First photos from Greece appeared on my blog today. They were photographed from the Aegean Sea port off the tiny volcano island of Nysiros, which boasts all of four small fishing villages.

Wow. Ain’t technology great?

I did not think I could do this with my lack of experience in this new medium. I gotta keep at this to share a little of my trip of a lifetime to visit my father’s homeland and the seat of western civilization. I wonder what type of Eastern thought influenced Hellenic Greece? How much learning from the spiritual masters made its way across the Muslim world to Westerners?

Alexander the Great helped to spread our ways. Don’t you think “their” ways had to influence us, even through a little osmosis?

I would like to think so. And if I say it is so, then “it is so.”

After all, this is my blog, my reality, my niche on which to meditate. Who cares what illusions someone wants to impose from outside. I’ll stay within, where the light shines on Nysiros, Greece in the summer of 2008.

Namaste!

DESCRIÇÃO/SINOPSE!

Kate Davis (Mira Sorvino), uma jovem jornalista inglesa, e enviada a trabalho para Leningrado. A Segunda Guerra Mundial esta no seu auge, os nazistas ja dominam metade da Europa e parte de Russia, mas falham em Leningrado. Ao perceber que nao conseguiria tomar a cidade a forca, Hitler monta uma estrategia extremamente desumana. Cerca Leningrado, bloqueando o acesso de mantimentos, com o objetivo de matar de fome mais de tres milhoes de pessoas. Em meio a este cerco do horror, Kate e a populacao local, precisam tentar de todas as maneiras sobreviver e nao sucumbir a fome e ao dominio do nazismo, na batalha mais cruel da Segunda Guerra Mundial.

INFORMAÇÕES DO FILME!

Tamanho:865 Mb

Formato:DVDRip

Indioma:Português | Inglês

Download abaixo!

Baixar

New ways of learning about history! New ways of seeing time! Has the regime gone?

Russian photographer Sergei Larenkov has combined pictures of the Soviet Leningrad and present St.Petersburg.

Read more at: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/tag/sergei-larenkov

http://englishrussia.com/?p=2235

• HARLEY PEYTON is set to write JULIET (Universal). Hearing studio can’t officially hire until January. JAMES MANGOLD is producing.
• Studio has offers out to SIGOURNEY WEAVER, JEFFREY WRIGHT, and CHRIS COOPER for roles in CEDAR RAPIDS. This project is set up at Fox Searchlight and was written by PHIL JOHNSTON. ALEXANDER PAYNE is producing. MIGUEL ARTETA is directing.
• RICHARD LINKLATER is off LIARS A-E that is set up at Miramax with Scott Rudin producing. PETE SOLLET is interested in directing.
• Studio is activating the UNTITLED LES GROSSMAN PROJECT (Paramount), an”original story” centered on TOM CRUISES’s character in TROPIC THUNDER. Tom has expressed interest in wanting to reprise the role and they are starting to talk to writers.
• FLORIAN HENCKEL VON DONNERSMARCK and JUAN CARLOS FRESNADILLO have offers to direct ANABASIS (Sony). JIMMY MILLER, JONATHAN & ROBBIE STAMP are producing. ROBERT SCHENKKAN adapted based on Xenophon’s eyewitness account of the expedition of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries who fought under Cyrus.
• J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI is writting SHATTERED UNION  for Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney.
• Mike Newell is in talks to direct remake ARTHUR (Warner Brothers).CHRIS BENDER, LARRY BREZNER, and KEVIN MCCORMICK are attached to produce. PETER BAYNHAM wrote the most recent draft based on the 1981 ARTHUR movie directed by STEVEN GORDON.
• Hearing: REESE WITHERSPOON is making a deal for the remake of THE ORPHANAGE (New Line). Contra is producing and they are looking for a new director. LARRY FESSENDEN was previously attached to direct. He wrote the script with GUILLERMO DEL TORO.
• GAVIN HOOD will direct THE CRUELEST MILES (Walden). MARK JOHNSON is producing.  O’KEEFE & STAPLES wrote the last draft.
• MIKE NEWELL will direct LENINGRAD (Warner Brothers), written by GIUSEPPE TORNATORE. GK Films is producing.
• GARY ROSS will rewrite and direct MATT HELM (Paramount).
• KATHERINE FUGATE will adapt WHAT ALICE FORGOT (Fox 2000).
• KURTZMAN & ORCI will direct THE 28TH AMMENDMENT (Warner Brothers).
• STEVEN KNIGHT is set to write THE THIRD MAN remake for TOBEY MAGUIRE and LEO DICAPRIO.  Canal Plus holds the rights.  It could go to Sony or Warner Brothers.
• MARC WEBB fell off THE SPECTACULAR NOW (Fox Searchlight). 21 Laps is producing. A draft is in and are going to move forward without Marc.

I steal football jacket from great friend.

