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It wasn't the first time that Daniel Caine had been to Los Angeles. There was no shortage of influential people in the city, most of whom had committed many an egregious sin, and some of whom were willing to donate large sums of money to the right people to ensure the sanctity of their immortal souls. One man in particular came to mind: a self-important film producer, who had had an especially perverse sexual appetite and who, though it was not a necessary part of the rite, had insisted on telling the sin-eater about every last one of his offending deeds in grotesque detail, with what could only have been construed as smug enjoyment. The memory evoked powerful pangs of guilt in Daniel, guilt for things he'd never done, but which nonetheless now wore heavily on his soul. Still, he thought to himself, that was then; things were different now. He swallowed loudly and turned his attention back to the room.
Perhaps the memory had brought an odd expression to his face, for he caught someone looking at him strangely; perhaps he just looked a little strange; or perhaps it was merely his imagination. Just in case, he gave the staring individual a frosty glare, before moving away from the entrance of coffee shop.
There were more people present than he'd expected. Many more. Truth be told, his ego was slightly damaged by the numbers: it wasn't that he thought he was big business in the magical world – he knew he was anything but – and he'd gleaned from the summons, which he'd received via a very intrusive telepathic voice some days previously, that he wouldn't be the only one there. Nonetheless, he'd been expecting something more, well, exclusive; in particular he'd been expecting there to be fewer general magical practitioners and more people from the circles he used to move in (and, for this reason, he had very nearly decided not to come), but he came to the conclusion that he'd mistakenly placed too much emphasis on the identification of the dreamer as a sinner.
A shudder ran down his spine as the dream tried to worm its way to the forefront of his conscious mind, and Daniel decided that he needed a distraction to squeeze it back down into the depths of his unconscious, where it could not disturb him quite so much. Nothing of great importance seemed to be happening any time soon, so he began to pick his way through the assembled people towards the bar, where the dual lures of praeternaturally beautiful women and naturally distilled liquor would surely be able to take his mind off anything.
On his way, he caught sight of the Baron's table. The Baron himself he'd heard of, and the man he that could only be Hon-Gji had been mentioned to him when he'd needed a necromancer for a rite, but in the end he'd found one before trying to track him down. The woman at the table he didn't recognise, but it was obvious she must be someone fairly serious to be in such company. He briefly wondered what they were discussing, before remembering that he had more important things to deal with at that moment.
When he managed to get to the bar, the sin-eater caught the nearest tender's eye.
"I'll have a double gin, no tonic, no ice, yes lemon. Oh, and anything but Gordon's," Daniel said drily, his clipped tones cutting through the background noise like a lemon slicer. "Please," he added rather perfunctorily, his expression remaining sombre, though this was in fact less due to his natural aloofness, and more in order to mask a growing sense of anxiety, even fear, and maybe just a hint of nervous excitement.
"Can I smoke in here?" he asked, with a trace of uncharacteristic optimism.


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This bed will require help getting in the door of your house. It ships in two large heavy boxes which UPS did not take very good care of. I would recommend waiting for the UPS driver and inspecting the package before it leaves the truck. Our boxes were torn up badly and the small washers and screws inside are NOT packaged in a plastic bag like you expect- they are loosely packed in a small box inside your package. We actually found all the missing washers and screws in the UPS truck before he left- very nice guy for waiting and helping with that. Luckily, there was no damage to the bed itself though the box was tattered and torn. Un-packaging took about 20 minutes and assembly took about half an hour. The bed goes together very easily. The only quality related issues come from the parts you don't ever see- the platform slats and the support legs. The slats themselves are designed as a "ladder." All slats are preattached to nylon straps forming a ladder chain that essentially makes the dozen or so slats one piece. This was a great idea I had personally never seen before. However, the wood of the slats is left in very very rough condition. The can easily cause splinters if you are not careful. The real issue though is the wear on your mattress. As this is a platform bed there is no need for a boxspring, but if you have a mattress that requires flipping then you are likely to end up sleeping on splinters after your first flip. The support legs themselves are simply plastic pegs (which are adjustable in height) that depress into countersunk holes in a few of the slats. These are perfectly suitable if you NEVER need to move your bed. I your bed moves though it is likely you will be on hands and knees reaching under the bed trying to re-position and reattach the legs. So far ours have done just fine. Overall though we are extremely happy with the bed and are actually pleasantly surprised by how sturdy it is. The bed can take some pretty vigorous "exercise" and doesn't wobble or creak one bit. The padded headboard is nice for this also ;) At the end of the day, this was money well spent. (Beware of Chingrish instruction manual though.)
I really love the look of this bed and it was way cheaper than any other tufted bed I viewed online. Has a very luxe look to it. The bed is more of a taupe color, slightly darker than the photo. I was able to assemble it on my own without killing myself (I'm a 25/F) so that was a big plus. I have one complaint, which if you are not handy may be an issue for you. The support posts that were included with the bed were crappy plastic ones that slipped out from underneath the bed as soon as I got on (I don't weigh much either!). I have wood floors and no area rug so that's probably the reason. I had to add extra screws to the beams and also screw in some posts we cut from wood underneath the center of the platform. The bed is super sturdy now. Overall, a beautiful bed!
I am in love with my new bed. I have been wanting and searching for a headboard/ bedframe for a while now but thought a stylish and comfortable one would be out of my budget. I was so excited to find this one in a feminine/ modern style with a plush headboard for sitting up and reading. It is a nice cush material and high-quality and ridiculously good deal! I shopped around a lot and this was definitely the best deal and looked a lot nicer than a lot of the other ones i saw in real life. I have an actual photo of this headboard on my blog that shows the true color a little better. http://www.**=004 is the link to the photo. One of the boxes was MISSING INSTRUCTIONS and after initial freakout I calmed down and figured it out without instructions, so the bed is easy to put together. I would say 2 out of 5 stars on how hard it is to assemble. Other reviewers mentioned the plastic support beams which do seem kind of cheapie but they stand fine on my hardwood floors with cats running around underneath.
I love this bed. For the price, you won't find a better deal at this level of quality. However, I had two (now resolved) issues with it. For one, the order comes in two boxes, but I was shipped duplicates. After lugging it up the stairs and realizing this I contacted overstocked and thankfully they were very accommodating and sent me the correct box immediately. Secondly, the plastic supports that go underneath the center of the wooden slats are useless. They may be enough if the bed will be for one person but since it's my bf and I, they kept slipping out and we thought the bed had broken a few times when he would crawl in. So, my bf ended up throwing them away and buying 9" wooden blocks to nail into the slats and now the bed is perfect.
I purchased this bed a couple of weeks ago and am very happy with it. It was easy to put together by myself and the style suits our bedroom perfect. The frame is quite a lot bigger than the queen size box mattress though. I placed it in a corner and added a thick king size duvet which masks the considerable gap between frame and box.
Great bed! It's beautiful! So easy to put together. I didn't mind putting this together at all! If you are considering this bed, it's a great price and a great bed. I am always so excited when I see it.
I am really impressed with this bed. It's in a room with a thick rug, which may be one reason that I didn't have any trouble with the support beam that others have commented upon being flimsy. The headboard didn't come with directions, so it took me a little longer to figure out. But it was up and in use within 2 hours and we love it.
The manufacturer must have been reading earlier reviews! Delivery packaging is solid and well packed. All hardware well secured and included. The parts are very solid. Once installed and the feet on the center spine raised to meet the floor, the foundation is rock solid. The material is thick and solid with a nice smooth finish. Although the listing didn't state so, the packaging was labeled as Ethan | Home. I didn't select a different bed from them because of poor quality indicated in the reviews, but this was very good quality furniture. I think you can be confident that you will receive a well constructed piece of furniture and that you will be very pleased with the value you get for the price. I want this for my king bed too!
Delivered on time, nicely packed . Easy to assemble . My husband was surprised. Took me about 2 hours unpack and put it together .
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Tom VandenAvond comes with the Larry and His Flask seal of approval, and in Central Oregon, that means something.
So why did the Flask back VandenAvond on his fifth record, 2011's "You Oughta Know Me By Now"? Is it his perfectly gritty sandpaper singing voice? At times he sounds like post-prison Steve Earle. Perhaps it's his lo-fi acoustic sound? VandenAvond's music feels like it's being played for you, only you, by a guy on your front porch. Maybe it's his downcast tunes about ladies, liquor and a life spent traveling.
Or maybe he's just a nice guy, though his Reverbnation profile describes VandenAvond as having a "surly, drank-too-much-last-night-and-now-I-gotta-perform attitude.
Frankly, that kind of attitude matches up nicely with his authentic folk/country barstool anthems. Hear him at www .reverbnation.com/tomvandenavond.
Tom VandenAvond; 8 p.m. Saturday; $5; The Horned Hand, 507 N.W. Colorado Ave., Bend; www.facebook.com/thehornedhand or 541-728-0879.


