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Action Against Apartheid WHY WE PROTEST
A joint statement of Anthony Scotto, President, Local 1814 International Longshoremen's Association; George Houser, Executive Director, American Committee on Africa; James Farmer, National Director, Congress of Racial Equality
by Anthony Scotto, George Houser, James Farmer, American Committee on Africa, Congress of Racial Equality, International Longshoremen's Association
Publisher: American Committee on Africa, Congress of Racial Equality, International Longshoremen’s Association
Type: Press Release
Coverage in Africa: South Africa
The joint statement issued as a press release says a line of pickets protesting US-South African trade is marching before Port Authority Pier 6 in Brooklyn, where the "South Africa Pioneer," bearing goods from South Africa is waiting to be discharged. Members if the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1814 have refused to cross the line. The joint statement says opposition to apartheid in South Africa is a logical extension of the struggle for equality in the United States. The joint statement calls for a boycott of South African goods and an embargo on American trade with South Africa.
Collection: Africa Action Archive
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Tag: fluorescence
Report from Jerusalem, #28, 5th January 2011
Non-Destructive Investigation By X-Ray
Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University has discovered a method of investigating clay and other materials by non-destructive methods, using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry . Having built up a data-base of results from former intrusive methods, he can now organize the analysis by merely scanning the object and comparing the results with the previous data. The scans will then show the type of clay or other material and its geographical origin. He is thus able to examine new finds and also older museum specimens without the need to break off a piece or cut off a sample. The method has been used on the Late Bronze Age fragment of a cuneiform letter from the City of David excavations that is dated to the El-Amarna period. Prof. Goren’s analysis shows that the tablet material is the Terra Rossa soil from around Jerusalem and it is therefore most probable that the item was written by a scribe in the Jerusalem area and may indeed have been part of a letter dictated by the Jebusite king Abdi-Heba to Egypt, to the court of Amenhotep III or IV at El-Amarna, and the fragment may have been part of the copy retained by the sender.
Aelia Capitolina, A Roman Bathing Pool in Jerusalem
During excavations for a new mikvah (ritual bath) in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, a rescue dig by the IAA, directed by Dr. Ofer Sion, uncovered a large bathing pool that had been used by the Tenth Legion (Fretensis) of the Roman army in about 200 CE. Evidence of the Roman build was the large number of floor and roof tiles with the stamp of the legion, and the many stamped roof tiles show that the facility was completely roofed. The location in the Jewish Quarter, some distance from the presumed army HQ in the Armenian Quarter, shows that the occupying soldiers were spread out throughout the city. The Tenth Legion was involved in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and later in the rebuilding of the city by Hadrian, after the abortive Bar-Kochba revolt of 135 CE. when it was renamed Aelia Capitolina.
The excavators were amused to find one of the roof tiles impressed with the paw marks of a dog. Presumably the cur had walked over the wet tiles that had been spread out and left to dry.
Monastery of St. George in Wadi Qelt, West of Jericho
On 30th November a ceremony was held at the Monastery to celebrate the completion of a new road to St. George’s, that had been built by the Ministry of Tourism and other bodies to improve access, at the request of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III. The present road had suffered damage from flash floods and a minor earthquake over the last few years, and the new one will make it easier for pilgrims and tourists alike, to visit this remarkable 5th-7th century complex of buildings that appear to hang from the side of the steep desert mountain over the lush green wadi below.
It is thought that the original buildings were constructed above a fourth-century synagogue. They were destroyed during the Persian invasion of Jerusalem in 614 CE. and later restored by the Crusaders. The interior boasts some very fine icons and frescoes. Today, St. George’s is one of only six monasteries still active in the Judean desert area.
Funding for Restoration of Historic Sites
In the context of the National Heritage Plan announced last February, the first tranche of 91 million shekels (16 million sterling) has now been allocated for work to 16 major sites, ancient and modern. One of the archaeological sites is Herodion, where work was recently halted due to the tragic death of Ehud Netzer. It can now continue with restoration of the unique frescoes at the small theatre, that will be preserved and made ready for presentation to the public by experts from the Hebrew University.
Another site will be the large Byzantine-period synagogue at Umm el-Kanatir, in the Golan heights, which is being restored piece by piece using computerized technology organized by Yeshu Drei and archaeologist Haim Ben-David.
Sudden Fierce Storm , Destruction and Discovery
Winter in Israel started with a destructive storm on 12th and 13th December, that wreaked havoc along the Mediterranean coast in particular. Many sites were affected but worst of all was Caesarea. Some of the foundations of the northern aqueduct were exposed and parts of the Crusader city wall suffered fractures due to subsidence. The Crusader-period breakwater, that protected the southern arm of the Herodian harbour was broken into three pieces and the port wall left unprotected from southern wave damage. Repair work will have to begin very shortly to avoid major damage to the ancient port.
At Ashdod-Yam, the ancient fortress close to the shore suffered damage.
In ancient Ashkelon, at the national park, there was damage to a mosaic floor and a row of several columns was overturned. On the beach ten metres below, the storm that hit the cliffs exposed and toppled a classic white marble Roman statue about 1.2m high. It was headless and without arms but depicted a fine female figure in a carefully folded toga and sandals and has been presumed to be of Aphrodite. It is from a bath house, exposed at the head of the cliffs, and may have been part of the dedication of the baths, that are dated to c. 300 CE.
Early Homo Sapiens from Cave in Israel, 400,000 Years Ago?
In 2000 Prof. Avi Gopher and Dr. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University discovered the Qesem Cave where they claim to have found the earliest evidence of modern man. The cave is near Rosh Ha’ayin, about 20 km. east of Tel Aviv, and the archaeologists have located a series of human teeth that they claim are closer to the dental apparatus associated with anatomically modern Homo Sapiens, rather than their earlier brothers, the Neanderthals. They have found in the cave evidence of flint knapping, the mining of sub-surface materials for flint production, hunting and the cutting and sharing of animal meat, evidence of regular burning and so on, all activities associated with anatomically modern Homo Sapiens.
The claim is that these findings antedate the earliest evidence of anatomically modern Homo Sapiens from Africa and thus the scholars claim that the species existed at the Qesem cave many years earlier than presently realized. The dating of the teeth to between 400,000 and 300,000 years ago is however not yet at all clear and further results from the ongoing excavations are awaited before reaching any firm conclusions.
Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg,
W.F.Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem
Author adminPosted on January 5, 2011 Categories SitesTags Abdi-Heba, Amenhotep, Ashdod-Yam, Ashkelon, Avi Gopher, Bar Kochba, Caesarea, City of David, Crusaders, El-Amarna, fluorescence, frescoes, Hadrian, Haim Ben-David, Homo Sapiens, IAA, Jebusite, Jericho, Jerusalem, Late Bronze Age, LBA, mikvah, Neanderthal, Ofer Sion, Qesem Cave, Ran Barkai, ritual bath, spectrometry, St. George, synagogue, Tel Aviv University, Theophilos III, Umm el-Kanatir, Wadi Qelt, X Legion Fretensis, X-ray, Yeshu Drei, Yuval Goren
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ABC Expresses Concerns to Obama Administration on Upcoming OFCCP Rules
Wednesday, August 14, 2013 10:50 PM - Kinsey Cooper - Politics & Policy, Regulations -
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Aug. 8 met with White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials to voice concerns about two anticipated final rules from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) that drastically alter existing affirmative action and nondiscrimination obligations regarding individuals with disabilities and veterans. The rules are under the final stages of review by OMB and would:
Update Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act by mandating arbitrary quotas (referred to as “goals”) for hiring disabled workers for all contractors with a government contract/subcontract of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees. The proposal also requires construction contractors for the first time to file written utilization analyses – documentation of a contractor’s workforce statistics to determine whether the percentage of “protected” employees meets affirmative action requirements for federal projects.
Amend the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act to require federal contractors and subcontractors to conduct more substantive analyses of recruitment and placement actions and to benchmark the effectiveness of affirmative action efforts, in addition to revising recordkeeping requirements.
During the meeting, ABC reiterated that its members support and comply with OFCCP’s existing objectives under these statutes to address employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities and veterans, but noted serious concerns regarding specific requirements in the new proposals.
ABC cautioned that OFCCP’s rules, as proposed, will introduce numerous, burdensome new data collection and reporting provisions and set infeasible compliance requirements for federal construction contractors. ABC cited various studies that illustrate the expected high costs of compliance—for all contractors and specifically for the construction industry—and the lack of evidence that federal contractors fail to meet their obligations in hiring persons with disabilities and veterans.
ABC stressed to OMB that OFCCP did not take into account the unique nature of construction hiring and work practices when developing the rules. According to OFCCP itself, the construction workforce is “fluid” and “transitory,” which has historically warranted a different approach toward compliance.
As a result of improperly assessing the rule’s impact on the construction industry, OFCCP also failed to accurately and adequately measure the costs of compliance—estimated by the agency to be a mere nine hours and $560 per contractor for the veterans rule, and 7.8 hours and $473 per contractor for the disability rule.
OMB has up to 60 days to approve the rules or send them back to OFCCP for further review. However, it is believed that DOL is pressuring the White House to fast track them. Accordingly, ABC expects finalization and implementation in the near future.
In addition, OFCCP and the General Services Administration have lowered the contract threshold for projects to be considered “mega” from $50 million to $25 million and OFCCP plans to impose additional affirmative action requirements on the construction industry in a forthcoming rulemaking proposal, expected later this year.
ABC will continue to monitor and OFCCP’s rulemakings, advocate for federal contractors and provide updates as new information becomes available.
associated builders and contractors, OFCCP
« FMCSA Will Not Enforce Hours of Service Off-Duty Time for Short-Haul Drivers
CURT Young Professionals Leadership Summit Sept. 23-24 »
March Construction Unemployment Rates Down Year-over-year in 37 States
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NLRB and DOL: Fully Staffed and Ready to Implement Aggressive Agendas
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 4:34 PM - Kinsey Cooper - ABC News, Politics & Policy, Regulations, GA - NLRB -
As of July 30, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is fully staffed and the new members are likely to pursue issues the NLRB did not complete in past years, many of which are designed to facilitate or expedite the union organizing process.
Among the regulations ABC has been monitoring is the “ambush” elections rule, which would reduce the amount of time between when a union files a representation petition and an election takes place from the current average of 40 days to as few as 10 days.
The rule, which was an expedited portion of a larger plan first proposed in 2011, was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Feb. 19 at the request of the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) until a decision is issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on the validity of three NLRB members’ recess appointments. If those appointments are declared in invalid, then the board did not have a quorum when it issued the rule and it would be invalidated as well. Regardless of the outcome of the legal challenge, the NLRB, now with a full quorum, could re-propose the rule or simply hold another vote on the current rule – or the original proposal, which sped up the election process even more and contained several other alarming provisions. Either way, it is likely that the new board will forge ahead with efforts to enact a rule to speed up union organizing elections.
The Supreme Court case currently holding up the ambush elections rule is related to the Noel Canning case, in which three lower courts found the president violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill NLRB vacancies. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court decisions, it will invalidate more than 1,000 NLRB actions taken during the terms of the appointees. This includes actions on class action waivers, confidentiality policies, union access rights and bargaining issues, among others.
It also includes an Aug. 30, 2011, ruling by the NLRB in Specialty Healthcare in which the board decided that a union could seek to organize a group of nursing assistants, despite requests by the employer to include other employees in the unit. The decision effectively created a new standard for a bargaining unit—a “micro-unit”—despite the fact that the current 20-year-old standard had been without controversy and that it places a heavy burden of proof on the employer to show that the excluded employees should be included. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the NLRB decision Aug. 15.
Because so many of these issues are still in appeals courts with no way to predict their outcomes, employers are left with hard choices when making basic labor-related decisions. In addition, the NLRB is not likely to wait for court approvals before expanding their reach.
One rule that is not impacted by the Noel Canning case is the NLRB “Notification of Employee Rights” rule, which would have required employers to display a poster in their workplaces that contained a biased and incomplete list of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). That rule was struck down in two lower courts. The NLRB petitioned both courts for a re-hearing and has already been denied by one of them. If the other court denies a re-hearing, the NRLB will have to petition the Supreme Court if it wants the rule implemented.*
In addition to the legal issues surrounding the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB, a federal judge Aug. 20 declared the appointment of NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon invalid. The ruling pointed to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which requires “acting” officials to serve in their roles only for a specified amount of time and only if he or she had previously served as the personal assistant to the departing officer within the past year. Solomon never served as a first assistant, leading the judge to declare his appointment invalid.
Finally, not all rules of concern to the merit shop construction industry are coming from the NLRB. The Department of Labor (DOL) has a new Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, who is expected to release a flood of regulations that have been held up over the past year, including the persuader rule and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ affirmative action rules for contractors covering veterans and persons with disability.
ABC and CDW have been instrumental in many of the court proceedings and efforts to block rules that could negatively impact the merit shop construction industry and will continue to monitor NLRB and DOL actions going forward.
ABC General Counsel Maury Baskin will be hosting a webinar on this topic exclusively for ABC members on Oct. 17. Register now on the Academy for Construction Ethics Compliance and Best Practices.
*COMPLIANCE NOTE: This ruling does not change the compliance requirements for federal contractors under Executive Order 13496 (or its subsequent 2010 implementing regulations) to post a similar notice from the DOL.
« Summer 2013 Regulatory Alert
USACE Issues PLA Survey for Project in Kentucky »
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Antonine Wall app
Limes Mittelfranken app
Frontiers of the Roman Empire
German Limes
Antonine Wall
Technological developments
App software
Object & topographical scanning
Events & publications
App sponsor
Scanning supporters
Project particulars
ALApp (en)
ADVANCED LIMES APPLICATIONS
Developing digital content for the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site
Advanced Limes Applications (ALApp) is a European project developing and disseminating digital technologies and content for advanced mobile applications to interpret the transnational World Heritage Site Frontiers of the Roman Empire, with a focus on the Antonine Wall in Scotland and the Raetian Limes in Bavaria. Supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme, the project brings together four partners from Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom to scan archaeological artefacts and sites and make the produced 3D objects available in smartphone and tablet applications, using augmented and virtual reality. These activities are supported by stakeholder events and publications for a variety of audiences.
Site activities of the ALApp project focus on the Antonine Wall in Scotland and the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes in Bavaria, both of which constitute, together with other parts of the Limes in Germany and Hadrian's Wall in England, the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site Frontiers of the Roman Empire. In Scotland, the project works with six locations along the Antonine Wall: Bearsden, Croy Hill, Duntocher, Kinneil, Rough Castle and Watling Lodge. The work in Bavaria, however, focusses on one site, the archaeological landscape at Eining, near Regensburg, including the former Abusina castell.
see archaeological sites
In the ALApp project, an existing app for smartphones and tablets will be advanced to present in innovative formats new content about the archaeology of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire. In addition to the use of conventional text, photos and videos, the ALApp features three-dimensional reconstructions of built structures and archaeological objects. The reconstructions of objects are based on high-precision recording of existing artefacts, now stored off-site in museums. For the recording, laser and structured light scanning and micro-photogrammetry. Building reconstructions are based on extensive archaeological and historical research. As virtual reality, the 3D app content is accessed anywhere. For on-site viewing, the app offers utilised augmented reality.
see technological developments
During the project duration, the ALApp project partners will run a series of both invited and public events, including international seminars and a conference and workshops with local stakeholders. Publications will provide insights into the progress and results of the project, ranging from information leaflets and a regular email newsletter to policy briefings, magazine articles and academic papers.
see events and publications
The ALApp project is a collaboration of 4 project partners from Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom: Historic Environment Scotland, the Bavarian State Conservation Office, the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation and EduFilm & Medien. With cofunding from the European Union's Creative Europe programme, the project partners are advancing an app originally developed with support from Bavarian Savings Bank Foundation. Several museums are supporting the project by providing access to archaeological objects in their care.
see partners & supporters
Running from 2016 to 2020, ALApp involves advancing a mobile phone app, creating digital content by recording archaeological sites and objects found at them, conducting related audience research, involving relevant stakeholder and disseminating the project's research. Structured into 5 work streams, the project's activities will achieve three objectives. Project outputs will be delivered throughout the duration of the project.
see project particulars
© 2016-2019 ALApp project partners
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121. Babes in Arms (1939)
Directed By: Busby Berkeley
Written By: Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper
Main Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, June Preisser
"THEY CALL US BABES IN ARMS/BUT WE ARE BABES IN ARMOR!"
Yet another Busby Berkeley musical comes up for viewing in the '1001' book, but instead of just choreographing the numbers, this time Berkeley directs, in a film that I didn't find half as good as his previous pictures, the ones that he didn't direct.
When the days of vaudeville and stage shows is reaching it's bitter end and being replaced by talking pictures, this film zooms in on one families struggle to accept the fact that those days are over. The family are the Morans, headed up by the patriarch and famous vaudeville performer, Joe Moran. Joe is married and has two children, Mickey (Rooney) and Molly, two kids who dream of following in their father's footsteps and who want nothing more than to shine on the stage. They're both teenagers, and Mickey actually tastes a bit of success when he sells one of the many songs he's written. This inspires Mickey to make it even more, and when he finds out that the parents of all the kids in town are taking their vaudeville performance out for one last burst of life, Mickey and all the kids are disappointed that they won't be joining in. Mickey tries to persuade his father that all of the kids have got real talent, but to no avail, as the father wants no part of it.
This inspires Mickey even more and when the parents leave for New York, the kids band together and decide to put on a show, so that they can show their parents what they're made of and pull them out of debt in the process. The show is staged with Mickey, his friend/girlfriend Patsy, his sister Molly and another boy Don, as the leads. However, the cast lineup changes when famous child actor, Baby Rosalie enters the picture and decides that she'll put up the money they need to secure the location, sets, etc., as long as she gets to be in the lead. Meanwhile, the whole time, Martha, the town biddy, is trying her best to get the judge to send all the children to a state work school, since the parents are obviously clinging to dreams of stardom, instead of taking care of their responsibilities at home.
The plot is a bit fast, with a whole lot of information and plot points being chucked out and having it chucked out by children, for that matter. I just wasn't able to suspend my imagination enough to take all of this grown up behavior from these teenage kids. The kids go through the picture, caught up in love triangles, fighting it out in court, smoking cigars, going on dinner dates and all with the burden of taking care of their parents financial responsibilities, or trying to anyway. It just wasn't believable for me. Although Mickey Rooney was amazing in this, his performance was full of energy and I don't know if he was just naturally like that, or if they filled the kid full of caffeine before shooting. The character of Mickey and maybe even Patsy, we're believable for me, but the rest was just too much of a stretch for me to go along with. Even the musical numbers, as good as they were, fell a little bit flat, for Berkeley's standards. I was expecting grand numbers, like I saw in "42nd Street", "Gold Diggers of 1933" and "Footlight Parade", but instead the best I got was a silly black face routine and an average rendition of "Where or When".
RATING: 5/10 Mickey Rooney was the life of the party here and his portrayal of Mickey Moran was enough to get this picture to the halfway mark.
NEXT UP: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington...Jimmy Stewart has arrived! My favorite classic actor of all-time (well before I started the book anyway) steps up to bat with his first film from the '1001' book. I'll be back later with the review for this one.
By Andrew D. at February 28, 2010 2 comments:
Labels: Busby Berkeley
120. Zangiku monogatari/The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)
Directed By: Kenji Mizoguchi
Written By: Matsutaro Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda, from novel by Shofu Muramatsu
Main Cast: Shotaro Hanayagi, Kakuko Mori
A FANTASTIC, JAPANESE LOVE STORY
I'll admit that I had my doubts about how this movie would strike me and while my knowledge of Asian cinema isn't that vast, this was a great picture to start adding to that knowledge. "The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums", was a really depressing, heartbreaking love story and it really hits the emotional button with extra force.
Kikunosuke is the son of the legendary Japanese actor named Kikugoro, and is also an actor himself, staging performances in the city of Tokyo. Kiku (his shortened name in the film) eventually comes to the realization, that while his fellow actors and even his father praise him behind his back, when he's not around they complain about how terrible he is. While Kiku suspects this, he is never given a straight answer by anyone, due to the fact that he is the son of Kikugoro. One evening, while riding home after a performance, Kiku runs into Otoku, his baby brother's nursemaid. Otoku tells him that she went to see one of his performances, and while being careful not to offend him, tells it to him straight...that he's just not that good. He praises her for her honesty and tells her that because someone finally laid out the truth to him, that he will use it as inspiration to get better. After Otoku's show of honesty, Kiku becomes very close with the nursemaid, eventhough the rest of the family frowns upon fraternizing with her. When the two are caught alone in the house together, eating watermelon nonchalantly, Otoku is fired.
In rebellion against Otoku being let go, Kiku leaves his father's home, vowing never to return unless Otoku is welcome. Eventually Kiku finds himself on a train to Osaka, and while he tried to take Otoku with him, the families of the two lovers stepped in and kept her from going. Kiku takes a job as an actor in Osaka, and realizes on his own that he hasn't improved, especially without the honest criticisms of Otoku. However, Otoku tracks down Kiku in Osaka and the two are reunited and happy as ever, despite living in squalor. Some time passes and the show that Kiku is working on in Osaka is shut down and Kiku is forced to take an acting job with a traveling troupe of actors. Four years pass and the couple are still together, living in even more poverty, with Otoku's health on the decline. Despite a few slight quarrels, the couple stick together through thick and thin. However, the traveling troupe of actors are soon shut down as well, and the couple are forced to take refuge in a shelter. In a last ditch effort to make everything right for Kiku, Otoku travels to see an old friend and beg him to get Kiku a job in a role in a big stage play that is being put on. If Kiku can impress the audience, then he'll get the chance to return to Tokyo and become a world renowned actor. However, if Kiku does return to Tokyo, Otoku must take a vow to let him go alone, so that he may reconcile his differences with his father.
This movie is really a downer and it's ironic that this great cinematic love story is being played out in such a depressing film. The love that Kiku and Otoku share for one another is a beautiful thing and really highlighted by Mizoguchi. However, every time the couple seem to catch a break, it always ends badly and they find themselves right back at square one. Even the climax is a heartbreaking one and despite all of the sadness that this movie contains, it's still a really beautiful film, both visually and emotionally. I've always loved the setting of the orient in films, as I feel that it's a really photogenic country, that usually seems to give off some fantastic shots and wonderful backdrops. The Japanese culture is always one that I've felt that I could really fit into and having a film set there, really appeals to me. Anyway, I'm getting off on a rant here, but "The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums", despite its depressing tone, is still an enjoyable picture and something that I would really recommend to anyone.
RATING: 7.5/10 That's another rating that I could definitely see climbing as time passes, and don't be surprised if this shows up on the next "TOP" list, with a higher, revised rating.
NEXT UP: Babes in Arms...A Busby Berkeley musical...sounds allright to me. I'll be getting to this one, and the film that follows this one tomorrow, so be on the lookout boys and girls.
Labels: Kenji Mizoguchi
119. Stagecoach (1939)
Directed By: John Ford
Written By: Ernest Haycox, Dudley Nichols
Main Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, George Bancroft, Louise Platt, Andy Devine, Donald Meek
Sidenote: The review for Stella Dallas is up and can be found by clicking here. On another note; I mentioned the other day that the Dodsworth review would be on the way soon. Well scratch that, as the status of the film on Netflix, has gone from "shipping today" back to a "very long wait", so who really knows when that'll get done. Also, no changing news on the status of Angels with Dirty Faces.
ON MY JOURNEY I MET A MAN CALLED 'THE DUKE'
John Wayne swaggers into the pages of the '1001' book and John Ford follows him, with the director's second entry in the book (following Judge Priest). This was a pretty good western, which really picks up most of it's steam in the final thirty minutes.
The story takes place in the town of Tonto, a town which is going through a high degree of unrest, due to the recent word that Geronimo and the Apache's are afoot and raising cain. When the Marshall, Curly, gets word that the Ringo Kid (Wayne) has busted out of prison and likely headed for Lordsburg to confront Luke Plummer, a man who killed his brother and father, he jumps at the opportunity to bring the Kid back to justice and nab him once more. He summons a stagecoach driver named Buck to take him through Dry Fork, Apache Wells and finally into Lordsburg, despite the threat that the Apache's raise throughout those parts. Along for the ride are several other men and women, all for their own reasons. First off, we have Dr. Boone (Mitchell), the town drunk and a prostitute name Dallas (Trevor), both of whom are being kicked out of the town. Also, we have Mrs. Lucy Mallory (Platt), who plans to meet her cavalry officer husband in Dry Fork. Also along for the trip are Samuel Peacock (Meek), a whiskey salesman, Hatfield (Carradine), the town gambler and Henry Gatewood (Churchill), the banker in Tonto. So the stage is set for a wild ride when these personalities are stuffed into a tiny stagecoach, all for their own reasons and headed through Apache country.
The trip barely gets started when the coach comes across the Ringo Kid and Marshall Curly takes him along for the ride, as they continue their trek. The plot slows down considerably at this point, once all hands are on deck, as the gang arrives at Dry Fork, only to find out that the calvary has moved on to Apache Wells. They continue to Apache Wells, to find that the cavalry has, yet again, moved on to Lordsburg. While staying at Apache Wells, Mrs. Mallory faints and when Doc Boone is urged to sober up and help the young lady, it all ends up with the birth of her child, a baby girl. Also along the way, a romance is sparked between the Ringo Kid and Dallas, as two souls who no one wants, a fugitive and a prostitute, although the Kid doesn't know about her past. Eventually the climax comes and the volume is cranked up to a full blast level, with outstanding stunts and plenty of tension.
This was really a fantastic cast, as everyone involved turned in outstanding performances and played their part to keep the story going, even in the down times of the film. I love films where an random group of strangers are thrown together and forced to coexist. It usually seems to add an element of conflict and tension and keeps you gripped, as you just know at some point, somewhere the shit is going to hit the fan. The chase scene is where this film really turns into a "must see" picture, as it is truly an unbelievable showcase of action and stunts, especially considering the era in which the film was made. It's full of what every chase scene needs to have: great stunts, action, excitement, suspense and just plain awesomeness. From there we're not done, as the suspense and tension are laid on for a second round, as the whole gang reaches Lordsburg and I still realize we got the showdown between Plummer and the Kid to deal with. If they could've kept the excitement up throughout the whole movie, instead of picking it up near the end, then this would've been a blockbuster and a masterpiece. However, the middle segments just seem a bit too dull and "nothing happening" for me.
RATING: 6.5/10 Despite a bit of dullness, the picture was still really enjoyable and fun to watch and I can definitely see this one growing on me, as time passes.
NEXT UP: Zangiku Monogatari...or, The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums...I'll be watching this one on YouTube. I'll be out of town tomorrow, so if I do get to this one tomorrow, it won't be until later at night.
By Andrew D. at February 27, 2010 No comments:
Labels: John Ford
118. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Directed By: Howard Hawks
Written By: Hagar Wilde, Dudley Nichols
Main Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, May Robson, Walter Catlett
ON MY JOURNEY I MET A WOMAN NAMED 'KATHARINE'
This is the definitive Cary Grant picture that I've been waiting for. While I didn't enjoy "She Done Him Wrong" or "The Awful Truth", this film, however, shows off the comedic talents of Grant to the fullest and add to that, the great Katharine Hepburn and director Howard Hawks, and you have got one hilarious film.
David Huxley, a mild-mannered paleontologist, is getting married in twenty-four fours to Alice Swallow. While David spends his final hours as a bachelor putting together the skeleton of a brontosaurus, he's relieved to find out that the final bone, the intercostal clavicle, has just been discovered and his dinosaur is complete. The only other thing that could make David happier on this day, is if his meeting with Alexander Peabody goes well. If the meeting goes well, then Peabody could persuade his client, Elizabeth Random, to donate a sum of $1 million to David's museum. Enter Susan Vance (Hepburn)...
David meets Ms. Susan Vance while playing golf with Peabody. She starts out by stealing his golf ball and playing off of it and then proceeds to drive off in his car, pulling David away from his gold game and putting the $1 million in jeopardy. Later that evening, David plans to meet with Peabody again at a restaurant later that night, but once again finds himself in the middle of a huge mix-up with the scatterbrained Vance. After she rips his coat and he rips her dress (both by accident), David misses his meeting again. The next morning David receives a call from Susan that she needs help in dealing with a leopard that her brother Mark has sent her from South America. The leopard is named, Baby, and is a tame leopard, but Susan will use any excuse in the book to get near David, whom she is rapidly falling for. David comes to her apartment, with his newly arrived intercostal clavicle in tow, and winds up being roped into taking the leopard to Connecticut, to Susan's aunt. Along the way, the information is revealed that Susan's aunt is the millionaire Elizabeth Random, and not only does David want her money for his museum, but Susan wants the dough as well. This is just a portion of the laughs that this movie conjures up and I won't spoil anymore, as the rest must be seen to be believed.
While the plot may sound a bit zany and all over the place, it's actually quite hilarious, as the film ties together all sorts of different plot lines and runs with them, in this mother of screwball comedies. This film still holds up well today, and in fact, was ahead of it's time really, as the film flopped upon release, forcing Hepburn to forfeit her RKO contract and leading to Hawks' firing from RKO. It's the little things in this picture, that really get the laugh out loud moments from me, from David's mild-mannered, fumbling speech, to Susan asking David "What's in the box?" (the delivery of that line just gets to my funny bone for some reason, as Hepburn spits it out in record time), to David's use of the word gay, as he dons a frilly, female bathrobe. Everything just comes together so wonderfully and there's enough content here to keep this picture trekking along right through to the last bit of picture perfect dialogue. Throw Grant and Hepburn together, add one part leopard, one part Asta, the dog and tons of laughs and you have got a serious winner on your hands.
RATING: 8.5/10 Hilarious movie, that is forcing me to take a closer look at the genre of screwball comedy and consume some of it's prime candidates, in my spare time.
NEXT UP: Stagecoach..."The Duke" swaggers into the pages of the "1001" book! This will probably get watched later tonight, so look for the review then.
Labels: Howard Hawks
116. OLYMPIA (1938)
Directed By: Leni Riefenstahl
Written By: Leni Riefenstahl
Main Cast: Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens, Josef Goebbels, Forrest Towns, Glenn Morris
OLYMPIA PART 1: FESTIVAL OF NATIONS
I'm really not quite sure how I'm going to write a proper review for this film, but we'll certainly give it a go, just don't expect it to be very long. But, not because it wasn't good, it was actually a great piece of work and an extremely interesting film.
The reason I state that this will be a hard review to write, is simply because the film merely covers various events from the 1936 Olympic Games, which were held in Berlin, Germany and presided over by Adolf Hitler. The games that year were Hitler's way of showcasing the talents and athletic ability of the Third Reich. However, as much as it would seem that this is just another piece of Nazi propaganda, part one is actually a piece of work that can really evoke American patriotism. Many of the events that are showcased in part one are won by Americans, such as: the long jump, 4x400m relay, 110m hurdles, high jump, pole vault and of course, Jesse Owens totally insane running of the 100m race, where the camera gets a nice look at Owens sprinting like a gazelle and finishing the race in 10.3 seconds. Some of the other events showcased in part one include: the marathon race, hammer throw, women's high jump, hop, skip and jump, men and women's javelin throwing, shot put and discus throwing.
I guess the best way to sum up how much I liked this half of the film, would be to tell you that I have NEVER been interested in the Olympic Games, summer or winter. When I was a kid, the only thing that the Olympics meant to me, was just something that interrupted my regular television programming. However, this film really sucked me in and even, at times, had me cheering for my fellow, American countrymen. This film really sucked me into the whole Olympic whirlwind and actually made me respect these athletes more than I ever have in my life. This is a great film, and despite its simplicity, really drags you in and gives you some hardcore emotions to mull over.
OLYMPIA PART 2: FESTIVAL OF BEAUTY
This installment picks up right where the previous one left off, showcasing an eclectic group of events. While part one really only had three different types of events: throwing, running and jumping, part two gives us a wide range of games to sink our teeth into, such as: diving, polo, the decathalon, cycling, swimming, soccer, hockey, boxing, rowing, boxing, fencing, equestrian, polo and gymnastics. The title "Festival of Beauty" is an apt one, as Riefenstahl does an immaculate job making the athletes look their best, especially with the more graceful events, such as gymnastics and diving. With diving, she points her camera straight to the sky and allows the silhouettes of the athletes to totally mesmerize the viewer, and let us forget for a moment that a competition is being held. I would have to say that part two contained a few more dull moments than part one, with some slow events, such as: boxing and fencing, however, part two totally redeems itself with the decathalon, which is shown in all it's glory and is quite exciting to watch USA take home the gold, silver and bronze in that particular event.
I would really have to dismiss people who say that this is just another piece of Nazi propaganda, as Riefenstahl isn't shy about showing us the triumphs of other countries, especially the United States. When I did a quick Wikipedia search to see what the final medal count was for the 1936 Summer Games, I found that Germany actually held the most, with thirty-three gold medals and eighty-nine in all. The United States came in second overall with a total of twenty-four gold medals and fifty-six total medals. With that being said, it would have been very easy for Riefenstahl to make this into an all German show. There was nowhere near thirty-three events showcased in the entire 3+ hour film, which means she could've easily stacked the deck with all German victories. Anyway, the bottom line is this: This was definitely one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. Now I realize the prospect of a 3+ hour documentary doesn't sound all that enthralling, the time is not an issue, as the whole film really has a good flow to it and the time flies while watching "Olympia". Granted, I didn't watch the entire two parts back-to-back, but I could've easily done so, and I could've watched more, as I was even disappointed that there were some events not showcased, such as: greco-roman wrestling, weightlifting, shooting, handball and football. There could've been a part three and I would've been excited to tear through it.
With "Olympia", Riefenstahl shows off her knack for being able to capture some absolutely breathtaking shots. I often found myself questioning whether or not this was ACTUALLY real life taking place in front of me, as the shots are so visually superb and especially for a documentary. The stats are ungodly: 250 hours of film shot, several hundred members of Riefenstahl's crew and the erection of several steel camera towers, just so she could get the most perfect shots, which she did. While "Triumph of the Will" fell short at capturing my attention, Riefenstahl struts her stuff with "Olympia", to produce a sheer masterpiece.
RATING: 10/10 That's for the whole shebang, and I'm even surprised at that rating myself, but there was honestly nothing wrong with this film and it was grossly engaging, interesting and entertaining.
NEXT UP: The Baker's Wife...Can't find this one, so we'll be back with an unfound post for this one.
By Andrew D. at February 25, 2010 1 comment:
Labels: Leni Riefenstahl
115. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Directed By: Michael Curtiz
Written By: Rowland Brown, John Wexley, Warren Duff
Main Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft
"LET'S SAY A PRAYER, FOR A BOY WHO COULDN'T RUN AS FAST AS I COULD"
So Netflix finally shipped "Angels with Dirty Faces" and it always turns out that the movies I'm forced to skip over, end up being so good when I finally get to see them. This was a FANTASTIC gangster film, that was more than just a gangster film and one that I really enjoyed.
Rocky Sullivan (Cagney) is a gangster who's been in and out of prison for most of his life, for various reasons, ranging from robbery to assault. The film starts out with Rocky as a young kid, hanging out with his pal Jerry Connolly. They're bumming around one day and decide to pick a lock on a freight train and steal some fountain pens from the cargo. The cops end up busting them and they take off running, Jerry makes a clean getaway, but Rocky is caught. Jerry visits Rocky in the juvenile detention center and tells Rocky that he wants to give himself up too, so they'll go a little lighter on Rocky. Rocky won't hear of it and sends Jerry away. The film flashes through to Rocky's adulthood and he's being let out of prison for the umpteenth time. When he gets out he's planning to receive a large some of money from his lawyer, Frazier, to the sum of $100,000. He goes to see Frazier and get his money, but Frazier tells him that he doesn't have it yet, but he'll have it soon. Rocky then goes to visit Jerry, who he hasn't seen in ages and who is now a catholic priest. Rocky still thinks just as much of Jerry as he did when they were kids and the two are still good friends, despite their different lifestyles.
The movie goes through a phase in the middle, where Rocky tries to help Jerry out a bit, with some of the troubled youth in town. He takes up with a group of kids, a bunch of hoodlums and takes them under his wing. Teaching them the ins and outs of being a good criminal when Jerry's not around and trying to get them involved in Jerry's recreation center program, when Jerry is around. Rocky also takes up with a girl, one that he bullied when he was younger and who, after getting even with him, forgives him. Eventually, it's made known that Frazier has no intention of paying Rocky and Rocky must resort to some of his old street tricks in order to get his dough. Jerry ultimately swindles the money out of Frazier and his new associate, Keefer (Bancroft). The story comes to a climax, with Jerry telling Rocky that he's tired of all the crime and corruption in the city and doesn't want the kids to get wrapped up in the same things Rocky did. Jerry tells Rocky that even if he has to step on him, that he's making a big run at cleaning up the city and the criminals that populate it.
This movie has a great good vs. evil feel to it. Rocky Sullivan is a likable character, so I personally found myself, wanting to root for the bad guy here, in Rocky. However, you also have a very likable character in Jerry, and so you're torn between these two separate sides, that are in the form of two best friends, which makes it all the more interesting. Cagney plays Rocky perfect, not too rough, but very streetwise and I actually ended up liking this picture a lot more than "The Public Enemy" (which I originally gave a '10', but later lowered to a '7.5'). This is one of the definitive James Cagney pictures in my opinion and while I haven't seen a ton of his movies, this is probably my favorite, and it would take something STELLAR to topple this one, as far as Cagney pictures go. The scene of the film is tragic, and while I don't want to give away the ending here, the last line of the picture is sort of bittersweet: "Let's say a prayer, for a man who couldn't run as fast as I could" says Jerry Connolly, referring more than just to that day after they tried to steal the fountain pens, but also to the fact that Rocky couldn't outrun the dreaded hand of crime, and eventually he got wrapped up in it, until it lead to his demise. Fortunately, Jerry was able to outrun, and turned to the side of good.
RATING: 10/10 And that's not a rating that will be changing anytime soon, as this was really one of my favorite movies from the book, out of all of them.
NEXT UP: Olympia Parts 1 and 2...More Nazi propaganda from the mind of Leni Riefenstahl from the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Revised: March 4, 2010 6:54pm
Labels: Michael Curtiz
114. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Directed By: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
Written By: Norman Reilly Raine, Seton I. Miller
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale, Sr.
I actually had no idea going into "The Adventures of Robin Hood" that it was a color film. I just always assumed, that due to it's age, it was presented, as most pictures were in the 1930's, in black & white. However, the color aspect of this film only adds to the greatness that it produces,
as I can't imagine seeing Errol Flynn don the Robin Hood garb and having to imagine it's green color.
When King Richard the Lionheart is captured by Leopold of Austria, his wily brother, Prince John takes over as presiding figure of England. He proceeds to oppress the Saxon people and raise their taxes, telling them that the raise is for King Richard's ransom, but actually not using it for such purposes. Finally, one man has seen enough oppression and decides to take a stand for the Saxon people. That man is Robin, Earl of Locksley a.k.a. Robin Hood. Robin starts by facing Prince John face to face, going to his castle during a large dinner party and crashing it. What proceeds is an exciting scene of escapism, as Robin takes on all comers and gets out of the castle, with his head still promptly on his shoulders, mostly due to his keen archery skills. Prior to being ambushed, Robin informs Prince John that he'll do everything in his power to see King Richard restored to his throne and that Richard is the only King he'll ever bow to.
After the escape, Robin decides that he needs to gather some allies, first recruiting a skilled staffsman and later, Friar Tuck, a skilled swordsman. Eventually Robin's band of merry Saxon's grow to a sizable number and they're able to take down a large party of Norman's on their way back to the castle with the "ransom" money. They take off with the loot and Maid Marian. When they throw a big feast with some of the money they stole and nourish the previously starving Saxons, Maid Marian and Robin take some time to get acquainted and the flame begins to take shape between the two. When Prince John has had enough, he and his court scheme up a plan to trap Robin. They hold an archery tournament, knowing that such a skilled archer as Robin won't be able to resist, especially when he learns that the grand prize will be a solid gold arrow, presented by the gorgeous Maid Marian. Robin, realizing the trap, but thinking that he's smarter than the Norman court, goes to the archer's tournament, wins it, but ends up being held captive in Prince John's chambers. However, that's not the end for a green donning hero, and the climax that follows is sure to put you on the edge of your seat.
Errol Flynn was a great action star, as he was really believable as someone who could pull off all of these daring feats and stunts. When watching this, I really allowed myself to be totally encapsulated by the magic that was being produced and in the scene where Robin is captured, you really want to believe that he'll get away and that he'll continue to raise hell and fight for the underdogs. If you allow yourself to get caught up in the film, then it's a real letdown when he doesn't escape and he's thrown into the dungeon where criminals are held. There were so many exciting and gripping scenes going on here: the scene near the beginning where Robin faces off with Prince John and makes a daring escape, the scene where Robin and his merry men ambush the Normans and take the gold marks, the archers tournament and the climax, it's all fantastic stuff and some of the choreography for the sword fights is right on par with anything today, be it, Pirates of the Caribbean or Lord of the Rings. Bottom line is that I had a whole lot of fun watching Robin run roughshod over the Normans and the ghastly villains of Nottingham.
RATING: 8/10 Errol Flynn is quickly becoming another favorite of mine, as is Michael Curtiz, a favorite director.
NEXT UP: Angles with Dirty Faces...Well that's a gangster title, if I ever heard one...Nothing else is set to arrive until Wednesday boys and girls, so I'll be back then with a set of reviews for 'ya.
Labels: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
113. JEZEBEL (1938)
Written By: Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Robert Buckner, from play by Owen Davis
Main Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter
201, HERE I COME!
I hope you all enjoyed the Top 20 list that I posted and it was nice being able to reflect on all of the films that I've watched this far, good and bad. I'm ready to tackle the next 100 films in the book and we're kicking it off with "Jezebel", a film that had massive potential, in the form of, William Wyler, John Huston, Bette Davis and Henry Fonda, but seemed to come up a bit short, at least as far as my tastes are concerned.
Bette Davis plays the lead role of Julie Marsden, a spoiled, southern belle who is engaged to banker Pres Dillard (Fonda). When she interrupts him in the middle of a big banking deal and forces him to go with her to shop for a new dress, he refuses. In retaliation for his refusal, she buys a red one, a big no-no at the time, as only white dresses were meant to be worn by unmarried women. Despite his arguments telling her to change the dress, her strong will prevails and she wears the red one to the Olympus Ball. Once at the ball, Julie realizes the mistake she made, as everyone is staring at her, but Pres doesn't budge, forcing her to live with her blunder and dance with him. When they arrive back home, later that night, they break off their engagement. After her embarrassment and her broken engagement, Julie takes shelter in her home, refusing to leave or see visitors.
One year passes and Julie still dwells in her home, regretting her decision to wear the red dress and thus cause arguments between her and her true love, Pres Dillard. Meanwhile, Pres has gone North, and word arrives that he's arriving back in town, to help Dr. Livingstone (Crisp), to convince city authorities to take measures against a recent outbreak of yellow fever. When Julie hears that Pres is returning, she decides that she'll make the best of it, suiting up in her best white dress and planning to beg forgiveness of Pres. Her and her family take refuge in their big plantation house and await the arrival of Pres and other visitors. Julie can't wait to see Pres and reconnect with him, however, when he arrives he unveils his new wife, whom he married in the North. The moment when Julie meets Amy, Pres' new wife, is a absolutely gripping one, where we wait for Julie to go into hysterics, but it never happens. With an outbreak of yellow fever sweeping New Orleans, the love triangle plays out and eventually Pres is sent into the heart of the infected area, possibly never to return.
I am a huge Henry Fonda fan and didn't even know he was in this until the beginning credits rolled. He was fantastic in it, playing the good guy with a stern head about him and Bette Davis was fine too, as the spoiled belle. This was actually my first Bette Davis movie ever and so far, I'm semi-impressed with what I've seen, although I'd have to chalk up most of my disappointments to the plot in general. It just wasn't for me, and I never imagined Henry Fonda as a 19th century, New Orleans banker, although, I'll say it again...he played it well. I just couldn't get into this one as much as I would've liked to and I really have no out and out reasons why. I just wasn't feeling this one at all, and despite some really good performances, I'd have to call this one a fairly average film. There are some really good scenes though, such as, when Julie meets Amy and the duel between Julie's other lover, Buck and Pres' brother, Ted, which Julie eggs on and the scene is carefully constructed and plays out very well.
RATING: 5/10 I'm glad Fonda is on the scene now, as I really love his work and acting and I'll look forward to future Bette Davis roles, that suit my taste better.
NEXT UP: The Adventures of Robin Hood...I've been waiting a long time to see this one and after seeing Flynn in "Captain Blood", I can't wait to see what he does with the story of Robin Hood.
TOP 20...SO FAR
Well since we've made it to the one tenth marker, I figure this'd be a nice time to make a TOP 20 list and put some serious thought into the 101 films that I've watched thus far. Let's not dwaddle, let's jump right into it.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A COMPLETE LIST OF THE 101 MOVIES THAT I'VE WATCHED THUS FAR, INCLUDING MY INITIAL RATINGS OF THOSE FILMS
Also, a quick note: I've revised the ratings for the following 20 films, as some of them needed a bit of tweaking. The ratings that I give out when I review a film are my knee jerk ratings, and often times those change once a few days has gone by. Here we go...
20. Broken Blossoms (1919) dir. D.W. Griffith 7.5/10
This was actually the first movie that I went the full monty on and gave the full ten stars to. With a little thought I've lowered it to a seven and a half, but in my opinion this was the best, by far, D.W. Griffith film I watched and I can still see that closeup of the irate Battling Burrows, one of the great villains of the silent era. Great film, with a real heartfelt tone to it and one of D.W.'s most down to earth productions.
19. M (1931) dir. Fritz Lang 7.5/10
Only had to tweak this one a hair, as far as ratings go. My original review was a pretty accurate portrayl of my feelings on this film. The atmosphere of this one is so bleak and they plop a serial killer right in the middle of it, to give it an even bleaker feeling. There's so much going on in this one and it has plenty to keep a viewer interested and engaged in the picture.
18. The Gold Rush (1925) dir. Charles Chaplin 8/10
My original rating had this one pegged at a seven, but with some hindsight in play, it gets up to an eight. Hilarity ensues when The Little Tramp plays the gold prospector and winds up being reduced to dining on his shoes. I'll also never forget the visual of the cabin teetering on the edge of a mountain, while The Tramp and Big Jim wrestle to find their footing inside.
17. The General (1927) dir. Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman 8/10
I lowered this one a smidge, from eight and a half to eight. It's definitely my least favorite Keaton film, but that's not saying much, as it's still really funny and solid and provides a healthy look at the Civil War in the process. Constant suspense and excitement, piled with comedy...you can't go wrong with this one. But there are better Buster movies...
16. Sherlock Jr. (1924) dir. Buster Keaton 8/10
This one originally was given an nine and a half, but I lowered it to an eight, simply because the others stuck with me more than this one did. The scene where Keaton is cleaning up the movie theatre lobby is something that I'll never forget though, that provided many laughs and Buster just being Buster. I think the length of this one was also something that made me remember some of the other ones better, as this one only sits at around 45 minutes. But still some of the funniest 45 minutes you'll ever spend.
15. GREED (1924) dir. Erich von Stroheim 8.5/10
I remember watching this one and gushing it's praises, but the fact is that it just didn't stick with me the way I thought it would. The fact that I had to watch it on YouTube and watch the re-created version, with all of the production stills and extra material sewn into it, may have played apart in it's drop from a ten to an eight and a half. But we're praising movies today, not bashing them and despite the YouTube viewing and the added stills photos, this is still a top notch film, one that I would DIE to see in complete form, as von Stroheim intended it to be. If I could have seen von Stroheim's original, I'm sure it would be an absolute favorite of mine and a sheer masterpiece.
14. Our Hospitality (1923) dir. Buster Keaton & John G. Blystone 9/10
This one got dropped from a ten to a nine, basically just because I realized it wasn't so good that it deserved the full tenner. However, it was my first Keaton film, and for that it will always hold a special place among the movies I've seen. I'll never forget my first experiences with the great comedy master, laughing and loving every minute of it.
13. Blackmail (1929) dir. Alfred Hitchcock 9/10
The only Hitchcock film to make the cut, and it still boggles my mind that this one is one of Hitchcock's forgotten masterpieces. You NEVER hear tell of this one and it's really a shame, as most people probably walk by the Wal-Mart $5 bin, and pass up the Alfred Hitchcock sets that usually include Blackmail, not even realizing what they're missing out on. Great film, and easily one of my favorite Hitch movies.
12. Captains Courageous (1937) dir. Victor Fleming 9/10
Went into this one thinking the worst and came out of it with the best...well #12 anyway. Spencer Tracy delivers in a big way and with his performance he brands this film into my head. I loved his character of Manuel, a character with traits that everyone loves: kindness, hard-working, gentle, intelligent, witty. Way to go Spence, because without you, this film wouldn't be here. Great movie, that ANYONE can enjoy and everyone should check out.
11. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) dir. Mervyn LeRoy 9/10
Paul Muni burst into the book with his portrayl of an innocent man, framed for a robbery. When you're as much of a sucker for prison movies, as I am and then you throw in the great acting talents of Paul Muni, along with the whole innocent man/fugitive angle, then this was a given for the Top 20.
10. The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor 9/10
This proves how fast my ratings change, as only two days ago I short changed The Crowd with an eight and a half and now it's been boosted to a ten. The thing that really appealed to me here, was the everyman concept of the film and how our character deals with the tragedies that all of us face day to day: job loss, child loss, relationship trouble, in-law trouble...It's just a tale that is about average day to day circumstances and it's put together quite brilliantly by Vidor.
09. Le Million (1931) dir. Rene Clair 10/10
Since watching this I've actually bought it on DVD and am glad to give it a home on my DVD shelf. One of the zaniest, yet brilliant films I saw and it all revolves around a missing lottery ticket. The plot is simple and something that has been copied by every successful sitcom since, but it works great and I had a blast watching it.
08. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) dir. Leo McCarey 10/10
"It would make a stone cry", that's what Orson Welles said of Make Way for Tomorrow and I believe the man had a valid point. The only film of the 101 thus far to bring a lot of tears to my eyes and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The principles do a wonderful job of reeling us in, and then once they have us hooked, we can't help but bawl. Love this movie and am so glad it's getting a DVD release this Tuesday.
07. The Unknown (1927) dir. Tod Browning 10/10
Probably ONE OF my biggest director finds from the book thus far, has been Tod Browning, as he totally delivered the goods on three seperate occasions and delivered ten fold on The Unknown. Lon Chaney delivers too, in a deliciously mad performance as Alonzo the Armless and the script is so good that I believe literally ANYONE could find enjoyment out of this one. This would be the movie that I'd recommend to non-silent people, to get them into silent flicks.
06. It Happened One Night (1934) dir. Frank Capra 10/10
My 'ol pal Peter Warne was the main character here and what a main character he was. Clark Gable showed his true acting chops with this one and THIS is the picture that he should be remembered for, not Gone with the Wind (Although, we're not there yet, so I'll hold off my discussions of that film). This took home the Best Picture Oscar, along with four others, for a reason and EVERYONE owes it to themselves to see this picture. Great, great stuff!
05. Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) dir. Buster Keaton & Charles Reisner 10/10
The second best Keaton film that I had the pleasure of seeing, Steamboat Bill Jr. provides us with the unforgettable hurricane scene, that I personally will NEVER forget. Keaton had a knack for all things comedy, whether it be physical comedy, or subtle comedy, such as when he whistles the tune in the jail and tries to get his father to realize that he's brought him a loaf of bread with a knife in it.
04. Seven Chances (1925) dir. Buster Keaton 10/10
The BEST Buster Keaton movie that I saw. Seven Chances has the most memorable plot, in my opinion and to me, it stands out above all the others. You take The General and Sherlock Jr., I'll be just fine with Seven Chances, which made me laugh my ass off and the prospect of Keaton being forced to find a wife by 7pm, I mean c'mon, that just sounds hilarious. This would be the first movie that I'd recommend to someone who has never seen a Keaton picture.
03. Modern Times (1936) dir. Charles Chaplin 10/10
The more I think about this one, the more I love it and we're into the point now, where I'm talking about movies that make me so glad I set out on this journey through cinema. Modern Times is such a sweet, funny, pitch perfect film and honestly my absolute favorite Chaplin flick, of the three I've seen, and I highly doubt that any of the rest can match up to this one, although I'm certainly not above letting them try.
02. My Man Godfrey (1936) dir. Gregory La Cava 10/10
The top two here flip flopped in my head, back and forth, for quite a while, before I finally decided on their precise order. This one came oh so close though and this is the film that makes me want to see every other William Powell film. If I had to pick a favorite actor, based solely on the films that I've seen from the '1001' book, so far, then I'd pick William Powell, no question. He delivers here big time and this is probably the greatest screwball comedy I've EVER seen. There's nothing bad going on here and every aspect of this film is great.
01. La Roue (1923) dir. Abel Gance 10/10
Regular followers of my blog (if there are any) probably were taken by surprise by my #1 pick. La Roue was a film that I originally rated an eight and a half out of ten and one that I really don't remember going on and on about that much. I can still see the railroad engineer Sisif, climbing the big mountain, bearing a cross on his shoulders. I can see Norma going down to celebrate with the people of the village, as they all sing and dance in a big circle and the mountain takes hold of the screen. This is a silent film that was better for being silent, as only words could've screwed this up. This movie is so beautiful and so touching, that there were no words that would've been right in the mouths of the actors, it was just something that had to play out for itself and speak for itself and it did that. I still see this film in my head and think about it all the time and this was, without question, the BEST movie I've watched from the book, thus far and even one of the best things I've ever seen, book or no book.
Well there you go. I hope you've enjoyed the list and maybe you'll even take a little of my advice and go out and see some of the ones listed here that you haven't. When I hit 201 movies watched, we'll do this again, except we'll up the number to a Top 40. I think that's all that needs to be said and I'll go ahead and let my list speak for itself.
By Andrew D. at February 21, 2010 10 comments:
112. Pepe le Moko (1937)
Directed By: Julien Duvivier
Written By: Jacques Constant, Julien Duvivier
Main Cast: Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin, Lucas Gridoux, Gilbert Gil, Fernand Charpin
Finally we've reached our 101st film from the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, which means that I'm one tenth of the way finished with my entire journey through cinema. "Pepe le Moko" stars Jean Gabin as a street wise, tough guy and turns in a great performance, in an otherwise average film.
Pepe le Moko (Gabin) is a criminal at large, taking refuge in the Casbah, the Arab quarter of Algiers. Resembling a closed in fortress of underground slums, the Casbah has become Pepe's home, knowing that if he ever dares leave he'll be caught by the police for the burglaries and theiving he's comitted. The Casbah has everything that Pepe needs; his friends, his women, food, shelter, his diamonds, except Pepe longs to be back in his hometown of Paris and often dreams of areas such as the Champs-Elysees. When the cops invade the Casbah and try to catch Pepe, they fail, even with the assistance of the Casbah rat, Regis, who is secretly working as an informant for the police.
One day, Pepe's friend Inspector Slimane (who is a police officer, but the two men have respect for each other), brings a friend with him to the Casbah, a gorgeous young lady from Paris named Gaby. Pepe immediately falls for Gaby, as she reminds him of the things that he misses about France. He even resorts to singing on the rooftops and declaring his love for Gaby. However, when she's supposed to meet him in the Casbah one evening, she fails to show up and another informant returns with news that Gaby is under close surveillance by one of her friends. Meanwhile, word was sent to Gaby that Pepe has been killed and that she need not go to the Casbah. When Pepe beats the truth out of the informant, he realizes that if he is ever to find true love and to continue on with his life, that he must leave the Casbah in search of Gaby.
Well we'll start out with Jean Gabin, who I'm rapidly becoming a fan of, as he turns in two great performances, one here and one in "Grand Illusion". He's a very patient actor, who never overacts and who always seems to play it cool and let the actions just ooze out of his body, instead of forcing them. The setting for ninety percent of this film is the Casbah and it really provides a very claustrophobic atmosphere for the viewer, as we're constantly shut-in, in this tiny community, with low ceilings and lack of air and sky. It's ironic that Pepe fears the outside world, because he doesn't want to be put in prison, yet he confines himself to the Casbah, where he must live in a prison-like world. The ending of the film is tragically beautiful and while I won't spoil it here, it is something that really breaks your heart. With all of that being said, this film still only gets to about the average point, as the plot seems to drag in spots and be very anti-climatic, especially for a gangster film.
RATING: 5.5/10 So-so film, with some bright spots, including the ending and the performance of Gabin.
NEXT UP: Jezebel...Bette Davis makes her '1001' debut...But first, I'll be back later with a ranking of the Top 20 Films I've watched thus far from the book.
Labels: Julien Duvivier
111. The Awful Truth (1937)
Directed By: Leo McCarey
Written By: Vina Delmar, from play by Arthur Richman
Main Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham
Sidenote: I watched "The Crowd" last night (1928 - King Vidor), one that I previously skipped and aired last night on TCM. The review has been posted and can be found here
NUMBER 100 IS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT
I'll have to agree with Leo McCarey's sentiments when he accepted his Best Director Oscar for "The Awful Truth", as he said: "Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture", referring to his previous film "Make Way for Tomorrow". This is one of the few films that I've watched thus far in the book, where my high hopes for their greatness fell flat on their face.
When Jerry Warriner (Grant) returns home from, what was supposed to be a trip to Florida, he finds, to his surprise, that his wife is out. In actuality, Jerry never went to Florida and we never find out for sure what he did do or where he did go. When his wife, Lucy (Dunne) returns home, moments after he does, he finds her followed by her music teacher, Armand Duvalle and he immediately smells affair. Their excuse is that they went out the previous night and the car broke down, and they were forced to spend the night at an inn. This is an excuse which Jerry doesn't believe for a minute. However, Lucy soon uncovers that Jerry never went to Florida and the two think the worst of the other one, and accusations of affairs and hidden truths are soon thrown out. The couple decide to divorce, seeing as how their trust in one another has been shattered.
From here, the movie takes a series of pointless turns, as Lucy finds herself being courted by southern boy, Dan (Bellamy, in one of the few great things about this movie). Jerry follows them around and always seems to pop up and be a smart ass toward the couple. At about the halfway mark of the film, Lucy gets sick of Dan and realizes that she still holds a flame for Jerry, who is now courting a gal of his own, a snobby heiress type named Barbara Vance. The tables are now turned with Lucy showing up when she's not wanted and spoiling the plans of Jerry and Barbara. It all winds down to the final thirty minutes, before the couples divorce is to be finalized and they find themselves in a car together, being chased by the police, for a loud radio that won't turn off, due to a broken knob.
This movie has a massive amount of potential and had a great cast all lined up and ready to deliver a fantastic comedy, with Leo McCarey at the helm. It starts out pretty basic, a divorce, one that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, in a scene that plays out as though it was jotted down on a napkin over lunch, but a divorce nonetheless. Then it all begins to go downhill, as nothing happens. I was literally waiting for the proverbial shoe to fall and for the movie to continue it's at an average pacing, but absolutely nothing happens. Dan is introduced, and Bellamy plays him so well, but he's really not needed and the character really feels out of place, like a third wheel, so to speak. It's just a big jumbled mess in my opinion, that didn't come off as particularly funny at all and seemed to be all thrown together on the fly. I was HIGHLY disappointed in this film, as I really thought it'd deliver the goods, but all that it delivered to me was a big mess of a film.
RATING: 4/10 I gave it a few notches for the performances, which were good and seemed to be lost in a bad movie.
NEXT UP: Pepe Le Moko...Number 101 has finally arrived and when this is watched we'll be 1/10 of the way finished with our journey. Review to come tomorrow.
Labels: Leo McCarey
110. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Directed By: David Hand
Written By: Ted Sears, Richard Creedon
Main Cast: (voices): Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Otis Harlan, Harry Stockwell
ON MY JOURNEY I MET A MAN NAMED 'WALT'
As I trek through the pages of the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" text, I come to my first animated film. While this is one of the few animated films, that's a little harder for an adult to enjoy, I think grown-ups will still be able to find some engaging aspects about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
The plot, as you can imagine, is a fairly simple one. Our animated journey starts out with The Queen, sitting high atop a mountain, enclosed in her grand castle. As she poses her daily question to her magic mirror: "Mirror mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?", she does not get the stock answer that is usually given. Instead, this time, the mirror searches the land and finds that young Snow White is actually the fairest one in the land. This, of course, irates The Queen and she sends one of her henchmen out to kill Snow White and put her heart into a small box, as proof that he did his duty. When the henchmen approaches Snow White, as she picks wildflowers in the field, he cannot bring himself to kill her, instead warning her to run as far away as she can and never come back. Snow White obliges, and soon finds solace in the forest, with her new animal pals, including: birds, raccoons, deer, squirrels and a turtle.
The critters lead her to a house, that is later revealed to be the home of the seven dwarfs. However, when Snow White sees the tiny beds, she assumes that the house must be occupied by orphaned children. She cleans up the house for the "children" and hopes that by doing this, they'll let her live with them. We then meet the dwarfs: Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, Sleepy, Doc, Grumpy and Bashful: seven tiny prospecting men, with long white beards, as they sing "Heigh-Ho" when they bell rings for them to go home. The entire bit that follows, shows the dwarfs arriving home and seeing lights on in their house and also seeing a clean house and thinking that a ghost or goblin must've gotten in. Snow White soon reveals herself and all the dwarfs fall in love with her and look up to her as a motherly figure. All of the dwarfs, that is, except for Grumpy, who wants nothing to do with her or her cleanliness. Eventually The Queen learns that the heart, that the henchmen brought back to her, was only the heart of a pig and takes matters into her own hands, disguising herself, with the help of a wicked spell and creating a poison apple to tempt Snow White with, which will lead to her demise.
This certainly isn't the best animated movie I've ever seen, nor is it the worst. There's nothing too terribly exciting going on here, yet nothing horrible either. I think, however, that this is one of the more difficult ones for an adult to really get into and find that most of the material presented is more suited for the youngsters. However, it's quite surprising to hear them talking of cutting out hearts in an animated movie from the 1930's. There's also some other imagery, that I would think would be a little terrifying to a child, such as the entire sequence where The Queen transforms into a witch. The dwarfs sequences do provide some light comedy, especially the bit when they're searching the house, before they know Snow White is there. It must've been something special to see this in the theatres back in the day. The colors in this film pop and to see this in the 1930's, on a big screen, must've been mesmerizing. I can only imagine the awe and wonderment that kids must've went through back in the 1930's in theatres across the country.
RATING: 5.5/10 Like I said, nothing bad, nothing special and just your average kids film, but it set the stage for animation and must get some respect for that fact.
NEXT UP: The Awful Truth...The film that won Leo McCarey his Best Director Oscar. I'll be watching "The Crowd" before this, as I'm gonna' watch it later tonight and post the review on the old "The Crowd" post, so keep an eye out for that one.
Labels: David Hand
109. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Written By: Vina Delmar, from the novel The Years Are So Long by Josephine Lawrence
Main Cast: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter
"IT WOULD MAKE A STONE CRY" - ORSON WELLES on MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW
When Leo McCarey accepted his Oscar for Best Director for "The Awful Truth" he said, and I quote: "Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture", referring to the fact that if he was going to be named Best Director, it should've been for make way for tomorrow.
The plot is quite simple. When Barkley and Lucy Cooper face financial hardships and the bank takes their home away from them, they turn to their five children for a solution. During a meeting, called by the couple of fifty years, they talk over with their children the options of where to go from here. Wanting to divide the responsibility up, the children decide that two of them we'll house one of the parents, with George taking his mother and Cora taking her father. From there we flip flop between the new living conditions of the two elders. Lucy Cooper, who is now living with her son George, his wife Anita and their daughter, Rhoda. The house is forced to undertake a new way of life with Lucy in the picture, as Rhoda now refuses to have her friends over, for fear that her grandmother will talk their legs off. Anita, Lucy's daughter-in-law, is also hesitant to teach her bridge class, for fear that Lucy will get in the way.
On the other side of the fence, Barkley or Bark, as he's referred to in the film, has taken to long chats with the owner of the local general store and does so to get away from his very demanding, very irritable daughter, Cora. When Bark becomes sick with a cold, Cora bosses him around and refuses to put up with his whiny ways, as all Bark wants is his wife by his side, as he's sure that she could cure his illness. When push comes to shove, and things just don't seem to be working out on either end, the two sides both make decisions. George makes the decision to put his mother in a nursing home, while Cora thinks it's best if her father goes to California to live with one of the other siblings. The final thirty minutes of the movie are the parts that Orson Welles was referring to when he talked about the film making a stone cry, as Bark and Lucy say their final goodbyes and I dare any viewer to hold back the tears.
Of course, being a married man, this film made me think a lot of my wife. In fact, I was constantly putting myself in the place of the actors and envisioning what it'd be like to be in these characters' shoes. I think that's what made the water works come on for me so hard when the final moments of the film were taking place. The two primary actors: Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi, do a fine job of creating that special on screen chemistry and use a very natural dialogue to get their characters over as a real married couple. As the two quibble about whether their honeymoon began on a Wednesday or a Thursday, you really get into the spirit of these two characters and it makes it that much more sad when they're torn apart. Few films that I've seen have actually made tears stream down my face, but this one did just that, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. This is quite possibly, and without putting a lot of thought to it, the saddest movie I've ever seen, as it forced me to remember personal experiences and that helped me relate to the characters so well.
RATING: 9/10 Another movie makes a big time bid to get into my Top 20 and with only four films left 'till we hit the 101 mark, who knows what the Top 20 will consist of...not even me, yet.
NEXT UP: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves...My first animated film in the book and Walt Disney's first full length feature film. It should arrive from Netflix tomorrow and I will review it directly.
108. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Directed By: William Dieterle
Written By: Norman Reilly, Raine Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, from book by Matthew Josephson
Main Cast: Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut, Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard
1937 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Paul Muni stars as Emile Zola, a french born author and activist and delivers a completely different performance than I've seen him do thus far.
"The Life of Emile Zola" starts out with Emile and his roommate Paul Cezanne, living poorly in a drafty attic and prophecizing their futures, Zola's as a writer and Cezanne's as a painter. Emile gets his first big burst of inspiration in the form of a prostitute named Nana, who he happens upon, running from the police and coincidentally she is saved by Zola, who offers her a quick cover. After interviewing her for the remainder of the night, he sees the pages of a book unraveling in front of him and he eventually gets the book published under the simple title of Nana. The book is a huge hit and Zola is an immediate success, following up his successful Nana with a book entitled The Downfall. The years roll on and book after book is released and Zola continues to grow as a publicly known author. We're then fast forwarded into Zola's golden years, as he is now living happily with his wife and ready toi wind down, finished with his writing career.
However, the inspiration, much like it did with Nana, falls right into his lap, yet again and the movie really starts to pick up a little steam. Captain Alfred Dreyfus of the French Army is wrongfully accused of writing a letter, that threatens to reveal many of the armies most hidden secrets. He is tried and convicted of treason and cast away to Devil's Island where he is held in confinement for the crime he did not commit. Later, some new details arrise that would give Dreyfus his freedom, but the French Army superiors, not wanting to admit that they made a mistake, decide to sweep the new evidence under the rug. Dreyfus' wife goes to Zola and pleads for his help in bringing the new evidence to light and helping to free her husband. The trial begins after Zola gives a famous speech to the papers, entitled "I Accuse", accusing the French Army of their dishonesty.
I've now seen Muni in three films and each role has been entirely different. He kicked it off by playing a fugitive from a chain gang, followed that with his portrayl of Tony Camonte and now slides in with Emile Zola. It's amazing how Muni was able to totally transform himself and become the character that he was playing and I'll remember him as a great actor, who was able to make such transformations. As for the film itself, "The Life of Emile Zola" is quite a slow moving film and really doesn't pick up any speed until we get into the whole Dreyfus affair. However, once the Dreyfus scandal is established, the film has a hard time sustaining that pace and eventually it slows down yet again, providing a countless number of big, overblown speeches that made me want to yawn, instead of cheer. Although, I'll have to admit that I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did, as the idea of watching a biopic about a 19th century french authoir, certainly didn't have me doing cartwheels or anything. I felt the whole first thirty minutes could've been cut down, merely to allow enough time to establish Zola as a prominent figure in the French community and a famous author, which could've been done in less time that they took to do it. The real movie doesn't begin until Dreyfus enters the picture.
RATING: 5/10 We'll cut it straight down the middle, giving some kudos for acting and some for plot, but deducting for some wasted time and some real yawner moments.
NEXT UP: Make Way for Tomorrow...This is being released on DVD this coming Tuesday, but it's also on YouTube, which is where I'll be watching it, later tonight.
Labels: William Dieterle
107. Stella Dallas (1937)
Directed By: King Vidor
Written By: Joe Bigelow, Harry Wagstaff Gribble, Sarah Y. Mason, Gertrude Purcell, Victor Heerman, from novel by Olive Higgins Prouty
Main Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil, Alan Hale
STELLA!!...OOPS, WRONG MOVIE
Well the "short wait" finally ended and "Stella Dallas" was shipped and arrived today, giving me a chance to finally watch it and finally get a review slapped in here. The movie was actually quite good, as most of the unfound movies, coincidentally seem to be, as King Vidor impresses me, yet again.
Stella Dallas (Stanwyck) lives in a Massachusetts factory town with her brother and parents. She lives a fairly simple life, cooking and cleaning and helping to tend the house. She also has quite a time swooning over Mr. Stephen Dallas (Boles), one of the managers at the factory, where her brother and father work. Stephen, at one time, was set to be engaged to Helen Morrison, but when his father committed suicide, Stephen disappeared and relocated, leaving Helen in the dust. One day, when Stella takes lunch to her brother at work, she makes a special point to swing by Stephen's office and strut her stuff. Stella, looking ever so radiant, accomplishes her mission and gets more than a head turn from the shy, considerate Stephen. They hit it off, a few weeks pass, with Stephen courting Stella, until finally one day Stella arrives back at the house with a ring on her finger and news that her and Stephen have been married.
A year passes and the Dallases welcome their first child, a baby girl, whom they name Laurel. When Stella is released from the hospital, after giving birth, she wants nothing more than to go out for a night on the town, despite her husbands urges for her to rest. They go out and Stella takes up dancing with a loud mouth, obnoxious fellow by the name of Ed Munn (Hale). Stephen, being the kind, gentle person that he is, never lacks at delivering politeness, even to the inconsiderate Munn. When a job opportunity arises in New York, Stephen jumps at the chance to take it and wants nothing more than to relocate with his entire family in tact. However, Stella doesn't wish to relocate and thus the Dallases separate, leaving Laurel in the care of her mother, and visiting her father on the weekends. Eventually Laurel grows up, Stephen reconnects with his old flame Helen and Laurel becomes the focal point of the picture, being forced to choose between a swanky lifestyle in New York with her father and Helen or her normal downtrodden lifestyle with her mother, who she's always been with.
King Vidor was excellent at turning everyday situations into brilliant, heartbreaking films. He had a knack for evoking emotions and really playing his characters to their fullest potential. In the span of this movie I went from hating Stella, to feeling sorry for her and all of the emotions in between. The scene at Christmas, when Stephen takes Laurel and Stella is left to spend the holidays by herself is so sad and the end is also heartbreaking. All of the principles turn in marvelous performances, and including Stanwyck, I also really enjoyed the innocent girl that Anne Shirley played, as she was spot on with her delivery and was just a very charming little actress. Boles and Hale were also great male leads, with Boles playing the cool, shy, gentle Stephen and Hale really turning it in as the fool, Ed Munn. All in all this was a great film and I had a very enjoyable time with it.
RATING: 7.5/10 What can I say, I'm a sucker for simple storytelling that is told to the fullest advantage and this is a prime example.
NEXT UP: The Life of Emile Zola...Paul Muni stars in the 1937 Best Picture winner and the review should be up sometime tomorrow.
Revised: February 26, 2010 12:37am
Labels: King Vidor
106. La Grande Illusion/Grand Illusion (1937)
Directed By: Jean Renoir
Written By: Jean Renoir, Charles Spaak
Main Cast: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Marcel Dalio, Erich von Stroheim, Dita Parlo
POSSIBLY JEAN RENOIR'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT
Probably Jean Renoir's most popular movie, "La Grande Illusion" takes a look at a group of soldiers imprisoned in a POW camp, during World War I and the day to day life that they face as prisoners for the enemy.
During a routine flight, pilots: Captain de Boeldieu (Fresnay) and Lieutenant Marechal (Gabin) are shot down by Captain von Rauffenstein (von Stroheim). They aren't seriously injured and after they are recovered they are invited in to have a meal with von Rauffenstein. They are then taken and placed into a POW camp where they meet and befriend several of their fellow frenchmen. At this point the film gets pretty simple, just examining the day to day perils that the men must face while contained in the camp. However, the perils are few and far between and thanks to their new friend Rosenthal, a very wealthy, french, Jewish man, they are kept well fed, by the packages that he receives from home. They're also never really abused or mistreated or even talked down to by the German officers, as they are officers in their military and thus given proper respect for that position. When de Boeldieu and Marechal get extra chummy with their new found friends, they are let in on the fact that the other men have begun work on a tunnel, digging at night underneath their floorboards and exposing of the dirt in the courtyard. They plan an escape, that will bring them up, just outside the fences and allow them to free themselves from the German enslavement.
On the day that the men decide to break loose, they are informed that they will be moved to another camp, and all hopes of escape are dashed in an instant. de Boeldieu and Marechal move from camp to camp, finally settling down at Wintersborn, where they find their old "pal" Rauffenstein in charge, decked out in white gloves and a complete spine brace. Their friend Rosenthal joins them soon after as well, and the three quickly begin to hatch escape plots. Captain de Boeldieu comes up with the idea to cause a commotion, causing all the guards to call for an assembly and at that point the escape will be executed. However, he thinks that the plan will only work for two and insists that Marechal and Rosenthal be the two to make the bust.
This film shows first class how well Renoir was at moving his camera. He had a fine talent for capturing simple things on film and transforming them into gorgeous shots, and capturing gorgeous scenery on film and turning into breathtaking shots. Some of the shots of the mountains and trees and snow banks, are absolutely stunning and you could get lost in this film, by staring at the imagery alone. The plot alone is fine as well, and I myself am a sucker for a good prison flick and this is basically just that. I love seeing how strangers, thrown together and contained in a place, forced to interact with one another, cope with it all and this film is a great example of how all of that plays out. Jean Gabin is great as Marechal and has a soft spoken, subtle element to his character, that makes him that much more fascinating, as his character always seems to be in deep thought. I was surprised to see Erich von Stroheim show back up, as the last time I watched this film, I didn't even really know who von Stroheim was. He played a great role as well, commanding the screen when he was on it and calling power to his character, but still being able to play the politeness card and pulling it all off very nicely.
RATING: 7/10 As I've said before, I'm not big on war movies, but this one is more than a war film and gets my seal of approval, for sure.
NEXT UP: Stella Dallas...I'll be right back with an "unfound entry" for this one.
Labels: Jean Renoir
105. Ye ban ge sheng/Midnight Song (1937)
Directed By: Ma-Xu Weibang
Written By: Ma-Xu Weibang
Main Cast: Menghe Gu, Ping Hu, Shan Jin, Chao Shi
A CHINESE VERSION OF "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
I'm not sure if the title of this film is meant to be written as "Midnight Song" or "Song at Midnight", but the book lists it as the former, so that's what we'll go with. This was a really tedious picture to get through, although it is one of the better film adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera that I've seen.
The film starts out focussing in on an old, dilapidated opera house, that is soon to be occupied by a traveling theatre group. When the crew arrives at the opera house, they soon meet the proprietor and begin their rehearsals. When the lead male actor, Sun, is given a new song to rehearse, he asks the rest of the crew to clear the stage and leave him alone so that he can practice it. When he struggles with the new song, he is coached by a voice that emanates from the rafters. Sun becomes startled, but the proprietor tells him not to worry, that it's just an old ghost and that they've been there comfortably for years and he has never caused any danger. The voice ends up helping him get the song down pat and Sun treks upstairs to thank his unknown coach. Upon arriving in the attic, Sun finds a man, shielding his face with a hood and dressed all in black. He thanks the unknown man for his help and begins to chat with him. The Phantom reveals himself as Song Danping, a former revolutionary who, to avoid being persecuted, changed his name and took up acting in the opera.
He goes on to tell Sun that, approximately ten years earlier, while acting in the very theatre where they stand, he took a romantic interest in a woman named Li Xiaoxia, which angered a local thug who also was interested in her. The thug, out of jealousy, caught Song as he was exiting the opera house and threw nitric acid into his face. He was left wrapped in bandages for months and when the curtain was finally lifted on his face, he was disfigured. He gave orders to tell Li Xiaoxia that he was dead and he went into hiding, into the rafters of the old theatre. For ten years, Song would stand at the theatre windows and sing to Li at midnight, and for ten years Song waited for a worthy prospect to pass through the theatre, someone that he deemed worthy enough to go to Li and pretend to be him, hoping that this will help her recover from the loss of her lover.
I've never seen a great film adaptation of "The Phantom of the Opera", which leads me to believe that this story is just one that simply doesn't appeal to me. "Midnight Song" was no exception, as it was certainly not a great film, in my opinion. It was, however, better than any other version I've seen and created the most emotion than any others as well. When Song reveals his disfigured face to the camera and we see him have a total breakdown, as he faces the realization that he can never allow the love of his life to cast her eyes upon him again, this is a great scene, but one of few and one that couldn't make up for the slow pacing and out and out boring nature of this whole affair. The performances were average and actually very outdated and much to "classic" for my taste. I wouldn't call "Midnight Song" a complete loss, but it certainly wasn't a winner either and if we rated on thumbs, this would be a definite downer.
RATING: 4/10 I'll go with a '4' considering there were a few engaging scenes and the story was atrocious by any standards.
NEXT UP: Grand Illusion...Probably Jean Renoir's most famous film and one that I have seen before and remember really liking a lot. Review should be up late tonight or tomorrow.
Labels: Ma-Xu Weibang
120. Zangiku monogatari/The Story of the Late Chry...
104. Captains Courageous (1937)
102. Things to Come (1936)
100. Sabotage (1936)
99. CAMILLE (1936)
98. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
97. My Man Godfrey (1936)
96. Swing Time (1936)
95. Modern Times (1936)
94. Une Partie de campagne/A Day in the Country (1...
93. TOP HAT (1935)
92. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
91. The 39 Steps (1935)
90. A Night at the Opera (1935)
89. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
88. Captain Blood (1935)
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302. Forbidden Planet (1956)
Directed By: Fred M. Wilcox
Written By: Irving Block, Allen Adler, Cyril Hume
Main Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly
Click here to view the trailer
NOTE: NON-BOOK UPDATES!
Chicken Run (2000 - Peter Lord, Nick Park) 7.5/10 - I dug this, quite a bit! I'm a fan of Lord & Park and really need to decide on a definitive favorite moving forward, so that I can add it to my personal 1,000 list. I still need to see all the Wallace & Gromit shorts and the movie (or are there "movies", plural?) and I see there's even a new movie coming out called Shawn The Sheep. This was pretty great though and I really dug those nods to The Great Escape.
D.O.A. (1950 - Rudolph Mate) 5.5/10 - Boy, I had REALLY high hopes for this, but I ended up being really disappointed by it. TCM is running a movie-thon all summer long called "Summer of Darkness", where they're airing loads of noirs and I've been wanting to see this one for some time. I feel like what should have been a really simple, really fun movie about a man who was poisoned trying to find his poisoner before he died, got really muddled down with too many characters and too confusing of a plot line. Perhaps I was just too tired that night or something and a rewatch someday is in order.
Beautiful Boy (2010 - Shawn Ku) 6/10 - I feel like this would've worked MUCH better as a short film and that everything that happened past like the thirty minute mark, wasn't anything we didn't already assume was going to happen to these characters anyway. However, that's nitpicking and honestly, the filmmaker's still managed to string together a pretty decent little movie, that didn't ever make me wish it would just end. I expected worse and for the most part, got my money's worth. Wouldn't watch it again or call it a fav or anything, but not bad.
Now then...
STILL HATIN' ON SCI AND FI
Unless you're new here, you SHOULD already know what I thought of this. Actually, that's not fair, because I did try and there were some redeeming qualities, but ultimately my opinion was the same as it is for most sci-fi ventures - *blech*.
The film begins with a group of scientists and doctors, hurtling through space. Their destination? The planet Altair, where an expedition crew was supposed to have landed years earlier, except no one has heard hide nor hair of the expedition - hence the new crew, sent to discover their whereabouts. Upon landing, the new crew finds only a Dr. Edward Morbius (Pidgeon), living alone with the exception of his daughter, Alta (Francis). They also meet the doctor's servant - Robby the Robot, a robot with Issac Asimov like restrictions, meant to serve man. It soon becomes apparent to the crew that there is SOMETHING on the planet causing destruction. The revelation happens when their ship is breached and damaged, causing them to prolong their stay on Altair. Meanwhile, the ship's Commander, John J. Adams (Nielsen), is becoming more and more smitten with Alta, who doesn't help matters by running around in mini skirts were as short as they could possibly be, per 1950s standards.
WOW, Ms. Francis! That skirt is short! Seriously though, how did they get away with parading Anne Francis around in such skimp, back in the 50s? And how did I get away this long without knowing who Anne Francis was? I only wish we could have met under better circumstances. Nevermind the short skirts, there's also a scene where she skinny dips, leaving very little to the imagination. It's no wonder Leslie Nielsen was all over by film's end, trying to protect her from the giant cartoon, red monster that was being projected by her daddy's brain! Seriously though, I was all ready to like this, had Robby the Robot just gone ape and started knocking off members of the crew one by one, Alien (Ridley Scott) style. I REALLY thought that's where this film was headed, until Morbius (should've known he was the villain based on that name alone!) turns out to be the bad guy. And then we're to buy that he wasn't REALLY the bad guy, he was just subconsciously projecting the big red monster. Sounds like he had some daddy/mommy issues or something...
I mean, if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I'm just not that into sci-fi. You know what I really need to do though? I need to find me a good TOP 100 SCI-FI MOVIES LIST and just force myself to get through and find ONE sci-fi movie that I actually can get into. Sure, there are a few - District 9, Alien and The Incredible Shrinking Man come to mind - but I'm talking classic, clear cut sci-fi films, just like Forbidden Planet, filled with massive amounts of cheesiness. I mean, was this a serious entry into THE BOOK or was this another case of the authors of THE BOOK just throwing in an old cheeseball sci-fi flick, just so BOOK conquerors could get a taste of everything? I feel like it's the latter and this is another, shining example of a film being included, when plenty of really good movies were kicked to the curb.
RATING: 4.5/10 It wasn't awful or anything and I feel like simpler would've been better here ie. Robby going berserk. The whole "Morbius' mind is controlling the cartoon" just totally lost me. Francis was smokin' hot though!
MOVIES WATCHED: 940
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 61
By Andrew D. at July 30, 2015 4 comments:
Labels: Fred M. Wilcox
493. LUCIA (1969)
Directed By: Humberto Solas
Written By: Julio Garcia Espinosa, Nelson Rodriguez, Humberto Solas
Main Cast: Raquel Revuelta, Eslinda Nunez, Adela Legra, Tete Vergara, Idalina Anreus
THREE, THREE, THREE FILMS IN ONE!
I'll do a "NON-BOOK Movies" update on my next review, as I'm a little pressed for time tonight. For anyone who cares (I'm guessing no one), I no longer have my weekend on Tuesdays and Wednesdays anymore and now have Tuesdays and Saturdays off. Therefore, since my wife is still working Saturdays at her job, I should be able to pound out at least one film every Saturday, from now until the finish line. Let's commence...
So the film is actually three short films, crushed into one movie, all three stories revolving around a girl named Lucia (all different women, they just all have the same name). The first one takes place in the late 1800s and this Lucia (Revuelta) is a proper, bourgeoisie woman, who associates herself with other bourgeoisie personalities. When she meets a man, coming from church, the two fall almost immediately in love. Later, Lucia finds out that he has a wife and child in another town and swears him off, only to fall in love with him again when he comes back and pleads with her to forgive him. The two are married and Lucia takes him to a coffee plantation where rebels (including her beloved brother) are hidden. Chaos ensues...
Part two's Lucia (Nunez), is a naive young girl, who goes to the Keys with her mother, at her father's request. Once there, her mother and Lucia quarrel and Lucia eventually meets Aldo, a young revolutionary who is determined to overthrow the current head of government, a vicious dictator. Lucia begins campaigning against the dictator as well, joining her husband in the fight and the two fall in love and are presumably married (although the ceremony is never shown). Lucia becomes pregnant, meanwhile Aldo is insistent on being a young revolutionary.
The final Lucia (Legra) is a field worker, at a farm. One day while hauling a sack of sweet potatoes, she is picked up by a young man. The two hit it off and are married (this time, we do see the ceremony, as well as the reception that follows). We see a montage that shows the newlyweds' in their happy, early days and then the wedding bells begin to fade and the husband becomes jealous, going so far as to board up the windows, so that he can lock Lucia up when he's at work. He refuses to let her continue working in the field, even though she wants to and refuses to even let other men look at her. When it is decreed that Lucia must learn to read & write, a male tutor must enter the home to teach her, which of course, sets off the husband.
Had a real hard time finding pictures to add to this review. Luckily, however, I managed to nab one of Eslinda Nunez, my favorite of the three Lucia actresses.