This man, he is only nice to me, always nice! He make potato soup for me when I am sick, he call many woman for me to convince I am sex filled, and he arrange undertaker from Leningrad for Grandmother to handle all services. Grandmother always say “Leningrad good for nothing! Except Kunstkammer and undertaker.” This man, you understand, always nice to me.

But I see great opportunity to have jacket from Roma team and I take this opportunity because I cannot resist. I steal jacket and call him on phone and tell him “Oh poor man, you terrible in lucky! Must have been bastard Klaus, exchange student from Austria. He go back to Austria yesterday and he have your blue Roma jacket!”

All the time I am sitting on phone, though, I wear Roma jacket. They score so many goal.

Talent and online contest website MakeAStar.com opened the brackets for 5 music talent contests on Thursday, with 37 vocalists, bands, music videos and rap emcees competing over the next three weeks for a chance to win $50 and $100 cash prizes and the prestigious title of monthly contest winners on the music and entertainment industry hotspot.

The 8 videos competing in the Music Video contest are:

Kasper Featuring J Fizz “I Am Still Fly”

Stu “Megablast”

Grimey Ink “We dont Give A F—K”

Smiley P “Hood Rockstar”

Skafandr “Human”

Woven “Prickley Pair”

Scratch “Childs’ World”

Leningrad “My Name is Shnur”

Four of these entries were directed by St Petersburg, Russia animation studio TOONDRA, who bring an experimental and minimalist animated edge to the electronic music videos for Scratch, Skafandr, Stu, and Leningrad.

Woven’s vide for “Prickley Pair” features stop-motion animation directed by Andy Hixon of Manchester, England.

Going up against these five European entries are three American hip-hop videos from Grimey Ink, Smiley P, and Kasper Featuring J Fizz.

Visit MakeAStar.com today to enjoy these 8 new music videos and click your vote for the four videos you think should advance to the semi-finals, which begin next Thursday at noon Pacific time.

С Днем Рождения, Владимир Путин !

Владимир Путин, сильный лидер, одна из стали, железной рукой, настоящий политик, достойный, Наиболее влиятельным политиком!

С Днем Рождения, Владимир Путин !

Sibilla

imagine preluată de pe google.ro

Thank you for visiting my personal pages. My posts mostly reflect on various topics concerning history, literature and museums. My personal field of interest is in the area of Military History, Diplomacy and Military Policy on which I have written various publications which you can find on the “Posts” and the “Pages”. If you are interested in a particular publication please feel free to contact me, or simply place any comments.

Now, little music for you!

My new blogs:

“Foreign Policy” with URL   http://ngkot.wordpress.com/

“Amerika, velikaja i dalekaja…” with URL http://kotev.podbean.com/

“War Journalist`s Notes” with URL http://ngkotev.wordpress.com/

“Nikolaykotev`s Blog” with URL http://nikolaykotev.wordpress.com/

“War Photoblog – II” with URL http://nikkotev.wordpress.com/

“World of Intelligence”with URl http://kotevnik.wordpress.com/

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Coalition forces killed in Iraq + Afghanistan  

since Obama was elected:

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 READING-ROOM

1.PLEASE, click to follow link: объединенной российско-американской электронной библиотеки «Встреча на границах»

NEW FULL-LENGHT FILMS:  

Military Diplomacy van Nikolay Georgiev Kotev is in licentie gegeven volgens een Creative Commons Naamsvermelding-Geen Afgeleide werken 3.0 Nederland licentie.

Gebaseerd op een werk op nkotev.wordpress.com.

Toestemming met betrekking tot rechten die niet onder deze licentie vallen zijn beschikbaar voor nikolay.kotev@yahoo.com.

OSP AEU 33: No.56 Sqn RAF/RFC
OSP CAM 215: Leningrad 1941-44, The epic siege
OSP ELI 174: American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics
OSP FOG 11: Empires Of The Dragon, The Far East At War
OSP FORT 87: Saracen Strongholds 1100-1500, The Central and Eastern Islamic Lands
OSP FORT 88: The Mannerheim Line 1920-39, Finnish Fortifications of the Winter War
OSP NVG 160: British Battleships 1939-45 (2) Nelson and King George V Classes
OSP RAID 1: Rangers Lead The Way, Pointe-du-Hoc D-Day 1944
OSP RAID 2: Israel’s Lightning Strike, The raid on Entebbe 1976

Tsarskoye Selo is commonly known as the city of Alexander Pushkin, the Great Russian poet. It is also the beautiful place of Imperial palaces and parks.

The educational movie translated on several languages helps you to feel this magic spirit.

The movie contains both educational and historical material.

Watch this free trailer and enjoy!

