Vitruvius

Vitruvius

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born ca. 80/70 BC?; died ca. 25 BC) was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC.


@ Owing to this favor I need to have no fear of want to the end of my life, and being thus laid under obligation I began to write this work for you, because I saw that you have built and are now building extensively, and that in future also you will take care that our public and private buildings shall be worthy to go down to posterity by the side of your other splendid achievements. [Preface, Sec. 3 (dedication to Imperator Caesar)]


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vitruvius

Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)



Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)

Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character, the protagonist of the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Shelley. He is a scientist who, after studying chemical processes and the decay of living beings, gains an insight into the creation of life and gives life to his own creature (often referred to as Frankenstein's monster, or incorrectly as Frankenstein).

Film

Victor Frankenstein's first unofficial appearance on screen was in a 1910 film (produced by Thomas Edison) in which he seemed more a magician.

The character's first significant film appearance was in Universal Pictures' 1931 film adaptation, directed by James Whale. Here, the character is renamed Henry Frankenstein (a later film shows his tombstone bearing the name "Heinrich") and is played by British actor Colin Clive opposite Boris Karloff as the Creature. Clive reprised his role in the 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, which reunited Clive, Whale and Karloff, as well as first giving Frankenstein the official title of Baron. Although not present in the following sequels due to Clive's death in 1937, Henry made a cameo appearance in 1939's Son of Frankenstein, as an oil painting in the Frankenstein family library, and was the title character, in spite of having only a cameo, in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). It is in these films that the character became known as "Dr. Frankenstein," as the novel's character never finished his education.


Quotes·Quotations by Victor Frankenstein

Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein from Frankenstein (1931)

¶ Look! It's moving. It's sha — it's... it's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive! It's alive, it's alive, it's alive! It's ALIVE!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Frankenstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Clive

Vito Corleone (The Godfather)


Vito Corleone (The Godfather)

Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character and the main character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II. Premiere Magazine listed Vito Corleone as the greatest movie character in history. He was also selected as the 10th greatest movie character by Empire Magazine.


Quotes·Quotation by Vito Corleone

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather

¶ I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Vito_Corleone

Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a Latin poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became the Roman Empire's national epic.


@ Sub tegmine fagi.
In the shade of a beech tree. [Eclogues (37 BC) Book I, line 1]

@ Parvis componere magna.
To compare great things with small. [Eclogues (37 BC) Book I, line 23]


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virgil

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Adeline Virginia Woolf (/ˈwʊlf/; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer, and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf

Virgil Tibbs (In the Heat of the Night)


Virgil Tibbs from In the Heat of the Night

Virgil Tibbs is a fictional character who is one of the two leading male characters in John Ball's 1965 novel In the Heat of the Night. He is also the protagonist in six sequels to that novel, the Oscar-winning 1967 film of the same name based on the original novel, the sequel films They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and The Organization (1971), and the subsequent 1988-1995 television series derived from the film.


Quotes·Quotation by Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs from In the Heat of the Night (1967)

¶ They call me Mister Tibbs!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Tibbs

Peter De Vries

Peter De Vries


Quotes·Quotations by Peter De Vries

Religion·Faith



@ It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)


Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔχ]; 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness,[1][2] he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).[3][note 2] His work was then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still.

Van Gogh began to draw as a child, and he continued to draw throughout the years that led up to his decision to become an artist. He did not begin painting until his late twenties, completing many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.

Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The Hague, London and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium where he began to sketch people from the local community. In 1885, he painted his first major work The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of France and was influenced by the strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888.

The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been a subject of speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his bouts of illness. According to art critic Robert Hughes, van Gogh's late works show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision and grace".[4]


Quotes·Quotations by Vincent van Gogh

Appearance

¶ I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.

@ One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. Passersby see only a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way.

***

@ If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done. [The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to his Brother, 1872-1886 (1927) Constable & Co]

@ Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it. [As quoted in The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, Vol. 2 (1958) New York Graphic Society, p. 12]


Footnotes

[1]^ The pronunciation of "Van Gogh" varies in both English and Dutch. Especially in British English it is /ˌvæn ˈɡɒx/ van-gokh or sometimes /ˌvæn ˈɡɒf/ van-gof. U.S. dictionaries list /ˌvæn ˈɡoʊ/ van-goh, with a silent gh, as the most common pronunciation. In the dialect of Holland, it is [ˈvɪnsɛnt fɑŋˈxɔx], with a voiceless V. Van Gogh grew up in Brabant (although his parents were not born there), and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: [vɑɲˈʝɔç], with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is [vɑ̃ ɡɔɡə]
[2]^ A biography published in 2011 contends that van Gogh did not kill himself. The authors claim that he was shot by two boys he knew, who had a "malfunctioning gun". See Vincent van Gogh's death. [|Gompertz, Will] (17 October 2011). "Van Gogh did not kill himself, authors claim". BBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
[3]^ It has been suggested that being given the same name as his dead elder brother might have had a deep psychological impact on the young artist, and that elements of his art, such as the portrayal of pairs of male figures, can be traced back to this. See Lubin (1972), 82–4
[4]^ "...he would not eat meat, only a little morsel on Sundays, and then only after being urged by our landlady for a long time. Four potatoes with a suspicion of gravy and a mouthful of vegetables constituted his whole dinner"—from a letter to Frederik van Eeden, to help him with preparation for his article on Van Gogh in De Nieuwe Gids, Issue 1, December 1890. Quoted in Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait; Letters Revealing His Life as a Painter. W. H. Auden, New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, CT. 1961. 37–9


