial street date of August 13, 2002, was announced only to be postponed. A new date of February 3, 2003 was set, only for it to be recalled again without explanation, although some copies quickly found their way to collectors' venues such as eBay. The DVD was finally released on October 19, 2004.

Box office
Ed Wood had its limited release on September 30, 1994. It went into wide release on October 7, 1994 (just three days before what would have been Wood's 70th birthday) in 623 theaters. The film grossed $1,903,768 in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $5,887,457 in the United States and Canada and $13.8 million worldwide, less than the production budget of $18 million.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Ed Wood holds an approval rating of 92% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fête the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave a largely positive review: "What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of the 1950s exploitation films, in which a great title, a has-been star, and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made." Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "Two Thumbs Up" on Siskel and Ebert, with Siskel calling it "a tribute to creative passion and also to friendship" and "one of the year's very best".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Burton's decision to not make a direct satire or parody of Wood's life. "Ed Wood is Burton's most personal and provocative movie to date," he wrote. "Outrageously disjointed and just as outrageously entertaining, the picture stands as a successful outsider's tribute to a failed kindred spirit."

Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, thought Johnny Depp "proved" himself as an established "certified great actor". "Depp captures all the can-do optimism that kept Ed Wood going, thanks to an extremely funny ability to look at the silver lining of any cloud." Todd McCarthy from Variety called Ed Wood "a fanciful, sweet-tempered biopic about the man often described as the worst film director of all time. Always engaging to watch and often dazzling in its imagination and technique, [the] picture is also a bit distended, and lacking in weight at its center. The result is beguiling rather than thrilling."

Richard Corliss, writing in Time magazine, gave a negative review. "The script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski posits Wood as a classic American optimist, a Capraesque hero with little to be optimistic about since he was also a classic American loser. That's a fine start, but the film then marches in staid chronological order." Corliss continued, "One wonders why this Burton film is so dishwatery, why it lacks the cartoon zest and outsider ache of Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands or Batman Returns." Burton calls Ed Wood one of his best films he made.

Year-end lists

 * 1st – Dan Craft, The Pantagraph
 * 3rd – Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
 * 4th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
 * 4th – Joan Vadeboncoeur, Syracuse Herald American
 * 5th – National Board of Review
 * 5th – Scott Schuldt, The Oklahoman
 * 5th – Michael Mills, The Palm Beach Post
 * 6th – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News
 * 6th – David Elliott, The San Diego Union-Tribune
 * 7th – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
 * 7th – Robert Denerstein, Rocky Mountain News
 * 7th – Christopher Sheid, The Munster Times
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Clark, USA Today
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 * Top 10 Runner-ups – Bob Ross, The Tampa Tribune
 * Best "sleepers" (not ranked) – Dennis King, Tulsa World
 * Top 10 runner-ups (not ranked) – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
 * Honorable mention – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel
 * Honorable mention – George Meyer, The Ledger
 * Honorable mention – Bob Carlton, The Birmingham News

Awards
Ed Wood was nominated for three Golden Globes: Best Musical or Comedy, Johnny Depp for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Martin Landau for Best Supporting Actor. Landau won in his category, while Depp lost to Hugh Grant (for Four Weddings and a Funeral). Landau and Rick Baker won Academy Awards for their work on the film. Landau also won Best Supporting Actor at the first Screen Actors Guild Awards. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were nominated for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen by the Writers Guild of America, which was a surprise as few predicted that it would be considered.

title: Ed Wood (film)


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Pseudobranch

The pseudobranch, also pseudobranchia, is the reduced first gill arch of a fish (on the inner surface of the opercle, near the junction of the preopercle) as well as a reduced "false" gill in some gastropods.

In teleost fish, the pseudobranchs are mostly without respiratory function, and in elasmobranchs they are the gill arch of the spiracle. The function of the pseudobranch is unknown, but it is believed that it supplies highly oxygenated blood to the optic choroid and retina and may have baroreceptor (pressure) and thermoregulation functions. It may also be a site of oxygen chemoreception.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Pseudobranch


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Microkeratome

A microkeratome is a precision surgical instrument with an oscillating blade designed for creating the corneal flap in LASIK or ALK surgery. The normal human cornea varies from around 500 to 600 μm in thickness; and in the LASIK procedure, the microkeratome creates an 83 to 200 μm thick flap. The microkeratome uses an oscillating blade system, which has a blade that oscillates horizontally as the blade travels vertically for a precise cut. This piece of equipment is used all around the world to cut the cornea flap. The microkeratome is also used in Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK), where it is used to slice a thin layer from the back of the donor cornea, which is then transplanted into the posterior cornea of the recipient. It was invented by Jose Barraquer and Cesar Carlos Carriazo in the 1950s in Colombia.

As of 2023, there are two options for cutting into the cornea, the microkeratome and the femtosecond laser. The femtosecond laser emits ultrashort pulses that act as a blade to cut through the eye with precision and accuracy. Many surgeons differ in using a femtosecond laser or a microkeratome for their operations. Most surgeons and patients prefer the bladeless femtosecond laser.

History
The microkeratome was created in 1948 by Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner in Bogota, Colombia. Barraquer was known as the father of refractive surgery due to his lifetime involvement and findings in the field. He developed the microkeratome for his keratomileusis(surgical reshaping of the cornea) procedure to correct the refractive error in the eye, which has evolved into the LASIK surgery of the 21st century. Refractive error is caused by an imperfect cornea that disallows light from correctly refracting and focusing on the retina, which results in blurry images. Correcting refractive error was Barraquer's expertise and as time went on he continued to alter his method to correct refractive error. In 1958, Barraquer performed a lamellar resection in situ(corneal tissue replacement), where he used a prototype microkeratome that moved along a ring without a guide. By 1962, Barraquer created a more accurate microkeratome with a suction ring that would act as a guide. The suction ring suctioned the eye in place to create pressure for a precise cut. Barraquer's surgery required the creation of a free flap, which meant the cornea was completely cut through. In 1991, Ioannis Pallikaris introduced the concept of a corneal hinge, which kept the cornea flap attached and helped with the healing process. During the same year, the motorized microkeratome was released. The motorized microkeratome contained a system of gears that ensured a constant blade velocity for a consistent flap thickness.

As the microkeratome gained exposure, surgical instrument corporations such as Moria Surgical, Chiron(bought by Bausch and Lomb Surgical), and Advanced Medical Optics began to create their microkeratomes. Moria Surgical still produces microkeratomes, but Chiron and Advanced Medical Optics have discontinued microkeratomes due to the femtosecond laser’s popularity. The Moria Surgical microkeratome was special because they created the first single-use microkeratome in 1999, which led to fewer complications regarding the blade. Chiron created the hansatome microkeratome, which became known as the industry standard for its safety and consistency. The hansatome also created an upper hinge, which lowered the risk of flap displacement from blinking. Advanced Medical Optics created the amadeus microkeratome, which used a single-hand design that lowered the learning curve for new surgeons.

As of 2023, the microkeratome is barely being used due to the increased use of the femtosecond laser. A few surgeons use the microkeratome due to lower cost and comfort with a microkeratome[8]. However, most surgeons and patients tend to prefer the bladeless femtosecond laser, due to its precision and safety.

Suction ring
During the keratectomy(surgical removal of a layer of the cornea) the suction ring fixates and stiffens the eye. Depending on the required flap diameter and the form of the cornea, different suction rings are employed. The upper part of the suction ring(plate) allocates the cornea with variable diameters. A flexible silicone tubing connects the central section to the ring's suction chamber. On the vertical outer part of the suction ring, there is a skirt that allows hermetic sealing for proper suction. All these parts are used together to create the suction ring. Using the correct suction ring minimizes the risk of complications.