Thơ của anh Blok thường dài, và thường có nội dung phức tạp, phải tìm hiểu xuất xứ, hoàn cảnh sáng tác kỹ càng thì mới hiểu được nội dung, nên thường thì dịch khó hơn các thể loại thơ của người khác, mà mình thì vốn lười…

Tuy nhiên, bác Blok cũng được các nhà soạn nhạc khá yêu mến , mình thấy có khá nhiều nhà soạn nhạc phổ thơ của Blok. Xin giới thiệu một bài thơ ngắn của Blok đã được Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich phổ nhạc nhé – đó là bài “Gorod spit”, op. 127 no. 4 trong sáng tác của Shostakovich. (biết vậy thôi chứ mình chưa nghe ai hát bài này).

Hiển nhiên là anh Blok định viết về thành phố bên sông Neva, hehe, thành phố này quá nổi tiếng rồi, chắc chẳng cần hình ảnh minh họa làm gì …

Updated: Xin mời các bạn nghe bài “Город спит” nhạc – Shostakovich, lời – Blok qua phần thể hiện của giọng soprano Galina Vishnevskaya – cám ơn YIH đã chia sẻ bản nhạc nhé!

Galina Vishnevskaya – Soprano
Mstislav Rostropovic – Cello
Ulf Hoescher, Vasso Devetzi – Piano
recorded in 1974 , at Salle Wagram Paris

Download: http://www.box.net/shared/lp05a1q6tm

In today’s BBC News article, Orlando Figes, a history professor at London’s Birkbeck college, offers his view on the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: a pre-WWII appeasement agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Figes writes:

“Seventy years on, the pact between Hitler and Stalin still casts a shadow over Europe. Its memory continues to divide.

For the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and Bessarabians, the pact began the reign of terror, mass deportations, slavery and murder which both the Nazi and the Soviet armies brought along with them when they co-ordinated their invasions of these countries in line with the pact’s notorious secret protocols – by which Stalin and Hitler had agreed to divide Eastern Europe between their regimes.

For the Jews of all these lands, the pact was the licence for the Holocaust. For the European Left, the idea that the leader of the USSR could sign a pact with Hitler symbolised the moral bankruptcy of the Soviet regime.

…

The pact remains an embarrassment for those in Putin’s Russia who take pride from the Soviet achievement in the war.

…”

The purpose of this post is not to discuss the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. It’s historical interpretation is indeed controversial, and I invite all readers of this blog to do your own reading and make up your mind. However, there are few statements which Figes makes which I simply can’t let slide.

Firstly, Figes writes that this “pact with Hitler” “was the licence for the Holocaust” and “symbolised the moral bankruptcy of the Soviet regime”. Perhaps Mr Figes should be reminded of an earlier “pact with Hitler” which the British Prime-Minister Neville Chamberlain signed with both Hitler and Mussolini. The 1938 Munich Agreement, signed by Britan and France above all gave Hitler the green light to annex parts of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovak government was informed (by future allies) that it could either resist Nazi aggression alone or submit to annexing. Was that a lesser “licence for the Holocaust”? Following Figes’ logic, did the Munich Agreement symbolize the moral bankruptcy of the British and French regimes too? Doesn’t it also “continues to divide”? (The Czech still call it “Munic Bentrayal” or “Munich Dictate”). Perhaps a pice for the BBC by Orlando Figes on the Munich Agreement to commemorate 70 years since the beginning of WWII is also due?

Most pathetic is Figes’ assertion that “the pact remains an embarrassment for those in Putin’s Russia who take pride from the Soviet achievement in the war”. Next to everyone in Russia, Putin’s or not, takes just pride from Russian (Soviet) achievement in the war without a hint of embarrassment. Regardless of how you interpret the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the events after WWII, nothing can diminish the sacrifice that almost 30 million Russians who lost their lives made while fighting to defeat Nazism in Europe along with the British and American allies, and to save millions of same Jews that Figes is talking about from Nazi ovens and gas chambers. I find it next to criminal to put Nazi and Soviet armies in one basket (which Figes does when he talks about “slavery and murder which both the Nazi and the Soviet armies brought”). This suggests that, for example, over a million Russians who held off the Nazis and starved to death in the Blockade of Leningrad, or those Soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Kursk, are reduced to accomplices to Holocaust, rather than being treated as war heroes. This suggestion is sickening.

Questionable high-level political dealings, either by Soviet or other allied governments, should never be used to cast shadow on the achievement of ordinary men and women who fought the Nazism in WWII.

P.S. I’m not a communist, never was and I sure hope never will be. Neither do I sympathize with the Soviets, or deny the many atrocities SU committed. I simly can’t make peace with selective history, double standards, and reflex logic, which too often make way into mainstream media.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Only the evening like honey comes

to stare into the cross-hatch of faces

etched in the grime, the blunderings

of animals caught in the grid.

™      ™      ™      ™

Viewed from the Neva the vaulted

pock-marked wall has a geometry

like a chessboard, while over all

hangs a giant, bitter sulk

™      ™      ™      ™

like smoke that does not fade

with the backwash but rises

to blacken and haunt the river passengers

for years to come in dreams and spectacles of ruin.

