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If you came here to read a tutorial about how to try out Linux, you probably already have a good reason to do it. If that's the case, just skip to the next section. If, however, you came here by accident, out of curiosity, or a strange force made you to, then read on.
So why Linux? People talk about saving money on software, good community support, the advantages of open source, and so on. Yeah, yeah, that's all well, we've heard it before. Now consider also the following possibilities:
- You are curious.
- You need to unleash your inner geek.
- You want to enjoy your computer.
I just have one request from you. If you decide to try Linux, before you give your final verdict, give it a fair chance. Think about it: for how long have you been using Windows? One year? 3 years? More? If you try Linux for just one afternoon, would you be surprised if things would seem difficult to do with it? How well were you able to use Windows on your first day? Keep that in mind, because Linux is indeed different from Windows.
2. How to run Linux on a virtual machine
I can already hear you saying: "I really don't want to mess up my Windows system if I try Linux". Don't worry, you won't. There are multiple ways to install Linux on your computer. Some of them will not affect your Windows system. For brevity's sake, here I will only discuss one method: the virtual machine. What that means is that you will install a normal Windows application on your computer. When you run it, it will create the impression that you have multiple computers running on the same box. Those additional computers are called "virtual machines", because well, they are virtual, they don't have their own hardware. You will use one virtual machine to install Linux onto it.
Basically what you will need to do to your Widows system to try Linux are two things:
- Install the virtual machine software on your computer. This is done like any standard software installation.
- Create a folder, which will hold all the files of the Linux machine.
The Windows system will not be changed in any other way. If you later want to remove Linux, all you have to do is delete the folder with the Linux files, and uninstall the virtual machine software.
3. Download necessary software, prepare your computer
3.1. Virtual machine software
The software you will use to create the Linux virtual machine is called VMware Player. You can download it and use it for free from the VMware web site at http://www.vmware.com/products/player/. Run the installer and follow the straight-forward instructions on the screen.
3.2. Linux installation disk
You will, of course, need an installation CD or DVD with Linux on it. You can download one from the internet, and you don't even have to burn a physical disk. Just keep the disk image as a file on your computer.
There are many different flavors of Linux. Any of them should work. In the tutorial we will use the openSUSE 11.2 DVD. OpenSUSE is my personal favorite Linux distribution. If you want to use a different one, you shouldn't have trouble doing that, but you will have to figure out any differences in procedure on your own. Go to http://www.opensuse.org and download the installation DVD. Depending on your Windows system, choose either the 32 or 64 bit version. Also choose a download method. I prefer bittorrent over the direct link, as it is faster and more reliable for a large file like the DVD image.
3.3. Linux folder
In some convenient location on your computer create a folder that will hold all the Linux files. Call it for example "opensuse.11.2". Pick the location in a place that is easy for you to access. You can even choose to create the folder on a portable hard drive. In that case you can carry your Linux computer in your pocket and fire it up on any other Windows box that has the VMware Player installed.
Move the downloaded openSUSE disk image to this folder.
4. Installing Linux
4.1. Creating the Linux virtual machine
Launch VMware Player from the Windows Start menu. After accepting the license terms, click on "Create a New Virtual Machine" from the main window. The "New Virtual Machine Wizard" will open. Click through a series of windows, making the following choices:
- "Welcome": Select "Installer disk image file". Browse to the location of the "opensuse.11.2" folder and choose the image file.
- "Name the Virtual Machine". The virtual machine name will appear in the list of available machines, so choose something informative. For the location, choose the folder "opensuse.11.2". Browse to find it if necessary.
- "Specify Disk Capacity". If disk space is no problem on your computer, increase the maximum disk size, for example to 100 GB.
- "Ready to Create Virtual Machine". You can leave the default settings if you are in a hurry, as they can be changed later. If you want to tweak them now, click on "Customize Hardware". One important setting is the memory size. The default is conservative, and should be increased if possible. For example, if you have 4GB of RAM, you can choose 1-2 GB for Linux, leaving the rest for Windows. Another setting is the number of processors. If you have a dual or quad-core processor, set the number of cores to 2 or 4, respectively.
Click "Finish" to exit the wizard. The virtual machine will now boot up. From here on we'll refer to the virtual machine as "the system" or "the computer". So when I say "the system will reboot", I mean the Linux virtual machine within the VMware window, not the physical computer running Windows.
4.2. Installing the Linux software
When the virtual machine is first booted up, the openSUSE DVD will be mounted automatically and the installation process will be started. You will notice that your mouse and keyboard will either work only in the virtual machine window, or only in the Windows desktop. You will have to switch between the two as needed. To direct input to the virtual machine window, click inside it (or select the window and press Ctrl+G). To return to the Windows desktop press Ctrl+Alt.
The first menu you will be presented with contains a list of boot option. Notice that the default is to boot from the hard drive, which will not work yet. Before the default is activated, quickly switch input to the virtual machine screen. Use the arrow keys to select "Installation", then press enter. If you missed the menu selection, and went into the default, not to worry. You will have to do the analog of a reboot. In the player top menu, select VM->Power->Reset, and start over.
A series of installation options will be presented to you, such as language, time zone, etc. Choose the ones that make the most sense to you. If you don't know what an option means, leave it at the default. Some of the options you should particularly pay attention to are discussed below.
For the desktop selection, there are two main options, GNOME and KDE. Choose KDE to follow the rest of the tutorial. (Side note: This is amazing if you think about it. Not only will the Linux desktop look and feel differently from Windows, but you can choose from two entirely different desktops within the same Linux operating system!)
One screen will ask you to create a new user. The default options are to create a system administrator, who will be automatically logged in at startup. This is a poor choice in terms of security. It leaves your Linux system wide open to other people to do whatever they want with it. So let's change that. We'll create a regular user account that you will use for most of your work. We'll set a separate password for the so-called "root" user. The root account is the system super user, who has complete control over the system. You will log in as root whenever you need to make system-wide changes, such as installing and configuring applications.
To create a regular user, uncheck the two check-boxes in the lower half of the screen, called "Use this password for system administration", and "Automatic Login". Enter your full name, user name and password. The user name is not allowed to contain spaces. Choose a simple, short word. I like to use my first name in all lowercase.
The following screen asks for the root password. It is critical that you don't forget the root password. If you do, you will loose control over your Linux system. Gone forever. The only remaining option is to erase the system and start from scratch.
Before installation begins, you will see a screen containing a summary of the installation settings. You can make more changes here, but for now you can accept the defaults and click "Install".
Installation will take a while. You don't need to watch the computer during this time. Go do something else, like surfing the web in your Windows system, practicing on your guitar, or whatever. The system will reboot when its done installing and then perform some additional configurations. When you return from your break, you'll see the openSUSE login. Log in with your regular user name and password set above, and you are ready to start exploring Linux.
4.3. A useful trick
You can shut down or reboot the virtual Linux system the way you would a physical computer. However, you don't need to shut it down when you turn off the computer. Simply quit the VMware Player. Next time, the Linux system will resume from where you left it, and you don't need to wait for it to go through the boot sequence.
5. Things to try with your new Linux system
5.1. Change desktop settings
First, before you do anything else, maximize the VMware Player window, so that you can enjoy a full view of the Linux desktop. The KDE desktop, which you chose during installation, has a rich set of features that can be configured. To access the configuration panel, click on the green chameleon head in the bottom left corner of the screen (analogous to the Windows "start" button), and choose the "Configure Desktop" application.
There are a few settings I like to change. First, the default scheme for an application choosing its font sizes I find strange. To change it, select the "Appearance" settings from the "Look & Feel" category. Then click on "Fonts". There is a drop-down box labeled "Force fonts DPI". By default it is disabled. Pick one of the other options instead, and click "Apply".
A very useful feature is found under "Window behavior", also in the "Look & Feel" group. Look for a drop-down box labeled "Policy", choose "Focus Strictly Under Mouse", and click "Apply". This is a feature that Windows does not have and may take some time to get used to it. But once you got it, it becomes addictive, and you wonder how you could have lived without it. What it allows you to do is to get focus to a window on your desktop based on the location of the mouse pointer, without bringing that window to the foreground. You could be watching a movie in the top-most window, while writing email in another window that is only partially visible in the corner of your screen. No more endless window shuffling.
Another thing you should do is turn off display power management and the screen saver. You'll leave those features to be handled by your Windows operating system. The power option is found under "Display" in the "Computer Administration" group. Click on "Power Control" and uncheck the display power management check-box. Then look under "Display" settings for the "Screen Saver" option, and uncheck the "Start automatically" box.
There are many more settings you can play with. Explore them on your own.
5.2. Try out some of the applications
The default installation comes with some useful software applications. Many others are on the DVD and can be added as needed.
First, start up Firefox, by single-clicking on its icon located on the desktop. Go ahead and visit your favorite web sites, and, why not, continue reading this tutorial at DIC right from within Linux.
Also on the desktop, there is link called "Office", which will launch the OpenOffice application. It has functionality similar to Microsoft Office, and can read and write Microsoft documents. OpenOffice also exists as a Windows application, which means you have a lot of flexibility to share documents with non-Linux users.
Other applications you can reach from the chameleon bubble (officially called "Kickoff Application Launcher"). For example, try out GIMP for editing pictures. It is under "Graphics"->"Image Editor".
5.3. Install other applications
Most administrative tasks, including installing software, can be done from an application called "YaST". Start it from the chameleon bubble, tab "Computer". You will need to provide the root password you set during installation.
Select "Software"->"Software Management". There are different ways of browsing and searching available software. Let's install Inkscape, a drawing program. In the software manager window, select the "Search" tab. Type in "inkscape" and view the search result on the right. Check the first box corresponding to the main program. Notice that other 2 packages from the list are automatically added. Click "Accept" and view the list of all automatic changes that need to be made. Click "continue" and wait for the installation to complete. Find Inkscape in the "Graphics"->"Vector Drawing"->"SVG Vector Illustrator" applications menu and launch it. Try to draw a few shapes.
So what else would you like to do? Would you like to do programming in Java, C++, Python, Fortran, or any other language? Perhaps make some databases in MySQL or Postgres? Set up a web application or email server? The software is all there, ready to be installed. Just look around and try what you like.
5.4. Copy-paste
Linux has an easy method to copy text from one place and paste it to another. To try it out, open a text document in OpenOffice and type in some words. Highlight the text you want to copy by pressing the left mouse button and dragging the mouse across. The copy operation is done. Now hover your mouse above the place where you want to paste and click the scroll wheel. The text is pasted.
5.5. Use multiple desktops
Another nice feature that Windows does not have is the use of multiple desktops. Be default there are 4 of them, but you can create more. If you work on multiple projects at the same time and have lots of windows open, it helps grouping them and keeping them separate. The desktops are accessible from the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, in an area with 4 gray rectangles. Open a few windows and switch from one desktop to another by clicking on the gray rectangles. Try moving windows across desktops, by right-clicking their title bar.
5.6. Explore the command shell
Linux is derived from UNIX, which started as as a console-based operating system. All commands had to be typed in from the keyboard, instead of using a mouse to click around. This functionality is still available. While it seems hard to learn, once you are good at it, there are many tasks that can be done much faster by typing commands in a shell window, then by clicking around in a GUI. Windows has similar, but much reduced functionality in the Command Prompt. Let's have a look at some basics.
To open a shell window start the "Terminal" application from "Applications"->"System"->"Terminal". You will get a new window, which is blank except for the prompt, which is a string that looks something like this:
[email protected]:~>
The prompt indicates that it is ready to accept commands that you type in.
Let's explore the file system. Files are organized into directories and subdirectories, which are different names for folders and subfolders in Windows. There are a few commands useful for navigating the directory tree, and listing directory contents.
Enter the command "pwd" to see what directory you are currently in. You start off in your home directory, so the screen should look like this:
[email protected]:~> pwd
The left-most symbol "/" stands for the entire file system. In it there is a directory called "home", and you are now in a subdirectory of home, which bears your user name.
To see the contents of the current directory, type in "ls". You will get a list like this:
bin Desktop Documents Download Music Pictures Public public_html Templates Videos
You may want to see more details about this list. You can get them by using command-line options of the "ls" command. Type in:
ls -lF
and the response now will look like this:
total 40
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:30 bin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:33 Desktop/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Documents/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Download/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Music/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Pictures/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Public/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:30 public_html/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Templates/
drwxr-xr-x 2 user users 4096 2010-01-23 13:32 Videos/
All available options of the ls command can be viewed by consulting its "man" page. Man stands for "manual". Type in
man 1 ls
which means "show me page 1 of the man page for command ls". Use the arrow keys to scroll up and down through the man page. When done, press "q" on your keyboard.
You can change the current directory with the "cd" command. For example, if you wanted to change to the root directory and list its contents, you could do it like this:
cd /
ls -lF
Return to your home directory any time by typing in
You can do lots of things from the shell. For a more detailed introduction, look for a UNIX shell tutorial on the web. One possible source is http://www2.ocean.wa...x.tutorial.html, or the DIC tutorial http://www.dreaminco...wtopic32019.htm.
6. Where to go from here
Depending on your interests, there are practically limitless possibilities to try out. You can set up your system as a development environment, using your favorite language and IDE. Or you could set up a server of some kind and network it to your Windows machine. Remember that your host Windows system and the Linux virtual machine behave like two separate computers. You can therefore do network programming on a single computer! Pick a topic you want to further explore and search the web for tutorials to help you along.


