pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 23
1.02M
| source
stringlengths 39
45
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__cc
| 0.586034
| 0.413966
|
The Way Back » Home » Review » The Sensual World
Posted by Donna on February 08, 2011
The Sensual World
Every so often I read a book that makes me suck wind, as my former colleague in the bookstore used to say.
Suck wind~v. 1. to draw breath through one’s mouth. 2. To elicit a gasp. 3. To be surprised, as in the sudden appearance of Jesus Christ at Buffet World (extremely unlikely, and entirely inappropriate in this context.) 4. To experience a euphoric reaction to a beautiful thing.
Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall is such a book. As I turned the pages of BWLW for the first time, I was struck by the exquisite charm and quirkiness of the illustrations by Olivier Tallec. And the writing…well, I wasn’t expecting it to be so poetic, and the ending so lovely. It is a vent sucer à deux, a double wind-sucker. When I finished it, I wanted to share it with someone, anyone, immediately, after I caught my breath of course. My cat, however, was uninterested.
Sometimes I feel like a preacher, fired up by the Good Word (or the Good Illustration), my arms raised in a beatificating pose, testifying to the masses, and one mightily bored feline. Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall is a great book. A perfect book. And your souls will be damned if you don’t pick it up.
The story begins in spring, on a magnificent hill under two chunky, but softly painted trees; a bucolic scene spread over two pages.
In fact, all the pages follow this format, and all are magnificient. Big Wolf-tall, slim and amply snouted, is catching butterflies with a net, and Little Wolf, squat and blue, is fixated on a leaf, ‘sweet and tender green’, which is protruding ever so delicately from the tree’s canopy.
“I just have to taste it.”
Big Wolf replies, “Wait. Eventually it will fall.”
By summer, the little leaf has turned shiny and deep green. Little Wolf says, “Go get me the leaf. I just have to look at myself in it.” Badminton racket in hand, Big Wolf advises patience. Autumn arrives and the colours have turned soft, including the leaf which Little Wolf longs to rest against his cheek. Again, Little Wolf asks Big Wolf to fetch the leaf. “I just have to touch it.”
“Wait,” said Big Wolf. “You’ll see. Soon it will fall.”
While it appears as if Little Wolf is rather demanding, he is at heart, a sensualist, yearning to experience the perfection he perceives to exist in this leaf. Ever out of reach, Little Wolf’s attention wanes. By winter, he no longer asks about the leaf which even now, still clings to the branches of the tree, a last wisp of colour in the barren landscape. It is at this point that Big Wolf decides to pluck the leaf for his friend. “I’m going up!” he declares. In his (really awesome) yellow fur boots, Big Wolf begins his ascent, and Little Wolf says nothing. As the branches crack under Big Wolf”s weight, Little Wolf begins to ask himself if the little leaf is worth the trouble. Climbing ever higher, Big Wolf almost falls, and now Little Wolf is sure the leaf is not worth it, but still he says nothing. Finally Big Wolf reaches the leaf, which he is just able to touch by stretching his body across a branch. The leaf is ‘sweet and tender’ and Big Wolf is determined to pluck it from the branch for his friend, but the fragile leaf falls to pieces in his hands.
“In the setting sun, red and gold flakes descended slowly towards Little Wolf, who waited below. Little Wolf looked up into this rain of gentle stars. Little Wolf caught a teeny tiny one on his tongue, and he tasted its sweetness. As another passed before his eyes, he saw how bright it was. When a piece slid all the way down his cheek, he felt how gentle it was, and he trembled for a long time.”
Little Wolf says nothing.
Big Wolf slowly descends the tree. The night has fallen and the crescent moon hangs in the blackened sky. Little Wolf waits until Big Wolf’s feet are firmly planted on the ground, and then he says:
“That was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.”
And that’s when I sucked wind. How lovely. How deeply, and wonderfully moving.
The quietly evocative, and beautifully paced words by Nadine Brun-Cosme are accompanied by the most gorgeous artwork by Olivier Tallec. What a team they make, although the words and the illustrations, if they had not been in service to the other, would stand magnificently on their own. It happens all the time. You find a book that has great illustrations, but a ho-hum story. Or vice-versa. Not here. Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall is a perfect collaboration between two great artists. The multi-media (mostly oil, I think) landscapes by Olivier Tallec are truly breathtaking, but it’s his wolf, or wolves, that really steal the show. Big Wolf in particular, more of a scribble, or stick-wolf, than a fully rendered drawing, is so funny and charming in his yellow boots and puff-ball toque, he is instantly endearing.
