text:
VICTORIA — Toward the end of an effective critique of the B.C. Liberal handling of BC Hydro Monday, Opposition critic John Horgan was asked what he would do were he put in charge of the giant public utility later this year.
"Well, as my mother used to say," he replied, "when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
Yes. But what specifically did that mean?
Horgan had just finished detailing how the Liberals saddled Hydro with myriad problems. A surplus of electricity. Locked-in overpayments of hundreds of millions of dollars to private power producers. And every prospect of a "rate shock" in the near future.
Should the New Democrats win the May election, party leader Adrian Dix is already on record as saying Horgan would be appointed minister of energy. So how would he proceed?
First and foremost, Horgan told reporters one of the things he would not do. For all of the criticisms of those Liberal-engineered deals with private power producers, "we won't rip up contracts ... ripping up contracts invites litigation."
Indeed it does. Just ask the Liberals about the continuing legal fallout from their contract-shredding round with the public sector unions.
Instead, says Horgan, the New Democrats would try to initiate a three-way conversation involving government, Hydro and the producers themselves, aimed at shaving rates, spreading out the risk or otherwise getting a better deal for the public.
Then would come the larger job of trying to sort out "what our long-term power needs are." That would mean involving "the smart people at BC Hydro" and their counterparts at a revitalized and independent B.C. Utilities Commission, which was too often read out of the picture by the interfering B.C. Liberals.
Horgan envisions a full-blown review, including extensive public hearings, with Hydro having to defend its projections against all comers, before securing approval for what would be its first credible long-term power plan in a decade.
Fair enough as a planning exercise. Readily defensible on the campaign trail. Still, the Horgan approach would probably mean two years of stasis on the energy planning front, as the usual suspects went at it through the public hearings and policy review process.
Meanwhile, the energy sector would continue to unfold in its usual, volatile fashion, a point underscored by a panel the Liberals themselves appointed two years ago to review their own energy planning
"These policies were developed in an environment where economic growth was strong, natural gas prices were high and B.C. and other jurisdictions were cooperating to put a price on carbon through a carbon tax and/or cap and trade," it noted, referring back to the heady days of 2007. "In this environment it was seen as desirable that B.C. develop its clean and renewable energy potential for both domestic and export markets."
Then came the credit crunch and the global economic downturn. Industrial demand slackened. A North America-wide carbon trading scheme faltered. Then a breakthrough in the development of shale gas roiled continental energy markets.
All by way of saying that today's assumptions could be mocked by events in much the same way as the conventional wisdom of 2007.
Horgan half conceded the point Monday, when he acknowledged that markets were not going to wait while the New Democrats conducted all those necessary reviews of Hydro's plans and forecasts.
Still he insisted that the electricity surplus means there is no need to rush, haste being another of the vices of the Liberal years, as he sees it.
But again, it strikes me that an NDP government might be grateful for the surplus sooner than expected.
To mention just one possibility, the province is under enormous pressure to get on with developing liquefied natural gas for export markets, the better to exploit higher prices in Asian markets and to shore up production against loss of customers to cheaper supplies of gas elsewhere in North America.
LNG terminals need great gobs of power. Elsewhere in the world, this is done by consuming some of the gas to make the liquefied version of the product.
But the New Democrats have serious reservations about going that route because of the greenhouse gas emissions that would be generated. So the fallback might have to be using some of Hydro's surplus of electricity, albeit (according to the NDP analysis) at loss-leader prices.
"Normally a surplus is a positive thing," as Horgan himself conceded Monday. And that observation, too, was underscored in the Liberal panel.
"BC Hydro is a significant asset to the province, having provided relatively low-cost power to residents of British Columbia, including industry and commercial consumers, for over 50 years. This has helped make B.C. an attractive place to live and a competitive place to do business."
In an election year, Horgan is well-positioned to make political hay from the spectacle of Hydro paying too much for power because of Liberal interference.
But if he and his colleagues do form the next government, they may discover one thing worse — Hydro having not enough power at a competitive price and investors walking away from B.C. because of it.


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text:
- Status : Released
- Release Date of film : 2001-04-24
- Original title : A Knight's Tale
- Tagline : He Will Rock You
- Movie Genre : Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance,
- Languages ??spoken : English
- Film Note : -movie_rating-
- Societies of production : Columbia Pictures Corporation
- Vote Count : 204
- Duration of movie : 132
- Average rate : 6.3
- Youtube Id : -youtube_id-
- Heath Ledger Character (Sir William Thatcher / Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland)
- Rufus Sewell Character (Count Adhemar of Anjou)
- Shannyn Sossamon Character (Lady Jocelyn)
- Paul Bettany Character (Geoffrey Chaucer)
- Laura Fraser Character (Kate)
- Mark Addy Character (Roland)
- Alan Tudyk Character (Wat)
- James Purefoy Character (Edward, the Black Prince of Wales/Sir Thomas Colville)
- Brnice Bejo Character (Christiana)
A Knight's Tale Synopsis:
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Brian Helgeland Job as : Director, Brian Helgeland Job as : Author, Todd Black Job as : Producer, Brian Helgeland Job as : Producer, Tim Van Rellim Job as : Producer, Carter Burwell Job as : Original Music Composer, Richard Greatrex Job as : Director of Photography, Kevin Stitt Job as : Editor, Francine Maisler Job as : Casting, Tony Burrough Job as : Production Design, John Hill Job as : Art Direction, Dominic Smithers Job as : Set Decoration, Jiri Zucek Job as : Set Decoration, Caroline Harris Job as : Costume Design,
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Events for August 10, 2019
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12:00 pm
Women in Transition Group
A safe space to share, reflect, and explore personal experiences and concerns, to learn coping strategies, and receive emotional support around different issued women face at different stages in life. Topics include: changes in relationships, career/education transitions, changes in family roles, financial status changes, cultural changes, changes in health and aging. Call 323.937.1345 x 3255 to schedule […]Find out more »
Intake for Individuals
No reservation needed, just walk-in. $20 fee for your intake session; your regular fee will be set during that first meeting.Find out more »


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text:
Jerry Seinfeld got more than he bargained for when he joined a celebrity panel to discuss "Curb Your Enthusiasm," crossing verbal swords with his tempermental old pal and show creator Larry David.
David was watching the filming in the wings and wasn't happy with Seinfeld's critique of David's onscreen behavior. He let Seinfeld know it.
"It got heated," Susie Essman tells PopcornBiz. "Not heated angry, but heated disagreeing."
Seinfeld even conceded a few argument points, which David seemed to ignore.
"At one point Larry was arguing with us and we were agreeing with him, but he kept arguing," says Essman.
David explained in a conference call that he and Seinfeld argued about the famous "doll's head" episode in season two. "Jerry said I should have put the doll's head in my pocket instead of my crotch," says David. "I said it was too big to fit in my pocket. It got pretty heated."
"It ended the way our discussions usually end, with each of waving dismissively at each other."
The heated "Curb" discussions will become a regular event starting Wednesday nights on the TV Guide Network. The network will begin airing every "Curb" episode with a celebrity panel discussing the moral implications of each show, moderated by show regular Susie Essman.
Essman tells us that David often watches the panel discussions, but the guests are not afraid of his presence. "There are a lot of people who feel very free to talk about what a narcissist Larry's character is with Larry sitting there," says Essman. "I think he enjoys it."


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Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt and Vinegar
I wanted to make salt and vinegar chips, since those are some of my favorite flavors, and I found I liked the kale best when the salt was added after roasting. I didn't think my final kale chips were my most photogenic batch, and I don't know if adding the vinegar made the kale chips turn more brown, but I didn't care how photogenic they were because I loved the taste. Anyway, there is certainly no one perfect way to make kale chips, but this is how I did it.
Here's how many pieces I got from the 6 oz. bunch of kale in the top photo.
Here are the chips after they roasted for 10 minutes.
This is how they looked after 20 minutes.
A little more crispy after 30 minutes.
Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt and Vinegar
(Makes 2-3 servings of kale chips, recipe adapted by Kalyn with inspiration from many other bloggers who also made kale chips.)
one small bunch of kale, about 6 oz.
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 T vinegar (I used Spanish sherry vinegar, but any vinegar you like the flavor of will work)
sea salt to taste
Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard, then tear the kale leaves into same-size pieces. (I made my pieces about the size of a small potato chip.) Wash torn kale pieces and spin dry in a salad spinner or dry with paper towels until they're very dry.
Put kale pieces into a large Ziploc bag (or use a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily.) Add half of the 1 T of olive oil, seal bag, and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces. Add the other half tablespoon of oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly "massaged."
Open the Ziploc bag and sprinkle the 1 T sherry vinegar over the kale leaves, then seal bag and shake to spread the vinegar out over all the leaves.
Arrange kale leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet, then roast until they are mostly crisp, about 35 minutes. I checked every 10 minutes or so and turned some pieces over. I also found I didn't mind if there were a few softer parts on some of the kale leaves, I liked the combination of crisp and softer parts.
When chips are done to your liking, sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt and eat immediately.
Click Here for Printer Friendly Recipe
South Beach Diet / Low-Carb Diet Suggestions:
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Nutritional Information?
More and More and More Bloggers Made Kale Chips!
Roasted Kale Chips from Eat Real
Salt and Vinegah Kale Chips from Big Red Kitchen
Baked Crispy Kale from Steamy Kitchen
How to Make Kale Chips (video) from Dani Spies
Acorn Squash Soup with Roasted Kale Chips from Not Eating Out in New York
Baked Kale Crisps from Once Upon a Plate
Baked Kale Chips from Chez Us
Crispy Salty Kale Chips from A Veggie Venture
Baked Kale Chips from Shutterbean
Kale Chips from Food Loves Writing
Roasted Kale from Lettuce Eat Kale
Dehydrated Kale and Kale Round-up from I Heart Kale
Baked Kale Chips from Tinkering with Dinner
Kale Chips from The Kitchn
Baked Kale Chips from The Arugula Files
Kale Chips from Dishing Up Delights
Kale Chips from Local Forage
Nutrient Dense Delicious Kale Chips from the Omnivore's Solution
Roasted Kale from Frugal Cooking
Kale Chips Rule from Carrots and Cake
Kale Chips from Woman with a Whisk
Have You Made Kale Chips and Written About it?


