"ANGELES Y DEMONIOS"-ACELERADOR DE PARTICULAS-DAN BROWN ES ARGENTINO - FORO LIBREPENSADOR SIN CENSURA

Based on Dan “DaVinci Code” Brown’s bestselling novel of the same name, Angels & Demons (2009) follows the exploits of Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) as he gallivants across Rome and the Vatican trying to foil the murderous exploits of the secret society known as the Illuminati. With his slicked-back-hair and action-movie pedigree, Langdon is reminiscent of Nic Cage’s character Benjamin Franklin Gates in National Treasure – only Langdon doesn't wear a Rolex . His wristwatch is far more playful.

Image courtesy, Columbia Pictures

Why We're Watching

It's the final day of Character Watch Week! If you haven't read our coverage ranging from Pokemon to the Black Panther, be sure to check it out. We even ranked our favorite Mickey Mouse watches of all time, which is where Robert Langdon comes into play. He may very well be one of the top minds in the field of art history and symbology (he's a Harvard professor, after all), but he doesn't let that get to his wrist.

While he most certainly has the means for all manner of luxury watches, he opts for a timepiece more fitting for a rumpled professor. That would be a Mickey Mouse watch, complete with moving arm s that tell the time. (Happy now, Jack?)

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) with the Vatican police, trying to solve the mysteries of the Illuminati with his Mickey Mouse watch. Screengrab courtesy, Columbia Pictures

Langdon's watch is an unassuming variation on the longstanding Mickey tradition. It's small and fitted to a black leather strap with the literal words "Mickey" and "Mouse" printed vertically on the dial. The history of these watches is long (and still continuing) but it dates back to the early 1930s, when the Ingersoll watch company (which would one day become Timex) unveiled a Mickey Mouse pocket watch – later followed up by the wristwatch which has been iterated on countless times over the years. Langdon's appears to be a Bradley Mickey Mouse watch, specifically.

Similar Bradley Mickey Mouse watch to the one worn by Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons. Image courtesy, Goodwill

This is a character watch no matter how you want to define the category . But the question lingers: Why does he wear this? Why not choose a more rugged timepiece fit for his continent-hopping adventures? While we don't find that answer in the movie, we do find it in the pages of Dan Brown's novels.

In The DaVinci Code, we learn about Langdon's history with the watch:

"Pulling back the sleeve of his jacket, he checked his watch – a vintage, collector's-edition Mickey Mouse wristwatch that had been a gift from his parents on his tenth birthday. Although its juvenile dial often drew odd looks, Langdon had never owned any other watch; Disney animations had been his first introduction to the magic of form and color, and Mickey now served as Langdon's daily reminder to stay young at heart. At the moment, however, Mickey's arms were skewed at an awkward angle, indicating an equally awkward hour."

Langdon, alongside CERN scientist Vittoria Vetra (played by Ayelet Zurer), in Angels & Demons. Screengrab courtesy, Columbia Pictures

It goes even deeper than that, believe it or not, and you can read the book for yourself if you want additional context. We're interested in the movie that brings the watch to life. And since Langdon's watch is covered up throughout The DaVinci Code movie, that brings us to Angels & Demons.

When We're Watching

Nearly an hour into the film, Langdon is hot on the trail of the Illuminati's plans. Alongside Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) – a CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) scientist, and the Vatican police – he arrives at St. Peter's Square hoping to catch the secret society in the act of wrongdoing. The setting is teeming with tourists, news trucks, and reporters. As he makes his way through the crowd, Langdon takes a moment to check the time [00:54:10]. This is when we get the money shot. Underneath his blue dress shirt sits a vintage Mickey Mouse watch, with its active hands busy telling the time. You don't often get such overt watch shots in films – and never a Mickey Mouse watch – but it jives with the absolute lack of subtlety at large on the part of this movie franchise

Screengrab courtesy, Columbia Pictures

In the third act, Langdon convinces the Italian police force to take him to the Piazza Navona where he's certain the Illuminati are planning to brand and murder a Cardinal. When they arrive on the scene, they see a suspicious van pull up and turn its lights off. The police make their way over to the van to investigate and are immediately taken out by an assassin (who happens to be wearing a two-tone Rolex Datejust). The assassin proceeds to wheel the Cardinal out from the van, on a rig with bench press weights attached and drop him into a fountain. Langdon jumps in – eventually aided by good samaritans and manages to save the drowning Cardinal. All the while he has his Mickey Mouse watch on [00:01:30], which becomes visible as he rests his drenched arm on the outside of the fountain. There's no way this watch has that kind of water resistance but … movie magic right?