™      ™      ™      ™

Now one can recall, too, with comprehension

the early morning figure passing along

the Fontanka canal and over the bridge,

alone, unobserved, but furtive.

™      ™      ™      ™

The tender heart is deceived into thinking

that this city’s scowl can be coaxed away

by a spot of sunshine, that it does not conceal

anything more than weakness and defeat.

™      ™      ™      ™

The truth is altogether harder: the waves

of famine, terror and death

have arrived in scars that ridge

every step to the cemetery.

™      ™      ™      ™

The queues are gone. The smell

remains but there is no smell.

In the cells on three-tier bunks

the teenage thieves fester

™      ™      ™      ™

with one tap for twenty-four inmates,

the hardest on top, like the guards.

Each crime is sweated out in the heat,

a rape, a stolen anorak.

™      ™      ™      ™

And so all the passing birds long

to fly in at the little crosses

bearing pebbles of light

like migrating souls.

™      ™      ™      ™

Everywhere time stops, history yields,

eternity hesitates, while nature

spreads out and endures.

Like honey the evening comes.

Suatu ketika saya pulang dari Amerika belasan jam di dalam pesawat. Di dalam pesawat, saya pun sambil membaca buku berjudul “Agama dan Sains“. Di sebelah saya ada seorang non Muslim, dia mengajak saya berdiskusi, dan kemudian saya iyakan. Dalam diskusi itu, orang non Muslim tersebut menyatakan, bahwa menurutnya Islam kok sepertinya hanya cocok untuk orang-orang yang ada di negara tropis.

Saya tidak marah, tidak tersinggung, namun hanya ingin tahu mengapa dia berkesimpulan bahwa Islam hanya cocok untuk orang-orangg di negara tropis. Dia pun berargumentasi, karena dia melihat bahwa ibadahnya orang Islam itu dikaitkan dengan pergerakan matahari di negara tropis. Shubuh (matahari belum terbit), Dzuhur (matahari tergelincir sedikit), Ashar, Maghrib, Isya, balik lagi ke Shubuh. Menurutnya, itu kan pergerakan matahari tropis. Kalau di Eropa Utara atau New Zealand ke selatan, pergerakan matahari tidak seperti itu (tidak seperti di negara-negara tropis).

Saya manggut-manggut, saya katakan bahwa benar juga yang dia katakan. Karena saya pernah suatu ketika ke Eropa, yaitu ke Belgia. Bahwa di Belgia jam 9 malam matahari belum tenggelam, jam 10 malam matahari barulah tenggelam, dan saya baru Shalat Maghrib jam 10 malam. Kalau kita ke utara lagi ke sebuah negara yg bernama Finlandia, di musim panas matahari terbit (bersinar) terus 23 jam. Jadi malamnya hanya satu jam. Shalat Maghrib, Isya’, dan Shubuh cuma bisa kita lakukan selama 1 jam. Kalau begitu, kapan kita bisa melakukan salat tahajjud?

Ketika saya menulis buku yang berjudul “Tahajud Siang Hari Dzuhur Malam Hari”, saya kontak-kontakan (Email, SMS, dans sebagainya) dengan teman saya yang bekerja di kedutaan Moscow. Teman saya itu bercerita, bahwa ada lagi yang lebih seru, yaitu di utaranya Moscow. Ada kota yang bernama Leningrad (sekarang diganti namanya menjad St. Petersburg). Di kota itu pada musim panas mataharinya tidak tenggelam (terbit ataupun bersinar terus): jam 10 malam terang, jam 11 malam, 12 malam terang, jam 1 pagi ya tetap terang.

Teman saya itu bertanya, kalau begitu di kota itu kapan waktunya kita bisa melakukan Shalat Maghrib dan Isya’? Lebih pusing kalau di Bulan Ramadhan, kapan buka puasanya? Kawan saya itu mengatakan, bahwa menurut “fiqh tropis”, berpuasalah kalian sebelum matahari terbit, dan berbukalah kalian sesudah matahari tenggelam. Tapi ini kan mataharinya tidak tenggelam? Kalau begitu kapan kita Shalat Tahajjud ketika matahari masih terang itu? Ya… salat tahajjudnya waktu terang itu, karena sebetulnya itu adalah malam, namun saja mataharinya masih bersinar.

Pada buku saya yang berjudul “Tahajud Siang Hari Dzuhur Malam Hari” menjawab pertanyaan orang non Muslim tadi, yaitu apakah Islam hanya cocok untuk orang-orang di negara tropis. Saya jawab di buku itu, bahwa Islam tidak hanya cocok untuk orang-orang di negara tropis, melainkan cocok untuk semua manusia di manapun manusia itu berada. Bagaimanakah kemudian seharusnya kita mengatur waktu-waktu ibadah internasional kita, karena selama ini kita lebih berpatokan pada negara-negara tropis. Sehingga teman saya yang bersekolah di Eropa Utara mengatakan, bahwa jangan-jangan orang-orang di Eropa Utara itu tak mau masuk Islam karena takut melaksanakan puasa selama 24 jam. Kalau sudah seperi ini, salah siapakah kemudian?