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On campus, you can see six main-stage productions each year, which usually consist of contemporary tragedies, comedies, dance concerts, musical comedies and dramas. In addition to theatre, you can listen to symphonies, operas and jazz bands. If you prefer to participate instead of sitting in the audience, you can join the theatre group's next performance, participate in the nationally recognized Golden Eagles Marching Band, sing in the choir or play the violin in the University's symphony.
At Southeast, we want you to experience the arts and culture from today and through the ages. That is why you can check out contemporary and traditional exhibits and artwork at our own museum. We have prehistoric Native American artifacts that date back to 900 A.D. and contemporary art from such famous artists as Picasso.
The newly constructed River Campus, on the banks of the Mississippi River, is the Midwest's first public institution with a campus dedicated to the disciplines of art, dance, music and theatre. The River Campus provides state-of- the-art facilities, which include a 950-seat professional theatre.
If theatre and art do not interest you, we have national recording artists such as Sheryl Crowe who come to Southeast to perform just for you at the Show Me Center.


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Bret Easton Ellis on "The Informers" Movie
On April 24th, The Informers, the latest adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel, hits select theaters. For Ellis, this is a particularly unique adaptation as this is the first time that he has a co-screenwriter credit on the finished product. In fact, Ellis was involved during every stage of production, from writing over seventeen drafts of the script, to being on set, to viewing tons of cuts in the editing studio. It is perhaps for this reason that it hits him harder than most that the end result of the film is something he has very conflicted feelings on.
With The Informers already screening at Sundance last year and advance reviews popping up all over the web, the film is already receiving a very mixed response. C.H.U.D., a movie review site, gave it a 0 out of 10 rating, saying it actually demanded a new classification of Fuck God. When I was invited to view the film by the wonderful people at Senator Distribution, I didn't know any of this. And perhaps that was for the best, as I carried no veiled biases in with me. For this reason and many others, I walked away from the movie actually liking what I had seen quite a lot. I won't go into an in-depth review, but I will frankly say that, some of the negative criticism The Informers is getting seems very unfounded to me. While the film is far from perfect, it captures an atmosphere and tone you see absent in many movies nowadays.
So when I was invited to Bret Easton Ellis' sleek, Patrick Bateman-esque apartment a few weeks ago to conduct this interview, I did not know that I'd be stepping into any potential 'controversy'. So I was happy to find that, in the end, I think it turned out great as Bret got to air a lot of his grievances over the film and I got to meet the man for the first time. Bret and I had such a fun time with the interview, that I was his guest for over two hours. He was nothing but a warm and gracious host and someone I'd be lucky to have the chance to interview again. I'll shut up now and let the piece speak for itself.
Dennis Widmyer: This is your first screenplay, right?
Bret Easton Ellis: It's the first screenplay that's been made into a movie. I've written other scripts but none of them have been made.
DW: But this is the only one of your books that you've adapted?
BEE: I did an adaptation of The Rules of Attraction when a young director named Breck Eisner was going to direct that picture. He ultimately decided to direct Sahara. I also did a draft of American Psycho for David Cronenberg when he was attached to direct the film. So I have done two adaptations. Neither scripts ultimately were used because the directors of those movies decided to write their own: Roger Avary with The Rules of Attraction and Mary Herron with American Psycho. So The Informers is the first one of mine that I've written that has actually been made.
DW: It's a pretty inspiring story of how co-screenwriter, Nicholas Jarecki, a filmmaker from NYU, originally contacted you.
Nick Jarecki made a really wonderful documentary about James Toback, the filmmaker. And because of that, people were interested in him directing a feature. So that got him an agent at ICM. And they asked him what he wanted to do. Comedy? Horror? And he said that he actually wanted to make a movie out of a collection of short stories by Bret Easton Ellis. And then of course, everyone said forget about it. No. You're gonna blow it.
So someone called me up and said, do you wanna meet this guy who wants to adapt your movie? I liked his Toback documentary a lot and so we met in LA and he started to talk about how he wanted to turn The Informers into a movie. And I had always fantasized about turning that book into a script. But I could never really figure out what stories to use and what stories to leave out. So it was surprising to find what stories Nick wanted to thread into a movie compared to the ones that I wanted to do. But there were about four of them that we overlapped on. And we also realized that there were only seven of them that would really work cinematically. So then it just became about finding the connections between them all.
Half of the writing process was really constructing the script. Which was quite long. We envisioned it as a two and a half hour movie. This epic movie about all these people in Los Angeles in 1983. We saw it as really a movie that was about the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s. And we envisioned it to be really funny, sort of like a fast-paced, sped-up version of Robert Altman. Or more like Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
So we wrote the script and our agents were horrified by it. (laughs) I mean, a three hour period piece where basically everyone dies from AIDS? Are you crazy?
At some point Nick left the agency and went on his own. He just started to find people that he could slip the script to, to try and raise the money. And he finally found this really great producer named Marco Weber who got the money. And after that it all came together very quickly.
DW: How long was the process from inception to greenlight?
BEE: Summer of '04 we started to write the script. And they started shooting in the Fall of '07. I felt that was pretty fast for an adaptation of this sort of material.
DW: So had you ever tried to get the film off the ground on your own?
BEE: No, not in any way. It was Nick's project. He was going to direct it. He was passionate and he had a vision. It helped that he had made Toback already. It had sort of confirmed something about him. But yeah, he was smart, sophisticated and he saw how this could be turned into a movie.
DW: Was it difficult taking a short story collection and streamlining it into a screenplay?
BEE: No. The structure was tricky. But in terms of writing it, it wasn't hard at all. It was actually really fun to write. I had a really good time writing the script and I enjoyed myself a lot, as I usually do. I think writing scripts is fun. I don't see it as torture at all. Why do it then? Because the odds of anything happening are so low that you might as well enjoy yourself in the process.
DW: Do you enjoy it more than writing novels?
BEE: Yes and no. I like that it's very quick and there's a logic to it. There's no logic to novels. They completely come from the unconscious. There's an immense amount of freedom in writing a novel that there really isn't within the format of a screenplay. There's certain things within the medium of telling a story visually that are really just a given. That's not true in a book. Anything can happen in a book. I've been working on a page in this novel that I've been ditzing around with for the last three or four years – it's a very short book – but you know, I go back to this one page and I take out all the conjunctions. (laughs) And then I put all the conjunctions back in. And then I say, if that sentence was in past tense would it look better? Would he think it in past tense? Those are not questions you ask when you're visualizing a scene in a movie. The questions are very logical.
DW: I think it's all in the way you write it though. They tell you not to re-write as you're writing your first draft. That's easy to say, but I'm sure most novelists don't do that. They can't just pound out a first draft and go back and then start writing the second.
BEE: That's correct. And that's where I'm at with this book. I think I'll be turning it in in a month, and I'm so bored of it.
DW: Can you tell me anything about it? You've got a pretty big fanbase on our site.
BEE: (slightly shocked) Really? That's so funny.
DW: You kidding me?
BEE: (laughs) Well, it's actually a sequel to Less Than Zero that takes place now.
DW: When do you think we'll see that?
BEE: May of 2010. It was an interesting idea to do. I couldn't let go of it. I had to know where these characters were. It kind of consumed me.
DW: The best stories usually do. It's not a question of writing them. You have to get them out of your head and on the page or else they drive you nuts.
BEE: (laughs) And it has. I'm nuts right now.
DW: Well, you look mentally stable enough So let's talk about the writing process. Did you and Nick write together in the same room?
BEE: We structured the script together in the same room. And that took about a month of sitting together with note cards, figuring out how we were going to do this script. How we're gonna thread the stories into each other. And then after that, we gave each other scenes. Like, you write that storyline, I'm gonna go ahead and write this one. I'm gonna work on this part of the vampire section, you can write the other part. And then we'd trade and re-write each other's stuff. But the vampires never made themselves into the movie. They were there and they served their purpose. But now they don't.
Another thing about working with someone is that they sort of kick your ass, you know? They make you do it. I mean, they're depending on you. But I think I would prefer to write alone.
Ultimately Nick left the project and I ended up working on about seventeen more drafts.
DW: Did Nick go onto something else?
BEE: Yeah, he was supposed to direct the film but when it became apparent to the producers that it was too big a movie to let a first-time writer/director take on, they wanted someone who had shot something big before.
DW: Was Nick a little bummed when this happened? Was he looking to sink his teeth into this?
BEE: Yeah.
*At this point in the interview we shift tone and Ellis asks me my thoughts on the movie. I won't go fully into my review, but I told him that I essentially liked the movie quite a lot. It didn't resonate with me right away and initially left me very cold. But in the days that followed, I found myself haunted by some of its subtle themes and its overall mood and atmosphere. Bret seemed very interested in my reaction and it is at this point that he begins to speak openly about some of his feelings on the finished film.
BEE: It's a book of mine. I adapted it. I adapted a book of mine. And it was a complete and total learning process. I thought I knew a lot about the movie business and how it works. But I had never gone through the process of writing a script and seeing it through towards completion… towards actually getting it made.
I was very close to Marco and Gregor (Gregor Jordan, the director) during this whole process. I was on the set even, writing stuff at times. I was even supposed to go to Uruguay at one point where they were shooting a lot of the exteriors. So yeah, it was a bit of a shock to see it. But you know, I've always believed this: that it's a director's medium.
DW: So in the editing process it became something different?
BEE: Yeah, it became different. But whatever rumors of my disappointment there have been are pretty standard. You know, it's really not what I wrote. It's really what Gregor built from my work. Because it's really a director's medium. Movies aren't a screenwriters medium. The director shapes the movie. You could give that script… that same script… to a hundred different directors and it would be reinterpreted by all of them. So this is the version that Marco and Gregor landed on.