Let's keep it short & sweet tonight, as again, I'm a bit pressed for time. I can't say I really cared for this and again, I'd have to blame culture clash as the dominant reason why. The film is underscored by a theme of Cuban history and Cuba's war to gain it's independence throughout the early 1900s. Therefore, it probably didn't hit me as hard as it did some. However, I didn't hate it and kudos to Solas for at least trying to make it interesting, intertwining three love stories with the Cuban history angle, to at least try to draw in some viewers who may not care as much as he did about the subject matter. Also, I would be hard pressed not to mention the three Lucia's, most notably Lucia #2 or Eslinda Nunez - what a cutie she was and a natural on the screen. I wonder if she's appeared in more stuff - I'll have to check it out for sure. As far as recommendations go, if you want to dip your toe into a bit of Cuban cinema, you could pick worse movies than this. If you're a history buff or a world cinema enthusiast then this is also probably right up your alley. However, if you're just a Joe like me, who likes a good 'ol movie, then take a pass here. This is much more than just a movie, as Solas sacrifices things like plot and character development in exchange for telling a meaningful story to him and the history of his country. Who am I to crap all over that...
RATING: 4.5/10 Just below the average marker and for nearly three hours, there are times when it does go by rather quickly, so that's another one in the plus column.
Labels: Humberto Solas
Herzog Week - COMING SOON
By Andrew D. at July 24, 2015 No comments:
433 Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Directed By: David Lean
Written By: Robert Bolt, from novel by Boris Pasternak
Main Cast: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin
Note: Have I mentioned I've recently developed a fondness for thrift shops? My wife and I frequent a decent sized thrift shop in Morgantown, WV - home of WVU and the Mountaineers (Go 'Eers!) and I've taken to traveling there once a month or so and stocking up on paperbacks (which recently went from a buck a bag to a dime a piece). I own a Kindle and all, but I just love perusing through bin after bin of paperbacks, picking some up simply because they LOOK good, knowing nothing about them. Anyway, I snapped a picture of a little gem I found there this past week. I didn't buy it because I already have it on my computer and I don't have a great working VCR, but a few years back I'd have been ALL OVER THIS!
RIP OMAR SHARIF: 1932 - 2015
Omar Sharif passed away a few weeks ago and as soon as I saw his picture on my USA Today news feed, I immediately recalled one summer when me and my wife sat down to take in "Zhivago". More on that story later...
"Zhivago" is one of those "sweeping epics" that clocks in at about three hours and ten minutes and covers a lot of ground during it runtime. The film is told entirely in flashback, starting with a young Yuri Zhivago, who is orphaned when his mother dies, when he's very young. Yuri goes to live with his mother's best friend, her husband and their daughter, Tonya. Grown up, Zhivago (Sharif) now has aspirations of being a general practitioner and later, becomes engaged to Tonya, whom he fell in love after all those years. Meanwhile, there's also Lara Antipov (Christie), who's boyfriend is Pasha, a revolutionary. Later, V.I. Komarovsky (Steiger), a well connected Russian, takes an interest in Lara and later rapes her, making her his girlfriend. This revelation leaves Lara's mother stunned, since she had hopes of marrying Komarovsky herself and she tries to kill herself. This is when Zhivago and Lara first lay eyes on each other - Zhivago assisting the doctor, who rushes to Lara's mother's aid. Eventually war breaks out and Zhivago & his family are forced out of their house. It's around this time that Zhivago meets his brother, General Yevgraf Zhivago (Guinness), who instructs Zhivago and family to flee to Gromeko, where they'll be far away from trouble and the new shift in power. Zhivago obliges and one day, while at the library, notices Lara. The two begin an affair...I feel like that's plenty to get you started, as there's just so much ground to cover here and I could go on for days, plot summary wise.
I'll never forget my first apartment. No one will, right? The one thing I really remember about my our first apartment ("our" as in, me and my wife, of course) is that it was dreadfully hot. We moved in on June 24, 2007 and the place wasn't air conditioned. Despite the fact that I hate the heat, I loved literally everything else about the apartment, not to mention the experience of being a newlywed, going grocery shopping for myself for the first time, decorating OUR OWN PLACE, it was all so wonderful. Anyway - I'm rambling. During that summer of 2007, my wife and I made a decision one day to start chipping away at the IMDB Top 250 list. We printed it and decided to go from 250 to 1, watching in order. Dr. Zhivago was something like #247. It was a miserably hot, August day and we had rented Dr. Zhivago from the library and decided to spend a Sunday off taking it in. We weren't particularly excited to see it, but really, we didn't know what to expect. Long story short, we hated it. It became that movie that we'd always reference whenever we saw a long or boring or just plain bad movie - "Hey, at least it's no Zhivago" or "It could be worse, remember Zhivago?". It was THAT movie for us, for so long. In fact, when I first bought THE BOOK and made the decision to watch my way through it, one of my "do I really wanna do this" moments came when I realized that I'd have to watch "Dr. Z" again. Perhaps it was the heat that got to us that hot, August day, but it just goes to show you, this is why you always give a bad movie one more chance to impress.
Yes, this time I actually really enjoyed Dr. Zhivago. It surprised me even more considering last week, I watched Lawrence of Arabia to my utter disdain and that the two movies were directed by Lean. To say I dreaded Zhivago going in, would be a gross understatement. However, I still went in with an open mind and it was once again the photography of Freddie Young which got me to dip a toe in. Before long I was doing dog paddles in the cinematic sea that is Dr. Zhivago! Sure, I wouldn't go so far as to call it perfect (not yet), as the history stuff still threw me (in case you're new, my attention to films about history that I'm unfamiliar with....well, it isn't good), but all in all, I'd call it a VAST improvement over my initial impressions. No longer can I or will I reference "Zhivago" when trying to find an adjective to describe a bad film. Perhaps when trying to describe a beautiful film? "Well, the photography was great, but it was no Dr. Z!".
It's funny, because as I was checking into this movie on the various sites I frequent (IMDB, iCheckmovies, etc.), I noticed a lot of people saying that this was tougher to endure than "Lawrence". I found my opinion to be the exact opposite. This was a cinch to tackle, especially compared to the almost impossible to get through Lawrence of Arabia. While "Lawrence" is one that nearly required toothpicks to hold up the eyelids, "Zhivago" is one where I was hesitant to blink, for fear that I'd miss the next breathtaking frame a la Freddie Young. Or perhaps I'd miss yet another cheesecake shot of Julie Christie, her beautiful blue eyes, her luxurious blonde hair framing her face perfectly. I think I'd have to put Julie Christie in the TOP 5 on a list of "Actresses who I barely knew going into THE BOOK, but now LOVE!". The whole cast was really fine, from Sharif to Courtenay, but one that I'd have to point out particularly would be Rod Steiger. It's baffling to me how good he is and I sincerely want to see the rest of his filmography sooner, rather than later. To think that Komarovsky and Sgt. Gillespie ("In the Heat of the Night") are THE SAME PERSON is just unbelievable to me. There are literally no traces of one, in the other. In fact, even though I KNEW that Steiger played alongside Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night, I actually questioned that fact as I watched him perform in Dr. Zhivago. It takes fine actor to completely eliminate any previously seen roles from the audiences mind and put on an entirely NEW show, no reminisces of their former selves.
Anyway, I'll wrap by preaching, once again, to please always give movies two chances. A movie you hated yesterday, may one day become your favorite (and vice versa, really). Thanks to THE BOOK, I've come to see the greatness in movies like Dr. Zhivago and Requiem for a Dream, two movies I once hated, did complete 180's on and now love. It's a beautiful film, with a gorgeous leading lady and a fine cast all around, all, I think, fully aware that they're in something that's going to make big bucks and win big awards, therefore all are ready to turn in performances that will get them recognized. And even though David Lean and I didn't see eye to eye, as I watched my way through THE BOOK, it was Dr. Zhivago that made me wish Hollywood had more directors like Lean. David Lean is someone who you can see REALLY cared about the movies he put out. He wanted to make the best picture possible, using all of his natural abilities, send the audience home happy. The word "grandeur" comes to mind. It's talents like David Lean who make me wish there really was a fountain of youth. We could really use Lean (with photographers like Freddie Young by his side) to continue telling stories that shaped the history of the world - to tell us about revolutions and uprisings, downfalls and tragedies, world changing events and life altering tales. Despite never giving one of his films a rating higher than an '8', I still look forward to seeing the rest of Lean's filmography and I'll go on wishing that more director's like him come along, wishing that more director's like him would have never gone...
RATING: 7/10 WOW, that was a lot of writing and a lot of praise for a simple '7', but bear with me. The film went from a '1' to a '7' in one viewing, so that's actually a huge improvement.
Labels: David Lean
526. Le Chagrin et la pitie/The Sorrow and the Pity (1971)
Directed By: Marcel Ophuls
Written By: Andre Harris, Marcel Ophuls
Main Cast: Georges Bidault, Maurice Buckmaster, Emile Coulaudon, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, Jacques Duclos
MARCEL OPHULS: STILL ASKING
My good, lord, was this a chore or was this a chore! I'm just going to jump right into it tonight, because I really don't think I'll have a lot to say. I'm going to be blunt, I'm going to be short and to the point and we're going to wrap this one up, hopefully in record time.
It's a documentary, kids and that means that I"m probably either going to love it or hate it. Well, I'll put your wondering to an end right away - I hated it. I wanted to be one of the cool kids, who really liked this doc, which gets an 8.4 on IMDB and is pretty much liked by everyone, including Woody Allen, who I think had something to do with the DVD restoration, not to mention the fact that the film is featured in Annie Hall. Oh how I wanted to like the film that Woody likes, but Woody and I have different tastes (he doesn't even like his own movies, which I love and I don't hold Ingmar Bergman in nearly as high regard as he does). I started The Sorrow and the Pity yesterday morning and I managed to tackle three hours, throughout yesterday, saving the final hour for today. In fact, I was only able to tackle an hour of this at a time, before having to take a break.
Look guys, I'm just not a history guy. For the unaware, the film is about the German occupation in France during World War II. Marcel Ophuls (much like he did in Hotel Terminus), interviews people who lived during the time of the occupation, mostly everyday people, asking them to recall their memories of this horrific time period. I feel like, and I've said this before, that it's the responsibility of a documentarian to make me interested in the topic that their asking me to be interested in. Make me think, make me wonder, make me curious, make me thirsty for knowledge. The Sorrow and the Pity DID NOT make me do any of those things. Now that's a fact - not an opinion. So if you're reading this and calling me out - the truth is that I tried hard with this movie and I wasn't curious, interested, filled with wonderment, nor did I thirst for anything, except maybe a stiff shot of morphine to take away my sorrow and pity for having to sit through this. I hate to be so harsh, but these are my opinions.
If you want real sorrow and real pity, rent Shoah and bring a box of Puffs, because that's the World War II/tragic documentary that deserves all the acclaim. That's the talking head documentary that will really make you sit up, take notice and wonder how evil men came to be. There are some tragic stories throughout The Sorrow and the Pity. One particular is with an old woman, who recalls being wrongfully imprisoned for writing a letter that she did not write, beaten and nearly drowned by S.S. officers. It's horrible. However, mostly we're subject to stories about the occupation, not tragic, personal stories and the occupation stories are just downright boring. I wanted this to end by the time I was thirty minutes in and I'm glad it's over and done with. I told my wife, "If I had watched this really early on in my journey through THE BOOK, I'd have called it quits". That's the truth.
RATING: 1/10 I simply can't go higher and anything higher, would simply be me trying to pander to the popular opinion. I personally didn't like it one bit and wasn't interested in it's subject matter.
Labels: Marcel Ophuls
254. The Band Wagon (1953)
Directed By: Vincente Minnelli
Written By: Betty Comden, Adolph Green
Main Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan
Band of Outsiders (1964 - Jean-Luc Godard) 6/10 - Another TCM one. Seriously, if you live in the states and aren't constantly raiding Turner Classic Movies for film, you need to be. I was less than thrilled with this one. I think I expected more, after hearing Tarantino talk about it so much and even him naming his production company after it. I liked it fine, just not enough. Perhaps two or three more viewings sometime down the road would sweeten me.
They Live by Night (1948 - Nicholas Ray) 6/10 - TCM again. Not entirely crazy about it. It got a lot better in the second half. I would've liked to have seen less complications early on and just gotten Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell into their wooded cabin ASAP. Still a pretty good little movie and nothing terrible on display.
The Lucky One (2012 - Scott Hicks) 5.5/10 - So, my wife has been trying to compromise a lot lately and she's sat through some BOOK stuff with me, just to help me get finished. SO I figured it was my turn to sit through something with her. She's a Nick Sparks fanatic, but had yet to see The Lucky One, so I agreed. Not quite as atrocious as I expected and the presence of Taylor Schilling actually made me want to finally check out Orange Is the New Black. She was great here and looked great to boot. Efron isn't bad himself, but some serious roles would help to refine him, I think.
The Threat (1949 - Felix E.Feist) 6/10 - Yeah, so all of my TCM ventures this week got a '6' - mediocre affairs, the lot of them. This one was only a little over sixty minutes and also dealt with a band of fugitives (like They Live by Night). This one was a lot simpler and just gave us the meat & potatoes of a band of crooks, trying to outwit the law and stay on the lam. Nice conclusion too. Probably the best of the three classics I saw, or at least tied with Band of Outsiders.
GOTTA' DANCE...AGAIN!
I also nabbed this one off of Turner Classic Movies as well - one less disc to get from Netflix, I thought. Can you believe, as of this writing, there are only forty-one discs on my Netflix queue!? Everything else that's left I either have access to on the computer or have recorded off of TCM. I can remember when I first started THE BOOK journey and put all THE BOOK movies on my queue. I maxed out my queue at 500 films and still had a handful that I had to leave off, because it wouldn't let me add anymore. Nitty gritty indeed...
Another musical from the minds of Comden and Green, The Band Wagon dusts off Fred Astaire (who probably didn't need much Pledge) as Tony Hunter and displays him as a has been song & dance man, who can't hang with the current crop of stars. When his stage writer pals, Lester Marton (Levant) and Lily Marton (Fabray) (supposedly the onscreen incarnation of Betty Comden and Adolph Green), write a new musical, however, Hunter looks to get back in the spotlight. The Marton's take their script to famed stage director, Jeffrey Cordova (Buchanan), who claims to love it, but then proceeds to change everything about it - turning it into a modern day retelling of Faust. Cordova plans to remake Tony Hunter a star and nab a leading lady who's worthy of his tap shoes. The one he has in mind, upstart star Gabrielle Gerard (Charisse). The two stars quarrel at first, Hunter still bitter that he's not in the limelight anymore, Gerard a youngster to the stage scene, who doesn't quite know how to take him. Eventually, their show opens and bombs (think The Duelling Cavalier), but Tony Hunter has ideas to redeem the show and tour with it, to all the major cities and repackage it as a variety show, using The Marton's original script as the entree.
Think The Duelling Cavalier, I said. It makes you think - at the heart of it all, isn't this movie much the same as Singin' in the Rain? Okay, there's huge differences of course, but the main story about a production flopping and then being rebranded as something else, that's an idea stolen by Comden & Green from Comden & Green, from Singin' in the Rain. Also Astaire & Charisse quarreling for the first half, reminded me a lot of Kelly & Reynolds feuding for the first half of Singin' in the Rain - only to make up and fall in love a la Astaire & Charisse. It kind of makes me want to see other Betty Comden/Adolph Green productions and see if they just kept recycling the same ideas, over and over.
Anyway, I didn't like this near as much as Singin' in the Rain. For one, the songs in The Band Wagon just weren't good. I enjoy musicals, to a certain extent. They're not my favorite, but I can certainly get behind them, but the music must be good. Every time Astaire or Charisse or someone would break into song, it would be this awful number and I just wanted to get back to the super thin plot - which is saying something, considering the plot wasn't anything to write home about either. How bout the song, "I Love Louisa". Just an awful number, that made my ears want to bleed. In fact, I feel like the first really decent song, was "Louisiana Hayride", sung with gusto by Nanette Fabray. And then, of course, "Triplets", which I'll admit, I rewound and called my wife into the room so she could see it. Loved that number. THE BOOK raves about the big finale, which is Astaire and Charisse starring in an eleven minute piece called "Girl Hunt", a film noir, with Astaire as the dick and Charisse as the dame. I'll admit Cyd Charisse looked fabulous in it (but then again, she looked fabulous throughout), but I wasn't totally thrilled with it. It was okay.
Seriously, I'll have to look into Cyd Charisse and see what else I can find her in. She looked marvelous. I also really dug Fred Astaire in this and it made me want to see the rest of his filmography, especially the ones he did side by side with Ginger Rogers. It made me want to go dig out Top Hat and Swing Time and rewatch them (I bought an Astaire and Rogers set after watching those for THE BOOK - wonder if I still have it?).
RATING: 5.5/10 We'll leave it at that. The end numbers (Louisiana Hayride, Triplets) and the appearance of the gorgeous Cyd Charisse and the uber talented Fred Astaire gets this otherwise bad musical over the average marker.
Labels: Vincente Minnelli
387. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Written By: Robert Bolt, from memoir by T.E. Lawrence
Main Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif
NOTE: Apparently I'm the worst person in the world to give a plug. Yesterday, after I plugged JD's 1001 Movies blog, I forgot to include a link. SO...click here to visit JD's page. Sorry about that...For future reference, I'll also be adding JD's page to the BlogRoll on the sidebar, where I've also recently added a Goodreads widget for anyone curious as to what yours truly is currently reading. Now then...
BLADE RUNNER ALL OVER AGAIN?
It's no secret that when I reviewed Blade Runner last month, I got crucified for my opinions. Okay, maybe that's too harsh a word, but certainly everyone who dropped by shared a different opinion than me. However, I defend my opinions and I'll continue to defend my opinions when/if the Lawrence of Arabia lovers come out to defend the epic. Read on...
I'm not even going to PRETEND to bullshit my way through a plot synopsis for "Lawrence", because, to tell you the truth, I was pretty lost past the ninety minute mark or so. All I can tell you is this: T.E. Lawrence (O'Toole) was a member of the British Army, who campaigned to be reassigned Arab Bureau, during World War I. He intends to speak with a Prince Faisal (Guinness) about aligning himself with the Arab nation against the Turks. There's a lot of desert wandering, a lot of "boy, it's hot out here" talk and a lot of history that I'm not familiar with. T.E. Lawrence eventually goes borderline mad, almost begging to be restationed, but always being assigned to return to the desert, due to his good rapport with Prince Faisal and his familiarity with the region. I was doing pretty good throughout the first ninety minutes, like I said, but the final two hours was me simply earning the tick and somewhat trying to stay interested, all the while knowing that this clearly wasn't my cup of tea. I find it familiar that my favorite David Lean picture is EASILY Brief Encounter, probably his shortest picture and easily his least grand, at least as far as what I've seen of his work.
I really don't know what else to say other than this was just downright boring to me. It felt like Lean was talking to a select group of moviegoers, the type of audience who also enjoyed getting extra homework when they were in school. At no point was there, as far as I'm concerned, an attempt to make this history lesson fun, entertaining or even, somewhat interesting. Sure, maybe it was interesting to you, but not to me - not in the slightest. When I popped in the DVD and saw a train blowing up on the DVD menu, I though, "Okay, well at least there's a train explosion - can't be all bad, right?" WRONG!
If you put a gun to my head right now and forced me to pick something out that I liked, it wouldn't be a hard choice. The sole reason that this movie will get any points in my rating column, falls on the shoulders of Freddie Young - the film's cinematographer. In the words of Christopher Walken, "WOW! Wowie wow wow wow!". You could've picked up the remote and randomly hit the pause button throughout and anywhere you stopped, you'd have stopped on a breathtaking shot. He's also the man who shot Doctor Zhivago, which I'll be watching soon, so at least I have that to look forward to. What I don't look forward to, is another David Lean epic. I think we've established by now that I just don't like Lean's brand of storytelling, stretching mildly interesting affairs, into three plus hour ordeals. I will say, this is easily the worst Lean I've seen, with Bridge on the River Kwai at least having some interesting bits and main event ending and A Passage to India being solid throughout. By all means, see this and form your own opinions, but you have been warned.
Bring on the ridicule for my taste in film....
RATING: 3.5/10 I'm just glad it's over. Seriously, if you disagree with me, let me know and tell me why I'm so ignorant. What'd I miss? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Dairy Queen chicken strip basket to prepare for!
245. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Directed By: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Main Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell
NOTE: Couple things this week:
In addition to an update of NON-BOOK movies I've watched in the past seven days, I also wanted to give you guys a heads up and point you to another 1001 blogger. It's JD's 1001 Movies and "JD" himself was kind enough to give me a shout out on Twitter, naming me as one of his inspirations for starting the blog. I'm so appreciative of that, that I knew I had to, at the very least, give him a plug. So head on over and watch someone do it all over again, from the beginning. The cool thing about JD's blog is that he's not confining himself to one 1001 BOOK, but rather tackling all incarnations. That's a good idea...
NON-BOOK UPDATES
I Love You To Death (1990 - Lawrence Kasdan) 7/10 - Solid comedy, with a great performance from Kevin Kelly, backed up by a pretty great cast, including William Hurt, Keanu Reeves (he's solid here), River Phoenix, Joan Plowright and Tracey Ullman. This is actually an old favorite of mine, as I discovered it on Comedy Central when I was a kid.
Lady In the Lake (1947 - Robert Montgomery) 6.5/10 - Again, I've been recording stuff off of TCM left and right and this one sounded good enough for me to set it up. The gimmick is that the whole thing is shot as a POV shot, from the point of view of our main dick, played by Montgomery himself (directing and starring). However, his screen time is nil, as we only see him when he looks in a mirror, or interrupts the story to give us first person updates. I felt like the POV gimmick actually took away from the movie. It was a fun idea and they pulled it off semi-successfully, but I've seen much better noirs. Thumbs in the middle.
Antoine and Colette (1962 - Francois Truffaut) 6/10 - This is my problem with short films: they're just too short to amount to anything notable. That's really the only problem I had with Truffaut's second installment of his "Antoine series". I could've sat through a feature length production of this, I think, but at only twenty some minutes, it came off as almost pointless. Still good enough to warrant a '6' and have me wanting to see the next Antoine film.
The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963 - Eric Rohmer) 7/10 - Okay, so I spoke too soon about short films, as this one is only twenty-three minutes and I felt like it was the perfect length. Clearly not enough material here to go much longer. The Six Moral Tales set has been sitting on my desk for weeks, dare I say MONTHS waiting for me to view it and I've been pecking away at it, like a bird does roadkill. A couple months ago I tackled Love in the Afternoon (which was so good, that I added it to my SINS OF OMISSION list, also adding it to my personal 1,000 films list), so when my wife was working the other day and I took the day off for my birthday (31 now, yee-haw), I decided to tackle the very first of the SIX MORAL TALES. Not bad at all. It seems that all of these deal with men who either ALMOST have affairs or feel like they've had affairs when actually they didn't. I'd call I Love You to Death the best NON-BOOK I saw all week, with this coming in as an extremely close second.
GOTTA' DANCE!
If you've made it this far, kudos to you! Sorry you had to sledge through so many updates, just to get to the main course, but I hope it was worth it. I actually watched Singin' In the Rain on FRIDAY NIGHT! Saturday I was too tired, Sunday was my birthday which I spent being extremely lazy and Monday I took a sick day from work, being lazy again. So here we are and hopefully we can get back on the right track now.
I feel like a lot of people know that this is the movie where Gene Kelly sings (and dances) in the rain, but I think a lot of people only associate this film with that one, albeit iconic, scene. So sit back and I'll fill you in on the "deets". The film is set in the 20s, right around the time that talking pictures came to be a reality. It's the end days for silent films and the top silent stars Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen) are going to be forced to dust off their vocal chords and start talking. After the success of The Jazz Singer, producer R.F. Simpson (Mitchell) decides to turn the lates Lockwood and Lamont picture into a talkie. It's called The Dueling Cavalier, however, because Lina Lamont has such a thick New York accent, no one onset wants her to be heard - ever. So Don and buddy Cosmo (O'Connor) come up with the idea to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical, dubbing Lina's voice with the voice of upstart actress Kathy Selden (Reynolds). Meanwhile, Don is falling for Kathy and EVERYTHING has to be kept a secret from Lina Lamont, who hates Kathy Selden, stemming from an earlier incident involving a pie in the face. And yes, the film itself is a musical, with great numbers such as: "Good Morning", "Moses Supposes" and of course, the very rewindable "Singin' in the Rain". Those are a few of my personal favs. The whole movie ends with the tad overlong Broadway Melody Ballet, which runs for what seems like twenty minutes or better.
I've probably seen Singin' in the Rain something like five times in my life and I don't think I've ever seen it without rewinding and rewatching the Singin in the Rain number, at least once. I did the same thing when I watched it on Friday. It's a bold statement, but I'd have to say that it's one of my all-time favorite scenes, in any movie. It's a scene that ALWAYS makes me smile, always makes me tap my toe or clap my hands, it makes me want to see more Gene Kelly movies and it always reminds me of why I love movies. It' sheer entertainment, but in fact, the whole film is sheer entertainment, which is why I have to give it a positive review, despite a handful of flaws.
Man, how annoying was Donald O'Connor in this. THE BOOK notes his "Make 'Em Laugh" performance as one of the highs of the picture, but I'd call it easily one of the most annoying things I've ever seen and I don't think I laughed once. I, for some reason, just really, really disliked Donald O'Connor's character here. Also, as I mentioned in the plot synopsis, the ending musical number was just way too long. It got to the point where I just didn't think it would ever end and I had to push the "display" button on my remote to see how much of the film was left (that's sort of the measuring stick for me to know when a film is dragging, whether or not I push that button). I'd also say that the plot is a little thin. I mean you have this close to two hour film that all hinges on whether or not they'll let this annoying woman talk on film.
Other than those things though, how can you not, at least a little bit, love Singin' in the Rain. It's a smile inducer of a film, one that I'll happily watch periodically for the rest of my life. It's a fun watch and one where the flaws are easy to overlook, just to get to the good parts. If you don't smile (at least a little) watching Kelly sing (and dance) in the rain, then I'm not sure we can be friends.
RATING: 7.5/10 One that will probably land on the next (and last) TOP 20 list, just because it's one that I know I could watch over and over, always overlooking the flaws and ALWAYS rewinding to see Gene Kelly sing (and dance) in the rain, one more time.
Labels: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
325. Bharat Mata/Mother India (1957)
Directed By: Mehboob Khan
Written By: Mehboob Khan, Wajahat Mirza, S. Ali Raza
Main Cast: Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Kanhaiyalal
BOLLYWOODLAND
Continuing on with watching all the long stuff, we come to Mother India. For the record, I still have four films that are OVER three hours and then everything else is officially UNDER three hours. This one was long enough that I decided to knock it out now, before I got stuck with it at the tail end. However, being stuck with Mother India wouldn't have been a bad thing.
The whole movie is told in flashback, as an old lady being urged to inaugurate a new irrigation canal, looks back over her life. The old lady is Radha (Nargis) and we flash all the way back to her wedding day, decked out in jewels and silks, she prepares to marry Shamu (Raaj Kumar). The wedding is funded by Radha's new mother-in-law, who borrows the money from a the film's villain, a cunning money lender, Sukhilala (Kanhaiyalal), who tacks on enough interest to ensure the family will be paying him back for decades to come. The marriage proves a success, as Radha and Shamu love each other dearly, singing songs as they work in the fields side by side. However, when a couple of kids start to pop out, the family faces financial difficulties, nearly starving to death. When Radha suggests that they plow the barren land, Shamu reminds her that the land is covered with rocky terrain and soil that would surely kill any ox that tried to cultivate it. They try anyway and when Shamu's ox tries to movie a boulder, with help from Shamu, the yolk breaks and Shamu's arms are trapped and eventually amputated. Not able to bear with the shame of no longer being able to provide for his family, Shamu runs away, leaving Radha to raise her two sons alone. Flash forward many years and the boys are grown up and the financial difficulties ares till present, but to a lesser degree. Radha's youngest, Birju (Dutt), however, is a menace to the village, terrorizing the girls and still swearing revenge against the money lender, who still collects interest from the family. At the halfway mark, the film turns from being about the family's peril as a whole, to Radha's difficulties dealing with Birju.
What a great film! And what a terrific downer of a movie, to boot. I mean, for real, Khan didn't let his foot off the depression accelerator the whole time and there was about a half an hour spurt where terrible thing after terrible thing just kept happening: grandma dies, there's a great flood that ruins the land, dad loses his arms and runs away - damn, Mehboob, let me catch my breath before you sock me in the gut again!
I had to track this one down via the internet and honestly, with these movies that I end up having to watch off of YouTube, I don't expect much. Usually the rarities are the worst ones. The way I used to figure it, is if they were any good, they'd be on DVD somewhere. However, with Mother India and other recent ones that I've had to hunt for (Tampopo, Rocco and His Brothers, The Fourth Man, Turkish Delight), it's proving that Criterion needs to get on the ball and get some of these terrific films out there, for easier access. THE BOOK notes that if you're a newcomer into discovering cinema of the world, you should start your trek through India with Mother India and I really couldn't agree more. I'm finding with this and even The Brave Hearted Will Take the Bride, which I watched years ago for THE BOOK, that I really need to see more Bollywood cinema. And I swear it has nothing to do with the songs. Usually the stories are easily accessible and from my experiences they are epics that don't feel like epics. This was almost three hours, but I really didn't even begin to feel the running time until we got within twenty minutes of the whole thing being over - meaning the pacing was pretty much spot on.
I'll leave you with two questions: Why are there so many Indian actors with one word names? And if you have Bollywood recommendations, please leave them in the comments section.
RATING: 8/10 Yeah, I went there. I just feel like anything less than an '8' just wouldn't be fair and this comes along with a high recommendation from me.
Labels: Mehboob Khan
498. Z (1969)
Directed By: Costa-Gavras
Written By: Jorge Semprun, from novel by Vassilis Vassilikos
Main Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner
Note: NON-BOOK UPDATES:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963 - Vittorio De Sica) 7.5/10 - Always love Marcello Mastroianni and how is there no Sophia Loren movies in THE BOOK? In the words of Johnny Cochran - "This an OUTRAGE!". This was great fun and I really enjoyed it. Thanks TCM!
The Fighter (2010 - David O. Russell) 4.5/10 - Ugh - Oh how I hate Mark Wahlberg with a passion! I honestly think if anyone else had been in the main role, I'd have liked this one a lot more. Then again, I seem to dislike David O. Russell and his style of storytelling too, so who knows...
Under the Skin (2013 - Jonathan Glazer) 4/10 - I was intrigued, that's about it. Great cinematography, but I didn't know what was going on. It does get a LITTLE better, so if you make it to the halfway mark, stick with it. I think you'll find your interest pique at around the 1:10, 1:20 mark. Still, mostly this was a big disappointment, especially considering I'd been wanting to see it for a while, after hearing good things.
Been catching TONS of stuff off of TCM and as long as my DVR holds up, I plan to catch a lot more. I currently have a handful of films - Forbidden Planet, Lady In the Lake, Band of Outsiders, They Live By Night, The Threat and The Band Wagon - two of which are BOOK movies, if you didn't notice or know. The other night, I also had Z, so I decided to make a movie night of it and "earn another tick". Shall we?
So here's the thing (he said, preparing yet again to sound like a broken record), I'm not a history guy, nor am I a politics guy, so this movie lost points right away when it started talking about "the left" and "the right" and all that jargon. So I'll do my best to fake my way through a review, but bear with me. The film revolves around a popular leftist, a doctor (Montand) who is never named in the film, but is meant to represent real life democrat Grigoris Lambrakis. We start out with the doctor's staff, who are also his friends, making last minute preparations for a rally that is to be held when the doctor's plane lands. The staff have trouble securing a location, no venue operator wanting to feel the wrath of the right wing government for hosting the popular leftist. Eventually a venue is secured, the doctor makes his way into town and despite death threats, plans to deliver his speech, as planned. Upon finishing his speech, the doctor exits the venue, only to see a truck speed past him and someone pop out of the back with a club, whacking the doctor. The "doc" receives serious brain injuries from the attack. Meanwhile, an investigation is assembled to find out who attacked the doctor, with culprits leading all the way up to high ranking, right wing military officials. Meanwhile, the examining magistrate looks into the whole mess, sniffing down leads and prepared to hand out indictments to anyone who may be involved.
Again, I ask you to bear with me, as it's nearly 1:00 am and I've been up since 6:30 am. I'm yawning, with heavy eyelids, so a short & sweet review filled with spelling and grammatical errors is certainly a possibility right now.
I really didn't expect to like this, but like so many BOOK movies before it, it surprised me. It wasn't a big surprise - a friends and family jumping out from behind your sofa and book shelf, on your birthday, kind of surprise - but it was a surprise nonetheless, because usually the words "political thriller" are a real turn off for me, when it comes to my movie viewing habits. I'm just not the political type, as I reiterated in the synopsis portion, so usually anything having to do with politics, especially foreign affairs, is something that I try to avoid. However, this goes far beyond political thriller and actually acts as both history lesson and murder mystery. Even if you know nothing of Grigoris Lambrakis or his assassination, the film does a dandy job of acquainting you with the man (or at least a fictional representation of the man) and detailing his situation in layman's terms, without using political mumbo jumbo to alienate the audience. Watching Z is like getting a history lesson from that cool, fun history teacher - you know, the one who used tater tots and chicken nuggets to reenact the Civil War. The whole thing eventually breaks down into a murder mystery, where we, the audience, already know the perpetrator and it's up to the characters to find out what we already know and, while the director still tries to keep it all interesting for us, who already, sort of, know the ending.
Such a great cast too, from Jean-Louis Trintignant (Three Colors: Red, Amour, My Night at Maud's) to Francois Perier (Le Samourai), plus Irene Papas, whom, although her character barely speaks, says so much with facial expressions and carries heavy, burdening eyes to show that her character is filled with a waterfall of emotion. Plus there's Yves Montand, whom I dug in The Wages of Fear and although his screen time here is very short, it's still fun to see people you liked in other things, show up in new things. The whole movie ends with probably the most interesting pieces of the whole film - by telling us what the Greek government banned, following the death of the leftist and the regaining of power by the right, which included the letter "Z", which means "he lives" in Greek. It also fills us in on what happened to the real people, most of those high ranking military officers getting off with a little more than a slap on the wrist and seemingly, the reporter who broke the case wide, getting the most severe of all the punishments. One of those things that makes you sit back and say "Wow".
RATING: 6/10 Again, "political thriller" isn't right up my alley, but this one did fine by me, with not enough to REALLY complain about, but not enough really good stuff to get it into a higher echelon of ratings.
Labels: Costa-Gavras
349. BEN-HUR (1959)
Written By: Karl Tunberg, from novel by Lew Wallace
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith
DIG THAT CHARIOT RACE!
Man, what a chore this was! My wife and I started this last night, but after about thirty minutes, I was dozing. We picked it back up this morning and scooted through it pretty effortlessly, but it's still a damn long movie, that barely provides enough reward. Read on...
Because it's nearly four hours in length with over 100 speaking parts, I certainly can't be asked to relay the whole plot here. So I'll give you the cliff notes version and we'll all get on with our lives. Judah Ben-Hur (Heston) is a Jew from Judea - a humble, kind man, who adores his sister & mother and holds his fellow people in high regard. Ben-Hur grew up with a boy named Messala (Boyd), who, now grown, is a Roman tribune. After several years apart, the two reunite and don't miss a beat of their brotherly love (early versions of the script actually had the two engaging in a homosexual relationship). However, when Messala asks Ben-Hur to become his informant and betray any Jews who even speak ill of the Roman empire, Judah refuses and the two are almost immediately sworn enemies. In fact, when a ceramic tile accidentally falls off of a roof and kills a Roman governor, Messala orchestrates the imprisonment and death sentence of Ben-Hur. On his way to his death, via ship, Ben-Hur is admired by Roman Consul Arrius (Hawkins) and when their ship falls under attack and sinks, it is Judah who saves the life of the Roman Consul. The two are eventually rescued and Arrius pledges his life to Ben-Hur, naming him his new son and dubbing him Arrius, the younger. The two are thick as thieves, but Ben-Hur decides to return to Judea and find his mother and sister (who were also imprisoned at the same time Ben-Hur was). On his way home, Judah meets a horse owner named Shiek Ilderim (Griffith), who begs Ben-Hur to race his four prize, white horses in an upcoming chariot race that Messala will also be involved in. Yada yada yada, we'll leave it at that...
Look, I know you film snobs turn your noses at those who are fans of professional wrestling, but here's the deal: I'm a big professional wrestling fan - ever since I was a little kid - and one of the reasons I liked this is because it's basically all one big professional wrestling angle! In one corner, you have Judah Ben-Hur, the Jew with a heart of gold, firm but fair. In the other corner, you have Roman tribune Messala, wanting to make a name for himself and make examples of the Jews. Boyhood friends, turned bitter enemies. I mean, this is the same type of thing that I've been watching since I was a kid. If you're completely unfamiliar with pro wrestling (which most reading this probably are), I promise this is just the types of stories that they were telling on a weekly basis, on Saturday mornings, in the squared circle. In fact, you could book Ben-Hur, changing a few things so that they'd transfer from the days of Caesar to current times, but almost word for word and build the whole thing to one big showdown at WrestleMania! Here, WrestleMania is the chariot race, which serves as the big blowoff to the feud, complete with handshake from the loser to the victor (that scene where Messala is dying, but tells Ben-Hur where to find his mom & sister). Okay, okay, I'll stop with the wrestling talk.
With all that being said, I still can't go too terribly high on the rating here. I mean, this damn thing is long and that's an understatement. Another thing I really, really didn't care for was all the Jesus stuff. I mean, was it really relevant? Especially at the end, it was so uncalled for. The big ending SHOULD have been the chariot race and then maybe Judah going back home to reunite with Esther and his mother & sister. However, after the chariot race ends, we still get something like forty more minutes of movie, with Ben-Hur going to the leper colony not once, but twice to search for his family and then the whole Christ crucifixion scene. It all felt so tacked on and unnecessary and completely irrelevant to the main story, which was the life of Ben-Hur and the feud between he and his once friend, now enemy Messala. The scenes depicting Jesus Christ throughout are fine, as they don't take away from the main story that much, but then it comes down to the end and it should and DID make this audience member say, "What, I thought we were done at the chariot race?". Let's look at it like this: Suppose there's SOMEONE out there who doesn't know the about the Bible AT ALL. Doesn't know who Christ is, doesn't know anything about it. If that ignorant son of a bitch watched this movie, then that ending would be REALLY unnecessary. I mean, they took the most minor character in the movie (in the context of the film, Jesus Christ was a very minor character) and revolved the whole ending around him. I'll end by saying that chariot race was freakin' awesome!! Had they just ended there, I'd have been hard pressed to get this movie into '7' territory. As it is...
RATING: 6.5/10 Can't get it higher than that. Not something I'd really ever want to see again, however, I'll happily watch clips of the chariot race anytime you want to show em.
526. Le Chagrin et la pitie/The Sorrow and the Pit...
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Preprint A/14
Four new X-ray-selected supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud
P. Maggi (1), F. Haberl (1), P. J. Kavanagh (2), S. D. Points (3), J. Dickel (4), L. M. Bozzetto (5), M. Sasaki (2), Y.-H. Chu (6), R. A. Gruendl (6), M.D. Filipovic (5), W. Pietsch (1)
(1) Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1312, Giessenbachstr., 85741 Garching, Germany
(2) Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Tübingen, Universität Tübingen, Sand 1, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
(3) Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Cassilla 603 La Serena, Chile
(4) Physics and Astronomy Department, University of New Mexico, MSC 07-4220, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
(5) University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia
(6) Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
To be published in: A&A, 2014, 561, 76
Abstract. Aims: We present a detailed multi-wavelength study of four new supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The objects were identified as SNR candidates in X-ray observations performed during the survey of the LMC with XMM-Newton.
Methods: Data obained with XMM-Newton are used to investigate the morphological and spectral features of the remnants in X-rays. We measure the plasma conditions, look for supernova (SN) ejecta emission, and constrain some of the SNR properties (e.g. age and ambient density). We supplement the X-ray data with optical, infrared, and radio-continuum archival observations, which allow us to understand the conditions resulting in the current appearance of the remnants. Based on the spatially-resolved star formation history (SFH) of the LMC together with the X-ray spectra, we attempt to type the supernovae that created the remnants.
Results: We confirm all four objects as SNRs, to which we assign the names MCSNR J0508-6830, MCSNR J0511-6759, MCSNR J0514-6840, and MCSNR J0517-6759. In the first two remnants, an X-ray bright plasma is surrounded by very faint [S II] emission. The emission from the central plasma is dominated by Fe L-shell lines, and the derived iron abundance is greatly in excess of solar. This establishes their type Ia (i.e. thermonuclear) SN origin. They appear to be more evolved versions of other Magellanic Cloud iron-rich SNRs which are centrally-peaked in X-rays. From the two other remnants (MCSNR J0514-6840 and MCSNR J0517-6759), we do not see ejecta emission. At all wavelengths at which they are detected, the local environment plays a key role in their observational appearance. We present evidence that MCSNR J0517-6759 is close to and interacting with a molecular cloud, suggesting a massive progenitor.
Key words: ISM: supernova remnants – Magellanic Clouds – X-rays: ISM
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Pringle Cottage Museum
The Society maintains a sandstone cottage, built c.1870, which features furniture and household items representing more than 130 years of family life in the district. Collections of photographs, historical items, farming equipment, vehicles and machinery are displayed. Several buildings have been relocated on the site, including a church, slab hut, overseers cottage and an emporium building. A printing display includes presses and associated items from the Warwick Daily News.15,000 items
Dawson Folk Museum
The Museum has a large collection of photographs covering pioneer families, Aborigines, ex-servicemen from World Wars I and II, and modern photographs - all tracing Theodore's development. The displays include the history of early station families, arts and crafts, a pioneer kitchen and bedroom, Aboriginal artefacts, town plans and farm machinery.
Biggenden Historical Society
Housed in our building are Historical records, photographs and memorabilia of our town and district from early settlement until present day.Photographs, WWII memorabilia, local community historical records, hand sewn articles from 1890 era, local art, local hospital memorabilia. Sporting achievements, telephone exchange and old telephones, plus more.
Taroom and District Museum
The Taroom and District Historical Society has acquired various buildings including the old Church of St. Mary's (built 1893) which is now the main museum building, a blacksmith shop, boat house, hospital room, Reynolds Cottage and Jongh Tai Shue's shop. The buildings house a collection of old machinery used in the Taroom area, furniture, household items, tools, photographs and other artefacts. The museum organises the annual Leichhardt Festival in the museum grounds, between August and September.The collection illustrates elements of the social history of Taroom District and including life...
Miles and District Historical Village and Museum
The Village features original 19th Century buildings and a War Museum with a collection of memorabilia. The Shell House contains one of the largest privately owned collections of shells in Australia. The Village was established to collect and preserve memorabilia, photographs, narratives and recollections of residents of the area.
The Bundaberg and District Historical and Museum Society Inc.
A well presented display of the history of Bundaberg and district and its people. Sectionalised into agriculture, industry, commerce, home life, recreation and hobbies. Situated in a Botanic garden complex with a kiosk and other Museums nearby.Estimated 20,000 plus items and photographs. Articles related to everyday living of people of Bundaberg and District; Aboriginal and Islanders artefacts, shells, stuffed birds, files of written information, newspaper cuttings, communication and photographic history.
Chinchilla Historical Society Inc.
Our Chinchilla Museum has restored Pioneer cottage - fully furnished. Prickly Pear story from devastation to eradication. Traction steam engines, vintage motor vehicles, horse drawn vehicles, original Chinchilla state school, fully furnished - Two halls containing collection of Memorabilia of yesteryear: fully restored dairy and cream shed.Over 5,000 items on display, including farm machinery, horse drawn vehicles, well appointed library housing history of Chinchilla and its pioneers. First Chinchilla school (1883) on grounds containing early school memorabilia.
Fassifern District Historical Society Inc
Fassifern District Historical Society oversees Templin Historical Village which consists of a country church, a store, house/office, school, dairy, slab hut and other museum buildings grouped around a central green to recreate a village atmosphere. The museum also has a collection of historical items and photographs.Estimated 10,000 items plus 5,000 photos
Chillagoe Historical Centre
Exhibits at the Chillagoe Historical Centre include a pictorial history of local smelting operations (1901-1943), large mineral samples and a detailed bottle collection, a butterfly collection, old coins and notes, old mining machinery, an entrance area paved with local marble, projectors from a local theatre, local pioneering family histories, Aboriginal and New Guinea artefacts, and old dentist's chair and cameras.Estimated 1,000 items
Morven Historical Museum Incorporated
The Morven Historical Museum is housed in three buildings. A slab hut is used for machinery and hardware and such larger articles as an old manual wool press and stores a miscellaneous collection of old books and photographs, and local artefacts. The second building features a unique collection of finally crafted miniature buildings that were to be found in Morven in the early 1900's. Displayed in the third building is the Davey Packman working steam engine. These buildings are typical of many early Australian settlements and together depict the social history of Morven in this bygone era....
Redcliffe Museum
The Redcliffe Museum tells the fascinating story of the history and community od Redcliffe. Redcliffe, a beautiful peninsula located on the northern end of Moreton Bay, was the site of first white settlement in Queensland with settlers and convicts landing in 1824. Through multi-media and object based exhibitions, visitors are able to learn not only about the Peninsula's past, but also about the character of Redcliffe as it is today.The collection ranges from domestic and farming technology, to business equipment and war memorabilia. A photographic collection is augmented by an excellent...
Redland Museum
The Museum records the social history of South East Queensland since European settlement. Cleveland was one of the earliest settled areas and for a hundred years was a thriving farming community specialising in fruit and vegetables for the Brisbane area. The Museum presents a range of topics across a total display space of over 1300m2. Travelling exhibitions, community displays and in-house short term exhibitions frequent the temporary space of 74m2.Horse drawn vehicles, farming machinery, textiles and costumes, household equipment, maritime history, WWI & II memorabilia, medical and...
Innisfail and District Historical Museum
Innisfail museum is housed in the old School of Arts building and occupies two rooms. The collection relates to local history and contains items from all facets of life from the early settlement of Geraldton (name later changed to Innisfail after confusion with Geraldton in Western Australia). Items include personal possessions; rural, recreational, medical, biological, Aboriginal and Chinese artefacts; and a number of early photographs showing cyclone and flood damage, local industries and life in a tropical town.Approximately 2,500 objects and 1,500 photographs
Childers Pharmaceutical Museum
Apothecary Thomas Gaydon arrived in Childers, Queensland in 1894. He established Gaydon's Pharmacy (1894-1982) and became the town chemist, dentist, optician, veterinarian, anaesthetist and photographer. Gaydon's building is now the home of the Childer's Pharmaceutical Museum and still contains the beautiful cedar fittings, ground glass bottles with gold leaf lettering, leather bound prescription books, Wedgwood mortar and pestles, early pill making machines and old medicine labels. The original cash register (1906) still sits on the red cedar counter. This collection spans one hundred...
Yearn to Learn, Wave Hill Farm
The Museum was established in a Pioneer house by the owner, Ms Olive Wieland, as a children's project in 1990. A Morning Star Chapel was begun for children 12 years ago. The Museum complements the Chapel, which is in the front room of the house. It contains an antique organ, table and chair and pews. The Museum includes a range of shells, pictures, wood specimens, household items and many items used on farms from the 1920s and earlier.Original farm implements, Horse drawn plow and other horse drawn farming equipment.
Tolga Historical Society Inc.
Housed in the relocated old Tolga Railway Station, the Tolga Historical Society have a collection of photographs depicting life during World War II, when Tolga was a major base for troops and for an ambulance train, as well as photos of the activities of the local saw mills which have now ceased operations. Other photos depict local maize farming activities and the building of the nearby maize silos. New showcases have recently been constructed to hold the exhibits. Railway apparatus from the original station is still intact.
Kilkivan Historical Museum
Located in the main street adjacent to closed ANZ Bank, Café and B&B, the museum is housed in five buildings which contain a varied collection of items and memorabilia depicting life and activities from the surrounding shire area. The main building contains a reconstructed general store and barber shop, and rooms have been outfitted with furniture depicting a parlour and bedroom from the 1920s. A slab shed, built with materials from local properties, holds mining and agricultural equipment. Many exhibits depict rural life from earlier times, including examples of fencing, a horse works...
Boyne Valley Historical Cottage
This five room former station Mistress's residence houses the collections of the Boyne Valley Historical Society. These collections focus on the timber, gold mining and railway history which was so important to the development of the region. Two rooms of the cottage are reconstructed as a 1930s kitchen and bedroom. The rest of the cottage features display cases, photographs and wall displays on the themes of gold mining, timber and transport.
Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre
The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre recalls those familiar features of the Australian landscape - corrugated iron roofs, water tanks, silos, wool sheds and shady verandahs. The interior features a vaulted ceiling and displays designed to reflect the wide-open spaces, colour and character of the outback landscape they celebrate.
The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre has now proven itself to be the envisaged tourism destination. Longreach is a pivotal point on the Tropic of Capricorn, linking the Reef in the east with...
The Queensland Museum is an innovative, exciting and accessible museum of science, human achievement and social history, of international standing, reaching out to all Queenslanders. Through excellence in communication, collection, interpretation and research, the Museum displays and publications bring significant times, peoples and places to life.2,250,000 specimens
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Embraer and Republic Airways Sign Letter of Intent for Up to 200 E175s
Embraer and Republic Airways, the world’s largest E-Jet operator, announced at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow that they have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for a firm order of 100 E175, with the right to convert to E175-E2 aircraft, and purchase rights for an additional 100 E175 aircraft.
If all purchase rights are exercised, the contract has a value of up to USD 9.3 billion based on current list prices. This order will be included in Embraer’s backlog as soon as it becomes firm, later this year.
“We are pleased to expand our partnership with Republic as one of our largest and most valuable customers,” said John Slattery, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “With a relationship spanning 20 years, we are immensely honored to continue being an integral part of their success as they expand their fleet with additional E175s. Republic is a critical component of Embraer’s history and we are absolutely committed to providing a product that appeals to their customers while delivering solutions that increase profitability.”
“Over the past two decades we have acquired more than 350 jets through our partnership with Embraer,” said Bryan Bedford, Republic’s President and CEO. “Through this partnership we have delivered industry leading safety, service and reliability to our codeshare partners, and this order positions Republic to focus on the next stage of growth in the North American regional market. The E-Jet has proven to be a product that allows Republic to provide a reliable and seamless product experience with our mainline partners, and when coupled with our 5,500 dedicated aviation professionals, it delivers on our long-term vision of being the regional airline of choice.”
Republic Airways and Embraer established their partnership in 1999 when one of its former subsidiaries, Chautauqua Airlines, took delivery of its first ERJ 145 in the livery of US Airways Express. Today, Republic Airline operates a fleet of nearly 190 Embraer 170/175 aircraft and provides fixed-fee flights operated under its major airline partner brands of American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express.
Including this new contract, Embraer has sold more than 520 E175s to airlines in North America since January 2013, earning more than 80% of all orders in this 70-76-seat jet segment.
Related Items:Republic Airways
Republic Airways Announces Tentative Agreement With Its Flight Attendants
Republic Airways Selects Diamond DA40NG and DA42-VI Fleet
Republic Airways Plan of Reorganization Receives Final Approval
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A transfer student is one who has attended any post secondary institution other than Polk State College. Transcripts from all post secondary institutions are required regardless of the dates of attendance, the institution's accreditation, or the institution's location. This includes vocational schools, colleges, and universities.
Students who have previously attended a college or university accredited by one of the six regional accrediting associations, or whose non-regionally accredited transfer work has met the rigors of course-by-course evaluation, may be admitted under the following conditions:
The high school diploma requirement may be waived for admission purposes if the student has earned an associate, bachelor, or higher degree. If not, the student must provide a high school transcript.
Students enter Polk State College with the academic status of Probation if they had a Suspension, Probation, or Dismissal status at the transferring institution. Students on Academic Suspension or Dismissal are not admitted during the term immediately following the imposition of the academic suspension or dismissal status at the transferring institution.
Degree-seeking students receive an evaluation of transfer credits once all admission requirements have been met. Students can access the completed evaluation in their PASSPORT accounts.
It is the student's responsibility to assure that transcripts from other colleges are sent directly to Polk State College's Admission and Registrar's Office to complete the admission requirements. If transcripts have not arrived by the registration date of the student's second term, the student is then prohibited from any further registration.
Note that students receiving federal financial aid must have all required transcripts submitted and evaluated prior to the award of funds.
Details Regarding Transfer Practices
Polk State College accepts college credit earned at other institutions as transfer credit if the institution is regionally accredited or the institution is accredited by an accrediting body approved by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in accordance with specific policies, also known as national accreditation. The mode of delivery (online, open-entry/open-exit, or hybrid) or the term design (compressed, fast track, traditional 15-16 weeks) does not factor into credit transferability. (See F.S. 1004.09 and Rule 6A-14.0304.)
Award Policies:
Credit is awarded provided the credit earned is in an appropriate area and, at an appropriate level, and provided a grade of D or higher has been achieved as long as D is a passing grade for Polk State's equivalent course.
Credits earned at Polk State College are based on semester hours; therefore, all transfer work is converted to equivalent semester hours.
All transfer credits contribute to the cumulative (overall) GPA of the student's Polk State College record.
Credits at the upper-division college level are not generally accepted for transfer for associate degree programs. Upper-division courses are accepted for transfer toward baccalaureate degrees and associate degrees only if an upper-division course meets a specific lower-division requirement. Master and doctorate level courses are not transcribed to Polk State transcripts and may only be used as an acceptable transfer with the permission of the degree program director at Polk State College.
Credits earned at regionally-accredited institutions and non-public accredited institutions participating in the Florida Statewide Course Numbering System (SCNS) for which there are comparable courses or requirements at Polk State College are posted to the student's academic record. When appropriate, this credit is applied toward degree requirements or electives. In some cases, however, it is recorded as credit earned in excess of degree requirements.
Credits awarded for online courses are evaluated in the same manner as face-to-face courses and the same policies for transfer apply. MOOCs are discussed in the section titled Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).
Developmental courses in English, reading, and math are only transferred from state institutions. Out-of-state or private college developmental credit does not qualify for transfer. Students who transfer without a college-level English or math course must take the placement exam unless otherwise exempt.
Polk State College accepts transfer credit from other institutions if the institution's accrediting body is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and if the school and each course meet Polk State College evaluation rigors.
Transcripts from international institutions, including those in the English language, require an official evaluation (at the expense of the student) from an external agency recommended by Polk State College. Students are not required to provide transcripts from international post secondary institutions if transfer work is not desired. Polk State prefers students use International Education Evaluations, Inc or Josef Silny & Associates. However, students who have already used agencies at www.naces.org may submit those for consideration. Polk State requires international high school transcripts to be evaluated on a document-by-document basis. Do not pay extra for a course-by-course evaluation for a high school transcript. It is not necessary.
Students with a regionally-accredited or equivalent bachelor's degree will have general education courses considered met. The exceptions are program-specific general education courses, general education courses that serve as a program course, and courses that are too old according to program standards. In addition, students are required to have two college-level mathematics courses at the College Algebra or higher level in the AA degree and one college-level or higher mathematics course in an AS degree regardless of degree.
Important note to students: If a student changes the intended program it is the student's responsibility to request a reevaluation of applied transfer credits to the new program. This is not automatically done.
Polk State College recognizes that valid learning can take place in non-traditional and non-collegiate environments. The College follows equivalency course guidelines from the American Council of Education (ACE) in accordance with the Articulation Coordinating Committee of the state of Florida. The College also generally follows additional credit-granting recommendations of ACE but reserves the right to exercise its own judgment in such cases. Polk State College maintains articulation for credit based on various credentialing, certifications, and licensure in addition to state-mandated agreements. For more information on non-traditional credit awards, students should visit the web page Credits for Experience and Non-Traditional Learning. This page also contains information and links regarding Prior Learning Assessment (PLA).
All credit that is transferred to Polk State College will become part of the student's permanent academic record at Polk State and will appear on the transcript. The credits will be applied in the most appropriate manner to the student's program of study in the areas of general electives, general education, program courses, and other academic requirements. In some cases, credit will contribute to excess hours on the student record.
Student Responsibilities for Award of Transfer Credit:
Students must submit an official transcript to the Admission and Registrar's office before consideration is given for transfer. Students are advised to submit transcripts six weeks before the beginning of the semester.
Students may be asked to complete a Credit Evaluation Worksheet and provide documentation from the sending institution about course content, faculty credentials, textbooks, or other criteria used in the evaluation process. Requests for evaluation of credit from schools that are not regionally accredited and that do not participate in SCNS must be initiated by the student 12 weeks prior to the beginning of the term (but no later than the Drop deadline of the graduating term). Students play an active role in collecting required data for evaluation. A transcript evaluation specialist will review the documentation and render a transfer decision based on Polk State's award policies. Students are responsible for reviewing all credit applied from transfer or articulation. The College is not responsible to the student for misappropriated credit errors.
Students may appeal a transfer decision by visiting an advisor who will complete an Advisor Action Request form. Students are advised to provide thorough and complete documentation with the appeal. The appeal will be reviewed by two or more of the following individuals: the Transcript Services Supervisor, the College Registrar, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and/or one or more discipline-specific faculty. A final decision will be rendered, and the student will be notified in writing.
Polk State participates with other state and private institutions in reverse transfer for the purposes of degree attainment. Students have the option to opt into reverse transfer when applying to the College. Reverse transfer allows Polk State and future institutions that the student may attend to share the student's academic record. Students who leave Polk State without earning a degree, will have these records evaluated to determine if the student meets the requirements for a degree at Polk State and therefore be granted one. Students must meet all the requirements for graduation, including having a minimum of 25 percent of instruction toward the degree at Polk State College. Review the Graduation Requirements section for further details.
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Posts Tagged ‘ musa kart ’
Canadian Cartoonist Let Go After Trump Cartoon Goes Viral
By Patricia Mastricolo
Editorial cartoonist, Michael de Adder, was let go from Canada’s Brunswick News Inc. (BNI), a group which controls all the major papers in his hometown, the day after a cartoon he drew that was critical of the American President went viral. The cartoon depicted the American President attempting to play golf, but impeded by the…
New York Times International Axes Political Cartoons
In April, the New York Times International Edition upset readers all over the world with a political cartoon that outraged many viewing it as anti-semitic. The paper apologized and blamed both the syndicated service they used and the Hong Kong editor who chose it. At the time they said that they would cancel the syndication…
#FreeMusaKart on World Press Freedom Day
CBLDF’s partner organization in protecting free expression for comics artists, Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) is greatly saddened to report that the internationally acclaimed cartoonist Musa Kart is again a prisoner this World Press Freedom Day. In November 2016 Musa Kart was one of a number of staff from the Cumhuriyet newspaper arrested without charge. He…
Cartoonist Musa Kart in Prison Unjustly, Again
Almost exactly one year after award-winning editorial cartoonist was released from prison to await appeal, he has turned himself in to serve a sentence for “supporting terrorism” with his colleagues from the Turkish paper Cumhuriyet. The official charge leveled against 14 journalists for Cumhuriyet was that of “aiding a terror group without being a member”…
Why Musa Kart is an Optimist and Americans Can’t Afford to be
“I believe in Turkey. I believe for Turks there is no night that lasts forever. Also in Turkey the daylight will return.” – Musa Kart Political Cartoonist, Musa Kart was honored for his bravery in the face of government oppression with the 2018 International Press Cartoon Prize by the Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace. This…
Turkish Cartoonist one of 14 Convicted on Terrorism Charges
In a verdict certain to have a chilling effect on journalism in Turkey, political cartoonist Musa Kart and 13 of his fellow staffers were sentenced to jail this week. The defendants all worked for Cumhuriyet, a Turkish newspaper critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The official charge was that of “aiding a terror group without…
Turkish Cartoonists Persist Despite Government Crackdown
As Turkish political cartoonist Musa Kart and his journalist colleagues from the newspaper Cumhuriyet continue to await a verdict on baseless charges of “aiding and abetting” terrorist organizations, other cartoonists in Turkey are also feeling the heat. At least one, Sefer Selvi, is officially under government investigation based on a citizen’s complaint. According to a…
Latuff Sounds Alarm for Free Expression in Turkey
As we continue to await a verdict in the politically-motivated trial of Turkish political cartoonist Musa Kart and 16 of his journalist and editorial colleagues from Cumhuriyet newspaper, fellow cartoonist Carlos Latuff is doing everything he can from his home country of Brazil to keep the world’s attention trained on the free expression crackdown. Earlier…
Nominations Open for Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award
Cartoonists’ Rights International has opened nominations for their Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award. You can nominate “a cartoonist or group of cartoonists who have displayed courage in the face of threats to their life or liberty.” The nomination deadline is September 15. The award is given to cartoonists who have faced physical harm, imprisonment, and…
Turkey’s Crackdown on Cartoons
Ever since the failed coup attempt in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has instigated a crackdown that has led to 50,000 arrests and the loss or jobs for nearly 100,000 people. Cartoonists are among the victims of Erdoğan’s censorious campaign. CBLDF has reported extensively on Musa Kart, a political cartoonist who was arrested along with several journalists…
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Pests and pathogens place global burden on major food crops
On a global scale, pests and pathogens are significantly reducing yields of rice (shown), wheat, maize, soybeans and potatoes.
Farmers know they lose crops to pests and plant diseases, but scientists have found that on a global scale they are reducing crop yields for five major food crops by 10 percent to 40 percent, according to a report by a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientist and other members of the International Society for Plant Pathology. Wheat, rice, maize, soybean and potato yields are reduced by pathogens and animal pests, including insects, scientists found in a global survey of crop health experts.
At a global scale, pathogens and pests are causing wheat losses of 10 percent to 28 percent, rice losses of 25 percent to 41 percent, maize losses of 20 percent to 41 percent, potato losses of 8 percent to 21 percent, and soybean losses of 11 percent to 32 percent, according to the study, published in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution.
Sheath blight on rice
Viruses and viroids, bacteria, fungi and oomycetes, nematodes, arthropods, molluscs, vertebrates and parasitic plants are among the factors working against farmers.
Food loss
“We are losing a significant amount of food on a global scale to pests and diseases at a time when we must increase food production to feed a growing population,” said co-author Neil McRoberts, co-leader of UC ANR's Sustainable Food Systems Strategic Initiative and Agricultural Experiment Station researcher and professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis.
While plant diseases and pests are widely considered an important cause of crop losses, and sometimes a threat to the food supply, precise figures on these crop losses are difficult to produce.
“One reason is because pathogens and pests have co-evolved with crops over millennia in the human-made agricultural systems,” write the authors on the study's website globalcrophealth.org. “As a result, their effects in agriculture are very hard to disentangle from the complex web of interactions within cropping systems. Also, the sheer number and diversity of plant diseases and pests makes quantification of losses on an individual pathogen or pest basis, for each of the many cultivated crops, a daunting task.”
“We conducted a global survey of crop protection experts on the impacts of pests and plant diseases on the yields of five of the world's most important carbohydrate staple crops and are reporting the results,” McRoberts said. “This is a major achievement and a real step forward in being able to accurately assess the impact of pests and plant diseases on crop production.”
The researchers surveyed several thousand crop health experts on five major food crops – wheat, rice, maize, soybean and potato – in 67 countries.
“We chose these five crops since together they provide about 50 percent of the global human calorie intake,” the authors wrote on the website. The 67 countries grow 84 percent of the global production of wheat, rice, maize, soybean and potato.
Top pests and diseases
Late blight in a potato field.
The study identified 137 individual pathogens and pests that attack the crops, with very large variation in the amount of crop loss they caused. For wheat, leaf rust, Fusarium head blight/scab, tritici blotch, stripe rust, spot blotch, tan spot, aphids and powdery mildew caused losses higher than 1 percent globally. In rice, sheath blight, stem borers, blast, brown spot, bacterial blight, leaf folder and brown plant hopper did the most damage. In maize, Fusarium and Gibberella stalk rots, fall armyworm, northern leaf blight, Fusarium and Gibberella ear rots, anthracnose stalk rot and southern rust caused the most loss globally. In potatoes, late blight, brown rot, early blight and cyst nematode did the most harm. In soybeans, cyst nematode, white mold, soybean rust, Cercospora leaf blight, brown spot, charcoal rot and root knot nematodes caused global losses higher than 1 percent.
Food-security “hotspots”
Stripe rust in wheat
The study estimates to losses to individual plant diseases and pests for these crops globally, as well as in several global food-security “hotspots.” These hotspots are critical sources in the global food system: Northwest Europe, the plains of the U.S. Midwest and Southern Canada, Southern Brazil and Argentina, the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, the plains of China, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
“Our results highlight differences in impacts among crop pathogens and pests and among food security hotspots,” McRoberts said. “But we also show that the highest losses appear associated with food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations, and frequently with emerging or re-emerging pests and diseases.”
“For chronic pathogens and pests, we need to redouble our efforts to deliver more efficient and sustainable management tools, such as resistant varieties,” McRoberts said. For emerging or re-emerging pathogens and pests, urgent action is needed to contain them and generate longer term solutions.”
The website globalcrophealth.org features maps showing how many people responded to the survey across different regions of the world.
In addition to McRoberts, the research team included lead author Serge Savary, chair of the ISPP Committee on Crop Loss, epidemiologists Paul Esker at Pennsylvania State University and Sarah Pethybridge at Cornell University, Laetitia Willocquet at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Toulouse, France, and Andy Nelson at the University of Twente in The Netherlands.
By Pamela Kan-Rice
Author - Assistant Director, News and Information Outreach
Neil McRoberts
Pest Management/Diseases
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Books • LIFE
10 Must-Read Books for and by Women
OK so the first rule about lists of this kind is that they’re never definitive. There are simply too many excellent books by women, for women for a list of 10 to hit on everything in just one post. That said, what’s so excellent about the books on this list? They include a little bit of everything: memoirs and literary journalism, coming-of-age novels and epics, psychological thrillers. Just as important: Their authors are as inspiring as the stories they’ve crafted.
So settle in now and get ready to read.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte’s classic coming-of-age novel gave us a heroine for the ages—fiery, passionate, and most importantly, a woman who’s determined to value her gifts and follow her dreams. The writing leaps off the page. In fact, y may be surprised to discover that, no, Jane isn’t standing behind your easy chair, reading over your shoulder.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
At times, the 21st century can feel like it’s all about pushing the limits of human knowledge; Shelley’s novel, and the second half of its title, reminds us that we’re merely the latest in a long, long line of seekers. The eponymous Frankenstein is a young scientist who longs to uncover the mystery of how life is created, and he succeeds, at which point everything goes horrible wrong. The cherry on the sundae of this masterwork: Shelley began writing it at the age of 18.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
At the centre of this radiant novel is the friendship between staid Englishman Archie and Bengali Muslim Samal, who served together during World War II. The story leapfrogs across the decades, as multiple narrators take over the telling, beginning with Archie and Samal and continuing with other characters inside their circle. At times hilarious, at times heartbreaking, and always deeply perceptive, the novel invites readers to reflect on the depth and complexity of human experience and how careful we must be before drawing totalizing conclusions.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
At the age of 26, feeling her life unraveling, Strayed undertook the Pacific Crest Trail alone, a journey into two wild places, nature and the self. Strayed is fierce and fearless in confronting life’s shadowy corners (literal and existential). Her challenges and triumphs create an empowering manifesto about taking ownership of our choices and how we engage with the world around us, in good times and bad.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This sprawling, richly imagined epic is everything—funny, philosophical, intellectual, emotional, suspenseful. Through the stories of Ifemelu and Obinze, who fall in love as teenagers in Nigeria but take different paths in adulthood, it meditates on first love, race and class in the U.S. and U.K., life in a Third World Country, immigration, and finding the meaning of home.
Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
“This book has been written to examine some of the ways love heals and helps a person to climb impossible heights and rise from immeasurable depths,” Angelou writes at the beginning of this loving memoir of her evolving relationship with her mother. In telling their inspiring story, Angelou celebrates her mother for her support and guidance and for encouraging Angelou to pursue her dreams fiercely and live unapologetically.
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
This novel is a structural feat: It narrates the story of Japanese picture brides—sent to the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century to marry men they knew only from their photos—in the first person plural, the collective “we.” The narrative style keeps readers at a distance, circling around the experience. In this way, the structure evokes in the reader the feelings of disconnection and dislocation the characters experience. And it reminds us that, at times, the most honest role we can adopt is that of witness.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Didion’s collection of essays, first published in 1968, sets the standard for literary journalism. The essays encompass her observations of and interactions in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury as well as her reflections on where she was at that moment in her life. A seamless blend of memoir and reportage, her writing is achingly brilliant, both for its cutting insights and stunning prose.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
After earning her PhD in the United States, Nafisi returned to her native Iran just in time for the revolution and eventual ascension of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Reading Lolita in Tehran is her story of teaching literature in her native country, within the university and, after she is expelled from it, privately to a group of female students. Books become both their common ground and their battleground. This memoir is a testament to literature’s power to shape and confer meaning to our experiences.
Passing by Nella Larson
Set in 1920s Harlem, the story revolves around the reunion between two women of mixed race ancestry, Clare and Irene, who grew up together. Irene is an active participant in the black community, while Clare is passing as white, including to her racist husband. The former friends reconnect with tragic consequences in this difficult and important novel that confronts the rage racism causes.
Sally Allen is the author of Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers. She is the founder of Books, Ink at HamletHub, a website dedicated to Connecticut books news, where her writing has earned her three Connecticut Press Club awards.
My Finances: Rewriting My Financial Story After Divorce
Dating over 40: 7 Signs He’s Not the Right Man for You
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Home / Arts & Culture / “Salinger” at the Telluride Film Festival
Stan Kreis shares his experience of seeing the new film, "Salinger" and talking to one of the co-authors of the companion book.
“Salinger” at the Telluride Film Festival
Stan Kreis September 8, 2013 Arts & Culture Comments Off on “Salinger” at the Telluride Film Festival
I just saw the movie, “Salinger,” at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival and had a long walk and talk with one of the two co-authors, David Shields, of the companion book on the subject, also to be titled, “Salinger.” Ken Burns did the Talk Back interviews. A VERY powerful film, and the documentary is done in a very intriguing style.
It is a strong probability that sometime between 2015 and 2020 a trust set up by J.D. Salinger, who died in 2010, will begin releasing a series of his new books and manuscripts covering a diverse set of topics for which he had been writing since the 1951 publication of his seminal book, “Catcher In the Rye.”
Since then, “Catcher” has sold over 10 million copies and continues to sell 250,000 a year, yet Salinger chose to stay out of the media and the limelight, concentrating his efforts on new writings set for publication after his death. Salinger’s efforts to construct a literature that goes well beyond “Catcher” were quite intense and, in my mind, unmatched. This may make J.D. Salinger the best and brightest American author since Melville. I have my doubts since he is up against strong competition, dead and alive. We shall see. Nevertheless, J. D. Salinger has already had a huge impact.
One of the subjects covered in the soon to be released documentary is his experiences as a soldier, starting his combat against the German WWII Wehrmacht on D-Day in 1944 and continuing through the gruelling and bloody encounters up to and including the Battle of the Bulge. Later and after the war he was charged as a member of the CIC, the CounterIntelligence Corps, to deNazify Germany. But though he volunteered for army enlistment, he was continuously rejected for medical reasons until later in the war when his persistence took him from the safe haven of the United States to the “meat grinder” of modern battlefields in Europe.
J. D. Salinger (Wikipedia)
The experience had an indelible impact on his writing. However, how did this writer from a New York posh Jewish home come to insist that he fight against the Nazis? I suggested that Salinger, like other Jews outside of Europe, had watched the Nazis dismember the Jewish communities of Germany for over 10 years and felt compelled to do something about it. Like many who fight in such wars, the experiences changed his thinking dramatically and directed his subsequent writing. Another thing it did was distance him from those people, even close relatives, who could not or would not understand, no, not the war experiences itself, but the depravity and human indignities that are in the capacities of the human mind. Perhaps he not only understood the terrors of war, but the terrors of human politics.
I suggested to the author Shields that it was not some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which explains his reclusive-like behavior and his supposed anti-social attitude as expressed in his written works, “Catcher” being cited by the shooters for the violence directed at John Lennon and Ronald Reagan. Many try to dismiss Salinger’s message and writing as the rantings of a crazy person, but what he was good at was dissecting human social dysfunction as expressed through the human mind. He suffered from combat fatigue, of course, but just maybe his follow-on writings will set the record straight. Since “Catcher’s” Holden Caulfield character came along, what can Salinger tell us about ourselves, as we exist now, updated into the 21st Century social order? That is something I look forward to.
Crazy? Crazy like a fox.
Tags catcher in the rye Film jd salinger salinger movie
About Stan Kreis
Stan Kreis has degrees in sociology, economics and accounting. Therefore he is wise, literate, financially sound and married to Kathryn Bernheimer (she would never marry anyone without such credentials). Grave marker: "the world was his oyster, unfortunately, he ate it and got stomach cramps."
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Your Film Fest Sneak Peak while the Program Goes to Press
A poem by Lisa Tremback.
Part IV of a poem by Lisa Tremback.
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Eva Green is a French actress and model. Daughter of Marlene Jobert, she started her career in theatre before making her film debut in 2003 in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film The Dreamers.
She achieved international recognition when she appeared as Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem in Ridley Scott’s historical epic Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and portrayed Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006). In 2006, Green was awarded the BAFTA Rising Star Award.
"I want to travel. Maybe I’ll end up living in Norway, making cakes."
― Eva Green
Topic(s): Travel
"Success is very ephemeral. You depend entirely on the desire of others, which makes it difficult to relax."
Topic(s): Success
"I was very studious, too much. I would never go out at weekends. I was very serious. You should have seen me in class – I was blushing and sweating every time the teacher asked me something."
Topic(s): Teacher
"I’m not really involved with politics… I’m living in my cocoon with my classical music around."
Topic(s): Politics
"My mother did movies from the New Wave, but I was quite shocked I didn’t know much about that period. Bernado showed us film of the demonstrations of the time."
Topic(s): Movies
"I’m French, so I’m quite lazy about exercising, and I smoke. But I do love going for a run in the morning with my dog. That’s all."
Topic(s): Fitness
"I am a dreamer. Seriously, I’m living on another planet."
Topic(s): Dreams
"I’m worried because of my mother, she’s going to see my performance and she’s quite hard. She’s going to see me naked. And my Dad, woah. Yeah, they’re going to see me like a woman, you know?"
Topic(s): Dad
"It may almost be a question whether such wisdom as many of us have in our mature years has not come from the dying out of the power of temptation, rather than as the results of thought and resolution." ― Anthony Trollope
"What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence." ― Samuel Johnson
"Having played many roles of scientific intellect I do have an empathy for that world. It’s been hard on me because flying the Enterprise for seven years in Star Trek and sitting in Cerebro in X-men has led people to believe that I know what I’m talking about. But I’m still trying to work out how to operate the air conditioning unit on my car." ― Patrick Stewart
"At a minimum the majority of search dollars will flow to a social media model because people care most about what their peers think and the technology is there for that information to be quickly shared on products and services." ― Erik Qualman
"I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening." ― Naguib Mahfouz
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Brad Pitt Vows to Retire from Acting in Three Years [UPDATED]
Brad Pitt is one of the best and most in-demand actors working today. However, studios, directors, and producers may only have a chance to get him in the next three years. When asked by the Australian version of 60 Minutes how long he plans to keep acting, Pitt simply replied, “Three years.” In three years, Pitt will turn 50 and apparently he has decided that’s a good age to get out of the acting game. Instead, it looks like Pitt will turn his full attention to producing. Pitt has been working a producer through his “Plan B” production house and has such films as The Departed, Kick-Ass, and The Tree of Life to his credit.
Hit the jump for what Pitt had to say about producing, and why he might return to acting in his old age. Pitt will be seen in theaters next year in Cogan’s Trade and World War Z. He’s also attached to star in Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave. [Update: Pitt clarified his statements on Tuesday (via THR) by saying, “I wasn’t putting an exact deadline on my expiration date (as an actor) but I just see it coming and I do have an interest in the producing side.”]
Speaking about the attraction of producing, Pitt told 60 Minutes [via StarPluse]:
“I am really enjoying the producing side and development of stories and putting those pieces together. Getting stories to the plate that might have had a tougher time otherwise.”
Pitt also told The Sunday Times‘ Culture magazine:
“We all have a shelf life, and mine is coming – although there are a couple of things I’d still like to do. I am looking forward to playing a foul-mouthed grumpy old dude one day, that’s for sure.”
Because of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, he’s at least played half of that role. We’ll need to wait to see him go grumpy if he stays true to this “vow”.
I put “vow” in quotations because sometimes quotes are taken out of context or misunderstood, and I have a tough time believing Pitt will quit acting in three years. First off, a lot can change in three years and maybe his desire to keep acting will cause him to forget about this self-imposed retirement date. Additionally, Pitt will undoubtedly continue to be offered a variety of terrific roles, and it would be perfectly understandable if he didn’t want to let those opportunities slip away.
New Image from Pixar's BRAVE plus Character Details [Updated with 2 More…
20 Things to Know About SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS From…
• Brad Pitt • Entertainment • Movie
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First Interstate Bank President and CEO Kevin P. Riley Appointed to Federal Reserve System’s Federal Advisory Council
BILLINGS, Mont.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–First Interstate Bank President and CEO Kevin P. Riley has been
appointed to represent the Federal Reserve System’s 9th District on the
Federal Advisory Council. Appointed by the Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis’ board of directors, Riley will act on behalf of an area
that encompasses Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, 26
counties in northwestern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Riley joins the Federal Advisory Council as one of its 12 members. The
Federal Advisory Council, a body created by the Federal Reserve Act,
consists of one member – generally from the commercial banking industry
– from each of the 12 Reserve Bank Districts. The council meets four
times a year with the board of governors in Washington, D.C. The council
and the Board of Governors discuss current financial and business
conditions and make recommendations for potential policy changes.
Members customarily serve three one-year terms.
“I am honored to serve as a member of the Federal Advisory Council,”
said Riley. “I believe in the Federal Reserve’s mission and the
important role it plays in helping to create strong, stable economic
conditions throughout the U.S. I look forward to partnering with fellow
members to make recommendations on potential policy changes that will
help businesses and individuals prosper.”
Riley has served as president and chief executive officer of First
Interstate Bank since September 2015. Prior, Riley was the Bank’s
executive vice president and chief financial officer. He has more than
30 years of experience in commercial banking, corporate finance and
retail banking. Before joining First Interstate Bank, he was executive
vice president and chief financial officer for Berkshire Hills Bancorp
and held various executive positions with KeyCorp. Riley holds a B.S. in
business administration from Northeastern University in Boston,
Massachusetts.
About First Interstate Bank
Headquartered in Billings, Montana, First Interstate Bank (NASDAQ:FIBK)
is a $14 billion community banking organization with more than 150
branches across Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and
Wyoming. First Interstate is driven by strong values, with a focus on
supporting the communities it serves through the financial services it
provides as well as through volunteerism and philanthropy. As a
recognized leader in community banking services, First Interstate is
guided by strong values as well as a commitment to delivering long-term
organic growth by exceeding client expectations and supporting – with
leadership and resources – the communities it serves. Learn more at
firstinterstatebank.com.
Brittany Cremer
Advertising/PR Manager
First Interstate Bank
brittany.cremer@fib.com
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2014, Walt Disney Studios, 125 min, USA, Dir: Rob Marshall
This adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical weaves together some of the most beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Cursed to remain childless, a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) turn to a witch (Oscar nominee Meryl Streep), who agrees to help them if they will gather ingredients for a magic potion - a scavenger hunt that sends them chasing such characters as Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood. Boasting gorgeous production and costume design, the film features an all-star cast that includes Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman and Johnny Depp (as the Big Bad Wolf).
Callum McDougall
Marc Platt
James Lapine
Dion Beebe
2018, Walt Disney Studios, 130 min, Dir: Rob Marshall
Set in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written), this all-new musical and sequel follows the next generation of the Banks family and their practically perfect nanny. Michael (Ben Whishaw) is now a grown man with three children of his own and a temporary job with the same financial institution that employed his father. With the tough economic times and the recent death of Michael’s wife, the Banks home is in a constant state of chaos and the children are burdened with far too many adult responsibilities. Sending the already frazzled Michael into a further tailspin is the news that foreclosure proceedings have begun on the house. Fortunately, the wind begins to change as Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) enters their lives once again to take the Banks family on a series of whimsical adventures and bring life, love and laughter back into their home. Co-starring Julie Walters, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dick Van Dyke.
2016, Lionsgate, 128 min, USA, Dir: Damien Chazelle
Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Damien Chazelle (WHIPLASH), LA LA LAND tells the story of Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dedicated jazz musician, who are struggling to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, this original musical about everyday life explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams. “Every once in a while, you come out of a movie theater feeling like you’re walking on air. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it restores your faith in the power of cinema. Damien Chazelle’s dreamy neo-retro musical LA LA LAND is one of those rare films.” - Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
Fred Berger
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Jordan Horowitz
Linus Sandgren
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April 24, 2019 AmsterdamToursNow.com Staff Tours In Amsterdam 0
Amsterdam Tourist Attractions
Tours in Amsterdam are always memorable for the first-time visitor, if only because of the spectacular landmarks this city offers up for their viewing pleasure. Amsterdam also hides quite a few beautiful and amazing places which the locals are more aware of than travelers. If you plan on doing something different while in the city, just head on to one of these wonderful sites.
The Westergasfabriek
The awesome building is located near the heart of Westerpark. The whole building was actually built within a grand 19th-century gasworks facility. For that reason, the entire edifice gives out a distinctive industrial vibe. There is much you can do in this place, whose main attractions include the arthouse cinema, a coin-op arcade which is the largest in the city, music venues, and a number of restaurants. The place is open from Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The City Archives
This wonderful museum in Amsterdam is different from most others in the city. You could easily get to the main exhibition into the City Archives completely free of charge. That would make the place seem run-of-the-mill, which it is not; there is a wide range of amazing attractions here, such as the police report provided by Anne Frank regarding a document which expelled Baruch Spinoza from the Jewish community in Amsterdam, and her bicycle that was stolen. The exhibition is not very crowded, which makes it a much more enjoyable experience checking out the temporary exhibitions they keep putting up through the year. This is one of the perfect places to dig into the past of Amsterdam. The museum is open from Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Rem Eiland Restaurant
Rem Eiland is really a waterborne restaurant that is erected on a platform, which earlier stood at a distance of nine kilometers from the coast of the Netherlands. By the 1960s, the platform fell into the hands of a team of pirate radio broadcasters. However, the Dutch government in 1964 raided the place and these guys were forced to leave. Forty years later the platform was moved to Houthaven harbor in the city and was renovated into a stylish restaurant. Eating on the upper decks of this place is a really enjoyable experience, and just as easy is getting to this wonderful restaurant from the nearby jetty. This restaurant is open from Sunday through Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
The Pancake Boat
One of the main specialties of the tours in the Pancake boat is that all its travelers are offered a limitless supply of pancakes with syrup, powdered sugar, and fruits as topping. This impressive trip begins from the northern docklands of Amsterdam, and then goes on along the popular harbors in the city. On this trip, the passengers would be able to view the remarkable architecture of the place as they munch on delicious pancakes. The entire journey is about 75 minutes long. The boat starts from NDSM-Werf, and they organize numerous trips each available day. The boat functions on Wednesday and Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The Zee Beach
There are really just a number of beaches in the city of Amsterdam, acting as part of a boundary line to the canals, lakes, or rivers inside the city. It is really worthwhile visiting these beautiful beaches, where you can enjoy yourself tremendously, especially if you go straight to Blijburg, where the Zee beach is located. This is a man-made peninsula that acts as a boundary line to the IJmeer Lake. The important highlights of this place are clear waters, golden sands, and a windsurfing school. You will also find a hut-style restaurant that is situated very close to the beach.
Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder
In the16th century, when Amsterdam was under reformation, the newly set up Calvinist Dutch government officially declared Catholicism to be illegal inside its boundaries. Devoted Catholics continued their religious activities in secret, and even built some hidden churches inside the city. During the 1660s, the upper story of a townhouse was transformed into a place of worship by the Catholics. This townhouse is located on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal canal in the city. There were a number of other secret churches built as well during this time. However, unlike most of those, this chapel remained untouched. From 1888 onwards, the chapel began to enjoy protected status as a historic museum. It is currently is open from Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Amsterdam Canal Tour
Private Day Tours Amsterdam
Tour Amsterdam
The Secret behind the Striking Charisma of the Dutch Capital
Finding the Right Agency for your Next Project
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Visualizing Nepal's health progress
Photo: World Bank
Over the last few decades, Nepal has considerably improved the health and wellbeing of its people.
As we mark World Health Day today, here’s an overview of how much health progress Nepal has made in its efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the SDG 3 indicators, which focus on healthy lives and wellbeing for all at all ages.
For optimal user experience, check this link on Chrome or Firefox.
Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio
The goal is to reduce maternal mortality to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. In the chart below, you'll see that the maternal mortality ratio in 1990 was 901 per 100,000 live births.
Since then Nepal has made significant progress, especially compared to other low-income countries.
Indicator 3.1.2: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
In 2016, just over half (58%) of births in Nepal were attended by skilled health personnel according to the Annual report of the Department of Health Services at the Ministry of Health. Over the last 16 years, Nepal has made strides in increasing the number of births attended by skilled health personnel.
While there is no specific goal by the UN regarding this indicator, it seems Nepal is on the right trajectory to increase the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel in the coming years.
Indicator 3.2.1: Mortality rate, under five years of age
By 2030, the goal is to bring under 5 mortality to at least 25 deaths per 1,000 live births. Nepal has been making steady progress.
In 1977, just over four decades ago, 226 newborns out of every 1,000 babies died before reaching the age five in Nepal. In 2017, that rate dropped to 33. That’s remarkable.
Indicator 3.2.1: Mortality rate, under 5 years of age in Provinces of Nepal
Mortality rate under five is the highest in Sudurpaschim Province, according to the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016, and the rate is the lowest in the Gandaki Province.
Indicator 3.4.1: Cause of death, by non-communicable diseases
By 2030, the goal is to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by one-third in all countries. If you look at the chart below, you will see there has been a steady increase in deaths caused by NCDs in Nepal. The share of deaths going towards NCDs is a little bit tricky to evaluate as, if more people are living into adulthood, they are more likely to develop NCDs.