Namun, pasti di dalam Alquran ada solusinya, dan kemudian saya temukan dan saya tuliskan di dalam buku “Tahajud Siang Hari Dzuhur Malam Hari”. Apalagi bagi Astronot, dia keluar dari bumi kita, dia bisa melihat matahari terus dan takkan melihat malam. Apakah kemudian Islam tidak cocok untuk Astronot? Tentunya tidak, melainkan Islam tetap cocok bagi siapa saja. Di buku-buku yang saya tulis, tentunya saya bukanlah sedang ingin mendangkalkan keimanan, justru saya ingin memberikan suatu sudut pandang baru dari sudut pandang kekinian dan sudut pandang masa depan, yaitu bagaimana seharusnya Islam itu diperkenalkan dan disyi’arkan ke seluruh permukaan bumi. []

(dikutip dari Ceramah Ahad yang disampaikan oleh Ir. H. Agus Mustofa pada tanggal 19 Juli 2009 di Masjid Agung Sunda Kelapa-Jakarta. Transkriptor: Hanafi Mohan)

Sumber tulisan: thenafi.wordpress.com

3.StuG.Brig. 303 Unteroffizier Willy Obeldobel

Mit “Trümmerschutz”, ohne Betonierung

StuG.Brig. 303 Originelle Veränderung

Brigadefuhrer Herbert Gille

1942

t 34 mit deutchen Kuppeln

Captured by the Finns

Russian T 50 tank

T-26 Derevjennove
Destroyed 28.9.1941

Finn. Vickers, T-26E

T-26 m 1931

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Блокада и оборона Ленинграда

Henrich Himmler and former soviet general Andrei Andreevich Vlassov (Chief of Komitet Osvobozhdeniia Narodov Rossii and ROA)

Robert De Niro

 

 

 

 

Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer.

De Niro is well known for his method acting and portrayals of conflicted, troubled characters and for his enduring collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1970s, culminating in his first Academy Award as best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II (1974), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for Raging Bull (1980). His film roles include the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, cabbie Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, mobster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas and Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers.

Trivia:

Growing up in the Little Italy section of New York City, his nickname was “Bobby Milk” because he was so thin and as pale as milk.

Turned down the role of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Was considered for the role of Josh Bakin in Big (1988). Was offered but turned down the role of Sal the pizza shop owner in Do the Right Thing (1989).

Son of painter Virginia Admiral and abstract expressionist Robert De Niro Sr. Despite being raised Presbyterian, Virginia was an atheist for most of Robert’s childhood. Robert Sr was raised Catholic but was not religious in any way. After De Niro was born, his father Robert Sr came out as a homosexual male and eventually divorced Robert’s mother.

He formed his production company, TriBeCa Productions, in 1989.

Raging Bull

In his 1980 Oscar acceptance speech he thanked Joey LaMotta (brother of Jake LaMotta), who was at the time suing United Artists for the portrayal of him in Raging Bull (1980).

After being caught up in a Paris prostitution ring investigation, he, denying any involvement, vowed never to return to France again (1998).

Although he is commonly referred to as an Italian-American actor, De Niro is actually one-quarter Italian in ancestry. His father was half-Irish and half- Italian. His mother was of French, Dutch and German ancestry. He was, however, quite close to his Italian paternal grandfather, whom Robert visited frequently in Syracuse, NY when he was young. De Niro has stated that he identifies “more with [his] Italian side”. Inducted into the Italian-American Hall of Fame in 2002.

He is the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying Vito Corleone. He and Marlon Brando are the only two actors to win an Oscar for playing the same character.

He first discovered his love for acting at age 10 when he portrayed The Cowardly Lion in a local production of “The Wizard of Oz.” He dropped out of high school to join a gang.

Formerly held the World Record for Most Weight Gained for a Movie, in gaining over 60 pounds for his role in Raging Bull (1980). But seven years later, Vincent D’Onofrio eclipsed him in gaining 70 pounds for his role in Full Metal Jacket (1987).

Three movies (at least) that De Niro has appeared in have the song “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones noticeably featured in the soundtrack – - The Fan (1996), Casino (1995) and Goodfellas (1990).

Ranked #78 in Premiere’s 2002 annual Power 100 List.

In 1993 he was tapped to star as Enzo Ferrari in the film “Ferrari”, which was budgeted at $65 million (U.S.) and had Michael Mann attached as director. The project fell through.

He organised the first Tribeca Film Festival in May 2002. He intended to revitalise the Lower Manhattan area after September 11th attacks.

Has said that Meryl Streep is his favorite actress to work with.

He was voted as the best actor of all time at FilmFour.com (2002).

British pop group Bananarama had a hit song dedicated to him called “Robert De Niro’s Waiting.” De Niro heard about it and arranged to meet the three girls, but they got so nervous, while waiting for him, that they got drunk before he even arrived.