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text:
Here is the latest Chad Ford mock draft with the first five picks. You need to be an ESPN insider – which I am – to see the remainder of the first round. I agree with a four of the five picks, but I think that the Hasheem Thabeet and Ricky Rubio could switch and I am not convinced that James Harden is the fifth best player in this draft, but he is more NBA ready than most other shooting guards.
I can tell you that with No. 6 – the MN Wolves pick is predicted to take Tyreke Evans. I am warming to Evans, I will explain more later.
|L.A. Clippers
|Blake Griffin
|Position: PF
Height: 6-10
Weight: 248 pounds
Age: 20
School: Oklahoma
Analysis:For the past several years, we've been blessed with at least a little suspense when it comes to who will be the No. 1 pick. Not this year. Griffin is going to be a Clipper. Sources around the league say that trade talks with the Clippers are virtually nonexistent when it comes to Griffin. Instead the Clippers are focusing on finding a new home for Chris Kaman or Zach Randolph.
|Hasheem Thabeet
|Position: C
Height: 7-3
Weight: 267
Age: 22
School: Connecticut
Analysis: The Grizzlies' situation continues to be an enigma.
They are talking to a number of teams about a potential trade, and the Kings, Wizards, Knicks, Rockets and Celtics have shown interest in moving up to No. 2.
At the same time, the Grizzlies continue to publicly pursue Ricky Rubio, although a well-placed source in the point guard's camp said it's likely (though not definite) that Rubio will skip Memphis when he goes on a three-city U.S. tour next week. And there have been rumblings that Tyreke Evans is in the mix in Memphis.
But when the dust clears, it looks as though the most likely scenario has Thabeet in Memphis on draft night, if the Grizzlies keep the pick. If they move down, add Jordan Hill to the players who would be under consideration.
|Oklahoma City
|Ricky Rubio
|Position: PG
Height: 6-4
Weight: 180
Age: 18
Country: Spain
Analysis:The Thunder have been their typical quiet selves. GM Sam Presti has told a number of agents that he is interested in their players, but it has been difficult to ascertain the direction the team is leaning.
We continue to hear that the Thunder have expressed interest in Rubio, Thabeet, James Harden, Jordan Hill and Stephen Curry.
Rubio likely will make a visit to OKC some time before the draft, but major questions exist about how he would fit there. The team sees Russell Westbrook as its point guard of the future and isn't sure how he would fare without the ball in his hands.
Maybe more importantly, Presti is an opportunist. If he can get a couple of good assets in return for the No. 3 pick, he won't be afraid to pull the trigger.
But if he doesn't, or if Rubio is off the board, the team will have to make a tough decision. Thabeet would give the Thunder the shot-blocking they desperately need. Harden would give them the savvy of a veteran. Curry would give them shooting. Hill would give them rebounding and energy. Oklahoma City could use all those things, but our guess is that it would settle on Harden or Curry.
|Jrue Holiday
|Position: PG
Height: 6-4
Weight: 199
Age: 18
School: UCLA
Analysis:At this point I think it's safe to say the Kings have narrowed it down to Holiday, Flynn and Rubio. In Sacramento this past weekend, Flynn, Holiday (his second visit) and Brandon Jennings went head-to-head in front of the entire Kings brass.
Sources say Flynn was probably the best of the three in the workout, but that Holiday still holds a slight edge on their board. Flynn would provide immediate help and is a real floor leader. But Holiday's size, upside and defensive ability give him a razor-thin edge.
If the Grizzlies and Thunder both pass on Rubio, the Kings could be in an interesting situation. Sources in Sacramento say the Kings have reservations about Rubio and that it's far from a done deal that they will take him if he is on the board. Is it possible Rubio could slip past No. 4? Ultimately, I don't think so. The Kings would be nuts to pass on him. But who would've thought a month ago it was even a possibility?
|James Harden
Height: 6-5
Weight: 222
Age: 19
School: Arizona State
Analysis:As we've been reporting since draft lottery night, the Wizards are shopping this pick. A source in Washington told me the Wizards have had a number of interesting offers. Their goal is to get back a veteran who can play right now — and to shed a few million dollars off their payroll, if possible. A number of teams including the Knicks, Rockets and Pacers are possibilities here.
If the Wizards keep the pick, they'll have a tough choice between Harden and Hill. From the intel I've received, it sounds as though Harden might be slightly ahead, though Hill and Davidson's Stephen Curry are still very much in the mix.


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Add South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut.
(Users Browsing this Thread: )
Last edited by Imaginationland; 03-01-2008 at 03:04 PM.
Updated this again with new section for movies/films. Also added a few misc. discussion threads for shows with one dedicated thread to it (or rather, those without episodic r/r threads but are still discussed). If you guys can find any old discussion threads for past movies or if you want shows added to this, let me know.
...time for an update to this thread?
i'll help if you need...
Simpson Crazy
Now with iGoogle gadgets! Try Quote of the Day and Word of the Day
my other sites: Toon images · Song Lyrics · Website tutorials
this is all I could find
South Park:
Season 13 Info Thread
S13E01 - The Ring
S13E02 - The Coon
S13E03 - Margaritaville
S13E04 - Eat, Pray, Queef
S13E05 - Fishsticks
S13E06 - Pinewood Derby
S13E07 - Fatbeard
S13E08 - Dead Celebrities
S13E09 - Butters' Bottom Bitch
Into the Wild Green Yonder
Bender's Game
The Beast With a Billion Backs
3ACV19 - S04E01 - Roswell That Ends Well
3ACV16 - S04E10 - A Leela Of Her Own
3ACV09 - S03E11 - The Cyber House Rules
3ACV06 - S03E06 - Bendless Love
3ACV04 - S03E10 - The Luck of the Fryrish
2ACV04 - S02E08 - Xmas Story
Family Guy:
S07E01 - Love Blacktually
S07E02 - I Dream of Jesus
S07E03 - Road to Germany
S07E04 - Baby Not on Board
S07E05 - The Man with Two Brians
S07E06 - Tales of a Third Grade Nothing
S07E07 - Ocean's Three and a Half
S07E08 - Family Gay
S07E09 - The Juice is Loose
S07E10 - FOX-y Lady
S07E11 - Not All Dogs Go to Heaven
S07E13 - Stew-Roids
S07E14 - We Love You, Conrad
S07E15 - Three Kings
S07E16 - Peter's Progress
S08E01 - Road to the Multiverse
S08E02 - Family Goy
S08E03 - Spies Reminiscent of Us
The Cleveland Show
S01E01 - Pilot
S01E02 - Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance
S01E03 - The One About Friends
S01E04 - Birth of a Salesman
American Dad:
S04E01 - 1600 Candles
S04E02 - The One That Got Away
S04E03 - One Little Word
S04E05 - Escape from Pearl Bailey
S04E06 - Pulling Double Booty
S04E07 - Phantom of the Telethon
S04E10 - Family Affair
S04E11 - Live and Let Fry
S04E13 - Jack's Back
S04E16 - Delorean Story-an
S04E17 - Every Which Way But Lose
S04E19 - Daddy Queerest
S04E20 - Stan's Night Out
Last edited by Green Man; 10-21-2009 at 06:44 PM.
Yup I've been putting off updates 'cause I'm lazy and was planning to ask members for help at some point. Mucho appreciation for the listings
I promise I'll add them in by this weekend.
Here's the rest of South Park Season 12...
1204: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=68821
1205: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=68959
1206: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=69078
1207: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=69202
1208: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=72708
1209: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=72833
1210: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=72984
1211: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=73529
1212: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=73751
1213: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=73928
1214: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=74082
Sit Down Shut Up:
#1, Pilot: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=77557
#2, Miracle's Are Real: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=77695
#3, World's Greatest Teacher: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=77842
#4, Back in Time: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=78001
This thread is being used discussion of the second batch of episodes: http://nohomers.net/showthread.php?t=81634
Last edited by Disgruntled Goat; 10-22-2009 at 04:39 AM.
King of the Hill:
S13E01 - Dia-BILL-ic Shock
S13E02 - Earthy Girls Are Easy
S13E04 - Lost in MySpace
S13E05 - No Bobby Left Behind
S13E06 - A Bill Full of Dollars
S13E07 - Straight as an Arrow
S13E08 - Lucky See, Monkey Do
S13E09 - What Happens at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis Stays at the National Propane Gas Convention in Memphis
S13E11 - Bwah My Nose
S13E12 - Uncool Customer
S13E13 - Nancy Does Dallas
S13E14 - Born Again on the Fourth of July
S13E15 - Serves Me Right for Giving General George S. Patton the Bathroom Key
S13E16 - Bad News, Bill
S13E17 - Manger Baby Einstein
S13E18 - Uh-Oh, Canada
S13E19/20 - The Boy Can't Help It/To Sirloin with Love
Family Guy:
American Dad:
S05E01 - In Country... Club
S05E02 - Moon Over Isla Island
S05E03 - Home Adrone
S05E04 - Brains, Brains and Automobiles
South Park:
OK this should be up-to-date now. Thanks bros
If you find any old threads to fill in some blanks again, or find any shows/movies you want added, feel free to post.
Not sure the best place to post this, but I don't want to start a thread for this just yet
When was the last greatest ever futurama thing done?
If it's been a good while I wouldn't mind doing one.
