Tag: Nazis

May272008 by Chris Holmes3 Comments
Movie Review: The Great Escape

Movie Review: The Great Escape

Movies
Due to time constraints I wasn't able to enjoy yet another Band of Brothers marathon over the Memorial Day weekend. But all was not lost as I finally got to catch a viewing of The Great Escape, which I had never seen before. And I'm pleased to say that for the most part, the film's reputation as a classic is well-earned. The basic premise of the movie is thus: It's World War II and the German High Command, tired of dealing with the expense and effort involved with keeping some of their most escape-prone POWs imprisoned, has designed a newer and supposedly better prison camp (Stalag Luft III) where it sends the craftiest Allied prisoners. Seems like a swell idea on paper, but what it effectively did was to help the smartest and most resourceful POWs pool their resources and concoct an ev...
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Jun82007 by Chris Holmes7 Comments
Posters of the WPA

Posters of the WPA

Ephemera
Back in the day (1935 to be precise), President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an enormous government program aimed at providing employment for millions of Americans affected by the Great Depression. The legacy of the WPA is a host of public works (bridges, roads, etc.) and cultural projects. That's all well and good obviously, but what I really care about are the cool posters designed to promote many of the WPA's programs. All of these images and hundreds more are available as part of the Library of Congress's "Posters of the WPA" collection. I've simply picked what I feel are some of the most visually appealing and added my usual pithy commentary. As you'll see, these great images are very much of their time and most display an Art Deco sensibili...
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