Little Wolf, clearly the dreamer of the two, exists in many of the pictures as a tiny blue streak of paint (in woolies) against the colourful expanse of the seasonal backgrounds. Love the trees, and especially how Tallec picks out just a few details here and there, including the little leaf that wouldn’t fall, almost invisible and yet so compelling. Out of the ordinary, just like this book.
There was a predecessor to The Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall called Big Wolf & Little Wolf, as well as a third (and last) book in the series to be published in April called BWLW: Such a Beautiful Orange! I dipped into the Enchanted Lion Books website and discovered that they published another 32 Pages favourite, The Chicken Thief. A stroll through their other titles and it’s clear this is a publisher is seriously committed to exquisite illustrated picture books.
Olivier Tallec was born in Brittany, France in 1970. He graduated from the Ecole Ecole Supérieure d’Art graphique in Paris worked in advertising as a graphic designer before fully devoting himself to illustration. Monsieur Tallec has illustrated over 50 books for children. He also has a fabulous website, but once again, it has not been translated, so my opinion is based entirely on the pretty pictures, not the pretty words (high school French is good for translating cereal boxes, not websites.)
Nadine Brun-Cosme has published more than 20 novels and picture books for children. She lives in France. Thank you Ms Brun-Cosme, for making me suck wind. You’ve written a beautiful book.
Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall is written by Nadine Brun-Cosme and illustrated by Olivier Tallec. Published by Enchanted Lion Books, 2009
Big Wolf & Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme, illustrated by Olivier Tallec. Enchanted Lion Books, 2009
Big Wolf & Little Wolf: Such a Beautiful Orange! To be published in 2011 (Can’t wait. Hello Enchanted Lion??)
Please note, some of the illustrations faded in the translation from book to scanner. Get the book. I insist.
Also, thanks to Kate Bush for inspiring the title of this post.
Tagged With: France
Donna on Under African Skies
Michael Robert Kirkpatrick on Under African Skies
choice websites on The Honeybee
Donna on The Dark Art of Halloween
Mary R on The Dark Art of Halloween
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line2
|
__label__cc
| 0.715457
| 0.284543
|
https://www.nist.gov/national-institute-standards-and-technology
NIST Releases Version 1.0 of Privacy Framework
Mind the Gap: Bridging the ‘Valley of Death’ for U.S. Biomanufacturing (blog post)
NIST to Revamp iEdison Tool for Reporting Federally Funded Inventions
千百鲁
Working with industry and science to advance innovation and improve quality of life.
Standards & Measurements
Official U.S. Time
Weights and Measures Handbooks
Baldrige Excellence Framework and Criteria
Computer Security Publications
Journal of Research of NIST
Health & Bioscience
Quantum Science
Standard Reference Materials
Standard Reference Materials are certified reference materials (CRMs) that can be used to help develop accurate methods of analysis, to calibrate measurement systems used to measure a property at the state-of-the-art limit.
Standard Reference Data
Standard Reference Data cover a broad range scientific disciplines including atomic and molecular physics, chemical and crystal structures, fluids, material properties, biotechnology, optical character recognition and more. Data products include web applications, personal computer products, site licenses, subscriptions and distributor agreements. The SRD data program includes the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data.
Our data-driven society has a tricky balancing act to perform: building innovative products and services that use
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — As part of its efforts to improve the transfer of federally funded technologies from lab to market
NIST Publishes 2018 Department of Commerce Laboratories Technology Transfer Report
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) 2018 Annual
NIST Study Suggests Universal Method for Measuring Light Power
Always on the lookout for better ways to measure all kinds of things, researchers at the National Institute of Standards
Identity Management & Access Control in Multiclouds Workshop and Conference
Wed, Jan 22 - Fri, Jan 24 2020
Co-hosted with Tetrate This one-and-a-half day conference will focus on identity management and access control in multi
Advancing Cybersecurity Risk Management Conference
Wed, May 27 - Thu, May 28 2020
2020 Advancing Cybersecurity Risk Management Conference: What to Expect Building on the 2018 NIST Cybersecurity Risk
14th International Conference on New Developments and Applications in Optical Radiometry (NEWRAD 2020)
Tue, Jun 23 - Fri, Jun 26 2020
On June 23-26, 2020, NIST will hold the 14th International Conference on New Developments and Applications in Optical
View Past Events View All Upcoming Events
TwitterFacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTubeRSS FeedMailing List
千百鲁,千百,WWW.5555AV.CO
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line4
|
__label__wiki
| 0.55371
| 0.55371
|
Thompson Scores Multiple Honors at Road America
By SRO Motorsports America StaffJune 29, 2016GT Class, Team News
ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. – After a difficult few Pirelli World Challenge races, Colin Thompson was a part of the post-race ceremonies once again, collecting two Best Start of the Race awards and a Hard Charger honor at Road America.
