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The dataset generation failed
Error code: DatasetGenerationError
Exception: ArrowInvalid
Message: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 7
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 153, in _generate_tables
df = pd.read_json(f, dtype_backend="pyarrow")
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 815, in read_json
return json_reader.read()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1025, in read
obj = self._get_object_parser(self.data)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1051, in _get_object_parser
obj = FrameParser(json, **kwargs).parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1187, in parse
self._parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1403, in _parse
ujson_loads(json, precise_float=self.precise_float), dtype=None
ValueError: Trailing data
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1997, in _prepare_split_single
for _, table in generator:
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 156, in _generate_tables
raise e
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 130, in _generate_tables
pa_table = paj.read_json(
File "pyarrow/_json.pyx", line 308, in pyarrow._json.read_json
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 154, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 91, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 7
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1529, in compute_config_parquet_and_info_response
parquet_operations = convert_to_parquet(builder)
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1154, in convert_to_parquet
builder.download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1029, in download_and_prepare
self._download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1124, in _download_and_prepare
self._prepare_split(split_generator, **prepare_split_kwargs)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1884, in _prepare_split
for job_id, done, content in self._prepare_split_single(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 2040, in _prepare_split_single
raise DatasetGenerationError("An error occurred while generating the dataset") from e
datasets.exceptions.DatasetGenerationError: An error occurred while generating the datasetNeed help to make the dataset viewer work? Make sure to review how to configure the dataset viewer, and open a discussion for direct support.
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The Alan & Cyril Body Trust
Who can apply to the Trust
Eleanor Bradley Fellowship
THE ELEANOR BRADLEY FELLOWSHIP
Eleanor Bradley (1920 - 1976) was Cyril Body’s wife and the mother of David Body, the current Chair of Trustees.
She was born in Llanelli and became an SRN and midwife. She trained at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport at the beginning of the Second World War, and became a District Midwife in Cardiff.
The prizes given by the Trust and the Fellowship that bear her name were established in her memory by Cyril and David.
Unfortunately the Trust has not had sufficient funds in recent years to continue with this Fellowship, but is proud of its creation of the project and the change that it brought about. This is a page to commemorate what it achieved.
In conjunction with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists the Trust established the Eleanor Bradley Fellowship, which provided a one-year training experience in Uganda for an obstetric and gynaecological Specialist Registrar. It iwas open to doctors at either Cardiff University or the University of Liverpool.
From 2008, for four years, the Trust was able to send a Fellow each year, whose presence at the Mulago Hospital in Kampala Uganda has made a significant difference to maternal perinatal and neonatal mortality. In the first year, a maternal death audit and a programme for training midwives were established. In the second year, a triage system for the labour ward was introduced, which
supported the development of a High Dependency Unit in the third year. The net result has been that the number of maternal deaths at the Mulago Hospital has fallen substantially over three years. And good practice spreads outward from the hospital.
The Fellowship had two-way benefits. It is also of major educational benefit for the Fellow, who encounters a range of clinical experiences outside the usual UK practice and finds that s/he has to exercise ingenuity and initiative in a way that greatly enhances his or her skills, which s/he then brings back to the UK.
The fellowship cost between £15,000 and £18,000 a year. At its crudest, this amounts to around £400 for a woman’s life. The scheme also yields other benefits: children are spared coping with the loss of their mother in an already challenging environment; a significant number of babies’ lives have been saved as a direct or indirect result of the work of the Fellows; and a number of women are living healthier and fuller lives as a result of the medical interventions at the Mulago Hospital.
Maternal mortality is a desperate blight on sub-Saharan Africa where the lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 16. By contrast the lifetime risk of maternal death for developed nations is only 1 in 2,800. Maternal death is a major cause of health inequality and also has a significant impact on the life chances of surviving children.
For a link to the
Find out about the work of the Eleanor Bradley Fellows
"At the Royal College we are very proud of the Eleanor Bradley Fellowship and use it as a model for other initiatives. The key point is its sustainability, with one Fellow building off the achievements of his or her predecessors. We hope it continues for many years to come. Please support it. "
Professor Anthony Falconer RCOG President
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ADELE BUTLER – Women of Spirit: Forced to Be Sex Slaves in Mexico
May 4, 2011 by admin 1 Comment
WOMEN of SPIRIT
Forced to Be Sex Slaves in MEXICO
Imagine being called “merchandise” and being forced into prostitution after you have been tricked into making the dangerous journey across Central America in the hope of a better life before being stopped en route in southern Mexico and forced to work for nothing.
This was the nightmarish reality for migrants. When Patricia Villamil, the Honduran counsil in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state took on her job last November, she alerted local authorities to several cases. When they failed to respond, she spoke out.
“They bring women from Honduras, preferably under 18,” Villamil said. She had already recorded a dozen cases of minors between 14 and 17 years old who were being forced into prostitution. “They steal their innocence. They hit them, mistreat them, humiliate and rape them.”
It seems like they target the poor areas. Witnesses stated that they route started in these communities in Honduras before crossing the border into Mexico. The girls are distributed like merchandise among several dozen bars and brothels in Chiapas. One victim, a 17 year old Honduran named Valeria ended up in Mexico after following that route. A single mother who travelled with a friend and four other minors believed that she was taking a free trip and would have a job in a restaurant in Mexico from a woman from her village. Imagine her shock when she arrived at a sordid bar in Mexico where she was forced to drink 17 beers to give her the courage to face clients on her first night as a prostitute.
“I had to deal with it every time a client wanted it. It was six or seven times almost everyday. Once it was 12 times,” she said of her ordeal. The owner of the bar demanded 5,000 pesos for the journey that was supposed to be free of charge. Eventually another bar owner paid the debt but for a price—she had to work for him in return.
After Valeria has worked four months for up to 16 hours, she has not received any money. According to Enrique Mendez, the prosecutor in charge of crimes against immigrants in Chiapas state, “Generally they don’t pay minors. They give them food and clothes and build up new debts for them.”
Mendez denied that organized criminal groups were operating in the area, and said most girls arrived independently in Chiapas, on a route taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants hoping to reach the United States each year.
But the consul and victims said bar owners sought new supplies of young girls, who arrived in groups of five or six.
“Yes, there’s people trafficking but not in an alarming manner,” Mendez admitted in his office in the border town of Tapachula.
“There is a lot of prostitution, particularly of minors,” he added.
The consul and activists for immigrants’ rights blame authorities for minimizing the problem. “Here in Chiapas, everyone knows what’s happening,” the Honduran consul said. “I don’t care if the government is bothered that I say it. I’m not going to shut up until they do their job” (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/migrants-forced-sex-slaves-mexico-221815150.html)
The authorities need to take what is happening to these girls seriously and arrest the bar owners for prostitution. These people are exploiting these girls and the government is complacent. The government needs to do its job. Until they do, we can speak out like the Honduran counsel. We won’t shut up until the government takes action to protect these girls and end the sex slavery in Mexico.
These girls are not “merchandise“, they are people with rights.
They need to be protected from the people who profit at their expense–both the traffickers and the clients! Take Action!
Adele Butler, A Celebration of Women 2011
PHOTO: TRADE, film depicting HUMAN TRAFFICKING of CHILDREN:
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2010/03/30/easterfest-sex-violence-christian-movie-rrated/
Filed Under: ADELE BUTLER - Women of Spirit, FEATURED Tagged With: activists, authorities, Central America, girls, government., Honduran, immigrants, Mexico, migrants, minors, prostitution, rights, sex slaves, Trafficking, women.
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REUTERS | Steve Crisp
Investment arbitration in the Arab Spring: first lessons
by Dr Gordon Blanke
at Blanke Arbitration LLC
The civil unrest that was at the root of the Arab Spring has given rise to a series of investor state claims. Many of these have been brought against a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) host state in arbitration, typically under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the country of the foreign investor and the host state. Arbitral proceedings are currently pending against Egypt, Libya and Syria. Only one case to date, Ampal v Egypt, has concluded in a final award and allows some limited insight into how investment tribunals may deal with claims that are a result of the Arab Spring. Most cases, especially ones brought against Egypt, have settled or are in the process of settlement, no doubt out of a concern to preserve a positive sentiment of foreign direct investment into Egypt. Others have determined for lack of jurisdiction. Still others that may ultimately result in a final award are presently pending and will probably not conclude before sometime in 2018.
One striking feature of the Ampal case is that it demonstrates that investor state arbitration in the Middle East is conceptually no different from investment arbitration elsewhere in the world. MENA tribunals are often made up of the same arbitrators that regularly serve investor state arbitration mandates in other parts of the world and typically rely upon case law precedent drawn from international investment arbitration more generally. That said, there might be one or the other distinguishing feature. No doubt, non-International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunals that deal with investment disputes in the Middle East will need to ensure that their awards are enforceable in Middle Eastern target jurisdictions. Their awards therefore require strict compliance with the procedural idiosyncracies of arbitration in the Middle East and the notion of public policy prevailing there. In addition, the Ampal tribunal, to say the least, has demonstrated that the circumstances of the Arab Spring may provide some impetus to the further development of the interpretation of the core substantive protections typically available under international investment protection frameworks, to reflect the specific nature of events arising from the Arab Spring. In this context, it is worth looking in particular at the interpretation the Ampal tribunal has offered of the full protection and security (FPS) standard.
FPS standards typically place an obligation on host states firstly to protect foreign investments from actions of third parties, such as rebels or insurgents, and secondly not to take actions that may endanger the continued security of a foreign investment. So a host state has a duty to protect and a duty to abstain. Importantly, the duty to protect does not require attribution. A host state is responsible even for any inaction that facilitates a third party interference with a foreign investment. An FPS clause does not impose an absolute obligation, but only requires a standard of due diligence. One of the leading authorities is Wena v Egypt, where an ICSID tribunal found that the FPS standard imposed on Egypt “an obligation of vigilance, in the sense that [the state] shall take all measures necessary to ensure the full enjoyment of protection and security” of foreign investments. Pursuant to another ICSID tribunal (Asian Agriculture Products Limited (AAPL) v Sri Lanka), this lays down “an ‘objective’ standard of vigilance [which focuses on] what should be legitimately expected to be secured for foreign investors by a reasonably well organized modern State.” This appears to say that the objective FPS standard is not an “obligation of result”, but an “obligation of good faith efforts without special regard for the host State’s resources” (Biwater v Tanzania).
Recent ICSID tribunals appear to have loosened this standard somewhat. In Pantechniki v Albania, the sole arbitrator (Jan Paulsson) favoured a “modified objective standard”, which gives credit to the host state’s particular circumstances, such as its level of development and internal stability. In that case, Paulsson made a distinction between a host state’s refusal and inability to provide protection. Applied to the facts at hand, Paulsson found that the Albanian authorities were “powerless in the face of social unrest of its magnitude” and dismissed the claim.
In the recent Ampal case, the ICSID tribunal relied on a combined reading of the relevant case law. In that case, the foreign investor complained about a total of 13 attacks on the pipeline between Egypt and Israel that served the transport of natural gas from Egypt to Israel, the subject of the investment. More specifically, the foreign investor complained that, following the tensions of the Arab Spring, Egypt “failed to take reasonable precautionary, preventive, and remedial measures” to protect the physical security of the pipeline from attacks of saboteurs in breach of Egypt’s FPS obligations. The Ampal tribunal confirmed that Egypt was under no absolute obligation or strict liability, but had to comply with a standard of due diligence, which had to be assessed against the “particular circumstances in which the damage occurs”. The Ampal tribunal thus concluded that, taking account of the “political instability, security deterioration and general lawlessness [in the region], the first attack did not violate the FPS standard.” Relying on Pantechniki, the Ampal tribunal found that a government should not be made internationally responsible “for failure to plan for unprecedented trouble of unprecedented magnitude in unprecedented places.” That said, according to the Ampal tribunal, the subsequent attacks on the pipeline created a pattern of delayed measures or a failure to implement measures to ensure the safety and security of the pipeline and hence the investor’s investment in violation of its due diligence obligation.
The Ampal tribunal has further developed the test applicable to the FPS standard in international investment arbitration, taking account of the particular requirements arising from events that are the result of the Arab Spring. In this sense, it sets a valuable precedent for other investment claims going forward in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
DWF LLP Dr Gordon Blanke
http://arbitrationblog.practicallaw.com/investment-arbitration-in-the-arab-spring-first-lessons">
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— On a mission to change perceptions about growing older. Starring inspirational people over 70 —
Ageing, ageism, photography, stories
Jennifer Murray, 74
Jennifer has achieved three Guinness World Records in aviation, including being the first woman to circumnavigate the globe solo in a helicopter, having only learned to fly age 54. She has written three books about her experiences, and is also the illustrator of her daughter’s book ‘Just a bit Confucius.’
“I took up helicopter piloting in my 50s. My darling husband bought a half share in a helicopter which I thought was extraordinary given that neither of us were pilots! Never having had a thought in the world of being a pilot, off I went for my first lesson. I found out pretty quickly that it was quite chauvinistic which was a bit of red rag! Only 2% of pilots are women so I wanted to do something for the ladies but of course I was also going for the huge adventure. Three years after getting my license I headed off around the world with my instructor. And then three years later I went solo.
A lot of staying young is in your mind.
The best place I’ve flown has to be Antarctica – it hits all the highs and lows. Its so far from anywhere and the forces of nature are so huge – it’s a spiritual place really. The worst moment I had was when we crashed there. The helicopter was a write off – it was down to a series of miracles that we survived. Looking at the damage to the helicopter, It was hard to believe our frail human bodies came out of it. It put paid to that expedition – but then we did it again and succeeded. What had happened was so awful, it really was a healing process to start planning again. And I’m an optimist! That can be my best and worst trait.
A lot of staying young is in your mind. Obviously fitness and having horizons and projects all matter. Most of the stuff I do in aviation is with younger people which is stimulating. We’re all victims of our own personalities too and so much of that is in our genes – I just happen to be the type that never sits still.
We do live in ageist society – it’s all about youth really, isn’t it? Every so often people say ‘let me do that’ which makes me feel old. I’ve had to say enough is enough when it comes to doing desert marathons and things – but I shall keep on flying until I fail my medical, though I’ve got the big one out of my system. I’m still looking at some half marathons too. It’s always good to have something like that – it gets you out there.
Definitely now is the best age of my life. It would be very sad if it wasn’t. Other than one’s body letting one down a bit – I couldn’t be enjoying myself more. It’s a happy time when your children are grown up, you have extra time and the freedom to do some independent things.
Too often people dream of doing something but they don’t get on with it. So I would say the greatest thing I could pass on is to tell people to live their dreams and help other people live theirs.
You haven’t failed at anything until you’ve stopped trying.”
Ben Jakober, 90
Ben is the co-founder of the Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober, a gallery and sculpture park in northern Mallorca. He is also an artist and sculptor. “I was born in Vienna in 1930, but after a few years things got a bit difficult, because we were Jews. I remember my father taking me to the […]
Elaine Kingett, 70
Elaine runs weekly writing and mindfulness meditation workshops in North London and writing, walking and meditation retreats in Andalucia. She is also a journalist “My parents used to hit me and told me I was mad from a young age. That’s why I started writing in a notebook, because it was a way of saying how […]
Cleo Sylvestre, 74
Cleo is an actress in film, stage and television. Most recently, she starred in Alan Bennett’s play Allelujah! at the Bridge Theatre. She also performs the Blues as Honey B Mama. “For as long as I can remember, I wanted to act. One of my godfathers was Constant Lambert, a conductor at Sadler’s Wells and […]
Esther Rantzen, 79
Esther is a television presenter and journalist. She also launched Childline and more recently The Silver Line, a telephone support service for older people in the UK. She is a trustee of the NSPCC, a patron for 19 charities and has a damehood for services to children and older people. “I lived with my grandmother […]
Zandra Rhodes, 79
Zandra is a British fashion designer whose brand turns 50 this year. She is also the founder of London’s Fashion Textile Museum. “My mother taught dressmaking in an art college and I used to love wearing her pretty little dresses on a Sunday to visit my granny. The local kids would laugh at me and […]
Dominique Afacan, 39, Helen Cathcart, 38
A blog? A website? A movement? When we started Bolder back in 2015, we weren’t entirely sure how to label it. We just knew we had to do something to change the conversations we kept hearing about ageing. The negativity was rubbing off on us. We were both in our mid-thirties, and yet we were […]
Alberto Portugheis, 78
Alberto is an award-winning pianist, born in Argentina to parents of Russian and Romanian descent. His career takes him all over the world, but he lives in London, where he also works as a piano teacher. “I discovered music thanks to our neighbours in Argentina. I would be on the street playing with my friends […]
Norma Howard, 92
Norma is the oldest female wing-walker in the UK. The former physio took to the skies last year to raise money for charity. “My parents divorced when I was about eight or nine, but they remained friends. My father married again but my mother didn’t want to. There was no jealousy between them and as […]
View more posts →
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'Bolder - life lessons from people older and wiser than you,' is out on September 5th 2019 and is available now on Amazon - click here to order your copy!
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Tibet 75 by Kenro Izu, 2000
“Everything can be seen through the mist, but it is hard to make out the colours and the outlines of objects. Everything looks different from what it is. You drive on and suddenly see standing before you right in the roadway a dark figure like a monk; it stands motionless, waiting, holding something in its hands. Can it be a robber? The figure comes closer, grows bigger; now it is on a level with the chaise, and you see it is not a man, but a solitary bush or a great stone. Such motionless expectant figures stand on the low hills, hide behind the old barrows, peep out from the high grass, and they all look like human beings and arouse suspicion.
And when the moon rises the night becomes pale and dim. The mist seems to have passed away. The air is transparent, fresh and warm; one can see well in all directions and even distinguish the separate stalks of grass by the wayside. Stones and bits of pots can be seen at a long distance. The suspicious figures like monks look blacker against the light background of the night, and seem more sinister. More and more often in the midst of the monotonous chirruping there comes the sound of the “A-ah, a-ah!” of astonishment troubling the motionless air, and the cry of a sleepless or delirious bird. Broad shadows move across the plain like clouds across the sky, and in the inconceivable distance, if you look long and intently at it, misty monstrous shapes rise up and huddle one against another. It is rather uncanny. One glances at the pale green, star-spangled sky on which there is no cloudlet, no spot, and understands why the warm air is motionless, why nature is on her guard, afraid to stir: she is afraid and reluctant to lose one instant of life. Of the unfathomable depth and infinity of the sky one can only form a conception at sea and on the steppe by night when the moon is shining. It is terribly lonely and caressing; it looks down languid and alluring, and its caressing sweetness makes one giddy.”