Tobacco use, high alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable consumption, physical inactivity, obesity and overweight, and air pollution are the major risk factors for NCDs in Nepal, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.
For a global perspective on the cause of death, by non-communicable diseases in other countries, also check out the map below.
Indicator 3.b.1: Vaccination coverage of children age 12-23 months
The goal is to reach at least 80 percent vaccination overage as per the World Health Organization recommendation.
The graph below shows vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months for all basic vaccines in Nepal where at least 4 provinces have 80% coverage. The vaccination coverage is the lowest in Province 2 (65%) and highest in Province 4 (93%).
The percentage of children age 12-23 months who received all basic vaccinations increases with increasing mother’s educational attainment, according to Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (PDF) 2016. Vaccination coverage is lowest among children whose mothers have no education (68%) and highest among those whose mothers have an SLC or higher (91%).
Indicator 3.9.1: Change in life expectancy in 2016 due to air pollution in Nepal
By 2030, the goal is to reduce substantially the number of deaths and illnesses from air pollution.
The map below shows the change in life expectancy in 2016 in districts of Nepal, based on the data published by Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago. [Note: The data and boundaries below are based on the districts of pre-federal Nepal.]
Not only the Terai districts in southern Nepal but also districts like Kathmandu, Kaski, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur are affected significantly by air pollution. The mountainous and some hilly districts see relatively less impact in life expectancy due to air pollution.
Target 3.8: Universal Health Coverage
The SDG goals aim to achieve universal health coverage including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
The goal is measured in two parts:
The average coverage of essential services based on a set of tracer indicators including reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and capacity of the health system to deliver those services; and
How much the households have to spend directly out of their pocket as a share of their expenditure or income in accessing health services.
Nepal (represented by the big dot) has an average service coverage of 46, which is lower than other countries in the region (shown by the other solid dots). Factors in the low average service coverage include that only 50% of children suspected of having pneumonia are brought in for medical treatment; 46% of household have at least basic sanitation; only 70% of the adult population is estimated to have blood pressure at normal rates; and Nepal has less than 1 surgeon for each 100,000 population.
Nepal (represented by the big dot) has a larger percentage of its population spending a larger share of household budget on health care. Based on the 2010 household survey, 3.3% of the population spend more than 25% of its household budget on health expenses.
This is largest in the region after Bangladesh and India. According to the same survey, more than 27.4% of the population spends more than 10% of its household budget on health expenses. This is larger than any other country in the region and in fact one of the highest in the world where this measurement is available.
This blog post is part of a series for the ‘Partnership for Knowledge-based Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity’, a World Bank project with support from DFID to increase production and usage of data and statistics in Nepal. Kari Hurt and Suraj Regmi also contributed to this blog.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravinepal twitter.com/intent/[email protected]
Data and Digital Strategy Lead
More Blogs By Ravi
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Give an ass kicking, take an ass kicking.
4 april, 2015 at 17:31in Allmänt, Basket, Blogg, Gladiatorerna
It’s Gladiatorerna night, so that means it’s blog time again. Let me fill you in on what’s been happening this week. My team went to Luleå to play the first game of the semi finals this past Wednesday. I should use the word ”play” loosely, because based on the score alone, you would think that we were either all sick, or that we forgot our shoes. When the game, or massacre, finally ended, the scoreboard showed an embarrassing ass kicking of 42 points. Forty two points.. Yep, sounds about right when you play a game where nothing AT ALL went our way. We could not hit a shot to save our lives while Northland couldn’t miss. It felt like we were a team of strangers who have never played together. All teams have these type of games, but it was unfortunate that it had to happen in the semi finals, and in Luleå, in front of 2000 plus fans. It’s just one game. No matter how many points we lost by, whether by 40 or 4, a loss is a loss. The positive part about this game is that these type of games only come up once in a while, so it should be impossible to play this bad again. We have been training hard this week, and we have game 2 on Wednesday, April 8th, at 19.00. Please come support us in Rosendalshallen in Uppsala. We would really, really appreciate it!
The show tonight should prove to be another exciting show! I haven’t seen it yet, so I plan on watching it with all of you tonight. I think that tonight’s challengers are super quick, so it should make for a really exciting hinderbana!
Here is a taste test before tonight’s show. Enjoy the pics!
Tonight is the last chance...it's do or die.
Semi Finals, here we come!
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517 S. Main Street,
Salinas, CA 93901
View larger map →
Architects: Vincent G. Raney
Functions: Recording Studio
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Vogue Theatre, Globe International Theatre
Cinema 1 Theatre
Fox California Theater
Maya Salinas 14
Crystal Theater
The Vogue Theater opened in August 1939. It was renamed Globe Theatre on December 26, 1961. On November 1, 1978 it was renamed Cinema 7. It has been converted into a radio station studio since it closed in the 1980’s.
Contributed by Jim Crowl
Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes
Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
WestCoastPat on November 24, 2006 at 8:17 pm
I remember the Vogue as the last ditch effort by the boys from IATSE to convince the fine citizens of Salinas to honor a picket line. I think they had the line up for a couple of years.
Michael93901 on November 18, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I also lived in Salinas from 1960 to 1979. Am I losing my mind or is this the Globe Theater? When I was 12-14 my paper route was all of downtown Salinas from the Californian building, Main Street, Monterey Street, etc. I remember almost every building in that area and what they looked like.
kencmcintyre on January 29, 2009 at 10:03 pm
This is from Boxoffice magazine in October 1961:
SALINAS, CALIF.-Downtown Salinas will soon sparkle with a new theater when the old Vogue, dark and empty for two years, is reopened as the new Globe International by Kindair Corp. of Monterey.
Kindair, headed by Kirke Erskine and Bruce Matson, also owns and operates the Steinbeck and Hill theaters in Monterey, both first-run art houses. The Globe will also be an art house.
Matson will manage the new theater. Erskine will handle the designing end of the project. The theater, which originally seated 650, will be reduced to 450 luxury seats.
The theater building was completely gutted by its new owners. Reopening of the theater will mark the first new theater in Salinas in eight years. Matson said the theater will be furnished “in absolute luxury” and will have one of the most modern concession stands in Northern California. Erskine, who designed the Monterey Steinbeck Theater, is supervising the interior and exterior renovation.
Joe Vogel on February 27, 2009 at 10:48 pm
The October 3, 1936, issue of Boxoffice ran an item about all three local movie houses in Salinas reopening after having been closed during riots related to a lettuce workers strike. The three theaters were the Crystal, the Fox, and the El Rey.
The Vogue opened three years later. The August 5, 1939, issue of Boxoffice carried this single-line item: “Homer Techmeyer’s new Vogue Theatre in Salinas was opened with many local trade figures present.”
So this was the Vogue Theatre from 1939 until (probably) 1959, the Globe International from its renovation in 1961 until about 1975 (and perhaps just Globe Theatre for part of that time), and Cinema 7 from then until closing in the 1980s.
I noticed that it took quite a while for that comment to get posted. I wonder if other comments are replicating?
Joe Vogel on February 28, 2009 at 1:59 am
Here’s still more information about the Vogue, from the February 22, 1941, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. The caption of a photograph of the Vogue’s art moderne foyer lounge area attributes the design of the house to architect Vincent G Raney.
Raney also designed the Rodeo Theatre (later the Plaza Theatre) in the same city.
SalinasKid on February 15, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Growing up in Salinas in the 40’s and 50’s I remember the Vogue theater well. It was the local outlet for films from Universal Studios, and also showed lots of westerns, usually double-bills with Roy, Gene, and Lash LaRue.
The best thing about the Vogue was the popcorn! There was a large popcorn popper located to the left of the main entrance, with an outside window to serve walk-up customers on the sidewalk! You didn’t have to endure those movies to enjoy their wonderful, buttery popcorn!
TrishTriumpho on June 24, 2012 at 2:05 pm
The best thing about the Vogue Theater was that Miss Marilyn Monroe, 20th Century Fox Starlet, gave away a diamond ring there on Feburary 20th, 1948. It was part of a promomotion for Carlyles Jewelers.
rivest266 on March 3, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Reopened as Globe on December 26th, 1961. Grand opening ad posted.
and reopened as Cinema 7 on November 1st, 1978. Another ad posted.
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
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Proud to Be Junior! -- 11th Grade Class Forum -- Pan American School of Bahia
The purposes of this forum are to provide additional help on homeworks, share information about the last lessons and concepts we are learning at school, discuss about MUN, NHS, STUCO, school decisions and any extracurricular activities
first poem
Proud to Be Junior! -- 11th Grade Class Forum -- Pan American School of Bahia :: Academic subjects :: English (Honor and Regular Class)
Ms.B on Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:40 pm
Ok, so this quarter we do it differently:
every Monday I post a poem. By Wednesday, you must post a comment about the poem (not something like "I think it's cool.") By Friday you must post a SECOND comment on someone else's comment. DIsagree with them, strengthen their interpretation, see it in a different light.
I will start easy on you! The first poem is by a poet who hates the fact that a poem has to be analyzed. Oh, the irony! While I really do feel your pain as you look for things, please remember that paradoxically, I am trying to expose you to poetry in the hopes that you will find a poet or a type of poetry that you enjoy or identify with. Remember, poetry is about expressing oneself and another self "gets" it.
Ms.B
the first poem is: "Introduction to Poetry"
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
response leitz
leitz on Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:31 pm
When Billy Collins states that one should hold the poem "up to the light" he may mean that poems should be like slides, being easy to interpret like shining a light to illuminate slides, showing a docile and soft approach towards poetry, contrasting with the angry and frustrated tone towards the end, in reference to the obscure and violent manner poets and people try interpret and twist poetry.
Re: first poem
Bibi on Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:39 pm
Additionally, by mentioning that one should "hold it up to the light," and if we see this as a representation of knowledge and vision, the author is also suggesting that he/she should try to comprehend and visualize the poem through the use of their individual discernment and understanding. Not to mention that, as Leitz stated, “like a color slide” means to see through, fully visualize the author’s intent or the central theme of the piece.
Then the speaker goes on suggesting that we should “press an ear against the hive,” so it’s no longer in regards to the optic aspects, but yet, the sound / musicality / flow that the poem contains, enhanced by stressing figurative elements such as alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia.
To say that a mouse would have to “probe his way out” is to underline the fact that a poem is something rather complicated, difficult like a labyrinth, but there are numerous ways one could attempt in order to reach the overall message. To some extent, the author might be contradicting his beliefs given that to probe means to examine, and question, or so to speak, analyze… so the rat would have to interpret in order to find a path to get out? Personally, I don’t quite agree with the idea that one should watch a mouse find his way out of a poem, because it seems like the creature (could be an allusion to mankind) wouldn’t want to stay inside the poem – and that just seems wrong.
Regardless, I just love the image in the 5th stanza when it is highlighted that the surface of a poem is like a water body, and we should “waterski” across it and wave the “author’s name on the shore” – this is truly a beautiful picture! The speaker is now contrasting the meaning / significance of a poem with the physical aspects of waves, as if it were drifting with words… plus, though it’s water, it’s still something intangible, not as solid to the point one would be able to tie it “to a chair with rope” (next stanza). In spite of this comparison, one could also verify that a poem is being associated with a body of water, which is blue, so it’s as if it’s a part of our imagination, or it carries our deepest sentiments and thoughts found in unreal plains or that it could simply be a fantastical illusion. Also, to say that the readers should “waterski” through a poem makes it seem like something involving adrenaline, energy, but at the same it should be regarded as a pleasant and amusing activity and an adventurous experience, not a painful one. The fact that the author’s name is on the shore emphasizes that though there is a connection between these two, it’s not a part of the text, and hence, it shouldn’t determine, essentially, the idea but yet it could be used as a frame of reference.
(I feel like I wrote too much… so I will stop for now…)
Oscar on Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:59 pm
The title "Introduction to poetry" points out that Billy Collins is exposing in this poem his personal opinion on how any poem should be read and appreciated.
Billy Collins supports sensorial interpretation of the reader toward a given poem.
To make his point, he uses several images that highlight the significance of the body senses' role to catch the poem's essence as a way to interpret it.
For instance, according to the poet, a poem should be "hold [...] to the light / Like a color slide", comparing the poem to a picture: such simile involves the sense of sight's role in a poem interpretation.
Billy Collins also advices the reader to "press an ear against its hive", as if the message contained in a poem should be listened rather than conventionally read: this image also supports the sensorial way of interpreting a poem, here using sense of hearing.
Another alternative of reading a poem according to the poet would be to "feel the [poem's] walls", corroborating the sensorial images by relating the content of a poem, its "walls", with the reader's sense of touch to apprehend a poem.
Finally, I would like to conclude that this sensorial way to interpret a poem, advocated by Billy Collins, is in fact supporting the subconscious and intuitive reading of a poem, to "feel it", in opposition to over-analyzing it. And I do agree with this way to read a poem.
rapoch on Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:27 am
Besides what has been said, I'd like to point out:
The poem "Introduction to Poetry" tries to point out that poetry is a form of writing that should be enjoyed, lived and experienced, rather than simply analyzed.
Firstly, one can notice that the work is composed of an uncomplicated vocabulary. Because of such simple word choice, Collins criticizes the type of poetry which possess verbose and complexity instead of conciseness and clearness. Lines such as "and hold it up to the light" possess words that can be understood by almost any elementary student. Unlike a complex poem, Collins' work attempts to lure readers by making them easily understand his message, in place of making the poem an impenetrable force which divides the reader from the value of the work.
A metaphor | imagery which did fascinate me was "or press an ear against its hive"(maybe fascinate is too strong of a word). Firstly, the verb press indicates the effort placed in hearing. By pressing your ear against a solid material such as a hive, the sound waves travel faster and clearer thus, causing the student to "hear" the sound of the poem. Because a metaphor is established between the poem and a bee hive, one could further compare the words of the poem to the bees inside the hive. Just like the words work together in order to provide a message to the reader, the bees are continuously working to make their honey. Honey, because it connotatively signifies sweet and pleasure, represents the understanding of the poem, for when it is grasped by the reader, feelings of pleasure and excitement emerge just like all of the other metaphors and imageries reveal.
After having read the poem, I have been seriously thinking about doing something with it that doesn't involve interpreting, something similar to what my fellow Billy Collins suggests, but still much less creative: simply print it out, make a paper airplane out of it, and send it flying down the corridor hoping that it never lands into our reality where "not interpreting" is not an option.
rapoch
Mai on Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:55 pm
We were always told that poems are not hard to understand, that everything we should know about them is right in front of us. To me, this was Billy Collins' main message when writing "Introduction to Poetry". When saying that instead of "[torturing] a confession out of [the poem]", people should "hold it up to the light" and "watch [a mouse] probe his way out" of it, he means that when trying to understand a poem, it should not be over-analyzed, since the answers will reveal themselves gradually, instead of having to dig deep into the poem and ignore its essence.
Another important point is that this painless procedure pointed out by the author, the one in which the poem auto-defines itself, is the "introduction to poetry", being that one of the basic principles while reading a poem and trying to identify its essential characteristics.
Luisa on Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:55 pm
Through the use of figurative language, Billy Collins is able to convey the idea that poetry should be dealt with as something fluid and natural, a true expression of one's sentiment. I particularly believe that the best representation of this relationship between reader and poem is when the author claims that one should "walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch." As I read it, I was amazed with Collins' success in regards to expressing how one should be able to identify him/herself with the poem since he uses, as previously said by Raphael, simple language, as it can be noticed in this quote. Though using simple words, the idea of touching walls around in order to find the light switch can be perfectly paralleled to that of identifying a poem's central idea and essence. Furthermore, the moment the person inside the room has touched the walls enough to be able to turn on the light can also be regarded as the moment the reader is able to clearly see the author’s intent which makes perfect sense since with the light, the person is able to see his/her surroundings as the reader is able to fully comprehend a poem.
Regarding what Bibi said about the stanza where Collins says “drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out”, I agree with her, to some extent, in the sense that Collins was contradictory. Nevertheless, I don’t think it’s because of the mouse’s need to “analyze” the poem in order to get out of it but rather Collins attitude of dropping a mouse somewhere he considers of great value, or, poetry. In other words, it seems paradoxical that on the last stanza he condemns people’s attitude of tying a poem to a chair when he, at the same time, endorses the idea of “dropping” a rat into a poem, indicating the object’s unwillingness to read and thus, interpret the poem. Hence, the rat would be, as put by Collins himself, tortured in order to have a confession from it.
Though this contradiction had to be noted, Collins’ ability to show his passion and voluntary attachment towards poetry must also be taken into consideration. The comparisons, as previously stated by all of you, are truly beautiful as is his way of showing how people who are forced to interpret a poem can end up distorting its core idea at the moment one either over-analyzes or distorts the poem’s essence in order for him/her to “make a point”.
Milla on Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:35 pm
The speaker demonstrates an opposition to analyzing a poem with an aggressive approach, forcing an easy but weak interpretation. The imageries of “beating [a poem] with a hose” and to “torture a confession out of [a poem]” suggest violent, therefore irrational ways to understand the work. What the speaker supports, is a deep and intimate analysis where the reader feels and sees the poem’s purpose. He uses light and soft imageries, like seeing through a color slide, hearing the buzz of bees, and waterskiing, to describe what he pledges readers to do when interpreting a poem, which contrasts with the violent imageries of the last stanzas. I loved when the speaker asks to “walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch”, which suggests readers to feel the texture, the solidness of the poem, so that when the light switch illuminates it, the reader will be able to see and thus, understand it.
To me, the author does not neglect the interpretation of poetry in general, but disagrees with the irrational interpretations that lack thought and deepness, he acutally defends and motivates the thoughtful analysis that explores the meaning of a poem.
URGENT OFF THE SUBJECT MESSAGE
Ms.B on Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:23 pm
There were six people that expressed an interest in taking the TOEFL exam on May 30. Four of those people have already registered. I just checked and there are already other people signed up as well. There are 4 spots left, so anyone who was considering taking the exam needs to sign up quickly to guarantee a spot!! Ms.B
regarding length of posting...
Feel free to post as much as you want and as many times as you want. Do not feel that it is an obligation to write the equivalent of a page. I am perfectly happy with a "wow" post that is only 4 lines long. If you need to explain yourself in a meter-long post, no problem. This is 4th quarter. Relax! You guys have worked your butts off. I want insights, but do not require length.
One other thing: as people post, I want you to point out something DIFFERENT from everyone else. Feel free to reiterate what has already been said, but the idea is that you find something else to "show" people. See that if you post before others, it's "easier" because you don't have to look for something no one else said.
Enjoy your weekend! I am going to bed!!!! I am EXHAUSTED! Congrats to everyone who helped with the TOTAL SUCESS of the Benefit dinner!!!
Bibi on Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:10 pm
I was thinking about the "beat with a hose" line, why would Collins choose such an uncommon weapon, not to mention useless, in order to express how all people want to do is forcefully extract a "confession" from a poem... Well, if we look at the "waterski" stanza, and associate the meaning of a piece with something that's floating, and running like water (that is also aqueous, transparent, and impalpable), then as readers, we could note that now the speaker is suggesting that to strike a poem with a "hose" is to try to use methods that would seem appropriate but they're not quite. Even more, if we take that there is no water coming out, then it's as if through violent means one couldn't grasp the true message, and even if there was, the quantity in the previous lines (to a point one could ski through) is far greater than of that being gushed by a "hose." Plus, the fact that the water from a river bank or the ocean naturally exist, while the one from such object is almost superficial, it's manually forced to come out (and people take control over it, deciding upon its directions). Last but not least, there is also the theory that if water is blue, hence, it's a symbolf for imagination, so by this Collins means that just when someone surrounded by this fantastical experience (like the one waterskiing), is when they honestly comprehend the poem's idea -- and with a hose, even if it's pouring water, you're still, in fact enclosed by reality. This would be something I could disagree with the author, because when someone is waterskiing "on the surface" it's different then if he/she was, say, swimming -- the contact is not as close / intimate / complete.
It's 1:08 a.m., I slept all day... so pardon me if this doesn't make any sense...
Oscar on Sun Apr 26, 2009 8:33 pm
[Bibi] when someone is waterskiing "on the surface" it's different then if he/she was, say, swimming -- the contact is not as close / intimate / complete.
Although the way you (Bibi) define the action of waterskying as a superficial "contact" with the poem does make sense, it seems to me that the action of waterskying is rather a mean to reach the "shore" where is the poet himself.
According to Collins, the reader should "wave at the author's name on the shore", as waterskying on the surface of the poem; should we infer from this image that a poem's purpose is to create a bridge between the reader and the poet? I prefer this interpretation, since I don't believe the action of waterskying is a neglected relationship between the reader and the poem, but rather a mean to reach the poet's "shore", his beliefs and ideals.
about the "hose"
Ms.B on Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:38 am
Since Bibi mentioned the "uncommon toture" (I forget her exact words, but I know she used the word "uncommon", let me just clarify: one method to extract information from people is in fact to beat them with a hose. (Since my torture methodology is not so great, I THINK that it is because it hurts, but doesn't break bones. When you don't want too much blood or messiness, it's a good torture to use.)
Please do not comment on what I just said -- I think that would be OVERANALYZING the poem. I DO think that Bibi's comments about water ski and a water hose are valid.
ana on Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:21 pm
While the speaker criticizes how many try to "torture the meaning out of a poem", what I think is interesting is that he never denies that it is not simple to find this meaning. In fact, the speaker even compares the poem to a maze in some degree, I believe, when it is stated "I say drop a mouse into a poem/ and watch him probe his way out". This conveys the idea that when we read a poem it may even seem like we were dropped into it, clueless. What I see in this passage is actually that the mouse would be the reader (how unfortunate) while the walls or obstacles it has to go through to find its way out are the words and divisions of the poem. Therefore, like a mouse dropped into the middle of the maze, we must "probe" our way out, by exploring the words, the images and feelings they create--by exploring different paths and interpretations until we find the meaning, which is "the way out".
However, the speaker does not portray the interpretation of a poem as an arduous task. Its not an easy one, however, if one does not insist in trying to see the obvious answer when none is portrayed and speak the words we so often utter in honors english when the poem frustrates us : "Why can't he just say whatever it is he wants to without making our lives hard?" We say it precisely because we 'torture" the poem instead of using our senses, and allowing ourselves to be dropped into that maze or dark room and explore until we find a way out. Thus, the speaker shows that analyzing a poem does not have to be an arduous task, but it can be rather pleasurable if one has the right approach: an approach as lyrical as the poem itself. (if that makes any sense)
Staying on my response to the "mouse" "dropped" into the poem, I disagree with Bibi and with Luisa. For Bibi's comment, I just see that we viewed the whole "getting out of the poem" thing differently. What I believe it means is that the mouse, which I believe we agree symbolizes mankind, is trying to get out, is that it is trying to find a meaning. As I previously said, he "probes" or "analyses" its way out because the very walls of the maze are the words and images of the poem. So the mouse is not trying to get away from the poem, but rather to understand it through the careful analysis of its various aspects.
Concerning what Luisa said, since its on the same topic, I do agree that the image actually refers to the value of poetry. However, it is not contradictory to the end that the mouse is "dropped" into the poem. Think about it. Being "dropped into a maze" may be negative for a mouse. but we must keep in mind what the mouse represents. What I think is that, when one reads a poem, he/she is inevitably dropped into the poem, needing for one reason or another to find sense in it. It has nothing to do with torture, with trying to force an answer out of a poem like the end suggests but rather with carefully finding your own "way out"-- through interpretation discovering a meaning that makes sense to you. The "probing" through the poem is very different from "beating an answer out of it".
juracy on Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:49 pm
I love the way Billy Collins says that people don't actually read, properly said, the poem. They just analyze it, they "tie it to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it", so people just take a look at it for answers. They don't read properly, the way a poem is meant to be read.
juracy
Billy Collins put in his poem something that tends to happen to most people who many times analyze poems. When you analyze the poem you tend to analise, analise and end up by doing some kind of over analysis. You end up creating a whole meaning to the poem that is not actually its real meaning. When actually the meaning is clear, easy and explicit. So we should NOT analyse poems!!!
Bia on Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:01 pm
Captivatingly, Billy Collins uses the contrast between aggressive and constructive actions to guide the reader into the correct attitude- that should be taken when reading a poem. What calls attention is how Collins proposes that while reading one should “let things happen” enter into a dark room and “feel the walls for the light” or “waterski through the poem’s surface.” In other words, the understanding of the poem will come along if the reader is enjoying and encompassing a connection with the poem. Readers, who focus mainly on the analysis of details, metric and sentence structure, fail to comprehend the poem as a whole- losing the grip of fantasy and true inner expression. On the other hand what must be clearly understood while reading the poem (and ironically analyzing it) is that Collins criticizes the ones only focus on “beating it with a hose to find out what it really means” but not the ones who manage to glide through the poem, and meanwhile analyze it.
Even though I had a different analysis than Ana, I do understand, and to an extent agree with her post. What is interesting is that, regarding that we are all different, when having to connect and feel the poem, each of us will do so in distinct ways. Our senses react in different moments and therefore having two or more ways of interpretation is “ok”. What Collin criticizes is the over-analysis and not the different connections people might have. So, like me, one can understand the poem in one way- but at the same time recognize there are other coherent analyses.
response to post
leitz on Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:51 pm
I agree with Bia that when one forces the mind in the attempt to interpret the poem, with the sole purpose of interpreting, he or she cannot fully understand the poem, for only wneh one achieves a connection or understands the emotions of the poem is it possible to understand the meaning. One must simply let instincts guide the mind in comprehension, permiting the poem to flow, just like entering a dark room and "feeling for the lights". Also I agree with Juracy that poems should not be analyzed as it is quite possible the the true goal and meaning if the poem as well as its beauy could easily be corrupted and lost.
rapoch on Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:40 pm
After having read Ana's reply, I would like to express that I agree with most of her comments.
I too believe that the speaker classifies a poem as a task that requires some thought from the reader, but is in no way painful and exhausting if one takes the correct approach. Through the excerpt which reads "I say drop a mouse into a poem", many readers might associate the poem to a labyrinth in a much literal way, which would connotatively suggest that the poem possesses an extremely puzzling and tangling atmosphere capable of trapping the reader for quite a while before he reaches the exit, or in this case, comprehension.
Instead, when one examines the following line "and watch him probe his way out", it is as if the speaker is asserting that if you (reader) take your time to watch the mouse (your intellectual capability) for a while, it will find the exit. The verb "probe" denotatively signifies "to search into or examine thoroughly" and thus, in no way suggest that the mouse will have any major obstacles impeding it from reaching his way out. Basically, the imagery trying to be expressed is that if a mouse stops and examines his surroundings completely, he will most certainly exit it without having to be trapped for hours suffering from impatience, situation experienced by many "poem-analyzers" (it's a made up word, but it is pretty suggestive).
Teixeira on Fri May 01, 2009 11:20 am
What calls my attention in this poem, (that has not been commented on by several people) is the title itself. The fact that Billy Collins entitles his poem as "introduction to Poetry" reveals his belief of what real poetry, or real interpretaton of poetry, should be. It is as if he says that whoever tries to analize a poem by "tying it up to a chair and forcing a confession out of it", which means, trying to take out many proofs and arguments for whatever analysis he/she wnats to present is the wrong way to read a poem. Instead, we should try to feel what the poet is expressing, expressed by him with the image of "waterskying through the poems surface". He proposes a smooth interpretation for poetry, and not the analytical and somehow robotized (does this exist?) analysis, that looks for the significance of each word and expression of the poem (ie. green=hope). Instead, we should try to appreciate a poem and understand the true feeling behind it. So Ms.B, according to Billy Collins, what you force us to do every week is wrong. xD
Response to Oscar
Teixeira on Fri May 01, 2009 12:41 pm
I believe that Oscar's analysis regarding the "sensorial interpretation" of the poem is somehow over analytical. I believe that the imagery regarding the body's senses, such as "holding to the light/ like a color slide" or "pressing an ear against its hive" are not there in order to demonstrate the "significance of the body senses' role to cacth the poem's essence", but rather a comparison he makes between the way we aknowledge what is presented to us through our senses and the way we interpret a poem. We do not over analyze what we see or hear. What I believe Billy Collins could be saying (in fact I also think this could be an over-analysis) is that we should interpret a poem the same way we interpret what we see and hear. We should rather "feel" it. So, it is not as if the body's senses are important to understand the poem, but how we should feel the poem the same way we feel the reality through our senses.
Even though I think it is somehow of an over-analysis, it was an interesting point Oscar. xD
Milla on Fri May 01, 2009 3:45 pm
I disagree with Juracy when he says that the speaker is against analyzing poems, he is actually motivating the reader to analyze them, careful and patiently interpreting the meaning of the work. By asking to look through a poem like a "color slide", to "press an ear" and listen to it, or to "waterski across the surface of the poem", the speaker is saying that a poem should be felt, it should be looked in depth, not to look at the words, but beyond what is seen, like a color slide you have to put against the light. What the author goes against is the person who forces an interpretation "torturing" a poem, which will generate an over-analyzation, losing the message the author is intending to give.
this discussion is now closed!
Ms.B on Sat May 02, 2009 5:46 am
Hello. I agree with most of what everyone says. I agree that Collins is against saying "ok, let's pick this poem apart in analysis until we lose the FEELING in it", but we can't forget that Collins DOES want us to think about the poem. He is suggesting that it resonate in our very being. That means a thoughtful reading, perhaps more than one reading. It suggests savoring the language, questioning the language. If we are to hear the "beehive" going on in the poem, we must put our proverbial ear against the poem. If we are "waterskiing" on the poem, we are FEELING the rush of excitement, of emotion that it contains. We are whisked away by the power of the poem (have you ever been waterskiing? Feel the wind and your utter lack of control over where you go. All you can do is try to stay on your feet and not let go of the rope so that you can continue the experience).
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Seasoning the Indians
Opening Day is as close as it can be (as are the reports of possible snow) and Indians’ fans everywhere are champing at the bit to get out of the gate. With time on your side until 3:00 on Friday afternoon, allow me to suggest some possible uses for your time. After you take a quick look into Anthony Castrovince’s efforts in suggesting At-Bat music for the Indians (with his usual Springsteen-centricity) while watching/listening to all of AC’s suggestions and after you’ve run through this video a couple of hundred times, allow me to present one more option to spend your time leading up to Friday’s first pitch, a season preview…as unorthodox as it may be.
It won’t tell you what players will win what awards or how the majority of the 2011 MLB season plays out. Instead, it will take you a bit deeper…into one prediction for the Indians’ season, circa 2011.
April 1st vs. White Sox, Opening Day
In what will become a recurring theme for the 2011 Indians, a Tribe victory over the White Sox is accomplished thanks largely to the contributions from Shin-Soo Choo, whose solo HR in the 3rd inning and 2-run 2B in the 7th inning constitute the only runs driven in by any Indians player in the 3-2 win over the White Sox. Choo’s heroics are not limited to the plate however, as he throws out Alexei Ramirez at home plate in the 8th inning, getting Tony Sipp out of the inning with the lead still intact. Chris Perez emerges from the Indians’ bullpen to notch the first of his 42 saves, closing out an excellent pitching performance from the Tribe, started by Carmona and continued by Sipp.
April 13th vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County from California
Despite giving up 3 solo HR to Angels’ hitters, Carlos Carrasco secures a 5-3 victory for the Indians by going 8 strong innings, notching 11 strikeouts. Throughout the season, the longball will plague Carrasco, who is still able to build upon his strong finish to 2010. Despite leading the AL with 35 HR allowed, CarCar finishes the 2011 season with the best ERA among Tribe starters at 3.91, as he finishes the season with 172 strikeouts, the highest total for any Tribe pitcher since CC whiffed 209 in 2007.
April 23rd vs. Minnesota Twins
Replacing Jack Hannahan’s .258 OBP (but sterling defense) at 3B, Jason Donald returns from the wrist injury that sidelined him in Spring Training and makes his presence felt as he hits a 7th inning double that plates Orlando Cabrera, giving the Indians a 8-7 lead. The lead will be given away in the 8th inning as Rafael Perez’s early-season struggles result in a loss for the Tribe, who find themselves heading into the last week of April 9-12, “good” for 4th place in the AL Central.
April 26th vs. Kansas City Royals
As the Indians return from their second road trip of the season, they are joined by Grady Sizemore, fresh off of a week of rehab games in Akron. In his first game, Grady scares the home crowd as he lays out for a Billy Butler ball in the gap in the 4th inning. After securing the catch, Sizemore spends a few seconds on the ground as the assembled crowd waits in stunned silence. When he rises to his feet and jogs off of the field, the standing ovation begins and does not end until Sizemore crosses home plate after leading off the bottom of the 4th with a solo HR. Though Sizemore is unable to play every day for the first 3 months of the season, his defensive play is reminiscent of the Grady of old, even if his lack of power at the plate (particularly in the early going) is not.
May 6th vs. Oakland Athletics
Sitting on an ERA over 6.00 and a WHIP over 2.00, Mitch Talbot comes out of the game against the A’s in the 3rd inning after grabbing at his side with the Indians already trailing 6-0. After the game, Talbot will be placed on the 15-day DL with an abdominal strain which will plague him throughout the season as he spends much of the year bouncing between the last spot in the rotation, the DL, and rehab starts. With Talbot hitting the DL, the Indians make a surprise move and promote Zach McAllister to the big league rotation, on the strength of his dominant start in Columbus, instead of the assumed 6th and 7th starters in the organization, Dave Huff and Jeanmar Gomez, who will log a total of 3 starts for the Indians on the season…between them. The spot in the rotation owned by Talbot to start the season will remain in constant flux as Talbot, McCallister, and Corey Kluber log time in the rotation, with none of them experiencing sustained success and with Kluber’s stint being the most confidence-inspiring.
May 16th vs. Kansas City Royals
After largely sitting for two weeks since the return of Grady Sizemore despite a strong start in the first month during Sizemore’s absence, Travis Buck is inserted into the lineup as the everyday LF, replacing Mike Brantley, who is sent to AAA Columbus after compiling a .220 BA / .274 OBP / .324 SLG / .599 OPS over the first six weeks of the season. Buck responds by falling a triple short of the cycle as he begins to show that his early-season success was no mirage, stabilizing the lineup by settling into the #5 spot behind Santana. Buck will end the year ranked 3rd on the team both in HR with 25 and in OPS as he finishes the year with an .815 OPS to go along with 34 2B. Brantley remains in Columbus until the September call-ups, when he will continue to struggle to parlay his on-base success in AAA to the Big Leagues.
May 22nd vs. Cincinnati Reds
A Sunday afternoon game in Cleveland takes on historical significance as Josh Tomlin does not walk or strike out any batters, the 4th consecutive start in which he “achieves” this feat. In finishing his 4th consecutive game without a walk or a strikeout as a starter, Tomlin breaks the MLB record for consecutive games by a starting pitcher not walking one batter or striking one hitter out, surpassing the old mark of 3 consecutive starts held jointly by Sloppy Thurston and Bill Hubbell. Tomlin somehow gets through 6th innings, despite not missing many bats, with the Indians clinging to a 6-5 lead, a lead that will quickly evaporate as Frank Herrmann and Justin Germano give up a pair of runs each in the 7th and 8th innings as the Indians bullpen continues to struggle to get a lead to Chris Perez in the 9th inning. After the game, Acta doesn’t want to talk about the loss, instead talking up Tomlin’s strike-throwing ability and how the fact that he hadn’t walked a hitter in 4 straight games was the “big story” of the game. Acta fails to mention the astonishing lack of strikeouts or Tomlin’s 4.96 ERA through the first two months of the season, as his ERA fluctuates around the 5.00 mark throughout his time in the 2011 rotation.
June 1st vs. Toronto Blue Jays
No Blue Jays player reaches 2nd base as Fausto Carmona efficiently cruises to a complete game shutout in a 3-0 victory over Toronto. The game lowers his ERA to 3.78, thanks largely to AL-leading groundball percentage and (more importantly) a defensively sound infield behind him. The Indians turn 4 double plays on the day and Lou Marson throws out 3 would-be basestealers while going 2 for 4, pushing his OPS on the year over .700, compiled in the 15 starts he’s made in the team’s first 56 games. With the victory against the Blue Jays, the Indians run their record to 24-31, threatening to surpass the injury-riddled White Sox into 3rd place but undermined by a lack of production from the bottom 1/3 of their lineup, a shaky back-end of the rotation, and a still evolving middle relief corps.
June 12th vs. New York Yankees
The Indians complete an improbable 3-game sweep of the Evil Empire in the Bronx, with the final victory coming in a game started by former Yankee farmhand Zach McAllister (in what will represent the high point of his uneven MLB season) and with the sweep paced by Carlos Santana hitting 4 HR over the course of the weekend and driving in 11 runs in the 3-game series. While Indians’ fans are forced to remind Yankees’ fans (intent on using the “he’ll look good as in a Yankee uniform when Jorge retires” argument) that Santana remains under Cleveland’s control through the 2016 season. Santana’s production is assisted by him getting a couple of days off every week from behind the plate as The Axe Man’s 1B glove starts to get broken in by Memorial Day and with Santana serving as the club’s DH against tough LHP. This particular weekend’s HR outburst assists Santana in besting Buck and Choo for the club lead at season’s end as Santana will finish the year with 27 HR, eking out Choo’s 26 and Buck’s 25. Though Choo will top Santana in the OPS column (final OPS for Choo - .898, final OPS for The Axe Man - .881) in terms of individual accomplishments, the duo will combine to drive in nearly 30% of the teams’ total runs for the year, a fact that will not go unnoticed by All-Star Game voters.
June 22nd vs. Colorado Rockies
After an 0 for 4 day at the plate with two GIDP in an Indians’ 7-2 loss to the Rockies, Orlando Cabrera’s OPS drops below .600 and he is removed from the everyday lineup, replaced by Cord Phelps, who arrives from Columbus where he is outhitting both Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis while moving around the diamond as a Super-Utility player. In joining the parent club, Phelps will go back to playing his natural position of 2B while Orlando Cabrera slides over into the Utility IF role as Adam Everett finds his way off of the roster, having only batted 25 times in nearly 3 months as an Indian. While Phelps will represent a bit of a downgrade defensively from Cabrera, he will represent a significant upgrade from The OC (which isn’t difficult given Uncle Orlando’s struggles at the plate) and will finish the year with a .735 OPS.
July 1st vs. Cincinnati Reds
The Indians beat the Reds in the series opener 6-5 to improve their record to 40-43 as the Indians move as close to .500 as they’ve been since the first week in April. The victory is sealed by Matt LaPorta’s solo HR in the 8th inning which provides hope that LaPorta has finally figured it out, though the 3 K on the day for him certainly tempers too much enthusiasm. In a way, the game is a microcosm for LaPorta’s season as he shows some of the power that once made him one of MLB’s top hitting prospects, but his propensity for striking out and for long stretches of ineffectiveness that the Indians endure to see those glimpses of power make him the most maddeningly inconsistent player on a young team full of them. At the end of the year, LaPorta will finish with 21 HR and 75 RBI, but with only 24 2B and with an underwhelming .256 BA / .332 OBP / .425 SLG / .757 OPS final slash line. While LaPorta’s HR total gives the Indians four players with more than 20 HR (something they’ve done only 12 times in their history) and though the Indians remain publicly upbeat that LaPorta can still re-capture some of the shine on his apple, with LaPorta turning 27 in January of 2012, the realization starts to set in that LaPorta may never emerge as much more than a “placeholder” in the lineup and far from the fixture in the middle of the lineup that was predicted for him in July of 2008.
July 9th vs. Toronto Blue Jays
In a match-up pitting former top Philadelphia prospects Carlos Carrasco and Kyle Drabek, the Indians pound the Blue Jays 12-3 en route to their 4th consecutive win, pulling them over the .500 mark for the first time since Opening Day at 46-45. The Indians establish a lead early against Drabek as Santana, Buck, and Kearns go back-to-back-to-back, beginning a hit parade that will not end until Drabek is chased from the game and, it is learned after the game, all the way down to Syracuse as Drabek is demoted after giving up 7 runs in 2 1/3 innings. Conversely, Carrasco gives up 2 solo HR to Jose Bautista, but is able to go 7 innings giving up only 3 runs. Without the option of Chris Perez, having pitched in consecutive 3 games against the Yankees and in the first 2 games against the Jays, at the back end of the bullpen, the Indians rely on Vinnie Pestano in the 8th inning and Tony Sipp in the 9th inning as both young relievers have established themselves over the first half of the season as viable set-up options for Perez. After much movement in the Indians’ bullpen, the emergence of Pestano and Sipp in the 7th and 8th innings finally begins to settle what has been an unsettled, and unsettling, relief corps in front of Chris Perez.
Though his teammates Carlos Santana and Shin-Soo Choo are off in the desert as members of the AL All-Star team (Choo being the final selection via the Internet voting…much of which is later traced back to South Korea), Asdrubal Cabrera has a nice couple of days himself despite not making the All-Star game. Fully healthy for the first half of the season, Cabrera’s OPS of .798 and sterling defense prompt the Indians to call a press conference to announce that they have inked their young SS to a 4-year contract with an option for a 5th year that buys out two (and possibly three) of Cabrera’s Free Agent years. In a humorous twist, Eduardo Perez introduces Cabrera at the press conference full of tongue-in-cheek jokes about HE was the person most responsible for bringing Asdrubal from the Mariners to Cleveland. Unlike Indians of the recent past who have signed extensions, Cabrera will remain healthy and actually improve as the season goes on, finishing the season with a .812 OPS and leading the team with 42 2B while finally showing the solid (and sometimes slick) glove that had been assumed of him (often incorrectly) since his acquisition from the Mariners.
July 20th vs. Minnesota Twins
After a game in which he gives up 14 hits while again not striking out any batters in 4 innings, Josh Tomlin is sent to AAA with the Indians now losers of 4 of their last 5 after being swept by the suddenly resurgent Twins in Minnesota. The game will represent the last start for Tomlin in Cleveland as he heads to Columbus, where he will begin his transition to a long reliever/middle relief option as the local writers (who love their underdog stories) decry the move despite Tomlin’s 5.35 ERA. Promoted to take Tomlin’s place in the rotation is 2009 1st Round Pick Alex White, who has recently caught fire in Columbus, going 7 innings or more in each of his last 6 starts and who will almost immediately establish himself as the Indians’ 3rd most consistent starter as he will finish the year with a respectable 4.39 ERA and a groundball percentage that justifies the Jake Westbrook comparisons. In a surprising move, the Indians promote 2010 1st Round Pick Drew Pomeranz from Akron (after just 2 starts there) to Columbus to take White’s spot in the Clippers’ rotation. To this point, Pomeranz has been absolutely dominant at every Minor-League stop he’s made, including striking out 15 in his second (and final) start as an Aero.
July 29th vs. Kansas City Royals
After driving in the game-winning run in the 9th inning, Jason Donald is called into Manny Acta’s office, where he is informed that he has just been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies along with RHP Chad Durbin. The Phillies, having learned that both Chase Utley and Brad Lidge will miss the remainder of the season earlier in the day and 5 games back of the Braves in the NL East, go into full-scale panic mode and begin to load up on both relievers and infielders to stabilize what have been the Achilles’ Heels of the team to this point. In exchange for Donald and Durbin (who has finally acquitted himself as a 7th inning option), the Indians receive power-hitting 1B/OF Jonathan Singleton, who is leading the Florida State League (High A) in both HR and OPS as a member of the Clearwater Thrashers. In meeting with the media to discuss the trade, Indians’ GM Chris Antonetti explained the rationale of the move as, “not a move that we really wanted to make as Donald has come on and stabilized 3B for us since he’s returned, both offensively and defensively, and Durbin has provided some much-needed veteran leadership in that bullpen. But the Phillies were looking for help and they obviously knew both of these guys. When we realized what they were offering us in Singleton, who is one of the most projectable power hitters in all of the Minor Leagues, we knew that it was a deal that was too good to pass up.” In corresponding moves, Columbus reliever Zach Putnam is called up to replace Durbin and a young 3B who has been blistering AAA pitching, particularly in the month of July (when he has posted an OPS of 1.345…with no errors) arrives in Cleveland to take the spot of Donald.
The Indians’ new 3B is referred to only as…The Chiz.
July 31st vs. Kansas City Royals
Just prior to the game against the cellar-dwelling Royals, the Indians trade LHP Rafael Perez to the Texas Rangers for a low level minor league RHP named David Perez. After struggling early in the season, Perez had found his rhythm (along with the rest of the bullpen) over the last six weeks and began to pitch in more meaningful situations after being relegated to the 5th and 6th innings for a short time in April and May. The Rangers, desperate for bullpen help to hold off the A’s in the AL West, make the move for Perez, who says nothing to the assembled press corps, ending his tenure with the Indians having never given an interview. In Perez’s place, the Indians promote LHP Nick Hagadone, who as acquitted himself nicely in a relief role, moving quickly from Akron to Columbus once he was told by the Indians to concentrate on refining a two-pitch mix, which improves his control greatly as he becomes the hard-throwing LH reliever that many envisioned when he was included in the Victor Martinez trade from the Red Sox.
August 4th vs. Boston Red Sox
Against his former teammates, Justin Masterson experiences his worst start of the season, in a summer full of them for the big RHP. The Red Sox batter him for 8 runs in 1 1/3 innings as JD Drew and David Ortiz go back-to-back on Masterson twice in the game en route to a 15-4 blowout as the Indians drop to 53-59 and back into sole possession of 4th place in the AL Central. Though he has struggled mightily throughout the season, sitting on an ERA of 5.15 at the beginning of August, Masterson has always maintained an optimistic outlook that better starts were just around the corner…that is, until now. After the game, Masterson uncharacteristically remains sullen after the game, rambling about how difficult this season has been for him and how this night was particularly difficult as he watched his former teammates run around the bases with little trouble against him. In the Red Sox clubhouse, Boston manager (and former Indians’ Front Office member) Terry Francona publicly questions the Indians’ strategy in keeping Masterson in the bullpen saying, “How long are they going to keep this experiment up with that kid? He’s got a Big-League arm, nobody’s questioning that…it’s just that they’re trying to make him something he’s not and they’re hurting Justin in the process.” While the Indians privately seethe that Francona would make such comments to the press and leave Masterson in the rotation for the rest of the year, his 5.35 ERA at the end of the season as he continued struggles with LH hitters and exorbitant BB numbers throughout the year portend that his September 25th start against the Twins will be the last time he starts a game for the Tribe, moving to a back-end-of-the-bullpen role in 2012.
August 18th vs. Chicago White Sox
The Indians win a 8-6 contest, paced by Travis Hafner getting on base all 5 times he steps to the plate, drawing 2 walks and hitting 3 singles as he will score every time he gets on base against the White Sox’ Mark Buerhle. Back on the play three days/off one day system that proved to be so effective in late 2010 after an extended DL stint in May caused by playing every day for the first two months, the 5 trips to 1st Base push Hafner’s OBP to .406, if only pushing his OPS to .809 as the power surges have been few and far between for Hafner. He will finish the season with 12 HR in only 110 games played as the Indians utilize a rotation mix of Shelley Duncan, Lou Marson, and Austin Kearns to make the production from their DH spot respectable, if not fear-inducing.
August 23rd vs. Seattle Mariners
After Mitch Talbot gives up 5 runs in the first 2 innings, the bullpen comes in to rescue the Indians from the jaws of defeat. As Zach Putnam, Nick Hagadone, Vinnie Pestano, and Tony Sipp hold the Mariners’ lineup scoreless through the 8th inning, the Indians chip away at the lead until they are able to score 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning via a 2-out Travis Buck triple that scores Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo to give the Indians a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the 9th. Indians’ closer Chris Perez comes out in the bottom of the 9th and strikes out all three hitters, the final hitter being none other than former Indian Chris Gimenez, who bestowed the nickname of “Pure Rage” upon the Indians’ young closer. After the game, when asked about the efforts of the Indians’ relievers, Gimenez tells the assembled press corps, “Look, I’ve been catching all of those guys for the last few years while I was with Cleveland and those bullpen arms are starting to arrive here for the Indians. After Mitch left, Wedgie said if we could grind out one more run, we might be able to put the game away. At the end of the day, we weren’t because those arms over there are pretty good and when that wild-haired, wild-eyed dude comes at you in the 9th, directing all of his rage into the strike zone…yeah, not many folks in Baseball are going to be able to do anything.”
August 31st vs. Oakland Athletics
Prior to the game with the A’s, the Indians announce that Grady Sizemore’s 2012 club option has been picked up for $9M with a 2-year extension added to it through 2014 for $11M guaranteed and a with a club option for 2015 for $8M with a $1M buyout. At the press conference, the Indians assert that Sizemore has continued to come back from his microfracture surgery and while he may never be the 30 HR/30 SB player that filled the #24 jersey in years past, that his performance in 2011, particularly after the All-Star Break when he has been able to play every day, gave them enough confidence to make the deal. The motivation for Sizemore comes obviously in the guarantee of the $9M in 2011, a number he would not get on the open market in the coming off-season, as he sacrifices some of his possible market value in the ensuing years for guaranteed money, now working on a three-year deal with a one year club option attached to it that would potentially keep Sizemore in Cleveland until he turned 32. Sizemore celebrates the signing by hitting a 2-run HR in the 6th inning, leading the Indians to victory as they run their record to 63-73, still sitting in 4th place in the AL Central. At the end of the year, Sizemore will finish with 16 HR and a .720 OPS, but he hits 11 of those 16 HR in the months of July, August, and September, compiling an .833 OPS after the All-Star Break.
September 7th vs. Detroit Tigers
In what is a glimpse into the future, Lonnie Chisenhall knocks Carlos Santana home with a game-winning double in the 7th inning to lead the Indians to a 4-3 victory over the Motor City Kitties. The double is Chisenhall’s third of the game as he will acquit himself quite nicely to MLB, stroking 14 doubles on the season despite playing only two months and swatting 6 HR in the 56 games he will play as an Indian en route to posting a .786 OPS for the Indians. While the other top position player prospect for the Indians, Jason Kipnis, remains in Columbus, hampered by injuries and blocked somewhat by the success of Cord Phelps as the Indians’ 2B, The Chiz becomes an immediate fan favorite in Cleveland as his presence supplies some teeth to the bottom third of the lineup and stabilizes 3B for the Indians for the first time since his mentor, Travis Fryman, retired after the 2002 season.
September 22nd vs. Chicago White Sox
Breaking a 5-game winning streak, the Indians fall to the White Sox 4-0, dropping the Tribe back into 4th place after their recent victories had pulled them even with Chicago for 3rd in the AL Central. The loss goes to RHP Corey Kluber, who finds himself in the rotation as a replacement for the shut-down Mitch Talbot, as Kluber goes 6 innings for the Tribe, allowing a 3-run HR to Paul Konerko in the 2nd, which would carry the Pale Hose to victory. Though Kluber rides the I-71 Shuttle for the majority of the year, he and Zach McAllister position themselves as possible starters for the 2012 Indians team by excelling in Columbus and holding their own, albeit inconsistently, for the parent club. Between Kluber and McAllister, Kluber seems to generate more excitement among the Tribe’s Front Office and coaching staff despite his struggles with control, as he tallies 52 strikeouts in 60 MLB innings and strikes out just more than a batter an inning in AAA.
September 28th vs. Detroit Tigers
The Indians fall in their final game of the 2011 season as they fall one game short of 80 wins, finishing the season at 79-83, placing them 4th in the AL Central. Despite the victory on the final day, the Tigers fall short of pushing Minnesota into a one-game playoff for the AL Central as the Twins defeat Kansas City on the final game of the season, finishing 93-69 besting the Tigers’ final record by one game.
In the bowels of Comerica Park after the game, Manny Acta cannot hide his enthusiasm and optimism for the team that takes up the locker room beside his office. Avoiding discussing any of the disappointing aspects of the season and the fact that the Indians fail to crack the .500 mark despite a late push, Acta trumpets the accomplishments of his young team and foresees even brighter days.
On the lineup, Acta beams while proclaiming, “Go take a look at the lineup that we had in there today…those are some pieces you build around. Cabrera, Choo, Santana, and Buck anchoring the middle of the order, with Grady around as he continues to work his way back. Throw Lonnie and Phelps in there with Kipnis still down in AAA and that’s the start of something special that I think our fans can now wrap their heads around.”
When questioned about the season-long inconsistency from the rotation, Acta agains turns the conversation to the brighter side saying, “Look at what Carmona, Carrasco, and White did down the stretch. Sure, we had some rough patches in there and we had some young guys taking their lumps throughout the season. But if you give me those three arms, I can build a rotation around that…and how about our boy Drew Pomeranz, throwing that no-hitter in the AAA playoffs? You think he’s far away?”
Acta takes the opportunity from a question about Masterson’s season-long struggles to turn the focus onto the bullpen saying, “With Pure Rage throwing like he did all year and Vinnie and Tony in front of him, guys like Putnam and Hagadone and even CC Lee getting a taste of some success in MLB this year, there’s some hard throwers back there. Maybe we see what Justin can do back there and put him in that mix. It’s really too early to think about right now…all I can tell you is that I’m excited about this team going forward”.
With that, Acta leans back and smiles, seemingly thinking of brighter days ahead…
Posted by Paul Cousineau 11 comments
A Lazy Sunday Drilling to the Core
Now entering the week in which baseball that matters will be played, the 2011 season is so close that the butterflies are fluttering for most baseball fans. Opening Day is finally this Friday and, though my general disdain for the Opening Day crowd is well-known (more people looking for a reason to party than to watch a baseball game) and given that I prefer Game #2, which includes “real” Tribe fans, the opportunity to attend Opening Day with The DiaBride and The DiaTot, will have me heading down to the corner of Carnegie and Ontario this Friday afternoon.
While I had to pass on the invitation to attend the Indians’ new Social Suite (which looks pretty great) for the Home Opener, the fact that I’ll be going down with my boy and my wife have me excited to head down there to enjoy all of this Feller hoopla will be occurring prior to the game and an actual…you know, Indians’ game has the juices flowing on this cold Sunday morning.
However, we are still about 5 days away from that first pitch being thrown and the analysis of the off-season and Spring Training being just that – analysis, with the questions that we’ve been asking for months now hopefully finding some answers as the days, weeks, and months roll on in 2011. That’s why this is always a bit of an odd time to think about (or write about) the Indians as most of the pieces that emerge at the end of Spring Training examine how the final roster spots will shake out as the arguments over the 23rd to 25th spots on the roster are overanalyzed to impossible levels.
As the shocking news that Buck AND Duncan have made the team (I know, buckle up…) may seem compelling at some level, there are far more important questions facing this team that are unrelated to the 5th OF, the backup catcher or the final three spots in the bullpen. Looking at any or all of those “battles” is all well and good, but the outcomes or the “winners” in those situations are going to have a slightly higher impact than you or I will on the win total for the Indians this season.
Rather, let’s take the opportunity to use this last Sunday prior to Opening Day to take a bigger picture of the situation in front of the Indians with a kind of a “where the Indians stand” as an organization and what is necessary for them to accomplish to show that there is, in fact, a light at the end of this dark tunnel that we’ve been traveling through for the better part of the last two years. Certainly, this isn’t the time to re-hash what happened from the beginning of the 2008 season to now (contracts were given out to players that regressed or were injured, poor drafting dried up the pipeline, and veterans were moved for younger players) as those topics have been beaten to death and the Tribe fans that are unable to move past the last two seasons are the same ones that still think that any lineup that doesn’t evoke memories of that 1995 batting order is substandard.
What every Spring is about is looking forward with some hope (and you should read this if you haven’t already from Jonathan Knight) – which is something that most Indians’ fans oddly have trouble doing, despite the fact that most of those same fans look forward to the NFL Draft more than any other day on the NFL calendar and are counting the ping-pong balls that they hope will lead them to Kyrie Irving or Derrick Williams – and there should be no shortage of hope on the North Coast. However, that hope is largely tied into the individual performances of particular players (who aren’t the 5th starter, the backup catcher, or the 5th OF) going forth this season, because the Indians are at the point in their developmental curve where the production (or lack thereof) from certain young players are going to tell us a good deal about the future of this franchise, both in the near-term and long-term.
To start off on that, Paul Swydan at Fangraphs had a very frank piece about the Indians in the context of Fangraphs’ rankings of each MLB franchise from bottom to top. Swydan looks very honestly at the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and while he’s not overwhelmingly positive about the outlook for the franchise, he does put forth some concepts very clearly in terms of what the Indians are trying to do this year and beyond:
The talent on hand still needs to make the jump from paper champions to producing on the field – something evidenced by the fact that they felt compelled to sign Orlando Cabrera to man second base this season – but you can see how the pieces of the puzzle should fit. The best way to compete long-term is to have a core group of players that mature at the same time, and this group of Indians fits that profile as well as you possibly can.
The Indians payroll has regressed to 2005 levels, and the ballpark might not be chock full of Tribe fanatics like it used to be, but there is promise there. The team on the field this year may not be good, but it is largely cost controlled, has more reinforcements that should arrive in the near-term, and the front office is smart enough to determine who among this group of players should be there long-term.
While the whole piece is worth a read, the two bolded sentences are what caught my eye as it represents about as good of a one-sentence-only explanation of the Indians’ strategy and the application of that strategy that I’ve seen. It shouldn’t be a new concept to you if you’ve been hanging around these parts and realize that the Indians made many of their trades with an eye at acquiring talent that would arrive and mature around the same time, with the idea of assembling a similar “core group of players” that they did from 2003 to 2005, when Victor, Hafner, Sizemore, CC, and Westbrook all emerged together to form the base for the 2007 team.
Of course, if that’s the plan, the question needs to be asked as we sit at the precipice of the 2011 season as to which of the current Indians (on the parent club or beneath) can make up this next “core group of players”?
The most obvious candidate was profiled by Hardball Talk’s Aaron Gleeman, who had some pretty glowing things to say about The Axe Man:
Because excellent plate discipline is such a big part of Santana’s game and not everyone appreciates the value of on-base percentage relative to, say, homers and RBIs, his numbers may not scream superstar. However, he’s capable of becoming an elite offensive catcher and is also no slouch defensively behind the plate, giving him MVP-caliber upside.
“MVP-caliber upside” is something that I’m not sure anyone would have asserted about Victor back in 2003 or 2004, yet Santana is universally lauded as “capable of becoming an elite offensive catcher” and his presence (plus the fact that keeping him in Columbus until July of last year keeps him under club control through the 2016 season) in the lineup for the coming years certainly constitutes his inclusion as one of the potential “core” players going forward for the current Tribe.
Past the obviousness of Santana, there is Choo (who remains under club control through 2013, despite every attempt by national writers and Jim Ingraham to ignore this and try to figure out when he’s going to get traded), who Gleeman calls, in a later piece, “one of MLB’s best, most underrated players” and probably Chris Perez (who had the 8th best ERA+ in MLB last year among players with 60 or more IP), even if the newly-minted closer still needs to prove that he can continue his dominance of the 9th inning as saves aren’t granted to anyone on the basis of hair, beard, Twitter presence, or self-confidence.
That would be three that would be obvious as cornerstones going forward for the Indians and having them in the middle of the lineup and at the back end of their bullpen is certainly a nice start. However, given the inexperience that Santana and Perez have at the MLB level, they still have quite a bit of proving to do over the course of the 2011 season and beyond to establish themselves as players that don’t just project as difference-makers, but who actually do make a difference between wins and losses.
In that column, they are not alone as the Indians’ roster is flush with players that may have some level of prospect pedigree but who need to prove that they are not just capable MLB players, but players who can contribute on a winning team. How that plays out is what bears watching this season as Swyden asserts in the aforementioned Fangraphs piece, “the team on the field this year may not be good, but it is largely cost controlled, has more reinforcements that should arrive in the near-term, and the front office is smart enough to determine who among this group of players should be there long-term.”
There are segments of the fanbase (and large ones at that) who would challenge the assertion about the intelligence of the Front Office, but in that piece in which Gleeman called The BLC “one of MLB’s best, most underrated players”, he finishes the piece with, “my guess is they’ll show some relatively modest improvement from last season’s 69 wins to somewhere in the mid-70s while having some very interesting decisions to make at the trading deadline.”
Since I’m going to dismiss the trading deadline decisions out of hand (as nobody seems to realize that Sizemore’s club option for 2012 becomes a player option if he’s traded, that Choo is under control for three more years, and that Carmona is working on a contract that includes club options for the next FOUR years), what if the Indians finished the season in the mid-70s in terms of wins?
Would that be a success or a failure of a season?
That’s a hard answer to come to, although that largely depends how they would come about that win total, in terms of contributions from particular players. Specifically, what contributions come from players who are ostensibly paid the league minimum and who are a few years away from even sniffing arbitration.
Speaking of those league-minimum salaried players, since this is the time of year that everyone moans and wails about the payroll of the team (and I wonder why, given the headlines coming from the PD), can we please remember how the tear-down and ramp-up of the Indians (by this very Front Office) happened from 2002 to 2005 as the Indians pared back payroll while they loaded up on cost-controlled, similarly-aged players that would…wait for it…arrive and mature together with the idea that they could peak as a playoff team?
Lest you forgot, just to look at that tear-down and the beginning of the ramp-up, here is the Team Record and Payroll from 2002 to 2004:
2002 – 74-88 / $78.9M
Very quickly, compare those to what we’ve seen the last two years (in terms of records and payrolls) and what this year’s payroll figures to settle in at:
2011 – ??-?? / $48.4M
Back in 2004, the Indians began to identify which of their league-minimum salaried players were worthy of receiving long-term contracts and began to lock those players up accordingly, buying out years of FA in exchange for financial security. As those players accumulated more service time and as their salary numbers escalated, the Indians have had sequentially higher payrolls, but that doesn’t mean that the team jumped from a $34M payroll to a $70M payroll as the team record improved.
To wit, that 2005 team that finished with 93 wins had a $41.5M payroll (or lower than this year’s projected payroll) and that 2007 team that was one game away from the World Series? It was a $61.7M payroll or about $200K more than last year’s 2010 team…seriously.
While it may seem like I’m getting sidetracked, it actually speaks to the strategy at hand here - load up on the youngsters, identify which ones are going to be “core” players and sign them to deals that buy up years of their FA. That’s what the Indians did in the early-to-mid-1990s, it’s what they did in the early-to-mid-2000s, and it’s what they’re attempting to do in the early-to-mid-2010s.
Back in 1993, nobody knew what Jim Thome or Manny Ramirez or Al Belle or Omar Vizquel were going to become just as nobody knew who Victor Martinez or CC Sabathia or Grady Sizemore would turn into when it was 2003. Sure, there were hopes and aspirations, but short of being able to look deeply into the future, any assertions of “sure” things were folly because of how much can go right or wrong with prospects in baseball. Perhaps Manny was a generational talent and CC was an obvious ace, but it took a while (for CC at least) to establish himself as a consistent presence for the Indians and the answer as to whether he was ever going to “figure it out” didn’t come quickly.
Not many people care to remember this while CC pitches for the Evil Empire, but if you combine the numbers for CC’s 2004 and 2005 seasons, you come to a 4.07 ERA (105 ERA+) as CC had not yet realized how to pitch, something that would come about around the middle of June of 2006 (he had a 4.18 ERA in mid-June of that year) and lead to his evolution into the dominant frontline starter.
Of course, it’s fair to ask whether there are players on the Indians’ roster that generate the kind of excitement that CC did back then?
Probably not (although Pomeranz is certainly generating some heavy breathing), but the point to injecting CC’s numbers from 2004 and 2005 in there is to assert that the answers aren’t going to come quickly for the current batch of Tribe youngsters, although 2011 should start to provide some answers. If we’re starting with Santana, Choo, and CF Perez as potential “core” members based on their 2010 performances, what the Indians need is for other players to emerge here as more than complementary parts and to show some sort of potential as elite players. If you’ll remember that mid-to-late-2000s team was built, the team that emerged in 2007 was ostensibly built was around a couple of elite players complemented by pieces and parts, young and old.
Arguments could be made with the pros and cons that Asdrubal could become a “core” player and an argument could be made that Asdrubal should have already established himself as more than a complementary piece, but injuries and inconsistency have plagued him. Perhaps 2011 is the year that he actually flashes the leather that earned him his “slick-fielding” reputation and can replicate the success that he enjoyed at the plate in 2009, but Cabrera (who, like Choo, is club-controlled THROUGH 2013…as it stands right now) is far from alone in having potential, if not consistent production.
The once high hopes for Matt MaTola have taken a considerable hit, something that hasn’t been lost on a couple of hacks as well as Terry Pluto, who all pointed out the importance of MaTola on this team going forward. Maybe MaTola shows why he was a universally well-regarded prospect when he was moved or maybe he moves into placeholder (or worse) territory. Honestly, you could go up and down the roster and see a glass half-full and a glass half-empty situation for most of these young players, just as easily as you can see the overflowing glass and the completely empty cup for guys like Carrasco and Masterson, just to name a couple.
But the only way that the answers will come on some of these guys is through their performance in MLB and, even then, there’s no guarantee that they become the cornerstones that the Indians hope so badly they will become. However, it’s important to remember that the 2004 team had an infield of Broussard, Belliard, Vizquel, and Blake with an outfield that included both Matt Lawton and Jody Gerut, so the emergence of players in 2011 doesn’t have to be unilateral and overwhelming.
Very simply, the Indians need one or two players to emerge as pillars of the lineup (other than Choo and Santana) this year to at least show that a bright future is ahead for the offense. Let’s all remember that Victor and Hafner established themselves in 2004 with Sizemore not arriving for a year after those two to form the troika that would pace the Tribe’s offense at its peak in the late-2000s.
With that knowledge, isn’t it more obvious that the Indians need a just a couple of other players (and it could come next year if you want to use the Sizemore 2005 comparison…ahem, The Chiz and Kipnis), as they could have two of the more effective hitters in MLB this year in the middle of their lineup. If you think that’s hyperbole, realize that in the Marcel Projections for the 2011 season, The BLC has the 11th highest projected wOBA with Santana not far behind with the 28th highest projected wOBA in all of MLB. Those are cornerstones that you could build a lineup around.
In the near-term Sizemore is a question mark as it is fairly obvious that the Indians will cut ties with Hafner when his contract runs out at the end of next season (if not earlier), but one (or both) of those players re-capturing some level of their past success would go a long way to an easier transition to seeing some of those players establish themselves into legitimate contributors for the next decade.
Already I can hear it – sure, Choo and Santana look great, but that mid-to-late-2000s team was built on starting pitching, and that just isn’t on this roster.
You’re not going to hear an argument here that those teams were built on a strong rotation, but the recent performances of CC and Lee have colored the memories of those players as those 2004 and 2005 teams emerged. The truth is that CC and Westbrook were the best starting pitchers of those teams as they matured and represented the only two “core” pitchers from 2004 to 2007. You could say that Lee was a “core” player from 2004 to 2007 if you’d like, but you’d be wrong as he posted a 4.76 ERA (92 ERA+) over those four seasons and really only had one excellent season among those four, a body of work that Westbrook (4.07 ERA, 108 ERA+ over 4 seasons) far outpaced over the same timeframe.
Regardless (and back to this team), the questions remain as to whether Carmona continue to rebound with Carrasco emerging going to be a pleasant (if inconsistently pleasant) surprise this year. If they’re able to do that it provides the Indians with some level of stability at the top of the rotation…but it’s just as easy to see Carmona hitting a plateau and CarCar being done in by home runs. Hope may exist that Masterson can evolve into a innings-eating middle-of-the-rotation starter, but fear is just as prevalent that he’s going to end up in the bullpen, even if it strengthens the back-end of a burgeoning bullpen.
In a piece on the Indians’ rotation from Anthony Castrovince, he takes a clear look at the Tribe starters going forward and this comparable for Al White caught my eye:
A more applicable expectation would be for him to emerge as a Jake Westbrook type who can give you a ton of quick innings and routinely deliver double-digit wins. While it's a little less sexy, there is, obviously, a lot of value in that type of talent.
As AC writes, there is “a lot of value in that type of talent” and if White projects as that groundball specialist who sits in the middle of the rotation, that proved to be an important role filled by Westbrook in the mid-to-late-2000s and as much as people want to see White as a 1st Rounder heading to the top of the rotation, if he could settle into a Jake Westbrook-type role going forward…the Indians would welcome it.
At this point however, it’s all projection with “answers” coming from opinions and not from actual MLB innings pitched…and you know what?
If the Indians come out of 2011 with Carmona, Carrasco, and White as potential “core” players, then 2011 is a rousing success, win-loss record be damned.
That being said, I’m not going to sit here and say that Player X or Player Y – position player or pitcher – is going to emerge in 2011 because the roster is flush with guys that could (operative word) accelerate their development and establish themselves, but who could just as easily get stuck in neutral or go in reverse. I’d love to say that C. Perez and Sipp are poised to lock down the 8th and 9th innings for the next few years, but I’ve learned enough about bullpens in the last few years to know that I know nothing about predicting the effectiveness of relievers.
All told, what the Indians need this season is a couple of players to emerge as legitimate “core” players and some level of advancement needs to be seen because, as Swydan adroitly pointed out in the Fangraphs piece, the Indians need “to make the jump from paper champions to producing on the field” which is something that group of young players did in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. While every fan remembers the tear-down of 2008 and, more acutely, 2009, the build-up has somehow slipped everyone’s mind and the evolution from a team that “featured” Broussard, Lawton, Jason Davis, and others into a 93-win team in 2005 came when the potential of certain players became legitimate production for those players.
Entering this season, that’s the thing to watch all year as the potential within this current group needs to become production that can be counted on going forward. Where it’s going to come from is anyone’s guess, but standing at the precipice of the 2011 season, we’re about to find out…starting this Friday.
Indians Interludes
As has been the custom in these parts for the past few years, a sure sign that the Indians’ season is not far off (and yes, that is Rocco Scotti belting it out at old Municipal) comes in the annual suggestions for At-Bat Music for the individual Indians’ players. The complete list of suggestions through the years can be accessed via last year’s piece, when I was joined in my song suggestions by Anthony Castrovince (which had a certain angle that should have come as no surprise to anyone who has read AC), who later provided the actual list of songs that players used as a form of introduction.
Since this has the possibility to get away from me, I’m going to keep it with players that are assumed to be in either the Opening Day lineup/rotation/bullpen or whose omission from the Opening Day lineup/rotation/bullpen is caused only by injury, with the idea that they’ll take the majority of PA at a particular position once healthy. Thus, as much as I’d like to include Cake’s “Sick of You” for a particular former 1st Round Pick and perennial 4th OF with a proclivity for circuitous routes to balls in the outfield and as much as I’d like to use a song titled “Schism” for Dave Huff, which puts what is between him and the organization into some proper context, those are not included in the following suggestions.
Additionally, I’m not even going to pile on Jensen Lewis in the body of the piece by suggesting (while providing the YouTube link) that he should use Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” because the opening lines to the song (“I used to rule the world / Seas would rise when I gave the word / Now in the morning I sleep alone / Sweep the streets I used to own”) lay out a pretty accurate portrayal of Lewis’ journey from 2007 and the last few months of 2008 – when he was the Indians’ closer – to clearing waivers and starting the season in Columbus.
Instead, for the purposes of (relative) brevity, I’ll simply go around the diamond (with the May 1st lineup, not the April 1st one), then into the assumed rotation and through the assumed bullpen…saving it all up for the big finish by “closing” it out strong.
So break out the pitch pipe and let the music fill the air…
Carlos Santana – “Welcome to the Terrordome”, Public Enemy
It is not lost on me that the Indians’ backstop shares a name with one of the more famous guitarists of all time (remember, I call him “The Axe Man”), but I’ll come clean and admit that I’ve been waiting for an absolute monster offensive prospect to emerge for the Indians to suggest this classic PE track. While the easy out is to suggest some clean guitar riff from the Tribe C’s namesake, Santana should be striding to the plate with a tone-setting beat and with the ferocity of Chuck D, welcoming everyone to the Terrordome.
Matt LaPorta – “How Soon is Now”, The Smiths
Matt MaTola turned 26 in January and, having played a total of 162 MLB games, simply has not yet shown that he is capable of the offensive production that was hoped for when he was the centerpiece of the CC deal 2 ½ years ago. While Morrissey never actually utters the words that serve as the title to The Smiths’ most popular tune, it certainly serves as a quick way to ask the question on everyone’s mind about MaTola. And if the title doesn’t convey feeling well enough, how about this verse: “When you say it’s going to happen “now” / well what exactly does that mean? / See I’ve already waited too long / and all my hope is gone”.
For LaPorta, 2011 may represent a last chance at saving that hope…
The OC – “Hold On”, Wilson Phillips
And now, this year’s winner of the “Ryan Garko Memorial Song” is…UNCLE ORLANDO! Bestowed annually upon the player who best personifies the “placeholder” status that Ryan Garko carried so well during his years as a Cleveland Indian, Cabrera has been selected to be accompanied by the harmonies of Wilson Phillips when striding to the plate. With Cord Phelps and Jason Kipnis perhaps joining the Indians at some point this year, the veteran (signed to a $1.3M deal that the Indians wouldn’t have too much trouble eating) just has to live by that mantra to “hold on for one more day”.
Asdrubal Cabrera – “Waiting for the Man”, Velvet Underground
Some time ago, Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus asserted that if looking at Cabrera’s numbers in 2009 “doesn’t scream ‘future star’ to you, check your ears” and while Cabrera’s 2010 became a completely lost season, the idea that the “future star” potential is still there for Cabrera is one of the more promising aspects of the 2011 season. That said, Cabrera has to show in 2011 that he can be “the Man” both offensively and defensively to re-establish himself as a “future star” and until he can show that, we’ll keep “waiting”.
Jason Donald – “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, AC/DC
Did anyone else notice last year that Donald’s uniform is perpetually dirty, either because he’s diving around the infield when nobody’s looking or simply pulling the old Little League trick (picking up some dirt and wiping it on your shirt to make it look like you’ve had an active game), and because of that, this anthem from the Australian rockers fits Donald. Oh, and he’s getting paid the league minimum…you know, “dirt cheap”.
Grady Sizemore – “Break on Through (To the Other Side)”, The Doors
We’ve seen Grady, the erstwhile superstar, and Grady, the hobbled shell of his former self. Now as he stands at the edge of his final year of guaranteed money, with the future of his career in the balance as he recovers from microfracture surgery, it certainly would be nice if Grady could “break on through (to the other side)”, even if it means a breakthrough into effectiveness, if not a glorious return to the AL’s elite.
The BLC – “Nightrain”, Guns N’ Roses
Sure, you could go with “Runnin’ with the Devil” from Van Halen in…um, honor of Choo’s agent of choice or “Train Kept a Rollin’” from Aersomith, but there is no better riff that I can think of to get across that SS Choo is “loaded like a freight train / flyin’ like an aeroplane” carrying the Tribe offense for “one more time tonight”.
Mike Brantley – “Rolling in the Deep”, Adele
The song begins with the soulful voice of Adele crying out that, “there’s a fire starting in my heart / reaching a fever pitch and it’s bring me out the dark” and for Brantley – who will turn 24 in mid-May and has yet to display that he projects as a legitimate everyday MLB player – let’s hope that Brantley’s about to come “out the dark” while he’s “rolling in the deep” recesses of the green grass at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
Travis Hafner – “The Good Life”, Weezer
Umm…cue the lyrics because we would take this guy – used to be known as Pronk –back:
And I don’t wanna be an old man anymore
It’s been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night
It’s time I got back to the good life
It’s time I got back, it’s time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back, yeah!
Fausto Carmona – “Tighten Up”, The Black Keys
Look past the unbelievably thunderous drumming from Patrick Carney or the ripping riffs and haunting vocals from Dan Carney and even look past that this duo is from Akron when realizing how perfect this is for Fausto. Just check these lines – “When I was young and moving fast / nothing slowed me down, oh, slowed me down / Now I let the others pass / because I’ve come around, oh, come around cause I’ve found” – and hope that maybe Fausto has “found” himself again.
Justin Masterson – “Mudfootball”, Jack Johnson
If there is a more laid-back, happy go-lucky player in MLB, I’d like to be introduced to him as every interview with Masterson involves a toothy smile, a “happy to be here” tone, and usually some intonation of how “blessed” he is to be where he is. Given his island roots (OK, he was just born in Jamaica and spent his formative years in Indiana and outside of Dayton), the musings of Jack Johnson over some guitar strums and some steel drums is a nice accompaniment for Masterson.
Carlos Carrasco – “Animal”, Neon Trees
The chorus to this ditty goes “Oh oh, I want some more…oh oh, what are you waiting for” and while the song obviously is not meant to be sung to a just-24-year-old Venezuelan RHP, what Carrasco was able to accomplish at the end of 2010 certainly makes the chorus applicable to what most Tribe fans would like to see out of CarCar this year – basically more of that. As for what he’s waiting for, let’s just hope its Kyle Drabek to be in MLB for an extended period of time as well so he can prove to the skeptics that he was the perennial top Phillies’ prospect for a reason.
Mitch Talbot – “Unleash the Fury”, Tom Green
Holding over from last year’s suggestions because I will not rest until this goes into heavy rotation at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario on the big screen, Tom Green intermittently strumming a guitar and screaming at Mitch to “Unleash the Fury” should be played on loop whenever Talbot takes the mound for the Tribe.
Josh Tomlin – “Tuff Enuff”, The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Long ago, a VHS tape called “Superstars” fused music and sports like never before and one of my favorite videos highlighted NBA players that were overlooked or undervalued because of their size or what they COULDN’T do on a basketball court. Since it ran in stark comparison to, say, the ‘Nique Wilkins video, the little guys’ video (which included Mark Price) spoke to the scrappy point guard that I saw in the mirror everyday as a 6th grader. Like the group of players in that video, Tomlin is an undervalued, often overlooked commodity who has done everything that the Indians have asked of him and finds himself still fighting for his 6” in MLB…which is the width of the pitching rubber at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, among other places.
Vinnie Pestano – “Running Down a Dream”, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Of course, “Woke Up This Morning” (The Sopranos opening theme song) is the easy one here given Vincent William Pestano’s…um, heritage, but Pestano sprints in from the bullpen like he can’t wait to grab the ball. We all remember the last Indian to do that (John Rocker…in case you don’t remember) and how absurdly great his entrance to the field was, even if his pitching was memorable for all of the wrong reasons. For Pestano, the first guitar chord of the classic Tom Petty song should provide all the motivation for the 20th Round Draft Pick (hence the “dream” part) to get to the pitcher’s mound.
Frank Herrmann – “Paid in Full”, Eric B. & Rakim
A vastly underrated song from a largely forgotten duo from the late 80s/early 90s provides the walking music for Herrmann, who holds a degree in economics from Harvard and who once interned on Wall Street. While most of his Crimson classmates were off making hay in the world of high finance, there’s no question that Herrmann spent many nights on buses in the minor leagues just (as Rakim asserts), “Thinkin’ of a master plan / ‘Cuz ain’t nuthin’ but sweat inside my hand / So I dig deep in my pocket, all my money is spent…Thinkin’ how I could get some dead Presidents”. With an MLB salary likely in his sights, finally Herrmann will get some “dead Presidents”…just not via the route that most Harvard econ majors come about them.
Tony Sipp – “Voodoo Chile”, Jimi Hendrix
Since Sipp hails from Pascagoula, Mississippi and while “Born on the Bayou” by CCR is probably the more obvious selection here, I’m thinking that the opening riff of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” is better served to set the mood for a late-inning reliever. Considering that Sipp’s hometown is less than two hours from The Big Easy, I’ll parlay that “Voodoo” from N’Awlins into a killer introduction for the Indians’ burgeoning set-up man.
Rafael Perez – “Sound of Silence”, Simon and Garfunkel
To my knowledge, Perez has never given an interview to the assembled press corps and, while he may be more comfortable coming out of the bullpen to complete silence (or maybe the sound of crickets chirping), I’d prefer the soft singing of Paul and Art which, of course call to mind the classic Frank the Tank tranquilizer/fall in the pool scene from “Old School”.
Chris F. Perez – “Guerrilla Radio”, Rage Against the Machine
As much as I like my suggestion last year of “Black Betty” to continue the comparison between Kenny F. Powers and Chris F. Perez, the Indians’ closer NEEDS a song from the band that is so full of rage that it serves as the first word in the band’s name. This particular cut from the anger that is Rage finishes out with a stream of screaming
“Lights Out, Guerrilla Radio…turn that $#!+ up!”
Yeah, that’s an appropriate tone-setter for the onset of Pure Rage to start the 9th…
There you have it…
As always, sync up your iPods with the proper music listed so, if nothing else, you can make your own “walk-in” music for the players from the comfort of your home…or at least your mother’s basement.
A Lazy Sunday at the Hot Corner…Again
The Madness of March is upon us and while I’m not going to be the guy to tell you that I had Richmond in the Sweet 16 (even if I just did, a move prompted by watching them thump my beloved Dayton Flyers in the A-10 Championship), no sports fan worth his salt can say that this isn’t the most enjoyable time of the year for sports. We all stay up late, watching teams that we’ve never seen or cared about before – but find ourselves cheering for because we picked them in a bracket – while spending our weekends teaching our 4-year-olds why a young man goes by the name “Jimmer”.
Obviously, I’m not immune to this Madness and given that The DiaBride’s family hails from The Cream City, I spent my Friday night at The Q cheering on MY Marquette Warriors (and yes, I’m aware that some refer to them as “Golden Eagles”) against the hated Xavier Musketeers (hey, I’m a UD grad…what do you expect) after battling through what was probably the largest non-St. Paddy’s Day or Opening Day crowd I’ve ever seen in downtown Cleveland. Speaking of Opening Day, we now sit less than two weeks away from the beginning of April and the beginning of the Tribe season and with that, let’s get loose on a Lazy Sunday…
The news of the week broke yesterday afternoon and it obviously concerns the never-ending soap opera that is 3B as a CT scan revealed a small crack in the bone of Jason Donald’s left hand, which will sideline him past Opening Day with the current plans putting him in rehab games in “early April”.
And like sands through the hourglass…
Though this obviously represents a tough break (pun intended) for Donald, who was thought to have a few months at 3B to himself, the conversation turns (once again) to the Opening Day 3B…just when that topic was supposed to have been put to bed. While that “Opening Day 3B” designation is largely a symbolic one (as Donald’s injury could only sideline him until mid-April or so, until you consider that this is the Indians), the options that seem to be there in Donald’s place comes down to Jack Hannahan and Luis Valbuena. I’m not counting Sonny Nix because…well, because he’s not a good 3B and has been playing 2B all Spring and I’m not including The Chiz because…well, I’ll get to that.
That said, if the legitimate options are Louie the Fifth and Hannahan, it’s actually more than possible that the Indians could carry both IF out of Goodyear with Valbuena’s ability to play multiple positions around the infield making him better suited to fill the utility role, one he may be filling for the majority of the year for the Tribe. If that’s the case with Valbuena as the Futility IF, that leaves us with Jack Hannahan and while the comparison has been made (poorly) that Jack Hannahan may be another Casey Blake, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and realize that Hannahan, who is now 31, has posted these two lines at the two highest levels of competition:
Hannahan – MLB
.224 BA / .311 OBP/ .347 SLG in 981 PA in 290 games
Hannahan – AAA
.269 BA / .370 OBP / .412 SLG in 1,660 PA in 405 games
For a point of reference, when Casey Blake debuted with the Indians in 2003, he had accumulated these lines as a 29-year-old looking to break in with the Tribe:
Blake – MLB
.232 BA / .304 OBP / .339 SLG in 125 PA in 49 games
Blake – AAA
Wait, you say…those MLB numbers look similar.
Well yes, until you see that Hannahan has put up those lines over 290 MLB games and Blake’s came in only 49 MLB games. The other BIG difference between the two comes in their AAA SLG as Blake had shown power in AAA (65 HR in 440 games) whereas Hannahan (37 career AAA HR in 405 games there) simply has not. If Blake was a surprise at the plate in 2003 (and thereafter), his AAA numbers showed that he had the ability to hit (particularly with some power), even if he hadn’t had the chance to show it in MLB on an extended basis. Hannahan, on the other hand, has had extensive opportunities in MLB to hold down a 3B job and simply hasn’t as his offensive numbers simply haven’t justified his inclusion in an everyday lineup.
That’s not to say that Hannahan is worthless as his glove has always been his calling card. Since defensive metrics (UZR, Zone Rating, dWAR) are still a work in progress and usually contradict each other, I’m not going to assert any measure of Hannahan’s ability in the field by citing those. Rather, I’ll point out that in the two seasons in which he was a full-time 3B for the Athletics, he was rated as the 4th best fielding 3B by John Dewan’s Fielding Bible voting in 2008, following that up with an 8th place finish in 2009.
Not bad, right?
Now remember how the Indians have a bunch of groundball pitchers with more coming and how the Tribe’s infield defense last years was positively abysmal?
Well, if we’re talking about a stop-gap to await the return for the previously thought-of “stop-gap” at 3B (Donald), the Indians should go with Hannahan out of the gate and hope that Donald’s hand heals quickly which would allow them to get back to the original infield alignment that was assumed when Spring Training started.
Already I can hear it – really, Jack Hannahan?
Not sure if you’ve heard about this guy that was tearing up the Cactus League…plays 3B, known simply as The Chiz?
Yes, I’m aware of The Chiz, but the argument from this space last weekend still holds true (despite the now-embarrassing level of attempted controversy by the city’s only remaining paper in terms of rabble-rousing on this Chisenhall thing), and it’s worth inserting this piece from MLB Trade Rumors on this whole delaying FA thing just to get the facts straight and to provide some MLB context:
The best recent example of a possible intentional free agency postponement is the Rays’ Evan Longoria, who started the ‘08 season at Triple-A and spent 13 days there before making his big league debut. He ended up accruing 170 days of service time in ‘08, two days short of a full year. Rays players were unhappy when Longoria was reassigned, but executive vice president Andrew Friedman said service time considerations were “virtually irrelevant” in their decision because the Rays expected to sign the third baseman long-term.
