text:
Infrastructure is your backbone
Strategic infrastructure is the backbone of modern societies, and this means that significant investment in energy, transport, utilities, and ICT will be required around the globe in coming years. These projects, however, are marked by increasing complexity in an ever more volatile world. Our experts support both public and private clients in planning, financing, delivering, and operating infrastructure more efficiently, helping them save billions on these necessary projects.
Successful execution of large infrastructure projects requires breaking new ground in planning, financing, construction, and management. Together with our clients, our highly experienced teams develop tailor-made solutions along the entire infrastructure lifecycle. Our integrated approach covers all disciplines: commercial, technical, regulatory, environmental, and stakeholder-related issues. We offer specialized services for each phase of the project lifecycle based on our expertise with large infrastructure projects around the world.
Elevating project ideas from a rough conceptual outline to an investable proposal is the foundation of every successful infrastructure venture. However, many projects get stuck in the early planning phase and fail to take the decisive step from idea to concrete planning and financing solutions.
We support our clients in growing projects from an idea into investment decisions, covering commercial, political, technical, environmental, social, as well as legal and regulatory dimensions. As a result, we provide a commercially viable business case and a customized commercial structure that aligns stakeholder interests. This enables our clients to swiftly take the project forward to successful implementation.
Most infrastructure projects face political, commercial, regulatory, technical, and environmental risks that fundamentally endanger project implementation and pose significant hurdles to financing.
We support our clients in analyzing and mapping the risks inherent to their infrastructure projects. Based on the results, we craft a tailor-made de-risking architecture, set up an implementation plan, and support negotiations with project partners. We always take an integrated approach that covers all risk dimensions.
Many infrastructure projects around the world end up behind schedule and over budget. This is often due to structural weaknesses in project organization, inappropriate governance and flawed planning.
We support our clients in getting it right from the start. This requires strong sector experience and an in-depth understanding of the project's stakeholder environment. We help our clients set up a fit-for-purpose project organization in order to both strategically govern their project from the start, and to keep it on track throughout implementation.
Large infrastructure projects are highly complex and vulnerable to crisis situations, including large budget overshoots and delays. These kind of developments can cause projects to derail financially and endanger the reputation of project owners.
Our experienced team sets up a crisis Project Management Office (PMO) to stabilize a project in distress. We bring together experts from different fields to swiftly address all bottlenecks. To keep a tight grip on implementation, we set up an integrated project plan and manage day-to-day implementation hands-on. By taking a holistic view and driving for pragmatic solutions, the PMO rapidly puts the project back on track.
Legal and regulatory frameworks are crucial for the commercial success of an infrastructure project. However, these can change during the project's lifecycle, creating risks as well as opportunities for infrastructure investors and operators.
We support our clients in effectively preparing or adapting their infrastructure projects for the challenges and opportunities of regulatory change. We start by assessing the robustness of business cases using scenario planning and sensitivity analysis, then develop flexible strategies for coping with shifts in regulatory conditions. Our team helps clients to actively manage stakeholder coalitions and shape the regulatory environment to seize opportunities arising from regulatory change.
Existing infrastructure operations often do not yield sufficient revenues or free cash for reinvestment. Operations are often inefficient and leave opportunities for value creation untapped.
For integrated infrastructures such as airports, seaports, or industrial sites, we identify new opportunities to optimize the way they operate and do business. We cut through the complexity of integrated operations and create transparency on different sub-businesses and their underlying business models. We help clients understand the potential for value creation in their portfolio and optimize each business activity accordingly. This approach boosts revenues and efficiency, freeing up equity for new investments.