From Chekhov’s short story “The Steppe”… I don’t think I could include any less of an excerpt to illustrate the drama of the story–a short trip from one small town to another, across a barren plain in Russia as told by a young boy traveling in the company of a group of brutish men, without his family for the first time. The story, almost plotless, is almost all profound and naive description like this–of things the boy thinks he sees. Animals, wind, the sun and moon, natural landmarks of rocks and trees, and manmade discrepancies along the terrain transform from benign and familiar to threatening and mysterious and back in the eyes of the boy, while remaining consistent or going entirely unnoticed by the range of his rogue yet sympathetic traveling companions and exotic village encounters. Along the way, all embodied both good and evil.
The articles in this issue of the journal on some level relay similar ideas about travel, emptiness, and the unknown: journeys of the mind and into dark or foreign territory and the consequent beauty of discovery. There is an article by professor emeritus at Yale, Alan Trachtenberg, “Imaginary Nation: Photographic Constructions of America”, on the imagery of photographers Walker Evans and Lee Friedlander in light of complex theories by thinkers Alexis de Tocqueville and Jean Baudrillard. I’ve written three more articles on: La Congiunta, the Hans Josephsohn museum in Tessin, a small, isolated town in Switzerland one must journey to visit–in fact, the path to the museum is as much part of the experience as the interior; the four day excursion of young Swedish artist Hilda Hellstrom to Fukushima to build pots with the only remaining inhabitant of the city from the radioactive clay of his fields; and the work of photographer Kenro Izu who has travelled throughout India, Butan, China, Nepal, and Egypt to capture serene landscapes and eroded palaces, often, paradoxically, where tyranny and violence reign. (That is his photograph above). I also had the privilege of interviewing Duane Michals on his new paintings, Judith Tannenbaum on the work of Lynda Benglis, and Pauline Vermare on the early work of Christer Stromholm. I think it will be obvious in which ways these artists have ventured away from the familiar, if not by literally traveling and cultural immersion, then figuratively through thinking and creating, and how they have broken free of “consensus reality” (a favorite term of Michals) to define their own.
The young boy’s journey through Chekhov’s “Steppe” was a series of episodes of the frenetic activity of his imagination woven with his poetic contemplation of the cool, eery silence emitted from the landscape. In the midst of his story, one night he feels completely alone and forgets himself, absorbed by the immensity of the wide, open plain. I believe many artists seek this type of empty or indefinite space to create, on the outskirts or in between geneses of society–where human lives are obviously only episodic. I will end my notes here and open the issue with these words by sculptor Hans Josephsohn (May 1920 – August 2012):
“I have spent sixty years, day after day working away calmly in my studio. I have simply followed my imagination…. All the crises, the human ones that occur in life, and all the possible adventures and all the paths through the woods where you don’t know how you will get out again, they have all taken place in my studio.”
—Ashley Booth Klein
Sudek’s Studio by Josef Sudek, 1938
If Booth Ceramics can in fact be, at full capacity, an impossible combination of photograph, still life, and museum as I proposed in my statement about its purpose, then I hope this journal can be a window to the world surrounding and beyond the art and objects it features—a window to the arcane—to repressed history, undervalued traditions, and underrepresented or yet to be discovered artists. I also hope that this journal will reveal new understandings of and relationships between the work of artists and artistic movements that have perhaps been overexposed and as a result are too narrowly defined today or quickly dismissed as uninteresting.
The articles presented in this journal, which in the next issue will also be by other academics, experts, and artists—not only myself, will never be overly critical or didactic but will, however, always be in one way or another politically engaged. My message is that much of the world has not yet been explored and that what we think we know may still surprise us. The ultimate aim of this journal is strengthened belief in the worthiness of the artistic life or pursuit of life which has not only shaped sacred landscapes and built inspiring cities but enhanced the experience of the everyday and the meditative aspects of base survival. This impossible goal I approach in this first issue by presenting four short articles on: a rural village in Turkey made of rock, the brief disappearance and reappearance of a photographer who took pictures out his window (see his studio above), the recent history of painting on plates and bowls, and one principle defining the work of an architect whose oeuvre barely extends beyond the city in which he was born.
It is only recently that I have taken more than a subtle interest in the applied arts, and it should be no secret that I learn as I write. I did study art history at the Sorbonne, architecture at Yale and the American Academy of Rome, and I worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in New York—I am fairly knowledgeable of painting and architecture, but I have not thrown a pot since I was a teenager, and even then, I am not sure that anything made it off the wheel. I am far from an expert in ceramics, but I have a feeling this medium to which we are literally attached in its raw form will take me all over the world as my curiosity seems only to propagate the more I learn. I am looking forward to traveling and learning from experts and artists from Kyoto to London to L.A. about this venerable, versatile material.
Photography is slightly easier for me to write on, as I lived and breathed the work of major photographers while organizing several gallery and museum exhibitions in the past few years, but it still fascinates me as it would a child or someone in contact with the first camera ever made, each day, every day. I am constantly humbled by my ignorance in contrast to the innate comprehension of the talented photographers I have worked with and whom I call friends. Their eyes seem to see with more clarity light and dark, space and emptiness, and the possibilities of transforming the range of these dichotomies through lenses, in the darkroom, and digitally. Again, I have tried and will always try to write and present these articles, without pretense, in hope to inspire more research, the illumination of history and the obscure, and the reinvention of the known.
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In 1979, artists and recent MTS graduate Catherine Kapikian proposed the establishment of an artist-in-residence program to the Dean, J. Phillip Wogaman, and the President, Jack Knight. Convinced by her passion that theological education was incomplete without the arts, they assigned a modest space under the chapel to use as a studio, and appointed her to teach a two-credit course. The response to the artists that Kapikian invited to join her in the studio, and that first art history course, “Catacombs to Citicorp,” impressed the administration so much that they moved the studio to the large, airy, space in the middle of the Kresge Educational Building where it remains today. In 1983, the new President, G. Douglass Lewis, invited Kapikian to be the founding Director of the newly established Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Two years later, during a major overhaul of the curriculum, the faculty included a required that every student take two credits in the arts. All courses that meet that requirement include historical and theoretical aspects of the artform; theological reflection on the practice and reception of the arts; and a sustained, practical engagement with the process of art-making. Choir and other music courses were already available, and the first drama course was added in 1988. Other forms of art were gradually added, and today, students may fulfill the arts requirement by taking courses in a variety of visual art media, drama, or music as well as liturgical dance, poetry and other literary arts, and Biblical storytelling.
The presence of the arts at Wesley became more visible with the creation of the Marjorie and Arthur Dadian Gallery. This museum-quality gallery had its first exhibition in 1989, under the direction of its first Curator, Martin Liberman.
The name of Henry Luce III was added to that of the Center for the Arts and Religion in gratitude for the three Luce Foundation grants over the course of nine years. These grants provided critical seed money and enabled a deepening and expansion of the program. Under Dean Douglas Meeks in the 1990s, the academic work of the center was consolidated into the curriculum as the Program in Theology and the Arts.
In 2009, Catherine Kapikian retired as the Director of LCAR, and was named Distinguished Artist in Residence. President David McAllister-Wilson and Dean Bruce Birch continued the long history of administrative support for the arts, appointing Deborah Sokolove as the new Director.
Today, the Center continues to flourish, offering a Certificate in Theology and the Arts to students enrolled in any of the Seminary’s Masters-level programs; many popular courses in the regular curriculum; annual workshops in dance and iconography open to the wider community; new Artists-in-Residence working in the studio every academic year; at least five new exhibitions in the Dadian Gallery; and frequent lectures, performances, and other events, including the bi-annual Heart the Arts celebration of the students, staff, and faculty members who are also accomplished performing artists.
We believe that the presence of arts will continue to grow in the Church of the future. Increasing numbers of students come to us with a yearning to include the arts in their ministries. Increasing numbers of artists come to us with a yearning to join their art to their faith. The Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion will look for new ways to serve them all with joy and imagination.
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Twin Forks
Category: Music Review Tags: Chris Carrabbe, Dashboard Confessional, Twin Forks Leave a Comment
A few months ago I was sitting next to my colleague driving home from a customer. He was driving and Radio2 was on. This song came along and that voice, I recognized it from somewhere. It sounded like Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional but they never get played on Dutch radio nor did they have a new album out. Coming home I totally forgot to check it out. Until earlier this week when the same song was played on 3FM. This time I checked the name of the band and googled it. It was Twin Forks and yes Chris Carrabbe is in it.
Twin Forks is his new band. According to the bio on their website Chris wanted to form a band with a classic folk, country and roots sound. This new band does not mean his other bands, Dashboard Confessional and Further seems Forever, are now defunct. They’re just on hiatus.
The song in question is “Cross my mind”. It’s gaining some fair airplay in the Netherlands and likely in other countries as well. Watch the official video here.
It’s a very catchy song that will get stuck in your head. The DJ’s on the radio already branded it the sound of the summer and I think they quite hit the spot with that remark. The song screams summer and summer romance.
The rest of the album is what you expect from this style of music. Some up-tempo catchy songs, some mid-tempo songs. And to finish it off a great ballad of the kind Dashboard Confessional gained their reputation with before evolving into a more pop/indy-rock band. No distracting drums, no distracting electric guitars, just Chris’ vocals and a acoustic guitar to provide support and brilliant backup vocals by the bands mandolin player Suzie Zeldin.
Zeldin’s vocals and mandolin are a great addition to the band. On the opening track “Can’t be broken” her voice works very well in harmony with Carrebba’s Voice. The mandolin on “Cross my mind” really stands out. The melody is one of the things making the song so good.
She could have gotten more lines of her own on “Kiss me darling” however. The song feels like a conversation between two lovers. He just has more to say than her apparently. A loss for us the listeners.
So should you get this album right away? Well that’s for you to decide. If you’re not into the current folk hype or already fed up with it, it’s better to steer clear of this one but I’d recommend you to at least listen to it on Spotify before shooting it down. If you are a big fan of Chris Carrabbe’s previous work like me you will love this one as well.
Chris Carrabbe is, in my opinion, one of the best singer-songwriters of the moment. His work, especially the early releases, are among the best I’ve heard the last decade. So if you share this opinion this one is for you.
Having that said, to be fair this isn’t an instant classic. I liked it, I loved it but wasn’t blown away by it. It’s not. It does not rank up to the first two Dashboard Confessional releases (“The Swiss Army Romance” & “The places you have come to fear the most) but it’s close to share 3th with the MTV Unplugged album.
Note: When buying the album be sure to get the album and not the EP by the same name.
Down below you can listen to the full album on Spotify or buy the album on iTunes or from Amazon or from Large.
Are we not men? We are diva!
Category: Music Review Tags: Are we not men? We are diva!, me first and the gimme gimmes, review Leave a Comment
Six years after their last full length release (Have another ball) Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are back with a new album. One might argue that “Have another ball” is a compilation album rather than a full length release. If we take that into consideration it has been 8 years since their last album (Love their country). It’s not that they haven’t done anything in the meantime. In 2011 they released two EP’s. One with hits from Australian artists and one with Japanese hits. The latter one was completely in Japanese.
Before I go into their latest release, let me first inform some of you of what Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, or Me First or the Gimmes as fans also call them, actually is.
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a so-called supergroup. They differ from most other supergroups however. Me First solely plays cover songs. The band was formed in 1995 and most of it members earned their stripes in other bands. Bassist Fat Mike formed NOFX and runs the label Fat Wreck Chords. Joey Cape and Dave Raun are both from Lagwagon and Chris Shiflett started out in No Use For A Name and now is the lead guitarist of the Foo Fighters. Due to this he cannot always join them on the road and among others is replaced by his brother Scott.
Spike Slawson earned his stripes in the mail order department of Fat Wreck Chords and later on went on to play for the Swingin’ Utters.
Since 1997 the Gimmes have released 7 studio albums (including this one) and one live album.
All albums have a theme.Ranging from 60’s and 70’s hits to show tunes to country songs. On “Are we not men? We are Diva!” they cover songs originally performed by Divas ranging from Gloria Gaynor to Celine Dion to Barbra Streisand to the late Whitney Houston but also include Lady Gaga and Boy George’s Culture club. The last one most likely being included because of his feminine appearance during the 80’s
From the first to last note this is a true Me First album. You’ll recognize majority of the songs and on most of them you can sing along almost right away. The Gimmes however throw in a few surprises in this one. It’s not all straight forward pop-punk covers of the songs we all know..
On “My heart will go on” they use a more folk-punk acoustic arrangement with even an accordion in it turning an overrated song from an overrated movie (Spoiler alert: the boat sinks) by an overrated artist into a classic on its own.
On Madonna’s “Crazy for you” they actually stick close to the original. Spike can show off his ukulele skills. The entire song you expect them to put the ukulele aside and break into their normal routine of pop-punk. This song could get airplay on almost every radio station and could go far in the charts. Especially if you take into consideration that Belgium rockband Triggerfinger scored a huge hit with the massively overrated song “I follow rivers” (it makes “My heart will go on” look like a half decent song).
Dolly Parton’s “I will always love you”, made famous by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, will take a moment before you recognize it. This version is a lot faster than the original. It took me until the chorus to figure out which song it was as I wasn’t looking at the playlist at the time. But once I heard it it was an “Oh yeah!!” moment. Just as with “Top of the world”. The title didn’t ring a bell for me but then the chorus kicked in and I recognized it.
Listening to the chorus of “I will always love you” however makes you wonder how Spike will pull it off live. He doesn’t go as high as Whitney Houston did but it’s still pretty high and he already seems to struggle in the studio. But this is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. If you expect a flawless live show this is not your band. This band is about fun and having a good time. They either “fight” who made the mistake or claim we, the audience, received extra notes in the song. They sometimes high five each other when they actually play a song practically flawless.
So, if Spike cannot pull it off on stage it’s kinda part of the show. Honestly I cannot wait for the reactions of his bandmates when he does fail. It’s going to be hilarious.
So is this their best release ever? Probably not. It’s not their worst either. Their albums pretty much scores the same. None really stand out and none really fail to deliver. Non-Japanese speaking fans might put “Sing in Japanese” on the bottom of their personal lists but only because they (including myself) cannot understand a word they’re singing. But that doesn’t make it a bad release. It’s still the sound of Me First that you expect only with words you don’t understand.
Me First isn’t a band that does release legendary albums like “Energy” by Operation Ivy or “London Calling” by The Clash or “Nevermind the Bollocks here are the Sex Pistols” by the Sex Pistols. No, the Gimmes are a band that you should see live at least once in your lifetime. And that’s why this release is as important as their previous releases. It means they’re still around and going back on the road. With the band almost being 20 years old and some of it’s members closing in on their 50th birthday it’s something to cherish as it might be their last album and/or tour. But obviously we hope they keep on rocking for at leat another 20 years
So do yourself a favor and buy a ticket to their show if you get the chance. After all, bands like this make most of their money on the road and not from releasing albums so pick up a shirt while you’re there as well.
Down below you can listen to the album on Spotify or buy the album at one of these links 1 2 3
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Bobby Viteritti - 1980 Salute to the Gay Men of S.F. Set (sample)
Bobby Viteritti - 1981 Trocadero - A Closing Party Set (sample)
San Francisco's Trocadero Transfer has got to be right up there with venues like The Paradise Garage and The Saint as perhaps one of the most highly revered disco scenes out there. The success of the annual Remember The Party events (next one coming up this October 7th) which I've heard so much about (but haven't actually been to yet), along with the websites and other testimonials devoted to it are practically living proof.
Several months ago I had come in contact with the Trocadero's legendary, award-winning DJ Bobby Viteritti, who had informed me about the opening of his new website at bobbyviteritti.com. While much of it has been up and running for the last little while, the website is now fully functional, with the recent opening of the highly anticipated Music Store section, where he has made a number of his own edits and DJ sets available for purchase. Before I get to anything else, I have to thank Bobby for being generous enough to let me put some samples from his sets up here.. So far there are over 14 different sets available for purchase including one of his own exclusive edits. The first excerpt here is from a great section (tinged with some choice electro/italo faves) of the awesome four-part 'Salute to the Gay Men of S.F.' set with a Cheryl Lynn live appearance part-way through (see his interviews where he recounts one of the more infamous stunts he once pulled on her). The other is a small section of a stellar 1981 'closing party' sleaze set from the Trocadero. What he does with the third track (One Way feat. Al Hudson's "Now That I Found You") on the latter set has got to be one of the most achingly beautiful, emotional things I've ever heard in a mix.. If that doesn't tug at your heart-strings, then I don't know what will..
The sets in his web shop are divided up into a series of high-quality mp3 downloads, each of them made to fit a single CD. Most of them are at reduced prices for the time being and as a bonus, signing up as a member of the webshop will also get you a free download of one of them..
While 'legendary' might be a gushy, overused adjective; after reading people wax poetic about Bobby's skills and his storied nights at the Trocadero on disco forums and websites for the last several years, it's really the only way to describe the effect his work has had on people and the memories that it holds.. For me personally, it was only after hearing one of the low quality live tapes floating through the internet - one of his classic morning music/sleaze sets (the 'Morning Magic' mix, to be exact), that I finally realized what everyone was talking about. Widely recognized as one of the most technically and stylistically proficient DJ's of his time, listening to his work while reading the excellent interview he recently did with disco-disco.com (also see the ones at discomusic.com and Disco Museum) was like a little lesson and glimpse into the artistry of the DJ.. While I'm not knowledgeable enough about DJing to really espound on the technical side of things, it's been said that his emphasis on the midrange of the song, as opposed to the bass was his hallmark. Listening to his mixes, his ability to make those smooth, graceful transitions, seamlessly weaving through different moods are completely indicative of that. It's an approach that seems to go past the beat, into a much higher plane of mood and feeling.. It's enough to make one wish they could have been there to experience it all.
To hear more of Bobby's work, go to the samples section of his website where there are generous samples of several different styles and moods in his work.. Also, in the 'Videos' section you can view a montage of clips from a little John Goss documentary from 1993 called "Wrecked For Life: The Trip and Magic of Trocadero Transfer". If you enjoy hearing people's real live back-in-the-day testimonials like I do, then you'll likely get a kick out of those too..
