The Islamic State may exult in online portrayals of jihadis sweeping victoriously across Iraqi battlefields, but a camera recovered from the helmet of a dead fighter offers a contrasting picture of chaos and panic in a battle with the Kurdish A fighter named Abu Hajer is shown in footage seized by the peshmerga firing from one of three Islamic State armored cars advancing across a barren plain toward a KurdishHis rifle slips and he fires off a shot inside theStop firing!" shouts Abu Radhwan, the camera in his helmet picking up anguished faces as it swings erratically from views of rifles and munitions on the floor of the armored car to the brown fields and blue sky ahead. A second fighter, Abu Abdullah, shouts out above the sound ofI told you to aim higher! You're firing the bullet casings straight at us!" Abu Radhwan then turns his attention to Abdullah. aim higher and be careful! Abu Abdullah you're going to kill us!" The hurried nature of the operation was clear from the start as

Islamic State fighters in desert fatigues and helmets ushered a suicide bomber into one of the vehicles. "Do not be sad for me," "Come on, hurry up brothers!" says another fighter, beckoning him"There are (war) planes around, please." Chaos and disarray are no strangers to soldiers in the thick of conflict, though the discipline of established professionalUsed College Spanish Textbooks armies might restrict battlefield anger and recrimination. Mesh Patio Furniture Cushions fighting for the Islamic State, the group also known as ISIS,White Labrador Puppies For Sale In Florida ISIL, or Daesh, are new recruits, some from Europe, with limited But the Islamic State has fostered online images of a

disciplined, invincible force surging almost unchecked through enemy lines, video often overlaid with heroic music. ago the militants appeared unstoppable as they seized large swaths of Iraq including the major city of Mosul, but in recent months they have been pushed back from some areas. The footage taken last December showed in graphic detail one of the setbacks "through the eyes," as it were, of the fighter Abu Radhwan in the moments leading up to his own death. "Get out, get out, but don't go too far!" one of the fighters shouts as Radhwan and his fellow fighters abandon the armoredAbu Radhwan: "Where's my weapon?" Clear of the armored car, an obvious target now for Kurdish fighters seen by the US as one of the strongest opponents of the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, Radhwan picks up a grenade The camera swings around. He is turning back toward the vehicle as a shot appears to strike home. "I've been wounded!" he shouts.

The camera view reels as he rolls over and over, shots of a cloudless blue sky alternating with desert dust. Radhwan turns his head, and with it the camera, back toward their armored car. The last, fixed, camera shot shows the burning vehicle on the dusty plain, a plume of smoke rising into Peshmerga Lt. Col. Yasir Abdulla told Reuters the battle had begun in late afternoon last December and continued until the early hours of the morning. "When we finished (fighting) Daesh with the help (of) airstrikes, we went next day, checking the "They have helmets on and they have video you know ... to film it all over, to show it to their world."Gaudi’s First House Will Be a Museum, Archaeologists Safeguard Against ISIS With 3D Cameras, and More — Gaudi’s First House Will Be a Museum: Barcelona’s Casa Vicens, designed by Antoni Gaudi in 1888, was the Spanish architect’s first house — and now it’s on its way to becoming a museum, with a projected opening date of fall 2016.

A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984, the house remained primarily under the purview of the Herrero-Jover family, who acquired the property from Vicens’s widow and used it as a residence from 1899 to 2014, before selling to Andorran bank MoraBanc. Despite planned restorations, a number of irreparable changes were made to the structure over the years. Still, according to Mercedes Mora, of the MoraBanc family, who will serve as executive director of the museum, the house represents “an essential work for understanding his unique architectural language and the development of Modernism in Barcelona.” [TAN]— Archaeologists Safeguard Against ISIS With 3D Cameras: Oxford and Harvard archaeologists with the Institute for Digital Archaeology will team up to give 5,000 3D cameras to residents in conflict zones across the Middle East, in hopes that they will capture around one million images of at-risk sites and artifacts by 2016. More than regular photographs, 3D images could allow the objects to be recreated in the future.

“This is a race against time,” said executive director Roger Michel. “We’ve changed our timetable in recognition of the places being destroyed.” He added: “Digital archaeology, in my view, is the best hope that we have for preserving the architecture, the art history, of these sites. All around the Middle East, they feel so strongly about their local identity and history that they’re willing to help.” Actual distribution of all the cameras, however, is the next big hurdle. [BBC]— Priced-Out Galleries Are Leaving Chelsea: Only two of the seven galleries that initially transformed Chelsea into an art district remain in the Manhattan neighborhood, after being priced out by escalating rent. Now, even the two stalwarts doubt they will renew their leases come November. “It’s time to move to a new area and be part of a new story,” said Michael Gillespie, owner of Foxy Production, one of the two galleries. “Chelsea feels more blue-chip and less an area where you come to discover new artists.”

While Gagosian Gallery, Gladstone Gallery, David Zwirner remain, many art dealers have decamped to Chinatown or the Lower East Side, where the number of galleries has nearly doubled since 2010, leaping from 63 to 124. “Just like in Soho, galleries are the victims of their own success,” said Stuart Siegel, senior vice president at real-estate firm CBRE Group Inc.. “The galleries put Chelsea on the map. Then the world followed them.” [Bloomberg]— Frank Lloyd Wright House Relocated to Crystal Bridges: The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is moving a Frank Lloyd Wright building, originally built in New Jersey, to Bentonville, Arkansas. The Bachman-Wilson House, built in 1954, is scheduled to open on November 11. [Observer, Artnet]— Nazi Gold Train a Deathbed Revelation: Specialists believe that the location of a lost Nazi train containing a looted trove of gold and art has been found in Western Poland, after one of the men who helped hide the treasures disclosed its location on his deathbed.

“The train is 100 metres long and is protected. The fact that it is armoured indicates it has a special cargo. We do not know what is inside the train. Probably military equipment but also possibly jewellery, works of art and archive documents,” said Piotr Zuchowski, head of conservation at Poland's culture ministry. [Telegraph, Independent, NYT]— Black Portraits at Harvard: A show of rare portraits picturing black individuals in Victorian-era England is opening at Harvard University’s Cooper Gallery of African & African-American Art. “There’s a healing aspect to seeing these exquisite images,” said Vera Ingrid Grant, the gallery director. [WashPo]— Russian police have found pieces of a 100-year-old bas relief believed to have been removed from its building by a conservative group claiming they acted out against a “cult of Satan.” [WP]— RIP Noah Davis, 32-year-old painter and founder of the Underground Museum; Nelson Shanks, president and royal portrait painter; 

Gary Keys, filmmaker who documented jazz greats; and horror legend Wes Craven. [ARTnews, WP, NYT, LAT]— Japan’s leading toilet company has opened a museum dedicated to “a century of lavatories.” Melbourne to Host Major Large-Scale Banksy Retrospective Datebook: 'Leather – Companions for Life' Datebook: Matthies Artworks at Kirchner Museum Checklist: V&A Director Announces Resignation, and More 5 Fun Mobile Accommodations for Adventurous Travelers Anish Kapoor Opens in Seoul, May Withdraw From China Nicholas Serota Stepping Down as Tate Director Brooklyn Museum Names New President and COO, and More In Search of Perfection with Robert Mapplethorpe in Montreal Sneak Peek: What to See at Biennale des Antiquaires 2016 A Guide to 20 Top Artist Residencies VIDEO: Robert Capa in Color at the ICP 20 Top Artist Grants and Fellowships You Might Actually Be Able to Get 20 Must-Watch Artist Documentaries Back to School Guide: The 10 MFA Programs That Give You the Most Bang For Your Buck