Microkeratome cutting head
The microkeratome cutting head consists of a non-vibrating block and an oscillating blade unit. The non-vibrating block is composed of a tracking system, applanation plate, and cavities. The tracking system matches to the suction ring to connect the head to the ring using corresponding grooves. The applanation plate is the part of the block that precedes the oscillating blade and flattens the cornea, to create a constant angle for the blade for a constant flap thickness. The cavities of the block are used to hold the oscillating blade unit in place. The oscillating blade unit has a blade made of stainless steel or chrome-platinum. The standard oscillation speed of the blade is 15,000 rpm with an engagement angle between 24° and 30° depending on the required flap thickness. The direction of the cut determines the type of corneal flaps created on the cornea.

Drive unit
The drive unit is attached to the microkeratome head to ensure that the drive axis fits the blade and oscillates correctly. The drive unit uses either a single or dual electric motor for automated translation. For manual head translation, a gas turbine is used for blade oscillation.

Central unit
The central unit delivers the energy needed to power the drive unit and creates pressure between the eyeball and the suction ring. One pedal is used to start and stop the pressure for the suction ring. The second pedal controls the blade oscillation of the microkeratome.

Mechanism of operation
During refractive eye surgery, the microkeratome section is done manually or automatically by the surgeon in around 5 seconds. The automated propulsion of the head offers a steady velocity to produce a constant flap thickness, while when done manually, the velocity is inconsistent, which will create an irregular flap thickness.

First, the microkeratome is fixated onto the eye by placing a suction ring onto the cornea with the pupil in the center to stabilize the eye. The suction ring comes in either disposable plastic or metal and applies pressure from about 60 to 160 mm Hg, to stabilize the eye for a clean cut. After, the surgeon places topical anesthetic to moisten the cornea for the cut. Then, the head of the microkeratome is docked onto the suction ring so that it can glide across. The oscillating blade of the microkeratome then proceeds across the eye at a steady velocity, so that the thickness of the flap created is precise. For a more precise flap thickness, the surgeon must pay attention to the blade's sharpness, protrusion, angle, oscillation speed, and velocity. In general, the slower the velocity, the thicker the cut in the cornea. The microkeratome then reverses out of the cut, which allows the suction to be released from the eye to decrease the risk of epithelial defects. After the cut is created, the eye surgery can proceed as required. The blade of the microkeratome can be reused, but most surgeons use a new blade for each eye since slight dullness can cause complications.

Advantages
The microkeratome is a tool that has remained reliable throughout its history. The microkeratome comes with many benefits including speed, comfort, and price. The microkeratome operation only takes around 5 seconds. Since the operation is short, the suction duration is short, which allows the patient to be more comfortable. Also, after the procedure, the microkeratome causes less inflammation when compared to the femtosecond laser. Additionally, surgery using a microkeratome costs much less than femtosecond laser surgery. In the US, cost for LASIK surgery with a microkeratome is around $1,500 per eye, while laser surgery costs around $2,500 per eye.

Complications
Both the microkeratome and femtosecond laser have low complication rates, with the microkeratome at approximately 0.6% and the femtosecond laser at 0.3%. Rare complications arise including the buttonhole flap, irregular flap, thin flap, incomplete flap, small flap, or free cap. These are all different imperfect flaps that force the abandonment of the surgery. To avoid these flap complications there are a set of rules regarding different eye types, such as a flat cornea, steep cornea, small cornea, and large cornea.

The most common complication with a microkeratome is an epithelial defect, the loss of focal areas of the epithelium. The defect can cause pain, tearing, blurry vision, redness, and photophobia. This is caused by the microkeratome's shearing force effect on the epithelium from the basement membrane.

title: Microkeratome


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Daniel Mayer

Daniel Raphaël Mayer (29 April 1909 – 29 December 1996) was a French politician and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and president of the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH, Human Rights League) from 1958 to 1975. He founded the Comité d'Action Socialiste in 1941 and was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistant Socialist group. Mayer also supported the Libération-sud resistance movement headed by Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie.

title: Daniel Mayer


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Willy Burmester

Carl Adolph Wilhelm “Willy” Burmester (16 March 1869 – 16 January 1933) was a German violinist.

Life and career
Willy Burmester was born in Hamburg and was a pupil of Joseph Joachim, with whom he studied for many years in Berlin. In 1885, however, he seceded from the Joachim school, and commenced to develop his technique with a view to achieving virtuosity rather than a classic purity of style.

Burmester's rendering of the classics was said to be somewhat cold and devoid of feeling. Nonetheless, he was a well-developed artist: his taste was broad enough to include all schools of composition in his repertoire. His was at his best as an interpreter of the works of Paganini. On the continent his reputation was very high. He failed, however, to make a great impression on his first visit to England and America, though his audiences were compelled to admire his marvelous technical feats, especially his left hand pizzicato, and rapid runs in thirds and tenths. His less than impeccable intonation, however, somewhat limited his success; he also suffered from having worn the end of his first finger down to the nerve.

In his later years, Burmester had remedied these defects, and those who heard him play at his later concerts were much impressed with his sterling musical qualities.

Jean Sibelius originally dedicated his Violin Concerto to Burmester, who promised to play the concerto in Berlin. For financial reasons, Sibelius decided to premiere it in Helsinki in 1904, and since Burmester was unavailable to travel to Finland, Sibelius engaged Viktor Nováček, a violin teacher at the Helsinki Conservatory. The premiere performance was a disaster. Sibelius revised the work and the new version premiered in 1905. Willy Burmester was again asked to be the soloist, but he was again unavailable, so the performance went ahead without him, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's leader Karel Halíř stepping into the soloist's shoes. Burmester was so offended that he refused ever to play the concerto, and Sibelius re-dedicated it to the Hungarian "wunderkind" Ferenc von Vecsey.

title: Willy Burmester


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Galactic Empire (Asimov)

The Galactic Empire is an interstellar empire featured in Isaac Asimov's Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation series. The Empire is spread across the Milky Way galaxy and consists of almost 25 million planets settled exclusively by humans. For over 12 millennia the seat of imperial authority was located on the ecumenopolis of Trantor, whose population exceeded 40 billion, until it was sacked in the year 12,328. The official symbol of the empire is the Spaceship-and-Sun. Cleon II was the last Emperor to hold significant authority. The fall of the empire, modelled on the fall of the Roman Empire, is the subject of many of Asimov's novels.

Background
Asimov created the fictional Galactic Empire in the early 1940s based upon the Roman Empire, as a proposal to John W. Campbell, after reading Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire when he was working at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with Robert Heinlein. The concept evolved through short stories and novellas in Astounding Science Fiction magazine during the 1940s, culminating in the publication of the Foundation stories as a trilogy of books in the early 1950s.

As of 827 G.E. (Galactic Era, the number of years after its founding), the Galactic Empire comprises millions of inhabited worlds with 500 quadrillion residents. According to the Foundation series chronology established in the late 1990s, it comes into existence approximately 10,000 CE, year one of the Galactic Era. (The establishment of the Empire was originally 34,500 CE, according to Asimov's unofficial unpublished early 1950s chronology.) The Galactic Empire was made possible by the ability of humans to travel through hyperspace. The space navy of the Galactic Empire is called the "Imperial Navy". The empire's capital, named Trantor, is the closest habitable planet to the center of the galaxy, and the novels in the Foundation trilogy describe its fall, over a period of centuries, and a period of anarchy and decay, a parallel to the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Dark Ages.

Asimov posits that two foundations are instituted to restore the empire to its former glory. Through the use of psychohistory, a future science hypothesized by Asimov, a scientist on Trantor named Hari Seldon in about 12,000 Galactic Era predicts the fall of the empire, and institutes the two foundations.

The Periphery
The Periphery is a fictional location in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and refers to the outer rims of the Galactic Empire, including planets such as Anacreon and Santanni. Imperial control is weakest in the periphery, as planet governors there frequently possess their own fleets. Santanni revolts during Forward the Foundation. About 50 years after the First Foundation is established on Terminus, the emperor will grant the periphery autonomy. This effectively removes them completely from Imperial control, making the dissolution of the Empire far more apparent than it had been before.

In the years preceding the fall of Trantor, the periphery became any area outside the Empire. As this area became larger the Empire became less and less great.

As the Empire decreased in size and power, the stagnation that would ultimately cause the collapse of the Empire increased.