Diagnosed with prostate cancer, and expected to make a full recovery (October 2003).

Spent four months learning to speak the Sicilian dialect in order to play Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974). Nearly all the dialogue that his character spoke in the movie was in Sicilian.

When he was a child, he was an avid reader of playwrights.

Taxi Driver

According to a profile in Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue, is the first actor to do a method interpretation of a cartoon character as Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000).

He started the whole “awards show ribbon” tradition by wearing a green ribbon on his lapel at the 1981 Academy Awards. The ribbon was in rememberance of several African-American children who were victims of a serial killer in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980-1981. The ribbon was given to him by a fan in the bleachers as he arrived; the victims’ families had been wearing them for months.

Was in Ossining, New York (home of the infamous Sing Sing penitentiary) to shoot three different movies: Analyze This (1999), Analyze That (2002) and Hide and Seek (2005).

Was voted the Number 2 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll, narrowly being beaten by Al Pacino.

Frankenstein

It was tricky to make him look huge as Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1994) , considering that Kenneth Branagh, who played Dr. Frankenstein, is of similar height. Many of the tricks used to make humans, wizards and elves dwarf the hobbits later on for “Lord of the Rings” trilogy were also employed to make De Niro appear much bigger than his co-stars, including using very large men as body doubles for shots where only the hands and feet are seen.

He was voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Was unable to accept his first Oscar in 1975 due to filming commitments to Bernardo Bertolucci’s Novecento (1976).

Was good friends with comedian John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982. In fact, De Niro and Robin Williams were the last stars to see Belushi alive, albeit on separate visits to Bungalow #3 of L.A.’s Chateau Marmont hotel that fateful day. De Niro visited Belushi at 3:00 am on the morning of his death, but, according to eyewitnesses, left minutes later after seeing that Belushi was ill. Less than an hour earlier, Belushi had been visited by Robin Williams, who also left straight away.

Ranked #1 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Greatest Living Actor (Gods Among Us)” list (October 2004).

At the age of 17, after leaving the movies with a friend, he unexpectedly stated that he was going to be a film actor. No one believed him until he dropped out of his senior year of high school and joined Stella Adler’s acting school.

His boyhood idols among actors included Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum and Marlon Brando. He preferred the darker, more character-driven work of these men to the older stars of Hollywood, for whom their public persona as a star was more important than their immersion into the character.

Rarely does interviews and is known as one of the most ultra-private celebrities. He was the subject of a late 90s interview (and cover photo) for Esquire magazine. Most of the article focused on how guarded he is with his personal life, what few details are known about him, what rumors are speculated while only a minority of the article dealt with the actual interview itself. The writer noted that while the interview was ultimately agreed upon, he was given a substantial list of off-limit subjects NOT to ask De Niro about. They included: politics, religion, his family, his reported interest in fine wines, and so on.

Cape Fear

When they met shortly before making Mean Streets (1973) De Niro and Harvey Keitel became fast friends. De Niro was from Greenwich Village in Manhattan and was taught by Stella Adler and Keitel was from the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn and was mainly mentored by Lee Strasberg. But the two guarded actors bonded and remain close to this day.

He and Martin Scorsese were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young. When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.

Very good friends with fellow actor and frequent co-star Joe Pesci. In fact, De Niro was considered for the role of Harry in Home Alone (1990) that went Pesci.

In October 1997 he ranked #5 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list. In 2005 Premiere Magazine ranked him as #38 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature.

Both of his Oscar-winning performances involved Marlon Brando. His first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor, had him playing the younger version of Brando’s character Vito Corleone. His second, for Best Actor in Raging Bull (1980), he recited Brando’s famous lines from On the Waterfront (1954).

Underwent surgery for prostate cancer at New York’s Sloan-Kettering Hospital in December 2003. The cancer has now gone into remission.

Is left handed. However, he wrote with his right hand in Taxi Driver(1976).

Co-owns the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco with Bay area residents Francis Ford Coppola and Robin Williams. Much of his father’s art work adorns the walls of the business. He also owns a restaurant in West Hollywood, Ago, and co-owns several restaurants in New York, including Nobu and Layla.

Shares a birthday with friend and sometime-co-star Sean Penn.

First performer to win an Oscar (for The Godfather: Part II (1974)) for a performance in a sequel.

His performance as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980) is ranked #10 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

His performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) is ranked #42 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

His performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) is ranked #22 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Early on, before Tim Burton was commissioned as director, was considered for the role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Was offered the part of Dick Tracy in Dick Tracy (1990).

Turned down the role of Tony D’Amato in Any Given Sunday (1999).

Passed up the opportunity to play Frank Costello in The Departed (2006) to work on his second directorial feature The Good Shepherd (2006).