DW: Were there other cuts that were floating around at one point?
BEE: Yeah, many cuts. Even some that they showed. Personally, I prefer longer cuts. There's about forty minutes that I think are missing from the movie. So it feels… (pauses)… I don't know, it's just that, there are endings to a lot of these stories that just aren't in the movie now. There was like four or five more very long scenes…
DW: But important scenes?
BEE: I think very important scenes. Simply within the Chris Isaak / Lou Taylor Pucci father / son Hawaii scenes that comes to a head.
DW: I forgot how that storyline ended?
BEE: Because it doesn't.
DW: How do you feel about the release the film is getting and how its being promoted?
BEE: I went and saw Duplicity in Century City recently with a friend of mine and -- I've just been unaware of a lot of stuff, because I'm finishing the book and I'm really lost in work -- and so a friend of mine and I decided to go see two movies over in Century City and we're sitting down, just about to relax… lights go down… and the trailer for The Informers comes on the screen. And it was kind of like… well, I actually had to get up. I walked outside and I texted somebody from the lobby and said, I just saw it. This is actually happening? This is gonna be coming out!
DW: Were you happy?
BEE: I think the trailer looks really cool but I… (thinks)… I think the problem is just that I know what's been lost. And …
DW: …You're never gonna really be able to get over it?
BEE: And you have to get over it.
DW: What about DVD? Can they put all the scenes back on the DVD?
BEE: You know, we've talked about that before but you know what…. you just let it go. But the problem with letting it go this time around is that it is based on a book of mine. If this was just a job, and I had taken it, I'd be totally rallying for it. I would not have a complicated reaction to how this played itself out. And, you know, I have a bit of a complicated reaction. But at the same time, I agree with many of your assessments of the movie. I do. But then I also know what…
DW: …Could have been?
BEE: Right.
DW: But that's irrelevant. You have to put that out of your mind.
BEE: It's completely irrelevant.
DW: It's tough to do, but you have to.
And it's all about the ego.
DW: It's all about what the audience sees. Not about what could have been. They're never gonna know what could have been. So if what's on the screen works… you did it.
BEE: But I've also seen this movie in like a hundred different cuts. I've seen a two hour and ten minute cut. I've seen a ninety minute cut. I've written scenes that were shot and added and then removed. I've seen it with a voice-over that I wrote. I mean, I've seen it in many, many, many different versions.
DW: Who did the voice-over?
BEE: It was actually little children. Like in Barry Lyndon. It was an ironic, distant narrator that was commenting on it all… but it didn't work.
DW: This was sadly Brad Renfro's last film. Did you see any indications of his addiction and what he was going through during the production?
BEE: Well, I didn't see Brad on set. I only knew Brad after the movie was shot. And it was apparent that he was not well. I had heard that there were some problems on the set but that he was able to keep it together. But I was not there and I heard that people were concerned about him.
You know, it sounds so cliché to say it, but he was an incredible actor. And the times that I hung with him, he was just a very, very sweet guy.
DW: Whose idea was it to dedicate the film to him?
BEE: Gregor's. And I thought that Brad and Mickey (Rourke) became very close on the set.
DW: Let's talk about the mood of the film. The opening, especially, I loved. There's almost no dialogue in the first seven or so minutes. And you don't see that enough these days in cinema. Was that something that you had in the script that you pushed for during the production?
BEE: Definitely. Actually, the original opening of the film was originally much longer, but due to budgetary concerns I had to rewrite the scene. But it always started with the party. And actually, Graham (John Foster) and his friend had to originally drive out to Palms Springs… and that was taken from the book. And there's a car accident. And they just couldn't afford to do the car accident where the Porsche flips.
But again, everyone likes that opening scene but I have, you know, problems with the slow-mo, and you know… (thinks) I have issues with the movie. (laughs). You know, what can I do? You know, it's just like… I can't let it go.
The movie's beautiful. I mean, look, if I had my own issues about the movie as a screenwriter I have no issues about it terms of much else. But again, this is the problem. (laughs). It's a problem of what I know and what you don't know. And it's the problem of letting go of that. It's an egocentric problem, really. It really is.
DW: Well, it's your problem. Own it. You wrote seventeen drafts of the script. Nobody's earned it more.
BEE: Yeah.
DW: I think I know your answer already, but how do you think The Informers compares and stacks up to other movie adaptations of yours?
BEE: Well, I'm friends with Roger Avary and that's my favorite of the four that were made. And I like American Psycho as well. And because I'm working on a sequel to Less Than Zero… and the movie is so different from the novel, I think it's engrained in a lot of people's minds that they might be the same. That say for example, Julian – the Robert Downey Jr. character – dies in the book. But he doesn't. And so I've had to watch the movie a couple times now to figure out what I can use for the sequel of the book I'm writing to explain why certain people are alive. And it's complicated.
DW: Is the new book a sequel to the original movie or the original novel?
BEE: It's based on the book but… I'm not gonna spoil it. But I'll just say that since the movie exists, there's certain things I'm gonna do that explain things to people that haven't read the book.
So I've been looking at Less Than Zero (the movie) again and it's very faraway from the book but it's absolutely, stunningly, beautiful. Ed Lachman was the DP on it and it's just great looking. It's just… at it's core it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. (laughs) It inverts the meaning of the book. It's not at all what the book was about.
DW: So at the time, were you upset about that? Or were you just so young and so thrilled to have this adaptation made out of your first book?
BEE: I was pretty much so young and as someone who loved movies it was very exciting to think of yourself, in a way, as the writer of the movie. Because you wrote the novel… you sort of think of it as yours. But regardless of how flawed it is, you still get excited.
(grins) But that goes away.
(laughs) I have to say, I have very mixed feelings – and again, this may be my insecurities or whatever – but I'm just… You know, I didn't go to Sundance. And that was the premiere.
I don't know, it's just, I've got my own issues to deal with about this movie but you had asked me about my favorite adaptations of my books. I can endlessly watch Rules of Attraction. I'm a fan of Roger Avary.
DW: Is he still attached to direct Glamorama?
BEE: He's going to be shooting Silent Hill 2. As far as Glamorama, it's just very hard to get the money to make it.
DW: But is he still the main name attached to it?
BEE: He owns the rights. It's funny, his production office is just two blocks away and we hadn't seen each other in a long time and we just recently got together and went out to dinner with James Van Der Beek. And the three of us are thinking of doing this webisode series. I like those two guys so much, so it's enticing.
So yeah, Avary is attached to Glamorama and he's written a very good script that has condensed a lot of the novel into a movie that is long, but makes sense. (thinks) I think, in a way, you could do sort of a lo-fi version of it. But, I don't know what's going to happen. It's kind of frustrating. I'd like to see him do it.
DW: Would you say American Psycho is a lo-fi version of the book? Because they didn't really have a huge budget on that.
BEE: No, they didn't. But it looks like three times what it cost. It looked very good. It was made extremely inexpensively. And they really made the most out of what they had.
DW: What's the biggest budget so far for one of you films?
BEE: The Informers. By far. I think the budget was about 18 million. Without Marco Weber there wouldn't have been a movie. I mean, Marco was the one that brought all the elements together. And it's really, in a lot of ways – I mean, I know Gregor is the director and, of course, did a beautiful job directing – but it is a Marco Weber production.
DW: What about Lunar Park? Is anyone attached to that?
BEE: People are trying to make that into a movie. I'm not involved. I'm friendly with the guys who have optioned it.
DW: I hear you've been working on an adaptation for The Frog King. What's going on with that?
BEE: (grins) My god…. so – many – things. So many of them bad.
DW: Really?
BEE: (groans) It's gotten to be such a complicated thing.
DW: It's based on a book…
BEE: Correct.
DW: So what happened? You sat down, read the book and thought, I have to adapt this thing? Has that happened with other books?
BEE: Not to the degree that it happened with that book.
DW: Because it's interesting for an author to read a book by another author and then, as a screenwriter, want to adapt said book.
BEE: I will admit that I was looking for a romantic comedy.
DW: Oh, it's a romantic comedy?
BEE: Not really, but it could be sold as one. It's really a character study about a guy that's falling apart and he meets this girl and she kind of saves him in a way.
DW: Could it be sold as a romantic comedy the way Fight Club could be sold as a romantic comedy?
BEE: Well, it was on the verge of being made by Darren Star, so it was going to be a romantic comedy. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt was attached to star in it. And a lot of directors were attached to direct. And when Darren Star and Joseph signed on it all seemed to be moving toward getting made. [But there were] problems with the studio. Intermediary went bankrupt. It was an extremely complicated process. It was very frustrating for Joseph because he was going to option it out. Buy it out for himself. And it just hasn't worked out. It was just one of those things. And you know, I would never have guessed that this would happen to this movie.
DW: You gave Chuck a quote once, am I right?
BEE: Yes.
DW: So do you know Chuck then personally?
BEE: I had dinner with Chuck once in New York. I remember getting the galley to Fight Club and… it was a first novel from this guy. And I remember I had like a stack of galleys to read. I'm really bad at getting through them. I'll give myself like a weekend and go Okay, start reading galleys. Because a lot of my friends are editors and…
DW: But do you have to read galleys?
BEE: You don't have to but it's courtesy. But they stack up and I have to get them down.
DW: Do you read quickly?
BEE: Yes, I read very quickly. So I picked up the book and thought, okay, five pages and then no way. And I remember I cancelled lunch. And then I cancelled something that afternoon. And I couldn't put the book down. I think it's a great book. And so, that is where that quote came from. And I think it was too late for the American edition so it went onto the British edition. And then I think they used it on some of the future American paperbacks.
I would love to be able to do what Chuck does. Or what some of my friends do, which is put out a book every two years basically.
DW: As a screenwriter, what sort of material would you like to do that was completely original?
BEE: A musical. Like a darker version of the High School musical. I've actually already written it. It takes place in the 80s and has music from the era.
DW: Really? Do you have a favorite musical?
BEE: (grins) Well, of course. Les Misérables. Patrick Bateman's favorite.
DW: So is there anything I haven't asked you? Or anything you wanted to say about the movie before we wrap?
BEE: Well, during our break I spoke with someone from Newsweek and she was saying how she liked the movie. So… I don't really know what the reception is going to be for The Informers. I think it's going to be really tough.