Thompson and the K-PAX Racing team knew Road America, with its long straights, would be an uphill battle for the McLaren 650S GT3. Thompson’s 17th-place qualifying position for Saturday’s race confirmed those fears, but he had 50 minutes of caution-free racing to make the best of it.
Pushing hard on the start, Thompson picked up three positions before Turn Three, earning the Optima Batteries Best Start Award.
“The start was really hairy,” Thompson said. “I ended up splitting the wall and a Porsche. As you start going up the hill out of the final turn, the wall gets closer and closer. That wall was jutting toward me as I was side-by-side with the Porsche. After the team saw the video they went and checked the end plates on my wing to see if there were rub marks because it was that close! I was able to lock another two positions in by the time I got to Turn Three. Overall, it was really clean even though chaos was happening all around me. I didn’t touch anybody and was able to move past three cars.”
Unfortunately, Thompson was unable to advance any further due to an issue with his No. 13 K-PAX Racing Pfaff/McLaren Toronto McLaren 650S GT3 that forced him to pit multiple times. He ended up finishing 22nd. The K-PAX team worked hard overnight to sort out the issue and Thompson had a much more fruitful Race 2 on Sunday.
Starting from 17th, Thompson managed to have an even better start on Sunday, picking up five positions on the opening lap.
“I did the exact same move as Race 1, going between the wall and a different Porsche,” Thompson said. “That actually got me two positions. I was able to grab another spot by the time I got to Turn One. I got a run going into Turn Three and got another two guys. I passed five cars the first lap!”
It just got better from there as Thompson proceeded to work his way up through the field, all the way to seventh in class and eighth overall. It was the best result the team could have hoped for on a track unsuited to the McLaren’s aero strengths.
“When you have a start at Road America, you really need to work it out by the time you get to Turn Three, because after that, its all about the draft and top speed and that was something we were lacking,” Thompson explained. “I knew I had to get a good run and build a gap out of Three, so I could secure my spot going into Turn Five and then just work on growing the gap and catching the next guy.”
Once again, Thompson collected the Best Start of the Race Award, but he also earned the VP Racing Fuels Hard Charger Award for advancing more positions in the race than any other driver.
Coming away from the Road America weekend with three special awards was just the boost Thompson needed at the halfway point in the Pirelli World Challenge season and heading into the next round at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, July 29 – 31.
You can watch Thompson slice through the field at Road America, on CBS Sports Network, Sunday, July 3, at 3pm ET.
Previous PostRACER.com / HPD Trackside - PWC Road America Race 2
Next PostMichael Lewis Returns to PWC With Top-10 Finish
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line13
|
__label__cc
| 0.623483
| 0.376517
|
A Taste of Napa
The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation presents
A Taste of Napa DATE: Saturday, May 20, 2006
LOCATION: The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills EVENT CHAIR:
Barbara Fairchild, Editor-in-Chief,
Bon Appétit magazine CO-CHAIRS,
DINNER COMMITTEE:
Robert Iger, President and CEO,
The Walt Disney Company, and his wife, Willow Bay
Alex Wallau, President,
ABC Network Operations and Administration
2006 recipient of the Gil Nickel Humanitarian Award
The signature event is an annual fundraiser benefiting the Jonsson
Cancer Center Foundation (JCCF) at UCLA. With an expected attendance of 500-700 guests, this year's culinary extravaganza will feature fine wines and top chefs from Napa Valley, including Ken Frank, La Toque; Cindy Pawlcyn, Mustards Grill and Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen; and Eric Torralba. Conny Andersson, Executive Chef at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, will also participate as Hosting Chef. This extraordinary evening will include live and silent auctions with spectacular vacation destinations, wine and restaurant packages.
