Wednesday, April 30, 2014
* Birds of Paradise (2010)
Birds of Paradise Living in the depths of the New Guinea rainforest are the spectacular birds of paradise - creatures so beautiful that the first Europeans believed they must have fallen from heaven. Filming their bizarre courtship displays is the Holy Grail of wildlife film makers: some perform like iridescent acrobats; others make hypnotic pulsing sounds as they quiver and vibrate. Sir David Attenborough narrates the film. He has been entranced by these birds since he was a boy and he introduces a team of New Guinean naturalists as they embark on a gruelling expedition to try to film ten birds of paradise deep in the heart of the rainforest.
* Bigger, Stronger, Faster (2008)
From the producers of "Bowling For Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" comes a new film that unflinchingly explores our win-at-all-cost culture through the lens of a personal journey. Blending comedy and pathos, "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" is a collision of pop culture, animated sequences and first-person narrative, with a diverse cast including US Congressmen, professional athletes, medical experts and everyday gym rats.
At its heart, this is the story of director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, who grew up idolizing muscular giants like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who went on to become members of the steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream. When you discover that your heroes have all broken the rules, do you follow the rules, or do you follow your heroes?
At its heart, this is the story of director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, who grew up idolizing muscular giants like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who went on to become members of the steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream. When you discover that your heroes have all broken the rules, do you follow the rules, or do you follow your heroes?
* Bees, Butterflies and Blooms (2012)
Sarah Raven is on a mission to halt the decline in honey bees and insect pollinators with insect friendly flower power.
Part 1: Villages, Farms and Countryside
Sarah takes her mission out into the Great British countryside to encourage farmers and village communities to help recreate a network of crucial habitats for these insects. She meets the Farringtons - a Northamptonshire farming family. They investigate sowing perennial wildflower borders around their crops to increase habitats for insect pollinators and to possibly increase crop yields. She also attempts to change the attitude of a Northamptonshire village that prefers tidiness over wildflowers and, at home, she harvests some wildflower seed in order to develop her own wildflower meadow, something everyone can do in their own community or at home.
Part 2: Towns, Gardens and Britain in Bloom
Sarah challenges the RHS Britain in Bloom competition to make their floral displays more nectar and pollen-rich, to help to increase the amount of food and habitat for pollinating insects throughout the spring and summer months. Sarah also challenges the UK gardening industry, the Horticultural Trades Association and the Royal Horticultural Society to champion pollinating insects by launching a 'pollinator-friendly' logo at the Chelsea Flower Show. The logo and label would enable gardeners to identify the best plants for bees and butterflies throughout garden centres and nurseries in the UK. And at home, Sarah meets expert garden naturalist Steve Head, and explores her own garden's suitability for insect pollinators. Inspired by what she discovers, she develops a nectar garden - a mini oasis for insect pollinators.
Part 3: Cities
Sarah challenges our city parks departments to sow nectar rich modern meadows, and to make their floral displays more nectar and pollen rich to help to increase the amount of food and habitat for pollinating insects throughout the spring and summer months. Sarah starts her campaign in Birmingham. She challenges the parks department to get rid of Victorian bedding displays. Next, she visits the London Olympic Park where tens of thousands of square metres of modern pollinator friendly meadows are being sown to come into glorious flower for the games in August 2012. Sarah gets an exclusive preview of the ground breaking biodiverse and pollinator friendly landscaping. Finally, Sarah tests whether modern meadow seed mixes can pack a floral punch and supply our pollinators with a flow of pollen and nectar throughout the year.
Part 1: Villages, Farms and Countryside
Sarah takes her mission out into the Great British countryside to encourage farmers and village communities to help recreate a network of crucial habitats for these insects. She meets the Farringtons - a Northamptonshire farming family. They investigate sowing perennial wildflower borders around their crops to increase habitats for insect pollinators and to possibly increase crop yields. She also attempts to change the attitude of a Northamptonshire village that prefers tidiness over wildflowers and, at home, she harvests some wildflower seed in order to develop her own wildflower meadow, something everyone can do in their own community or at home.