The Rays managed to lock Longoria up to an unprecedented contract less than a week after his debut. But in that contract, 2014 represents his first free agent year, when it would have been 2013 had he broken camp with the team. As it stands, Longoria gave the team club options on three free agent years. Had he been called up a few days earlier, the contract might only allow for options through 2015 instead of ‘16.
As a quick aside before getting to the bolded portion, does that quote that “service time considerations were ‘virtually irrelevant’ in their decision” sound familiar, in terms of what has been coming out of Chris Antonetti’s mouth recently with The Chiz talk?
Of course it does, but if you’re taking Antonetti at his word on that (or believe what Friedman said about Longoria), then you’re not understanding how this thing works. Seriously, what does anyone expect any MLB Front Office to say, given the outrage from the Players Union and even a likely disciplinary action that would ensue if Antonetti came out and explained the player control aspect of the decision with Chisenhall?
Nevertheless, what’s most interesting (other than that this was done by everyone’s darling right now in terms of how to run an MLB franchise – the Rays) is that last part which was admittedly bolded by me. Remember that bit last week about the Indians when I wrote that “if his final year of club control is 2017 and the Indians approach Chisenhall at some point in the next couple of years to give him guaranteed money while buying out FA years (as has been their modus operandi), those FA years start a year later and the Indians would be controlling a player like The Chiz even longer into his career”?
Yeah, that…
That being said, this isn’t to assert that Lonnie Chisenhall is Evan Longoria because he isn’t (and this is a great read from Tony Lastoria as he relays the views of an opposing scout on The Chiz and MANY others) and the likelihood of the Indians offering The Chiz “an unprecedented contract” less than a week after his debut is both non-existent and imprudent for the team. While The Chiz’s future certainly holds promise, the facts laid out here last week as to why he shouldn’t be the Opening Day 3B still hold true, even if it means a few weeks of Jack Hannahan until Jason Donald’s hand fully heals.
Yet, despite all of the logic and prudence that may exist with The Chiz not starting the season in Cleveland, don’t think that the drumbeat for a highly-touted prospect to be on the Opening Day roster is unique to Cleveland. As Craig Calcaterra points out at Hardball Talk, it’s happening out in San Francisco with Brandon Belt…and that’s just one instance that happened to catch my eye.
Of course, that “drumbeat” will only grow stronger as Opening Day approaches and with every PA by Jack Hannahan in April that doesn’t result in a base hit. Of course, service time and player control issues aside with The Chiz, Jordan Bastian nailed The Chiz situation (Donald or no Donald) earlier in the week when he asserted that, “anyone surprised by Chisenhall being cut hasn’t been paying attention. You don’t make an OD roster with no AAA experience & 27 spring ABs.”
That said, don’t mistake this call for The Chiz to start the season in Columbus as justification for keeping Chisenhall down in Columbus into July if he’s absolutely crushing the ball while Donald’s injury persists. There is a point in the season in which Chisenhall (hopefully) has proven his worth in Columbus (and remember, that’s not guaranteed) and the Indians should look at him as their best option for 3B, once service time and performance questions are out of the way.
Prudence and patience are admirable, obstinance is not…
Nevertheless, how this infield situation eventually plays out (and I’m not just talking into this June) is going to be extremely interesting to watch simply because of the sheer volume of legitimate options that seem to exist above the AA level. Earlier in the week, Antonetti was quoted on the infield options, putting this on the tape recorder:
“The way we look at it organizationally, it’s a good problem to have to have too many quality players, with too few positions. To the extent we can do that consistently, we’ll be in a really good place, organizationally. With respect to our Triple-A team and how that plays out, we’ll have to take some time in the next few weeks to determine the best alignment of players.”
His usage of “the next few weeks” is interesting to me as SO much emphasis is placed on Opening Day lineup/roster, it really pushes the big-picture into the background, as insane as that may sound. By that I mean that Indians’ fans are interested to see who’s playing where at the beginning of April as if it provides some glimpse into the future of the team more than any other point in the season when it does not.
You know what I’m interested to see?
What the infield looks like on the 4th of July or, better yet, at the end of the season, with the players sorting themselves out through their own performance instead of being sorted out by 27 Spring Training AB or projections or crusades in the local media to sell more papers or create controversy when none, in fact, exists. There’s a very real possibility that the infield by the end of the season could be Nick Johnson, Cord Phelps, Asdrubal, and Donald…how’s that sound?
While some of that would be seen as progress for guys like Cord Phelps or Jason Donald, the performances of no less than seven players (LaPorta, Kipnis, Phelps, Valbuena, Cabrera, Donald, and Chisenhall) who legitimately could assert themselves as potential long-term members of the Indians are going to affect what the Indians do in the infield alignment going forward. And you know how many people know how all of this is going to shake out as we sit here in mid-March?
None, as it could be so many different combinations of players (where does Phelps fit, what if Kipnis or The Chiz struggle, who gets hurt) by the end of the season that taking a guess is just throwing darts blindly at the board. Sure, I’d like to sit here and say that LaPorta, Kipnis, Cabrera, and The Chiz will be the infield at the end of the season with Donald and Phelps on the roster, meaning that the best-laid plans have gone off flawlessly, but the reality of MLB is that the only certainty about the future is its uncertainty, particularly with young players.
Some of these guys are going to establish themselves and others are going to fall off the radar, and that process is not just going to happen this year. Back in 2009, Luis Valbuena posted a .714 OPS as a 23-year-old middle infielder with 25 2B in just 103 games; today, Louie the Fifth is relegated to Utility IF or “stopgap” status less than two years later, despite being just turning 25 last November. Anyone want to check where Josh Barfield is these days?
While the Indians may point to an embarrassment of riches in terms of infielders the fact is that not everyone is going to pan out as expected and this injury to Jason Donald (and here is an absolute must-read from Andrew Humphries at LGT challenging the universally accepted narrative that the Indians were rooked in the CP Lee deal) is just another example of how out-of-control factors play a role in the development of certain players. Maybe Donald’s injury amounts to just a few weeks missed, but he certainly seems to have been walking under ladders with black cats in his path over the last few years.
That said, what the Indians have built up at the higher levels of their organization is finally some depth that allows them to fill their infield with internal options and as memories of Ronnie Belliard playing short RF and Aaron Boone whiffing his way out of Cleveland fill most of our heads, the notion that they could finally be past adding veterans to fill holes in the infield may be coming. While I realize that the previous statement is an odd one to make with The OC scheduled to be the Opening Day 2B and with “that pederast” Hannahan looking like the 3B, the idea that the Indians “could finally be past adding veterans to fill holes in the infield” hasn’t arrived just yet.
Sure, it may be coming sometime in July (after Hannahan’s tenure is but a memory and when Uncle Orlando moves on), but the infield depth in the organization is pretty obvious to the point that they can move onto Plan B or even Plan C at 2B and 3B throughout this season. It’s no secret that the infield has been a major problem for the Indians, but between Phelps, Donald, Kipnis, and The Chiz, they should be able to find a suitable 2B, 3B, and Utility IF (with Valbuena thrown in there as a wild card) for the next five to six years. All of these guys are pretty much slotted in for spots around the infield this year and beyond and, if the “Lesson of the 2004 Media Guide Cover” (with Milt Bradley, Jody Gerut, and Jason Davis) taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected with a young team. That 2004 team won 80 games with Milt Bradley in LA, with Jody Gerut posting the lowest OPS+ among regulars, and with Jason Davis pitching his way out of the Indians’ plans. What made up for those players’ struggles were contributions coming from what could have been considered unlikely sources when the 2004 season began.
As we sit here in mid-March, attempting to guess which of these players are going to play major roles in the next incarnation of what we hope will be a contending team, what’s past is prologue and there is a great line at the end of what was a pretty fair overview of the off-season at MLB Trade Rumors that stated that the Indians are “stocked at both the lower and upper levels of the minors” going further to say that, “this is a club that will get better in a hurry, even if 2011 is not the year.”
That may not be music to the ears of Clevelanders staring an NFL lockout in the face and with their NBA team setting records for ineptitude (and caring less while doing it), but pieces should start to emerge in 2011 as they did in 1993 and in 2004. While the emergence of those pieces may not immediately translate to winning, it should get the team closer to that goal. To reach that goal, the Indians need to start drawing some conclusions on their young players – based on MLB performance – and the infield situation this season provides a microcosm of the Indians’ future in terms of talented youngsters having a shot this season to insert themselves into the team’s future plans.
Which youngsters those are however, is anyone’s guess…
Jon & Paul Plus Baseball: What Will Mike Be Like?
Since the news out of Goodyear has slowed to a trickle in recent days – what with no updates as to whether Lonnie Chisenhall will be feeding the masses with fishes and loaves or if he’s merely turning water into wine – let’s take another diversion into the ol’ Jon & Paul Plus Baseball series. On today’s menu for Jon Steiner of WFNY and I is a player that DID make the Indians’ out of Spring Training last year, only to see his 2010 season speed downhill at an astonishing rate – Mike Brantley. Now 2 ½ years into his tenure as an Indian, Brantley enters 2011 as the de facto LF (after he takes some time in CF while Sizemore continues to rehab) and the question for Brantley now becomes what can be reasonably expected of him and whether that is good enough to put him among the potential “core” players going forward for the Tribe:
PAUL: For as much attention has been paid to many of the young Tribe players and the steps forward that they need to take this season to prove themselves as potential “core” players to the next incarnation of what many hope can be a contending team, Mike Brantley seems to be falling under the radar this Spring despite major red flags that flew up all around him in his extended time in MLB last season.
Given that Brantley turns 24 in mid-May and that (during the stretch of time at the end of the season in which he “improved” after his final call-up) he posted a .332 OBP in the last two months of the season, why I shouldn’t be concerned about the assumption that Brantley will eventually slide seamlessly into the top of the Indians’ batting order?
JON: I’m not sure “seamlessly” is the word I would use. Perhaps “forcibly inserted”?
I don’t believe that Michael Brantley is going to be a great player. I don’t even believe he’s a particularly great fielder: while his arm is certainly better than Grady’s and his reads are better than Trevor Crowe’s, that’s sort of damning with faint praise if you ask me.
No. Brantley won’t be great. But he can be good.
I wrote a piece months ago (feels like years, I promise) where I compared Brantley’s skills to those of Brett Gardner. Basically, both are speedsters whose value will be determined in three ways: (1) getting on base at a reasonably above average rate--let’s say .340 or higher; (2) stealing bases with a success rate of more than 75%; and (3) playing good defense in a corner OF spot.
Last season, Gardner did all of those things, and--believe or not--was the Yankees’ second most valuable position player.
I think when we expect Brantley to be Sizemore-redux, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment. He doesn’t have the power, the range, or the OBP skill. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be a valuable player though.
PAUL: I don’t think the Sizemore-redux is a hope held by any reasonable person given the obvious differences between the two, but the Brantley that you describe (and it’s not a description I disagree with) sounds closer to a “complementary piece” and his struggles since being elevated to MLB (and I know it’s early) don’t elicit confidence that he’s much more. Given LaPorta’s initial struggles, that’s kind of a frightening thought in terms of the CC return.
That said, realizing Gardner’s value last year, am I just under-emphasizing those kinds of contributions from a player? In this Brave New World that we find ourselves (post-steroid) in MLB, is a player like Brantley (or Gardner) more valuable than a cursory glance would suggest?
Of more immediate and specific interest, will Mike Brantley be more than bottom-of-the-lineup fodder or is there a chance that he develops into the legitimate lead-off hitter that many envisioned when he was tabbed at the PTBNL?
JON: Make no mistake: the Brantley I described is an everyday player--steriod era or not. The question is whether he can ever reach that potential, and I think you’re right to question it.
We think (we don’t know) that Brantley is an average center fielder, which would make him a well above average left fielder. We also think (we don’t know) that he can be a good base stealer. That’s two of three. Unfortunately, those are the easy two.
The third component is going to be his ability to get on base. For a guy with absolutely no power, he’s going to have to get on base around 35% of the time to stick as a starter. The good news is that throughout the minors, his OBP was an incredible .388. The bad news is that we haven’t seen any of that plate discipline translate to the Big Leagues yet. The good news is he’s only 23--a long way from reaching his offensive peak. The bad news is that his OBP has gone down considerably every time he’s jumped a level: from .426 in rookie ball, to .406 in A, to .382 in AA, to .367 in AAA. The good news is that he seems a good, hardworking kid. The bad news is that the minors are littered with good, hardworking kids who just can’t cut it.
Is it possible that he never becomes anything better than a fourth OF? I think so. But if there’s ever a season to throw a guy against the wall just to see what sticks, 2011 will be it.
PAUL: Right, it’s all predicated on his ability to get on base and the one of the most promising aspects of Brantley’s skill set was that he walked more than he struck out in both AA and AAA. Thus far in his MLB career, he’s struck out almost twice as much as he’s walked in 100 MLB games…
Given that Brantley will turn 24 in a couple of months, as much as his continued development may be in there somewhere, there has to be a point when Brantley’s promise (OBP-wise) from the Minors starts to translate to some success in MLB. While 2011 represents a great time to give Brantley pretty much a whole season to figure that out, Brantley was otherworldly bad at the beginning of 2010 for the Indians. Even though it was only 9 games to start the season, he posted a .156 BA / .229 OBP / .188 SLG / .418 OPS that earned him a ticket back to Columbus.
But that was just 9 games, right?
Well, when he returned on the 4th of July, he proceeded to put up a .157 BA / .231 OBP / .214 SLG / .445 over the course of the month of July in 17 games. Again, only 17 games, but the performance was oddly similar and, if Brantley starts out the 2011 season similarly, how long does the team stick with a player – regardless of developmental hope – in their lineup?
JON: Yes. I’m going to be the guy to talk about the small sample size and the potential and the patience.
Part of that is because I think that 23 year olds still have a lot of room to improve, as a general rule. But part of that is because we don’t have someone breathing down Brantley’s neck at the moment to take his job away.
I would argue that there are two “viable” options who will, someday, be competing with Brantley for playing time.
The first is Nick Weglarz, of whom I’m particularly fond. He hits for power and gets on base. His problem has always been health, and until he can stay in the AAA lineup long enough to prove his mettle, he won’t really offer Brantley a challenge. It’s also worth noting that Weglarz and Brantley might play in the same outfield if a certain coffee-mug-toting center fielder were to move on sometime soon.
The second is Zeke Carrera, of whom I know you’re particularly fond. I’ll admit to not knowing much about Zeke, but I get the impression that he’s the only other legitimate option in CF that the Indians have. But here’s the thing: Carrera is the same age as Brantley, with slightly worse minor league numbers. If we think he’s going to succeed, shouldn’t we feel the same about Mike?
PAUL: Well said on “the potential and the patience” of Brantley and it’s beyond hypocritical of me (or anyone) to assert that a guy like Donald (or Carrasco or even Huff) deserves the benefit of the doubt or a long leash while Brantley would not.
You’re right in that there is no other player who figures obviously onto the 25-man that projects to be the OF that Brantley could be over the next 5 years (all under club control) for the Indians. Even if he’s able to simply come close to we saw out of him out of the final 2 months of the season (.292 BA / .332 OBP / .390 SLG / .721 OPS over 211 PA...and that’s an underwhelming body of work), it’s prudent for the Tribe to see if that represents a baseline for Brantley in MLB to improve upon. Just as importantly, they need to find out if that line (horrifyingly) represents his ceiling, or even if that is who he is.
The alternatives out of the gate are...well, Austin Kearns and Travis Buck and finding out what the Indians have in Brantley is far more important than giving PA to Kearns or Buck instead in the interest of an extra win or two in April or May. While the dismissive feelings towards Brantley that “maybe somebody else could do this better” - like Zeke - it becomes that question of whether the alternative is desirable because it represents an upgrade or because it’s simply an alternative.
This season is all about separating the wheat from the chaff and the performances of Brantley (in MLB), Wegz (in AAA and probably MLB), and Zeke (see Wegz) are going to go a long way to determining which player or players (if any) fills a role in this next incarnation of the Indians. Given Sizemore’s contract status, let’s hope that the decisions that the Indians have to make are based on solid performances that force their hand, not underwhelming ones that make them want to turn that hand in for different cards.
Tapping the Brakes on A Lazy Sunday
A Tangle in the Outfield
A Lazy Sunday with Real* Baseball
Tomahawks On The Move
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Opinion ›
Columns ›
Rename SRH to represent the diverse studies within
Photo Credit: Charlie Hyman | Daily Texan Staff
Published on November 26, 2018 at 10:44 pm Last update on November 28, 2018 at 11:24 am
By Emily Caldwell
Sid Williams Richardson was, by and large, a successful Texas businessman. He held stakes in land, cattle and oil, and amassed his million-dollar fortune as a result of the Texas oil boom in the early 20s. He was white, wealthy and eventually a benefactor of UT. As a result, Sid Richardson Hall, near the LBJ Library, was named after him in 1971.
However, the institutions now housed in that building — most notably, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection Library — are too culturally significant to be housed in a building named after some wealthy white oilman who is irrelevant to these studies. Sid Richardson Hall should be renamed because the institutions, resources and materials it houses are not being properly represented under the building’s current name.
SRH also houses the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and part of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, both also impressive and influential institutions whose mere existences speak to the diversity and values of UT. José Montelongo, head of collection development at the Benson Collection Library, he could not speak for the Briscoe Center or the LBJ School but said that the Benson is one of the best libraries for the study of Latin America in the world.
“It is unique and important, not only because of its sheer size — a million volumes either published in Latin America or about Latin America,” Montelongo said. “It has been collecting Latin American materials for almost 100 years.”
Montelongo, who has worked for the Benson for nearly five years, said he’s never heard the name ‘Sid Richardson’ in any other context aside from the name of the building he works in. Throughout all his years of research, work and study, Montelongo has never found a link between Sid Richardson and Latin America.
Sid Richardson does not have any explicit connection to the work being done in this building or the diverse and cultural studies that students within it passionately pursue. The institutions, programs and resources within SRH should be housed in a building with a name that reflects their importance.
Government and Latin American studies junior Stephany Galvan spends a lot of time in SRH — she currently has two classes in the building and meets up with her Latin American studies group there as well. Galvan said the building should be renamed not only because Sid Richardson is no longer relevant to the work being done inside SRH, but because the work being done within LLILAS in particular is worthy of real recognition.
“A lot of things are changing, especially here, and I feel like if we don’t change we’re going to keep on being forgotten inside this building.”
Renaming of SRH is long overdue, and if UT is having trouble coming up with someone who is relevant to LLILAS, the Benson, the Briscoe Center or even the LBJ School to name the building after, they can ask for student, faculty and staff input. This is a perfect opportunity for UT to recognize the hard work being done by institutions that help contribute to the diversity of its campus. Recognition may be the key to their ability to survive and thrive.
Caldwell is a Latin American studies and journalism sophomore from College Station.
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Name: Deon Meyer
First Novel: Dead Before Dying
Most Recent Book: 13 Hours
'...pulsing action, a beautiful setting and a very real set of characters.'
Some say Detective Benny Griessel is a legend. Others say he is nothing but a drunk.
Either way, he has stepped on too many toes over the years ever to reach the top of the promotion ladder. However, as Thirteen Hours opens he is working at staying sober in order to win back his estranged wife and kids, while mentoring the new generation of crime fighters - mixed race, Xhosa and Zulu.
Two crimes demand his attention; a prominent figure in the fledgling South African music industry is murdered and a young American backpacker disappears in Cape Town. The politicians panic. North America is a huge tourist market for the country and this is a situation they do not want to grow into an international news event.
Benny has just thirteen hours to save the girl, save his career, and uncover a conspiracy, which threatens the financial stability of the whole country.
Thirteen Hours opens with a young American girl running away from a group of men with guns. We soon find out that she witnessed the death of her best friend at the hands of these men and she knows if she doesn’t get to safety she will be next. From this rip-roaring start the action never lets up.
Meyer is genius at maintaining the pace at a breakneck speed whilst inserting just enough information about his characters and their world to make the action relevant and the characters totally believable. An excellent example of this is the young girl we see on the run.... Meyer’s portrayal of the character and her dangerous situation very quickly pulls you onside. Barely realising you are being manipulated by a master the reader forges an emotional connection to the young girl and cares a great deal whether or not she makes it to safety.
Griessel is a legend. Sure, the alcoholic detective is a well-worn device but Benny is such a well drawn character that we can forgive and overlook this. An attachment to alcohol aside, he’s a character with a conscience, a strong sense of purpose and an ability to make things happen. One could argue he needs the pull of an addiction or some other form of weakness or he would almost seem too good to be true. His depth is demonstrated by Meyer with carefully chosen, brief set-pieces where he tries to deal with his loved ones, whether that be by phone with his son or on email with his daughter. Hanging over all of this is his efforts to re-build his relationship with his wife. And, again, here the emotional content is strong while you can’t help but feel that despite his best efforts he is going to have to try even harder to make it all work.
The flavour running through the very human stories at the heart of this fine novel is unmistakably African. Meyer demonstrates his affection for his country while highlighting some of the issues that affect it as it works towards re-building, post-apartheid.
Thirteen Hours is a fascinating read that offers pulsing action, a beautiful setting and a very real set of characters. It’s one of those books you finish with regret and then immediately begin searching for more of the author’s work.
Ah, if only I could lay my hands on the full recipe. The list of ingredients is daunting enough: Riveting, rollicking good yarn, edge-of-the-seat suspense, fascinating, three-dimensional characters, captivating setting, a plethora of credible-but-surprising twists and turns, a dash of humour, a splash of pathos, a measure of breaking new ground in the genre, written with skill, finesse and masterful language control ...
The method, the mixing, the stirring, the simmering is where the real mystery lies. (If you know of somebody who owns this latter part of the recipe – I’d kill to get my hands on it ...)
I must admit that I have little knowledge of what is being done to celebrate the quality and diversity of writing in UK and Ireland. However, I am happy to report that crime/thriller fiction is enjoying a similar boom in South Africa, and much is being done to celebrate the writing. In addition to generous media coverage, and an avalanche of invitations to literary and arts festivals, several new crime/thriller literary prizes have been announced in the last year or two.
3) You write in Afrikaans and then have your work translated for the wider market. Is this an easier way for you to work or do you have a deeper purpose?
Yes, it is an easier way for me to work. I find the process of writing pretty difficult – especially the never-ending quest to find just the right word, the perfect pitch - and doing it in a second language would only exacerbate the problem. Having said that, I am proud to be able to make a small contribution to the development of literature in my mother tongue.
4) The main characters in your novels are all fully-fleshed, heroic and believable. Is there a template you work to or do they simply evolve as you work through the story?
Thank you. I spend a lot of time thinking about my main characters, often developing a back-story (which sometimes becomes part of the novel), and try to really to understand them psychologically. But they mostly evolve as the book progresses – perhaps inevitably, because they are constantly confronted by new experiences and dilemmas.
5) Can you remember the moment when you first decided you wanted to be a writer?
Thanks to the huge privilege of having had parents who loved books, my two brothers and I read voraciously from a fairly young age. I must have been about nine years old when the magic finally overwhelmed me, this incredible concept that there were actual people who told stories for a living, who had the ability and the urge and the opportunity to weave wonderful tales for the entertainment of others.
In that moment, I knew that I wanted to become one of them.
6) Your African backdrop becomes almost like an extra character. Was this by accident or by design?
Absolute accident. And unavoidable, I suppose. Once you place your characters in a specific setting, there will always be interaction and mutual influence.
I’d like to believe it is a mixture of both, because ideally, plot and character should be so interwoven that the one can’t exist without the other.
8) In a dream scenario who would you like to direct and star in a film/TV adaptation of your book?
am delighted to be able to report that British director Roger Spottiswood is already attached to the film project, which is pretty much a dream scenario for me. And I’ve been told that actors like Keifer Sutherland, Liam Neeson, Viggo Mortensen and Sharlto Copley are being considered – geniuses all.
9) What is your favourite movie adaptation of all time of a crime/thriller novel?
Probably John le Carré’s ‘The Constant Gardner’.
I am in the fortunate position of having a whole bunch of favourites – just about any of the late Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels (Ten Plus One, Like Love and Doll comes to mind), or John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee books, Michael Connelly’s City of Bones, Report to the Commissioner by James Mills. I relish anything by John le Carré, Douglas Kennedy, Robert Harris, Lee Child, C.J. Box ... Isn’t it a wonderful world?
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Joan Fages
Renewable Energies Entrepeneur and Investor
Mr. Joan Fages, holds a Master in Industrial Engineering from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales of Barcelona having studied an MBA in ESADE Business School (Barcelona), he has developed his professional career in many companies, all of them related to the renewable energies.
Founder of HIDROWATT, S.A. in 1981, the company was in charge of rehabilitating and building Small Hydro Power Plants (SHPP) with an extensive list of projects in Spain and Portugal. The activities involved also biomass plants for district heating systems, waste-water treatment plants and full water-cycle systems including desalination, distribution and recycling of wastewater for irrigation in Spain, Portugal and Cape Verde.
In 1995 his professional practice grew towards the developing and construction of wind farms in Spain and France for a total power of 180 MW.
Mr. Fages was founder in 1986 of Asociación Española de Pequeños Productores y Autogeneradores de Electricidad con Fuentes de Energía Renovables (APPA), and in 1992 of European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA).In 2000 he was also founder, and President until 2005 of European Renewable Energies Federation “EREF”.
Brigitte BaumannSilvia Barraclough
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Neva (Ship : 1813) - vessel
You are here » Convicts transported to Australia » New South Wales. » Neva (Ship : 1813)
Williams, John.
Convicted at Kent Gaol Delivery for a term of 7 years on 10 December 1832.
Transported by Neva (Ship : 1813) (27 July 1833.).
Wheeldon, Samuel.
Convicted at Lancaster Quarter Session for a term of 7 years on 03 December 1832.
Hartridge, Thomas.
Convicted at Somerset Assizes for a term of 14 years on 29 March 1832.
Bradley, James.
Convicted at York Leeds Quarter Sessions for a term of 7 years on 09 July 1832.
Priestley, Richard.
Convicted at York Doncaster Quarter Session for a term of 7 years on 10 July 1832.
Cantle, Charles.
Convicted at Somerset Quarter Session for a term of 14 years on 31 December 1832.
Pugsley, Thomas.
Convicted at Devon Assizes for a term of life on 31 July 1832.
Burrows, Joseph.
Convicted at Notts. Town Quarter Session for a term of 7 years on 02 January 1833.
Fish, John.
Convicted at Somerset Quarter Session for a term of 14 years on 15 October 1832.
Allingham, William.
Convicted at Kent Quarter Session for a term of 7 years on 16 October 1832.
Bristow, Thomas.
Convicted at York, West Riding Quarter Session for a term of 7 years on 08 April 1833.
MacGlone, Farrel.
Brown, James.
Convicted at Middlesex Gaol Delivery for a term of 7 years on 06 September 1832.
Perry, John.
Convicted at Somerset Quarter Session for a term of 14 years on 02 July 1832.
Bartlett, James.
Convicted at Somerset Quarter Session for a term of 14 years on 02 January 1832.
Boyles, John.
Convicted at Devon Quarter Session for a term of 14 years on 28 February 1832.
Horne, Robert.
Convicted at Warwick Session Peace for a term of 7 years on 12 March 1833.
Barnett, George.
Bain, John.
Convicted at Edinburgh Court of Justiciary for a term of life on 10 January 1833.
Flitchett, Thomas.
Jennings, Joshua Illingworth.
Convicted at York Assizes for a term of life on 02 March 1833.
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"Red Seas Under Red Skies" by Scott Lynch
SDCC 07 Recap + Other Tidbits
SPOTLIGHT: Books of August
Winners of the "Soon I Will Be Invincible" Giveawa...
"The Intruders" by Michael Marshall
Blogging Tips: EDITED
"Death's Head" by David Gunn
San Diego Comic-Con, Halo, Comix Coalition, Curt S...
"Mary Modern" by Camille DeAngelis
Winner of the “Crooked Little Vein” Giveaway!
"Set the Seas On Fire" by Chris Roberson
"kop" by Warren Hammond
Movie Trailers, Books Optioned For Film & More...
"Crooked Little Vein" by Warren Ellis
Interview with Nicholas Christopher
"Exposure" by Kurt Wenzel
Fantasy Feast, Voodoo Child, David Morrell & More....
"The Wanderer’s Tale" by David Bilsborough
"The Devil You Know" by Mike Carey
4th Of July News & Tidbits
"The Dark River" by John Twelve Hawks
"The Judas Strain" by James Rollins
First off, to everyone that applies, Happy Independence Day!!! News wise, it’s been a little slow, but here are some tidbits for you:
Millennium Films (16 Blocks, Wicker Man) has acquired the rights to John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8”, a mystery-thriller that centers on Thai Buddhist detective, Sonchai Jitleecheep, and is the first in a series that includes “Bangkok Tattoo” and the recently released “Bangkok Haunts”. James McTeigue (V For Vendetta, The Invasion) is set to direct.
Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, which is based on Jorge Luis Borges’ “Tale of Two Dreamers”, which in turn was based on a tale from “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights”, is coming to the big screen courtesy of A-Mark Entertainment (Alpha Dog, Camille) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix Trilogy), who wrote the screenplay and will direct.
Founded in June 2005 by Ross Richie (Malibu Comics) and Andrew Cosby (Eureka, Haunted, Damned Nation), BOOM! Studios (Hero Squared, Warhammer, Stardust Kid) is an up-and-coming independent comic book publisher that has been receiving rave reviews from fans & critics alike. The company has also attracted the attention of Hollywood with both “Tag” and “Talent” already snatched up by Universal, while “The Foundation”, an upcoming five-issue mini-series written by John Rozum (X-Files, Midnight Mass) and drawn by creator Kody Chamberlain (30 Days of Night, Tag), was picked up by Paramount. The comic book is described as the following:
“History shows that in the 1500s, Nostradamus' three volumes of prophesies were best-sellers, making him a rich man. But what the world doesn't know is he took his vast treasure trove of riches and invested them in creating a foundation to prevent his prophesies from occurring... This secret team still functions today, using Nostradamus' published and unpublished tomes to predict threats to worldwide security! In the vein of The X-Files, but with a 24-like spin!”
Kem Nunn, author of such novels as “Tapping the Source”, “Tijuana Straits” & “Dogs of Winter”, and contributing writer of HBO’s Deadwood and the forthcoming John of Cincinnati, recently sold his book “Pomona Queen” to Shoreline Entertainment. The crime-thriller will be helmed by Jeremiah Chechik (Benny and Joon, Diabolique).
Over at The Fantasy Review there’s a GIVEAWAY for the first two issues of The Sworn Sword comic book by Dabel Brothers Productions, which of course, is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s short story of the same name. Winners will be announced on July 9, 2007.
Also, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review is hosting a giveaway for TEN Signed Copies of “Saturn Returns” by Sean Williams. Click HERE for more information, and this giveaway also ends on July 9, 2007.
Finally, staying on the subject of giveaways, Neth Space has a very interesting article on the topic, which you can check out HERE.
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HOME >> POLICIES >> LATEST RELEASES
China eyes life expectancy of 79 in 2030 health plan
Updated: Oct 25,2016 8:34 PM Xinhua
BEIJING — China wants to increase its citizens’ average life expectancy to 77.3 by 2020 and 79 by 2030, up from 76.34 in 2015, according to a plan on health development spanning the next 15 years.
The “Healthy China 2030” blueprint, released on Oct 25 by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, includes 29 chapters that cover areas such as public health services, environment management, the medical industry, and food and drug safety.
While acknowledging the country’s health achievements so far, the blueprint noted that industrialization, urbanization, an aging population, as well as environmental and life style changes have created new challenges to the heath of the people, and state-level strategies are needed to solve “major and long-term health-related issues.”
Health as habit
In order to reach the goal, the document said that health education will be incorporated into the entire education system, and a national nutrition plan should be established and implemented, with efforts to research food nutrition and monitor residents’ nutrition status.
According to the plan, the number of people “frequently participating in physical exercise” should increase to 530 million by 2030 from 360 million in 2014, and the smoking rate of those aged 15 or above should be lowered to 20 percent.
“Health is not just about curing illness. Prevention is the key,” said Liu Yuanli, head of the public health school under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
“With a focus on healthy life styles, the document places emphasis on health knowledge and skills, and encouraging good habits. This is the best approach,” Liu said.
The document suggested that to cut the number of smokers, measures such as higher taxes on cigarettes and stricter legislative should be rolled out. Moreover, it offered proposals for mental health intervention, safe sex and drug-addict rehabilitation.
In addition, the infant mortality rate should be lowered to five out of every 1,000 live births by 2030, down from the current eight. Mortality rates for children under the age of five and pregnant women should also decrease notably.
China will also endeavor to ensure residents of rural and urban areas enjoy equal access to basic health services, the blueprint said.
To this end, according to the blueprint, China aims to have three certified or assistant doctors, and 4.7 registered nurses, for every 1,000 residents by 2030.
In recent years, the central government has invested heavily in improving medical services at the local level, it has financed the building of community health service centers, township health centers and village clinics, said Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The greatest challenge lies in a shortage of health personnel at the local level, Li said, adding that every locality was different and should be treated as such when problems are addressed.
Better health environment
China also wants to continue to improve the environment, evident by increases in days of fine air quality and high-quality surface water.
In 2020, cities at the prefecture level and above will enjoy good air quality during more than 80 percent of the year, with further progress expected by 2030, the blueprint said.
In rural areas, in particular, greater efforts will be made to improve garbage disposal and treatment of sewage, as well as expanding the use of clean energy and access to safe drinking water.
By 2030, China will also have a nationwide network for monitoring food safety and recording food-borne diseases, according to the blueprint.
The blueprint suggests that more must be done to modernize techniques, equipment and products that are highly polluting or pose risks to the environment, and transforming industries like iron and steel, cement, petrochemicals so they work within emission standards.
It also called for more to be done to improve the handling of the standardization of agricultural production, evaluation of agro-products quality, proper handling of pesticides and veterinary drugs, as well as heavy metal pollution.
Vice-premier highlights intl health cooperation
Reform to promote family doctor system
China voices support towards global health targets in SDG
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Thursday, November 02, 2006 0
Bob Barker - American Icon and Host Of "Price Is Right" Retires - Video
I now know I've been around a bit when this happens. I have grown up with Bob Barker, patted myself on the back for rightly guessing a price, dreaming that I was the winner of the showcase, and drolling over the Price Is Right girls. Well, the last part of that remains, but Barker, the real symbol of the show and an American icon, has retired. Here's an article by E! Online and selected YouTube Clips to celebrate Bob Barker.
Bob Barker Retiring
by Natalie Finn - E!Online
Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:44:50 PM PST
The price isn't going to be quite as right come next June.
Bob Barker announced Tuesday he will retire in 2007 after 50 years in television, 35 of which he spent as the host of The Price Is Right.
"I will be 83 years old on Dec. 12, and I've decided to retire while I'm still young," the famed daytime personality told the Associated Press. "I've gone on and on to this ancient age because I've enjoyed it. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm going to miss it."
While Barker has considered hanging it up for the past 10 years, he said he's been having too much fun to walk away for good, but he figured reaching his golden anniversary was an "appropriate" time.
"I'm just reaching the age where the constant effort to be there and do the show physically is a lot for me," he said, sounding a bit like another TV icon who announced his intention to slow down after half a century on the air, 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace.
Barker had a mild stroke in May 2002 and had prostate surgery six weeks later—none of which caused him to miss a show, mind you.
Since The Price Is Right premiered Sept. 4, 1972, with Barker enticing people for the first time to "come on down," he has only missed three episodes (back in 1974). The longest running game show on the air is currently on in two half-hour installments every weekday, with the later one averaging 5.5 million viewers a day, per Nielsen Media Research.
"We knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it any easier," CBS Corp. president Leslie Moonves said in a statement. "Bob Barker is a daytime legend, an entertainment icon and one of the most beloved television personalities of our time."
The former Miss Universe and Miss USA Pageant host got his start in radio before being discovered by eventual This Is Your Life host Ralph Edwards, who said he liked the sound of Barker's voice. Barker went on to host the TV game show Truth or Consequences from 1956 until 1975, overlapping with Price for a few years.
A CBS spokesperson told Reuters that Price will go on after Barker's departure, but "it's premature to discuss any transition plans right now. Our focus now will be giving Bob a proper sendoff." A CBS prime-time special celebrating the man is also in the works, he said.
Barker's advice for whomever signs on to replace him is this: Memorize everything.
"The games have to be just like riding a bicycle," he said, referring to the show's numerous pricing games (80 at last count) in which contestants make bids to win larger prizes, like cars and trips.
"Then he will be relaxed enough to have fun with the audience—to get the laughs with his contestants and make the show more than just straight games—to make it a lot of fun."
Well, Barker should know.
While the silver-haired emcee has always had a smile for his studio audience and millions of at-home viewers, it wasn't too long ago that Barker was accused of enjoying his hosting duties a little too much.
Bob Barker - American Icon and Host Of "Price Is R...
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Tag Archives: standards
Coding for HTML Emails
By David • March 2, 2016 HTML Email
As you may or may not know, writing HTML for email is a special kind of bizarre. Most of the email clients we use on our computers are firmly and staunchly set with both feet in the last century, but our phones are using blazing-fast, standards-compliant browsers to render emails. So when writing an HTML email, you have to somehow make it simultaneously zippy-pretty on a stone age Microsoft Word HTML renderer and rock-solid on a space age Apple Safari HTML renderer. This leaves you with one real option: abandon your <div>s and <span>s in favor of tables, an HTML development technique that went out of style on the web when Internet Explorer 5 came out. In the year 2000.
Plus you have to throw in such insanity as a Gmail that likes to remove (or ignore, the verdict is still out) your HTML headers. This means that the typical responsive tactic of creating CSS breakpoints won’t work in Gmail. Yahoo Mail also does weird things with CSS, ignoring media queries unless the designer uses an archaic selector in their CSS to make it work.
You know, two of the most popular web-based email services. No big.
And then there’s Outlook, which has the most bizarre problem (in my opinion): its older versions are actually more standards compliant than its newer versions. That’s because, in 2007, Outlook stopped using Internet Explorer to render its emails (which, of course had its own set of problems) and began using Microsoft Word to do it instead. A word processor.
This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
Microsoft has defended their decision as being more secure (debatable) and easier to use (also debatable). Basically, it let them make it look flashier without actually expending any effort in the ordeal.
Anyway, all of this underscores one major point: there is no set of established standards for HTML email. And this is a problem.
HTML for the web, for instance, is governed by the W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) and the WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technologies Working Group), who make a public specification document which browser manufacturers (for the most part) do their best to follow. HTML5 adoption, for example, is almost universal after only two years in the wild; most features were even adopted before the spec was finalized.
CSS is also operated by the W3C. The latest version of most modules (CSS3) is, again, quite nearly universal, and in fact forms the backbone of responsive web pages and email through media queries.
JavaScript is maintained by the Mozilla Foundation, famously the organization behind Firefox. They release new features periodically, and cross-browser support for the language is, once more, nearly universal.
But HTML email?
(You can’t hear them, but those are crickets.)
An attempt has been made to form an Email Standards Project to govern the development of HTML email, but its website hasn’t been updated in nearly five years. And it’s unlikely to pick up any more steam; developers are a niche enough community to begin with, but HTML Email developers? Forget it. At best we’re considered practitioners of a dying art; at worst, we’re called spammers.
We’re not spammers, but I’ll take that “last practitioner of a dying art” thing. That means we can be in the same company as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Superman.
Tagged compliance complaints, html email, standards, standards compliance
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ILO calls for urgent action to prevent looming global care crisis
Investment in the care economy needs to be doubled to avert a looming global care crisis, says a new ILO report.
Sweeping changes in policies should address the rising need for care and tackle the huge disparity between women’s and men’s care responsibilities. The figures show that women are performing more than three-quarters of the time spent in unpaid care work.
Around 269 million new jobs could be created if investment in education, health and social work were doubled by 2030, the report says
According to Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work, 2.1 billion people were in need of care in 2015, including 1.9 billion children under 15 and 200 million older persons. By 2030, this number is expected to reach 2.3 billion, driven by an additional 200 million older persons and children.
“The global prominence of nuclear families and single-headed households, and the growth of women’s employment in certain countries increase the demand for care workers. If not addressed properly, current deficits in care work and its quality will create a severe and unsustainable global care crisis and further increase gender inequalities in the world of work” said Laura Addati, lead author of the report.
Data from 64 countries representing two thirds of the world’s working age population show that 16.4 billion hours per day are spent in unpaid care work – the equivalent to 2 billion people working eight hours per day with no remuneration. Were such services to be valued on the basis of an hourly minimum wage, they would amount to 9 per cent of global GDP or US$11 trillion (purchasing power parity in 2011).
Women bear the brunt of unpaid care work
According to the report, women perform 76.2 per cent of total hours of unpaid care work, more than three times as much as men.
In some countries, men’s contribution to unpaid care work has increased over the past 20 years. However, in the 23 countries providing such data, the gender gap in the time devoted to unpaid care responsibilities declined by just 7 minutes per day over the last two decades.
“At this pace, it will take 210 years to close the gender gap in unpaid care work in these countries. The glacial rate of these changes calls into question the effectiveness of past and current policies in addressing the extent and division of unpaid care work over the past two decades,” said Shauna Olney, Chief of the Gender, Equality and Diversity and ILOAIDS Branch of the ILO.
The report says that unpaid care work is the main barrier preventing women from getting into, remaining and progressing in the labour force. In 2018, 606 million working age women said that they were not able to do so because of unpaid care work. Only 41 million men said they were not in the labour force for the same reason.
A 2017 ILO-Gallup report found that, globally, a majority of women would prefer to work at paid jobs, including those who are not in the workforce, and that men agree. It also found that the biggest challenges identified, by both women and men, for women who work at paid jobs was work-family balance and lack of affordable care. “This implies that a large number of women could be brought into paid employment through universal access to care policies, services and infrastructure,” stressed Olney.
Need for increased spending on care
The report advocates a ‘high road’ to care work, which would result in a total of 475 million jobs by 2030, namely 269 million additional jobs compared with the number of jobs in 2015. This implies total public and private expenditure on care services of US$18.4 trillion or 18.3 per cent of total projected GDP. Such an investment would allow countries to reach several targets of four United Nations’ Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) by 2030: SDG 3 (health care for all), SDG 4 (education for all), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth).
The report also showed that most care workers are women, frequently migrants and working in the informal economy under poor conditions and for low pay.
“A high road to care work means recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work and achieving decent work for care workers, including domestic and migrant workers. Poor job quality for care workers leads to poor quality care work. Our report calls for sweeping changes in care, macroeconomic, social protection, labour and migration policies,” Addati concluded.
Other key findings:
- Mothers of children aged under 6 years suffer the highest “employment penalty” with only 47.6 percent of them in employment;
- unpaid carers also face a “job quality penalty”: Living with a child under 6 implies a loss of close to one hour of paid work per week for women and an increase in paid working time of 18 minutes per week for men;
- women with care responsibilities are more likely to be self-employed, to work in the informal economy and less likely to contribute to social security;
- attitudes towards the gender division of paid and unpaid care work are changing but the ‘male breadwinner’ family model remains very much engrained within societies, along with women’s caring role in the family continuing to be central;
- in 2016, only 42 per cent of countries out of 184 with available data met the minimum standards set out in the ILO Maternity Protection Convention No. 183;
- in the same year, 39 per cent of countries out of 184 with available data did not have any statutory leave provision for fathers (neither paid nor unpaid);
- globally, gross enrolment rates in early childhood services for children under 3 was only 18.3 per cent in 2015 and barely reached 57 per cent for children aged 3 to 6;
- long-term care services are close to non-existent in most African, Latin American and Asian countries.
Report: CARE WORK AND CARE JOBS REPORT
Key messages and findings : GLOBAL Key findings-messages – Care work report_22.06.18
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Subject: Corporate name: University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Form/Genre: Photographs
Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967
Cammann, Schuyler V. R. (Schuyler Van Rensselaer), b. 1912
Satterthwaite, Linton, 1897-1978
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Chalchuapa (El Salvador)
Conte Site (Panama)
Anthropological museums and collections
Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]
Akhenaten Temple Project records
Redford, Donald B.
Smith, Ray Winfield
Extent: 10 linear feet (the akhenaten temple project records are contained in ten archival boxes of correspondence, reports, financial records, publicity and publication material, and contact sheets. drawings and negatives are housed separately)
The Akhenaten Temple Project was the first computer project assumed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. It was proposed in 1965 by Ray Winfield Smith, and in 1966 he began the project with the aid of IBM’s nascent computer technology. The IBM computer was abandoned in 1976. This collection spans Ray Winfield Smith’s entire involvement as director of the project 1968-1971, and begins the career of Dr. Donald B. Redford who acted as a consultant in 1971 and has been director since 1972. The records contain papers and photographs relating to the foundation of the Akhenaten Temple Project, and are divided into seven series: Financial; Correspondence and Reports; Publications and Publicity; Project Negatives; Photographs; Drawings; Misc.
Redford, Donald B. Smith, Ray Winfield
PU-Mu. 1015
University of Pennsylvania Penn Museum Archives
10 linear feet (the akhenaten temple project records are contained in ten archival boxes of correspondence, reports, financial records, publicity and publication material, and contact sheets. drawings and negatives are housed separately)
Redford, Donald B. Smith, Ray Winfield Redford, Donald B. Smith, Ray Winfield University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Negatives (photographic) Photographs
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Proto-History Project Collection
Extent: 0.5 linear feet ( )
The Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Proto-History Project Collection includes budgets and proposals, reports and publications, financial records, artifact loans, field notes, artifact analysis, radiocarbon analysis, photographic prints and negatives, site plans and sections, and fourty-one pottery drawings. It is housed in 1 box and 2 oversized folders in Map Case M-20.
PU-Mu. 1069.2006
0.5 linear feet ( )
Begley, Vimala Bronson, Bennet Dales, George F. Mauroof, Mohamad University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Negatives (photographic) Photographic prints Photographs
Chalchuapa, El Salvador excavation records
Coe, William R., 1926-
Sharer, Robert J., 1940-
Extent: 5 linear feet
The records of the excavations at Chalchuapa, El Salvador include correspondence, administrative records, field notes, photographs, manuscripts and reports. The bulk of these materials originate from the 1954 excavation by William R. Coe and the 1966 analysis by Robert J. Sharer, as well as the 1969-1970 re-excavations.
Coe, William R., 1926- Sharer, Robert J., 1940-
5 linear feet
Coe, William R., 1926- Sharer, Robert J., 1940- Anderson, Bruce Coe, William R., 1926- Kirkpatrick, Muriel Sharer, Robert J., 1940- University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Field notes Manuscripts for publication Photographs
Dinkha Tepe expedition records
Dyson, Robert H., 1927-
Dr. Robert H. Dyson, Jr., Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum 1982-1994, directed excavations in 1966 and 1968 at Dinkha Tepe in the Ushnu Valley, west Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran. This expedition formed part of the Hasanlu Project. The papers documenting these excavations are for the most part primary reference materials and were deposited as a closed collection in The University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives for safekeeping until publication research begins within the next several years. Records were kept in their original order. The textual records of Dinkha Tepe consist of 2.66 linear feet of excavation notebooks, indexes and catalogues, photographic material, manuscripts, and drawings, maps and plans.
Dyson, Robert H., 1927- Dyson, Robert H., 1927- University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Card catalogs Field notes Inventories Manuscripts for publication Maps Photographic prints Photographs Site plans
Louis Shotridge Collection
Shotridge, Louis
Extent: 1 linear foot
The papers of Louis Shotridge are one of the most extensive groups in the Arctic research collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives. Shotridge, a Tlingit Indian, was intermittently employed by the museum to make ethnographic collections of Northwest Coast materials between 1903 and 1912. The archives has papers concerning his original research, arranged topically, manuscripts for articles published in The Museum Journal, oral histories, Tlingit language notes, and general ethnographic notes on the Tlingit and other Northwest Coast groups.
1 linear foot
Shotridge, Louis Gordon, G. B. (George Byron), 1870-1927 Sapir, Edward, 1889-1939 Shotridge, Louis Speck, Frank G., 1881-1950 University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Manuscripts for publication Maps Negatives (photographic) Photographic prints Photographs
Piedras Negras, Guatemala expedition records
Extent: 10 linear feet
Piedras Negras is a Maya site in Guatemala particularly noted for the beautifully sculpted stelae and hieroglyphic inscriptions it has yielded. Between 1931 and 1939 the University of Pennsylvania Museum conducted extensive excavations at this site. John Allen Mason led the first two seasons of work at the site (1931–1932), and Linton Satterthwaite directed the remaining six seasons (1933–1939, excluding 1938). Most of the monuments at the Museum borrowed from Guatemala were returned in 1947; only Stela 14 and one leg from Altar 4 remain on display in the Museum today. The textual records from the excavations of Piedras Negras consist of 11 linear feet of correspondence, financial records, field notes and diaries, catalogs, and reports and publication materials. The arrangement of the records reflects the original order insofar as could be detected, and portions that had been separated over time were re-integrated into this scheme.
Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967 Satterthwaite, Linton, 1897-1978
10 linear feet
1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967 Satterthwaite, Linton, 1897-1978 Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967 Proskouriakoff, Tatiana, 1909-1985 Satterthwaite, Linton, 1897-1978 University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Field notes Photographic prints Photographs
Porticello shipwreck expedition records
Eiseman, Cynthia Jones, 1944-
Owen, David L.
Extent: 0.2 linear foot
In July of 1970, in the straits of Messina about 100 meters from the village of Porticello, underwater excavation of a vessel subsequently determined to be 5th century B.C. Roman, commenced under the direction of David I. Owen, assistant curator of the Underwater Archaeology Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The Porticello Shipwreck spans the period from 1969-1988 and primarily contains letters, field notes, object descriptions, drawings and photographs (prints, slides, and negatives) of objects and under water excavations relating to the project. The collection is divided into six series: Correspondence; Field Notes; Catalogues; Publications; Drawings; Photographs.
Eiseman, Cynthia Jones, 1944- Owen, David L.
0.2 linear foot
Eiseman, Cynthia Jones, 1944- Owen, David L. Eiseman, Cynthia Jones, 1944- Owen, David L. University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Card catalogs Drawings (visual works) Photographs
Schuyler V. R. Cammann papers
The collection of Schuyler Van Rensselaer Cammann’s papers, member of the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania 1948-1982 and Associate Curator of the East Asian Collections 1948-1955, consist of 13 linear feet of correspondence; published and unpublished papers and book reviews; lectures; research notes; unpublished fiction; photographs; drawings; employment history at the University of Pennsylvania; teaching materials; and travels and tours. Professor Cammann wrote, lectured, taught, and consulted in several geographic areas (including China, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan) on such topics as textiles, carpets, art, ivory, snuff bottles, Magic Squares, and symbolism. He authored four books and hundreds of articles and reviews, and presented considerable number of lectures to various meetings, organizations and conferences.
Cammann, Schuyler V. R. (Schuyler Van Rensselaer), b. 1912 Bodde, Derk, b. 1909-d. 2003 Cammann, Schuyler V. R. (Schuyler Van Rensselaer), b. 1912 University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Sitio Conte, Panama expedition records
At the turn of the century, the Río Grande de Coclé changed course, revealing the site of a pre-Columbian cemetery when pottery and gold ornaments were washed out of the river banks. In 1940 the University of Pennsylvania Museum began to excavate Sitio Conte, which belonged to a private landowner, located in the province of Coclé. A very small portion of the pre-Columbian cemetery, estimated to cover four or five acres in its entirety, was selected for excavation. The expedition yielded 6,600 pounds of pottery and stone. The textual records consist of 1.5 linear feet of field notes, diaries, and object cards; correspondence; administrative records concerning contracts, expenses, transportation, and equipment; and unpublished and published reports and articles concerning findings. The arrangement of the records became apparent after some research, for the original order had been lost. Most of the original folder titles, however, have been maintained.
Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967 Kidder, Alfred Vincent, 1885-1963 Madeira, Percy C., Jr., 1889-1967 Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Satterthwaite, Linton, 1897-1978 University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Field notes Photographs
Tepe Gawra, Iraq expedition records
Extent: 6.25 linear foot
Tepe Gawra is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement in northern Iraq, near the ancient site of Nineveh and fifteen miles northeast of the modern city of Mosul. It was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania, led by E.A. Speiser, who first discovered the site in 1927, and later, C. Bache. The excavations showed that the Tepe Gawra site was occupied from approximately 5000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. The textual records from Tepe Gawra consist of 11.85 linear feet of General Correspondence, Field Notes, Indexes and Catalogues, Field Registers, and Publications, plus Maps and Drawings. Where possible, a chronological order was imposed on the Near East records.
Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Speiser, E. A. (Ephraim Avigdor), 1902-1965
6.25 linear foot
Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Speiser, E. A. (Ephraim Avigdor), 1902-1965 Jayne, Horace Howard Furness, 1898-1975 Speiser, E. A. (Ephraim Avigdor), 1902-1965 University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Correspondence Field notes Photographs Site plans
Watson Kintner papers
Kintner, Watson
Watson Kintner, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and a man of means, traveled to more than 30 nations between 1933 until 1969. On his travels Kintner avoided tourist destinations, instead recording the daily life among the peoples visited, as well as sites of archaeological interest. Kintner took photography very seriously, and in the late 1960s and 1970s funded weekend seminars for University of Pennsylvania Museum graduate students. Upon his death, Kintner left an endowment towards various Museum activities and programs. Kintner’s travel records consist of three linear feet of journals, film notes, bills, correspondence, and preparatory notes on the culture, geography and history of the countries he visited (and some that he didn’t) between 1951 and 1969.
Kintner, Watson Kintner, Watson University of Pennsylvania. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Photographic prints Photographs Travel photography Travelogs
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by Julia Foresman | Tuesday, 6 March 2018 | Featured Article, Interviews | 0 comments
GC Grapevine recently spoke with Ambassador Antonio Garza, Counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case, LLP, to discuss what he is seeing in Mexico’s energy sector. Garza previously served as the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Chairman at the Texas Railroad Commission which regulates Texas’ oil and gas sector, and Vice Chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Commission, which assists U.S. states in their energy development and conservation. The Ambassador can be found online at www.tonygarza.com and on Twitter @aogarza.
What’s currently going on in Mexico’s energy market? Last time we spoke, Round One bidding was in progress. How has investing continued to play out in the last couple years?
So far, the bidding rounds’ results have been impressive. In July 2017 the first private exploration well discovered one of the world’s largest shallow-water oil fields, and while not everyone has made such historic finds, the auctions have attracted attention from global energy giants such as Exxon, BP, Chevron, and ENI. In short: we are four years into a newly opened energy market and despite strong external headwinds, I think it’s safe to say that the upstream portion of the reform rollout has been nothing short of successful.
What are you seeing specifically with natural gas?
Natural gas demand in Mexico has been high for the past few years due in large part to the state-owned electricity company CFE’s conversion from fuel oil to natural gas to generate its electricity and a growing Mexican manufacturing sector. However, domestic production has not matched demand, and, in fact, the country’s natural gas production has been on the decline. The combination of growing demand plus declining supply has meant that Mexico needs to import more natural gas to meet its needs (with imports currently totaling 81 percent of overall consumption).
These natural gas imports come straight from U.S. shale gas fields and are piped down into the center of the country. Last year’s demand was so intense that it made the United States a net natural gas exporter for three months in 2017, the first time this has happened since 1958. It also spurred the construction of more pipelines to move the natural gas from Texas down to CFE’s generation plants and the country’s industrial centers. Since the energy reform’s implementation, the number of natural gas pipelines in Mexico has increased by 65 percent and this trend looks on track to continue through at least the end of the year.
To what extent are new technologies and rising demand for less-carbonized alternatives affecting the outlook?
Mexico has enormous potential for boosting solar, wind, and geothermal electricity generation and has been developing a policy structure to incentive greater investment in these areas. The country’s energy reform set clean energy targets for the electricity sector, with a goal of 35 percent of Mexico’s electricity being generated from renewable sources by 2024. It also created a series of auctions for renewable energy that have been just as—if not more—successful than the oil and gas tenders. Throughout the three rounds, solar and wind have been the clear winners and the auctions have also broken the Latin America record for the cheapest solar prices. This is an exciting area to watch, as new technologies and policies are really opening up an entirely new market.
Can you remark on Mexico’s 2018 elections? What challenges does the industry face?
Mexico will hold its presidential elections on July 1st of this year, and the energy reform has become one of the major points on the candidates’ platforms. While PRI candidate José Antonio Meade and PAN contender Ricardo Anaya would leave the reform in place, the leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has consistently come out against the reform. In the past he has threatened to roll it back completely, and more recently announced that he would hold a national referendum to determine its fate.
However, any politician looking to dismantle the energy reform is likely to hit an obstacle course of political hurdles. The reform is grounded in constitutional changes, which would require legislative action to fully amend back to their original state. Not to mention that the new investment is bringing in a steady source of revenue that any politician—especially one with an ambitious social agenda—would be happy to have. While the energy reform’s future will certainly end up being one of the big policy points in the upcoming campaigns, the heated debates around the sector may ultimately pan out to be more bark than bite.
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Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday dropped a policy that allowed several thousand Kansas adults to keep receiving food assistance after failing to meet a work requirement, reversing course days after the state’s Republican attorney general threatened to file a lawsuit.
Kelly continued to defend the change made by the state Department for Children and Families in May on humanitarian and legal grounds. Top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature argue that it violated a 2015 law enacted under conservative GOP Gov. Sam Brownback that imposed a work requirement and other restrictions on food and cash assistance recipients.
The department provided food assistance in July for 5,500 adults who were supposed to have it cut off because they weren’t meeting the work requirement and planned to do so again in August and September. Attorney General Derek Schmidt told Kelly in a letter Monday that if she did not drop the policy, he was prepared to go to court to challenge it.
“While my team believes the policy we put in place is legally defensible, we have determined that it isn’t worth the cost to Kansas taxpayers to engage in a protracted court battle,” Kelly said during a Statehouse news conference.
The federal government pays for food assistance and covers half of each state’s administrative costs. It generally limits able-bodied adults ages 18 to 49 without dependents to three months of assistance within a three-year period if they aren’t working or enrolled in job training.
The 2015 state law specifies the same policy and says the department can’t ask the federal government for a waiver or start a program to avoid the rule. The law makes it harder to undo stricter policies for food and cash assistance that Brownback’s administration set.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican, said in a statement that it’s disappointing it took Schmidt’s threat of a lawsuit to force Kelly to “comply with the law.” She and other supporters of work requirements argue that they help move adults and families who are dependent on government assistance into jobs and self-sufficiency.
“Her desire to expand welfare to adults without dependents who are capable of working is repulsive to hardworking Kansas taxpayers,” said Wagle, who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate next year.
The department argued that it wasn’t asking the federal government to waive any rules and that granting exemptions from the work requirement wasn’t starting a new program. The federal government gives states some flexibility to grant exemptions month by month.
Department officials have said the exemptions were designed to help the homeless as well as young adults who are aging out of the state’s foster care system for abused and neglected children. But the department planned to issue more than 16,000 exemptions over three months, meaning a broader group was receiving the extra assistance.
“I won’t apologize for that,” DCF Secretary Laura Howard said during Kelly’s news conference. “There are an awful lot of reasons where folks who are deemed to be able-bodied adults may run into an issue.”
Kelly was a state senator before becoming governor in January and strongly opposed the 2015 law. The measure gained national attention for telling families they can’t use cash assistance to attend concerts, get tattoos, see a psychic or buy lingerie. The list of don’ts amounted to several dozen items.
Critics contend Brownback’s welfare policies punished poor families. Kelly and some advocates argue that the stress of losing benefits caused more children to be abused or neglected and placed in foster care.
Kelly said she’ll ask legislators next year to remove welfare requirements from state law, so her administration can change them. She suggested repealing welfare restrictions before taking office as governor and the idea was a nonstarter in the Legislature this year, but Kelly told reporters she hopes to appeal to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers next year.
Meanwhile, Kelly publicly chastised Schmidt for being “mean-spirited” rather than acknowledging “the good we were trying to achieve.”
Schmidt, who also is considering a run for the U.S. Senate, called Kelly’s decision “a victory for the rule of law.”
Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .
Illumina plunges after slashing revenue expectations
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ESA Comes Out Against Allowing Museums To Curate Online Video Games For Posterity
[retrieved 2-27-18]
A week or so back, we discussed the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) calling on the Copyright Office to extend exemptions to anti-circumvention in the DMCA to organizations looking to curate and preserve online games. Any reading of stories covering this idea needs to be grounded in the understanding that the Librarian of Congress has already extended these same exemptions to video games that are not online multiplayer games. Games of this sort are art, after all, and exemptions to the anti-circumvention laws allow museums, libraries, and others to preserve and display older games that may not natively run on current technology, or those that have been largely lost in terms of physical product. MADE’s argument is that online multiplayer games are every bit the art that these single-player games are and deserve preservation as well.
Well, the Entertainment Software Association, an industry group that largely stumps for the largest gaming studios and publishers in the industry, has come out in opposition to preserving online games, arguing that such preservation is a threat to the industry.
The content in this post was found at https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180219/10404139267/esa-comes-out-against-allowing-museums-to-curate-online-video-games-posterity.shtml Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com.
Comments : Comments Off on ESA Comes Out Against Allowing Museums To Curate Online Video Games For Posterity
Categories : Copyright, Copyright Safe Harbor, DMCA, General IP Legislation Processes, Public Domain
Is it in the Public Domain? Review by Peter Hirtle
[UPDATE from Peter Hirtle: That didn’t take long. The authors of the handbook have responded to my specific issues below by updating and/or correcting the handbook. A new version is available at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/FINAL_PublicDomain_Handbook_FINAL(1).pdf. A very good resource has become even better.]
Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center Advisory Board Member Peter Hirtle reviews Is it in the Public Domain?
But within the context of these reasonable caveats, the handbook has met its goal. I will be sure to add it to my list of recommended resources.
The content in this post was found at https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2014/06/09/public-domain-review-peter-hirtle/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Categories : Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain
Public Domain Handbook – Samuelson clinic
The Samuelson clinic has put together what looks like a useful, thorough new handbook to help you determine if a work is in the public domain. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Final_PublicDomain_Handbook.pdf
Most helpful is the complete FLOW CHART. We’ll put both the handbook and the flowchart in our CHARTS AND TOOLS section for your hand reference. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Final_PublicDomain_Flowcharts(6).pdf
The content in this post was found at https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2014/06/06/public-domain-handbook-samuelson-clinic/and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
‘Happy Birthday To You’ Now In the Public Domain
IPWatchdog
Renee C. Quinn & Brian Focarnio
For as long as I can remember, whenever we celebrated a birthday, we inevitably would gather around the birthday boy or girl and sing “Happy Birthday To You.” But now that the copyright is in question, new evidence brought to light that the song belonged in the public domain. Happy Birthday may very well be the oldest – and most widely recognizable – orphan work of all time. In 2013, a documentary filmmaker challenged the copyright on the world’s most popular song, calling Warner/Chappell Music’s claim to copyright royalties bogus. The filmmakers’ claim was no small declaration. By 1996, Warner/Chappell, who since 1988 has purported to own the rights to the song, was collecting over $2 million per year in licensing fees. The basis of Warner/Chappell’s claim is a copyright registration from 1935, made by the Summy Company, Warner/Chappell’s predecessor in interest.
The content in this post was found at http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/10/28/happy-birthday-to-you-now-in-the-public-domain/id=62775/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Categories : Public Domain
Standford University Library
Mary Minow
Peter Hirtle, Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center Advisory Board
It is very difficult to determine whether works are in the public domain in the United States. That is why I had to create my duration chart as an aide–mémoire: any time I tried to remember the various options, I got them wrong. It is also why I felt compelled to write an article highlighting some of the traps lurking within the seeming clear-cut categories. And it is why Stephen Fishman needs 700+ pages in his legal treatise, Copyright and The Public Domain.
The content in this post was found at http://fairuse.stanford.edu/2014/06/09/public-domain-review-peter-hirtle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FairlyUsed+%28Fairly+Used+Blog%29 and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
The content in this post was found at http://fairuse.stanford.edu/2014/06/06/public-domain-handbook-samuelson-clinic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FairlyUsed+%28Fairly+Used+Blog%29 and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Wants to Claim Copyright and Sell Public Domain Photos
2014 Winner of Best Public Domain Gif
Animal Category
Dear Rich: I have a souvenir photo book (images of public buildings, gardens, outdoor scenes) which I purchased over 30 years ago. It was published prior to 1923 (now part of the public domain, as I understand it). The book has no printed credits or copyrights, no info on who photographed the images or published the book. An Internet search has turned up one other copy of this book – it is in a USA university collection. The pages have been scanned and included in the university library’s digital collection; they have assigned a copyright to their scanned images; the digital images are available for purchase through the university. I would like to scan my copy of this book and use the images in artistic works and derivatives to sell, as well as offer the scanned digital images for sale. Would I be within my legal rights to copyright my scanned images from this book and use/sell them?
Answered by Stephen Fishman, author of The Public Domain.
The content in this post was found at http://dearrichblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/wants-to-claim-copyright-and-sell.html and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Categories : Copyright, Public Domain
Nintendo kicks “Let’s Play” videos off YouTube then slaps ads on them
Once it became simple to record, upload, and share digital video over the Internet, gamers quickly became interested in recording themselves playing games—especially with humorous or profane commentary. The phenomenon of creating and sharing so-called “Let’s Play” videos took off around 2006 and today has its own channel on YouTube. Practitioners of this self-recording art sometimes refer to themselves as LPers for short.Now, it looks like Let’s Play videos are one more piece of content that’s being caught up in YouTube’s Content ID system. It’s an automated copyright-enforcement system that’s been glitchy from the start and often criticized for taking down legitimate content. Remixes of cultural icons have been taken down with no good explanation, as well as NASA content that should be in the public domain. Political satire didn’t stand a chance either. Until October, there wasn’t even a meaningful appeal system for owners of wrongly removed videos.
It looks like LPers are the latest victims.
The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/nintendo-kicks-lets-play-videos-off-youtube-then-slaps-ads-on-them/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Categories : Copyright, DMCA, Fair Use, Public Domain
University of California to allow open access to new academic papers
The University of California—an enormous institution that encompasses 10 campuses and over 8,000 faculty members—introduced an Open Access Policy late last week. This policy grants the UC a license to its faculty’s work by default, and requires them to provide the UC with copy of their peer-reviewed papers on the paper’s publication date. The UC then posts the paper online to eScholarship, its open access publishing site, where the paper will be available to anyone, free of charge.
Making the open access license automatic for its faculty leverages the power of the institution—which publishes over 40,000 scholarly papers a year—against the power of publishers who would otherwise lock content behind a paywall. “It is much harder for individuals to negotiate these rights on an individual basis than to assert them collectively,” writes the UC. “By making a blanket policy, individual faculty benefit from membership in the policy-making group, without suffering negative consequences. Faculty retain both the individual right to determine the fate of their work, and the benefit of making a collective commitment to open access.”
Faculty members will be allowed to opt out of the scheme if necessary—if they have a prior contract with a journal, for example. Academic papers published in traditional journals before the enactment of this policy will not be made available on eScholarship at this time.
The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/university-of-california-to-allow-open-access-to-new-academic-papers/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
Categories : Copyright, Open Source, Public Domain
How YouTube lets content companies “claim” NASA Mars videos
Lon Seidman knew he wasn’t going to get rich from his three-hour video discussion of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars. The local media entrepreneur did a live Google+ Hangout about the event and posted the resulting video to YouTube, expecting it would earn him a few bucks and attract some new readers to his site, CT Tech Junkie. During the discussion, Seidman played a number of NASA videos about the Curiosity mission. He knew he was on safe ground because works of the federal government are automatically in the public domain.
So he was surprised to find that no fewer than five other media organizations (mostly television stations, including some from overseas) had “claimed” the content of his video through YouTube’s Content ID system.
The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/how-youtube-lets-content-companies-claim-nasa-mars-videos/f and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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The Shawshank Redemption Revealed:
How One Story Keeps Hope Alive
A 25th anniversary history and celebration of The Shawshank Redemption, one of the most cherished American films of the late twentieth century and one of the finest movies made from a Stephen King story.
By Mark Dawidziak
(Forthcoming from Lyons Press)
A 25th anniversary history and celebration of The Shawshank Redemption, one of the most cherished American films of the late twentieth century and one of the finest movies made from a Stephen King story. The movie not only boasts a great story, it has a great backstory, starting with the dollar deal that eventually led King and co-stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman to put their trust in a largely untested director making his first feature film.
It’s a story of faith, therefore, but it’s also a story about the power of hope. Although the film received mostly positive reviews on its release in September 1994, the box office was disappointing and it failed to win many awards. But as Andy tells Red in the film, “no good thing ever dies.” The movie found new life, reaching an ever-growing audience on cable and home video (through word of mouth, it became one of the top-rented movies of 1995). Each year, The Shawshank Redemption rises in polls asking film fans to name their favorite movies. It has become nothing less than this generation’s The Grapes of Wrath, an inspiring story about keeping hope alive in bleak times and under the most horrendous conditions. And as economic and social conditions become more troubling, the film only becomes more timely, relevant, and resonant to more people.
Length: 100,000 words
Illustrations: In addition to stills, posters, and promotional material collected by the author, the book will feature archival and current pictures taken at sites used during filming in Mansfield, Ohio. The author is making several trips to Mansfield with a photographer, interviewing local residents involved with filming, in front of the camera and behind it.
A little about Mark Dawidziak: The television critic at the Cleveland Plain Dealer since 1999, Mark Dawidziak is the author of many books, including the 1994 horror novel Grave Secrets and two histories of landmark TV series: The Columbo Phile: A Casebook (1989) and The Night Stalker Companion (1997). A recognized Mark Twain scholar, his acclaimed books on the author include Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing (1996) and Horton Foote’s The Shape of the River: The Lost Teleplay About Mark Twain (2003). Recently, Dawidziak’s Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone( St. Martin’s Press) has been enjoying excellent sales as well as critical accolades. He teaches in the film department at Kent State and he is also a playwright, director and actor in Northeast Ohio, where he lives with his wife, Sara, and daughter, Becky.
Agent’s Note: Mark delivers manuscripts in spades. He is fast, smart, funny, diverse, beyond knowledgeable and exceedingly creative. What else do you need?
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Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, Rudy Bond, Al Martino, Morgana King, Lenny Montana, John Martino, Salvatore Corsitto
Crew: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Cazale, Rudy Bond
Genres: Drama, Crime
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
A hotshot Washington criminal lawyer becomes the target of a rogue security executive videotaped in the act of murdering a congressman when the incriminating tape is surreptitiously slipped into his shopping bag by the videographer, who is fleeing the executive's assassins.
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don, Michael Corleone seeks forgiveness for his sins while taking a young protege under his wing.
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.
In the last months of World War II, as the Allies make their final push in the European theatre, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant named 'Wardaddy' commands a Sherman tank called 'Fury' and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
After waking up in a hospital with amnesia, professor Robert Langdon and a doctor must race against time to foil a deadly global plot.
Tags : The Godfather,The Godfather Of Broken Heart,The Godfather 2,The Godfather 3,The Godfather Quotes,The Godfather Sinopsis,The Godfather 4,The Godfather Game,The Godfather 2 Game,The Godfather 2 Sub Indo,The Godfather Wiki,The Godfather Part 2
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Allegheny Mound Ant
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY – BIG CYPRESS WMA, FL
The Allegheny mound ant (Formica exsectoides) is a species of ant native to the Atlantic area of North America. Its range extends from Nova Scotia to Florida. Like other field ants, the Allegheny mound ant builds large mounds, however this species tends to build some of the largest. Aside from the mounds, the ants also act as pests by killing vegetation within 40 to 50 feet (12 to 15 m) of their mounds. The ants inject formic acid into surrounding plants, killing small trees and shrubs. Members of the formic acid producing Formica genus are known for their citrus taste. The Allegheny mound ant’s appearance is very striking: both its head and thorax are red-orange; its gaster is black-brown. The ant’s colonies are complex. Several different mounds may be interconnected. The tunnels may extend 3 feet (0.91 m) into the ground and 4 feet (1.2 m) upwards in the mound. The mound serves as a solar incubator for the eggs and larvae. Unlike most other ants, Allegheny mound ants have multiple queens. Maturation from egg to adult takes 2.5–3 months. They hunt a wide assortment of arthropods as a protein source and collect aphid honeydew as a source of sugars.
These ants very aggressive and will bite if a mound is disturbed.
Photo taken on February 8, 2010, 6:59 am
Tags: Ants, Insects, macrophotography, Nature
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9 thoughts on “Allegheny Mound Ant”
Marshall.D says:
Love your subject matter
Roberta.Henry says:
Did you go to school for this???
Pattie1545 says:
You know what your doing. Here is the proof!
Alex Wild says:
Nice photo. But, that’s not an Allegheny mound ant. See here:
How to tell the difference between Formica and Camponotus
Alan S. Hochman says:
Alex, thank you so much for the correction. That link makes it clear!
Merle says:
So nice to get feedback that helps with ID. We, as photographers, learn from our photos, research and feedback. Alex Wild was very helpful. Great work, Alan.
My pleasure Merle.
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何丙胜学术报告通知
题 目：ThunderML: Machine Learning Systems on Heterogeneous Architectures
报告人：何丙胜 新加坡国立大学
时 间：2019年6月5日上午10:00
The recent success of machine learning is not only due to more effective algorithms, but also more efficient systems and implementations. We have initiated a project called ThunderML, which aims at offering high performance machine learning as a service to users. So far, we have developed two systems for ThunderML: ThunderSVM and ThunderGBM, both of which exploit Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and are open source. ThunderSVM supports all the functionalities of LibSVM (including classification, regression, and distribution estimation), and is often 100 times faster than LibSVM. ThunderGBM is for fast Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDTs) and random forests, and is often 10 times faster than XGBoost and LightGBM. Both of them are open-sourced in GitHub and we welcome you to contribute. In this talk, I will present the background knowledge, key techniques and experimental results of ThunderSVM and ThunderGBM.
More information about ThunderML can be found at https://github.com/Xtra-Computing/. More details about our research can be found at http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~hebs/.
Dr. Bingsheng He is currently an Associate Professor at Department of Computer Science, National University of Singapore. Before that, he was a faculty member in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2010-2016), and held a research position in the System Research group of Microsoft Research Asia (2008-2010), where his major research was building high performance cloud computing systems for Microsoft. He got the Bachelor degree in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (1999-2003), and the Ph.D. degree in Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (2003-2008). His current research interests include cloud computing, database systems and high performance computing. His papers are published in prestigious international journals (such as ACM TODS and IEEE TKDE/TPDS/TC) and proceedings (such as ACM SIGMOD, VLDB/PVLDB, ACM/IEEE SuperComputing, ACM HPDC, and ACM SoCC). He has been awarded with the IBM Ph.D. fellowship (2007-2008) and NVIDIA Academic Partnership (2010-2011). Since 2010, he has (co-)chaired a number of international conferences and workshops, including IEEE CloudCom 2014/2015, BigData Congress 2018 and ICDCS 2020. He has served in editor board of international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing (IEEE TCC), IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (IEEE TPDS) and Springer Journal of Distributed and Parallel Databases (DAPD). He has got editorial excellence awards for his service in IEEE TCC and IEEE TPDS in 2019.
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India Questions Efficacy and Safety of HPV Vaccine Amid Allegations of Ethical Violations
Health Impact News Editor Comments:
Earlier this year we published a report from Christina England on a 43 page document produced by the Indian Parliament accusing the U.S. group PATH, funded in part by Bill Gates’ foundation, of committing illegal and improper activities in support of commercial interests in the development of the HPV vaccine in India, which reportedly led to the deaths of several young Indian girls. (See: Bill Gates Funded Group Accused of Breaking Law in HPV Vaccine Trials in India Resulting in Fatalities)
The U.S. mainstream media completely ignored this story.
A couple weeks later, Anita Jain, the India Editor of the British Medical Journal, published her own comments on the ethical violations conducted in India in the development of Gardasil, and questioned the wisdom of rolling out the Gardasil vaccine to the entire country, citing safety and efficacy concerns. India has more deaths related to cervical cancer than any other country in the world, so if a vaccine could truly help, they would be eager to implement it. But they are not convinced, based on the science, that the vaccine is safe or that it works. Again, this information is not readily available in the U.S. mainstream media, which only presents the HPV vaccine in a positive light.
HPV vaccination as a national health priority: no easy answers
by Anita Jain, India editor
British Medical Journal
The path (no pun intended) to adoption of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is mired in controversy again. Back in 2010, an HPV vaccine study conducted in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat by the international non-profit Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) was stalled amid allegations of ethical violations. More than 23 000 girls aged 10-14 years were given the HPV vaccine under this project, which health activists assert was “tantamount to using Indians as guinea pigs” (doi:10.1136/bmj.c1775).
A parliamentary panel investigating the matter confirms serious shortcomings in the protocol and execution of this study. In a report submitted earlier this month, they document misleading information given to parents about the benefits of the vaccine, and perpetuation of a false impression that the vaccination program was a government initiative. Further, the study targeted a vulnerable population of rural and tribal adolescent girls, and lacked necessary surveillance systems to monitor adverse events (doi:10.1136/bmj.f5492).
Moving beyond the regulatory gaps exposed by this particular study, we do need hard evidence on the protective efficacy and cost effectiveness of HPV vaccination in preventing cervical cancer, to consider its roll out as a national programme. With more deaths from cervical cancer annually than any other country in the world (doi:10.1136/bmj.f3108), the debate is central to India.
Allyson Pollock, author of a review on HPV vaccination in India, contends that a roll out of the vaccine is completely irrational from a public health perspective (doi:10.1136/bmj.e4390), and poses three vital questions for the government to consider: “whether it [HPV vaccine] works, whether it is needed, and whether it is a health priority.”
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f5634
Study: HPV Vaccine Linked to Premature Menopause in Young Girls
Vaccine Epidemic
by Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland J.D.
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Tag Archives: REI
The Ultimate in a hike
January 28, 2015 JoeMiller Leave a comment
Looking for a challenge in 2015? How about hiking 28.3 miles? In one day. Ultimate Hike is the chief fundraiser for CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch is a nonprofit that traces its roots to 1987. Though its name has changed over the years, its mission has not. The nonprofit funds research efforts to fight children’s cancer. If there’s a more noble effort to support, I’m pressed to think of it. The Ultimate Hike And if there’s a better way to support the cause — hiking to raise money for children’s cancer research — I’m hard-pressed to think of it, either. The 2015 Ultimate Hike season is about to get underway. This year’s hike, on the last 28.3 miles of the 77-mile Foothills Trail straddling North and South Carolina, is May 16. You don’t, however, just show up on May 16 and expect to hike 28.3 miles (at least most of us don’t). As part of the program, there’s a 12-week training program. The key component of the training program is a series of every-other-weekend hikes that will grow increasingly longer. Start with a getting-to-know-you short hike of 2 or 3 miles and build from there. Most hikes are local, but there’s also an elevation training hike at Hanging Rock State Park and and endurance hike of 20 miles in the Uwharrie National Forest. There’ll also be one or two mid-week hikes designed to get hikers used to hiking in the dark. (Why? Because to hike 28.3 miles in one day you have to hit the trail pretty early — 4:30 a.m., to be exact) Want to find out more? Then make plans to attend one or UH’s informational sessions next week, in Cary and Durham:
Wednesday, Feb. 4, REI in Cary, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 5, REI in Durham, 7 p.m.
And if you’re thinking, “I’m not really much of a hiker, this probably isn’t for me,” then cease that line of thinking. This hike and the 12-week training program is exactly for you: that’s what the training is all about. If you’re curious about what hiking 28.3 miles in a day is like, here are some scenes from the first Ultimate Hike on the Foothills Trail, in 2011. read more
CaryCureSearch for Children's CancerDurhamendurance hikingFoothills TrailREIUltimate Hike
Cycling, Kids
Durham’s Solite Park: a Gateway to inner city mountain biking
June 16, 2010 JoeMiller 7 Comments
Problem: Most mountain bike trails are located away from residential areas, making them difficult for carless kids to get to.
Solution: Build mountain bike trails closer to where kids live so they can ride to the trailhead.
Granted, that would seem to fall into the “No ‘duh” category. But because mountain bike trails take up some territory, making urban trails happen isn’t as easy as it sounds. Postage stamp-size urban parks tend to have their turf eaten up pretty quickly with playgrounds, basketball courts and a ball field or two. Often, though, there are scraps of unused parklands that can be put to recreational use. That’s why the International Mountain Bicycling Association started its Gateway Trails program, a program that last week added it’s first Triangle entry, at Durham’s Solite Park. read more
IMBApump trackREITORCTrips for Kids
Cycling, Fun stuff
Curt Dobbins pursues a third cycling passion
February 23, 2010 JoeMiller 5 Comments
Since he was a kid growing up in Florence, S.C., Curtis Dobbins has had a thing for bikes. Riding them, naturally, and because he was an inquisitive lad, tearing them apart and figuring out how to put them back together. He began riding seriously in high school and found work as a mechanic in a local bike shop. He moved to Raleigh in 1981 to go to N.C. State and got into bike racing at a time when Raleigh was one of the country’s hot spots (the old Capital City Criterium offered as much as $20,000 in prize money, enough to attract some of the nation’s top cyclists). read more
hand-built bikesREI
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On GPS Sunday: Michael Hayden on the Europe spying controversy
On GPS this Sunday: The revelations over alleged tapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone by the U.S. National Security Agency have strained relations between the two nations. But how serious are the current tensions? Fareed speaks with former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
Next, the American side of the story. Who would have given the NSA permission to spy on leaders of ally countries? Former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden gives his take.
“[O]ccasionally, what you have is political guidance kind of being placed on top of your operational planning,” Hayden says. “I had political guidance while I was director of NSA. I had targets. I had legitimate needs. But I was told, frankly, back off. That target is too sensitive. I don't want you doing that at this time, for this purpose.”
And, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on his legacy as he prepares to step down.
Next entry »Law of the jungle not good enough
« Previous entryWhy China should be open about Tiananmen attack
What should anyone expect this clown Michael Hayden to say on this spying? Of course he's going to defend it like a tiger since he's been a part of this ignoble team, having headed both these agencies, the C.I.A. and NSA. As far as the gutless wonders who now lead Europe are concerned, all this will blow over soon and it'll be back to politics as usual!
So, it's what the former German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is doing today, at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. He had to resign in March 2011, as he was criticised for plagiarism in his subsequently revoked doctoral thesis.
von. Günter
What is this man FORMER DISGRACED German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg doing on your show. The man has been proven to be a cad and a plagiarist. If I faked my Doctorate in Germany I would spend time in jail. Why is he not in jail. Please do not have this FORMER DISGRACED Minister on your show again. He is a plagiarist and also a aristocrat and has no place in this modern world. In his resignation speech he said after his law degree he worked in the free economy .. He did not he worked for the Guttenberg foundation managing his family's vast properties.
A year ago U.S. congress was ready to declare war on China for hacking allegations and now every Tom, Dick and Harry in U.S. is claiming, "Everyone spies". I wonder what changed?
Seriously, U.S. you have become worst than Nazis.
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Can man create a sun?
Tune into the latest GPS special, ‘Moonshots,’ on CNN this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET.
The sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit and4.6 billion years old. So what if we could somehow bring this blazing ball of energy down to Earth to power our world?
Fareed hears from Ned Sauthoff, who is leading the U.S. contribution to the 35-nation ITER project that is hoping to pull off one of the most audacious feats of physics ever witnessed: creating a star.
Watch the video for more.
Topics: GPS Show • Space
Comments (26 comments)
Have Americans given up on space?
For more What in the World watch Sundays at 10 a.m. & 1 p.m. ET on CNN
Fareed speaks with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, about the importance of space exploration – and whether Americans have fallen out of love with space.
What is the Orion spacecraft that NASA is talking about doing?
All of these efforts are trying to get us back into space, with the goal of possibly sending humans to the Mars system, Mars and the moons and the like. And if you have that capacity, then you'll have the capacity to go many other places. You could visit comets. You could go to the Moon easily once you've configured that.
So these are the things that have been discussed. But I don't see it happening in a real tangible way. In the 1960s, we were going to the Moon and every couple of months you saw the next spacecraft ready on the launch pad.
You led off with the ending of the shuttle program. For many people, that was sad. And it shouldn’t have been sad because had the cards been played right, on the next launch pad would have been the next vehicle to continue this adventure in space. And you say, OK, it served us well. Mothball it, but here's what's next. No one was sad at the end of the Mercury program, because the Gemini rockets were ready right there on the launch pad. And no one was sad when Gemini ended because the mighty Saturn 5 was ready to go. FULL POST
Topics: GPS Show • Space • Technology
Why the big science questions matter for all of us
Fareed speaks with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, about the Big Bang Theory – and how grappling with science’s big questions matters to our daily lives. Watch the full interview on "Fareed Zakaria GPS," this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN.
The Big Bang Theory seems to have been – I'm talking about the actual event, not the not the TV show – seems to have been proven even more right, and there’s now this talk about the Inflation Hypothesis. What is it and why is it important?
So recently, there was a result, an observation, that appeared to confirm predictions made in the inflationary universe. So in the...
Inflationary meaning?
Yes, this idea, which was an appendage to the Big Bang, was put forth back in the 1970s, when that word had much higher currency than it does today. So it stuck and it's been with us ever since.
And it refers to an early period of the universe, really early, like fractions of a second after the original explosion, where the universe has a rapid expansion – faster than the speed of light rapid expansion. It is scientifically valid, that prediction and that idea. And it had a whole sweep of expectations that you should look for if it were true.
So people started exploring the universe, checking that box, yes, that's true, too. Yes. Hey, got that one right, as well. FULL POST
Topics: GPS Show • Science • Space
What we can learn from JFK’s leadership
By Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Jeffrey D. Sachs is director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and author of To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace. The views expressed are his own. This is the first article in a series on America’s identity and image since the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
We celebrate John F. Kennedy a half-century after his death for the confidence he gave us in meeting great challenges. “Our problems are man-made; therefore, they can be solved by man,” he told us. And we believed him. At a moment when the U.S. government seems unable even to launch a website, we recall Kennedy’s boldest commitment: to launch a man to the moon and bring him back safely to Earth within the decade. That remarkable moment in American history, one that virtually defined my own childhood years, still inspires us to shake off our dour pessimism today.