text:
'); document.write(''); //--> |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Universal has put out a monster box ('disc set' doesn't do it justice) of every Alfred Hitchcock film in its collection - the Universal releases of the 1940s when he was on loan-out from David O. Selznick, his post - 1960 color Universal library, and the glossy 50s Paramount Technicolor features that eventually reverted back to Hitchcock. The films of the last group were out of circulation for most of the 1970s, finally to be reissued -- re-premiered, actually -- in 1983. All of these titles have seen the light of DVD before and quite a few DVD fans bought some or all of them. Vertigo and Psycho were released before the main group, before Universal had committed to the concept of 16:9 transfers; with the new versions on this release, both of these titles are now on Region 1 DVD in enhanced widescreen for the first time. According to the advertising claims, all of the other titles are digitally remastered as well. After watching the set, I'm not sure how meaningful that statement is. The word on the street for this box set is excitement tainted with a little bit of consumer exasperation. Many ardent Hitchcock addicts were keen for better reissues of Vertigo and Psycho but have expressed dismay at learning that to get them they have to plunk down a discounted $85 or $90 and double up on titles they already have. That's the entire point of marketing, of course; it's been five years since the last Hitchcock dip, and now Universal is savoring a last bath in the golden DVD pool before HD comes -- when they'll presumably be able to trot out the same treasures in High Definition. We all know this feeling -- Savant frequently gives a stare at his row of brand-new, untouched James Bond VHS tapes from 1997, all wrapped in a special cellophane container. They stand as further proof of the need to stop collecting media for collecting's sake and buy only what we actually want to enjoy now. On the other hand, I know how badly I wanted a copy of Vertigo with a color picture better than anything yet seen on home video. Universal and the Hitchcock estate are holding a mighty fine hand of cards with this set. The deluxe packaging combines a fancy box with Universal's rather prodigious ability to pack mass quantities of discs into a minimum space. With the box opened we find four folding disc holders and one mostly decorative booklet; four of the holders have four discs each, and the last has three - that's fourteen features and one 'bonus disc.' The high-toned box (or, as the Uni ad puts it, "Ultra-premium velvet packaging") will doubtlessly attract as a holiday gift; the only reasonable room for complaint is that one needs to be sober and have both hands free in a well-lit room to deal with the clever overlapping disc-holders - one wrong move and a pricey DVD might go skittering across the floor. Savant has already reviewed five of the titles from the previous marketing onslaught of early 2001, and on those will concentrate mainly on the new transfers. The extras appear to be the same as on the original discs. One particularly commendable aspect is that the English subtitles extend to almost all of the extras, making the full complement of special edition extras accessible by hard of hearing people. These titles happen to be the first five chronologically (almost), so let's get into it. The first five titles LINK to the older reviews: Saboteur 2/18/01 ... looked fine on the old disc but a quick peek at this pressing reveals an image that's sharper and cleaner, with more dramatic contrast. Shadow of a Doubt 2/18/01 ... is Savant's favorite of the early Universal Hitchcocks and looks much better, less contrasty and with a lot of dirt missing (or erased) from the titles. Frequent fine scratches and digs are mostly gone as well, and the film has a more silvery look overall. The extra Spanish audio track appears to have been jettisoned. Although their design is similar, the menu cards on all the discs have been redone. The old opening promo montage by Collage has been removed; it was a good thing repeated too often to be appreciated. Rope 2/18/01 ... This one has some of the identical dirt in the main title, but the image and color are crisper and brighter, with skin tones a little more realistic (but not by much, as this picture always looked as if the actors had been made up out of paint cans). There are still fluctuations in some color values, minor flaws that can be traced back to the 57 tear-old Technicolor masters. Rear Window 2/27/01 ... the first film in the collection to be presented in Widescreen - 1:66, as was the previous transfer. Robert A. Harris and James Katz restored this title and reported great difficulty with the surviving elements - the original Savant review contains a frank appraisal of the printing history of the film courteously provided by Mr. Harris. The previous transfer was good and Savant has a hard time finding any differences - even the grain seems the same. One interior with a handsome close-up of James Stewart seems a bit grainier, but then Grace Kelly's entrance scene appears to be both smoother, and with better color, than the earlier disc. All of these slight differences could have occurred in the authoring and publishing stage. In this case, perhaps 'All digitally remastered' doesn't mean 'since the last release.' The Man Who Knew Too Much 2/18/01. Here's an odd situation. The first good news is that the new transfer reinstates the Paramount VistaVision logo; on the older disc we heard the VistaVision fanfare behind a replacement Universal logo! But although the new transfer is a tiny bit brighter, the encoding is not good. Faces, objects and smaller details that were reasonably sharp in the first disc are blobby and broken up here. This is the first disc where I'd say the old pressing is much better, and what went wrong is a mystery. The hard cut from the titles to the first scene, that Savant thought looked odd on the first disc, is still there. The rest of the titles have more substantial reviews, but my quality notes won't be directly comparative except for Vertigo and Psycho. I saw most of the other original release discs on borrowed DVDs. Yes, Hollywood, purchasers of DVDs sometimes lend them out to friends, depriving studios of rightful income! The Trouble With Harry 1955 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 99 min. Starring John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers Cinematography Robert Burks Art Direction John B. Goodman, Hal Pereira Film Editor Alma Macrorie Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by John Michael Hayes from a book by Jack Trevor Story The Trouble With Harry approximates Hitchcock's morbid sense of humor and is the closest America's come to reproducing the feel of an English Ealing comedy. It's a black farce, but a gentle one with a muted sense of humor. If one happens to be in a receptive mood the rather foolish antics of an unflappable group of Vermonters become charming. Everyone has a bright personality, a fairly sharp wit and behaves in a highly stylized manner. A dead body popping up in their midst becomes a source of annoyance, curiosity and endless macabre discussion, but it's never anything to get rattled about. Hitchcock has fun scuttling murder mystery expectations by having his deadpan characters react to Harry's corpse in maddeningly eccentric ways, according to their personalities. Edmund Gwenn's guilty old coot assumes he's shot him. Instead of being traumatized, little Jerry Mathers (yes, from Leave it to Beaver is simply curious. Shirley MacLaine's widowed housewife knows Harry and is glad he's dead, but doesn't bother her head about the problem. John Forsythe's idealistic artist sketches the corpse and debates what should be done with it with studied objectivity. The story is sort of a Shaggy Dog tale (Hitchcock loved to mislead his audience) about a body that gets buried and dug up again several times in the course of a day and evening. If it has a point, it's that life belongs to the living and the dead shouldn't be allowed to spoil their plans; the entire picture plays out in an idyllic countryside setting resembling a Hallmark Card illustration. It would be a trifle if it were not for the presence of fine actors usually given dull supporting roles - Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick and Mildred Dunnock all shine. The colorless John Forsythe is unusually appealing, and in her first role Shirley MacLaine is subdued and delightful. This must be Hitchcock's idea of heaven ... naughty but nice people talking in quiet, civilized tones and winking at one another through dry wit. The script gets a little naughty too, what with Forsythe and Gwenn joking in the abstract about the 'unopened doors' of Mildred Natwick's widow, and MacLaine telling Forsythe about the dead body: "For all I care you can stuff him... and mount him behind glass." Savant hasn't seen the first DVD of this title and so can only say that this disc looks splendid. The detailed autumn leaves don't clog up and the colors are as pretty as a picture, so to speak. Bernard Herrmann's fine score, which helps the film maintain its darkly mischievous tone, sounds great - and plays mainly in the clear between dialogue scenes. It was his first for the director. The docu on this one has the screenwriter and associate producer recall Hitch's personality. Pat Hitchcock offers "Huh?" nuggets about things like a cookbook her mother brought back for her from Vermont. We also hear again the story of how MacLaine got her big break because she was understudying a sick Carol Haney in The Pajama Game on Broadway when the The Trouble With Harry people were scouting for a fresh new face. They certainly got one - she's adorable. Vertigo 1958 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 128 min. Starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore Cinematography Robert Burks Production Design Henry Bumstead Film Editor George Tomasini Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor from a book by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac We're told that Vertigo laid an egg on its initial release, but it's Savant's pick for Hitchcock's most moving picture. Part of this is personal nostalgia, how and when one saw it, and the fact that it was out of circulation and unavailable for the better part of a decade. Hitchcock has been criticized as a cinema-phile who wanted audience adulation but was mostly concerned with extending his filmic grammar and syntax - to many, a picture like Rope can seem an empty exercise in technique. Vertigo is cinematic magic at the service of an intensely romantic mystery. Hitchcock goes to delirious lengths -- in several instances beyond narrative credibility -- to tell a fundamentally sick tale of obsession that seems to have personal significance for the often-aloof director. It's no accident that the original writers were French roman noir experts specializing in twisted tales - Boileau and Narcejac are responsible for the original story of Eyes without a Face as well. These days it seems love stories have to be given an aberrant angle, but Vertigo came out when the majority of screen relationships were completely conventional. Stewart's Scotty Ferguson falls in love with a fantasy incarnated by Kim Novak's mysterious siren. Poor Barbara Bel Geddes can't compete - Scotty drops her flat after she tries to puncture Scotty's mania. Scotty is sort of a necrophile - he's in love with a woman he believes is possessed by the ghostly spirit of a literal Llorona, an abandoned madwoman who searches for her lost child. Scotty knows how sick he is and doesn't care ... he's on a personal journey to wherever the mania takes him. Vertigo has Bernard Herrman's most intense love music, which completely takes over in the film's many dialogue-free passages. Hitchcock bends plausibility and even allows his vortex of passion to warp the visuals. Novak's Madeleine/Judy appears half-dissolved in a shaft of greenish light, and Scotty discovers that by recreating a simulation of lost woman, he can mentally transport himself to a different time and place. The movie evokes the surreal eroticism of Peter Ibbetson as well as a goodly slice of Val Lewton. To be wholly consumed by desire is risky business -- nobody can be expected to understand our private lusts. Men will choose fantasy over the reality every time, and the most mature man may be mortified when his irrational dreams don't come true. Vertigo is immediately improved through its 16:9 enhanced transfer. I found the colors good and he picture rich. The color and brightness of old IB Technicolor prints are still burned into my retinas and this DVD is a good approximation of how the film looked. The bit rate is more than adequate, even in the hazy graveyard scene that never before has looked acceptable on home video. Ah yes, the audio. Savant doesn't want to join in the web ranting about the remix. The Vertigo restoration has been the target of sniping for some time. As it turns out, they had to because no useable mag film sources of the final original mix could be found. The remix has some slightly head-scratching differences but not as many as I expected. The Foley and Effects tracks had to be built from scratch -- and a gunshot in the opening rooftop chase fantasy has a 1990s Dolby crack! that the original did not. However, in the abovementioned graveyard scene, the shuffling of Scotty's feet are almost identical to what's in the original track. I remember reading outraged critics who claimed that the footsteps weren't originally audible. Universal has put a 2.0 mono of the original mix on this disc, so that purists and those who don't care for the remix will have a choice. They can also do spot comparisons as Savant did. The mono is from an optical track source (said to be from a print) and is no beauty. But it is at least as good as what was on the old laserdisc. Psycho 1960 / B&W / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 109 min. Starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam Cinematography John L. Russell Art Direction Robert Clatworthy, Joseph Hurley Film Editor George Tomasini Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by Joseph Stefano from a book by Robert Bloch One of the most talked about and written-up films of all time, Psycho began as Hitchcock's personal challenge from to himself. Cheap horror pix were cleaning up at the box office, even a series by a director who made personal appearances in his own trailers and used carnival-style audience participation gimmicks. Hitch would show them all up by making a class horror film with as tight a budget as the independents, but with