I was thinking people nominate their top 10 and they are given points 1-10 accordingly and totaled up once everyone has posted their list
elimination thread is a different thing anyway
I will start one tonight when I get back from work
Do you mean a "best episode ever", or "best moment ever"?
You can now post in every thread linked in the first post. Let me or any animation global mod/administrator know if one of the links doesn't work for whatever reason.
Archive still isn't complete, but even so most of the R&R threads not included should be recent enough that they were still moved to animation at some point. So if you're looking to find a particular R&R thread to post in you should still be able to do so.
Also feel free to link threads here that aren't in the the first post if you want to see the process speed up.
Here are some South Park R&R threads I managed to scoop up:
Season 5
501 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...s-the-Fan-quot
Season 13
1313 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...th-Smurfs-quot
1314 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...-quot-Pee-quot
Season 14
1401 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...Sexual-Healing
1402 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...-McBoogerballs
1403 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...d-Chicken-quot
1404 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...0-Friends-quot
1405 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...-quot-200-quot
1406 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...-quot-201-quot
1407 - http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...ed-Summer-quot
From episode 8 onwards, there are no R&R threads so they have yet to be created
Month and a half later is still speeding the process up...
Added those episodes NumberZone. Thanks.
So I'm wondering, what about the R&R threads we've created. Are they going to get added sooner or later?
I made some Futurama R&R threads.
I didn't even know we had this thread.
R&R dump #1: American Dad! season 7
S7E01: Hot Water (9/25)
S7E02: Hurricane! (10/2)
S7E03: A Ward Show (11/6)
S7E04: The Worst Stan (11/13)
S7E05: Virtual In-Stanity (11/20)
S7E06: The Scarlett Getter (11/27)
S7E07: Season's Beatings (12/11)
S7E08: The Unbrave One (1/8)
S7E09: Stanny Tendergrass (1/29)
S7E10: Wheels & The Legman and the Case of Grandpa's Keys (2/12)
S7E11: Old Stan in the Mountain (2/19)
S7E12: The Wrestler (3/4)
S7E13: Dr. Klaustus (3/11)
S7E14: Stan's Best Friend (3/18)
S7E15: Less Money, Mo' Problems (3/25)
S7E16: The Kidney Stays in the Picture (4/1)
S7E17: Ricky Spanish (5/6)
S7E18: Toy Whorey (5/13)
More to come!
For Kupomog, here's the rest of the Futurama episode rate and reviews.
Just because I'm stupider than them, they think they're smarter than me!
Simpsons Season 27 Ratings:
Every Man's Dream-4.8/10 Cue Detective-6/10 Puffless-7/10 Halloween of Horror-8.4/10 Treehouse of Horror XXVI-(4.5, 5, 3.5) 4.25/10 Friend With Benefit-5/10 Lisa With An 'S'-5.5/10 Paths of Glory--/10 Barthood--/10 The Girl Code--/10 Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles--/10 Much Apu About Something--/10 Gal of Constant Sorrow--/10 Love Is in the N2-O2-Ar-CO2-Ne-He-CH4--/10 Lisa the Veterinarian--/10 The Marge-ian Chronicles--/10 The Burns Cage--/10 How Lisa Got Her Marge Back--/10 Fland Canyon--/10 Simprovised--/10 To Courier With Love--/10 Orange is the New Yellow--/10
Futurama Season 7B Ratings:
2-D Blacktop-7.5/10 Fry and Leela's Big Fling-7.9/10 T.: The Terrestrial-8.2/10 Forty Percent Leadbelly-6.8/10 The Inhuman Torch-8.4/10 Saturday Morning Fun Pit-(9, 7, 8.5) 8.2/10 Calculon 2.0-8.7/10 Assie Come Home-8.5/10 Leela and the Genestalk-7.2/10 Game of Tones-9.2/10 Murder on The Planet Express-9/10 Stench and Stenchibility-8.5/10 Meanwhile-9.5/10
Jumping the Shark since 1998...
Alternate Ending Winner of NHC Survivor Season 1
Thanks, I haven't peeked in here for a long time obviously. I'll update with what I can tomorrow on my lunch break.
More Futurama episodes for the archive:
Season 2
Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?
Raging Bender
How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back
Season 3
Amazon Women In The Mood
Birdbot Of Ice-Catraz
I Dated A Robot
Time Keeps On Slippin'
Season 4
Less Than Hero
Last edited by CousinMerl; 09-27-2013 at 02:04 PM.
And a few more:
Season 2
A Biclops Built For Two
Bender Gets Made
Season 3
That's Lobstertainment!
Season 4
Love And Rocket
Okay I'm working backwards to update these today, working on Futurama. Hoping to get to everything on this page~
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Novation Renews PDC Healthcare's Patient Identification Agreement for Wristbands and Companion Labels
Valencia, CA (Aug. 21, 2013) PDC Healthcare, the global leader of innovative identification solutions, announced today that its Patient Identification Agreement has been renewed by Novation, the leading healthcare supply chain expertise, analytics and contracting company for the more than 65,000 members and affiliates of VHA Inc, UHC, Children's Hospital Association, and Provista, LLC. The new contract is effective through August 31, 2016 and encompasses all of PDC Healthcare's patient identification wristbands and companion labels under the National Agreement and the NOVAPLUS brand.
The renewed contract provides the members served by Novation with direct access to PDC Healthcare's complete line of patient ID products including bar code wristbands, blood wristbands, imprinter wristbands, insert wristbands, laser wristbands, NICU wristbands, shield wristbands, thermal wristbands, write-on wristbands and companion chart labels. PDC Healthcare products are used throughout every major hospital function to help organizations prevent medical errors to increase patient safety and financial performance, while maintaining compliance with important patient safety regulations. These include The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Stage 2 Meaningful Use Requirements, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patient identification.
"We are delighted to have Novation's continued support through the renewal of PDC Healthcare's agreement," said Tracey Carpentier, President of PDC Healthcare. "Novation and PDC Healthcare have partnered for 15 years to help hospitals improve the safety and care of patients, streamline operations, improve clinical outcomes, and enhance the overall patient experience."
About PDC Healthcare
With more than 55 years of experience, PDC connects people, products, and technology through innovative ID systems that deliver superior customer experiences worldwide. PDC is the global leader and pacesetter in the development of wristband, label, medical records, and imaging systems. The company serves the healthcare, leisure & entertainment, and law enforcement industries. A pioneer of innovative technologies, PDC introduced the first single-piece patient wristband, first bar code wristband system, first Smart Band® RFID wristband system, first thermal printer wristband, and the award-winning PDC Smart® Kiosk, among many other innovations.
PDC products are used in leading hospitals worldwide and comprise a comprehensive range of solutions that provide positive ID and positive clinical outcomes, while meeting important guidelines of The Joint Commission, World Healthcare Organization, FDA, AHA, and HIPAA. Complying with ISO 9001 standards, PDC follows a systematic, world-standard approach to ensure superior product design, manufacturing, and customer support services. For more information, visit www.pdchealthcare.com.
On Dec. 28, 2012, PDC was acquired by Brady Corporation, a world leader in identification solutions for premises, products, and people.
About Novation
Founded in 1998, Novation is the leading health care supply chain expertise, analytics and contracting company for the more than 65,000 members and affiliates of VHA Inc. and UHC, two national health care alliances, Children's Hospital Association, an alliance of the nation's leading pediatric facilities, and Provista, LLC. Novation provides alliance members with sourcing services, as well as information and data services. Based in Irving, Texas, Novation develops and manages competitive contracts with more than 600 suppliers. VHA, UHC, and Provista members used Novation contracts to purchase approximately $43 billion in 2012. Novation has earned the coveted Ethics Inside® Certification from Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think tank dedicated to the research and promotion of best practices in corporate ethics and compliance. Novation was also named on Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies list, and is the only company in the health care industry to earn both distinctions for two consecutive years. To learn more about Novation, please visit www.novation.com and follow @NovationNews.


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reflective conversations, publishing information, writer insights & inspiration, bookseller-librarian-teacher appreciation, children's-YA literature news & author outreach
Monday, December 09, 2013
Guest Post: e.E. Charlton-Trujillo on Your Book, Your Niche from the Trench
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
I've spent several months on an unconventional book tour for my latest YA, Fat Angie (Candlewick, 2013)--workshopping with at-risk youth who have affectionately tagged me as the tattooed, rockstar, Wexican (whitest Mexican American) YA author/filmmaker.
This whirlwind tour, where I stuffed my belongings into storage and traveled by rental car, bus, train, and plane across America to empower at-risk youth through writing all at no cost to the youth programs I've visited, has been featured on MTV, in Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly.
Unfortunately, I'm not independently wealthy. Had it not been for a tiny Kickstarter and the generosity of friends and strangers, the tour would never have come into fruition. So why do it?
Frustrated with the teen suicides and rise of kids on the fringe cutting on their skin instead of picking up a pen, I decided to embrace the niche audience for Fat Angie. I took this book, seam-busting with issues (bullying, self-harm, family, self-loathing, war, sexuality) and made it a platform for activism.
Armed with a few starred reviews, a high-quality book trailer, and a dream to inspire those who are often counted out, I changed the trajectory of Fat Angie and honestly, my own life.
Of course, not everyone can trade in life's luxuries to live out of a carry-on and a backpack while criss-crossing the country in a rental car. I just got lucky that way.
But now that I'm three books and seven thousand miles in, I'll share a few of the promotional secrets I've picked up along the way. Let my crazy Wexican book-tour experience help rock the promotion of your book.
1. What Do You Want Your Book To Do?
Whatever you decide, this is something to consider months before the release of your book.
When you know what you want your book to do, it will be easier to figure out how to maximize things like social media presence, signings, kinds of school visits, and other appearances.