Emperors
A complete list of Galactic emperors and their dynasties does not exist; however, a number of names and their rule are known:

Consensus cosmogony
Asimov's Galactic Empire was the first example after Olaf Stapledon's 1937 science fiction novel Star Maker of one of the eight stages of a "consensus cosmogony". This is also called the Science Fiction Cosmology, identified by Donald A. Wollheim in the 1950s. Science fiction writers needed only hint at this cosmogony in their stories for experienced SF readers to slot into their perception of future history and envisage the background to the tale, without the writers needing to expend time and space explicitly explaining it. These stages are:
 * 1) The initial exploration, colonization, and exploitation of the solar system, including plots modeled on the American War of Independence where the human colonies on Mars, Venus, or other planets declare independence from Earth
 * 2) The first flights to the stars, with plots similar to those of the preceding stage
 * 3) The rise of a galactic empire, and possible contact, either friendly or hostile, with empires of alien species (in Asimov's Galactic Empire, only one intelligent nonhuman race is found; it leaves the galaxy in "Blind Alley")
 * 4) The Galactic Empire at its height, with exploration occurring at its Rim
 * 5) The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire, as explored by Asimov and later other authors
 * 6) The Galactic Dark Ages, an interregnum with worlds reverting to barbarism, as also partially explored by Asimov
 * 7) The Galactic Renaissance, where a new democratic Galactic Civilization arises, including the restoration of civilization to and communication with worlds that were isolated during the Fall—this stage was called by Stapledon the Galactic Community of Worlds, was called by Asimov the Foundation Federation, and is most commonly called by most authors the Galactic Federation
 * 8) The Challenge to God, an effort to solve the last secrets of the universe by transcending matter and morphing into beings of pure energy, the end of time, and the investigation of the beginnings of new universes—Stapledon covers this in the last part of Star Maker and Asimov covers it in his short story ”The Last Question”.

Trantor
Trantor is a planet depicted as the capital of the first Galactic Empire. Trantor was first mentioned in Asimov's short story "Black Friar of the Flame", later collected in The Early Asimov, Volume 1. It was described as a human-settled planet in the part of the galaxy not ruled by an intelligent reptilian race (later defeated). Later, Trantor gained prominence when the 1940s Foundation series first appeared in print (in the form of short stories). Asimov described Trantor as being in the center of the galaxy. In later stories he acknowledged the growth in astronomical knowledge by retconning its position to be as close to the Galactic Center as was compatible with human habitability. (In reality at the galactic center is a very massive black hole and radio source known as Sagittarius A and humans could not possibly live there.) The first time Trantor was acknowledged in novel form was in Pebble in the Sky.

Trantor represents several different aspects of civilization: it is both the center of power in the galaxy and its administrative headquarters. It is also an illustration of what could eventually happen to any urbanized planet. Asimov used the Roman Empire as the creative basis for the Foundation series, so Trantor is in some sense based on Rome at the height of the Roman Empire.

Geography and history
The earlier history of Trantor is recapitulated in The Currents of Space, mentioning the five worlds of the Trantorian Republic growing into the Trantorian Confederation and then Trantorian Empire (evidently modeled on the Roman Republic, originally ruling only part of central Italy, developing into the vast Roman Empire).

At the time when Currents takes place, Trantor controls about half of the worlds in the Galaxy, while the other half is divided into innumerable independent worlds and miniature empires – which naturally makes a Trantorian Ambassador a person of great consequence on any of the still-independent worlds. Later on, conquest of the entire galaxy made the Galactic Empire, with Trantor as its capital planet, a reality; the planet no longer sending out ambassadors, but only royal governors to subject worlds. This situation had already existed for hundreds of years at the time of Pebble in the Sky, the next chronological book on this timeline.

Its surface of 194,000,000 km$2$ (75,000,000 sq mi, approx. 40% of Earth's surface area), implying a radius of around 4000 km (somewhere in between the Earth and Mars), was, with the exception of the Imperial Palace, entirely enclosed in artificial domes. It consisted of an enormous metropolis (an ecumenopolis) that stretched deep underground, and was home to a population of 45,000,000,000 (45 billion) human inhabitants at its height (although Second Foundation mentions a figure ten times that of administrators alone), a population density of 232 /km2, similar to the current population density of Germany or Connecticut. Its population was devoted almost entirely to either administration of the Empire or to maintenance of the planet itself, including energy provided by "heatsinks" (geothermal core taps) and production of food via underground farming and yeasts, as described in Prelude to Foundation.

The Encyclopedia Galactica states further on Trantor: "As the centre of the Imperial Government for unbroken hundreds of generations and located, as it was, toward the central regions of the Galaxy among the most densely populated and industrially advanced worlds of the system, it could scarcely help being the densest and richest clot of humanity the Race had ever seen."

A Trantorian day lasted 1.08 Galactic Standard Days.

One of the prominent features of Trantor was the Library of Trantor (variously referred to as the Imperial Library, the University of Trantor Library, and the Galactic Library), in which librarians index the entirety of human knowledge by walking up to a different computer terminal every day and resuming where the previous librarian left off.

Near Trantor were twenty agricultural worlds which supplied food which the world-city could not grow for itself, and the "Summer Planets", where the Emperor went for vacation. Around 260 FE, a rebel leader named Gilmer attempted a coup, in the process sacking Trantor and forcing the Imperial family to flee to the nearby world of Delicass, renamed Neotrantor. After the sack, the population dwindled rapidly from 40 billion to less than 100 million. Most of the buildings on Trantor were destroyed during the sack, and over the course of the next two centuries the metal on Trantor was gradually sold off, as farmers uncovered more and more soil to use in their farms. Eventually the farmers grew to become the sole recognised inhabitants of the planet, and the era of Trantor as the central world of the galaxy came to a close. It began to develop a dialect very different from Galactic Standard Speech, and the people unofficially renamed their planet "Hame", or "home".

As revealed to the reader at the end of Second Foundation, not all these farmers were what they seemed, with the now-rustic Trantor serving as the centre of the Second Foundation. From Trantor, the Second Foundationers secretly guided the development of the Galaxy (roughly parallel to the city of Rome becoming, after the fall of its empire, the headquarters of the Papacy, with its enormous influence on the development of Medieval Europe). Indeed, their self-perception as leaders of the future Second Empire is captured in the Second Foundationers' use of the word "Hamish" to describe the farmers despite reserving for themselves use of the word "Trantorian". It is noted that it was the Second Foundation which ensured that the famed library would survive the sacking of Trantor and the destruction of its urban culture – especially significant, considering that the library was vital to the Second Foundation itself.

In the Asimov canon, where events of this time are depicted mainly from a Foundation perspective, the Fall of Trantor is mentioned only as a piece of faraway news and in various later short references. However, Harry Turtledove attempted to fill in the details in his "Trantor Falls", focusing on the efforts by the Second Foundation to survive during the sacking of Trantor (published in the 1989 Foundation's Friends, where various writers took up the Foundation universe).

Food production
According to the original Foundation Trilogy (1951), Asimov states (by way of the Encyclopedia Galactica), "the impossibility of proper administration ... under the uninspired leadership of the later Emperors was a considerable factor in the Fall." To support the needs and whims of the population, food from twenty agricultural worlds brought by ships in the tens of thousands, fleets greater than any navy ever constructed by the Empire. "Its dependence upon the outer worlds for food and, indeed, for all necessities of life, made Trantor increasingly vulnerable to conquest by siege. In the last millennium of the Empire, the monotonously numerous revolts made Emperor after Emperor conscious of this, and Imperial policy became little more than the protection of Trantor's delicate jugular vein" (Encyclopedia Galactica).