a difference - it would deliver real shocks and scares instead of mild haunted-house thrills. In Psycho Hitch saw an opportunity to upset apple carts all over Hollywood. Robert Bloch's gruesome story was a true-life horror that nobody in their right mind would consider filming. It had lust, madness, implied incest, matricide and mutilation -- all in a small California town where everybody thinks they know everyone else's secrets, and the second-most dangerous killer is an old biddy who wants to make sure her rats won't suffer when she poisons them. The story structure knocked audiences for a loop, killing off the main character just as we were getting used to her and making the rest of the movie a nervous game of hide and seek. We expect to see a knife-wielding killer grandma burst from any corner of the screen at any time, while a second potential victim sets herself up as cleaver bait as she walks into harm's way: "I can handle a sick old woman." Anthony Perkins redefined who could be a mad killer in movies made from this point forward --- anybody at all. The biggest clue to finding a psycho killer turns out to be that he behaves normally - perhaps too normally. While putting his audience through the ringer, Joseph Stefano's script indulges in an unbroken line of morbid humor. Delivered by the disarmingly sincere and personable Norman Bates, the macabre quips have a creepy air of calculation -- the offhand remarks of a demented man who has his 'normal guy' act down pat. When Hitchcock wants to send us up the walls, he give us a montage murder, splintering a stabbing death into dozens of short cuts that fool us into thinking we're seeing content taboo for 1960 - real stabs (no) and real nudity (well, sort of). The sequence ends like a horrible joke, with death staring back at us inert and glassy-eyed. The camera executes some amazing maneuvers here -- again, for 1960 -- that communicate far better than words. We seem to be flushed down the shower drain with Marion Crane's lifeblood. Modern audiences who couldn't see Psycho in a theater just can't know the impact it had when new. Marion's sister searches the death house, seeing odd statuary and a creepy depression in a bed ... and then looks at Norman's room with its pitiful stuffed toys. An unhappy rabbit is the limit of despair. She opens a journal and reacts to what's written inside --- we never see but our imaginations jump to vile possibilities. Hitchcock realized that he'd frequently miscalculated with his exposition by assuming that the mass audience he coveted could follow all of his complicated plots. Frequently having gone over an audience's head with new idea or a shrewd plot twist, by the late fifties he was building "Hitch for Dummies" scenes into all of his pictures. In Vertigo Kim Novak crudely writes a confession and then destroys it unsent, to establish facts that the audience should be able to figure out for itself. It didn't help. Perhaps that why Leo G. Carroll shows up to redundantly recap the whole plot, twice in North by NorthWest. In Psycho Simon Oakland gives a minutes-long explanation of split personality dynamics that sounds like it was borrowed from Dead of Night. The conclusion is saved by a creepy stare-down with madness that can give any viewer a chill. The previous flat letterboxed flat DVD of Psycho was a major disappointment, as it just didn't blow up well on a big monitor and had suspicious framing as well. This reissue is appropriately enhanced, but seems altogether far too grainy. The grain is the digital-grain-on-film-grain kind that's difficult to account for. It just isn't very satisfactory when one remembers the film's careful grayscale and delicate textures - the rainy night, the daylight glare, the dusty rooms with the faded wallpaper - in the theater I was reminded of how grandma's house in Henderson, Nevada smelled. We don't get anything like that here. The Birds 1963 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 119 min. Starring Rod Taylor, 'Tippi' Hedren, Susanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy, Veronica Cartwright Cinematography Robert Burks Production Design Robert Boyle Film Editor George Tomasini Written by Evan Hunter from a short story by Daphne du Maurier Francois Truffaut began interviewing Alfred Hitchcock for his career book not long after the enormous success of Psycho, one of the by-products of which was the critical elevation of Hitchcock to new heights of genius. A big part of the upsurge in artistic European films was the deification of names like Fellini, Antonioni and Bergman, while over in America, Hitchcock was the most vital and active of the classic era directors still working - Hawks, Wyler, Stevens, Ford. Many critics suddenly expected directors to be god-like artists, making difficult-to-understand masterpieces with hidden meanings. Hitchcock's next film would seem to be a response to the deep-dish critical acclaim. The Birds is a weighty study of modern anxieties in the guise of an apocalyptic science fiction film. The unexplainable happens - birds rise up to attack mankind - and fragile humans have to do some fast emotional adjusting. The critic to read about Hitchcock as a deep dish genius is Robin Wood, in his book Hitchcock's Films. He nailed the poetic meanings of all the big titles way back in the 1960s, and I still re-read him for pleasure. For The Birds Wood came up with a theory about Complacency coupled with the simple but ultimately staggering idea that the bird attacks represent the tensions between the characters. Hitchcock and Hunter suggest that Life is an anxious struggle for peace and security. When the rug gets pulled out from under our daily lives, to shatter our relationships and deprive us of the beliefs and safeguards that we feel protect us, anxiety results. Anxiety in 1963 always gets traced right back to the Atom Bomb, but The Birds is more universal in its view. Chaos never erupts from an expected direction, as several hundred thousand Louisianans have learned. Beautiful as it may be, the world is capable of dealing out merciless destruction and ruin that have nothing to do with moral merit. The Birds is the ultimate Shaggy Dog story, a gripper that doesn't resolve itself. It's a business-as-usual tale that toys with audience expectations. We follow self-possessed, slightly snooty model Melanie Daniels around for the better part of half an hour wondering if Richard Deacon will lunge at her in a hallway, or if the two lovebirds in her sports car will suddenly transform into monsters. Surely Hitchcock sat through L'avventura amused to find himself wondering when something was going to happen, and realized that his carry-over reputation from The Birds (and a particularly provocative set of TV ads) would keep his audience in suspense almost indefinitely, without anything actually happening. Hitchcock eventually splatters the screen with a barrage of special effects of mass bird attacks that are still kinetic wonders -- although I'm sure CGI people will immediately notice that rooms full of sparrows don't throw enough shadows, etc. He surprises us by following one 'highlight' bird attack almost immediately with another even more ferocious one. There are masterful suspense scenes where we experience the dread of investigating strange rooms -- those broken teacups, all in a row -- capped by real gore. Of all the later Hitchcock movies, The Birds is one that's really compromised on a small screen. There are many extremely wide shots where the scope of empty spaces is important. The masterful soundtrack needs full concentration, as there is no conventional movie score to tell us how to react. Certain kinds of viewers will be pulled deeper into this thriller than any of the others. Perhaps viewers are ready again to see the film's performances for what they are, rich readings of normal people under stress, revealing themselves and reaching out to each other. Hitchcock encourages many readings. The attacks do begin with Melanie's brash intrusion, bringing La Dolce Vita with her from that Roman fountain she jumped into (with Antonioni?). Maybe she is a witch. The stunning 'God's Eye View' at the beginning of the town attack implies that the birds are divine plague sent against us. Just like horror characters arguing about vampires, the citizens communicate poorly and are too immersed in their private affairs, to rally effectively against the threat. The birds kill innocent Annie and try to keep Melanie from joining the family as well. The admittance of the lovebirds into the getaway car can be explained, but remains one of the film's thematic mysteries. The Birds was the first Hitchcock film Savant saw in a theater - by himself at age eleven. I was traumatized and fascinated at the same time. When the film ended so abruptly, I remember (perhaps falsely) an image of the car going much further down the road, and only a small Universal logo appearing up in the corner of the shot - there was no 'The End' card. It's the first movie at which I just sat staring at closed curtains for a couple of minutes, trying to remember who I was beyond a completely unnerved kid. When I stepped out into downtown San Bernardino, the whole world seemed to have changed. Just the kind of result that gave Hitchcock nights of satisfied sleep, no doubt. The Birds looks fine on this pressing (I no longer have the older disc, I think it was borrowed). Color and widescreen framing are superb, and we follow Hitchcock's careful sense of territory in the town of Bodega Bay. The specially processed electronic audio rack is particularly interesting to study -- little expressionistic hints of sound sneak in here and there, and it's quite unnerving. I think Jonathan Demme must have studied this when he put a low, barely audible hum under some scenes in The Silence of the Lambs. Laurent Bouzereau's docu extras are particularly good for this title, mainly because there are so many clips to show, of incomplete effects and Tippi Hedren's screen test. She seems to have been chosen for the express reason that she projected only a surface and no deeper personality; Hitchcock could use montage to create her performance. The film's worst idea: The three 'still' shots of Melanie reacting to the gasoline explosion. We aren't quite worked up enough by that part of the scene to feel as 'frozen' as she is... she's a blatant attempt to make Eisenstein's rising Lion statues from Battleship Potemkin work in a modern narrative context. Marnie 1964 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 130 min. Starring Sean Connery, 'Tippi' Hedren, Diane Baker, Louise Latham, Mariette Hartley Cinematography Robert Burks Production Design Robert Boyle Film Editors George Tomasini Original Music Bernard Herrmann Written by Jay Presson Allen from a book by Winston Graham Marnie is the Hitchcock movie where everything begins to slip. He still has the collaboration of his cameraman Robert Burks, editor George Tomasini and composer Bernard Herrmann but the story is a trite throwback to 1940s faux-psychology. Spellbound was saved by its star chemistry, but Sean Connery and 'Tippi' Hedren never really click as screen lovers. Marnie's childhood trauma is just too pat and the whole business of being sent into shock by the color red equally foolish. This kind of movie requires acting skill and Hedren isn't up to the task. Robin Wood was able to find plenty of riches in the visual details. The 'alligator purse' that rather crudely represents Marnie's frigidity and hostility to men comes off as misogynistic in the extreme. But there's a certain sympathetic poetry on the otherwise abortive honeymoon cruise, when a lot of bad theatrics finish with a telling pan to a round ship's porthole window. How many women find themselves the sexual property of men they have no feeling for? The excellent supporting cast, with sly Diane Baker commenting from the sides, comes to very little. We don't believe that Sean Connery -- looking his 007 best -- is an American businessman any more than we buy the much-discussed terrible paintings that place Marnie's mom's house within 50 paces of a docked freighter. Savant realized that auteurists were trying too hard when I read defenses of Marnie -- Robin Wood's included -- that claimed Hitch wanted the matte paintings to look artificial - they represent his knowledge that the instant-cure ending is a false one. Oh, honestly ... The artificiality extends to the reels of rear screen work, especially the jarringly unconvincing horseback scenes. Faced with tight budgets, a few other classic-era directors got tired of using all their energy to maintain a level of visual realism and opted to move their films toward minimalist basics. Hitchcock just skimps on the detail work. Partial redemption comes with Bernard Herrmann's score. It's pitched at high drama and does wonders at giving the picture a semblance of shape and purpose. Marnie is easily re-watched just to follow the music, even when the movie seems a waste of time. Marnie also looks fine on this new pressing. I believe I remember seeing more dirt in the main titles on the previous disc. Note that the new transfer shows how the titles were optically manufactured - as each new page turns, the previous title remains as a faint shadow on the white paper, and then pops off. The transfer process must see something in the density of the optical that isn't noticeable in an ordinary print. The audio is 2.0 mono. The accompanying docu doesn't touch on the Spoto theory that Hitchcock rushed Marnie to a sloppy finish because he became disinterested when 'Tippi' didn't respond to his romantic overtures. Those wild aspersions aside, after so many years of carefully honed films we're willing to believe something serious must have happened to break Hitchcock's concentration. Torn Curtain 1966 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 128 min. Starring Julie Andrews, Paul Newman, Lila Kedrova Cinematography John F. Warren Production Design Hein Heckroth Film Editor Bud Hoffman Original Music John Addison Written by Brian Moore Marnie shows Hitchcock slipping, but Torn Curtain is a complete disaster. Only a top director like Hitch could entice actors like Connery, Newman and Andrews and for each working with the Master of Suspense was a career tripping stone. Paul Newman and Julie Andrews have almost no chemistry in an almost ridiculously silly story about a false defector stealing some needed rocket science from East Germany. The entire third act of the movie is a boring bus ride that only serves to make us realize that our stars never left Universal city. Uninspired location work with doubles dampens hopes for excitement. Much of the film takes place in front of process screens or in sloppy matte