2. Promotional Materials
Your cover art is great for stick-on tattoos and post cards, but you'll also need an electronic PR Kit with: Synopsis, Bio, Review Sound Bites, Photos, and your School Visit Package. If you are not savvy on the art of design, find a talented graphic design student who is building their portfolio. Also, bookmarks are out. Book trailers and author interviews are in!
Important: Thirty seconds of quality sound and image have much more value than a minute and a half of crackling sound and Ken Burns effects. See the Fat Angie book trailer for an example of how you can make a $60,000 trailer for just a few hundred dollars.
3. No Fear, Please
Be comfortable talking about your book in public. This doesn't mean bend every ear at your partner's/husband's/wife's Christmas party about your book. The idea is to get people interested, not annoyed, to create a dialogue about what inspired you to write the novel -- what excites you about it. You never know where that conversation can lead.
While on my tour this summer, waiting at Boston's Logan Airport, bookseller Ellen Garfield asked about a book storeT -shirt I was wearing, which led to a conversation about Fat Angie.
By the end of the day, Ellen ordered copies of the book for her airport store. Since then, it has been faced-out and sold out three times over. My interaction with this bookseller reminded me not to be afraid of talking about my book. It's sharing something you love.
4. Who You Should Know
Independent booksellers and librarians can extend the lifespan of your book. These literacy titans know their community and educators.
Again, through social media, I connected with Ugly Dog Books and The Odyssey Bookshop in Massachusetts. We strategized on how to maximize my signing/discussion with the at-risk work I was doing. Both stores connected me with at-risk youth in their community to engage in creative workshop, which was the focal point of my tour. Later, they held book signings in their stores, which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't approached them about help with community-building.
My suggestion: months before your book releases, find the independent booksellers you want to approach. Have your PR materials ready and reach out to them. Anytime you can generate a bigger event other than a signing, you are embracing the community and getting people excited about your book.
5. Keep Writing
Your agent, your best friend, your whoever-is-important is going to ask you, "When is your next book?" You gotta get that noise out of your head on the quick. Nothing destroys a stellar story quicker than the expectations of others.
While promoting your new book, continue listening to the world around you. Take time to connect with your creativity by jotting down ideas in a notebook, iPad or voice recorder. Promoting your book is necessary but so is your craft. So rock the word!
Cynsational Notes
e.E. Charlton-Trujillo won the prestigious Delacorte Dell Yearling Award and Parents' Choice Silver Honor for Prizefighter en Mi Casa. Feels Like Home received critical praise, but it was Fat Angie that generated early buzz from Wicked author Gregory Maguire who compared it to Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone. The book tour inspired Charlton-Trujillo to launch the organization Never Counted Out, which bridges the gap between artists and at-risk youth in their community. The feature documentary about the tour titled "At-Risk Summer" is slated for a May 2014 release.
4 comments:
- Lupe Ruiz-Flores said...
I had the pleasure of meeting e.E. Charlton-Trujillo at a week-long Highlights Honesdale writer's retreat a while back. I still have our group picture on my desk. She is one amazing person.
- Monday, December 09, 2013 9:58:00 AM
- Jeri Baird said...
The book trailer is amazing! I worked with at-risk HS youth for 10 years. They're an amazing (but neglected) group of kids. I'm going to pass this post on to the caseworker who works with the program. Thanks for your dedication to these special students!
- Monday, December 09, 2013 11:03:00 AM
- Bigdreamswrite said...
Jeri, thanks for paying the post forward. It has been an amazing, life changing experience. I'm elated to have the respect of authors like Cynthia and others. Here's to the creative revolution!
- Monday, December 09, 2013 4:14:00 PM
- Unknown said...
This is such great work you're doing, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. So many kids are benefiting, know they have allies, feel like they've been heard, and believe they have value thanks to this tour and the movement you're creating. Rock on!
- Tuesday, December 10, 2013 8:15:00 PM


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Here's a brief recap of Johnny Depp's 2012:
Third week of January, PEOPLE Magazine boldly announces on its cover story, several months ahead of everyone else, that Johnny and Vanessa Paradis are done. Some speculate that he's already seeing Amber Heard. Others suspect that it's his publicist, Robin Baum. Vanessa publicly denounces the rumours.
A month later, production is pushed back a few weeks on Lone Ranger so that Johnny can deal with his "personal life", supposedly costing the studio $4 million.
In March, IN TOUCH Weekly reports that Johnny's been seen sneaking in and out of Ashley Olsen's NYC apartment. Doesn't matter if the details were sketchy -- he was linked with AN OLSEN. Get your sh-t together.
During Dark Shadows press in May, Johnny finally, but not convincingly, admits that he and Vanessa are fine, insisting "the rumours aren't true". Dark Shadows ends up a critical and commercial disappointment -- in other words, professionally it was a sh-t year for him too.
But as Johnny's claiming his relationship is solid, he and Vanessa remain apart, even as she's honoured at a film festival in June, he doesn't show. A week after that, conceding that it was beyond salvaging, Johnny's rep confirms that they've separated amicably. He was said to be spending a lot of time with Amber Heard, and sleeping over a lot after jam sessions at Marilyn Manson's. Some sources even suggested that he was getting too liberal with his drink...
So Team Johnny went on damage control, leaking information on their side to make Vanessa look like a nagging French c-nt who was never happy, never satisfied, and resentful of his success. Click here for a refresher on how Johnny Depp, in order to save his own reputation, seemed willing to let the mother of his children eat sh-t. Meanwhile his connection to Amber Heard continued to progress, allegedly. They're seen groping each other in a super VIP area at a club in November.
And then, there's his appearance checklist:
- 18 necklaces
- 18 scarves: they frame the face and the hang off his pants and sometimes he just holds them in his hand
- several bangles and bracelets
- at least half a dozen rings
- sometimes a wallet chain, sometimes a feather
- earrings
- shoulder pads
Apart from the gay thing, it's a little John Travolta Try, non? And exhausting. I am exhausted for him. So it's good that 2012 is over. Please Johnny come back in 2013.


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|Version 12 (modified by mikel, 13 years ago) (diff)
Set Up the Classes Used In the User Interface
The visual elements of your application's user interface are all ready now. The last thing you must do is create descruptions of any custom classes used by the application when users interact with the interface.
When a user clicks the "Convert" button, it should send a message to an instance of a custom class that causes the conversion to take place, and the result to be displayed in the "Amount" field. In order for the application to connect the user interface to objects that perform these actions, you must add descriptions of your classes and instances to the nibfile. Fortunately, InterfaceBuilder can create class and instance descriptions and save them in the nibfile for you.
ConverterController is the controller class; an instance of it handles messages sent when the "Convert" button is pressed. Create a description of the ConverterController class, and then create an instance of it.
- In InterfaceBuilder's "CurrencyConverter.nib" window, click the "Classes" tab. The window shows a browser view of all available Objective-C classes:
- Control-click the "NSObject" entry in the browser, and choose "Subclass NSObject" from the popup menu. InterfaceBuilder creates a new entry initially called "MyObject". Change the name from "MyObject" to "ConverterController".
- Select the "ConverterController" class in the browser, then activate the Inspector window and choose "Attributes" from the popup menu at the top of the Inspector. At the bottom of the "Attributes" view is a list of actions or outlets. Select "Outlets", and use the "Add" button to add four fields:
Rename these four fields to: "amountField", "dollarField", "rateField", and "converter":
- Now add the action that is triggered when the "Convert" button is pressed: switch to the Actions view and use the "Add" button to add a new action:
Change the name of the action from "myAction:" to "convert:"
- Now create an instance of the ConverterController? class. In the browser, Right-click the ConverterController? class and choose "Instantiate ConverterController?". The browser view automatically switches to the Instances view to show you the newly-created instance of ConverterController? as a blue box icon. There is a small yellow flag next to the ConverterController? instances to show that it has outlets that are not connected to anything. In our final step, we'll create the correct connections for the instance's outlets, which will enable the application to send messages correctly to the objects that implement its behavior.
Converter is the model class that implements the actual conversion code. Create a description of the Converter class, and then create an instance of it. Repeat the steps you used to create the ConverterController class and instance to create a Converter class and instance:
- Switch to the browser view in the "CurrencyConverter.nib" window.
- Control-click NSObject and choose "Subclass NSObject" from the resulting popup menu.
- Change the name of the newly-created class from "MyObject" to "Converter".
- Control-click the "Converter" class and choose "Instantiate Converter" to create an instance of the Converter class.
The model class, "Converter", has no outlets or actions, so you don't need to add anything to it before instantiating it. Your code will implement a conversion method, but InterfaceBuilder doesn't need to know about it; the "convert:" method in your code will know everything it needs to about the "Converter" class. You just need to create the class description and the instance so that your application will start up with the correct objects created and connected.
Connecting the Outlets
The final step in setting up the user interface is establishing connections between the outlets and objects in the interface, so that messages are sent from the user interface to the correct objects.
Attachments (4)
added by mikel 13 years ago.
Classes in InterfaceBuilder
added by mikel 13 years ago.
Adding outlets
added by mikel 13 years ago.
Renamig outlets
added by mikel 13 years ago.
Adding an action
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text:
When I was young I remember being told never to accept candy from strangers.
Seems like Japanese kids are much more generous, and actually give me the candy!
It was snowing today quite a bit. Probably the most that we've had all winter actually. But in my opinion it's half-assed snow. By the time it hits the ground, it instantly evaporates to a cold patch of water. If it lands on me, it looks like a 7-eleven slushie without the raspberry cordial. Right now it's about 3 degrees.
I woke up early today at 1030am. HA.
I thought it'd be a good idea to go to Ochanomizu and Akihabara for a quick perusal before Kawasaki "kamikaze".
I'm still on a guitar kick, but less so since I bought my latest trick.