Last year, actors Andy Garcia and Edward James Olmos were honored as the 2005 recipients of the Gil Nickel Humanitarian Award. Sponsors included American Airlines, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Far Niente, Nickel and Nickel, and Dolce Wineries, Corazón Tequila, Melissa's, and many more. Over the past 10 years, the JCCF's annual fundraiser has raised nearly $4 million for highest priority cancer research at UCLA.
The JCCF is the single-most important vehicle for raising private funds for cancer research at UCLA, and supports a number of high-priority cancer research efforts focused on converting laboratory discoveries into more effective therapies for cancer patients. For the 6th consecutive year, UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) is rated as one of the nation's top 10 cancer centers and 'best in the west' by U.S. News & World Report. The JCCC's dedicated researchers are clearly recognized as international leaders in the discovery of new and better ways to prevent, detect, and treat cancer.
$500 per person; Table sponsorships are available at:
$50,000 / $25,000 / $10,000 / $5,000
To purchase tickets, call Levy, Pazanti & Associates at (310)
CONTACT: JCCF Special Events Office
Email: JCCFEvent@mednet.ucla.edu
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line16
|
__label__cc
| 0.73046
| 0.26954
|
CESSNOCK MITSUBISHI
Mitsubishi Special
Dealer Special
Mitsubishi Specials
325 Maitland Road, Cessnock NSW 2325 Get Directions
02 4990 1566 Call
HomeNew Mitsubishi ASX XB for sale in Cessnock Hunter Valley
New Mitsubishi ASX XB for sale in Cessnock Hunter Valley
ASX XB
Build My Mitsubishi
Cessnock Mitsubishi Sales Department
325 Maitland Road
Cessnock NSW 2325
Welcome to Cessnock Mitsubishi
Cessnock Mitsubishi has been serving the local community for over 20 years which is a record we're very proud of. We work tirelessly to ensure that our customers have a fantastic experience with us, whether that's during the purchase of a new or used vehicle or just your next vehicle service!
Cessnock Mitsubishi is a proud member of the Cessnock community and we are a firm believer that we cannot thrive as a business unless our community is thriving also. This is why we contribute heavily to our community with sponsorships and donations to the very best of our ability.
Privacy: Your contact details are being collected by Cessnock Mitsubishi to enable us to record the details of the vehicle you are interested in and to consider the purchase of your trade-in vehicle. We may disclose your personal information to third parties to check whether and how, your vehicle is encumbered. From time to time, Cessnock Mitsubishi would like to contact you and to let you know about our products and services, including special offers. If you do not want us to do so, please let us know by contacting us. You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to be contacted for these purposes. Your consent will remain current until you advise us otherwise. If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to consider any offer made by you. If you would like to access the information we hold about you or more information on our privacy policy, please contact us at http://cessnockmitsubishi.com.au/.
1 click unsubscribe if you ever wish to stop receiving our updates. See our commitment to your privacy.
Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Sitemap © 2021. This is a certified website.
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line20
|
__label__cc
| 0.578717
| 0.421283
|
China faces shortage of express delivery workers in the New Year
Faced with long hours, intense work pressure, low pay, high living costs and insecure employment, many express delivery workers, the vast majority of who are young male migrant workers, are choosing to stay at home after the New Year holiday rather than go back to the cities.
Many delivery stations in major cities Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu etc. have been struggling to find enough staff, and local governments have launched recruitment drives to lure workers back.
An exhausted courier grabs some sleep while he can
Many express delivery companies began their own recruitment efforts prior to the holiday, proposing competitive “monthly salaries ranging from 4,300 yuan to 15,000 yuan, during peak seasons.”
Like the factory owners before them who struggled to retain workers after the New Year a decade ago, some delivery companies helped couriers buy return rail tickets for the holiday and provided bonuses for introducing new workers to the company as a way of getting them to stay.
Unlike factory owners however, very few delivery companies can actually guarantee a secure job with proper benefits to workers and thus have a much more difficult time ensuring that their workers return. Even S.F.Express and e-commerce giant JD.com only hire a certain percentage of couriers on formal contacts with pensions, medical insurance and other benefits such as company vehicles.
