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Thursday, 6 December 2018, 06:30 HKT/SGT
Source: CFN Media
Creso Pharma: A Truly Global Cannabis Company -- CFN Media
SEATTLE, WA, Dec 6, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - via NEWMEDIAWIRE - CFN Media Group ("CFN Media"), the leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the North American cannabis industry, announces publication of an article discussing Creso Pharma's (ASX: CPH) innovative approach, diverse product portfolio, and why investors may want to take a closer look as it gears up to go public on the Venture exchange in Canada. The listing would make Creso the first public cannabis company listed in both Australia and Canada.
The North American cannabis industry is littered with companies touting global ambitions. There are regular announcements regarding letters of intent to distribute in emerging markets like Europe and Latin America, long on potential and short on concrete details. Many of these announcements are speculative at best, requiring a mix of regulatory approvals, licensing, product development, and funding to make them a reality.
Creso Pharma is an Australian-based company with operations in Switzerland, Canada, Colombia, and Israel along with established product distribution across the globe. The company develops and sells pharmaceutical-grade nutraceutical products for both humans and animals. Utilizing its deep background in pharmaceutical science and international regulatory product approvals, Creso Pharma leverages GMP-certified facilities and partnerships with world-class manufacturing and distribution companies to create a global footprint in key markets.
What Creso Has Now
Creso Pharma was founded by a team of executives set on bringing pharmaceutical rigor to the medicinal and recreational cannabis markets. Co-founder and CEO Dr. Miri Halperin Wernli has more than 30 years of strategic and operational leadership in global pharmaceutical and biomedical industries in Canada, the U.S., and Switzerland. Co-founder Boaz Wachtel is a leading medical cannabis expert, having co-founded the pioneering Australian Medicinal Cannabis company Phytotech Medical.
In addition to its experienced management team, the company is developing cultivation, processing, extraction, and manufacturing operations, partnering with well-established companies where necessary. In 2017, Creso became the first company to import medicinal cannabis to Australia. The company is also in the final stages of completing the acquisition of licensed Colombian company, Kunna Colombia, which will add a low-cost cultivation operation to supply its own product development. Creso has a joint venture in Israel focused on genetic development, cultivation, and R&D.
Its wholly owned, purpose built, GMP state-of-the-art cultivation and production facility in Nova Scotia is built and ready to roll, awaiting licensing under Canada's new Cannabis Act. Called the Global Centre for Edible Cannabis Research and Development, the facility is designed to leverage Canada's leading regulatory environment along with Creso's extensive research and scientific relationships to develop innovative cannabis edibles for the global market.
Creso sells and develops nutraceutical products, backed by scientific research and data that ensures the products will meet and often exceed any regulatory requirements. It's a refreshing approach in comparison to the current and largely unregulated CBD market, where all kinds of potential benefits are claimed without any scientific backing.
Creso Pharma has already developed and commercialized a range of innovative products. For example, the company offers CBD-infused nutraceutical products designed to help reduce stress, enhance sleep or improve mental function that are already commercially-available in Switzerland and select EU countries. Its pipeline contains many more of these products targeting both humans and animals.
Creso very recently launched, in a joint venture, the Old Boy Mary Jane line of infused beer. This type of product is a point of emphasis for the company going forward, as more consumer-oriented edible products gain regulatory and market traction across the industry.
Where Creso Is Headed
Creso believes that there is a much bigger opportunity in next-generation cannabis products that reach into other product categories. While Grandview Research projects the global cannabis industry to reach about $64 billion by 2024, it sees the animal supplements market reaching $96 billion and the human supplements market hitting $278 billion over the same time. Creso is active in all of the above, meaning the company's targeted end markets could exceed $435 billion in just five years.
Creso's products are organized across five businesses:
* Creso Therapeutics - The company's cannQIX(R) 50 is a CBD-based, full-spectrum hemp extract medicinal cannabis buccal lozenge formulation with vitamins, minerals, and capsicum to assist with managing pain. After its launch in New Zealand this year, the company plans to launch in Australia in 2019 before moving on to Europe.
* Creso Nutraceuticals - The company's cannQIX(R) family of brands consists of cannabinoid formulations to help reducing stress, improve sleep, and support metal and nervous function in humans. The company has already launched these products in Switzerland and other European markets (UK, Netherlands).
* Creso Animal Health - The company's anibidiol(R) range of products is a complementary feed for companion animals with CBD full spectrum hemp oil extract and targeted vitamins. After launching in Switzerland and Liechtenstein in November 2017, the company plans to launch in an additional 15 countries later this year with its global partner Virbac.
* Creso Lifestyle - The company is working on a portfolio of cannabis and hemp-derived alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages containing a unique mix of terpenes. The company plans on launching these products in conjunction with CLV Frontiers in Estonia. The first beers were launched in the third quarter of this year.
* Creso Topicals - The company partnered with Frike Technologies to develop cannaDOL(R), a range of organic CBD-based functional topicals. The initial focus is on analgesic needs for sports-related injuries, arthritis, and other issues. The plan is to launch the product early next year.
The company has several distribution partners in place across Switzerland, Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands to help expand revenue over the coming quarters. The partners are generally well established, highly professional firms like Virbac (8th largest animal health company in the world), PharmaCare, and Doetsch Grether AG. Creso intends to greatly expand its product offerings over the coming quarters, utilizing its partners' widespread distribution networks to create significant growth in key international markets.
There are many details to cover regarding Creso Pharma (ASX: CPH) and its comprehensive product development and sales strategy. With its pharmaceutical approach, the company has already developed a number of innovative commercial products. Its near-term plans to cultivate in Canada, Israel, and Colombia could open the door to strong revenue growth, while a listing on Canada's TSX Venture stock exchange could draw more investor interest. Look for more developments in this space over the coming months.
For more information, visit the company's website at www.cresopharma.com.
Please follow this link to read the full article:
http://www.cannabisfn.com/creso-pharma-a-truly-global-cannabis-company/
CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the global cannabis industry, helps companies operating in the space attract investors, capital, and publicity. Since 2013, private and public cannabis companies in the US and Canada have relied on CFN Media to grow and succeed.
- Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/featuredcompany
- Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8
- Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com.
CannabisFN.com is not an independent financial investment advisor or broker-dealer. You should always consult with your own independent legal, tax, and/or investment professionals before making any investment decisions. The information provided on http://www.cannabisfn.com (the Site) is either original financial news or paid advertisements drafted by our in-house team or provided by an affiliate. CannabisFN.com, a financial news media and marketing firm enters into media buys or service agreements with the companies that are the subject of the articles posted on the Site or other editorials for advertising such companies. We are not an independent news media provider. We make no warranty or representation about the information including its completeness, accuracy, truthfulness or reliability and we disclaim, expressly and implicitly, all warranties of any kind, including whether the Information is complete, accurate, truthful, or reliable. As such, your use of the information is at your own risk. Nor do we undertake any obligation to update the items posted. CannabisFN.com received compensation for producing and presenting high quality and sophisticated content on CannabisFN.com along with financial and corporate news.
Frank Lane
flane@cannabisfn.com
Topic: New Listing on Exchange
Sectors: Daily Finance, BioTech, HealthCare, Alternatives, Local, Local Business
CFN Media Releated News
Jan 24, 2019 06:00 HKT/SGT
Creso Pharma Gears Up for Adult-Use Market with New Supply Agreement -- CFN Media
Creso Pharma Targets Multi-Billion Dollar Pet Industry -- CFN Media
Dec 19, 2018 07:00 HKT/SGT
Creso Pharma Brings Together Cannabis Experts Across Several Verticals -- CFN Media
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Barely Human Chapter One: Scary Guests
1—Scary Guests
I was waiting for them out in front of the building, feeling nervous as a chicken on the freeway. Like what if they don’t show? But what if they do? Well, pretty soon here they come, rolling up to the curb in this big black limo, the kind they use to shuttle people from the airport to their hotel. And even though I was totally expecting them, it was still kind of weird to see these bears getting out. Real bears. They had to be ours.
Jimmy sauntered up to me. “I’m Jimmy,” he said. “And you must be . . . ”
“Charlie Higgins,” I said.
He held out a paw and I touched it with my hand. He looked bigger and darker than what I was expecting from the photo. And he wasn’t wearing anything at all but a red beret. Ursula was kind of cute in her super-size blue dress. She had a pretty blue and red scarf over her ears, and she was funny, too. We hit it off from the get-go. Jimmy was a little harder to read.
We’d done the paperwork six months earlier. Weeks went by and then we got the letter. They were assigning us two black bears, a boy and a girl. They used a shitload of words to add that these bears could live with us and be our guests for as long as it all worked out. Plus we’d get the stipend on the same day every month.
We had the extra bedroom and the bath. We also had the killer view of the bridges and the Bay, but that wasn’t going to do them any good ‘cause bears can’t see worth a damn. That’s what I always thought. But Ursula could see just fine. They’d hardly been with us an hour before she was giving Jimmy a tour of the scene out the living room window.
“And that’s Alcatraz over there and that bigger one . . .”
“I don’t perceive a bigger one.”
“ . . . is Angel Island.”
She said it was “a rich man’s view.” That embarrassed the hell out of me. I wasn’t into being anybody’s “rich man.”
Since the bears were our guests, we had to feed them. I’d looked forward to that, because I kind of like to cook for folks. But what they liked to eat became an issue from day one. When I’d asked them what they liked, Jimmy said, “Pork,” or maybe “Pork makes my day.” I don’t know, I may have had a heat on at the time. But I wasn’t so juiced up I don’t remember him saying that. Okay, it’s out. I like my alcohol. Sometimes too much. Then I take myself off the stuff. Hell, I can go for weeks, even months, without a friggin’ drop. They tell me it’s a disease, but I don’t feel sick. I feel great. Especially after a nice tall cool one. Hey, I’m just messing with you like.
With the bears and me eating all that pork, Rhonda wouldn’t eat with us. She thought pigs were cute. If she could’ve had a baby pig on her lap, she would’ve been as happy as a spotted pony. There were only baby pigs for her, and she couldn’t stand the thought of eating one and adding to the cruel slaughter.
“Why aren’t we having salmon? Isn’t that what they like to eat?”
It was late at night, soon after they arrived, and I remember how the moon was lighting up the living room.
“Ssshhh!” I whispered. “They can hear things we can’t.”
“What are you talking about? You can hear them snoring!”
They were in the room down the hall. We hadn’t thought about the nighttime sounds our guests might make. Why would we? We were hung up on the thought of making friends with members of another species—or getting to know them pretty good, at least. Isn’t that why people have dogs and cats? But bears! Rhonda felt the same way I did about this. It was kind of scary but exciting, too. Maybe floating around in the back of our heads, or my head anyway, was the notion that making such a major household change might jumpstart our relationship up. Like some young couple that decides to have a kid because they’re fighting all the time. ‘Cause she still turned me on.
“Black bears mostly eat vegetation and insects,” said Rhonda, one morning when we thought we had the kitchen to ourselves. “They’re practically vegetarians, like me.” I bet she Googled that.
“When they’re in the wild, you mean.”
“That’s their natural diet. You’re overfeeding them with all that meat.”
“Oh, I hope they didn’t hear that, Rhonda.” The bears were in the TV room, and I was kind of up for this. “The fact is, number one, I always include a vegetable dish.” I was counting rice and bread, but she didn’t have to know that. “Number two, Ursula and Jimmy are not wild bears. And three, they eat everything I put on their plates. And then they look around to see if there’s anything else. Maybe you’d like to be the one to ask them if they’re getting too much to eat.”
“Too much meat, Charlie. Too much pork.”
I naturally played my high card then, which was that pork was what Jimmy said they most liked to eat. She trumped that by reminding me that pork cooking was what she least liked to smell. So we were up against that old food thing again. Ursula ambled in. She must’ve heard something of what we said, because she asked if she could make a suggestion.
“Jimmy and I would like to have some take-out for a change, and we can help out on the cost.” They’d seen so many interesting-looking restaurants in the neighborhood, she said.
“Hell, yeah,” I said. “Pick out what you want and I’ll be glad to cover it.” I have to admit that all that cooking was starting to wear me down. I can’t be on my feet all day.
“It sounds good, Charlie,” Rhonda told me later, “but if you’re going to give up the cooking, you’d better find something else to do with yourself. I don’t want to come home in the afternoon to find you already destroyed. I can’t do that anymore.”
It was really unfair. I’d never made a peep when she used to get herself tore up. All the times I had to drag her off from a party, or haul her ass out of a bar and into the car, and then put her to bed. But that was years ago, before the government offered to pay for people to take in bears. And before anybody knew what bears could do.
I had a lot of respect for Rhonda though, the way she’d raised a kid from scratch all by herself and worked her way through nursing school, too. She was a good person, even with her oven turned off to me. And we had a pretty solid arrangement, too. I’d bought the condo, she did a lot of the chores, she didn’t bug me much, and I got lots of close-ups of her dark good looks. If nothing else. I always thought there was still a chance.
The bears were full of surprises. Since they were “humanized,” we thought they’d act like real people. Like us, I mean. I remember an evening, soon after they arrived. We were all in the living room when we heard somebody use a key to let herself in the front. That had to be Mollie, Rhonda’s kid. She used to spend the night with us sometimes.
“Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” we heard from down the hall. Her mother sure as hell must’ve told her about our guests, but Mollie must’ve forgot. She was kind of a head case. Rhonda went to explain.
“Wasn’t that supposed to be your line?” Jimmy said to Ursula.
“Oh, I hate that story!” she burst out.
“But you have to admit that it’s a nice turnaround.”
“A turnaround? How’s that?” I asked.
“For once, the home invader is a human,” Jimmy said.
“Right. Instead of a bear,” added Ursula.
“But don’t you just love her presumption? This prepubescent human female comes into the bears’ empty home and proceeds to assert ownership claims. The house is hers because there’s nobody inside. She’s like Columbus, claiming and naming every island he encounters in the Caribbean. But Columbus didn’t stop at that and neither did she. The home of the bears becomes an island to be plundered . . . ”
“Right,” joined Ursula, “and by a little human blondie.”
“Yes, and with nobody at home, there’s no one to dispute her wild claims. The young lady seems positively compelled to acquire other people’s things.”
“Since when do you defend private property?” Ursula asked.
“Since bears acquired some of their own, if only in a fairytale,” he rumbled. “Moreover, the story typecasts bears as homeowners nouveau who don’t have sense enough to lock the door.”
“Yeah,” added Ursula in a tough-guy voice, “tame and lame. And this Goldilocks . . . ”
“Is an obsessive-compulsive,” Jimmy finished for her. He mimicked Goldilocks in a bear falsetto: “’This one’s too hot, this one’s too cold, this one’s too lumpy, this one’s too frumpy.’” Ursula was pretending to be grabbing things. “Our immature protagonist might soon have grown grumpy if the bear family hadn’t interrupted this kleptomaniacal frenzy. She’s someone who will never be satisfied.”
“Maybe, Jimmy, but I think she’s just spoiled,” Ursula grinned. “I can just see her going to law school and becoming a corporate hack, speeding around in her little red Porsche.”
“Wait a minute,” I finally busted in. “You’re finding stuff in it that isn’t there. It’s just a kid’s story.”
“And an artifact of human culture that reveals far more than it intends.”
Mollie and Rhonda came in, and her mother introduced her daughter to the bears.
Another time the Bertram show was about to come on, and we were in the TV room, all eyes on the big screen.
“Ursula,” said Rhonda, “would you tell Jimmy that the Bertram show is about to start.” He was somewhere down the hall, puttering around in the kitchen probably.
“Oh, he won’t want to watch that.”
“Why not?” asked Rhonda. “Everybody loves Bertram Bear.”
“Not Jimmy though,” said Ursula. “He’s embarrassed by him.”
“Embarrassed? Why should he be embarrassed?”
“Well, he thinks Bertram is a clown. Or clone or something. He thinks Bertram stereo-tapes bears and makes us look like fools. Like we don’t know anything.”
“Stereo-taping, yeah! I like that word,” I said.
“I’ll ask what you think of Bertram during the break,” Rhonda told her as she turned the volume up. We’d never known anybody who didn’t like Bertram Bear.
Once we got over the pork diet issue, our home life perked along just fine. Not that Rhonda and me became sweethearts again, but we had the thrill of having bears. But before it could be much of a thrill, we had to stand up to our own worst fears. I’ve always been kind of chickenshit when it comes to big animals. When we used to go on camping trips, we always went to the trouble of hanging our food from the high branch of a tree or letting it dangle over the side of a cliff. Not forgetting to include the toothpaste, of course. Bears love toothpaste. That’s what people always said. Then it would get to be the middle of the night, and I’d be curled up like a ball of wire, ears catching every random little nighttime sound. That snuffling at the edge of the tent could be a hungry bear! Rhonda likes to tell people that I got so scared one time I wet my sleeping bag, and the “bear” outside the tent turned out to be somebody’s little black and white dog. I sure as hell don’t remember anything like that. My sleeping bag had needed a trip to the cleaners for a long time. But I admit my fear of bears kept me awake.
Now we’d invited bears to come right in and live in our “tent,” so to speak. To eat our food and share our toothpaste, too, until they could get some of their own. Which they soon did. I admit it was a challenge in the beginning to sit across the table from one of these big furry beasts without losing my chill. Standing, Jimmy towered over me, and I’m about five ten. I tried not to disagree with anything he said. I mean, could we trust the government to send us super tame bears?
Ursula was shorter, more like Rhonda’s size, but a lot heavier. But both those bears had big sharp teeth and long-assed claws. Goes along with being a bear, right? A dustup with one of them would not have gone down well for the likes of us. For the first few weeks, I had this worry that padding down the hall to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, just feeling my way along because I hate to have to use the light, I might run into one of our guests. What if he was sleepwalking or something and he threw a bear hug on me? What if he used his claws to rip me open or his teeth to take out half my neck? Even if our bears didn’t do something crazy like that, could I stifle a shriek? I worried about that. A shriek would embarrass the hell out of me. Even a loud gasp. And as I got back into bed and lay awake, I remembered that in order to qualify as bear hosts, we’d had to sign a statement saying that we had no kids or dogs or other pets. Now there had to be a reason for that.
The one time that I did meet one of them in the hallway in the night, the moon was flooding in through the skylight, and I could see that it was only Ursula, just coming out of the bathroom. All the same, my heart still lost the beat, and I cut loose a fart.
“Are you ill, Charlie?” she asked.
Turns out our guests didn’t have a thing for toothpaste. They didn’t get into my wine or liquor either. They didn’t leave a mess, which was just the opposite of what people said they did. And they even chipped in on expenses, as best they could. Ursula got some housecleaning gigs, and Jimmy took a job as a street sweeper in a special program for unemployed bears. He complained that his work was as boring as watching snails breed.
“Have you done much of that?” Rhonda asked.
