Featured content
Puppets, fungi, and waterfalls
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 3 to 9 May.
Featured articles
Three featured articles were promoted this week.
- Jarrow March (nominated by Brianboulton) Nominator Brianboulton says, "There was nothing revolutionary about the 1936 Jarrow march; it was the polite, constitutional action of a town brought to destitution by 1930s economic policies. They came to London, presented their case, were fobbed off with tea and sympathy, and quietly went home. Yet the march became one of the defining images of the decade, and greatly influenced post-war policies towards full employment—at least until the 1980s. But that's another tale."
- Bill Denny (Australian politician) (nominated by Peacemaker67) Denny, hailing from South Australia, was a politician and soldier in World War I. Elected for a short time in the early 1900s, Denny was defeated in 1905 but returned to politics in 1906. He remained in his seat during the war, when he enlisted in the army and served at Gallipoli and in Belgium. Wounded in the latter, he finished the war as a captain. He was subsequently the attorney general in several governments but was thrown out, along with the rest of the cabinet, of the Labor Party for supporting the Premiers' Plan. He died in 1946.
- Russulaceae (nominated by Tylototriton) This fungus family of "considerable ecological importance," according to Tylotriton,"because they are one of the major groups of ectomycorrhizal fungi worldwide, and thus are significant for plant nutrition and mineral cycling. The reason they are well-known in the mushroom community is not this, however, but their diversity, the often bright colours, and easy identification." Many members of the family form symbiotic relationships with trees and plants, exchanging minerals essential for the tree's nutrition with sugars made through photosynthesis.
Featured lists
7 featured lists were promoted this week.
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- List of accolades received by Queen (film) (nominated by Krimuk90) Queen is a 2014 comedy-drama made in India. It grossed approximately $15 million on a $2 million budget—a remarkable profit margin—and went on to receive more Filmfare Awards than any other movie, more Screen Award nominations than anyone else, and won the best film/director/actress gauntlet at the Stardust Awards. More accolades are still pending.
- List of Sesame Street Muppets (nominated by Christine) This list of the world-famous Muppets went through a contentious nomination because it is incomplete; as nominator Christine says, "if no [reliable sources] were found for any aspect of any character, it wasn't included. [Original research] was also excluded. The result is that not every Muppet character that's appeared on Sesame Street is listed here." Details like appearances were left out if there was no sourcing. A major problem encountered by Christine was that required records and images are tightly held under copyright by the Sesame Workshop.
- Gene Roddenberry filmography (nominated by Miyagawa) People around the globe have seen and love Roddenberry's most famous work, Star Trek. His vision of a clean, outward-looking future paired with a do-no-evil approach has influenced countless numbers of those who followed. Today, Star Trek is frequently set off against Star Wars, whose vision of a dirty and used universe has had similar effects on science fiction. Roddenberry's films are almost exclusively from the Star Trek universe, but his television work is more varied; he wrote episodes for several different television series in the 1950s and 60s, and was the creator and/or producer in several space-set shows later in his life and even after his death.
- List of awards and nominations received by Lorde (nominated by HĐ) Lorde is a New Zealand singer and songwriter of the hit "Royals" is perhaps best known for her contributions to music for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. This was the list's third attempt at the FLC process, and the third time proved to be a charm. On 18 May, the Lorde topic became a featured topic as well.
- Gerard Butler filmography (nominated by Lady Lotus) Gerard Butler is a film and television actor whose career has included roles ranging from Beowulf to Erik in the Phantom of the Opera. Lady Lotus shepherded this article through the FLC process with relative ease and lack of opposition after she put in some significant work, especially on referencing.
- PCA Player of the Year (nominated by Harrias) Awarded to the best player in English county cricket as voted by his peers, the PCA Player of the Year was first awarded in 1970. The recipient receives the Reg Hayter Cup.
- Academy Award for Best Actress (nominated by Birdienest81) Among the most prestigious of awards at the annual Oscars ceremony, the Academy Award for the Best Actress has been given to 73 different actresses, most recently to Julianne Moore for her role in Still Alice.