Most express delivery companies hire staff from labour agencies or rely on temporary workers during peak periods such as Singles Day in November. Another common practice is to establish franchises as a means of expanding coverage in smaller cities. These franchises may be just one person or that that person may hire their own workers, again on a very precarious basis.
Most couriers are essentially independent contractors, responsible for collecting and delivering packages in a specified area. They are restrained by tough regulations on delivery times: Deliveries inside a city should be within 24 hours, deliveries in different domestic cities should be within 72 hours, and penalties are applied for failure to deliver on time. Contractors are only paid by the package and have no labour contract or social insurance from the company.
In 2017, China’s courier business volume increased by 28 percent to exceed more than 40 billion packages for the whole year. Revenue also grew by 24.4 percent to reach 495 billion yuan. The workers however never shared in the benefits. As a result, many young couriers have no sense of loyalty to the business and will quit as soon as better opportunities arise. The industry may eventually to move to drones to ensure deliveries but in the meantime, it will have to rely on its under-paid army of around two million young migrant workers.
Unless the industry improves pay and working conditions for its couriers however and gives them proper contracts and secure employment, it will continue to face labour shortages in the future.
Factory Workers
Transport Workers
White Collar Workers
Food delivery drivers strike in protest at post-New Year pay cuts
Reuters: Lunar New Year highlights China labour issues
RFA: Strikes on The Rise in China Ahead of Lunar New Year Holiday
Will the New Year see a resumption of collective bargaining in China?
Worker protests in China surge after Lunar New Year
Marketplace: New Year highlights a shift in China's workforce
China saw a dramatic increase in wage arrears protests in run up to New Year
Worker protests continue in China after Lunar New Year
Strikes and protests continue into the New Year
China sees upsurge in worker protests prior to Lunar New Year
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line22
|
__label__cc
| 0.665032
| 0.334968
|
5 Willpower Habits Every Man Should Develop
Editor’s note: The following selection on “Will Power Habits” comes from The Technique of Building Personal Leadership (1925) by Donald A. Laird. We changed “will power” to “willpower” in the text, to match modern vernacular.
I don’t know what willpower is. But I do know that many people have difficulty in directing their mental and physical abilities consistently and effectively. Perhaps it is determination and grit they lack, perhaps it is a lack of willpower. At any rate, they are lacking in a vital quality that makes for achievement. Near-poets are about the only people that can be a success with this lack in their make-up.
You may have known of people with such strong determination that they were privately called obstinate and stubborn. This is selfishness rather than the consistent direction of one’s energies. It is not willpower, but won’t power. Many people think they are strong willed and moral merely because they do nothing bad. The real test, however, is not negative but positive. It is: how much good have you directed your energies to accomplish?
“May the gods spare me from these ‘burn-‘em-up’ salesmen who work like a whirlwind the first week each month, and lay down the rest of the month,” a sales manager of a Wall Street bond house said to me recently. He wanted bond salesmen who made most commissions for themselves — and incidentally for the company — at the end of the year, not those geniuses who could sell without trying and who tried very sporadically. The race is not always won by the swiftest, but often by those with the rare quality of stick-to-itiveness.
The track coach of a midwestern university recently told me the following story which illustrates the point. Joe Smith came to college from the farm. He was too small to play football, too near-sighted to get into baseball or basketball, but he wanted to serve the school and make a name for himself in track. But the track coaches could see no signs of promise and Joe was advised to take up debating or checkers.
Discouraged, but still determined, Joe secretly trained himself for three years for the distances. Two miles from the campus where he lived was an attorney’s home, and Joe took care of the furnace. Early mornings when no one was stirring about the campus he ran to his furnace. Late at night he repeated his morning program. He timed himself, varied his stride, and kept at it for three years without the coach being any the wiser.
When entries were being made for the spring meet of the conference Joe came out the first afternoon and showed the coach what he could do. The coach agreed to enter Joe in the two-mile distance. Joe held out, however, until he was entered for the half mile, mile, and two mile. He qualified in the preliminaries, and when the finals were run Joe came in first in each one.
I have fallen into the habit of thinking of Joe when I feel like running away to do something else. It helps me keep from becoming discouraged too easily. It helps me plan for results not just for a day but for a goal set several years into the future. I have found that it also helps others to know about Joe. Difficulties such as Joe surmounted really give the best experience there is for developing what some call will power.
There are several easily formed habits of work and thought which also give an added impetus to self-determination and energy direction.