Anyway, in closing; if you, by any chance, haven't heard of him yet, or are only familiar in passing, then do check him out. Pardon me for using a tired old cliché, but as far as artists and DJ's go, Bobby's the real deal.
BOBBY VITERITTI OFFICIAL STORE
COCKTAILS AT THE DISCO LOUNGE.. (MONDAY JUNE 11, 2007)
BOBBY VITERITTI'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
BOBBY VITERITTI'S MYSPACE
BOBBY VITERITTI @ DISCOGS
BOBBY VITERITTI INTERVIEW @ DISCO-DISCO.COM
BOBBY VITERITTI INTERVIEW @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
BOBBY VITERITTI INTERVIEW @ DISCOMUSEUM.COM
TROCADERO TRANSFER @ DISCOMUSIC.COM
TROCADERO TRANSFER @ WIKIPEDIA
REMEMBER THE PARTY
CATEGORIES: DISCO NEWS, MINI DELIVERIES
Labels: Bobby Viteritti, Disco DJs, Disco Mix, San Francisco, Trocadero Transfer, Vintage Disco Mixes
Posted by Tommy at 5:15 AM 11 comments:
This is just too fabulous.. Via the discomusic.com forums and the excellent Donna Summer Tribute site, comes news that supermodel Twiggy's 1979 disco album (entitled "Heaven In My Eyes") will soon be released. Shelved for nearly thirty years, word about this project has circulated among Donna die-hards, though until now, I had absolutely no clue about the existence of this project. If the fact that Twiggy did a disco album weren't notable enough, the fact that the record was produced by none other than Donna Summer herself along with Moroder associate/sound engineer, Jürgen Koppers (with contributions from Pete Bellotte, and Donna's husband, Bruce Sudano of Brooklyn Dreams), makes it that much more interesting.
Whether the one released track ("My Baby Understands" off "Bad Girls") from the Summer/Koppers partnership will reflect the sound on here is a little unclear, since apparently much of the work they produced together has gone unreleased thus far. Aside from the Twiggy album, another one of Summer/Koppers unreleased projects was a 1978 album (or at least most of one) called "Watchin' Daddy Dance" for Sunshine, a group made up of Donna Summer's sisters.. Hopefully Jürgen Koppers' own production efforts for the likes of Linda Clifford, Pattie Brooks and the group Persia to name a few, will provide a better glimpse into the possible sound of this record.
So far, the general release has been set for November 7th, via Sepia Records of the UK. From the looks of the label's website and the titles they specialize in, it looks like this might be their most contemporary release to date..Through Twiggy's official site, there's already a special microsite set up to promote it's release.. Although the general release is set for November, if you order through the official website, apparently those will ship on September 24th.. Elsewhere, CD Universe is so far the only retailer offering it for pre-order.
Unfortunately though, aside from the track list (the eight original album tracks plus some 2007 remixes) and cover art (I'm not so hot on that 'Confessions on a Dancefloor' lettering), there are no sound samples or details about the album on the official site yet.. The only details that have come out so far are from one of Twiggy's webmasters, who posted the following on the Donna Summer fan forum:
It's been great reading everyone's feedback on the forthcoming Twiggy release produced by Donna and Juergen Koppers. Also its great to feel the general enthusiasm in the messages. I thought maybe I'd provide a few more factual details about the recording.
Back in 1979 Twiggy had just moved to LA after living in London for the majority of the 1970s. Now in LA Twiggy became friendly with Donna and Bruce Sudano and now relinquished of her UK recording contract with Phonogram they decided to collaborate on a possible new album.
The sessions took place in autumn 1979 at Rusk Studios, Hollywood. Donna co-produced the tracks with Juergen Koppers. Donna and Juergen enlisted some of the finest session musicians to play on the tracks - most of whom played on Donna's tracks. This included Keith Forsey and Harold Faltermeyer. The sessions were engineered by Elton Ahi. Also if you listen closely on the opening track 'You've Been Lying' you'll hear that the backing vocals are provided by none other than Michael Bolton! Apparently Bolton was a popular session singer back in the late 70s.
The sessions produced eight new songs. Twiggy brought a few country songs to the session - 'Dorothy' and 'Carries On' (she had already had two hit albums in the UK with country material) the rest of the material was more up tempo disco orientated tracks. Bruce Sudano penned two songs specially for Twiggy - these are 'Lover Boy' - a real rock track with heavy guitar riffs and a soft ballad 'Sugar Daddy'.
The final and probably the stand out track of the set is 'My Baby Don't Call Me Baby' written by Pete Bellotte and Thor Baldursson for Twiggy. Donna probably would have done a super job if she had recorded the track as a solo. Twiggy duets with un an unknown male vocalist at the end of the track - it is presumed the singer is Bruce Sudano.
The title track 'Heaven In My Eyes' is a quite explicit song about promiscuity - in the style of 'Bad Girls' which was a clear depature from anything Twiggy had recorded before or really since!
Sadly the album was never released as Twiggy returned to the UK to work on a film of 'Pygmalion' before returning to the US to star in 'My One And Only' on Broadway.
The album is then accompanied by four 2007 dance remixes of the uptempo tracks. The remixes have been produced by the OUTpsiDER - a popular Australian DJ who had a radio hit with a 2004 remix of Petula Clark's 'Downtown' that was used in a New York advertising campaign.
We really hope Donna's fans enjoy this release, the songs are fantastic and thank you for all the positive feedback and support for this album.
Given the time when it was recorded, I can only speculate that this record might have been one of the many casualties of the whole disco crash. Hopefully they'll include some detailed liner notes with the CD to tell the story behind the album and give it a little context.
Although I probably shouldn't get too excited about a release which doesn't even have any sound samples up yet, I'm hopeful that even if the album itself isn't that good, with the choice players and personnel involved, hopefully there'd be at least something worthwhile on it.. Hell, even I thought the much maligned Elton John album Pete Bellotte produced had a bright moment or two (just my opinion, mind you), so I've got my fingers crossed for this one..
DISCO DELIVERY #40: MUNICH MACHINE - A WHITER SHADE OF PALE (1978, CASABLANCA) (SUNDAY APRIL 29, 2007)
NEW DEAL FOR DONNA (THURSDAY AUGUST 3, 2006)
DISCO DELIVERY #14: SUZI LANE - OOH LA LA (1979, ELEKTRA) (SATURDAY APRIL 8, 2006)
DISCO DELIVERY #5: GIORGIO MORODER - FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1977, OASIS/CASABLANCA) (FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2006)
DONNA SUMMER - I GOT YOUR LOVE (MONDAY JANUARY 16, 2006)
TWIGGY - HEAVEN IN MY EYES - DISCOTHEQUE CD
OFFICIAL WEBSITE | CD UNIVERSE
TWIGGY - "HEAVEN IN MY EYES" THE OFFICIAL SITE
THE DONNA SUMMER TRIBUTE SITE
ENDLESS SUMMER FORUM - TWIGGY (AND DONNA)
TWIGGY @ ALL MUSIC GUIDE
TWIGGY @ DISCOGS
TWIGGY @ IMDB
TWIGGY @ WIKIPEDIA
JÜRGEN KOPPERS @ DISCOGS
CATEGORIES: REISSUES & RELEASES, DISCO NEWS
Cook County - Pinball Playboy (Playboy Theme) (1979, Motown)
Cook County - Pinball Playboy (Playboy Theme)
Cook County - Comin' To Getcha
Cook County - Olympiad '84
Cook County - Funky Get It
Cook County - State Street Samba
Cook County - Little Girls & Ladies
First of all, I have to thank Disco Delivery reader Enrique (Happy Birthday!) for tipping me off on to this record.. I found it a few months ago on eBay, and finally received it last month. It took a little bit of prodding on my part to get the seller to send it to me, but thankfully it's finally here. Anyway, eBay issues notwithstanding; so far, this is one of the more odd and obscure Motown releases that I've found. Looking at the credits, it's quite possibly the only record to thank both Berry Gordy and Hugh Hefner in the same sentence. With the album credited to an anonymous studio group complete with blatant promotional-tie in; on the surface, it might come across as a fairly insubstantial disco novelty. Getting down to the grooves, however, the record doesn't disappoint. If anything, certainly more musically satisfying than it's appearances might suggest..
Vic Caesar, the producer behind Cook County was himself a rather unlikely Motown alumnus. A singer, actor, music producer, and it seems, all-around renaissance man, Caesar was something of a lounge legend.. A friend of Hugh Hefner's (which perhaps partly explains this project), he had apparently lived in the Playboy Mansion at one point (staying for some ten years) and had also, among other things, wrote the theme to Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, "Nixon's The One." Although there isn't a whole lot on him on the internet, from what I have read, Vic Caesar sounded like one of those interesting old Hollywood characters who, despite not achieving the same sort recognition that many of his contemporaries did, apparently had a million entertaining "done it all," "seen it all" stories to tell from all the notables he rubbed elbows with. A 1997 article from the Phoenix New Times has a brief tribute:
How about Mr. Vic Caesar, king of the lounge singers? Vic had stories about every celebrity that has walked the face of the Earth since talkies were introduced. I'll refresh your memory: Vic played piano for Marilyn Monroe. Vic said he smoked dope with Bobby Kennedy and Sammy Davis Jr. Vic lived at the Playboy Mansion. Vic hugged Dick Nixon. Vic! My man! Phoenix doesn't deserve you, baby!
Peter Gilstrap, the same writer who wrote the above quote wrote an affectionate bio/tribute article on Caesar the year before entitled "Hail, Caesar," which not only traces his life story but also many of his interesting, entertaining encounters.. Well worth reading if you want to know more..
In a nutshell though, Vic Caesar, born Vittorio Cesario in Chicago would have a childhood immersed in music. During the Korean War, Caesar would end up serving with the US Army as a Dental Technologist. While in the army, his musical abilities would lead to a chance encounter with Marilyn Monroe, who while performing for the troops, needed someone to back her up. Coming home, the encounter would leave enough of an impression that he ended up leaving his Army profession behind to continue in music. Playing drums and piano professionally, another chance encounter with Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas would eventually led him into singing:
"He says, 'Are you Italian?' I said, 'Yes, sir.' He says, 'You don't have to call me sir. You sing good; get the fuck off the drums, and get yourself a little group, and get out there.'"
Caesar would go on to release at least one or two albums under his name, one of them called "Vic Caesar Sings." Along with that, he would also be involved in a club in Phoenix, Arizona; an apparently swinging joint in it's time called "Caesar's Forum." Around that time, in 1968, Caesar would be approached to perform at an event for Richard Nixon. Although as time went on, he, like many others, would sour on the Nixon Administration, that gig nonetheless led to one of his best remembered works:
"Setting aside his staunch Democratic loyalties, Vic wrote the simple, seven-word tune in 20 minutes, and when Nixon heard it at the rally (after some idiot came on before Vic and sang "The Impossible Dream"), he loved it. Life went on, Nixon won, and just days before the Inaugural, Vic got a telegram demanding his performing presence at an Inaugural ball. A Nehru-jacketed Vic and band made the scene, drove the crowd wild with "Nixon's The One."
Caesar's Nixon theme was most recently used in one of Lasse Hallstrom's latest films, "The Hoax." About his encounter with Nixon, Caesar would later say this:
"When you become president," the composer urged, "please do for the young men in Vietnam what you and the General did for me in Korea, end it!" You'll never guess how Nixon answered. "He looked me straight in the eyes," Caesar remembers, "and without as much as one blink said in a flash, 'I will do the very best I can to end it Vic, I believe it to be an unjust war.'" Unfortunately, that didn't happen any time soon after that -- and history records that public opposition soon spread far beyond Arizona bandleaders.
Politics aside, in the 1970's, he had also tried his hand at acting. One of the films he appeared in was the cult Godfather-esque grindhouse film "Massacre, Mafia Style" (AKA "The Executioner") which has been described as a "ragged, low budget exercise in vanity" with "ludicrous excesses," among other things (see the trailer on YouTube). In addition to his acting roles, he would also score a few of them, including a 1974 sex comedy "Gosh" (AKA "Alice Goodbody") (which he also had acting role in) and perhaps most notably a 1977 blaxploitation film called "Bare Knuckles" to name just a couple. The disco-funk soundtrack for "Bare Knuckles" (like many films of it's genre, I suppose), has evidently held up much better than the picture itself, having become highly regarded and sought after over the years. These days, original pressings are pretty hard to come by, athough bootleg "reissues" are practically everywhere..
As far as this project is concerned, how it came up and how it ended up on Motown, no less, is probably another story in itself. Unfortunately, none of sources that I've found on Vic Caesar go into any depth about this record, much less even mention it. Peter Gilstrap's "Hail, Caesar" article does mention some of the work he would do for the Playboy enterprise while resident in Hef's mansion, like directing the Singing Playmates, for example. Perhaps this was yet another one of those.
The title-track and selling-point of this record is basically a disco remake of Cy Coleman ("Hey, Big Spender") & Carolyn Leigh's classic "Playboy's Theme." Originally written for Hugh Hefner's "Playboy's Penthouse TV Party" (clearly, before Guccione came along) it's re-worked here as a kind of discofied promo vehicle for Bally's then new Playboy pinball machines, complete with additional quirky game machine sound-effects and some choice jingle-y double-entendres: "pinball playboy, light the night.. pinball playboy, tonight is the night, pinball playboy, make my number rise, let this bunny know she's gonna fly..." Of course, the album's cover shot pretty much makes the intent obvious, with the pinball machine sharing centre stage with February '79 Playmate, Lee Ann Michelle - face to the camera, legs spread out over the machine... That said though, as far as the track itself is concerned, it's not surprisingly the standout on the album. A brilliantly swinging, lounge-meets-disco concoction that's ultimately and totally irresistible. Even those crazy sound effects which might come across as silly and gimmicky at the beginning, end up becoming a major part of it's charm. Generously used as to be catchy, yet not overdone as to be annoying..
Complete with a breathless chorus of cooing females (courtesy of Jody, Amy & Lauri Taylor), those awesome strings, and of course, that great sax - a major part of the jazzy, swinging vibe on the track, "Pinball Playboy" is perhaps the most enjoyable disco novelty track I've yet to hear. It's so well done, it feels almost unjust to call it a mere novelty, yet evidently the label probably didn't see it as anything more. For one thing, the track clocks in at a relatively modest (at least in disco standards) 5.44 on the album. Usually, the standout track on an anonymous disco production album such as this one would cover most, if not all of an entire side. In hindsight, it's too bad nobody did an extended 12'' mix of the track, since the funky swinging groove of the track practically cries out for it. They could have possibly done two mixes, a regular extended version and a kind of instrumental mix, taking out the sound-effects and pinball references, for those who might not have cared for the novelty stuff.. Perhaps it wasn't the sort of sound that was burning up dancefloors at the time, yet one still can't help but feel more could have been done with it.
Regardless of that, thankfully the rest of the album doesn't disappoint. The rest of the record is made up of six more Vic Caesar originals, who, to his credit, instead of making the rest of the record into a glorified 12'' single, used the it as a kind of creative playground of sorts, going from lite disco funk, grandiose theme music, MOR balladry, soft jazz mood music, and even a samba, of sorts.. Despite there not being any sort of unifying concept between the rest of the record, the songs (aside, maybe from the MOR ballad - "Reach Out For Love") are all quality. The more disco flavoured tracks, "Comin' To Getcha" and "Funky Get It" have become particular favourites of mine.. The latter track, "Comin' To Getcha," basically continues in the sort of swinging disco mode as the title track. Anchored by a great horn section and those airy female vocals (courtesy of Trish Turner and Terri Fischer) which make the most of the minimal lyrics, culminating in a hypnotic harmony with the refrain: "comin' to getcha, getcha, getcha." The vocals and horns are used to especially great effect on here, particularly at the three minute mark, when the vocals are punctuated by those deep horn stabs.
The other swingin' disco track on side two, "Funky Get It," opens with an unexpected, luxuriously dark, moody intro; the sort of thing one might have expected in a 70's blaxploitation films or as a opening TV theme or something (perhaps not surprising given his movie scoring background). The track later settles into a faster, harder disco groove carried by some heavy, rattling percussion and the ubiquitous chorus of females (once again courtesy of Turner and Fischer) that, with the help of those handclaps towards the end, practically drill that refrain into your head: "funky groove..funky get it.."
The side two opener, "Olympiad '84" continues with a bit of a disco vibe, albeit in a different way than the other tracks. If the title didn't make it obvious, this one fills in the "grandiose theme music" section of the album. The last sort of thing one might have expected on an album like this, it sounded as if Caesar had been inspired by John Williams and/or Meco when he did this. Seemingly referencing both, yet not quite reaching the heights of either, it's the sort of thing that sounds grand and pleasant enough to get one's attention, but perhaps becuase of it's brief duration, never quite goes beyond pleasant background music..
"State Street Samba" later brings the album to a close with a pleasantly classy groove, bringing back some of the swinging disco along with a bit of a latin flavour and some nice jazzy riffs towards the end. The song and album end rather nicely with a fittingly classy piano solo.
One other track I just had to include here as well is the soft, atmospheric instrumental "Little Girls & Ladies." Written by Vic Caesar and beloved poet, musician and author Shel Silverstein, the mood of this particular track is especially beautiful, carried by an outstanding tenor sax solo (courtesy of Sly and the Family Stone's Pat Rizzo). It's soothing, uplifting and engaging all at the same time. Though not disco in any way, it's undoubtedly one of the best tracks on the album and ultimately, one of the hidden surprises on this record.
That being said, while this album likely won't be on too many disco essentials lists, it nonetheless remains an intriguing release, musically and otherwise. At it's best, the album flawlessly combines a disco sensibility with a slightly jazz-influenced lounge style. In other words, a quintessential "Playboy disco" record.. Also, given Caesar's background, the length of much of the album's tracks, and the mood and vibe that runs through it, it's almost as if some of the tracks on the record might have possibly been created for a soundtrack that never was. Although not a perfect record, and probably not the sort of thing that might have been hitting the discos hard in 1979, the soundtrack aesthetic is perhaps one of those things which gives this record it's listenable quality, along with it's share of irresistible charms and pleasant surprises. That being said, while the album itself may not be anyone's disco essential, "Pinball Playboy" would, in my opinion, be one of the ultimate disco novelty records. A little bit cheesy, perhaps, yet not to the point where the fromage overshadows the excellent musicality of the record. It's the type of thing that's charming, well-executed and musically solid enough to keep one coming back for more..
