Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-02-13/Featured content

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By Crisco 1492 and Mathew Townsend
This report covers content promoted from 5 to 11 February 2012.
An aerial view of Mount Everest, as seen from the south, is a new featured picture. Everest is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas and is the earth's highest mountain with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level.

Featured articles

Hadji Ali standing outdoors before four people, his head back and hands on hips, with a stream of water gushing like a fountain from his mouth
Famed vaudeville performer Hadji Ali demonstrating his skills of controlled regurgitation, from the new featured article on his life and art
Portrait of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. His lost operas are the subject of a new featured article.
This new featured picture depicts Murugan, a Hindu deity worshipped by Tamil Hindus, and his consorts riding his mount, the peacock.
Temple Square, approx 1898–1905, including the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle and Salt Lake Assembly Hall, is shown in this new featured picture.

Eight featured articles were promoted this week:

  • Turning Point (2008) (nom) by Wrestlinglover. Turning Point (2008) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, which took place on November 9, 2008 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the fourth in the Turning Point chronology and featured eight professional wrestling matches, with three involving championships. The TNA Legends Championship was successfully defended by Booker T.
  • Jonathan Agnew (nom) by Dweller and The Rambling Man. Jonathan Agnew (born 1960) is an English cricket broadcaster and former professional cricketer. He had a successful career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire from 1979 to 1990, played for the England team, and was named one of the Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1988. While still a player, Agnew began a career in cricket journalism and commentary, and is a leading voice of cricket for BBC radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  • Cross of Gold speech (nom) by Wehwalt. The "Cross of Gold" speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan, a former congressman from Nebraska, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 9, 1896. In it he decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold". It helped catapult him to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.
  • Manhunter (nom) by Grapple X. Manhunter is a 1986 American thriller film based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon. Written and directed by Michael Mann, it stars William Petersen as FBI profiler Will Graham and Brian Cox as the killer, Hannibal Lecktor. The film focuses on the forensic work used to track down the killer, known as the "The Tooth Fairy", and highlights the similarities between the FBI profiler and his quarry.
  • George W. Romney (nom) by Wasted Time R. American businessman and politician George W. Romney (1907–1995) was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973. He is the father of former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and the husband of former Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney.
  • Monteverdi's lost operas (nom) by Brianboulton. The Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643), in addition to a large output of church music and madrigals, wrote prolifically for the stage. Opera as a musical and theatrical genre began to emerge during the early part of Monteverdi's career, initially as a form of courtly entertainment. Although the music has disappeared almost entirely for seven operas, three—L'Orfeo (1607), Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643)—have survived with their music and librettos intact.
  • John Barbirolli (nom) by Tim riley. Sir John Barbirolli was an English conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, as well as serving a guest conductor for many other operas.
  • Hadji Ali (nom) by Fuhghettaboutit. Hadji Ali was a vaudeville performance artist famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. His best known feats included water spouting, smoke swallowing and nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement. Ali's most famous stunt, and the highlight of his act, was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene, and then acting by turns as a human flame thrower and fire extinguisher as he expelled the two liquids onto a theatrical prop.

Featured lists

Two featured lists were promoted this week:

  • Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (nom) by Albacore. The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play was established in 1949 under the title Tony Award for Actor, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic) in the United States. Since then, numerous actors have won this award, with Frank Langella being the only one to win it twice. Several portrayals of the same character by different actors have also won.
  • Malmö FF in Europe (nom) by Reckless182. Malmö Fotbollförening, a Swedish football team out of Malmö, has participated in 13 seasons in the European Cup and Champions League, 13 seasons in the UEFA Cup and Europa League, five seasons in the Cup Winners' Cup, one season in the Intertoto Cup, and a competition organized by FIFA. The team has recorded 41 wins, 26 draws, and 46 defeats. Its most decisive victory was the 11–0 win over Pezoporikos Larnaca of Cyprus in the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Featured pictures

Ten featured pictures were promoted this week:

  • Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, restored (nom; related article), created by Leonardo da Vinci, restored by Dcoetzee, and nominated by Crisco 1492. The Mona Lisa, considered the most famous painting in the world, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century. Famous in part for its enigmatic smile, the model depicted is commonly said to be Lisa del Giocondo. Digitization by the Center for Research and Restoration of Museums of France.
  • Temple Square, Salt Lake City, in 1899 (nom; related article), created by William Henry Jackson, retouched by Tom dl, and nominated by Mmxx. The new featured photochrom print depicts Temple Square in central Salt Lake City. The temple complex, covering ten acres (40,000 m²), is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and consists of the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake Assembly Hall, the Seagull Monument and two visitors' centers.
  • Sri Shanmukaha Subramania Swami by Raja Ravi Varma (nom; related article), created by Raja Ravi Varma and nominated by Redtigerxyz. Murugan, also known as Kartikeyan, Skanda, Subramania, and Subrahmanyan, is a Hindu deity mainly worshiped by Tamil Hindus. The new featured picture depicts Murugan and his consorts riding his mount, the peacock.
  • Italian artist painting with watercolours (nom; related article), created by Dongio and nominated by Papa Lima Whiskey 2. This new featured picture depicts an Italian painter using watercolour paints in Dolceacqua, Liguria, Italy. Watercolour paints, also known as aquarelles, are paints consisting of pigments suspended in a water base.
  • Everest and other mountains viewed from airplane (nom; related article), created by Shrimpo1967, edited by Durova and Papa Lima Whiskey 2, and nominated by Crisco 1492. This new featured image, annotated on Commons, depicts two of the world's highest mountains, Everest and Lhotse, as well as several other mountains. Taken from a Druk Air flight south of the mountains, the image provides topographical information of the area around them.
  • The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (nom; related article), created by Vincent van Gogh and nominated by Crisco 1492. The Starry Night, also known under its Dutch title De sterrennacht, is an 1889 impressionist painting by Vincent van Gogh. The painting, measuring 73.7 cm × 92.1 cm (29 in × 36¼ in), is widely hailed as his best work and has been part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1941. The featured digitization is from the Google Art Project.
  • Girls' Generation (nom; related article), created by LG Corp. and co-nominated by Crisco 1492 and Eustress. Nine-member Korean girl band Girls' Generation, formed in 2007 by S.M. Entertainment, has released four full albums (one in Japanese and three in Korean), three mini-albums, and numerous singles. The new featured picture, taken in January 2012 by LG Corp to advertise its Cinema 3D TV, depicts members Kim Tae-yeon, Kim Hyo-yeon, Seo Joo-hyun, Choi Soo-young, Im Yoona, Jessica Jung, Tiffany Hwang, Sunny Lee, and Kwon Yuri.
  • Portrait of Balthazar Castiglione by Raphael (nom; related article), created by Raphael and nominated by Crisco 1492. Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, painted c. 1514–1515 and commonly attributed to Italian artist Raphael, depicts diplomat and humanist Baldassare Castiglione. Possibly meant to accompany Castiglione's wife and children when he went abroad, the portrait may have taken its inspiration from Leonarda da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The new featured painting was digitized by the Google Art Project.
  • Messier 82 (nom; related article), created by NASA and co-nominated by Crisco 1492 and Extra999. Messier 82, the prototype starburst galaxy, is located approximately 12 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Ursa Major. The new featured picture combines exposures taken with four colored filters that capture starlight from visible and infrared wavelengths as well as the light from the glowing hydrogen filaments.
  • USS Arizona (BB39) underway (nom; related article), created by an unknown author and restored/nominated by Mmxx. The American warship USS Arizona, built in the 1910s, was a Pennsylvania-class "super-dreadnought" battleship that measured 608 ft (185.3 m) in length and 97 ft (29.6 m) across at the beam. Named to honour Arizona's entry as the 48th US state, the ship was sunk in a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Vincent van Gogh's 1889 masterpiece The Starry Night, digitized by the Google Art Project, is a new featured picture.
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  • This week saw a change in FA delegates, with SandyGeorgia and Karanacs stepping down and GrahamColm and Ian Rose replacing them. Sven Manguard Wha? 05:55, 15 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Something is wrong with The Starry Night image. When you click on it (twice) you get an error message - it won't expand to full size. If this makes a difference, I'm using Firefox on a PC. -- Ssilvers (talk) 07:21, 15 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Many (most?) browsers crash when attempting to view the full size image without using the tools. To see it in your browser, you should use the special tools under the picture (one in Flash, one not), and then zoom in on pieces you find interesting. To see the whole thing at once, right click on the image and click "Save link as" to download the full image (at 88mb...) Crisco 1492 (talk) 07:43, 15 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Quite a few striking ones indeed (some of the ones that we didn't show in this issue are just as stunning) Crisco 1492 (talk) 07:06, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]


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