The threat of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and the entire Western World will be covered with up-to-date information. The Top Secret history of terrorism, including current Islamic attempts to obtain atomic, biologic and chemical weapons will be discussed, revealing chilling secrets. Regardless of the seriousness of the presentation, Mr. Loftus leaves an audience inspired with his insightful explanations and clarity.

No artist ever applied paint to canvas with greater facility than Rembrandt; no artist achieved fame more readily than he; no painter of the Dutch Golden Age acquired more lucrative commissions. And no artist fell from a summit of greatness as Rembrandt did. This engaging slide-lecture will bring to life the story of R embrandt and his works of enduring greatness.

The accelerating pace of science-based change is influencing politics, economics, lifestyles and personal beliefs. Technologies that once required 50 years to mature can now evolve in less than ten. What are the Top Ten scientific breakthroughs already poised to profoundly affect our lives? How will rapid globalization of scientific progress change human evolution?

This entertaining lecture will examine historical aspects of how music first became part of “movies,” then illustrate how it works as an expressive dimension. Learn how the production of music scores for cinema has evolved over the years, from the early days of a “pit pianist” (in the Nickelodeon), to multi-channel digital surround-sound in the contemporary multi-plex.

This lecture explores the fascinating life of the young duchess of Spoleto and Ferrara, Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI and his wife Vannozza dei Cattanei.

The Western world has proven reluctant to identify the specificity of the challenge and the conflict that Western society and governments face. This lecture will address the issue that terrorism is just a tactic and not an enemy.

This slide-lecture will explore artists who work on issues of memory and place. A recent exhibition Ann Albritton has curated of young Romanian artists, traveling to France, California, Sarasota and Bucharest will be the focus of her talk but other areas of the globe will be addressed as well.

Aaron Copland, perhaps the most American of American composers, whose music extolled and exemplified the American character and personality, fell afoul of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist hearings. This lecture will examine the background of those hearings and Copland’s encounter with the malevolent McCarthy.

How presumptuous for this consummate Italian composer to take on the master of the English-speaking tongue. Wrong! Giuseppe Verdi adored the Bard and so did his librettists.  Three Verdi masterpieces, Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff will be discussed to show how Verdi’s scores do more than just support the text.

The development of Sarasota is a remarkable story, from the lawless pioneer days to the failed Scottish colony of the 1880s, through the boomlet of the 1900s, the boom and crash of the 1920s and lasting development wave of the 1950s and 1960s, including Arvida’s purchase of Ringling holdings and the remake of Longboat Key. Enjoy Mr. Bubil’s uniquely humorous and relaxed style enhanced with PowerPoint and video.

This interactive presentation will include a discussion of Mediterranean architecture as the predominant architecture in Venice and Sarasota. Colorful slides of some of the historic (1925-26) houses in Venice will be enhanced by a description of the Ringling properties and Cà d’Zan (House of John) as exemplary models of Mediterranean revival architecture.