What was beckoning me to come here today was news of this secondhand Jem 77B RMR in Akiba. It's the same model as the one from America. I HAD to see what I missed out on.
A quick babelfish translation of the internet post states "A little there is a crack in the contour part, but it is the beauty item".
From what I saw in the pictures and in person there was more than a little cracking in this mirror. If it translates to bad luck there's at least 28 years of misfortune in years to come. More so if someone actually pays their asking price of 198,000 yen.
In the shop it didn't look as bad as I thought it would. It adds a touch of character, and you wouldn't be so afraid to scratch it. It's already a pre-scratched relic!
I had a try of this Burny Les Paul copy while I was there.
My favourite guitar of all time is my 1990 Les Paul. I heard that Burny's (made by Fernandes) had a good reputation for LPs.
I saw that this had the sustainer AND a Floyd Rose whammy, so I wanted to see if this was as good as it sounds. The tone was quite nice, but I'm starting to get over the novelty of the sustainer. Still, it's a cool party trick. The whammy bar wasn't tight or recessed, so it didn't feel as good as I hoped in that regard.
The gf wanted to go to Uniqlo for a sale, so she tagged along with me to Kawasaki. Looks like the shopping spree lasted 6 hours for her solely in Lazona.
We went to Shi-an Gyoza, a Chinese Restaurant in Lazona after work. It was pretty tasty, although not quite as good as the one in Yurakucho. If you go to just one in Tokyo, make it here.
On the way out I saw these classic signs and couldn't resist taking these photos. A security guard looked puzzled about what I was doing. I'm a very dangerous man in Tokyo!!
Friday, 27 February 2009
Taking Candy From Strange
When I was young I remember being told never to accept candy from strangers.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:51 pm 0 comments
Labels: Akihabara, Kawasaki, Ochanomizu
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
I'm Off
I noticed this on the train yesterday.
I didn't have my camera with me, so today on the way to Ginza I made sure to take a happy snap of it.
This is the new Asahi Beer campaign. Asahi beer makes you feel "Off"?
I don't know about Japanese people, but when I feel off, it's not a good thing. Personally I don't mind the Asahi brew. It makes me feel pretty good actually.
Nothing out of the ordinary today. Except maybe the two plain clothes police officers asking to check my ID while I was doing nothing more than walking around Yurakucho. You've got to watch out for those foreigners with cameras! Their trick question was asking in Japanese if I spoke Japanese. Strange.
Anyway to get over my "ordeal" I went to Kimuraya for some more anpan. It's been almost every week now. I think I'm addicted to that sweet, sweet bean.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:59 pm 0 comments
Labels: Ginza
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Tama Plaza Anniversary
I'd forgotten all about it.
The Tama Plaza school was having it's one year anniversary party tonight. I'm reluctant to go to these things as I'm always worried it's going to turn into a extended free English lesson, but I have to say I really had a great time. Why?
Yes, alcohol! And plenty of it. One of the students even brought in a big esky full of the stuff. Nice.
Although it wasn't as decadent as one could hope for, I drank enough to be happy and sociable with everyone. I'm sure I impressed with my amazing chopstick skills while eating sushi, fish and chicken with them.
As the night drew to a close, I stumbled to the station deciding to catch the all stops to Shibuya, thinking I didn't want to miss my connection back to Yotsuya.
When I arrived through the door I practically fell onto the futon.
"Are you drunk?", "Are you sleepy?"
Those were the last words I heard as I quickly dozed off.
Friday, 20 February 2009
A New Hard Off
"You can take the man out of a Hard Off, but you can't take the Hard Off out of the man.."
..or something like that.
I had planned to get up earlier than usual to make my first trip to the Hard Off in Kawasaki.
I looked out the window as I sleepily got up and saw that it'd been raining, and still looked overcast. Still, I made half an effort to leave earlier, just in case.
I had a good hour and a bit before I had to start work, so I hot-stepped my way along the shortest way I could work out possible, with judicious use of Google Earth and street view help from the night before.
From the distance I gave myself a 30 minute time window before I'd have to turn around and get back to work. Luckily it was a little over twenty minutes on arrival. Along the way, I was not let down by strange shops names..
I think they must have a good breeze going through this shop.
This one says "Yokohama Lining". It's a motorbike shop, so I'm guessing it's a misheard/pronounced "riding" ?
I really like the layout of this "Off" store.
On entry I could see their Hobby Off section with a nice selection of Hentai dolls, and other hobby-type things. Although I was close to adding to my collection, with my short thinking time and good-sense I relented (for now).
Going up the escalator you will notice a distinctive Hard Off electronics section to the left, and a B-Style "Off House" area with homewares, sporting goods and clothing.
Even though I didn't see any Game & Watch LCDs (there are other old style retro consoles and games), there's quite a bit of stuff that was worth seeing.
This one is definitely in my top 5 of recycle shops so far.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:19 pm 2 comments
Labels: Kawasaki, secondhand Recycle shops
Thursday, 19 February 2009
The Green Machine
I feel like I SHOULD go out on my day off.
I have nowhere in particular to go, so without much thought I went to Ochanomizu and Akihabara again.
I'm hoping to find a reasonable (ie. "cheap") secondhand E-bow that will tide me over before I fork out more yen for a sustainer mod on my Jem guitar, or worse another guitar something like this..
It's a Fernandes Ravelle Elite.
Instead of cutting out bits and pieces out of my new guitar, this one already has the sustainer built-in, and the cost's not much more than just getting the pickup added to my existing guitar. I gave it a try, much to the reluctance of the staff thinking I'm just there to "play and not pay".
It actually feels pretty good. On a distorted tone it sounded quite similar to a Les Paul - nice and chunky. The clean tones didn't blow me away, but were still quite useable. It's made in China, but looked solid enough. I quite like the trippy, but funky Les Paul stylistic changes.
If I wasn't so far from home, and I hadn't already JUST bought a guitar, I'd be tempted with this as well.
I hope I find a cheap e-Bow real soon :(
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Shinjuku Gakki
Just because I've acquired a new guitar, don't think that I've gotten over my guitar shop compulsion.
Oh no, not at all!
It's Sunday and I'm in Shinjuku.
One place that I hadn't gotten around to checking out is TC Gakki.
While not in the CBD of Shinjuku it's a relatively short walk through Kabukicho, past Seibu Shinjuku station, to Shin Okubo.
Google street view hasn't been 100% accurate lately in showing me the exact addresses on their map.
Although I get a kick out of the deja-vu of seeing things that I see on the internet, for the life of me I didn't know where the damn place was!
I went to the koban and asked the policeman for directions (that's what they do most of time directing lost people). While not exactly a smiling happy chappy, he helped me immensely to find it. If you're looking for it, coming out of the station turn left and then left again down a small street between the station and the Pachinko parlour.
I reckon it's worth seeing just for the amount of vintage guitars and amps they had there. Everything was quite pricey, but no regrets coming here at all. Maybe one. I didn't find what I was looking for.
I tried a secondhand Hamer guitar at the Rock Inn that had a sustainiac built-in. From my trial, this sustainer functions pretty much the same as the Fernandes one. Only thing I really don't like about these devices is that when the battery dies, so does the guitar. That's a big negative for me.
Lately I tried the eBow again and I had a little bit more luck getting the gist of it. On one string, it's pretty easy to use. Maybe that's going to be the easiest and cheapest way to get this effect.
It was starting to get a bit late so we had some okonomiyaki at Momoka conveniently close by.
We've eaten there before and I have to say it was delicious. I really like cooking the food myself. This time it didn't look like a dog's breakfast.
Can you see my name in mayonnaise? If you haven't tried/made this, you don't know what you're missing.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Ginza Fisheye
I'd been planning to take my SLR with the fisheye lens to Ginza for ages now.
In particular, I thought the Tokyo International Forum would make some awesome photos.
This one is definitely my favourite.
The only thing that spoils it, is my finger that you can see out of focus along the bottom on the picture.
Depending on where you're pointing the camera, it can be all too easy to see the cameraman in the photos.
Can you see me anywhere else?
Once I left the Forum I had to make my way back to start work.
From left to right it's the Fujiya building, middle is the Sony Building and then the Mosaic department store.
This just to show that yes, I was in Ginza. Here's the Ginza metro exit.
Time to start work!
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 10:47 pm 0 comments
Monday, 9 February 2009
Pencile And Sicers
Two things I like, a label maker and bad English on print.
Please excuse the "bendiness" of the pictures. I've got my fisheye lens at the moment on my SLR. I haven't used it for a while, so I thought I'd take it out for the day.
I Didn't take that many pictures though.
This here's Yotsuya station. I was hoping I'd get a bit more width of the station and the sign with this lens, but I guess it was just not meant to be.
Australia, the Movie! I haven't seen it, but it gives me the impression of an Aussie "Titanic" from this billboard... maybe.
On my guitar search, I went to five musical instrument stores in Tachikawa.
I'm surprised there are that many there. Most of them were small, but you never know in backwaters like these what interesting things you might find. Sadly, today there was nothing that caught my eye.
The search continues..
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:48 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Double Whammy
Today I ventured alone into not only Akihabara, but also Ochanomizu once more.
I'm still going through my seemingly never-ending guitar phase. I am itching to buy another guitar. I certainly don't NEED another one and being in Japan isn't going to make it so easy to cart it back to Australia.
I guess I have a real bad case of G.A.S.! (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)
The mirrored Ibanez Jem that I thought I'd lost out on, may still be possible. I made an offer to the American music store and he is considering it. I thought he wouldn't accept it, so I'm again debating whether I should get it or not.
Unusually for a Sunday I was awake by 830am, and I thought of checking out more guitar stores.
I "discovered" a new store in Akihabara called Revolve which is a part of the Ikebe Gakki.