Get down to business at once is one of them. I know of people who actually tire themselves out in getting started to work. They listen for the clock to hear if it is running (although it has never missed a day). Then the things on top of their desk have to be arranged just so. Then they begin to wonder what they should do first. Suddenly they think it would be thoughtful to sharpen a supply of pencils. They should be made to realize, however, that it is better for them to grab the first letter and tend to that than indulge in all this will-weakening dalliance which each day gets a firmer hold through the tenacity of habit formation.
Another one of these important habits all should try to get deeply ingrained is to do the hard or unpleasant task the first thing. Continually postponing writing an unpleasant letter, for example, makes delaying it easier the next time. I have found personal desks literally crammed with unpleasant tasks of this nature. This particular person was not conscious of a weakening of his will; he was bothered with fatigue which his light job brought on. Little wonder! The accumulated worries in his desk would have tired anyone. Anticipating unpleasant tasks is thus not only undermining one’s self-determination but is building up additional fatiguing worry as well. Do the difficult job first in the morning and enjoy a more restful day. Learn to like difficult tasks, for it is these rather than the easy ones that steel your determination.
How many unfinished jobs are left behind when we put on our hat to go home also indicates the strength of our self-determination. To develop this trait favorably one should stick to a job until it is done. Form the habit of staying, not quitting. And when you do feel like quitting think of Joe who trained for the distances, or Daguerre who spent fourteen years to get a photographic image to stick on glass. Don’t be a putter-off.
The tired person is the weak-willed person who is easily led. Few people die from overwork, but many wills are killed in this fashion. The editor of one of the two best-known magazines in the world visited me last year. The first remark he made as he stepped off the train in Utica was, “For heaven’s sake, don’t ask me to make a decision; that is all I do all day long on the job and I want to rest.” Form the habit of keeping well rested. If you need an alarm clock to get you started mornings, you are cheating yourself on rest.
Are you sold on yourself, on what you are doing, on the goal and aim you have in life? If you are, there is little need of worrying about your will being weak. The best incentives for getting determined and consistent action come from within. It is a sorry person who does not have his inner self goaded along by the example of some famous man of history or of today’s business. Read about these people, associate with them as much as possible, and get under their shadow for personal encouragement and inspiration.
Form the habit of getting down to business at once.
Form the habit of doing the hard or unpleasant job first.
Form the habit of sticking to a job until it is done.
Keep well rested.
Believe in yourself, your job, your life plan.
The post 5 Willpower Habits Every Man Should Develop appeared first on The Art of Manliness.
(via The Art of Manliness)
The Best Age to Start a Business
Doral Editor June 22, 2016
Train Like an NBA Player — With Tips from the Atlanta Hawks’ Kent Bazemore
Men Must Stand Up and Admit, I Did That
Doral Editor February 27, 2018
Keystone oil leak, 2x larger than initially reported, was just a drop in the barrel
Doral Editor April 9, 2018
How to Make a Great Last Impression
Doral Editor March 16, 2018
Elena of Avalor ‘Celebrations to Remember’ is Coming to DVD
Doral Editor September 10, 2017
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line23
|
__label__cc
| 0.513472
| 0.486528
|
Home » cinema reviews • text reviews » A Few Reasons Why Life Goes HAYWIRE
A Few Reasons Why Life Goes HAYWIRE
James Harleman / January 27, 2012 / No Comments
It’s no secret that Steven Soderbergh essentially just built a movie around MMA fighter Gina Carano because he caught one of her fights. While the backdrop of Haywire is seemingly a web of international intrigue, it’s actually pretty simple, and the director seems less interested in making a film so much as toying with action movie conventions, improvising like a jazz musician. It’s appropriate then that the score employs various jazz tunes set during the non-fighting sequences (which have no music, and no enhanced fisticuff sound effects) and the music, like the movie, has moments that gel and moments that don’t.
While not a great film, it’s intriguing to watch Soderbergh riff, see the surprisingly all-star cast that surrounds Carano (Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas) and realize that she holds her own in screen presence and acting chops. I’m certain we’ll see more from her.