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From the January 01, 2012 issue of Futures Magazine • Subscribe!
From the January 01, 2012 issue of Futures Magazine • Subscribe!
Sugar prices are in a free fall now at prices we have not seen since July 2010. A major reason for last week's drop was that it was reported the output nearly tripled in April at the main growing area of Brazil.
Gensler recusal faulted in CFTC watchdog's MF Global report
Chairman Gary Gensler's recusal from the investigation into MF Global was unnecessary, according to the agency's internal watchdog.
Important breakout in the Dow-to-gold ratio and its implications for gold
In the Dow-to-gold ratio chart, we see an important breakout above the declining long-term resistance line. This has bearish implications for gold.
EU panel says transaction tax would raise government debt costs
Government bonds should be excluded from the European Union's planned financial-transaction tax, a panel of European debt-management officials said.


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Dr. Lewis Jackson is scheduled to appear before a federal judge for sentencing Thursday. Jackson pleaded guilty in November to three counts of sexually abusing male inmates who were under his supervision in October 2011. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of lying to federal agents that had also been included in an indictment filed in August.
Jackson last month pleaded guilty to similar charges in Washington, D.C., where prosecutors say he sexually assaulted an inmate at the D.C. jail in November 2008. He's set to be sentenced there later this year.


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Organization Design, Levels of Work and Human Capability |
Executive Guide by Ken Shepard (Editor), Jerry L. Gray (Editor), & James G. (Jerry) Hunt (Editor) with 40 authors from around the world. Price: $63.00 US Incredibly, the first book in the GO Society Reading Series In Organization Design, has been adopted into the management curriculum of corporate universities within a month of the July 2007 launch! Contents of the Book By structuring the flow of this book across seven subject areas, we endeavored to create a logical sequence for those interested in reading from cover to cover. For others, each article is designed to stand alone so that those with more targeted interests may follow them according to their own priorities.
Free Download Registered users of the GO Society website can download a complete, searchable copy of this book for free. If you would like to download a free copy of the book but do not yet have an account, you can create one by clicking on the create an account link at the top right of this page. Once you have created an account and logged in, you will be able to access a download link on this page. |
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1:53 pm Jun. 8, 201243
A few weeks ago, I attended a "Mad Men" viewing party hosted by my good friend, the brilliant Time Out New York film critic Keith Uhlich.
Keith quoted a writer who summarized "Mad Men" as "'Roots' for white people," which prompted me, a black man, to ask everyone in the room my own questions: What was Superfly for white people? What was the Caucasian The Color Purple? Shaft?
Keith was quick on his feet: "The remake of Shaft was Shaft for white people," he said.
I'm not sure "Mad Men" is just "for white people," but it hasn't meant anything to me. The party, in fact, represented the first time I watched a complete "Mad Men" episode, despite all I've heard about the show from my critic friends. (I was able to discern major plot twists based on the shrieks, gasps, belly laughs and applause from Keith and the gang.)
For a black person like me, born and raised in what television would call "the ghetto," it isn't about good or bad. It's about comfort zones. In early childhood, television taught me to see "white" as simply the default for "human." Mister Rogers wasn't a "white man," but just a friendly neighbor with some weird friends. Ralph Kramden's delusional dreams and schemes had no color.
It was like Kevin Lee, an Asian-American film critic and "Mad Men" expert who attended Keith's party, put it: "The genius of 'whiteness' is that its ethnic blankness allows viewers of most any background to project themselves onto it, provided there's some attractive quality they find in it."
But while that was true for me in the context of the TV programming I grew up with, I was acutely aware of "whiteness" elsewhere, and the cultural differences it implied.
White kids were bused into my special "Creative Education" elementary school in Mount Vernon, N.Y. until city officials decided to move its finest institution to the white north side of town, and suddenly we black kids were the ones being bused to another planet. A teacher's redheaded daughter would sing "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie over the P.A. system. The other black kids and I would stare up at the loudspeaker like deer. Were we supposed to put our hands over our hearts?
Still, as I got older, I read books by white authors, enjoyed classic movies with all-white casts, contemplated overwhelmingly "white" art in museums, all with great appreciation and understanding, but those works which seemed cultivated expressly "for white people," communicating on frequencies out of my "black" range (even when they featured black people), tended to fill me with uncomprehending dread. That's right, I'm talking about "Silver Spoons." And L'Avventura.
I don't think I was ever as clueless as the black kid I happened to be standing alongside in an electronics store circa 1985, staring at a display TV showing the hit comedy "Cheers." "This shit is for white people," he groused. "What in the hell they laughing about?" He was wrong. "Cheers" is for everybody. As is "Seinfeld" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus," and "The Simpsons." They're just smart, and incidentally populated with white folks. (Conversely "The Cosby Show" and "Frank's Place" were rare examples of "black" network TV shows that really belonged to everyone.)
"Little House on the Prairie," "The Waltons," and "The Brady Bunch" were not white shows. They were epic stories about families trying to make it in America, and they invited in anybody who happened to be watching, no matter how exclusive the cast coloring. Until real-world racism from beat cops and teachers and merchants told me different, I had thought I was a Walton.
Another kind of "for white people" work is much easier to grasp. It conveys up front the notion that white people are a breed apart, morally, spiritually, intellectually. Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, and The Searchers, yeah, sure, but also the first scene of the first episode of HBO's "The Wire," a moment that seemed so condescending to me that I could go no further with the series that virtually every white writer I know loves to pieces.
The opening of the series is a murder-scene conversation between a young hood-rat witness and a sage, world-weary white detective about the death of a lowlife named Snotboogie:
MCNULTY watches as the body, now bagged, is hauled into the back of the MORGUE WAGON.
MCNULTY: I got to ask you. If every time Snotboogie would grab the money and run away, why'd you even let him in the game?
WITNESS: What?
MCNULTY: If Snotboogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?
WITNESS: You got to. This America, man.
The WITNESS looks away, oblivious to the poetry of it. MCNULTY turns around, takes in the scope of the tragedy that is Baltimore.
Yes, of course, the Witness wouldn't grasp the poetry of his own words. Of course, this is McNulty's moment to sigh deeply at the "tragedy that is Baltimore." This America, man.
"Mad Men" doesn't condescend in that way, but I still find it hard to relate to. Money and status seem to be on the line in nearly every encounter. That's why one character, a formerly slim, icy and glamorous blond who has become plump and was rechristened by "Mad Men" fans on the internet as Fat Betty, is a tragicomic figure in this show's universe.
The direction and music seemed designed to convey that nothing is sadder than being overweight and shoved to the margins of the rat race. Betty is living through the aftermath of a divorce and a cancer scare, sure, but the fact that she can't suffer these misfortunes in style, like Jackie O strutting down Madison Avenue, compounds the tragedy. It made me think of John Cassavetes' brutal kiss-off to middle-aged Gena Rowlands in Opening Night: "You're not a woman to me anymore." Fat Betty is the flipside of chubby, lonely but bubbly Queen Latifah staring down the abyss in the comedy Last Holiday.
In the abstract, the show's emphasis on ruin, alienation and social faux pas ought to speak to me as a fragile human being living in a fast-moving, competitive society. That the characters have something to lose and something to gain from scene to scene satisfies the most basic dramatic necessity.
But it's what Don and his people have to lose that ultimately renders it esoteric. The ultimate nightmare for these folks is to lose the lifestyle that government and industry have sold to them since the end of World War II, as the (White) American Dream, the one that Don sells for a living. Their greatest unspoken fear is to go to the dogs, the dogs being, well, the redlined, depressed neighborhoods where I come from.
"Whiteness" has always been a socio-economic matter. In a "Mad Men" essay entitled "The Sad Clown Dress," Deborah Lipp describes a moment where Betty Draper suffers a humiliating night of faux pas and discovering that her cheating, secretive husband is not exactly the princely hero he projects: "The surface of perfection is gone. She's exposed and looks broken. But underneath is a new found conviction about herself. Finally, she faces Don without makeup, without a hairdo, without even a color. The white robe accentuates the starkness of this moment. Now it is Don who's afraid of losing everything. And it's his expression of fear that brings her back. The next day, the house is filled with warm, renewing light. Betty is back to being an immaculate housewife, as if nothing happened. But a TV commercial brings it all back. It has all crumbled. Her perfect home, her handsome husband, they are empty surfaces that have all been sold to her. Betty is no longer buying."
It would be interesting to see what Quentin Tarantino, a product of multi-ethnic working class neighborhoods in L.A., would do behind the camera on a "Mad Men" episode. His punk history lesson Inglourious Basterds revels in "mistakes" (starting with the title) and the perseverance of life's D-students in a world of letter-perfect sociopaths-in-power. What mischief, what banana peels would Q.T. set in Don Draper's path?
What approach would we see from filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr., who actually worked in the real-life New York ad agency milieu in the 1960s, funneling these experiences into the anarchic Putney Swope (1969)? In Swope, militant blacks take over a swank agency, a one-joke premise crawling with cobwebs by now, sure, but one which still packs a punch in the stubbornly segregated Bloomberg-era Manhattan.
"Mad Men," which so far has given a few lines to a black maid, a black girlfriend and, in the latest season, a black secretary, actually does resonate in that way: In any of the "good jobs" I held in Manhattan across 20 years, I was either the sole black person or one of two black people in the office. A smattering of Asians or Hispanics completed the rainbow.
But that may also be the reason I had such a hard time finding black professionals to talk to who watch "Mad Men."
One black computer programmer who requested anonymity was candid about why he doesn't: "'Mad Men' isn't for me…. I don't know any black people who watch the show. I know they're out there, but I've never met any of them."
The programmer was quick to add that it's not because of the low melanin content, but because it's too familiar.
"It's not necessary for me to need a black or minority character to enjoy a movie or show, but 'Mad Men' is just so appropriately shiny and false," he said. "It reminded me a lot of dealing with the sales people I've dealt with over the years as a software developer. I've worked in offices for 25 years now, and I've been the only Negro in my different office departments more years than I'll admit. It's that way right now, in fact.
"Programmers don't come in our shade unless they're from India. Until the 2000's, I didn't see many minorities of any stripe in high positions at places I worked. So for me, I've spent my entire career watching white office folks bicker, fight, backstab, love, hate, succeed and fail, all the while doing little to involve somebody like me. So why the fuck would I want to watch this on TV?"
In an email exchange after we saw each other at the critic-party, Kevin Lee said he identified with the show, which read to him as a corporate-America survival guide.
Great article. Gotta say, though, the opening scene of "The Wire"'s pilot is hardly indicative of the series. At least watch a whole episode or two before writing it off.