paintings. Poor Ms. Andrews is made to look like a simp, finally ecstatic that her boyfriend scientist isn't a traitorous defector, but an incompetent spy. The movie is immature compared to Fritz Lang's similar Cloak and Dagger and much less entertaining than Paul Newman's similar The Prize, an earlier Hitchcock rip-off by Mark Robson that's no prizewinner either. East Germans are either sinister spies or foolish 'freedom fighters,' with the ridiculous false bus trip a budgetarily expeditious way to transport the characters across Germany on a short shooting schedule. It's clear that Hitchcock was engaged only by his murder scene, which is particularly interesting in that the security man Gromek is almost the film's only character to be given a personality -- even Newman has to coast through with his one-man, one-secret role. After that, one must watch carefully to find anything even resembling a Hitchcock 'touch' -- like Tamara Toumanova spinning her head and stopping to stare at Newman with every turn. She's much better as the ballet dancer in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; all she's given to do here is be yet another vicious East German shouting for the polizei to arrest our hero. Torn Curtain is a particularly dull Cold War thriller with exposition that constantly bogs down the forward momentum, explaining how people get from one place to another. When a nosy cab driver informs on Newman, we see every step of the process, a very un-Hitchcock exercise in literalism. Structurally, the picture is a bust -- Lila Kedrova's cloying would-be émigré seems to be inserted into the final scenes in a desperate attempt to liven things up. All the more frustrating that Torn Curtain should look so good on this new pressing. The rear projections and matte paintings don't stick out half as badly as they used to and the widescreen framing makes some scenes actually look attractive. John Addison's score adds little; Savant remembers purchasing a collector's record of Herrmann's unused tracks back in the late 1970s. One of the extras syncs some of them up with appropriate parts of the movie and they sound fine. I imagine the no-compliments, no-thanks Hitchcock and the volcanic Herrmann had a real blowup over this. They may never have spoken again. A short narrated non-docu has little to say about the film but that it was Hitch's first without his steady cameraman and editor for over a decade, and that it made money anyway. Its critical reputation is near zilch except with auteurist diehards. Topaz 1969 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / min. Starring Frederick Stafford, John Forsythe, Dany Robin, Karin Dor, John Vernon, Michel Piccoli, Phillipe Noiret, Claude Jade Cinematography Jack Hildyard Production Design Henry Bumstead Film Editor William H. Ziegler Original Music Maurice Jarre Written by Samuel Taylorfrom a book by Leon Uris Topaz sees Hitchcock going with a no-star cast (even John Forsythe puts his name at the bottom of the cast list) for a numbingly literal espionage story. An excellent cast of Frenchmen (Phillipe Noiret, Michel Piccoli) are stuck emoting in English. Someone is always explaining what happened in the scene that came before, what they are doing now and what they're going to do in the next scene - this has to be Hitchcock's most talky picture yet that didn't start as a stage play. Once again Hitchcock travels the world, but this time he actually shoots in Paris. The language barrier prohibits anything like believability, and lead character Frederick Stafford is uncommonly stiff as a French spymaster doing favors for the Americans. In a situation duplicated from Notorious he plays Cary Grant to German actress Karin Dor's (You Only Live Twice) Ingrid Bergman as she beds John Vernon's Claude Rains. Two more in-jokes to earlier Hitch pix are a man who escapes a hotel by dropping onto an awning (Foreign Correspondent) and a pair of telltale seagulls (guess). Savant spotted several more, but nobody jumped up and asked "What is Topaz?" of a music hall performer who felt compelled to give an answer. Topaz is even more of a Cold War picture than was Torn Curtain. John Vernon -- that's Dean Wormer from Animal House -- is an aide to Fidel Castro, and in a recreation of Fidel's stay in a Harlem hotel while addressing the United Nations, Cubans are portrayed as complete pigs and revolutionaries as cheap thugs. All we learn about Cuba is that it's a police state torturing and murdering (take your pick) innocent patriots or traitorous spies. Vernon's secretary is open to a cheap bribe from Roscoe Lee Browne, a Harlem florist/agent who gives the movies' only refreshing performance. There are about twenty exciting seconds in Topaz; a scuffle here and there and one breathtaking shot in which a woman's dress spreads out like a bloodstain as she is lowered, dead, to the floor. The rest is dramatically inert, with John Stafford (a star of many French James Bond wanna-be thrillers (OSS 117; Agent 505) that haven't been seen in decades) mixing espionage with his personal love life. The action is diffused over too many characters, and the movie doesn't as much move to its conclusion as simply end without an ending. Topaz looks fine on Universal's new DVD. The opening Moscow May Day parade is a stock shot and was always that grainy. Interestingly, some angles on John Vernon and Karin Dor attending a Castro rally in Havana are very well matched with news film for grain and color. Maurice Jarre's fine score is used sparingly. The best part of the disc is seeing the movie's other two alternate endings. The one used on the disc is said to be one of the alternates; the original movie ended with choice #3, an even more unsatisfactory finish that looks as if it were cobbled together from an outtake, with a freeze-frame and gunshot added. Instead of a docu on Topaz we're given Leonard Maltin's passionate defense of Hitchcock as if asking for leniency from a court -- He gave us twenty years of amazing American work, your honor, so he has to be forgiven some of his later films! It's a good argument, but it doesn't make Topaz any more satisfying. Favorite unnecessary conversation: Michel Piccoli shows another man a photo of himself and Frederick Stafford and his wife Dany Robin, when all three of them were resistance fighters. That Stafford is married to Robin is already firmly established. Piccoli says that after the war, everyone wondered which man Robin would marry. Then he adds, completely unnecessarily, "She married him." Topaz has lines like that every sixty seconds. Frenzy 1972 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 116 min. Starring John Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster, Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Vivien Merchant Cinematography Gilbert Taylor Production Design Syd Cain Film Editor John Jympson Original Music Ron Goodwin Written by Anthony Shaffer from a book by Arthur La Bern Frenzy was quite a bounce-back movie for Hitchcock, working again in England and seemingly enjoying doing a film about a murder spree with plenty of garrotings and gargling tongues. The narrative hangs together better than anything since The Birds and Hitchcock is clearly heavily engaged in his intricate camerawork and tight plotting. Hitch may have been re-invigorated by the sudden explosion of nudity and violence on the screen, as if someone took him by the arm, showed him The Bird with The Crystal Plumage and The Devils and said he could now do whatever he wanted. Just when his peers were calling it quits or turning out Old Man's Movies, Hitchcock gathered a lot of attention for the last time. The film is as cold-blooded as Hitchcock ever got, with ugly sex rape murders in unpleasant close-up and a brutal attitude toward its cast of would-be victims. Anna Massey survived Michael Powell's Peeping Tom only to be treated like a sack of potatoes and dumped nude onto a highway from the back of a truck. Charming. Our hero Jon Finch had just finished playing a ruthlessly savage MacBeth for Roman Polanski and isn't an attractive person here either. The fact that he's innocent of the infamous necktie murders seems beside the point -- we don't identify with him so the usual "man on the run" thrills just aren't there. Frenzy does have plenty of tension, and it's much more intense than anything Hitch did in his declining years, from Marnie to Family Plot. Anthony Shaffer's screenplay is tight. The only really flat aspect is the film's attempts at humor, especially the food jokes that just sit there. Thanks to the ton of publicity generated for the big 1972 release, Laurent Bouzereau's docu (he appears briefly on the banks of the Thames) has plenty of on-set film to show, with Hitchcock looking hale, hearty and eager to be a bad little boy with his mischievous movie murders. Family Plot 1976 / Color / 1:85 enhanced 16:9 / 120 min. Starring Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane Cinematography Leonard J. South Production Design Henry Bumstead Film Editor J. Terry Williams Original Music John Williams Written by Ernest Lehman from a book by Victor Canning Family Plot is Hitchcock's final film and a decidedly mixed bag. Depending on a heavily plotted and rather lightweight script by Ernest Lehman (of North by NorthWest), it has plenty of charming moments provided mostly by Barbara Harris' personable psychic. She and her cabbie boyfriend Bruce Dern have cooked up a scheme to make $10,000 by finding a lost heir, not realizing that their target (William Devane) is the mastermind behind a number of slick kidnap-ransom crimes. It's engaging as far as it goes; the actors are allowed to stretch a bit within the narrow parameters of the story and the movie finishes in the plus column ... barely. The problems with the film are totally unnecessary. Devane and Karen Black's 'brilliant, perfect' crimes are like something out of an episode of Batman, with hidden identities and getaway schemes that couldn't possibly work. And Hitchcock is again far too literal in his storytelling. Devane and Black kidnap a Bishop right out of his own church, a fairly nice nod to the old British period, when Hitch would joke about groups of people being so stupid they'd do things like applaud a man being taken away in handcuffs. But the kidnappers ruin everything by discussing why the Bishop's congregation didn't react to the crime unfolding right in front of their eyes. It's as if Hitchcock were stricken by 'explain-it-itis', the fear that audiences will no longer connect with things they see happening right in front of their faces. The DVD has a very good Laurent Bouzereau docu in which we're told that Hitchcock was so physically limited, the one action scene involving a runaway car was done by a second unit. The blue screen views of Harris and Dern flipping out in the brakeless car are intercut with a speeding POV shot, which doesn't work particularly well. It might have, if poor Ms. Harris wasn't directed to act like a nut case in a Three Stooges comedy. Since Family Plot doesn't build to any spectacular climaxes, what's left are some amusing plot hi-jinks as amateur sleuths Harris and Dern stumble into the path of the slick professionals. The film is engaging and passable but since we always expect something exceptional from Hitchcock, we're bound to be disappointed. Savant saw the film at its 1976 Filmex premiere in Century City, with an audience that was distinctly underwhelmed. That's the curse of making half a century's worth of riveting movies ... one is expected to keep it up forever. The transfer looks fine, and Savant couldn't see any big changes between this and the earlier disc. John Williams' slightly eerie music for the 'spiritual' opening and closing gets the film off to a fine start, and helps leave us with a smile. The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection helps round out the empty slots in his filmography, with the enhanced, double-tracked Vertigo being the obvious standout. The fancy box is aimed at big Christmas gift sales, while more focused film fans probably would have preferred to see more careful encoding of some of the films -- or perhaps a needed restoration for Psycho? The packaging is clever but imperfect; I've already dog-eared the corner of one of the folding disc holders trying to get it back into the fancy box. Fudge. The super-duper Bonus Disc starts off with a fifteen-minute excerpt from the AFI Achievement awards dinner for Hitch, that sticks with the testimony of a big stars Ingrid Bergman and James Stewart). Our director stares at host George Stevens Jr. like an uncomfortable toad ... besides drumming up the usual hoorahs for the AFI, the piece plays like a party for a man who just wants to get it over with. But then Hitchcock gives forth with a charming speech that makes it all seem worthwhile. Note: Correspondent "B" has written to tell me that Hitchcock's speech was pre-recorded before the banquet ... ! (10.08.05) Masters of Cinema is a pleasant interview from a little earlier in Hitch's career. He seems particularly animated, perhaps because one of his interviewers is Pia Lindstrom, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and a cool blonde who chuckles at his every sly comment. The longform docus that belong with The Birds and Psycho are also here, perhaps to open up the feature discs for a better encoding. A monster box set for fourteen Alfred Hitchcock DVDs? It's the trend, of course, and retail outlets surely approve of the idea of pricey gift sets difficult to convert into rental items. Considering how economical some mass sets are, it's still an undeniably good thing for consumers on a cost-per-title basis. When I run back to the library for a movie to see, I'm usually more inclined to want to reach for a single disc that I can yank off the shelf and pop in the player, without turning on the house lights to face a Chinese Box puzzle to get to the goods -- Now, which disc folder is that in? I'm also not the kind of DVD collector who needs to smoke a pipe while proudly pulling down a fancy box container for my assembled guests to admire. "Here's a choice item, very rare. Only 740,000 were ever made!" For DVD purchasers with only a few of its titles 2005's Masterpiece Collection is a great buy but the rest of us Hitchcock fanatics will have to appraise our DVD buying habit to decide whether this is the right choice. Universal probably isn't going to be bringing these out as single standard NTSC discs soon -- as I said above, the studios are already planning their HD marketing strategies. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Review Staff | About DVD Talk | Newsletter Subscribe | Join DVD Talk Forum |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