“Well, yes I have,” he said, “since that’s pretty much in line with my sexual preference.”
“Too bad,” she teased. Rhonda seemed to have a fondness for Jimmy right from the start.
When he told us that street sweeping was a respectable job but a “considerable remove” from what he was used to, we didn’t picture him sitting at a desk or standing in front of a class. We assumed he’d got some training in assembly or fast-food work under the Ursine Assimilation Program. At the most, we thought he missed the chance to rummage through people’s things in search of weapons or drugs as an airport security bear. He didn’t say anything to correct us on this. Turns out Jimmy had been kind of famous for a while around our area as the first of his kind to go to Cal—a real Cal Bear. But the government’s description just said “2 bears, male and female, educated, very tame.” I thought “educated” just meant high school. For Ursula, that would be about right, but for Jimmy, that was way off. Mollie, Rhonda’s kid, said he was an “intellectual.” I thought that was stretching it some. I mean, Jimmy used a lot of big words, but get real, he was only a bear.
Anyway, whatever his work had been like before—before the Trouble Period, I mean—the only thing he was qualified to do now, he said, was to work in a chocolate factory’s quality control. I told him that a job like that wouldn’t to be easy to find.
“Why not?” he said. “I sent my application in.”
“Oh, you have to follow up on that.” I thought I was giving him some good advice.
“Indubitably,” he said, “but jobs like that are scarce as frog’s teeth.”
Hold it, I thought. Frogs don’t have teeth. Or if they do, they’re tiny small. But I let it go. What the hell would a bear know about amphibians?
We got used to the bears, but there was a lot they didn’t share with us. For example, Rhonda wanted to know what it had been like living in the camp. They didn’t want to talk about that. Also, were they a couple? We’d given them the twin beds. But maybe they were siblings. A mother and son? Best friends? They both had the same ginger-colored fur, but that didn’t really mean anything.
“We’re just a pair of refugees,” Jimmy would say.
“And survivors,” Ursula would add.
“Do either of you have children?” Rhonda asked. A mom will ask that every time.
“Not me,” said Ursula. “I use birth control that time of year.”
When I put the question to Jimmy, he said he’d left a passel of little ones in Chicago.
“Oh?” said I.
“Yes, indeed,” said he. “You must have heard of the Chicago Cubs.”
I had heard of the Chicago Cubs, of course. But wouldn’t their parents be the Chicago Bears? My little joke.
Another time I made the mistake of asking Jimmy if he missed the forest.
“The forest?” He swung his head around, all confused like.
“You know, the woods.” I still thought of him as first generation.
“Miss inhabiting a wilderness when I can live inside a house? Surely you jest.”
“I thought it was an okay question.”
“Well, it’s certainly that,” he wheezed, “and it’s also quite revealing. It appears that you don’t know the first thing about me, Charlie. I could be a man inside a bear suit, for all you know.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“That’s right,” he said. “Do you want to see the real me?” He reached for his throat like he had a zipper there. My eyes were probably bugging out of my head.
Ursula gave him a look. “Jimmy,” she growled.
“No,” he backed off, “I’m afraid you couldn’t handle it.”
Getting a grip, I called his bluff. “I can handle it. Let’s see what you’ve got under there.” But he’d picked up the sports section and seemed to be using his magnifying glass to study the baseball stats. When he looked up, he gave me a big old wink.
I might’ve forgotten this incident, but a few days later I heard the buzzing of what sounded like an electric razor coming from our guests’ bathroom. I’d heard that sound before, but what was it? Unless he was a shaver, one of those bears that try to make themselves look more human by shaving off all their fur, he’d have no use for such a thing. Wasn’t he a real bear? Of course he was. The question made me think I was getting some serious mileage on my brain.
I liked the bears, but as the weeks went by I still didn’t find them all that easy to know. Especially Jimmy. One day he and I went down the hill to a coffee house. I’d noticed that caffeine kind of opened him up.
“So Jimmy,” I asked him when we’d found a table and were blowing on our drinks, “What’s it like to be a bear?”
“Hmm. What’s it like to be a bear? I don’t know. Why don’t you ask our barista?” He gave a nod in the direction of the counter.
I didn’t expect to see a “shaver” there. Most of them had gone to work in funeral homes and real estate offices.
“What can he tell me? He doesn’t even want to be a bear.”
“So ask him what he’s running from.”
But the furless one had gotten hip to our attention and was giving us a sour-eyed look. I had to make a show of looking all around the room for someone else.
“Well,” said Jimmy, “if you don’t want to talk to him, why don’t you ask a wild bear?”
“You gotta be kidding, right?”
“Because, for starters, a wild bear can’t talk.”
“What do you think he would say if he could? Would he talk about his heightened sense of smell, his excellent hearing, his superior size, and his propensity to look for things to eat?”
“I’m damned if I know. I mean he might.”
“So you think he might. And if he did, wouldn’t you want to know, compared to what?”
“Jeez, Jimmy. Why can’t I just ask you?”
“Because it’s like my asking you, what’s it like to be a human? Could you answer that?”
“Uhh . . . I could tell you what it’s like to be me. Sort of.”
“Right, but I’m getting a sense of that.”
And that was the end of that.
“Ursula and I are going to Sacramento on Wednesday for the anti-bear-hunt rally,” said Rhonda one fine day. “You two are welcome to come along.”
A lot of us thought it was fucked that at a time when bears might be on the edge of getting citizenship, some people were still hunting and shooting the last of the wild ones in their backwoods lairs. The annual bear hunt meant that so-called humanized bears were stuck in security camps or crammed in with us humans. They wouldn’t go outside that time of year. But they should’ve been able to go wherever they wanted. Am I right?
“Any takers?” Rhonda asked.
“∑xw ɗouλϵιá,” said Jimmy.
“Oooh,” squealed Rhonda. She loved it when he said something in French, but she went out of her head when he said something that reminded her of her Greek grandmother.
“Which means that I’m busy. I have to go to work. Besides, how are you going to stop people from shooting bears when they’re shooting other people with such stunning regularity?”
“But that isn’t okayed by the state,” said Rhonda. “They don’t issue licenses to people to gun other people down.”
The woman was killer smart. But the government issued uniforms and weapons to off people in wars. Wasn’t that kind of a massive hunt?
“That Sacramento rally may have merit, but I think I have a better idea,” Jimmy announced.
“Oh, yeah, what’s that?” somebody asked.
“I was thinking that I might apply for a hunting license.”
“What? You want a license to hunt bears?” said Rhonda.
“Not at all,” Jimmy said. “What I said was that I might apply for such a document. They would surely turn me down, and that would raise an issue of discrimination. I could file suit. Think of the publicity that might attend such a simple and creative act.”
Ursula let him know what she thought: “Brother bear, get serious. What you’re proposing is beside the point, which is that people hunt bears.”
“When it should be the other way around? Am I missing something here?”
“Jimmy . . . . ”
“Will you two stop playing,” scolded Rhonda. “Look, we all have to do what we can. What about you?” She was eyeing me. “You coming?”
“Uh, I’m also kind of busy,” I said. The truth is, and this is something I hate to admit, while I’ve never had a problem with the smell of one or two bears—one or two are cool, no problem—the thought of that crowd of maybe ten thousand bears, some of them grizzlies, and a few hundred of their human supporters in the sizzling Sacramento sun was a real downer for me. Plus the noise and confusion that a few thousand bears can make . . . . I don’t even want to think about it.
“Busy, huh?” she huffed. “What do you have to do that’s so important?”
The question had a barb on it for anything I might come up with, so I just shrugged.
“In any case,” added Jimmy, “how do you know there are still bears in the woods?”
“Jimmy, you know there are, and some of them are your own cousins,” scolded Ursula.
“Distant relatives perhaps.”
“And you don’t care if they’re killed? Every year we hear about hunters getting their limit,” said Rhonda.
“And that’s what?” sniffed Jimmy, “maybe one or two each?”
“Those are one or two bears you’re talking about,” flared Ursula.
“Adds up,” I put in.
“What are you, a mathematician?” said Jimmy, turning on me. “And what are you doing tomorrow that’s more important than minimizing the slaughter of innocent bears? Don’t try to shrug this off.”
“Well, for one thing I was going to drive you to work.”
“Ha, I can take the lovely bus.”
“Last time they shut the door in your face.”
“Perhaps I should have been wearing a jacket or shirt.”
“Or maybe some pants,” shouted Ursula.
“A bear is wearing all the clothes that he will ever need at birth.”
“Fine with me,” Rhonda said.
My ace in the hole was that I’d done my part by taking them in, and I didn’t do it for the government subsidy either. It was a card I kept up under my cap, hoping I’d never have to spring it into play. Rhonda seemed to read my mind.
“Sometimes being Mr. Nice Guy isn’t enough.”
I thought of the smell of ten thousand bears in the Sacramento heat.
Rhonda and Ursula were gone several days. An email told us that while they were at the Sacramento rally, they’d signed up for a bear “accompaniment program” and joined some brave but maybe suicidal others on a bus that took them up to Trinity County to try to find some wild bears and protect them from hunters. I was worried, and with Rhonda away, it was all too easy for me to elevate my nipping and my sipping. To change the music maybe, Jimmy asked me to teach him how to drive. I had my doubts, but I finally gave in.
I drove us out to a residential area where there were hardly any other cars on the road. Jimmy crammed himself behind the wheel of my battered old van, and I could see that he was one happy bear. But perched beside him on the passenger seat, I was one frightened man. We hadn’t gone more than a couple of blocks before I had to tell him that his driving put me in a nervous state.
“Where’s that, Alabama?”
I knew he’d say something like that.
“No,” I said, “and it’s not Minnesota either. It’s the state of you-can’t-see-worth-a-damn. I want my van to be in one piece, I don’t want to get us killed, and I shouldn’t be doing this.”
He admitted that his eyesight wasn’t nearly as good as most black bears’ but said he had something in the works that would remedy that.
“In any case, I can smell anything approaching from a thousand feet away.”
“Oh, yeah? Can you smell that sign right there? It says stop!” He hit the brake just in time.
“I recognized it by its shape,” he rumbled.
“You recognized it? What about next time doing what it says?”
I wondered whether he could really sniff a hazard from a thousand feet away. If he could do that, wouldn’t he be taking in the smells of everything in every direction from a thousand feet around? I could understand that smells behind us would turn fainter as we moved away from them, but what about all the rest? Was his nose like a smell-gun he could aim down the road to zero in on what was ahead of us? I felt like I was taking my life in my hands, and there were other people’s lives to think of, too. But I can’t say that I gave them a lot of thought, because all of a sudden, by our second practice drive, Jimmy’s driving got a lot better. He was making all the stops, including for pedestrians, and all the turns and lane shifts, too, and doing it with ease. I was blown away.
“Maybe it has something to do with these corrective lenses that I’m wearing now.”
I don’t know how I could’ve missed them. They looked like swimming goggles. I mean, instead of the usual plastic frame, they were held together by an elastic band that came around his head. Later, I remembered how wigged out Rhonda had been when she saw him reading with a hand-held lens. She’d said something then about an appointment with an eye doctor. It looked like he’d gone to that exam, though he hadn’t said a word to me.
“These are for distance,” Jimmy explained. “I have another pair for reading.”
What I never did understand was how he could wedge his bulk behind the wheel and keep it there for hours at a time. But I quickly learned not to open my mouth about each driving hazard on the road. He could see them as well as I could. As Jimmy put it,
“These glasses have opened a whole new world to me, and now I want to see as much of it as I can.”
It was also a new world for me. With Jimmy at the wheel I wasn’t at risk of getting another DUI. I couldn’t afford one of those. Now I could have a belt or two before we took off and maybe another one after we got going. Not that I keep track. But we were still busting the law. Jimmy didn’t have a driving license, and he wasn’t going to get one either. Not unless they changed the licensing set-up. Jimmy didn’t do multiple choice. Multiple choice was unprofessional, he thought. He said it was only for humans and rats. He was ready to write an essay or help grade others’ written tests, but no multiple choice.
We didn’t know until Rhonda and Ursula got back that hunters had fired some shots at them. They had to hug the ground until they could crawl off through the brush, which—they told us more than once—was full of ticks. It didn’t matter to the hunters that Ursula and the adolescent bear that they’d run into had a human friend along. Every bear, even Ursula in her red t-shirt and her red and blue scarf, was fair game, and Rhonda could easily have become what they call “collateral damage.” We were lucky to get them back in one piece.
Once they returned I could tell that something had changed. Rhonda’s hair looked different, for one thing. That’s always a sign. Ursula sure seemed to like the way it looked. Or maybe how it felt. She kept stroking it with her claws when she passed by Rhonda’s chair. Jimmy was away at work at the time, and the three of us were sitting in the living room, admiring the view, when all of a sudden it seemed that there was one of us too many in there. Because it was obvious that Rhonda and Ursula had become an item. They didn’t have to say anything for me to get the picture. The looks they traded and the little touches that they gave one another made me think their sex life must’ve been a fireworks show.
Rhonda had mentioned years ago that she was bi, but I’d forgotten just what that meant. As for the interspecies thing, what the hell, I’m no prude. I was just glad to see her happy for a change. Glad and maybe a little sad. But mainly relieved. For one thing, I’d kind of thought that it was just a matter of time before she announced that she was pairing off with Jimmy. Because it was clear as a highball glass she really dug the critter. You could see that from day one in the way she always laughed at his stupid jokes. I even had the notion that she might suggest a swap, in which she and Jimmy would only be like 50 percent. I was ready to put the kibosh on part two of that. Don’t get me wrong. I had a lot of respect for Ursula, but there were some lines that I wasn’t willing to cross.
As for me and Rhonda, I couldn’t lose what I didn’t have. We’d never had a lot in common. Later was always better than sooner, to my way of thinking, while she was the kind that would grab up a plate while the last bite of food was still on its way to your mouth, hustle it to the sink, and give it a scrub. She liked Masterpiece Theater and MSNBC. Give me a ballgame or a fight in the octagon arena any day. We had the glue of good sex, at least at first, but that ended when she wouldn’t party with me anymore. So by the time she and Ursula returned from up north, our relationship had already chilled down almost to the iceberg stage, as far as the sex. But maybe I’d get me a new girlfriend, too. The idea didn’t cause me any pain, I’ll tell you that.
That evening, when we were all in the living room, Ursula made a little speech. I don’t remember her exact words, but the gist of it was that Rhonda was different from other humans she’d known.
“She respects me more. She really listens to what I have to say, and she takes me seriously, too. She doesn’t try to bully me or suck up to me either. I hate that special treatment that I get sometimes.”
She was looking right at Rhonda when she said all this. Then she and Rhonda announced that they were thinking of looking for their own place. They wanted to know how Jimmy and I felt about that. I thought that was damned considerate of them, looking to us for an okay, but I had my own room, I didn’t see the need, and I immediately began to trip on all the extra housework I was going to have to do if they moved out. Because I knew that Jimmy wouldn’t do squat. He liked to take the garbage and recycle out, but that was about it. I couldn’t even get him to turn off lights. . . . So I’d have to hire somebody to come in every other week or so to keep the place picked up. But the condo was all paid for, at least. I could easily afford to have them go.
I wanted to ask Jimmy how he felt about the two of them, but neither of us ever brought it up. If he was suffering some kind of loss, he didn’t say anything about it to me. And what do you know but Rhonda and Ursula didn’t move out. So it looked like we had ourselves a new normal. But you never know. If somebody had told me then that I was about to take a lengthy journey to some places where I’d never been before and that when I came back I’d have a hella different look, I’d have said, boy, what’s that you’re putting in that pipe?
Read Chapter Two of Barely Human
If you want to contact me about the book, I can be reached at alsandine (at) aol.com.
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On The Road - Anaheim
Well it’s now November and my Autumn of Hanson is officially over. I know a lot of you following along at home might think that I’m actually certifiable for following a band across the country and back, but I also know that I just had the absolute time of my life and I don’t regret a single moment, dollar, mile, hour I spent in line, or night that I literally slept in a van. The first show of my west coast follow along was Anaheim...so let’s get started, shall we?
My friend Lorraine and I had been planning this trip for months, and we quickly learned that there was a slew of fans with the same idea. There was a whole group of us who were all following the band for the same cluster of shows. For all of you who think I am the only insane person who does this, let me just say...following Hanson is not uncommon. It’s actually a thing that...a lot of fans just do every tour. By the end of the follow, I felt like I was at summer camp or something, because we literally spent the week with all these girls! It was such a cool experience, and one that I will never forget.
We got to the venue around 7am and ended up being 21 and 22 in line (respectable, honestly). I immediately loved the ladies around us in line, and we all fell into comfortable chatter quickly and effortlessly. Right at the beginning of the day, a cop pulled up and asked what we were protesting, and we proudly exclaimed that we were just in line for a Hanson show. The whole week I kept making jokes about how I love line culture, but at the end of the day, they were not jokes! I had so much fun that afternoon getting to know the girls around me and laughing and chatting. Everyone was so chill and kind! I also got a to see a bunch of friends from past shows, and people I have known for years on the internet, which is one of the best parts of Hanson concerts!
Lorraine and I travelled around SoCal in a campervan, and let me just say, this is the WAY TO DO IT. Having the van at the venue in case we needed to take a nap, or make a snack, or change...a literal life saver. I’m sure I could make it work in a regular car but like...the van was the way to go. A serious game changer that made the days in line so pleasant! After a whole day of chatting and laughing and waiting, we went in for the Member’s Only Event. We were front row on Ike’s side which was AWESOME but we lost our front row spot because MOE’s are not organized and I just don’t think there is a right way to do it. Not leaving after pictures doesn’t work...leaving after pictures doesn’t work...whatever. But it was fine...being in the front for the MOE and getting pictures with the guys was great...okay on to the show!
Highlights from Anaheim, CA:
When the show started and the guys started playing Already Home, I actually felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. Pure, unbridled joy. I would have that feeling every time that song was played for the rest of the tour.
They played Crazy Beautiful, which is one of my favorites (Underneath songs are the key to my heart, boys!). I would get to hear it again during the follow, and it made me so happy.
They sang Wildflowers which, silly me, I was afraid I would never hear live. I heard it thrice.
Taylor was very chatty during this show. He just...he had a lot to say! I get it!! I loved it!
Strong Enough to Break (and Taylor’s speech beforehand) made me cry again, surprise, surprise. That’s like...THE song for this tour I guess. Whatever. It makes me feel like I can actually do anything, so I’ll take it.
Penny, always.
The last three songs are almost too much for my little body to handle (in the best way)! I will always love If Only live...then pair that with Fired Up ---> In the City. WOW they sure know how to end a show. And it got better every single night!! Gah!
For the encore they did Finally It’s Christmas which made me stupid happy, then Lost Without Each Other finished us off (always a highlight for me).