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I recall being a little bit confused when I first read that Natalie Portman and freak folkie Devendra Banhart were dating. Now they've taken their love to the next level: appearing together in his new Bollywood-inspired video, Carmensita.
I'm not entirely sure what to do with this, intellectually-speaking. The Quirk has always taken a shine to India (cf The Darjeeling Limited), so this video is at once completely in keeping with one of the basic tenets of quirkdom (reappropriate the exotic by critiquing the notion of exotic while embracing its visual cues anyway), and yet, knowing this full well, I can't stop banging my head against my computer anyway. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I still can't wrap my head around the Portman-Banhart coupling, or if it's the "let's do a Bollywood video!" thing, or if it's just that at this point the Quirk, thanks in part to Natalie Portman, has become so mainstream so as to simply be ... the Norm.
[Addendum: Can someone please confirm/deny that that is Chloe Sevigny, in blue face paint, as Kali?]


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theaviator needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 49 designs submitted by 15 freelance designers.
In need of a logo for a new business called RebelInvestorToolbox.com. Looking for something hip but also professional. See full desription please.
Desired Color Scheme:
Red and Black
Desired Style:
Nothing cartoony must look good on website and other merchandise (shirts, hats, business cards, etc)
Accepted File Formats:
jpeg, vector
I would like the ".com" included in the logo but possibly smaller than the name. I don't want "www" in the logo. If possible I'd like the word "Rebel" in red and maybe written as though it's been painted or something like Brush Script font. I'd like the words "Investor Toolbox" in black and maybe bold and written more professional than the word 'Rebel'. The logo will be displayed on a white background and I'd like the logo to be in red and black.
Please feel free to get creative with it.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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The design is a modular marvel where every stock fits every action and every barrel.
Two side-by-side barrels and receivers. With each cycle of the bolt two cartridges are loaded simultaneously, like a classic side-by-side double rifle. But better. The magazine contains six cartridges and two in the barrels. Ideal for the really big pigs.
Maybe I should go German?


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Coach Extraordinaire Ed Michael '65
As an Ithaca High School lineman he tackled running back Ernie Davis (who went on to become a Syracuse all-American and the first African American to win the Heisman trophy). At IC, where he majored in physical education, he was on not only the football team but the wrestling team as well. All along he had one career goal in mind: to be a coach.
Ed Michael '65 met that goal—and then some. After earning his master's degree at the University of Maryland, Ed began coaching wrestling and lacrosse at Corning Community College, where in five years his wrestling teams' record (45-5) brought attention from athletics directors at bigger schools, including the University of Buffalo. He was recruited to UB and joined its staff as a wrestling coach in 1970. Over the next 21 years his teams won the NCAA Division III national championship (1978), 7 times won the New York State Collegiate Wrestling championship, and 13 times were in the top 20 in the NCAA national rankings. Ed coached 40 all-Americans and 105 individual tournament champions.
But Ed was more than a coach. In 1988 he became associate athletic director for recreation and intramural services, and three years later, as associate professor, he became director of recreation and intramural services. As such he planned and ran UB's evolving program, which emphasized a holistic, fun approach to fitness and sports.
As coach, administrator, and educator Ed worked with thousands of students, not just student-athletes but also those who wanted to enjoy sports recreationally without the stress of competition. Physical education classes were no longer required, so he developed a program that offers everything from aerobics to kayaking to racquetball to yoga. "There is something for everybody," he said of the program in 2005, shortly before he retired.
Ed's nearly four-decade career garnered him induction into seven athletic halls of fame: the National Junior College Region III, New York State College Wrestling Coaches Association, New York State chapter of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, Ithaca High School, UB, and Ithaca College.