subset: commoncrawl


text:
ISBN Number : 978-93-5693-130-5
Student Price : Rs.998
Student Dollar Price : 40$
Library Price : Rs.2799
Library Dollar Price : 112$
Book Edition : Sixth
No. Of Pages : 888
Book Weight :1102
The book "GATE - Geology and Geophysics" is designed by us to provide a tonic for the preparation of GATE exam and that will surely help the GATE aspirants to face the exam with great confidence. We have made full efforts to consider all those points of Geology and Geophysics which we feel are important for the candidates appearing in the prestigious GATE exam.
GATE examination tests the in-depth knowledge of the students and demands comprehensive understanding of the various concepts. As previous years' questions and examination pattern are the only authentic source of information for the systematic preparation of GATE, the need for such a book has long been felt by students appearing in GATE examination. This greatly motivated us to write this book.
The content of the book to be organized in three sections namely Section-I, Section-II and Section-III. The first section contains a brief theory of all the topics in Geology included in the GATE syllabus. The second section deals with a concise theory of Geophysics and spans almost all the topics marked in GATE syllabus. The theory in each of these sections has been compiled taking help of the standard books in Geology and Geophysics. Care has also been taken to include all the important formulae and diagrams that are important from the competitive point of view. The third section contains last twenty years' solved papers of GATE - Geology and Geophysics. Solved papers help to familiarize the aspirants with the current trends of questions asked in GATE- Geology and Geophysics paper. The solutions to the problems have been presented in a comprehensive way. The questions have been solved with explanations and related concept and theories. As the Quantitative Aptitude section plays an important role in deciding the position of the candidates in the merit list of such examinations, Section-III also comprises of previous years' solved aptitude questions.
The book is designed to clear the GATE examination which in turn provide a pathway to get job in different Maharatna companies like ONGC, Oil India Limited, MECL, IOCL, BARC etc. and to a great extent for doing doing M.Tech & Ph.d in the respective subjects. The current scenario has made this book so popular among the guys who has been preparing for the examination and want to score the best. So, publishing the book will definitely shape one's future and also provides your publication house a great sense of thanks from all over the India.
-- Brief theory of Geology and Geophysics at the outset. -- Explanations with Related Concepts and Theories. -- Solved General Aptitude Problems. -- Option based Explanations for Common Portion.
Contents -
SECTION - I : GEOLOGY 1. Physical Geology 2. Mineralogy 3. Igneous Petrology 4. Metamorphic Petrology 5. Sedimentology 6. Geochemistry 7. Ore Geology 8. Petroleum Geology 9. Hydrogeology References SECTION - II : GEOPHYSICS 1. Seismology & Internal Structure of The Earth 2. Theory of Fields 3. Gravity Methods 4. Magnetic Methods 5. Electrical Methods 6. Electromagnetic Methods 7. Seismic Methods 8. Geophysical Well Logging 9. Radioactivity Methods 10. Geophysical Signal Processing 11. Geophysical Inversion References SECTION - III : SOLVED PAPERS
1. GATE 2001 Geology and Geophysics 2. GATE 2002 Geology and Geophysics 3. GATE 2003 Geology and Geophysics 4. GATE 2004 Geology and Geophysics 5. GATE 2005 Geology and Geophysics 6. GATE 2006 Geology and Geophysics 7. GATE 2007 Geology and Geophysics 8. GATE 2008 Geology and Geophysics 9. GATE 2009 Geology and Geophysics 10. GATE 2010 Geology and Geophysics 11. GATE 2011 Geology and Geophysics 12. GATE 2012 Geology and Geophysics 13. GATE 2013 Geology and Geophysics 14. GATE 2014 Geology and Geophysics 15. GATE 2015 Geology and Geophysics 16. GATE 2016 Geology and Geophysics 17. GATE 2017 Geology and Geophysics 18. GATE 2018 Geology and Geophysics 19. GATE 2019 Geology and Geophysics 20. GATE 2020 Geology and Geophysics 21. GATE 2021 Geology and Geophysics
Amaresh Singh is currently working as Scientific Officer in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre - Atomic Mineral Directorate for Exploration and Research, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. He has obtained his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Patna Science College, Patna University and did his post-graduation in Applied Geophysics from the Pioneer Earth Science Institute – Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. He has excellent academic record and in-depth knowledge in the subject that has inspired him to publish this book.
Jitendra Mishra is currently working as Geologist in Coal India Limited. He has obtained his Bachelor's degree in Geology and Physics from Lucknow University, Lucknow. He did his post-graduation in Applied Geology from the Pioneer Earth science Institute – Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. He has excellent academic career throughout his life and his passion for teaching has made him publish the book.
Moreshwar N. Kudkilwar Mr. Nilesh S. Ugemuge
Dr. P.K.S. Menon
M.John Kennedy
Vidyadhar Kande Patil
G.K. Ranganath
Mrs. Sushma K. Saraf
Prof. Kunal Gupta
Dr. P. Periasamy


text:
Hey! Panthers Looking for Free Agents Too
Yes, Thursday is the start of the NHL's free agency period as well.
The Panthers aren't expected to make an offer to LeBron James. Or Ilya Kovalchuk, either. Florida will likely add a few pieces to its roster – a center, a couple of forwards, a defenseman – in the coming weeks.
Just don't expect any superstar additions to the team from Sunrise.
"I don't know how aggressive we're going to be, but we're going to try to get better and find players who make sense for us at this time,'' said general manager Dale Tallon, whose team has 17 NHL regulars under contract for next season.
"I don't think we're going after the top guys, but good guys that can help us and not affect our future.''
The Panthers were about $7 million under the salary cap last season and are currently about $12 million under this year's cap of $59.4 million. Florida still needs to sign a couple of its restricted free agents, but are said to have a budget under what was spent last season.
So, even thought the Panthers are flush with cash under the cap, that doesn't mean they are going to spend it.
"We're going to look at everything and everyone,'' Tallon said. "It's important that we get better. A lot of guys are signed to long term deals so it's harder to find that blue chip guy at the right price.''
Last year, with the team's ownership in flux, the Panthers were very quiet in the free agency period. Florida signed defensemen Ville Koistinen and goalie Scott Clemmensen on the opening day of trading, later adding Jordan Leopold, Dominic Moore and Dennis Seidenberg.
Only Clemmensen remains; Leopold, Moore and Seidenberg were traded away last season with the final year of Koistinen's contract bought out after he cleared waivers.
Koistinen will count about $267,000 against the cap this upcoming season. "He didn't work out,'' Tallon says. "That happens. We'll move forward and move on.''
-- The Panthers will hold their rookie camp at their training facility in Coral Springs in the week prior to training camp. The Panthers are scheduled to open camp on Sept. 10.


text:
Happy Holly –
For the last few summers I've been a casual WJTL bumper sticker spotter. I've always found it fun to hunt for stickers as I go about my daily life as a stay at home mom. I've had a WJTL sticker on every car I've owned since my first Oldsmobile until my current minivan. I especially like to keep my eyes open for stickers when I'm outside of the WJTL listening area, hoping to find a sticker on a car, and bring a bit of joy in someone's day. I smile and imagine their surprise when they find the Congratulations notice on their vehicle later that day. My kids also enjoy the hunt. For several years now, I've been looking for a WJTL sticker to spot while my family is on vacation. So far, on road trips up and down the east coast, I haven't found any. This year looked like it would be the same way. It was the last day of my family's vacation to a beach in Delaware. And there it was. A car with a WJTL sticker in the beach parking lot surrounded by the family loaded with beach gear! As I handed the slightly confused father the congratulations notice, the rest of his family quickly caught on and the mom did a little victory dance and shouted out "Whoo Hoo"! I think it brought as much delight to me to surprise them, as it did to the unsuspecting family. Thanks to everyone who has proudly sported a WJTL sticker on their car, truck, bike, toy car, minivan or other mode of transportation over the years! The summer is winding down, but you still have a chance to win a prize. Get your WJTL static or bumper sticker today!


text:
There are a number of options to the AlphaZ ScheduledC code generator, for example, we can choose to allocate a multi-dimensional array as a one dimensional array or not. To configure options to be used by the code generator, an instance of an CodeGenOptions object must be created first using the following commands.
options = createCGOptionForScheduledC();
Another command is used to set up the array flatten option
# Multi-dimensional arrays are allocated as a one-dimensional array when flatten option is not zero setCGOptionFlattenArrays(CodeGenOptions option, int flatten)
There are options specific for tiled code, so if we want to generate tiled code using ScheduledC, we must create an instance of the TiledCodeGenOptions. TiledCodeGenOptions extends CodeGenOptions, and thus it can be used in place of CodeGenOptions as well. The command is the following
toptions = createTiledCGOptionForScheduledC();
The tiled code generator provides an optimization that it can select one group of statements and isolate it. The command used to set this optimization up is
# When optimize is not zero, the tiled code generator selects one group of statements to isolate. setTiledCGOptionOptimize(TiledCodeGenOptions option, int optimize)


text:
This is a list of books that people have found useful in running a farm. Typically How-To or books explaining tools and techniques.
A bulletproof, versatile, inexpensive bike trailer. For $20.
"Folding Farm" is a bike towable and deployable produce delivery trailer. It was developed by the Sustainable Student Farm (SSF) and the Small Studio at the University of Illinois Urbana-Illinois. It has a tounge weight capacity of 500 lbs, which means a total towable payload of 300 lbs. It is used by the SSF to haul produce to a farm stand on the quad, an approximately 6 mile round trip. It folds down in transport, and then is deployable to look like the picture provided.
An organizational tool for connecting folks working remotely from a number of locations. Regular google hangouts. Ask to be invited to join us!