Awesome stuff, Steven.
One (somewhat off-point) comment to make:
You're free to have your interpretation--and I'm admittedly out of my depths in challenging someone regarding THEIR OWN feelings about race in a work of art--but I'd invite you to give The Wire another try. It's rightfully heralded as a fantastic show (though you are correct to point out that it is done so overwhelming by white critics), and part of the reason for that is that it really does challenge our preconceived notions about race, crime, poverty, disadvantage, and privilege. It may seem as though McNulty is "sigh(ing) deeply at the 'tragedy that is Baltimore.'," but you'd find that he's holds a similarly myopic view of the promise of America.
Also, part of the poetry (to borrow a phrase) of The Wire is that characters will lapse into this grandiose, stylistic prose, but remain oblivious to the clarity of their thought. Snot Boogie's opening scene is a great example, but characters of all race are subject to this tendency.
As I said, you're free to your own reading of the scene, and this is hardly the most important egg of an argument for me to pull out of this excellent post, but I'd hope that might give another chance to what I think is one of the greatest television shows of all-time. Sorry, just wanted to put that out there. Like I said, a very insightful piece, and an engrossing read!
...and I don't get Tyler Perry's work, but imagine if I wrote an article like this (insert "blackness" for "whiteness") and imagine how offended people of color would be.
I don't think you "get" Mad Men. I would say it's not about it's "white" or "blackness" -- this is a pretty racially 'blank' show -- you just seem to ignore that the whole show is based upon the cynicism inherent to people who have it all. Of course, since it's set in the 1960's (if you set a show about people who have it all in present times it would seem like escapist fodder), the protagonists have to be white. Back then, black citizens were still far from "having it all" from a capitalist point of view.
By missing this layer, you are missing out on the subtle tragedies the show tries to tell: how Betty is an ideal woman by society's standards and yet is so miserable that she stress eats to the point of becoming incredibly fat, thereby losing her looks, which in turn are a huge part of what made her so lucky to begin with.
You are not supposed to look up to the characters or, I daresay, enjoy the time you spend with them. You watch them, identify with them, and then observe their downwards spiral towards a soulless ideal. The show is not about what is said onscreen, but about what goes unsaid.
Race is peripheral to this theme. It will become an issue when it makes sense, historically speaking, to use it AS A TOOL to enrich the story.
But isn't that the point that the author is trying to make: that much of white media presents "whiteness" as universal/blank? I would add that for most non-white people, race is NOT a peripheral issue, only white people have the privilege to "peripheralize" issue like race.
Wow. What a nice piece of writing, and thinking.
I'm really sorry man, but I stopped taking your article serious after you said you wouldn't go past the "This is America" moment on the Wire. Not only is ridiculous to judge a television show after one scene, its first scene, realize that was based off something that actually happened between a homicide cop and a witness.
For me, the genius of Mad Men has everything to do with the sheer arbitrariness of the plotting. You really just have no idea what character is going to pop up to do what, and the dialogue is just as unpredictable. It seems to be that Matthew Weiner dreams every episode and then writes it all down -- and that is just a very rare feeling to get watching any TV.
I'm the age of Sally Draper, and my father was very Don Draper. We were raised in, of all places, Mount Vernon. Weiner gets so many of the details spookily right of what a white suburban child grew up perceiving his parents to be like in the 60s.
My block went from mostly white middle class to mostly black middle class in the 70s, and MVHS was majority African-American. My best friend was black (gay trumped color for both of us) and the Drama Society where I socialized was indeed a rainbow. Wouldn't I love to watch a drama based around black characters in that time, written and directed the black men and women who lived it. I saw them up close, and their stories were as interesting as anything on Mad Men, particularly against the backdrop of parents and grandparents who were almost always products of the great black migration from South to North. I imagine there's some pretty decent pilots running around town, and a network exec just can't be convinced to greenlight it. Damn shame. (Oprah, don't you need something like that for OWN? If not you, who?)
Fantastic piece.
"I'm not sure "Mad Men" is just "for white people," but it hasn't meant anything to me. The party, in fact, represented the first time I watched a complete "Mad Men" episode..."
I like the internet because it gives people an opportunity to write in-depth about a long-form story despite having only seen one fractional part of that story. In the old days you would have had to actually watched the entire series to publish a think piece on it, but happily those days are over.
Sadly, I haven't learned the new internet ways as well as you have, so I actually read your whole piece. I should have just read a paragraph and critiqued from there.
I think the author is disconnected from a space within the Black community that dissects popular culture. I know several Black professionals that watch Mad Men & have even walked into bars & had conversations with other Black professionals who were strangers that I've never met about the series. We are attracted to the historical accuracies & how they are portrayed. To assume that there weren't people that were enlightened about the cultural shifts that were happening around them in real time is what is condescending. If they weren't aware then, we wouldn't be as aware as we are now.
This sort of criticism about Mad Men has always confused me, slightly. Sure, the show is coming from a white POV, and focuses largely on "white America" in the sixties, but it seems presumptuous to say that Weiner doesn't care about race relations. The show isn't about race relations, but it has made several adequate attempts at addressing how race relations affects the show's premise. Maybe they haven't created a plethora of strong black characters (though the few the show has frequently come across more intelligent, compassionate than the regulars), it's use of casual racism in otherwise fan-favorite characters like Roger Sterling is always shocking & effective. It's akin to the moments in the Sopranos, when we'd see Tony Soprano do something horrible and awful. Maybe it's not a "black show" (I really don't know how to classify shows in those terms), but I think you're missing the point if you think the writers don't care.
Also, you're REALLY missing out if that's all you ever watched of the Wire. Maybe that's not the best opening scene ever ("Snotboogie" is a name that should have been cut in the writer's room), but you've grossly misinterpreted it (Mcnulty as a sage? Wow). You owe it to yourself to give it another shot, especially since I've heard nothing but praise for the show as far as creating strong roles for African American actors.
It's disappointing to read your account of dropping The Wire after one scene rubbed you the wrong way. Perhaps you could turn down your sensitivity meter just a bit and revisit it?
Had you given it a chance you'd have discovered a major focus of the series was to cast aside the distinctions between the crimes of the 'authorities' — police officers, politicians, newspaper writers — and the traditional criminals from the streets. That theme isn't new, but to your point, no group (or race) had a monopoly on making (and, yes, understanding) the weight of their world-weary insights.
Why do so very many otherwise intelligent people spend so very much time discussing terrible television shows, and why was Caucasia, a Mid-West Asian region of Mongoloid people, implicated in the context it was?
I've gotta say, they ain't MY white people, nor is the world of money and facades any kind of history for me. I find such a world about as creepily alien as you, most likely. Good essay, though.
I found this incredibly interesting. But the question you start the article with (questioning Mad Men being called Roots for White people) is one that goes unanswered. You delve into the technical aspects of the show and how you personally perceive it as a black man. Which is all well and good but Roots isn't a show exclusively for black people. In fact I am willing to put money down that Roots was just as eye opening, shocking and ponderous (as in it made poor ol' whitey reassess his values) from one person to the next no matter their color. And I think of Mad Men really is Roots for White People but not because of it's audience but because of it's mirroring themes.
Roots is the tale of The Black man's struggle against the white devil (Yakub oh what were you thinking). Through several episodes we bare witness to the suffering, hard labor and sacrifice had by slaves and through these episodes we as viewers are practically forced into sympathizing for the black characters and despising most every white man. Through means of subtraction we are left with more and more of the individual and less with the labels that surround them.
Mad Men is the exact opposite. Almost like a post-modern reaction to Roots, Mad Men focuses on the lives of supremely wealthy and well off White Men, great, valiant, handsome womanizers who are not only obsessed with image but make a living getting you hooked on their image. As the series progresses the characters fall deeper and deeper into their tightly knit, pressed, neat and crisp life style and they become less and less human. Almost becoming devils in and of themselves tearing their fellow man and their equally important images to cinder.
The fact that Mad Men takes place in the 60's and is now rolling into the 70's is far from a coincidence.
Mad Men is more like Breaking Bad than I think AMC would care to admit. They are both experiments in isolating the audience. But all the fancy camera work, expensive clothes and sex blinds you're average viewer just like it blinds your average shopper at the neighborhood Target...
I feel that this article is the equivalent of someone judging a novel based on the first few pages. Maybe if you'd watched five or so episodes of Mad Men or the Wire, I'd be able to accept your opinion as valid, but this is just lazy journalism.
And by the way, the Snotboogie scene actually happened - it's in David Simon's book, Homicide, which he wrote after being embedded with the Baltimore Homicide Department for a year.
Appreciated the article, but felt compelled to say two things.
First, I think you've totally misread The Searchers. The protagonist is a man deeply and fundamentally damaged by his hatred for the Cherokee – I strongly feel that in no way should it ever appear in the same sentece as 'Gone With the Wind,' let alone 'Birth of a Nation.'
Second, The Wire. I'm sure many people have told you that you've missed out, and should power through your squeamishness about the first scene. Frankly, I don't have a lot of respect for a cultural critic that would make his mind up about a world-acclaimed television show based on its first two minutes, especially because pilots and first episodes are piss-poor ways to judge a show's totality.
But mostly, I wanted to say that the scene in question is based on actual conversation – and was related to David Simon by a beat cop. That doesn't, of course, necessarily excuse its inclusion in the show as being condescending. But I think that's significant – and the exchange beautifully sums up the show's five seasons, in ways more complex than you allude to.
The Wire's not perfect and praise for it has sort of lost it's meaning – it's a token of cultural literacy among a certain set, and I know how that can irritate some people. But you really are missing out on something, and not, I think, for a very solid or well-evidenced reason.
Oh, and as for Mad Men: I don't think it's correct to say that the characters are fighting over status or money. They're struggling, and failing, to find success and happiness, which is something it has in common with a huge number of dramas. Again, I think your reads on the show would be different if you had been exposed to more than 40 minutes of it. Betty isn't a sad character because she's fat – she's a sad character because she's horribly emotionally damaged, and she's inflicting that damage on her children. A number of other reads you have on characters and plotlines aren't quite right, but I won't bother making this any longer than it already is. Again, appreciated the article – especially Kevin Lee's excellent insight. But it suffers in the specifics.