Sadly, the man behind the music, Vic Caesar, passed away in 2000 of a stroke. He spent his last years in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was involved in the local jazz scene, was on local radio for a time and still dabbled in music and recording, cutting an album with pianist Jessica Williams (no relation to the Simon Soussan-produced disco diva of the same name) among other things. Vibist Monty Stark's website has some more info on that record as well as a lot of great background on Vic Caesar himself. Despite being relegated to the minor leagues of fame, no one could ever say the man didn't have a full, exciting life and career. Here's to you, Vic!
DISCO DELIVERY #39: PENTHOUSE PRESENTS THE LOVE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (1978, TALPRO) (TUESDAY APRIL 10, 2007)
COOK COUNTY - PINBALL PLAYBOY (PLAYBOY THEME) LP @ DISCOGS
THE PHOENIX NEW TIMES - HAIL, CAESAR! (BY PETER GILSTRAP) (SEPTEMBER 5, 1996)
VIC CAESAR @ ALL MUSIC GUIDE
VIC CAESAR @ IMDB
VIC CAESAR @ DISCOGS
CY COLEMAN OBITUARY @ PLAYBILL (NOVEMBER 19, 2004)
PLAYBOY PLAYMATE DIRECTORY - LEE ANN MICHELLE (MISS FEBRUARY 1979)
REC.GAMES.PINBALL - PINBALL PLAYBOY BY COOK COUNTY (NOVEMBER 17, 1995)
INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE PRESENTS - PLAYBOY PINBALL
PINBALL REBEL - PLAYBOY PINBALL BY BALLY
CATEGORIES: DISCO DELIVERIES, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO.., IN MEMORIAM..
Labels: Carolyn Leigh, Cy Coleman, Frank Sinatra, Lee Ann Michelle, Motown, Playboy, Shel Silverstein, Vic Caesar
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2019 ECPR-COSMOS Summer School on Methods for the Study of Political Participation and Mobilisation
The Call for Application is now open for the Third Edition of the Summer School on Methods for the Study of Political Participation and Mobilisation, organized by the ECPR Standing Group on Participation and Mobilization and the Centre on Social Movement Studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore.
The Summer School will take place at the Scuola Normale Superiore, in Florence, from June 3rd to June 14th 2019. Participants School will focus on how to analyse present and past forms of grassroots participation activated by social movement and civil society actors at the local, regional and transnational level.
More in general, it aims at disseminating knowledge on how to investigate processes and mechanisms that sustain the active citizens’ participation and mobilisation in the realm of politics. Grassroots participation and radical democracy have been at the centre of the public and political debate in the last decade. Massive popular protests and new populist challengers have deeply impacted European politics both in the streets and in representative institutions. Furthermore, digital technologies are reshaping the mechanisms of political socialisation, organisation and participation. The emergence of new protest movements and the changing dynamics of political participation require scholars to reflect on the research strategies and methodologies that are employed to study grassroots participation and radical democracy. Although there is a considerable amount of research done both on how social movements and civil society actors mobilise and on the radical innovations in political participation, specialised literature on how to actually investigate these phenomena is rare, although increasingly necessary. The Summer School will address this gap discussing how to apply the most common methods in the social sciences to investigate political participation and mobilisation.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMME
The Summer School will include three keynote speeches on social movements and research methods. Confirmed keynote speakers are: Donatella della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore); Marco Giugni (University of Geneva); Olivier Fillieule (University of Lausanne).
The Summer School will last 10 teaching days for a total of 60 hours of didactic activities. The Summer School will cover the following topics:
surveys in political participation and mobilisation – Joost de Moor (Stockholm University);
ethical issues in social movement and political participation research – Stefania Milan (University of Amsterdam);
interviewing activists – Lorenzo Zamponi (Scuola Normale Superiore);
visuals in the study of social movements – Alice Mattoni (Scuola Normale Superiore);
ethnography and participant observation – Philip Balsiger (University of Neuchâtel);
protest event analysis and political claim analysis – Martin Portos (Scuola Normale Superiore);
discourse analysis and frame analysis in social movement research – Lasse Lindekilde (Aarhus University);
experimental methods in participation and mobilisation research – Lasse Lindekilde (Aarhus University);
historical methods – Lorenzo Bosi (Scuola Normale Superiore);
participatory action research – Hara Kouki (Durham University);
doing fieldwork during violent conflicts – Stefan Malthaner (Hamburg Institute for Social Research);
online tools and digital methods for the study of participation and mobilisation – Diego Ceccobelli (Scuola Normale Superiore);
social network analysis – Manuela Caiani (Scuola Normale Superiore);
big data in the study of political participation and mobilisation – Elena Pavan (Università di Trento).
The Summer School will take place at Palazzo Strozzi, that hosts the Scuola Normale Superiore, in Florence, Italy.
Email contact for questions and clarifications about the Summer School: pam.summerschool[AT]gmail.com
Donatella della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore, director of COSMOS)
Lorenzo Zamponi (Scuola Normale Superiore, convenor of the ECPR SG on Participation and Mobilisation)
Joost de Moor (Stockholm University, convenor of the ECPR SG on Participation and Mobilisation)
Alice Mattoni (Scuola Normale Superiore)
FINANCIAL AND LOGISTIC SUPPORT
The Summer School is kindly supported by:
European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), Standing Group on Participation and Mobilisation
Scuola Normale Superiore, Department of Social and Political Sciences.
The Summer School is open to 20 graduate and master students as well as early career researchers with a specialised interest in participation and mobilization in different fields of study, including political science, political sociology, political communication, and political anthropology from throughout European and beyond.
Applicants must email a cover letter in which they explain how the Summer School would be beneficial for their research, a 250-word abstract of their proposed paper, and a curriculum vitae no later than March 17th: to pam.summerschool[AT]gmail.com
Applicants will be informed of the outcome by email as soon as possible. Those offered places must confirm their participation within 7 days, after which places may be offered to applicants on the reserve list.
Students will be required to write and submit a 7.000-8.000 words paper before the starting of the Summer School. The paper will be then presented and discussed during one of the afternoon sessions.
Students will be also required to complete the mandatory readings for morning lectures and method sessions and to actively participate in discussion during morning and afternoon sessions.
Successful participation in the Summer School will be fully accredited with 30 credits and a certificate of participation.
English will be the working language of the Summer School. Therefore, students are expected to have a good command of written and spoken English.
ENROLLMENT FEES
Full fees for the Summer School are €400 and cover tuition costs, academic materials, lunches, welcome aperitivo & farewell dinner, use of library, computing and internet facilities.
Fees will not cover travel and accommodation costs, but registered participants will have the opportunity to book single and double rooms in the University Residence of the Scuola Normale Superiore at a very convenient rate, pending availability.
Details of how to pay the fees and book the room will be emailed to all selected participants.
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Gasline Newsletter October 2009
2009 ASA Annual Meeting
The CSA was well represented by the members of its delegation at the recent ASA Annual meeting and House of Delegates. Linda Mason, M.D., former CSA President and Director from California to the ASA Board, ran in a hotly contested election for Assistant Secretary of the ASA. The members of the delegation worked hard for Linda, and we are fortunate she was successful in the election against Jerry Maccioli, an experienced and well known Director from North Carolina. A message from Dr. Mason to the CSA membership is attached below.
To the Members of the California Society of Anesthesiologists:
As many of you may already know, I was elected Assistant Secretary for the American Society of Anesthesiologists during the recent ASA Annual Meeting in New Orleans. We did this together! I can't thank each of you enough for your help and support of my campaign. The commitment for my election from the CSA was beyond compare—you are the best! It will be a great pleasure for me to represent you as a member of the ASA Administrative Council.
We are also fortunate to have the dedication and talent of Mark Singleton who will now serve as your Director to the ASA from California. I wish Mark all the best in his new role.
Thank you again. I look forward to a bright future for our specialty of Anesthesiology.
Linda J. Mason, M.D.
In addition, two members of the California delegation, Michael Champeau, M.D., and Linda Hertzberg, M.D., served on the Reference Committees which hear the business of the House of Delegates. A number of members, either as individuals or on behalf of the CSA, were actively involved in bringing forward resolutions for the House of Delegates. Those involved included Edgar Canada, M.D., James Moore, M.D., Mark Singleton, M.D., and Kenneth Pauker, M.D. A full update on activity at the ASA meeting will be available in Dr. Singleton's Director's report on the Web site and in the next CSA Bulletin.
National Health Care Reform
With the so-called public plan or public option back in play, and its potential to tie payment rates for anesthesiologists to Medicare rates, the ASA has issued a call for members to contact their Congressional Representatives. As noted below, Representative Johnson of Texas has submitted an amendment to H.R. 3200 that would de-link anesthesia payments from Medicare rates. The full e-mail from the ASA is pasted below. If you click on the “Please call you Representative” link, it will take you to the ASA Grassroots Network and assist you in reaching your Congressman.
Urge support for anesthesiology-specific amendment to H.R. 3200
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30) has introduced an amendment to H.R. 3200, health reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, which would de-link anesthesia payments from Medicare rates under a public plan.
Under the “Johnson Amendment,” payments for anesthesia services would be based on the average of the payment rates of commercial insurers and health plans participating in the “Exchange.” This would level the playing field and ensure fair anesthesiology payments.
Please call your Representative and ask him or her to support the Johnson amendment.
Democratic leadership is involved in closed-door negotiations to craft the final House health reform bill. In the process, they must merge three separate Committee versions of the bill, two of which include a public plan based upon Medicare payment rates. ASA has consistently lobbied for negotiated payment rates, as included in a third Committee version of H.R. 3200.
The content of H.R. 3200 changes hourly. However, press reports and information from ASA lobbyists indicate that the House is leaning heavily toward including a public plan tied to Medicare rates.
Rep. Johnson is working with Speaker Pelosi's office in an effort to have her amendment language incorporated into whatever version of H.R. 3200 is ultimately brought to the floor of the House by the Democratic leadership. The precise mechanism by which the language would be incorporated has not yet been determined. Additionally, the specific date for full House consideration of H.R. 3200 has not yet been determined but could occur within the next 7-10 days.
Your Representative's support of the Johnson Amendment is extremely important at this point in the process. The addition of co-sponsors will strengthen Rep. Johnson's efforts. Please contact your Member of Congress (again, if necessary), and ask that he or she co-sponsor the Johnson Amendment.
Please use the following documents for additional information, and feel free to share these materials with Congressional offices.
Johnson amendment language
Rep. Johnson letter to Speaker Pelosi
Johnson amendment FAQ
Contact the ASA Washington office, 202-289-2222, with any questions.
California Opt-Out Update
At its September meeting, the CSA Board of Directors approved pursuing litigation on this issue. In late September, the CSA received the long-awaited letter from the Governor's attorneys, responding to our deep concerns about the legality of the opt-out and the manner in which it was done. Not surprisingly, the letter defended the Governor's position. Demands for documents under the Public Records Act have already been served on the Governor's office, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Medical Board of California, the Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and the State Health and Human Services Agency. This process provides a means for obtaining information similar to discovery during a lawsuit.
Moreover, this fight is far from finished. CSA is continuing to mount an active political and legal campaign. We will be going before the Medical Board of California at its next meeting later this month to discuss the manner in which information regarding the opt-out was withheld from that body. In the meantime, consultations are underway with CSA and CMA attorneys as to the timing and type of legal strategy that we will pursue. The ASA remains fully engaged in and supportive of these efforts.
Register Now! December 5 – Ultrasound Regional Anesthesia Workshop
A Hands-On Ultrasound for Regional Anesthesia Workshop (no more than seven per station), offered by the California Society of Anesthesiologists, will take place at the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel on December 5, 2009. To provide the best educational experience, CSA has limited the number of participants. Workshops fill quickly! If you plan to attend, register soon to ensure you'll get in. The cost for CSA members is $595.
CSA Winter Hawaiian Seminar
Beat the winter blahs! Attend the CSA's Winter Hawaiian Seminar, January 19-23, 2009, at the beautiful Hyatt Maui Resort & Spa. Visit the CSA Web site to learn more.
Intraoperative Blood Pressure Management: Is the Standard of Care, Ideal Care$
Anesthetic Considerations for Spine Surgery
Perioperative Management of the Patient with Coronary Artery Disease
Analgesia for Routine Labor: What's Old, What's New, What Works
Concepts in Regional Anesthesia—Ultrasound and Nerve Stimulation
Our Evolving Practice: Oxygen, Vasopressors, Pre-Eclampsia and More
Book your sleeping room as soon as possible on the Hyatt's online CSA registration site at http://maui.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp.
Linda B. Hertzberg, M.D.
The CSA Gasline, a monthly newsletter, is sent as a member service to CSA members who have e-mail addresses. If you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please send an e-mail to andreadlp@csahq.org with the message “unsubscribe.”
Publications & Research/
Member Spotlight: An Interview with Dr. John Hsu, Anesthesiologist and Entrepreneur, on Non-Medical Opioid Use and New Technology
Dec 29, 2020 by
Agarwal, Rita, MD, FAAP, FASA
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Category Archives: Event
Event, Sound
Full House at the GFF for SimVis
28th February 2017 Brian Loranger Leave a comment
As previously mentioned, SimVis lecturers Ronan Beslin and Paul Wilson had the opportunity to present two guest lectures at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival: Life of a Foley Artist, and Anatomy of a Soundtrack. We are happy to report that both sessions were filled to capacity and were a huge success. Well done!
During Life of a Foley Artist, Simvis’ Paul Wilson and Ronan Breslin had a mock fight with live foley sound provided by Mark Daniels and Matt Collings. Photos by GFF photographer Martina Ciliento
Paul noted: “It was a great privilege to be invited as guests of the Glasgow Film Festival. Our revealing and humorous sonic deconstruction, accompanied in depth discussion of theory, historical and current practise, sparking a lively Q&A session in the presentation room and afterward in the lovely bar of the CCA. It was fabulous to be able to screen the latest outputs from our studios (‘Tam’ by Greenlight Creative) in which our hard working post-graduate students produced exciting Sound Design, Foley and Mixing: The film has been subsequently submitted to the Edinburgh Film Festival and The BBC are currently considering it for broadcast. Both evenings were ‘sold-out’ and we look forward to joining with or GFF colleagues in future years.”
GFF17Glasgow Film Festival
BBC, Event, Virtual Reality
VR – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Head of School of SimVis will be giving this illustrated talk at BBC Scotland as part of Digtial Cities Glasgow week in March:
Everywhere we look we see the resurgence of VR which, in the last 24 months, seems to have become ubiquitous within our society. Even the mannequins in the shop windows, clad in the latest fashions, have HMDs strapped to their heads. VR is everywhere, from classrooms to therapy couches to TV adverts and bargain buckets in the local petrol station.
VR is being pushed as the modern-day panacea for all our ills and commercial challenges. We’ve been here before and this time we’re in a much stronger place from a technological point of view but there’s still so many improvements we can make and pitfalls we must avoid. We must be mindful not to force the square VR peg into the real world round hole; VR really isn’t for everyone.
In this talk I’ll touch on the wonders of VR, the good. But I’ll also talk about the pitfalls, the bad and the ugly. What do we need to watch out for? What are the real negatives of VR both from a social and physiological perspective? And importantly, what advances are we likely to see in the coming years.
Date and Time: Fri, March 17, 2017, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM GMT
Location: BBC Scotland, 40 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1DA
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/digital-cities-glasgow-vr-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-tickets-32181979166
BBCVisualisation
Event, Games
SimVis goes Global (GameJam)
20th January 2017 Brian Loranger Leave a comment
It was an exciting time for SimVis student and lecturers over weekend of the 21st of January, as staff and students took part in this year’s Global Game Jam (http://globalgamejam.org/). The weekend was an intensive 48 hours of game design, programming, artwork, and sound creation, with participants tasked to make a new game using the theme of ‘waves’.
Escape from BottleTree Island
Split into two different teams, each was successful in creating something unique and interesting, with one of our teams being awarded audience choice for best game art at the event. To learn more about the game’s that were created, check out The Godyssey Game (http://globalgamejam.org/2017/games/godyssey) and Escape from Bottle Tree Island (http://globalgamejam.org/2017/games/escape-bottletree-island).
Team Godyssey (left), Team Escape from BottleTree Island (right)
ggj2017
Event, Sound, Video
Another BAFTA New Talent Win!
We would like to congratulate Sound for Moving Image student Kevin Murray, who has won a The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Scotland New Talent Award for his short film “Paperclip”. Well done!
I didn’t even entertain the idea of getting nominated, never mind winning, and as such had absolutely no prep; even in my head, for an acceptance speech.
As I still didn’t believe I had a chance of winning once I had been nominated, I fully intended to have a nice time being at the awards and drinking all the free booze. It’s only good fortune and my friend Colin (Who did the camera work for paperclip) being incredibly late, that I wasn’t completely smashed on free wine before things even began.
Upon winning, I went proper giddy, as is evident from the official BAFTA photo of all the winners doing there best to look regal and winnery, and me laughing like a maniac beside my pal Danny Boyle.
You can see Kevin’s film here.
Details about the BAFTA Scotland awards for new talent can be found at: http://www.bafta.org/scotland/awards/new-talent.
Event, Performance, Sound
Sound Thought @ The CCA
29th March 2016 DDS Leave a comment
This week in the Glasgow CCA is Sound Thought – the University of Glasgow’s annual postgraduate sonic arts festival.
Through a series of concerts, screenings, performances, discussions and workshops, the three-day festival will show how research and practice from a range of sound and music disciplines communicate across artistic canons.
DDS PhD student Jessica Argo and tutor Ronan Breslin both have works that will be performed as part of the festival, this Thursday evening.
Jessica will be presenting a paper and providing samples of Soundscapes used in her research: “Immersive Soundscapes to elicit Anxiety in Exposure Therapy: Physical Desensitization and Psychological Catharsis”
Jessica will present physiological data analysis from her experiments, to reveal the most powerful and consistent anxiety-triggering sounds. Questionnaire responses also offer insight into participants’ emotional involvement and reactions.
Ronan’s work goes under the title “Adolescent Nuclear Angst…Or how I Learned to Stick My Head Between my Knees“.