Screengrab courtesy, Columbia Pictures

Angels & Demons (starring Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor) is directed by Ron Howard, with props by Trish Gallaher Glenn, and Federico Ciommo. It's available to stream on Netflix and rent on iTunes or Amazon.

Lead image courtesy, Columbia Pictures

Light and Shadows in Bernini's Oval of Saint Peter's Square

PHILICA Article number 540

5 Pages Posted: 5 Feb 2020

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Polytechnic University of Turin - Department of Applied Science and Technology

Date Written: November 8, 2015

Abstract

Gian Lorenzo Bernini planned Saint Peter’s Square with an oval part surrounded by a colonnade that was imagined as ‘the maternal arms of Mother Church’ embracing the crowd. The pivot of this masterpiece is an obelisk, which is also the gnomon of a huge sundial. With vertex at the obelisk, the azimuth spanned by sunrise throughout the year corresponds to the eastward entry end of the colonnade, as noted by writer and lecturer Robert Bauval. Besides the crowd then, Bernini’s colonnade is also embracing the light of the sun on its local horizon. In this Baroque architecture, also the shadows are playing a very important role. An example is given by those of the colonnade statues that move through the oval over the day.

Keywords: Solar Orientation, Solstices, Architectural Planning, Satellite Images, Google Earth.

Suggested Citation:

Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina, Light and Shadows in Bernini's Oval of Saint Peter's Square (November 8, 2015). PHILICA Article number 540, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2742281

I love the adventure stories with twisted plots, mysteries, puzzles. That is why I love the stories created by Dan Brown and his major character Professor Robert Langdon who was very well played by Tom Hanks in the series of successful movies. Moreover, in my travel adventures I managed to visit most of the countries, places, museums, etc, and even CERN, which are described in the books and movies. And when I watch the movies I travel back in time together with Professor Langdon.

So, today I invite you to solve great mysteries of Leonardo, Illuminati, and Dante. It’s time to refresh your knowledge of history and arts. Welcome aboard!

The Da Vinci Code

Jacques Saunière, a Louvre curator, is pursued through the Grand Gallery by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who demands the location of the Priory’s “keystone” to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Saunière gives him a false lead and is murdered. The police find his body posed like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Police captain Bezu Fache has his lieutenant, Jérôme Collet, summon American symbologist Robert Langdon, who is in Paris for a lecture on the interpretation of symbols, to examine Saunière’s body.

Langdon is shown the body and a secret message, readable only by blacklight. It contains an out-of-order Fibonacci sequence. Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and Saunière’s granddaughter, tells Langdon that Fache planted a tracker on him after finding the words, “P.S. Find Robert Langdon” at the end of Saunière’s secret message. Fache believes that Langdon murdered Saunière. Sophie throws away the tracker, distracting the police while they sneak around the Louvre, finding more clues in Leonardo da Vinci’s works. Langdon deduces that Saunière was the grand master of the Priory of Sion. And our adventure begins.

We meet Professor Robert Langdon for the first time during his lecture. He uses Sony laptop for his presentation.

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - Sony laptop

In one of the next scenes of the movie we can clearly see the van with Bosch logo. Same is for the famous French water – Badoit. We can see it in a bucket full of ice.

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - Bosch

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - Badoit

When Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) come to the bank to retrieve the cryptex, we can see how KUKA robot picks the right box that belonged to Jacques Saunière. When the bank employee helps the main characters to pass the police, we can get a glimpse of his Rolex watch.

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - KUKA robot

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - Rolex watch

At Sir Leigh Teabing’s (Ian McKellen) house our guests learn more about The Last Supper painting secrets. Their host is also a fan of Sony, so we may see various TV sets and displays in the house. While enjoying their evening tea, we can as well see Heinz there, of course.

Robert Langdon The Da Vinci Code - Heinz

When Robert Langdon and Sophie look for a tomb in London, they borrow a Sony Ericsson smartphone to search for more information.

In the final scene of the movie we see that Robert lives in Ritz hotel in Paris, and from there he starts his evening walk to follow the Arago medallions and come to the Louvre.

Angels & Demons

The Catholic Church mourns the sudden death of Pope Pius XVI, and prepares for the papal conclave to elect his successor in Vatican City. Father Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor), the camerlengo, takes temporary control of the Vatican during the sede vacante period.