In Prelude to Foundation (1989), Asimov indicates that this was not always so: originally, most of Trantor's basic food needs were fulfilled by Trantor's "vast microorganism farms". Yeast vats and algae farms produced basic nutrients, which were then processed with artificial flavors into palatable food. The subterranean farms, however, depended entirely on care provided by tik-toks (lesser robots), and their destruction following an abortive uprising (chronicled in Foundation's Fear) left the Imperial capital largely dependent upon food brought from other worlds. Foundation's Edge mentions algae growing on Trantor, which is called a totally inadequate source of food, so it is possible some of the later Emperors attempted to rectify the situation with limited success. Trantor is, of course, again able to produce its own food after the sack by Gilmer, with the increasing amount of usable land as the metal on the surface was removed and sold.

Races on Trantor
Although by 22,500 years in the future, there had been much racial intermarriage and most people were multiracial, according to Asimov, in the Galactic Empire as a whole as well as on Trantor itself, there were still some recognizable populations primarily descended from the original races on Earth. What we call Whites were called Westerners, what we call East Asians were called Easterners, and what we call Blacks were called Southerners. No one could remember why these names were used because no one remembered human origins on Earth. Seldon himself openly wondered why there were no "Northerners".

Administrative sectors
Trantor was divided in over 800 administrative sectors, averaging 50,000,000 people each, in 240,000 km2, about the size of Uganda or the U.S. state of Kansas. The known sectors are:

 * Dahl—One of the poorer sections of Trantor. The main job of the lower class is heatsinking, where workers supervise the conversion of heat from the planet's core directly into electric power by sinking extremely long rods into the inner core of the planet (the three other major sources of electric power were hydroelectric dams on the underground rivers, fusion energy, and solar energy from Trantor's sun, both from rooftop solar arrays and from solar energy satellites orbiting Trantor that beamed microwave energy to the surface); 'heatsinkers' were generally looked down upon by other Dahlites, though they were better paid than anyone in Dahl due to their difficult working conditions. Naturally, most Dahlites hated the Empire and its soldiers (colloquially labelled 'sunbadgers'). Dahlites were black-haired, and fairly short; males wore large, thick mustaches, considered a sign of virility, and all carried knives (considered to be primitive weapons). Rather than using 'Mr.', 'Mrs.', or 'Dr.', as forms of address, Dahlites always used 'Master' and 'Mistress' (never 'Doctor'). Known Dahlites: Yugo Amaryl, Mother Rittah, Raych Seldon, Jirad and Casilia Tisalver.
 * Billibotton—A slum in Dahl, on the lower level. This was where Mother Rittah lived, and where Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili met their future adoptive son, Raych Seldon. Billibotton was (in)famous for its complete lawlessness. Without the help of Dors, Seldon never would have left it alive.
 * Ery—The sector in which Wanda Seldon and Stettin Palver met Bor Alurin.
 * Imperial—The sector in which the Imperial Palace and the Galactic Library lie. When Seldon first visited Trantor to deliver his speech at the Decennial Convention, fashion in the sector called for bold, bright colors and wearing hats without chinstraps.
 * Mandanov
 * Millimaru—The sector Raych claimed to be (and maybe was) born in when he infiltrated the Joranumite movement.
 * Mycogen— As Asimov explains in Prelude to Foundation, their name is formed from the Greek stems myco- (meaning 'yeast' or other types of fungi) and -gen (meaning 'maker' or 'producer'), which matches the description of Mycogen as specialized in breeding and exporting yeast, or "microfood", to other portions of Trantor. It kept the best for itself; the food eaten by Seldon in Mycogen was the best he had ever had on Trantor. Mycogenians were descendants of the ancient Spacer world Aurora (also mentioned in The Naked Sun) and lamented the loss of their ancient homeworld and culture, including robots. They lived by a strict religion they considered to be 'history'. The scripture of the Mycogenians mentions Aurora, robots, and other topics, and during the events of Prelude to Foundation Hari Seldon found a long-inactive robot, which was revered by the Mycogenians. The 'high priest' was the leader of the council of elders, the government of Mycogen. During an adolescent rite of passage, all Mycogenians were completely depilated, so they could differentiate between themselves and non-Mycogenians. Because hair is considered so repulsive, most Mycogenians are repelled by its appearance and rare foreign visitors must wear skincaps at all times. The sight and feel of hair was considered similar to pornography by Mycogenians. By tradition they usually wear a cloak called a 'kirtle'; men always wear a white kirtle, women a gray one. Mycogenian names are organised by 'cohort', and individuals are numbered as part of a series. Known Mycogenians: Mycelium 72, Raindrop 43, Raindrop 45, Sunmaster 14, Skystrip 2.
 * Nevrask— One of the last sectors to hold out against Gilmer during the Great Sack
 * North Damiano— A sector with a prominent University, involved in co-operative Nephelometry with Streeling University. North Damiano University operates Jet-downs equipped with sensory electronics.
 * Streeling—At the time Hari Seldon first arrived on Trantor, fashions in Streeling were not quite so boldly colorful as in the Imperial Sector. It was the site of Streeling University, a prestigious university noted for being almost completely out of the hands of the Empire. It later gained fame for housing Hari Seldon and his "Seldon Psychohistory Project".
 * Wye—The hereditary Mayoralty of the sector of Wye are the descendants of the ancient Dacian Dynasty of Emperors. Located by the South Pole, Wye exercised a good deal of political power, because it was the site where excess heat across the planet was released. If it shut down those systems, the heat would build up and destroy Trantor. During the time of Seldon's flight, Wye was preparing an army for a coup. This action was stopped by Eto Demerzel, and the military of Wye disbanded. Known Wyans: Mayor Mannix IV, Mayor Rashelle I.
 * Ziggoreth— A sector with a prominent University. Ziggoreth University is involved in co-operative Nephelometric research with Streeling University, and operates Jet-downs equipped with sensory electronics.

Retroactive continuity

 * In the original Foundation Trilogy, there is no indication of Trantor being divided among wildly diverse cultures; likewise, the surface is described as covered with towers rather than domes. Its depiction in Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation may be considered another example of retconning.
 * Although some have been confused by the apparent conflict between Trantorian self-sufficiency in terms of food supply in Prelude and the subsequent characterization in Encyclopedia Galactica of the planet as dependent upon twenty agricultural worlds for food, there is no conflict. Prelude depicts an earlier period of Imperial history, and as subsequently explained in Foundation's Fear, the food situation on Trantor changed precisely because its subterranean farms were shut down in the wake of the abortive tik-tok rebellion. That book directly establishes that it was this decision that made Trantor dependent on the produce of twenty agricultural worlds—ironically, the same worlds over which Neotrantor would hold its last, feeble sway.

Other authors and Asimov's universe
Bondanella (listed in Further reading) analyzes Asimov's Galactic Empire as an example of the influence of the myth and history of the Roman Empire upon modern fiction. Asimov himself wrote two non-fiction books on the subject of the Roman Empire, aimed at the mass market and young readerships, The Roman Republic in 1966 and The Roman Empire in 1967, reflecting the positive view of the Roman Empire that then prevailed in the US, as it was considered the prototype of the rising American Empire.

After the cinematic release of the first Star Wars trilogy, another parallel to the Roman Empire that presents the negative view of the empire that became widely prevalent in late 20th and early 21st century popular culture as a result of the negative view of the American Empire resulting from the Vietnam War, Asimov revisited his Galactic Empire and wrote further novels in the Foundation series.

Other writers to have been influenced by the Roman Empire include, of course, those who have written novels set in Asimov's universe of the Galactic Empire, such as David Brin's Foundation's Triumph, and Robert Silverberg, who wrote of an alternative universe in which the Roman Empire never fell, and who edited Far Horizons (listed in Further reading) which contains several examples of Asimov's influence upon science fiction. Brian Herbert's and Kevin J. Anderson's Dune: House Atreides (1999) is, similarly, a Greek parallel to ancient Rome.

Other works to have been influenced by Asimov's Empire include Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis, whose galactic empire, and the scholar-empire that succeeds it, are clearly based upon Asimov's Galactic Empire and the Foundations, even though Kingsbury was not granted permission to set his work directly in Asimov's universe. Seed calls this work "perhaps the most remarkable homage that any SF writer has received from another SF writer".