While it’s all too easy to believe in government failure today – what with the failed Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, NSA spying, the Obamacare rollout, shutdowns, sequesters, and more – the public perception was nearly the opposite a half-century ago. The federal government was friend, not foe. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s government had organized the New Deal, steered democracy through the Great Depression, and then triumphed over fascism in World War II. The federal government had invented the nuclear age in the Manhattan Project, hardly the work of a technological slouch. Most importantly for most Americans in the 1950s and early 1960s, the U.S. government was the bulwark against the aggressive designs of Stalin and the Soviet Union.
Topics: History • Russia • Space • United States
How we could stop a meteor hitting Earth
"Fareed Zakaria GPS," Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN
Fareed speaks with the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetarium, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, about the implications of the meteor that exploded over the Ural Mountains last month. To see this or other interviews, download the show at iTunes.
The laws of math are that the probability is one of these things will hit...
Globally, what deeply concerns you is the asteroid strong enough so you have to restart civilization. And then, at another level, you risk extinction. Fortunately, those are large and we have a plan in place. NASA has a plan in place to detect and map and track every single asteroid that’s large enough to disrupt civilization. The one that exploded over Russia was not large enough to disrupt civilization. And so they’re dangerous and they'll hurt and they can kill, but the fact that we can’t track them is not as bad as not being able to track the big ones that could really destroy us. So once you know where they are, your next question would be, perhaps, do we have a plan to do something about it?
And the answer is no. It's all just on paper how to do it.
Topics: Space
Debunking doomsday: 6 rumors dispelled
From the Mayan calendar and a runaway planet called "Nibiru," from killer asteroids and theories about galactic alignments: The internet is full of talk about the world ending on December 21.
NASA scientists recently addressed some of the most pervasive of these rumors around the dubious date. Take a look:
The Mayan calendar began somewhere around 3,114 years before the current era, and is set to end on December 21 or 23 (depending on the translation). NASA scientist Mitzi Adams describes what the Mayans would have done had their civilization lasted and why there is no cause for alarm.
Post by: CNN's Amy Cox
Topics: Science • Space
Russia's spacey superstitions
When the shuttle program ended almost a year ago, America became unable to send a man to space, so now the U.S. has to rely on others, and that means the Russians. And that can be a little scary.
In the past year Russia's space program has had a series of close calls and even crashes. So before a recent liftoff, Russia invoked a higher power. OK. But that is far from the only superstition that comes into play at Russia's Cosmodrome.
Tradition says that the crew gets haircuts two days before launch and they drink a glass of champagne on launch day. And the final superstition, as Yuri Gagarin did before he became the first man in space in 1961, they relieve themselves on the wheels of the bus that carries them to the launch pad.
Let's see if it works.
Related: Unmanned private rocket launches
Topics: Last Look • Russia • Space
Should we send humans to Mars?
As Star Trek reminds us, space is the final frontier. But is it the "final frontier"' of earthbound conflict - perhaps a power struggle between the United States and China?
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson spends a lot of time looking and thinking about space. He is the author of Space Chronicles and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York. Neil and I spoke about geopolitics and space.
Here's the transcript:
Post by: CNN's Fareed Zakaria
Topics: Foreign Policy • Space
More from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
If you're looking for more from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was on GPS today, you can check out his Foreign Affairs article here (behind a pay wall) and/or order his book here.
Here's an excerpt of from his Foreign Affairs article:
Post by: CNN Editors
Zakaria: Swiss cleaning up space junk
By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
When you think of Switzerland, the image that comes to mind is pristine, clean, unlittered. In fact, no one dares litter in Switzerland for fear of a huge fine.
Well, now they've taken their cleanliness to a new level - out of this world, you might say. The Swiss have decided they are going to clean up outer space.
Clean Space One announced this week by the Swiss Space Center will be a "janitor satellite" whose mission will be to tidy up the upper atmosphere.
There are said to be more than 500,000 pieces of space junk up there. When they're done with space, I'd love for them to pay a visit to my office.
Topics: GPS Show • Last Look • Odd • Space
The River Nile, Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula, as seen from the space shuttle Columbia during NASA's STS-83 mission, April 1997. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
The danger of space debris
Editor's Note: Micah Zenko is a fellow for conflict prevention at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he blogs. You can also follow him on Twitter.
By Micah Zenko
In late June, six astronauts living on board the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits some 200 miles above the earth’s surface, received notice that a piece of space debris travelling 29,000 miles per hour would pass dangerously nearby. NASA officials calculated that the probability of the ISS being hit at around one in 360. (One in 10,000 is NASA’s nominal threshold for which it will authorize a “collision avoidance maneuver.”)
Normally, the ISS receives ample notice so that it can maneuver out of the pathway of potential space debris. However, with less than fifteen hours’ warning, the astronauts were forced to relocate to Soyuz space capsules for only the second time in the ISS’s thirteen-year history.
While the debris missed the space station by 1,100 feet, orbital space debris is a growing threat to civil, military, and commercial satellites in space.
Post by: Micah Zenko
Topics: Global • Space • Strategy
Orbital Technologies has revealed plans for a space hotel, which could open by 2016 (Image: Orbital Technologies)
Russians unveil space hotel
By Tiffany Lam, CNNGo
"Getting away from it all" may be a travel marketing cliché, but the phrase might take on a whole new meaning come 2016.
Russian firm Orbital Technologies plans to open the first space hotel in history in five year's time. The space hotel, or "Commercial Space Station," as it's officially called, will float 250 miles above Earth.
The hotel can accommodate a maximum of seven people at a time. To check in, tourists will have to undergo special training that can take up to three months, depending on the type of spacecraft they fly to the hotel. The firm says that stays can range from three days to six months. FULL POST
Post by: Tiffany Lam
Topics: Odd • Space
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ISRA VISION: The Spiritual Revival of Islam
The Islamic Studies and Research Association (ISRA) is an Islamic organization founded on the affirmation that Allah is One, Muhammad (S) is His final Prophet, and the religion of Islam has three dimensions: Islam, which is the surrender of one´s body, heart and soul to Allah; Iman, faith in the Unity of Allah and the truth of His books, His guidance and His prophets; and Ihsan, the spiritual awareness of the Presence of Allah which is also known as tasawwuf. These have been revealed and described in the Qur´an and in the model of the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, his family, and his followers.
Many calamities have befallen the Ummah during the last 200 years but one of the worst has been the rejection of tasawwuf. We find ourselves without coherent leadership and following self-proclaimed scholars who teach a dry, literalist and legalistic religion cut off from its traditional and spiritual heritage. In some cases this develops into a harsh and uncompromising political ideology, with violent results. While we understand the sources of this ideology, we cannot condone its methods or attitude. Islamic civilization, which was remarkably stable and united for over 1200 years, is now in a crisis of disunity.
The function of ISRA is to be a positive, non-sectarian, tolerant and compassionate response to this crisis. Its members want to recover the spiritual roots of Islam, and to promote an alternative, deeper and truer vision of Allah's guidance to the two-dimensional legalistic and political version so widely publicized today.
ISRA intends to become a world-wide Muslim network, centered in the United States, which links together a broad coalition of various broad-minded and intelligent Muslim individuals and organizations to serve the cause of Allah. What we wish to avoid is brothers and sisters who have succumbed to the dictum of Satan: “I am better than you.” We wish to encourage and support clear and inspired leaders who are not afraid to speak, examine, and understand what is happening in society. We have had enough of tyranny hidden in democracy, politics passing for prayer, and legal posturing covering over the truth.
We also need to acknowledge elements of Islam which have been forgotten or buried by local customs, including the equality of all souls, the extensive rights of men and women, the great rewards of remembrance of Allah, and the superiority of generosity over the material gains of this world. We wish to uncover the real Islam from within our hearts, not a suffocating social fabric inherited from this or that cultural past. We wish to discover the way Islam can manifest today, for each of us, by exploring the principles and guidance that Allah in His wisdom set down for us to apply within each age and circumstance.
We also hope to improve relations and understanding between the Muslims and other faith groups, “to compete with one another in good works,” for the well-being of the entire community. Such efforts are needed on local, national, and international levels, and we intend that ISRA chapters form in many places and co-operate with one another.
All Muslims long for community and unity. Unity will be achieved as we serve one another fi sabil-il’Lah, whether in one physical place, through virtual means, or in frequent gatherings and conferences promoting the remembrance of Allah and the love of His Messenger, blessings of Allah and peace be on his hand his family and followers. Unity will be achieved when our hearts are cleaned, and hearts will be cleaned by the revival and practice of tasawwuf. We ask Allah to make our work fruitful through the personal experience of the Divine Presence in our lives, and the deepening of our own compassion, mercy, and service. The role of ISRA will be to help to spread this understanding, so that the Muslims may lay aside fears, open their hearts, and work together for the spiritual revival of Islam.
ISRA International
The Islamic Studies and Research Association (ISRA) was founded by the grace of Allah, by Syed Zain al-Abedin in 1987, in the United States of America. Its members have worked informally through various, local, regional, and national organizations on several projects to enhance and spread Islamic knowledge.
ISRA was revived in 1998 as an international organization through the work of many prominent Muslims from a variety of schools of thoughts and perspectives. Since its revival, ISRA has made remarkable progress in presenting Islam as a religion based upon islam, iman, and ihsan (tasawwuf). Over a short period of time, the organization has come to enjoy many great successes and its appeal is steadily growing on an international level.
The Irshad Council of ISRA
The affairs of ISRA are guided by the concept of shura through a council named the Irshad Council. The Irshad Council consists of a working committee and a board of distinguished scholars and shuyukh who serve as Islamic advisors to the council.
Board of Advisors of the Irshad Council:
Shaykh Ahmed Tijani Ben Omer
Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee
Shaykh Harun Rasheed Faye
Dr. Abd al-Haqq Godlas
Dr. Abdelhadi Honerkamp
Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Qutab ud-Din
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid
ISRA International Headquarters
Turbeville, South Carolina 29162-0357
website: www.IsraInternational.com
© 2009 Islamic Studies and Research Association (ISRA)
TAGS: Knowledge
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Get the party started with Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party
Another Dance Dance Revolution game down! After playing through DDR: Disney Mix, I thought I'd jump ahead and try some of the Wii titles. There were quite a few DDR games released on Wii, and the first of these was called Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party and was released in the fall of 2007. The game is pretty much your standard DDR with the addition of Wii controls that add left and right arm motions. The Wii remote and nunchuk controls work much better than the EyeToy controls (which were awkward and basically more trouble than they were worth in the PS2 DDR games I've played), although they're still not ideal as you have to put a lot of focus and attention on them to get the timing exactly right. The game also has "gimmick arrows", which include things like arrows you have to step on twice and arrows that, if you miss them, cause part of the screen to be hidden. These gimmicks are included to a much greater extent than in other DDR games that I can recall (except perhaps the Mario game), and some of them are a real annoyance (particularly the arrows that spin around and don't line up with the screen until right before you have to hit them, which mean that they basically require you to memorize them). The game has the option to turn off these and the hand motions, which is an important and very welcome feature.
Otherwise the game is pretty much your usual DDR. In the main mode you work your way through various venues, but the challenges are all pretty basic, such as "beat any 3 songs on basic or higher" or "get a B or higher rank and a 50 combo". Along with unlocking venues (i.e. floating stages of different shapes with various psychedelic visuals) you also unlock songs and alternate character costumes in this mode, and after you beat the main set of challenges the game unlocks a new set of challenges that are much, much more difficult.
The game features a mix of dance tracks that include cover songs, a couple by the original artist, and a bunch written for the game. The songs are all pretty good, although the fact that most are covers will turn people off (although that's par for the course for the DDR series). I was disappointed in the new art style, which has a sort of Bratz-like aesthetic, and I was disappointed that pretty much none of the series' previous dancers were included. I was also disappointed that the game doesn't display your previous high scores in the song selection screen (although that's often the case with the DDR games), and it's also too bad that the game doesn't record a separate set of scores for when you turn off the hand motions, since they are so finicky and require a lot more effort to have on.
Although it does require effort to play with the hand motion controls on, they make the game feel fresh and more like a whole body (and mind) experience. In the end I would rank this around the middle of the games in the series that I've played so far. It's not quite as appealing as the games that feature just the classic feet-only gameplay, but there's a good variety of songs and it's still quite enjoyable. The game was followed up by two games that are extremely similar, Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 3, but I enjoyed this enough that I'll be playing through both of those games before moving on to the other games in the series.
Get the party started with these Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party links:
- Some screenshots at NintendoLife
- Entry on Wikipedia
- Entry at Metacritic
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The meaning of Proposition 19 for Los Angeles
October 27, 2010 By Emily Henry 4 Comments
Wandering the Venice Boardwalk, it might be easy to image a Los Angeles where marijuana is legal and easily available. But while Proposition 19 might have seemed like an easy pass in California — the state home to the hippy movement, first to reduce the maximum penalty for possession of marijuana and first to allow it to be grown and consumed for medical purposes — the reality is a little more complicated.
A poll conduced by the Los Angeles Times/USC on Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in California, shows opposition at 51 percent. Of the 441 likely voters polled by telephone, 39 percent support the measure. The poll also hints at the complex divisions between various demographic groups.
Men, for example, are undecided on the issue, while women are more likely to vote against it. Republicans “overwhelmingly” opposed Proposition 19, while the legalization of marijuana is supported by most Democrats and Independents. According to the poll, voters under the age of 40 are more likely to support Proposition 19 with 48 percent indicating a “yes” vote, while 59 percent of older voters opposed it. Only 28 percent of voters 65 and older supported Prop. 19. According to the LA Times/USC poll, Latino voters opposed the legalization of marijuana 2 to 1. White voters also opposed the measure in majority.
Support for Proposition 19 also depends on where you live in California, according to the poll. Researchers found that Proposition 19 was “leading only in the Central Coast counties and running far behind in the largely conservative Central Valley and in Southern California.”
Left: A celebration of marijuana at UC Santa Cruz on April 20, or “4/20,” courtesy of IndyBay
So, who might be most likely to vote for the passage of Proposition 19? A left-leaning, twenty-something male from Santa Cruz.
And least likely? A right-leaning woman in her late 60s from Bakersfield.
But what about in Los Angeles? This politically and ethnically diverse city could go either way on the vote. What would Los Angeles be like as a city with legal weed?
To begin with, smoking in public would still be illegal. Individuals would be able to carry up to an ounce without breaking the law. Lighting up in front of minors would be a big no-no, and so would driving. However, roadside impairment testing is extremely difficult for police, which may be considered cause for concern. What about the cost to buy marijuana? Well, pot could actually get cheaper. According to the Rand Drug Policy Research Center, the price of marijuana could drop significantly, by as much as 80 percent if legalized. Questions remain as to how much revenue sale and taxation of marijuana would bring into the state, and whether or not anti-marijuana laws would be enforced at a federal level.
How are you planning to vote on Proposition 19? Let us know in the comments box below.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: california, marijuana, pot, prop 19, proposition 19, weed
Proposition 19 lacks funds, not buzz
October 26, 2010 By Jessica Flores 6 Comments
Listen to the audio story:
A recent poll by the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California shows that 51 percent of California voters oppose legalizing marijuana.
With just a week away from voting time, the Yes on 19 campaign says it is stepping up its efforts.
But both campaign sides have had little capital compared to other campaigns this election cycle. With less money, the campaign is focusing on reaching voters online instead of on televesion.
Recently, the campaign for legalizing marijuana just got a monetary push from investor George Soros. He donated $1 million to the Drug Policy Alliance.
Stephen Gutwillig is one of the alliance’s spokespersons. He declined to give details about Soros and the donation. He did say, however, that the alliance plans on using the money for voter mobilization and public education.
It is a little late in the game to film and televise advertisements. So far, there is only one pro-legalization marijuana advertisement done by the Yes on 19 campaign.
Tom Angell is the spokesperson for Yes on 19. He says the advertisement originally played in Los Angeles, but it recently expanded to Bakersfield, Fresno and Chico. The campaign also purchased a “predicted dialer.” That is a gadget that calls about five people at once, and when someone picks up the phone, it connects to a volunteer.
Their so-called “grassroots campaign” will be focusing more on communication though Facebook and blogs. They also signed up hundreds of volunteers to man the phones. Expect a phone call this week.
Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: drug policy alliance, los angeles times, proposition 19, social media
Supporters high on Prop 19
October 12, 2010 By Contributor 5 Comments
Listen to the audio story here:
Read the audio script here:
Many leaders in the medical marijuana community met at City Hall Tuesday to endorse Proposition 19.
With just a few weeks before California voters cast their ballots on Nov. 2, the group is confident the proposition will pass.
“In essence, what we believe is that California is going to make the right decision to end prohibition of cannabis because it’s a failed policy,” said Jeff Jones, a long-time activist for medical marijuana and co-proponent of the campaign “Yes on Proposition 19.”
Jones and the others said they believe the prohibition leads to higher costs for legal medical users. Legalizing the drug, on the other hand, would allow adults over 21 to grow the cannabis themselves. This, in turn, would make it more accessible for patients.
However, opposition against this initiative stands strong.
“Proposition 19 is such a jumbled, flawed, legal nightmare,” said Tim Rosales, who is the campaign manager of “No on Proposition 19.”
One of his main concerns is, if the measure passes, drivers will be able to drive while under the substance.
“There is no test or standard, like the 0.08 for alcohol,” Rosales said. “And therefore, law enforcement would have no way to judge whether or not someone is impaired behind the wheel because of marijuana.”
Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: cannabis, medical marijuana, proposition 19, substance
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姓名 洪羿蓁(Yi-chen Hung) 查詢紙本館藏 畢業系所 學習與教學研究所
論文名稱 由I/E模式、大魚小池效應與合併模型檢驗學生學業成就與學業自我概念之結構關係-以TIMSS 2011科學與數學為例
(Examining the relationship between student academic achievement and self-concept in the I/E, BFLPE, and combined models - Evidence from East Asian countries’ data in TIMSS 2011)
★ 檢視高中學生科技學習態度、知識信念與學業成就之關係 ★ 探索機器人學習活動之背景和經驗、動機、 策略與成就相關性：以國小高年級學生為例
★ The Importance of Context for Adolescents’ Motivational Beliefs in Science Learning and their Relationships with Science Achievement: Results from Taiwanese TIMSS Data
摘要(中) 本研究旨在以內外在參照架構模式（Internal/External frame of reference model，簡稱I/E模式）與大魚小池效應（Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect，簡稱BFLPE）所合併之合併模型來檢驗東西方五國其四年級與八年級學生的學業成就與學業自我概念之關係。此外，更提出三個容易被大型資料庫研究者所忽略的統計特質，並適當的應用在本研究之統計分析中，以確保研究結果之準確性。資料庫來源為2011年國際數學與科學教育成就趨勢調查（TIMSS 2011），樣本包括四個東方國家: 台灣、日本、香港與南韓；西方國家則以美國作為代表。分析方法包括敘述統計、皮爾森績差相關以及多層次結構方程模型。研究結果發現: （1）相較於美國，東亞國家的學生，普遍在國中階段會比國小階段有著明顯更低的自我概念；（2）美國學生的學業自我概念普遍比東亞國家學生高；（3）整體而言，學生學業成就與自我概念之關係為顯著正向相關，而此關係的強度，八年級皆大於四年級；（4）大多數模型皆符合I/E模式的預測，且大多數國家呈現了八年級的預測力比四年級來的大的趨勢；（5）東西方各國之科學與數學皆出現了顯著的BFLPE，且各國的數學BFLPE程度都比科學來的嚴重、八年級普遍比四年級來的嚴重。最後，本研究根據研究結果提出對教育實務及未來研究的建議。
摘要(英) The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between student achievement and self-concept of science/mathematics by using a combined model consisting of the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) and the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) models in four high-performing East Asian countries and the USA as a representative Western country. The samples were taken from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 fourth-grade and eighth -grade student data in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the USA. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) were used to analyze the relationship between student academic self-concept and academic achievement at different grade levels and in countries with different cultures. The results suggest that the combined model fitted the data well, and most of the predictions of the combined model were supported by the data from the five countries. The self-concept of American students is higher than that of East Asian students. In general, the correlation between achievement and self-concept is positively significant, and this correlation is larger for grade eight students. Furthermore, the results also show that the effects of the BFLPE and the I/E were generally larger for grade eight students and for math. Finally, implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
關鍵字(中) ★ 內外在參照架構模式
★ 大魚小池效應
★ TIMSS
★ 多層次結構方程模型 關鍵字(英) ★ the internal/external frame of reference model
★ the big-fish-little-pond effect model
★ multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM)
論文目次 目次 ii
表目次 iv
一、緒論 1
1-1 研究動機 1
1-2 研究目的 4
1-3 研究問題 5
1-4 研究限制 5
1-5 主要名詞釋義 6
二、文獻探討 8
2-1 內外在參照架構模式之理論背景、原理與相關研究 8
2-2 大魚小池效應之理論背景、原理與相關研究 12
2-3 國際大型資料庫之統計特質 14
2-4 TIMSS 2011背景、調查施測歷程與評量架構 19
三、研究方法 24
3-1 研究設計 25
3-2 研究對象 26
3-3 研究假設 28
3-4 研究工具 29
3-5 資料蒐集方法 32
3-6 資料分析方法 33
四、研究結果與分析 41
4-1 各國學業成就與自我概念題項之敘述統計 41
4-2 學業成就與學業自我概念之相關分析 50
4-3 多層次結構方程模型分析 51
五、討論與結論 63
5-1 研究結果討論 63
5-2 結論與建議 69
附錄 87
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指導教授 劉佩艷(Pey-Yan Liou) 審核日期 2013-7-30
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Home » The Finnish authorities approved the first march of the "Immortal Regiment" in Helsinki
The Finnish authorities approved the first march of the "Immortal Regiment" in Helsinki
Johan Bäckman
In Finland, any citizen has the right to express political positions at rallies without the permission of the authorities.
Therefore, in the case of the first Immortal Regiment in Helsinki, the Finnish authorities intend to fully protect the event and guarantee its peaceful conduct. I believe that the initiative is good. In particular, there are a lot of Russians living in Helsinki, but so far there have been no general events for the Victory Day. Now everyone can participate in the march "Immortal Regiment". This is a clear indication of the high level of Russian-Finnish relations.
"Immortal Regiment" in Helsinki will be held on Victory Day and starts at 18.00 at the Sibelius Monument. Finnish citizens will march in an anti-fascist procession carrying photos of their heroes who fought against fascism in the Second World War. The Soviet Union, with the help of the whole world, defeated fascism and Nazism more than 70 years ago, tens of millions of people sacrificed their lives for this. This peaceful procession is a way to honor the ancestors.
This event is not against Finland or the Finns, on the contrary, it is a gesture of peace and reconciliation. We invite the Finns to support our procession, and although our ancestors fought against each other, let us not repeat this monstrous mistake of the past. Maybe it's time to drop the weapons and remember together our grandfathers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of a better future for their children!
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The Cultural Ramifications of Gentrification in New Orleans
Gentrification is not just physical displacement; it’s cultural appropriation across entire neighborhoods.
By Blights Out
People whose cultures have been commodified are mad about cultural appropriation because it cannot be separated from the theft of their land, life, dignity, freedom, and rights.
Photo by Shelterforce
Housing development in New Orleans.
There once was a time when societies believed that the erection of architecture was a violation of the Earth. In Architecture and Violence, author Bechir Kenzari describes the millennia-old practice of construction rites, which demanded that an architect spill blood on his building’s foundation stone as a sacrifice for the privatization of land that once belonged to no one and to all. Our national culture does not bestow land with such dignity. Instead, private ownership is at the core of our values.
It is said that any atrocity committed by a nation state is lawful since the state created and, therefore, exists outside the law. It only has to shift the boundaries of the law to encompass cruel or unusual actions it wishes to perform.
“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal,” Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us. But the state does not only shift the law to suit its purposes during exceptional times: the practice is foundational.
John Winthrop, the architect of puritan new world colonialism and American exceptionalism (“City upon a Hill”), codified the theft of Native American land into a doctrine known as vacuum domicilium, which stated that land without “permanent development” is open for occupation. Having encountered places and people that existed beyond the cultural imagination that underpinned their own legal premises, the English self-ordained themselves with the authority to judge the value of indigenous peoples’ land use—their architecture, cultural practices, and agriculture—and found it worthless.
With time, those wielding the power to negate cultural value commodified those same cultures in order to extract economic value from them. This model defines our history and frames many of the issues of place and culture that we address today. The subject of cultural appropriation, for example, has gone viral. What is cultural appropriation? Why are folks so mad?
Cultural appropriation—the theft and hollowing out of culture, place, and people into commodities—cannot be separated from the historic abuse of various cultures and the labeling of their bearers as “primitive,” “inferior,” “dangerous,” and “illegal” in order to establish dominion over them. People whose cultures have been commodified are mad about cultural appropriation because it cannot be separated from the theft of their land, life, dignity, freedom, and rights. It cannot be separated from colonialism, from the murder with impunity of Black men and women by the police, or from the gentrification of their neighborhoods.
Indeed, our organization, Blights Out, would argue that gentrification and cultural appropriation are two sides of the same coin. Blights Outs is a collective of artists, activists, and architects with a mission to generate dialogue, art, and actions that challenge the land-use policies that drive gentrification and unequal property development in New Orleans. Our central goal is to purchase a blighted property and transform it into a hub for that mission, and in the process, demystify the system of housing development and expose the policies that lead to displacement.
IF YOU WERE TO READ think pieces in Slate or The Washington Post, you might come to believe that gentrification and displacement are myths, or at least impossible to define.
So, to add to the rebuttals, we’ve perused and compiled definitions for the word “gentrification” from Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Cambridge, and Collins dictionaries to create this: “During gentrification, ‘people who have money’ move into ‘deteriorating’ neighborhoods, ‘improving’ the district by ‘conforming’ the area to their ‘tastes,’ ‘changing its character,’ ‘often displacing’ the poorer residents, and making the place ‘more refined and polite,’ according to the newcomers’ system of values.”
Dictionaries, like laws and history, are written by the elite: humans marred by personal biases, class interests, and the associated value systems of their time and place. The descriptive and active words in these definitions—taste, character, refined, polite, conform, and improve—are not neutral. They are subjective, and under the guise of objectivity they express opinions about class, betraying a value system that is shared by those wealthier newcomers who are, quite clearly, the protagonists in the dictionaries’ version of the story of gentrification.
The value system of the dominant culture (the culture of “people with money”) is upheld as capable of gauging the harm caused by gentrification. “Residents of gentrifying neighborhoods also tend to benefit from gentrification across the board,” reads a 2015 CityLab article, “experiencing an average increase of 11 points in their credit scores—and roughly 23 in neighborhoods with intense gentrification—compared to non-residents.”
The article goes on to measure displacement’s negative toll on the gentrified neighborhood’s poorest residents by the lowering of their credit scores, as they are forced into other neighborhoods with higher concentrations of poverty. Like dictionaries, these analyses of gentrification are blighted by bias. Benefit and harm are reduced to profit and loss, neighborhoods are reduced to markets, and communities are reduced to shareholders. Little is said of aspects of life not measurable by dollars or data.
Never is it assumed that folks might want to stay in or leave their neighborhoods for reasons such as history, community, or culture. The authors have overlooked, cannot see, or do not understand these factors. We should not be shocked to learn that words are not vessels of pure meaning, and that they in fact can harbor histories and agendas that can turn them into weapons.
Over the past decade in the United States, we have watched as the words “freedom,” “democracy,” “community,” and “truth” have been drained of meaning by our nation’s military, political, and economic elites. Through our research into the word “auction,” Blights Out discovered a lineage from the slave auction system that enriched the ancestors of today’s ruling class to the contemporary real estate market that gentrifies historically Black neighborhoods. We didn’t read about it in a dictionary or encyclopedia. In fact, Wikipedia’s entry on “auction” doesn’t even mention U.S. slave auctions. We had to dig up the nuances of the word and stitch them together from old newspaper articles and advertisements. Our research exposed a direct line from the largest antebellum slave auctioneer to the New Orleans City Planning Commission.
Under antebellum Louisiana law, Black people were considered “real estate” to be mortgaged, bought, and sold at auction, along with other property like horses, fine art, and land. Black people, like Native Americans, were dehumanized; their intrinsic humanity was stripped away and replaced with monetary value. (And since property equals political power, slavers also got a bonus of three-fifths of an electoral vote per human in their collection.) During slavery, the corrosive process of devaluation was not contained to human bodies; it was applied to their ideas, expressions, and effects. The process has been replicated in colonization, cultural appropriation, Jim Crow, redlining, urban renewal, and gentrification.
Though enslaved Africans were forced to surrender their languages, art, architecture, and social structures, they still forged West African Adinkra symbols into the wrought iron of New Orleans architecture, reminding us of their past, and their presence.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Black women’s hair was considered too “free” to be seen out in public, so sumptuary laws mandated that all women of color—free or enslaved—cover their hair. These tignons—elaborately tied, colorfully dyed head wraps—became symbols of Black beauty and pride. Today, Black girls from the American South to South Africa are suspended from high school for wearing their hair naturally, while their white classmates dabble in the same styles as an exotic souvenir from a tropical vacation, ignorant of the history of Afro-Colombian women braiding maps to freedom into their hair.
In New Orleans, the cultural traditions that inspire people to move here are being supplanted by zombified versions of themselves as rents go up, income stays low, and people struggle to survive. Iconic Second Lines have been hijacked and commodified for the pleasure of tourists and newcomers who are looking for a party but know nothing of the history of resistance infused in the art form. They suck the life out through the gaze of their camera lenses and turn it into dollars that aren’t shared with the keepers of the cultures. Few revelers know that Second Lines are retentions of West African funeral traditions of “walking the corpse,” saved and performed by enslaved Africans and their descendants, and that the benevolent societies that organize them were formed because insurance companies wouldn’t protect Black neighborhoods after slavery.
A GENTRIFIED AESTHETIC is by definition out of place and time and is devoid of context, spirit, or backstory. It is aspirational and unhinged from reality. Its obsession with an “industrial aesthetic”—high ceilings, open floor plans, raw materials of brick, steel, and wood—fetishizes our nation’s manufacturing industry, ignoring the suffering of the people left in the wake of its collapse.
“Loft living” is the dream of life without labor, workshops without working-class people. The gentrified aesthetic is a warning, like a burning effigy; an exquisite corpse of other places, other people, other cultures treated as found objects and sewn together like a scarecrow. It is violent. It means: Get out. This is our land now. You belong to yesterday. The dominating face of the incoming, cop-friendly population looms like Big Brother from a mural on the side of a house where a white artist has painted his own image into a neighborhood from which longtime residents are being pushed out; his gaze soothes newcomers but taunts the people who lived there first.
Slowly, those people become whispers of memory. Some say that: “No one used to live there” at all. Whether through vacuum domicillum or contemporary policy, the only culture of gentrification is money. It is brand. It is policy. It is an economic and political system. It is capitalism. It is also often apologetic. It only meant well; it only wanted to make things nicer; it only wanted to introduce more options; how was it to know the repercussions of its actions; didn’t you people want nice things; didn’t you make money from the sale of your house? It can’t help its nature any more than a predator can.
HERE IN LOUISIANA, the debt incurred by an individual property owner latches onto land. Tens of thousands of properties in New Orleans are stagnating under the weight of debt. One we attempted to purchase has a burden of $97,000 that cannot be legally forgiven. Rather than be allowed to contribute business or shelter to the neighborhood, these properties are held hostage until that debt—which only rich developers can afford to take on—is paid.
The failure of the system is responsible for the failure of the community. Blights Out was formed from the recognition that “development” is a murky and mysterious process that operates above the heads and outside the purview of local residents. For three years, we tried to acquire a property without going through the potentially predatory auction process. We wanted to rehab a two-story building into permanently affordable housing, backed by a land trust, with a community arts and organizing space on the ground level. Our first property choice burned down and the third was demolished by the city before all of our members had a chance to see it. Between this, a home that was one of several purchased by a nonprofit with plans to turn them into affordable housing was subsequently given away when the nonprofit ran out of funds. We tried to acquire the home from the person, a lawyer based in New York, but she sold it.
By this writing, the home is still vacant, but has been flipped at least three times and increased in value from $8,000 to almost $200,000. We have documented this story and the various ways in which the legal and economic system caused our attempts to fall through, from flipping to demolition. Through the failure of our attempts to acquire property, we have succeeded in our mission to demystify housing development: Capitalism’s values have made gentrification inevitable.
Reparations must be paid—in the form of law, land, and culture—to return dignity to people and to the Earth itself. Our art is designed to achieve these goals. Art and culture are not platonic “goods.” Sometimes they can be predators, sometimes prey, and sometimes they can be zombies. But context matters. History matters. Place matters. People matter.
So how do you keep your art and the land from being complicit in gentrification? You make them utterly unpalatable to profit-oriented culture so that it won’t want to be seen near them, let alone co-opt them. In doing this, you orient them toward liberation. You give them life and consciousness. You return them to themselves.
The following mandates have guided our creative process and could be a light for others to follow:
Interrogate yourself. Who is it for? What do you hope this work will do? Why are you the one to do it? Implicate yourself in your work.
Relinquish sole authorship. Try collectivity, which lifts up both the one and the many. An example is our Blights Out for President project, which began in 2016 by flipping the typical election campaign, jargon-heavy propaganda and creating a crowd-sourced collection of lawn signs and billboards with clear, relatable calls for housing justice.
Never act for communities without residents as equal co-creators and co-thinkers. Gather information from those who are rarely consulted about the fate of their own neighborhoods, homes, and lives. An example is the Citizen’s Development Platform, which began in 2016. Over the course of the year, Blights Out hosted a series of forums, visioning exercises, and teach-ins to analyze the political structures that support a system of inequity and stimulate our communities’ imaginations to design the future they want for their neighborhoods. Their ideas were turned into a platform that clearly articulated demands to achieve this vision.
Question your medium. The emphasis on visual art has been linked to the supremacy of Western thought and its emphasis on the eye as the “noblest of senses”: on truth as what is seen vs. felt; on the centering of spectator vs. participant; on quantity vs. quality. You get bonus points for a performance because it is more difficult to objectify. Examples are our Home Court Crawl, during which we held spoken word events on the porches of vacant homes with a Second Line–style parade between them, and The Theatre of the Gentrified, a pop-up public theater that brings Blights Out’s Living Glossary Project to life. In all of this, be authentic and radically honest in your rendering of the truth.
In The Living Glossary project, the impersonal and sterile (but exclusively used) vocabulary of housing development is replaced with more honest terms. The glossary details the historical origins and socio-political contexts of words like “blight” and “property” and includes oral histories from people whose lives have been affected by the concepts. By sharing the actual, lived experiences behind these everyday words, people better understand their power and can work against the systems that employ them.
Blights Out is an arts and housing justice advocacy organization based in New Orleans. Reprinted from Shelterforce (Summer 2017), the only independent, non-academic publication covering the worlds of community development, affordable housing, and neighborhood stabilization. www.shelterforce.org
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Potato, Interrupted: Genetic Engineering for Disease Resistance
Almost every cultivated variety of potato is susceptible to late blight, except a genetically engineered variety developed in the late 2000s.
By Nicole Miller, from On Wisconsin Magazine
| Summer 2017
Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, can attack nearly all commercially grown potatoes.
Photo by Flickr/johnnyjet
Russet Burbank's many positive characteristics — including its shape and size, good flavor profile, and long storage life — make it McDonald's top tuber.
Photo by Flickr/sundazed
Americans love their potatoes. We enjoy them baked and mashed, and as chips and fries, to the tune of 140 pounds per person per year. Potatoes anchor our holiday meals, our summer picnics, and our fast food indulgences. They are savory perfection.
In most ways, at least.
The potato has an Achilles’ heel. Most of our commercial varieties need help standing up to pests and pathogens, including late blight, the fungal disease that caused Ireland’s potato famine in the mid-1800s.
“Every variety in this country, almost every one of them, is susceptible [to late blight],” explains Jiming Jiang, a UW–Madison professor of horticulture. This includes Atlantic, Red Norland, Yukon Gold, and Russet Burbank of McDonald’s french fry fame.
To protect their crops from late blight, U.S. farmers spray around $77 million worth of fungicides each year. Even so, the disease takes a toll, causing some $210 million worth of crop losses annually. What if there was a better way? Globally, hardier potatoes could prevent thousands of tons of chemicals from being applied to the earth each year.
As it turns out, a hardier potato does exist. Back in the mid-2000s, Jiang and colleagues developed a series of potatoes that could survive late blight without sprays. But the improved plants never made it to the commercial market — they were made using genetic
engineering (GE), and at that point, no GE vegetables had yet been approved. And public opinion wasn’t favorable. It still isn’t.
“You’re powerless, and you accept it,” says Jiang.
Genetically engineered foods have been part of the American diet for 20 years now, and there is strong scientific consensus that they are safe to eat. This was confirmed in a recent report on GE crops produced by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which took into consideration nearly 900 scientific publications and other evidence and testimony on the topic.
“We found that there have been no cases of GEs causing problems for human health,” says UW–Madison biochemistry professor Richard Amasino, who served on the committee that wrote the report.
And yet, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, only 37 percent of the general public feels it’s safe to eat GE foods, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as they’re often called. Yet eat them we do.
There are currently 10 GE crops grown commercially on 170 million acres of American farmland. The main ones are GE cotton, which we wear, and GE corn and soybeans, which we eat — in great quantities. They show up in cornmeal, cornstarch, corn syrup, dextrose, soybean oil, and many other ingredients in the processed foods we consume. And then there’s the meat we eat — the animals are largely fed on GE grains.
“For many of us, we’re eating transgenic food daily, probably with every meal,” says Irwin Goldman, professor and chair of the UW–Madison horticulture department. “Unless you are extremely careful with ingredients, it is very difficult to avoid.”
Concerns about GEs go beyond food safety, including a general unease about possible long-term health or ecological impacts. There are also environmental issues, such as gene drift and the expansion of monoculture cropping systems, the corporate ownership of seeds, and the expansion and consolidation of farms. People’s opinions aren’t based on science alone, but incorporate political, economic, philosophical, social, and ethical factors.
And, notes Goldman, there’s just something special about food: Some people feel a deep cultural or spiritual connection to their food, and genetic engineering crosses a line for them.
“As a scientist, I look at it and I think [some GE crops] are extremely innovative, providing creative solutions to complex problems. … I have no problem with them at all,” says Goldman. “But at the same time, I’m sensitive to those arguments that people make about what they want to eat and what they don’t.”
Potato farmers had some tough years in the early 1990s, with climatic conditions just right for late blight: a wet spring followed by a cool summer. And then 1994 hit.
That year, the late blight pathogen, or Phytophthora infestans, mutated, becoming even more virulent. The existing fungicides didn’t work against the new strain, no matter how much of them farmers applied. Potato fields across the northeast United States were decimated, including the potato test plots at the UW’s Hancock Agricultural Research Station.
“The potato industry was caught by surprise because they never had such an issue. They were worried that it was going to wipe out the whole industry,” says Jiang, who was hired in 1995 to help develop a solution.
Jiang teamed up with John Helgeson, who was a UW professor of plant pathology at the time, to explore the one silver lining to the devastation at Hancock station: A wild potato plant from Mexico had survived in the test plot, suggesting that somewhere in its genome it possessed a resistance gene to the late blight pathogen.
Jiang and Helgeson immediately started trying to “cross” the resistant plant with popular commercial varieties, pollinating one with the other. But the Mexican plant proved to be a little bit too wild. “You cannot make it cross. It’s not possible,” explains Jiang.
At the same time, the two researchers started looking for the gene responsible for the resistance. They finally found it in 2003, named it RB, and used genetic engineering to put it into a cultivated potato.
“The potato has a very high level of resistance. You still see some little symptom here or there, but it’s going to keep greening and you really don’t have to spray,” says Jiang.
Jiang and Helgeson published their findings in 2003 and later inserted the RB gene into other popular commercial potato varieties using agrobacterium-mediated transformation, the most popular genetic engineering technique of the time.
The technique capitalizes on a type of bacteria that infects the roots of plants and inserts its own DNA into the plant’s genome. Scientists figured out how to piggyback on this functionality to insert desired genes into a plant’s genome at random locations. Then, as the plants grow, the researchers look for healthy ones that also express the new gene.
Scientists started developing GE technology for plants in the 1980s, and the first commercial genetically engineered crop — the Flavr Savr tomato — showed up in grocery stores in 1994. The product didn’t last long, as consumers found the tomatoes didn’t have much flavor to savor. Over the next couple of years, the first varieties of genetically engineered corn and soybeans were
These crops — and others — tend to feature one or both of two traits that are popular with farmers. Genetically engineered crops with the Roundup-Ready trait, a herbicide resistance gene, allow farmers to spray fields of corn, soybeans, and cotton with the weed killer glyphosate, a.k.a. Roundup, to keep weeds down without harming the crops. The Bt trait, however, helps to reduce the need for spraying. When crops have that trait, which produces an insecticide, pests die when they start eating the plant — no sprays needed.
“The seed companies make transgenic versions of their best varieties, and so farmers are buying them. Farmers really like the technology,” notes Goldman.
By the time Jiang and Helgeson’s late blight–resistant GE potatoes were ready, however, the crisis had passed. First, the weather changed, and then the chemical industry caught up with new, more powerful fungicides. Farmers also had more sophisticated disease management systems in place. All of this enabled them to stick to their tried-and-true varieties — spraying their crops, as needed.
“The situation was not desperate enough. That’s what I believe,” says Jiang. “If things had kept getting worse, I think the growers would have considered embracing [the GE potato].”
Jiang and Helgeson also managed — using some laboratory techniques — to fuse the cells of the wild potato with those of conventional varieties, and then used traditional plant breeding from that point on. It took 10 years, but they managed to produce a number of conventionally bred, late blight–resistant potato varieties as well.
But industry wasn’t interested. For Jiang, it was a second blow, though he took some comfort in the fact that he and Helgeson weren’t the only potato breeders to have tried and failed.
Russet Burbank, the nation’s most popular variety, has been in production since the early 1900s. It accounts for almost half of the potatoes grown in the country. Its many positive characteristics — including its shape and size, good flavor profile, and long storage life — make it McDonald’s top tuber. Plant breeders just can’t seem to beat it.
“The potato in many ways is like a wine grape. You have a variety, a cabernet or whatever, it’s like 400 or 500 years old. [Vintners] don’t want to change that,” explains Jiang. “The potato ... is like this. Burbank, it’s a terrible variety [in some ways]. It’s susceptible to every disease. However, McDonald’s wants [Burbank].”
We can expect a deluge of new genetically engineered products in the coming years with the growth of new techniques, particularly the cheap, easy gene-editing approach called CRISPR. (See below for more.) The potential seems nearly limitless, and many plants will have traits that consumers value: more healthful vegetables with more phytonutrients; crops that don’t turn brown as fast after they have been cut, reducing waste; crops that fix their own nitrogen, so they don’t require much fertilizer.
“We certainly have the capability to drastically alter genomes. At this point, we’re only limited by our understanding of plant biology, how things work inside plants,” says Amasino.
Genetic engineering can even save crops from extinction. Before the GE Rainbow papaya, for instance, Hawaii’s papaya industry was on track to be wiped out by papaya ringspot virus, a viral disease spread by aphids. A similar problem is unfolding in Florida right now, where citrus greening disease is destroying the state’s orange groves. GE appears to be the only recourse. But there are also challenges associated with genetically engineered crops. The Roundup-Ready trait may be contributing to the phenomenon of Roundup-resistant “super weeds.” Gene drift has been documented, so farmers need to take precautions to avoid contaminating nearby fields of conventional and organic crops.
In this evolving environment, groups are moving forward with GE crop development. The small seed company Simplot, for one, believes that the time has come for the GE potato.
Simplot, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, has developed GE potatoes that utilize the gene that Jiang and Helgeson discovered. These potatoes — known as second-generation Innate potatoes — could help farmers reduce fungicide applications to control late blight by 25 to 45 percent annually, according to academics consulted by the company. Based on these estimates, Simplot calculates that if all Russet Burbank potatoes in the U.S. contained this gene, farmers could cut the equivalent of one fungicide application over 495,000 acres.
In a separate project, scientists at the International Potato Center, a nonprofit research organization, are developing genetically engineered versions of popular local potato varieties that contain the UW–developed gene for Uganda and other African nations. The goal is to help the bottom line of smallholder farmers in the area, who spend the equivalent of 10 to 25 percent of their crop revenue on sprays.
Jiang hopes that these late blight–resistant potatoes — along with other GE crops — will find a way to succeed.
“We’ve all been doing the same thing for 125 years. You’ve exhausted your options; you’ve crossed everything with
everything,” he says. “If we want to work on nutritional value, flavor, tuber quality — those are very tricky, complicated traits. For these, we’re going to need to rely on more precisely manipulating specific genes, rather than just going and blindly doing crosses.”
Ultimately, consumers will decide the fate of Jiang’s potatoes and all other
genetically engineered crops.
“We’re in a capitalist system,” notes Amasino. “The public is going to have to want it.”
Not all GE crops are the same. There are transgenic crops — those that have one or more “foreign” genes from a different plant or nonplant species added to their genomes. And then there are cisgenic crops, which contain added genes that come from within that crop or a very similar species.
CRISPR (which stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a technology that creates gene-edited crops, in which scientists can make surgically precise changes to the native genes of an organism’s genome.
The technology uses RNA to guide a protein to a particular spot in the genome. Depending on the protein, researchers can nick the DNA at that spot to either disable the gene or cause a one- or two-nucleotide change to alter the gene. In these cases, the change is made without adding any DNA. Scientists can also use a different protein and a DNA template to “rewrite” a particular stretch of the genome. In the end, the RNA guides and proteins are broken down and recycled by the cell.
“Before CRISPR, we didn’t have a way to change a gene in its natural site. It’s a great precision tool to have in the genetic engineering toolbox,” says UW–Madison biochemistry professor Richard Amasino, who uses CRISPR and other genetic engineering techniques, among other approaches, to explore questions about plant flowering.
If you alter a plant’s genome without adding any DNA, does it count as genetic engineering? The way current federal rules are written, the answer appears to be no. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, for instance, has been treating CRISPR-edited crops that don’t have any added DNA the same way it treats conventionally bred crops.
This was a factor in the federal government’s decision to overhaul the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology, the rules that govern genetically engineered crops, which were published in 1986.
Amasino, who serves on a national committee that will assess and advise on the regulation issue, is intrigued by the idea that all new crops — no matter how they are made — should be looked at individually and assessed holistically.
“How a crop was created is important,” he says, “but that’s just one part of looking at a product as a whole.”
Listen to a recent Radiolab podcast about CRISPR.
Hidden Benefits
According to UW–Madison life sciences communication professor Dominique Brossard, who studies public opinion of controversial science, perceptions of genetically engineered foods are due in part to the various media messages consumers see about them — many of which are negative.
“There’s a percentage of the public that is against GE foods not because they see a lot of risk, but because they don’t see any benefits,” explains Brossard, who served on a national committee that assessed GE crops. “The problem with GE foods is their benefits have never been made salient.”
Last summer, President Barack Obama signed a bill into law creating a federal labeling standard for foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. The specific labeling rules, which still need to be written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will govern how these ingredients are identified on food products. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to know what they’re buying.
It’s unclear how labeling will affect consumer behavior. Will most Americans continue to purchase genetically engineered foods, as they do today? Will they embrace the new varieties that are in the development pipeline, many of which are designed to help address society’s grand challenges? In the coming years, there will be innovative GE crops available that help address sustainability, water shortages and drought, farming challenges associated with climate change, food waste, food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, and other intractable problems.
Nicole Miller is the news manager for the University of Wisconsin's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Reprinted from On Wisconsin (Winter 2016), a quarterly publication of the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association.
60" Long Handle Weeder & Cultivator
15 Herbs For Tea E-Handbook
Compact Cabins
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Get it A-S-A-P! Deric Muhammad’s new book ‘A Street Activist’s Perspective’ is a must read
I just finished another excellent book. I think you should go and get it A-S-A-P. Not now, but right now!
I am a self-proclaimed member of the righteous nerd ring of book traffickers and read-a-holics who love to digest books; no matter if it’s a hard copy or a digital download. Funny thing is I had told myself I would not buy any new books in 2014, because I felt I hadn’t applied enough of the guidance, principles, strategies, etc., inside of the tons of books occupying my shelves, briefcases and backpacks.
Well, that ‘goal’ didn’t work because I still found myself getting a few books here and there these past few months. I confess: I am more into shelfies than selfies! (Smile)
So, what is this new book you should get A-S-A-P? Well, interestingly, it’s titled “A.S.A.P.” which is an acronym for “A Street Activist’s Perspective.” Houston-based community servant, organizer, speaker, and author, Deric Muhammad, penned it and released it this summer. He’s called many other grandiose titles, however, to me he’s my big brother, sibling, and friend, whom I am very happy for and inspired by.
When I was reading this book it had a different effect than most I’ve read because it’s coming from an author whom I have personally watched strive to have his works congruent with his words. This book is not a mere intellectual exercise in fruitless commentary, hollow theories and analysis with INactivism. (Is that a word? It is now). It’s what he says in his introduction: “The perspective of an on the ground activist striving to help my people through every-day struggles we face.”
How could he have a street activist’s perspective if he wasn’t out in the streets? Since becoming a member of the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan over 20 years ago, I’ve seen him transform from a menace to society (yeah, like the movie) to a budding man of God, addicted to fighting for justice for the little man and woman in the streets. He can’t help himself. He eats, sleeps, and drinks the A.S.A.P. mentality. It’s not a cliché; it’s a way of life for him.
In the book’s introduction, Muhammad recounts aspects of his upbringing that ultimately shaped him for his unforeseen destiny. I admit reading it brought some tears to my eyes because I was there as his little brother. We’ve been through much, but you know he was under God’s Protection when he writes, “As a youth I was invited into the crack house. As a youth minister I was invited to the White House.”
What makes Muhammad’s perspective unique? He contends that, “most Black correspondents hired by media outlets don’t really speak for the masses of Black people” and “much of what they say does not reflect the reality faced by every-day Black folk in America.” Chapter 1 titled, “The A.S.A.P. Mentality,” is a swift kick in the pants to readers on how we waste too much time going after and accomplishing those things we keep saying we want to do. “There is something about living through a crisis that gives the human being an “A.S.A.P.” mentality. They understand the importance of achieving objectives “as soon as possible”,” Muhammad writes.
The succeeding five chapters cover the power of sincere motive, resolutions for revolution, plantation politics, the adverse effects of White dollars backing Black organizations, and one of my favorites: The difference between a Black business and a “Negro” business.
“We must treat the Black customer with the same regard that we would treat a dignitary. It does not matter whether the brother or sister is spending $5 or $5,000. If you treat us like kings and queens, we will return to do business with you once again,” he writes.
The book then takes a major shift and the next seven chapters are sure to produce a whirlwind of discussions, critiques and even tears. Muhammad tackles the molestation of boys, teen pregnancy, the revealing dress attire of women, lesbianism, rape, and single Black women raising sons.
“While it takes two to make a baby boy, it seems like the Black woman has been left with the burden of being the king maker. Black men are showing up in the bedroom, but not showing up in the delivery room,” he writes in Chapter 12, “Double Duty: The Black Woman’s Struggle Raising Boys Alone.”
Anyone who is working in their community to save Black youth or striving to be the next generation of torchbearers definitely will enjoy the chapters on violence, gangs, conflict resolution, and leadership.
“Set trends, don’t follow them! There is entirely too much imitation and not enough originality among the youth of today,” he advises on page 82. “Be yourself, but more importantly be intelligent about it. A successful (You) will inspire others to do the same.”
The book is rounded out with chapters on Jewish control over hip-hop artists, the gift and curse of modern technology, why Black athletes should start leagues of their own, ungratefulness toward the elderly, a telling ‘hoodie experiment’ he did in light of the murder of Trayvon Martin and why no individual can rise above the condition of his people. The bonus chapter is an interview on what attracts a real man that he conducted with online magazine Hurt 2 Healing.
This book is a short, yet impactful read and proves you don’t have to be wordy, especially when your WORKS are doing the rest of the talking. I also like how he incorporates some of his heavily retweeted and reshared Twitter and Facebook motivational posts throughout the book. I had the opportunity to attend the official book release and signing in late July hosted at Aunt Bea’s Restaurant in Northwest Houston.
Family, friends and supporters journeyed from various parts of the city to get their autographed copies. I am not surprised that the first printing of this book has sold so quickly because it’s filled with so much substance from a respected community servant who has touched the hearts of the people with consistency, concern and vigor in the fight for justice.
Are you convinced yet that you should own this book A-S-A-P? (Smile) If you are, go over to dericmuhammad.com to order your copy or go to Amazon.com to own it on Kindle.
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- Illustration
Illustrations inspired by songs from the band Defeater's concept album "Travels". The first piece is based on the song "Blessed Burden" and the second piece is based on the song "The City By Dawn".
joecosentinodesign@gmail.com
Staten Island - New York
All Images (c) Joe Cosentino Design. All rights reserved.
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Therefore, Braid defined hypnotism as a state of mental concentration that often leads to a form of progressive relaxation, termed "nervous sleep". Later, in his The Physiology of Fascination (1855), Braid conceded that his original terminology was misleading, and argued that the term "hypnotism" or "nervous sleep" should be reserved for the minority (10%) of subjects who exhibit amnesia, substituting the term "monoideism", meaning concentration upon a single idea, as a description for the more alert state experienced by the others.[23]
It may here be requisite for me to explain, that by the term Hypnotism, or Nervous Sleep, which frequently occurs in the following pages, I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it may be thrown by artificial contrivance, and which differs, in several respects, from common sleep or the waking condition. I do not allege that this condition is induced through the transmission of a magnetic or occult influence from my body into that of my patients; nor do I profess, by my processes, to produce the higher [i.e., supernatural] phenomena of the Mesmerists. My pretensions are of a much more humble character, and are all consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science. Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists.[56]
Although he rejected the transcendental/metaphysical interpretation given to these phenomena outright, Braid accepted that these accounts of Oriental practices supported his view that the effects of hypnotism could be produced in solitude, without the presence of any other person (as he had already proved to his own satisfaction with the experiments he had conducted in November 1841); and he saw correlations between many of the "metaphysical" Oriental practices and his own "rational" neuro-hypnotism, and totally rejected all of the fluid theories and magnetic practices of the mesmerists. As he later wrote:
Australian hypnotism/hypnotherapy organizations (including the Australian Hypnotherapists Association) are seeking government regulation similar to other mental health professions. However, the various tiers of Australian government have shown consistently over the last two decades that they are opposed to government legislation and in favour of self-regulation by industry groups.[51]
Confusion can occur when one seeks a hypnotherapist, as a result of the various titles, certifications, and licenses in the field. Many states do not regulate the title "hypnotist" or "hypnotherapist," so care must be exercised when selecting someone to see. As a rule, it is best to consult a professional in the field of mental health or medicine, although alternative sources for hypnosis are available. Care must be taken also by the therapist to ensure adequate training and sufficient experience for rendering this specialized service. The therapist must be well grounded in a psychotherapeutic approach before undertaking the use of hypnotherapy. Professionals should not attempt hypnotherapy with any disorder for which they would not use traditional therapeutic approaches. The patient seeking hypnotherapy is reminded that unskilled or amateur hypnotists can cause harm and should not be consulted for the purpose of implementing positive change in an individual's life. The detrimental effects of being subjected to amateur or inadequately trained persons can be severe and long lasting. (See abnormal results below.)
Surgery/Anesthesiology (In unusual circumstances, hypnosis has been used as the sole anesthetic for surgery, including the removal of the gall bladder, amputation, cesarean section, and hysterectomy. Reasons for using hypnosis as the sole anesthetic may include: situations where chemical anesthesia is contraindicated because of allergies or hyper-sensitivities; when organic problems increase the risk of using chemoanesthesia; and in some conditions where it is ideal for the patient to be able to respond to questions or directives from the surgeon);
Some hypnotists view suggestion as a form of communication that is directed primarily to the subject's conscious mind,[40] whereas others view it as a means of communicating with the "unconscious" or "subconscious" mind.[40][41] These concepts were introduced into hypnotism at the end of the 19th century by Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory describes conscious thoughts as being at the surface of the mind and unconscious processes as being deeper in the mind.[42] Braid, Bernheim, and other Victorian pioneers of hypnotism did not refer to the unconscious mind but saw hypnotic suggestions as being addressed to the subject's conscious mind. Indeed, Braid actually defines hypnotism as focused (conscious) attention upon a dominant idea (or suggestion). Different views regarding the nature of the mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion. Hypnotists who believe that responses are mediated primarily by an "unconscious mind", like Milton Erickson, make use of indirect suggestions such as metaphors or stories whose intended meaning may be concealed from the subject's conscious mind. The concept of subliminal suggestion depends upon this view of the mind. By contrast, hypnotists who believe that responses to suggestion are primarily mediated by the conscious mind, such as Theodore Barber and Nicholas Spanos, have tended to make more use of direct verbal suggestions and instructions.[citation needed]
Mr Burrow, u r good. Miracles do happen. Thank-u so much for changing my life for the better. Like u told me, I won't have another cigarette once I leave ur office, and I haven't. I like having the CD u sent home with me, I have listened to it once, it just makes me feel better to know I have that if I need it. I have gone from over a pack of cigarettes a day, to nothing. In all aspects, I feel so much better. Thank- u again for changing my life. My Husband wants to know if u can put a suggestion in for my shopping. Lol. No thank u.
Hypnosis is not a unitary state and therefore should show different patterns of EEG activity depending upon the task being experienced. In our evaluation of the literature, enhanced theta is observed during hypnosis when there is task performance or concentrative hypnosis, but not when the highly hypnotizable individuals are passively relaxed, somewhat sleepy and/or more diffuse in their attention.[174]
If you are in a group of people, be engaging. Look into peoples' eyes as they speak to you. Listen to the way they talk and what they are talking about. You can build a trust and rapport with the person this way, and you will see their personality. Follow cues in their facial expressions and body language to detect their emotional state and how they feel physically. Remember: It is said that 93 percent of all communication is nonverbal. By being observant you can build a trust-bridge with the person you want to put into a trance.
Yoga practice involves postures, breathing exercises, and meditation aimed at improving mental and physical functioning. Some practitioners understand yoga in terms of traditional Indian medicine, with the postures improving the flow of prana energy around the body. Others see yoga in more conventional terms of muscle stretching and mental relaxation.
Modern hypnotherapy is widely accepted for the treatment of certain habit disorders, to control irrational fears,[35][36] as well as in the treatment of conditions such as insomnia[37] and addiction.[38] Hypnosis has also been used to enhance recovery from non-psychological conditions such as after surgical procedures,[39] in breast cancer care[40] and even with gastro-intestinal problems,[41] including IBS.[42][43]
and she told me that she couldnt recall anything for the few minutes of our conversation and cant even remember my name but i just told her out loud, and she responded with her name so i think its imposible for her to forget mine cause she repeated my name after i told her. i just made a joke after our conversation i told her (you might forget everything i say earlier) and i gently let go of her hand, and that happened and got many related incidents to with my friends im from asia, i use it to fool my mother too when im in short of allowance (sorry for being bad) i rotate the conversation. and she forgets things, and it worked on my brother too. kinda scares me sorry bad english please respond
In Test 1 Mendelsohn and colleagues found that people in the PHA group (who could experience PHA) forgot more details from the movie than people in the non-PHA group (who could not experience PHA). But in Test 2, after the suggestion was cancelled, this memory loss was reversed. People in the PHA group correctly recognized just as many details from the movie as people in the non-PHA group. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the suggestion to forget was selective in its impact. Although people in the PHA group had difficulty remembering the content of the movie following the forget suggestion, they had no difficulty remembering the context in which they saw the movie.
During your first session, you will likely begin by telling the therapist about your goals and issues. You will then work together to come up with a treatment plan. Once you enter a state of hypnosis, your body will feel calm and relaxed, even as you enter a state of increased awareness, similar to the way you might feel when meditating. Your therapist will speak to you in a calm and gently assertive voice, and place the suggestions you agreed to in your treatment plan into your subconscious mind.
We also wonder how the suppression mechanism in PHA relates to the vast array of forgetting in the laboratory and in the world? Whereas some forgetting is seen as strategic, effortful and conscious (say, suppression), other forgetting is seen as automatic, effortless and unconscious (say, repression). Having mapped the common features of PHA and functional amnesia, we now need to explore and compare in greater detail their common processes (such as strategy use, motivation, level of awareness).
Hypnosis has been used as a supplemental approach to cognitive behavioral therapy since as early as 1949. Hypnosis was defined in relation to classical conditioning; where the words of the therapist were the stimuli and the hypnosis would be the conditioned response. Some traditional cognitive behavioral therapy methods were based in classical conditioning. It would include inducing a relaxed state and introducing a feared stimuli. One way of inducing the relaxed state was through hypnosis.[77]
We know it is hard to sort out all the different claims made by some so-called “hypnosis schools and boards.” Stay away from “distance learning” or correspondence courses that claim to certify you as a clinical hypnotherapist. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy is a healing art based on scientific methods. Only basic hypnotherapy theory can be obtained from the right books or videos. Effectiveness is unlikely without live demonstrations, in-depth and advanced discussion, question and answer opportunities and supervised clinical practice. Just as correspondence courses are inappropriate for counselors, medical doctors and massage therapists, they are wrong for people who want to be effective and successful clinical hypnotherapists.
“Learning hypnotherapy does not commit you to drastically changing your therapy practice,” says hypnotherapist Catherine Reiss. “The training will allow you to more quickly and effectively get to the cause of your clients’ unwanted behaviors and the feelings they present with it, but it also facilitates the use of trance in more traditional formats.”
In 1784, at the request of King Louis XVI, a Board of Inquiry started to investigate whether animal magnetism existed. Among the board members were founding father of modern chemistry Antoine Lavoisier, Benjamin Franklin, and an expert in pain control, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. They investigated the practices of a disaffected student of Mesmer, one Charles d'Eslon (1750–1786), and though they concluded that Mesmer's results were valid, their placebo-controlled experiments using d'Eslon's methods convinced them that mesmerism was most likely due to belief and imagination rather than to an invisible energy ("animal magnetism") transmitted from the body of the mesmerist.
The Federal Dictionary of Occupational Titles describes the job of the hypnotherapist: "Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior patterns: Consults with client to determine nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic state by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degree of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client, using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client's problem. May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning. GOE: 10.02.02 STRENGTH: S GED: R4 M3 L4 SVP: 7 DLU: 77"[8]
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SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who; Jessica Jones; Fargo; Extant Canceled & Minority Report Unlikely To Survive; Blindspot; Limitless; Casual; The Flash; Arrow; Continuum
October 11, 2015 — Ron Chusid
The conclusion to last week’s episode of Doctor Who, Before the Flood, got more timey wimey. Under the Lake, possibly not trusting the audience to realize they were seeing a paradox, began with the Doctor speaking directly to the audience about the Bootstrap Paradox (named after the paradox in Robert A. Heinlein’s classic story By His Bootstraps). The doctor told what he called a fake story about a time traveler who loved the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. He went back in time to meet Beethoven, and even took all his sheet music for Beethoven to autograph. The time traveler found that Beethoven did not exist, so he had the sheet music he brought published under Beethoven’s name. History went on as he remembered it, but who actually composed all the music in the first place?
The Doctor also had to find a way to break the rules of time in this episode–which he wold only do for Clara. When he first found out that he was to become a ghost in the time period where the story began, he assumed that this was part of history, a fixed point in time, and could not be changed. Clara urged the Doctor to try and he did find a way. He created a hologram, so that Clara saw what she told the Doctor she saw, but it was not actually a ghost. He then set up a prerecorded message claiming to be the order of the deaths, motivating the Doctor to take action to prevent Clara’s death (but not O’Donnell’s). There was also a second message, “The chamber will open tonight.” The Doctor then came out of the suspended animation chamber in the future, like his companions and the Pandorica. The messages given by the hologram gave the Doctor the information he needed, but where did the idea for those messages come from in the first place? Maybe the same place as those messages in Blink.
Best line from the show: “You might find you’ve lost a couple other memories too. Like people you went to school with, or previous addresses, or how to drink liquids…”
The early reviews of Jessica Jones have been excellent. The show includes superpowers, hot sex scenes, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first lesbian character. There have now been a few teasers such as above, without Krysten Ritter’s face actually being shown. This makes me wonder if these scenes are not from the show, and possibly filmed with a body double. Jessica Jones premiers on Neflix on November 20.
Fargo returns on Monday and sounds quite promising. Reviews here, here, here, here, and here.
Manhattan is also starting its second season soon. This show deserves a far bigger audience than it has received. I highly recommend binging on the first season and then watching the second.
CBS has finally canceled Extant, and plans another project with Halle Berry. They should have made this decision at least a year ago.
I held off on watching Minority Report after the first couple of episodes were not received well. Fox has now cut back the order from thirteen to ten episodes, which looks like a poor sign for the show to continue.
AMC has renewed Halt and Catch Fire for a third season. While it has low ratings, I’ve heard that AMC likes the demographics of the viewers. Plus AMC directly owns the show and hopes to make money off of streaming rights in the future.
Blindspot is the first new drama of the season to receive a full season pickup. It is well deserved, so far being my favorite new network drama of the season. Another new drama I’ve watched has been Limitless. I see Blindspot and Limitless as having a lot in common, with Blindspot the better of the two and Limitless as being a lighter version.
Both shows feature protagonists with powers (fighting ability plus her clues in Blindspot, and abilities from the pill in Limitless) who are working with the FBI. The first few episodes of each centered around them gaining trust and getting involved in cases rather than remaining behind in an office. Both have some type of mysterious background stories.
I was surprised to see how quickly Blindspot revealed that Jane Doe is Weller’s missing childhood neighbor Taylor Shaw, but that really does not answer any of the mysteries. (Does star Jaimie Alexander’s Asgardian roots explain anything about her character?) I was also surprised to see the bearded guy get killed so soon. Actors on this show have even less job security than those on Games of Thrones.
When Brian’s new “boss” introduced himself on Limitless, I wondered if this was a way to continue the story without Bradley Cooper, but reportedly he will return in future episodes.
Sleepy Hollow also follows this pattern to some degree with Abbie now being in the FBI and, while not having unusual abilities, Ichibad does have an unusual background in other days. This season feels like an attempt to reboot the series, but so far has not captured the unique entertainment of the first season. It does look promising enough to watch longer.
Other worthwhile shows of the new season include Supergirl, based upon the pilot previously released on line, and Casual. While totally non-genre, Casual (on Hulu) is an excellent family dramedy. The first two episodes were very entertaining, and reviews have been great from those who saw the series at the Toronto Film Festival.
Above are trailers for this season of The Flash and Arrow from New York Comic-Con. Note that characters who have apparently died are present, in preparation for them joining together on Legends of Tomorrow.
The penultimate episode of Continuum has aired in the United States and the series finale aired on Showcase in Canada. The Desperate Hours was mostly all action, including another heroic death, setting up the finale which is obviously named Final Hour. It seems rather pointless now to discuss the questions I have had during the season and after The Desperate Hours considering that they were answered in Final Hour. I will wait to discuss Final Hour to avoid spoiling those who wait for the US presentation of the show.
Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Arrow, Before The Flood, Blindspot, Blink, Casual, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Extant, Fargo, Game of Thrones, Halt and Catch Fire, Jessica Jones, Krysten Ritter, Legends of Tomorrow, Limitless, Manhattan, Minority Report, Science Fiction, Sleepy Hollow, Supergirl, The Flash, The Pandorica Opens, Thor, Under The Lake. No Comments »
« Clinton Email Shows She Sent Information Regarding Identity Of CIA Source Over Private Server
Heading Into Debates, Sanders Taking On The DNC & Hillary Clinton »
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Mireuk Temple’s updated pagoda raises eyebrows: Failures to report changes made during restoration process create controversy after unveiling
At left is a 1910 photograph that shows the pagoda when it was partially collapsed. The center shows the pagoda before its restoration with concrete on its side. At right is the restored pagoda, which was revealed to the public last week. The restoration takes the structure back to just before 1915, before concrete was used to cover up a partial collapse. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]
The fence that had been covering Korea’s oldest and East Asia’s largest stone pagoda located inside the Mireuk Temple in Iksan, North Jeolla, was finally pulled down on Saturday, after the site went through the country’s longest restoration period - 18 years - for a single cultural artifact.
There are many stone pagodas scattered across the Korean Peninsula, but this one, regarded as the father of all pagodas in Korea, has a special place in Korean hearts because of its magnificence, its heart-wrenching history and its significance.
Built in 639, under the orders of the Baekje Kingdom’s (18 B.C.-A.D. 660) King Mu, this six-story stone pagoda (it is presumed that it was originally nine stories high) represented the pinnacle of Baekje architecture. It is the country’s National Treasure No. 11, and the entire Mireuk Temple site is included on the Unesco’s World Heritage List along with seven other Baekje sites. Due to its significance, the restoration process has been disputed from the start. The restoration of the 1,300-year-old pagoda that had partly collapsed, been plastered with concrete during Japanese colonial rule and deteriorated over centuries, was finally completed and unveiled last weekend - but it faces yet another controversy.
The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea released the results of an inspection on March 21 that stated there were several issues regarding the completed stone pagoda.
Top: The Cultural Heritage Administration used old and new stones to erect the stone pagoda. Above: During the dismantling process, thousands of relics were uncovered, including a gold plate engraved with Chinese characters that recounts the temple’s construction and an ornately decorated golden jar containing Buddhist relics. [NEWS1]
One of the major comments was that the composition of what made up the center pillars of the stone pagoda differs between the first and second stories and the ones above the third level, insisting that the National Institute of the Cultural Heritage (an affiliate of the Cultural Heritage Administration, which was responsible for the restoration) failed to follow the authorized original plan of restoration that it mapped out when it was decided to dismantle the pagoda and restore it in 1999.
During the dismantling process of the stone pagoda, which took place from 2002 to 2010, experts found out that the stone pagoda was constructed using stones of different shapes and sizes for the center pillars, while the gaps were filled in with soil. The experts believed one of the main reasons the pagoda collapsed in the first place was because the soil was washed away over years and years of rain.
Therefore, after consulting with experts, the Cultural Heritage Administration decided to use new rectangular stones to construct most of the center pillars for safety reasons. However, halfway through building, the Cultural Heritage Administration decided to make changes and mixed original stones with the new ones to erect the next four levels of center pillars.
The board pointed out that the administration carried out the change without carrying out a safety check, and even failed to draw new design specifications before erecting the pillars.
In response, the Cultural Heritage Administration said, “It is true that the composition of the base and the upper part of the center pillars of the pagoda are different,” however, the change was made after discussions with experts and committee members from Cultural Properties who believed that “it would be better to make full use of the original stones as best as we could for historical value.”
According to Kim Hyun-yong, a researcher at the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage who led the archaeological team that restored the pagoda, around 81 percent of all materials used in the restored pagoda are original stones.
The board also pointed out that the administration changed the fillers halfway through construction. In the beginning, the administration initially used a material known as silica fume mixture as fillers, but changed to a red clay mixture mid-restoration.
“Although silica fume mixture may be the strongest, there were some concerns that the material was too similar to cement,” explained Kim. “That is why we decided to use red clay mixture as it is a lot more secure than soil or limestone, while the composition and the color are a lot similar to the soil that the final outcome will give a more original look rather than looking brand new.”
Experts also say the Cultural Heritage Administration should be congratulated instead of criticized for making the changes.
Do Jae-kee, a senior reporter covering cultural heritage, wrote in his column at the Kyunghyang Daily that “it’s better late than never,” adding that it’s a relief that the Cultural Heritage Administration decided to make use of the original stones from the Baekje period.
“We all know what happened to the stone pagoda on the east side of the temple that was reproduced in 1992,” wrote Do. “Back then the administration used 95 percent new materials and erected the pagoda in two years, and it looked so unnatural and artificial that people said they wanted to ‘blow it up.’”
“We did not want to make the same mistake,” said Kim. “The people of Iksan said that the design should be recovered to make it look brand new, however, we intended to take the pagoda back to just before 915, when it suffered a partial collapse.”
That is because, according to Kim, there are no historical records that specify the exact detailed design of the pagoda. They did not want to restore the pagoda using guesswork.
“If we did so, it would’ve generated further controversy about historical accuracy and Unesco could also take back the World Heritage Site designation if we had pushed ahead with reconstruction that lacked authenticity.”
The Cultural Heritage Administration however, said it will carry out further safety checks on the pagoda to see if the changed materials affect the safety of the stone pagoda.
BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [sharon@joongang.co.kr]
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The Parish of Coalburn and Lesmahagow Old
The Trailblazers
Rambling Club
Church Guild
Parish Profile
Coalburn Church
The Present Coalburn Church
The first building opened in 1893 as a Mission Station of Abbeygreen Church, Lesmahagow, and by 1895 it was a fully sanctioned charge. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1918 and was replaced by the present structure in 1922.
Within the church there is a wall hanging depicting the village, past and present. This was completed by the children of the Sunday School to celebrate the church´s centenary in 1993. When the church was renovated in 2001, the hanging was refurbished for the re-dedication service, and two additional wall hangings were donated.
During the 125 years of its existence, the church has been served by seven ministers. Following the retirement of the Reverend Brian Cross, in July 1998, the linkage with Lesmahagow Old Parish Church was implemented.
In 2017, Coalburn and Lesmahagow Churches were united.
Interior of Coalburn Church
In 2018, the Church celebrated its 125th Anniversary. A special Anniversary Service was held on Thursday, 11th October; the order of service can be seen here.
For more on the history of Coalburn Church, see the Coalburn Heritage website.
Content © Parish of Coalburn and Lesmahagow Old.
Congregations of the Church of Scotland. Charity No SC017014.
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The LGBT Center at University of Louisville
LGBT at HSC
Student & Employee Resources
Trans @ UofL
Supreme Court marriage equality plaintiffs create UofL scholarship for Catholic LGBT students
/ Supreme Court marriage equality plaintiffs create UofL scholarship for Catholic LGBT students
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Greg Bourke and Michael DeLeon, plaintiffs in the landmark 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell vs. Hodges that established marriage equality, have created a scholarship for Catholic LGBT students at the University of Louisville.
The endowed scholarship will be awarded annually, giving preference to LGBT graduates of Catholic high schools or LGBT UofL students of Catholic faith. The first gift will be awarded in May 2019.
“This scholarship is so unique, if not one-of-a-kind because it is both administered by a university foundation and also affirms LGBT Catholics so as to not force them to separate those identities,” Bourke said. “LGBT Catholic youth need to be supported and nurtured in their faith. Our hope is that this scholarship will, in a small way, encourage LGBT Catholics to remain faithful and work to eliminate all discrimination and inequality in the Catholic Church. I believe that is our call as Christians: to help build up God’s kingdom.”
Bourkeis a 1979 graduate of the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences and met husband DeLeon while attending graduate school at the University of Kentucky in 1982. Greg is a graduate of Saint Xavier High School and holds a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, while Michael has a master’s degree from Bellarmine University. The couple, named “Persons of the Year” in 2015 by the National Catholic Reporter, were legally married in Canada in 2004 and are lifelong practicing Roman Catholics. Bourke and DeLeon currently serve as members of the UofL LGBT Alumni Council.
Bourke said his experience with the LGBT Alumni Council influenced his decision to start the scholarship, having seen firsthand how powerful “it has been to these students to get the affirmation and financial support they need in a world sometimes quite hostile toward LGBT people.”
Lisa Gunterman, director of the Belknap Campus LGBT Center, says the new scholarship is a great addition to the resources UofL offers LGBT students.
“I’m humbled by the ongoing support the Center has received from Greg and Michael over the years, both as members of the UofL LGBT Alumni Council and now with the creation of their scholarship,” Gunterman said. “Greg and Michael could have designated any charity as their beneficiary and we are honored that they chose to invest in students at the University of Louisville.”
Bourke was awarded an academic scholarship at UofL, which allowed him to attend college and influenced his decision to start his own scholarship.
“I felt like it was time to give back to the university so that a next generation of students can benefit from the success that was afforded to me as a result of my UofL education.”
If you would like to make a donation to this scholarship, contact Senior Director of Development, Denise Bohn at denise.bohn@louisville.edu or 502-852-8824.
To apply for the scholarship, go here.
#WeAreUofL
Posted with permission from UofL Today
LGBT Center - Belknap
Strickler Hall, Room 126
lgbt@louisville.edu
LGBT Center - HSC
500 S. Preston St.
A Building, Room 209C/D
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President commends Vietnam-Laos parliamentary cooperation
President Tran Dai Quang hosted a reception for Lao National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Sengnouane Xayalath in Hanoi on July 18, during which he hailed the effective partnership between the legislatures of the two nations.
President Tran Dai Quang (R) receives Lao National Assembly Vice Chairman Sengnouane Xayalath (Photo: VNA)
The State leader praised Laos’s important achievements, especially in socio-economic development, defence, security, foreign affairs, which have improved living conditions of the Lao people and raised the country’s position in the region and the international arena.
He congratulated Laos on the success of the sixth meeting of the 10th Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and the fifth session of the 8th National Assembly.
Showing his delight at the development of the Vietnam-Laos traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation, President Quang said that he is pleased at the effective partnership between the two legislative agencies through the exchange of information and experience in legislation, supervision and deciding important issues of each country.
The two sides have coordinated very well in their external affairs, especially in the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), thus helping to promote peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
For his part, Sengnouane Xayalath briefed his host on the major outcomes of cooperation between the NAs of Vietnam and Laos over the past years, along with orientations for the expansion of cooperation areas in the future and the sharing of NA supervision activities.
The two sides have agreed on a plan to monitor and examine issues related to free migrants and undocumented marriage in border localities of the two countries, he said, adding that they will also review the bilateral cooperation between the two NAs and regional and international parliamentary forums.
On the occasion, the Lao NA Vice Chairman thanked the Party, State, and NA of Vietnam for funding the construction of a new National Assembly House for Laos, saying that the present shows the close sentiment between the two countries.
President Quang expressed his delight at the outcomes of the earlier talks and meetings between Sengnouane Xayalath and Vietnamese leaders, stressing that the reached agreements are an important foundation for Vietnam and Laos to deepen bilateral relations in a more practical manner.
Consenting to the orientations for the expansion of cooperation between the two NAs, the President said the two sides should not only step up the exchange of experiences in legislation and supervision but also strengthen coordination in regional and international multilateral parliamentary forums.
He suggested the two legislatures focus on enhancing supervision and facilitating investment cooperation projects between the two countries, thus serving the socio-economic development in both nations, while supporting necessary amendments in policies, mechanisms and laws to promote the bilateral partnership in trade and investment.
The two sides should work closely together to speed up the effective implementation of a memorandum of understanding on the National Assembly House of Laos to ensure the quality and progress of the project, he said.
President Quang asked the two sides to increase people-to-people exchanges to promote the achievements of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Solidarity Year 2017, while increasing communications, especially among the youth, about the loyal relations between Vietnam and Laos, which he described as a rare relationship and a invaluable asset of both nations as well as a foundation for the two countries to thrive together.
President Tran Dai Quang Lao National Assembly Vice Chairman Sengnouane Xayalath
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Priest makes special appearance in St. Ambrose production
Written by The Ambrosian, Newsletter of St. Ambrose Academy, Madison
Thursday, Mar. 01, 2018 -- 12:00 AM
Fr. Bart Timmerman will play Admiral Boom in St. Ambrose Academy’s production of Mary Poppins. (Contributed photo)
MADISON -- As pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison, which has hosted St. Ambrose Academy (SAA) since 2004, Fr. Bart Timmerman goes above and beyond to support our school whenever he can.
In addition to making the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession regularly available to our students, he’s also a guest faculty member, teaching religion each week in a different class.
He’ll also have a featured role as Admiral Boom in St. Ambrose’s upcoming production of Mary Poppins. Recently, we caught up with Father Timmerman to ask him a few questions about this latest project.
1) Why did you agree to join the Mary Poppins cast?
I am always open to ways I can promote and support Catholic education and the youth. Young people are the Church of today and tomorrow. I was honored to be asked. It allows me to interact with the students outside of Church and school and to get to know them on a more personal level and offer them my support and encouragement.
I have always been impressed by the high quality productions that SAA performs and the amazing talent the students have. Knowing my meager talents for theater, I was apprehensive at first, but when I was assured that I was not taking any role away from the students and I didn't have to sing or dance, I agreed to do it!
2) How have rehearsals gone so far?
I have had two private lessons so far with Angela Hineline, the director. I feel I’m a little behind in learning the British accent.
3) What is your past experience with theater arts?
My entire stage career was with the St. Mary’s Parish Players in Bloomington, Wis., where I was pastor from 2005 to 2010. In my first play, I played a gold prospector whose gold nugget was stolen by a heinous villain. The director told me at rehearsal if I continued acting like that I would ruin the whole play! So I could only go up from there!
4) What do you think about the character of Admiral Boom?
He really cares about the families on Cherry Tree Lane, and he knows it's time for the help only Mary Poppins can bring. I can relate to him in the sense that I really care about the youth of our Church and have walked with families that need God’s intervention and guidance. I pray every family could be visited by angels to keep them together, happy, and safe.
5) What do you enjoy about working with St. Ambrose students?
The students are youthful, energetic, hard working, positive, and talented. I feel energized working with them!
6) Why should someone come to see the show?
It is a family friendly story and encourages us to take time to be with and love one another. Plus the music and talented cast will bring happiness to everyone who attends.
St. Ambrose Academy’s production of Mary Poppins will take place at the Verona High School Performing Arts Center on March 23, 24, and 25. Tickets are $15 adults/$10 seniors/$7 students/ children, and may be purchased online at www.ambroseacademy. org/musical ($1 discount per ticket), by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling the school office at 608-827-5863 (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on school days).
Please support our advertisers:
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Jeff Sessions is reportedly considering a Senate run against Doug Jones in 2020
Iran seized a British ship in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.K. says it can't reach the crew
John Delaney says his new RV proves he's not dropping out of the 2020 race
Two new Halloween movies are on the way, and Jamie Lee Curtis is set to return
Pete Buttigieg plays the didgeridoo
GOP pollster Frank Luntz warns America could be headed toward 'France in 1793'
Trump had a very awkward exchange with Nobel Peace Prize-winner Nadia Murad
See More Speed Reads
fallback position
Jim Watson / Getty Images
A newly unemployed Jeff Sessions may be looking to get his old job back — his old old job, that is.
After being forced out of the Trump administration Wednesday, the former attorney general is reportedly considering running for his old Senate seat in 2020, Politico reports. Sessions served as a senator from Alabama for 20 years before leaving Congress in 2017 to serve as attorney general in the Trump administration. This prompted a special election in Alabama, in which Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore.
So now, having departed an attorney general job in which he was constantly berated by the president as being incompetent, Sessions is looking into a run against Jones for the seat he left behind, according to this report from Politico and another from CNN. Although it remains to be seen if Sessions would get the Republican nomination, Jones' seat is far from safe in the general election. In 2017, he won by less than 2 percentage points against an opponent, Roy Moore, who had been accused of sexual assault by three women, two of whom were teenagers at the time. Moore denied the allegations and received 48.2 percent of the vote.
Luther Strange, who filled Sessions' vacancy until Jones was sworn in, endorsed this idea on Wednesday, writing on Twitter, "Jeff Sessions for Senate in 2020!" Brendan Morrow
obama news
Michelle Obama isn't staying quiet on this one.
Throughout the past week, President Trump's continually racist attacks on four Democratic congresswomen have been met with harsh condemnation by sitting Democrats and a vote in the House. Former presidents have so far stayed out of the issue, but that didn't stop former first lady Michelle Obama from tweeting a voicey yet vague admonishment on Friday.
What truly makes our country great is its diversity. I’ve seen that beauty in so many ways over the years. Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there’s a place for us all. We must remember it’s not my America or your America. It’s our America.
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) July 19, 2019
Former President Barack Obama didn't issue any statements of his own, but he did retweet his wife's sentiments.
Obama's words come after Trump directed racist tweets at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and three other Democrats, telling them to "go back" to the countries they came from. Only Omar was not born in the U.S., and Trump's supporters chanted "send her back" about Omar at his Wednesday rally. Kathryn Krawczyk
REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Iran has seized a British-flagged oil tanker and a Liberian-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, it said via state TV on Friday.
The Stena Impero, of the U.K., was heading to Saudi Arabia in international waters when it "was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter," the ship's owner and manager said via a Friday statement. They soon lost contact with the 23 people onboard the ship and the Stena Impero started heading northward toward Iran, though no injuries have been reported, the statement continued.
Iranian state TV reported that the country's Revolutionary Guard had seized the ship for "violating international regulations," CNN reports. Soon after, U.S. officials told CNN that they learned via maritime intelligence reports that Iran had seized a Liberian-flagged tanker as well.
The British seizure comes just hours after a British court decided to continue detaining an Iranian oil tanker that allegedly breached European sanctions on Syria, The Wall Street Journal notes. On Thursday, President Trump also announced the U.S. downed an Iranian drone that had come too close to the U.S.S. Boxer in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said America's ship was in international waters, but Iran has since disputed that, with its state-run media saying all its drones returned to their bases at the end of Thursday. Kathryn Krawczyk
Former congressman John Delaney is staying in the 2020 race — if only to make use of his sweet new RV.
On Friday, Axios reported that the 2020 Democrat's team recently told him he should end his campaign by mid-August, as they feel that he "flopped" during the first Democratic debate and has "no chance" of qualifying for the debates once the qualification threshold is raised in September. Delaney, according to the report, has appeared "open to the idea" of dropping out this summer.