He won an Oscar for playing Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980), making him one of 11 actors to win the Award for playing a real person who was still ‘alive at the evening of the Award ceremony (as of 2007). The other ten actors and their respective performances are: Spencer Tracy for playing Father Edward Flanagan’ in Boys Town (1938), Gary Cooper for playing Alvin C. York in Sergeant York (1941), Patty Duke for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), Jason Robards for playing Benjamin C. Bradlee in All the President’s Men (1976), Sissy Spacek for playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), Susan Sarandon for playing Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (1995), Geoffrey Rush for playing ‘David Helfgott’ in Shine (1996), Julia Roberts for playing Erin Brockovich-Ellis in Erin Brockovich (2000), Jim Broadbent for playing John Bayley in Iris (2001/I) and most recently Helen Mirren for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006).

After Once Upon a Time in America (1984), director Sergio Leone planning to cast De Niro in a film he was working on about the siege of Leningrad in World War II, but that project never came about due to Leone’s death in 1989.

For the role of Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991), he paid a dentist $5,000 to make his teeth look suitably bad. After filming, he paid $20,000 to have them fixed. For this film, he was tattooed with vegetable dyes, which faded after a few months.

Accidentally broke a rib of Joe Pesci in a sparring scene in Raging Bull (1980). This shot appears in the film: De Niro hits Pesci in the side, Pesci groans, and there is a quick cut to another angle.

Mentioned in “Wierd Al” Yankovic’s song ‘Frank’s 2000″ TV’.

Owns residences on the east and west sides of Manhattan as well as near Marbletown, New York.

Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.

Played a real life CIA director in “The Good Shepherd” (2006) and another real life CIA agent in “Ronin” (1998), as well as fictional CIA agent in “Meet the Parents” (2000).

Made his directorial debut in A Bronx Tale (1993).

As of the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), De Niro is the most represented actor, by 14 films. Included are the De Niro films Mean Streets (1973), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Novecento (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Brazil (1985), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), Heat (1995) and Meet the Parents (2000).

He based the movement of his character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) on that of a crab. He thought the character was indirect and tended to shift from side to side.

There are some similarities between Moscow and St. Petersburg. They’re both bustling cities with an impressive history and they both lack a sufficient amount of bathrooms for public use. However, St. Petersburg’s never ending selection of cafes allows any traveler more bathroom options. As in Moscow, the bathrooms often play trance music and you have to pay to use them. St. Petersburg is a city on a much smaller scale, unlike Moscow which developed in rings around the Kremlin beginning in the 1150’s. St. Petersburg is on a grid that runs along the many canals of the Neva River. Like the famous Novinsky Boulevard located in the Stariy Arbat neighborhood, Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg is lined with shops and cafes, mostly aimed at tourists.

Sachen gibt es…

Ich sprach im Text “Warum ich Aliya machte” über ein einmaliges Erlebnis, bezüglich der Religion, in Russland.

Hier nun die Geschichte dazu!

Das einzige Mal das während meiner Dienstzeit in der und soldatischen Ausbildung in der NVA meine Religion wirklich eine Rolle spielte, oder auch nur zur Sprache kam, war in Russland.

Es begab sich, dass ich während des Besuches der Militärakademie in den späten 70ern dort, eines Tages in die Kommandantur bestellt wurde und dort unerwartet einen Urlaubs- und Passierschein erhielt. Mein fragender Blick, wurde mit den den Worten “Wegen dem Feiertag” beantwortet.

Das verstand ich zwar erstmal nicht und dachte irgendwie was gut gemacht zu haben und es wäre ein russischer Feiertag und so, was erklärte warum ich mit 2 russischen Kameraden zusammen los ziehen durfte – aber wie das so ist, wenn man beim Militär frei kriegt, man fragt besser nicht lange!

Ich machte mich also am nächsten Morgen zeitig fertig, frühstückte und wartete der Dinge die da kommen mögen. Das Telefon klingelte und der Diensthabende teilte mir mit, das ein Fahrzeug auf dem Hof warten würde – ich nahm also meine Tasche und meine Schirmmütze und ging hinunter.

Dort wurde ich von einem russischen Sergeanten begrüßt, der mich bat ihm zu folgen. Am UAZ standen bereits 2 Offiziere der sowjetischen Armee – wir begrüßten uns soldatisch, stellten einander kurz vor, dann ging die Fahrt los. Beim verlassen der Kaserne wurden unsere Urlaubsscheine genaustens inspiziert, aber das war nichts Ungewöhnliches.

Da wir uns nicht kannten, aber die nächsten 2 Tage gemeinsam unterwegs waren, musterten wir uns ausgiebig und versuchten ein wenig Konversation zu treiben. Es stellte sich heraus, das abgesehen von dem Fahrer wohl nur wir 3. aus unserer Kaserne auf diesem Ausflug waren. Ein junger russische Leutnant, ein schon etwas älterer Hauptmann und ich. Naja was solls – dachte ich – könnte schlimmer sein!