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Kate Winslet -
Stan the man -
I've lost me kite up this tree
Featured pictures
Seven featured pictures were promoted this week.
- Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki (created by Jacques-Louis David, nominated by Crisco 1492) This is Count Stanisław Kostka Potocki, riding his horse without due care and attention round the streets of Rome in 1781. A Dalmatian coach hound is barking furiously, trying to stop the Count from riding full-pelt into the path of a speeding coach. But it's no use- the Polish dandy's spotted a lady friend across the street and raises his hat in greeting. This ten-foot-high painting by the noted French artist David was commissioned when painter and poser met in Rome; David had gone there because "only in Rome can I paint Romans." He'd been commissioned by the French government to paint Horace. Potocki had the artwork dispatched back to Poland, but it wasn't till 1799 that he moved into a palace with high enough ceilings to display it. Stolen by the Nazis and then recovered by the Soviets, it was returned to Poland in 1956 and is now back in the palace.
- Curug Cipendok(created and nominated by Crisco 1492) A view by Crisco 1492 of the waterfall Curug Cipendok in Central Java. At a height of 92 metres, the waterfall is among the highest in Java; the pool at the base is 25 metres deep. The surrounding area is a mix of tropical forest and celery plantations through which an access road has been built to allow tourists to visit, to camp and to go swimming in the pool. The entrance fee includes accident insurance; you have an accident, you get free celery for life.
- Metallic Skink (created by JJ Harrison, nominated by Tomer T) O silvery skink, how slinky are you! JJ Harrison took this photo in Austins Ferry, Tasmania- the metallic skink is endemic to Tasmania and southern Victoria. The base colour can vary considerably, and there is a striped form, as well as regional variations in glossiness and body shape. The metallic sheen is produced by structural coloration- thin semi-transparent layers reflect light in different directions, causing interference patterns.
- Dining hall of Keble College (created and nominated by Diliff) Keble College, Oxford opened in 1870; its polychromatic Gothic-style buildings were regarded in the town as the ugliest buildings in the world. This stunning photograph by David Iliff shows the belly of the beast- the dining hall with its refectory tables and benches.
- Wendell Phillips (created by Mathew Brady, restored and nominated by Yann) Wendell Phillips was an American graduate of Harvard Law School. In 1835, he witnessed the attempted lynching of William Lloyd Garrison, a newspaper editor from Phillips' home town of Boston. Garrison had volunteered to speak at an anti-slavery meeting; he was rescued at the last minute from a pro-slavery mob who had placed a noose round his neck. Garrison inspired Phillips to campaign for abolition, and he abandoned law to devote himself to speaking and campaigning as a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. This daguerreotype by the famous photographer Mathew Brady has been expertly restored by Yann.
- A stage performance of Don Quixote (created by The Photographer , nominated by Crisco 1492) A scene from a Russian ballet, based on a Spaniard's translation of an Arabic novel, in which a man with a basin on his head attacks a windmill. This colourful photograph by The Photographer was taken at a performance of the ballet staged in Caracas, Venezuela in 2013.
- The Day Dream (created by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, co-nominated by Sagaciousphil and Hafspajen) Painted by the kind of man who could write a poem about the "embowered throstle" and expect you to take him seriously, The Day Dream is a slab of viridian and chrome green depicting Jane Morris perched in a sycamore tree. Why? Well they were young, and laudanum was legal.
Discuss this story
I know you were going for humor, and I did laugh, but the caption for Kevin Clash's image is in really bad taste. And Elmo doesn't hate public domain; the Sesame Workshop is just ultra-protective of their trademarks, and for good reason. They're a non-profit, it's really easy for outside parties to take advantage of their images and characters, something that the WP community should understand and respect. Christine (Figureskatingfan) (talk) 03:29, 21 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Correction
Thanks for this: "The Signpost 's congratulations go to Krimuk90 on his first featured list! " But List of accolades received by Queen (film) is not my first featured list, but my 12th. :) --Krimuk|90 (talk) 07:19, 21 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]