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Football Manager
Are you tired of seeing your fantasy football team achieve nothing season after season? Do you think you could do better than the manager of your favourite team every Saturday, or do you simply want to experience a football manager game where you take 11 men and women into a game and come out victorious?
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What really separates Football Superstars from each and every other management game available on the PC, every one of the outfield players in your team will be an actual person, playing from their PC somewhere else in the world. This truly is a massively multiplayer online football management game.
It is free to register, free to download and free to play – sign up now!Play Now


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iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6/6S Plus
Wallet Case Frosted Meadow
Forgot your handbag at home? Relax, with a Wallet Case Magnet you will always have your phone and wallet in one place. This is a magnetic wallet case with a shell that can easily be taken off the case when needed. Comes complete with three credit card pockets and a cash pocket. Protect your phone with a wallet case from Holdit!
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€ 21.90
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Arvest Bank is pleased to announce it has hired Racquel Martin as a mortgage lender in Hot Springs.
Martin has more than 20 years of industry experience, and worked for a title company prior to that. She will be based out of the Arvest branch located at 4570 Central Ave.
In her new role, Martin will serve as a as a decision-making resource for customers, providing guidance to them in an effort to find solutions tailored for their unique needs, among other responsibilities.
"Racquel has years of great experience when it comes to helping people find their home, and we are so excited to have her on the Arvest team," said Don Gooch, community bank president for Arvest in Hot Springs. "People seem to think the mortgage process can be daunting and difficult, but we don't want that to be the case. Even before someone begins to look for a new home, Arvest wants to answer any questions that you may have."
Martin lives in Hot Springs, where she is a member of the Hot Springs Board of Realtors. She and her husband, Jonathan, have three children.
Submitted questions will be answered by an Arvest banker and may appear on the Arvest Blog.
All Arvest banks are Equal Housing Lenders and Member FDIC.
Investment products and services are provided by Arvest Investments, Inc., doing business as Arvest Asset Management, member FINRA/SIPC, an SEC registered investment adviser and a subsidiary of Arvest Bank. Trust services are provided by Arvest Bank. Insurance products are made available through Arvest Insurance, Inc., which is registered as an insurance agency. Insurance products are marketed through Arvest Insurance, Inc., but are underwritten by insurance companies.
Securities and Insurance Products: Not Insured by FDIC or any Federal Government Agency, May Lose Value, Not a Deposit of or Guaranteed by a Bank or any Bank Affiliate.


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The Gift is a well written thriller!
Hats off to Joel Edgerton for his big debut as a fully-fledged director. Not only is his direction outstanding, but it is also better than most of the directors out there. His frames have an order, have the right amount of focus and they complement the score quiet beautifully.
The Gift unfurls gorgeously into a story which can't be predicted at first. It breathes on a little suspense that coils around the question 'Why'? Then as we progress halfway, things become a little clearer and the why gets answered. You see the true face of perversion there, and suddenly your heart brims up with sympathy.
The cast has done a great job by their majestic acting skills. Bateman and Joel are beautifully complemented by Rebecca Hall, and they all end up nailing it to perfection.
The plot is not quite intricate exactly, a little predictable when you see the end coming. But it is gorgeously wrapped under the threads of a thriller. It is very nicely written and eases quite brilliantly into the "Bullying" waters, an issue that still prevails in the society and the hunter in us never gives a damn. The Gift is all about one big bad vengeance, which skims a little horror as it progresses. The music is good and the silence is deafening too. A couple of quick surprises make your heart skip a beat.
What is however hard to swallow is the fact that the casting chose Jason Bateman to do the job of a bully. But if you look at it, the director intended to show a character that people would have trouble putting a pin to. And Joel milked this incredulity just fine.
Some things that Edgerton misses out on are screenplay and subtlety. I wished the screenplay to pack in a little bit more punch. Also, the movie could have done a tad more with the suspense building as things start to become quite apparent.
If you start to question the last bit of the movie, where Robyn had already decided to leave Simon, then even if Simon didn't know whose baby it was, it wouldn't have mattered much. Let us just say both end up getting divorce, the indifference of Simon towards the baby would have given Robyn the true custody. Okay, it did shatter him and break him but was Gordo's revenge really worth it? It was, if Simon really loved Robyn beyond limit, but given the limited romance time shown in the movie and confined relationship manifestation, things weren't exactly palpable. Hard to digest!
Leaving everything aside, the movie still manages to keep you incessantly thrilled, rooted and suspenseful. Definitely worth your time!


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Custom Mattress Testimonial For RVThursday, July 26th, 2012
Just wanted to share another testimonial we received here at Rocky Mountain Mattress. This one is from a happy custom RV mattress customer. Check it out, and please send it your testimonials!
From: Judith Swain
Date: July 23, 2012 3:19:02 PM PDT
To: Rocky Mountain Mattress
Subject: Re: custom made mattresses for RV
Hi Rocky Mountain Mattress , we have received the mattresses and they are wonderful. THANKS!
Best ~ Judi Swain


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Known worldwide for high quality innovative products IBM has been one of the most reputable companies in the world for over 100 years. IBM now offers premium HP Replacement Laser cartridges; you always get OEM quality, better prices, and a two year warranty. This offer is for (1) premium high-yield replacement toner cartridge for the HP 61X High Yield Black Original LaserJet Toner Cartridge, also referred to as the HP C8061X. This cartridge is designed for use with Hewlett-Packard 4100, 4100N, 4100DTN, 4100T, 4100TN, 4100MFP, 4101MFP Printer.
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And its the first time I can remember that polo hasn't really happened. Last Sunday a bunch of people showed up at different times but there was no play. Possibly because mallet numbers are down after a bunch of breakages (get making people!) or perhaps because of the night before? Either way this Saturday everyone will be there, hopefully with some new mallets.
Last Saturday night as the MASH London première at the London FGSS headquarters just off Brick Lane. I only managed to pop in for about half the film and then had to rush off, but for what it was, it was good. Check out other people's reactions here.
Other people's photos here and here.
More news on the efforts to help out Ryan – while some people have asked whether the tshirts are lacking in taste – they have been selling like hot cakes and a fair bit of cash has been raised for him. You can now order the t-shirts online but for those of you in London why not pop down to the John Snow this Friday (7th) for the Italian Job Alleycat, all proceeds from go to the Ryan fund again and no doubt it will be lots of fun – 8:30pm.
While we are on the subject of buying stuff you will be glad to know you can now purchase Smeear's fine hattish goods in Cavendish Cycles – 136-138 New Cavendish Street W1W 6YD.


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Our guidelines are simple and are meant to help maintain an atmosphere of generosity and respect, so that everyone can have a positive experience here. They can be boiled down to this: please always try to add value to this community rather than take it away.
RESPECT. We're all moms here, and we all know that while motherhood is incredibly rewarding, it's not easy. So we start from a place of respect—for each other, for our children, for the huge challenge of being a mom. We recognize that there's much to be gained from the EXCHANGE of reassurances and ideas with other moms, who understand like no one else. And we thrive when we have access to non-judgemental SUPPORT and try to PAY IT FORWARD by giving that support readily to others. Let's keep our community ENCOURAGING, CONSTRUCTIVE, and THOUGHTFUL!
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Brocade VDX 8770
Scaling Out Brocade VCS Fabrics
The Brocade VDX 8770 Switch is a highly scalable, low-latency, 1/10/40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) modular switch. Designed to easily scale out Brocade VCS fabrics, the Brocade VDX 8770 Switch brings new levels of performance to VCS fabric deployments. The Brocade VDX 8770 is designed with advanced capabilities, including 100 GbE and hardware-enhanced SDN support, to support data center networking a decade or more into the future.