As a black ops soldier seeking payback after being betrayed and set up, Carano plays Mallory, a woman so enigmatic she’s effectively a force of nature (albeit very human and fallible in Soderbergh’s steady hands). It’s hard to glean a lot from her stiff-lipped character in the narrative, but as we see a string of men get their comeuppance at the hands of this relentless woman, I realized there are very human reasons why they fall under her strong will, which make it intriguing as a character study less of Mallory and more of the men who misjudge her.
“You shouldn’t think of her as being a woman. That would be your first mistake.”
Aaron – Underestimating
Channing Tatum shows up as Aaron and, instead of the usual bad-ass we expect antagonists to be in a typical action flick, he confesses to being tired. He complains he’s driven all night and whines that Mallory’s situation dragged him out of bed. He’s irritable, uncomfortable, and in every way misperceives the gravity of the situation. He underestimates the implications of what’s going on, underestimates the seriousness of the current scenario and threat, punctuates it by underestimating Mallory’s fighting prowess, her will, and the relentless ends she’ll go to in protecting herself. (Concurrently, he OVERestimates his own skills). Aaron is beaten before the films opening fight even begins.
How many times do we walk into situations like this in our lives? We overestimate our own abilities, underestimate the physical, psychological or spiritual opposition we’re facing, and get our prideful posterior soundly trounced and handed to us? We wander half-asleep through life itself, ignorant that there is a real conflict going on that may bubble to the surface and impact us at any second. We’re thoroughly unprepared to handle the “enemy” that may well devour us, be it the world, the devil or our own flesh.
Still, even being aware of these things doesn’t mean we won’t hesitate when it’s time to take decisive action.
“He who hesitates is lost” – Joseph Addison
Paul – Hesitating
One of the revealing things Michael Fassbender’s lets the viewer know about his character Paul is that “he’s never done a woman before”. While I certainly don’t condone murdering anyone (which would include said woman) it’s curious to see how Paul’s fascination with Mallory and his admitted trepidation lead to his undoing (which is pretty clearly shown in the trailer, so that shouldn’t be a spoiler). I’m glad he doesn’t succeed, but on another level it’s telling that, again, Mallory isn’t just victorious because ‘she’s perfect’. As Aaron underestimated her, Paul fails here by hesitating, by what appears to be some pulled punches and an unwillingness to commit. He’s undone by his own faltering, however slight (as he certainly is trying to kill her) whereas his prey has no reason to hold back.
Choosing a righteous course of action and then looking back has turned people into pillars of salt. Jesus once said that a man who puts his hands to the plow but looks back is clearly unfit. I’m actually happy when this happens to a villainous antagonist in a story, but how many times has it also happened to us? How many times have we been anything less than whole-hearted… and that wavering cost us a victory, cost us respect, cost us a relationship? Are we hesitating in areas that may have dire consequences for our life, for our soul? How high will the cost of this hesitation be?
Kenneth – Coveting
Actually, Ewan McGregor’s slimy character has a laundry list of issues and this one barely covers it. We could also throw in deceit, lust, bearing false witness, worshipping money, and more. He covets Mallory as a asset for his business and also, how do we say… covets her assets. Instead of chewing scenery, however, McGregor presents Kenneth as a fairly regular guy, one we can all probably say with shame that we relate to. Maybe our double-dealing doesn’t cross international borders and get people killed directly, but if we all are, or have been, in lifestyles and seasons where all we care about is our own bottom line.
If we want the butt-kicking heroine of the story to mete out some much-needed justice on Kenneth, what might that implicate we deserve? Our resonance with movies like Haywire might have less to do with the enigmatic protagonist and more to do with whether or not we’re transparent enough to recognize we relate with the compromised people upon whom the wrath is poured out.
Are we FIRST REFORMED?
Our World, A FALLEN KINGDOM?
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line26
|
__label__cc
| 0.700315
| 0.299685
|
Security, Uncategorized
The Top 5 Cloud Security Companies to Watch
by Martin Tantowon October 12, 2011
All companies planning to migrate to the cloud have serious security issues to consider. This is the reason why a lot of startup companies are out in the market to address this problem and to take advantage of this huge market base.
Check out five of the most recent companies offering their best cloud security features.
CloudPassage
Cloud Passage has its headquarters in San Francisco and was founded by CEO Carson Sweet, who came from Agentrics, Executive Chairman Talli Somekh from Musea Ventures and Vice President of Engineering, Vitaliy Geraymovych from a technology consulting firm.
The key features of their product include Halo SVM and Firewall SaaS, and the best part of their service is that it is free.