I feel like I’m forgetting so much! But most of it was feelings and glances and an overwhelming sense of belonging. Even the three VERY drunk girls behind us couldn’t bring me down.
After the show, the van once again proved its worth and we were able to cool down a little before the after party. If I ever do another afterparty, I’ll try to organize it so it’s not on a day I line up early because I was pretty much completely wiped out by the time it started. I still had fun because I got to dance around like an idiot with my friends and watch Taylor DJ and look happier than I’ve maybe ever seen him. All in all, it was an awesome day, and the perfect start to this crazy, west-coast adventure.
On to LA…
Peace, Love, and No Tomatoes!!!!!
Labels: 2017, Anaheim, autumn of hanson, concert, concert review, do go be, follow along, Hanson, I was born, live music, MOE, MOE tour, music, west coast follow along
On The Road: EPCOT
KT's Favorite Albums of 2017
On The Road - Las Vegas
On The Road - San Diego
On the Road - Los Angeles
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Jane O’Hara June 18 1979
People Jane O’Hara June 18 1979
Although at his tender age he’s yet to distinguish between an arabesque and a plié, three-month-old Alexander, the Pisces progeny of Nadia Potts, principal dancer for the National Ballet, and Harold Gomez, National Ballet clarinetist, is destined for a dancer’s peripatetic life. Potts, who is back at the barre after having hardly missed a beat, will take Alexander with her on the dance circuit—Chicago, New York, London, Toronto, Montreal, Western Canada— where he’ll have the company of four other children now touring with their balletic parents. He’ll even meet ballet’s most famous Pisces, all-star Rudolf Nureyev who’ll be partnering mother Nadia in Giselle at New York’s Lincoln Center. The tiny dancer, five feet, four inches, and a smidgen over 100 pounds, will have just 15 minutes to rehearse with Nureyev but her total confidence in the brilliant Russian soothes her openingnight jitters. “He loves to dance with the principal girls,” says Potts, who first danced with Nureyev eight years ago. “When he walks onstage, you know everything will be all right.” And then there’ll be baby Alexander giving his lusty-lunged encouragement from the wings.
It may turn out to be the gossip event of the decade, and that was certainly how it was being described in New York and Washington when author Truman
Capote went on a splenetic hour-long TV tirade last week to dissect the manners and morals of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ sister, Princess Lee Radziwill. The background to the spectacle lies in a tale Capote told Playgirl magazine four years ago about another American man of letters, Gore Vidal. Vidal, said Capote, was once thrown out of the White House after behaving badly at a party which President John F. Kennedy and Jackie gave for Lee and Stash Radziwill. Vidal denied the story and sued Capote for $1 million. Capote claims that Radziwill told him the story and that she also promised to declare publicly that the tale was true. However, recently, she changed sides and swore a deposition for Vidal that she had not told Capote any such tale. Capote’s feelings of betrayal by his “best friend” of 20 years were somewhat amplified when, he says, Radziwill told a New York columnist: “Well, you know what they are. They’re just a couple of fags and this is just a fight between two fags. I think it’s disgusting that we have to be dragged into it.” So Capote, a theatrically inclined Southerner, took to New York City’s WCBS TV station to get his own back. When the cameras rolled Capote sent up Lee Radziwill’s on-again off-again marriage to West Coast billionaire Newton Cope. And when asked about Teddy Kennedy’s possible presidential bid, Capote said: “I wouldn’t care to see it at all, because he’s a highly
unstable fellow ... he’s a person given to outbursts of various kinds when he’s had something to drink.” When that interview concluded, The Washington Post got its turn. Capote offered, “Men to both Jackie and Lee are to be totally controlled, nothing but foot slaves. Lee and Jackie have incredible contempt for everything and everybody. They really do think in the royal ‘we.’ ”
As one of the Liberal babies who got tossed out with the bath water in the recent federal election, former Vancouver Kingsway MP Simma Holt bears no grudge against the man most people hold responsible —Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In fact, Holt is planning to stem the anti-Trudeau tide by writing a complimentary book about the new leader of the Opposition. With working titles such as The Trudeau I Know or The Trudeau Nobody Knows, Holt’s thesis is this: “There were some ignorant attacks on my friend, and no one attacks my friend. This book will inform them why I respect Trudeau.” However, before the 56-year-old journalist sets her wheels spinning again, she’s back in Ottawa cleaning out her office. Perhaps it’s just as well, since her additional project is a book about Indian rights, which her parliamentary cronies aren’t likely to favor. “My book is going to name names,” said Holt. “It’s going to say that the department of Indian affairs has to go.”
Confessing “an embarrassment of riches,” director John Hirsch is back in Canada after a two-month hiatus, having been hounded by offers from Los Angeles, Seattle and New Haven, Connecticut. A 30-year showbiz veteran, Hirsch is resisting the lure south in order to fill his Canadian commitments, among them stage productions for both the National Arts Centre and Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre. While in Los Angeles, Hirsch tackled a lifelong ambition—Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest. His production displays the talents of Canadians Brent Carver and Michael Bond, and the vigorously selfanalytical British actor Anthony Hopkins as the magic-making Prospero. Hopkins, 41, was Hirsch’s ideal choice for the part of “a man who has not yet come to terms with himself,” according to New York Times critic Richard Eder, who gave the production a highly favorable review. Hirsch wisely refrained from stirring up the emotional actor’s memories of Corky, the bedevilled ventriloquist he played in Magic. “Tony is a very troubled person,” says Hirsch. “Magic was one subject I thought it best to steer clear of.”
It was supposed to be an In Praise of Older Women version of Love Story with a tennis racket twist, but when the
preliminary pictures started rolling in, “I didn’t look old enough and he didn’t look young enough,” says AM MacGraw. Now 40, MacGraw’s “younger man” in her new film Players is Dean-Paul Martin, the 27-year-old blonde, blue-eyed son of Dean Martin Sr. whose previous experience as a fringe tennis pro prepared him for his role as a “player” in his first film. In Toronto last week, MacGraw shyly asked more than 300 tennis buffs who had gathered for a Tennis Canada benefit to excuse her total ignorance of the game, but added that she might have missed out on her movie career if it hadn’t been for her aversion to the sport. “When I was in school if you didn’t play tennis, you did Shakespearean plays,” she said. That got her started. Before her graduation from Massachusetts’ Wellesley College in 1960 the fledgling thespian had a part in All's Well That Ends Well. Her costar was none other than Erich Segal, who was at Harvard writing Love Story in his off-hours.
When actress-activist Jane Fonda took centre stage recently and trooped her political colors before 90,000 anti-nukers on Washington’s Capitol Hill, the impact registered on everyone from a 70-year-old lady dressed as a mushroom to U.S. Presi-
dent Jimmy Carter. In line with Fonda’s radical sympathies, but keeping a somewhat lower profile, was Canada’s Donald Sutherland, who turned up unexpectedly last week to protest the building of a nuclear generating station at Darlington, 30 miles east of Toronto. Although hotly pursued by Greenpeace organizers who wanted his famous face to grace their cause, Sutherland reluctantly declined the invitation when the rally conflicted with his shooting schedule for the movie Nothing Personal. However, before the day was out not even an appointment with the film’s wardrobe department could stay the superstar from exercising his social conscience. Following anti-nuclear speeches by actors Barry Morse and Don Francks to a crowd of 2,000, Sutherland was finally spotted dropping a donation in the non-nuclear kitty. And although in normal circumstances he could be expected to cough up for a worthy cause, Sutherland was a little low on dough thanks to a burglar who, two days earlier, had robbed him of $3,500 cash, $12,000 in airline tickets and his Order of Canada medal. Proving that even a thief can have a heart, everything but the cash has since been returned.
Jane O’Hara
The Western powers that be
Detroit: the born-again city
June 1979 By Ken Becker
The day Bid went down
June 1979 By Joe Flaherty
Roger Lemelin: the Cap Rouge gadfly
June 1979 By David Thomas
Cutting fine glass at Shaw
June 1979 By Patricia Keeney Smith
The indelible journey of John Paul II
June 1979 By Sue Masterman
Why 'the boys' turned on Mike Tyson
July 1997 By Jane O’Hara
Actress with a playwright’s pen
November 1986 By JANE O’HARA
Encounter of a chilly kind
October 1981 By Jane O’Hara
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Hikvision hosted the second AI Cloud Summit in Hangzhou
HANGZHOU, China, April 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hikvision, the world's leading supplier of innovative security products and solutions, successfully hosted the second 'Shaping Intelligence' AI Cloud Summit at Hangzhou Whitehorse Lake International Exhibition Centre from 29-30 March.
Under the theme of 'Data Enrichment with AI', the summit served as a platform for AI Cloud ecosystem partners to exchange knowledge on leading-edge AI and big data technologies and applications. It comprised a main forum and four sub-forums on the topics of Finance, Commerce, Public Services and Smart Governance for Cities. Over 3,000 participants took part, including Hikvision customers, industry leaders, academic experts and partners.
Vision of the future: Fusion of Intelligent IoT and Information Networks
One of the most important topics discussed at the conference was how Hikvision's AI Cloud platform can support the integration of IoT and information network data in order to drive the future development of new, intelligent applications. Ideas discussed included the development of a computing architecture that unites cloud and edge computing, plus a data architecture that can enable the integration of intelligent IoT and information network data.
"We believe that, as a fusion platform, the AI Cloud will be able to support our customers in their quest to unleash the full potential of AI and IoT," said Yangzhong Hu, CEO of Hikvision, during his keynote speech at the main forum. "Ubiquitous intelligence will be the new normal of the AI era; intelligent applications and their data generation will be the engine."
Providing fully open platforms for mutual development
The Hikvision AI Cloud was developed to solve real-world challenges across different vertical markets, and to create continuous value to end users. The cutting-edge architecture is designed to enable collaboration between partners across edge computing, industry applications, service platforms and standard systems, and much more. As one example of this, Hikvision demonstrated how the launch of its AI algorithm training system has enabled partners to train algorithms easily for specific customer application needs and deployment.
Using a digitised event exhibition area of 6,000 square metres, Hikvision and its ecosystem partners also demonstrated versatile AI solutions, including Smart Retail, Smart Campus, Smart Financial Service, Smart Construction, Smart Agriculture and much more. In addition, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) was showcased including Intelligent Buses, Intelligent Road Networks, Intelligent Airports and Intelligent Railway Systems, all designed to boost passenger safety and enhance the travel experience.
AI applications to empower industrial users
At the four sub-forums held on the second day, end users from different markets exchanged thoughts and shared use cases of collaborating with Hikvision and AI deployment. At the Commercial forum, partners from retail, energy, property management and logistics explored how AI can increase business insight and transform how businesses operate.
At the Smart Governance for Cities forum, traffic authorities from different parts of China shared successful AI applications, including how E-Police solutions help identify traffic violations and reduce the number of human injuries and fatalities. By merging video information with other systems and algorithms, traffic big data can be visualised on city maps to further guide traffic and improve urban commuting.
At the Finance forum, banks including China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China overviewed their digitised transformation with AI in banking security and management, showcasing how AI-powered big data was a key enabler in this process.
The Public Services forum focused on how AI technology can support the improvement of public services management. Among other sessions, Hikvision partners introduced AI applications for distance learning, smart classrooms, campus safety and enhanced learning environments.
For more information about the Hikvision 2019 AI Cloud Summit, please visit https://aicloudsummit.hikvision.com/hikvision/index.html.
For a video about the Hikvision 2019 AI Cloud Summit, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln67i2YqEMQ.
About Hikvision
Hikvision is a world leading provider of security products and solutions. Featuring an extensive and highly skilled R&D workforce, Hikvision manufactures a full suite of comprehensive products and solutions for a broad range of vertical markets. In addition to the security industry, Hikvision extends its reach to smart home tech, industrial automation, and automotive electronics industries to achieve its long-term vision. Hikvision products also provide powerful business intelligence for end users, which can enable more efficient operations and greater commercial success. Committed to the utmost quality and safety of its products, Hikvision encourages partners to take advantage of the many cybersecurity resources Hikvision offers, including the Hikvision Cybersecurity Centre. For more information, please visit us at www.hikvision.com.
Source: Hikvision Digital Technology
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Hong Kong Plans to House 1 Million People on Artificial Islands
To ease the chronic housing crisis, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has pitched a plan to increase the supply of land through the building of artificial islands.
Year after year, Hong Kong SAR has topped the rankings for the world’s least affordable housing markets. The city’s sky-high property prices have pushed residents into tiny living spaces, including the notorious subdivided apartments known as “coffin homes.”
The reclamation of 1,000 hectares off Lantau, the city’s largest island and home to Hong Kong International Airport, will be one of the largest projects of its kind – the new islands would cover an area almost twice the size of Dubai’s 560-hectare Palm Jumeirah.
400,000 Homes
Building works are scheduled to begin in 2025 with the first residents moving in by 2032, the South China Morning Post reported.
The scheme, called the Lantau Tomorrow Vision, aims to house up to 1.1 million more people by building between 260,000 and 400,000 apartments, 70% of which will be reserved for public housing. It also includes a transport network to link the artificial islands to Lantau and other parts of the city.
At an estimated cost of US$80 billion, it will be Hong Kong’s most expensive infrastructure project to date. The government, led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, announced the expansion last year, but recently revealed details of the proposed budget to address public concern over its impact on the city’s coffers, according to the South China Morning Post.
There are also concerns about environmental disruption and potential harm to species, particularly a local population of endangered pink dolphins. Hong Kong’s government has said it will set up a US$127 million Lantau Conservation Fund to compensate for habitat loss as a result of the building work.
It also said the islands will be designed to withstand sea-level rise and stronger typhoons due to climate change.
Hong Kong SAR has been reclaiming land from the sea for more than 150 years. Hong Kong International Airport was built in the 1990s on an artificial island and is now expanding to include a third runway. And the newly opened Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, the world’s longest sea bridge, has a 6.7 km tunnel between artificial islands to allow shipping to pass.
Original content can be found at the website of World Economic Forum: Hong Kong plans to house 1 million people on artificial islands
By Rosamond Hutt
Made-in-Taiwan Biodegradable Plastic, Delivering Big for Starbucks and Apple
The World's Cheapest Solar Power is Provided by India
The World’s Most Expensive Places to Own a Home
How Fintech is Setting Southeast Asia's SMEs Free
This UK Supermarket Aims to Go Packaging-Free
South Korea Takes the Lead in Food Waste Recycling
Papercraft Artist Johan Cheng Cuts a Slice of Life’s Most Beautiful Moments
India Will Soon Overtake China in Population
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History Library
Part 1 Military History
Ch 7 Peacekeeping Forces in the Middle East
S 1 Peacekeeping in the Middle East
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A feature of international diplomacy since the Second World War has been the multi-national Peacekeeping Force. Normally such a force involves military personnel to help maintain or restore peace in areas of conflict. The military personnel are provided on a voluntary basis by different countries with the consent of the host governments and usually with the consent of other parties directly involved. The Peacekeeping Force has the role of an objective and impartial third party that helps to create and maintain a cease-fire or form a buffer zone between conflicting sides. The forces usually fall into two broad categories; unarmed military observers, or lightly armed infantry units of battalion strength. These infantry battalions of one country are usually supported by logistic units provided by another country. Australia has supported peacekeeping operations in the Middle East with military observers and logistic support units, but not with infantry units.
Section 68(3) VEA defines Peacekeeping Forces as forces raised or organised for peacekeeping purposes and described in Schedule 3 VEA, or as so designated by the Minister in a notice published in the Commonwealth Gazette. All Peacekeeping Forces that have had an Australian contribution, including those forces that no longer operate, are listed in Schedule 3. All the forces in the Middle East were organised by the United Nations except for the Sinai Multinational Force and Observers. References for the United Nations missions include Michael Harbottle, The Blue Berets, Stackpole Books 1971 and United Nations Department of Information, The Blue Helmets, United Nations Publications 1985
URL: http://clik.dva.gov.au/history-library/part-1-military-history/ch-7-peacekeeping-forces-middle-east/s-1-peacekeeping-middle-east
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Home / Opinions / NATION: South Carolina's Clyburn takes an influential position
NATION: South Carolina's Clyburn takes an influential position
Wed, 11/28/2018 - 4:20pm Vic MacDonald
Congressman Jim Clyburn's Office
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman James E. Clyburn released the following statement after the House Democratic Caucus unanimously elected him by acclamation to be Majority Whip in the 116th Congress:
“I thank all my House Democratic colleagues for the faith and confidence they have expressed in me to serve as Majority Whip in the 116th Congress. I am deeply honored to have the support of our Caucus and humbly accept this position with a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
“As I said to my colleagues today, America is already a great country: our challenge is to make its greatness apply fairly and equitably to all of its people. As the only Member of elected Leadership from a red state and largely rural district, I will work tirelessly to be a voice for the millions of Americans who feel left out and communities that are too often left behind. I am committed to staying connected to all of our Caucuses and regions and building a whip operation that is reflective of the diversity of our Caucus and that empowers a new generation of Members to have a voice in our legislative process.”
Clyburn was nominated to be the U.S. House Majority Whip for the 116th Congress by Congressman G.K. Butterfield (NC-01) and Congressman Cedric Richmond (LA-02). His nomination was seconded by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) and Congresswoman-Elect Lucy McBath (GA-06).
Rep. Jim Clyburn
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You are here: CollectionsOnline / Designs for chimneypieces for the dining room and parlour, 1776, unexecuted and executed with alterations (2)
The drawings from the office of Sir...
English Baroque Drawings:...
Robert and James Adam travel drawings
Robert and James Adam office drawings
Monuments and mausolea
Projects known only by patron
Aberdeen Record House, Aberdeen:...
The Admiralty Screen, Whitehall,...
Appleby, Cumbria: unexecuted designs...
Bath Prison, Grove Street, Bath,...
Bury St Edmunds market hall and...
Cromarty Parish Church, Ross and...
Dublin, unexecuted design for a...
Edinburgh Riding House, Nicolson...
Fort George, Inverness: executed and...
Hertford courts of justice and corn...
High Wycombe Shambles and Butter...
King's Bench Prison, Bench Walk (now...
New Town, Bath, Somerset: unexecuted...
Pulteney Bridge, Bath, Somerset:...
Register House, Princes Street,...
Richmond Park observatory: unexecuted...
Royal College of Physicians,...
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London:...
Designs for chimneypieces for the...
Upper Assembly Rooms, Bennett Street,...
Appendix 1: Unabridged bibliography
Appendix 2: Adam period watercolour...
Other architects, for example, Sir...
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London: designs for chimneypieces for the Governor's house, for the Board of Commissioners, 1776 (2)
Designs for chimneypieces for the dining room and parlour, 1776, unexecuted and executed with alterations (2)
The dining room in the Governor's house does contain an Adam- style chimneypiece, but not to this design.