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Customer payment information compromised at 34 Spec's stores
More than half a million customers at 34 liquor stores owned by Spec's may have had critical financial information stolen in a sophisticated computer scam that persisted for a year and a half, the company announced Friday.
The Houston-based chain, a statewide presence with 155 stores, joins a growing list of high-profile retailers, from Target to Neiman Marcus, that have reported major breaches this year. Those security breakdowns affected more customers, but the Spec's hacking appears to have lasted much longer before being made public.
The company issued a statement saying the breach is believed to have started Oct. 31, 2012, and continued as late as last week. A representative said hints the computer system had been compromised began to surface early last year but that until this week federal investigators had asked Spec's not to divulge details.
"This was a very sophisticated attack by a hacker or hackers who went to great lengths to cover their tracks," spokeswoman Jenifer Sarver said. "It took professional forensics investigators considerable time to find and understand the problem then make recommendations for Spec's to fully address and fix them."
Rick Dardenne, a Spec's customer who lives in Fort Worth, said he learned his information had been compromised, possibly when he shopped at a Spec's in Kingwood, after receiving a new Amegy Bank card in the mail. He said he called Amegy about two weeks ago and asked if the switch was because he had shopped at Target. The customer service rep told him that there had also been a breach at Spec's.
"I don't like being kept in the dark," said Dardenne. "Target at least communicated with the customers sooner."
'Exceptionally long'
More Information
Customer information was compromised at 34 Spec's-owned liquor stores statewide. Some of the stores operate as Copperfield Liquors, JJ's Liquors, Cowtown Discount Liquors, Restaurant & Bar Supply, Warehouse Liquors, The Beverage Shoppe and Richard's Fine Wines & Spirits.
The following Houston-area stores were affected:
12901 Queensbury
14110 Stuebner Airline
14114 Stuebner Airline
1665 South Voss
1743 Fry
1900 S. Shepherd
2545 Kirby
5630 Richmond
5750 Woodway
5818 Memorial
8306 Southwest Freeway
4665 Garth Road, Baytown
1304 West Davis, Conroe
17996 FM 529, Cypress
13827 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land
10491 Kuykendahl, The Woodlands
4747 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands
4775 West Panther Creek, The Woodlands
Other affected stores around the state:
1600 Texas Ave., College Station
3505 Longmire, College Station
10529 South Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi
4318 Ayers , Corpus Christi
4733 South Alameda, Corpus Christi
620 Old Robstown , Corpus Christi
6401 Weber, Corpus Christi
11411 Gateway Blvd. West, El Paso
5100 Montana Ave., El Paso
7933 North Mesa, El Paso
15540 FM 624, Robstown
Closed, but open during the time of the compromise:
1219 N. Texas Ave., Bryan
4804 Doniphan Drive, El Paso
4530 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood
2230 Buckthorne Place, The Woodlands
9420 College Park, The Woodlands
Tim Erlin, director of IT risk strategy at data security firm Tripwire, agreed that the breach "was exceptionally long." He also said that whatever security measures were in place "were clearly ineffective or inadequate."
Sarver said that after receiving alerts from a major lending institution and the company that processes many of its card payments, Spec's brought in private investigators and turned over evidence to the U.S. Secret Service. The breach may have lasted as late as March 20.
"I'm surprised the investigation went on so long without them discovering the root problem," said Erlin, adding that Spec's did the right thing hiring a private investigator after finding out fraud of some kind was taking place.
Neiman Marcus also learned from an outside source there had been fraud, he said, but it took about two months to determine 1.1 million customer cards had been breached. And the Target breach, which affected more than 100 million customers, lasted just a few weeks.
It's possible the scope of the Spec's breach will expand, Erlin said.
The warehouse-size superstore on Smith near downtown was not affected in this case. In addition to several smaller Spec's stores, some of the affected retailers operate as Copperfield Liquors, JJ's Liquors, Cowtown Discount Liquors, Restaurant & Bar Supply, Warehouse Liquors, The Beverage Shoppe and Richard's Fine Wines & Spirits. The list included mostly stores in the Houston area, but also some in Bryan, College Station, Corpus Christi and El Paso.
The exposure may include customers' bank routing numbers, card security codes and other payment card and check information.
Removed malware
Sarver said the compromise affected "an estimated fewer than 550,000" customers and Spec's employees. The company said the breach affected less than 5 percent of Spec's total customer transactions during that period.
"The issue has been resolved and data is no longer being obtained," Sarver said. She said the company replaced cash registers and "disabled and removed malware that was illegally placed on the computer systems."
"It's still an ongoing investigation and we are working on it," said Cynthia Marble, special agent in charge at the Houston field office of the Secret Service. She had no further comment.
Sarver said that as the hunt for the hacker continues, Spec's "has not taken any personnel action, nor based on what we know from the Secret Service do we see any reason to."
Dardenne said that while his is "disappointed," he plans to continue shopping at Spec's.
'It is unsettling'
Outside the Richard's Spirits & Fine Wines on Kirby, other customers did not seem overly upset.
"I'm not outraged, but it is unsettling," said Greg Frisco of Houston. "Just dealing with all the aftermath is frustrating."
Laura Snowden said hackers have stolen her identity in the past and she always tries to use cash.
"Everyone should be concerned, especially with the increasing use of credit cards," she said. "Every large store that sells in bulk has to be a target. "It's happened to Target, Neiman Marcus and now liquor stores. I'm surprised it hasn't happened to Toys R Us yet."
Data theft has been in the news a lot lately, but is not necessarily more common today, Erlin said.
"As an industry, we're getting better at detecting it," he said. "The concerning question is, how many more cases are like Spec's where data is being stolen and we don't know?"


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Currently not available. View current availablility.
RecipesCrispy Pork Roast
New recipe: Broccoli Rabe and Barley Bowl with Cilantro PestoDecember 11th, 2018
1.5 c. plus 1 T. water, divided 1/2 c. pearled barley - uncooked 3/4 t. salt 1 15 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained4 1 c. fresh cilantro leaves 1/2 c. roasted pepitas 5 T. olive oil 1 t. lem
New recipe: Slow Cooker Vegetarian Sweet Potato ChiliDecember 11th, 2018
Ingredients 15 oz can of kidney beans, drained 15 oz can of black beans, drained 2 (15 oz) cans chili beans (not drained) 28 oz diced tomatoes 15 oz can of sliced stewed tomatoes 6 oz tomat
New recipe: BUFFALO CAULIFLOWER POPPERSDecember 11th, 2018
BUFFALO CAULIFLOWER POPPERS 25-30 minutes Ingredients: 1 head of cauliflower cut into bite size pieces. 3/4 cup water 3/4 cup oat flour (we used regular flour) 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp


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(Thanks to Dad for helping me out who's probably pissed that i'm standing around taking photos of him doing most of the work.. hehe)
(Thanks to Dad for helping me out who's probably pissed that i'm standing around taking photos of him doing most of the work.. hehe)
This is the easiest thing to do on an Nissan EXA, and something you should know how to do. This article was written to save you a few bucks on this very simple process. Mechanics often charge you upwards of $100 to swap pads. The pads here only cost $32.95 from Sprint and about an hour of my time.
1. Chock up the front wheels.
2. Jack her up. (I used two jacks for support)
3. Remove the wheel.
4. Remove clip for brake line.
5. You'll see two bolts on the caliper. Remove them both (unlike front brakes where you only remove one).
6. Remove the caliper.
7. Using a pair of pliers twist the piston head and fully retract the piston head.
(check piston for score, rust, wear, damage or foreign materials. Replace if any of these conditions are observed. Piston surface is plated, do not sand)
8. Check disc rotor for wear and score.
(check disc for grooves, wear and general roughness. If so remove and get them machined at your local brake shop. Also measure the width of the rotor, standard should be 10mm. If it's less than 9mm, you have to get a replacement rotor)
9. Remove centre screw from pad.
(mine had a shitty bolt, and needed pliers as i would've stripped the pattern otherwise with a normal screw driver)
10. Remove both pads by pushing the locking pins outwards and pulling pad out.
11. Take shims off old pads and put them on your new pads.
12. Install new pads, close caliper over them and bolt it back together.
(If you fully withdrew the piston, you shouldn't have any problems)
13. Brake cable goes back on with the clip we took out before.
14. All done. Just top up your brake fluid (if you withdrew your piston too much you may notice your fluid overfilled, it'll go down so you can top up later).
15. Test your breaks out now. Drive out, slowly break a few times to make sure they're operational. Then read the pad manufacturer's advice. Mine required 20 medium to hard brakes (ie. over 60km/hr, obviously do this where it is legal and safe).
Although care has been taken to produce this article, use this only as a guide. www.Exaclub.net, their editors, and members do not take any responsibility for damage or failure of components. In other words, if you're unsure about a technical problem then see a qualified mechanic.


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Get ready for a whole new "World."
In an unsurprising move, Disney Channel is greenlighting "Girl Meets World," a spinoff of the popular ABC series "Boy Meets World."
The sitcom centers around Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), the tween daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews. Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel reprise their famous roles as seen in the above official photo from the New York City-set series.
[Photos: The 'Girl Meets World' Cast Shares Behind-the-Scenes Pics]
The story follows Riley and her best friend, Maya (Sabrina Carpenter), as they enter the seventh grade. They engage in all sorts of fun and mischief under the watchful eye of their history teacher — Riley's dad, Cory! After school, the two hang out at a popular pudding shop — run by Riley's mom, Topanga!
The cast of "Boy Meets World" recently reunited at the ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas. Savage, Rider Strong (Shawn), Matthew Lawrence (Jack), Trina McGee (Angela), Maitland Ward (Rachel), and Betsy Randle (Cory's mom) were all in attendance.
[Related: More 'GMW' Scoop From the 'Boy Meets World' Reunion]
Strong revealed that he's in talks to guest star on "Girl Meets World."
"We've been talking — I just want it to be done right," Strong told E!. "I really want it to be classy and good. I want it to be something that makes the fans proud."
Randle said she wouldn't be surprised if Cory's parents popped up, too. "Surely we'll show up for a Thanksgiving episode!" she teased.
[Photos: More '90s TV Reunions]
Already on board for the pilot episode is William Daniels as the beloved Mr. Feeny. He was seen on set in an Instagram photo. No doubt Mr. Feeny will be proud of his former pupil following in his footsteps.
"Girl Meets World" will start production this summer for an expected 2014 debut.
More "GMW" photos:


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The college offices assign advisors to students. Students can access information about their advisor(s) via CheckMarq:
The Advisor section on the right side on the main Student Center page lists your advisor(s).
To view contact information for your advisor(s), click the Details link.
The Find Contact Information link on the My Advisors page will open a new browser window with your advisor's contact information from the Campus Contacts Web site.
You can also send an e-mail to your advisor from CheckMarq by clicking the checkbox beside the advisor's name and pressing the Notify Selected Advisors button.
Students with advisors listed as unassigned or who have additional questions about the assignment of advisors should consult their college/school/program office.
The Office of the Registrar is the official keeper of academic records including course registrations, grades, transcripts and diplomas.
Find information about...
Trouble finding something? Contact the Office of the Registrar


text: Autoweek.nl is following in the embargo-breaking footsteps of its 'merican magazine cousins (not related). Whereas AutoWeek leaked the early deets on the Clubman, Autoweek.nl's releasing details on the new John Cooper Works edition of the slightly-bigger-than-mini Mini. Our Dutch isn't great, but it looks like it will follow in its little brother's footsteps, sporting 18-inch wheels, the same 1.6-liter turbo producing approximately the same 192hp and a similar front fascia. The biggest difference, other than the extra set of doors, comes in the rear with a reworked bumper and taillights more reflective of the base Clubman. Click below for hi-res photos:[Autoweek.nl]


