The Clouds

The Clouds (Ancient Greek: Νεφέλαι Nephelai) is a Greek comedy play written by the celebrated playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423 BC and was not as well-received as the author had hoped, coming last of the three plays competing at the festival that year. It was revised between 420-417 BC and was thereafter circulated in manuscript form.

No copy of the original production survives, and scholarly analysis indicates that the revised version is an incomplete form of Old Comedy. This incompleteness, however, is not obvious in translations and modern performances. Retrospectively, The Clouds can be considered the world's first extant 'comedy of ideas', and is considered by literary critics to be among the finest example of the genre. The play also, however, remains notorious for its caricature of Socrates, and is mentioned in Plato's Apology as a contributor to the philosopher's trial and execution.

The Clouds (Stuart Hyatt album)

The Clouds is an album of gospel music composed and produced by Indianapolis musician and multimedia artist Stuart Hyatt, and performed by local gospel choirs and amateur singers in Sumter County, Alabama.

The Clouds received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package in 2005 for Hyatt's handmade corrugated cardboard CD package. The album was originally released on Hyatt's own label, Team Records, and later re-released by Minneapolis label Innova Recordings.

Track listing

References

The Clouds (Manchester band)

The Clouds were a Greater Manchester-based indie band signed to Chris and Julia Nagle's 'Wobble Records'. They recorded a John Peel session in 1991 and appeared live on Mark Radcliffe's 'Hit the North' Radio 5 show in the same year. The band received some regional and national radio airplay and appeared live as a support act with World of Twist (1991), Intastella (1991) and Flowered Up (1991) as well as in their own right at venues in the North West. For the duration of the time they were signed to Wobble Records, the band were made up of;

Early Years

The band was formed after the three remaining members of the 'Dillen Experience' Tim Jones, Simon Moss and Simon Dickinson were joined by Ex 'Dillen Experience', 'Rig' and 'Resonance' keyboard player Dave Drennan. They were joined by Simon Maguire (previously in Sale band 'The Sewage') shortly afterwards. They signed to Wobble Records following regular plays of a demo featuring 'Moon Llama' to clients and staff at Strawberry Studios where Dave Drennan was employed. Three of the group were called Simon, which led to an array of obligatory pseudonyms, including Vincent Van Void, Sonic Windpipe, Balloon, Doctor Kecks, Bruce Starbuck, The Beast and Jimmy Goggles.

The Way to the Stars

The Way to the Stars is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films. In the United States it was known as Johnny in the Clouds and distributed by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith. The screenplay was co-written by noted dramatist, Terence Rattigan, as a significant reworking of his 1942 play Flare Path, which incorporated his Royal Air Force (RAF) experiences as a Flight Lieutenant. The film stars Michael Redgrave, John Mills, Rosamund John and Stanley Holloway.

The title, The Way to the Stars, is often assumed to have been taken from the Latin motto of the RAF, Per ardua ad astra. However, the literal translation of the RAF motto is "Through adversity to the stars". The alternative title, Johnny in the Clouds, is derived from the poem recited in the film as tribute to a dead American aviator.

Plot

Pilot Officer Peter Penrose (John Mills) is posted in the summer of 1940 as a pilot to (the fictional) No. 720 Squadron, at a new airfield, RAF Station Halfpenny Field, as a very green "15-hour sprog" Bristol Blenheim pilot and is assigned to B Flight, under Flight Lieutenant David Archdale (Michael Redgrave).