Ronan notes:
As a child of the late 70’s and early 80’s my abiding memory was of the malevolent spectre of nuclear annihilation. Ronald Reagan was elected US president promising to confront an “evil empire” and in my school playground we fretted about the latest scare-mongering TV documentary or drama depicting the imminent apocalypse. The Soviet Union was the evil bogeyman waiting in the woods; not witches, demons or monsters. After watching one particular film “Threads”, a 10-year old me recalls asking my all-knowing, military-trained, strong and protective dad what we would do if there was a nuclear war. “Stick our heads between our knees and kiss our arses’ goodbye” was his glib reply.
This AV piece will have resonance as a warning from the past as well as offering me a chance for me to finally get payback on my dad for his inconsiderate flippancy.
The full programme is available here. All events are free, but registration is required.
AngstAnxietySound Thought
3D Printing, Archaeology, Event, Heritage
Explorathon 2015
4th March 2016 DDS Leave a comment
Back in October, Stuart Jeffrey, (Research Fellow in Heritage), Laura Hundersmarck (International Heritage Visualisation intern), and Mhairi Maxwell (Research Developer for International Heritage Visualization) took part in the Explorathon event at the National Museum of Scotland.
3D printer in tow, they joined astronomers, chemists, physicists and fellow archaeologists to showcase some of the most cutting-edge discoveries and technologies available today, and presented work from the ACCORD project: an endeavour to co-create 3D-models of archaeological sites and monuments that has been travelling across Scotland to work with local communities.
They outlined their work by video here, and details about Explorathon, and the other fantastic projects presented there, can be found here.
Tech Meetups and Events in Glasgow
24th February 2016 DDS Leave a comment
I was putting together a list of lists of tech meetups and events in Glasgow for DDS students… and thought I’d share it here instead.
There are a wide range of meetup and events occurring in and around Glasgow on a wide range of topics – many of which are relevant to topics studied at the DDS.
General Event Listings
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–glasgow/events/
http://www.meetup.com/
Arts and Culture Event Listings
The List is Glasgow’s (and Edinburgh’s) original arts and culture magazine. Their listings are here:
https://www.list.co.uk/events/what:Glasgow/
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–glasgow/film-and-media–events/
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–glasgow/music–events/
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–glasgow/arts–events/
Tech Events and Listings
Techmeetup is a regular meetup event. Most events have a web dev focus – http://techmeetup.co.uk/
http://www.meetup.com/Glasgow-Digital-Media-Meetup/
http://www.meetup.com/Health-2-0-Edinburgh-Scotland/
And general listings:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–glasgow/science-and-tech–events/
The OpenTech Calendar listings tend to favour open source meetups and related – https://opentechcalendar.co.uk/area/65-glasgow/
Digital & Board Games Events and Listings
BertWednesdays is an informal pub meetup for people in (or interested in) game development – http://bertwednesdays.com/
The International Game Developers Association has an active Scottish chapter, which meets most months, rotating through Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow – https://igdascotland.org/
A group for people interested in creating board games – https://www.facebook.com/groups/GlasgowGameLab/
A group for people interested in playing board games – http://unpluggedgames.co.uk/unplugged-games-club/
A group that organises digital game pub nights and events – https://www.facebook.com/glesgames
General – http://www.meetup.com/GlasgowWriters/
Science Fiction – https://gsfwc.wordpress.com/
http://scottishscreenwriters.ning.com/
Event, Interaction, Performance
'Enheduanna – A Manifesto of Falling'
2nd June 2015 DDS Leave a comment
World Premiere of the first Live Brain-Computer Cinema Performance
CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, UK | Thu 30 – Fri 31 July 2015 | 8.00pm
Polina Zioga and the Digital Design Studio (DDS) of The Glasgow School of Art present ’Enheduanna – A Manifesto of Falling’, a new innovative performance, with actress Anastasia Katsinavaki, and composer Minas Borboudakis.
This international production is the result of Polina Zioga’s doctoral research on brain-computer interfaces that provide the brain with a non-muscular channel for communicating with the external world. The real-time brain-activity of a performer and the audience controls the live audio-visual projections and the atmosphere of the theatrical stage, which functions as an allegory of the social stage.
The performance explores the life and work of Enheduanna (ca. 2285-2250 B.C.E.), an Akkadian Princess, the first documented High Priestess of the deity of the Moon Nanna in the city of Ur (present-day Iraq), who is regarded as possibly the first known author and poet in the history of human civilisation, regardless of gender.
In her most known work, ‘The Exaltation of Inanna’, Enheduanna describes the political conditions under which she was removed from high office and sent into exile. She speaks about the ‘city’, power, crisis, falling, and the need for rehabilitation. Her poetry is used as a starting point for a conversation with the work of contemporary writers that investigate the notions of citizenry, personal and social illness, within the present-day international, social and political context of democracy.
The project has been realised in the GSA Digital Design Studio, in collaboration with the School of Psychology of the University of Glasgow, the School of Art, Design and Architecture of the University of Huddersfield, and with the support of the NEON Organization, CCA, MyndPlay and the GSA Students’ Association.
Performed in English, Greek, and French with English supertitles.
Please be aware of that the event will be filmed.
More information: CCA | Facebook | Twitter
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Blog.JonAriza
Game Collection
Comics Collection
Baroque (Wii)
Bit.Trip Beat (WiiWare)
Bit.Trip Core (WiiWare)
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (Wii)
Onslaught (WiiWare)
Resident Evil 5 (360)
Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii)
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
Tom Clancy’s Endwar (360)
Tomb Raider Anniversary (Wii)
LE Review
LE Review, Uncategorized
Just random stuff and an LE Review
Not too much to talk about today. I would’ve posted this much earlier but GameTrailers was having some serious problems.
Earlier this week I picked up the Super Mario 64 soundtrack on eEbay. Sellers typically try to sell this for over $100 but I won this one at auction for $16 and free shipping. I pretty much wanted this cd for the Staff Roll track which has been a longtime favorite of mine. Back in the N64 days, I would often play the final Bowser just to hear the song over the end credits. I’m not in anyway suggesting its the only song on the album I like. Quite the contrary, I love most of them, but most of them are just icing on the cake.
I’ve also ordered a second copy of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter for the GameCube. This one comes with the rarer cover art, which is basically just a picture of Jango’s head filling the cover. I picked it up for aobut $22. Some sellers try to sell it for quite a bit more than that, as if it was a proper limited edition. I personally really liked this game and I keep hoping they decide to make a sequel. Maybe featuring Boba Fett and being a little more focused on hunting bounties. Unfortunately with all the stuff that’s been going on at LucasArts, I’m not really sure what to expect from them.
I put some time into Sin and Punishment. I do not believe humanity has evolved far enough to do everything that game demands. That and I think the control scheme could’ve been laid out a little better. If they had used the analog stick to aim and the c-buttons for strafing, they could’ve had the Z and R buttons left for firing and jumping respectively. Still, the control scheme works well enough and the game is still awsome. What I think would work best, however, would be either a remake or a sequel to this game for the Wii. I think the controls would be perfect. Use IR aiming for the gun reticle, the analog stick for strafing, the B button for shooting/slashing (or maybe use a slashing motion with the remote for the sword slash, maybe give us the option?), and the A or C button to jump. Apparently Treasure is interested in doing a sequel. Let’s hope that interest bears fruit because it could be an awsome third-party title for the Wii.
I’m also still playing Oblivion and I think I will be doing so for a while. I really wish I could change my major skills seeing as I’m only actively using half of the ones I originally selected. I’ve done it in both Morrowind and Oblivion now; choosing skills that don’t really mesh up well with my style of play. Then again, you don’t really know how you will end up playing until you actually start doing so. Still, I’m getting by so I can’t complain too much. I just got up to Champion rank in the arena. I’m going to wait a bit before going for the Grand Champion rank, though. By completing the Origin of the Grey Prince quest you get a boost in several skills incloding acrobatics I think, which still provides benefits after its exceeded level 100, so I’m going to wait until I can make good benefit of it. Also, completing the quest makes the grand champion match all the easier. I’ll probably delve into the Shivering Isles before too long.
On a related note (perfect segway, I know 😛 )
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Collector’s Edition
Inside the box we have:
Morrowind Original Soundtrack
The Art of Morrowind
Ordinator Figurine
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: This is just the regular retail stuff here, but it is more than what is typically included with other games. Aside from the game disc you get the construction set that lets you make your own mods for the game, instruction manual, of course, and a nice map of the game world.
Morrowind Original Soundtrack: The beautiful soundtrack to the game by one of my favorite video game composers, Jeremy Soule, who has done music for Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, Prey, Guild Wars, and the Harry Potter movies. This soundtrack is 15 tracks and roughly 40 minutes of music. Its different from the Morrowind soundtrack available for download at DirectSong, which is 20 tracks and roughly 45 minutes of music.
The Art of Morrowind: This 48-page art booklet contains a wealth of concept art. It doesn’t really compare to retail art books of course, but its a very nice book.
Ordinator Figurine: This is pretty much just what it says. A small pewter figurine of the in-game Ordinator. A neat little trinket, but nothing I’d lose sleep over.
This is one Collector’s Edition after sinking many, many, many hours into the Game of the Year Edition for the X-Box. This edition includes both a soundtrack and an art book, which are two enormous plusses for me.
The soundtrack itself is great. The music can be very epic and at the same time very ambient. The art book, while short, has some very awsome images covering locations, equipment, and characters. Most are line art but there are a few paintings in there as well. The pewter figure isn’t anything special. I just leave it in the box for the most part. Its nice and all, but its not terribly impressive.
On top of that, the trappings of the regular edition are none too shabby. The Construction Kit is apparently the same tool used by the developers and affords you a lot of power to add your own mods to the game if you’re willing to take the time to learn it. The map is also very nice. The game has an in-game map, I know, but sometimes its just nice to follow your journey on a physical map. The map also looks very cool too. While it may not label absolutely everything, it does have small images that can tip you off to new locations and settlements you may just pass by if you weren’t looking for them.
I couldn’t find the original MSRP for this edition online, although I’m imagining that it would’ve cost something like $59.99. At that price, I still would’ve recommended this. I didn’t buy it at retail myself. I saw it once at a (at the time) EbGames, but I didn’t really know about the series at that time so I skipped over it. When I found one on Ebay I was able to buy it for around $30, which is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen another one on Ebay lately or anywhere else online.
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The blog of Jon Ariza, Game Designer, gamer, and geek
After reading House of M…
The Punisher by Chris Golden ( aka the angelic Punisher)
Book Review: The Lost Symbol
E3 Post Mortem – Sony
E3 Post-Mortem – Microsoft
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Tagged: attack
KNU mourns loss of leader
Feb 15, 2008 (DVB), A Karen National Union official said today that the group would continue to work for its aims despite the assassination of KNU secretary-general Pado Manh Sha[…]
KNU leader assassinated
Feb 14, 2008 (DVB), Karen National Union secretary-general Pado Manh Sha has been assassinated by two unknown men, according to early reports. At around 4.30pm today, two unidentified men entered[…]
Karen refugee camps warned of attack rumours
Feb 11, 2008 (DVB), Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border have been placed on high alert amid rumours of a possible attack by government troops and a Karen National[…]
Bomb kills KNU defector's son-in-law
Jan 31, 2008 (DVB), The son-in-law of a Karen National Union commander who defected to the Burmese government side was killed by a bomb yesterday in what is thought to[…]
Bomb explodes on bus in Bago township
Jan 17, 2008 (DVB), A bus conductor was killed when a bomb exploded on a passenger bus travelling from Kyaukkyi to Rangoon yesterday, according to Burmese state media reports. The[…]
Increased security in Bago raises local suspicions
Jan 15, 2008 (DVB), In the aftermath of the bomb explosion in Bago division on 11 January, local residents have expressed their suspicions about heightened security measures put in place[…]
Bomb explosion in Rangoon
Jan 14, 2008 (DVB), A woman was injured in a bomb explosion in Rangoon yesterday afternoon, the third bomb attack in three days following two explosions in Naypyidaw and Bago[…]
Bomb explodes near Naypyidaw
Jan 11, 2008 (DVB), A bomb exploded at Pyinmanar railway station near the new Burmese capital Naypyidaw at around 4am this morning, killing one woman, local sources said. A Pyinmanar[…]
Township official shot and wounded
Dec 3, 2007 (DVB), The township chairman of the Three Pagoda Pass border town in Mon state was shot and seriously wounded on 28 November, according to township residents. Former[…]
Family of NLD member imprisoned for USDA intimidation
Oct 10, 2007 (DVB), Family members and colleagues of a National League for Democracy member who was attacked in June have been given five to seven-year sentences for threatening the[…]
More than 1000 Karen flee their homes
Aug 27, 2007 (DVB)
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Literary critic and theorist, political analyst and activist, spokesman without peer for the Palestinian cause: Edward Said was one of the most influential intellectuals of his time. By both temperament and conviction a thorough cosmopolitan, Said was instrumental in expanding the intellectual landscape of the twentieth century, often crossing and sometimes redefining disciplinary borders. His restless, probing examination of the relationship between culture and politics is the hallmark of his work.
Call for Applications: Edward W. Said Fellowship
Named in his honor, Edward W. Said Fellows receive a $5,000 research study award that is intended to offset the financial costs of consulting the Edward W. Said Papers in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Researchers early in their careers whose scholarship speaks across disciplinary boundaries, promotes humanistic inquiry in the service of intercultural communication and understanding, and addresses pressing global issues in the public sphere are especially encouraged to apply. For Said, cultural criticism was an ethical imperative. He believed it was the responsibility of humanists in the academy not only to reveal the links between culture and power, but also to develop alternative modes of analysis to resist injustice.
Applicants are requested to specify the period and duration of their intended residency in New York City in their cover letter. We ask that each residency (whatever its length: usually ranging between one month and one semester) overlaps whenever possible with the Fall or Spring term at Columbia (that is, September through December 2020 or January through May 2021).
Said Fellows must submit a report on the work undertaken within three months of the completion of their research visit.
The deadline for applications is 15 April 2020. Awards will be announced by 15 May 2020.
Eligibility: Applicants must have been awarded their PhD between 2010 and 2020.
Research Proposal (1500 words), and a one-page bibliography
Cover Letter (200 words), giving a brief description of the project and its engagement with the legacy of Edward W. Said, as well as a specific timeline for the research visit
Letters of Recommendation (2)
Applications must be submitted as a single PDF document, containing all materials noted above (excluding letters of recommendation). Label the file thus: Last Name, First Name—EWS Fellows 2020-2021 (e.g., “Hamilton, Alexander—EWS Fellowship 2020-21”). Send the application file as an attachment in an email to: EdwardWSaidFello[email protected]
Recommendations must also be attached as a PDF document, labeled as above (e.g., “Recommendation for Hamilton, Alexander—EWS Fellows 2020-2021”), and sent directly by recommenders to: [email protected]
Fiction/Biography: A Conversation with Nuala O’Connor and Eibhear Walshe
7/13 | BEYOND THE PUNITIVE SOCIETY
8/13 | ABOLISH THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY!
How to Make a Scholarly Podcast: A three-session workshop on podcasting skills
Book Launch: Manan Ahmed’s The Loss of Hindustan
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the canterbury scene and beyond
facelift magazine
Facelift magazine was a small independent UK music fanzine which ran between 1989 and 1999. It aimed to cover 'The Canterbury Scene and beyond...'
what did it cover?
Exactly what the Canterbury Scene constitutes, is an argument for another website. The "beyond" byline meant that the scope of the fanzine was in fact much wider than the editor, its contributors or its readers first envisaged, but the magazine aimed to cover bands such as Caravan, Soft Machine, Gong, Hatfield and the North, National Health and musicians such as Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Steve Hillage amongst many many others.
what about now?
Whis website first appeared in 2006 and stayed exactly the same for 10 years! Now finally, I'm starting to update it by slowly digitising articles which appeared in the magazine. You'll find links to these articles within the Back Issues sections. Eventually we hope to publish online everything that was contained within its pages..
are the magazines still around?
II've got a couple of boxes of back issues which are slowly disappearing, including some of every issue. Since Canterbury music fans are generally fanatics, there's a good chance there are readers out there, new and old, who might want to fill their bookshelves up and empty mine a little. Please see the Back Issues section for details of what's in each issue and Buy sections to find out how to purchase.
what about issue 20?
In 2005 I still had a wealth of material which was meant to be published in a final Facelift issue which never appeared. Most of it is stuff which was intended to celebrate 10 years and 20 issues of the magazine, which in the end reached neither milestone. See Issue 20.
and the blog?
IIn 2016 I finally shook off the cobwebs and started writing again - that's my blog you'll see here. It is a bit sporadic, but I hope you enjoy it enough to follow it.
Phil Howitt
New - Blog!
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The newest Federal Law on Education in Russian Federation No. 273-FZ was adopted on 29 December 2012 and entered into force on 1 September 2013. Unlike educational legislation of most western democracies, Russian laws are focused mainly on economics, management and administration of education, rather than on pure educational relationships involving interaction between a school, a teacher and a student in the process of transmitting and acquiring knowledge and skills. Legal regulation of a broad variety of vital rights and responsibilities of students and teachers are delegated to sub-legal normative acts, or to regional, municipal or even local legislative level. Moreover, procedural issues are provided with rather poor legislative support, if any . As a result, judicial remedies of infringed rights are far from being adequate or effective.
Traditionally, educational legislation features an endeavor for equilibrium between private and public interests. For the last 10-15 years the latter was gradually yielding its prevailing position in favor of the former. Authoritative methods of regulating educational activities give way to discretional contract-based regulation of an educational ‘service’. For example, limited availability of municipal kindergartens in a number of Russian regions is compensated by intensification of liaison between local authorities and private pre-school organisations on provision of free places subsidised from the local budget on a contractual basis.
The effectiveness of educational legislation in Russia is conditional to its clarity, comprehensiveness, and enforceability. Recent socio-economic metamorphoses had a remodeling effect on different areas of legislation. Permutations of civil, administrative, revenue, employment law combined with participation of Russia in international integration processes have led inevitably to changes in the way the educational activity is carried out. Incongruity between existing educational legislation and the demanded level of quality and integrity of legal norms became evident. The need to level out these differences have resulted in constant alteration of the two basic laws on education: since the moment of their initial enactment more than 200 initiatives have been filed with the Russian Parliament evolving in more than 70 amendment laws.
Reduction of declarative norms, refinement of distribution of powers and quality control procedures are among the unquestionable positive outcomes of ad hoc adjustment of the laws; still, they are characterised by internal and external collisions, excessive replication and redundancy, as well as lack of effective means of enforcement, as illustrated by the case law and complaints filed with the Federal Centre for Educational Legislation.