Finding stupid reasons not to like things isn't racial -- I know lots of people who have rules about why they won't watch/listen to/read/do certain things. A few years ago I adopted a simple rule -- if people I trusted said something was good ... then I gave it a shot. It's been working out very well. It turns out all the reasons I had for not doing something were complete bullshit.
No matter how much Mad Men & The Wire are dissected - they will still be categorized for what we actually are staring at and processing: shows about white folk and criminals. This is the beauty about art. It is subjective. Fan is short for fanatic, but guess what? Steve had the guts to say what a whole bunch are thinking. One persons fav show is someone else clicked away after briefly viewed quick stop. That is the reality of it.
I think your conclusion that you don't watch it because its too familiar hits the nail on the head. I do know black women who watch (and love) the show--they are in their twenties. And I read and hear comments from women who were adults in the early sixties that they don't watch the show because they don't care to relive that era. For women who were children in the sixties (myself) or younger, there is the thrill of nostalgia or voyeurism. Notwithstanding, good writing and good storytelling is universal and despite what may appear to be a sour familiarity, I think if you gave the show and its characters enough time to reveal themselves beyond their strivings for power and status, you would see that their principal conflict is searching for meaning and purpose.
Superb essay, now heres my take as a person from the ghettos of East Oakland who passes for white under most circumstances, but who has lived life on the outside of Mad Mens American dream, I don't relate to the characters, their aspirations or fears, or to their mileau. But I enjoy the artistry of the show a great deal, and I dont feel any need or desire to relate to the show in a personal way. These characters are not of my world, but despite the annoying problems of tokenism versus total neglect which you point out so well, within the world of the show there appears to be much truth being told, a challenging look at an unjustifiably glorified past that has shaped all of our lives, if only through its falsehood and irrelevance to our lives. If you believe that Reagan and Bush impacted our lives with their revisionist nostalgia which was a cloak for racist and economically unjust policies, then the nature and history of that willfully ignorant notalgic fantasy of America and the era in which its facade crumbled is relevant even today as Romney attempts to win control of the white house by telling us in a recent ad series that whether we like his policies or not is unimportant "compared to the feeling we'll get knowing were getting back to how things were before... Take our country back " etcetera. These are obvious appeals to both hardened racists and those simply uncomfortable with contemporary society (especially the gradual generationl shift towards public rejection of bigotry)
Man Men, admittedly through a narrow lens, reminds us that the fantasy of a perfect, polished patriarchal white world that supposedly preceeded our more diverse and slightly more liberated era is a lie, a con no different than the fantasies sold by the ad executives. this is a fundamentally radical critique of the fetishization of the segregated male dominated world that so many politicians are trying to recreate.
Perhaps mst importantly, the gender issues the show is primarily concerned with are important. Women's liberation is not just a luxury of the white and wealthy. It shoud be a concern for all of us including men such as myself and the author of this article, and many of the shows most powerful moments, addressing gender, transcend class, era, and race. Referencing last weeks episode, menstruation and pubescent frustration with the opacity of sexual communication are certainly issues that are universally human.
One final point, though not african american, as a kid I and all of my white and nonwhite friends and family watched and were profoundly effected by Roots. I am kunta kinte became the triumphant cry for my peers, black, white asian, chicano and otherwise, in my mostly non white neighborhood. I didnt need to be able to personally relate to the environment of the characters. The situations have analogies in any society, though the specifics were far different and incomprable, the injutice, the pain, he resistance, the triumph of spirit are all universal themes.
In any case, there is more to enjoy and learn from in cinema than just relatability. Sometimes experiencing an Alien world is an anthropological experience not to be missed. However, in my opinion the attempt to compare the fine Mad Men with the superb Roots is ludicrous. The have little in common.
In conclusion, mad men is not roots, but not every show has to be roots.
Really interesting, and usual, take on Mad Men. I agree with another commenter who said that the show isn't about money and status -- it's about all the complexities people deal with day after day while they strive for an elusive "happiness." Sometimes a happy moment is captured in landing a deal or making a perfect pitch. Sometimes it's just being recognized by another human being. But usually, they just go moment after moment unsatisfied and unhappy. Betty's character was never one to emulate, thin or fat. You seem to think that her becoming fat was a way to show failure in some way, but Betty has always been a desperately unhappy and unpleasant woman.
Just as an aside, I realize the piece takes off from the line from your friend that Mad Men is a white person's Roots, but I find that an absurd comment, and condescending at that. It's not even a half-complete representation of the country at the time. It is very specific to Manhattan with people who have a great job -- as even the worst job there is a pretty good gig compared to other options. I love Mad Men. It's one of my favorite all-time shows. But comparing it in any way to Roots is ridiculous in the extreme. The post is great, but I have to ignore the lines about Roots because otherwise, Mad Men comes across as shallow and silly, even to me as a huge fan.
Interesting perspective.
I'm white and I don't like Mad Men, for essentially the same reasons - the whole thing feels very cliche to me. Certainly the larger themes it addresses (mostly obliquely, which is also a cliche) are cliche - "Civil Rights Movement in the 60s", "Feminism in the 60s", "Homosexuality in the 60s" &c. You can tell that the writers are certainly a product of their parents' generation.
Anyway, nice piece. Thanks.
Great characters, great period and always deals with the theme of superficiality. The world the characters sell in the show is superficial and they all know it. It's all conceptual without any real heart to it. The difference between Don Draper and the rest of the characters is that he IS living a lie 24 hours a day. He's still Dick Whitman even though a few characters know it. Perhaps that's the reason he's more sure footed than everyone else. He really IS what he is selling.
I never thought the show dealt with race but much more with superficiality. They behave as they do because they feel they are supposed to. Maybe that's why the show is so relevant today. The image that is sold today is just as superficial as it was then. I'm 41 so I can't really know for sure what it was like then but if it was anything like "Mad Men" I see no difference between then and now.
That's why I have a hard time understanding the article. I don't see race anywhere in this show, or maybe it's because I'm canadian I don't know. Because of the period there is segregation but that's circumstance. I just see a bunch of characters who try to function in the world they know... or think they know. I have a friend at work who is black and he brings his iPad every night (night shift) and on his breaks watches "The Bold and the Beautiful". The fact that it is a white cast doesn't seem to matter a damn to him. He wants to be rich and influential like the characters in that show.
I suspect trying to see things in terms of race is typically american.
A refreshing read. I don't get Mad Men either -- or rather, I'm indifferent to it. Self-absorbed white people trying to get ahead in the rat race and dressed in vintage clothing.
I don't know, man, I always took that Witness in the wire as someone speaking poetry as art, not merely talking and letting the white man interpret it. The rest of the show was filled with that self-awareness. As a matter of fact, that's what hooked me on it, not that McNulty was having a moment of epiphany, but that he was laughing at this dude on the street giving him real talk.
"But it's what Don and his people have to lose that ultimately renders it esoteric. The ultimate nightmare for these folks is to lose the lifestyle that government and industry have sold to them."
I don't know if that's really a fair interpretation. Other than the fleeting "golly look how expensive Don's new car is" moments, which almost happen by-proxy, Mad Men has never really been about economic conquest. It's about people trying to achieve happiness and fulfillment. What they stand to lose are their souls. The ultimate nightmare for these folks (and what happened to pretty much every single one of them, over the course of season 5) is to have everything they wanted, and realize it doesn't fill the hole.
Black people do indeed watch Mad Men. I'm certain I'm not alone based on the pics I see on the Facebook fan page. I think anytime a Back cultural critic advances the idea that "Black People don't..(fill in the blank)" it's a disservice to the diversity of Black culture and experiences. I dig Mad Men because it examines the price of happiness, the illusion of having it all, and the mythology of the majority. The shows characters are living scripted lives based on the ideals they're being sold. I think Mad Men has a lot in common with the Hip Hop music videos where everyone drives a Bentley, drink Cristal, and hangs by the pool all day. The folks that get burned are the one's that believe the hype. Mad Men seems to be saying, see the world as it is, not how you wish it to be.
Very interesting article. And this is coming from someone who has watched all 5 Seasons of Mad Men but still doesn't care much for the show pretty much for all the reasons you listed (and I usually don't just stop watching a show because once I get started, for the most part, I like to see where it goes. The only exception being Hawthorne which even I couldn't continue to put up with).
*sigh* One thing I do hate regarding articles like this that examine entertainment and media from a racial perspective is what i call the "Shiny Object Effect". Whereas the entire article is basically questioned, criticized, or written off because of one aspect of something that was written. Half the comments I've seen have brought up "The Wire". Which I've also watched too but I'm sitting here seeing the comments and rolling my eyes at how that show seems to be getting almost more mention than any discussion with the racial issues in Mad Men, because of an example you made almost in afterthought. Can't say I was surprised though since I've seen SOE more times than I can count. The second you made that comment about "The Wire" I knew the comments would largely reflect on it for many people, to the expense of pretty much everything else you had to say.
And I do see where you're coming from. When I first saw Mad Men in that opening scene where Don Draper is talking to that Black waiter as if his opinion actually means something, after the first couple of episodes I watched after I figured "I bet we see no more Blacks with even a casual role in this series despite being the 60s in New York" and I was right. Because I've seen tokenism before. And that first scene I saw really made me question the direction the show was going to go in in terms of race/casting/diversity. And suffice to say I wasn't surprised and since I kept my expectations low wasn't disappointed. I almost gave up on it then but decided to keep watching because the show was so popular.
I also wanted to address a comment made earlier: "I don't think you "get" Mad Men. I would say it's not about it's "white" or "blackness" -- this is a pretty racially 'blank' show -- you just seem to ignore that the whole show is based upon the cynicism inherent to people who have it all."
This is the problem with the entertainment industry today. Mad Men is very much a "White show". There's nothing "blank" about an all White cast. Anymore than Friends, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70's Show, Step by Step, Roseanne, Boy Meets World, Full House, Sex & the City, and countless other all White casted shows are "Blank". Those are "White Shows". The only difference is you can have a show full of Whites and nothing but Whites and it isn't considered anything except a movie or a show about people. As far as mainstream society is concerned there's nothing "White" about it despite everything about it being White and catering TO Whites. The minute you have a movie/show with all Blacks, all Asians, or all non-whites either the movie/show doesn't get the green light, or the casting is changed to make all the major characters/love interests White with a token minority here and there.