Adam's chimneypiece for the parlour - or state room - in the Governor's house survives in situ. It was executed to a simplified version of this design, with only the pilaster stiles, and the ram mask ornaments.
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk
Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.
Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of Concise catalogue records – drawn from an outline list of the collection – and fuller records where drawings have been catalogued in more detail (an ongoing process).
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A Birth and a Fifth Birthday for J.C. Clark
Date: Monday, May 17, 2004
J.C. Clark Ltd., one of Canada’s largest alternative investment managers, announced plans to open a new hedge fund this summer designed specifically for institutional investors.
The new fund will be called Loyalist Capital. It will be a long/short fund focused exclusively in Canadian equities.
“The number of U.S. long/short managers has grown dramatically over the past few years and the market is now becoming saturated,” J.C. Clark Chief Executive John Clark said in a statement May 12. “As a result, funds of funds and large institutional investors are now seeking a new source of alpha in the form of Canadian hedge funds.”
Mr. Clark is a former chairman of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The new fund will be offered by Barbados-based Alexander Ernst Ltd. to U.S. and offshore institutions at a minimum investment of US$5 million, and its assets under management will be capped at US$150 million. It may be closed before it reaches that point if the managers decide that returns are being eroded by excess capital inflows, given the liquidity constraints of an all-Canada strategy.
Colin Stewart will serve as the new fund’s portfolio manager. He said in the statement that Canada is an excellent place for a hedge fund, because the relative paucity of funds operating there so far leads to pricing inefficiencies Loyalist Capital will be in a position to exploit.
J.C. Clark also announced a milestone for one of its older funds, The Preservation Trust, which reaches its fifth birthday in May. The statement said that The Preservation Trust and its managed accounts have approximately US$225 million in assets.
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HomeJCR ContentCoastal PhotographsLee_Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand
Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand
Photographed by Jooyong Lee
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height since 2014 is listed as 3,724 m (12,218 ft), down from 3,764 m (12,349 ft) before December 1991, due to a rockslide and subsequent erosion. It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favorite challenge for mountain climbers. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west. The Southern Alps on the South Island in New Zealand were formed by tectonic uplifting and pressure as the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates collided along the island's western coast. The uplifting continues, raising Aoraki / Mount Cook an average of 7 mm (0.28 in) each year. However, erosive forces are also powerful shapers of the mountains. The severe weather is due to the mountain's jutting into powerful westerly winds of the Roaring Forties which run around approximately 45°S latitude, south of both Africa and Australia. The Southern Alps are the first obstacle the winds encounter after South Africa and Australia, having moved east across the Southern Ocean. (Photograph taken 20 January 2016 by Dr. Jooyong Lee, Sungkyunkwan University [SKKU], Suwon, Republic of Korea.)
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ChehalemVIA Home
Chehalem Valley Innovation Accelerator Leadership Team
Carr Biggerstaff – Chief Wrangler
It takes a Renaissance strategy-technology-marketing-operations-winemaker type to wrangle the resources & people responsible for the Chehalem Valley Innovation Accelerator at this moment of such dynamic change in Oregon.
Carr has extensive experience in companies of all sizes & stages – public & private – from start-ups and IPOs, to turnarounds. He has held a variety of executive positions in sales & marketing, business development & investment, and information technology – in industries ranging from agribusiness to hi-tech manufacturing, music downloads to cybersecurity. When not chasing technology, Carr makes wine – and after a decade in the local wine industry, he’s found his niche as a vermouth maker.
(Carr’s LinkedIn Profile)
Alvin Elbert
Alvin’s motto might be something like “never quit, just fix the process.” Alvin’s first job in manufacturing was a bust because he didn’t have the skills to succeed. So, he started his own company (A.R.E. Manufacturing) and created the training programs and processes necessary to make sure his employees are the best at advanced manufacturing – an OMEP award-winning training program. Providing manufacturing internships for youth for over 30 years, Alvin determined that the best way to have great employees is to hire newbies and invest in them. When not leading A.R.E or trying to play golf, Alvin enjoys mountaineering, his family, and helping youth however he can.
(Alvin’s LinkedIn Profile)
Tonna Farrar
150 years ago, Tonna would have been a famous cowgirl/peace officer/ territorial judge, probably someplace in the thick of the wild west like Kansas or Missouri (which is where she hails from). An experienced equestrian, Tonna grew up helping in the family veterinary business before focusing her sights on a law degree. After entering law practice, Tonna moved west (naturally) to practice law in the areas of insurance, consumer litigation, equine law, wine industry, and transactional and corporate matters. Her home office is in Newberg, Oregon and she maintains offices in California and Arizona – ranging wide across the West.
(Tonna’s LinkedIn Profile)
Ed Godshalk
Ed is the person you want on the desert island when all you have is a week’s worth of frozen meals and a whole lot of electronics gear, including a radio transmission tower. Give Ed a few hours and he’ll have assembled a microwave for cooking the food. Give him a couple of days and he will have built a megawatt RF tower that can broadcast your help signal around the world!
Ed enjoys inventing and developing enabling technology, components, and systems in the field of RF and microwaves. Over the last 30 years, he’s developed components and measurement tools at microwave and millimeter frequencies and been awarded numerous patents. Ed’s passion remains being a part of a team that makes meaningful contributions to society.
(Ed’s LinkedIn Profile)
Bob Harder
As a creator, Bob has a vision equal to none other. We refer to him as the “knowledge enterprise architect.” In 1988, he started the Engineering program at George Fox University and has turned it into a powerhouse that includes mechanical, civil, electrical, and computer engineering, computer science, and mathematics and applied science. What makes Dean Harder great is his tireless efforts to broker partnerships between industry and students, creating teams that solve problems ranging from severe burn treatment to high-tech applications for agriculture. Businesses of all sizes benefit from the leverage that the GFU students provide and the students graduate with sophisticated industry experience.
Bob’s research interests are broad and range from combustion, energy systems and biomedical devices, to tribology and agricultural technologies – but only when you can tear him away from his desire to create success. His latest idea just opened: a 16,000 sq ft maker-space on the George Fox campus. His plan is to make it easier for everyone to invent, make and create.
(Bob’s LinkedIn Profile)
Julie Marshall – Advisory Board Chair
Tenacious and formidable, Julie is a driving force behind the Accelerator and the Chair of our leadership team. A native of Chehalem Valley, Julie’s passion is to better the community and the Accelerator is her latest project.
Fresh out of the University of Oregon, Julie helped establish a genetics laboratory at the Oregon Graduate Institute. And, knowing how important it is to raise community, she took time off to raise her children before returning to the workforce at A-dec, the largest dental equipment manufacturer in the nation. Scientist-turned marketing professional, Julie focuses on brand strategy, market research, end-user product development, and salesforce training – publishing journal articles, technical documents and catalogs, case studies, and other research. Like the at-home-mom/scientist/marketing guru that she is, no challenge is more fun for her than bringing up the Accelerator.
(Julie’s LinkedIn Profile)
Miles Oliviera
Some people are just wired to help solve problems. Miles is one of those people. Whether working with enterprise customers or small businesses, Miles believes the best part of his job is helping them build scalable tools to fit their ideal process.
Miles knows a lot about ERP software and the complex business functions that his products support. But he’s also a creative guy who’s into writing, editing, social media, and… farming? What? Yep. Miles’s dirty fingernails from the family farm and his drive to create solutions to complex problems make him a perfect fit for helping startups succeed here in the mid-Willamette Valley region.
(Mile’s LinkedIn Profile)
Stan Primozich
Always on the run, Stan covers a lot of ground throughout Yamhill County and Oregon in various volunteer capacities, and in his first term as a Yamhill County Commissioner, serves as liaison to various county departments and committees. He leads by example, proving that the involvement of individuals is essential to making our region a great place to live, work, and raise families.
Stan has both corporate and small business perspectives as well as a strong financial background. Stan has been a small business owner for 7 years and an independent financial professional for over 30 years. Prior to that he spent 10 years working in district management with the JC Penney Company. Stan and his wife Janice have 7 grown children, 3 goddaughters and 14 grandchildren – and when he slows down, he enjoys every moment with them.
(Stan’s Yamhill County Commissioner Profile)
Doug Rux
The Mr. Wizard of economic development, Doug knows his stuff, can explain it to anyone, and has the same patient demeanor as Don Herbert. As Newberg’s Community Development Director, Doug’s focuses on providing the right environment for commercial and industrial businesses of all sizes to thrive. He takes a regional, collaborative approach and is highly respected throughout the state. Doug is a master engineer, managing large numbers of processes and programs necessary to build a balanced community – truly the conjurer of good things.
(Doug’s LinkedIn Profile)
Jock Schlowalter
Jock loves the creative process. Whether that’s building a company, creating a software vision, or helping his two teenagers with a project out in the garage, he feels the fun is in the creating, but also in seeing the results.
An experienced chief executive officer with a demonstrated history of success in information technology and software services (SaaS) industry. He founded two successful Internet based companies, growing them from bootstrap startups to multi-million enterprises. As a resident of Newberg, he hopes to leverage strong business development skills to help guide area startups with product development, operational processes, financing strategies, and brand building. His favorite bit of advice for startups is “Building a company is easy… Just never, never, ever run out of money!”
(Jock’s LinkedIn Profile)
John Stark
Basically, John is a rocket scientist. He grew up on Merritt Island, Florida, with a backyard view of Cape Canaveral, watching the space race. An artist – drawer of life and technology – from an early age, he worked as a scientific and technical illustrator. The rocket-man fell hard for the potential of early PC technology, going to work at Hewlett-Packard as a publications production manager, melding his art, technology and love of all thing digital that illustrate, communicate and make people happy – especially customers.
John’s experience at Mentor Graphics/Context, Tektronix, and A‑dec includes managing technical documentation development, customer and technical training, marketing programs, publishing technology, web/marketing communications, technical communications, and facility planning assets (2D and 3D). All for the cause of customer and company success, and the first seat on the next Mission to Mars.
(John’s LinkedIn Profile)
accelerate@chehalemvia.com
125 S Elliott Road, Newberg, OR 97132
Copyright © 2016 Chehalem Valley Innovation Accelerator
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8 Ferrrais, a Lamborghini, and a Prius all involved in most expensive car crash ever.
Two pretty obvious conclusions in this article.
1. A person that drives a Ferrari most likely is going to speed.
2. A bunch of rich people with supercars are probably going to race on the highway.
Drivers of supercars in Japan crash 'were speeding'
By: Julian Ryall of The Telegraph
Japanese police are blaming the destruction of eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini in a £2.6 million, 14-car crash on Sunday on excessive speed.
A witness told Japanese television that he saw the parade of supercars travelling at speeds of up to 100mph, which was double the speed limit on the Chugoku Expressway, in southern Japan, due to heavy rain that had made the surface slick.“A group of cars was doing 140kph (87mph) to 160kph,” the unnamed man told TBS News. “One of them span and they all ended up in this huge mess.”
Another motorist described how he narrowly avoided becoming caught in what is likely to be the most expensive car crash outside of a car racing track.“The front car crashed into the left embankment and bounced off towards me,” he said.
In all, a dozen cars have been reduced to scrap metal in the accident, including at least 10 that are among the most expensive and sough-after among collectors. No fewer than eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini Diablo were among the victims of Sunday morning’s collision, while the other victims were two top-of-the-range Mercedes-Benz, a Nissan GT-R and a Toyota Prius hybrid.
The drivers of the high-performance autos were apparently members of a car collectors’ club out for a less-than-leisurely spin, although it appears that the person behind the wheel of the Toyota Prius was simply in the wrong place when the accident occurred. Ten men and a woman were admitted to nearby hospitals for treatment, although local police said none of the injuries were life-threatening. Police declined a request to identify the drivers involved in the crash, although Mitsuyoshi Isejima, the executive officer of the Yamaguchi Prefecture Expressway Traffic Police, was quoted by Bloomberg as describing the drivers as “A gathering of narcissists.”
Police believe the accident was caused at around 10:15am when the driver of a red Ferrari was switching from the right lane to the left lane on a gradual 400-metre curve on the expressway, close to Shimonoseki in the far south-west tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu. The drivers were reportedly traveling from Kyushu to the city of Hiroshima for a gathering of car enthusiasts. Local media have reported that the driver of the car that is being blamed for the crash is a 60-year-old businessman from the city of Fukuoka. If he is convicted of dangerous driving that resulted in an accident, he could face a prison sentence of up to three months or a fine of up to Y100,000 (£820). On the plus side, the car club has not seen its entire collection wiped out at a stroke as at least four other cars managed to avoid becoming entangled in the crash.
Still, it took local police more than six hours to clear the highway of debris and Japanese news programmes have shown repeated shots of the cars scattered across the road. Footage taken from helicopters above the site showed one of the Ferraris had suffered a crumpled rear-end and had been shunted into the safety barrier alongside the highway. Alongside it, another two red Ferraris had come to a halt alongside each other, although pointing in opposite directions.
A few meters further on, a white sports car had come to a halt with its bonnet forced beneath the crash barrier. Beside the car, four police officers were interviewing two young women and a man.
No one has been yet been charged over the accident.
Posted by Brandan Davies Esq. at 11:30 AM
Labels: car club crash, crash, expensive car, japan, speeding and caused crash
8 Ferrrais, a Lamborghini, and a Prius all involve...
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Tag: Guest Speaker
MUD Talks: Eryn Krueger Mekash
July 21, 2017 July 31, 2017 Make-up Designory
Photo: Deverill Weekes
MUD: Talk about your early life and how you became a MUA?
EKM: My early life was spent in the hospital. So I’ve had kidney problems. I’ve had a lot of surgeries, which I think very much led to my imagination running wild and escape tactics to get out of the hospital. I had a huge support system with my parents and my brother who is younger than I am. My family loves Halloween, so I think in an effort to have this normal childhood when I was home, we had big Halloween parties and Christmas was a big deal. So I was exposed to not only so much realistic horror but also you know monsters and all kinds of stuff because my parents loved that. I’d been doing make up on myself like little funny things since I was 7 or 8. So I always loved it and it kind of started leading me in that direction as I went to do art classes and things in Junior High School.
I started High School in 1982, which was the year of American Werewolf in London, Thriller, and The Thing were happening. Make Up Effects were everywhere. It was booming. So I got see a lot of behind the scenes things on television and I just knew that was what I wanted to do. So I slowly moved in that direction and was in college taking art classes and taking Sandy Berman’s Make Up Effects school, which was this 4 week course where I learned the basics. Then I quit college and got a job but the make up and the monsters had always been there my whole life. Whether it was creature features on Saturdays or my brother making horror films and me helping him, it just was something that was always a part of my life so it seemed like “oh of course that’s what I want to do.” Although it took a minute, because I didn’t know that was a real job!
Also there wasn’t much access back then. I mean you could write letters and send up a smoke signal, but there wasn’t any internet. There wasn’t any way to contact people and say “I want to work for you.” You just had to make a lot of cold calls. There was a lot of men and not very many women. Initially it might have been a token thing to have a girl working in the shop. John Beakler took a chance on me. That was my first job I had. So many people have worked for him that have started their careers there and I’m so grateful to Sandy Berman and to John. They both know that.
Eryn doing make-up on Jane Lynch for Glee
Photo credit: Eryn Kruger Mekash
MUD: Talk about working in the shops and how your career began?
EKM: I started off at John’s shop and quickly moved to other shops where I didn’t realize that at John’s shop you could do everything. You were doing whatever he had available to work on. So the sculpting, foam running and going to set with it were all things I did. However, the bigger the shops you worked at, the less you got to do that. It was more of a specialized area and I was not a good painter, not a good sculptor and not fast but I was a good mold maker. So I started doing that as well as doing seaming, finishing work, and some hair work.
Those kind of propelled me along but I wasn’t really getting on set the way I wanted to. I really wanted to be doing application. Of course, I would just practice on the weekends and do little jobs. I worked in the shops like 4 years and it was really hard but I loved it. After that time, I finally decided to start moving away from shop work and doing beauty make up, because I knew that would eventually help move me into being on set more and getting to do more prosthetics. So I worked on General Hospital and got all my Union days. That said, it’s invaluable having worked in the shops. I mean at least four to five times a week I’m referring back to that or how to correct an issue or how to talk to a shop owner or an effects person on how to do something. I know exactly how hard it is to create a piece and deliver it to set because I have all that background.
Make-up on Evan Peters for season 1 of American Horror Story
MUD: Talk about working with Ryan Murphy?
EKM: Ryan and I started working together about 14 years ago when James McKinnon was the Department Head on a pilot called Nip/Tuck. James was going to go back to do Alias and he wanted someone that he knew that he could trust to take over Nip/Tuck for him. So he did about four or five episodes of the first season and I was the key. Then I took over from there. After that, Ryan and I just had a really good connection and he would ask me to do other projects. I’ve done almost all of his projects. It’s been an incredibly rewarding relationship. I can’t say enough about him. He’s an incredible boss but he also loves make-up, hair and costume so much. It’s rewarding to be with somebody like that who values what you do, because I’ve been on jobs where they are just so put out with having make-up or hair there at all. In those situations it really is just a paycheck and it doesn’t feel great to be involved with people that feel that way. So I just feel so rewarded and grateful to have found a relationship with somebody like Ryan.
Make-up on Sarah Paulson for American Horror Story : Asylum
MUD: You had a pretty amazing night at the 706 awards. Can you speak about the awards you won and what happened when Ryan Murphy spoke when he received his lifetime achievement award?
EKM: I was very excited that Zoe and Heather were honored for the People vs OJ. I designed that show and stayed on as designer but Zoe did the day-to-day after the first two episodes the last eight episodes she was Department Head. She ran all of that with Heather, who was the key. They did such a terrific job. I was so pleased that they won for that.
The other one was for the prosthetics and that was really surprising. I was excited that we won! It’s really so cool to get an award from your peers for something that you’ve always loved doing. It was really neat. Plus I get to work with my husband, which is really cool. So he won for that as well. I have an incredible team and I wish we could share it with everybody. I wish there were more award spots available that we could have everyone up there.
As for the lifetime achievement award… that was a total surprise for the most part from Ryan. I had no idea. I had just spoken to him over an email where he wanted to know how many characters we developed for Feud, so I told him and that was it. I thought maybe he was just going to mention it or something. Remember it was his distinguished artisan award so it’s about him and how amazing he is. Yet he pretty much spent the entire time talking about 706 and how amazing make-up and hair are to the craft of filmmaking. So that was so moving in the beginning and then he started talking about Feud and how honored he was to have all these crews that were so diverse. Then he said I was going to get a producer credit this year and I couldn’t believe it! I’m still in shock about it. I’ve pretty much had a similar role for these last few years where I’m the mouthpiece for him. He said “You know what I like. You make sure that I’m represented on set.” So that’s what I do. I make sure that what directors ask for is in the realm of what he wants being shot. My whole team is like that though. It was a surprise and I’m super excited and honored.