Nach knapp 90 Minuten erreichten wir unser Ziel und wurden an der großen Choral Synagoge in Leningrad (heute wieder St.Petersburg) abgesetzt.

Wir waren relativ zeitig unterwegs und ich glaubte immer noch an eine der üblichen Kulturtouren, bevor es dann zum Konsum diverser “cto gramm Wodka”, gemeinsam mit russischen Spezialitäten ging.

Weit gefehlt! Ich hätte kaum falscher liegen können…

Wir betraten also das Gotteshaus, wurden begrüßt, man wechselte einige Worte und wir warteten. Nach kurzer Zeit teilten mir die zwei Russen mit, das sie kurz weggehen würden, ich mir aber keine Sorgen machen solle, sie wollten sich nur schnell zurechtmachen und wären gleich wieder hier und ob ich mich nicht auch vorbereiten wolle – ich prüfte kurz meine Uniform und meine Rasur und fand, das dafür kein Bedarf bestand und teilte ihnen dies mit. Sie zuckten mit den Schultern und griffen zu ihren Taschen.

Dies machte mich ein wenig sehr nervös und ich teilte ihnen mit, dass ich nicht unbedingt erfreut wäre, wenn sie jetzt irgendwie, für die Zeit ihres Urlaubes zu irgendwelchen Frauen abhauen würden und ich hier gleich allein rumstehen würde…Um mich zu beruhigen, ließ mir einer von ihnen seine Papiere da, und sie versprachen hoch und heilig, dass sie das nicht tun würden und wirklich gleich wieder da wären.

Mit den Ausgangspapieren des einen in der Hand war ich beruhigt und auch sicher, dass zumindest er sehr bald zurück kommen würde und ich nicht plötzlich ganz allein da stand und auf eigene Faust zurück zum Stützpunkt finden musste, oder schlimmer – wegen Erregung von Verdachtsmomenten festgenommen werden würde.

Während ich also wartete, begann die Synagoge sich langsam zu füllen und als die beiden umgezogen und mit Kippa zurückkamen, realisierte ich langsam was hier wirklich Sache war…ich fühlte mich plötzlich wie auf einem fremden Planeten! Nicht nur das mir urplötzlich klar wurde, dass ich völlig unvorbereitet an Yom-Kippur in einer sehr vollen orthodoxen Synagoge war – NEIN! Ich – ein junger deutscher Offizier, in Ausgehuniform – stand in einer orthodoxen Synagoge in Leningrad – an Yom-Kippur!

Ich erwischte mich, wie ich wirklich überlegte, ob wir nicht irgendwo unterwegs angehalten hatten, um was zu Bechern und uns diesmal Methanol serviert worden war und ich nun einfach Halluzinationen hatte.

Nur dem war aber nicht so! Das war alles nur zu real!

Hab ich erwähnt das ich in deutscher Uniform dort war?

Da das auffiel und einige anfingen zu tuscheln, kam der Geistliche der uns begrüßt hatte zu uns, wechselte mit dem älteren Russen einige Sätze und sah dabei ununterbrochen in meine Richtung. Nachdem kurzen Gespräch kam er zu mir herüber, fragte nach meinem Namen und ob ich mich vielleicht verirrt hätte, dabei musterte er mich streng.

Ich stellte mich vor, er musterte mich noch viel strenger als bisher schon und sagte dann, dass ich in dem Fall ja Bescheid wisse und keine Probleme haben sollte, dem Gottesdienst zu Folgen (Cohen ist der biblische Name von Angehörigen einer Gruppierung mit ursprünglich priesterlichen Funktionen im Judentum Anm.d.Verf.), und fragte mich noch, ob ich so bleiben wolle. Ich erklärte ihm, dass ich mir nicht sicher sei, ob ich das könne, meine Kenntnisse eher rudimentär wären, ich keine andere Kleidung dabei hätte, von der Situation insgesamt sehr überrascht wäre und vielleicht doch besser gehen sollte.

Diesmal grinste er und antwortete mir nun auf jiddisch, das das alles kein Problem sei, er sich sehr freue und mich in diesem Fall, und ganz besonders an Yom-Kippur, bestimmt nicht einfach gehen lassen würde – auch das mit der Kopfbedeckung würde sich gleich finden…

Und obwohl ich die ganze Zeit über einfach nur im Boden versinken wollte, nickte ich nur kurz und zack war eine Kopfbedeckung da, er gab sie mir, ich setzte sie auf, er sprach einen kurzen Segensspruch und das Getuschel verstummte. Dann deutete er mir, ihm zu folgen und wies mir ganz vorn einen Platz zu.

Kurz darauf begann man dann.

Was an dem Tag alles gesagt wurde weiß ich nicht, den ich verstand nicht alles – aber Fakt ist, dass auch kurz über mich und Deutschland an diesem Versöhnungstag geredet wurde.

Insgesamt ein echt paradox-orthodoxes Erlebnis, das ich nie vergessen werde!