But Delaney is now denying that this is the case, in a statement on Friday saying that "no one on my team asked me to drop out of the race and I have no plans to drop out of the race," The Hill reports.
Delaney also denied the report in a CNN interview on Friday afternoon, calling it an "entirely incorrect piece of reporting" and pointing to the fact that he recently filmed new television commercials and that he "just bought a new campaign RV, which we're having wrapped to roll out in Iowa" as evidence that he's not weeks away from ending his campaign. "I mean, what would I do with that if I was gonna drop out?" he asked.
Delaney went on to vow he'll stay in the race, which he believes "really hasn't started yet," at least until the Iowa caucus in 2020, although "if, for some reason" it "doesn't go well for me," he'll take that "into consideration." For now, he appears to be hoping the upcoming second Democratic debate will be a turning point in his campaign, predicting the event will be "great moment, particularly for me." Brendan Morrow
“I have no intentions of dropping out.” Presidential candidate and former Maryland Rep. @JohnDelaney denies a report that members of his campaign have asked him to exit the race.
“It’s my sense that this race really hasn’t started yet.” https://t.co/ls64H0ElG7 pic.twitter.com/YGoUN6x9jW
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) July 19, 2019
everyone's entitled to two good scares
Michael Myers is coming home...again.
Blumhouse on Friday announced that two new Halloween films are in the works following up the 2018 reboot. The first is called Halloween Kills, and it's slated for released in October 2020, with writer-director David Gordon Green, co-writer Danny McBride, and star Jamie Lee Curtis returning. This movie seemed likely after the last film's massive box office haul, but even more interesting was the announcement that yet another sequel is set to release a year later, and it's called Halloween Ends.
FINALLY : not one but TWO new Halloween movies: Halloween Kills (2020) and Halloween Ends (2021). Yes, the gang is ALL back, including @jamieleecurtis, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and @TheHorrorMaster John Carpenter. Oh yea. pic.twitter.com/KpVa2PlwN5
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) July 19, 2019
It seems this latter sequel will be billed as a grand finale to the entire series, although that promise probably shouldn't be taken at face value considering it's a horror tradition for slasher franchises to continue long after their alleged last installments, as with the far from final Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. It also could be that Halloween Ends will conclude the Michael Myers plot but allow for future sequels revolving around other stories, as was the original goal with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which didn't connect to the first two films.
When Curtis announced she was coming back as Laurie Strode in 2018's Halloween, she said it would be for "one last time," and it was thought the film would depict the final confrontation between Michael and Laurie. But the announcement on Friday decides that actually, "the saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode isn't over," and Curtis is confirmed to be returning again, presumably in both sequels. She wrote on Twitter, "Well, my friends and fans...I'm just WARMING UP."
Audiences will be entitled to one or more good scares when Michael returns on October 16, 2020. Brendan Morrow
didgeridon't
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE
Pete Buttigieg defies all parody.
The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana has become the wunderkind of the 2020 Democratic field, often deploying the eight languages he can speak on the campaign trail or verging into a literary reference in an interview. And as E! News learned in a candidate roundup published Thursday, Buttigieg also lists the didgeridoo on his list of special skills.
E! collected a few 2020 candidates' top ice cream flavors, movies, and other general pop culture trivia in its article, charmingly revealing that Montana Gov. Steve Bullock likes what he calls the "smiley poo" emoji and that Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) can juggle fruit. But Buttigieg's hidden talent is the most outrageous yet unsurprising of them all: "I learned circular breathing so that I could play the didgeridoo," Buttigieg tells E!
Buttigieg's musical strengths have been documented in the past, like when a Harvard roommate told Time all about his didgeridoo skills. That may have been annoying aspiration to live with, but at least Buttigieg's roommate isn't giving him the Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) treatment. Kathryn Krawczyk
how low we can go
Zach Gibson/Getty Images
Republican consultant and pollster Frank Luntz says he is "afraid for the country" amid a week of President Trump's attacks on minority congresswomen.
Luntz, who Politico reports has informally advised the White House through conversations with Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, spoke with Mother Jones' David Corn the day after the president's now infamous North Carolina rally in which his crowd chanted "send her back" about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Trump would later disavow the chant. This rally was held days after the president tweeted that Omar and three other minority congresswomen who were born in the United States should "go back" to where they came from.
At first, Luntz didn't want to comment on any of this, telling Mother Jones that "I don't want to go there." But ultimately, he did go there, saying that "it's not what I would do" and "it's not what I would say." Luntz went on to fully sound the alarm by declaring that he's "afraid for the country."
"I do not think we know how low we can go," Luntz told Mother Jones. "I know what the outcome is. It's bad. It's France in 1793. It ends up consuming everything." Still, Luntz wasn't entirely pinning this on Trump, telling Mother Jones that "both sides" are to blame.
Luntz during the 2016 election was critical of Trump's campaign, saying privately that he was "turning what we believe into a joke" and that his rhetoric "doesn't solve anything," Politico reported at the time, although Luntz would later say after the 2018 State of the Union that he owes Trump "an apology." Over the past week, Luntz has been one of the Republicans putting Trump on blast for his "go back" comments, which Luntz called "racist" and "stupid." Brendan Morrow
President Trump's Oval Office rendezvous with survivors of religious persecution got awkward at a couple different points — like when Trump got an unexpected geography lesson when learning about the Rohingya community and persecution of the Uighur population in China, and when his spiritual adviser used her speaking time to thank him for making it ok to say "Merry Christmas" again.
But one of the most noteworthy exchanges during the event came from Nadia Murad, a human rights activist who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in bringing attention to the plight of the Yazidi community in Iraq. Murad asked Trump for help in securing safety in the region for people like her who are unable to return home.
"But ISIS is gone?" Trump asked. "If I cannot go to my home and live in a safe place and get my dignity back, this is not about ISIS," Murad responded. "It's about I'm in danger. My people cannot go back." After she told Trump about her entire family being killed, Trump asked "Where are they now?" and said "I know the area very well." He then pivoted to her Nobel Prize, asking, "they gave it to you for what reason? Maybe you can explain."
Thousands of Yazidis have been killed by ISIS and thousands more were taken prisoner, like Murad, who asked Trump to press Iraqi and Kurdish officials to support survivors in returning to Iraq. Trump told Murad he is "going to look into it very strongly."
Watch the exchange below, via NBC News. Summer Meza
WATCH: Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize recipient from the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, talks to Pres. Trump in Oval Office about the plight of her people, and asks him to apply pressure on Iraq and Kurdistan governments to help them: “We cannot find a safe place to live.” pic.twitter.com/LrNfc1JEEX
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 19, 2019
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Professionalism and reliability confirmed by sixteen years of success
METROPOL GROUP is an international investment and industrial group with Russian capital uniting key industries and economic areas. The Group’s professionals, backed by the quality of their work and experience, are focused on further diversifying and expanding the business with the maximum success.
Since IFC METROPOL was established in 1995, its small team of stock market experts has grown into one of Russia’s leading financial institutions with a presence in various sectors across Russian and international markets.
METROPOL GROUP has built up a reputation for reliability and credibility which, year over year, has been confirmed by various associations of market professionals.
Today the Group works with leading financial and industrial companies, Russian state authorities, and private individuals, rendering a full range of high-quality services.
METROPOL GROUP of companies is represented on the leading international markets.
METROPOL (UK) Limited, located in London, is an accredited member of the London stock exchange (LSE) and is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority.
METROPOL (JAPAN) is the first representative office of a Russian financial company in Japan. The office facilitates working partnerships and strong relations between Asia-Pacific corporations and Russian companies.
METROPOL (CYPRUS) is based in Limassol and is licensed to carry out all basic and concomitant services related to financial instruments.
METROPOL (CHINA) develops working relationships with large Chinese metals and mining companies.
METROPOL (CANADA) focuses on attracting investments and organizing financing for mining projects.
METROPOL (SERBIA) is expanding the Group’s interests in the dynamic Balkan region, and focuses on the travel industry.
MINING BANK OF CONGO is the first Russian private bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Group is actively pursing and developing opportunities with partners in Asia and in Latin America.
Our main goal is to become an international investment and industrial corporation with Russian roots.
One of METROPOL GROUP’s main areas of activity is in major development projects in Russia and abroad. More than 2 000 000 sqm. of real estate is currently under the control of the management company METROPOL DEVELOPMENT.
METROPOL GROUP has been involved in the setting up the Kyokusin-kan Karate-do Federation of Russian and the Martial Arts Foundation. With the Group support, the World Kyokusin-kan Karate-do Championship (2005) and the II European Open Kyokusin-kan Karate-do Championship (2008) were held in Moscow.
METROPOL GROUP strongly recognizes its civil responsibility and actively sponsors new projects across a broad range of fields such as culture, arts and sports.
In 2005, the company funded the first trip to the North Pole by air balloon and a flight which set the world altitude record.
METROPOL GROUP has also established the charity foundation “Cruiser “Varyag”. In 2006, a memorial plaque in honor of the historic Russian cruiser was unveiled on a site close to where the Varyag sank off the Scottish coast. On September 8th, 2007, a solemn ceremony unveiling the monument took place.
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Soul Age »
Old Souls in a Young Soul World
Author Topic: Old Souls in a Young Soul World (Read 9387 times)
Could you provide a strategy to help old souls navigate a young soul world?
Re: Old Souls in a Young Soul World
In my experience, young souls are focused on a functional, practial, factual-oriented perspective. They are interested on the know-how - what someone has to do for achieve a specific result. About such things you can best talk with them (and have access) - and learn from their experiences and expertise.
Keep your eye on the context!
Old souls are pretty individualistic, and usually have no problems with an achievement orientation, as long as it's in moderation and keeps the social context in view. Young souls, unfortunately, tend to rip up the societal support structure while they're chasing the brass ring.
KarenH
I think, though, that sometimes we do need that young soul energy. I'm thinking of Florence Nightingale (who was channeled by the Yarbro group as being young souled), who majorly upset the medical establishment by introducing sanitary practices and statistical analysis to the medical profession, as well as increasing the status of nursing and women in that field. That brought great strides to the field of medicine in general, not to mention saving lives.
And then there is Joan of Arc, a young priest. What is mind-blowing to me is that this young woman--in an era where women most definitely did NOT have the freedoms or rights we do now, and were pretty much not more than chattel--almost single-handedly solidified the concept of nationalism (instead of tribalism, which had been prevalent in Europe until that time), as well as military strategy via the use of artillery, thereby actually decreasing the number of casualties during war, and pushing France toward a more cohesive group identity. Plus giving women in the future a feminist role model. :-D
(Yes, Joan was my role model when I was a child. When people would tell me girls "don't do that," I'd look at them and say, "but what about Joan of Arc?" which effectively stymied them.)
So young souls do have their function, because society does need to be jolted and institutions even torn down from time to time to bring in fresh ideas and new growth.
--Karen H.
Chiara DB
Love all, trust a few. Harm none.
Thanks for that, Karen! As you have shown, we have an incredible lot to thank young souls for. Yet they are continually denigrated by "wiser" souls, like the crazy aunt we keep locked in the attic because we don't want to admit we are related to her. Young souls freed us from the stifling grip of baby soul society, got us out of superstition and into science. That's all I need to hear to think they've done something freakin' awesome and to be grateful. We are at our most separate from the Tao as young souls, and that causes a lot of things we consider problems once we're past that stage and start thinking about how we're connected instead of how we're separate. But how were we supposed to know they were problems until we experienced them, and gained the perspective afterward? Let's welcome young souls back in the family fold
As for navigating a young soul world, I think old souls just have to find their own niche with other older souls and/or the arts and get their spiritual sustenance there.
Karen and Chiara, great posts! That's a great way of looking at it. I'd like to throw my two cents in. When I get frustrated with people, I try to remember that I was once there too and just as I had to go through things in order to grow, so do they. One of the things I have had to work through is allowing others to have their experiences and respecting where they are, which teaches me patience. I think that has been a big one for me. When I see the growth that others go through, afterwards, it is worth it. It's like a weight being lifted off my shoulder, knowing that I helped them work through it.
Quote from: Chiara DB on April 17, 2011, 07:07:27 PM
I wonder--and I'm speaking only as a 7th level mature artisan--whether old souls might be just fine blending in one way or another, just as long as they don't get pulled in by younger souls' fears. Fear is infectious, after all. Kind of like how a mother or father might get agitated when their toddler or teen starts throwing a tantrum. You know their fears are baseless or short-sighted, but you're frustrated/agitated nevertheless because you care.
From what I can perceive, old souls in general have the advantage of versatility and long-distance perspective because of all the things they've learned over their many lifetimes. So, let's say you're an old warrior. You've been through thousands of campaigns in your past lives, you know how to think through strategies, pull in the resources, and get things done. You're like a seasoned master sergeant or chief bosun's mate. :-D You know how to lay down the law, and people will hop to it.
As an old soul, you know how to do it better than anyone else, and not only that, make people feel safe and secure when you do. You're going to be sensitive about when to walk and talk quietly and when to barrel through in a no-nonsense way.
In a young-soul world--say, in business or entrepreneurial efforts--these are invaluable skills. Maybe you don't want to be a corporate CEO (unless you like that kind of thing, which some old souls might with the appropriate overleaves). But as a mid-level manager in a mid-sized company, you might end up being well-loved and respected by your younger souled employees and proteges. In retirement, you might even go into small business counseling and advise younger souls how to succeed in their enterprises in wise and enlightened ways.
An old-soul warrior's long-distance perspective in a young soul economy would do a great deal of good in helping people keep companies going in a healthy, sustainable, and deeply practical way, thereby employing more people.
That would be a great way of "fitting in."
C1E3 Sage/Sage 2nd/5th Old
This is a great discussion that ended too early... Apologies for the necropost.
I worked within the industry of my major for 8 years, then spent about 7 years doing fun/weird things for a living, and went back to the old work again--typical office environment. I have an MBA but have no desire to manage others, not even if it would open an opportunity to be a mentor. Instead, I keep to myself, as it's a very quiet, individualistic job, and have good relationships with fellow co-workers, where we do fun things together on certain days, go out to lunch often, and it's fairly low stress. Which suits me just fine.
But, I do have a tendency where the Sage will demand to be heard, and basically on Facebook, etc, no one "gets me" at all, not even remotely. They don't get my jokes, the innuendos, nothing, which can be fairly lonely at times, like living for years in a foreign country without properly learning the language and customs. It's not for lack of trying, just somewhat hopeless. LOL! However, I will say, an interesting effect is that soul ages seem to reveal themselves very quickly in social media. The baby souls will rally around each other. Oh, I have some friends from childhood who are in a baby enclave, and they just don't get my religious humor, which is not meant to offend, it's just, maybe too layered, and they see only the literal, not the figurative.
One really obvious solution is to break contact with people who tend to grate with you. Sad but necessary. Baby and young souls have powerful egos who are intolerant of any foreign idea that threatens the status quo. Whereas, swapping jokes or stories with a stranger or old friend who happens to be mature/old, AND who is manifesting it, AND in 4th IM (that's a pretty significant factor), you won't run into that blowback.
Like most of you, I think young souls have their place--in fact, every soul age has its place and function. And, like you, I surely do appreciate all the technological and other inventions young souls have given us! Even the TV shows are appreciated. (well, except for the zombie craze, which I avoid at all costs)
As an old soul, I often feel out of place in our young-soul society, but I'm also very individualistic, so I'm okay with that. As long as they don't try to force me to participate in their dramas and other scenarios, I'm fine.
I don't know whether it's from being an old soul, or just the physicality of this lifetime, but simply witnessing all the seemingly limitless energy of young souls makes me tired.
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Find Your Legistator
2016 Session Highlights
MICUA closely tracked over 200 pieces of legislation related to higher education, non-profit organizations, private corporations, and employment matters as hearings were held, amendments were added, votes were taken, and bills crossed over from one chamber to the other. Another 80 pieces of legislation were monitored in a similar manner to ensure the bills were not altered in a way that could have a negative impact on MICUA institutions. MICUA testified at over a dozen bill hearings, submitted written testimony on more than 30 bills, and attended or monitored over 50 other legislative hearings. A Priority 1 bill list is provided on the MICUA website. The bill list includes links to the bills and the testimony MICUA submitted during the 2016 session.
· College Affordability
HB 1403 reestablished The College Readiness Outreach Program as “The Next Generation Scholars of Maryland Program” to allow eligible students in grades 7, 8, and 9 to prequalify for a Guaranteed Access (GA) Grant. For fiscal 2018 through 2023, the Governor must include $5.0 million in general funds to the program to be administered in a school system in which at least 50% of the students are eligible to receive a free lunch. The fund will be used to award grants to nonprofit organizations to administer the program and provide students with high school graduation plans, offer summer work or internship opportunities,provide financial aid literacy assistance, administer career interest assessments, provide mentorship and one-on-one counseling, facilitate visits to college campuses and workplaces, and provide other support services to help students matriculate and graduate from an institution of higher education. This program will be an excellent opportunity to highlight MICUA’s Guaranteed Access Partnership Program.
HB 335 expands the eligibility of the Maryland College Savings Plan income tax subtraction modification by allowing each person who contributes funds to a plan to claim the subtraction modification. This bill will allow grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others who contribute to a child’s college savings plan to claim the income tax subtraction associated with their contribution.
SB 281 authorizes the Community Development Administration to provide financial assistance to homeowners for purchasing a primary residence and making payments on student loan debt. The bill provides potential homeowners saddled with student loan debt a way to both purchase a home and simultaneously pay off student loan debt utilizing Maryland’s mortgage assistance programs.
SB 676 establishes a matching State contribution for eligible college savings accounts and creates a refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 to help Marylanders better manage undergraduate student loan debt. The bill also requires the College Savings Plans of Maryland to develop marketing plans to increase participation.
HB 1015 requires three State entities to study the expansion or creation of an appropriate bonding authority for the refinancing of student loans in Maryland. By September 30, 2017, a report with findings and recommendations must be submitted to the Governor and the General Assembly.
HB 1079 authorizes the creation of a student loan refinancing authority in Montgomery County. Montgomery County must first study the implementation of such an authority, perform a feasibility study, assess the benefits of an authority to enhance recruitment and retention of county and school employees, and hold public hearings. If established it would be the first authority for financing or refinancing student loans in Maryland. Montgomery County modeled the legislation after the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority.
· Higher Education Policy
SB 427 prohibits a private career school or for-profit institution of higher education in the State from enrolling a student in a program in a field that requires State licensure or certification for employment, if successful completion of the program will not meet State educational requirements for licensure or certification. It also requires that institutions make a net price calculator publicly available on their website in a conspicuous location.
SB 919 corrects an oversight of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by recognizing that student health insurance coverage may be offered through certain self-funded insurance plans.
HB 1400 establishes the “Seed Community Development Anchor Institution Fund” to provide grants and loans to “anchor institutions” for community development projects in “blighted areas” of the State. For fiscal 2018 through 2022, the Governor must include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of $5 million to the fund.
SB 493 creates an induction program for first-year teachers in Maryland school districts that choose to participate in the program. Those teachers must be afforded at least 20% more time than other teachers to be spent on mentoring, peer-observation, assistance with planning, or other preparation activities. The bill mandates an appropriation of $7.0 million annually for the program and increases the stipend for teachers who hold National Board Certification from $2,000 to $5,000.
HB 1488 establishes the Maryland Corps Program. The program will provide at least 100 young Marylanders with meaningful service opportunities, stipends of up to $15,000, and scholarships of up to $6,000 toward a vocational certificate, associate’s degree, or bachelor’s degree at Maryland postsecondary institutions. Annual funding for the program is up to the discretion of the Governor.
SB 1052 creates a strategic partnership between the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) to be called the University Maryland (UM). To that end, the bill makes various changes and requires various planning activities to take place between the institutions. The bill requires the University of System of Maryland (USM) headquarters to move to Baltimore City by July 1, 2017. The bill mandates the appropriation of funds for various purposes beginning in fiscal 2018.
SB 376 establishes Pathways in Technology Early College (P-TECH) schools and authorizes six State planning grants to eligible P-TECH Schools in fiscal 2017. No more than two planning grants may be awarded in any jurisdiction. To be eligible for a grant, the P-TECH school must be a public secondary school selected by the Maryland State Department of Education and must partner with an authorized institution of higher education. To meet the definition in the bill, a P-TECH school must have submitted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to MSDE by March 15, 2016. Only two schools in Baltimore City currently meet this definition. In addition, the P-TECH school must execute an MOU with one or more industry partners, one or more institutions of higher education, and a local board of education. The MOU must include the following provisions: (1) substantive mentoring of P-TECH students; (2) at least one paid summer internship of at least six weeks duration per student; and (3) P-TECH students are first in line for consideration of a job at the industry partner after graduation.
· Other Legislation
SB 370 requires the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to post on the DBM website notice of a proposed reduction to an appropriation at least three consecutive days before the reduction may be approved by the Board of Public Works (BPW). This bill will help prevent unannounced reductions in funding from appearing before the BPW without public notice of the reductions.
HB 1003 expands Maryland’s equal pay for equal work law to prohibit wage discrimination based on gender identity, among other provisions. An employer may not provide less favorable employment opportunities based on sex or gender identity. Moreover, an employer may not prohibit an employee from inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing the wages of the employee or another employee.
HB 409 enhances the criminal penalties for an adult who obtains, furnishes, or allows an individual younger than 21 to possess or consume an alcoholic beverage at their residence.
SB 587 prohibits a person from selling or offering for sale alcoholic beverages that are sold in powder or crystalline form to be used directly or in combination with water or any other substance until June 30, 2018.
· Failed Legislation
HB 230 -- Reduction in Financial Aid Notification
HB 231/SB313 -- Financial Aid Reduction Prohibited – Public Institutions only
HB 283 -- Institutions of Higher Education – Official Transcripts
HB 449/SB375 -- Relief from Budget Mandates
HB 966 -- College of Southern Maryland –Bachelor’s degrees
HB 1142 -- Institutions of Higher Learning – Affirmative Consent Standard
HB 1149 -- Frederick Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology
SB 464 -- College Admissions Outreach Program for High Achieving Students
HB 108/SB 457 -- Capital Budget Construction Projects – Apprenticeship requirements
HB 197/SB 623 -- Maryland Pay Stub Transparency Act
HB 792/SB914 -- The Transparency Act of 2016
HB 580/SB 472 -- Maryland Healthy Working Families Act
SB 928 -- Task Force to Study the Nurse Shortage in Maryland
HB 1002 -- Weapon-Free Higher Education Zones
SB 512 -- Task Force to Study the Recruitment, Retention, and Promotion of Teachers
SB 783 -- Correctional Education Council – Adult Correctional Institutions – Study of Access to the Internet and Higher Education Courses
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It is a sincere goal of the MIGCA All-State Selection Committee to select and honor the "complete and deserving golfer". Although golf scores and tournament finishes are an important part of the All-State selection process, honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, and behavior off the golf course are also considered during the selection of the MIGCA All-State Teams.
The use of tobacco, alcohol, or other illegal substances or behavior unbecoming an athlete during or after school hours could disqualify the athlete from nomination by his/her coach, or consideration by the MIGCA All-State Selection Committee.
MIGCA has always strived to adhere to this code of conduct and it is important for the nominating coach to consider these characteristics when nominating a player.
ONLY SENIORS are eligible.
A minimum of TWO YEARS on the high school golf team.
Nominees who have competed in less than half of the team's competitive varsity events this year will only be considered if they have competed in a significant number of varsity events in previous seasons.
Must have a minimum GPA of 3.75 (4.0 system).
GPA multiplied by ACT score must be at least 100 to qualify for Academic All-State Honorable Mention. GPA multiplied by ACT must be 110 to qualify for Academic All-State. For example, a student with a 4.0 GPA would need at least a 25 on his/her ACT to qualify for Honorable mention.
Must include a TRANSCRIPT for the first 6 semesters (through the junior year).
The selection committee takes into account the students grade point average and ACT score to create a composite index. That index number is sorted and from that score, first team and honorable mention individuals are selected Academic All-State. The Boys are selected in June and Girls are selected in October.
Five members from the same team who each competed in the Regional tournament.
Minimum combined GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. (GPAs will autmatically be calculated.)
Players with all A's receive bonus points according to their grade level (i.e. 10th graders receive 4.05, 11th graders receive 4.10, and 12th graders 4.15).
The five individual transcripts must be mailed and confirmed as received to verify grade point averages. 8th grade transcripts will be used for freshmen girls.
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Milfuegos
IN TIMES OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, TELLING THE TRUTH WILL BE A REVOLUTIONARY ACT.
JUNE 14: CHE’S 80TH BIRTHDAY - "Happy Birthday Com...
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CHE IN 1959 BY GABRIEL MOLINA
Barack Obama's stance on Israel exposes his agenda...
INTERPOL Clarifies it Never Determined Authenticit...
A MEETING WITH CHE GUEVARA by K Gajendra Singh
The Bobby Kennedy myth
From My Lai to Haditha
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUS...
JUNE 14: CHE’S 80TH BIRTHDAY - "Happy Birthday Comandante!"
JUNE 14: CHE'S 80TH BIRTHDAY
A brief personal look at Che Guevara
By Monsignor CARLOS MANUEL DE CÉSPEDES GARCÍA-MENOCAL
IT was Pope John Paul II's custom to travel accompanied by journalists who would report later on the trip. During the flight, at some point the Pope would go to the cabin where the journalists were and talk with them for a while. Usually, they asked him not just about that particular trip, but whatever else, human and divine, that interested them at the time. The anecdote that I am going to recount is about a trip to Africa — John Paul II made several to that continent — around the late 1980s or early 90s. By that time, there was speculation about a possible visit to Cuba by John Paul II. It materialized in January 1998. In a newspaper or magazine of the time, I read the following, which I am now trying to reconstruct from memory:
In the airplane cabin, they had already discussed the decolonization of African countries, developments that were still relatively recent. If that issue was brought up, it was almost impossible to avoid referring in some way to Cuba and to Che, one of the leading figures in that process. The question was a direct one: "What does Your Holiness think about Che?" According to the article I read at the time, the Pope reflected in silence for a few seconds then broke it by saying, with enlightening simplicity, "I don't know him intimately, but I know he was concerned about the poor. Therefore, he deserves my respect." I realize that John Paul II's opinion led me to a more just consideration of Che. When judging a person's deeds, we should not avoid motivations that he or she had in doing them, in taking a certain attitude toward life. Che is no exception. The excesses that he may have committed in the framework of that "concern" is one thing; what men or groups do for the unjust reasons of selfishness and unbridled ambition is another, of a very different nature.
Like most Cubans, my first solid references to Che came with the beginning of the guerrilla struggle in the Sierra Maestra, after the landing of the Granma; in other words, in early December 1956. I was enrolled in the Havana Seminary and the disciplinary nature of that institution — now diverse — made it hard for us to obtain information about the political situation or practically anything else that was happening in our country or the world. Fortunately, I kept in frequent contact not only with my family, but with my friends, including university classmates. Che turned out to be the most enigmatic of the leaders of that process. We knew the Cubans; we were getting to know Che.
All the references coincide in affirming his almost rash daring in face of danger, as well as his spirit of discipline. We learned that he was a doctor, and stories circulated about his trip around Latin America, his presence in the Guatemala of Arbenz, his meeting-up with Raúl and Fidel in Mexico, etc. Almost everyone also valued, since that time, the consistency between his convictions and his actions in life. People also said that he was a voracious reader of good literature, with a notable preference for books on philosophy, and for classic authors, not just the Spaniards, but the Greeks and Latin, which I liked very much. He was said to have a Marxist-oriented political culture, which for many Cubans of the time was an obstacle to regarding him positively. I admit that for me, that was not so much the case, because although I disagreed with his lack of a metaphysical philosophy and with his denial of the limits Marxism, I sympathized with the emphasis on socialism. Obviously, Marxism was not, and is not, my philosophical/political orientation, but then neither was, or is, anti-communism, more visceral than rational. While some people saw him distrustfully as a foreigner, since back then, some of my friends, and I personally, related his presence within the Cuban Revolution with that of many other foreigners who collaborated with our 19th century independence movements, above all with that of Máximo Gomez. The Dominican generalissimo, as we well know, is an integral part of Cuba's patriotic and internationalist pantheon.
As we headed toward the revolutionary victory, and the final stage in Villa Clara of the guerilla struggle, the anecdotes about Che naturally multiplied. And so did the questions that I had about him. Together with the positive data, I saw what seemed to be a radical, avenging attitude, hard and cold, in response to human weakness and error; an attitude that has never seemed positive to me when I discover it in those around me, or in people who I come across in my studies of history. The early months of the revolutionary government, with Che installed in Havana, seemed to confirm, in my eyes, the excesses of that avenging spirit, both in Che and in most of the Revolution's historical leaders. Che's speeches and writings in that period were along the same lines.
However, my admiration also increased in face of his existential and intellectual consistency, as well as his social sensitivity. Some of my friends, personal friends, became close collaborators of Che during that time. They were a precious source of information about the richness and nuances of his temperament. We could not limit him to his words. Not him or anybody. And with that difficult sort of contradiction in my approach to Che, we arrive at his final stage, with first-hand knowledge of it through his Bolivian campaign "diary."
Unfortunately, I never came into contact with him. For a good part of the time he spent in Cuba, I was living and studying in Rome (August 1959 to August 1963). Che disappeared from Cuba — Africa, Bolivia and death by murder — without me having been able to fill the vacuum of not having had the contact that is almost indispensable to really knowing and properly appreciating someone.
Then came the years of enthusiasm about Che, inside and outside of Cuba, even among people and groups which distanced themselves from the Cuban revolutionary process. Years of growth, almost mythological, of his image, the one in memory and the one in iconography, with the latter centered on Korda's photograph. Let us remember May 1968 in Paris, and everything that has happened since, in relation — direct or not — to that unrepeatable month. Years, too, with the appearance of essays and biographies. Impossible to have access to so many works. On more than one occasion, I asked for guidance on the matter from Manuel Piñeiro, with whom I had a very good friendship, never damaged by dubious disagreements. For my part, well, they have been the years of the development of Che's image.
Now Evocación. Mi vida al lado del Che (Evocation. My Life with Che), the one-of-a-kind book by Aleida March, Che's wife and sentimental companion during his years in Cuba, the definitive and defining ones. She is the only one who could watch over the presence of those traits from his private life and testify to them now, from the distance of more than 40 years on, in her simple prose, like that of someone in an informal conversation. Just as they must have been recounted to her children, who had no better bridge to Che than Aleida, their mother. Now we have had the good fortune to have access to that testimonial, to take a look at these realities that cannot be grasped except in this manner, that of the testimony of his wife and the mother of his children. A complementary manner that is a must for those of us who want to "know" Che completely. To know him through and through, to the very fibers of his heart; to know him at that level of human being where so many small, everyday realities are decided, like those of social and visible importance, a level where errors and virtues, positive aspects and not so positive ones emerge, are decided and begin to be discerned.
All roads now merge for me in the comment by John Paul II quoted at the beginning of this reflection. Almost everything about Che should be contemplated in the light of his consistent and radical actions in defense of the poor; of his passion for what we used to call "social justice." So consistent and radical was his passion, so razor-sharp, that it led him to make the offering of his own life. And when an upright man goes to those extremes, the disagreements with him acquire another tone, because such a man deserves not only respect, but deep admiration.
Havana, May 27, 2008 (Taken from the website Che80)
Posted by Macu at 6/14/2008 06:27:00 PM
Labels: Che, Che Guevara, Ernesto "Che" Guevara
In its near 86 year history, BBC has a long, unbroken and dubious distinction. Today it's little different from its corporate-run counterparts in America, Britain and throughout the world. In fact, on its tailored for a US BBC America audience, what passes for news matches stride for stride what people here see every day - mind-numbing commercialism, shoddy reporting, pseudo-journalism, celebrity and sports features, and other diverting and distracting non-news that should embarrass correspondents and presenters delivering it. It offends viewers and treats them like mushrooms - well-watered, in the dark, and uninformed about the most important world and national issues affecting their lives and welfare.
That's the idea, of course, and has been since BBC's inception. John Reith was its founder and first general manager. Reassuring the powerful, he set the standard adhered to thereafter: "(You) know (you) can trust us not to be really impartial." BBC never was and never is.
Impartiality has no place on BBC nor does its claim about "honesty, integrity, (and being) free from political influence and commercial pressure." How can it? Its Director-General, Executive Board Chairman, BBC Trust Chairman and senior managers are government-appointed and charged with a singular task - to function as a "propaganda system for elite interests." On all vital issues - war and peace, state and corporate corruption, human rights, social justice, or coverage of the Middle East's longest and most intractable conflict, Westminster and the establishment rest easy. They know BBC is "reliable" - pro-government, pro-business and dismissive of the public trust it disdains. Now more than ever.
This article covers one example among many - BBC's distorted, one-sided support for Israel and its antipathy toward Palestinians. In this respect, it's fully in step with its American and European counterparts - Israeli interests matter; Palestinian ones don't; as long as that holds, conflict resolution is impossible. Therein lies the problem. With its reputation, world reach, and influence, BBC's coverage exacerbates it.
Key BBC Terms In Its Israeli - Palestinian Coverage
In October 2006, Electronic Intifada.net listed BBC's "key terms" in its conflict coverage - to "find a balance" that, in fact, tilts strongly toward Israel. For example:
-- pre-meditated assassinations are called "killings" or occasionally "targeted killings" if Israeli sources say it;
-- the separation or apartheid wall is called a "barrier, separation barrier, West Bank barrier, (or simply) this wall;" sometimes "fence" is used as well; no hint of its real purpose or that the World Court ruled it illegal; no mention either that it's unrelated to security and simply a land-grab scheme and effort to heighten Palestinian isolation;
-- East Jerusalem - BBC recognizes West Jerusalem as part of Israel; East Jerusalem is considered occupied with its status "still to be determined in permanent status negotiations between the parties....We recognize no sovereignty over the city;" The phrase "Arab East Jerusalem" is avoided; so is any mention that Israeli settlements encroach on it and aim to annex it entirely; Palestinians want the city for their capital; it belongs to them; Israel won't allow it; BBC won't explain it;
-- Gaza - Israel nominally disengaged in summer 2005; in fact, it never did; it merely redeployed its forces, and maintains rigid control over the Territory's land, coast and airspace; it invades and attacks at will and maintains a brutish mediaeval siege; all movement in and out of Gaza is restricted; so are Gazans' access to food, water, health care, fuel, electricity and other life essentials; the result is a deep humanitarian crisis; BBC ignores it; instead it merely refers to an "end to Israel's permanent military presence," not an end to its occupation, repression, continued incursions, mass killings, targeted assassinations, and systemic use of torture;
The Green Line - it separates Israel from the West Bank, but BBC reporting blurs it; it doesn't call it a border because that implies internationally recognized status; instead it fudges by calling it "the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank;"
-- Intifada - more fudging when referring to causes; value judgments are avoided; so is truth; don't say Ariel Sharon's September 29, 2000 Haram al-Sharif provocation incited a popular uprising; package his visit with Palestinian frustration over a failed peace process and say it "sparked the (second) intifada (rather than it) led (to it or) started (it);"
-- Jewish - distinguish between "Israeli" or "Jewish" to avoid religious or racial connotations; stress political ones instead; ignore how Israelis stress Jewishness by relating to "the promised land," one "without people for a people without a land," a Jewish homeland, Israel's biblical connection, and raising the issue of anti-semitism against harsh Israeli critics; when they're Jewish call them self-hating;
-- Occupied Territories or Occupation - BBC refers to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, not the Golan Heights; after Israel "disengaged," Gaza is in political limbo; BBC distinguishes between the "occupied territories" and Palestinian Land or Palestinian Territories; calling Gaza and the West Bank "disputed territories" is preferred; in fact, there's no dispute; they're both Israeli occupied Palestinian land;
-- settlements and outposts - BBC distinguishes between them when, in fact, they vary only in size; BBC avoids calling them illegal; they're all illegal but adjectives aren't used unless they're vital to a story; in all reports, BBC is one-sided; it stresses that Israel disputes international law; anti-Israeli value judgments aren't made; the rule of law is dismissed; Palestinian rights are ignored; the growing number of Israeli settlers is fudged, downplayed and generally not mentioned;
-- Palestine - BBC acknowledges that no independent state exists but the "peace process" aims to create one; unmentioned is that negotiations are fake and their reports try to hide it; so do deceptive words to appease pro-Israel critics; BBC obliges them;
-- "relative calm" or "quiet" periods - it refers to quiescent Palestinian resistance, no Israeli deaths, but not ongoing Israeli attacks and killings;
-- right of return - BBC ignores international law and UN Resolution 194; it promotes the Israeli position instead; and
-- "terrorists" - a loaded term applying only to Palestinians; never Israelis; most often other words are used like "bomber, attacker, gunman, kidnapper, insurgent (or) militant;" Palestinian self-defense is never called resistance, and Israeli incursions aren't ever called aggression.
Media "Rules of Engagement" in Covering the Middle East
In June 2002, Robin Miller listed "The Media's Middle East Rules of Engagement." BBC's Israeli-Palestinian coverage adheres to them rigidly:
Rule 1 - "View the Middle East (ME) through Israeli eyes;" Palestinians are terrorists and aggressors; Israelis are victims who retaliate; self-defense is their motive; so is avoiding the truth;
Rule 2 - "Treat American and Israeli governmental statements as (truthful) hard news;" avoid any information that contradicts them;
Rule 3 - "Ignore the historical context;" avoid mentioning six decades of dispossession, occupation, and hundreds of preceding years during which Palestine was the Palestinian homeland; also suppress the idea that a Jewish homeland first originated with Zionism's late 19th century's founding and didn't exist prior to that;
Rule 4 - "Avoid the fundamental legal and moral issues posed by the Israeli occupation;" say nothing about Geneva, UN Resolution 194, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and all other recognized international human rights laws;
-- Rule 5 - "Suppress or minimize news unfavorable to the Israelis;" this rule is ironclad and unforgiving; open debate isn't tolerated; facts are suppressed; aggressors are called victims; self-defense is called terrorism; news is carefully "filtered," minds manipulated, and truth conspicuously absent; BBC excels at it and lets Israel get away with murder;
-- Rule 6 - "Muddy the waters when necessary;" major US media do it; so do human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch; they tread lightly on Israeli-Palestinian issues and slant their views accordingly; so does BBC;
-- Rule 7 - "Credit all Israeli claims (as fact), even if wholly unfounded;" if Israelis say it, it's true; BBC approves;
-- Rule 8 - "Doubt all Palestinian assertions, no matter how self-evident;" if Palestinians say it, it's false or at best an unsubstantiated claim; most often ignore, downplay or fudge it;
-- Rule 9 - "Condemn only Palestinian violence;" treat it as a crime against innocent Israeli victims; ignore any reference to self-defense against Israeli aggression and rule of law violations; and
Rule 10 - "Disparage the international consensus supporting Palestinian rights;" better still - ignore it or condemn it as biased or anti-semitic.
Add one more rule for good measure. Repeat any lie often enough and most people will believe it. It's foolproof and works every time.
Independent Analysis of BBC's Israel - Palestine Coverage
In 2005, the BBC commissioned a study to review the impartiality of its Israeli - Palestinian coverage. It consisted of an independent panel, the Communications Research Centre at Loughborough University, and British - Israeli international lawyer Noam Lubell. Their published April 2006 findings weren't what the broadcaster wished. Highlights from them showed BBC coverage:
-- rarely covered daily Palestinian hardships and repression under occupation;
-- was incomplete, misleading, and failed to consistently provide a full and fair account of the conflict;
-- overlooked important themes; in the study period it most notably ignored Israeli annexation of land in and around East Jerusalem;
-- omitted a substantial amount of important news vital to Palestinian concerns;
-- failed to convey the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience; specifically that one side is dominant and the other under occupation and forced to endure dependence indignities and hard line repression;
-- seldom used the term occupation; mentioned military occupation only once during the study period;
-- reported nothing about nearly four decades of occupation and repression;
-- misportrayed Israel's Gaza disengagement as a positive step; failed to clarify it as a ruse and that Gaza remains occupied, invaded and attacked at will;
-- failed to report Israeli assertions that relocating Gaza settlers would strengthen Israel's control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem;
-- never clarified that Gaza settlements were illegal; that Gazans face ongoing hardships and stressed instead the "controversy" of withdrawing among Israelis;
-- misused or misportrayed the term "terrorism" and only applied it to Palestinians;
-- omitted any reference to historical background and failed to put stories in proper context;
-- provided inadequate analysis and interpretation of key events and issues;
-- failed to explain the meaning of Zionism;
-- failed to provide background of the 1967 and 1973 wars;
-- consistently misportrayed Hamas; described it as formally committed to Israel's destruction; ignored Hamas' acceptance of the Arab peace proposal and its willingness to recognize Israel in return for an end to the occupation;
-- mischaracterized the Oslo Accords as positive; ignored its deficiencies and betrayal;
-- mentioned the Intifada with no explanation of cause or justification;
-- failed to cite international law and UN resolutions; their call for an end to Israel's occupation; and the fact that Israel ignores international rulings contrary to its interests;
-- ignored Palestinians' legal right to return or restitution if they choose not to;
-- ignored humanitarian and human rights laws;
-- failed to explain extrajudicial executions are illegal;
-- mischaracterized the Separation Wall that the World Court ruled illegal;
-- misrepresented the status of Jerusalem;
-- gave unequal access to Israeli officials and spokespersons; stations none of its correspondents in Occupied Palestine; has them all inside Israel; results in a huge disparity in reports favoring Israel while disparaging Palestinians;
-- misportrayed Israelis as peace-seeking and Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims as aggressors;
-- stressed Israeli victimhood, the importance of Israeli deaths and injuries, and relative unimportance of a disproportionate number of Palestinian ones;
-- responded to criticism defensively; continued to repeat past errors cited; showed deference to Israeli issues and the pro-Israeli Lobby;
-- ignored its own established editorial standards, including on terminology; as a result, consistently showed bias, a lack of clarity and precision and did little to improve comprehension and understanding;
-- overall - BBC falls far short of fair and impartial reporting and has done little to redress pointed out deficiencies; one positive note - the analysis found no evidence linking anti-Semitic behavior to BBC reports; it also found none dispelling it.
Glasgow University Media Group Study of Middle East News Coverage - It's "Bad News from Israel" and BBC
Researchers Greg Philo and Mike Berry conducted the study between 2000 and 2002, and their above quoted 2004 book title discusses it. Little has changed from then to now, BBC's reporting highlights it, and it's "bad news" for kept-in-the-dark viewers of major UK news and current affairs coverage.
Former BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Llewellyn agrees and explained in his unsparing comments about his former employer. He called it "dishonest - in concept, approach and execution....(it) favours the occupying soldiers over the occupied Arabs, depicting the latter, essentially, as alien tribes threatening the survival of Israel, rather than vice versa." It depicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "as a battle of two (equal) forces (with equally) right and wrong responsibility. It is the tyranny of spurious equivalence." As the UK and world's leading broadcaster, BBC is justifiably blamed.
"Bad News from Israel" explains how - by consistently showing pro-Israel bias in virtually all its reporting and at times in the extreme. Beyond the book's timeline, correspondent Chris Morris' January 2004 "Lost hope in Mid-East conflict" report is a case in point. It's about an expectant Palestinian woman confronted at a checkpoint. Prevented from passing, she gives birth and miscarries.
Morris is sympathetic but sides with the soldiers. "You can't blame (them, he says) for being jumpy at checkpoints....because there are Israeli victims too, children among them, killed by snipers and suicide bombers from the West Bank. What would you have done? Would you have taken the risk? Or would you have played it safe, fearful of a trap? And so it goes on - another week in the Middle East."
Even worse, the greater issue is ignored - an instance reflecting daily life in Occupied Palestine plus regular killings and abuse. Morris turns a blind eye. He highlights suicide bombings instead - "A Palestinian mother in her early 20s blows herself to bits and takes the lives of four young Israelis, after tricking them into believing she was ill." He continues - "A Jewish settler is killed on the West Bank, leaving five children without a father, including triplets just three months old." Reports like his are commonplace on BBC. Israeli lives matter. Palestinian ones don't. Philo and Berry document the evidence.
Their study covers what media should report, a content analysis of their coverage, and how focus group interviews show how viewers are ill-served and left uninformed. Below are some results that apply to today:
-- little or no historical context was provided; origins of the conflict were omitted; in the 2000 timeframe covered, BBC (and ITN) devoted 3500 lines of text to the Intifada, but a scant 17 to context or history;
-- reporting consistently was pro-Israel and justified the most extreme actions and lawlessness; at the same time, Palestinian resistance was highlighted and condemned as terrorism;
-- in the authors' words: "There (was) no evidence from our analysis to suggest that Palestinian views were given preferential treatment on the BBC. The opposite (was) in reality the case;"
-- BBC justified Israeli violence as "response" or "retaliation;" in contrast, Palestinian resistance was called "horrific," an "atrocity," "terrorism," or even "mass murder;"
-- some BBC reports were rife with errors whether intentionally or from ignorance;
-- reports focused on Israeli security and right to exist; comparable Palestinian rights got little mention; nor did their impoverishment, deplorable daily existence, or a brutish four-decade military occupation;
-- Israeli deaths were highlighted; Palestinian ones played down or ignored; regular Israeli incursions got little mention or weren't reported;
-- as a result, only 4% of focus group respondents knew Palestinians were driven from their homeland; only 10% that Israel occupied Palestine; some believed Palestinians were the occupiers; some viewed the conflict as a border dispute; 80% didn't know the origin of Palestinian refugees or that they were dispossessed; two-thirds didn't know Palestinian casualties exceeded Israeli ones; more knowledgeable respondents had access to books and other material that dispel BBC bias and inaccuracies;
-- senior BBC journalists interviewed told researchers that they were instructed not to give explanations; to dumb-down the news for easy listening and do it in "20-second attention span" segments; researchers believe BBC has it backwards; this type reporting alienates viewers; accuracy and more context enhances viewership; under heavy Israeli Lobby pressure, BBC and other major media report propaganda; truth is the first casualty, and viewers remain uninformed; today it's worse than ever.
BBC's Coverage of Gaza Under Siege
BBC reports little about Gaza under siege and the humanitarian crisis it caused. Instead, accounts like its January 2008 one are common. It's headlined "Gaza's rocket threat to Israel" and highlights homemade Qassams "fired by Hamas and other Palestinian militants at Israeli population centres near the Gaza Strip." They've "killed 13 people inside Israel, including three children. In some months, more than 100 launches have been recorded by the Israelis."
No mention is made of Israeli incursions, their frequency, the use of F-16 air-to-surface missiles, their accuracy and destructive power, high-tech battle tanks in civilian neighborhoods, and other sophisticated weapons freely used, including illegal ones. Nor is there mention of hundreds of Palestinian deaths, injuries, inflicted Israeli destruction, and use of Palestinians as human shields. Instead, the Israeli town of Sderot is highlighted because it's "the only large Israeli population centre within the original Qassam's range." BBC describes them in detail to over-hype their destructive potential. In fact, they're crude, inaccurate and limited in range. They hardly compare to Israel's high-tech weapons that when unleashed against a civilian population are devastating.
Later in BBC's report, it admits "Qassams are very primitive missiles and their main effect on Israelis in the area is psychological torment (and that) Israeli casualties have been relatively light." In contrast, Israeli attacks on Palestinians kill and injure many hundreds and inflict immense psychological terror against a civilian population. It's gone on for six decades, shows no signs of ebbing, but BBC won't explain it.
Nor does it report on Gaza under siege, the collective punishment of its people, the humanitarian crisis it caused, and Israel's lawless act that BBC should expose and denounce. Instead it features reports like a May 10 one about a "Gaza mortar attack kill(ing an) Israeli." Israeli air strikes followed, five Hamas members were killed and four others injured. BBC featured an Israeli government spokesperson saying "We hold (Hamas) accountable for today's attack and the murder of civilians." No Palestinian response was aired, and BBC merely ended saying that "The Gaza Strip has been controlled by Hamas since last June when they ousted their rivals from the Fatah movement." No context, no background, no fair and impartial reporting, no truth, and no possible way for viewers to understand.
BBC suggests that Palestinians are responsible for their own condition, that a humanitarian catastrophe is their fault, and that Israel has every right to terrorize and starve them to submission for its own security and self-interest. By BBC's standards, Israel may rightfully lock down 1.5 million people, collectively punish them, continue a repressive occupation, and refuse to negotiate in good faith, or at all. BBC is dismissive. Palestinian suffering is inconsequential, yet consider its outrage from a single Israeli death. It's also contemptuous of Hamas, ignored its months-long unilateral ceasefire, and refuses to report its willingness to recognize Israel in return for a Palestinian state inside pre-1967 borders.
BBC views the conflict from an Israeli perspective. It features government officials to explain it, and reports whatever they say as fact. This turns reality on its head, makes lawless actions justifiable, results in double standard journalism, and lets Palestinians suffer the consequences. Why not and who cares. They're just Arab Muslims in the land of Israel where Jews alone matter and not a hint of even-handed reporting exists. Now more than ever in the conflict's seventh decade, and BBC's reporting exacerbates it.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate for the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9302
Labels: AIPAC, BBC, israel, Israel Lobby
John McCain: War Hero or Collaborator responsible for the loss of sixty percent more U.S. aircraft over North Vietnam?
McCain told his North Vietnamese captors, "highly classified information, the most important of which was the package routes, which were routes used to bomb North Vietnam. He gave in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn… he gave them what primary targets the United States was interested in." Hopper contends that the information McCain provided allowed the North Vietnamese to adjust their air-defenses. As result, Hopper claims, the US lost sixty percent more aircraft and in 1968, "called off the bombing of North Vietnam, because of the information McCain had given to them." 6
From Glory Boy to PW Songbird
John McCain: War Hero or North Vietnam's Go-To Collaborator?
By DOUGLAS VALENTINE
If you have no idea what war is about, thank your gods. It is not what you see in Mel Gibson movies, nor is it hidden within the Big Lie Big Brother tells you about Pat Tillman's heroic "Army of One" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When my father was in New Guinea with the 32nd Division in 1942, his fellow American soldiers would point their long Springfield rifles skywards and shoot at American pilots flying overhead.
"Glory Boys," the long-suffering ground troops called them.
The pilots had comfortable quarters beside the airstrip in Port Moresby. When orders for a mission came down, they'd climb in their planes, rattle down the runway, and soar over the Owen Stanley Mountains with the clouds in spotless uniforms, breathing fresh clean air. The Glory Boys weren't trapped in the broiling jungle, in the mud and pouring rain, their skin rotting away, chewed by ghastly insects, bitten by poisonous snakes, stricken with cerebral malaria, yellow fever, dysentery, and a host of unknown diseases delivered by unknown parasites.
If the Fly Boys perished, it was in a blaze of glory, not from a landmine, or a misdirected American mortar, or a Japanese bayonet in the brain.
One day my father and his last remaining friend, Charlie Ferguson, were walking through the jungle up to the front line. One the way they passed a group of bare-chested Aussies in khaki shorts sitting round a grindstone sharpening their knives. Every once in a while one of the Aussies would hoist his rife and casually put a bullet into a Japanese sniper who had tied himself into the top of a nearby tree. Not in any place that would outright kill him, but some place painful enough to make the point.
A little further toward the front line, my father and Charlie came upon Master Sergeant Harry Blackman, an adult man in his forties, regular army, a grizzled combat veteran. A few days earlier in a fight with the Japanese, a young lieutenant, a "90-Day Wonder," had curled up in a fetal position when he should have been directing mortar fire. As a result, US mortar rounds landed on several US soldiers. Blackman, in front of everyone, took the lieutenant behind a tree and blew his brains out.
As my father and Charlie waked through the jungle they saw Harry Blackman perched on the lower limb of a huge tropical tree, babbling incoherently among the butterflies and flowering vines, driven stark raving mad by sorrow and jungle war with the Japanese.
Several days later my father was sent on a patrol into Japanese heldterritory. He was the last man in a formation moving single file through the jungle. Plagued by malaria and exhaustion, he kept falling behind. Around noon, a group of Japanese soldiers sitting high up in trees dropped concussion grenades on the patrol. As he lay on the ground, unable to move, my father watched the Japanese slide down the trees. Starting with the point man on patrol, they pulled down the pants and castrated each man, before clubbing him to death with their rifle butts or running a bayonet into his gut.
War. If you're a Glory Boy like John Sidney McCain III, you really have no idea what it is. You drop bombs on cities, on civilians, maybe on enemy forces, maybe on your own troops. Glory Boys like John McCain rarely get a taste of the horror they inflict on others. Their suffering rarely extends beyond the high anxiety that they might get shot down and that some bombarded mob on the ground might take its revenge.
Magically, my father was spared that day when his patrol was slaughtered. Against regulations, he had stolen a cross-swords patch and sewn it on his shirt sleeve. At the age of 16, he thought it looked cool. On the morning of the patrol, when the new "90-Day Wonder" told him to take it off, my father said "Sure." He and the lieutenant stared at each other for a while and then the lieutenant moved away. Insubordination was the least of anyone's worries. No one expected to survive the patrol, anyway.
When the Japanese who had ambushed the patrol got to my father, they stood poised to mutilate and kill him. Then they saw the cross-swords patch. They apparently felt that dear old dad was an important person with inside information about American forces. Instead of killing him, they took him prisoner. When they realized he was just a stupid kid, the Japanese sent him to a POW camp in the Philippines.
Being a POW is what my father and John McCain have in common; although their experience as POWs was as different as their class and their character.
Class indeed has privileges, and while the government refused to provide my combat-veteran father with medical benefits for his malaria, McCain, who spent ten hours of his life in mortal danger, was decorated with the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
And thus the "war hero" myth was born.
McNasty
In the fall of 1967, Navy pilot John McCain was routinely bombing Hanoi from an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. On October 26, he was trying to level a power plant in a heavily populated area when a surface-to-air missile knocked a wing off his jet. Banged-up John McCain and what was left of plane splashed into Truc Bach Lake.
A compassionate Vietnamese civilian left his air raid shelter and swam out to McCain. McCain's arm and leg were fractured and he was tangled up in his parachute underwater. He was drowning. The Vietnamese man saved McCain's sorry ass, and yet McCain has nothing but hatred for "the gooks" who allegedly tortured him. As he told reporters on his campaign bus (The Straight Talk Express) in 2000, "I will hate them as long as I live." (1)
Americans have to hate people, and dehumanize them as "gooks" or "rag-heads" in order to drop bombs on them. Stirring up such hatred is the forte of the US government, as witnessed by its Israeli-driven PR campaign against Arabs and Moslems. That's why Bush and his media minions tied "brutal dictator" Saddam Hussein to 9/11 – so Americans would hate Iraqis enough to kill and abuse them in a thousand ways, everyday, for five years. Or, according to McCain, for 100 years if necessary.
The flip side to the equation is that people generally hate those who drop bombs on them. When the Germans dropped bombs on London, the Allies called it Terror Bombing. The French resistance especially hated the Germans, especially after the Gestapo set up shop in occupied France in 1940.
Likewise, Iraqi and Afghani resistance fighters hate the Americans (who more and more resemble the Germans of 1940) for occupying their countries. They especially hate our Gestapo – the CIA – and its torturers. But that's War for you, and John McCain is lucky the locals didn't eat him alive – like Uzbek nationalists trapped in a horrid prison camp in Afghanistan nibbled on CIA officer John "Mike" Spann shortly after Spann summarily executed a prisoner. Spann was killed in the ensuing riot, shortly before the CIA and its Afghan collaborators massacred the remaining Uzbek prisoners on 28 November 2001.
The Vietnamese had good reason to hate McCain. On his previous 22 missions, he had dropped God knows how many bombs killing God knows how many innocent civilians. "I am a war criminal," he confessed on "60 Minutes" in 1997. "I bombed innocent women and children." (2)
If he is sincere when he says that, why isn't he being tried for war crimes by the U.S .Government?
In any event, the man who rescued McCain tried to ward off an angry mob, which stomped on McCain for a while until the local cops turned him over to the military. McCain was in pain, but suffering no mortal wounds. He was, however, in enough pain to break down and start collaborating with the Vietnamese after three days in a hospital receiving treatment from qualified doctors – something no other POW ever enjoyed.
War is one thing, collaborating with the enemy is another; it is a legitimate campaign issue that strikes at the heart of McCain's character…or lack thereof.
There are certainly degrees of collaboration. As a famous novelist once asked, "If you're a barber and you cut a German's hair, does that make you a collaborator?"
Being an informant for the Gestapo, or its stepson the CIA in Iraq, and informing on the resistance and sending them to their death, is different than being a barber. In occupied countries like Iraq, or France in World War Two, collaboration to that extent is an automatic death sentence.
The question is: "What kind of collaborator was John McCain, the admitted war criminal who will hate his alleged torturers for the rest of his life?"
Put another way, how psychologically twisted is McCain? And what actually happened to him in his POW camp that twisted him? Was it abuse, as he claims, or was it the fact that he collaborated and has to cover up?
Covering-up can take a lot of energy. The truth is lurking in his subconscious, waiting to explode. A number of US officials, including Andrew Card, have commented on McCain's inexplicable angry outbursts.
In a July 5 2006 NewsMax.com article, former Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), was quoted as having said about McCain: "I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues.... He would disagree about something and then explode." Smith called it "irrational behavior. We've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."
So, you say, McCain has a short fuse behind the plastered TV smile. So he calls his colleagues assholes and shit-heads. In high school they called him "McNasty." That's just how he is. Always was, always will be.
Well, maybe. And maybe it's not a quality we want in a president. And maybe that repressed anger actually has its roots in a Vietnamese POW camp, where John McCain betrayed his forefathers and his country.
The Admiral's Bad Boy
In the forced-labor camp where my father was tortured by the Japanese, the POWs killed anyone who collaborated. Indeed, the ranking POW in my father's camp, an English Major, made a deal with the Japanese guaranteeing that no one would attempt to escape. When four prisoners escaped, the Major reported it. The Japanese sent out a search party, which found the POWs and brought them back to camp, where they were beheaded on Christmas morning 1943.
The POWs held a war council that night. They drew straws, and the three who got short were given a mission. A few hours later, under cover of darkness, they crept to the major's hut. My father had gotten one of the short straws and kept watch while the other two POWs strangled the Major in his sleep.
That's how it happens in real life.
McCain, in his carefully prepared statements, claims he was tortured while in solitary confinement, and that is why he signed a confession saying, "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died and the Vietnamese people saved my life, thanks to the doctors." (3)
However, on March 25, 1999, two of his fellow POWs, Ted Guy and Gordon "Swede" Larson told the Phoenix New Times that, while they could not guarantee that McCain was not physically harmed, they doubted it.
As Larson said, "My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at The Plantation, to the best of my knowledge and Ted's knowledge, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp. It was the camp that people were released from."
Guy and Larson's claims are given credence by McCain's vehement opposition to releasing the government's debriefings of Vietnam War POWs. McCain gave Michael Isikoff a peek at his debriefs, and Isikoff declared there was "nothing incriminating" in them, apart from the redactions. (4)
McCain had a unique POW experience. Initially, he was taken to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison camp, where he was interrogated. By McCain's own account, after three or four days, he cracked. He promised his Vietnamese captors, "I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."
His Vietnamese capturers soon realized their POW, John Sidney McCain III, came from a well-bred line of American military elites. McCain's father, John Jr., and grandfather, John Sr., were both full Admirals. A destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, is named after both of them.
While his son was held captive in Hanoi, John McCain Jr., from 1968 to 1972, was the Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific Command; Admiral McCain was in charge of all US forces in the Pacific including those fighting in Vietnam.
One can only wonder when the concierge at the Hanoi Hilton started taking calls from Admiral McCain. Rather quickly, one surmises, for the Vietnamese soon took John Boy McCain to a hospital reserved for Vietnamese officers. Unlike his fellow POWs, he received care from a Soviet doctor.
"This poor stooge has propaganda value," the Vietnamese realized. The Admiral's bad boy was used to special treatment and his captors knew that. They were working him.
For his part, McCain acknowledges that the Vietnamese rushed him to a hospital, but denies he was given any "special medical treatment."
However….two weeks into his stay at the Vietnamese hospital, the Hanoi press began quoting him. It was not "name rank and serial number, or kill me," as specified by the military code of conduct. McCain divulged specific military information: he gave the name of the aircraft carrier on which he was based, the number of US pilots that had been lost, the number of aircraft in his flight formation, as well as information about the location of rescue ships. (5)
So McCain leveraged some details to get some medical attention. That's not anything too contemptible. And who among us civilians is to judge someone in the position?
On the other hand, according to one source, McCain's collaboration may have had very real consequences. Retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, contends that the information that McCain divulged classified information North Vietnam used to hone their air defense system.
Hopper's son, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Earl Pearson Hopper was, like McCain, shot down over North Vietnam. Hopper the younger, however, was declared "Missing in Action." Stemming from the loss of his son, the elder Hopper co-founded the National League of Families, an organization devoted to the return of Vietnam War POWs.
According to the elder Hopper, McCain told his North Vietnamese captors, "highly classified information, the most important of which was the package routes, which were routes used to bomb North Vietnam. He gave in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn… he gave them what primary targets the United States was interested in." Hopper contends that the information McCain provided allowed the North Vietnamese to adjust their air-defenses. As result, Hopper claims, the US lost sixty percent more aircraft and in 1968, "called off the bombing of North Vietnam, because of the information McCain had given to them." 6
The Psywar Stooge
McCain was held for five and half years. Collaborating during the first two weeks might have been pragmatic, but he soon became North Vietnam's go-to collaborator for the next three years. Given the quality of the military information he allegedly shared, his situation isn't as innocuous as the pragmatic French barber who cuts the hair of the German occupier. McCain was repaying his captors for their kindness and mercy.
This is the lesson of McCain's experience as a POW: a true politician, a hollow man, his only allegiance is to power. The Vietnamese, like McCain's campaign contributors today, protected and promoted him and in return, he danced to their tune.
Not content with divulging military information, McCain provided his voice in radio broadcasts used by the North Vietnamese to demoralize American soldiers.
Vietnamese radio propagandists made good use out of McCain. On June 4, 1969, a U.S. wire service headlined a story entitled "PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral." (7)
The story reported that McCain collaborated in psywar offensives aimed at American servicemen. "The broadcast was beamed to American servicemen in South Vietnam as a part of a propaganda series attempting to counter charges by U.S. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird that American prisoners are being mistreated in North Vietnam."
On one occasion, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the top Vietnamese commander and a nationalist celebrity of the time, personally interviewed McCain. His compliance during this command performance was a moment of affirmation for the Vietnamese. His Vietnamese handlers thereafter used him regularly as prop at meetings with foreign delegations.
In the custody of enemy psywar specialists, McCain became what he is today: a professional psywar stooge.
It is impossible to prove exactly what happened to McCain short of traveling to Vietnam and tracking down his captors, and picking up thee trail where it begins. According to The Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, McCain says he only collaborated when he brutally tortured by his Vietnamese captors and a wicked Cuban he referred to as Fidel. (8)
He says his confession led him to a suicide attempt.
"In the anguished days right after my confession," McCain said in his autobiography Faith of My Fathers, "I had dreaded just such a discovery by my father."
But as McCain discovered, dear old dad did know.
"I only recently learned that the tape I dreamed I heard playing over the loudspeaker in my cell had been real; it had been broadcast outside the prison and had come to the attention of my father," McCain said. "If I had known at the time my father had heard about my confession, I would have been distressed beyond imagination, and might not have recovered from the experience as quickly as I did."
But wait! McCain did not commit suicide. In fact, he's alive, running for President on the "war hero" ticket, and promoting more war everywhere. The new McCain feels no distress at having been a collaborator or a war criminal – if he ever did.
According to Fernando Barral, a Cuban psychologist who questioned McCain in January 1970, "McCain was "boastful" during their interview and "without remorse" for any civilian deaths that occurred "when he bombed Hanoi." McCain has a similar recollection, writing in his [autobiography] that he responded, "No, I do not" when Barral asked if he felt remorse." (9)
McCain told [Barral] that he had not been subjected to "physical or moral violence," and "lamented in the interview that 'if I hadn't been shot down, I would have become an admiral at a younger age than my father.'"
"Barral said McCain boasted that he was the best pilot in the Navy and that he wanted to be an astronaut." The Cuban psychologist concluded that McCain was [a] 'psychopath.'" (10)
"He felt superior to the Vietnamese up there in his plane, with all his training," Barral recalled.
Psychopath McCain emerges, now, as a contemptible elitist, stewing in the crucible of his class conscience, the ultimate right wing psywar stooge.
McJekyll and McHyde
There are no public records from other POWs to confirm McCain's self-aggrandizing claims, but his detractors, like fellow POWs Ted Guy and Gordon "Swede" Larson, and Colonel Hopper, have yet to be discredited or silenced by McCain's PR team.
Hopper, Guy and Larson are part of a larger movement concerned with the fate of the 2,000 American veterans still missing in Vietnam. They've been pressing McCain to own up to his POW experience, drop the "war hero" posturing, and do more to provide a full accounting of the POWs and MIAs who were not as fortunate, privileged, or willing to collaborate as the would-be president.
McCain's supporters are trying to quiet detractors by ignoring them. "Nobody believes these idiots. They're a bunch of jerks. Forget them," said Mark Salter, McCain's chief mythologist. Salter is credited by casting McCain as a modern Teddy Roosevelt, "the war hero turned domestic reformer." (11)
By in large the Salter strategy has worked. The American media accepts McCain's "war hero" myth as gospel and, in so doing, bolsters the "straight talk" image so essential to his success in politics. In a recent TV interview with John Kerry, victim of the Swift Boat Heroes for Truth Movement in the last election, another "fortunate son," Chris Wallace, actually took umbrage when Kerry criticized McCain. Son of media admiral Mike Wallace, Chris made Kerry admit that McCain was a hero.
When it comes to psywar, the Vietnamese have nothing on the good old USA.
McCain learned his lesson well from the Vietnamese propagandists who used him for their psywar projects. But it's not the collaboration that makes John McCain unfit for office; it's the fact that he has managed to rewrite his collaboration into political capital. "He's a war hero, respect him, or die."
As a pedigree, the McCain family's stature rests on the status and prestige of its achievements in the military: rank, medals, and most importantly to John McCain's presidential campaign, the image of warrior masculinity: the straight talking maverick of the Republican Party, the 21st century rendering of Teddy Roosevelt.
Not exactly. In his current presidential campaign, he's cozying up to the hate-mongering Christian right he once criticized. He's reversed positions on so many issues that his Democratic rivals have assembled his contrasting statements into "The Great McCain Versus McCain Debates. (12)
Underlying the Jekyll-Hyde reversals is McCain's hidden past of collaboration. Somewhere in the unplumbed human part of John Sidney McCain III, he knows his POW experience contradicts the war hero image he projects. This essential dishonesty, this lie of the soul, is a sign of a larger lack of character - like the major in my father's POW camp, but without the come-uppance.
McCain is not some principled leader, not a maverick cowboy fighting the powerful. He's a sycophant. He believes in nothing but power and will do anything to attain it. He explodes in anger when challenged because, when a criticism hits to close to home, it goes to straight his deep-seeded shame.
McCain's handlers have turned his unspeakable reality into a myth worthy of Teddy Roosevelt. No wonder the Glory Boy has stuck around Washington so long.
Doug Valentine is the author of The Hotel Tacloban, the story of his father's experiences in a Japanese POW camp in World War Two. The Hotel Tacloban is available at Mr Valentine's websiteshttp://www.DouglasValentine.com andhttp://valentine.sb2.authorsguild.net
Brendan McQuade assisted Mr Valentine by providing timely research for this article.
Mr McQuade can be reached for interviews about this article at: 860-334-3661
1. C W Nevius, Marc Sandalow, John Wildemuth, "McCain Criticized for Slur," San Francisco Chronicle, 18 February 2000
2. Ted Rall, CommonDreams.org. February 6, 2008.
3.Ted Rall, CommonDreams.org. February 6, 2008
4. Sydney Schanberg, APBNews.com, 25 April 2000, citing Isikoff, Newsweek, 1 January 2000.
5. Ted Sampley, "Luck Of The Admiral's Son Not For "Grunts" U.S. Veteran Dispatch, October 1999.
6. Sampley page.
7. See attached PDF version of Eugene Cannon 2 June 69 press release.
8. http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/index.htm
9. Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, March 11, 2008; C01
11. Sasha Issenberg, Boston Globe.
12. http://www.democrats.org/page/content/mccaindebates
Labels: John McCain
U.S. Military's Middle East Crusade for Christ by Robert Weitzel
MWC NEWS
Last August the watchdog group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, foiled a Pentagon plan that would have allowed the shipment of "freedom packages" to soldiers and Marines in Iraq. The parcels were put together by the fundamentalist Christian ministry, Straight Up, and contained Bibles, proselytizing tracts in English and Arabic, and the apocalyptic "Left Behind" computer game, in which Christian Tribulation forces convert or kill infidels—nonbelievers, Muslims and Jews.
On May 1 the Senate approved the promotion of Brigadier General Robert L. Caslen Jr. to Major General. Currently the commandant of cadets at West Point, he will become the commander of the 25th Infantry Division. He is also president of the stridently fundamentalist Officer'sChristian Fellowship, whose vision is a "spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit"
General Caslen was promoted despite the Defense Department's recommended disciplinary action against him and several other senior military leaders because they had "improperly endorsed and participated with a nonfederal entity while in uniform" by participating in a promotional video for the Campus Crusade For Christ's Christian Embassy, an evangelical organization that ministers to Beltway politicians and sponsors weekly Bible studies at the Pentagon.
According to the DoD Inspector General's report, one of the generals involved "asserted that Christian Embassy was treated as an instrumentality of the Pentagon Chaplain's office for over 25 years, and had effectively become a 'quasi federal entity.'" Arguably, he believed his participation in the video was in the line of duty.
Considering both the Pentagon's evangelical proclivity and a 2006 Pew survey which found that of the major religious groups in America, evangelicals have the most negative views of Islam and Muslims, the U.S. sniper who was recently caught using the Quran for target practice in the Baghdad neighborhood of Radhwaniya might be excused for thinking the book was a legitimate target upon which to perfect his craft . . . excused for thinking hewas acting in the line duty.
And is it any wonder that with evangelicals and fundamentalists at the very top of the military's officer corps —to say nothing of their Commander in Chief—that an enlisted Marine was passing out Christian "witnessing coins" inscribed in Arabic at a checkpoint in Fallujah? One side of the coin asked, "Where will you spend eternity?" An evangelical favorite, John 3:16, was on the flip side.
Sheik Adul-Rahman al-Zubaie, a tribal leader in Fallujah who was outraged by the Marine's proselytizing said, "This event did not happen by chance, but it was planned and done intentionally."
While the Marine's proselytizing is not the official policy of the predominately Christian force occupying the predominately Islamic Iraq, it was done "in the line of duty" with a wink and a nod from his chain of command. Think Abu Ghraib!
From Fort Jackson, the Army's largest basic training facility, where trainees are encouraged to attend Campus Crusade's weekly "God's Basic Training" programs, to the U.S. Air Force Academy where students are pressured to attend the Crusade's weekly "cru" (short for crusade) Bible study, American military personnel are, as Campus Crusade's Scot Blom gloats, "government paid missionaries" when they complete their training.
As the demands of fighting a perpetual war against "radical Islam" begins to strain both the military's resources and the country's resolve, the Pentagon has begun outsourcing larger chunks of the war to private contractors. Predictably, our "government paid missionaries" have become more expensive and much less controllable or accountable.
The Bush administration's favorite contractor, Blackwater, is the most powerful private army in the world. It commands thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, has over a billion dollars in government contracts, and enjoys complete immunity from prosecution for its theater of operations' conduct.
Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince, a staunchly conservative Catholic, has also served on the board of directors of Christian Freedom International, a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Prince envisions an evangelical "end time" role for his warriors, "Everybody carries guns, just like Jeremiah rebuilding the temple in Israel—a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other."
No one in the last decade has contributed more to end time, apocalyptic evangelism than John Hagee, a televangelist seen by millions of viewers weekly and pastor of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church. Hagee preaches that in order to bring about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of true believers, Islam first has to be destroyed.
In a 2006 interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross, Hagee told her, "Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews." He went on to claim that there are 200 million Muslims waiting for the chance to attack Israel and the United States. From his pulpit, Hagee makes it clear to his congregation and the radio and television audience what they can expect from American Muslims if such an attack ever took place, "While American Muslims live in America, 82 percent are not loyal to America and are not willing to fight and defend America."
In his book, "Jerusalem Countdown - A Warning to the World," Hagee warns that the war between Islam and the West "is a war that Islam cannot and must not win."
John Hagee is not just a mad evangelizing prophet. He is the mad evangelizing prophet who is courted by a war president, a hawkish presidential candidate and members of Congress from both parties. His Islamophobic bilge has trickled down from Capital Hill, through the labyrinthine corridors of the Pentagon, and into the chamber of a sniper's rifle and the hand of a Marine guarding a checkpoint in Fallujah.
Officers in the military are expected to lead by example. Enlisted personnel are expected to follow that example. If the recent incidents at Radhwaniya and Fallujah are not just the acts of renegades, then the chain of command seems to be working the way it was designed.
Robert Weitzel, MWC NEWS editor, is an educator and freelance writer who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. His essays regularly appear in The Capital Times of Madison.
Labels: crusade, evangelicals, evangilists
Havana. June 13, 2008
CHE IN 1959
• From 1959, the heroic guerrilla became one of the central leaders of the revolutionary process as a result of his proven determination, versatility and abilities and because of the dynamic of the tremendous events resulting from the aggression against Cuba • Héctor Rodríguez Lompart recalls Fidel Castro's strategy for combating the blockade that is now more than 45 years old, and the role played by Che, who would have been 80 years old on June 14
BY GABRIEL MOLINA
• THE Cuban Revolution has always been forced to defend itself from the hostility of the U.S. government, as far back as the days of the Sierra Maestra.
As early as March of '59, just three months after the triumph of the armed struggle, then-Vice President Richard Nixon left a meeting he had held with Fidel in Washington and convinced President Eisenhower that action had to be taken to overthrow him.
That same year, the United States persuaded the British government to cancel a sale of Hunter fighter planes to Cuba. In the opinion of the U.S. authorities, those aircraft would have posed a problem for the invasion it was preparing, and which was carried out in April 1961 in the Bay of Pigs. With the same goal, the French ship La Coubre was blown up in February 1960 as munitions were being unloaded on Havana's docks. Dozens of Cubans and French citizens were killed in that terrorist act, attributed in Cuba to the CIA. Simultaneously, Washington prevented a consortium of Western European banks from approving a loan to Cuba of $100 million.
Sometimes the revolutionary government adopted the tactic of retaliating to economic blows. On June 6, when the Standard Oil, Texaco and Royal Dutch Shell oil companies refused, under U.S. government orders, to refine oil that Cuba had bought from the Soviet Union, the Cuban government did not hesitate to take over the refineries less than one month later. The sparring continued with the boycott that the Eisenhower administration promoted among oil exporters and shipping companies.
Cuba responded by nationalizing its refineries on August 6.
Che Guevara participated in all of those events and the corresponding decisions, not just as a combatant and politician, but as an economist, or better said, a strategist of the economy together with Fidel, a function for which he is not so well known.
Beginning with Che's first official civilian responsibility as director of industries for the Institute of Agrarian Reform, and also as president of the National Bank as of November of '60, and minister of industries as of 1962, it was his duty to act principally in the economy, to implement the line of diversification that the Revolution had charted both in production and international trade. An exceptional witness to the trajectory of Commander Guevara is Hector Rodríguez Llompart, who met Che in the La Cabaña fortress — where Commander Guevara was the military chief — in early 1959. Llompart was the municipal commissioner of Regla, and visited him together with Captain Miguel Angel Duque de Estrada, who was in charge of the Revolutionary Courts. Here are some of his valuable memories and assessments.
How do you remember those first days of the aggression?
--Aggressions of all types by the U.S. government against Cuba began very early on.
The armed aggression against the island's production centers, terrorist attacks and armed threats were answered by the Revolution by the improved organization of its military and security apparatuses, acquiring weapons, and creating the National Revolutionary Militias, Committees for Defense of the Revolution, etc.
The support and determination of our people to fight for victory under the slogan of 'Homeland or Death' made the political trenches impregnable.
The plans for economic aggression were more surreptitious, but just as dangerous
How did Che participate in the fight against those plans?
—The almost total dependence on the U.S. market and our economic ties of 50-plus years with the former colonial power made the situation of our open economy even more complicated.
It was essential to find other markets for the sale of our products, as well as for imported goods.
In late 1959, a Soviet exposition was set to take place in Mexico, and the Soviet delegation was being led by then-Deputy Prime Minister Anastas Mikoyan.
At that time, I was an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it was precisely Commander Guevara who told me that I should go to Mexico to officially invite Mikoyan to bring the Soviet exposition to Havana, and for him to personally lead, if possible, the Soviet mission.
As one personal anecdote, I remember how the newspapers announced Che's visit; the day I arrived in Mexico, there were many reporters and photographers at the airport. The newspaper El Universal reported the news that day under the headline: "They were expecting a bearded one, and a smooth-cheeked one arrived."
After a number of setbacks related to an ecclesiastical congress that was taking place in Cuba at the time, the visit was proposed, and finally happened in February 1960.
The Cuban delegation led by Commander Guevara and the Soviet one held a number of talks about the need to place our sugar sales in the USSR [market], in the face of the imminent suspension of purchases by the United States.
A trade agreement and another on credit were finally signed on February 13, 1960 by the Commander-in-Chief [Fidel Castro] and Anastas Mikoyan.
At that time, the USSR promised to buy 5 million tons of Cuban unrefined sugar over five years, and granted us a credit of $100 million, to be repaid over 12 years with 2.5% interest.
At the UN Conference on Trade and Development on March 25, 1964, speaking in the name of our government, Commander Guevara summed up that first period as follows: "Subsequently, this aggression was characterized by measures aimed at paralyzing the Cuban economy. The idea was to deprive Cuba, in mid-1960, of the fuel it needed for the operation of its industries, transportation and electric power plants. Under pressure from the State Department, independent U.S. oil companies refused to sell oil to Cuba or to make their tanker ships available for its transport. Shortly afterward, an attempt was made to deprive the island of the necessary hard currency for foreign trade. On July 6, 1960, then-President Eisenhower cut Cuba's sugar quota to the United States to 700,000 tons, totally eliminating that quota on March 31, 1961, a few days after the announced Alliance for Progress and days before the Bay of Pigs invasion. There was an attempt to shut down Cuba's industry, by depriving it of raw materials and spare parts for its machines and, to that end, on October 19, 1960, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a resolution prohibiting the shipment of numerous products to our island. That ban on trade with Cuba became greater, until on February 3, 1962, then-President Kennedy declared a complete embargo on U.S. trade with Cuba."
Having failed in all of its aggression, the United States moved to implement an economic blockade against our country, aimed at preventing other countries from trading with us. First of all, on January 24, 1962, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was prohibiting entry into the United States of any product made, wholly or in part, with Cuban products, even if they were manufactured in another country. In another step signifying the establishment of a virtual economic blockade, on February 6, 1963, the White House issued a press release announcing that merchandise bought with U.S. government money would not be loaded on to ships with foreign flags that had engaged in trade with Cuba after January 1st of that year. That was how the blacklist began, which is now applied to more than 150 ships from countries who did not bow down to the illegal U.S. blockade. And in another step, to hinder trade with Cuba, on July 8, 1963, the U.S. Treasury Department froze all Cuban assets in U.S. territory and prohibited all transfers of money to and from Cuba, as well as any other transaction in dollars via third countries.
What were the objectives of that tour?
—The decision to deprive us of fuel, suspend purchases of Cuban sugar and other economic aggression had already materialized by October 1960, when, as deputy secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I received a telephone call from Jaime Barrios, who worked with Che, informing me that in the coming days I should join a delegation that would be led by Che and would visit all of the socialist countries. At that time, Che was already talking to us quite a lot about the need to build relations with those countries.
Later, I would learn more details about our mission; the primary objective of diversifying our trade by placing most of our sugar production in those markets and replacing the majority of our imports with products from those places.
Once in the USSR, an emergency meeting took place in Moscow that included almost all of the foreign ministers of the socialist countries. In the meeting, Commander Guevara explained the serious situation facing the Cuban Revolution given the imperialist aggression, and as the main theme, the need to place four million tons of sugar in those markets, at a price of four cents per pound. This price was higher than the rate on the New York Stock Exchange at the time.
He also said it was necessary for Cuba to buy its essential products from those countries.
You should remember that at the time, Cuba did not yet have a Ministry of Foreign Trade, and we had very little information, and even less experience, in that area. All we had were solid political arguments and a letter signed by our prime minister, Commander Fidel Castro, which had the abovementioned request, and its bearer was Commander Guevara.
What were the agreements reached?
—As a result of those negotiations, the USSR promised to buy 2.7 million tons of sugar; China, one million tons; and the other socialist countries, 300,000 tons.
In addition, Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia bought symbolic quantities as an expression of support and solidarity with the socialist countries.
In Moscow, a multilateral agreement on payments was also signed.
With the goal of reaching trade agreements that included lists of the products to be bought and sold, payment agreements and credit agreements, the delegation led by Che also visited Czechoslovakia, China, Korea and the Federal Republic of Germany.
During his stay in China, and to save time, Che decided that he would visit the Democratic Republic of Korea, and had me lead a small group to Vietnam and Mongolia, countries with which we also established diplomatic relations at the time.
At the end of his stay in Berlin, Che had to return to Cuba, informing us that he would make a short stop in Budapest and that the delegation I was leading from then on should travel to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.
Was there already talk of the need to change Cuba's trade structure?
—After arriving in Cuba, Commander Guevara appeared on television on January 6, 1961, to report on the signing of the agreements with the socialist countries:
"It was an extremely difficult task, a difficult task, because we have had to change the structure of our trade in just a few months. From the end of 1959, exactly one year ago, Cuba has passed from being a country with a totally colonial structure, with domestic and foreign trade systems completely dominated by the large import companies dependent on monopoly capital, to being — in 10 months, as of October, when the cycle definitively ends — a country where the state holds a complete monopoly over foreign trade, and also a large part of domestic trade."
He also referred to additional difficulties that we were facing, given that in those countries, the decimal metric system was used, while we continued to use the colonial practice of weighing in pounds and measuring in yards, with different systems for measuring pressure or a simple pipe fitting.
Electrical equipment in Cuba uses 60 cycles, while in the socialist countries, it was 50 cycles per second.
In short, we were facing all types of difficulties, but with the determination to overcome them and triumph over them in face of the dilemma created for us by the imperialist aggression.
Interesting anecdotes emerged out of these initial experiences.
For example, in China, when evaluating the list of products to be traded, there was a difference of $3 million favoring the Chinese side.
Before signing the final protocol, the Chinese prime minister at the time, Chou En-lai, told Che that China should not appear to be receiving more in products than what it was exporting to Cuba.
So it was decided to have a line of $3 million in arts and crafts exports, given that at the time, we could not find any other products that met our needs.
It was out of that protocol contingent of Chinese arts and crafts that lots of stories circulated in Havana about the large volume of Chinese walking sticks and umbrellas being sold in our stores.
Actually, the Chinese sent us valuable craftwork that I am sure exceeded the value previously mentioned.
I always believed that neither they nor we really valued those wonderful things.
On the contrary, certain foreigners who were living in Cuba temporarily did take advantage of the situation, enriching themselves through the illegal sale of those art treasures.
Another source of anecdotes and jokes was the snow removers. I think that these actually had a basis in truth, in machines that were the same or similar and were purchased to be tried out in our mining industry.
I will never forget the look of amazement on the face of the Soviet translator who, in reading the list of things we needed, did not know what to say when a typing error led him to read the need for thousands of "monkey lips" (bembas de mono) instead of "hand pumps" (bombas de mano).
We joked amongst ourselves about the decision by Commander Guevara to buy all the canned meat we could, and also all the machine tools that we could.
A few months later, we would realize how correct those decisions were, when, mobilized to occupy trenches or as a volunteer in cutting sugar cane, I thought the Russian meat tasted glorious, after having made so many faces when we first tried the samples they had given us.
We had the same internal satisfaction of knowing that the problem created by the blockade of a shortage of spare parts could be solved through the machine tools we had bought, which a comrade on the delegation had commented on by going so far as to say that on the next King's Day, we would have to do propaganda among the country's parents so they would give each child the present of a machine tool.
Personally, I have unforgettable memories of those days together with a man as peerless as Che.
I had the opportunity to meet prominent individuals like Mao Zedong and Chou En-lai, Nikita Krushchev, Walter Ulbricht, Pham Van Dong and other outstanding leaders of the socialist camp.
But it is with special affection and admiration that I remember one agreeable and helpful young woman who helped us as a German translator in the FRG, Tamara Bunke Bider, who years later would go down in history as Tania the guerrilla fighter.
On February 23, 1961, the Ministry of Foreign Trade was created, with Alberto Mora appointed as its minister.
What problems were created by those changes in foreign trade, and what role in did Commander Guevara play in resolving them?
— Some time after returning from the trip to the socialist countries, I was appointed deputy minister of foreign trade.
During those early years of organizing and readapting our foreign trade, and despite having multiple responsibilities, Commander Guevara played an exceptional role in attending to and developing it.
During those years, Che referred publicly to foreign trade activity, sometimes to refute those who, like the [newspaper] Diario de la Marina, maliciously criticized the first agreements with the Soviet Union. He did that during a talk he gave at the University of Havana on March 2, 1960, and days later, on March 20, 1960, as part of the inaugural lecture of the TV program "The People's University."
He also referred to the main difficulties we were facing at the time in taking on these tasks, such as during the speech he gave at a planning seminar in Algeria on July 13, 1963, where he said:
"Our foreign trade had changed completely in location. From 75% with the United States, it went to 75-80% with the socialist countries. A beneficial change for us in every respect, political and social, but in the economic respect, it required a large amount of organization.