Asimov's Galactic Empire, its decline, fall, and rebirth, in particular, is characterized by Perelman as a simple repetition of the history of Western Civilization from the fall of the Roman Empire to the 20th century, borrowing freely from Toynbee, and a validation of postwar American culture of the 1940s and 1950s, with the Second Galactic Empire being "definitely suburban".

Other writers to explore the cycles of civilisations in their works include James Blish, who studied the works of Oswald Spengler and whose novel Cities in Flight (which includes 4 novels: They Shall Have Stars, A Life for the Stars, Earthman Come Home, and The Triumph of Time) portray the rise and fall of the galaxy as an inevitable cycle, of which (unlike in other dystopian SF stories of the 1940s and 1950s) the use of machine technology is merely a symptom not the actual cause, and culminate, as in Wollheim's eighth stage, with the end of the universe and the birth of a new one.

Colin Manlove characterizes Asimov's description of the Galactic Empire, its people, its culture, its history, and its planets, laid out in the Foundation novels as an aesthetic monotony: "persons are usually seen as typical rather than special, even as clichés … the mutant Mule […] is not given a personality, he is merely a powerful anomaly … Nor do we hear much of landscapes, apart from Trantor and one sea-scape … we do not know how one planet differs from another, as, say, Ursula K. Le Guin differentiates the desert Anarres from the lush twin Urras … Nor are we given details of battles, lingering accounts of love, different customs of civilisations. There are no animals, only man. …  Thought-processes and conversations largely fill the trilogy, and nearly all these are confined to finding things out and with gaining power."

Inspired by Trantor
There have been some serious attempts to illustrate a planet like Trantor in the Star Wars films by George Lucas, the first being Coruscant. Coruscant is a planet-covering open-air city, while Trantor's buildings are all subterranean or under domes due to worsening weather conditions. Asimov's Trantor thus differs from Coruscant in that Trantor is more practically adapted to inclement weather, although weather control devices are used on both planets.

The planet Helior in Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero satirises Trantor, highlighting the problems of atmosphere, waste disposal and navigating about a world-sized city.

In the Runaway series of adventure games, Trantor is home planet of this universe's alien species. However, no connection besides the name are made to the original.

"TrantorCon 23309" was proposed by Larry Niven at Worldcon in 1976.

The Warhammer 40,000 sources mention dead cities upon the quarantine planet of Proxima Trantor.

Weber's World, the administration planet of the United Planets in the Legion of Super-Heroes's time, is an ecumenopolis and said to be in the Trantor system.

In the Bobiverse series, one of the human colony planets is named Trantor by Howard, in an explicitly stated homage to the Foundation series (though the planet is initially misspelled by an official who did not recognise the reference).

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Frankenweenie (1984 film)

Frankenweenie is a 1984 American science fiction comedy horror featurette directed by Tim Burton and written by him and Leonard Ripps. It is both a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Burton later directed a feature-length stop-motion animated remake, released in 2012.

Plot
Victor Frankenstein is a young boy who creates movies starring his pet Bull Terrier Sparky. After Sparky is hit by a car and killed, Victor learns at school about electrical impulses in muscles and is inspired to bring his pet back to life. He creates elaborate machines in his attic which brings down a bolt of lightning that revives the dog. Victor is pleased, but one day Sparky sneaks out of the house and frightens the Frankensteins' neighbors. Although they do not get a clear look at Sparky, they determine that some sort of creature is dwelling in the Frankenstein home and grow suspicious of the family. Victor's parents discover the revived Sparky, and eventually decide to introduce him to the neighbors in order to quell their suspicions and rumors. However, the arranged introduction ends in chaos as the neighbors recognize Sparky as the creature and fly into a panic.

Sparky runs away, with Victor in pursuit. They find themselves at an abandoned miniature golf course and hide in its flagship windmill. The Frankensteins' neighbors, now an angry mob, arrive on the scene, and when they attempt to use a cigarette lighter to try to see into the windmill, it is accidentally set on fire. Victor falls and is knocked out, but Sparky rescues him from the flames, only to be crushed by the burning windmill. The neighbors, realizing their error, use their cars and jumper cables to "recharge" Sparky. He is revived, and all celebrate. Sparky falls in love with a poodle whose fur bears a strong resemblance to the hairdo of the Bride of Frankenstein.

Cast

 * Barret Oliver as Victor Frankenstein, a young boy expert in science who is sad after his dog's death.
 * Shelley Duvall as Susan Frankenstein, Victor's mother.
 * Daniel Stern as Ben Frankenstein, Victor's father.
 * Joseph Maher as Mr. Chambers
 * Roz Braverman as Mrs. Epstein
 * Paul Bartel as Mr. Walsh
 * Sofia Coppola as Anne Chambers
 * Jason Hervey as Frank Dale
 * Paul C. Scott as Mike Anderson
 * Helen Boll as Mrs. Curtis
 * Rusty James as Raymond
 * Sparky as Himself: Victor's dog. He dies and gets reanimated by Victor.

Home media
This short was included in the Special Edition, Collector's Edition, and Blu-ray 3D releases of The Nightmare Before Christmas and on the Blu-ray release of its remake.

Controversy
Burton was fired by Disney after the film was completed, as the studio claimed that he had been wasting company resources and felt the film was not suitable for the targeted young audiences. The short was originally planned to be released alongside the summer re-release of The Jungle Book, but its release was rescheduled with the Christmas re-release of Pinocchio on December 21, 1984. Although the film was subsequently shelved, the film played in UK cinemas in 1985 in front of Touchstone Films' Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. Following the success of Burton's later films Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands, the film was given a home video release in 1992. It was released as an extra, along with Vincent, on The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD, Blu-ray and UMD, as well as the 2000 VHS.

Remake
Disney and Tim Burton produced a full-length remake using stop motion animation, which was released on October 5, 2012 in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D. The original film is included as a bonus feature on the Blu-ray home video release.

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Joseph Hardy Neesima

Niijima Jō (新島 襄) (born Niijima Shimeta (新島 七五三太); 12 February 1843 – 23 January 1890), better known by his English name Joseph Hardy Neesima, was a Japanese Protestant missionary and educator of the Meiji era who founded Doshisha English School (later Doshisha University).

He was the husband of Yamamoto Yaeko, a former soldier and nurse who served during the Boshin War, Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese War, who later founded Doshisha Girls' School.

Early life
He was born in Edo (present-day Tokyo), the son of a retainer of the Itakura clan of Annaka. His childhood name was Niijima Shimeta (新島 七五三太). He attended Tokugawa Naval School from 1861.

In 1864, laws on national isolation were still in effect in Japan, and Japanese people were not permitted to travel overseas without government permission. However, Niijima had read extensively on various rangaku topics, and was determined to come to America. At the age of 21, he entreated Captain William T. Savory, of Salem, Massachusetts, commander of the brig Berlin, for safe passage to the United States, in order to further study Western science and Christianity. Captain Savory agreed to help him, so long as Niijima came on board at night, without assistance from the ship's crew. Knowing Niijima could be executed if apprehended, Savory hid him from customs officials in his stateroom. He then secured Niijima's passage from China to the United States on the Wild Rover, commanded by Captain Horace Taylor of Chatham, Massachusetts. The Wild Rover was owned by Alpheus Hardy.

In the United States
When he arrived in Andover, Massachusetts, he was sponsored by Alpheus and Susan Hardy, members of the Old South Church in Boston, who also saw to his education. He attended Phillips Academy under the name of Joseph Hardy Neesima from 1865 to 1867 and then Amherst College, where he was greatly influenced by professor Julius Seelye, from 1867 to 1870. Upon graduating from Amherst, Neesima became the first Japanese person to receive a bachelor's degree.

He was baptized in 1866 and went on to study at Andover Theological Seminary in 1870.

When the Iwakura Mission visited the United States in 1871 on its around-the-world expedition, Neesima assisted as an interpreter. He traveled with the Mission for more than a year, in Europe and the United States. Those who accompanied Neesima on the mission included vice-president of the voyage, Takayoshi Kido and Commissioner of the Educational Bureau, Fujimaro Tanaka, two individuals whom Neesima claimed supported him during the process of creating his school. While in Europe and the United States, Neesima toured the schools there and became influenced by the western education system.