I had a LOT of difficulty finding this place. Usually I check Google Earth street view to find an address, but when I checked, I couldn't see the store in the photo so I relied on their map for directions. It's not the clearest thing to understand.
Basically from the station, you have to go across the busy road with the river on your right-hand side. Oh, and DON'T go out the Electric Town exit (It's on the east side you need to go out).
I'm pretty happy I found it. They have a GREAT selection of guitars. Just about every guitar I wanted to try was there.
First I had a go of a secondhand Ibanez RG20051.
The reason being was the finish. I kinda like the swirl that they did on the JEMs, so I wanted to see how this looked and played.
It looked in good condition and played fairly well, but I didn't feel like I HAD to have it. It looked a little cheap, but it was 73,290 yen.
I wasn't convinced.
Next I tried a recently released John 5 Triple Telecaster Deluxe. This had a more impressive feeling of quality and I really liked the mirror scratchplate on this. It looks the business for sure.
The pickup selector felt like it had a loose connection and was cutting out a little. The bridge pickup was very nice though. A very useable chunky sound. For 94,290 yen this one felt pretty good. Only thing here (apart from the dodgy pickup switch), was the weight. This is one weighty guitar, like an old Les Paul heavy.
I was getting the feeling the staff didn't want me to try any more guitars so I left pretty soon after that one.
Before I went to Revole though, I went to Laox Music Vox.
I'd forgotten all about this place. It's not a bad store, but not as good as the others. They have a few different levels of gear so it's fairly big.
Here I tried a Jem 77v bk.
This is the guitar most similar to the guitar I've been considering from America. It has the same pickups, so I imagine it will have the same sound.
I don't know what it is, but I'm not excited about this. It doesn't sound bad, but I prefer the hotter output of the white VWH model. With those discounted ones at Rock Inn I am tempted, but the gold on white isn't my preferred colour scheme.
Once I finally left these music stores I made my way around the usual Akiba places, then on to Ochanomizu.
By now it was already getting dark and colder, reinforced by a really cold wind. I should have went home but I couldn't stop this urge to look at guitars!
The Jem I tried last week was gone. It wasn't priced too bad, but like I said here, it just wasn't seducing me. Some guitars have some real mojo (like my Strat and Les Paul), and others just don't.
In one of the used guitar stores I tried a Hohner headless guitar.
I've never seen one of these before. The body was like a squashed strat (not the Jack), with three single coils and black scratchplate. It didn't play too badly either. This is more of a clean tone guitar (like a Fender), but it was in great condition for only 32,000 yen. Tempted on this one, just for it's rarity. If anyone knows what this is, let me know!
Finally before leaving I REALLY wanted to try the Fernandes Sustainer on a guitar again. In the same shop I saw one that looked a little old, but played great. The sustainer was easy to use and got me wanting one of these bad!
It sure beats fumbling with an eBow. I found an excellent youtube video here explaining how it works.
Lucky for me in Japan, Ikebe Gakki sell some Jems already fitted with a (white) sustainer in the neck position, so I could kill two big birds with this one stone.
We'll see what happens eh?
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:56 pm 0 comments
Labels: Akihabara, Ochanomizu
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Once You Go Black
Just to kill some time I went to the Shibuya guitar shops again.
I tried a Yngwie Malmsteen candy apple red Fender Strat, and an Ibanez prestige guitar with an ebony fingerboard and vine inlays.
I just couldn't get used to the scalloped fingerboard. I know if I persevered I may have gotten used to it, but it felt like I was slicing my fingers with the strings trying to STILL touch the fingerboard. Pickups weren't hot enough for my taste, but it had some nice tones.
An Ibanez RG7 CTTL prestige looked a little beat up, but what drew me too it was the fingerboard and inlays. It's the first time I tried ebony and that board was smooth. After the YJM Strat this was nice to get around on. The finish was a sickly blue green, with a nice see-through maple top. The guitar was fairly cheap around 50,000 yen, but I'd only really want it for that ebony.
It was real nice.
We had Shakeys tonight, and again we felt bloated and queasy. But it's cheap!
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 3:30 am 0 comments
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
A New Coat Of Paint
As you can see I've done a little makeover for the site. I hope you all like it. It's been a while the same as it was, so a little feng shui can't hurt, right?
My posts lately have been dwelling over guitars, and why I should have another guitar, when I already have too many.
My time in Japan has been going through many phases, that I can only attribute to "Space Madness". Don't get me wrong. I've been having a blast most times with only myself to blame for holding myself back at times.
Anyway I feel it's time for a little, just a little self improvement.
I've put it out there before, but if anyone in Tokyo is looking to have a jam, maybe in Yoyogi Park PM me, and we'll maybe play some cool covers or something.
While my priority should be learning Japanese, I've decided to change tack and study my guitar better so I can be a rock god (once more) and have chicks worship at the altar of JIJ. I mean really, Japanese language is one hell of a hill to climb, for what? Speaking Japanese in the one country that uses it? No thanks.
Damn you Kanji. Really.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:24 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Jimmy In A Koma, It's Serious
Sometimes I really hate it when I see something I want to photograph and I don't have my SLR with me. I hate it even more when I lug it around and not take a single picture.
The Koma theatre in Shinjuku is closed, so before they bring in the bulldozers I thought it should be captured for posterity.
In case anyone doesn't know, this is in Tokyo's poor excuse for a red light district, Kabuki-cho.
You want red lights, go to Amsterdam. Anyway, I digress.
Yesterday I lurked around Shibuya, going into ALL the guitar stores. Highly recommended for eye candy were 246 guitars (used) and Ikebe Gakki. Oh, and don't forget the easiest to find, Ishibashi off Center Gai.
Weirdest part of yesterday was a girl falling over as the train stopped, then she slid out the door into a ball outside. I couldn't really help, but thankfully some women went to her aid.
So today continuing the madness I decided to check out all the guitar shops I could find in Shinjuku, with my main intention to see in the flesh, a very rare and coveted chrome-mirrored Joe Satriani Ibanez.
Check these out..
It's really difficult to show off the chrome on this machine in photos. In some of these pics it looks almost black.
There was what appeared to be an almost imperceptible light scratch under the bridge, but it was clear that this guitar was a museum piece and not played. Being in storage, the guitar's frets looked a bit dirty (the guitar shop said that it would be cleaned on sale. It was on consignment). There were some scratches on the bottom of the custom case too.
Do I want it? Hell yes!
How much? Asking price is 630,000 yen (currently in AU $11,030). Ouch. If I went ahead and bought this, I'm sure my parent's would disown me.
So, what else did I photograph today?
If the predicted Great Kanto earthquake finally hits Tokyo, let's hope all the new buildings look something like this.
This is the Atrium building being built in Yotsuya Sanchome.
Before going home I thought I'd try (again) a Vai Ibanez at the Rock Inn to see if still liked it. (It's a heck of a lot cheaper at 'only' 189,000 yen on sale). Cranked up it sounds sweet. I could get some nice clean sounds too. Tempt.
Finally as I was about to go home I had to go to YaMaYa for some more mango juice.
I tell myself never to buy food while I'm hungry. As a consequence I ended up getting some corn chips and a Sara Lee Cheesecake.
I'd seen it there before, but after trying a few Japanese-style cheesecakes I wanted the "real" thing. At 1,180 yen, it's a bit expensive for what it is, but I totally forgot to get one when I was in Australia so this is kind of making amends for that.
Making amends can never be so sweet. It was oishii!!
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 9:16 pm 0 comments


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One of the most common gravestone images in the early to mid-1800s is the urn and willow. Its popularity is said to be associated with the rise of neoclassicism in Europe.
The urn, likely a reference to the ancient Grecian funerary urn, represents the soul. The willow, in addition to its strong visual suggestion of sorrow and mourning, may be a reference to the Greek goddess Persephone, queen of the underworld. Together the urn and willow would thus symbolize the passing of the soul to the afterlife.
Sounds reasonable, right? Sure, but consider this reasonable caution from The Association of Gravestone Studies:
"Professional scholars disagree sharply about the meaning of particular designs; they even debate the extent to which it is possible to determine their meaning and significance. This healthy diversity of opinion stimulates interest and further study."
Rebecca Hyde, Cheshire Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio
Samuel Monroe, Ashley Union Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio
Rebecca Ranney, Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio
James and Mary Ferson, Africa Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Grave images: Urn and willow
1 comment:
"Professional scholars ... debate the extent to which it is possible to determine their meaning and significance." Most of the interpretations of grave symbols I have seen are speculation. But since grave motifs recur so frequently, I wonder if 19th century masons or funeral directors published anything which set out the contemporary understanding of what these motifs meant?ReplyDelete
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Greater Boston
Convention & visitors Bureau
Antonio's serves up fresh & tasty dishes from both northern and southern Italy. While dining you're surrounded by 18th century prints of Italian Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, and authentic Italian music serenades you in the background. Located on historic Beacon Hill, across from Mass. General Hospital, serving moderately priced food, Antonio's is a great neighborhood destination. The Boston Globe calls Antonio's "A treasure for anyone who happens upon it," and the Suffolk Journal praises, Best Cappuccino and Killer Cannolis. Open for lunch and dinner.


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"She was not suffering … imagine! … not suffering! … indeed could not remember … off-hand … when she had suffered less … unless of course she was … meant to be suffering … ha! . . thought to be suffering … just as the odd time … in her life … when clearly intended to be having pleasure." (Beckett, Not I, 1973).
Open lips take some interesting manifestations on screen and stage and become a convention of representation. From Bernini to Beckett, silent to scream, physical to spiritual, pleasure to pain. Five Videos, five guests, and their source for supplementary jouissance:
"In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one's soul then content with anything but God. This is not a physical, but a spiritual pain—though the body has some share in it—even a considerable share". (Teresa of Ávila, 1510).