Hundreds of specialized importers used to make their requests to the United States by telephone, and the next day they would arrive by ferry, direct from Miami to Havana. There were no warehouses or foresight of any kind.
That whole apparatus, without those technicians, enemies of the government, had to be established in what was first the Foreign Trade Bank of Cuba and later the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and centralize all of these purchases there with inexperienced people, to do them now, not one day away by telephone, but two months away, in long talks. And at the same time, raw materials that had a different name. And even more: if you all go today to a factory in this country and want to know what kind of steel is used for a given spare part, you will find that it has a number in a catalog, the SKF-27, for example. The SKF-27 in that company's sales catalog corresponds to a particular component; how could that be requested in the socialist countries? We had to do analyses of steel, sometimes machine fabricate one or two particular parts. Almost impossible. We had to import the machines here in Cuba, with a shortage of highly-qualified technicians."
Those were Cuba's everyday problems — and still are.
Was he pleased with the course of those trade relations?
— Che foresaw and warned of the difficulties and obstacles that, in our own experience of trade relations with certain socialist countries, led to the latter following capitalist patterns in the conduct of their relations with underdeveloped countries.
So, in a speech he gave in Algiers on February 24, 1965, at the second Afro-Asian Economic Solidarity Seminar, he said:
"Socialism cannot exist unless there is a change in people's consciousness, creating a new, fraternal attitude toward humanity, both individually, within the society in which socialism is being or has been built, and in relation to the world, with respect to all of the nations that suffer imperialist oppression." •
1. Jaime Barrios, a Chilean, was killed on September 11, 1973 at La Moneda Palace.
Barack Obama's stance on Israel exposes his agenda for change as a sham, says ALEXANDER COCKBURN
What happened to the man of change?
On June 3 Barack Obama claimed the greatest prize the Democratic Party can offer, namely his nomination as its candidate for the presidency. The very next day the salesman of 'change' raced from Minnesota back to Washington and publicly abased himself at the feet of an organisation whose prime mission is to ensure that change unpalatable to the state of Israel will never be pressed by the United States government. the United States government.
The terms of Obama's surrender before the American Israel Public Committee exploded like rhetorical cluster bombs across the Middle East. To Israel and its Arab neighbours it surely signalled that, whoever moves into the White House next January, there will be no swerve from Bush's role as guarantor of Israeli intransigence.
Before he began his drive to the nomination Obama took good care to get the support of influential American Jews in Chicago like the Crown family, associated with the aerospace firm, General Dynamics. Worried about rumours fanned by the Clinton campaign that he was still a secret Muslim, Obama insisted that before the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, a state with a politically significant Jewish vote, his campaign start a Hebrew-language blog in Israel.
So Obama came to this year's AIPAC conference determined to dispel all remaining doubts that he's a Friend of Israel. "We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran," he assured AIPAC. "I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon... Everything and I mean everything." He swore he wouldn't talk to the elected representatives of the Palestinians, Hamas. To thunderous applause he declared, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."
As Uri Avnery, the veteran Israeli writer expostulated furiously in the wake of this last sentence, "Along comes Obama and retrieves from the junkyard the outworn slogan 'Undivided Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel for all Eternity'. Since Camp David, all Israeli governments have understood that this mantra constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to any peace process. It has disappeared - quietly, almost secretly - from the arsenal of official slogans.
"No Palestinian, no Arab, no Muslim will make peace with Israel if the Haram-al-Sharif compound (also called the Temple Mount), one of the three holiest places of Islam and the most outstanding symbol of Palestinian nationalism, is not transferred to Palestinian sovereignty. That is one of the core issues of the conflict. On that very issue, the Camp David conference of 2000 broke up."
Obama's foreign policy advisors were tearing their hair out and the next day his campaign issued a clarification. "Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties" as part of "an agreement that they both can live with". All the same, Jerusalem in Obama's eyes must be the capital of Israel.
Although Obama's statements at AIPAC got wide coverage across the Middle East, what was obvious here in the US was the utter absence of comment in the mainstream press. It was evidently taken as a given, unworthy of editorial remark, that a man who might very well be the next president was de-activating the policy of 'change' precisely where it is most needed at the behest of the men the popular TV comedian Jon Stewart edgily derided as "the elders of Zion".
Obama's most egregious talent is the ability to adapt his rhetoric with ominous speed, to allay any suspicion among the powerful that he could rock the boat in a way they might not care for. Earlier in the campaign he was criticised for not wearing the American flag as a lapel pin. At the AIPAC event he wore a double lapel pin, with both the US and Israeli flags.
Is there a 'real Obama' waiting to emerge, once the messy business of pleasing the voters is over? Not really. The making of the 'real' Obama is an ongoing project, and the AIPAC speech an important marker in the evolution of 'change' into immobility.
Labels: AIPAC, Barack Obama, change, israel, Israel Lobby
INTERPOL Clarifies it Never Determined Authenticity of Laptops that Implicate Venezuela AND Uribe is Planning to Assassinate Chavez
INTERPOL Clarifies it Never Determined Authenticity of Laptops that Implicate Venezuela
June 12th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com
Mérida, June 12, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Representatives of the International Police Organization (Interpol) told Ecuadorian Presidential Adviser Fernando Bustamante in a meeting last week that its investigation of laptop computers which Colombia claims belonged to the FARC "does not determine if the computers provided were found in the guerrilla camp of the FARC during the incursion on March 1st, if they effectively belonged to Raúl Reyes, and even less so their contents," according to a recent missive released by the Ecuadorian Foreign Relations Ministry.
Bustamante, the chief advisor to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, met with INTERPOL representatives last Tuesday during a United Nations conference in New York. At the meeting, INTERPOL "confirmed that their forensic informational analysis does not imply the validity or the exactitude of the user files that [the computers] contain," the Ecuadorian government disclosed.
Today, Venezuela's Vice-President, Ramón Carrizalez, echoed Bustamante's evaluation when he said about the computer files, "This is an information that no serious person can validate. Anyone who knows how to read and write and who has some common sense will notice that these are proofs that cannot be used anywhere in the world."
The Colombian government claims the files prove that Venezuela financed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and that Ecuador provided refuge for the insurgents. Colombia also claims to have found the computers in the wreckage of a FARC camp inside Ecuador that the Colombian armed forces bombarded last March 1st, killing FARC second-in-command Raúl Reyes, to whom Colombia says the computers belonged.
INTERPOL clarified to Bustamante that the report was an act of "independent technical assistance" and that it only confirmed that after March 3rd, Colombia complied with international standards for the treatment of evidence. Proper handling of the evidence could not be determined for the period between the attack and March 3rd.
"Between March 1st and 3rd... there are no indications that user files have been created, modified, or eliminated, but neither is there evidence that demonstrates that this has not been done," INTERPOL told Bustamante.
Based on this clarification, the Ecuadorian government reiterated Tuesday its "position of not granting any legal validity to the information found in the computers supposedly belonging to Raúl Reyes." Ecuadorian Foreign Relations Minister María Isabel Salvador previously set this policy in mid-May when the INTERPOL report was first released.
The Ecuadorian government also reiterated its concern over Colombia's manipulation of the results of INTERPOL's report to make it look like the report proved the accusations against Venezuela and Ecuador, a falsity that has been perpetuated by the mainstream international media.
Bustamante suggested that Ecuador should have been allowed to participate in the investigation, to which the INTERPOL delegates replied that Ronald Noble, the General Secretary of INTERPOL, would be willing to visit Ecuador to discuss the details of the report.
Meanwhile, President Correa echoed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's recent call for the liberation of all FARC hostages yesterday after meeting with the father of a Colombian soldier who has been held prisoner by the FARC for 10 years.
Correa also asserted that Ecuador "is not going to ask anybody's permission [to continue with] the humanitarian action that is incomplete," referring to the process of humanitarian hostage releases underway before Colombia's March 1st attack, which ended the humanitarian exchange.
FARC: Uribe is Planning to Assassinate Chavez
FARC leader Iván Márquez, who had met with Chávez to discuss hostage release last year, alleged in a communiqué last weekend that President Uribe "attempted and continues trying to kill" Chávez and Correa with the help of the United States.
The Colombian Department of Security Administration (DAS) has already infiltrated Caracas with 100 paramilitary forces to assassinate Chávez, and a similar plan exists for Correa, Márquez alleged.
In the statement, Márquez also railed that the laptops examined by INTERPOL are fake and used by Uribe to threaten neighbors and to cover up the political scandal in Colombia in which Uribe allies have recently been convicted of contracting paramilitaries to perform politically motivated assassinations.
Ecuador and Colombia expressed their willingness to renew diplomatic relations last Friday with arbitration by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's Carter Center, which commented that both presidents were open to "the possibility of immediately re-establishing diplomatic relations between both governments without preconditions."
Source URL: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/
Printed: June 12th 2008
License: Published under a Creative Commons license (by-nc-nd). See creativecommons.org for more information.
Labels: Colombia, Ecuador, FARC, Hugo Chavez, INTERPOL, U.S. Imperialism, Uribe, Venezuela
Che Guevara ;"an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom"
–Nelson Mandela.
Che Guevara is "not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age"
—Jean-Paul Sartre.
"The first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels, the Spanish conquistadores and the Argentinean patriots. Evidently Che inherited some of the features of our restless ancestors. There was something in his nature which drew him to distant wanderings, dangerous adventures and new ideas. "
— Ernesto Guevara Lynch, Che's Father
1965 was a very eventful year in Algeria. Jammu and Kashmir leader Sheikh Abdullah , who had been released from prison in India ,under the pretext of seeing Algerian Revolutionary leader and President Ben Bella turned up in Algiers and met with Chinese Prime Minister Chou en Lai , also visiting Algeria .Soon after, President Ben Bella himself, residing at the Peoples Palace , just across my flat on Rue Franklin Roosevelt ,was overthrown in a peaceful coup d'etat by Houari Boumeddienne ,the military chief of the Algerian Liberation Army . Twice, preparatory meetings for the Second Afro Asian Summit failed to agree on an agenda or the date or even the venue.
But it is the 80th anniversary of Che Guevara's birth on 14 June and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution which Che helped plan and execute with Fidel Castro , which brought back memories of the visit to Algeria of that legendry revolutionary icon of 1960s and beyond.
Having won its independence from France three years earlier after a bloody 8 year long guerilla war , in which a million Algerians out of eleven million population were sacrificed ,Algeria was then at the forefront of struggle against colonialism and imperialism. Its capital Algiers was a thriving hub for freedom movements and revolutionary groups from all over Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Every week there were seminars, meetings and summits for Arab, Afro-Asian and Third World solidarity and struggle. It was for one such seminar in February 1965 that Che Guevara himself , then Minister of Industry in the Cuban government turned up He was indisputably the dazzling star of the show. After the meeting people queued up to shake his hand and so did I , then posted as a young diplomat at Algiers . I said hello and perhaps added how are you. It was like getting an autograph of a celebrity.
With only a few years into the diplomatic service after an engineering degree from Banaras I was still reading up on history and international relations and was not fully cognizant of the Che Guevara phenomenon and his revolutionary past . But the man had a charismatic presence in green olive fatigues and black beret at a rakish angle. The very best of the Hollywood and Bollywood stars all rolled into one ; say our Ajit, Raj Kumar, Dharmendra ,Errol Flynn et al. Later when I recounted my meeting and shaking hands with Che, many students ,leftists and ladies would shake my hand to partake some of that revolutionary 'barkat' which might still be lingering in my fingers.
Later I learnt more about Che ( so nicknamed because of his constant use of Che - dear) , his full name being Ernesto Guevara de la Serna .Born in 1928 in a well educated middle class Argentine family , he was the eldest of five siblings . He played excellent chess as a child and was an aggressive rugby player. During adolescence and later he remained passionate about poetry, especially that of Neruda, Keats , Machado, Lorea, Mistral ,Vallejo and Whitman ,He could also recite Kipling and Hernandez from memory. A home library of more than 3,000 books, allowed him to be an enthusiastic and eclectic reader of philosophers and poets , even writings of Jawahar Lal Nehru (with whom Che had lunch during the visit to New Delhi ), apart from Marxist and existentialist writers.
He had a brilliant medical academic career and was an exceptional athlete in spite of asthma. But his motorcycle trips across Latin America , where he encountered American imperialism at first hand changed his vision of the world. A bloody revolution was necessary to throw out capitalism and imperialism.
"After graduation, due to special circumstances and perhaps also to my character, I began to travel throughout America, and I became acquainted with all of it. Except for Haiti and Santo Domingo, I have visited, to some extent, all the other Latin American countries. Because of the circumstances in which I traveled, first as a student and later as a doctor, I came into close contact with poverty , hunger and disease; with the inability to treat a child because of lack of money; with the stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment, to the point that a father can accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident, as occurs often in the downtrodden classes of our American homeland. And I began to realize at that time that there were things that were almost as important to me as becoming famous for making a significant contribution to medical science: I wanted to help those people." --- Che Guevara in 1960.
After finishing his medical studies , he reached Guatemala in December 1953, where President Jacob Arbenz Guzman heading a democratically elected government, through land reforms and other measures, was attempting to improve the condition of the peasants. Che wanted to settle down in Guatemala ,but for the overthrow of the Arbenz government by Washington which confirmed Guevara's view that USA as an imperialist power would oppose and attempt to destroy any regime that sought to redress the socio-economic inequality endemic to Latin America and other developing countries. This strengthened his conviction that Marxism achieved through armed struggle and defended by an armed populace was the only way to rectify such a condition.
Che then shifted to Mexico city in September 1954, and renewed his friendship with the Cuban exiles he had known in Guatemala. In June 1955, he met with Raul Castro and later his older brother, Fidel Castro . the revolutionary leader who was planning to overthrow the dictatorship of US backed Fulgencio Batista in what became hallowed as the Cuban Revolution. Guevara recognized at once that Castro was the cause for which he had been searching for. He joined Castro and was promoted as Commander in Castro's 26 July Movement, playing a pivotal role in the successful guerrilla campaign to overthrow the Batista . After Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana the revolutionary government in February, 1969 proclaimed Guevara "a Cuban citizen by birth" in recognition of his role in the triumph.
After the revolution Che served in many prominent governmental positions, including as president of the national bank, minister of industry, and "supreme prosecutor" over the revolutionary tribunals and executions of suspected war criminals from the previous regime. He also went traversing around the globe to meet with an array of world leaders to explain and promote the Cuban socialism .Che was a prolific writer and diarist. One of his most prominent published works includes a manual on the theory and practice of guerilla warfare.
Time Magazine, which described Che Guevara as one of the hundred most influential persons of the 20th century wrote that ; "Che convinced Castro with competence, diplomacy and patience. When grenades were needed, Che set up a factory to make them. When bread was wanted, Che set up ovens to bake it. When new recruits needed to learn tactics and discipline, Che taught them. When a school was needed to teach peasants to read and write, Che organized it."
The Cuban revolution , still survives in spite of American endevours to undermine it and many attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro himself .Cuba remains a beacon and has inspired revolutionaries and leftist regimes around the world specially in Latin America. More so after the collapse of the Soviet Union and ongoing transformation of China into a bourgeoisie state. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is a most striking example. Many other independent leaders are being elected in Latin America , who are following the pro-people policies of Chavez and trying to extricate their countries from the grip of US and other multinationals .
Che had come to Algeria after visiting many important Afro-Asian nations like China, India, Yugoslavia, Egypt .This visit turned out to be his last public appearance on the international stage. In a speech at the economic seminar on the importance of Afro-Asian solidarity ,he specified the moral duty of the socialist countries and accused them of tacit complicity with the exploiting Western countries. He proceeded to outline a number of measures which he said the communist-bloc countries must implement in order to accomplish the defeat of imperialism.
Che appeared closer to Mao's Chinese ideology. It was an implicit criticism of the Soviet Union , Cuba's main support and bulwark against implacable US hostility , which continues to this day . Ideological differences with Castro on USSR 's policies brought some coolness in relations between Castro and Guevara. After Algiers , Che did return to Cuba but left soon after and dropped out of public life and then vanished altogether.
There were many media reports of his appearance with USA's CIA very much on his trail and keenly interested in his activities .It appears that he first helped Patrice Lumumba's cause in Congo , but did not achieve much success. In late 1966 he went over to Bolivia to set up guerrilla training groups to help dissidents to the regime. US was keeping a watch on his movements but Che was unaware that Washington had sent CIA and other operatives , including one Felix Rodriguez into Bolivia to aid the government forces which had been trained, advised, and supplied by US Army Special Forces trained in jungle warfare .
In October, 1967, Che's group was attacked by the Bolivian army. Guevara, who was wounded in the attack, was captured , but he died defiantly. A panicky Bolivian regime , afraid of reaction around the world if he were tried and US demands ,got him executed . Moments before his execution Che was asked if he was thinking of his own immortality. "No," he replied, "I'm thinking about the immortality of the revolution." A jittery and shaking Bolivian soldier chosen to kill him , had trouble pulling the trigger. Che asked him to steady himself and take a clean aim. He was only 40 years old . Few revolutionaries like Mao and Fidel live to grow old. And Mao's China is far from a revolutionary state now. More of a statues quo regime with wannabe imperialistic ambitions.
In July ,1997 , Che Guevara's remains though not exhumed were definitely identified by two experts who were "100 percent sure" ,were discovered in Vallegrande in Bolivia . A 19 July ceremony in Havana, attended by Fidel Castro and other Cuban officials, marked the return of Che's remains to Cuba and in an 17 October ,1997 ceremony attended by Castro and thousands of Cubans, Che Guevara's were reburied in Santa Clara, Cuba
Che's unflinching will, self sacrifice and idealism have given him a saint like halo and reverence among his followers around the world. His theories and treatises on guerilla warfare still remain a beacon for the young and the revolutionary as they were for the 1968 students uprising in Paris and elsewhere , for example , among the leftist Marxist students of Turkey in early 1970s, who also studied the Naxabari movement and lapped up theories of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal from Indian Bengal. But there was also Geetanjali and Geeta along with Marxist literature found with leftist students in Ankara. Soon after 9/11, many Muslim radicals in the Arab world wrongly tried to compare Osama ben Laden with Che.
Che's memories now live on in photos, music, theater pieces, movies, poems, novels, sculptures and scholarly texts. To coincide with his 80th birthday celebrations , a collection of vintage Che Guevara prints are on display in Austria, including the iconic 1960 Alberto Korda portrait of him in a beret. Exhibitions of his photographs including of his visit to India in 1960s is being held in New Delhi .A new statue has been unveiled in his native Argentina. The larger-than-life "Monument to Che" statue weighs three tons and towers 13 feet high, topped off with the revolutionary's famed starred beret. Guevara had left the city in 1953 as a young doctor embarking on a trip throughout Latin America, a journey depicted in the 2004 movie "Motorcycle Diaries."
But the universal consumer society today exploits even Che's fame and name to sell designer clothes, beer, films and books.
The "Brand Equity" writers in USA who claimed " End of History " aka triumphalism of US capitalism have said much and written numerous volumes about the failure of socialism in former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe but little about the failure of capitalism for two thirds of humanity, the four billion people that live below the poverty line. Nikolai Ceausescu remains the most important leader in Romania's history according to a recent poll. Russian leader Vladimir Putin , whom US President George Bush once asked to implement democracy as in Iraq ( some sick joke) consistently gets over 70% in popularity poll , while Bush's popularity is at an all time low of any US president ,touching a low 30%.
The result of globalization ,policies of IMF and WTO with consequent increased income inequalities in USA and elsewhere and sliding of the capitalist system towards failure, will only add further misery to poverty ridden masses around the world . The crash of expectations built on rabid and unabashed consumerism and financial speculations based on fiat currency created liquidity leading to high oil prices and scarce and expensive food is already leading to strikes over energy price increase and riots over food shortages around the world..
The era immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall would be remembered for the political , social and economic decline in human evolution and condition ;in regard to basic rights, equality, fraternity and well being. USA and UK are becoming police states with constant surveillance and spying on its own citizens and abridgment of civil liberties .Corporate media and government controlled BBC churn out spins , half truths and blatant lies. And how to describe US spending on defence (against whom) which is as much as the rest of the world put together. Not to protect USA but to maintain unbridled hegemony as shown in its naked and illegal aggression on Iraq for its oil , followed by rampant and continued looting and destruction of that country .Over a million Iraqis have been killed , millions of children rendered orphans and 4 million Iraqis made refugees in a population of 25 million .US leaders had the obscenity to describe the March 2003 invasion as 'Operation Iraqi freedom" as part of a so called plan to 'spread democracy' in the Middle East . Now, daily ,Iran is being threatened with bombing ,even with nuclear weapons by Israel and USA. Where will this unbridled greed , capitalism and globalization would lead to?
But there is some hope. The fierce Iraqi resistance against US military machine now bogged down in a quagmire. Unmasking of aura of invincibility of Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. Defiance by Iran against US and 3 European powers. The fast changing scene in Latin America favouring pro-people governments and decline of US hegemony. Overthrow of the monarchy in Nepal and Maoist movements in many Indian states ruled by corrupt political elites.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author.
E-mail: Gajendrak@hotmail.com
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NM Businesses Show Support for New Nat’l. Monument
Published: Friday, 16 October 2015 15:41
Troy Wilde, Public News Service-NM
(03/12/14) LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Some southern New Mexico businesses are backing the effort to designate the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks as a national monument, and seeing it as an opportunity to help market their products.
Several business owners are attending an event at the Las Cruces Farmers Market today, where conservation groups will announce that they’ve collected more than 14,000 signatures in support of the national monument designation.
Ariana Parsons, who owns Beck’s Coffee in Las Cruces, said she thinks protecting the area is in the best interest of the local economy as well as the environment.
“Tourists are coming to the area, and coming to the Farmer’s Market, because we have this unique landscape,” she said. “So, absolutely it’s a huge part of our business.”
Parsons says her business has developed a specialty coffee called the “Organ Mountain Blend” as a way to support the Organ Mountains while increasing the company’s bottom line. Another local business, the Happy Dog Food Truck, has created a “Desert Peaks Hot Dog” for its menu.
Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks was among the conservation groups that helped collect the signatures. Lucas Herndon, the group’s executive director, said the petition soon will be on its way to President Obama.
“They will be sent directly to the White House and are addressed to the president, asking him to use his powers under the Antiquities Act to designate the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument as soon as he can,” Herndon said.
Obama added the 1,600-acre Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands north of San Francisco to the California Coastal National Monument on Tuesday. Herndon is hopeful that his Golden State action is a positive indicator of things to come in the Land of Enchantment.
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Why Not Rethink Technology? - #84
"Do you have the time?"
It used to be a question of the present moment, a request to turn your wrist. Now the question sounds more like a test of your attention. Or do you have the time to have the time?
Yesterday, I finally had the time to finish Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. And while the month it took me to read it had me scratching my head without or not it's wrong to move away from books and in front of screens, my takeaway message was Carr's mirroring of media theorist Marshall McLuhan, explaining that changing our tools changes our relationship with our world. "Nature isn't our friend, but neither is it our enemy," declared Carr.
When we look at the world through the eyes we've trained for the Internet, we start to see a fast-paced interconnected cloud. We may not focus on books or one channel at a time. We may not know the awesomeness of a meditation. It's not necessarily fog we're stumbling in, but it's not something to ever be bottled or shoved aside. It's bigger than all of us and our time here. And we're forced to exist in a world where choice means exploring an infinite universe around us. Linda Holmes called this The Sad, Beautiful Truth That You Will Miss Almost Everything.
But instead of focusing on the infinite flashing lights and bright colors of the Internet, unable to be contained, I've started to practice taking tabs of my own amazement. When do we ever sit back in the glory of how far we've come? Exploring used to run risks of imminent danger, Oregon Trail terrors. Exploring now is like falling down a wormhole that keeps you from adult responsibilities, like showering or getting to anything on time.
I think we're caught. If we focus too much on the impossible feat of knowing everything there is to the world now, we're bound to feel loss. Our amazement at this technology is overshadowed by the millions of words and songs and videos uploaded everyday. But why not surrender? Surrender to the fact that you can't know it all. You just have the choice to make sense of what you will.
And if it comes down to technology writing the rules of our relationship with the world, why not use that technology to be better? More grateful? More healthy? More caring? There is no question we could always use a bit more in this world.
Tags Nicholas Carr, Marshall McLuhan, Internet, Linda Holmes
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BBC Sport tennis
Men's Rankings
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Page last updated at 19:51 GMT, Sunday, 21 November 2010
Andy Murray column
Venue: O2 Arena, London Dates: 21-28 November
Coverage: One match each day live on BBC TV, streamed online & available through iPlayer; text commentary online and on mobiles for every singles match via BBC Sport website; every singles match live on 5live sports extra.
Murray took just 80 minutes to win his opening match at the O2
By Andy Murray
World number five and British number one
ATP World Tour Finals Group B:
Andy Murray beat Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4
This is a huge tournament and I was surprised that I didn't actually feel that nervous for my opening match, but everyone could see that I was really excited at the end - it was a big win against a top player.
Normally I prefer to feel nervous before a match - it means you're really pumped up - but I felt calm this time and I think that showed on the court.
I wasn't really getting down at all and I was thinking clearly the whole match. I knew I had to play smart tennis and I did that.
The game plan worked, but I've got Roger Federer next so I know it will be another tough one
Coming on court at the O2 is more like the start of a concert than a tennis match and it was so loud, but I was able to focus, which I needed to do because Robin's ranked higher than me and a great player.
The game plan worked, but I've got Roger Federer next so I know it will be another tough one.
It's obviously great any time you get to play in front of home support, it makes such a big difference, and it's nice getting the chance to stay in central London for a change. I used to live in Wandsworth, so I spent a bit more time here back then, but now it's just for the odd dinner or meeting.
This week I'm in the hotel with the other players so I'll go out for some sushi tonight - there's only me, my hitting partner Dani and coach Alex staying in the hotel because my physio and my fitness trainer are coming in from home every day.
You'd think some of the other players might ask me for a few recommendations but they haven't yet, although to be honest they all stay close to the centre of London during Wimbledon and Queen's and find restaurants that they like, so they'll just keep going there.
On Monday, I'll try and keep things as light as possible and have a bit of a lie-in before hitting at 2pm.
The news that the ATP have agreed a seven-week off-season from 2012 is great
I hit with Andy Roddick the other day and the top guys tend to practise together quite often during the year, because it's easier to get a full court if you sign up with one of the higher-ranked players.
At some of the tournaments there aren't a lot of practice courts so I hit with Rafa Nadal quite a lot, and Novak Djokovic at most tournaments.
I'm definitely very lucky to have such a big tournament on home ground - it's a lot nicer being around friends and family.
When it was in China, before London, it was obviously still a huge event, but it's a long way to go at the end of a tough season.
The news that the ATP have agreed a seven-week off-season from 2012 is great. I'm sure all the players will be happy with it.
We've been trying for quite a few years to make it clear that it's too short an off-season. I'm hoping this will make a difference.
Sometimes if you need surgery or to rest an injury, right now you end up playing through it because there's no time to take off before you start training again, whereas with seven weeks you can take a break at the end of the year and that should help the longevity of everyone's careers.
As things stand now, after I finish here it will be a week, maybe 10 days, and then I'm straight back into training again and off to Australia for the new year.
You need to make sure you take breaks during the year now and prioritise your tournaments, otherwise you're going to be exhausted after six or seven months.
Fortunately, I'm feeling good right now and not thinking beyond Tuesday and, hopefully, another win.
Andy Murray was talking to Piers Newbery and will be contributing regular columns throughout the ATP World Tour Finals
For all the latest news on Andy, visit his website, www.andymurray.com
Murray downs Soderling in opener
21 Nov 10 | Tennis
ATP World Tour Finals photos
Murray v Soderling - as it happened
Murray focused on winning start
04 Sep 10 | Tennis
Latest tennis talk on 606
Get the latest news on Andy's website
Andy Murray on Twitter
Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
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~ R. W. NORTON ART GALLERY ~ ~ INTRO ~ ~ SEARCH ~
0199-W2M-11/2004
J. T. Starr
U. S. Navy
WWII US Military
Aviation Mechanic, USS Artic
He was born near Glen Rose, Texas, by a doctor who arrived in a horse and buggy. "Jay," as he was called, joined the U.S. Navy on April 4, 1941 at seventeen. He was sent to Pearl Harbor, arriving on November 20, 1941, as part of a beaching crew for a PBY plane in section VP 23. On December 7, he was in a hanger at the naval air station at 7:30 a.m., ready for duty at 8 a.m. "And then I heard this whaap-boom, he says. "I ran out that door and just as I went a Japanese plane zoomed hanger high and he dropped a bomb on that East Indies airplane." The men jumped in a seven-foot deep trench nearby. "When we'd see a Jap plane (go down) we'd cheer like we were at a football game," he says. Later that day Jay helped launch two PBYs out in the water. "I just stayed around there and would swim around on my back and watched the commotion from out in it," he says of his watery grandstand to America's entry into the war. Jay remained at the air station until after the Battle of Midway. He was returned to the states for a thirty-day leave in December of 1943. He crossed the Pacific again, this time on the George F. Elliott (AP-105) to Espiritu Santos in the New Hebrides. There he changed aircraft engines in Corsairs and PBMs. On VJ Day, he was back in Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station. Jay was discharged in 1947 in Pensacola as an aviation mechanic's mate, first class. "I'd decided I wasn't going to stay and make a career because they had the GI Bill and I was going to go back and go to college." True to his word, Jay attended the University of Houston. Among other jobs, he worked for Southern Aviation for twenty-three years, and then opened Aviation Machine Shop.
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Main Page / Economics /
Economic development of the Republic of Karelia in 2007
and Ecology
Results of 2007
International and inter-regional cooperation
In 2007, as well as in the previous period, Government of the Republic of Karelia within the framework of its competence copleted the task set in the Address of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on turning frontier regions in basic territories of cooperation of Russia with neighbouring states. Involvement of resources of international cooperation for improvement of conditions of social and economic development of the republic was provided. At the federal and international levels the largest project initiatives were promoted, work with federal authorities on preservation and development of frontier-customs infrastructure continued.
In 2007 100 noncommercial international projects which external financing exceeded €5 million were implemented in Karelia.
Two-year-long presidency of the Republic of Karelia in the Regional Council of the Barents Euro-Arctic of Region (further BEAR Council) was completed successfully, that has improved conditions of realization of our interests in Barents cooperation, promoted growth of international popularity and prestige of Karelia as a Russian frontier region.
Youth Barents Program was approved. Parliamentary association of the Northwest of Russia was given a status of the Observer in the Regional Council. Continuation of activity of Karelian Barents Information Centre was provided. Due to presidency of the Russian Federation in BEAR Council offers were prepared and sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Ministry of Regional Development of Russia and plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District, and accepted as a whole.
Selection of projects of the three-year regional program of the Neighbourhood - Euroregion Karelia EU frontier cooperation was completed. Within the scope of this program for the first time there has been realized the right of direct participation rendered to regions in selection of projects that has increased their social and economic importance. In territory of the republic realization of 21 projects with €1,5 million of the EU annual financing was conducted. Over 70% of projects are implemented in the sphere of economy (logistics, new technologies, creation of preconditions for organization of new enterprises, development of tourism, power engineering). Government of Karelia provides participation in supervising and working bodies of the program, project monitoring was organised, including Barents-Link Forum and Development of Syväoro Check Point project monitoring.
Together with the authorized Russian and Finnish ministries the new regional program Karelia of the EU frontier cooperation through to 2013 is developed as a whole. Participation of representatives of Government of the republic in sessions of working groups for the program development was provided that has allowed to realize frame interests of Karelia in its project, expand opportunities for involvement of financing from the EU funds. It is expected, that the program implementation will begin in the second half year of 2008 Volume of financing from the EU will make €23,2 million. Its priorities are economic development, effective and safe borders, environmental safety, public health services, culture and education, support of local self-government and civil society. Government of the republic submitted its offers to the Council of Federation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in the NWFD on co-financing of programs from the federal budget. As a result such co-financing, provided for the first time, will make €11,6 million. Public hearings of the program project were organized and held.
Upon recommendation of the Government of Karelia, in the list of Russian offers in Northern Dimension (joint policy of Russia, EU, Norway and Iceland) there have been included the Barents-Link railway corridor and construction of Syväoro international check piont with providing infrastructure. Now the concept of new Northern Dimension Partnership of in the field of transport and logistics is developed.
Within the scope of work of intergovernmental Russian-Finnish working group on frontier cooperation in 2007 in territory of the republic there have been implemented 23 projects of cross-border cooperation with €1,7 million euro of financing from the budget of Finland. In the current year implementation of 22 projects with no less than €1,37 million of financing is coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Within the framework of the Memorandum with provincial government of Oulu (Finland) for 2007-2008 there have been held Russian-Finnish Art Caravan, seminars on development of tourism, a project in the ares of veteran organizations, etc. Multidimensional cooperation with three Finnish regional unions within the framework of the euroregion Karelia proceeded. At the federal level there have been achieved coordination of implementation of one of priority projects - cross-border fiber-optical communication line from Kuhmo to Kostomuksha. High-speed broadband communication vital for operating enterprises will improve conditions for involving investments, trade and remote higher education training. History of bilaterial relations and last achievements in cooperation are presented at the prepared exhibition Karelia and Finland. From the Border to Aspects of Cooperation in the museum of regional lore, history and economy. It is characteristic, that experience of the euroregion Karelia has been considered and esteemed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at the special session of the Council of heads of subjects of the Federation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, held on December 26, 2007 in Kursk.
Government of the republic concludes reports on bilaterial cooperation with provincial government Västerbotten (Sweden) for 2007-2013 and with provincial government of Troms (Norway) for 2007-2009. Special agreement on financing Swedish-Karelian information business center in Petrozavodsk for 2007-2010 (up to 2 million rbl. annually) is signed by the province of Västerbotten. International conference on cooperation with Sweden in the sphere of power engineering and municipal infrastructure was held. Studying of aspects of cooperation in spheres of construction, power engineering and municipal infrastructure has begun. Realization of 9 joint projects with the province of Västerbotten, 10 projects with the province of Troms and 5 projects in the line of the Nordic council of Ministers was conducted.
Great resonance in economic, cultural and public life of the republic in 2007 was caused by such actions as Hungarian trade and economic mission led by the State secretary of Administration of the Prime Minister of Hungary Djerd Gilian, Days of the USA in Petrozavodsk and Days of Culture of China. Karelia was visited by delegations of foreign diplomatic representatives of Finland, Latvia, Estonia, the USA, Hungary, China, Denmark, Germany, Spain, India and Azerbaijan accredited in Moscow and St.-Petersburg; delegations of administrative-territorial formations of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Italy and China.
As a result of the work accomplished by Government of the republic together with Boundary service of FSS of Russia, the Order of FSS of Russia of April 11 about new limits of border zone in Karelia was prepared and issued. The border zone area is reduced 3-fold. The number of settlements in it has decreased 4-fold. Deduced from it are Kostomuksha, Kalevala, Kestenga, Päosersky, Ledmozero, Reboly, Porosozero, as well as Ladoga lake coast and railroad lines from St.-Petersburg to Petrozavodsk and Kostomuksha. This decision improves investment appeal of the republic as a whole, promotes development of tourism, foreign economic relations, international cooperation, interfarm activity, and corresponds to interests of citizens. At the special session of the Advisory Council on Boundary Issues course of realization of the legislation on frontier regime was considered.
At the meetings held with administration of Boundary service of FSS of Russia support of actual for Karelia issues of inclusion of Wärtsilä and Lyttä railway check points in the Frontier FTP and their reconstruction was received.
Seven operating simplified check points are switched to visa system, that considerably improves opportunities of using them. On applications of 45 Karelian participants of foreign trade activities the sanction of Boundary Department on to realization of 170 foreign trade contracts through simplified check points was received. Work of Kuolismaa simplified check point in Suojarvi region is renewed. Offers of the Government of Karelia to the Federal Customs Service of Russia to close 5 not used simplified check points are prepared.
Thus, in 2007 Government of Karelia successfully solved problems of international and frontier cooperation development in the sphere of Barents cooperation, bilaterial communications with regions of Finland, Sweden and Norway, and also with Hungary. Perspective financial bases of project activity are strengthened. Cooperation with federal ministries is strengthened, proper participation of the republic in federal interdepartmental bodies coordinating international cooperation is provided. Most of offers prepared by the Government of Karelia was supported at the federal level.
In 2008 Government of the Republic of Karelia is facing problems of development of the mentioned spheres of cooperation, including promotion of projects of transit corridors and check points, active participation in actions within the framework of Russian presidency in the Barents Council, conclusion of Cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Economics and Transport of Hungary, memorandums with East Finland and Oulu.
In 2007 cooperation on participation of Finno-Ugric peoples of the republic in international and inter-regional actions developed fruitfully. Within the scope of Cooperation agreement between the Government of the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad region The Vepsian Culture Society Karelian Regional Public Organization and Vepsian national chorus have taken part in traditional Vepsian holiday Elonpu - Tree of Life, Enar'ne ma - Native Land in Leningrad and Vologda regions. Delegation of the Republic of Karelia has been presented properly at the Shumbrat, Finno-Ugria international festival of cultures of Finno-Ugric peoples in the Republic of Mordovia in July of 2007.
In 2007 international and inter-regional cooperation in the sphere of culture developed actively.
International conference Wooden Architecture of Karelia. Joint Project between Italy - Finland - Russia - Ukraine took place in Florence (Italy) in January. During the conference agreement has been reached on cooperation berween Italian and Karelian restorers on restoration of monuments of wooden country architecture of the village of Bolshaya Selga of Olonets region, and on implementation of joint projects within the scope of programs of funds of the European Union.
Within the framework of carrying out of the Year of the Chinese People's Republic Days in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Karelia held Days of Chinese culture which program included concerts of song and dance art ensemble of Yunnan province, Days of Chinese cinema, Chinese Bronze of Ancient Times exhibition, photo-exhibitions Harmonious China - Aspirations and Dreams and Impressions of China.
The important strategic partner in the sphere of culture for the Republic of Karelia there is Finland, its most close neighbour, and the main event of the last year was the Russian-Finnish Art Caravan project. Within the scope of the project at active participation of municipal formations for experts in the sphere of education, public health services, social protection, youth policy, sports and culture 8 seminars have been organized in which about 340 experts have taken part. Within the period of the Art Caravan procession actors have given 31 concerts in Finland and Karelia which were visited by more than 14 thousand spectators.
International festival of puppet theatres of the Barents region was held in the Republic of Karelia in October, 2007 for the first time. It has collected 14 theatrical collectives from Russia, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. Within the framework of the festival 27 performances have been shown, three performances from Estonia, Iceland and Petrozavodsk were shown live at the IV Theatre Web International Internet festival.
Within the framework of the Barents cooperation program Petrozavodsk hosted the Ursa Major Youth Finno-Ugric Folklore Festival in which creative teams from Karelia, Murmansk region, Republic of Komi, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, and also 17 Lappish performers from Norway, Finland and Sweden have taken part.
In April, 2007 within the scope of the Neighbourhood Euroregion Karelia program implementation of the Karelian Arts and Crafts Souvenir Network international project has begun. In territory of Byelomorsk, Kem and Olonets regions of the Republic of Karelia local souvenir arts and crafts develop, competitive souvenir production made of local materials is created. Thus, cooperation promotes creation of conditions for steady social and economic development of municipal formations in Karelia.
Kantele ensemble has taken part in the XVII International Festival Eurofolklore-2007 in the city of Banska-Bystritsa (Slovakia). Spectators from Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Mari-El, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Murmansk region have got acquainted with creative work of the ensemble.
The level of masterly performance of Karelian creative teams has highly been estimated by spectators outside of the republic. Success were tours of the State Symphonic Orchestra of the Republic of Karelia in Italy, Onego Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments in the Urals, ExpromtEnsemble of National Instruments in Germany, National Theatre and Puppet Theatre of the Republic of Karelia in Moscow and St.-Petersburg.
Created: March 25, 2008. Last updated: April 7, 2008.
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The five deadliest cancers for women: Breast cancer
Breast cancer rates are still high, but medical advances are turning it into a chronic disease that can be treated more and more successfully
Source: Best Health Magazine, October 2008
Breast cancer is the number-one cancer in women in terms of incidence’there are 22,400 new cases a year’but advances in detection and treatment are lowering mortality rates. ‘Much of breast cancer is manageable,’ says Morag Park, scientific director of the Institute of Cancer Research in Montreal. ‘We are beginning to look at it as a chronic disease. The advances are quite staggering.’
There are many subtypes of the cancer, each with medical advances. About 60 percent are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning the cancer thrives on estrogen. Tamoxifen is a known therapy and, in a newer discovery, an aromatase inhibitor drug called exemestane (Aromasin) has been found to reduce recurrence by about 30 percent when taken halfway through treatment instead of tamoxifen. HER-2-positive breast cancer, which accounts for about one in five cases, involves a gene mutation that causes cancer cells to make excess HER-2 protein.
In 1998, Herceptin was approved for use in the late stages of these cancers, and in 2006 it was approved in early-stage disease. Researchers are working on ways to be more exact about who will benefit from it.
‘This is the beginning of personalized medicine [when it comes to breast cancer],’ says Park.
New treatments are also coming for the five percent of breast cancer cases and 10 percent of ovarian cancer cases that are hereditary, caused by mutations in the BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 genes. The most exciting of these, according to Huntsman, are the PARP-1 inhibitors, a targeted therapy that has the capacity to destroy tumours without harming normal cells.
A 2007 study conducted at Harvard University found that the relative risk of developing breast cancer after menopause was 400 percent higher in women who have dense breast tissue. The study also found that women with high levels of estrogen and testosterone had a 200 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer relative to those with lower levels. Women who started menstruating late, have more pregnancies and breastfeed for longer periods have a lower risk.
Read more about the new discoveries, treatments, current studies and diagnostic tools for other deadly cancers:
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OSU Press › Find Books › Titles › List: New Books
Child of Steens Mountain
Eileen O'Keeffe McVicker and Barbara J. Scot
Foreword by Richard W. Etulain.
6 × 9 inches. B&W photographs. 160 pages.
2008. ISBN 978-0-87071-297-5. Paperback, $16.95.
For Eileen O'Keeffe McVicker, born in 1927 to an Irish immigrant sheep rancher and a schoolteacher, growing up on a homestead made for "a hard, happy life with layers of riches." In her memoir of a childhood spent on the southern slope of Steens Mountain, McVicker offers an appealing, personal account of eastern Oregon history.
An "outdoor child" who never knew boredom, McVicker recounts the everyday adventures of life on the high desert. Images of Steens country — rugged vistas of startling beauty in every direction — are woven throughout her recollections. While vividly describing ranch life, Child of Steens Mountain also explores universal issues of parenting, making a living, and coming of age. The homesteading life built a child's character and confidence, and as she reaches adulthood, McVicker, raised to be independent and responsible, ultimately defies her parents to follow her own path.
In an afterword, McVicker's friend and neighbor, author Barbara J. Scot, who edited and organized the narration, describes the collaborative process — including a visit to the old homestead site — that led to this book. Historian Richard Etulain, whose own childhood was spent on a sheep ranch in the West, provides an overview of sheep ranching and homesteading in Steens country in his foreword.
"Reading Child of Steens Mountain, I felt as if I was holding a rare gift in my hands — a window into a way of life that although not far in the past has now almost entirely disappeared from our world; and equally, a story of a young girl's coming of age, and the bonds of family, written simply and beautifully, chiming with all our familiar human concerns. I was completely taken with… more
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Every time I give Panama credit for Environmental forward thinking…..THEY FUCK IT UP!!!
Category : "JB", Environmental, Local Culture
Just the other day I posted how a plan to save the necessary and essential mangroves that are generally run right through for the sake of development, La Prensa does an expose on how Panama takes one step forward and 20 steps backwards as they intend to develop one of the most ecologically important areas of the country.
MAYOR RAMOS– ASSHOLE OF THE DAY!!!!
Boná , the second most important bird nesting island in the Gulf of Panama , is the subject of a lease to install eight fuel tanks to supply ships.
The island, despite being a natural refuge for birds, as well as whale and dolphin watching , lacks legal protection, so its destination is in the hands of the Comptroller General, which would be pending the endorsement of the lease of the island, to 20 years extendable, with option to sell, in favor of the company Bona Pacific Corp.
Consulted on the possible sale of Boná, as it establishes the contract, the mayor of Taboga, Ramón Ramos , affirmed that, although it is in writing, the sale will not be made. “That can be said [the contract], but we must see if it is going to be done. That’s what it is, but it is not a reality, “he said, without considering that the State, due to non-compliance, could be subject to demands.
READ HERE THE LEASE AGREEMENT
Boná, from natural refuge to oil terminal
Isla Boná serves as a natural refuge for various birds and marine species, but it is in danger of disappearing. 34.5 hectares – of the 74.7 hectares of the island – have been requested to store and distribute oil and derivatives.
The strategic island is located in the Gulf of Panama, near the route that crosses the boats that cross the Panama Canal.
Every year, thousands of seabirds breed on Boná Island, but this could be changed by a high-altitude oil terminal for post-Panamax vessels that will be installed on the site and whose presence poses threats to the marine species and corals that border the strategic island. , which is about 45 minutes from the capital city. LP / Gabriel Rodríguez
It is a sanctuary for diverse birds – national and migratory – as well as for whales and dolphins. But it lacks legal protection.
Due to this failure, environmental organizations have come together to collect signatures, in order to present them to the Ministry of the Environment so that Boná can be elevated to the status of a wildlife refuge. This would be in conflict with the lease that the Mayor of Taboga intends to do, which means turning the island into the third island territory destined for an oil terminal for ships.
According to the Law of June 24, 1995 – on wildlife in Panama – a refuge of this type is the “area that provides the protection of habitats, ecosystems and specific niches for the existence or sustainable welfare of species of flora or fauna , migratory or resident, of national or global importance “.
But the island is now the focal point of a lease agreement – for 20 years extendable, with the option to sell the whole island – that the Municipality of Taboga intends to deliver to Bona Pacific Corp., after signing an agreement to that end. in November of 2017.
Last January, the lease agreement was corrected by the Comptroller’s request. But after the correction was made, the company requested another benefit: “Approve a grace period of non-payment of rental fees for two years in which the project will be built.”
READ HERE THE CORRECTED CONTRACT
A month ago, said the mayor of Taboga, Ramón Ramos, the Comptroller returned the contract to increase the lease fee and eliminate the new benefit. The new version of the contract is not yet available.
According to the Comptroller’s Office, the contract would have been rejected by this entity, but again it was presented by the Mayor’s Office of Taboga for its endorsement.
Questioned about the legal sustenance for the option to sell the island, Ramos, angry, said that the island is not for sale. “While I am mayor, I can not do that,” he said.
Business with an island that is a natural refuge
However, the contract includes the sale option, La Prensa reminded him. “Well, you can say that, but you have to see if it’s going to be done. That’s what you put on, but that’s not a reality. While I am mayor, I would not do it, “Ramos replied.
The issue is that the contract, with the option to sell the island, would be valid for 20 years, renewable, so it would be difficult for Ramos to be in office within 40 years. “Well, I’m not. [But], whoever does it will look for a problem, “he said.
-But you agreed to it in the lease.
And that? We agreed, but that is not written in stone, he replied.
-But it would be endorsed by the Comptroller’s Office and [its non-compliance] could cause a millionaire lawsuit against the State.
Look, I’m going to give you my lawyer’s number. I will not answer anything else.
Ramos ended the call without giving his lawyer’s name or phone number. Since last October he had tried to interview him about the scope of the project, but he did not agree. He said he would only talk about his candidacy in the primary of his party, Cambio Democrático (CD).
He asked the legal advisor of the Municipality of Taboga, Alfredo González , to excuse him. “What happens is that he is indisposed right now. He told me that he has a kidney problem and is taking a pill that causes him a lot of pain, “Gonzalez said, referring to the mayor.
Far from that, Ramos participated that day in public events, in which residents of the island, as well as his son -of the same name- confirmed to this media how “happy” the mayor was and that he was preparing for the inmates of his political collective.
Gonzalez promised to give details of the lease on the island, but when the day arrived, he did not attend the interview.
Way to the lease
The mayor not only knows the oil project, but in his list of friends on Facebook has the president and agent of Bona Pacific Corp., Raam Ady , as well as the treasurer and secretary of that company, Sandra Rogers.
The company Bona Pacific Corp. was registered in June 2017 at the Public Registry. Four months later – in October of 2017 – González delivered a report to Mayor Ramos, in which he justified the convenience of leasing the newly created company.
The report states that “the law does not indicate greater” requirements to request the lease of Boná Island, and that the applicant complied with “all the indispensable requirements” determined by the Mayor’s Office, without detailing.
In the report, González stressed that the requirement to contract with Bona Pacific Corp. is “due to the need to promote sensitive projects that are of impact and benefit to the Municipality of Taboga, maintaining the ecosystem of the region.”
But it is precisely the ecosystem that would be harmed the most. The project contemplates housing eight fuel tanks that would occupy one hectare each and remove earth with backhoes and tractors to level the land, in order to build five internal streets, a heliport, dormitories, offices, laboratory, two docks, as well as the installation of a control tower.
The mayor of Taboga, Ramón Ramos, has among his friends on Facebook Raam Ady and Sandra Rogers of Bona Pacific.
This medium traveled Boná island. He noted the presence of birds that nested in its exuberant vegetation. The flora and fauna, its crystalline waters and its beautiful landscape, as well as its abundant marine life is visible to the naked eye, as are the whales and dolphins in its vicinity.
“My main source of livelihood is lung fishing, and I fear it will happen as in the other island that they sold [Melons], which now people can no longer fish there,” complained Omar Muñoz, a resident of Otoque Occidente.
He said he feels “cheated” by officials from the Municipality of Taboga who visited Otoque in search of the community’s blessing to lease Boná. “They [the Municipality] consulted, but to tell the people that they would give him work to build a well,” he revealed.
In defense of the project
For Raam Ady, president of Bona Pacific Corp., the oil project will not affect wildlife. “We have located the different points [of the project] without having any coincidence, at any time of the year, of any type of bird,” he said.
On the impact on marine life, he said that the construction of the docks and fuel tanks “will have little impact”, because they will only be installed.
Ady played down his “friendship” on Facebook with Mayor Ramos. He knows it, “he said,” since mid-2017, when he began studying on the island. The relationship is “nothing more [than] professional. That does not mean that we are friends, but that we are sharing the things of the same people of Taboga, “he said.
On the benefits provided in the contract, such as the possibility of buying the whole island, he said that it would be only to “avoid competition”, not to “expand” the oil company. Although he accepted that argument is not in the contract.
The president of the Association of Underwater Fishing, Hernán Arias, described as “criminal” that the authorities approve the oil project, since, in his opinion, it puts at risk the wild and marine life of Boná.
He regretted that the island is not protected, although in Boná “there are corals and the fish are raised here. I do not know how long we are going to fill the oil islands. ”
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USDA milk production
WASHINGTON, April 27, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking comments on a proposed rule to clarify the requirements for the transition of dairy animals into organic production.
“The organic dairy sector has experienced incredible growth, including an increase in sales of more than 10 percent in 2014, ” said AMS Administrator Anne Alonzo. “As organic dairy production creates opportunities for producers around the country, this proposal will help ensure consistent standards and further strengthen the integrity of the organic seal.”
The proposed rule is based on the recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board, an advisory committee of organic community representatives. The rule would update the USDA’s organic regulations by requiring that milk or milk products labeled, sold, or represented as organic be from dairy animals that have been organically managed since the last third of gestation, with a one-time allowance for a producer to convert conventional dairy animals to organic milk production after a one-year transitional period.
By clarifying the manner in which producers can transition dairy animals into organic milk production and by promoting consistency among certifying agents, the USDA establishes a level playing field that protects all organic farms and businesses and maintains consumer confidence in organically labeled products.
The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2015. The organic community, stakeholders, and consumers are invited to submit written comments on the proposed rule by July 27, 2015 by visiting
Comments can also be submitted by mail, as instructed in the proposed rule, to Scott Updike, Agricultural Marketing Specialist, National Organic Program, USDA-AMS-NOP, Room 2646-So., Ag Stop 0268, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC .
The National Organic Program, part of the Agricultural Marketing Service, is responsible for ensuring the integrity of organic agricultural products in the United States and throughout the world. More information is available at www.ams.usda.gov/nop.
Get the latest Agricultural Marketing Service news at or follow us on Twitter @USDA_AMS read about us on the USDA blog.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
Source: www.ams.usda.gov
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James Brown Dead at 73
James Joseph Brown, Jr
THANK YOU JAMES BROWN!!!!!!!
James Brown- The Godfather of Soul- Truly one of the most influential figures in American music of the last Century.
One of the Founding Fathers of Soul Music, along with Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, although Sam Cooke & Ray are more directly credited with the "Father" title. James Brown branched off and took American music in another direction, giving us Funk, R&B and to a large extent Hip Hop. His influence on Rock and Roll was also considerable. Without James Brown, American music would sound completely different.
There are few artists still around who are even close in terms of impact. Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Dylan, Aretha Franklin, McCartney, and Clapton are all certainly in the vicinity.
With over 50 years of work.... he had a long a fruitful career. His music will live on! But he was much more than just a performer.
I think the Stadium in Soul Heaven is definitely sold out today with its newest legend making his entry. They now have their new President.
Hear A James Brown Christmas Day Special Here. 6 Hours of James Brown- A Great Mix of rare James Brown material... despite the goofy DJ's. View Playlist Here. This Mix is from a few years ago.
I am cooking my own James Brown Funk Stew as well.
From The Associated Press
ATLANTA — James Brown, the legendary singer known as the Godfather of Soul, has died, his agent said today. He was 73.
Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia on Sunday at Emory Crawford Long Hospital and died around 1:45 a.m. today, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles A. Bobbit was by his side, he said.
Copsidas said that Brown's family was being notified of his death and that the cause was still uncertain. "We really don't know at this point what he died of," he said.
Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the last 50 years. A generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, among others. Songs such as David Bowie's "Fame," Prince's "Kiss," George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.
If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.
"James presented obviously the best grooves," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told the Associated Press. "To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close."
His hit singles included such classics as "Out of Sight," "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud," a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.
"I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black," Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. "The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society."
He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living In America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male). He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.
From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, "Please, Please, Please" in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business.
With his tight pants, shimmering feet, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince.
And rap stars of recent years overwhelmingly have borrowed his lyrics with a digital technique called sampling.
Brown's work has been replayed by the Fat Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy and a host of other rappers. "The music out there is only as good as my last record," Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
"Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I'm saying? You hear all the rappers, 90% of their music is me," he told the Associated Press in 2003.
Born in poverty in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, he was abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends and grew up on the streets of Augusta, Ga., in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it. There he learned to wheel and deal.
"I wanted to be somebody," Brown said.
By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Ga., for breaking into cars.
While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B.
In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later "Please, Please, Please" was in the R&B Top Ten.
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What About the U.S. - Russia Nuclear Threat?
70% Of Americans Disapprove of War
Nephew of Saddam Hussein Escapes From Prison
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White men deciding the future of an arab nation - ...
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Robert McFerrin Sr Remembered
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The N Word
The Freedom of the Press in the USA
Tom Vilsack Enters Presidential Race
While Baghdad explodes and Iraqis Die; We Shop
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Paving a path to success
A partnership between Mai-Wel LabourForce Solutions and Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is helping students with disabilities pave a career path.
Amy Theodore PUBLISHED June 02, 2018 Comments
For the past ten years, a successful initiative between Mai-Wel LabourForce Solutions (Mai-Wel) and the Catholic Schools Office (CSO) has been helping students with a disability who are about to leave high school find an employment path that is right for them.
The initiative was inspired by the then Principal of Holy Spirit Primary School, Kurri Kurri, Roger Whitney, who approached Mai-Wel about providing employment to a young person with a disability who was volunteering at the school.
Following the successful employment of the volunteer at the school, Mai-Wel approached the CSO to propose an ongoing partnership to help former Catholic school students with disabilities and/or those experiencing disadvantage by placing them in Catholic schools throughout the diocese to complete traineeships and gain qualifications.
One of the trailblazers of the initiative was Jarrod Lantry, a former student of St Joseph’s College, Lochinvar. Jarrod has an intellectual disability and was approaching the end of his education journey when he obtained a grounds maintenance traineeship at St Joseph’s through the initiative. Upon completing the traineeship, Jarrod was successful in securing permanent employment at the College as a member of the grounds staff, where he still works today.
Every traineeship is designed around the needs and capabilities of the student and consists of 15 hours a week over a two-year period, helping students who face challenging circumstances to reach their full potential. At the end of the traineeship, Mai-Well assists students in securing a place of employment to enable them to continue on their career pathway.
One of the biggest issues faced by young people trying to break into the workforce is a lack of experience in real work environments to gain skills which they can transfer to a range of different occupations. This initiative helps those who face a few extra hurdles to gain that experience and achieve their employment and personal goals.
Not only do the trainees improve their vocational skills, they also gain increased confidence and a sense of self-worth, helping them see how they can be a part of, and make a difference in, their communities. The traineeship also gives them the opportunity to develop their social and workplace communication skills and learn how to increase their personal effectiveness.
Mai-Wel staff provide support to trainees both on and off site during this two-year period, to ensure that they develop the necessary skills and work ethic to succeed. Over the course of the training, support and assistance is gradually withdrawn as the trainee’s competence increases. Mai-Wel also supports the CSO in providing access to the Disabled Australian Apprenticeship Wage Scheme, helping to offset wage costs.
Not only does the initiative give students a helping hand, the schools involved also benefit from gaining a fully trained additional staff member.
“This initiative helps to provide self-esteem building opportunities for young people progressing through the Catholic education system,” said Industry Engagement and Strategic Partnerships Facilitator at Mai-Wel, Tracy Forbes.
“The CSO traineeship arrangements and partnership provide a great opportunity to give these young people that first step on a career path and we will continue to work with the CSO, host schools and trainees to ensure the continued success of this initiative.”
Other successful students from the initiative include Emma Chapple who completed training in administration and found a permanent place of employment where she still works today.
Another major participating school in the initiative has been St Patrick’s Primary School, Lochinvar. A former student completed a traineeship in December and the school is looking to engage another student in the near future.
To date, the initiative has been able to assist 12 students in furthering their careers, with a majority of the completed traineeships based in grounds work or administration.
“It’s an outstanding initiative and it’s been a fabulous journey,” said Assistant Director for Secondary School Projects, Gerard Mowbray.
“It’s about creating a pathway for students who have some employment challenges. I think it creates quality outcomes for them and quality outcomes for our schools; the schools benefit by having an experienced pair of hands they wouldn’t normally have had.”
Mai-Wel LabourForce Solutions is a specialist employment service based in Maitland, Cessnock and Dungog that assists people with a disability to find and keep a job. Offering ‘end to end’ recruitment solutions, it provides training and support in a variety of areas relating to personal and professional development with a commitment to helping people reach their full potential. For more information, please P 4015 8400 or email.
Category Aurora
“But a moment in time”
“Icons of God’s grace”
Other Aurora Issues
Aurora Links
Latest in Aurora
Revolutionary solution to indigenous illiteracy
We can support ICAN at Hiroshima commemoration
Church leaders call for action on religious discrimination
Making a difference to someone else’s day
Minding your Q’s and P’s in a pod
Welcome gift hits the right note
A look behind the curtain of 365 Questions, Issues and Good Deeds
From Out the Flaminian Gate
Student wellbeing is paramount in our schools
Latest Aurora Gallery
Two new priests for our Diocese
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Who says anthropology can't rock?
Posted by John McCreery on March 5, 2014 at 3:06am
Serendipitously, the entertainment section in this morning's Japan Times carries an article about an Indie band, three young Japanese women, called Crunch. One of them, Noriyo Hotta says,
"For example, take 'Mori no Naka,' the first track on the album. This song was influenced by Radiohead, especially the songs 'Jigsaw Falling' and 'There There,' and a funk tune by Japanese rock band Jagatara called 'Tango.' But I was also inspired by a book about the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon. According to the book, suicides increase among members of the tribe who accept modern civilization. They obtain ego but with that comes solitude, so that comes over in the lyric, 'I can't stop dreaming of becoming alone.'"
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Pembina Receives Approval for Nipisi and Mitsue Pipeline Projects
Construction to commence on two pipelines that will support heavy oil industry
CALGARY, July 13 /CNW/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (the "Fund" or "Pembina") (TSX: PIF.UN, PIF.DB.B), announced today that it has received approval from the Energy Resources Conservation Board (the "ERCB") to construct and operate two pipeline projects that will support Northern Alberta's heavy oil industry.
The Nipisi Pipeline, designed to initially transport 100,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) of diluted heavy oil, is proposed to originate north of Slave Lake and run south to Judy Creek. From there it would connect to an existing pipeline system that delivers products to the Edmonton area. The Nipisi Pipeline is designed such that it can ultimately be expanded to a capacity of approximately 200,000 bbls/d. The Mitsue Pipeline is being designed to transport approximately 20,000 bbls/d of condensate (a light hydrocarbon used to dilute the heavy oil) from Whitecourt, Alberta to producers operating north of Slave Lake. The Mitsue Pipeline is designed such that it can ultimately be expanded to a capacity of 45,000 bbls/d.
"Project planning is complete and reflects the needs of our customers and community neighbours," said Bob Michaleski, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our next priorities are to fulfill the commitments we've made to our customers as well as those made during the consultation process and constructing the pipeline in a safe and environmentally responsible manner."
The approvals to proceed with construction of the pipeline projects were granted by the ERCB without a public hearing, as all stakeholder objections were resolved through the consultation process.
Both projects, which Pembina estimates to cost a combined total of $440 million, are scheduled to be placed into service in mid-2011. Pembina has executed long-term transportation services agreements which will govern operations on the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines once they have been completed. Founding customers, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc. have, subject to certain conditions, contracted 80 percent of the 100,000 bbls/d capacity on the Nipisi Pipeline and 50 percent of the 20,000 bbls/d capacity on the Mitsue Pipeline. Pembina Marketing Ltd., a subsidiary of Pembina Pipeline Corporation, has contracted for the balance of available capacity on these pipelines.
The agreements are designed to provide Pembina with a fixed return on invested capital and allow for the full recovery of operating expenses. Based on certain assumptions, as discussed in more detail below, Pembina's internal projections estimate the two projects combined will generate approximately $45 million per annum in net operating income.
Project construction is expected to proceed immediately. Piping fabrication for the pump stations will commence later in July and the pump station construction is expected to begin in August. Right-of-way clearing is anticipated to begin in September in preparation for pipeline construction which is planned to start in early December. Approximately 800 to 1,000 temporary positions are expected to be created during construction. All engineering, construction and procurement contracts have been awarded.
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements ("forward looking statements") that are based on the Fund's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In this news release, such forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "to be", "believes", "expects", "proposed". "plans", "estimates", "will", "anticipate", "designed", "scheduled" and similar expressions.
In particular, this document contains forward-looking statements, including certain financial outlook, pertaining to: (i) the expected in-service dates of the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines; (ii) the designed capacities and future expansion capabilities of the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines; (iii) the estimated costs to complete the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines; and (iv) the estimated future net operating income contributions from the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines, once such projects are completed. Various factors or assumptions are typically applied by the Fund in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts, projections, predictions or estimations set out in forward looking statements and financial outlook based on information currently available to the Fund. Factors and assumptions used by the Fund include that: the in-service date for the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines will be in mid-2011; future tolls and operating costs in respect of such pipelines will be consistent with internal projections; counterparties will comply with contracts in a timely manner; there are no unforeseen events preventing the performance of contracts by Pembina; prevailing commodity prices and exchange rates; there are no unforeseen construction costs related to the Nipisi and Mitsue Pipelines; funds will be available at acceptable rates to fund capital requirements relating to the pipeline projects; and there are no unforeseen material costs relating to the pipeline systems which are not recoverable from shippers.
Accordingly, readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. Such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements. The Fund does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, except as required by applicable laws. Management of the Fund approved the financial outlook contained herein as of the date of this news release. Readers should be aware the information contained in the financial outlook contained herein may not be appropriate for other purposes.
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Bio/Resume
Sample Work
Prudence Fenton is an award-winning creative visualist and writer. As a producer, filmmaker, executive, animator, multi-media artist, and Internet visionary, she has changed the ways things look, and our experience of them for over twenty-five years. (MTV IDs, Pee-wee's Playhouse, animated Peter Gabriel Videos, Liquid Television, ABC 1 Saturday Morning, Drew Carey's Greenscreen Show, and many others).
She spent over 11 years as a think tank consultant at Disney R&D. Her projects ranged from SMART TOYS and PDA's and location based games in the parks, to producing prototypes for the future of media at ABC, and a social media user-generated one for ESPN.
Prudence Fenton
GET PRUDENCE'S RESUME
Prudence Fenton is an award-winning creative visualist. She is currently an Executive Producer for Cinematic Reality at Magic Leap, a software/hardware company specializing in Mixed Reality, but the NDA is so severe, she can’t reveal the nature of her work.
As a producer, filmmaker, executive, animator, multi-media artist, and Internet visionary, she has changed the ways things look, and our experience of them for over twenty-five years. (MTV IDs, Pee-wee's Playhouse, animated Peter Gabriel Videos, Liquid Television, ABC 1 Saturday Morning, Drew Carey's Greenscreen Show, and many others). She spent over 11 years as a think tank consultant at Disney R&D. Her projects ranged from SMART TOYS and PDA's in the parks to producing prototypes for the future of media at ABC, and a social media user-generated one for ESPN. She also collaborated with Disney websites including SOAPnet, ABC family, ESPN, Toontown, Casual Gaming and Disney online. Fenton takes ideas and makes things out of them with style, wit and intelligence. Her clients include Disney Imagineering, Disney R&D, Microsoft, Intel, Viacom and AOL.
She supervised all the media production for a popular location-based game at Disney World for Walt Disney Imagineering--Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Kids sign up to become sorcerers and walk around the Magic Kingdom fighting the famous villains like Cruella de Ville, Maleficient, and Hades.
Fenton also served as Creative Executive Producer for 37 short videos about Burma/Myanmar that premiered on youtube channel U.S. Campaign for Burma/Myanmar, as well as on many other video sites. The project was originally conceived to raise awareness about Burma's repressive military dictatorship. Since then, the "little movies," as Fenton calls them, drew enough attention for Aung San Sui Kyi that she was released from house arrest in 2010. Created through the collaborations of a diverse array of writers, directors and filmmakers, each video features a notable celebrity, with participants including Jennifer Aniston, Jackson Browne, Will Ferrell, Felicity Huffman, Ellen Page, and Sylvester Stallone, among others. It was heavily promoted through all social networks using apps and other viral marketing techniques.
Prudence is finishing a second novel and has been published in Echoes Magazine Journal, Diverse Voices Quarterly and The Griffin.
She has a B.A. from Vassar College, an MFA from Corcoran School of Art, a Doctorate in Spiritual Science and Creative Writing Certificate from UCLA. She has won three Emmys, a Grammy, and a Clio, as well as MTV awards, and been nominated for James Kirkwood Writing prize and Allegra Johnson Novel Writing Prize.
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Fat Girl
LTV Opening
MTV Elephant
MTV Sandwich
One Saturday Morning
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Jack Healey is a long time Human Rights activist and ran Amnesty International in the '80s and put it forefront in the public mind. In 1988 I made an animated version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for him. It traveled with a big concert tour of Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and Tracy Chapman.
Jack has been following the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma/Mayanmar for the last decade. In October 2007 the monks of Burma marched peacefully to protest the growing brutal military regime of Than Shwe. They were massacred in the streets by 10,000 soldiers. Jack wanted to show support globally in retaliation to this brutality. What we created were a mix of regular PSA's and several vignettes with actors demonstrating the real situations in Burma. It was a campaign that ran over the course of a month. The goal was to raise awareness of the situation in Burma and get people to sign up to show their support. We launched it May 1, 2008 and on May 3 an extremely violent cyclone hit Burma/Mayanmar. All of a sudden Burma/Mayanmar was on the front page of the news.
Will Ferrell did a straight ahead introduction for the campaign. It was important to set it up. Also since he was on a movie, his people didn’t want him to do any other possible distracting character. I love what he did.
Day 2: Jennifer Aniston agreed to direct Woody Harrelson and to our delighted surprise she showed up in the video as well. I so love the PA/AD who stars in this as well.
Day 3: Julie Benz asked her pals, Jason and Jenny to do a spot for us. We shot this in a 1934 old tire shop in the heart of Culver City.
Day 4: Sarah Silverman was able to bring to light the healthcare crisis in Burma in a poignant way. Johanna Stein is the scribe of this spot.
Day 7: This turned out to be one of the most powerful spots. Written by Johanna Stein and directed by Chad Einbinder whose idea it was to put the photos on the cards. Eric has been a long time supporter of Burma and it was a fun shoot done on the premises of Hollywood Center studios. One of our hotter shoots in the middle of April.
Day 8: Voices. Here is a great use of animation by writer/director Isaiah Seret. This took about 6 hours to animate.
Day 9: Smashing Fruit. Another favorite of mine by Isaiah Seret.
Day 12: This is a wall in East LA. I thought it was really important to do a piece that impacted our physical environment. I love that Jon Reiss used Aung San Suu Kyi’s voice. And I love the art.
Day 20: Ellen Page is such a natural actress. We were able to get her in and out in under 2 hours. She is a 2 take kind of gal. We shot this on the same day as Smashing Fruit.
Day 22: Felicity Huffman. This one focuses on censorship and came at the end of the shoot. The animated noise is covering up the director who steps in to annoy her and talk over her. It turned out much better than the one we originally wrote.
Day 24: This was our most controversial piece. Kim put the video up on her site before we released it. And it was during the cyclone so it caused quite a stir. On her site she got 250,000 hits in the 5 hours it was up and some really angry comments. The head of the U.S. Campaign for Burma was very upset, but as I see it, 250,000 more people were aware of the plight of Burma whether or not they were horrified by Kim’s piece or not. It doesn’t matter how you become aware..... It matters that you are now aware.
Day 25: I think Tim Bui is a genius director. Jack says you can never talk about torture, but I think Tim did a great job of conveying it, and communicating the terror of it without turning off the audience.
Day 26. Joseph Fiennes wrote, directed and acted in this one. He gave this to us. This showed up from London one day, and I was just blown away by the high production value and the message of it. This one is stunning.
Day 27: Billy Ray wrote and directed this one and invited the talent to work with him. I was always so touched when people just came together to do these spots on their own time. I like this one because they hit on some new issues.
Day 30: Another spot by Tim Bui. I love Tila, the spot, the kids and we made the shoot all happen in one day. It was amazing.
Day 38: Norman Lear closed the campaign for us. I think he is a brilliant, brilliant writer and what he says is very powerful. It was one of the worst shoots of our entire campaign. It was raining, our teleprompter broke and we had to get another in from Burbank to Mandeville Canyon on a Friday afternoon of memorial day in the horrible weather. Norman was doing DVD commentary for Sony, and we got him a the end of a long shoot day, but he powered through.
I loved all of the spots and was incredibly lucky to be able to lead this cause.
I began my writing career for the Odessa American Newspaper in Odessa Texas and then got side tracked into film and animation as a producer and creative director for animation and mixed media. I have recently returned to writing.
I write flash fiction, short stories and novels. I’m in the Writers Program at UCLA, and will have a certificate by 2014. I’ve taken workshops in different cities and attended a few conferences, and many readings. I am committed to writing and do it whenever possible -- I have to make up for lost time. If I’m not writing, I’m reading -- even trips across town, which in LA can take over an hour, I’m listening to books. It’s become the all-consuming avocation.
I’ve been published in Echoes Journal (Print), Diverse Voices Quarterly and will be in The Griffin this fall. I’m currently at work on novel number two. Stay tuned.
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Please use a REAL email address so that we can get back to you.
Prudence Fenton ©2010-
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M.F. Lunch and the Little Cotton Woolies
Submitted by redshtickmagazi... on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 17:52
This month, my editor handed me two CDs that bands had sent to me to review, and it brought about a dilemma for me. Which do I choose to review first? Do I review the CD that has the best music? Do I review the band that actually plays here in town, or do I pick the band that has made it enough to tour in Houston? In the end, it came down to packaging. One band had a slick, environmentally-friendly CD case that tied, and it came with a very professional-looking press release giving a biography of the band. Impressive. The other CD was obviously locally-made, with a crinkled letter and a handwritten note on top stating, "Dear Carole – Hope you find this CD amusing – M.F. Lunch.” We had a winner.I love bands that don't take themselves seriously. The letter continued to state that the band M.F. Lunch and the Little Cotton Woolies is “a collective of psychedelic/punk/street musicians” who perform infrequently “in downtown Baton Rouge until they are asked by ‘authorities’ to leave.” Great! It also helped that the letter warned me that the band members are old – with an average age of sixty – and "vastly unattractive." This was a very kind warning, for when I opened the CD, I was not as shocked by the appearance of some of the band members, some of whom reminded me of the scared peasant people in apocalypse movies.
I flipped over the self-titled CD and took a look at the list of songs. Song one was called "Insects with Human Heads." What? Track three was entitled "Take It – It's Poison." Lovely.
Unsure of what I would find when I popped the CD into the player, but vastly entertained by the press release, I began to listen. The first track started out kind of bluesy, with vocals in the manner of that song "They Did a Bad Bad Thing," or whatever it's called. It was alright, and the lyrics were interesting to say the least. Never having dropped acid, I think this song may be the closest equivalent that I can aurally get to experiencing the phenomenon. It also mentioned insects more than any song ever should.
The second track, called "North Baton Rouge," with vocals by M.F. Lunch, was one of my favorites on the CD. It was much more cheerful-sounding than the previous track, and its genius could only be truly appreciated by those who have lived in Baton Rouge for any significant amount of time. I really loved the chorus that epitomized how I felt about Baton Rouge for several years until the city began to grow on me. It went, "One of these days, I'll move away. I'm tired of living alone. But until that very day, this wasteland is my home. This wasteland is my home." Sing it, brother.
On track six, female vocalist Zenobia Marsh is introduced. She has a gentle vocal style that reminds me of a mother who is singing her child a lullaby. Of course, that effect is totally marred by the lyrics she is singing. I preferred track seven, called "Marina." This is a lovely, melodic, slow song that rolled in a folksy style, similar to that of Simon and Garfunkle without the harmonies, and told about a prostitute named Marina. For me, this song is a good representation of most of the songs on the CD. The music is a strong and lulling listen, suitable for a quiet Sunday morning, except the lyrics keep kicking you in the teeth with their sheer strangeness and unexpectedness.
I liked this CD, but it took me a couple of listens before I truly began to appreciate the music, so I can see why the band says that local booking agents consider their music "not what people around here want to listen to." They do take a little concentration to listen to, and they are not danceable. Well, you might dance to them if you are stoned, but it wouldn't involve much more than twirling spastically as you try to catch one of the fairies that keeps flying around your body.
I do think that I am going to keep the CD as part of my collection, as I can see myself cruising to it on sunny days with the sunroof open, drinking a Mountain Dew®. I guess that’s because, in many ways, it reminds me of the odd and strange music I used to listen to with my friends in high school as we cruised around, enjoying what it felt like to be young and unemployed. The best song to do this to would be track eleven, "The Devil and Elmo Lewis." It's a strictly instrumental song and was one of my favorites.
If you are interested in checking out this band yourself, visit them online at www.myspace.com/mflunch. Their CD is also available at CD Baby and other online distributors, and they say they will soon be available as a digital download through iTunes and Rhapsody™. Don't you just love the digital age?
I also want to remind you that this is one of the best times of the year to live in Louisiana, as our two biggest music festivals are coming this month, and each is only an hour away: Jazz Fest in New Orleans and Festival International in Lafayette. Both have their own websites and can be easily found with any internet search engine, and each gives a list of the musicians and artists that will be playing. The only bad thing about these events is that both are always scheduled at the end of the month, at the same time. Jazz Fest’s lineup has more recognized musicians than Lafayette’s (my favorite artist, Harry Connick, Jr., is closing out the festival in New Orleans), but the one in Lafayette is free, whereas the one in New Orleans is not. Either is worth going to and an enjoyable way to spend a beautiful weekend day.
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Adnexal Masses 5 cm in Diameter or Greater Extirpated During Cesarean Operation
Authors: Serenat Eris Yalcin, M.D., Yakup Yalcin, M.D., Mehmet Ozgur Akkurt, M.D., And Yavuz, M.D., and Mekin Sezik, M.D.
OBJECTIVE: To describe our experience with adnexal masses ≥5 cm in diameter removed at cesarean delivery during a 10-year-period.
STUDY DESIGN: During 8,308 cesarean deliveries, there were 60 (0.7%) adnexal masses of ≥5 cm in diameter with a diagnosis after 28 weeks’ gestation. These were matched on 2:1 basis with 120 randomly selected cesarean deliveries that served as controls. Maternal age, parity, gestational age at delivery, operative findings, tumor histopathology, and perioperative data were retrieved from patient files and compared across cases and controls.
RESULTS: Baseline data such as maternal age, parity, and gestational age at cesarean delivery were similar (p>0.05 for all) across the groups. Composite obstetric morbidity (15% vs. 17%, p=0.67), mean drop in hematocrit (3.0±2.4 vs. 3.5±2.2, p=0.10), postoperative fever (3.3% vs. 4.1%, p=0.785), and postpartum hospitalization (2.4±0.6 days vs. 2.5±0.4 days, p=0.289) also did not differ. However, operative length was longer in the adnexal mass group (44.7±9.2 min vs. 40.2±6.4 min, p=0.0001). The most common pathologic diagnosis was mature cystic teratoma (33.3%). There were 2 (3.3%) borderline tumors and 1 malignancy (1.6%, mucinous cystadenocarcinoma).
CONCLUSION: Removal of an adnexal mass ≥5 cm in diameter during cesarean operation is not associated with increased morbidity except for longer operative length. Although malignancy is relatively rare, routine frozen section and availability of a gynecologic oncology team can be endorsed.
Keywords: adnexal diseases; adnexal mass; adnexa uteri; cesarean delivery; cesarean section; cystic teratoma; ovarian tumor; teratoma; teratoma, cystic
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Home List Of Titles Introduction: ISIL and international responses on security
Introduction: ISIL and international responses on security
Silander, Daniel | Janzekovic, J W | Wallace, Don
In Iraq and Syria, as well as in neighbouring states, the rise of ISIL has raised serious state and human security challenges. This study explores the relationships between the Global-Regional Partnership, the United Nations and nine organizations in their attempt to deal with the challenges presented by ISIL. Each organization is analyzed in terms of how it has responded in the past and how it is now responding to the ISIL threat based on three perspectives; resource capacities (military, political, economic, technological, normative); willingness and readiness; and impediments to capacity and abilities. The overall aim is to discern what capacities and abilities international organizations have to protect state and human security and prevent civilians from mass atrocities inflicted by ISIL forces. The study addresses the role of international organizations when the UNSC is unable or unwilling to uphold the most fundamental norms and values in the UN Charter. This approach acknowledges that within the international community there is an overall acceptance on security for a partnership between the UN and regional organizations, but that there is also a contested call for a renegotiated international contract on state and human security. This volume will be of much interest to students of international relations, human rights, peace and conflict studies, terrorism studies and International Relations. [Book Synopsis]
International Organizations and The Rise of ISIL: Global Responses to Human Security Threats / Silander, Daniel, Wallace, Don, Janzekovic, John (eds): pp.1-28
https://www.routledge.com/International-Organizations-and-The-Rise-of-ISIL-Global-Responses-to-Human/Silander-Wallace-Janzekovic/p/book/9781138689374
FoR 1606 (Political Science) | FoR 1605 (Policy and Administration) | international security | international agencies | human security | Middle East | international cooperation | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
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A Rotherhithe Blog
This blog is all about Rotherhithe, past and present. The main themes are heritage, wildlife and news items that may be of interest to local residents. If you have any questions or would like to comment or ask me to cover any particular topic you can email me at andie [at] rotherhitheblog.co.uk. I am also on Twitter @AndieByrnes
HMS Taunton 1654, the first ship known to be built on Rotherhithe for the Royal Navy
London in the 1600s, showing a mainly rural
Rotherhithe at far right
Rotherhithe was a major ship-building centre from at least the 17th Century until the late 19th Century. The superb shipbuilding heritage of Rotherhithe is often forgotten, but it was the main industry in Rotherhithe for 150 years and defined the Rotherhithe peninsula during that time. The fact that its shipbuilding heritage has vanished so completely from Rotherhithe's landscape and memory is so sad. There are of course traces - inlets here and there along the Thames frontage that mark the places where shipbuilding docks once operated, and the still intact Nelson Dock, where both naval and commercial ships were built for over a century. But most of the story of Rotherhithe's shipbuilding past lies in the records that remain of ships built along the foreshore, their careers, the people who served on them, the battles in which they served and the places with which they traded. With England at war throughout much of the 18th Century, all parts of the country were impacted, and it is easy to forget that war and warships were front-line activities for London shipbuilders.
HMS Taunton is one of a handful of 17th Century ships built in Rotherhithe of which I have been able to find a record. She was the first warship known for certain to have been constructed at Rotherhithe and was launched by William Castle in 1654 and lasted for a truly impressive 65 years, seeing considerable naval action during her lifetime. Brothers William and Robert Castle appear to have been well established by the time that Taunton was built. HMS Taunton is the first of their ships to be recorded in Rotherhithe, but others were also built at the yard including three 8-gun yachts, Monmouth, Navy and Kitchen in 1666, 1666 and 1670 respectively, a 25-gun fireship called Griffin in 1690 and the 10-gun ketch Hart in 1691. The exact location for the shipyard remains elusive. The Castle Shipbreaking site has this to say on the subject:
The first we learn of the Castles occupying land on the Thames at Rotherhithe is from a map belonging to the Earl of Salisbury dated 1610. The exact location of the Yard is not easy to pinpoint but it is known to be a shipbuilding facility which William Castell was operating. Most of the land shown on the map is located to the east of the Neckinger thus placing it fairly close to the site of the well-known Cherry Garden Stairs. It is certainly clear that the family were probably active in the shipping business during the late Elizabethan era.
Research has shown that William Castle was born in 1590 and was probably responsible for building up the business at the Rotherhithe site. His father John who may have negotiated the terms of the tenancy in the early 1600s more likely achieved the acquisition of the site.
HMS Taunton or HMS Dover, both built by
William Castle
This description is consistent with the 1600s maps of Rotherhithe (see, for example, the Blome 1673 map at the top of this page), which show all the Thames frontage activity at Rotherhithe village or upriver from it; downriver there appears to be very little activity at that time.
The Castles were well attested in records of the time, and are mentioned several times in the diaries of Samuel Pepys, who considered William Castle to be an expert in the production of 3rd Rate ships of the line. Although perhaps most famous for his diaries, Samuel Pepys was Chief Secretary to the Admiralty, and his opinion mattered. William Castle's warships were characterized by the unusual feature of having one more port on the upper deck than the lower deck. The Castles were deeply embedded in the London shipping scene, and very well connected. William Castle married the daughter of Sir William Batten, Surveyor of the Navy. For more about the Castle shipbuilding and breaking family see the Castles History Project website.
HMS Taunton was originally designed as a 40-gun two-deck 4th-rate 545-ton full-rigged frigate, a ship of the line built in 1654, three years after the end of the English Civil War, a year into the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell and a year after the outbreak of the First Dutch War. She was one of the ships ordered in the "Thirty Ships Programme" issued by the parliament in 1652. HMS Taunton was 104ft long (measured along the keel), with a 31ft 8in beam and a hold depth of 13ft. She cost £3484 (according the the National Archives Currency Converter, in 1650, £3,484 0s 0d would have the same spending worth of 2005's £263,251.04). Like most ships of her time she was modified during her career, with alterations that significantly changed her vital statistics. Ships are often described in terms of the classes to which they belonged, a designation that refers to specific designs made by often famous ship designers, and Taunton was a Ruby Class ship. The first Ruby Class ship was HMS Ruby, built by Peter Pett II in Deptford in 1651. Taunton was the ninth of the Ruby Class Fourth Rates. The model of her above is a photograph from Riff Winfield's "British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714" and is probably either HMS Taunton or HMS Dover. It shows an additional port on the upper deck mentioned above, a characteristic of William Castle's warships.
This painting is actually from 100 years after Taunton was
sunk and shows the Battle of Chesapeake, but is a useful
illustration of how ships engaged in the line of battle
The First Dutch War was fought mainly with small ships, with only 11 out of 103 having ships of over 50 guns. Most had between 30 and 44 guns. Ships of the line were rated from 1 (the biggest, most prestigious, heavily armed and expensive, but also the most ponderous and least manoeuvrable) to 4 (5th and 6th rates were never used as ships of the line). The rating system was based on the number of men that a ship could hold. Ships of the line all had the same basic job, which was to present arms in the so-called the line of battle. As with many land battles, this was a tactic of open confrontation. Warships on opposing sides lined up from bow to stern to present their broadside guns to each other. The first single-deck frigates built in Britain were constructed in the 1640s in response to a need for smaller, faster ships, but were found to be too small to accommodate sufficient men for battle conditions and in the late 1640s and early 50s some were given an extra deck. After the First Dutch War it was determined that larger ships were far more advantageous in battle, and in the future bigger and stronger ships were commissioned which were better able to withstand the stresses of battle and were more difficult to board.