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Truecaller Premium Here is another Working Mod apk Which help you to identify the unknown numbers and block spam calls and Sms. Truecaller help to see Names and photos of people who call, even if they are not saved in your Phone Book. You also know when friends are free …Read More »
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- Home
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- Columns
- Arts & Culture
- Special Editions
- Advertising
Saturday January 25, 2020; 09:48 am EST
Like fast trains and beagles, you've got to move to catch the news
A new year runs like Acela Express. After the brief slowdown as it pulls into the station on January 1, it doesn't take long to get up to speed. Soon the days are zooming by at 70mph — with occasional rushes double that rate.
So we, too, had better be on the ball, or we'll be behind it.
Forgive me for mixing metaphors, but I can't resist. It wasn't too many new years ago that I learned the railroading history of on the ball. To get it right, the ball needs a capital B for the Ball watches so true that train schedules were set by them. In this age of time by computer and smart phone, Balls are still made, sold and worn. At premium prices; Ball bought the back cover of The New York Times Magazine a week or so ago. If you want to see for yourself, Little Treasury Jewelers in Gambrills sells Ball watches — along with other premium timepieces — for men and women.
Behind the ball is a metaphor of another kind, borrowed from the game of billiards, where being behind the black eight ball can block a shooter's opportunity.
I learned the roots of both those metaphors writing newspaper stories, and that's one of the reasons I consider every day I go to work a good day.
Journalism gives you permission to pursue your curiosity. That's what I tell the many aspiring writers who answer the News Hound ad you see most weeks in our pages.
This time of year has me replying to inquiries most every day. You're on the ball, I say, and good for you because stories rise from an energetic flow.
Tell me you want to join Bay Weekly's pack of news hounds, and I'm going to ask you if you're ready for the chase.
"We want news hounds, not couch hounds," says general manager Alex Knoll.
Beagles are the kinds of hounds we need, eager to sniff out Chesapeake Country stories.
As we cover a region made up of two counties, we're looking for good human interest stories that appeal to readers from Severna Park to Solomons. A Bay Weekly story succeeds by focusing on theme rather than locality, rising above place — though stories often start with one person, one place, one time, one experience.
Bob Melamud found this week's feature, Swept up in the Trivia Wave, at a bar. He enjoyed playing trivia, saw a pattern and documented it throughout Chesapeake Country. In writing about it, he turned us onto the fun. I want news hounds to hunt down stories like that, introducing our 50,000 readers to a timely person, place, event, issue or opportunity and taking them beyond facts to understanding.
News hound Diane Burt scored in last week's issue with oysterman Donald Sheckells (www.bayweekly.com/node/20432). He's a Shady Side local, but his story has themes that touch readers anywhere, from aging out of the work you love to oysters, a resource whose restoration is a state promise.
What's Bay Weekly's next best story going to be? You tell me. News hounds are always welcome at Bay Weekly.
Another Species of Hound
From each new year, novelty is what we hope for. For Bay Weekly's 21st year, we're aspiring beyond novelty to oddity. Our dream is a serialized graphic story rising out of daily life in Chesapeake Country. Cartoonists, comic book artists and graphic novelists, apply here! [email protected] waits to hear from you.
Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]


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As a girl, I love drawing clothing for female characters which includes children. For a long time I was unaware that drawing clothing was such a sensitive subject. That is why I wanted to do a tutorial that can help girls, and even boys to learn "how to draw dresses", step by step. As with anything, there is plenty of ways to draw a dress for figures of the female gender. One of the three more popular styles of dresses is a long gown style, a thigh high length dress, and a knee high ruffled dress that is commonly used for dancing and such. I myself love long and knee length styles, but when I'm drawing a female character from anime and manga series, I have to draw clothes that they actually wear instead of dressing them with my own style. I think you will find this tutorial very helpful, and if you take your time you might even do a better job with drawing dresses than you think. I really love the way that this tutorial came out, and for some odd reason my own drawing inspired me to do some female character sketches and using one of the dresses that I created on my models. Not only will you learn "how to draw dresses", you will also receive some helpful tips and tricks on how it should be done. If there is another type of clothing that you need help with drawing and you would love to see it as a lesson, all you have to do is let me know and I will fill your request as soon as possible. I will be back with my last submission so stick around to see what else I have in store for all of you. Peace out people, and stay creative. Adios peeps!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Simplicity has been our theme this summer. I went back to work in June and realized that I wasn't superwoman. Oh, I knew it way before then, but adding big deadlines to my juggling pile made me think less about what I wanted to do and more about what I could realistically do, and the first thing on my list was to make our meals easier and faster to prepare.
We're still cooking from scratch; no take out, no pizza delivery guy ringing our doorbell, we're just making our weekday meals less complicated. Not that I was serving cordon bleu before, but now we are even more mindful of our menu and time required to prepare food. The season is in our favor, with so many fresh fruits and vegetables available it's easy to pull together a quick meal. Our tomatoes are ripening beautifully, and we gathered some of the fresh grape tomatoes and parsley and basil from the garden and added all of it to the bowl.
I chose this pasta salad from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites because the beautiful colors jumped out me and the flavors seemed just right. This recipe makes enough for a crowd. I cut it in half and noted it could still comfortably feed four people as a light meal.
This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, hosted by Jessica of Finny Knits. Visit the Grow Your Own information page to learn more about the event, and visit Jessica's post with information on this round. Entries are due tomorrow August 15.
P.S. If you missed the give away for the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites cookbook, you still have time to enter today!
- 16 ounces (~455 g) orzo or other small pasta
- 1/4 cup (~60 mil) olive oil
- 1/3 cup (~80 mil) plus 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup (~60 mil) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cups Kalamata olives, chopped
- 2 pints (~680 g) grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1 large red onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup drained capers (optional)
- 1/2 cup (~20 g) lightly packed chopped fresh parsley leaves
- freshly ground black pepper
- pinch of sea salt
- Bring about 3 quarts of water to boil in the large pot. Add salt and the orzo and cook until al dente. Drain well in the mesh strainer, then pour hot orzo into the mixing bowl.
- While the orzo cooks, stir together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in the small bowl. Pour the mixture over the hot orzo and toss. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add the olives, grape tomatoes, onion, capers, and parsley, and stir well. Season with fresh ground pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature.
large pot with a lid
fine mesh strainer
large mixing bowl
small bowl
Mix Kalamata with green and black olives.
Double the lemon zest and juice.
Add 1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves or fresh oregano.
Add 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
Add 1 cup chopped seedless cucumbers or red bell pepper.
Add 1 cup crumbled feta cheese.
Substitute a different cooked grain for the orzo, such as Israeli couscous, barley, or quinoa.