The angel that pierces Bernini's Teresa with an arrow is "not only the most beautiful angel in baroque art, it is also the most beautiful face in the entire city of Rome."[1] Under his beauty, Teresa's face—open lips, fainted eyes, milky cheeks—are the face of the petite mort meeting the big death. Marbled in her ecstasy, Teresa refused to accept the binary opposition between physical love and spiritual love. Her out-of-body experience reinforces man's fantasy of seeing a woman surrender but not for any man's trick. Her speechless lips call for so many readings. Refusing to speak, the lips become both the receiver and the transmitter: between inner body observation and external knowledge, between the lower lips and the upper ones, between being overly alive and the virtually dead.
What is she reaching for? Yes, seriously, the outlawed barefoot Carmelite…What is she getting off on? Lacan knew the answer was not the phallus. He said, "all you need but go to Rome and see the statue by Bernini to immediately understand that she's coming. There is no doubt about it."[2] But knew she does it for no one phallus…. Is Teresa experiencing something more than an orgasm? Can it be that women experience greater pleasure then men? Will that pleasure be an ecstasy?


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The Loudoun County school system did not meet its goals under the federal No Child Left Behind law during the 2004-2005 school year, according to preliminary Standards of Learning test results released Tuesday.
English exam scores for the Loudoun's low-income and limited English proficiency (LEP) students fell short of the law's goals, which require a 65 percent pass rate for all students on the English SOL test and a 63 percent pass rate for all students on the math SOL test.
One out of every three of the county's poor students failed the English exam, while only 43 percent of the LEP — or immigrant — students failed the test.
The school system's English exam performance for its poor and immigrant students lagged well behind the state average of 69 percent pass rates for poor students and 70 percent for immigrant students.
Apart from the two missed targets, Loudoun's school system met all other goals under the federal law — which requires schools to make adequate yearly progress until 2013-2014, when 100 percent of students will be required to pass the tests.
"We're pleased that, overall, we're higher than the state average," said Wayde Byard, the school system's spokesman. "More of our schools made it this year than last year."
Only four of the county's 62 schools did not meet the benchmarks set under No Child Left Behind. That marks an improvement over the 2003-2004 school year, in which 54 out of 59 schools did not meet their targets for math and English.
"We're headed in the right direction," said Sharon Ackerman, the LCPS assistant superintendent for instruction in a statement. "I feel good because more schools made AYP during a year in which we added three schools and because the expectations and the pass rates were increased."
The four schools that did not meet their goals under No Child Left Behind were:
* Dominion High School in Sterling, which fell short of its objectives on the math exam for black students.
* Harmony Intermediate School in Hamilton, which missed its goals on the English test for special-education students.
* Sterling Middle School, because too few LEP students passed the math test and too few poor students passed the English test.
* Sugarland Run Elementary School, which missed its goals for LEP and poor students on the English exams.
Despite missing the targets, all four schools made improvements over the previous year. None of Loudoun's schools were sanctioned under the federal law.


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Punk, hardcore, metal, noise: Music shouldn't always be easy on the ears. Each month, Loud unearths some of the loudest, crudest, weirdest, and/or heaviest sounds writhing beneath the surface. The world's not getting any quieter. Neither should we.
Before diving into the reviews, Loud would like to welcome its new co-author: Toronto City Editor of The A.V. Club, John Semley. He'll be adding his love of screams and riffs and stuff to the column each month; consequently, Loud will be expanding its coverage to include more releases than ever. On that note, let's rock.
Song debut: Stop Breathing, "What I Want"
Hardcore has been having a heyday lately. As great as this resurgence has been, it's clear that a lot of newish hardcore bands aren't that in touch with the genre's past. Stop Breathing, on the other hand, gets it. Reaching back to '80s West Coast hardcore while updating its piss and vinegar for a new millennium of social woes, the California group—which features current and past members of metal titan The Fucking Wrath and the gritty punk outfit Glass And Ashes—uses its self-titled debut as an echo chamber for its gruff, white-knuckled misanthropy and outrage. Courtesy of No Idea, here is Loud's exclusive debut of Stop Breathing's head-splitting opening track, "What I Want."
Killing Joke has had one hell of an upsurge in the new century. From 2003's Dave Grohl-drummed Killing Joke to 2010's uneven yet intermittently brilliant Absolute Dissent, Jaz Coleman and crew have settled in as elder statesmen of metallic, industrialized post-punk. Regardless of the various ways Killing Joke's music has manifested itself over the decades, though, it's Coleman's knack with a shivering, inhumanly infectious melody that's always tied everything together. The band's new full-length, MMXII, showcases that more than ever. Less ambitious than Absolute Dissent, MMXII focuses its aggression and abrasiveness into a wholly anthemic vessel for Coleman's neo-pagan mysticism and dystopian dread.
The late Paul Raven, longtime member of Killing Joke, also played briefly in Prong—and Prong just so happens to have a new album out as well. Titled Carved Into Stone, it's more than just a throwback to the group's early rawness. It sheds most of the alternative and industrial elements that it's built up over the past 25 years. What's left is a dark mass of lean, beady-eyed, thrash-inflected metal, packed with Tommy Victor's sculpted riffs and spit-spraying shout-alongs. It's also a welcome step backward for a band that has often overextended its sound.
It's been more than 20 years since Unleashed unleashed itself upon the world. And yet the stalwart Swedish group is as potent and formidable as ever. Case in point: the new Odalheim. Extending the mythic, post-apocalyptic Norse folklore of Unleashed's recent work, the album's storyline is second to its music: a sweeping, epic panorama of acoustic passages, pinpoint technicality, and classic songwriting.
Some recent lineup changes—including the addition of two great players, guitarist Tony Sannicandro and Cephalic Carnage bassist Nick Schendzielos—have breathed fresh vitality into Job For A Cowboy. Demonocracy, its latest full-length, is as vicious a can of whup-ass as the new-school death-metal group has ever opened. Despite the visceral punch, though, there's something a little too airtight and bloodless about Demonocracy. Accomplished and impeccably executed, it also has about as much personality as a can opener.
Outside of maybe rap, metal has to be the most self-referential musical genre. Ever since Anthrax cut "Caught In A Mosh," thrash-metal culture became one of thrash metal's favorite lyrical topics. Richmond's Municipal Waste, kind of jokey and kind of really awesome, is the inheritor to this legacy of metal for metal's sake. On The Fatal Feast, Municipal Waste speedily works through 38 minutes of songs about brute force, raging, beer-drinking, and mutants. The band sounds so of a piece with classic crossover thrash that it would be easy to confuse Fatal Feast for some long-lost recording you found in a secondhand tape player. "Covered In The Sick—The Barfer" is an early front-runner for Best Song Title of 2012.
Speaking to NME last year, Cancer Bats frontman Liam Cormier expressed interest in wanting to write "some bangers." Enter Dead Set On Living. The latest from the Toronto metalcore four-piece strips away a lot of the doom and gloom of records like Hail Destroyer and Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones, in favor of rip-roaring party metal. Dead Set On Living gets grim in places ("The Void," "Bricks And Mortar"). But these tracks are the rare lowlights on a record chocked with riff-driven rippers like "Drunken Physics," "Road Sick," and roaring opener "R.A.T.S."
Cris Jerue's shouting-mad vocals and all the piled-on distortion defining Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds further confirm 16's place atop the sludge-metal hillock. The band's second record since reforming in 2007, Deep Cuts is classic 16, from Bobby Ferry's clean, distinctly catchy riffs to Jerue's depressive, confrontational lyrics (and song titles: "Ants In My Bloodstream, "Bowels Of A Baby Killer") that have long leant the band an aggro, hardcore punk edge. The band's not reinventing the wheel or anything, but that's okay. Deep Cuts is efficient sludge metal. And "Bowels Of A Baby Killer" is great.
Acephalix's last release, Interminable Light, was a favorite around these parts last year. But the San Francisco outfit has topped itself with Deathless Master. With guttural vocals that bleed past the margins and muddy riffs whipped into a blackened maelstrom, the disc is unrelenting in its love of impenetrable crust and sheer tonnage. A bit more dynamism here and there wouldn't have hurt—then again, Acephalix isn't where you go if you're looking for something symphonic.
California psych-doom outfit Ancestors returns with In Dreams And Time, its first record since swapping out synth-player Chico Foley for Matt Barks. The album is pounding, totally convincing psych-doom, oscillating between more straightforward metal (opener "Whispers"), ambient experimentalism ("The Last Return"), and a piano-driven tune that sounds oddly like a ballad ("On The Wind"). In Dreams And Time requires a bit of patience (take the nearly 20-minute closer "First Light," for example), but the music is complex and consistently gratifying enough to reward the effort.
Musical extremes can be captivating—even more so when they co-exist on the same release. Lament, the five-song debut by Obolus, resides at the nexus of gentle, celestial ambience and dense, billowing black metal. But unlike most so-called metalgaze acts (blackened or otherwise), there's an eerie seamlessness to Lament that weaves a breathtakingly beautiful veil of illumination and shadow—even as it lets shards of jagged rage and melancholy jut through the fabric.
Beyond Terror Beyond Grace has been operating on roughly similar terrain as Obolus for far longer, and the Australian group's third full-length, Nadir, is its best yet. On a strictly audiophile level, the sound of Nadir is incredible; the low end tugs like an anchor in an outgoing tide, and when it suddenly evaporates, the effect is stomach-dropping. The songwriting isn't particularly compelling, though, and at times feels a bit too formulaic. The workmanlike grunting doesn't help. While never less than absorbing, Nadir doesn't do quite enough to rise above the pack and stake its own clear claim on atmospheric black metal.