On his return, he completed his studies at Andover Theological Seminary, and in 1874, he became the first Japanese to be ordained by Rev. A.C. Thompson on Thursday, September 24 at Mount Vernon Church, Boston as a Protestant Minister. In the same year, Neesima attended the 65th annual meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missionaries at a Congregational church on Friday, October 9 held in Rutland, Vermont, and made an appeal for funds to start a Christian college in Japan.

Return to Japan
Before returning to Japan, Neesima gave a speech at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions meeting in which he asked the attendees for donations for his school he planned to build, leaving with an estimated $5,000. With the support and funding he received, he returned to Japan, and in 1875 founded a school Doshisha Eigakko (Doshisha English School) in Kyoto, which later grew rapidly and became Doshisha University in 1920. Originally a school for boys, a Doshisha School for girls was soon established in 1877. He was assisted by his wife Yamamoto Yaeko and brother-in-law Yamamoto Kakuma, who were also active with the local Christian community in Kyoto. With the Christian faith at the basis of Doshisha's teachings, Neesima claimed as translated, "We placed Christianity at the core of the fundamentals of moral education, believing our ideal education can be achieved only by Christian moral teachings, which include devout faith, pursuit of truth and compassion for others." Doshisha University is regarded as the first ever Christian school of higher education in Japan. He died in 1890, at age 46, in Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, and was buried in Doshisha Cemetery, Kyoto.

Honors
In 1889, Amherst College honored him with an honorary doctorate, the first ever awarded to a Japanese person.

In 1907, he was honored as one of six great educators of the Meiji period, before the assembly of educators of the entire nation held by the Imperial education conference, the education conference of Tokyo prefecture and the Tokyo city board of education.

He was honored on a Japanese postage stamp in 1950.

In his honour, Niijima Gakuen Junior College (新島学園短期大学) was founded. It is a private junior college in Takasaki, Gunma, Japan. Similarly, there is Niijima Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, which has close links to Doshisha University

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Womb Realm

In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Womb Realm (garbhakoṣadhātu, Traditional Chinese: 胎蔵界; Pinyin: Tāizāngjiè; Rōmaji: taizōkai) is the metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Compassion Buddhas. The Womb Realm is based on the Mahavairocana Tantra. The name of the mandala derives from chapter 2 of the sutra, where it is said that the buddha Mahāvairocana revealed the mandala's secret teachings to his disciple Vajrasattva from his "womb of compassion". In other translations, the term Matrix Realm or Matrix Mandala is used.

The Womb Realm is a very popular subject for mandalas, and along with the Diamond Realm (vajradhātu) Mandala forms the Mandala of the Two Realms. This mandala, along with the Diamond Realm, form the core of Chinese Tangmi and Japanese Tendai and Shingon Buddhist rituals, including abhisheka "initiation". In this ritual, new initiates are blindfolded and asked to toss a flower upon a mandala. Where the flower lands helps decide which Buddhist figure the student should devote themselves to.

In traditional Tangmi and Shingon halls, the Womb Realm Mandala is hung on the east wall, symbolizing the young stage of Mahāvairocana. In this setting, the Diamond Realm Mandala is hung on the west wall symbolizing the final realization of Mahāvairocana.

Womb Realm map
Center Eight Petal Hall

Vairocana is depicted in regal attire wearing a jewelled crown in the center of an eight-petaled lotus. Four Buddhas, representing the four directions, are depicted directly above, below, left, and right of Vairocana. The Buddha of the East, Ratnaketu, is illustrated on the top, the Buddha of the South, Samkusumita-raja to the right, the Buddha of the West, Amitabha, to the bottom, and the Buddha of the North, Divyadundubhimeganirghoṣa (Amoghasiddhi), to the Left. Four bodhisattvas, Samantabhadra, Manjushri, Guanyin, and Maitreya, are illustrated between the Buddhas, clockwise.

Vajras are illustrated between the petals of nine deities and symbolize the knowledge or wisdom (jnana) that crush illusions.

Four vases containing a lotus and a three-pronged Vajra, are placed at the corners of the Center Hall. The hall is marked off by a five-colored boundary path with each color referring to one of the five buddhas, knowledges, directions, roots, conversions, syllables, elements, and forms.

title: Womb Realm


text:
Cécile Chaminade

Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (8 August 1857 – 13 April 1944) was a French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. Ambroise Thomas said, "This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman."

Biography
Born in Batignolles (a village then outside Paris), Chaminade was raised in a musical family. She received her first piano lessons from her mother. Around age 10, Chaminade was assessed by Félix Le Couppey of the Conservatoire de Paris, who recommended that she study music at the Conservatoire. Her father forbade it because he believed it was improper for a girl of Chaminade's class. Her father did, however, allow Chaminade to study privately with teachers from the Conservatoire: piano with Le Couppey, violin with Martin Pierre Marsick, and music composition with Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard and Benjamin Godard.

Chaminade experimented in composition as a young child, composing pieces for her cats, dogs and dolls. In 1869, she performed some of her music for Georges Bizet, who was impressed with her talents. In 1878, Chaminade gave a salon performance under the auspices of her professor, Le Couppey, consisting entirely of her compositions. This performance marked the beginning of her emergence as a composer and became the archetype for the concerts she gave for the rest of her career in which she only performed her own works.

During the 1870s and 1880s several of her works were programmed by the prestigious Société nationale de musique . In her early years, she gave recitals throughout France, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. In 1892, she debuted in England, where her work was popular. Isidor Philipp, head of the piano department at the Conservatoire de Paris, championed her works. She repeatedly returned to England in the 1890s, premiering her compositions with such singers as Blanche Marchesi and Pol Plançon. She visited England again in 1907 and performed at the Aeolian Hall in London, and in Bath. Queen Victoria was known to enjoy Chaminade's music and in 1901 at her funeral, the Prélude for organ, Op.78, by Chaminade was played.

Chaminade married a music publisher from Marseille, Louis-Mathieu Carbonel, in 1901. Given his advanced age, it was rumored to be a convenience and Chaminade prescribed strict marriage conditions: they were to live separately (he in Marseille and she near Paris) and their marriage was to remain platonic. Carbonel died in 1907 from a lung disease. Chaminade never remarried.

In 1908, she performed concerts in twelve cities in the United States. Her compositions were tremendous favorites with the American public, and such pieces as the Scarf Dance or the Ballet No. 1 were to be found in the music libraries of many lovers of piano music of the time. She composed a Konzertstück for piano and orchestra, the ballet music to Callirhoé and other orchestral works. Her songs, such as The Silver Ring and Ritournelle, were also great favorites. Ambroise Thomas once said of Chaminade: "This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman."

Chaminade was the recipient of numerous honours, both in France and abroad. In 1888 and 1892, she was honoured by the Académie Française. In 1897, she was honoured by Queen Victoria and given the Jubilee Medal. She received the Laurel Wreath from the Athens Conservatory and the Order of the Chefakat by Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. In 1913, she was elected a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), a first for a female composer.

In London in November 1901, she made gramophone recordings of seven of her compositions for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company; these are among the most sought-after piano recordings by collectors, though they have been reissued on compact disk. Before and after World War I, Chaminade recorded many piano rolls, but as she grew older, she composed less and less, dying in Monte Carlo on 13 April 1944, where she was first buried. Chaminade is now buried in Passy Cemetery in Paris.

Chaminade was relegated to obscurity for the second half of the 20th century, her piano pieces and songs mostly forgotten, with the exception being the Flute Concertino in D major, Op. 107, composed for the 1902 Paris Conservatoire Concours; it is her most popular piece today.

Chaminade's sister married Moritz Moszkowski, also a well-known composer and pianist like Cécile.

Critical reception
Many of Chaminade's piano compositions received good reviews from critics, some of her other endeavors and more serious works were less favourably evaluated, perhaps on account of gender prejudices. Most of her compositions were published during her lifetime and were financially successful.