Movies/Shows with predominantly Black casts are labeled "Black movies" and tend to have much harder times being produced (ie: See George Lucas talking about Red Tails). It was why so many Whites couldn't understand what all the complaining was about when the casts of 21, Dragonball Z, Avatar the Last Airbender, Prince of Persia, etc all had casts that were made predominantly White or the head role was given to a White individual despite the fact the original plot/script/book/storyline is based on an ethnic character or ethnic group. Minorities saw what the problem was pretty much immediately. Many Whites who are used to seeing Whites as "Blank" in movies, television shows, commercials, magazines, etc despite dominating these industries already, didn't see a problem at all. And it's due to this "Blank" view of our entertainment industry that problems like this continue in our media.
For many Whites you can have a show with 10 White characters and 1 Black character, if that, and it's perfectly fine. For them it's simply 10 Blank people + 1 Black person = Diversity. For minorities it's 10 Whites + 1 Black person = tokenism.
I'm a black professional and I'm a fan of Mad Men. I've seen every episode. But it is indeed a white, white show. Whenever I give some analysis as to why a character did what they did, I ask myself, "What would I do in that situation?" Well, I would never be in that situation because I'm black. And my dad, who was a young man in the 60s would have never been in that situation because he's black. The show is very much about the upper-class urban white experience during a very socially and politically volatile time in America. I can't approach the show as if it's "blank." It is whiteness that gives these characters full range to be completely engrossed in something as superficial and douch-baggish as selling the American Dream in the form of products...beans, Jaguars, pantyhose...whatever.
But I think a part of the show (and maybe I made this up to appease my own guilt about enjoying show) is a criticism of the banality of whiteness and how it can completely protect already privileged people from very serious and complicated issues that were raging at that time. Black people couldn't get away from that and women, for the most part couldn't either. I find that point of tragedy in all the characters, particularly the men. Whiteness is their flaw. Race has been dealt with here and there, but it was treated more like a small annoyance than anything. They had that equal opportunity ad as a joke, then had to "hire one of them" just to shut the people up and get back to selling stuff.
The issue of sexism isn't handled that much more delicately either. Joan fucked her way into a partnership, because she had to, even though she's one of the smartest people in the office and Peggy only had a voice when a man was next to her, even though, the audience knows that she is extremely talented. The women are given the space to deal with the sexism of the 60s but the race stuff, Mad Men isn't touching that. Because to put a black character on the show as a professional equal, and to handle it authentically, would be to show the hazing, the inequality, the brute ugly force of race relations in America. Mad Men isn't build for that and the audience doesn't want to feel all that white guilt bubbling up. So yeah, its pretty damn white.
One day we will come full circle and be color blind. Until we reach that critical mass where we understand that color is a vibration like thoughts, like attitudes, like all things manifest, well,, we will continue to grapple with our low level, primitive, unevolved, consciousness and be stuck in seeing the world in Black and white...
You are missing the forest for the trees with all respect. I commend Matt Weiner for resisting all the pressures to accede to demands to include the civil rights, Viet Nam protests, and so forth in Mad Men with a quota of black or any particular group of actors. What is on his agenda during the five seasons so far exceeds these temporary historical events. Weiner is exploring through 'Don Draper' and the others huge existential questions about whether any human being can ever really change. The verdict is not in as we lawyers say but it does not look good. At the end of episode 13, season five Don is asked in a darkened bar 'Are you alone' while Nancy Sinatra sings 'You only Live Twice...' in a stunning ironic twist since 'Draper' indeed lived twice, first as Dick Whitman and now as Draper. This leaves in the dust any relevance to black and white issues raised by the author, and raises matters relevant for all human beings. What do any of us care about whether one or more actors 'of color' are in the series. I am certain Matt has studied whether as 'an historical fact' black men were in advertising agencies in the late 60s. I doubt they were. Lets see what happens next year. That said, it is not really all that important one way or the other, given the themes of alienation, and existential questions posed by Weiner matters relevant to all of us in 2012. I am disappointed you would focus on such a niche question in 2012, are we not really past all that!
Right on.
When Matthew Weiner recently said that 1967 is "too early" to be dealing with the civil rights movement, he's right... on his own ignorant terms. Which is to say that it's too early for his (white) characters to "care" about black Americans and/or civil rights... because they haven't yet been forced to pay attention. What this reveals is that Matthew Weiner has no more interest in civil rights than his 1960s characters do (which is why black characters are female and limited to brief, "exotic" girlfriends and closed-mouth maids––dropped or fired just as things begin to get interesting). Weiner obviously assumes that his (white!) audience has no more interest in black civil rights (or black characters) than he does. Sadly, the way (white!) people continue to fawn over the show, that might be true. I hope it's not. But I, for one, won't be watching next season...
Mad Men also doesn't care about ethnicity, queer characters, class issues... I find it to read as an extremely conservative show. It comes off to me as nostalgic for a time when the pasty normals "didn't have to" care about those outside of their own experience. I for one and sick of it. It showed signs of going in certain interesting directions and then it disappointed at every turn, opting to play it safe. They lost me.
I have to agree with other commenters on The Wire, though. I suggest giving it another watch. It's not perfect, but it's miles better than Mad Men.
I'm sorry, but this article comes across as a passive "oops, I didn't realize I was being racist" type of racism that white people often get accused of. A white journalist would never dare write an article with these types of words about an African American show. To do so would mean an immediate label of racist and ostracism by liberal media. One race should not be bound by rules of political correctness while another isn't. If this show is about anything, it is about the class system and the upper elite of Manhattan during the 60s. I'm white and I don't relate to the Manhattan penthouse apartments, expensive suits, and affairs with different woman every week. I still enjoy the show. Do you really think all white people are as financially well off as Don Draper and Roger Sterling? Your view is appallingly racist. This show doesn't confront the civil rights movement for the same reason it doesn't confront the counterculture movement and the male characters of the show seem oblivious to the women's movement: that class of people were oblivious and probably thought everything was fine during the 60s. It is still an interesting show about a moment in time for a specific group of Manhattan professionals. You shouldn't expect the show to be about something it isn't about.
I don't watch Mad Men, and I don't watch The Wire. I don't watch The Cosby Show either. I think your essay says more about your television view of the world than anything else. But, there is that great strain of "it's someone else's fault' for just about everything you come across. You only get one life, and it's sad to see you so caught up in unhappiness. Study some history, and not just the parts about you and the black world. You may get a new appreciation for the amazing times you live in. Or , judging from this essay, you won't. Go back to your TV then.
All your points are well taken and although I love this show I would be the first to say that for a show taking place in the 60's...it seems to utterly ignore the most important thing going on..i.e. the civil rights movement. I suppose Weiner might say that this is a reflection of how separate Whites and Blacks lived even in liberal New York in those days, and how the folks being portrayed really didnt feel affected by or take much interest in the experience of African Americans at the time. If that is so...then the experience of those left out should be portrayed in contrast. We never learn much about the long suffering house keeper. We catch only a glimpse of the few African Americans that appear on the show once in a great while.
That said...I just can't resist to take you up on the challenge you posed:
"It would be interesting to see what Quentin Tarantino, a product of multi-ethnic working class neighborhoods in L.A., would do behind the camera on a 'Mad Men' episode."
I suspect it might go like this:
Draper and Sterling pull up to a traffic light. They pull Extra-Large thick-shakes out of a Burger King bag, insert straws and continue an ongoing conversation.
Camera views the interior of the car from the passenger's side, centered on Draper over Sterling left of frame.
Draper: "I'm tellin' you, ten years and you'll be seeing these all over."
Sterling: "No. No, I just don't see it. McDonald's maybe, but this place is really for -
A car screeches around the corner. Shots fly out. Draper and Sterling duck as the driver's side window shatters.
Sterling: "It's BBD&O!"
Draper: "They call this a campaign? It lacks subtlety. It's devoid of human interpersonal warmth. Trust me--it won't sell."
The camera, focused on Don, swings around him 180 degrees to reveal him from through the driver's side wiindow
The previously unseen side of his face is now revealed to be bleeding profusely, riddled with bullet-holes to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.
He continues to talk as if nothing were the matter: "Gentlemen, I propose we allow their campaign to fail on its own merrits, then introduce a counter offer complete with point-of-purchase merchandising..."
I'm super interested in how many responses are urging you to watch 'The Wire"!
I personally have found 'Mad Men' very difficult to watch, primarily because, as a female professional in a male-dominated workplace, the sexism of the show REALLY bums me out. Of course it's historically accurate and making a larger point, but I experience sexism every day and it's just not what I want to do with my leisure time.
I really appreciate how the author is not saying the show is bad because it is poetry for white people (I agree with his analysis). Roots for white people? Not so much, we have no comparative model for that. Some would argue that Joan selling herself for the Jaguar account had some relationship with Kizzy, but I would disagree. Joan had some choice is that tragic interaction, Kizzy had none.
I am African American.Queer, non-monogamous, woman. When I first saw the show my reaction was very similar to yours - suspicious of the writers' intent. It took years before I rewatched the show. When I did, suddenly all that was aggravating and bland about it became deeply satisfying.
I think it appears at first to glorify a gluttonous white male dominated world and ignore race completely but that is precisely the perspective it is critiquing. I believe it is one of those self-reflective-critiques that spares no one. Everyone (mostly white and male) is implicated as a bigot. I think the intention is to depict this dominant perspective through a modern psychoanalytical lens so that the bigotry and narrowness of it appears just as stark as it does offensive. The message is in the shock and discomfort we feel.
I think you really do have to analyze something more in-depth to successfully critique it than you have. While I look to others' for their insight about the way the show handles race, I don't see it as an afterthought.
I think what satisfies me is the way it handles gender and domestic life more than anything. And there was not one mention of gender in you article, I think. You said it seemed like money and status were really the focus of the interactions. I see gender. Women are constantly disparaged and discriminated against. And that is not central to this era but to how human societies have been constructed.
And Lolita questions the same thing - how women have been treated thoughout the ages averywhere - and after waching the show more I see Lolitas everywhere.