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_Self-Portrait_with_Straw_Hat_1887-Metropolitan.jpg

Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman (1990)


Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman (1990)

Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward, a beautiful, kind-hearted prostitute on Hollywood Boulevard, who is independent and assertive—refusing to have a pimp and fiercely reserving the right to choose her customers and what she would do and not do when with them. She runs into Edward, a wealthy businessman, when he asks her for directions to Beverly Hills. Edward hires Vivian for the night and offers her $3,000 to spend the week as his escort to business social engagements.


Quotes·Quotations by Vivian Ward

Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman (1990)

¶ The bad things are easier to believe. Haven't you noticed that?!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Woman

Vietnam and Vietnamese people

Vietnam and Vietnamese people

Vietnam

Vietnam (i/ˌviːətˈnɑːm/, /viˌɛt-/, /-ˈnæm/, /ˌvjɛt-/;[7] Vietnamese pronunciation: [viət˨ naːm˧]) officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.3 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.[8] Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976.

The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

Vietnam was then unified under a Communist government, but was politically isolated and impoverished. In 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms, which began Vietnam's path towards integration into the world economy.[9] By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Vietnam's economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000,[9] and in 2011 it had the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies.[10] Its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. However, the country still suffers from relatively high levels of income inequality, disparities in healthcare provision, and poor gender equality.[11][12][13][14][15]


Vietnamese people

The Vietnamese people (Vietnamese: người Việt or người Kinh)[needs IPA] are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam. The earliest recorded name for the ancient Vietnamese people appears as "Lạc".

Although geographically and linguistically labeled as Southeast Asians, long periods of Chinese domination and influence have placed the Vietnamese culturally closer to East Asians, or more specifically their immediate northern neighbours, the Southern Chinese and other tribes within the South China. The word Việt is shortened from Bách Việt, a name used in ancient times. Nam means "south".

If regarded as a single ethnic group, the Vietnamese constitute one of the world's largest with 77 million people.[25]


Vietnamese proverb

@ Ác giả, ác báo.
Equivalent: What you reap is what you sow.


References

Vietnam

[1]^ a b Robbers, Gerhard (30 January 2007). Encyclopedia of world constitutions. Infobase Publishing. p. 1021. ISBN 978-0-8160-6078-8. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
[2]^ a b c Vietnam - Geography. Index Mundi. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
[3]^ a b c d e f g "Vietnam". International Monetary Fund. October 2012 data. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
[4]^ "Gini Index". World Bank. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
[5]^ "Human Development Report 2010. Human development index trends: Table G". The United Nations. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
[6]^ "Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Travelsradiate.com. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
[7]^ Vietnam. Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
[8]^ The South China Sea is referred to in Vietnam as the East Sea (Biển Đông).
[9]^ a b "Vietnam's new-look economy". BBC News. 18 October 2004.
[10]^ Weisenthal, Joe (22 February 2011). "3G Countries". Businessinsider.com. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
[11]^ "Vietnam Inequality Report". Mekong Economics. 2005. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
[12]^ "Distribution of Family Income – Gini Index". CIA World Factbook, 2008 data. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
[13]^ a b "ScienceDirect – Journal of Econometrics: On decomposing the causes of health sector inequalities with an application to malnutrition inequalities in Vietnam". Sciencedirect.com. 12 September 2002. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
[14]^ a b Goodkind, D. (1995). "Rising Gender Inequality in Vietnam Since Reunification". Pacific Affairs 68 (3): 342–359. doi:10.2307/2761129. edit
[15]^ a b Gallup, John Luke (2002). "The wage labor market and inequality in Viet Nam in the 1990s". Ideas.repec.org. Retrieved 7 November 2010.

Vietnamese people

[25]^ "CIA World Factbook". May 8th, 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vietnamese_proverbs

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)


Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Victor-Marie Hugo (French pronunciation: [viktɔʁ maʁi yɡo]) (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France.

In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (also known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).

Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon.


Quotes·Quotation

To love another person is to see the face of God. [Love, Lyric from Les Miserables]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Miserables

Victor Borge (1909-2000)


Victor Borge (1909-2000)

Victor Borge ( /ˈbɔrɡə/ bor-gə; 3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark, The Unmelancholy Dane, and The Great Dane.


Quotes·Quotation

Emotions

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Borge

Sid Vicious (1957-1979)


Sid Vicious (1957-1979)

Sid Vicious, born John Simon Ritchie, later named John Beverley (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), was an English bass guitarist and vocalist, most famous as a member of the influential punk group the Sex Pistols, and notorious for his arrest for the murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen.


Quotes·Quotations by Sid Vicious

Appearance

¶ The band broke up because I couldn't bear Rotten anymore because he was an embarrassment with his silly hats and his, like, shabby, dirty, nasty looking appearance.

Self-confidence

¶ I just cash in on the fact that I'm good looking, and I've got a nice figure and girls like me.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vicious.jpg