Like Sweden's Ghost and Toronto's Blood Ceremony, Austin's Ancient VVisdom is one of those revivalist bands working to put Lucifer back at the forefront of heavy metal, where he belongs. A Godlike Inferno puts across the band's whole neo-Satanist thing via blasé folk metal punctuated by hammering drums (played, live at least, with chains). Sometimes it works, as on tracks like "Devil Brain" and "Alter Reality." But it's hard to buy all the paeans to Lucifer when the band sounds like it could be playing an open mic at a coffee bar.
A more convincing (and less on-the-nose) band that's also mining the infernal pit of the arcane is Occultation. Best known for featuring Negative Plane's Nameless Void (here known as EMM) on guitar and organ, Occultation ought to be better known as a showcase for the soaring yet sinuous vocals of drummer V. On the trio's haunting new full-length, Three & Seven, V's voice winds its way through the songs' incense-clouded, otherworldly murk like a serpent through a sacrificial skull.
Italian experimental metal outfit Ufomammut stokes all kinds of synth-heavy, weirdo atmospherics with its latest, Oro: Opus Primum. Drenched in echo and other layered tape effects, the record sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of an old bong, taking the psych-metal thing to its logical endpoint: spinning out into infinity, all trippy ambience and little structure. Even as wallpaper music goes, Oro is a little unfocused.
A one-man experimental metal doohickey, Author & Punisher is Tristan Shore, performing crunchy industrial numbers with a bunch of homemade electronic instruments. The tracks on Ursus Americanus sound like theme music for a villain in a steampunk anime—all clinging and crashing against droning feedback. And it works. The brooding, 10-plus minutes of "Set Flames" are an exercise in tension and release. Shore's clamoring cacophonies are enlivened considerably by how organic (read: analog) they sound, as if he's wailing against the laptop rigs and layered, ProTools gleam of a lot of solo acts.
Another one-man act—of a marginally more melodic nature—is Mike Armine. The frontman of post-metal dream-weavers Rosetta, Armine recently released Verse & Cleansing, an instrumental album that oozes harrowing drones and sub-aquatic pulses. The undertow, though, is nothing short of gorgeous. Even when the album dips into nightmarish abstraction—or full-on, shoegaze-gouged abrasion—it does so with a lulling, mesmerizing sense of song.
Ostensibly a post-metal band, whatever that means, Sleep Maps traffic in exploratory instrumentals that work to the predictable crescendos. But it's the fun they have on the way that counts though, right? A solo project by multi-instrumentalist Ben Kaplan (though Sleep Maps perform live as a four-piece), Fiction Makes The Future layers crushing guitars over distorted bass and gloomy sound bites clipped from old films. Kaplan stokes a gloomy, discernibly sci-fi sound on the record, capably straddling the line between cool and hopelessly nerdy. Fiction Makes The Future owes as much to Pelican as Man Or Astroman? (and Rush).
Struck By Lightning frontman Gregory Lahm spent time in the progressive, Pelican-like, never-valued-enough Mouth Of The Architect—but he's taken a different path with his current band. SBL's new True Predation pumps out thunderous, metallic hardcore by the fistful, topped off by Lahm's desperate, neck-in-the-noose vocals. But the subtlest, most subliminal hints of his post-metal pedigree remain—mostly in the needling, nervy, and at times deceptively atmospheric guitar work.
D-beat may seem like a pretty restrictive subgenre to some, but Wolfbrigade shows just how much life there is left in that lockstep. Damned is the Swedish hardcore vet's new disc, and it strips every last shred of flesh from D-beat—then cracks the bones and sucks out the marrow. The venomous blood of everyone from Discharge to Motörhead still pours from the band's open veins, but it's coagulated into a scabrous, nasty clot of subliminally tuneful rock 'n' roll.
Like the righteously vindictive spawn of early Killing Joke and Amebix, Cross Stitched Eyes has stocked its new album, Decomposition, with enough triumphant savagery to survive a point-blank nuke. Which may well be the point. The disc traffics in tribal, crust-armored, at times folky post-punk, but the group has upped each of those components alarmingly since 2010's Coranach. The result is a hoarse cry of belligerent, electrified primitivism that seems more than happy to dance in the ruins of modernity.
The name makes them seem like snotty, nasty shit-kickers, but Sweden's Terrible Feelings are pretty tame. Their debut, Shadows, splits the difference between power-pop and sped-up post-punk. Where the band's earlier EPs, 7-inches, and splits were angsty, ragged, and charmingly cruddy, Shadows feels overproduced and overpolished. The band's natural knack for melody shines through all the gloss on a few tracks, like "Intruders" and "Sleep As Deep As The Sea." But by and large, Shadows is a slick, toned-down record that reeks of a band of filing off its rougher edges to court commercial viability.
With members of Black Lips and Golden Triangle in the group, it was a sure bet from the start that K-Holes was going to be haggard, ragged, and a little crazy around the edges. But with its new album, Dismania, the New York outfit has set the bar ridiculously high—that is to say, low. Like, at the bottom of a swamp. Unhinged, fuzzed-out, and crisped beyond recognition, the band's garage-punk riffs and curdled, co-ed vocals tap into some primordial reservoir of metabolic abandon. That said, it's slashed with an arty catchiness—not to mention some totally bestial saxophone—that pushes the whole thing into the abyss of brilliance.
Retro Loud: Rainbow, Rising
Not long before Ronnie James Dio died in 2010, fans were able to see the metal icon do one last tour with Black Sabbath—or rather, the early-'80s, Dio-led lineup of Sabbath that had been temporarily reconstituted under the name Heaven And Hell. Too bad the fans didn't get a chance to witness what might have been an equally glorious reunion: Dio-era Rainbow. The main players in Rainbow's original, mid-'70s iteration, Dio and former Deep Purple guitar-master Ritchie Blackmore forged a short-lived partnership that resulted in a stomping, muscular, yet unafraid-to-be-frilly strain of hard rock that helped set the stage for the new wave of British Heavy Metal—not to mention Dio's subsequent stint in Sabbath and legendary solo career. 1976's Rising is the high point of Dio's time with Rainbow. Scraping the cosmos with its Olympian bombast and lush, fantasy-steeped songwriting, Rising hits peaks that Blackmore and Dio probably didn't even know they had in them. Almost 40 years later, it remains an ass-kicking, exhilarating album—and a groundbreaking slab of rock history. (By the way, in case anyone's wondering: Yes, it's only a matter of time before Deep Purple's momentous, majestic In Rock gets the Retro Loud treatment.)


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Amy de Leon from Zoic shows us some highlights from their Spring 2013 Collection for both men and women. Also featured are a few of Zoic's current Fall apparel that is available now. Flannel is hot for this year's cooler temps. Zoic: "Ride more, dress well."
Zoic Spring 2013 Collection
Zoic Woven Shirts
- Spring 2013 Collection
- Casual comfort shirt
- Snap closure women's shirt
- Full button down or partial zip men's shirt
- Plaid and solid
- Nylon and polyester
- Quick drying
- Wicking
- Subtle biking features
- Zip pocket in back
- mesh paneling on backside for breathability and mobility
- Silicone zipper pulls on back – easy to pull, even when wearing gloves
- Bringing back from 18 years ago
Zoic White Square and Brown Plaid Shorts
- Spring 2013 Collection
- White square shorts are white hot
Zoic Muse Women's Jersey
- Recycled polyester
- Soft to the touch
- Comfortable
Zoic Men's Cycle Tee
Sport your passion for singletrack in this chill ringer style tech tee with mountain bike graphic on chest and contrast color neck and sleeve bands.
- Polyester fabric wicks and breathes with a soft feel that also stands up to outdoor abuse
- UPF 40 rated fabric shields your skin from harmful UV rays
- Zoic Full Suspension screen print on center chest
- Stitch detail on shoulder
- Tagless neck label eliminates itching and irritation
- Back tech pocket for your cell phone or music player with internal headphone cable slit
- 100% Nanomineral Polyester
Zoic Current Fall Collection
Zoic Women's Nahara Knickers
Jeggings for riding downtown and all around. On or off your bike, these form fitting knickers take the hot jeggings trend from the runway to the bike lane. Look fashionable without compromising riding comfort.
- 19" inseam falls mid-calf
- Form-fitting stretch fabric
- Snap and zip fly closure
- Stealth front zip key pocket
- Faux pockets with jean-style stitching
- Reflective strip inside pant cuff when rolled up
- Tagless label eliminates itching and irritation
- 92% Nylon, 8% Spandex
- $59.00
Zoic Tradesman Flannel Riding Shirt
A jack of all trades when the mercury starts to drop, the Tradesman projects rugged style while possessing premiere performance for adventure. This button front riding shirt is constructed of soft, wicking flannel fabric and has internal sleeve cuffs to fend off freezing temps. Reflective accents on the collar and back pocket are night ride & commuter friendly.
- Brushed flannel fabric has a soft hand inside and out.
- Internal sleeve cuffs prevent "cold creep" up your arms as you ride
- 2 front chest pockets
- Left front tech pocket features internal headphone cable slit and grommet
- 9" wide rear pocket with E-Z-grip silicone pull and stay-put tabs
- Tagless neck label eliminates itching and irritation
Zoic Coalition Shacket/Windshirt
A 2-for-1 windshirt/jacket constructed in a tightly woven poly/cotton fabric that comforts you like a shirt while it shields you from the biting chill of winter riding. Internal sleeve cuffs prevent cold creep up your arms. Reflective accents on the collar and back pocket are night ride & commuter friendly
- Internal sleeve cuffs prevent "cold creep" up your arms as you ride
- 2 front chest pockets
- 2 button cuffs offer loose and snug fit options
- Tech pocket with special placement for cell phone or music player
- 9" wide rear pocket provides easy access with E-Z-grip silicone pull and stay-put tabs
- Tagless neck label eliminates itching and irritation
- 80% Polyester, 20% Cotton
- $85.00