Due to the reasons stated above the Ministry of Education and Science has chosen the ‘integration and re-processing’ type of systematisation of educational legislation with the aim to accomplish the thoroughgoing modernisation of educational legislation in compliance with the contemporary standards of legitimisation and with view to the existing demands of individuals and the society for quality and adequate education.
Russian educational legislation has recently undergone complex revising. It took more than 10 years to elaborate the new Federal Law on Education; its finalised draft has been adopted by the State Duma – the Parliament of Russian Federation – on December 29, 2012.
Initially, the new law had had to offer several revolutionary changes both in respect to administration of educational system and the contents of education as such. To ‘sweeten the pill’, the Ministry has started to introduce them one-by-one into the legislation in vigor. Thus, by the date of enactment of the new law most of its novelties will already have been working for a certain period of time.
Undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the new law is aggrandisement of those rights and freedoms of teachers and students that were previously guaranteed by sub-legal acts. This transformation secures advanced enforceability under the law to protect from illegal suspension and dismissal, from violations during admission, attestation, licensing, accreditation and other procedures.
Chapter 11 of the new law serves to exemplify the previous statement, for it contains twelve articles, each devoted to a particular category of students and / or courses previously lacking any adequate legal fixation at all or handled by typical provisions, model regulations, administrative orders (even non-normative letters!) and other acts of subordinate legislation. Thus, higher legal guarantees will be provided to foreign students, disabled, incarcerated, students with outstanding abilities, students of military academies, art schools, medical schools, and flight schools, to name but the few.
The new law also addresses other vital problems of contemporary education law and legislation:
1) the need for complex renewal of Russian education system with due regard to the current needs of an individual, the society and the state, as well as to the demands of innovative economy and Russia’s international obligations in terms of education;
2) the need for a systematical and comprehensive legal support of the social relations in education;
3) the need to enhance substantially the regulatory device of education legislation by means of improving the technology of legal drafting, eliminating unnecessary repetition, redundancy and misinterpretation, minimising sub-legislative regulation of essential rights and freedoms, and securing direct application of the law.
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Wells Fargo & Company Declares Cash Dividends on Preferred Stock
By: Wells Fargo & Company via Business Wire News Releases
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced dividends on 13 series of preferred stock.
Financial documents (Photo: Wells Fargo).
A quarterly cash dividend of $18.75 per share was declared on its 7.50% noncumulative perpetual convertible class A preferred stock, Series L, liquidation preference $1,000 per share, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrL”. The Series L dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $325.00 per share was declared on its 5.20% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series N, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.325 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series N preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrN”. The Series N dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $320.31 per share was declared on its 5.125% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series O, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.32031 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series O preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrO”. The Series O dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $328.13 per share was declared on its 5.25% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series P, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.32813 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series P preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrP”. The Series P dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $365.63 per share was declared on its 5.85% fixed-to-floating, noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series Q, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.36563 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series Q preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrQ”. The Series Q dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $414.06 per share was declared on its 6.625% fixed-to-floating, noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series R, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.41406 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series R preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrR”. The Series R dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $375.00 per share was declared on its 6.00% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series T, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.375 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series T preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrT”. The Series T dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $375.00 per share was declared on its 6.00% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series V, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.375 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series V preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrV”. The Series V dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $356.25 per share was declared on its 5.70% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series W, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.35625 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series W preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrW”. The Series W dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $343.75 per share was declared on its 5.50% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series X, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.34375 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series X preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrX”. The Series X dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $351.56 per share was declared on its 5.625% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series Y, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.35156 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series Y preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrY”. The Series Y dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $296.88 per share was declared on its 4.75% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series Z, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.29688 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series Z preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrZ”. The Series Z dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
A quarterly cash dividend of $153.40 per share was declared on its 4.70% noncumulative perpetual class A preferred stock, Series AA, liquidation preference $25,000 per share. This dividend equals $0.15340 per depositary share, each representing a 1/1,000 interest in a share of Series AA preferred stock, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WFCPrA”. The Series AA dividend is payable on Dec. 15, 2020, to holders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 30, 2020.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.92 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment, and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,200 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com), and mobile banking, and has offices in 31 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2020 rankings of America’s largest corporations.
News Release Category: WF-CF
Ancel Martinez, 415-222-3858
ancel.martinez@wellsfargo.com
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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
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Home Games Overview
Hustle Kings VR (2016)
Developed by EPOS Game Studios for PS4
Hustle Kings VR is a sports game developed by EPOS Game Studios and released on PlayStation 4.
Hardware: Rivals (2016)
for PS4
Hardware: Rivals is a game released on PlayStation 4.
Until Dawn (2015)
Developed by Supermassive Games Ltd. for PS4
Until Dawn is a survival horror game developed by Supermassive Games Ltd. and published by Sony exclusively for PlayStation 4. The game was first shown as a PlayStation 3 game, but was later re-revealed at Gamescom 2014 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (2015)
Developed by Santa Monica Studio, The Chinese Room for PS4
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a first-person adventure game developed by The Chinese Room in collaboration with Santa Monica Studio and is due to be published by Sony on the PlayStation 4 in 2015.
Singstar: Ultimate Party (2014)
Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for PS3, PS4
Singstar: Ultimate Party is a misc game developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4.
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Conference preview: CHI 99 conference on human factors in computing systems
CHI 99 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
A whirlwind of change, with more and more content being delivered on the Internet and the Web, presents new challenges to the human-computer interaction (HCI) community. Some of these challenges are technological, but important new issues concern external forces. Demographics play an increasingly important role: the population as a whole is aging, yet at the same time younger children increasingly use computers and the Web. Politics and differing societal goals come into conflict with changes in media, resulting in challenges to free speech and access to information. Usability and aesthetics collide when designers attempt to cope with torrents of information combined with limited Web bandwidth to the user.
To look into these and many other issues, the strong technical program from previous years continues. Invited speakers from outside the HCI community will discuss important issues, such as legal attacks on the Web. CHI 99 will also provide new formats for presenting information and encouraging debate from a wide variety of perspectives, including the distant future, with the return of SciFi at CHI.
New this year is a series of moderated conversations between experts in the HCI community. Clement Mok, Founder of Studio Archetype and a graphic designer with roots in advertising and product design who is currently influential in Web design, will join Web guru Jakob Nielsen, a Principal at Nielsen Norman Group, to discuss issues in Web site design. Since Nielsen comes to the Web from a very different background than Mok, their combination of insights should produce some fireworks. Richard Anderson, with Usability/Design/Discovery Adventures and Studio Archetype, will conduct these interviews.
Mok, with his background spanning conventional design to creating one of the most innovative products for the Web, NetObjects Fusion, insists that the Web provide the user with a rich experience, one that has an emotional feel and that provides some "brain candy" for the user. He hopes to build bridges to the HCI community and feels that the Web requires a happy marriage of both the graphic design and technical communities. Nielsen, coming from a background in computers and human factors, emphasizes function over aesthetics: "it is a mistake to sacrifice fast download time for the sake of appearance." Nielsen notes that in his opinion, "the current balance is tilted toward the look of pages" leading to excessively slow performance for the vast majority accessing the Web over modems. Richard Anderson organized this new format for CHI 99 in order to "get inside people's heads in a unique way." Conversation is a way of thinking through issues: "we should expect some surprises from the interviewees in these sessions."
There will be three additional interview sessions. Bill Buxton, Chief Scientist at Alias | Wavefront Inc. will converse with Clifford Nass, Associate Professor, Department of Communication at Stanford University; Wayne D. Gray, of the Human Factors & Applied Cognitive Program at George Mason University will speak with Bill Gaver from the Royal College of Art; and Donald A. Norman of the Nielsen Norman Group will join Janice Rohn from Sun Microsystems.
Several years ago, Web users experienced a serious legal attack, the Communications Decency Act which was passed by the US Congress. Ann Beeson, a staff attorney for the ACLU National Legal Department and principal in the successful fight against the Act, will speak at the closing plenary. Beeson is a specialist in the area of civil liberties in cyberspace, with the ability to translate the language of high technology to concepts persuasive to the courts. The CDA is an example of what happens when new technologies collide with existing law and custom something that regularly occurs whenever new technologies are introduced. However, according to Beeson, "the Web should be entitled to greater (rather than less) protection than other media because of its free-speech enhancing characteristics." Beeson also points out that the issues in this case were not so much technical or legal, as they were about the people creating content and using the Web, and the compelling nature of these uses. Beeson emphasizes that "what convinced the courts to overturn this legislation was the important nature of what people were doing on the Web, and the potential harm the Act could do to these activities." Marian Williams, Professor at the University of Massachusetts and General Co-Chair for CHI 99, points out that "among the limitations to the work we do, some are external. It is important to understand how people who don't understand technology can hurt the HCI community."
SciFi at CHI returns after a seven year hiatus. Aaron Marcus will moderate this panel discussion about the future of human-computer interaction as part of the opening plenary. Joining him will be Bruce Sterling, author of Hacker Crackdown and Distraction; Michael Swanwick, author of Jack Faust; Professor Vernor Vinge of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University and author of Deepness in the Sky (to be published in 1999); and Professor Elliot Soloway at the University of Michigan. Sterling notes that times have changed: "there is no electronic frontier now, the digital revolution has been tamed." He is currently interested in the convergence of computers and biotechnology, and is at work on another non-fiction book about the evolution of media over time.
According to Marcus, in many of their writings these authors present distinct visions of future advanced user interface scenarios. SciFi at CHI was a very popular event at CHI 92, and promises to be equally interesting this year. Mark Altom, Manager in the Integrated User Experience Department at Lucent Technologies and General Co-Chair for CHI 99, adds: "who better to speak about the future of HCI in 1999 than those who write about their visions of a future society? Science fiction has in the past been often prescient, as well as entertaining."
One of the strongest features of CHI 99 is the program of 32 tutorials, with presenters from North America, Japan and Europe. Tutorial attendees can acquire practical knowledge unavailable elsewhere, as well as hear from world-class researchers about their latest work. A small sample of coming attractions ...
Jakob Nielsen will present his latest thoughts on user interfaces for the Web. According to Nielsen, "on average, a user will fail when trying some new task on the Web." This is because many sites have very bad user interface characteristics. Many sites are based not on user needs, but on corporate design guidelines; and design criteria have more to do with the look and feel of icons on the pages, rather than that the site information be organized well. Nielsen predicts that in the next ten years there will be major changes in the Fortune 500, based on how companies approach the Web. "Web interfaces must be treated as a core competency."
Nielsen will be joined for this session by Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini of Healtheon and Rolf Molich, a Principal of Dialog Design. Tog has been working on Web interfaces designed to be used by everyone from experts to those who have never user a computer at all. Molich will discuss the internationalization of the Web, with a focus on European Web usage. This tutorial is aimed at those in charge of internet strategy or working on large scale site design.
One of the fields in which HCI practices are under-represented is that of medicine and medical informatics. Dr. John Gosbee, Director of the Center for Applied Medical Informatics at Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, will present a tutorial on how to overcome the practical problems of applying HCI in medical fields. Gosbee has been working in the area of human factors and medicine since 1988. His previous tutorial at CHI 98 was sold out.
In the course of this full day session, Gosbee will discuss the hidden resources that HCI practitioners working in medicine often don't know about, how to get highly paid personnel to participate in field studies, how to overcome roadblocks, and a host of other practical topics. Since the tutorial is scheduled for a full day this year, Gosbee will combine lectures with small group work and presentations. Participants will be working on solutions to a case study he will present to the group. They can expect to learn not only about how to apply HCI ideas, but actually to solve a significant real-world problem during the course of the tutorial.
Participants in another tutorial, Innovation in Design, will learn about design and the process of design; not only how to do it, but how to think about the process itself. Focusing on workplace design, the course will cover such areas as the physical arrangement, economics, ubiquitous computing, networked information appliances, as well as remote collaboration and telecommuting. Charles Kukla, a Research Affiliate at MIT Department of Architecture and Usability Consultant at Compaq will present the course with colleagues from MIT and Danfoss. Innovation in Design is based on a course Kukla teaches at MIT, Introduction to Design Inquiry.
The day will be quite interactive for participants, who will use a research technique called Design Games applied to a real-life problem situation. Kukla comments that "students will experiment with a variety of tools, techniques and methods, and then reflect, analyze, and evaluate their work." Such learning is becoming increasingly valuable, according to Kukla, because businesses are reaching limits to what they can accomplish by cost reduction and similar strategies. Improved techniques of design promise to increase productivity and profits.
Yahoo! is one of the most frequently visited of all Web sites. David Shen, Director of Design at Yahoo!, Inc., will be presenting a tutorial to share some of what the "GUIYahoo!" have learned in the process of building the site. This will be a basic course about the design of Web sites, what works and what doesn't, for Web developers who already have experience. Shen moved to Yahoo! after doing product design at Apple Computer and frogdesign.
In addition to the interviews, invited speakers, panels and tutorials, CHI 99 will present a full program of papers, video presentations, posters, late breaking results, workshops, Senior CHI Development Consortium, CHIKids, demonstrations and exhibits. "This year's conference offers a rich and varied program, providing provocative presentations from both those within and without the HCI community," note the General Co-Chairs Williams and Altom.
If you can attend only one conference this year, CHI 99 should be it. The latest and best work is presented at CHI, and CHI provides a great forum for meeting and interacting with other professionals in the field. CHI 99 will be held from 15-20 May 1999 in Pittsburgh, PA, USA at the David Lawrence Convention Center.
The annual CHI conference is the premier worldwide forum for the exchange of information on all aspects of how people interact with computers. CHI conferences are sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM)'s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).
Learning Technology Online 99: Learning Without Limits
Hynes Convention Center
Contact: http://www.learningtechnology.com
VRAIS '99, Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium
JW Marriott Hotel
Contact: Larry Hodges
hodges@cc.gatech.edu
http://www.eece.unm.edu/eece/conf/vrais/
April 6 8, 1999
Computers, Freedom + Privacy 1999
The Global Internet
Contact: Marc Rotenberg
http://www.cfp99.org/
The Ergonomics Society 1999 Annual Conference
University of Leicester, UK
Contact: society@ergonomics.org.uk
http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/conference.htm
AGENTS '99: Third International Conference on Autonomous Agents
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Contact: Jeffrey Bradshaw
jeffrey.m.bradshaw@boeing.com
http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/agents99
17th International Symposium on Human Factors in Telecommunication
Contact: Group & Conference Services
HFT99@tdk.dk
http://www.HfT.org
CHI 99: 1999 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Contact: Marian Williams
williams@cs.uml.edu
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/chi99
Visit the World Wide Web site at:
Or contact the CHI 99 Conference office at:
703 Giddings Avenue, Suite U-3
Annapolis, MD 21401 USA
E-mail: CHI99-help@acm.org
http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/march-april-1999/conference-preview-chi-99-conference-on-human-factors-in-computing-sys
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L.A. Apocalypse! ‘San Andreas’ and 23 Thoughts on Destroying the City of Angels
Raphaelle Martin
by Alex Pappademas
In this week’s San Andreas, a rescue-chopper pilot (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and his ex-wife (Carla Gugino) are thrown back together after California’s tectonic plates part ways acrimoniously. We can conclude from the eeriecore cover of “California Dreamin’” in the trailer that it’s not going to be the kind of movie in which Johnson solves problems by flexing his way out of a plaster cast, the way he did earlier this year in Furious 7, magnificently. You cannot arch an eyebrow at an earthquake and then punch it in the junk. Nor does San Andreas look likely to be as apocalyptically nuts as Southland Tales (2007), in which L.A. was a trash compactor of pop culture debris and the Rock was movie star Boxer Santaros, whose Jesus backpiece began crying blood before two Seann William Scotts from an alternate universe touched hands in a flying ice-cream truck, causing reality to collapse. Long story.
Instead, we’re on familiar if shaky disaster-movie ground: Johnson and Gugino have to make their way north from quake-ravaged L.A. to find their estranged daughter in San Francisco before a tsunami sweeps through the Golden Gate. This being a summer movie in the age of IMAX elephantiasis, the theme of the trailer is scope: “The earth will literally crack open,” warns a Caltech scientist played by Paul Giamatti, “and you will feel it on the East Coast.” This is apparently not possible, but it’s an excellently we’re-gonna-need-a-bigger-boat-ish trailer line, and a metaphorically rich one: Here goes California again, blowing another bubble destined to take the national well-being with it when it pops.
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Simultaneously a Los Angeles disaster movie and a San Francisco disaster movie, San Andreas bridges two superficially similar but fundamentally antithetical subgenres. When bad things happen to San Francisco onscreen — bat flu in Contagion, simian revolt in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a thick-necked thunder lizard fighting MUTOS downtown in Godzilla — we’re usually encouraged to see this as regrettable, whereas the versions of Los Angeles pulped in popular entertainment almost always seem on some level to deserve it. “The destruction of London — the metropolis most persecuted in fiction between 1885 and 1940 — was imagined as a horrifying spectacle, equivalent to the death of Western civilization itself,” wrote Mike Davis in his indispensable L.A.-apocalypse treatise Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster. “The obliteration of Los Angeles, by contrast, is often depicted as, or at least secretly experienced as, a victory for civilization.”
To put it in slasher-movie terms, L.A. is almost never the Final Girl; L.A. is the trashy girl who gets carved up early and has it coming, whether “it” is Skynet’s nukes or a tornado filled with sharks.
Sci-fi novelist and critic John Clute, on San Francisco vs. Los Angeles in speculative fiction: “The sense that this city is or had at one time been a humane enclave is almost certainly intensified by the fact that — unlike coastal California as a whole, which serves as an icon of terminus for the American Dream — San Francisco can be perceived as a port, as a place to recuperate in during the course of a journey. Characters can arrive here from abroad, like Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), and afterwards they can leave.” How San Francisco’s rebirth as a sparkling playground for Google VPs will affect its status as an apocalypse-film target remains to be seen. For what it’s worth, I still think the best Bay Area disaster movie is Philip Kaufman’s 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, although I’m biased; my family moved to San Francisco only a few years after it was shot, and the movie looks enough like the now-vanished city I grew up in that watching it on the East Coast after college was like breathing the spores of some Proustian pod-flower. The second-best Bay Area disaster movie is that film loop they used to show while you stood on the SafeQuake exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, giggling through earth-tremor simulations of increasing magnitude before the narrator/seismologist sent you back to your field trip with a warning: “We must be prepared. It will happen again.”