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The color course layouts in your country are preloaded in V500. Please check here to see a complete list of
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AudioExpert - Cleaning up music libraries was never that easy!
AudioExpert is a Music Organizer Software to tidy, manage, clean up, align, sort, join/merge, and organize music archives resp. music libraries. Supported formats are MP3, MP4, M4A, WMA, OGG, OPUS, FLAC, AIFF, MPC, WAV and AAC.
AudioExpert offers a large number of features that will support you on the tasks to manage your audiofiles. The main tools will be described below. You can view a video introduction on youtube
Main features
Joining music archives
AudioExpert can merge multiple archive-parts or distributed collections into one structured hierarchy.
You have two or more large music libraries? And you know that your collection contains the same title more than once? And you don't feel like sitting there for hours and do the work on your own? Here's the solution! Simply let AudioExpert do the work for you! AudioExpert will find the duplicates itself, while scanning the different archives. It will only copy those files that are not in your archive or have a better quality.
Detecting duplicates
AudioExpert detects duplicates and picks the one with the better quality, the others will be sent to the trash folder.
The detection is done either via MD5 Hashsum (regarding the pure audiostream only) and/or via the recognized tags. AudioExpert decides which file will be taken over by the bitrate, the stereomode, the length of the title and the samplingrate. In the preview you can check, and if necessary, modify it.
You can always check the results by taking a look in the trash folder; no files will be deleted unless you tell AudioExpert to do so.
Verify bitrate / analyze frequency spectrum
AudioExpert can detect musicfiles that were re-encoded with a higher bitrate
Re-encoding audiofiles with a higher bitrate does NOT improve the quality, it just claims that it is better. In reality, the quality gets even worse. AudioExpert can help you to identify those songs and fix this by re-importing a better version.
Drag & Drop
You can easily reassign single songs or whole albums to another interpret / album via drag & drop or context-menu
The program will learn and memorize, when an association was adjusted. At the next import of a similar file it would automatically end up in the correct folder. In addition, also the (id3-)tags of the musicfile and the file names will automatically be adjusted when committing the preview.
In addition, AudioExpert can update the ID-tags of the files and adopt playlists containing these songs so they will still work after moving or renaming the files.
The most common actions can be repeated by hitting the F4 key. The memorized action will be shown in the statusbar.
Sampler-detectionAudioExpert will detect compilations and keep the songs in one album.
No more taking apart from sampler to interpret. The song "U and Ur Hand" from "P!nk" stays in the sampler "Bravo Hits 55", and it won't be misfiled under the interpret "P!nk" as an own album "Bravo Hits 55" with only one title. Of course the title will stay in the album "I'm Not Dead" from "P!nk" in addition..
Large archives
Even if your archive contains more than 100,000 tracks, AudioExpert will still run fast and easy.
Importing a test-environment containing more than 150,000 songs took less than 2 hours (internal SATA drive, no computation of checksums or fingerprints)
The commit-run, including copying all 150,000 files from one internal SATA drive to an external eSATA drive, took less than 6 hours. AudioExpert allocated 500 MB RAM.
Working with a database containing 50,000 tracks you will normally not have to wait for AudioExpert to completing a regular task like searching or renaming a track. If your database grows, some requests might take a moment.
The following time measurements were taken on Intel® Core™2Duo, 3GHz, and a database containing 150,000 songs
- Searching for artists that contain the string "Abba": Ca. 2 seconds (quickfilter) resp. 0,2 seconds (detail search) with a resultset of 1,000 matches.
- Searching for tracks containing "more": Ca. 3 seconds (quickfilter) resp. 0,5 seconds (detail search) with a resultset of 1,000 matches
- Searching for all tracks with a year between 1980 and 1985 and having a genre containing "rock": Ca. 3 seconds (quickfilter) resp. 0,2 Sekunden (detail search) with a resultset of 1,000 matches.
Refreshing the whole view took less than 5 seconds, on an i7 much faster.
Tip: If you are batch-renaming a lot of artists, albums or tracks on a large database, you can deactive the automatic refresh in the settings. Manually refreshing the view is always possible by striking the F5 key.
For research purpose, the detail search is recommended on large databases (menu "Search / Search in database").
Updating playlists
AudioExpert can adopt your playlists so they will still work after renaming or moving files.
Playlists in m3u or pls format will be processed prior to renaming the files. AudioExpert will firstly adopt the playlist, then move the files. AudioExpert can not repair playlists: If a playlist contains a reference to a file that can not be found or is not in the AudioExpert database, this line will remain as it is.
Preview mode
All changes in AudioExpert will be done in the database and will affect your files only within the commit run.
While working with AudioExpert, no files will be copied, moved or deleted. AudioExpert always shows a preview of how your files will look like after the commit process. You can easily see which files will be modified, because they will be shown in a different color. The undo-feature allows you to undo the last step.
If you are satisfied with the preview, you can launch the commit run to save the changes to your files. If you rollback all changes, everything will stay as it was prior to edit in AudioExpert.
Manage USB/SDHC devices e.g. for your car
If you want to perpare an usb-stick to use in your car, you can easily mark the desired tracks in AudioExpert and put them to a library. Libraries can be synchronized with an USB drive and can be reformatted (folder structure and filenames). It's possible to maintain more than one library. Within the sync process, only changed tracks will be copied.
If your library contains audiofile in a format that your car does not support, you can easily transcode the format within the export-process
Burn data- or audio-CDs (DVD / Blu-Ray)
AudioExpert can burn selected songs to CD, DVD or Blu-ray. In case of data-CDs, you can also transcode the format of your audiofiles if your library contains songs in different formats.
Copy songs to mobile devices such as MTP-capable, portable devices
If your device is recognizes as a portable device by Windows, you can easily copy songs to this device using one of AudioExpert's export functions, e.g. "Right-mouse-key > Export selected tracks". Also available within the synchronization of libraries or exporting playlists.
Integration of external applications
Working with iTunes
You can import your iTunes media center to AudioExpert and export changes back to iTunes.
Import your iTunes media center to AudioExpert, edit, cleanup and rearrange your tracks and export your changes back to iTunes. AudioExpert will remove nonexisting files from your iTunes media center (if you want this), adopts filenames and the naming of artists, albums etc. Your iTunes playlists can also be adopted. The detailled export dialog lets you access full control of the export process.
Completely untagged or mistagged files can be identified by the autotagging feature
AudioExpert uses AcoustID (http://acoustid.org). AudioExpert can not guarantee a level of quality for this service.
Scrobbeln your songs to last.fm
Normalize loudness (ReplayGain / MP3Gain)
You can normalize the output level of your audiofiles by ReplayGain or MP3Gain.
Using the functionality provided by MP3Gain or ReplayGain you can normalize the loudness of your files without having to re-encode the files or losing quality. ReplayGain is not supported by all players, but only modifies some few ID-tags. MP3Gain works on almost all players, but does heavily changes to the MP3-files (without re-encoding it).
Import CDs
AudioExpert can import CDs and convert them to MP3 using the LAME encoder. Experts can integrate any other command-line based encoder like LAME.exe
Searching albumcovers
AudioExpert can search albumcovers using Google or Amazon.
Searching lyrics
AudioExpert can search for lyrics on LyricWiki.
Searching genre and release date
AudioExpert can search for genre and release-date at last.fm.
Tag-Editor with MusicBrainz integration
The most common tags can be edited directly within AudioExpert. Using the MusicBrainz online-service, you can save a lot of time.
The inline editor allows editing tags directly in the listview. If you have selected more than one track, all selected tracks will be set to the new value.
Unifying notation
AudioExpert can adjust the notation by using several options, e.g. all lowercase, all uppercase, titlecase etc.
Converting Codepages
You can convert any codepage to unicode. Simply specify the sourcelanguage and AudioExpert will show you a preview of how the ANSI-text will look in unicode.
Converting UTF8
If you have UTF8 encoded texts that were saved in a wrong format you can easily reconvert them to a readable format.
Removing comments
If you want to, you can advise AudioExpert to remove unwanted tags from your mp3 files.
Structured hierarchy
You define the naming convention and folder hierarchy. AudioExpert sorts your files using these patterns. You can not only define the naming convention for the musicfiles. The folder structure and folder naming convention can also be defined.
You can also define an individual naming schema
Sub-libraries / multiple collections
You can define sub-collections and synchronize them with external devices. You can switch between different databases.
Using different databases you can maintain completely distinct sets of files.
Sub-libraries are a cool feature if you intend to copy subsets e.g. to a MP3-player or if you want to create a small subset for an external drive for a party.
High performance search feature
Even if your database contains more than 200,000 songs, AudioExpert still finds your files within seconds
When working with a good hardware equipment, you don't need to fear large libraries that are containing more than 200,000 tracks. The detailled search process will return the results fast - even on large databases.
The following example-queries were measured on Intel® Core™2Duo, 3GHz, with a database containing 250,000 tracks.
- Show all songs between 1980-1985 having more than 3 stars (< 3 seconds)
- Show all songs with a genre containing metal or rock that were puiblished after 2009 (< 3 seconds)
- Show all songs containing "train" from 1980 or 1985 (<1 second)
Regular expressions
AudioExpert supports regular expressions (PEARL-Syntax) for detail search or mass-change purpose.
Finding music files with encoding errors
AudioExpert can search for tracks that have significant encoding errors or cannot be played back at all.
Inspection of completeness
Using this function, you can check: Are your albums complete or do they miss titles? If so, which? Also, when you only know the name of the album, AudioExpert will check and complete the missing title informations out of the internet. To use this functionality, you need to have access to MusicBrainz online service. Also, enough time, bandwidth and an appropriate download-contingent (depending on the size of the archive).
MusicBrainz online research
AudioExpert offers searching for tracks live on the MusicBrainz database. This is interesting for research purpose.
Phonetical search
You don't know how exactly to spell an interpret's name? Is it y or i? F or ph? No problem! The phonetical search will find the interpret, album or title, even if you are unsure.
The phonetical research is optimized for german and english language.
Even more features
Export playlists
If your MP3-player does not support playlists, you can simply export any playlist to a folder of your choice. AudioExpert can include a sequence number to your files, so the desired order is compiled to the filename.
Auto-recognition of mistyping or different spelling
For example, AudioExpert recognizes that "Marilyn Manson" and "Marylin Manson" is one and the same artist. The identification unfortunately is not working by 100% and sometimes even makes mistakes, but it is very easy to adjust. Corrected once, the program is informed and won't do the same mistake again.
Using subfolders
Classic music, comedy, charts - you don't have to mix this all to one subfolder! AudioExpert helps you to keep your archive clean by using subfolders. Simply assign your artists or albums to the desired folder via drag & drop - that's all.
Using user-defined tags
You can tag any of your tracks with user-defined tags. The import wizard offers to define a tag within the import-process, so all files will be tagged, even if they were not imported because they do already exist in your database.
AudioExpert supports Metadata. Your Albumcovers, lyrics etc. will be kept, even if you rename or move an album.
Identifying tags
Identification of interpret / album / title for untagged data files via filename
The identification is reliant on the required informations of the file names and file paths. Unfortunately, there is no way of an identification by 100%. A fingerprint searching function over an online-service like MusicBrainz is planned for future releases.
This is also possible anytime using menu "Edit > ID-Tags > Extract tags from filename". This dialog offers a preview, so configuring is very easy.