Compositional style
Chaminade affiliated herself with nationalist composers such as Camille Saint-Saëns and Charles Gounod. Her musical style was rooted in both Romantic and French tradition throughout her career and her music has been described as tuneful, highly accessible and mildly chromatic. In describing her own style, Chaminade wrote, "I am essentially of the Romantic school, as all my work shows."

Opera

 * Op. 19 La Sévillane, comic opera (1882)

Orchestral

 * Op. 20 Suite d'Orchestre (1881)
 * Op. 26 Symphonie Dramatique Les Amazones" (1884)
 * Op. 37 Callirhoë, ballet symphonique (1888)
 * Op. 40 Konzertstück in C-sharp minor for piano and orchestra (1888)
 * Op. 107 Concertino for flute and orchestra in D major (1902)

Piano

 * Op. 21 Piano Sonata in C minor (1893)
 * Op. 35 Six Études de Concert (Enoch) (1886)
 * Op. 54 Lolita. Caprice espagnol (Enoch) 1890
 * Op. 60 Les Sylvains (Enoch) (1892)
 * Op. 89 Thème varié (1898)
 * Op. 120 Variations sur un thème original (1906)
 * Op. 117 Duo Symphonique for 2 pianos (1905)
 * Op. 123 Album des enfants, première série (1906)
 * Op. 126 Album des enfants, deuxième série (1907)

Piano Duets

 * Op. 55 Six Pièces Romantiques, Op. 55 (1890)

Two Pianos Four Hands

 * Op. 19 La Sevillane
 * Op. 36 Deux Pièces for 2 Pianos,
 * Op. 59 Andante et Scherzettino
 * Op. 73 Valse Carnavalesque(1894)
 * Op.117 Duo Symphonique
 * WU 19 Marche Hongroise (1880),unpublished

Chamber music

 * Op. 11 Piano Trio No. 1 in G minor (1880)
 * Op. 34 Piano Trio No. 2 in A minor (1886)
 * Op. 142 Sérénade aux étoiles for Flute and Piano (1911?)

Songs

 * "Chanson slave" (1890)
 * "Les rêves" (1891)
 * "Te souviens-tu?" (1878)
 * "Auprès de ma mie" (1888)
 * "Voisinage" (1888)
 * "Nice la belle" (1889)
 * "Rosemonde" (1878)
 * "L'anneau d'argent" (1891)
 * "Plaintes d'amour" (1891)
 * "Viens, mon bien-aimé" (1892)
 * "L'Amour captif" (1893)
 * "Ma première lettre" (1893)
 * "Malgré nous" (1893)
 * "Si j'étais jardinier" (1893)
 * "L'Été" (1894)
 * "Mignonne" (1894)
 * "Sombrero" (1894)
 * "Villanelle" (1894)
 * "Espoir" (1895)
 * "Ronde d'amour" (1895)
 * "Chanson triste" (1898)
 * "Mots d'amour" (1898)
 * "Alléluia" (1901)
 * "Écrin" (1902)
 * "Bonne humeur!" (1903)
 * "Menuet" (1904)
 * "La lune paresseuse" (1905)
 * "Je voudrais" (1912)
 * "Attente (Au pays de provence)" (1914)

title: Cécile Chaminade


text:
Raton

Raton or Ratón (Spanish for "mouse") may refer to:

Places

 * Raton Basin, a geologic structural basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico
 * Raton, New Mexico, the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico
 * Raton Downtown Historic District, a Registered Historic District in Raton, New Mexico
 * Raton Pass, a mountain pass that is a National Historic Landmark
 * Ráton, the Hungarian name for Ratin village Crasna, Sălaj, Romania

Other uses

 * Ratón (2001-2013), a Spanish fighting bull
 * USS Raton (SS-270), a submarine
 * Raton, the French name of a character in Fontaine's fable The Monkey and the Cat

title: Raton


text:
Talk:Northern Province

Untitled
See Talk:Limpopo Province and Talk:Northern Cape Province. Chris 22:00, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Northern Province


text:
Frank Damrosch

Frank Heino Damrosch (June 22, 1859 – October 22, 1937) was a German-born American music conductor and educator. In 1905, Damrosch founded the New York Institute of Musical Art, a predecessor of the Juilliard School.

Life and career
Damrosch was born on June 22, 1859, in Breslau, Silesia, the son of Helene von Heimburg, a former opera singer, and conductor Leopold Damrosch. He came to the United States with his father, brother, conductor Walter Damrosch, and sister, music teacher Clara Mannes, in 1871. His parents were Lutheran (his paternal grandfather was Jewish).

He had studied music in Germany under Dionys Pruckner. He studied in New York under Ferdinand von Inten. He also studied in Europe under Moritz Moszkowski. He had originally intended to adopt a business career, and to that end went to Denver, Colorado, but the musical impulse proved too strong, and, in 1884, he was an organist, conductor of the Denver Chorus Club, and supervisor of music in the public schools.

For some years he was chorus master at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. He also conducted the Mendelssohn Glee Club from 1885 to 1887. In 1892, he organized the People's Singing Classes, and he was also instrumental in founding the Musical Art Society of New York.

In 1897, he became supervisor of music in the public schools in New York. In 1898 Damrosch succeeded his brother Walter as conductor of the Oratorio Society, which he directed until 1912. During his career, he and his sister Clara Damrosch also taught at the Veltin School for Girls in Manhattan.

In 1905, he founded and became director of the New York Institute of Musical Art, with the hopes of reproducing the quality of instruction found in European conservatories. In 1926, the Institute of Musical Art merged with the Juilliard Graduate School to form what is today Juilliard School. Damrosch's pupils included William Howland, long-time head of the music department at the University of Michigan, and the prodigy pianist Hazel Scott.

Damrosch died in New York City on October 22, 1937, aged 78. Damrosch Park, part of New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is named in honor of the Damrosch family.

title: Frank Damrosch


text:
Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge

Janet Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge, PC LLD HonFRA (3 November 1904 – 16 November 1988), known as Jennie Lee, was a Scottish politician. She was a Labour Member of Parliament from a by-election in 1929 until 1931 and then from 1945 to 1970.

As Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson's government of 1964–1970, she played a leading role in the foundation of the Open University working directly with Harold Wilson to establish the principle of open access: Enrolment as a student of the University should be open to everyone … irrespective of educational qualifications, and no formal entrance requirement should be imposed.

She was married to the Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan from 1934 until his death in 1960.

Early life
Born in Lochgelly, in Fife, to Euphemia Greig and James Lee, a miner who held the post of fire and safety officer, and later a hotelier. She had a younger brother, Tommy.

She inherited her father's socialist inclinations, and like him joined the Scottish Independent Labour Party (ILP). Her grandfather Michael Lee, born in 1850 to Irish Catholic parents, was a friend of Keir Hardie, a disputes secretary of the miners' union and founder of the Fifeshire ILP federation. She later joined the Labour Party, and served as an MP from 1929 to 1931 and from 1945 to 1970.

Education
Lee was educated at Beath High School and was dux of the school in her final year. The Carnegie Trust, Fife County Council and the Fife Education Authority agreed to pay her university fees and she attended the University of Edinburgh as a student teacher. She later won a bursary to study law.

At university she joined the Labour Club, the Edinburgh University Women's Union and the editorial board of the student newspaper. One of her first campaigns was to elect Bertrand Russell as Rector of the University. After graduating initially in 1927 with an MA, an LLB and a teaching certificate, she worked as a teacher in Cowdenbeath.

First term as MP
Lee was adopted as the ILP candidate for the North Lanarkshire constituency, which she won at a 1929 by-election, becoming the youngest woman member of the House of Commons. At the time of the by-election, women under the age of 30 were not yet able to vote. Her victory meant that she became the first Labour woman to represent a Scottish seat in the House of Commons. She was re-elected at the subsequent 1929 general election.