Davis published Ecology of Fear in the late ’90s, with Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) fresh in his mind. Emmerich’s movie reduces Los Angeles to its eccentricities, showing gibbering hippies and costumed attention-hounds and other assorted rainbow-wig-and-foil-suit types gathering on rooftops downtown to welcome and groove on the flying saucers that have come to vaporize them. Our POV character in this sequence is Tiffany, an exotic dancer who marvels, “So pretty …” as the alien ship opens its death-sphincter above the U.S. Bank Tower. Kenneth L. Khachigian, senior California adviser to Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, quipped to the L.A. Times that although millions of people die in this scene, “they’re all liberals.”
It’s not a huge leap from there to John Carpenter’s deranged Escape From L.A. (1996), in which a 9.6-magnitude earthquake and then a border wall stretching from Orange County to the northeastern shore of Malibu isolate the city from what the U.S.’s televangelist president calls “the new, moral America.” Left for dead by the rest of the country, L.A. becomes a mash-up of Bartertown and Burning Man populated almost entirely by bizarro-world L.A. stereotypes. Shuffling plastic-surgery disasters inhabit the burned-out shell of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the San Fernando Valley is an inland sea. A dance mix of Tori Amos’s “Raspberry Swirl” plays, and then Snake (Kurt Russell) and Pipeline (Peter Fonda) surf away on a tsunami.
Davis’s chapter on “The Literary Destruction of Los Angeles” surveys a century’s worth of apocalyptic fiction about Southern California — charting the city’s destruction by invaders foreign and extraterrestrial, by natural and nuclear disaster, and at least once by rampaging Bermuda grass — and argues convincingly that the anxieties decanted in these works are usually racial, tracing the theme of whiteness in peril from Homer Lea’s 1909 potboiler The Valor of Ignorance (Japanese troops land at Santa Monica, just like the aliens in 2011’s Battle Los Angeles) to The Turner Diaries (noxious California-set race-war fantasia in which a militia group seizes Vandenberg Air Force Base’s nuclear arsenal) and beyond.
But the suggestion of apocalypse as a smackdown referendum on L.A.’s spiritual or cultural bankruptcy is almost as perennial. Davis locates pulp history’s first depiction of quake-wracked California sliding into the sea in Myron Brinig’s 1933 novel The Flutter of an Eyelid, a satire of loose-moraled SoCal bohemia that predates Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust by six years and builds to an image of destruction that recurs almost 80 years later in Emmerich’s 2012: “Los Angeles tobogganed with almost one continuous movement into the water, the shore cities going first, followed by the inland communities; the business streets, the buildings, the motion picture studios in Hollywood where actors became stark and pallid under their mustard-colored makeup.”
Emmerich has actually made the destruction of L.A. a first-act showstopper in three movies — between Independence Day and 2012, there was 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow, with Jake Gyllenhaal still in ferrety Donnie Darko mode, Dennis Quaid as the dour Cassandra of the impending insta–ice age, and L.A. lackadaisackality represented by a Hawaiian-shirted Weather Service guy who misses the 50-foot waves bearing down on Santa Monica. “This is L.A.,” he snickers, fingers busy at the buttons of his girlfriend’s blouse. “What weather?” Cue the tornadoes, wiping the Hollywood sign from the hills and flaying the skin from downtown skyscrapers. Emmerich is the most successful L.A.-apocalypse filmmaker, and he’s the glibbest. 2012 (2009) has a stand-in for then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger telling reporters “It seems to me da vurst is ovah” right before everything west of Bakersfield tumbles off the continent. The set piece that follows is Armageddon as sitcom, with a former couple (played by John Cusack and Amanda Peet) and their kids racing to Santa Monica Airport in a limo (and dodging the rolling Randy’s Donut) while grand canyons swallow the landscape behind them and Tom McCarthy, as Peet’s new boyfriend, interjects ding-a-ling advice like “Take the freeway, it’ll be half the time!”
It’s often suggested that when movies destroy L.A. it’s an expression of self-loathing on the part of the movie business. Because I am someone who watches the Academy Awards every year, this strikes me as a fairly wild misreading of the movie business’s feelings about its own importance. Films like Independence Day actually flatter L.A. by imagining it as a likely beachhead in the first intergalactic war, assigning strategic importance to the cradle of the entertainment industry. Sony
Plus, the notion of the apocalypse taking with it a bunch of self-absorbed Hollywood goofballs is tough to resist as a comic beat. In his 1961 novel The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles, Robert Moore Williams gives us a fallout shelter full of archetypes, including the Ginger–from–Gilligan’s Island–esque Rena Stark, who moans, “Me, with a shelf full of Oscars, dying in a hole like this!” Contemporary corollary: This Is the End, in which Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, et al. star as shitty, venal versions of themselves in a movie about the effect of Judgment Day on Young Hollywood, thereby revealing that they’re even more sick of their own personas than we are.
These offhand depictions of L.A.’s destruction speak to the rest of the world’s inability to imagine Los Angeles as an actual city where people who are not Angelyne actually live. Movies about the destruction of L.A. either depict recognizable tourist signifiers in ruins and/or flames (City Hall, the Hollywood sign, the La Brea Tar Pits) or downtown, an anomalous pocket of skyscrapers amid the sprawl and the one part of Los Angeles that most resembles the generic idea of an American city. As a backdrop for movies, it offers the sense of tall buildings and pedestrian bustle without too many regional signifiers getting in the way. Downtown L.A. takes an uncredited beating on film for every credited one, and if you know the actual geography of the area at all, certain movie apocalypses begin to seem oddly localized.
In Thom Eberhardt’s Night of the Comet, two Valley-girl sisters have the run of the city after a cosmic event turns most of the population to dust, but apart from a few exteriors shot in Northridge, they never seem to leave the 10-minute vicinity of Pershing Square. (This is actually not that much of an issue, since the movie’s an affectionate satire in which the protagonists’ obliviousness — “Do you think whatever happened happened everywhere, like in Burbank?” — allows them to bubble happily along, turning trauma into a shopping-spree montage. The bad guys are Elvis Costello fans, as are all true villains.)
Atlantic Releasing
There’s a chase/robot-fight scene in Michael Bay’s Transformers that starts at Hoover Dam, continues as if by teleportation on the L.A. freeways, and ends downtown; watch for the Orpheum Theatre marquee in the background of shot after shot and marvel at how much of the U.S. Army’s battle with the Decepticons is confined to a single city block.
The same landmarks die a thousand deaths: City Hall is an alien target in 1953’s The War of the Worlds and one of the sunken landmarks Snake Plissken’s sub passes in the opening sequence of Escape From L.A., along with the Universal Studios Hollywood building. The Capitol Records Tower shows up pancaked in Escape From L.A. and gets tornadoed in Day After Tomorrow.
The Capitol Records building also falls in Mark Robson’s Sensurround extravaganza Earthquake, rushed into theaters a month before Irwin Allen’s The Towering Inferno in 1974, based on a screenplay commissioned from Mario Puzo in the aftermath of the 1971 Sylmar earthquake (magnitude 6.5-6.7, 64 dead, $553 million in damage). The carnage, when it finally happens, is vividly staged — miniatures of iconic buildings topple and Universal Studios’s famed “Black Tower” quivers like a Jell-O mold. But we also get lots of shots of glass and bookshelves weaponized by ground shaking, as if the whole city’s being assaulted by a poltergeist. Before that, the film takes its sweet geological time introducing us to its all-star cast — Charlton Heston as the structural engineer in a troubled marriage to suicidal boozehound Ava Gardner, Richard Roundtree as the motorcycle daredevil, George Kennedy as the disillusioned cop, and dozens more.
Countless grand-scale L.A. disaster movies would build on Earthquake’s formula in arms-race fashion, but for at least a little while — in the endless scenes in which the principals cross paths in bars and supermarkets, preoccupied with their own bullshit — Earthquake actually plays more like a precursor to Crash, Short Cuts, and Grand Canyon, melodramas about what community means in L.A. and the notion that sometimes it takes a sudden tragedy to bring people together. When the quake hits in Earthquake, Victoria Principal’s Rosa is watching Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter; the film burns away in the projector and cinematic reality is ruptured. The rest of the movie is about white guys reasserting old certainties in the face of chaos, with Heston as the face of shirtsleeved authority — although when a bunch of folks are stranded atop a crumbling office building, it’s Lorne Greene who barks “Take off your panty hose!” at the ladies so they can make a rope.
And Earthquake isn’t even the best/worst L.A. schlockpocalypse/disaster movie starring Heston as the last of the take-charge white guys. Despite being shot just up the beach from where Gaby Rodgers opens the box of radioactive material and possibly nukes L.A. in 1955’s Kiss Me Deadly, the ending of the original Planet of the Apes reveals it as an East Coast movie — it was New York all along — so that one doesn’t count, and Heston’s not in the great Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, set in “North America — 1991” and filmed at UC Irvine and what’s now the Westfield Century City Mall.1 But the opening of Boris Sagal’s The Omega Man2 has Heston tooling around the deserted streets of post–World War III Los Angeles (actually downtown on a Sunday morning, apparently) in a cool red Ford convertible, smooth jazz on the 8-track, pausing occasionally to light up a building with his Uzi when he spots a representative of L.A.’s new population of white-skinned mutants scuttling around in the shadows on an upper floor.
Sure, Heston’s Colonel Neville has a case of the flashbacks, illustrated by montages in which mushroom clouds appear superimposed on his face while Heston sweats like Ted Striker recalling Macho Grande. But survival isn’t that tough a gig. In his safari jacket and open-necked pink dress shirt, pretending to “negotiate” with an imaginary car dealer while stealing a new ride, flirting with the occasional mannequin — because who’s gonna know, right? — Neville is somehow both the last dad on earth and also the last bachelor, holing up at night in a penthouse with his art collection, his big-screen TV, and his Cutty Sark while the children of the atom hoot and cackle and burn books in the street. The story becomes a drag once the movie gives Heston other humans to care about, and the mutants are absurd, campy pontificators in cassocks and aviator shades — and yet I Am Legend, the re-remake with Will Smith, which replaced them with a slavering horde of CGI pseudo-zombies and moved the setting to New York, felt dead onscreen. There’s an elemental, irreducible power to The Omega Man’s fantasy of literally besieged Caucasian manhood in a world ruled by hippies and people of discolor. Peak moment: Neville goes to the Tower Theater to watch Woodstock (the last movie on earth). You can tell by the look on his face that he hates the film as much as Charlton Heston probably did, but he’s seen it so many times he can quote every line.
“Disaster is my life!” —Don Cheadle, Volcano
Sometimes I’m pretty sure Volcano, with Tommy Lee Jones as an emergency-management official trying to stop a lava flow on Wilshire Boulevard, is my favorite L.A. disaster movie. Director Mick Jackson’s relevant credits include L.A. Story and Threads, the bleak 1984 docudrama about post-nuclear-holocaust Sheffield, England; the above-average supporting cast includes Cheadle, John Carroll Lynch, Richard Schiff, Keith David, Deadwood’s Dayton Callie, The Wire’s Robert Wisdom, Susie Essman, Gabi Hoffman, and John Corbett, who’s very convincing in the scene in which he and his wife look out the window of the apartment building Corbett has just built and pretend to be blown away by their view of the roof of the Beverly Center. It’s an L.A. movie that honors and represents the actual diversity of L.A.’s population, rendering visible the homeless and the working class, protesters and riders of public transit, plus the usual background weirdos, like the guy in a tie-dye shirt and a CAUTION-tape headband who spots himself being filmed by a TV-news crew and shouts, “I gotta call my mom.” The trouble starts in a storm drain under MacArthur Park, right across from the Jaime Escalante mural; when it bubbles up on the Miracle Mile, the only force that can stop it is an ad-hoc army of city employees united by their dedication to their jobs and their conviction that “nobody gives a shit about San Francisco.” The whole thing is a tribute to Los Angeles as a community rather than an idea or a joke, the shot of Angelyne’s billboard collapsing aside; the lava itself glows glamorously, like something Nomi Malone might have danced in front of at the Stardust. Its deadly flow is eventually halted, but not before it makes a martyr of LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). The workmen moving the paintings to safety are pure L.A. Story. Guy no. 1: “Hieronymus Bosch is heavy.” Guy no. 2: “That’s because he deals with man’s inclination towards fear and defiance of God’s will.”
But most of the time my favorite L.A. disaster movie is Steve De Jarnatt’s Miracle Mile, from 1989, with Anthony Edwards as a jazz musician at an all-night diner3 who answers an incoming call on a pay phone and learns that the U.S. has fired nuclear missiles at Russia and the Russian response is imminent. So the apocalypse arrives, but only for this specific crew of nighthawks, an instant ad-hoc community that also includes Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Denise Crosby (as a stockbroker with the CliffsNotes to Gravity’s Rainbow hidden inside her Wall Street Journal) and great character actors like O-Lan Jones and Alan Rosenberg. By then we’ve already watched Edwards and Mare Winningham meet cute at the Page Museum, by the La Brea Tar Pits, where the Big Bang murals and woolly-mammoth skeletons and music-of-the-spheres Tangerine Dream score fix Los Angeles, ostensibly the city without a past, in a history that’s about to end. After the phone call, as Rosenberg and a waitress try to pull together a list of notable minds to rescue (“People like Linus Pauling. Write this down. Jane and Tom. And Harry Belafonte … Bobby Seale. Dick Gregory …”), Edwards goes looking for Winningham as word spreads and the city goes nuts. There’s a helicopter waiting on the roof of the Mutual Benefit Life Building, and some people do eventually get there, just as a screaming missile comes across the sky. But the escape isn’t the point; the spiritual center of the film is the old man who decides to spend his last hours at Canter’s, with “the greasiest, fattest pastrami sandwich money can buy.” There are worse places to die.
Sometimes if you’re there at night, you can still imagine red-jumpsuited ape janitors throwing down their cleaning supplies and rising up to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
1971, based on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, like 1964’s The Last Man on Earth, with Vincent Price.
Johnie’s Coffee Shop, a Googie-architecture landmark at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.
Filed Under: 2015 Summer Movies, Volcano, San Andreas, Earthquake, Los Angeles, Miracle Mile, The Night of the COmet, Movies, Independence Day, roland emmerich, Michael Bay, Transformers, 2012, The Day After TOmorrow, Planet of the Apes
Alex Pappademas is a staff writer for Grantland.
Archive @ PAPPADEMAS
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PDF2 PDF |Add To My Favorites | Version: 10/11/19 - Chaptered 09/13/19 - Enrolled 05/30/19 - Amended Senate 03/26/19 - Amended Assembly 02/13/19 - Introduced
AB-521 Physicians and surgeons: firearms: training.(2019-2020)
As Amends the Law Today
As Amends the Law on Nov 18, 2019
The heading of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 14230) is added to Title 12.2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 1. California Firearm Violence Research Center
Section 14232 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
This chapter shall apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, make any of these provisions applicable to the university.
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 14235) is added to Title 12.2 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 2. Medical and Health Provider Education and Training Program
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California experiences unacceptably high rates of firearm-related death and injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,184 gun-related deaths in California in 2017: 1,610 suicides, 1,435 homicides, 86 deaths by legal intervention, 38 unintentional deaths, and 15 deaths of undetermined type.
(b) Mass shootings are changing the character of public life in the state. Since 1982, California has experienced 19 mass shootings, resulting in 137 total deaths. On November 11, 2018, a mass shooting at a nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California, resulted in 12 deaths.
(c) In 2010, the estimated cost of hospital and emergency department care for firearm-related injuries in California was one hundred twelve million dollars ($112,000,000), with Medi-Cal and other government payers responsible for 64 percent of those costs. These high costs occur even though most people who die from firearm-related injuries do so at the scene of the shooting and receive no medical care for their injuries.
(d) Medical costs are only a small proportion (approximately 2 percent) of total societal costs, which are driven primarily by losses in productivity and quality of life.
(e) Medical and mental health care providers are uniquely positioned to help prevent all forms of firearm-related harm. Through the course of their regular patient care, they have opportunities to identify people at risk for such harm, provide evidence-based counseling on risk reduction, and intervene in situations of imminent risk.
(f) On October 30, 2018, the American College of Physicians published an updated position paper with recommendations for reducing firearm injuries and deaths in the United States that “recommends a public health approach to firearms-related violence and the prevention of firearm injuries and deaths” and encourages physicians to “discuss with their patients the risks that may be associated with having a firearm in the home and recommend ways to mitigate such risks.”
(g) Other organizations that have published statements identifying firearm-related harm as a health problem and recommending that medical and mental health professionals engage in efforts to prevent firearm-related harm as an element of their professional practice include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Association of Suicidology.
(h) While many medical and mental health care providers recognize their responsibility to help prevent firearm-related injury and death, many cite lack of knowledge regarding when and how to counsel patients as a principal barrier to action. A position statement adopted by the California Medical Association Board of Trustees on July 28, 2017, states that “expanded education and training are needed to improve clinician familiarity with the benefits and risks of firearm ownership, safety practices, and communication with patients about firearm violence.” The position statement further states that “medical schools and residency programs should incorporate firearm violence prevention into their academic curricula” and “California-specific resources such as continuing medical education modules, toolkits, patient education handouts, and clinical intervention information would help to address this practice gap.”
(i) Having assembled a team of experts in firearm-related death and injury, and specifically in provider and patient education to prevent firearm-related harm, the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis is uniquely qualified to research, develop, implement, and evaluate education and training programs for medical and mental health care providers on preventing firearm-related death and injury.
(a) The University of California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis shall develop multifaceted education and training programs for medical and mental health providers on the prevention of firearm-related injury and death.
(b) The center shall develop education and training programs that address all of the following:
(1) The epidemiology of firearm-related injury and death, including the scope of the problem in California and nationwide, individual and societal determinants of risk, and effective prevention strategies for all types of firearm-related injury and death, including suicide, homicide, and unintentional injury and death.
(2) The role of health care providers in preventing firearm-related harm, including how to assess individual patients for risk of firearm-related injury and death.
(3) Best practices for conversations about firearm ownership, access, and storage.
(4) Appropriate tools for practitioner intervention with patients at risk for firearm-related injury or death, including, but not limited to, education on safer storage practices, gun violence restraining orders, and mental health interventions.