Eryn with Taissa Farmiga
MUD: Have you discussed what this means now you are a producer for his company?
EKM: I had a meeting with him yesterday and some concept meetings. What would be cool is that I get to have more time with him. Ryan’s so busy so a lot of our relationship in the last few years has been an email relationship. So I don’t get to see him all that often. Once in a while we’ll connect in a meeting or he’ll come to set and chat with me but it’s very brief.
I don’t know how much more than what I’m already doing is going to fall under a producer title. I think it’s just more of an honorable thing that he gave me. A couple of years ago, I moved up to having a make up designer credit. So I think it’s going in that direction which is showing my responsibilities. We’ll see. Its always exciting around the Ryan Murphy world.
Make-up Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon for Feud
Photo Credit: Vanity Fair
MUD: Any advice for up and coming MUA?
EKM: Early on, try and focus on which way you’re going and not be super spread out. It’s hard in the beginning, because you want to just take every job to pay the rent. I understand you have to kind of do that, but I think once you start working a little bit then you should try and fine tune exactly which way you want to go with thing. Don’t stay out there drifting. I knew that what I wanted to do but I wasn’t sure how to do it. So I think focusing and being more proactive on what you want is key.
MUD: Any final thoughts?
EKM: You are only as strong as your weakest link. It’s your team members that propel you to do these great projects so I have this great base of people I rely on. Mike McCash and Kim Airs are my two main people that help me move forward through all these different projects. Ryan has a very unconventional view on how to do things and not everybody would support that but my team does. I feel very fortunate for that.
Uncategorized American Crime Story, American Horror Story, Eryn Kruger Mekash, Evan Peters, Feud, Glee, Guest Speaker, Jane Lynch, Jessica Lange, make-up, Make-up Artist, MUD Talks, Nip/Tuck, Sarah Paulson, Scream Queens, special effects makeup, Susan Sarandon, Tassia Farmiga Leave a comment
Industry Speaks: Vincent Schicchi
Vincent Schicchi with NY students
Thank you, Vincent Schicchi for stopping by our NY Campus to chat with our students! Vincent has had a long and successful career spanning over 2 decades as a special effects makeup artist. In that time, Vincent has racked up a multitude of movie, television, and Broadway credits. These credits include Spiderman 2, The Heat, SNL, The Fault in Our Stars, The Wiz Live. He also runs the New York based state of the art Creature FX Shop.
Though, he has found a great deal of success as a SFX makeup artist Vincent continues to sculpt and create as much as he can in his free time and stressed to our students the importance of practice stating “Get your name out there, you’re going to learn that there’s ten different ways to do one thing. When you get bored and you’re at home still practice to keep your skills up” We’re sure our students will follow your advice Vincent!
Uncategorized Guest Speaker, make-up, Make-up Artist, MUD NY, Saturday Night Live, SNL, special effects makeup, Spiderman 2, The Fault in Our Stars, The Heat, The Wiz LIVE, Vincent Schicchi 1 Comment
MUD Talks: Alex Noble
May 19, 2017 kcavanaughmud
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Alex Noble! He swung by our LA campus in Burbank to tell students about his career thus far. From “Desperate Housewives” to “Fear the Walking Dead,” Alex certainly had a lot of wisdom to share!
MUD: What was your first big break?
Alex: My first big break was coming out to Los Angeles. Because that was a hurdle that I had worked hard to overcome. I was in Cincinnati, Ohio at the time. Getting into the Union was also a really a big break for me. Movie-wise though? That’s a tough one. There was a movie I worked on that has a $1.3 million budget. I got in on a recommendation from a friend of mine already working on it. They took a chance on me. I was co-department heading with another artist. It was called Forbidden Warrior. Yeah you’ll never see it.
MUD: What’s the best way for somebody to ask if they can assist you?
Alex: Erin Krueger Mekash had a fantastic one. Don’t ask if you can clean my brushes. If you want to assist me, I want to know how good of a make-up artist you are and not how good of a brush cleaner you are.
MUD: Talk about your work on “Desperate Housewives.”
Alex: I did a movie many years ago called “Without Men.” It starred Eva Longoria among others. I was department head so I did Eva’s make up. She looks at me one day and she says “Have you ever thought about coming on Desperate Housewives?” I said, “I’d love to, but I don’t think they would touch me.” She’s like “Why not?” I replied, “Because no one knows I do beauty make-up.” Keep in mind, at this time I was doing “Terminator” make-up. I was doing a lot of effects-based make-up for independent movies like “I Am Number Four.” She looks at me and says, “Well you’ve been doing my make up for about 18 days and I think I’m a pretty good reference.” I loved her for that. I told her “I appreciate the opportunity, but I don’t want to replace anybody or make any ripples in the water at all. If you’re willing to do this then I want an opportunity to prove myself.” She said “Done!” Four months later, I was on the show and I didn’t replace anyone or ripple any waters. I became their regular addition for the next two seasons and I didn’t do a touch of effects make-up.
I can tell you right off the bat it scared the hell out of me. Here I am, new kid on the block and I’m working on the glamour show of the decade. I’m confident in my beauty make-up, but my confidence means nothing if the people that hired me aren’t confident. So that was the big concern. I like to do natural look. I don’t like to do glamour or high fashion. It really pushed me personally and professionally to go outside my comfort zone and boundaries. While I never had to do high fashion make-up, I did have to do high-end make-ups.
MUD: How much pressure was there on “Desperate Housewives” to make sure everyone looked amazing?
Alex: There wasn’t that much pressure because all of the pressure on the make-up was being directed to the five girls. As long as they were flawless, everyone else was okay. (Not that I could slack off!) Yes, I was there for two seasons, but at no point in time did I ever think I was safe. Because of that, I continued to be on top of my game. I’d always think, “Okay this will keep me on the show or I’ll get fired.” That was every day.
I never thought I would be on that show. It was the kindness of Eva and my abilities as a make-up artist that allowed that to happen. Every aspect of the show was magical.
MUD: Talk about working on “Fear the Walking Dead.”
Alex: Again, it’s magical to be a part of the Walking Dead family. It can be difficult, but it’s like I asked my dad, “Was it hard to get that good?” He said, “It took work, but it was it hard? No, because I love it.” Is it tedious? Yes! You can be in the trailer for five hours doing make-ups with nothing but airbrush or prosthetics and airbrush.
MUD: Do you prefer to work in TV or film?
Alex: I prefer working on either film or television. I like film because you are able to establish a family, a bond and it’s almost like summer camp. Whereas TV, you still have families and bonds but it’s more like a school year. I’ve never department headed a TV show so I don’t know what that’s like. I know plenty that have and they enjoy it. It’s a steady paycheck and they love what they do.
MUD: What is your favorite make-up you’ve ever done?
Alex: There’s three favorite make-ups. What I’m working on now, which is “Fear the Walking Dead” because that’s a dream come true for me. My favorite project was “Desperate Housewives” because that’s an amazing experience with amazing people. It was an incredibly well-oiled machine. And lastly, “Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles” because that fulfilled a bucket list in the sense that I always wanted to work on a Terminator Series.
MUD: What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Alex: My uncle had the best advice. “Don’t ever consider a long term relationship with someone you wouldn’t consider being a business partner with. If you trust them with your business, you can trust them with your heart.” If I can’t trust someone personally, then I can’t trust someone professionally. If I can’t trust them professionally, I sure don’t trust them personally. Nobody can accuse me of being a liar, cheater or thief. Honesty is so important to me because I want people to be honest with me. If I do something wrong, tell me. But if you don’t tell me, I don’t know how it’s gone wrong.
I do believe that you get what you deserve. Every decision you’ve ever made in your entire life has led you to be where you are right now. It’s decision making. That’s one of the truths that people don’t really like to hear especially when they fall on hard times. Look, I‘ve been on hard times, guess what? I caused it! Every decision I made.
There’s no point in looking back and saying “What if?” What you do now from this moment forward will affect the rest of your life. Every decision you make now affects every other decision. So make the right decision.
MUD: Where would you want the career to go next?
Alex: Oh god, to walk on stage at the Kodak Theater. I would like to do a war epic. I’d like to something like “Saving Private Ryan” or the Iraq war. I like doing dirt and blood and bringing light to situations if it helps the troops. I may not support why we’re doing what we’re doing, but I sure support the people doing it.
Uncategorized Alex Noble, Guest Speaker, MUD LA, MUD Talks Leave a comment
MUD Talks: Ray Shaffer
May 18, 2017 May 19, 2017 kcavanaughmud
When you ask anyone about Ray Shaffer, industry professional or student alike, they will tell you that he is the kindest, most genuine, and hard-working man they know. He is the gentleman of this profession. His road to make-up wasn’t a direct course, but that’s what has made him an excellent artist and a phenomenal teacher.
MUD: What was growing up like? And what led you to make-up?
Ray: I was born at the Submarine Base in Groton, CT. My Dad was in the Navy at the time and worked on nuclear submarines. Part of my childhood was very residential, and part of it was moving around a lot because I was part of a navy and a coast guard family.
I first got interested in make-up when I was very, very young. My mom was and still is a nurse. She’s been a trauma nurse for about 54 years, and she’s finally going to retire this spring. She used to work the 3-11pm shift at St. Vincent’s Hospital. She would get off work around midnight or so, and come home to get me out of bed to watch Mission Impossible reruns together. There were lots of disguises in the show and my head just smoked at the idea that people could be different people. My dad wasn’t into monster movies, but when I was 5 or 6 he would stay up with me to watch the Creature Feature at night. That was really cool because he’s a very down to earth guy and monsters really weren’t his thing.
MUD: What was your first introduction to make-up?
Ray: I remember when I was 12 or so, Dick Smith had a Monster Make-up Kit that you could buy at toy stores. I was saving up from my paper route to buy it, and I would go into KB Toy Store and look at it longingly. My birthday is in October and I was hoping to have it in time for Halloween, but I knew I was going to be a few bucks short. Well, on my birthday, my grandparents came over. My Grandpa drove a big green Chrysler and I was feeling bummed when he called me over to it. He pulled out a box and he had bought me the Dick Smith Make-up Kit!
Basically, the kit was vacuform molds and you made your own appliances out of gelatin (Dick called it flesh flags). He was looking for something easy to use and relatively non-toxic, which it was. The whole heating it up thing was a little weird. You probably couldn’t get away with that now. But the first make-ups or appliances I did were out of the Dick Smith Kit. Later on, I found “Stage Make-up” by Richard Corson in the library and that put me up on a different level.
I remember the first appliance make-up I ever tried to do on my own was a Rocky Balboa make-up. I was 14 or 15 trying to recreate the boxer damage makeup. I remember being very happy with it at the time. I lost the pictures, but I’m very glad because it was probably awful. It was a lot of fun. Later, I remember what a thrill it was to meet Mike Westmore when he came out to MUD to talk. He had been the make-up artist on the first few Rocky movies, and on First Blood and Raging Bull, and all these cool films, plus Star Trek. It was really cool!
MUD: How did you turn your interest in make-up into a career?
Ray: I started out wanting to act. I’d always loved make-up, but being from the east coast, I may as well have being talking about being a rocket scientist or being a ping pong player in China. I didn’t understand enough about the field to figure out how to make that happen. Because I wanted to act, I used make-up to augment my range as an actor. I’m a pretty unique looking guy, so unless I just wanted to wave a steak knife, or be the guy yelling, “die, grandma die!”, I needed a little help to make me believable as other characters.
In the course of working in theater in college, I was working on a type of play called a reconstruction. It’s where you take a classic text and rearrange it. It’s usually experimental theater. My college did Hamlet, and my roommate was playing Hamlet’s Father. Our director had the idea to make him a Viking Chieftain. And what do they do when a they die? They’re put in a funeral pyre. So we needed to have this crispy critter corpse kind of guy. A role like that is an awful lot for a 20 year old actor to wrap his head around. He tried different things, but wasn’t happy with what he was doing. So I built the mask for him.
I remember him putting it on and staring in the mirror and being very, very quiet about it. When you see your face burnt down to the skull, the whole idea of how much you’ve been violated hits you. That night at rehearsal, he was a whole different cat! I remember him walking off the stage and hugging me. I was so emotionally overwhelmed by that — it was probably at the point I jumped ship. I felt I was doing better work influencing other performers than I was enjoying acting myself.
MUD: How was your career starting to take shape at that point?
Ray: I sort of divide my career into East Coast and West Coast. My first prosthetic makeup job ever was in a theater in Massachusetts. I remember they thought I could age a whole cast for $50. And I did it! I ended up having to augment it with cotton and latex.
My first job on the west coast was for Rob Burman. It’s funny because it just got released! Andrew Getty, who was the grandson of John Paul Getty, was a sort of auteur. He wanted to be a film director. He had some very nightmarish visions and he tried to write a narrative around it. Basically, he picked away at this film for a long time. He would shoot it a little bit, then he would get upset and stop, then he’d start again with a different crew…and so on and so forth. He passed about 2 years ago or so and his estate had the work completed since he was in post-production, and just released it on DVD and Video on Demand. It’s called “The Evil Within.” There was some creepy stuff in there. There was a spider that was stitched together from human body parts. Lots of practical gags and lots of in-camera tricks, things with perspective. I’m not sure if there was any CG at all. But that was my first film. That was also my first job for Rob Burman.
MUD: When did the transition to teaching begin?
Ray: I came out to the west coast in the summer of 2000 and I worked intermittently then continually was a make-up artist, but primarily as a lab technician. That means I made molds, I did hair work, I did castings, sometimes when the sun shone in the right direction, I even sculpted. I did that for 10 years. In the late 2000s, a lot of things really depressed the film industry. SAG went on strike, and then the WGA went on strike. And then the banks crashed, and I navigated that as best I could but nobody was working.
I had to look for another opportunity. Also around this time my mother started getting sick. Mom is a tank so I knew if something was wrong with mom, then I wanted to be there. So I went back to the east coast to try to be of use to my family. In the course of wanting to stay busy, I was going through Craigslist, and there was an ad that the MUD NY was looking for instructors. At the time I didn’t even know MUD had a campus in NY! So I contacted them.
I know that I’m a patient guy, and I hoped that I’d be descent at teaching. I was surprised by how much I loved it! There was an adjustment. It’s challenging to take 20 people who are all at different motivation levels, ability levels and artistic levels and to guide them as a unit through things they sometimes don’t believe they can do. So there is a learning curve. What started out as something I wanted to try, turned out to be something I love very, very much. I think of friends back home who are knocking rust off of boats and making t-shirts and working in fast food stores, and I’ve got the best job on planet earth.
MUD: With having a career sculpting, molding, applying, and painting, what part of the process is your favorite?
Ray: What do I love doing? I love sculpture and molding. What is it that I love about make-up? I just love the whole idea that we can make things that never existed before, that you can sit down with a motivated actor, and a little artistic vision and hard work, and combine it with a bag of cement and a block of wax clay and turn it into people, and species, and creatures that the world has never seen before. It’s so creative and only limited by your skill set and your imagination. And there’s not a lot of that left in the world anymore. Everything is prepackaged. For us to be able to make something that is so unique and individual in this world is something else.
MUD: What has changed about the industry from your perspective?
Ray: I think computers have become a bigger part of it, but even that is cyclic. Now, there’s a big push back. I think make-up and computers are both awesome tools, provided they are used appropriately for their strengths. If I use a hammer to hammer a nail, it’s a wonderful tool. If I use a hammer to saw a table in half, it’s sort of a mess.
When all of the changes started happening was when Avatar came out. That scared the begezus out of all of us. There had been fun CG characters for some time, but Avatar was the first instance where a director could look through the viewfinder on the camera and in front of him were people in motion capture suits. In real time, he was seeing blue kitty people in the jungle. Basically when everyone saw that it was a huge hit, it freaked everyone in the industry out. Everyone making films at the time stopped and went into turn around mode. They wanted to evaluate this new option, and there was only one studio in the world that was doing work that good, WETA. Other studios caught up, but it took a while and in the meantime, nobody was working.
There was a time when every action or adventure film you saw was just filled with lots of cartoons. Then, there was almost a backlash against it. People were tired of watching confused looking actors standing around monsters that clearly aren’t there. The Star Wars prequels are a great example. People standing around in a green room looking confused. I think people missed what make-up brought to performances, like the physical space that they fill on screen. There’s a real tangible quality to them. If you look at the cast of Phantom Menace, they are clearly great actors but you look at how they struggled in that movie. Then you look at a movie like Alien, you have Sigourney Weaver in a real space with a guy in costume in a smoky alley with drool dribbling on her — that affects your performance.
Great make-ups in your presence effect your performance. All of a sudden, you feel like you’re in the presence of an alien, or a senator from another planet. That effects actors in a way that someone standing and talking to a mark on the wall does not. They’re effective in a way that CG often is not. It’s nice to see it come back. I think everything runs in cycles. In some ways, opportunities have declined, and in other ways they have not. There are far more people making movies these days — whether it’s a YouTube movie, Netflix, a feature, or a low-budget thing. In some ways, there seems to be more work!
MUD: What does the future hold?
Ray: I would be happy teaching as long as MUD is happy having me. I would be happy sculpting and creating make-ups. I’m getting better and look forward to continue to get better all the time. There are things I think are good or bad, but there’s always improvement that can be made.
MUD: What advice for make-up artists do you want to share?
Ray: Work hard and don’t quit. I know that sounds like such a stereotype. A lot of these pieces of advice you hear so often tend to lose their meaning, but I’ve seen wonderfully talented people not succeed when they only need to try a little built harder and not quit. A lot of time common sense and a work ethic are super powers. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it.
If I have no other gift, I hope as teacher, I have a gift to help someone who’s straight out of high school, or wherever they are in life, believe that they can get through a sculpture. And then they can get through fiberglass. And if you keep on trying, doors will open. All luck is your preparation meeting the right opportunity. So, don’t quit, and believe you can do it. The whole idea of being able to make something from nothing is very empowering. Rob Burman used to say, “once you learn you can make stuff, you’re never the same again.”
Uncategorized Guest Speaker, MUD LA, MUD Talks, Ray Shaffer Leave a comment
Graduate Spotlight: Nicole Faulkner
“Be positive, be grateful, make art, and be nice to each other!”
– Nicole Faulkner
MUD: Tell us a little bit about your background. Where are you from? What did you want to be when you grew up? What led you to MUD?
Nicole: I’m a Cali girl! I grew up in Corona, CA — about an hour and a half south of Los Angeles, actually. I always loved art growing up. I toyed with the idea of fashion school, tattoo artistry, architecture…but I never really considered make-up artistry a real career until probably my junior year. I had to do a project for my Career Choices class on a topic that interested me and that’s when I really dove into the world of make-up, learning about all the different career options and understanding what being a freelance artist meant. I started doing research on schools and fell in love with MUD! Everyone said it was the best so I thought to myself, “this is it, I HAVE to go here!“
Pentatonix at the 2017 Grammys by Nicole Faulkner
MUD: What are you doing now?