In Westminster she immediately came into conflict with the Labour Party's leadership in the Commons. She insisted on being sponsored by Robert Smillie and her old friend James Maxton to be introduced to the Commons, rather than by the leadership's preferred choice of sponsors. Lee also associated with Ellen Wilkinson.

Lee's first speech was an attack on the budget proposals of Winston Churchill (accusing him "of 'cant, corruption, and incompetence', her gestures more fitting to the storming of platforms than the measured tones expected from a young MP in the house") that met even with his approval, with him offering his congratulations after their exchange in the Commons. Lee forged a parliamentary reputation as a left-winger, allying herself to Maxton and the other ILP members. She was totally opposed to Ramsay MacDonald's decision to form a coalition National Government, and in the 1931 general election lost her seat in parliament to Unionist candidate William Anstruther-Gray.

Out of the Commons
In her private life at the time she had formed a close relationship with fellow Labour MP Edward Frank Wise, a married man who considered divorcing his wife for Lee, but who did not do so in the end. Wise died in 1933 and the following year Lee married the left-wing Welsh Labour MP Aneurin Bevan, with whom she remained until his death in 1960. Her biography suggests that she to some extent suppressed her own career after marriage, which 'was the more remarkable precisely because as a woman in politics she had always laid claim to a 'male' life, public, itinerant and unencumbered by family responsibilities'. She had no history in the women's movement, did not align herself with the separate women's branches within the Labour Party and stated that she voted on policy not candidate gender, believing that equality for women would follow from the introduction of true socialism; it was not a separate cause. Nonetheless she practised feminism 'of a sort' and was known to walk out of dinner parties if it was expected that women were to withdraw to another room when the port was circulated.

Despite being out of the Commons Lee remained active politically, trying to secure British support for the Spanish Popular Front government under threat from Francisco Franco's Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War. She also remained active inside the ILP and took their side in their split from the Labour Party, a decision that did not meet with her husband's approval. She attempted re-election in North Lanarkshire at the 1935 general election, coming second behind Anstruther-Gray but ahead of the Labour Party's candidate. Attending the Labour Party Conference in Edinburgh in 1936, Lee met the Spanish Republican delegates who attended with a petition for support against the fascists, including meeting with Isabel de Valencia, who had a Scottish mother. Lee went to Spain herself in 1937 to report as a war journalist. She travelled in Aragon and Barcelona with George Orwell and the teenage grandson of her Commons sponsor, Robert Smillie, MP, while reporting for New Leader and they were all caught up in some violent incidents. Young Bob died a year later in a Communist prison. Lee attended a torchlit parade of the British Battalion of the International Brigades volunteers at Modejar with Clement Attlee and others in the Labour Party, during the war.

She was again unsuccessful in seeking re-election as an "Independent Labour" candidate in a 1943 by-election at Bristol Central, being defeated by the Conservative Lady Apsley and opposed by the ILP. She also worked as a journalist for the Daily Mirror.

Re-election
She later returned to the Labour Party from the ILP, and at the 1945 general election she was once again elected to the Commons, this time to represent the Cannock constituency in Staffordshire. She remained a convinced left-winger, and this brought her sometimes into opposition with her husband, with whom she usually agreed politically. Lee was critical of Bevan for his support of the UK acquiring a nuclear deterrent, something she did not support.

She was appointed as the first Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson's government of 1964, and played a key role in the formation of the Open University, an act described by Wilson as the greatest of his time in government.

Role in the foundation of the Open University
The Open University was based on the idea of a 'University of the Air'. It was intended as a correspondence university reaching out to those who had been denied the opportunity to study. Lee produced a White Paper in 1966, outlining university plans which would deliver courses by correspondence and broadcasting as teaching media. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was an enthusiastic supporter because he envisioned The Open University as a major marker in the Labour Party's commitment to modernising British society. He believed that it would help build a more competitive economy while also promoting greater equality of opportunity and social mobility. The planned utilisation of television and radio to broadcast its courses was also supposed to link The Open University to the technological revolution underway, which Wilson saw as a major ally of his modernisation schemes. However, from the start, Lee encountered widespread scepticism and even opposition from within and without the Labour Party, including senior officials in the DES; her departmental boss, Anthony Crosland; the Treasury; Ministerial colleagues, such as Richard Crossman; and commercial broadcasters. The Open University was realised due to Lee's unflagging determination and tenacity in 1965–67, the steadfast support from Wilson, and the fact that the anticipated costs, as reported to Lee and Wilson by Arnold Goodman, seemed very modest. By the time the actual, much higher costs became apparent, it was too late to scrap the fledgling Open University.

The university was granted its Royal Charter by the Privy Council on 23 April 1969. Applications opened in 1970 and the first students began their studies in 1971.

In 1973, as she laid the foundation stone for the first Open University library, she described the University as 'a great independent university which does not insult any man or any women whatever their background by offering them the second best, nothing but the best is good enough.'

Role in the expansion of the Arts Council

Lee renewed the charter of the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1967 which saw an expansion of its work in the regions as well of the creation of the new arts institutions at London's South Bank Centre. She also introduced the only UK White Paper for the Arts to be published for the next half-century and following the 1967 reshuffle was promoted to Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science after two years as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. Between 1964 and 1965 Lee had been Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

Retirement and later life
Lee was defeated at the 1970 election in Cannock by the Conservative candidate Patrick Cormack. Political scientist Richard Rose called Lee's loss of her seat, which had been held by Labour since 1935, on a swing of 10.7%, the largest in any constituency for that election, "the biggest upset" of the 1970 general election. She retired from front-line politics when she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the City of Westminster on 5 November 1970, Asheridge being the farm near Chesham, Buckinghamshire where she had lived from 1954 to 1968.

She wrote four books: To-morrow Is a New Day, 1939; Our Ally, Russia, 1941; This Great Journey, 1963; My Life with Nye, 1980.

In 1974 she received an Honorary LLD from the University of Cambridge, and in 1981 an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy.

She died in 1988 from natural causes at the age of 84 and bequeathed her personal papers to the Open University which now holds them as the Jennie Lee Collection.

Memorials
A community resource centre in Wednesfield, which formed part of Lee's Cannock constituency, was named the "Jennie Lee Centre" in her honour. It opened in a former secondary school in 1989, the year after Lee's death, and closed in 2013.

In 2005, the Students' Association of the newly created Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy, Fife refused to name themselves after Adam Smith, and instead chose the name "Jennie Lee Students' Association". The Association claimed Adam Smith is synonymous with "exploitation and greed" and stated "Jennie Lee would be an excellent role model for the students because of the courage and conviction she showed in achieving the aims she believed passionately in".

The Jennie Lee building at the Open University Campus in Milton Keynes.

The Jennie Lee building in Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh home of the Open University offices in Scotland.

In Rugeley, Staffordshire there is a street named after her, Jennie Lee Way and one named after her husband, Aneurin Bevan Place.

A plaque in Buccleuch Place, near the University of Edinburgh which reads:'In honour of Baroness Jennie Lee, 1904–1988, An early woman MP, first Minister for the Arts, founder of the Open University, graduate of the University'

An English Heritage plaque in 23 Cliveden Place, Chelsea, London, celebrates Nye Bevan and Jennie Lee.

In her native Lochgelly, the community library was renamed the Jennie Lee Library in her honour following the 2009–2012 redevelopment of the Lochgelly Centre.

In the village of Overtown, near Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, a new housing development was built and a street was named after her, Jennie Lee Drive.

In Glasgow, the Albany Learning and Conference Centre has a Jennie Lee room.

A street in Glenrothes - Jennie Lee Lane, in her native Fife, is named after her.

Cultural depictions
Depicted by Sinead Cusack in Trevor Griffiths 'Food for Ravens', 1997 BBC film with Brian Cox as Nye Bevan. Lee is the subject of a play by Matthew Knights, titled Jennie Lee: Tomorrow is a New Day, developed since 2019. She is also the subject of Mikron Theatre Company's 2024 show Jennie Lee, written by Lindsay Rodden.

In Tim Price's 2024 play Nye, which premiered at the National Theatre, Lee was played by Sharon Small.

title: Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge