Category Archive 'Elizabeth Taylor'

03 Jan 2018

Human Eye Colors Explained

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Paul Van Slembrouck:

Did you think that blue eyes are blue because they contain blue pigmented cells? Did you think that green eyes are green for the same reason?

Think again.

That colorful circle around your pupil is the iris. The iris is made up of two layers of cells: the front layer is known as the stroma, and the back layer is known as the epithelium.

The epithelium is a layer with a thickness of two cells and containing dark black-brown pigments. The little specks and strings of black you see in the iris? — that’s the epithelium.

The stroma is made up of colorless collagen fibers. The stroma only occasionally contains brown melanin pigmentation. Sometimes the stroma is totally clear, containing no melanin. …

To everyone curious about Elizabeth Taylor’s mythical violet eyes, the short answer is that — as far as I know — she had grey-blue eyes that could be coaxed into appearing violet with the appropriate lighting or makeup and attire.

RTWT

12 Dec 2011

Christie’s to Sell “La Peregrina” Pearl

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La Peregrina 16th century natural pearl; diamond bail early 19th century; natural pearl, diamond, ruby and cultured pearl necklace by Cartier 1972, formerly the property of Phillip II of Spain and his Spanish successors 1500s-1808, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Tomorrow night, at Rockefeller Center, Christie’s will be selling as the 12th lot of the Collection of Legendary Jewels Belonging to Elizabeth Taylor, the “La Peregrina” Pearl, one of the oldest and best-documented historical jewels.

La Peregrina, possibly the most valuable pearl in the world and certainly one of the absolutely largest (more than 50 carats) natural pear-shaped pearls ever recorded, was found near the island of Santa Margarita in the Gulf of Panama by an African slave sometime in the early to mid-16th century.

The story is that the pearl came from an oyster so small that its finder nearly did not bother to open it.

The Governor of Panama, Don Pedro de Temez, acquired the treasure and rewarded the slave with his freedom for finding it.

Temez presented the enormous pearl to King Phillip II of Spain who gave it to Mary I of England at the time of their marriage in 1554, but it returned to the possession of the Spanish crown after her death in 1558. It was one of the favorite and best-known pieces of the Spanish crown jewels, and is visible in portrait after portrait of Queen Consorts.

After Richard Burton bought it for $37,000 at a Sotheby’s sale and presented it to Taylor as a Valentine’s Day present, it fell into the jaws of one of the actress’s Lhasa Apsos. 2:33 video

The probable sales price, despite the economic times, will confirm just what a good investment Burton made.

Hans Eworth, Mary I of England, 1554, National Portrait Gallery.

Unknown artist, Mary I, National Portrait Gallery.

Diego Velázquez, Retrato ecuestre de Isabel de Borbón, 1635-1636, Prado Museum.


Elizabeth Taylor wore “La Peregrina” in an uncredited cameo appearance in “Anne of a Thousand Days” (1969).

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UPDATE, 12/14: La Peregrina sold for the world record price of $11,842,500. Yahoo News

03 Apr 2011

Sunday Olla Podrida

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University of York finds a surprisingly intact brain in Iron Age skull discovered during excavation for campus extension. Its original owner appears to have been sacrificed. Additional link Still more.

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Nude photo of 24-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, taken by Roddy McDowell, found in private collection.

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Nice wall tentacle, but $1100 is much too high a price.

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New search underway for missing Amber Room.

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British newspaper reports on Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) assault on 33 US states.

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Something on the order of 70 ancient lead codices were apparently discovered around five years ago in a cave in Jordan.

24 Mar 2011

Elizabeth Taylor, February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011

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I’m a cinemaphile, and I cannot even identify the film that the above photo represents. I found few of her movies very interesting, and Elizabeth Taylor was never a fantasy girlfriend of mine. Her feminine personae were too old-fashioned and conventional, too guilty, and too campy. She always seemed to me to play roles embodying the notions about sexuality of my parent’s generation. I never even thought she could act particularly well until I saw her amazing performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her performance as Martha permanently changed my mind about her skills and abilities.

Her passing has clearly, however, provoked a deep response and many writers are pausing to contemplate her career and cultural significance.

Camille Paglia argues that Elizabeth Taylor was not only a better actress than Meryl Streep, that she was a “pagan goddess” who wielded “the world-disordering” sexual power of the eternal femme fatale. Quite a tribute.

Elizabeth Taylor’s importance as an actress was that she represented a kind of womanliness that is now completely impossible to find on the U.S. or U.K. screen. It was rooted in hormonal reality — the vitality of nature. She was single-handedly a living rebuke to postmodernism and post-structuralism, which maintain that gender is merely a social construct.

26 little-known facts about Elizabeth Taylor

How good looking was Elizabeth Taylor? Buzzfeed supplies 100 photographs so you can judge for yourself.


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