text:
Book review: Clever Commuter by Gareth Moore
Well now you can limber up your thinking muscles, give your brain a much-needed workout and use the time more productively with a dynamic programme of brain-training exercises.
Dr Gareth Moore, author of a wide range of brain-training and puzzle books for both children and adults, has put together this superb collection of puzzles and problems to help you to think in a smarter, faster way… and have fun at the same time.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWith Clever Commuter as your trusty travelling companion, you can claim back all that lost journey time and use it to improve your mental agility through a series of short problems specifically designed to promote cognitive capacity, alertness and stave off brain ageing.
Dr Moore tells us that we are more than just the sum of our experiences… our brains learn patterns and expand on the information they are given. The brain loves new experiences and it loves to learn, and experience in one area can also help in other seemingly unrelated areas.
So to upgrade your brain, you need to present it with as wide a range of challenges and new experiences as possible. Each of the problems found in this book tests a key element of your intelligence, from visual memory and comprehension, to pattern recognition and number crunching.
Puzzlers are also advised to resist giving up when they get stuck. The key is to keep on guessing because there's a good chance you will make progress and learn something, even if it's not always part of the solution.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAnd when you have finished the challenges and puzzles in Clever Commuter, there are still lots of things you can do to carry on training your brain including visiting new places, learning a new language or having a go at any unfamiliar activity.
So whether you want to get your brain in good shape for the day ahead or to simply sit back with some enjoyable puzzles, this is the ideal mental workout to test your wits and impress the boss.
You can't change your commute time but you can change the way your brain works …
(Michael O'Mara, paperback, £7.99)


text:
Information for Contributors
Every scientist knows the power of engaging students in working with real data. Working with data derived from observations in the field, experiments, analyses, remote sensing or modeling lies at the core of being a geoscientist and is one of the most exciting things we do. The ability to learn effectively from our own data and that of others is the mark of an accomplished scientist and is a common goal for our students.
This session is designed to allow the entire GSA community to come together to share and discuss how we use data to help students learn concepts, think scientifically, and develop their skills in making interpretations and communicating conclusions. We invite contributions from throughout the geosciences involving all kinds of data in the full spectrum of approaches to helping students of all ages learn geoscience.
The contributions to this session will be preserved in an on-line searchable collection designed to foster continued sharing and interaction. To make the session and the resulting collection of highest use as we think about teaching and work to adapt and adopt ideas from colleagues, we ask that each contributor
- Submit an abstract for Session 32 that introduces or summarizes the example they wish to present (Deadline July 15) Description of Session 32, View Abstracts
- Complete the submission form (offline - no longer valid) which includes uploading a pdf file of their poster (Deadline Oct 31)
- Display your poster at the Sunday, November 2, 1:00 session at GSA Guidelines for Poster Preparation
The form must be completed in a single session (leaving the session erases the data) at the same time your poster is uploaded. You may find it simplest to review the questions on the form, compose brief answers to them offline and then actually fill out the form in one go once your poster is complete.
As guidelines to help make these presentations both comprehensive and useful, we ask that all abstracts and posters address learning goals; instructional context; required data, tools and equipment; and evaluation strategies in addition to providing a description of the activity and its outcomes. You may wish to use the same text in the poster that you develop for the form below.
The session will take place on Sunday afternoon, November 1 in the poster hall. There are opportunities for several hundred posters. The one paper rule is waived for this session.


text:
Minister of Education Presents $3 Million Donation on Behalf of the Kingdom.
(BOSTON, MA) - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Minister of Education and President of the Saudi Arabian Boy Scouts Association, H H Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, yesterday delivered a $3 million donation to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation. The donation will support the Gifts for Peace program, an initiative created under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in November 2001 at a Scouting conference in Riyadh.
"King Abdullah is committed to peace, and his initiatives -- including the Arab Peace Plan, the Interfaith Dialogue Initiative and Gifts for Peace -- aim to bring people together in peace," stated Prince Faisal.
The Gifts for Peace program is the World Scout Foundation's key centennial program for all Scouts to tackle local issues and make a difference in their communities. It includes Scouts in more than 100 countries. This latest donation from Saudi Arabia brought the Kingdom's total contribution to Gifts for Peace to approximately $7 million since the program's inception in 2001.
"Gifts for Peace, which his Majesty King Abdullah so kindly initiated a few years ago, has done a fantastic job of reaching out to promote tolerance around the world," stated King Gustaf.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) recently signed a historic agreement with the Saudi Arabian Boy Scouts Association to participate in a youth and leader exchange program to further promote understanding of different cultures.
Following a breakfast with Scouts from the Boston Minuteman Council of the Boy Scouts of America today, Prince Faisal joined King Gustaf during the Volvo Ocean Race while touring the Boston Fan Pier.


text:
John Piper Laments Normalization of Homosexuality as 'the New Calamity'
Amid ongoing "gay pride" celebrations and the continual push for gay marriage across the states, influential evangelical John Piper wants to put it all in perspective for the church.
"My sense is that we do not realize what a calamity is happening around us," Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote in a commentary on Thursday. "Christians, more clearly than others, can see the tidal wave of pain that is on the way. Sin carries in it its own misery."
It's been nearly a week now since marriage for gay and lesbian couples was legalized in New York and since hundreds of thousands of Americans celebrated homosexuality with gay pride parades, not only in New York but also in Piper's home state of Minnesota.
Homosexuality and its celebration are nothing new, the Reformed pastor clarified.
"[Homosexuality] has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man," he wrote. "What's new is not even the celebration of homosexual sin. Homosexual behavior has been exploited, and reveled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia."
"What's new," he underscored, "is normalization and institutionalization. This is the new calamity."
America, and the rest of the world for that matter, is moving toward the institutionalization of homosexuality, the 65-year-old pastor lamented.
The Bible makes it clear, he indicated, that homosexual behavior is sin.
And, "alongside its clearest explanation of the sin of homosexual intercourse (Romans 1:24-27) stands the indictment of the celebration of it," the respected pastor stated.
"Though people know intuitively that homosexual acts (along with gossip, slander, insolence, haughtiness, boasting, faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness) are sin, 'they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them' (Romans 1:29-32).'I tell you even with tears, that many glory in their shame' (Philippians 3:18–19)."
This is where much of America stands today. A Gallup poll last month revealed that for the first time since it began tracking the issue of same-sex marriage in 1996, a majority of Americans (53 percent) believe marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by law as valid.
Moreover, 56 percent of Americans say gay or lesbian relations is morally acceptable, another Gallup poll found in May. Only 39 percent perceive homosexual relations as morally wrong.
The Christian Post tried to reach Piper for comment in the days following the gay marriage passage in New York but was told he does not comment on news stories. Thursday's commentary by Piper was the first time since last week's event that the Minneapolis pastor directly addressed the issue.
He stressed that his purpose for writing on the controversial issue is "not to mount a political counter-assault."
He doesn't believe that is the calling of the church.
Rather, Piper expressed his desire to "help the church feel the sorrow of these days. And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man."
He didn't pin the sin of sexual immorality on homosexuals alone, however. Heterosexuals are just as guilty.
Piper emphasized that Jesus died for both heterosexual and homosexual sinners so that they might be saved. Jesus, he stressed, offers "astonishing mercy."
But rather than embracing that salvation, thousands celebrated sin last weekend, he lamented.
"Christians know what is coming, not only because we see it in the Bible, but because we have tasted the sorrowful fruit of our own sins. We do not escape the truth that we reap what we sow. Our marriages, our children, our churches, our institutions – they are all troubled because of our sins," he wrote.
"The difference is: We weep over our sins. We don't celebrate them. We turn to Jesus for forgiveness and help. We cry to Jesus, 'who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).'"
"And in our best moments, we weep for the world."
The win in New York for gay rights activists is expected to propel the gay marriage movement forward. Already, they are working to push similar legislation in Maine and to defeat a measure amending the constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman in Minnesota.
Amid the movement to redefine marriage, Piper made it clear that Jesus created sexuality and "has a clear will for how it is to be experienced in holiness and joy."
"His will is that a man might leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and that the two become one flesh (Mark 10:6-9). In this union, sexuality finds its God-appointed meaning, whether in personal-physical unification, symbolic representation, sensual jubilation, or fruitful procreation."
Nevertheless, there are no signs of the gay marriage movement slowing down. With that, Piper left Christians with this concluding note:
"This is what I am writing for. Not political action, but love for the name of God and compassion for the city of destruction. 'My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.' (Psalm 119:136)."