Meanwhile, at CERN, scientists Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) create three canisters of antimatter. As Vetra goes to evaluate the experiment, she discovers that Silvano has been murdered, and one of the canisters was stolen. Shortly thereafter, four of the preferiti, the favored candidates to be elected pope, are kidnapped by a man claiming to represent the Illuminati. He sends the Vatican a warning, claiming he will murder each of the cardinals from 8 p.m. to midnight, when the stolen antimatter will explode and destroy the city, hidden somewhere within.

Unlike two other movies, there are only few product placements in Angels & Demons. And they can be divided in two categories – Sony and TV channels.

That is why we see Sony computers and displays in the first scene in CERN.

And when the events of the movie accelerate, we can see various TV channels broadcasting from Vatican City. These are Canal+, CNN, and Reuters.

And this is it for Angels & Demons. More product placements are waiting in Inferno.

Inferno

Some time after helping the Vatican dealing with an antimatter threat, Harvard University professor Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital room in Florence, Italy, with no memory of what has transpired over the last few days, but being plagued with hellish visions. Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), the doctor tending to him, reveals that he is suffering from amnesia as a result of a bullet wound to the head. An orderly says the police are there to question Langdon but the officer turns out to be Vayentha, an assassin, who shoots the orderly while coming up the hallway. Brooks helps Langdon to escape, and they flee to her apartment.

Among Langdon’s personal belongings, Langdon and Brooks find a Faraday pointer, a miniature image projector with a modified version of Sandro Botticelli’s Map of Hell, which itself is based on Dante’s Inferno. They soon realize this is the first clue in a trail left by Bertrand Zobrist, a dangerously unstable villain who believed that rigorous measures were necessary to reduce the Earth’s growing population, and who committed suicide three days earlier after being chased by armed government agents.

When Robert Langdon wakes up in Sienna’s house, we can find various brands across her apartment. First of all we see Sony TV remote controls. And when Professor asks for coffee, Sienna goes to the kitchen where we spot tea brands like Greenfield and Twinings.

Robert Langdon Inferno - Greenfield and Twinnings

While Sienna is looking for some clothes for Robert, he decides to use her Apple MacBook to check his Google mail.

When Robert and Sienna decide to call to the consulate, we see that Sienna uses Sony smartphone. When they realize that they can trust no one, they start their investigation. First, they search for the information about Zobrist. Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube are very helpful even in the movies.

Later in the movie we see more Sony product placements – a TV set in Command Risk Consortium, a smartphone and a tablet used by Elizabeth Sinskey.

When Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks try to escape from their enemies with the help of Christoph Bouchard, they make everyone believe they are going to fly to Switzerland via Swiss, but instead they take an Italo speed train to Venice.

When finally the truth is revealed and memory is restored, Robert and Elizabeth go to Istanbul to stop Sienna from unleashing the virus. Elizabeth shares Zobrist’s message with Robert. They watch it together on a Dell laptop.

In the final scene when Professor returns Dante’s mask to the museum, we can see the museum employee wearing the tag with the Florentine Civic Museums branding.

Robert Langdon Inferno - Florentine Civic Museums

Unfortunately, there is no news about the future movies with Tom Hanks. And no news about any new books. Looking forward to new adventures of Professor Langdon.

I highly recommend you to visit Product Placement section of the website. You will find more amazing movie series analysed there.

Reyes españoles y los colores de la bandera

Carlos IV de Borbón (Portici, Nápoles, 11 de noviembre de 1748 – Roma, 20 de enero de 1819) fue Rey de España desde el 14 de diciembre de 1788 hasta el 19 de marzo de 1808. Hijo y sucesor de Carlos III y de María Amalia de Sajonia.

Fernando VII de Borbón (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 14 de octubre de 1784 - Madrid, 29 de septiembre de 1833), llamado el Deseado o el Rey Felón, fue rey de España entre marzo y mayo de 1808 y, tras la expulsión del rey intruso José Bonaparte, nuevamente desde diciembre de 1813 hasta su muerte, exceptuando un breve intervalo en 1823, en que fue destituido por el Consejo de Regencia.

Alfonso XII de Borbón, el Pacificador (Madrid, 28 de noviembre de 1857 – El Pardo, 25 de noviembre de 1885), fue rey de España entre 1874 y 1885; era hijo de la reina Isabel II de España y su marido, Francisco de Asís de Borbón. Nacido Alfonso Francisco Fernando Pío Juan de María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón. Reinó tras la Restauración borbónica, hasta su muerte prematura a los 27 años, víctima de la tuberculosis. Fue sucedido en el trono por su hijo póstumo, Alfonso XIII de España, cuya minoría estuvo encabezada por la regencia de su viuda, María Cristina de Austria.

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