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11:22 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
The City of Wyandotte VFW Post 1136 is selling Christmas trees. There are many different sizes and varieties to choose from along with wreaths. Reasonably priced. Veterans and active military get a discount. Sale has started and runs weekdays from 4pm til 10pm and weekends 12pm to 6pm. Trees are located in the post parking lot. Come get your trees and support your local Veterans.   more ›


text: We are in the month of April and the campus is operating at maximum levels in all categories. Academically, final projects, presentations and exams are looming. You may hear your students talk about preparing for an aggressive finals week May 6-11. The faculty is busy grading and evaluating students, challenging master's degree student in their thesis defense meetings, and ordering books for next fall. Click to read more >


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1. | magick | ||
1. An effort to make a change in ones life by using ones own personal energy and the energy of surrounding elements.
The "K" was brought back into use by Aleister Crowley in the 1900's to differentiate it from magic, the slight of hand tricks that became popular in the time. Most common belief is that Magick is evil and should not be tampered with; or is only possesed by "chosen" ones. Both of these statements are false. Among my studies of the different forms of magick, I find the sacred arts of Abramelin to be the best foundation for developing your magickal abilities.
2. | Magick | ||
Not to be confused with stage "magic." Magick is art of utilizing natural forces around us to bring about change. Magick is neutral, neither good, nor evil. The practitioner decides how they would like to focus this natural energy. Magick is a powerful tool that you can use to bring about positive changes in your life.
3. | magick | ||
Originally spelt 'magick' on the end by Crowley to differentiate it from stage 'magic', the art of magick is difficult to define, yet can best be described as the ability to manipulate what is in the material world by will. Some people use tools and others visualisation, some practice solitary and others in covens. Magick is universal. So you practice magick then?
4. | magick | ||
1. ceremonial, witchcraft, etc. spelled with a k to differentiate it from slight of hand/illusionist magic (spelling often attributed to Aleister Crowley)
2." the art of changing consciousness at will" -Dion Fortune Sue: My ex-husband practiced ceremonial magick.
Bob: You mean like card tricks? Sue: No, like the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, jeesh! True magick is neither illusion nor make believe, but an extension of imagination, emotion, and will used for the art of transformation (whether material or spiritual). |
5. | magick | ||
the act (practice) of manipulating and directing energy according to your will so as to accomplish the desired goal. Magick is not for kids.
Magick, particularly the successful one, requires mastery. |
6. | magick | ||
While phonetically the same as magic, the usage of this spelling denotes that the writer is either (1) an elementary school student who's flunking Spelling (possibly the rebellious type too hip to study or believe in Santa Clause), or (2) a young or full grown adult who refuses to grow up and believes that magic is real (possibly due to the childhood trauma of learning that Santa Clause wasn't real; as a result the victims immersed themselves into a world of utter fantasy, a more secure one that's much more difficult to disprove). Rodney Wrong: Heck! Miss Preachy, I got a D on my spelling test.
Miss Preachy: That's because you misspelled some words. See there, magic is m-a-g-i-c, and there is no "k". Rodney Wrong: But I saw it spelled like this just the other day, in a published book called "Magick for Morons" and I... Miss Preachy: Don't lie to me! No educated full grown adult would ever publish a book, even if it was nonsense, if they misspelled magic; now would they? Rodney Wrong: But... Miss Preachy: SILENCE! Rodney Wrong: ...@$#%!... Miss Preachy: You know what, Rodney? My parent-teacher conference with your mother is coming up. Maybe I can tell her about what a naughty, NAUGHTY boy you've been. On top of that, maybe Santa Clause won't bring you any presents this year, maybe... Rodney Wrong: {sobbing loud} That's fine because momma already told me that Santa Clause isn't real! {Rodney proceeds to kick Miss Preachy in her shin and runs out of the room crying} - - - - - - - Naive Ned: Cool, you guys brought your cards. What are you playing? I brought my Legolas and Gimli decks. Down for some L-O-T-R R-P-G? Waldo Warlock: We're not PLAYING anything. We're doing magick, magick with an i-c-k. This is serious business. {scoffs} There's more to life than Lord of the Rings. Naive Ned: Yeah right, my name isn't Gullible Gunther. I've been at this gaming stuff a long time to know that Magic the Gathering IS a game, and it IS spelled with an i-c, not an i-c-k. It's cool... |
7. | magick | ||
Old spelling of the word magic.
Now used by wanna-blessed-be's. I use Olde Magick! OMG!!!one