text:
The ArbotiX-M Robocontroller is at the heart of every Interbotix Robot. This versatile robot controller is an advanced control solution for BIOLOID and DYNAMIXEL based actuators. As an Arduino compatible microcontroller the Arbotix Robocontroller also benefits from a huge open source community of libraries and examples. Since its release in 2010 the Arbotix has quickly become a favorite among builders worldwide from hobby to high level research.
The 'M' in ArbotiX-M stands for mini - this new board is over 25% smaller than the original ArbotiX! The changes from the ArbotiX to the ArbotiX-M are as follows:
For a more in-depth comparison, click here
The ArbotiX robocontroller is an advanced control solution for AX/MX/RX/EX DYNAMIXEL servos and BIOLOID Based robots. It incorporates a powerful AVR microcontroller, XBEE wireless radio, dual motor drivers, and 3-pin servo-style headers for digital and analog I/O.
As an Arduino compatible board, the ArbotiX can be used with the Arduino IDE. We've also released an open source library and sample programs to help with controlling DYNAMIXEL AX/MX/RX/EX servos. You can find detailed information on setting up the ArboitX here
The ArbotiX hardware and firmware support a variety of DYNAMIXEL servos.
Directly Compatible:


text:
Shanghai - 4 December 2017
China Certification Dinner 2018
Welcome in Shanghai!
At this prestigious annual business event in honour of the achievements of HR, we certify organisations with excellent employee conditions. Congratulations! This premier corporate event of the year saw the Top Employers companies celebrate with their teams, peers and leading HR and business executives.
Take a look at the pictures from this year's Dinner:
Take a look at the video from this year's Dinner:
Certification Dinner Top Employers China 2018 from Top Employers Institute on Vimeo.


text:
Writing Prompt "The Goodbye Letter"
Theme: The Goodbye Letter
Your story should be a goodbye letter written from one character to another. It can be a break up letter, the end of a friendship, or someone dying writing a letter to a loved one.
Word Count: 1,200
- This is the thread for stories as well as general comments. Say hello and be sure to check the "Notify me of follow-up comments by email" box for email notifications.
- To leave feedback/Comments directly relating to a particular story – click "reply" to the story comment.
- Specific critiques, comments, and feedback are encouraged. If you do not want honest professional feedback do not post a story.
- Keep feedback and critiques to a civil and constructive level, please. Please critique stories for construction, style, flow, grammar, punctuation, and so on. The moderator has the right to delete any comments that appear racist, inflammatory or bullying.
Please Note: Comments may be considered "published" in regards to other contest requirements.
All stories are fall under general copyright laws. No part may be reproduced without the express consent of the respective author.
Story Submission Rules:
- One story per author. You may post more than one but only the first story will qualify for voting.
- Stories must be in English, unpublished and your own work.
- Stories must fit into a single comment box and must stay within the word limit set for each contest.
Voting starts Wednesday morning at 10:00am PDT / 1:00pm EST / 11:30pm IST / 6:00pm WET/GMT/ 5:00am AEDT (Thursday) and ends the same time on Thursday / 5:00am AEDT (Friday).
- You may vote only once.
- You cannot vote for yourself.
See How to Participate for complete rules and disclaimers.


text:
A 70-year-old man charged with robbing a Kansas City bank said he did it because he preferred a jail cell over living with his wife.
Lawrence John Ripple has been charged in federal court with the Friday afternoon robbery of the Bank of Labor.
According to court documents, Ripple handed a teller a note that read, "I have a gun, give me money."
The teller complied.
But instead of fleeing, Ripple took the money and then took a seat in the bank lobby, according to the documents.
When a bank security guard approached him, Ripple told the guard, "I'm the guy you're looking for."
The guard took the money from Ripple and held him until police arrived, which wasn't long, because Kansas City police headquarters is on the same block.
When he was questioned later by investigators, Ripple told him that he and his wife had argued and he "no longer wanted to be in that situation," according to the documents.
"Ripple wrote out his demand note in front of his wife … and told her he'd rather be in jail than at home," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit filed in support of the robbery charge.


text:
This is a Canonical Question about Licensing.
Questions on licensing are off-topic on Server Fault. If your question has been closed as a duplicate of this question, then this is because we want to help you understand why licence questions are off topic rather than just telling you "it just is". In all likelihood, this question will not address your question directly, it was not meant to.
I have a question regarding software licensing. Can the Server Fault community please help with the following:
- How many licenses do I need?
- Is this licensing configuration valid?
- What CALs do I need to be properly licensed?
- Can I run this product in a virtual environment?
- Can I downgrade this product to an earlier version?
- Am I entitled to feature
with licenseY


text:
Menu Bar
Main navigation
Degrees & Majors
Online Programs
Business of Cannabis
Academic Resources
Student Services
Counseling Services
International Student Services
Policies & Procedures
Study Abroad
Accepted Students
Apply to LIM
First-Year Admissions
Transfer Admissions
Graduate Admissions
International Admissions
Applying for Financial Aid
Financial Aid Options
Pre-College Programs
Student Life
Housing & Residential Life
Career Pathways
Return to: Degree Programs
The Bachelor of Science (BS) in International Business, prepares students to begin careers in today's global marketplace. The program teaches students the cross-cultural, leadership, and analytic skills to manage the human and organizational resources of diverse global organizations. The curriculum provides a foundation of core courses in liberal arts and business, and includes many industry specific courses as well.
Registered HEGIS Code 0513
(Total credits: 121/122)
(Total liberal arts Credits: 63)
Required Courses - 10 Credits
Required Courses - 21 Credits
* Institutional credits - do not count toward total credit requirement
Required Courses - 13 Credits
Required Courses - 15 Credits
Required Courses - Must Complete the Following Three(3) Courses:
Elective Courses - Choose Three (3) of the Following:
6 Credits
Foreign Language Electives are any non-remedial courses offered by the Arts & Sciences department with the following prefix: LANG
33 Credits
Liberal Arts Electives are any non-remedial courses offered by the Arts & Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies departments with the following prefixes: ARTS, COMM, ECON, ENGL, HIST, INTD*, LANG, MATH, NTSC, PHIL, POLS, PSYC, and SOCI, not specifically required for a major. These courses vary depending upon major course requirements.
*Excluding INTD 2317
3 Credits
General Electives are any courses numbered 1000 or higher (except CARE 1890 - Micro-Internship (Optional)) which are not specifically required for the student's degree program.
Verifiable proof of retail or corporate experience will be required. Students must submit a resume with one of the following:
Students are encouraged to submit all retail experience accrued from multiple employers, if applicable.
All undergraduate students who enroll at LIM College are assessed in the areas of writing and mathematics to ensure they receive adequate support while completing required coursework*.
Students are assessed by either:
In addition, college-level English composition and mathematics courses will be reviewed for equivalency and used when determining placement test requirements.
Students will be placed based on any of the above submissions. If multiple submissions are made, LIM College will use the placement criteria that demonstrates the highest level of proficiency. Students who choose not to submit ACT/SAT scores and who do not take the LIM College placement test will automatically be placed into corequisite developmental courses in Writing and Statistics.
Corequisite developmental education courses do not carry credit towards the degree but do carry hours which count towards full-time status. See Undergraduate Credits and Hours for further information.
*Students accepted into the Fashion Scholars program are qualified out of developmental education course work.
Note that the LIM College Diploma will not display minors (only degree and program will be displayed). However, minors will be shown on the LIM College transcript.
* Not available online.
**Students must take two of the five courses required for the minor at LIM College in order to declare a minor at LIM College (students may transfer in a maximum of three courses into a minor). There is no limit to the number of minors that students can declare. Students may use the same course to qualify for multiple minors. Students are limited to applying one required course as part of their minor. Exceptions are made at the discretion of each department chair.
All Fashion Scholars are required to complete the following:
All Fashion Scholars are required to complete a minimum of 21 credits at the honors level, achieving a minimum final grade of B in each course (substituting for the non-honors equivalent). The 21 honors credits include:
For the remainder of the credits, students can choose from the following:
Students accepted into the Fashion Scholars program are qualified out of all developmental education course work. *Not available online.
Students enrolled in the Global Pathway to Fashion Program will complete the following:
Level 3A
Level 3B
In order to proceed to the next level and/or complete the program, students must earn a Global Pathways GPA of 2.00 or better.
PATH course credits are institutional credits - they do not count towards total degree program credit requirement.


text:
When is it time to get a divorce?
Watch Tanayi Seabrook's video on When is it time to get a divorce?...
Related Videos
Expert Bio
More from Expert
Tanayi SeabrookSingle Mom
Tanayi Seabrook has performed multiple roles on television productions-managing staffs, writing scripts, scheduling, budgeting, rights clearances, archival research and location scouting. At Peter Jones Productions, Tanayi was part of the production staff for a variety of episodes for A&E Network's Biography series, plus multiple programs for Turner Classic Movies. For five years Tanayi was on staff at Blackside, Inc., producers of the landmark PBS civil rights documentary series Eyes On the Prize. Tanayi worked on the PBS programs I'll Make Me A World: A Century of African American Art and Artists as well as This Far By Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys. She recently finished shooting a short film entitled The Cab, which she wrote and produced. Tanayi attended State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. She also studied abroad at La Universidad de Salamanca in Spain.