The Battle of the Texel, 11–21 August 1673 by Willem van de Velde I
The Protectorate lasted until 1959, when it was dissolved, but the commonwealth only lasted another year and in 1660 the monarchy was restored to power under Charles II. Presumably in celebration, Taunton was renamed HMS Crown. Under her new name HMS Crown participated in a number of placements and engagements, listed by Riff Winfield in "British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714" as follows, under a number of different commanders. I've listed them just to show how a warship of the period was deployed:
With Sandwich's squadron at Tangier 1661
With Lawson's squardon in the Mediterranean in 1662
With Allin's squadron in the Mediterranean in 1665
At the Four Days Battle in 1666, with 8 killed and 15 wounded
At the Battle of Solebay in 1672
At the Battle of Schoonveld 1673
At the Battle of Texel, also in 1673
In the Mediterranean 1674
In the Mediterraneqan in 1680
In home waters in 1685
In the Turkey convoy in 1687
Rebuilt at Woolwich in 1689
By 1666 she had been fitted with a further eight guns to take her up to a total of 48 and was manned by a crew of 170. She was rebuilt again in 1689. In 1704 following the outbreak of war in 1702 she was refitted at Deptford by shipwright Fisher Harding, and relaunched as a 552 long tons 4th-rate ship of the line with 50 guns, again a fourth-rate ship of the line. She was 126ft 8in (measured along the gundeck) with a 34ft 5.5in beam and a hold of 13ft 6in (4.1m) deep. She was again full-rigged. She sailed from Deptford under Captain Thomas Lyell and again travelled widely under a number of different commanders:
In the North Sea 1704
In Barbados 1706
In 1708 with Baker's squadron on the Dutch coast
In the Channel 1709, and from there to Lisbon and then Jamaica in the same year
In Jamaica 1710
Back to England in 1711
In the Mediterranean in 1712
Major repair at Woolwich in 1717 costing £2007.
Recommissioned 1718
There is some confusion about who commanded HMS Taunton during which periods. Different accounts from the period place different commanders in charge of her simultaneously. It seems clear that she was launched under Captain Richard Lyons and was soon under the command of Captain Thomas Vallis when she was at Tunis with Blake's fleet in the Mediterranean. She came under Lyons again in 1655, after which he resigned and was than assigned once again to Blake's fleet under Capitan Nathaniel Brown. She was back on the Thames in 1656 but was once again under Blake, this time taking part in the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1657. She had numerous other commanders in her 65 year history, some of whom are listed on the threedecks website.
HMS Crown was "bilged and sunk" (Riff Winfield 2009) on 21st January 1719 under St Julian’s Fort at the entrance to River Tagus in Portugal. At 65 years of age she had a long life, always a challenge for a wooden warship in active service. She was awarded battle honours, and had a successful and worthy career.
The Four Days Battle of 1666, in which Taunton (by then HMS Crown)
took part. By Pieter Cornelisz van Soest.
Posted by Andie at 09:01
Labels: 17th Century, Local History, shipbuilders, Ships, Shipyard, Wartime
Fascinating post. Thank you so much for sharing.
Andie said...
So pleased that you found it interesting Linda.
Russia Dock Woodland
Rotherhithe Blog Posts
Contents page for Rotherhithe Heritage
Rotherhithe Heritage Series
A History of South Dock
I have assembled all my posts concerning the history and heritage of South Dock into a website of its own, which seemed to be a requirement following the announcement of the St George's Wharf development that will overshadow the South Dock area. It can be found at:
http://southdockse16.wordpress.com
Aberdovey Londoner
In July 2018 I moved to Aberdovey on the mid Welsh coast, and began a blog there. It is a very different place and experiences are all completely novel. If you are interested, you can find it at https://aberdoveylondoner.wordpress.com
Port of London Study Group
If you are interested in the archaeology and history of the Port of London you may be interested in the Port of London Study Group, a self-guided research group that operates out of the Museum of London. Find out more at http://portoflondonstudy.wordpress.com.
British Transport Treasures
This blog is run with considerable assistance from excellent local history publications written by Stuart Rankin. His works are my starting point for all history posts. Stuart has set up a website, called British Transport Treasures, that specializes in out of print publications which can be downloaded as PDFs that can be saved and printed. Out of print publications are a nightmare for anyone attempting local history research unless they have access to a specialist library and archives. British Transport Treasures is expanding fast with an ever-growing catalogue of titles. Each of the publications is described with a magazine-style short review to explain the scope of the content, and provided with a preview of the cover and first page. There is a nominal cost for each, to cover the costs of hosting and running the site, and 5p per item sold is donated to Help For Heroes. I am a massive fan of the site and what it is attempting to do, and as it has a number of publications concerning Rotherhithe I have drawn attention to some of them here.
Between Bridgers – Rotherhithe Street and Downtown by F.Mary Wilson, privately published, n.d. but c.1964
Rotherhithe Then and Now History Walk by Stuart Rankin, Southwark Council 2005 [ebook]
Rotherhithe Tunnel Sketches 1829
Historical Notice… Commercial Docks… Rotherhithe by Nathaniel Gould, 1844 [ebook]
Shipbuilding on the Thames and Thames Built Ships [ebook] edited by Stuart Rankin
Other titles can be found by entering "Rotherhithe" into the British Transport Treasures search engine.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler in Rotherhithe: The ...
Planning proposal for outdoor pool on Greenland Do...
Surrey Docks Farm Spring Fair this coming Saturday...
Cygnets and other birds on Greenland Dock
HMS Taunton 1654, the first ship known to be built...
Low tide at the Thames foreshore, Rotherhithe
20th Century Early (39)
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tea clipper (14)
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Detroit 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 5 6 1
Pittsburgh 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 4 8 3
W: B. Farmer (4-4) L: K. Crick (2-3) S: S. Greene (21)
4:05 PM PT5:05 PM MT6:05 PM CT7:05 PM ET19:05 ET23:05 GMT7:05 4:05 PM MST6:05 PM EST6:35 PM VEN3:05 UAE (+1)6:05 PM CT, June 18, 2019
PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Attendance: 18,301
Tigers slip by sloppy Pirates 5-4, snap 4-game losing streak
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) Christin Stewart's sped his thinking up and slowed down his feet, helping the Detroit Tigers end a four-game losing streak in the process.
Stewart was on first with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning of a tie game on Tuesday night when Brandon Dixon hit a sharp grounder to Pittsburgh second baseman Adam Frazier. Rather than keep on sprinting to second, Stewart hesitated as he neared Frazier. Frazier tried futilely to tag Stewart before throwing to first. Nicholas Castellanos scored from third on the play to give Detroit a 5-4 lead it would hold on to - barely - to win for just fourth time this month.
"Frazier, I tried to pull him toward first base, and when he didn't turn around and throw to second, I was like, `All right, you're gonna have to tag me,'" Stewart said. "I just broke down so that he wouldn't tag me. He was running toward me, so I knew that is what he wanted to do."
Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle thought Frazier had time to flip the ball to shortstop Kevin Newman in hopes of turning a conventional double play.
"There's a play to be made there and I don't think (the tag) is the one," Hurdle said. "Sometimes things happen. You change your mind in the middle of a play."
Buck Farmer (4-4) earned the win despite giving up Newman's tying RBI triple in the seventh. Joe Jimenez survived a bases-loaded jam in the eighth. Shane Greene earned his American League-leading 21st save by getting Josh Bell to hit into a game-ending double play as the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak.
"We have been fighting our tails off all season, and we've had some games lately that have been a little bit embarrassing for us," Greene said. "To come out tonight and fight to the end like that and come out with a W is big time."
Miguel Cabrera had two hits in his first start at first base since May 31 as Detroit beat the Pirates for just the second time in their last 10 meetings. Detroit's Daniel Norris put together his best start in nearly a month, giving up only Bell's home run to center in the second and Jung Ho Kang's RBI triple in the sixth. Norris struck out four and walked one and was in line to pick up his first victory since May 12 before the bullpen let the lead slip away.
Bell hit his 20th home run for Pittsburgh. Jung Ho Kang hit an RBI triple - his first three-base hit since 2015 - and Colin Moran picked up Pittsburgh's major-league leading 33rd pinch hit of the season with an RBI single in the seventh, but the Pirates couldn't overcome a series of miscues while falling to 4-12 in June.
Pittsburgh committed three errors, a number that didn't include Frazier's indecisiveness in the eighth. The Pirates also left nine men on base and went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
"You need to play complete games to win at this level," Hurdle said. "Sometimes it's harder when you don't and that's kind of where we're at right now."
Moran's single and Newman's shot to the right-field corner that extended his hitting streak to 10 games allowed the Pirates to pull even at 4-4 in the seventh, before Crick ran into trouble in the eighth.
KELLER IMPROVES
Pirates starter Mitch Keller - who'd been lit up for 12 runs across seven innings in his first two career starts - took a modest step forward in his third. The team's top-ranked prospect allowed four runs (two earned) in five innings with two walks and six strikeouts. His outing might have been cleaner if not for a sloppy fourth inning, when his throwing error to first on a sacrifice bunt by Harold Castro and Kang's inability to come up with a sharp grounder by John Hicks allowed the Tigers to take a 4-2 lead.
"Definitely better than the first two," Keller said. "Felt like I had more command of everything tonight. Just mixing well and limiting damage when there were runners on base. That was huge."
Pirates: RHP Jordan Lyles (left-hamstring tightness) threw a four-inning simulated game on Tuesday. ... C Francisco Cervelli (concussion-like symptoms) is with the team and has begun light baseball activities but remains out indefinitely. .. RHP Chris Stratton (right-side discomfort) was activated off the injured list. To make room for Stratton the Pirates sent reliever Yefry Ramirez back to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Tigers: Expect Jordan Zimmerman (0-4, 5.93 ERA) to make his first start since April 25 after recovering from a strained right elbow.
Pirates: Trevor Williams (2-1, 3.33 ERA) returns from a monthlong stay on the injured list with a strained right side when he makes his 10th start of the season on Wednesday. Williams is 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA in three starts against Detroit.
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Special Olympian Jenny Cheeseman reflects on athletic career
October 3, 2017 Bryanna Winner 0 Comments
Photo by Sandy Fales: The Scribe
Bryanna Winner
bwinner@uccs.edu
CORRECTION: The Scribe incorrectly printed that Jenny Cheeseman is a senior geology major at UCCS. She is not a student at UCCS.
Located a few miles from the Olympic Training Center, UCCS has seen a few Olympic and Special Olympic athletes make their way through the university.
One of these athletes is senior geology major Jenny Cheeseman.
Cheeseman began competing in the Special Olympics when she was 8 years old. She has competed in various events for the past 28 years.
In June, Cheeseman came in first place in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 100 medley and second in the 200-meter freestyle at the Special Olympics of Colorado meet at Colorado Mesa University.
“My goal is to keep doing Special Olympics as long as I can and do the best I can,” she said.
Alongside swimming events like the 100-meter breaststroke, 100 medley and 200-meter freestyle, Cheeseman has competed on several athletic teams, including tennis, basketball and Bocce Ball, among others, in the Special Olympic Games.
At the state meet in 2013, Cheeseman came in second place in the 100-meter breaststroke and third in the 200-meter freestyle. That same year, she placed third in singles and unified doubles tennis at the Southwest Invitational Tournament in Denver.
“I also love it [Special Olympics] because I get to meet athletes from different countries and make new friends,” she said.
According to the Special Olympics website, an athlete has to be 8 years old in order to compete in the games and may do so as long as they can; no maximum age limit is required. Training and competitions are open to anyone with intellectual disabilities that meet the age requirement.
“I like to do Special Olympics. I’m proud of what I do and of my accomplishments,” said Cheeseman.
Cheeseman has also received awards for her time as a Special Olympian, including the 1996 Colorado Special Olympics Female Athlete of the Year. She was also a Special Olympics Hall of Fame inductee.
Cheeseman went to the 1997 Winter World Games in Collingwood and Toronto, Canada and placed in three events for cross-country skiing: third in the 1-kilometer race freestyle, second in the 100-meter classical race and second in the 500-meter freestyle race.
Along with the 1997 games, she also went to the 1999 Summer World Games in Raleigh, North Carolina and placed in two events for tennis: third in singles and second in mixed doubles.
Cheeseman trains for one hour every day at the Garden Ranch YMCA for the next Special Olympics, which won’t take place until next spring in Grand Junction.
“I usually train with my team the Grizzly Aquatics to prepare for the spring meets. We practice one night a week at the Downtown YMCA, and in Pueblo, we have our area meet for the southeast area meet. All of our state meets are in Grand Junction,” said Cheeseman.
For more information on the Special Olympics, visit specialolympics.org.
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Britney Spears Ooh La La Song
Ooh La La (Britney Spears song)
The music video caused controversy when British politicians criticized Spears for using replica guns while filming the video in an area of London that had been badly affected by the England riots. Halfway through the performance, she ripped off her black suit to reveal a sequined flesh-colored bodysuit, followed by heavy dance routine.
Curious Fantasy Believe Radiance. He was pretending to be me and communicating with my team with a fake email address. Her team also announced that Spears would go on an indefinite work hiatus, putting all activities and commitments on hold, so that she can spend time with her family. An anonymous source speaks out.
Britney Spears Debuts Ooh La La From Smurfs 2 Soundtrack
She admitted herself to other treatment facilities during the following weeks. South Korean singer, BoA has also spoken of Spears's influence on her. The performance was panned by many critics.
The music video heavily samples clips of the movie. She's just poised for even greater success. In the United States, Spears became the only female artist to have her first five studio albums debut at the two top slots of the chart. The Saturdays official website. James Spears Lynne Spears.
Britney Spears Ooh La La Lyrics
She also appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. She assumed more creative control by writing and co-producing most of the material. The neutrality of this section is disputed. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Rudolph decided that he wanted to pitch her to record labels, for which she needed a professional demo made.
Problems playing these files? Everyone gets inspiration from some place.
Spears early on cultivated a mixture of innocence and experience that generated lots of cash. Baby One More Time and Oops! In addition to making certain people in her camp look bad, the e-mails in question show a woman capable of running her own life, a narrative they apparently want to hide. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. The April cover of Rolling Stone featured Spears lying on her bed, wearing an open top revealing her bra, and shorts.
Bryan Spears brother Jamie Lynn Spears sister. International Business Times. The restraining order forbids Lutfi and Ghalib from contacting Spears or coming within yards of her, her property or family members. Live in Concert Piece of Me Tour. Following her debut, Spears was credited with leading the revival of teen pop in the late s.
The Official Charts Company. Her father, my grandfather, was Anthony Portelli, who came from the island of Malta. The same year, Spears embarked on the Oops! American singer, dancer and actress. Billboard and was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America after a month.
Her show was a four-song set and she was accompanied by two back-up dancers. She was forced to remain six weeks with a thigh brace, followed by eight to twelve weeks of rehabilitation, which caused The Onyx Hotel Tour to be canceled.
Spears claimed that the situation happened because of a frightening encounter with paparazzi, and that it was a mistake on her part. In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote.
Her team's desperate attempt to direct negative attention onto me yet again is a rather ineffective way to overshadow the FreeBritney movement. Here's a thread on how the crooked woman leeched into Britney's life. For the album, ilivid safe see Britney album.
But I also had my own identity and I knew who I was. The title track was released as the lead single from the album. But backed by Martin and Dr. Luke Ammo Cirkut Emily Wright. The following night, she shaved her head with electric clippers at a hair salon in Tarzana, Los Angeles.
Spears was hired for her first professional role as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the Off-Broadway musical Ruthless! After Spears returned to the United States, she embarked on a shopping mall promotional tour to promote her upcoming debut album. In doing so, it became Spears's lowest-charting and lowest-selling album in the country. The song also charted well in several other countries, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain and South Korea. Spears premiered songs from her upcoming second album during the show.
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BRITNEY SPEARS - OOH LA LA (FROM THE SMURFS 2 ) LYRICS
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Shackleton's Man Goes South by Tony White
Duncan Lawie
Issue: 12 August 2013
Shackleton's Man Goes South is an intriguing object—from the choice of title, through the three different opening chapters to the three expanding, disconnecting, closing chapters. Even the Acknowledgements ask for thought. Yet this is not so much a novel as an assemblage of material from which the reader is asked to take meaning. The desire to find sense in the material and to believe that the author put it there is twinned with the fear that there is no meaning at all, that this volume is pure Rorschach blot.
The opening chapter is a squib. It is a quality piece of writing, enlivened by a nod to Michael Moorcock, but its only engagement with the rest of the book is through the introduction of "the found manuscript gag" (p. 23). This short story is a counterfactual description of the science museum buildings as the center of "an aerial 'shanty town'" (p. 3), a "cable kingdom . . . by which the citizens below both disseminated and delivered their communications" (p. 4). The world described feels familiar from the opening pages of Sterling and Gibson's The Difference Engine (1990), but here, the supposed extracts from an unpublished novel move on to "the Zeppelin attack which razed the old Science Museum buildings and the bulk of the Imperial Institute" (p. 6). This was, apparently, no mere bombing raid but a superscience event. The chapter effortlessly evokes huge clouds of steampunk imagery. But after it ends, there is not even the slightest further reference to these events of 1916.
The body of the book alternates between telling the story of Emily and Jenny, climate change refugees who have reached the relative safety of South Georgia, and a non-fiction engagement with climate change.
The debt to Shackleton shows in the fictional parts. Emily is also the name of Ernest Shackleton's wife, whilst the people smuggler is known as Browning, also the name of Shackleton’s favorite poet. Their story begins in chapter two—"Patience Camp"—which begins wonderfully. The title uses the name of Ernest Shackleton's camp on the sea ice, where he and his men waited for the drift to take them north after they had abandoned their ship. However, our protagonists are approaching the island of South Georgia, being the land which Shackleton's boat party reached after an astonishing sea crossing in an open boat. The travelers can smell "the potent and unmistakable human cocktail carried to them across miles of ocean" (p. 10). Here is a world ripped from the pages of John Calvin Batchelor's The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica (1983). It has Batchelor's cold, desperate people hoping against hope to be able to make a new start at the end of the world; it has that novel's hatred and distrust of the old order; it even has the same South Georgia setting. In contrast, White tells his story without the bombast which so strongly flavors Batchelor's work, leaving more room for sympathy with these refugees. At the sentence level, this is quality writing:
It was almost deafening after so long at sea where the only accompaniment had been the gentle applause of water slapping the sides of the boat. It was as if sound was the medium in which Patience Camp and South Georgia were suspended. As if noise superseded air and water to create a sonic atmosphere that battered with acoustic weather, a great percussive cacophony. It felt as if they were at the centre of some chaotic universe of sound created by so much humanity on the move and this vicious wind that whipped and tore and rattled at everything. (p. 17)
They hope to go on to the Antarctic continent where Emily's husband went ahead, but for the body of this fiction, they are stuck in Patience Camp. The setting is distinctive for its South Georgia location, but there is a reliance on the reader's familiarity with the nature of refugee camps.
The non-fiction chapters form a multi-part essay titled "Antarctic Scenarios" which could sit quite happily in the pages of a middlebrow journal. It is heavy on the kind of journalism which situates the interview: "Professor Spicer—Bob—generously gives me a couple of hours of his time, even though the following day he is leaving for a two-month fieldwork trip to India" (p. 50). This thread begins with a potted history of Scott and Shackleton and develops into a discussion of the history of the science of climate change. There is little here to excite or enrage. Our author falls into a few of the usual traps of telling Antarctic history, but avoids just as many. This history is the starting point of White's discussion of climate change, as one of the earliest uses of the term comes from Scott's meteorologist, George Simpson, in a scientific romance written and published during Scott's last expedition. Simpson's story has no connection to Shackleton, who wasn't on that expedition, making it hard to see why the book is titled Shackleton's Man Goes South . White goes on to interview a number of interesting professional scientists on climate change, past and future, who have differing opinions on the extent of its effects, but avoids any engagement with those who deny its existence. There is an odd diversion into the eugenic uses of ice ages and a once popular justification for the white race's superiority based on having just the right amount of environmental stress. Somewhere in there, I suspect White is trying to make a point but perhaps I am being too teleological and should view this as an information sharing exercise, an opportunity to inform.
Of course, there are points White is very keen to make, but he destroys his fiction to do it. As Patience Camp becomes a more obvious analogy for every refugee camp in the modern world, Emily and Jenny's story becomes more hopeless. Rather than carry this story through, White now steps outside it, to present it as a performance—a "ballad opera"—being presented in a detention facility. The greater, more active oppression by authority still reflects Batchelor's work, but the detail quickly becomes a reflection of actual facilities. Indeed, as the acknowledgements say, "Description of the fictional 'CBCP Endurance' detention facility in Chapter 12 is derived for satirical purposes from official descriptions." By this point the non-fictional narrative has tailed away. Its final topic of discussion is directly reflected here: that those at the bottom of the heap will suffer most, as they always do, that the forces of authority and othering will be enough to keep us thinking that this is someone else's problem. More subtly, White opens the possibility that, in the end, we each might be that someone else, that unfortunate refugee. He introduces Emily as follows: "she might look a bit like you, if you are a woman; about the same height and build. If you are a man, she looks a bit like your sister if you have one, or a cousin or female friend; one who is quite close to you in age" (p. 16). Late in the book, Browning is similarly described. But White changes focus again, moving firmly into Ken MacLeod territory. Chapter thirteen describes in a matter of fact manner the preparations for a waterboarding; it is masterfully understated, building a growing sense of horror that this is not really fiction, that it actually happens in the world today.
And then the frame pulls out again; even the previous chapter is itself a text, found in "the British Library, Stromness" (p. 151). Now we have a new implied narrator, referencing all the foregoing as story; but the idea that the British Library is itself in South Georgia suggests, all over again, that everything we have experienced in this book is, at least in outline, part of a future history. And there is one more wrinkle to come—a found text inside this text in the British Library. This new text is the "so called 'High Seas Memorandum' of celebrated 21st-century humanitarian and anti-torture campaigner John C. Yoo" (p. 151). It is a clear and definite argument against all forms of torture, describing it as any "intentional acts such as those designed to damage and destroy the human personality" (p. 154). This document, as published, is a hugely powerful indictment, a strong statement despite the black marks of lost detail throughout it. But the headings confuse. This appears to be from the U.S. Department of Justice, and is dated March 14th, 2003. Gradually, the recognition comes that this is a constructed document, that the "lost text" is redaction, that White has taken a document which infamously condones torture and reversed the meaning; that "Torture is torture is torture" (p. 155).
The Acknowledgements tell perhaps the truest story of this book's construction. It has been built through workshops, a lecture with readings, a residency, a commission, an exploratory essay, and through found texts adapted for satirical purposes. With such a multitude of sources, and having started at least as far back as 2007, it is hardly a surprise the final text has the shape of a portfolio. As such, Shackleton's Man Goes South is an odd collection of texts. The final chapter is powerful, but unearned, disconnected from the bulk of the text before it. There is a temptation to peer at this book from the same direction as David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (2004); there are multiple fascinating images here, but it never becomes a single work and the fiction lacks the courage of its convictions, unable to accept its own suspension of disbelief.
Duncan Lawie grew up in Australia and lives on the Kent coast. His work also appears in Media Culture Reviews.
© Copyright 2013 Duncan Lawie
About Duncan Lawie
Duncan Lawie has been reviewing SF for half as long as he has been reading it, although there was a quiet period during two years as an Arthur C. Clarke Award judge. His reviews also appear in the British Science Fiction Association's Vector Magazine.
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Hofstra Club Equestrian hosted their Home Show at Country Farms Equestrian Center in Medford, New York on Sunday, October 23. Captain Maria Sorrentino placed 6th in flat and 5th over fences with horse, Allegra, while Captain Kate Milford placed 6th over fences. Katie Tomasino placed 2nd in her walk trot canter class, while Meghan Tierney placed 6th and Katie Rozek placed 3rd. Katie Jackson finished up the show with a 4th place finish in her walk trot class. All members had an excellent day and worked extremely hard to put on the Home Show.
Hofstra Club Ice Hockey traveled to Mount Vernon, New York on Saturday, October 22nd to take on the Columbia University Lions. Columbia jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, but with two goals apiece from Nick Lewis and Guiseppe Chiaraville, Hofstra took down Columbia by a score of 6-3, garnering the Pride’s first win of the season.
On Saturday, October 23rd, the Pride returned to the ice against Suffolk County Community College, in Dix Hills, New York. The Pride jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, which was quickly answered by Suffolk to even the score at 1. Heading into the third period, the Pride held a one goal lead over the Sharks, 4-3. Midway through the final period, Suffolk would score twice to take a 5-4 lead. Elijah Vaillancourt of the Pride would knot the score at five, but the Sharks would answer with another two goals to lead 7-5. With the game winding down, Joe Grice made a nice saucer pass across the rink to a wide open Andrew Gagnon who sniped in goal, to bring the Pride within a goal. Unfortunately, Hofstra could not find the tying goal and fell to Suffolk, 7-6.
Hofstra Men’s Club Rugby reached the postseason for the first time since 2010, which landed them with a matchup against the conference’s best team, William Paterson University, on Sunday, October 23rd at Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, New Jersey. The first 20 minutes of the game were once again impressive for the Pride. Defensive holds and a couple of good runs were critical to set the tone. However, injuries and substitutions would play a major role for the Pride and William Paterson jumped out to a 10-0 lead halftime lead. The second half began with several long runs that resulted in tries and conversion kicks for the Bears. Hofstra was able to convert one try by Josh Beck, who scored in each of the Pride’s games this season. Hofstra would suffer a playoff loss, 84-5.
Hofstra Women’s Ultimate Frisbee traveled to New Brunswick, New Jersey for an overnight tournament on Saturday, October 22nd, and Sunday, October 23rd. On Saturday, Hofstra went 4-0 beating Rutgers University, 9-7, West Chester University’s Y-team, 7-6, Drexel University, 10-4, and West Chester University’s X-team, 9-4. On Sunday, Hofstra went 1-2, beating The College of New Jersey, 6-5, but falling to Towson University, 11-7, and Graduated Ladies, 10-2. Hofstra finished the tournament tied for 5th place.
Hofstra Club Running traveled to Queens, New York for the St. John’s University Track Club Pumpkin Challenge on Sunday, October 23rd. The Pride would match up against fellow Long Island teams, St. John’s University and Stony Brook University. Despite a 3rd place finish, there were many standout individuals. On the track, Mitchel Thomas and Andrew Grell finished 2nd and 3rd in the men’s 800m with times of 2:11 and 2:26, respectively. In the women’s 5000m, Courtney Gallagher finished 2nd with a new personal best of 21:59. The men’s 4x100m relay team composed of Ahmad Shami, Arbaaz Khan, Andrew Grell, and Mitchel Holson ran to a 3rd place finish in a time of 49.5 seconds. The men’s 4x400m relay of Mitchel Thomas, Mitchel Holson, Andrew Grell, and Adel Elkosh also grabbed a 3rd place finish with a time of 3:56. In the field events, Mitchel Holson picked up the only individual victory for the Pride: winning the long jump with a jump of 20’4.5’’. Arbaaz Khan placed 3rd in the long jump.
Hofstra Club Softball had a successful first ever outing against Sacred Heart University on Sunday, October 23rd in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Pride went 1-2 against the Pioneers. Falling in the first two games, the Pride faced suffering a sweep; however, they earned the victory in a 6-3 win over the Pioneers. Freshman pitcher Robbi Reed pitched all 21 innings on the day for the Pride, keeping them in every game and picking up the win in the final game of the day.
Finally, this week's Club Sports Athlete of the Week from Hofstra Men's Club Lacrosse, is Keith Marlor. In the Pride's 12-8 loss against Fordham, the sophomore attackman was exceptional, leading the Hofstra offensive charge with four goals.
Congratulations to Keith!
Zachary Englis, Guest Blogger
Graduate Assistant, Recreation and Intramural Sports
Posted by Shaun Fean, Associate Director of Campus Recreation at 12:08 PM 0 comments
On Sunday, October 16th, Hofstra Women’s Club Rugby won their first round playoff game against Fordham University, 62-17. Alexa Strickland, Lili Hinojoss Madrid, and Ashley Higby all scored their first tries of the season, while Redate Negussie scored the first of her career. Gabby Jones scored four tries, and Kaelyn Ragonese made five kicks in Hofstra’s win. The Pride move on to play the University of Albany in the next round of the playoffs on Sunday, October 23rd.
Hofstra Men’s Club Rugby took the pitch against Marist College for their final regular season game on Sunday, October 16th. Hofstra sought their first win and they found it in a big way. Captain Josh Beck scored 5 tries to help proper Hofstra to victory. Colin Tomaselli-Greenslade, Yusuke Miyajima, James Thompson, Noel Shewjattan, and Kyle Novak added tries of their own. Overall, Hofstra dominated the match offensively and defensively. Hofstra has progressed throughout the season and because of their competitiveness, they have earned a spot in the playoffs. They will look for a playoff upset against William Paterson University in the Pride’s return to the postseason on Sunday, October 23rd.
Hofstra Club Baseball traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Drexel University for a three game set from Friday, October 14th to Sunday, October 16th.
In Game 1 of the NCBA Conference series, Justin Cusano took the hill to open conference play for the Pride’s 2017 season. Things did not go very smooth for Cusano, as he failed to get out of the second inning for the first time in his 4-year Hofstra Club Baseball career. He allowed 6 earned runs in 1.1 IP. Behind Cusano, Steven Pekarik came in and shut the Drexel Dragons down for the remaining 5.2 IP, but the bats never came alive and Drexel beat Hofstra, 8-1.
In Game 2, junior Sean Cunningham took the hill for the Hofstra. Through 6 innings the Pride had played a clean, defensive game and trailed the Dragons 2-0. It wasn’t until the top of the 7th inning when the Pride got things started. The Pride erupted for 8 runs, with the big knock being Kevin Cunningham’s bases clearing, 3 run triple that staked the Pride to an 8-2 lead. Drexel would mount their own rally in the bottom of the 7th, but the Pride bullpen shut the door, and Hofstra evened the series at 1 game apiece with an 8-5 victory.
In the rubber game of the series, P.J. Potter took the mound for the Pride, and he was masterful, pitching 9 innings and allowing only 1 earned run while scattering 6 hits. However, the Pride would find themselves down 3-0 in the 5th inning. Not a problem for the comeback kids from Hempstead, as the Pride rallied with 4 runs to grab the lead 4-3. Hofstra would add insurance runs in the 7th and 8th as well to put Drexel away, 8-4, and take the rubber game of the three game set.
For the weekend the biggest offensive producers for the Pride were:
· Justin Cusano 7 hits/.636/3 RBI/2 Runs
· Ben Lawlor 3 hits/.375/2 2B/4 RBI/4 Runs
· Sean Cunningham 3 hits/.500/2 RBI/1 Run
Hofstra Women's Club Soccer traveled to New Jersey to take on Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday, October 15th. Despite playing a solid game, the Pride were unable to find the back of the net, falling to Stevens, 2-0.
On Sunday, October 16th, the Pride hosted both Montclair State University and SUNY New Paltz. In the first game against Montclair, Heather Aleksis scored for the Pride, as they battled to a 1-1 tie with the Red Hawks. Emma Fasolino played excellent in net behind the solid defense of Sarah Bouzaidi, Marisa Saia, and Hannah Carmeli.
In the second game of the day, SUNY New Paltz and Hofstra played a well matched game. Goals were scored for the Pride by Sarah Cordes, Heather Aleksis, and Gabby Cottone. Madison Webb played excellent at midfield, and Katie Spoleti played solid defense in the Pride’s 3-2 victory.
On Sunday, October 9th, Hofstra Club Ice Hockey played MCHC rival Fordham University at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon, New York. Hofstra and Fordham both got on the board early in the game; however, Fordham would quickly pull away beating Hofstra 8-1.
Friday, October 14th, Hofstra hosted the reigning MCHC champion Yale Bulldogs. Hofstra opened up the scoring with a power play goal scored by Darren Schwartz and assisted by Joe Grice. Yale would quickly answer to even the score at 1 apiece. Going into the third period, Hofstra trailed 2-1. Joe Grice would score in the middle of the period to even the score at 2, but that would be all for the Pride. Yale would score a late 3rd period goal and go on to win 3-2.
On Saturday, October 15th, Hofstra Club Quidditch hosted a 12 team tournament where the top teams from the East Coast came to compete on Hofstra’s campus. In the first round of pool play Hofstra faced the defending National Champions, Quidditch Club Boston, where they suffered a loss, 10-180. Erin Daley scored the only goal for the Flying Dutchmen. Hofstra continued to play four more games throughout the day against the University of Rochester, Tufts University, Rutgers University, and New York University. Even though the Flying Dutchmen were not able to pull out a win, they consider the tournament a success and are working on improving for regionals.
Hofstra Club Equestrian competed at Olde Towne Equestrian Center on Sunday, October 16th. Maria Sorrentino placed 6th over fences. Katie Jackson, Katie Rozek, and Hannah Matuszak all rode well in their respective classes, with Jackson claiming a 5th place ribbon, while Rozek took home a 4th place ribbon.
Hofstra Running Club took part in the St. John's Cross Country Fall Festival at Cunningham Park in Queens, New York on Sunday, October 16th. On the women's side, Freshman Courtney Gallagher ran the 4K in a time of 18:01, which was good enough to finish 8th overall in the club division. On the men's side, sophomore Ryan Connell was Hofstra's top finisher crossing with a 5k time of 17:46. This was good enough for 41st overall and 7th in the club standings. Hofstra's next finisher was sophomore Andrew Grell who ran 20:34. Freshman Tyler Baron (21:36) and junior Adel Elkosh (25:59) rounded out a solid effort for the Pride.
Hofstra Men's Club Lacrosse took on Fordham University under the lights at Shuart Stadium on Wednesday, October 19th. Hofstra and Fordham played a hard fought game, but the Pride fell to Fordham, 12-8. Keith Marlor finished the night with four goals for Hofstra.
Hofstra Club Roller Hockey traveled to Warwick, Rhode Island to take on the Minutemen from the University of Massachusetts. Hofstra fell to UMass by a score of 6-0.
Finally, we are proud to announce the first recipient of our new initiative, the Hofstra Club Sports Student-Athlete of the Week. Our inaugural winner, from Hofstra Men’s Club Rugby, is Tayab Kirmani. Earlier in the season, Kirmani was named the Tri-State Conference Rugby Imports Player of the Week. Their press release stated:
“Kirmani played a tremendous game in a narrow 17-15 loss to last year’s conference champions RPI. The Big number 8 was a force on defense and questioned RPI’s line with a number of powerful pick and gos at the breakdown. Hofstra has struggled in league play in recent years, but a tight match with the defending conference champs puts the league on notice. Kirmani was instrumental in the game, earning praise from both coaches and the referee for his gritty performance.”
Congratulations to Tayab!
Posted by Shaun Fean, Associate Director of Campus Recreation at 4:01 PM 0 comments
My Olympic Volunteer Experience
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Cook County Hospital fills more outpatient prescriptions every day than are filled at 26 Walgreen's drug store combined.
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | All
from the office of Commissioner Larry Suffredin:
Looking to lease MWRD real estate? New online mapping system of properties now available
Northbrook, MWRD unveil unique park facility to prevent flooding
Why I voted “Yes” on the 2017 Cook County Budget
WHY I VOTED YES ON A "SWEETENED BEVERAGE TAX"
Argonne, MWRD complete first phase of Chicago River study
REI has awarded the Forest Preserve Foundation a grant that will go for the Palos Trail System
Forum Showcases Cultural History of the Forest Preserves of Cook County
Pharmaceutical Disposal Ordinance Passes
Minimum Wage Ordinance
President Preckwinkle Presents 2017 Budget Recommendation
MWRD's 4th Annual Sustainability Summit honors green landscaping, biosolids users
Sewer Rats perform against the clock during national competition in New Orleans
MWRD recognized as "Utility of the Future"
Growing MWRD tree program shelters region from storms
First Phase of North Branch Trail Extension Opens
Forest Preserves of Cook County Fall Events Schedule Now Available
Plungers demonstrate improved water quality in Cal-Sag Channel
The Forest Preserves of Cook County is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony for its newly remodeled General Headquarters
New Trier rowers' success a reflection on cleaner waters
First human case of West Nile virus in suburban Cook County
Fight the Bite Cook County campaign to prevent West Nile and Zika viruses launches today
Meet the Forest Preserve Foundation's Newest Board Members!
New pact between MWRD and Cook County Sheriff leads to safer streets, cleaner waters
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Page 4 of 20 displaying items 76-100 of 491
Medical examiner's office evacuated after explosive acid found
Preckwinkle calls predecessor Stroger ‘inept’
Cook County expands Orland Grassland preserve
Cook County Circuit Court employee charged with bribery, official misconduct
Letter to the Editor: "Gun Tax Won't Work"
Preckwinkle seeking legal action against county assessor
Critics take aim at Preckwinkle bullet tax
Scott Stantis cartoons: Preckwinkle's gun tax
Editorial: County tax on guns, ammo a reasonable idea
Preckwinkle criticized for bullet tax idea
Preckwinkle defends proposal to tax guns, ammo in Cook County
Court clerk, former deputy face bribery charges
Stroger's ER wait time falls to under 2 hours
Cook County moving to put prime office space on the market
For rent: Preckwinkle’s deluxe county digs downtown
Criticized cemetery gets new contract for indigent
Cook County awards $700k contract to keep indigent burials in state
Cook County agrees to pricier burial contract
Contractors doing business with Cook County board now must report problems to watchdog
Lawsuit alleges emergency response delay near Glenview
Cook County weighs hikes, cuts to fill $115 million gap
Report: Nearly $100,000 in unacccounted Cook County commissioner expenses
County pays $230k to settle lawsuit brought by ex-staffer for Peraica
Assessor employee suspended for getting property tax break twice
GAMING THE SYSTEM?
< Prev | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 | Next >
Page 120 of 314 displaying items 2976-3000 of 7848
The views expressed in the press articles do not necessarily reflect or are endorsed by Commissioner Larry Suffredin and our office.
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On Friday, November 6, 1970, the body of Erith Wybert Hall was discovered at the Super Test Station formerly located at 210 North Main Street in Wildwood, Florida. Hall, an employee at the station was the victim of homicide, the incident was believed to ha...
Contacting the Records Division
You may reach the Records Division by:
Those seeking public records will be charged a prepayment fee of the actual cost of making the copies, which is permissible by law. Fees are as follows:
Paper copies - $0.15 per page
Downloaded computer files to a compact disc - $10.00 per disc
Note: For researching of archived reports and/or multiple records requests, an hourly charge may also be imposed.
For those requesting documents to be mailed, the cost will be $0.15 per page and a self-addressed stamped envelope.
The Sumter County Sheriff's Office Records Division is responsible for processing and managing a vast number of records and reports for the agency. When deputies submit their daily reports and information, the Records Division performs data entry and case tracking, providing the courts, government agencies and other lawfully permitted parties with the necessary facts and information related to an event. The Records Division also performs records checks on individuals and processes requests for accident and incident reports. Please note that some types of information filed with the Sheriff's Office cannot be accessed while the cases are pending adjudication through the courts.
Accident / Offense Reports
The Sumter County Sheriff's Office Records Division provides accident or offense reports to any involved party free of charge. Reports can be requested in person, by calling the Records Division at (352) 569-1600 or by mail: Sumter County Sheriff's Office, Attention: Records Division, 7361 Powell Rd, Wildwood, FL 34785.
Forms are available to request a "local" Sumter County Background Check. You may pick up a form at the Sheriff's Office at 7361 Powell Rd, Wildwood, Fl 34785 OR 250 E McCollum Ave, Bushnell, Florida 33513 or contact the Sheriff's Office directly. For information on how to obtain statewide and nationwide criminal history information visit the Florida Division of Law Enforcement Criminal History site.
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Driving excellence in the management, rehabilitation, training and coaching of athletes.
Randolph Foundation Supports Texas A&M Handball Through $1 Million Endowment
Texas A&M sport researcher finds rude coaches hurt team performance
Home › Categories
Ladainian Tomlinson to Speak about Sports Branding
NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson and the president of the Houston Texans will be part of an expert panel speaking about sports branding on Thursday, April 14.
George Cunningham Named Incoming Editor for JIS
George Cunningham, professor and director of the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport, has been named as incoming editor for the Journal of Intercollegiate Sport (JIS).
Texas A&M Judo Wins Texas State Collegiate Championships
Three HLKN Student Athletes on Academic All-Big XII Team
Three students from the Department of Health and Kinesiology are among 46 student-athletes honored to the 2011 Academic All-Big XII Women's Basketball Team.
Stephanie Davidosn a Chick-Fil-A Champion
From Aggie Athletics Texas A&M women's tennis player Stephanie Davidson has been selected to the Big 12/Chick-fil-A Winter Community of Champions, the conference office announced today.
Guidry Receives Hawkins Distinguished Scholar Award
Jeffrey Guidry, professor in health education in the Department of Health & Kinesiology, was awarded the Frank T. Hawkins Distinguished Scholar Award from the Research Association of Minority Professors (RAMP) at their annual conference.
Catherine Snow Knows Her Role
The Texas A&M Women's Basketball program is definitely on a roll. The team just recorded its 11th straight win in a tough road win against Iowa State; bringing its' season record to 17-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play.
Aggies Providing Live Tweets From Germany for Women's World Cup
For the second year, students from the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics (LSIA) in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University are serving as representatives and hosts for the 75th AT&T Cotton Bowl
Study Suggests African-Americans Underrepresented in NCAA Football Coaching
African-Americans are underrepresented in hiring decisions as college football coaches, according to a new study co-authored by a Texas A&M University researcher.
Summer sports camp changes lives of both campers and counselors
For Tony Rosselli '08, it's about more than just a summer job.
Tony, a senior kinesiology major, works as a counselor at Deerfoot Youth Camp, a summer sports camp for at-risk, underprivileged boys ages 10 to 13 in Magnolia, Texas.
Women, take note: When it comes to being hired for the top jobs in college sports, don't print up those business cards just yet.
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International air transport policy statement
Airspace Policy and Plan
Aviation Medical Convener review
Aviation Security Passenger information
Aviation Security Service review Q&As
Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol
Civil Aviation Act 1990 and Airport Authorities Act 1966 review
Civil Aviation Bill
International air services
Milford Sound Piopiotahi Aerodrome
Performance Based Navigation
West Auckland Airport - airport authority status
The objective of New Zealand’s international air transport policy is to help grow the economy and deliver greater prosperity, security and opportunities for New Zealanders. This will be achieved by seeking opportunities for New Zealand-based and foreign airlines to provide their customers with improved connectivity to the rest of the world, and to facilitate increased trade in goods and services (including tourism).
New Zealand will pursue a policy of putting in place reciprocal open skies agreements, except where it is not in the best interests of the country as a whole.
Where the other party will not agree to open skies agreements, we will seek to put in place the most open package of air services arrangements that is in New Zealand’s overall best interests, both in the short and long term.
In doing this we will recognise the benefit to New Zealand that new or additional services by overseas airlines can bring, while ensuring that New Zealand-based airlines have a fair and equal opportunity to compete. We will also recognise the value of a strong and competitive New Zealand-based aviation industry.
We will consider, on a case-by-case basis, granting approval for extra-bilateral services pending the putting into place of new or expanded air services arrangements. These approvals will be provided where this is demonstrated to be in New Zealand’s best interests and on the basis that such authorisation may be withdrawn if New Zealand airlines are denied opportunities to offer services to the home market of the foreign airline in question.
Over the five years to June 2017, we will give favourable consideration to authorising operations by foreign airlines into Christchurch ahead of negotiations, to reduce barriers to entry as the region recovers from the 2010-11 earthquakes.
Elements of Air Services Arrangements
Where open skies is determined to be in the country’s best interest, New Zealand will continue to seek to put in place agreements that provide for:
no restrictions on routes, capacity or traffic rights (including 7th freedom and cabotage - 8th and 9th freedom - rights)
no regulation of tariffs, except to prevent anti-competitive behaviour
liberal arrangements for granting operating authorisations following receipt of designation
provisions facilitating regulatory cooperation by civil aviation authorities on matters such as trade in aviation goods and services
In other cases, or where the other party will not agree to a full open skies agreement, the provisions that are in New Zealand’s best interest (taking into account the overall package on the table) will be agreed. In doing this, we will balance an exchange of sufficient capacity for services that airlines plan to offer in the short to medium term, with the long-term objective of open skies.
Airline Ownership
Government policy on the ongoing ownership of Air New Zealand is being considered in the context of implementing a mixed ownership model and does not form part of this policy statement.
New Zealand’s policy with regard to third-country investment in foreign international airlines will be to:
continue to seek to negotiate agreements that provide for the link between airlines and the designating state to be based on principal place of business, place of incorporation and effective regulatory control, in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) liberalisation model
continue to consider, on a case-by-case basis, not exercising the discretion to withhold authorisation from airlines that do not fully meet the designation criteria of the relevant Air Services Agreement, where there is no overt circumvention of other bilateral agreements or detriment to future liberalisation with the states involved
continue to monitor the work by ICAO on the Multilateral Convention on Foreign Investment in Airlines with a view to acceding to such an agreement should an acceptable outcome emerge
The policy on designation of New Zealand airlines (other than Air New Zealand) will include:
removal of the policy limits of 25 percent ownership by any one foreign airline or 35 percent by foreign airlines in total
considering, on a case-by-case basis, designating New Zealand-based airlines whose ownership and control structure is consistent with the relevant bilateral arrangements, or where the risk of operating authorisations not being accepted is small
considering, on a case-by-case basis, applying a more liberal policy for cargo-only airlines
Negotiation Programme
The negotiation programme will prioritise relationships where unavailability of rights is preventing airlines from offering services. The aim will be to have arrangements in place ahead of demand.
We will pursue agreements that facilitate services to major and developing markets, and by carriers whose services will improve New Zealand’s connectivity to global networks, or utilise New Zealand as a hub.
A short- and medium-term focus will be on negotiations within East Asia and South America, in line with negotiating mandates already granted by Cabinet.
Other mandates will be progressed over the medium term.
Longer-term negotiating priorities will shift in line with economic, commercial and aero-political developments. The Ministry of Transport will also monitor air transport policy changes in other countries to identify liberalisation opportunities.
In implementing this policy the Ministry of Transport will work with other New Zealand government agencies whose responsibilities include matters that impact, or are impacted by air services.
The government will develop mechanisms to allow more systematic engagement with a wider range of stakeholders, the aviation industry, including airlines and airports, and tourism and freight interests, on determining priorities and approaches to individual negotiations.
New Zealand is aware of the particular air transport needs of the Forum Island Countries, and in particular the need for further development of air transport links and infrastructure. We will continue to take a flexible approach toward the negotiation and implementation of air services arrangements with them.
Multilateral and plurilateral negotiations
The New Zealand government intends to continue to engage in multilateral and regional initiatives where these are consistent with the thrust of this policy. In particular we will look for opportunities to enhance our links at a regional level with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We will continue to monitor aero-political and commercial developments to assess when a resumption of negotiations with the European Commission might prove desirable.
Download the full Policy
New Zealand International Air Transport Policy [PDF, 60 KB]
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For Dioceses
For Religious Communities
For Catholic Schools
For Catholic Parishes
Leadership Formation
Biblical Stories Retold
Strengthening Catholic Identity
The Reid Group Sites > The Reid Group: Faith > February 2012: Team-Building: A Worthwhile Investment
February 2012: Team-Building: A Worthwhile Investment
The Reid Group News
Quotes for Inspiration and Action
Team Building: a Worthwhile Investment
Making the Case–for Fundraising
How much time and attention do you and your organization give to team-building? In this edition of Transforming Challenges, Senior Consultant John Reid makes the case for investing the time in order to help teams function most effectively.
At The Reid Group, we have a passion for helping leaders and organizations transform their challenges into opportunities to create a better world. One of the ways we do that is through this e-letter, Transforming Challenges. Is there someone you know who could benefit from receiving it? Forward this edition to them and encourage them to subscribe for themselves. They’ll thank you—and so do we!
Lucien Roy and Sue Secker had several productive days in Washington D.C. at the end of January at the conference of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. The first pamphlet in a series entitled “Strengthening Catholic Identity,” jointly produced by ACCU and The Reid Group, was distributed at the conference. The first pamphlet focused on the role of the Mission Officer; the next in the series will be published at the end of March.
We are pleased to announce that the Tacoma Dominican Community in Tacoma, WA has received a grant from the National Religious Retirement Office to contract with The Reid Group on fund development and strategic planning. Tom Reid and Sue Secker will work with the Community over the next year.
Lucien Roy and John Reid have begun work on an executive search for a Vice President for Mission Integration for the Sacred Heart Health System in Pensacola, FL.
John and Sue have been engaged by the Providence Health System in Spokane, WA to conduct an executive search for a Director of Ethics.
he National Leadership Roundtable for Church Management has published the four modules for Diocesan Planning for Excellence written by The Reid Group consultants John Reid and Maureen Gallagher. They are available on theChurchepedia site.
So as you look at your individual or organizational future, what are your challenges? Could you benefit from skilled support? Give us a call at 206-432-3565 or send us ane-mail to start transforming those challenges into opportunities.
One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up,
add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire,
large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends;
needless to say that individuality counts but team work dynamites.
Master Jin Kwon
Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.
We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth.
Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house… let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness.
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.
Feature Focus
Team-Building–Always Worth the Effort
John Reid, Senior Consultant,
The Reid Group
All of us have been part of groups of various kinds-from family to classmates to co-workers. Sometimes these groups are effective, building strong bonds. At other times, groups can be ineffective or not helpful to our growth and development.
Groups can be understood as a collection of people: carpoolers, bus riders, fellow airline passengers, etc. Teams, however, are groups with a shared purpose and a clear understanding of roles and expectations. One such team is a symphony. If every musician came to practice doing their own thing, or if they only want to play the violin, there would be no beautiful music.
The same is true for any effective team, whether in the family, the workplace or the larger community. These teams need to focus on their purpose or mission and clarify the roles, responsibilities and expectations for each member of the team. When that work is done, teams are able to thrive and make a significant impact.
Even when the purpose and roles are clear, however, it is important to understand that all teams go through stages of development. B. J. Tuckman describes four stages of team development: forming, storming, norming and performing.
The forming stage address the factors that help people feel they belong to the team and are respected as contributing members.
Storming deals with the inevitability of conflict and the experiences of difference on a team. The more that conflict can be welcomed as leading to superior decision-making, the more that the collective wisdom of the team can be brought to bear on those decisions.
In the norming stage, teams identify their guidelines of behavior (e.g., we begin and end meetings on time, or we take time for personal check-in at the beginning of meetings, or we welcome conflict as well as life-giving humor as important contributors to teamwork).
The performing stage focuses on what Stephen Covey calls the two bottom lines of any organization: the promotion and enhancement of relationships and the accomplishment of results.
Peter Senge, in The Fifth Discipline, makes several comments regarding teams:
“The fundamental characteristic of the relatively unaligned team is wasted energy.” None of us likes wasting energy or time, so a focus on productive team-building is a good investment.
Why is it, Senge asks, that people with IQs of 120, 130 or 140 operate in teams that exhibit a collective IQ of 50? Too often teams that are struggling are willing to settle for the lowest common denominator in decision-making in order to avoid conflict. The most effective teams aim for a collective IQ 200 or 250 by building on the best thinking of each member.
A commitment to building strong, effective and mission-focused teams is well worth it. The results will make, like the best symphonies, beautiful music.
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity–principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge
In The Fifth Discipline, Senge describes how companies can rid themselves of the learning “disabilities” that threaten their productivity and success by adopting the strategies of learning organizations-ones in which new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, collective aspiration is set free, and people are continually learning how to create results they truly desire.
Mining Group Gold, Third Edition: How to Cash in on the Collaborative Brain Power of a Team for Innovation and Results
Thomas Kayser
If two heads are better than one, how about a team of heads? An effective team can be more innovative than an individual. But how do you get there? While it is true that building and managing a strong, productive team is difficult, Mining Group Gold gives you a set of proven tools, techniques and processes that you must use and practice at all levels of your organization to build and maintain strong, collaborative teams. Based on 30 years of research and applied work with teams and organizational development by the author, this updated classical guide–now in its highly revised 3rd Edition–shows you how to plan, start-up, facilitate, and close-out efficient and effective collaborative meetings.
Tom Reid, Senior Consultant, Mediator, Coach
Without vision, the people perish.
Just as a lack of vision or purpose stagnates a people, so does the lack of funding impair the ability of organizations to achieve their mission.
Knowing how vital it is to secure adequate financial resources in support of their mission, why is it that so many organizations–especially faith-based and nonprofit organizations-have an aversion to fundraising? How do you and your organization think of fundraising–as a distasteful or necessary evil or an opportunity to invite more people to enrich their lives by investing in causes that make a difference?
To be successful, it is important for organizations to adopt the latter attitude, so that fundraising is not shunted to the margins of an organization’s attention but rather is seen as a vital and integral part of the whole of the organization’s mission.
The Reid Group approach to fundraising stems from a belief that it truly is an opportunity to offer people a way to make a difference in the world. Our approach is respectful, relational and invitational:
Respectful: we ask questions of potential donors about their priorities rather than starting with a focus on the organization’s needs, and we acknowledge their generosity in support of those priorities.
Relational: we are donor-centered, focusing on establishing or developing a relationship with a potential donor for the long-term, regardless of their ability to contribute to the immediate fundraising effort.
Invitational: we invite potential donors to enrich their lives by participating in and making a difference in a world bigger than their own interests.
As you look at your own organization’s approach to fundraising, do you dread it or welcome it? A change of perspective can make all the difference.
The Art of Change: Faith, Vision and Prophetic Planning
Think about what your organization could do if the process of planning met the inevitability of change head-on—and it resulted in significant success.
Organizations large and small, religious and secular, for-profit and not-for-profit, successful and unsuccessful, go through change. John Reid and Maureen Gallagher of the Reid Group have been instrumental in helping many groups discover the power of Prophetic Planning. This book presents a complete overview with detailed information that any organization will find useful in understanding how to plan for change.
The Art of Change: Faith, Vision and Prophetic Planning, and its companion CD are now available from Liguori Publications as well as from Amazon.com.
And that’s it for this month. Look for Transforming Challenges next month–and until then, have a good day and a great week.
Kathy Johnson, Editor
Transforming Challenges
Manage your E-Letter Subscription
The Reid Group E-Letter is © The Reid Group, 12535 15th Ave. NE, Suite 211, Seattle WA 98125; 206-432-3565.
Any part of this newsletter may be reproduced with full attribution.
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> From Past
From Present
Only People
Only Events
Only Icons
Who > Activists • Actors • Anarchists • Architects • Artists • Astronauts • Athletes • Bankers • Chefs • Chess players • Christians • Communists • Composers • Conquerors • Conquistadors • Crusaders • Designers • Dictators • Directors • Engineers • Entrepreneurs • Explorers • Founders • Freemasons • Historians • Humanists • Inventors • Jurists • Mechanicians • Merchants • Musicians • Muslims • Muzes • Painters • Philanthropists • Philosophers • Photographers • Pilots • Pirates • Polymaths • Prodigies • Reformers • Revolutionaries • Royalty • Sailors • Scientists • Settlers • Soldiers • Statesmen • Teachers • Warriors • Writers • Women • Icons • People
480 BC - 406 BC
Euripides, Greek Tragedian
Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom a significant number of plays have survived. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but, a...
Leucippus, 1st Theory of Atomism
Leucippus or Leukippos was the first Greek to develop the theory of atomism — the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms — which was elaborated in far greater detail by his pupil...
Socrates, I know that I know nothing
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Pla...
Hippocrates of Kos, Father of Medicine
Hippocrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician. He has been called "the father of medicine", and is commonly regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in medicine of all time. He was a physician trained at the Dream temple of Kos,...
Democritus, 1st Atomic Theory
Democritus ("chosen of the people") was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos. His exact contributions are difficult to dis...
Diagoras of Melos, The Atheist
Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos was a Greek poet and sophist of the 5th century BCE. Throughout antiquity he was regarded as an atheist. With the exception of this one point, there is little information concerning his life and beliefs. He s...
Alcibiades, Athenian Statesman / General
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Pel...
Aristophanes, Comic Playwright
Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays,...
4th Century BC
Isocrates, Greek Rhetorician
Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
Xenophon, Greek Historian
Xenophon was a soldier, mercenary and Athenian student of Socrates and is known for his writings on the history of his own times, the sayings of Socrates, and the life of Greece. While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition le...
Plato, Greek Philosopher
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especiall...
Diogenes of Sinope, The Cynic
Diogenes was chief among the school known as the cynics. It was said of Diognes that throughout his life he "searched with a lantern in the daylight for an honest man." And though Diogenes apparently did not find an honest man, he had, in t...
Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphys...
Demosthenes, Greatest Orator of Antiquity
Demosthenes, Athenian politician, has always been regarded as the greatest orator of Antiquity, and it is not exaggerated to say that his death marked the end of Greek political speech. Many of his speeches have survived, because in the thi...
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon was a Greek king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III. In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of Perinthus. Philip began another siege in 339 of...
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What is Tipperary Studies?
Tipperary Studies is dedicated to documenting and preserving the County’s rich cultural, social, economic and sporting histories, and aims to offer open, friendly and easy access to the Library’s collections to visitors both in person and through correspondence. The Library will collect, maintain and preserve documents of local interest under secure conditions and make them available, in a number of different ways, to members of the public who have an interest in exploring Co. Tipperary’s past. Tipperary Studies also aims to promote its collections and activities amongst the general public, and this is achieved through co-operation with other libraries, schools, historical societies, government departments, third level institutions and local historians. The Library’s staff is dedicated to assisting researchers with their queries and presenting the user with information from the Library’s genealogical, cultural and sporting collections, in a wide range of formats. Tipperary Studies’ collections are ever expanding, and the Library would greatly welcome contributions of Co. Tipperary related sources to ensure that the history of every facet of Tipperary life, both ancient and modern, can be held in trust for future generations.
Tipperary Studies is located on the first floor of the The Source Library and Arts Centre, above Thurles branch Library, on Cathedral Street, Thurles. It is a purpose built archive with facilities that can cater for groups of up to 12 people, such as class or historical society visits. The Library is equipped with four microfilm readers and two public PCs, along with ample study and reading spaces. The Library has been designed to ensure that sources of large dimensions, such as maps, broadsheet newspapers and manuscript material, can be viewed with great convenience and comfort. The vast majority of the Library’s newspaper collection is available on microfilm, which offers the user a printing facility. Depending on the condition of the material, other sources are available to be photocopied, digitally scanned or photographed. Because of the limited numbers of machines available, prior booking is advised, though not essential.
Tipperary Studies Digitisation Project
The Tipperary Studies digitisation project aims to make available online a range of sources, both historical and genealogical, which are part of the fabric which makes up the history of Tipperary.
Many of these documents are unique to Tipperary Studies and one of the aims of the project is to make these sources available to everyone, free of charge, whether you reside within the county of Tipperary or in any part of Ireland or the far flung reaches of the world.
Such are the range of documents and items in the collection that the project is one which is always going to be a work in progress. As items are digitised they will be made available online. To that end you are encouraged to keep visiting the site to see what is new.
The digitisation project is but one element of the work of the Tipperary Studies department. If you have some items which you would like to contribute to this project and share with people worldwide please contact a staff member for advice. Your document will be scanned and returned to you at our earliest convenience.
Tipperary Studies looks forward to contributing to the history of Tipperary in a way which has not been done before. Access to online documents is free and most of the sources presented will not be available to view elsewhere.
Cathedral Street ,
Monday: 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m – 2.00 pm to 5.30 pm.
Tuesday: 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.
Wednesday: 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.
Thursday: 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.
Friday: 9.30 a.m. to 5.00 pm.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 1.00 p.m – 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm.
Photocopying of the Archival material is not permitted.
There are copyright restrictions.
An appointment is not strictly necessary, but it is advisable to ring in advance.
Materials in Tipperary Studies are for research purposes only. They are not available for loan.
Where multiple copies exist, some titles (mainly recent publications) are made available through the branch libraries.
Wheelchair Toilet
Hearing Induction Loop
Wheelchair Parking
Lackagh Rate Book December 1850
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Tuesday Morning 3 a.m.
Archive by Artist
We Used to Play the Big Rooms
Cornerstone Festival 2002
July 10, 2002 Andre Salles
It’s no secret that I attended Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois this year basically to see one band.
They’re called the Lost Dogs, and they’re sort of a nexus point for a number of great spiritual rock bands. They’re made up of members from three of my favorite acts: Derri Daugherty from the Choir, Terry Taylor from Daniel Amos and Mike Roe from the 77s. And since I’ve wanted to see the Choir, DA and the Sevens play since the early ’90s, and all the Dogs were going to be there, it was a no-brainer for me to take advantage of my newfound geographical proximity and go to C-Stone for the first time.
And yeah, the Dogs and their respective bands were great, but I’m so glad I went for a number of other reasons. I got to meet everyone I’ve ever wanted to meet from this corner of the musical galaxy, and I got introduced to a few new bands I plan to follow forever. I also got completely turned around on one act in particular I’d been resisting, and got to see the remarkable artistic growth of another I’d loathed for years. And, of course, I bought 24 CDs, 14 of them brand-spankin’ new, and I’m here to tell you all about them.
First, though, the festival itself. Cornerstone has been an annual thing for 18 years, and typically draws between 20,000 and 30,000 people. It’s billed as a Christian rock festival, but if you’re not in the mood to be preached to, don’t worry about it. Hell, they had Pedro the Lion on the main stage this year, despite the fact that David Bazan’s work is often littered with profanities and offers no easy answers. Best of all is the price: $65 for advance tickets, $85 at the gate, for a week-long event. That price includes camping as well, as Cornerstone takes place on this huge farm in the middle of nowhere.
And the bands are more than worth twice the price. I’d have paid that amount just to see the 77s tear through their two-hour set, and I got 35 more concerts on top of that. I even missed two days, and feel like I got more than my money’s worth. It’s sort of sad to see so few people turning out for such great shows, but then again, Cornerstone is an intimate affair at its best, a secret you’re sharing with only a few, and that makes it somehow more special. (Although I wish someone at some major label somewhere would just take a listen to Mike Roe…)
If there was a catchphrase for the Dogs’ shows, it was this: “We used to play the big rooms.” Terry Taylor delighted in chuckling that line out, mostly because, for more than 20 years, none of these guys have ever played the big rooms. The extensive catalogs of Daniel Amos, the Choir, the Sevens, and numerous other Cornerstone bands are waiting there, like buried treasure, to be discovered. Once you hear this stuff, you won’t believe that millions of people across the globe aren’t lining up for tickets to these shows. The small, select fanbase has them all to themselves. For the fans, it’s the best of both worlds, but for the bands, it’s a sad state of affairs, even though they’re appreciative of every fan they have.
The first show I caught at C-Stone was an acoustic set by a guy named Bill Mallonee. This guy looks like Guy Pearce, sings like Bruce Cockburn’s rowdier younger brother, and plays a mean guitar. He also writes a decent Americana-tinged pop song, as you can hear on any one of his 14 albums. Truth be told, I’ve only heard a few, but samples from the others have done nothing to dissuade me of my opinion.
Mallonee used to be the leader of a band with the unfortunate name of Vigilantes of Love. The VOL has always been a money-losing proposition for Mallonee, and so last year, after the two best VOL albums (1999’s splendid Audible Sigh and 2000’s poppier Summershine), he broke up the band and pursued a solo career. His first solo album, Fetal Position, came out last month. However, when it came time to tour behind that record, he called the same musicians back and made it a VOL tour. They now go by the hysterical name Bill Mallonee and the Trophy Wives.
I’ve been trying to be a Mallonee fan for a while now, and haven’t managed it. The problem, I discovered, is that for his entire career, Mallonee has been trying to capture his live sound in the studio, and it just hasn’t worked. He’s electric live, a powerhouse of energy, and he turns simple rockers like Audible Sigh‘s “Goes Without Saying” into dramatic rides. Give him a real rave-up like Summershine‘s “Putting Out Fires With Gasoline,” and then hang on. The Trophy Wives show was a revelation. (Special props to Anne, who’s been trying for months to make me a fan. Mallonee himself managed it in two hours.)
And that’s part of my disappointment with Fetal Position. I had heard a number of the songs in a live setting first, and they cranked, especially the brisk “Life on Other Planets.” Hearing them again decked out in studio trickery was a diminishing experience. Opener “She’s So Liquid” has a high-wire falsetto part in the chorus that brought an instant smile to my face live. On record, it’s not nearly as ingratiating, especially since Mallonee’s guitar is processed and swirled a bit too much.
If you accept that the albums will never be as good as the concerts, though, Fetal Position ain’t bad. It continues the ornate yet guitar-centered poppiness of Summershine and adds a few new twists: the piano-driven “Wintergreen,” for example, or the subtle “Crescent Moon.” His lyrics are, as usual, in fine form here as well, a mixture of Cockburn and Springsteen filled with keen observation. There’s really nothing wrong with it, but I’m hopeful that someday Bill Mallonee will find a way to translate his terrific stage shows into equally terrific studio works.
Pick up Fetal Position as well as a whole bunch of Mallonee’s back catalog from his new label, www.pastemusic.com.
The other guy I wasn’t too keen on seeing was Michael Knott. I’ve always kind of hated Knott, even though I’ve perversely sought out and purchased everything he’s ever done. Lest you think that’s not a big undertaking, Knott has made, under various names, more than 25 albums. Until recently, each one has left me vaguely cold. Knott often stops short of writing whole songs, preferring to let the noise and power of the guitar carry everything for him. The names may change (Lifesavers, L.S.U., Aunt Bettys, Bomb Bay Babies or just Michael Knott), but the sound rarely does.
It turns out, though, that Knott has spent the last 20 years or so battling alcoholism, and his recent rehab stint may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. At his concert, of course, he was suitably maniacal, preening and lumbering across the stage like a crazed rock god with painted-on sideburns. At one point, he knelt by the edge of the stage, scraping at his eyes for a full four minutes. At another (actually during “Sorry”), he wrapped the microphone cord around his neck and raised it behind his head like a noose, which he held tightly until he turned red. He screamed, he spit, and he always went for emotion rather than precision. It’s no wonder audiences have come to see him since the ’80s.
But the concert wasn’t the eye-opener for me. Knott has lately been making (gulp) good music, not just pummeling his audience with repetition. This trend started last year with his finest solo album, Life of David. There was a palpable sense of penitence on that record, a shame and a sorrow that somehow translated to finely crafted songs like “Candle Killing Light” and “Halo.” Or like “Chameleon” and “Shoe Gazer.” Or, hell, like the whole album. It’s far and away his best.
But his two new ones aren’t far behind. Both the full, rocking Comatose Soul and the stripped-down, sweet Hearts of Care show Knott’s newfound sense of craft, which only appeared sporadically in the past. Comatose Soul opens with a typical Knott tune, the thumping “Cruisin’ Ride,” but swiftly veers into more complex territory with “Callous Wheel” and the great “Pusher.” The latter song revolves around the line, “If you don’t want me to jump off this bridge, you might have to do something about it,” the most unsentimentally honest cry for help I can remember hearing.
Highlights abound from there, including the so-cheesy-it’s-cool synthesizer line on “Pop Goes the World,” the swirling melody of the title track, and the veddy British “Gold.” Unlike most of Knott’s catalog, Comatose Soul keeps surprising you all the way through to the end, the summery “Lollipops and Daisies.” It’s a painful album in places, dealing as it does with addiction, recovery and loss, but it’s an honest and complete one that’s actually quite impressive.
Knott plans to release Soul independently, and hence he made signed and numbered pre-release copies available at the show. His other album, though, is officially out on Northern Records, home of Cush and the Violet Burning (whom we’ll get to in a moment). Hearts of Care was produced by Andy Prickett, who used to play with the late, lamented Prayer Chain and now anchors both of the above-named bands. It features voice, acoustic guitar, harmonica and violin, and that’s it. It also includes some of the sweetest and most off-kilter songs Knott has ever written.
“And I Love You Girl,” for example, rises on a dissonant violin line that stands at odds with the simple love song lyrics. “She Steals This Heart” makes fine use of violinist Beth Spransy and Knott’s own weary voice. The title song strums and shimmers, and “Wasting Time” finds Knott playing off of Spransy’s sprightly voice well. All in all, it’s a very successful collection, even if the harmonica and violin sometimes clash, and it shows that Knott doesn’t need furious guitar playing to be effective.
Both new albums are pretty good introductions to Knott’s little corner of the world, and unlike some previous efforts, they get you on their side quickly. Hearts of Care is available at www.northernrecords.com, and they have sound clips there as well. I don’t know where or when you’ll be able to pick up Comatose Soul, but keep checking his official site at www.michaelknott.com.
How cool is Northern Records?
Wait, here’s a better one: How cool is Andy Prickett? He’s an absolute master of guitar tone, and can turn one note into the most glorious and agonizing personal experience of this or any other lifetime. As a producer, he’s helped make some of the best-sounding platters available, like the Autumns’ gorgeous Winter In a Silver Box. As a player, he’s astonishing, whipping off complex lines and rhythms and then, two heartbeats later, adding finely woven textures to the song’s foundation. Musicians love to work with the guy because he always gives them what they need.
And despite his considerable talents, he apparently enjoys being in the background. He’s a born rock star, but he shuns accolades for both bands he’s in. The Violet Burning is vocalist Michael Pritzl’s project, and Prickett is content to stand to his right, adding soaring tones and snarling rhythms to Pritzl’s songs while the focus remains squarely on the voice and the lyrics. Cush, meanwhile, is a collective of anonymity whose membership and sound changes with each release. That makes it impossible to single anyone out, and Prickett apparently likes it that way.
Well, tough for him, ’cause I’m going to single him out anyway.
The Violet Burning show at C-Stone was a loud, lovely festival of sweet, weightless guitar, almost entirely provided by Prickett. Pritzl sang his little heart out, and his songs are pretty amazing, but they usually suffer when Prickett isn’t playing on them. Versions of tracks from the first two Prickett-less VB albums (Chosen and Strength) were twice what their studio counterparts were, especially the standout “As I Am,” and the new material was just great. Through it all, Prickett basically stood in one spot, chewing gum and making the most beautiful noise you’ve ever heard.
Of course, I don’t want to slight Michael Pritzl, who is as nice a guy as you could ever want to meet. His songs are epic constructions, often reaching eight minutes, and his voice is sweet and powerful, a combination few can pull off. Pritzl is a major talent, but in conjunction with Andy Prickett, he’s a musical force.
There is no new Violet Burning album yet, but there is the next best thing: a Pritzl/Prickett project called The Gravity Show. The album is called Fabulous Like You, and that tells you a lot of what you need to know about it. Despite some glam-pop overtones in the first few tracks, the Gravity Show is like a miniature Violet Burning album, especially when you get to the slower, more epic numbers like “Worlds Apart” and “Halo.” Remarkably, it never sounds like a side project – Pritzl’s voice is in fine form, and Prickett, well, what’s left to say about him? This is a cool record.
And then there’s the new Cush, which, like the previous two, is just titled Cush. As strange as this collective normally is, this is their strangest outing yet – a collection of old and new spirituals. I’d say “done Cush style,” but there is no set Cush style, and that’s one thing I love about them. You never know what you’re going to get. This time you get old-time gospel, like the claps-and-moans leadoff track “Run Mary Run” and the low, acoustic “We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace.” And then they throw you a curve ball – a straight acoustic rendition of the old Prince song “I Would Die 4 U.” As usual, there’s no mention of who did what, and on this one, they don’t even provide a list of who’s involved. It’s just Cush, and like always, it’s just great.
You can get everything Cush, the Gravity Show, some Violet Burning and cool records by Frank Lenz, the Lassie Foundation, Charity Empressa and others at www.northernrecords.com. The label is co-owned by Prickett and some of his fellow ex-Prayer Chain bandmates, and it’s a textbook example of great musicians charting their own destinies.
Cornerstone is, if my experience is any indication, a great place to discover new music. Here are a few groups and artists I happened upon during my week:
Beki Hemingway used to be in a great punk-pop band called This Train, refusing again and again to take herself seriously. Her solo career, however, is proof that she can make terrific music that doesn’t need to wink at you. Equal parts Aimee Mann and Chrissie Hynde, Hemingway floated through a set of swell guitar-pop tunes from her second full-length, Words For Loss For Words, on the acoustic stage, and the only difference between the show and the record is the addition of electric guitars on disc. From the superb breakup song “Only Thing Worse” to the hopeful lilt “Siouxanne” to the folksy admonishment of modern culture “The Crows of Cashel,” this album is just great. She even covers soft rock hit “Just Remember I Love You” and makes it listenable.
There is one standout stunner on Words, though, and it’s called “To Spare You.” It jumps points of view so effectively at the end (“I say it’s me I’m sparing but that really isn’t true, it’s me that needs to be spared by you”) that it sends chills, and her husband Randy Kerkman’s acoustic work elevates it from mere pop song to real statement. This could come close to the ol’ Top 10 List this year. Check her out at www.bekihemingway.com.
The Elevator Division is a four-piece propulsive rock guitar unit that shimmies and shakes like the best of Sense Field and Fugazi. When they’re firing on all cylinders (as they are on their full-length debut Movement), their guitar lines weave in and out with startling originality over a bone-crushing rhythm section that never lets up. Their new EP is called Whatever Makes You Happy, and comes in a hand-stenciled cardboard sleeve that’s worth the $5 price all by itself. Dig them at www.elevatordivision.com.
By far, the best band I discovered at Cornerstone, though, is a six-piece from California called Ester Drang. Imagine if Radiohead had moved into the atmospherics of Kid A but had retained all the fullness and melody of OK Computer. Now imagine that with the aforementioned Andy Prickett on guitar. Ester Drang played a set that moved like a living thing, rising and falling in waves and swirling about itself. Their songs are coiling beasts, snakes eating their own tails, shifting every which way on changing time signatures and unorthodox beats. Their sound is layered and thick, yet lighter than air.
Ester Drang has an incredible album out called Goldenwest, their second, and it fulfills the promise of the live show and then some. Opening with the piano-driven title song, this epic monstrosity plays like a single piece of music, winding through the complex “Repeating the Procedure” and the ornate, sleigh-bell-driven “Words That Cure” before winding up at the sweet “Felicity Darling.” It packs more punch in 50 minutes than many bands do in twice that, and hopefully sets the stage for a long and wonderful career for these talented boys. Get thee now to www.esterdrang.com and purchase it.
There is one show I wish I had seen at C-Stone: the multi-artist Brian Wilson tribute that Silent Planet Records put on. It likely was terrific, and all I have to go on for that opinion is the CD around which the tribute was based. It’s called Making God Smile, and it’s 26 tracks of inventive interpretations of Beach Boys and Brian Wilson songs by some great artists and a bunch of talented unknowns.
Of the more famous folks, there’s Phil Keaggy delivering a note-perfect run through of “Good Vibrations,” Sixpence None the Richer doing a lovely take on “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” and my boys the Lost Dogs singing a nearly a cappella rendition of lost track “With Me Tonight.” Other standouts include Aaron Sprinkle (of Poor Old Lu) doing a great medley of “I Know There’s an Answer” and its doppelganger “Hang On To Your Ego,” Phil Madeira playing an instrumental version of “Heroes and Villains,” Terry Taylor half-laughing his way through “Vegetables” and Rick Altizer making your jaw drop with his one-man rendition of “Surf’s Up.”
I do want to mention one in particular, though. There’s a guy that everyone at Cornerstone has seen, either tuning a guitar or running to get a capo, or maybe even playing the occasional bass part. His name is Jeff Elbel, and he has the crap job of being everyone’s roadie while hopefully garnering an audience for his band, Ping. Well, Jeff has a great voice, plays guitar well, and put on a great show, which almost no one at the festival saw. It’s a shame, really, but hopefully his swell reading of “You Still Believe In Me,” complete with glorious harmonies, will increase his profile beyond that of super-roadie.
You can get Making God Smile at www.silentplanetrecords.com. It’s worth it.
Look at how much space I’ve used up, and I haven’t even gotten to the really good stuff yet.
Steve Hindalong told a great story at the Choir’s acoustic show on Thursday. Hindalong has two daughters, 11-year-old Erin and 13-year-old Emily. One evening while the family was out at a restaurant, Erin asked innocently, “Do you think anyone will come up and want to get Daddy’s autograph?”
To which Emily responded, “Oh, Erin, the Choir used to be popular, but now Derri and Dad are just two old men walking around.”
Old they may be, but they sounded great. The Choir was the only major band at C-Stone without a new album to plug, but I wanted to mention them anyway, because seeing them live has been a decade-long dream of mine, and I got to do it twice, and they didn’t disappoint. The acoustic set was great, featuring a revved-up “To Cover You” and a stripped -down “Yellow Skies.” Hindalong proved himself as one of the great drummers once again, eschewing the full drum kit for one snare, one tom and a tambourine between his knees. The full electric show was amazing, with guitarist Derri Daugherty showing just how much noise he can make. In a break with tradition, they started with “Restore My Soul” and came crashing to a conclusion with an extended “Circle Slide.” Dream come true.
Terry Taylor starts every show with an obnoxious, throaty, bellowed, “Howareya?” He got four chances to use that line at C-Stone: two Lost Dogs shows, a solo set and a fan-freakin’-tastic concert with his band Daniel Amos. Throughout the DA show, Taylor made reference to the age of his fans, playing mostly old stuff from the Alarma Chronicles (1981-86), and he only managed to get the lethargic audience to its feet for the mandatory participation number “Dance Stop.” Still, they rocked, securing the spot for second-best show I saw at Cornerstone, and it was really cool to hear old favorites like “New Car” and “Travelog” alongside soon-to-be-classics from the new album Mr. Buechner’s Dream, like “Author of the Story” and “Joel.”
The Dogs were similarly wonderful, playing up the kvetching rock star schtick they’ve been perfecting for years. “We used to play the big rooms,” Taylor said, to which Mike Roe instantly replied, “We used to play the big tents, too. Now we just wear ’em.” There should be a new Lost Dogs album out by the end of the year, although they played nothing from it. “Bullet Train” was great, though, and they dedicated the mournful “The Great Divide” to their fellow Dog, the Late, Great Gene Eugene.
Taylor has two new pieces of music, although one of them takes some explaining. In 1995, Daniel Amos released their most misunderstood album, the conceptual Songs of the Heart. It’s the story of Bud and Irma Akendorf, an aging couple who decides to take one last trip across America. The songs are simple yet strange, and most people (or most of that small number who heard it) just didn’t get it. Complicating the matter further was Taylor’s decision to play the part of Bud Akendorf vocally, adopting a low, rumbling, weary tone throughout. Many thought he’d simply lost his vocal range, not paying attention to the fact that he did all the high harmonies himself as well.
At any rate, Songs has remained the weird cousin to the rest of DA’s output, and Taylor has decided to rectify that a bit. Hence, the three-CD book set When Everyone Wore Hats, a reinterpretation and explanation of the Songs of the Heart album. Taylor has done a good job of making this relatively inscrutable project accessible. In addition to the original Songs album, you get a complete reinvention of same on disc two – acoustic arrangements with the full range of Taylor’s vocals. You also get two new songs, and Taylor reading selections from the 100-page book, on disc three. He’s done everything he can do to invite you in.
Does it work? Largely, yeah. I came away from Hats with a greater understanding and appreciation of Songs of the Heart, both of its original concept and of how short it falls of conveying that concept. Nearly without exception, the new acoustic arrangements work better than the originals, since the focus is more on the fantastic lyrics, and Taylor actually sings. “When Everyone Wore Hats” itself is a great song, with a lyric to die for – a particularly unsentimental salute to his father’s generation. (“When everyone wore hats, in the land of immigrants and pilgrims, the world came rolling off their backs and landed on their children’s.”) The original suffered from overproduction and that low, uninspiring vocal, but the new version is clean and perfect. Taylor leaps into falsetto for the chorus, which finally soars as much as it always should have.
In fact, even lesser songs like “The Organ Bar” benefit from the new arrangements, and when it comes to tunes that were already swell, like “Loveland” and “Get Back Into the Bus, Aloha,” the new settings take the songs to another level. Still, I’m glad that both versions of the album are included in Hats, if for no other reason than to have the full band cover of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” that opened the original. When Everyone Wore Hats is a successful reworking of a fairly unsuccessful album, one that will never be my favorite DA record, but one that has moved up a few notches because of this effort. I’d say that makes it time well spent.
At his solo show, Taylor played the entirety of his second new album, the six-song solo EP LITTLE, big. Thanks to a bizarre backing track setup, the show sounded exactly like the album, which is covered in synthesized instrumentation like a miniature low-budget Pet Sounds. Which isn’t far off, since Taylor has said he was inspired by his participation in the Brian Wilson tribute. Horns, strings, whistles, bird noises and bells come flitting in and out of all six songs, which are set to electronic drums and synth beds.
And true to its title, LITTLE, big is a study in dichotomy. The songs themselves are small, concerning mundane matters like family life, good friends and clever cats, but the sound is huge, nearly full to bursting. It’s an epic about tiny things that comes in at roughly 20 minutes, and fittingly enough, half of it is excellent, while the other half is less successful. “Molly Is a Metaphor” is a great name for a song, just not this song, all about the family feline, and the unabashed sentimentality of “Oh, Sweet Companion” and “Rob’s and Carolee’s” stays on one level. Taylor usually delves deeper than this.
But the other half, though – the title track is a mini Brian Wilson suite complete with harmonies and crashing percussion, “Lovely Lilly Lou” revels in its silly alliterative nature while bopping along to a Beatlesque groove, and the closer, “Mama’s In the Desert, Daddy’s In the Sky,” is a treasure. Taylor lost his father two years ago, and this song is the first time he’s dealt with that head-on. It’s a sad, sweet love song for his mother, one in which Taylor lays himself bare once again, reminding you that when he’s inspired, he’s practically peerless. All by itself, that song is worth buying LITTLE, big. (And yes, there is a full-length album on the way called Big.)
Get both new records, and a host of other stuff, at www.danielamos.com. If you haven’t heard the band before, a good starting point is the incredible new album, Mr. Buechner’s Dream.
It would take a truly great concert to outdo Daniel Amos, but the following night, the 77s did just that.
I don’t care if any of you reading this ever make it to Cornerstone, though I hope I’ve made it sound somewhat appealing. But if you can, try to catch the 77s live somewhere. They’re the best band that no one in America knows, a rollicking three-piece that can stop on a dime, led by a guy who ranks as one of my two favorite guitarists, Michael Roe. For those of you sick of hearing about the guy, the hope is that I’ll nag you into at least trying one of his more than 20 superb albums, or into catching him on stage someday. If you’ve never trusted me on anything before, trust me on this guy. He’s amazing.
The 77s put on the best damn rock ‘n’ roll show I’ve ever seen, crashing from the powerhouse “Woody” through the punishing “Rocks In Your Head” to the encore, a note-perfect rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” Now, think about that for a second – Zep’s version is arranged for four players, which means that Roe played Jimmy’s part and sang Robert’s part at the same time. Meanwhile, bassist Mark Harmon and drummer Bruce Spencer hung together with Roe like a well-tuned machine.
Midway through the show, the band played all of their new EP, Direct. Man, what a disc this is. In six awesome songs, the 77s outdid their whole last album, A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows. It’s softer and sweeter than that album, for one thing, and trades in melody and nuance more than the band has done in a while. The new single, “Dig My Heels,” would be a smash hit if Tom Petty sang it, and that acoustic number cascades into the near-epic “Lifeline” and the Grateful Dead-ish jam “Take Your Mind Off It.” Also outstanding are the electrified opener, “Born on Separate Days,” and the love song “Perfect,” which is. Oh yeah, and the acoustic “Roesbud” (not a typo) is great as well. Direct is too short, certainly, but it ranks as one of my favorite 77s discs.
If that had been all Roe released this year, I’d be fine with it, but he had to go and make two more albums worthy of attention. The first is the second installment in his and Mark Harmon’s instrumental series, which began with Daydream. The new one is nothing like that one. It’s called Orbis, and it’s the work of insane men. It’s doused in fluttering electronic drums, clanging keys and some of Roe’s most bizarre guitar playing. It tells the story of a space mission gone awry in 74 mindboggling minutes, and though it plays like one long composition, there are songs, with titles like “Mars Bars,” “Spaceman 7” and “Funky Planet.” The centerpiece is the 16-minute “Some Young Moon,” a beautiful ambient exploration that shows off a previously unheard side of Roe. Sure, it’s self-indulgent, but it’s also splendid.
And finally, there’s the real prize, a 27-minute solo EP called Say Your Prayers. I’ve been waiting for Roe to make an album like this since first hearing his acoustic live set It’s For You. Prayers is just Roe and his acoustic, exploring all sides of his personality (as embodied in the title, which evokes both spirituality and an impending right hook). The results are fragile and beautiful, and remind me of nothing more than the album that inspired this column’s name, Simon and Garfunkel’s Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.
Highlights include “The Itch is Back,” an ode to learning to live; “Sunshine Down,” a sweet song that contains, as Roe said, “the stupidest lyrics he’s ever written, so sing along”; and the title song, the dreaded Song For His Daughter, that he somehow manages to make indelible. (It even includes a sly stab at the censored title of his 1992 album, Pray Naked: “Say them clothed, say them bare, say them in your underwear…”) Every song here is worth treasuring, though, from the sad reverie of “20 Years Gone” to the sarcasm of “Lutheran Hymn” to the flat-out prayer of “Hobo Messiah,” which concludes with the refrain, “Come and see that love is good.” Yes, it is, and so is this album, another shining standout in a career full of them. Michael Roe’s guitar and voice could make a deaf man weep, and will break your heart even if you don’t think you have any heart left to break.
For the 77s, go to www.77s.com. For Roe’s solo stuff, go to www.michaelroe.com.
One final grace note: For the last concert of my festival, I caught Sixpence None the Richer on the main stage, who played all of their new album, Divine Discontent, out on September 24. It’s beautiful, especially the closing number, and it provided the perfect capper to a week of wonders.
Thanks for plowing through this enormous set of reviews. We’ll be back to regular size next week, with a look at the new Counting Crows, among others.
See you in line Tuesday morning.
a column by andre salles
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Bryan Scary's Birds Arrives After Four Years July 9, 2019
Summer Mourning
Where I've Been for the Entire Month of June July 2, 2019
Under No Obligation
Where Supposed to Love Meets Want to Love May 28, 2019
My Marillion Diary
Notes from the Montreal Weekend 2019 May 21, 2019
Worthy On Their Own
Joy Williams and John Paul White Move On From Their Civil Wars May 14, 2019
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© Copyright 2000-2019 Andre Salles
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