Rare Photographs of Marilyn Monroe Go on Display in London
Two legendary celebrity photographers are united in their mutual affinity for Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", an exhibition showing at The Little Black Gallery in London from today until 27 February. The exhibit showcases some of the most iconic photos of Monroe, from Kirkland's 1961 series In Bed with Marilyn, featuring evocative images of the actress wrapped in a sheet, to Greene's Ballerina Awaiting Her Cue
Two legendary celebrity photographers are united in their mutual affinity for Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", an exhibition showing at The Little Black Gallery in London from today until 27 February. The exhibit showcases some of the most iconic photos of Monroe, from Kirkland's 1961 series In Bed with Marilyn, featuring evocative images of the actress wrapped in a sheet, to Greene's Ballerina Awaiting Her Cue
Suicide Squad is arguably one of 2016's most anticipated films. The story follows DC Comics' most notorious villains, including The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith) and Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), as they embark on a clandestine mission that will most certainly kill them.
With more stars than you can hope to count, the film also features Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman and Scott Eastwood, while Ben Affleck and Jessie Eisenberg are rumoured to be making cameos as Batman and Lex Luthor, respectively.
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Last night, Warner Bros. premiered the first full-length trailer for the film. It calls on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody to highlight the insanity wrought by the "worst heroes ever."
Suicide Squad hits cinemas on 5 August, 2016.
For a quick refresh, watch the teaser trailer and peruse the full cast list below:
Isis has destroyed Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, satellite images confirm
St Elijah’s monastery in Mosul, which stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, is thought to have been razed between August and September 2014
A 2010 Catholic Easter service held at the monastery for US soldiers. Photograph: Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika/AP
New satellite photos confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to rubble, yet another victim of Islamic State’s relentless destruction of heritage sites it considers heretical.
St Elijah’s monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, including most recently for US troops. In earlier millennia, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches, prayed in the chapel and worshipped at the altar. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the entrance.
This month, a high resolution camera was used to capture images of the site, which were compared with earlier photographs of the same spot.
This combination of two satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe shows the site of the 1,400-year-old Christian monastery. Photograph: AP
Before it was razed, a partially restored, 27,000-sqft stone and mortar building stood fortress-like on a hill above Mosul. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. A month later photos show “the stone walls have been literally pulverised”, said imagery analyst Stephen Wood, chief executive of Allsource Analysis, who pinpointed the destruction between August and September 2014.
“Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of grey-white dust. They destroyed it completely,” he said.
In Irbil, Iraq, Catholic priest Father Paul Thabit Habib, 39, was shocked by the images. “Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled,” he said. “We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.
A 1920s photo shows a ceremony at the monastery, where a Christian community thrived for centuries. Photograph: Otrakji family collection/AP Isis, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians in the past two years. During that time, its fighters destroyed whatever they considered contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
St Elijah’s joins a growing list of more than 100 religious and historic sites looted and destroyed, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches. Ancient monuments in the cities of Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra lie in ruins. Museums and libraries have been pillaged, books burned, artwork crushed or trafficked.
US troops and advisers had previously worked to protect the monastery.
“I would imagine that many people are feeling like: ‘What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?’” said US army reserve Col Mary Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and 2009.
US service members during a sunrise Easter Mass at St Elijah’s Monastery in March 2005. Photograph: Mary Prophit/AP
St Elijah’s was built in 590. In 1743, up to 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred by a Persian general. In 2003 St Elijah’s shudderedas a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the cistern.
The US army’s 101st Airborne Division took control, painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division’s “Screaming Eagle”, on the walls. Then a US military chaplain, recognising its significance, began a preservation initiative.
Jeffrey Whorton, a Roman Catholic army chaplain who celebrated mass at the monastery’s altar, was grief-stricken at its loss. “Why we treat each other like this is beyond me,” he said. “Elijah the prophet must be weeping".