Nicole: I graduated from MUD in early 2010, and since then I’ve been a freelance working artist here in LA! I live in the valley, near Sherman Oaks. I have a 2 bedroom so I could turn one room into a little studio for myself! I now work with some of the biggest directors, musicians, social media superstars, celebrities, actors, and make-up brands! I’ve worked with Def Leppard, T.I., 5 Seconds of Summer, French Montana, and toured the world all last year with 3 time Grammy award winners, Pentatonix. I work with TV stars like Leah Remini, Raven Simone, Eddie Griffin, Michelle Visage on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, VMAs, CMAs, Grammy’s…etc. I’ve done make-up on internet superstars like Tyler Oakley, Jeffree Star, Todrick Hall, Joey Graceffa, MannyMUA, Jaclyn Hill, Nicole Guerrero, TheGabbyShow, etc. I work with award winning director, Hannah Lux Davis who is so incredibly in demand — I’m lucky to be her go to girl for every music video she does! I also work closely with different makeup brands like Morphe Brushes, MAC cosmetics, Benefit Cosmetics, and Jeffree Star cosmetics for collaborative video content or campaign ads for new collections!
Jeffree Star by Nicole Faulkner
MUD: What did you do right after you left MUD?
Nicole: Right after I left MUD, I immediately started freelancing. I was actually freelancing while I was still in school at MUD! I started working with students from LA Film School and just networking a lot, taking every job I could even if there was little to no pay. I was also test shooting with different photographers, just trying to get my name out there and build a reputation and I knew that would take years so I wanted to start ASAP! But when I did graduate, I started booking more stuff — music videos with new upcoming artists, short films, and small feature films. I also got a job part-time at MAC Cosmetics.
Todrick Hall by Nicole Faulkner
MUD: What do you remember most vividly about your time at MUD?
Nicole: I remember how clean everything was, the white walls, white countertops, fresh scent. Everything felt clean and new every day, like each day was a fresh slate. I liked that a lot.
By Nicole Faulkner
MUD: Do you/will you stay in touch with the friends you made at MUD? Why do you think that is important in your line of work?
Nicole: My whole class was really cool — we would all hang out after school and on weekends but after that, we all kind of lost touch. Some people moved back to their hometowns or went on to hair school, etc. I did make one life long friend Barbra. She lives in Utah but we talk often and I go visit her about twice a year and that’s cool to have MUD as our memory of where we met and reminisce on that experience with her!
MUD: Tell me about your best day at MUD!
Nicole: My best day at MUD was my last day at MUD because I remember reflecting on everything I just learned and that whole experience and just being so proud of myself and feeling READY for whatever, I have always been super ambitious and my MUD experience gave me that extra juice I needed to get out there and hustle.
RuPaul’s Drag Race judges, Michelle Visage and Todrick Hall.
Make-up by Nicole Faulkner
MUD: What are some lessons you learned at MUD that you think will be most beneficial in the “real world?”
Nicole: Sanitation! Number one most important thing you can ever learn in this industry! But also that hands-on experience working on all of my classmates — some with perfect skin and some with not-so-perfect skin. There’s so much variety and each face is different. Everyone’s eye shape, skin texture and skin tone are so different, so it was nice to sort of face everything you’re afraid of in class so when your out there working, you never feel insecure or scared of not being able to manipulate your product to work for a particular client.
Joseph Gordon Levitt with Nicole Faulkner on the set of “Hit Record.”
MUD: Would you have done anything differently?
Nicole: I specialize in avant garde make-ups and “heavy glam” type of looks and in school I would always try and do too much! In beauty class for example, I wanted to bust out all my tricks and crazy colors and big lashes. I thought basic HD beauty make-ups were boring, but when you really get out there, A LOT of jobs require just simple clean beauty make-ups and I didn’t really understand that. Being 18, I just thought “Oh, glitter, cut crease, huge winged liner on everyone!” I would have really taken that section more seriously because I ended up having to really train myself in the art of holding back and just executing clean, camera-ready looks. Just because you can do stuff doesn’t mean you have to do them all the time! There’s plenty of time to do all that fun, wild stuff with crazy colors and flex all of your creative muscles, but it’s also important to really understand and perfect the basics too!
Nicki Minaj at the VMAs. Backup dancer make-up by Nicole Faulkner.
MUD: Do you have any words of encouragement for those considering applying to MUD?
Nicole: You get what you put into the experience. If you come, really come. Like, be there mentally, physically, emotionally, all of it! Soak up all the knowledge you can and then get ready to work your butt off!
Nicole Faulkner and Frankie Grande
MUD: Lastly, what advice to you have for today’s MUD students?
Nicole: Just enjoy the experience! Always come to school with a good attitude, never bring personal life problems or stresses into the classroom — treat it like you’re on a make-up job. Clients look to us for constant good energy, good vibes, and positive words of encouragement and it’s so important that you project that. At the end of the day, it’s make-up. MAKE-UP! How fun is that? I feel lucky and blessed to have been so successful in a career I love so much and I’m so passionate about! Be positive, be grateful, make art, and be nice to each other!
Uncategorized Grads, Guest Speaker, Jeffree Star, MUD LA, Nicole Faulkner, Pentatonix, Todrick Hall Leave a comment
MUD Talks: Kato DeStefan
We recently sat down to talk to make-up artist, Robert Kato DeStefan.
Below, you’ll find out about his work on Guardians of the Galaxy, NCIS, Teen Wolf and more!
MUD: Where were you born?
Kato: Rockville Center, New York.
MUD: What was it like for you growing up?
Kato: Fun! Also I was a shy kid, so it was kind of lonely but at the same time, I grew up in an Italian American family. Even though I was an only child, I had a lot of cousins around so there was always somebody to mess with.
MUD: Where do you get inspiration?
Kato: It’s totally from my friends. I’m very fortunate that my friends are really some of the most talented make up artists out there constantly pushing the bar setting it higher and higher. I really need to look no further than them. Whether it be Margaret Prentice, Eryn Kruegar Mekash or Richard Redlefsen here in Burbank they are all such brilliant artists. Surround yourself with good people and it makes you want to be better.
MUD: What drew you to make-up as a career?
Kato: Growing up watching Star Trek and Planet of the Apes kind of set things in motion. I also watched a lot with the Universal horror films and Hammer horror films. Not being a sports related kid, I would sit inside all weekend and watch all those movies on TV. Then once the movie The Thing came out, that was the absolute final nail in the coffin where I said “I have to do this for a living!”
Kato: That would be getting a job at SFX working with Steve Johnson. Prior to that, I had done while still in make up school, I did a job with the director of the school. It was a little short film for Saturday Night Live called Sleep Tight where you had a sandman character. One of my classmates was Louie Zakarian who runs SNL right now. Louie was still working on his project when mine was done so he took me on set and I got to work on that for a couple of days.
MUD: Who are your heroes and mentors?
Kato: I would have to say Rick Baker because he really set everything in motion for all of us. Dick Smith on a personal level as a teacher and a friend. Steve Johnson as a boss and friend. Michael Westmore really was tremendous, because I was a huge fan of his work prior to meeting him. He taught me how to be production friendly and how to be good on set with etiquette by watching how he treats people. He is an incredibly kind human being and is very generous not only with his knowledge but with his time.
MUD: Tell me about working on Suburban Commando and Batman Returns.
Kato: Oh God, yeah. That was the early days I was at SFX. Suburban Commando I was pouring dental acrylic into molds so you can get those little spines that came off the little suit or alien. I’d also be taking all the disinfectant and cleaning out the suit when it came back from set. Batman Returns was originally only going to be Bill Corso doing it. He was working on the burned corpse of Christopher Walken at the end of the movie that gets exposed. Steve had sent me since I was the runner down to Warner Brothers to pick up the sketch that looked like Jack Skeleington only with hair from Tim Burton. Bill was going to work on it and he realized it was more than work than he expected. So he was like “What are you doing this weekend? Do you want to help me?” So Bill was really the artist, I was just an extra pair of hands.
MUD: Tell me about your work on Con Man and The Guild.
Kato: It was great. It’s just like working on any other kind of set. Your still with professionals, it’s just the budgets are different. On The Guild, Felicia Day is an amazing producer and she did a great job writing on everything. She always knocks it out of the park. It was almost all straight make up with a little bit of character to it because of the steampunk characters for the season they did the convention. I wound up being in one of their convention shots actually. They were like “Okay you guys can sit there but just don’t look at the camera.” So we tucked our set bags on the other side of the chair so the frame had just me sitting there texting on my phone in the background.
Con Man was great and some of the same people there had worked on The Guild. I only did the one alien that we shot for two days on that show but I got to see Nathan Fillion again. I got to do his convention scene on the Guild. My friend Debbie Zoller is and was Nathan’s personal. I called Debbie and she told me how his make up is normally done. She even set it up so I went over to her house and picked up his bag so I had all the right stuff with me.
MUD: Tell me your work on Horrible Bosses 2.
Kato: That was actually something that was a break. I didn’t expect to work on it as much as I did. I started out as a day checker doing tattoos on Jamie Foxx’s stunt double who worked a lot more than Jamie Foxx did because it’s a lot of driving scenes. I think Jamie himself only filmed for a couple of days but his stunt double was used more. I believe it was Greg Nelson who started with Jonathan Banks’ character and they eventually gave me Jonathan to do. The Department Head, Debby La Mia Denaver, and I got along really well and she knew I needed days. So she brought me in whenever she could even if it was an eight and skate down in Irvine. Because of that I got to work on the poster shoot. There were two artists who did Jamie’s tattoos and one was off on another project. Since I did the double, I was familiar with the tattoos and I would help Kantaro Yanno with Jamie for the poster. That established me with Kanaterro working together and he gives me work all the time now. So that was really a very important film for me.
MUD: Tell me about your work on The Goldbergs and NCIS.
Kato: On the Goldbergs, I just get brought in to do background. Occasionally Bonni Flowers who’s Department Head will have me keep an eye on a principal actor on set. It’s standard day checking stuff. Kim Greene brought me in on the first season. Once Kim left and Bonni took over, she continued to bring me in when I was available. I’m very thankful for that because it was a special show having seen Sean Gianbrone, the little kid, grow up and watching the other characters grow into their parts has been a lot fun. Everyone on it is so nice. All the actors, all the crew really are family. I’m not as close there as I am with the Teen Wolf crew but close.
On NCIS, is a show where its “ok who’s the dead person of the week?” You go in early in the morning, you kill somebody, film it, go back, you clean ‘em up and you’re gone. So it’s a quick in and out. Tina Hoffman who’s one of the keys on the show, is the one who’s been bringing me back and she got her start under Michael Westmore. So we’ve got a great connection there.
MUD: Tell me about your work on Guardians of the Galaxy
Kato: Guardians involved just four days of pick up shots being done over at Disney. I was going in and painting box circles around people’s eyes and doing a little bit construction worker make up on the miners with the yellow dust on them. Just day checking and doing background make up for people who will be composited into shots. It was a great experience to be on it, because the sets and everything were fantastic.
MUD: When you work only a few days on larger high profile projects do you find those bigger credits help you get better work?
Kato: I never know. There’s the part of me that says it looks great on my resume but does it look great to me or to other people? For me, it’s great experience to be part of such a huge film. It makes me feel good. I also did Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. I got to do an eight and skate on that. I got to make up some of Gary Oldman’s people, which were about 15 background players on that. I jumped at the chance! I was working doing all night on Teen Wolf. I got out at 5:30AM, and I had to be at Fox at 9:00AM. I barely had time to stop home, shower, grab my kit and head down to the lot. I did it because it was Apes that was such a huge part of my life growing up. My mom took me to see the original five movies back to back that played all night at a drive in theater. I didn’t sleep! I was awake all the way through sitting in the back of our hatchback just glued. So the tiny bit I was attached to that film was fantastic for me.
MUD: Tell me about your work on Teen Wolf.
Kato: It’s a big part of my life for three seasons and a couple of episodes. It’s how I’ve paid my rent, how I’ve got my health insurance and how I’ve made some of the best friends I’ll ever make in this Industry. The show has a phenomenal group of actors and we actually do hang outside of work. It’s the only experience I’ve had quite like it.
I’m friends with Chris Gallaher who’s Department Head. He was in need of someone to come in and day check. I ran into him at Monsterpalooza and said to him “Hey if you’re filming I’m available” and he was like “Oh okay” so he brought me in for a few weeks to test me out. Gradually he kept bringing me back. I try to get along with everyone and I just wound up being a good fit.
MUD: What is your favorite make-up? Or If your house was on fire and you could only save one scene from all your movies what would it be?
Kato: By myself, my favorite is probably a Charlie Sheen look-a-like make up for the film that got me in the Union called Not Another Celebrity Movie. I got to work with the actor David Burliegh a good portion of the time and it was only a three week shoot. It’s a favorite because it was doing someone who’s a contemporary figure.
My second favorite was the Abigail Folger make up on Aquairus. It was a challenge because that was the first time I had to do a make up based on an autopsy report.
MUD: Do you feel there’s any difference working on TV vs Film?
Kato: I don’t think it’s any different. Time is maybe more of a factor but you still need same quality on the level of finishing a piece because most of TV is HD now. The only thing is you’ll do more scenes in one day on TV than you will in film. Film is about trying as many angles as you can. TV is more about how many scenes can you get done in a day.
Is there a paycheck difference on TV versus film? Depends on what level you’re working at. Department Heads will likely make more, probably a lot more, on film. For us day-to-day grunts, just going in on a contract rate it’s the same either way. I made my best paycheck on a TV job actually. However, that’s because that FX shop I was with had negotiated a higher rate, and higher kit fee. On my own, I’m not really able to negotiate that rate. This is what rental is, our rate is and that’s it. As a Department Head you can get that higher pay but that’s dependent on experience and awards.
MUD: What has been challenging about make-up?
Kato: Having to match anything that Kenny Myers has worked on. Because we work next to each other on Teen Wolf and sometimes he’ll be doing the make up and I’ll be doing the stunt double. Kenny is a meticulous artist so it’s tricky for me to try and match anything that he’s doing. I can usually get the right side fine. Looking across at Kenny, I can see right side fine. It’s when I have to work on the left side it gets harder because it’s not the side I was constantly looking at. So it’ll be a lot of me stepping and running around to the other side looking at Kenny’s and then running back to duplicate it. This is especially if it’s the first day the make up is established.
Kato: Strangely it’s don’t be a d**k. Just try to get along. Don’t think you’re the best because strangely enough those who are don’t think they’re the best. Check your ego at the door. It’s a matter of attitude. Don’t have one.
MUD: What Advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Kato: There’s a quote from Todd Macintosh, which is “Know your craft.” Learn as much as you can constantly. The Industry is always growing and it’s better you stay on top of everything that’s currently happening but don’t totally dismiss the stuff that’s come before.
Uncategorized Guest Speaker, MUD LA, MUD Talks, Robert Kato DeStefan Leave a comment
MUD Talks: Amber Talarico
April 7, 2017 May 18, 2017 kcavanaughmud
We recently spoke with Amber Talarico at our LA campus in Burbank. Amber is the director of the documentary, “What It Takes” which highlights the highs and lows in the journey to become a make-up artist. Learn more about Amber’s career as a make-up artist here and definitely check out her interview below.
Uncategorized Amber Talarico, Guest Speaker, MUD LA Leave a comment
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Kristin Scott
Flim Star
BIRTHDAY May 24, 1960
BORN PLACE United Kingdom
BIRTH SIGN Taurus
Kristin Scott Thomas Bio
EDIT/Suggest of Kristin Scott Thomas
Who is Kristin Scott
Kristin Scott Thomas is a English and French actress. She came to kown as she appeared in popular films such as Four Weddings, Funeral and The English Patient. She is a very talented actress.
Early Life (Childhood)
She was born in Redruth, Cornwall. Her mother name is Deborah and her father name is Simon Scott Thomas. Her father is a Lieutenant Commander. She studied at Cheltenham Ladies' College and St. Antony's Leweston in Sherborne.
When she was just five years old her first biological father died in a flying accident. Her married got married to pilot husband. Unfortunately he also died after six years in a flying accident.
She is a married woman. She later got divorced to Dr. Franco. She have three children's named Joseph Olivennes, Hannah Olivennes and George Olivennes. She was in romantic relation with Tobias Menzies.
NETWORTH And ACHIEVEMENT
Kristin was honored with Légion d'Honneur in 2005. She was also honored with Order of the British Empire in 2015. In 2008 she won best actress award for the play The Seagull. She was also nominated for best actress award in 2013 for play Old Times.
There was rumor that she moved to France because her career was not well in English film.
Height of Kristin Scott Thomas
5 Feet 6 Inch
Height in Feet
Height in Inch
Height in Meter
Height in CentiMeter
5 Feet 6 Inch height inUnited Kingdom
5 Feet 6 Inch height ofFlim Star
5 Feet 6 Inch height ofTaurus
5 Feet 6 Inch height ofFemale
People Born On 1960 People Born On January 24 More on Flim Star
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John Woo is one of the renowned directors and producers from Hong Kong. He has also established himself as a writer. He has major influence on action genre.
John Woo Biography
Zoe Kravitz is a beautiful American actress. She is also a singer as well as a model. She have played in many hit movies like No Reservations, The Brave One and in X-Men: First Class as Angel Salvadore.
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Production Reviews
Opera Education
The Singing and Acting Handbook
Thomas de Mallet Burgess (a graduate of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University) has established an international reputation for directing award-winning opera and leading ground-breaking research in opera/musical theatre performer training.
“This production of ‘Elektra’ does not require suspension of disbelief. It is simply ripped out of the audience…domestic horror made sublime and brilliantly rendered.” National Post (Toronto), Elektra, Canadian Opera Company
“de Mallet Burgess’ direction brilliantly plays artifice off against found mise-en-scene almost as a research method…sustained power, searing interiority and superlative musicianship and stagecraft of this fine production.” West Australian (Perth), La voix Humaine, Lost & Found Opera.
Opera credits include multiple productions for Canadian Opera Company, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Ireland, English Touring Opera and most recently to enormous critical acclaim for Lost & Found Opera.
Other credits include theatre productions in the UK, Belgium, Romania and the commissioning and development in Ireland of plays by new Irish writers on contemporary social themes.