Their Selling Point: CloudPassage had their eyes on the reliable security feature that will protect the virtual server platform, which they believe is the lifeblood of the virtual network. CEO Sweet said, “People sometimes sort of forget about the virtual network around those machines that need to be secured.”
CipherCloud’s headquarters is located at Cupertino, California. Founder and CEO is Pravin Kothari; he was formerly the founder, CTO and interim-CEO for Agillance. He also held the vice president of engineering and co-founder position for ArcSight.
They use tokenization and cloud data encryption for their security features, which they offer on a pay-per-service subscription at $20 per month.
Their Selling Point: CipherCloud focuses on encryption and tokenization as their primary security feature, which will both protect data on storage and data in migration. Kothari said that the security threat lies in the hands of the unsecured enterprise customers and not their cloud providers. He said, “Our gateway is designed as a stateless solution. This, along with our high-performing encryption algorithms, ensures near-zero impact on the performance.”
HyTrust
HyTrust’s headquarters is located at Mountainview, California. The following key people are responsible for the company startup: John De Santis is CEO, who is the former vice president of Cloud Services at VMWare, Eric Chiu and Renata Budko are co-founders and act as president and vice president of marketing, Hemma Prafullchandra is CTO, who is also the former CTO of FuGen Solutions.
HyTrust offers their newest version 2.2, which supplies a centralized access and control for cloud servers that provide reliable security and compliance. The service per host supported is set at $1,000.
Their Selling Point: They have been chosen last year as the “2010 Company to watch” gives them the edge over their competitors. Their security product stood out against established industry forerunners conducted by Trend Micro that tested various virtualization security management tools.
Bromium
Bromium is a company that is still on the stealth mode and is currently developing their security features. Their headquarters are located in Cupertino, California and Cambridge, U.K. It is headed by their founders Gaurav Banga, former CTO of Phoenix Technologies; Simon Crosby, former Citrix CTO of Data Center and Cloud Division and Ian Pratt, current chairman of Xen.org and another Citrix expert.
Since the product is not out yet there is no pricing available, but a lot of hint are being speculated that Bromium’s product will use virtualization to secure all endpoints of the cloud enterprise.
Their Selling Point: Crosby remains to be one of the most outspoken about the public cloud. He says that security breaches are not the result of cloud loopholes, rather they come from the unprotected cloud enterprise customer base, which they are hoping to address.
High Cloud Security
The company’s headquarters is located also at Mountain View, California. High Cloud Security’s co-founders include Bill Hackenberger, who is also CEO and president and Steve Pate. Hackenberger, was a key person in startups like AIM Technology; he also served as vice present of engineering for Caymas Systems and Vormetric. Pate, on the other hand, served as CTO of Vormetric and developed virtualization at HyTrust.
Their product has not released any pricing yet, but says that their Virtual Machine encryption answers will provide a vital security platform.
Their Selling Point: Their product marketing strategy took a different route by releasing an excerpt from an article that pointed out the three quick steps on how to steal and hijack important enterprise data. They emphasized that all machines are running virtual at that time, so they came up with a solution that the only way to prevent hijackers’ access to the database is to encrypt all sensitive information at the storage layer.
This entry was posted in Security, Uncategorized and tagged Bromium, Ciphercloud, cloud, Cloud computing, Cloud Passage, Cloud Security, Enterprise, Enterprise Marketing, High Cloud Security, Hytrust, PaaS, SaaS, software-as-a-service. Bookmark the permalink.
About Martin Tantow
Software Defined Networking Market Soars as Enterprises Adopt Network Virtualization
News Digest, Uncategorized
News Digest December 9, 2012
Cloud Computing, Event, Mobile Cloud, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
Bill Ford: Cars the "Great Untapped Opportunity" for Mobile
Cloud Computing, Featured Articles, Uncategorized
Cloud Computing in Europe Lagging Behind
X.commerce Joins OpenStack Community
Martin Tantow/ October 12, 2011
CloudTimes/ October 11, 2011
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line28
|
__label__wiki
| 0.827044
| 0.827044
| "Special bulletin - Acoustic Americana Music Guide\nYou can read the entire current edition at\nhttp(...TRUNCATED)
|
cc/2021-04/en_middle_0091.json.gz/line35
|
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
No dataset card yet
- Downloads last month
- 12