Part 2: Towns, Gardens and Britain in Bloom
Sarah challenges the RHS Britain in Bloom competition to make their floral displays more nectar and pollen-rich, to help to increase the amount of food and habitat for pollinating insects throughout the spring and summer months. Sarah also challenges the UK gardening industry, the Horticultural Trades Association and the Royal Horticultural Society to champion pollinating insects by launching a 'pollinator-friendly' logo at the Chelsea Flower Show. The logo and label would enable gardeners to identify the best plants for bees and butterflies throughout garden centres and nurseries in the UK. And at home, Sarah meets expert garden naturalist Steve Head, and explores her own garden's suitability for insect pollinators. Inspired by what she discovers, she develops a nectar garden - a mini oasis for insect pollinators.
Part 3: Cities
Sarah challenges our city parks departments to sow nectar rich modern meadows, and to make their floral displays more nectar and pollen rich to help to increase the amount of food and habitat for pollinating insects throughout the spring and summer months. Sarah starts her campaign in Birmingham. She challenges the parks department to get rid of Victorian bedding displays. Next, she visits the London Olympic Park where tens of thousands of square metres of modern pollinator friendly meadows are being sown to come into glorious flower for the games in August 2012. Sarah gets an exclusive preview of the ground breaking biodiverse and pollinator friendly landscaping. Finally, Sarah tests whether modern meadow seed mixes can pack a floral punch and supply our pollinators with a flow of pollen and nectar throughout the year.
* Baroque: From St Peter's to St Paul's (2009)
The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.
The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement.[2] The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumph, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.
Three-part series exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes us on a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works.
Part 1
This first episode begins at St Peter's in Rome, and details the birth of the Baroque tradition as it burst forth in Italy. This programme features outstanding high definition footage of St Peter's Basilica, as well as other gems of the Italian Baroque.
Part 2
This episode follows Baroque to its dark heart in Spain, focusing on the route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and featuring star painters Velasquez, Caravaggio and Zurburan. He then carries on through Belgium and Holland to discover such celebrities as Rubens and Vermeer.
Part 3
Episode Three brings the Baroque home with an exploration of the English Baroque tradition that finds its climax through a tour of London's Hawksmoor churches, and Christopher Wren's iconic St Paul's Cathedral.
The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement.[2] The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumph, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.
Three-part series exploring the Baroque tradition in many of its key locations. Starting in Italy and following the spread of the wildfire across Europe and beyond, art critic Waldemar Januszczak takes us on a tour of the best examples of Baroque to be found, and tells the best stories behind those works.
Part 1
This first episode begins at St Peter's in Rome, and details the birth of the Baroque tradition as it burst forth in Italy. This programme features outstanding high definition footage of St Peter's Basilica, as well as other gems of the Italian Baroque.
Part 2
This episode follows Baroque to its dark heart in Spain, focusing on the route of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and featuring star painters Velasquez, Caravaggio and Zurburan. He then carries on through Belgium and Holland to discover such celebrities as Rubens and Vermeer.
Part 3
Episode Three brings the Baroque home with an exploration of the English Baroque tradition that finds its climax through a tour of London's Hawksmoor churches, and Christopher Wren's iconic St Paul's Cathedral.
* Bangladesh: Women's Driving School (2013)
Inside the residential driving school run by Bangladesh charity BRAC, the young women - many of whom have come from difficult circumstances - live, sleep, eat and study together, swapping life stories and forging friendships. Their driving tuition, both in the classrooms and on the roads, is intense: 8am to 6pm every day except Fridays.
* Back from the Dead (2010)
Dr. Kevin Fong investigates a pioneering technique of extreme cooling that is being used to bring people back from the dead. In the operating theatre, a patient's heart is stopped and their brain shows no activity. They are indistinguishable from someone who is dead. Yet patients can then be warmed up and brought back to life. Kevin Fong meets the doctors who have developed this procedure, finds out how it could revolutionise intensive care and trauma medicine, and meets some of the remarkable people who have been brought back from the dead.
* Bach: A Passionate Life (2013)
John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity. We reveal a complex and passionate artist; a warm and convivial family man at the same time a rebellious spirit struggling with the hierarchies of state and church who wrote timeless music that is today known world-wide. Gardiner undertakes a 'Bach Tour' of Germany, and sifts the relatively few clues we have - some newly-found. Most of all, he uses the music to reveal the real Bach.
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