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DURANT -— The Durant Lions were looking for revenge against it's arch rivals the Ada Cougars on Tuesday night after a sweep at Ada's home court last week. However, the Lady Cougars blew by the Lady Lions to the tune of 62-47 and the Lions loss to the Cougars in a tight battle 46-44.
The old saying goes, "Sometimes you can play a great game and still lose." With a little help from the referees.
Durant trailed the Cougars 41-45 with only 5.3 seconds in the game when Cole Hughes brought the his team within one point after he hit a 3-pointer. Only 4.1 seconds showed on the clock and the Lions got the inbound ball down the court to Jalen Harris. Harris hit the key and went up for shot and collided with an Ada player in mid-air and missed the shot.
But, there was a no-call by the referee and the game ended with Harris not going to the line to shoot two free throws.
"I'm just proud of the boys. They played their hearts out and just fell a little short." said head coach Jason Wilkerson.
The Cougars jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first period as shots weren't going down for the Lions. However, the Lions clawed back and went on a 6-to-4 run to close out the period and trailed 15-8.
The Lions found it's momentum in the second period and disrupted the Cougars offense. The Lions began the period with a 4-to-0 run with help from Lion Will Engle's 3-pointer. The score was 14-15 in favor of the Cougars, when Zac Cater and Engle tied the game at 19 with 2:33 left in the first half. But the Cougars grabbed the lead back after a 3-pointer and the Lions trailed 22-19.
The Cougars still had a small lead after the third period, 32-29. Then the game got intense in the last period.
The Lions fought hard in the final frame. With score 33-36 in favor the Cougars, the Lions Engle would hit a lay-up, Cater hit a 3-pointer and Hughes got three points the from the free throw line to cut into the Cougars lead 41-43. But the fell in the final seconds of the game.
The Lions begin a three game road trip starting with Hugo this Friday night.
Cater led all scoring for Durant with 14 points, Engle had 12 points along with Hughes 12 points, Skye Lowe has 4 points.
The Lady Lions took control of the game early in the first half with a 33-26 half time lead. But in the second half things fell apart for the Lady Lions and let the Lady Cougars slip by with the win.
Durant came out humming in the first period as Katie Caraway, Riley Richards and Rheagan Jones all hit 3-pointers that put the Lady Lions ahead 18-11 after one period of play.
Again the Lady Lions kept the surging Lady Cougars at bay with 3-pointers from Shelbi Barrett and R. Richards. Morgan Steve pitched in 4 points as the Lady Lions went into half time with 33-26 lead.
Then things took a turn for the worse in the third period as the Lady Lions shooting went cold and the Lady cougars took a 34-33 lead after a 8-to-0 run to begin the period. Then the Ada went on another run of 10-to-4 run to end the period and the Lady Lions trailed 44-37 heading into the fourth period.
The Lady Cougars put the game away in the fourth period with 14-to-3 run that ended with 2:48 left in the game. The Lions would finally get on the scoredboard in the last minutes of the game, but it was too little, too late.
Caraway had 9 points, Jones had 8 points, both R. Richards and Alexa Richards had 6 points and Sierra Wilhite had 7 points.


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May 25: Which opportunities are drawing interest from entrepreneurs and their customers? More
Rimrock Ranch was a retreat for Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and other actors. Today, urbanites rent cabins to connect with nature and enjoy desert calm.
Investors have been rattled this week amid signs that some Fed officials are concerned the central bank is being too accommodative.
Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones says women with children can't be 'great' traders.
Universa, which places big bets on 'black swan' hedging, has seen a record inflow.
Charities, including the Red Cross and Salvation Army, are raising millions of dollars in the wake of the deadly Oklahoma tornado.
Electric car network runs out of gas.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones says, controversially, once women have kids, their investment prowess is 'overwhelmed.'
The maps app is loved by its 50 million users ... so much that Apple, Facebook and Google have all reportedly shown interest in buying the company.
For investors in the United States, buying Samsung shares is a complicated and even risky endeavor.
Investors expect global markets will keep grinding higher after a short period of volatility.
Patent-rich Vermont is the first state to pass a law cracking down on bad-faith claims of patent infringement, a growing problem for entrepreneurs nationwide.
Agency wants to simplify spectrum auctions to stave off a cell phone bandwidth crisis.
The 79 tornadoes that hit over three days in 10 states caused billions in losses, with most of damage concentrated in Moore, Oklahoma.
As the sequester continues, the poor seem to have taken a deeper hit from the budget cuts. But programs that benefit private industries have so far won reprieves.
The unemployment rate for immigrants may match that for native-born workers. But immigrants tend to make much less.
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Optics InfoBase > Journal of Display Technology
Mean level signal crossing rate for an arbitrary stochastic process: reply to comment
In vivo flow speed measurement of capillaries by photoacoustic correlation spectroscopy
High-accuracy three-dimensional position measurement of tens of micrometers size transparent microspheres using digital in-line holographic microscopy
Combined velocity and temperature imaging of gas flow in an engine cylinder
Fiber-coupled, 10 kHz simultaneous OH planar laser-induced fluorescence/particle-image velocimetry
Laser velocimetry with fluorescent dye-doped polystyrene microspheres
Large-aperture, tapered fiber–coupled, 10-kHz particle-image velocimetry
Speckle-based three-dimensional velocity measurement using spatial filtering velocimetry
Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging for quantitative velocity imaging in air
Nonmechanical transverse scanning laser Doppler velocimeter using wavelength change
Simultaneous velocity and temperature measurements in gaseous flowfields using the vibrationally excited nitric oxide monitoring technique: a comprehensive study
Spatial filtering velocimetry of objective speckles for measuring out-of-plane motion
Digital simulation of two-dimensional random fields with arbitrary power spectra and non-Gaussian probability distribution functions
Objective speckle velocimetry for autonomous vehicle odometry
Nonmechanical axial scanning laser Doppler velocimeter with directional discrimination
Uncertainty in velocity measurement based on diode-laser absorption in nonuniform flows
Heterodyne laser Doppler vibrometers integrated on silicon-on-insulator based on serrodyne thermo-optic frequency shifters
Parallax correction for precise near-wall flow investigations using particle imaging
Measurement of dynamic characteristics of metal sheet under laser shock
Direct visualization and characterization of erythrocyte flow in human retinal capillaries
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Lamango wrote:OH BUT LAMANGO, GODZILLA'S BEEN AROUND FOR FIFTY YEARS, HE'S MORE WELL KNOWN IN THE UNITED STATES!" Bullfrigginhorseshit. Chances are, the only reason they know of Godzilla is because of GINO, Revenge, Megalon, or GFW.
Uhhh.... do you really think if I go up to a random person on the street and ask them about any of those they will know them? No, they wouldn't. If GINO was the only reason they knew of Godzilla, how come a lot of people hated it yet it did well at the box office? Because he's a well known name and a american big budget adaptation got a lot of people excited to see their favorite giant monster be brought to the big screen. And don't forget Godzilla was popular during the 60's and 70's as I recall they were actually shown in american theatres the most notiable I know of is King Kong vs Godzilla. So yeah, chances are they know of the big G not from ANY of those films(seriously, who the hell would know of Final Wars outside of the fanbase?) but rather the name itself and what he's famous for.
@Thunderscore: Question. Who's the guy with the long white hair?


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Teroforma Whiskey Stones
These little rocks might be one of the greatest 'inventions' ever. I'm not the biggest whiskey drinker there is, but I do like a sip of the water of life every now and again. I, like a lot of other guys I would surmise, have always always wanted to be a bit of a Scotch connoisseur as well. Made from Vermont soapstone, these whiskey stones from Teroforma maintain cold. Throw them in the freezer and put a couple in that dram of single malt. They won't dilute it and you won't have to choke down a warm glass of neat firewater. I really wish I had a couple the other day when it took me an hour to share a glass of Glenfarclas with my old man. Read more about them here.