He is author of the ground-breaking performer training work: “The Singing and Acting Handbook” (published Routledge London and New York) and a regular visiting artist at conservatories worldwide conservatories including: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory Music, USA; California State University, Fresno USA; Pepperdine University, USA; Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London; The Royal Academy of Music, London; Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, London; The Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin; Vadstena Academy, Sweden; and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
His strong commitment to the role of the arts in wider society has resulted in a sustained history of collaboration with Outreach Departments of major organisations such as The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Opera North and English Touring Opera (where as Education Consultant he pioneered a three‐year ground-breaking programme on music with the Deaf Community).
He was previously Creative Director at The National Opera House, Ireland with responsibility for creating a cohesive artistic vision for Ireland’s first, purpose-built state of the art opera house and home to the Wexford Opera Festival.
Based for seven years in Perth, he was founder and inaugural Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed opera company Lost & Found, hailed as “the nation’s most innovative opera company” (Opera Magazine) and “one of the few genuinely disruptive arts organisations in Australia” (The West Australian). The company’s critically acclaimed productions have included Poulenc’s ‘The Human Voice’ (hotel room); ‘The Emperor of Atlantis’ (synagogue); ‘In the Shadow of Venus’ (three short contemporary American works at Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts and Winner of The West Australian Arts Editor Award); Milhaud’s ‘Médée’ (former asylum for women); and Bizet’s ‘Don Procopio’ (Italian Club and outer suburban wedding venue).
In July 2018 he was appointed General Director of New Zealand Opera, providing the creative and operational leadership at New Zealand’s national opera company.
info@demalletburgess.com
Australia +61 (0)409 290 901 (GMT + 8.00)
New Zealand +64 (0) 21 246 0500 (GMT + 13.00)
July 2018 THOMAS DE MALLET BURGESS APPOINTED GENERAL DIRECTOR, NEW ZEALAND OPERA
September 2018 Synchronised swimmers in opera? What NZ Opera’s new general director may bring.
Thomas de Mallet Burgess in the limelight – nominated as Australian Artist of the Year 2017 in Limelight Magazine
LOST & FOUND’S 5 STAR PRODUCTION OF ‘TROUBLE IN TAHITI’ REVIEWED IN AUGUST’S OPERA MAGAZINE.
Lost & Found hailed as one of the few disruptive arts companies in Australia
A second edition of ‘The Singing and Acting Handbook’ is in progress and the authors are currently organising a workshop tour to performing arts institutions in Europe and the USA to explore the methodology and ideas behind this ground-breaking work. Please contact Thomas de Mallet Burgess if you wish to organise a visit to your institution.
Ireland +353 (0)87 275 1402 (GMT + 0.00)
July 2018 THOMAS DE MALLET BURGESS APPOI
September 2018 Synchronised swimmers in
Thomas de Mallet Burgess in the limeligh
LOST & FOUND’S 5 STAR PRODUCTION
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Introduction to Data Structures
What is an Algorithm?
Asymptotic Analysis
Search Algorithms
Introduction to Sorting
Quick Sort
Introduction to Linked List
Linked List Operations
Data structure is a way of organizing data in such a way that we can perform an operation on this data in an effective way. There are two basic concepts of a data structure: Interface and Implementation.
The interface is the set of operations that a database structure supports whereas implementation provides the internal representation of a data structure.
Characteristics of a Data Structure
Correctness: Data structure implementation should implement its interface correctly.
Space Complexity: A data structure operation should use as little memory as possible.
Time Complexity: The execution time of the data structure operation should be very little.
Types of Data Structures
As we learned, anything that can store data is called a data structure. There are two basic types of Data Structures:
Primitive Data Structure
Non-Primitive Data Structure
Primitive Data Structures are the basic data structures that operate directly on the machine. They are also called the built-in data structures and have different representations on different computers. Primitive Data Structures are further divided into Integer, Float, Character, and Pointer.
Non-Primitive Data Structures are derived from the primitive data structures and are complex in nature. They are the user-defined data structures that emphasize grouping same or different data items based on the relationship between each data item. Non-Primitive Data Structures are further divided into Arrays, Lists, and Files.
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Hedge fund launches up 51%, says PerTrac
Author: Mitch Ackles, Hedge Fund PR
New York, NY - April 20, 2011 - PerTrac, the leading provider of analytics, reporting and communications software for investment professionals, announced the release of its latest industry study, Sizing The 2010 Hedge Fund Universe: A PerTrac Study. The study indicates that the single-manager hedge fund industry recovered in 2010 with assets under management (AUM) increasing 11% over 2009 to $1.6 trillion and 1,184 new funds launching representing a 51% increase over the prior year. Total AUM for single-manager hedge funds and fund of funds was $2.1 trillion in 2010.
Fund of funds continue to see AUM decline. The 3,196 fund of funds in the study – approximately the same number as in 2008 – had $518 billion under management in 2010. This represents a 10.5% decrease from 2009 and a steep 31% decline from 2008 when $750 billion was reported.
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), the third category measured in the study, attracted investors in 2009 as a haven from stocks and bonds as their numbers peaked that year at 2,425. In 2010, the number of CTAs dropped to 1,997 which is approximately the same level as in 2008.
“As we look across the fund universe, one clear area of growth has been in the number of single-manager hedge funds, and we see that momentum continuing in the future,” said Lisa Corvese, Managing Director, Global Business Strategy at PerTrac. “Overall, the study demonstrates a rebound -- with the industry as a whole getting closer to prior peaks.”
The PerTrac study of hedge funds is unique because it is the only study that aggregates information from 10 leading global databases, allowing it to obtain a holistic picture of the industry. With its proprietary analytics software that removes duplicative fund data, PerTrac provides the most precise and most comprehensive information about the number of funds and assets under management.
Other key findings in the PerTrac study, which has been conducted annually since 2003, show that:
There are 9,572 single-manager hedge funds;
Almost half (3,763) of the reporting single-manager funds have less than $25 million in AUM;
Single-manager funds are growing in AUM with 73% reporting less than $100 million in AUM in 2010 compared to 79% in 2009;
Most fund of funds are small with just 108 (3.3%) reporting AUM of greater than $1 billion and 70% reporting less than $100 million AUM and almost 42% reporting less than $25 million AUM.
Approximately 47% of all funds report to only one database which means investors need to use more than one database to ensure they have complete information on single-manager funds.
To download the complete study which includes additional data on the composition and size of the hedge fund industry, here is the link (copy and paste).
http://www.pertrac.com/per0020/web/me.get?WEB.websections.show&PER0020_1446&source=PressRelease
About PerTrac
PerTrac provides sophisticated analytics, reporting and communications software and services for investment professionals, including pensions, family offices, hedge funds, long-only managers, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, fund of funds and industry service providers. More than 1,400 organizations in 50 countries rely on PerTrac software solutions to help them maximize returns, reduce risk and operate more efficiently. Founded in 1996, PerTrac is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Reno, and Memphis. For additional information on the full suite of PerTrac software solutions, please visit www.PerTrac.com.
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Producteev's Social Task Manager Now Free And Enterprise-Ready As It Preps For Full Jive Integration Later This Year
In November, Jive Software acquired Israeli-American cloud-based, collaborative task manager, Producteev, to boost its social business platform. Going forward, as Alex wrote at the time, Salesforce.com and Jive will increasingly butt heads as they compete for mindshare in the enterprise. With Producteev’s multi-platform task management system that allows users to create tasks from emails and collaborate around projects in teams, Jive acquired a service that was already beginning to compete with Asana and Salesforce.com’s Do.com.
Producteev has been quiet since the acquisition, but that changed today, with the announcement that the startup is launching a revamped version of its social task management platform. The biggest change, founder Ilan Abehassera tells us, is that the new Producteev targets larger companies (naturally, given its acquirer) and is entirely free. Yes, this means that companies of any size will be able to use Producteev for free — no strings attached.
The founder tells us that, in spite of the “By Jive” addendum to the company name, Producteev continues to operate as a startup and remains a standalone offering inside Jive’s product ecosystem. The team is still working on integrating the task management platform into Jive’s products, which it hopes to have completed by the end of the year. It’s not clear yet how pricing will change (if at all) once the integration is complete.
When asked “why free?” the founder said that he believes “tasks are the most basic, fundamental part of getting work done” and, as such, are “the way into the enterprise.” For that reason, and for ease-of-adoption sake, Abehassera takes the “fewer barriers, the better” approach, as going free offers Producteev users (and beyond) a more frictionless pipe into Jive.
The platform has been free to individuals up to this point, but this move is clearly something that the company has wanted to do for some time, and now that it’s under the Jive umbrella, it has the latitude to do so, especially with integration coming this year. As of now, there are no Jive products that I’m aware of that are available for free (forever), so the likelihood that its social collaboration module comes without a price? Not high.
The changes evident in the “revamped” Producteev are notable, and the team has been working on the new version of the platform for the last 11+ months. The result, the founder says, is that Producteev has pretty much been rebuilt from scratch. Firstly, that means Producteev added a lot of scalable tech on the back-end to allow for new users coming over from Jive’s other products — with more to come once the products ar integrated.
The new back-end is also relevant considering that, since its inception, Producteev has really been focused on startups and small teams. But its newest iteration sees it re-tooled for larger companies and allows them to more more effectively break up teams into smaller groups (and collaborate within those groups).
Jive is currently working on a new task management module/dashboard to integrate into its enterprise social networking platform, and as of now, its collaboration and task management capabilities leave plenty to be desired. Producteev’s new features help shore up that gap and fit into the new social (and social collaboration) image it’s trying to sell to its clients and compete with the likes of bigs like IBM (and Salesforce.com).
In addition, the new design, which includes its apps for the Web, iPhone, Android and Mac, introduces the notion of “Networks,” allowing users to collaborate with their entire company — something that wasn’t possible in previous versions. Producteev has also added Dropbox integration so that users can quickly attach Dropbox files to tasks and activity feeds on projects, which enable users to see updates on projects in realtime.
Users can also now assign tasks to multiple teammates, tag tasks for easier filtering later on, follow individual tasks and take advantage of one-click filtering.
All in all, Producteev is starting to look more like a quality, enterprise-grade social task management system. Granted, it’s still not all the way there, as the platform isn’t something you’d use if you’re working on heavy-duty industrial design projects — completing the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, for example. But for most other uses, this is a welcome upgrade for Producteev. And now that it’s free, it wouldn’t be that surprising to see this take off in the same way Yammer did before Microsoft got a hold of it — at least until those integrations hit the pavement.
Rip Empson 22 May, 2013
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/21/producteevs-social-task-manager-now-free-and-enterprise-ready-as-it-preps-for-full-jive-integration-later-this-year/
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Paris France France and the world Migration Syria Bashar al-Assad Islamic State Demonstration
Thousands stage pro-migrant rallies as French politicians debate Syria refugees
Syrian refugee Ammar Kharboutli on Saturday's demonstration in Paris Alison Hird
About 10,000 people staged pro-migrant rallies in towns across France on Saturday. The demonstrations were part of a wave of sympathy for refugees from Syria and other countries that has swept Europe following the publication of photos of the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach.
About 8,500 people gathered in Paris's Place de la République on Saturday afternoon, according to police estimates.
There were smaller rallies in Nantes, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Lyon.
A poll last week showed 56 per cent of the French were opposed to taking in more migrants and refugees.
Participants in yesterday’s meetings wanted to be the voice of the other 44 per cent, showing solidarity with migrants and echoing the “refugees welcome” slogan in Germany.
“I’m a citizen, a French woman and I’m here to protest against our government’s silence about the refugees,” Michèle, a writer and member of the group that came together to initiate the rally, told RFI.
“This movement began especially on Facebook, it began with a conversation on Facebook, a little talk like 'OK it’s terrible, let’s do something'. The "Let’s do something' was like a match and it set Facebook alight. People were ready to do something, to protest against the situation.”
“I’m against what’s happening," said 75-year-old Gisèle, holding a leaflet saying “Yes to refugees”. "That little three-year old that we found dead on the beach died. It’s shameful to do nothing. Here in the West, we just close our eyes. We shouldn’t.”
“People who say France can’t take in migrants are bloody idiots;” she added.
Engineer Alexandre Lepcheri brought his children to the rally.
“It was a question of solidarity to be together today without specific requests and it’s very important to send a signal to politicians and our government to show that we fully support the refugees," he said. “Also to be with our children to show them there are situations outside Europe in order for them to understand the situation."
He was keen to tell the Socialist government not to let the fear of losing voters to the far-right Front National dictate its policies.
“We saw that some initiatives are coming from Germany and we have to send a signal to Mr Hollande to have the same way of speaking as Mrs Merkel," he said. “France probably can’t [take in as many refugees as Germany] but the question of quotas has to be taken into account.”
Among Syrian refugees present, Ammar Kharboutli, a 35-year old engineer from Damascus, arrived in France six months ago, applying for asylum.
He was brandishing a photo of Aylan Kurdi.
“I could have been in his place because I took the same journey from Turkey to Greece," he said. "I’m lucky to be alive but a lot of people didn’t have this chance to be here.
“I’m here today to say give these people the chance to live.”
He, too, called on France to follow Germany's example.
“I want especially France to take a step. Germany took the step and Austria but we’re waiting for France to do their mission, because they didn’t do their mission four years ago and this is the result. They didn’t stop our dictator Bashar Al-Assad. Aylan is the result of that.”
According to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, France could be called upon accept 27,000 asylum-seekers if the proposed quota system is accepted.
After receiving "several dozen" messages from mayors ready to take refugees in their towns, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has invited them to a meeting on Saturday 12 September to discuss how to do so.
France's Chief Rabbi Haïm Korsia called for a complete change in policy in the light of the crisis.
"France, the country of exile and welcome, the cradle of human rights, cannot continue to close its eyes to these women and men who collapse at the door of our borders," he declared at a ceremony in Paris in memory of the "martyrs" of deportation under Nazi occupation.
Former French president and right-wing opposition leader Nicolas Sarkozy called for "administrative retention centres ... under European control in countries surrounding Europe, because the statute of political refugee must be given or refused before the Mediterranean is crossed" at a meeting of his Les Républicains party in western France on Saturday.
As President François Hollande is reported to be considering allowing French airplanes to carry out air strikes on Syria, former prime minister Alain Juppé, a rival to Sarkozy for Les Républicains presidential nomination, backed the idea.
Pointing out that the air force is already carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State armed group in Iraq, Juppé said they should be extended to Syria.
"The question is whether they should be accompanied by a land deployment and that I'm completely against," he said on Sunday.
France considers air strikes against …
NGOs shocked by Europe's treatment of …
France in U-turn on migrant quotas as …
Syrian refugees find Arctic route …
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/ Home / Newsroom / Research in China
Latest Satellite to Aid Environmental Protection
Apr 18, 2017 Email"> PrintText Size
China will launch the Gaofen 5 high-resolution Earth observation satellite in September to help with environmental protection efforts, an official overseeing the program said.
Tong Xudong, a senior official at the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, who is in charge of the Gaofen program, told China Daily on Monday that the satellite will be launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province.
"The satellite will soon be assembled and start to go through tests. It will be one of the most advanced satellites of its kind and will have a life span of eight years," Tong said. "Its main tasks will be monitoring air pollutants, water quality and vegetative cover, thus improving environmental protection."
He made the remarks after a news conference in Beijing on Monday, where an industry report on China's high-resolution satellites was circulated.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection, the main user of the Gaofen 5, said the satellite is the most technologically sophisticated in the Gaofen family. It will carry six pieces of scientific equipment including an atmospheric greenhouse gas monitor and a hyper-spectral camera.
It will be the first Chinese satellite capable of performing remote observations of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
China launched the Gaofen project in May 2010 and has listed it as one of its 16 top projects in science and technology. The country aims to have a high-resolution Earth observation network by around 2020.
The Gaofen 1 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in April 2013. Another five in the series have been launched since.
Currently, more than 1,800 government departments, business entities and publicly funded organizations in China use images and data generated by Gaofen satellites, Tong said. (China Daily)
(Editor: LIU Jia)
China Releases Images Captured by HD Earth Observation Satellite
China released first images captured by the nation's most sophisticated observation satellite Gaofen-4 on Wednesday, including one showing the capital city Beijing amid heavy smog. Each of the images, released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industr...
China's First High Orbit Remote Sensing Satellite to Take Wider Pictures for Earth
China's first high orbit remote sensing satellite, Gaofen-4, was sent into space Tuesday. Gaofen-4 is China's first geosynchronous orbit high-definition optical imaging satellite. It will be used for high-precision observation of China and its surrounding areas, and servi...
China Hi-res SAR Imaging Satellite Sends Back Pictures
China on Thursday published the first pictures transmitted back to earth from Gaofen-3, the country's first C-band high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite with a resolution of one meter. These images were captured using different imaging modes and all app...
High-res Satellite to Help Monitor Floods, Pollution
The Gaofen 4 high-resolution Earth observation satellite officially started operating on Monday to facilitate disaster relief and environmental pollution control. Gaofen 4 is at least 10 times more efficient than the Fengyun satellites, which are pillars of the nation's s...
China's First High Orbit Remote Sensing Satellite Put into Use
China's first high orbit remote sensing satellite, Gaofen-4, went into use after six months of in-orbit testing, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced Monday. Gaofen-4 is China's first geosynchronous orbit hi...
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View From The Hills
Elmira High School: Questions And Yet More Questions
A blog by Chris
Entry posted by Chris · May 4, 2018
It's been about 20 years or so since we've had the conversation about the contamination on the grounds where Southside High School, now known as Elmira High School resides. What we have now that we didn't have two decades ago is social media and the ability for large groups of people to come together in conversation or to mobilize. Which makes this go 'round rather interesting from an outsider perspective.
However I don't exactly have the luxury of being an "outsider", with one son at Elmira High School now and another who will be there next year. It is concerning to me as a parent that a school was built over top of a contaminated industrial site as recently as the late 70's and no one stopped to think, "Hey, maybe this isn't the greatest idea." It is concerning to me that it took so long to recognize the problem existed and for remediation to begin. It concerns me that this wasn't taken into consideration when the school district decided to redistribute students across the district and consolidate the two high schools. If, as more than one former member has said, the Elmira City Council was advised in the early 2000's that no one would think to build a school there now unless complete remediation was done, why was that not taken into consideration?
So I will say outright that I do not discredit the concerns and the possibility that there has been a major public health hazard right under our noses that has caused health problems for a large number of alumni. But when it comes to this issue, I'm a little conflicted.
I question the approach that the DEC, Dept. of Health and others are taking concerning the clean up. I cannot for the life of me understand why the need for more clean up has been acknowledged yet is being done in such a seemingly piecemeal manner? I understand that a large scale clean up would entail more time than is allotted than Summer months. According to the DEC it's times to accommodate the schools capital project schedule. Maybe it should be timed to get the friggin job done?
Why had it taken so long to get the clean up started in the first place? Why the hell would we have to wait until 2019 for further studies? it can't be that hard. You go drill holes in the ground. Check for contaminants. Document what the levels are. Then report it. Not like landing the Mars Rover, folks.