(5) Relevant laws and policies related to prevention of firearm-related injury and death and to the role of health care providers in preventing firearm-related harm.
(c) The center shall launch a comprehensive dissemination program to promote participation in these education and training programs among practicing physicians, mental health care professionals, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, health professional students, and other relevant professional groups in the state.
(d) The center shall develop curricular materials for medical and mental health care practitioners in practice and in training, tailored to the profession and suitable for use through a variety of methods. Educators from the center shall provide didactic education in person and by remote link at medical education institutions, and recruit and train additional health professionals to provide such education.
(e) The center shall develop education and training resources on firearm-related injury and death, including but not limited to, continuing medical education videos, additional training modules, a website with current information on relevant research and legislation, and handouts and written materials for clinicians to provide to patients. The center shall serve as a resource for the many professional and educational organizations in the state whose members seek to advance their knowledge of firearm-related injury and death and effective prevention measures.
(f) The center shall conduct rigorous research to further identify specific gaps in knowledge and structural barriers that prevent counseling and other interventions, and to evaluate the education and training program. The center shall incorporate the research findings into the design and implementation of the program to support the mission of the center to deliver content to health care providers and patients that is effective in guiding clinical decisions and reducing firearm-related injury and death.
On or before December 31, 2020, and annually thereafter, the University of California shall transmit programmatic and financial reports on this program to the Legislature, including reporting on funding and expenditures by source, participation data, program accomplishments, and the future direction of the program. The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
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Chinese Companies Bring Lasting 'radical Change' To Ecuador
QUITO - China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has offered an opportunity to develop Ecuador's infrastructure and achieve connectivity to enhance its trade, tourism and business ties with the rest of the world.
Chinese companies are currently working on projects along the country's northern Pacific coast, an area hard hit by a powerful earthquake in April 2016.
Financial support from the Chinese government, along with the participation of Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation-China National Electronics Import & Export Corporation, have helped launch large-scale infrastructure projects in the northern provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas.
The projects include the reconstruction of the Eloy Alfaro International Airport in Manta, Manabi's second-largest city, and two bridges in the province. A fourth project centers on the Quininde-Las Golondrinas Highway that connects Esmeraldas with neighboring Imbabura province.
"China is a strategic partner, more than that, a great complement for our state," Luis Parrales, the consortium's supervisor overseeing the airport's reconstruction, said.
"For us Ecuadorians, the arrival of Chinese companies contributing their technology has been a radical change for our country," said Parrales.
The consortium's input has made a great impact, as Ecuador in general, and Manta in particular, are very grateful, Parrales said, "because without these contributions, Manta's airport could not have been realized".
The airport's original control tower was toppled by the 7.8-magnitude quake, which left 673 people dead and more than 16,600 injured.
While the landing strip remained intact, the terminal and communications systems were severely damaged, leaving one of the leading centers of tourism and business on the coast temporarily cut off from the rest of the world.
A provisional airport with a control tower that is barely eight meters in height has served the area since 2016, with an obsolete and even manual communications system.
The new airport went into construction on Nov 23, 2018, thanks to a $20.7 million line of credit from the Export-Import Bank of China, and $4.5 million from the Ecuadorian government.
Construction is due to be completed by May 15, 2020, providing the region with a brand new and larger terminal equipped with high technology.
The 4,927-square-meter airport will boast a 36.6-meter-high control tower, taller than its predecessor, and will be able to accommodate Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
The larger airport will have the capacity to receive 115,000 passengers a year, compared to the current capacity for 50,000, and has generated 800 jobs, including 300 direct jobs for the local labor force.
"Manta is going to rise with this new airport," Parrales said during a tour of the site, adding that the airport would turn the city into a "new window unto the world".
Area residents are also looking forward to the new airport.
"As Manabi locals, we are very grateful," said local citizen Cristina Macias. "What the Chinese government has done in supporting us so we are able to rise, or rise again, after that major blow, is wonderful.
"We have a great outlook for this airport. We have a lot of faith that it will help Manabi's economy.
"We are going through hard times and thanks to the support we have from the Chinese government, we will be able to move forward."
Ecuador's government sees the new airport as an axis of development and a gateway for thousands of business opportunities that will help spur the local economy and contribute to national progress.
The provisional airport now handles 25 scheduled flights a week operated by two local airlines, as well as military and international flights stopping to refuel.
Adriano Zambrano, administrator of the airport, believes Ecuador has two factors it should take advantage of: its ties with China and its geographic location.
"China is a strategic partner," said Zambrano. "Although we are a small economy, being in a strategic location in the westernmost part of South America and aligned with the Equator allows us to develop all connectivity.
"There's potential there to consolidate strategic cooperation for mutual benefit."
He also talked about a proposal to link Latin America to the Asia-Pacific region via a route from Manta to Tahiti, in French Polynesia.
"That seeks to make Manta a South American gateway for all of the Asia-Pacific, including Australia, for people and goods. That is going to energize tourism, business and trade with Singapore, China, Japan and others."
The highways CRBC-CEIEC is building are set to benefit about 500,000 inhabitants along Ecuador's northern coast and mountain range who rely on trade in plants like palm, cacao and palmetto.
Teobaldo Arredondo, a local ranch owner who lives two hours away from the town of Quininde, described the Quininde-Las Golondrinas Highway as a "dream come true".
"In my view, China's support is something very positive," said Arredondo, 55.
There has been talk of building the highway for four decades since the 1970s, he said.
"Now we see that China's cooperation with the Ecuadorian government, as a result of the earthquake, has brought us this benefit with the construction of the first 36 km of roadway," said Arredondo.
Gustavo Yacelga, who is overseeing the project for the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, agreed China is playing a fundamental role in bringing about much-needed development.
"This is an accomplished goal. People in this area feel they have realized their dream, which is the construction of a roadway that was relegated for many years," said Yacelga.
The project "helps regional and national progress as we are going to have easier, more economical and safer mobility", he said.
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Clinton, Trump face off for second round of debate | Live | philstar.com
Clinton, Trump face off for second round of debate
Live fact-checking of the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump from America Public Media's Marketplace, NPR and MPR News.
Trump won't commit to accepting election results in final debate
After weeks of scandal, the third presidential debate dove into policy. But the most memorable moment of the night was when the GOP nominee wouldn't say he will accept the results on Election Day.
by Michael Olson, MPR News via MPR News 10/20/2016 4:31:59 AM
Tick-tock on the debate so far via AP
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Latest on the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (all times EDT):
Donald Trump is repeatedly interrupting Clinton, while she is largely avoiding barging in as he speaks.
The moderators have noticed.
As Clinton tried to address why she didn't try to change tax laws when she was a New York senator, Trump tried to butt in.
"Please allow her to respond," said CNN's Anderson Cooper said. "She didn't interrupt you."
Clinton continued. A few moments later, when the two were addressing foreign policy, Clinton sniped to Trump, "I didn't want to interrupt you, but at some point we need to do some fact checking here."
Hillary Clinton is promising that no one making less than $250,000 will pay higher taxes under her plan, but those with higher incomes could pay considerably more.
Clinton says she wants to impose a special tax on people making over $1 million and a surcharge on those with incomes above $5 million.
"We have to make up for lost times," Clinton says, telling the audience she wants to raise taxes on the rich "because I want to invest in you."
She says Trump's proposed tax plan would end up raising taxes on millions of middle-class Americans.
Donald Trump says he will get rid of the carried interest loophole that allows Wall Street traders to pay a lower tax rate on their earnings.
Trump says he would eliminate the loophole that lets money managers count their earnings as capital gains, which carry a lower tax rate, instead of ordinary income.
But Trump's carried interest provision doesn't actually raise taxes on hedge fund managers and it creates a new loophole that could provide them with an even lower rate.
The Republican says he would cut taxes for the middle class and accuses Clinton of raising taxes on middle-class families.
Hillary Clinton occasionally smiles, sometimes jots notes and frequently sits to listen as Donald Trump talks.
Trump paces the room, forcefully points at Clinton when addressing her and keeps his lips pursed tight as she speaks. He's only used his chair to rest his hands on the back of it.
The town hall-style format of this debate gives television viewers a look at how the presidential candidates carry themselves in stressful situations.
There have been no shoulder shimmies. That Clinton move — prompted in the first debate when Trump said he had a better temperament than her — spawned a thousand GIFs.
Hillary Clinton is saying it's OK to have a public and private position on an issue because Abraham Lincoln did.
She is responding to a question about an email released by a WikiLeaks last week in which Clinton said it's acceptable for a president to project differing positions. She was asked whether that's "two-faced."
She says Lincoln did whatever he could to get the 13th Amendment passed, allowing emancipation of the slaves, by lawmakers who did not support African-American equality.
Clinton says: "I was making the point it is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want them to do. That was a great display of presidential leadership."
Trump began his response to Clinton's statement by rolling his eyes, and says, "Now she's blaming the late, great Abraham Lincoln."
It's hard to name the most memorable line in this combative debate. But the most memorable visual so far? That's easy.
It's the image of Hillary Clinton answering a question, while Donald Trump looms behind her.
Unrestricted by a podium, Clinton is using the whole stage at the town hall-style forum, crossing in front of Trump to answer audience questions.
That's left Trump stuck in the camera shot behind her, standing awkwardly, at times swaying and pacing, while he listens to her answers.
Trump often mocked Clinton for spending time preparing for the debate. It's not clear how much time he spent preparing for one of the trickiest elements — knowing where the camera is at all times.
Donald Trump is again insisting he opposed the Iraq War before it started.
But despite his repeated claims, the facts are clear: He did not.
There is no evidence Trump expressed public opposition to the war before the U.S. invaded. Rather, he offered lukewarm support. The billionaire businessman only began to voice doubts about the conflict well after it began in March 2003.
Trump's first known public comment on the topic came on Sept. 11, 2002, when he was asked whether he supported a potential Iraq invasion in an interview with radio host Howard Stern.
"Yeah, I guess so," he said. His first public comments strongly opposing the war came in 2004.
Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, voted in favor of the invasion in 2002 while she was a New York senator. It's a vote she has said was a mistake.
Donald Trump says a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004 would still be alive if he had been president at the time.
Trump is talking about Captain Humayun Khan, whose Pakistan-born father gave an impassioned speech at the Democratic National Convention in July. Trump then got into a feud with Khan's parents.
Trump now says Captain Khan is an "American hero" and "he would be alive today if I had been president."
Trump's feud with the Khan family led to harsh criticism from veterans across the country and families of those killed in action.
Donald Trump says the United States is allowing refugees from Syria and the Middle East to pour into America and "we have no idea who they are" or where exactly they are coming from.
Asked about bans and strict limits on Muslim immigrants into the United States that he's supported in the past, Trump says it was a policy plan that would grow out of "extreme vetting" of people coming to the U.S. from global conflict areas.
Trump calls allowing immigrants into the country without more scrutiny the "Greatest Trojan Horse of all time" and says it has to stop because "we have enough problems in our country."
Hillary Clinton says she'll screen Syrian refugees but the country needs to take in more.
Clinton says a proposal like Donald Trump's to ban all Muslims from entering the country plays into the hands of terrorists. She also says Trump has alienated the country's Muslim allies.
Clinton says "we will have vetting and it will be as tough as it needs to be." But she is evoking the image of a bloodied 4-year-old Syrian boy to argue the United States needs to do its share.
Donald Trump isn't answering a question about how to stop Islamophobia in America. Instead, he's saying American Muslims must report other Muslims who are engaging in dangerous behavior.
He's repeating the false claim that neighbors of the San Bernardino shooters saw bombs all over the floor in the shooters' home but did not report it.
Clinton, meanwhile, is condemning "dark and divisive" things said about Muslims. She says the United States is not at war with Islam and says Muslims should feel welcome and included in society.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are clashing over the future of President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
Clinton is vowing to fix the Affordable Care Act and Trump is promising to repeal and replace "Obamacare."
Clinton says 20 million more people have health coverage because of the law. She says she wants to "save what works," but the next administration will need to get costs down and provide more help to small businesses. She says if the system is repealed it will be "turned back" to the insurance industry.
Trump says the system is a "disaster" and "will never work." He says it needs to be replaced with a less expensive system that's more flexible for patients regardless of what state they live in.
Donald Trump is repeatedly interrupting Hillary Clinton and talking over the debate moderators. He also accuses the two moderators of siding with Clinton and refusing to let him answer questions.
The interruptions prompted Clinton to exclaim, "I know that you're into big diversions tonight."
Trump seems sensitive to his interactions with Clinton. When the moderators asked a question and it was unclear whose turn it was to answer first, Clinton said, "Go ahead, Donald."
Trump replied, "No, I'm a gentleman, Hillary, go ahead." Some in the audience laughed.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are clashing over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Clinton says she was "very sorry" for using the server, but she takes keeping classified information secret very seriously. She adds there's been no evidence her actions led to classified materials winding up in the wrong hands.
Trump is accusing Clinton of lying, and says she improperly destroyed more than 30,000 emails that he says should have been turned over to law enforcement authorities. Trump says he was disappointed that Clinton had not been criminally charged.
He tells Clinton, "Again, you should be ashamed of yourself." He is also complaining that the two debate moderators are not sufficiently pressing Clinton on the email issue.
Donald Trump is sniffling again.
The Republican nominee is noticeably inhaling deeply through his nose in the early part of the debate.
Trump's heavy inhalations became a hot topic in the previous debate, 13 days ago in Hempstead, New York.
When asked about it the next morning, Trump denied he'd been sniffling. "No, no sniffles," he said on "Fox & Friends." ''No sniffles, no cold."
Donald Trump is turning Hillary Clinton's demand for an apology back onto her, accusing her of stealing the Democratic nomination.
Trump says Clinton unfairly won her party's nod by cheating rival Bernie Sanders.
About Sanders, who eventually endorsed Clinton, Trump says, "I was so surprised to see him sign on with the devil."
Trump went on to repeat debunked claims that Clinton started rumors that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Trump has fomented the conspiracy for years — until last month, when he declared Obama, who was born in Hawaii, an American citizen.
The long list of accusations was his response to Clinton's claim that Trump owes an apology to the many people and groups he has publicly quarreled with during his presidential campaign.
Hillary Clinton is ignoring Donald Trump's statements about her husband's sexual past.
Trump referenced Bill Clinton's 1998 impeachment, which followed an affair in the Oval Office and several other scenarios. Hillary Clinton responded by quoting Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention: "When they go low, we go high."
Hillary Clinton then said Trump owes the nation an apology for the way he's conducted his campaign.
Donald Trump is raising accusations of sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton, saying the former president "was abusive to women" and saying Hillary Clinton attacked the accusers "viciously."
Trump is also noting that Hillary Clinton was a court-appointed defender for a man accused of assaulting a 12-year-old who was raped in Arkansas and says she laughed at some point while discussing it.
He also says Bill Clinton paid a monetary settlement to Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state worker who alleged in 1991 that Bill Clinton propositioned and exposed himself to her.
Trump says video where he made crude comments to women "it's just words, folks." He says Hillary Clinton's defense of her husband is "disgraceful and I think she should be ashamed of herself."
Hillary Clinton says the Donald Trump heard on an 11-year-old recording making crude and vulgar remarks about women "is who Donald Trump is."
Clinton addressed Trump's predatory comments in the opening minutes of the second presidential debate Sunday.
Clinton says the tape shows what Trump "thinks about women, what he does to women."
She says that while Trump has claimed the tape doesn't represent who he is, "It's clear to anyone who heard it, it represents exactly who he is."
Clinton says Trump has insulted not only women, but African-Americans, immigrants, people with disabilities, prisoners of war and others.
Donald Trump denies he was discussing sexual assault in a 2005 recording that reveals him saying he can "do anything" with women because he is famous.
He says he has never kissed or groped women without consent. And he's continuing to characterize the recording as "locker room talk."
Debate moderator Anderson Cooper put it more bluntly, saying, "That is sexual assault."
Trump responded: "No, I didn't say that at all. I don't think you understand what I said."
Trump continually tried to pivot to foreign policy, seemingly suggesting his comments pale in comparison to the actions of the Islamic State.
Trump did not, at first use, the opening question about setting an example for children to apologize for the vulgar comments he made about women in 2005 that were taped and recently released. Instead he attempted to echo Clinton's remarks.
"I agree with everything that she said," Trump said. "I began this campaign because I was so tired of seeing such foolish things happen to our country. This is a great country, this is a great land."
Hillary Clinton says at the start of the second presidential debate that the campaign needs to set an example to children that our country great "because we're good."
Clinton was asked by a teacher if she thought the campaign was modeling "appropriate and positive" behavior.
Clinton says the country needs to set big goals and work together to try to achieve them. She made no mention of Trump's vulgar comments in a 2005 tape that emerged Friday.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump refused to shake hands as they entered the debate hall in St. Louis. That's a break from traditional debate decorum.
The town hall-style event is expected to be tense. Shortly before it began, Trump held a press conference with three women who had accused President Bill Clinton of sexual wrongdoing and Hillary Clinton of acting vindictively toward them. Trump also introduced a woman who as a 12-year-old had accused a man of rape; Hillary Clinton as a young lawyer defended that man.
Those four women are seated with the Trump family in the front row of the audience of the debate hall.
Bill Clinton shook hands with Trump's wife, Melania Trump, his two sons and daughter Ivanka as they entered the hall before the debate.
The fireworks at the second presidential debate exploded even before the candidates took the stage.
Donald Trump unexpectedly appeared live on his Facebook page with women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of rape and unwanted advances. They didn't take questions but repeated some of the claims they made against Clinton years ago.
The women are expected to attend the debate as guests of Trump.
Hillary Clinton's campaign responded by calling it a "stunt" that wouldn't alter Clinton's plans to speak directly to voters in the debate.
The stunning moment raised further questions about how directly Trump plans to go after Bill Clinton in the debate.
The second presidential debate is shaping up as potentially Donald Trump's final opportunity to keep his campaign from collapsing a month before Election Day.
With prominent Republicans already abandoning him in droves, other Republicans, including leaders in Congress, are looking to the debate to see whether Trump shows enough contrition to stand by him despite his vulgar comments about women. There's been uncertainty about whether the Republican Party might shift resources away from his campaign in the final weeks or even try to replace him on the ticket.
Another layer of unpredictability is the debate format. The candidates are taking questions from undecided voters and will be onstage with stools rather than traditional podiums.
AP: Donald Trump says he used $916 million loss in 1995 to avoid paying federal income taxes.
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