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SEMA: Vaughn Gittin's carbon delight RTR-C Mustang
Out there in the crazy custom cars wold, Mustangs must be one of the most frequent choices. First of all because it's a damn hot car, secondly because it's such a legend, and thirdly cause it's easy to tune it up. Among the custom Mustangs in the Ford booth, Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s carbon fiber RTR-C Mustang has to be the King of Kings at the moment.
The carbon fiber body panels are the real deal. According to Vaughn, the lightweight material saves 400-500 pounds, although some of that weight is added back thanks to the supercharger, larger brakes and headers. In total, the car weighs in at just over 3,350 pounds. But beyond these number that maybe speak little to some, this is one looker indeed sir. The exterior look is all about contrasts, shiny and blingy here and dark carbon there.
Inside, the Sparco seats are also constructed of carbon fiber, and the rear seats have been taken out and replaced with a tasteful leather-covered panel. Attentio to detail was the master move in this piece of car art, even the RTR logos are all hand made and individualized.
Vaughn will be selling a limited run of just 10 RTR-C Mustangs. Now If you love the Mustang, love drifting and love carbon delights, you probably won't hesitate to let go of some $135,000, would you? Well, maybe it's a bit spicy but you will own the most hard`n`heave Mustang out there.
And by the way, here are some specs:
- Engine: 4.6L Aluminator V8 with Ford Racing Supercharger
- Tires: Front: 255/40-18 Azenis RT615 Rear: 295/40-18 Azenis RT615
- Filtration: K&N Air, Oil & Breather Filters
- Clutch: Exedy Twin Plate
- Suspension: Tein coilovers
- Brakes: Wilwood front and rear big brake kit
- HP/Torque: 680 horsepower, 700 ft.lbs of torque


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Lubricant Spray, 16-oz. Aerosol Can
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Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish, Lemon Scent, 15 oz. Aerosol Can, 12/Carton
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Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish, 15 oz. Aerosol


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Information on cacao and chocolate in Hawaii and about the Hawaii State-wide -Cacao Variety Trial in 2010. Co-moderated by ChocolateLife member Skip Bittenbender of the University of Hawaii. Group badge photo by ChocolateLife member Koa Kahili.
Location: Hawaii
Members: 86
Latest Activity: on Friday
Started by Melanie Boudar. Last reply by Anne C. Baird Apr 19, 2012. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Inviting you all to explore and/or join the new non-profit Hawaii Chocolate & Cacao Assnwww.hawaiichocolate.orgWe gave our first workshop at the…Continue
Started by Mike Pastore. Last reply by Mike Pastore Dec 22, 2011. 4 Replies 0 Likes
Aloha! I've read that less than 10% of world cacao production is of a high enough quality to be used for "confectionary" chocolate. I'm curious. Does anyone know what percentage of Hawaiian cacao…Continue
Started by Dan Corson. Last reply by Dan Corson Oct 22, 2011. 3 Replies 0 Likes
Aloha, I am making a post for my friend Tom Sharkey on the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. He has some beans for sale and is willing to do large and small orders. Think of this as an…Continue
Started by david castellan. Last reply by david castellan Oct 4, 2011. 2 Replies 1 Like
Aloha Hawaii cacao group It was really pricey but we finally made some Hawaiianchocolate. We visited Derek Lanter at Skip's suggestion a while ago and were impressed by the farm at Wailua. So if you…Continue
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© 2013 Created by Clay Gordon.


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The Scottish government has launched a £60 million campaign to help tackle the impact of price rises from energy suppliers.
Designed particularly with young families in mind, the Energy Assistance Package was launched by Alex Neil, the housing and communities minister.
Assistance will be provided to make sure families in Glasgow are receiving the benefits they are entitled to and are paying the right energy tariffs. In addition, energy-efficient measures such as cavity wall and loft insulation will be provided to many households.
Mr Neil said: "The most vulnerable members of society will be targeted - pensioners and for the first time, low-income families. I want to see incomes boosted, fuel bills reduced and energy efficiency improved in homes."
He added that the intention was to reduce the number of Scottish homes currently living in fuel poverty, which at the moment comprises a quarter of all Scottish households.
A series of price rises from energy companies last year are thought to have pushed the fuel poverty figure past five million.
If you want to find out more about your energy options and how you could save up to £378 in minutes, click here.
Save up to £300 on your gas & electricity bills at energyhelpline.com
Compare prices from all energy suppliers to find your best deal


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4 New Ways Technology Allows Members To Give
Technology is changing rapidly. Among the many ways technology is shaping how we do church is in the area of giving. Technology allows members to give:
5 Posts You Need to Read About Online Giving Before Sunday
If your church isn't already offering the ability for your members to give online, you are most likely talking about it. The demand is rising as the habits of our culture change in relation to how we exchange money. (Some airlines are no longer accepting cash for snacks or beverages in flight.)
Below are five popular posts about online giving just in case you missed a few along the way:
10 Things Every Church Can Do to Prepare for Fall Events
Fall is one of the busiest times for church events and on-campus activities. From back-to-school parties to Fall Break discipleship weekends to church-wide programs around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It can feel like a tornado just hit your staff if you don't proactively deal with a few logistical details in advance.
As you're dreaming big about the fall ministry season, consider doing these 10 things to take control of your fall scheduling and avoid feeling overwhelmed:
How to Promote Online Giving with...Direct Mail?
The first time you introduced online giving to your church, you probably expected a mass shift of people to move from writing checks to giving online...immediately. After a few months or even a year, you realize only 5 to 15 percent of your total contributions actually come from online sources like automated bank drafts, debit cards, and credit cards.
Online Ticketing Improves Community Event Experience
Your church only has one chance to make a good first impression.
Events are meant to make an impression, and every church wants their next event to be remembered as a special one. You want the registration process to be so smooth that they remember how significant the event was rather than how frustrating or difficult the event process was to endure. This becomes even more important when your event is designed to draw from the larger community or even people from out of town.
6 Ways Small Churches can Benefit from Online Event Registration
The two most pressing realities of doing ministry in a small church setting are limited staff and limited time. Most small churches only have one full-time staff member while others can only afford a bi-vocational or part-time pastor.
The good news is ServiceU is helping streamline the event registration. While small church leaders might think online event registration is only something that larger churches can benefit from, the reality is that small churches have even more to benefit from offering the chance for others to register for ministry events online.
Reduce Facility Energy Cost by 20% with Automated Climate Control
What do the facility director, finance director, and ministry leader all have in common? Each person plays a critical role in managing church facilities for maximum ministry impact.
The facility director knows that managing facilities is more than turning on and off the lights and making sure the doors to the church are locked. The finance director wants to control utility costs. The ministry leader just knows he or she needs to use this room for that event.
12 Benefits of Dumping your Paper-Based Church Calendar
Maintaining a church calendar can be overwhelming, even for a church of one hundred people. Think about what it must be like for a church of one thousand members or more? When every church operated in similar fashion, people found a rhythm between Sundays, Wednesdays, and other service, learning, and worship opportunities throughout the week. Now every church has a slightly different schedule. And the more generations represented in your family, the more likely the complexity is magnified.
Online Giving isn't Limited to Credit Cards
Perhaps one of the most common objections to offering online giving options in church is an aversion on behalf of key lay and staff leadership to credit cards. While not inherently evil, credit cards have become the universal, American symbol for debt. Given that credit card debt accounts for much of Americans' non-mortgage debt, it seems like a reasonable concern.


text: As lawsuits move through the system, the public debate rages on over Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's school voucher plan. The new law would send poor kids from failing public schools to private educators with taxpayer dollars. "Our kids only have one chance to grow up and get a great eduction, we think the dollars should follow the child," Jindal said. Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan says taking fund away from public educators is not the answer. "We have to have strong public schools, and anything that goes in the opposite direction is not something that I can support," Duncan told WWL First News. The governor said, "We think parents know what is best for their children, not bureaucrats sitting in Washington DC." The two big teachers' unions in Louisiana are suing to stop the vouchers at the same time the state is signing up students to receive the vouchers for the coming school year.


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Alternative Titles
History of the American Cinema, Volume 8 (GVRL)
"The Sixties" by Paul Monaco (2001)
This 10-volume series considers the film industry from its early roots in the 19th century through the 1980s. It examines the development of film and the film industry, analyzing both the genres, themes and technology that defined each decade and the political and economic background that gave rise to them. Included as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.
1960 - 1969
Stable URL


text: It seems to be the norm these days to have a koozie when you go out with friends so your cold beverage doesn't make your hands moist or even freeze. Same goes for weddings. At a hot outdoor reception I love to see a bartender hands guests a beer already in the koozie. You can hand out koozies through out the reception or you can make them part of the party favor or travel bags for wedding guests. Koozies are easy to design with fun fonts, colors, and witty sayings/mottos that accompany the wedding date and the bride and groom's names. They are also relatively inexpensive. These festive wedding favors can be used every day and last indefinitely, so every time your friends have a cold one, they can think of the happy couple and the amazing time they had at your wedding.


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Lacey said a tour of the county showed a lot of downed trees over power lines and roadways and many road and power crews working to clear roads and restore power.
The latest figures from Georgia Power show that there are 950 residents still without power in the Northwest Georgia area -- 550 of those are in Polk County. Rome still has 340 without power.
He said one house was left unlivable. That home is in the Fountain Heights neighborhood in Rockmart. Lacey said that area was struck especially hard.
Cedartown didn't have any buildings that were damaged, although there are many residents without power, he said.
The remaining 14 homes were scattered throughout the county, Lacey said. Those homes had mostly roof damage.