I'm not pointing fingers, I just have questions. Besides, there's too many players involved over the decades and frankly I can't say any one entity bears the blame other than the people who let the contaminants into the soil in the first place.
Admittedly, there's no easy answers and I wonder what the end game is, what is going to bring resolve to the issue. Are we talking about a class action lawsuit, and if so, against whom? Expedited clean up? Calls to shut the school down immediately seems a wee bit simplistic, especially now that the former Ernie Davis Junior High School is occupied by Finn Academy, dontcha think?
Truth is, I don't know what to think most days. On one hand, it's hard to imagine, especially in New York State of all places, that multiple state agencies would knowingly and collaboratively drag their feet on a matter as important as a school built on toxic grounds. Logically thinking, I know the old saw, "Correlation does not imply causation" and think we should be looking, statistically speaking, at cancer rates among other high schools across the region and state and seeing how they compare to the Southside. Are they necessarily higher than others? What other factors come into play with those who have medical issues they attribute to attending the school?
But I also know I've seen first hand the physical difficulties of an alum with unexplained medical issues requiring surgical intervention. I know they're not the only one with those exact same unexplained issues. It is disturbing.
Whatever the case, while it'd good to have conversation about the matter, the community has been talking for decades. And still has questions.
Previous entry Both Sides Of The Coin
Next entry Time For A Reality Check
Logically thinking, I know the old saw, "Correlation does not imply causation" and think we should be looking, statistically speaking, at cancer rates among other high schools across the region and state and seeing how they compare to the Southside. Are they necessarily higher than others?
For all the social media attention this issue is getting, I think more people should be aware that this has been researched, but doesn't seem to make the 6 o'clock news when they cover the other side of the topic. Shame on our local media.
The results are published in this 255 Congressional Committee hearing back in 2001:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-107shrg80650/pdf/CHRG-107shrg80650.pdf
The DOH fact sheet that addresses the statistics (as of 2001) are on pages 120-122 copied below:
Note the box at the bottom of page 121 comparing observed cancer cases (3 zip codes attending the school at the time) to "expected" cases.
Being a parent of a child with pediatric cancer (in Big Flats, prior to school age), I will be the first to say that no one ever “expects” their child to have a cancer diagnosis….but the point is, cancer among like age groups (0-19 and 15-19) across NYS are virtually identical statistically to Southside High from when it opened until 1998.
That's a VERY informative read. If you posted on the site before I must have missed it.
Thank you for posting it.
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Home > Sports Tickets > Basketball Tickets > Professional (NBA) Tickets > New York Knicks Tickets
New York Knicks ticket info
2019-2020 New York Knicks Season Tickets (Includes Tickets To All Regular Season Home Games)
Madison Square Garden -
New York Knicks ticket preview
2014-2015 Knicks ticket preview
New York Knicks tickets always seem to sell well in the city that never sleeps, as evidenced by the Knicks’ placement in the top third NBA’s attendance report year after year. Dating back to 2001, New York has finished no lower than 10th among all teams in total attendance each season. Fans in New York love their basketball team and despite the recent addition of another team to the New York metropolitan market—the Brooklyn Nets—Knicks tickets are still among the city’s hottest commodities.
The newly renovated Madison Square Garden seats 19,763 for Knicks games and boasts several state-of-the-art amenities for fans, including and the new Sky Bridge seats located almost directly above the court. Additionally, glass-enclosed hallways leading to and from the home and visiting locker rooms allow fans an up-close-and-personal view of their favorite players as they enter and exit the court.
Going into the 2014-15 NBA season, the Knicks are looking to improve on a ninth-place finish in the Eastern Conference that saw them finish one game outside of the playoff picture last year. Still, there’s reason to be optimistic if you’re a Knicks fan: the team won 16 of its final 23 games in 2013-14. And New York brought in Hall-of-Famer Phil Jackson to lead the organization as its president.
The Knicks also hired Derek Fisher as head coach, who has championship history with Jackson; Fisher won five NBA titles as a player under Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Things are on the upswing for the Knicks, to be sure. The team re-signed the face of the franchise, Carmelo Anthony, to a five-year, $124 million contract, thereby keeping some continuity in the face of what looks like an upcoming transitional year. New York shipped out Tyson Chandler, Wayne Ellington, Raymond Felton, and Jeremy Tyler; to replace them, the club brought in Quincy Acy, Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, and Shane Larkin.
With fresh blood on the roster and in the front office, New York Knicks tickets will likely be big sellers again this season. Get yours before they sell out, which if history is any indication, will be soon after they go on sale.
2014 Knicks ticket info
The New York Knicks come off their first Atlantic Division title since 1994. With the Knicks’ key pieces returning, there’s no reason to think that they can’t repeat, although revamped Brooklyn will challenge. While Jay Z and Beyonce might be sitting courtside in Barclays Center seats, the Knicks’ faithful following is sure to pack Madison Square Garden seats. New York was seventh in home attendance last season, averaging better than 19,000, so it’s a good idea to get Knicks tickets early.
The Knicks boast the league’s leading scorer in Carmelo Anthony, who can score 40 points on any given night. “Melo” averaged 28.9 and he alone is a reason to purchase New York Knicks tickets. But the Knicks didn’t win the division with just Anthony. They’re one of the better defensive teams and they added defensive stalwart Metta World Peace. The 33-year old veteran still can be unpredictable as can J.R. Smith, who won the Sixth Man of the Year Award last season. Both players are talented, but combustible, and they’ll keep things exciting for fans in Madison Square Garden seats.
Raymond Felton (13.9 ppg, 5.5 ast), Tyson Chandler (10.4 ppg, 10.9 reb), Kenyon Martin, Amare’ Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert will see plenty of action. The Knicks added Andrea Bargnani in a trade and Beno Udrih. Shumpert, fully recovered from a torn ACL in 2012, has shown flashes of greatness and he is poised for a breakout season. When healthy, Shumpert is one of the best defenders in the NBA.
The Knicks clearly will be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, but can they challenge Miami, Chicago and Indiana for the conference crown? The talent is there, but egos must be kept in check - and they don’t have the veteran leadership of the retired Jason Kidd, the rookie head coach in Brooklyn. His calming floor presence will be missed. Coach Mike Woodson will be responsible for managing and massaging those egos.
New York finished last season 54-28, eclipsing 50 wins for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. So fans in Madison Square Garden seats have good reason to be optimistic about this season. The Knicks were 31-10 at home so they respond to their raucous fans in the Madison Square Garden seats. MSG remains one of the premier sporting venues and with the team’s recent success, Knicks tickets will be in high demand.
NBA Preseason
Monster Trucks and Racing
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Co-op £2m funding boost for Scouts and Guides
August 22, 2018 August 17, 2018 Stuart Mitchell
Scouts and Guides across the UK are enjoying a funding boost after Co-op members generated more than £2m in less than two years.
Since the Co-op’s local community fund was launched in September 2016, 900 Scout Troops and Cub Scout Packs and nearly 400 Guide, Brownie and Rainbow units in the UK have received a total of £2,100,000.
The mutual has supported thousands of other youth groups in the UK, raising a total of £5.4 million* since the scheme began.
Co-op members, who receive a five per cent reward for themselves and a further one per cent going to local causes when they buy own-brand products, have a say in how the money is allocated, and are encouraged to select the organisations they wish to support online.
Rebecca Birkbeck, Director of Community Engagement at the Co-op, said: “Our members are passionate about supporting young people and it is the sector which we have backed more than any other, with no fewer than 3,000* organisations benefitting from our community fund.
“Like the Scouting and Guiding movements, we are driven by co-operative values and principles, helping to bring young people together to support their local communities. Indeed, research by the Scouts themselves shows that young people involved with the movement are a third more likely to take an active role and to help out in their local communities, which is precisely the focus of our local community fund.”
Matt Hyde, Chief Executive of The Scout Association, said: “We are delighted to see evidence of such strong support and investment from the Co-op and its members in support of The Scout Movement. This ongoing commitment allows us to continue our vital work in supporting young people and particularly key provision in areas of deprivation and underrepresented communities. We very much hope that we can count on this valuable contribution in the future so that our important investment can continue and young people always benefit from Scouting.”
Ruth Marvel, Acting CEO of Girlguiding, said: “This initiative has been invaluable in enabling Girlguiding units across the UK to do even more to bring about positive change. Helping others, carrying out community action, and preparing girls and young women to be a powerful force for good lies at the very heart of our organisation. This scheme provides an amazing opportunity to amplify this by investing in girls and young women and supporting them to make a difference in their local communities. We hope it will continue long into the future.”
The money raised through the Co-op scheme has enabled groups to undertake a wide and varied number of projects, from refurbishing halls to make them available for the whole community, to ensuring every member of a group can enjoy a residential trip, regardless of their ability to pay for it.
https://scouts.org.uk/home/
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk
https://www.co-operative.coop
Newsco-op, Guides, Scouts
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Innovative free training course to create opportunities for 17-24 year olds
An innovative scheme which will help young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds with little or no...
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Co-op raises £300 million in first for a UK retailer through a sustainability bond focusing on fairtrade
The Co-op, in a first for a UK retailer, has issued a sterling denominated Sustainability Bond....
The Co-op and Steel Warriors pledge to boost community health and wellbeing with an ambitious plan to build 20 street gyms.
The Co-op has announced a multi-million-pound investment to support anti-knife crime organisation, Steel Warriors to create...
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Mad Men - What a fantastic ending!
It ends –or almost ends- with Don Draper sitting in a half-lotus position, doing meditation. An end that made me laugh and cry and laugh about it all again. What did the last three minutes do to you?
Over the last weeks I have tried to figure out how "Mad Men" could possibly end – without finding a good solution. Shortly before the start of the last season I attended a master class with Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, at the Berlinale Talent Campus. Of course he didn’t mention what would happen in the last seven episodes. But he said that he had wanted to satisfy the viewers. The ending should not leave them worrying for the rest of their lives about the future fate of the characters. (Matthew Weiner had been a staff writer for “The Sopranos” for several years before he got “his baby”, Mad Men, done. So somebody in the audience asked if the finale of the Sopranos was what he meant by “satisfying”. A lot concerned murmuring followed this question. After all, the very last moment had Tony Soprano sitting in a restaurant together with his family, and there maybe a bomb in the room that could go off any moment, but doesn't as long as the cameras are on, so the Soprano family stays forever suspended in the limbo, which was almost unbearable for the fans). Weiner laughed and said that he had not been part of the staff anymore when the last season of “The Sopranos” was written, so everybody could relax.)
I had been very excited by the part of Weiners speech in which he had explained what had made “Mad Men” so personal for him and how Don Draper was his alter ego. The interviewer had been quite surprised, because Weiner comes from a wealthy Jewish family, his father is a neurologist, so what dark secret in his past could possibly connect him with Don Draper, who was the child of a whore and an abusive drunk and changed his identity to be accepted by society? Weiner explained that it had actually been his being jewish that had made him feel like he did not belong to the people around him. He also said that it would have been awkward to address this directly in a story and that he had not mentioned this before as being the inner place where the character of Don Draper came from. He thought that most people would have found that pathetic since he had been a rich an privileged kid. So he chose a completely different background for Don Draper, one that would make the viewers understand, that Don was ashamed of who he was. But Dons social alienation and all the minute reactions that came from it where based on Matthew Weiners very private experiences. And he said he was sure that is was that what made the character of Don Draper so believable. He also said that he had freed himself through writing this character. He had been severely depressed as a young man and felt that he had transferred most of this on Don Draper and was now a much happier person. I was fascinated because what he described was what I wanted also, for my writing and for my life.
After this talk I was even more eager to find out how Weiner would do it. If Don Draper was his alter ego, would he rescue him? Or would he throw him down from the roof of the building to get rid of him altogether, like the intro suggests right from the start?
Don’t go on reading if you haven’t seen the episode yet. You will deeply enjoy it, trust me, even more so if you don’t know the truly amazing punchline in advance.
During the final episodes Don had been on a journey to nowhere. He had left his job without saying good bye and was heading south. He had given everything away, first he gave Meagan a check over one million dollars for the divorce, and it was quite clear that there was not much left for him. Then he gave his car to a countryboy that had just tried to steal his money and who clearly reminded him of himself at the same age. He tried to find the waitress he had fallen in love with who had lost her child, but he never found her. In the final episode his daughter tells him on the phone that Betty, his exwife and mother of his children has lung cancer and will die soon. (Somebody HAD to get lung cancer because the very first ad that we saw Don create in the first season- "Lucky Strike- it's toasted" was invented to make people forget that studies about cigarettes creating lung cancer had just appeared. It was always clear that this pistol that lay on the table in the first act would have to kill somebody from the cast in the last act- and it is poor Betsy who got caught).When Don talks to Betsy and offers to come home and care for her and take the boys, she says that all she wants him to do is to stay out of her life for the few month she has left. She wants them to be normal for her kids and normal means without Don. After that he goes to see Stephanie to return Anna’s ring. (Anna, the last connection to his old self Dick Whitman, the widow of the real Don Draper, had died).Stephanie sees that Don has a kind of breakdown and takes him with her to a retreat at a typical esoteric place of the seventies, probably Esalen. But after a confrontation in a therapeutic group she leaves without goodbye and leaves Don without a car in the middle of nowhere surrounded by more or less ridiculous truth searchers. He calls Peggy in New York because, as he says, he realized that he never properly said good bye to her. There it becomes clear, that the deep connection between Don and Peggy many viewers have probably hoped for (I certainly have) will never happen.
From this moment on you get worried that Don might kill himself, and so is Peggy when she puts down the phone. At this point there are only, like, five minutes left. That does not seem enough for a happy ending of any kind. Although you know enough about the structure of such things to see, that this should be the last turning point and if our hero is so deep down now, that means that the end should head in the opposite direction. But how could they do that? There is nobody left who could provide Don with a meaningful happy end, there are one extras around that neither you nor Don have ever seen before. What?!! do you think, in despair, what can happen now?
A woman that leads talking groups sees Don huddled on the ground. She takes him by the hand and drags him into the group. He sinks in a chair, he is finished. The guy who is in charge says whoever wanted to share something should speak up. And you think: ok. So it comes down to a final monolog. And right: Don is about to speak. But another guy is faster, a guy you have never seen before - and now there are only three minutes left. This guy is excessively normal, middle aged, getting bold, a clerk. He says he has no big problems, except that nobody really cares for him. Not even his wife and his children. When he comes home they don’t even look up. Somehow there is nothing real between him and them. You can see that Don is shaken by what he hears. The guy tells a dream: he was stored on a shelf in the refrigerator. It was dark. Then somebody opened the door. He thought: will I be what they are looking for? Will they pick me? And then the door is closed and it gets dark again. He was not the real thing. The guy starts to sob. And Don gets up, does what you have never seen him do before: he goes without hesitation to this guy, takes him in his arms an hugs him. They are both crying.
Next thing is there is group of soul seekers sitting outside the building on the lawn; In the middle of them Don, in a fine half lotus position. Eyes closed. The leader of the meditation intones an “Ommm” and you think: that’s not possible. I know Don. He cannot stand what is going on here. And right: there is a tiny movement in his face that makes you think that he will get up and move out of all this bullshit. But then he opens his mouth and there comes a deep and beautiful “Ooommm”. And you think: they cannot do that! That cannot make him sit in this cheesy self-help surrounding, they cannot have him fold his legs to a brezel and make him sing an ommm and let that be the last thing that you will hear from him. You are on the verge of laughing, of maybe fixing you a drink for this ridiculous last moment; but you are also touched, that you feel that you will soon start to cry. And right then it happens. Don who sits there among all this pathetic but deeply human persons starts to smile, his eyes are still closed, and then an expression of pure bliss floats over his face. And you understand from a place deep inside that what you see t is what Buddhists call sudden supreme enlightenment.
And there the music starts. Cut. A group of young people and a young girl with flowers in her hair starts to sing: “-I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony!” And you understand that this is the end, and you desperately try to form an opinion, you think: that’s impossible! Matthew Weiner can’t do that. And at the same time you start to cry for good. And because you are crying, it takes you, like, five seconds to realize that all those young singers have Coca Cola bottles in their hands. You hear the next line, that says: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.” And now it’s time for your sudden revelation: this expression of pure bliss you saw on Dons face appeared when the idea for the Coca Cola commercial suddenly flooded his mind; and there you burst out laughing, and it makes quite a strange sound because you are already crying and this laughter comes on top of your loud sobbing .
The tag line of the song comes up: “Its the real thing”. And it comes to you all at once: that Don Draper had been on a quest for seven seasons searching for an answer to the question, who he really was. And then there was this guy who felt the same: that he was not the real thing. And when Don took him in this arms he understood, that everybody felt that way. That everybody was looking for the real thing. So that’s what he could offer to the whole world: “the real thing” that’s how he would name Coca Cola. He had brought everything together. Like in the amazing scene at the end of season one, where he could use all his daemons about memory and longing for a family for the presentation of a commercial for the Kodak carousel slide projector.
Still crying and laughing at the same time you also get angry now because that seems so cynical. They made fun of you, they draught you into this sentimental journey, just to tell you: “look, stupid, it is not about being one with the universe, it is about advertising ; its capitalism, stupid, so it has to be about Entfremdung” . And you are very angry with Don because he used the deep anxiety of this poor guy and even his dream about the refrigerator and turned it into something, that WAS the real thing in the refrigerator, and that was the Coca Cola bottle. So, you think, he did not really connect with this guy when he took him in his arms. How vicious of them to make you believe this and then turn it around in such a cynical way. But then your feelings change again, or rather they are all there at the same time. Because you actually saw that it was real, you knew what Don felt, because the actor played it truthfully and so it was the truth for Don. It was deeply true - and he used it. And maybe that was not even a betrayal of his inner self, because it was what he does best: using the deepest truth for advertising phony products. And you feel that that is pathetic but it maybe the human condition. And you know for sure, that there was also a possibility for love; although nobody knows what that means. That's what the anonymous guy said in his fantastic and sad monologue: that nobody knew what love was, so nobody could recognize it, not even when it is right befor your eyes. But somehow those folks from Mad Men gave you a glimpse of it. That’s what you came back for every week: to see a guy that was alienated and didn’t know what love is. And you wanted him so so much to find out. And then you felt this possibility- for him, and for you, maybe- but he didn’t get it, not consciously, he used this gift from the universe for advertising, but it was there, and therefore you love him, although he was not real, only a phony character in a television show. And those writers who created this love of yours, they did it for fame and for lots of money and now it’s over, but they also created the feeling that there was the possibility for something else – for Don Draper; for you; in life in general. Because what you felt when you watched this ending, that was IT: THE REAL THING- or wasn't it?
Eingestellt von g. um 05:53 Keine Kommentare:
Labels: Matthew Weiner, Serie
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