text:
Miami takes 3-1 lead with one sided 88-65 win
by Sam Smith
Posted on May 14
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or their Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Why us? Why now? Why again? You heard it in their voices, if not always the words Monday when the Bulls lost 88-65 to the Miami Heat in probably the team's worst ever playoff performance.
If the sentiment was determined afterward about going to Miami Wednesday to bring back to Chicago the series, now 3-1 in favor of the Heat, it also seemed tinged with resignation.
This plucky little engine of a basketball team had climbed and climbed and climbed that NBA mountain to the point it was becoming an inspiration as much as playing force, that the way the Bulls players were overcoming so many obstacles was transcending the game and teaching life lessons.
But eventually the realities of competition and talent overtake resolve. And no matter how badly you want something and how hard you try, you generally have to be better and have the troops as much as the motivation.
And the Bulls once again, like in 2011 when Omer Asik went down early in the conference finals, in 2012 when Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah went down in the first round and this season with Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng out, face their own Waterloo.
"It's been happening for the last four years," sighed Taj Gibson. "We always have a good shot. But there's always this bug that hits us late. It's frustrating. We always had a good shot. We still have a great shot. But we always seem to end up having guys injured.
"We're always undermanned and have to put forth a lot of energy to make up for bodies we don't have," Gibson went on, shaking his head. "Tonight we just didn't have the energy. No excuses. We just did not have it."
It never was much of a contest as the Bulls missed 11 of their first 12 shots, were trailing 11-2 less than five minutes into the game and the 21-15 deficit at the end of the first quarter would be the closest the Bulls would be for the rest of the game.
"Shots did not fall for us early," agreed Joakim Noah, who had six points and nine rebounds on the day he was named a first team all-defensive player in the coaches' voting. "We got a little discouraged and we can't let that happen. We did not play very well. We did not execute very well. We can't put our heads down. We know we can compete with this team. We just did not make shots.
"When you're playing against the champs you've got to play a perfect game to have a chance to beat them," added Noah. "It's disappointing. But there is still basketball left. It's not the end. It's (now) do or die. We've got to go to Miami and get a win and go to Game 6."
What else can anyone say, and that's pretty much what all the Bulls players said. Carlos Boozer, who led the Bulls with 14 points and 12 rebounds, pointed to the Nets rallying from 3-1 down after the devastating triple overtime loss to get to a Game 7. Nate Robinson, who was zero for 12 shooting and scoreless, said he might go 12 for 12 next time.
But the spirit wasn't in their voices this time. Sure, it was after a brutal, debilitating home playoff loss. So you'd hardly expect an immediate cavalry charge. But after the Game 1 win in Miami, the Bulls have been outscored by an average of 23.3 points per game and have lost each game by double digits.
The Bulls 65 points in Game 4 was an alltime franchise playoff low as was their nine third quarter points when Miami went ahead by 19. The Bulls' shot a playoff low 25.7 percent and two of 17 on threes. It also was the lowest playoff shooting percentage for any team in the last nine years. The 65 points allowed was Miami's second best ever defensive playoff performance.
Nobody among the Bulls quit, and no one is seeking sympathy. But without Rose, Deng and Hinrich and playing a basically healthy defending champions, though Dwyane Wade appeared to reinjure a knee, the good times tend to hit a wall. And it's not like anyone much cares.
"They're in a tough situation," said LeBron James, who led Miami with 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. "They've had some injuries and illnesses and whatever's going on. They don't have their full roster. But that's not for us to worry about. They beat a very good Brooklyn team without their full roster."
Not that good really, but James has to play along as well.
To use a bad boxing cliché, it was like the Bulls were out on their feet. They weren't counted out yet and the crowd still was cheering, and, hey, there have been surprise late knockouts. But rarely.
Robinson was hunched over the scorers' table apparently to rest several times when teammates were shooting free throws. Jimmy Butler went for a bench seat, even after halftime when teammates were shooting. Bulls players were bent over to catch their breath. As much as they desired, they couldn't catch the guys running way out in front.
Not that they didn't try, which you knew the Bulls would. They outrebounded Miami 46-36. One of the game keys always has been if they can win the rebounding battle by double digits they'd win the game. Too bad this time so many of the rebounds — 19 offensive — were chasing their own misses. But you saw signs immediately of the fatigue, and not only in so many missed shots.
The Heat had a 19-7 edge in fast break points, but 15-0 in the first half when they led 44-33. ESPN stats recorded Miami with 29 transition points, tied for their playoff best in the last three years. Miami was in a sprint and the Bulls looked like they were finishing a triathlon. The Heat is shooting more than 50 percent combined the last three games with Chris Bosh adding another strong shooting game and 14 points.
"I knew from the first quarter how tough it would be giving them so much confidence," said Gibson. "Bosh hitting long range jump shots. It showed throughout the game. One thing you cannot do is get in a big hole early. It's the one thing an away team wants, to come in and hit you in the mouth and get a big lead. We let that happen."
Really, in some respects the Bulls, if not exposing Miami, showed their vulnerabilities. Wade for the second playoffs in a row has knee problems. These aren't getting better in subsequent years. He had six points and has been no factor in the playoffs. Bosh was seven of 10 shooting as the Bulls had to use Noah against him with the less mobile Boozer playing Udonis Haslem. Thus, Noah got caught helping inside and Bosh had open shots, which he made after Game 1.
But otherwise, the Heat is a standstill shooting team for the most part dependent on James' penetration to collapse the defense and open the court. It works because James is so good and requires so much attention. When he is engaged, which he has been basically other than the first game, he's the greatest force in the game.
There was none of the cheap or physical stuff in Game 4 as the Bulls got quickly behind and didn't seem to have it in them this time in what may have been the last game this season in the United Center.
"Each game is different," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "This one was real different from the last one."
This one was nothing like basically any of the games between the teams the last three years, which suggested where the Bulls are. You apply the whip to that thoroughbred too much and eventually it just can't run anymore. The heart still can be there, but not the legs.
Which doesn't mean the Bulls won't show up in Miami with a game plan and a belief, and this team has surprised everyone in Chicago and around the NBA too many times not to be taken seriously. They certainly have gotten Miami's attention.
"Ideally this is how we want to start (games)," added Spoelstra. "However, we've done that before against this team and they came back. We have to go in with a mindset to approach this (next) game with desperation and urgency. This team is far too dangerous as we have seen."
We'll see at least one more time.
It never was there from the start for the Bulls, though Miami had a lot to do with that. Their defense led by James is aggressive in overplaying; they denied the entry passes to the post, keeping the Bulls on the outside. And, frankly, it just proved too difficult for Robinson against Miami's traps and blitzes against the pick and roll. That's the staple of their defense, which requires quickly passing out and reversing the ball to the other side. All good defenses prosper when you don't move the ball.
Miami has something to do with that as well as their players are good denying the passes. Plus, Robinson really isn't a true point guard. You cannot blame him.
He's been vital to the Bulls anemic offense and saved the first round with his Game 4 thrills. But he dribbles the ball constantly into the traps, thus unable to find Boozer and running into turnovers and slowing movement. Without Hinrich, the Bulls go at times to Belinelli to make plays. But he and Robinson got off cold, a combined two of 12 in the first quarter as Boozer had fewer shots than either. The best plans often got awry when you don't have the right people in the right positions, though you often are asking them on this Bulls team to be something they are not.
"He is a tough guy to trap," said Spoelstra of Robinson. "He is like a whirling toy out there. We finally had some timely traps on him and were able to force some turnovers."
Richard Hamilton finally played in the series with Belinelli in foul trouble and did well with 11 points and a team best four assists in about 22 minutes. Though Thibodeau never much said why Hamilton was sitting, it seemed basically for defensive reasons as Thibodeau hews toward a defensive lineup as much as possible in the playoffs. So Hamilton has basically been the good teammate and tried to just provide veteran experience and knowledge.
"I told him that in Game 1 against Brooklyn but Brooklyn didn't do it," Hamilton said of the trapping he predicted in speaking with Robinson. "You've got to expect them to trap you. When you're a scorer and you're going against great defensive teams, they're going to do everything possible to take you out of the game. So now you've got to figure out different counters and read their defense and find different openings. That's the playoffs. They do an excellent job of scouting everybody and that's what makes great players, the playoffs, because they don't let you go to your plays."
Hamilton admitted he was disappointed about falling out of the rotation, though he said he just tried to lend what support he could.
"They're probably happy I'm not playing," Hamilton laughed when he was asked about not getting a chance to go against old rivals like Wade and Ray Allen. "It's difficult to have to sit on the sideline. The thing is you stay ready.
"One of the biggest things for me was I was brought here for this," Hamilton said about the playoffs and being surprised after all that has transpired of suddenly being called in. "My goal is to win championships and try to help my teammates. It was fun for me to be out there on floor again. A lot of stuff in life you don't understand.
I try to stay positive, not rock the boat, let them know what they need to me to I'll do. I can't be bitter. This league always has been great to me. Sometimes you just can't control things."
That being the Bulls with the Heat as well.
James was attacking the basket early, which is a bad sign. As well as Butler has played him, there's no stopping an energized James, who several times just buried himself deep in the post and scored easily. Sometimes you wonder why he doesn't take positions like that all the time. But he is unlike a lot of the scoring stars of the game as not so much taking plays off but looking to involve teammates even when his scoring chances are simpler.
Other than James and Bosh, no one got much going for the Heat. Not even the unstoppable Norris Cole, whom the Bulls held to one of two threes after he'd made eight straight. And the one he did make was a 27 footer to end the third quarter to put Miami ahead 61-42. Not that the Bulls were showing much sign of life with that nine point third quarter on 15 percent shooting.
"For me, if I make half the shots we're in the game," said the irrepressible Robinson with a zero for six quarter in the third. "That's how I think about it. I just think you have games like that where you can't make a shot but you have to keep fighting, keep playing just like the team as a whole. They did a good job defending, of course. But I had a lot of open shots that I usually make and a lot of floaters that I usually make that I missed, but you can't make every shot. You just have to know when it's not your night and it wasn't my night tonight. I just have to try to bounce back.
"When you're trying to shoot shots you make every day, every game and they don't fall, it takes a toll," said Robinson, who also finally may have taken too many hits.
His shoulder was banged up and a problem. After Game 3, he as wearing a bandage on his chest from being fallen on, which seemed a Miami tactic. It was why Noah rushed over in Game 3 and got a technical for pushing Chris Andersen. Miami players were picking themselves up off fallen Bulls with an extra push, though there was none of that in Game 4. And Robinson still had that swollen lip from his goal line collision with James.
"You have to believe and keep your confidence up and we'll be alright," said Robinson with a bit of that Peter Pan emerging. "It will be a test for us. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Everyone said we wouldn't win a game. We got one. We believe we can win the series."
How's that Peter Pan thing go about lacking a belief? You don't want a team falling down dead. So you continue to believe. But it becomes more and more difficult the fewer kids you seem to have around every year to help you defeat the crocs and Hook.