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My friend Troy has a new blog called Depth of Field. Everyone should read it, as I'm sure it will be fascinating and entertaining.
Not as Wild
In my continuing love of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, I watched his 1991 breakthrough Days of Being Wild last night.
First, I will say that Wong Kar-Wai has risen to the status of "one of my favorite directors" faster than anyone else. I saw Happy Together and knew that he was awesome and that I needed to see and learn about as many as his films as possible. Following Happy Together I watched In the Mood for Love and his segment of the recent film Eros. So what I'm trying to preface this with is: 1. I love his films and think he's an awesome director; 2. I only recently came into love with his films and haven't seen all that many.
Also, I should add, that it's been a pain-and-a-half getting this movie. When I first added it to my my Netflix queue, it came pretty quick (unlike Happy Together which had a "Very long wait" and 2046 which has had a "Very long wait" for over a month now). When I got the disc, however, it was cracked. Per the Netflix instructions, I filled out a form on the website and sent it back. I requested that they send a replacement copy. Lucky for me, that replacement came within three days… oh, but it was cracked, also. Oh, and I didn't realize this until after I invited my friend Troy over to watch it with me. I felt stupid. Anyway, I returned the second broken disc and attached a Post-it that said "This one is broken." The third time I got the DVD, it was in one piece. Yay.
On to the movie:
Like other Wong Kar-Wai movies, this movie, to some extent, revolves around the ideas of love and chance encounters. The main character, York, seduces and dumps two women: one is the quiet Su Lizhen and the other is the more spunky Lulu (a.k.a. Mimi). Eventually, York's friend falls for Lulu and a random police office has a chance encounter with Su Lizhen. Neither of the women seem to be enough over York to acknowledge the men who may actually love them… and in the end, of course, it all goes to hell.
Similar to the way relationships develop in Happy Together, we don't really see how "good" things are during these relationships — there is none of that cheesy spending-every-moment-together and having-super-happy-fun-carefree-times-together stuff that makes me ill in so many American romantic movies (e.g. The Notebook) — instead, we see things when they are bad. We see York reject Su Lizhen's suggestion that they get married and live together kick Lulu/Mimi out of the apartment they share after she suggests that he might be "her boy."
Despite these troubled relationships, however, Kar-Wai manages to capture love at it's purest. I know I'm pretty cynical and jaded when it comes to love, but Kar-Wai seems to agree, somewhat, with my world view. Love is painful and hurtful and insane… it happens when you don't anticipate it with people from which you don't expect it.
Like I said, Days of Being Wild definitely touches on themes that I think become much more prominent in Kar-Wai's later work (well, based on the recent stuff I've seen). The ideas of being trapped and isolated (by cramped, hot, sweaty apartments with fans) in life and relationships becomes a major theme in Happy Together, while the strange excitement of relationships that come from nowhere becomes the one of the underlying issues of In the Mood for Love.
Days of Being Wild also contains what I would call (and remember, this is only after seeing four of his movies) "trademarks" of Kar-Wai films: cramped apartment hallways, pouring rain, Latin/Spanish music, missed encounters, chance encounters, and shaky camera work.
So why do I hesitate to rave about this film as much as Happy Together or In the Mood for Love? The primary reason would be super high expectations. Had I seen this film before either of those, I would probably think more highly of it. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see how far Kar-Wai has come and I genuinely do like it when directors find similar themes that they explore to death. Yeah, it may be a little repetitive and playing it safe, but it also gives one a chance to really explore something interesting and worthwhile. And I think Kar-Wai's take on the themes of love and chance and fate make for fascinating film.
A Cine-ful city
So like every other hip and cool person, I saw Sin City and loved it. Ever since I saw Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico and the special feature where Rodriguez demonstrated how simple it was to do special effects, I figured he was an interesting and smart director.
More than anything, Sin City reminded me of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow — both were extremely stylized and had "ironic" acting (which is a term I made up to mean "forced, yet good; cheesy, yet self-aware; overdramatic, yet simple)… plus they both made extensive use of green screen technology and, of course, I loved them both.
I guess a lot has been said about the violence of the film, but honestly, I didn't think it was too intense. The thing about Sin City is that since it is so stylized, the entire world and situation doesn't feel real, and I think that made the violence feel less real and less "offensive" or whatever. I mean, the film wasn't even in color and the blood was often white. Yes, I know I'm already desensitived toward violence, but I don't think Sin City made things any worse for me.
I also loved the whole film-noir aspect of the film. Maybe it's from all my psychoanalytic reading, but there is something about shady, tormented characters (i.e. every male character in the film) and sexy femme fatales (i.e. every female character in the film) that totally captures my attention.
If I had to say anything bad about the film (which I don't, but I will anyway), I will admit that at times it did drag on a little for me. I'm not sure whether it was because there were so many stories or because the movie was in black and white, or what… nonetheless, it did get a bit boring at times. And really, I am almost embarassed to admit that I got bored because, if nothing else, I should've been enthralled by the stunning visuals or something. Oh well. It's more a fault of mine than the movie, I think.
Pages 1-32
- the term "sexuality" did not appear until the nineteenth century (3)
- "experience that caused individuals to recognize themselves as subjects of a 'sexuality'" (4)
- experience = "the correlations between fields of knowledge, types of normativity, and forms of subjectivity in a particular culture" (4)
- "desire and the subject of desire were withdrawn from the historical field, and interdiction as the general form was made to account for anything historical in sexuality" (4)
- three axes that constitute sexuality:
- science
- systems of power that regulate it
- recognition of self as a subject of it
- Christian tradition and psychology turn people into the "desiring subject" — "both appear nonetheless to be dominated by the principle of 'desiring man.'" (5)
- Foucault wants to: "analyze the practices by which individuals were led to focus their attention on themselves, to decipher, recognize, and acknowledge themselves as subjects of desire" (5); to find "a hermeneutics of desire" (5)
- "why is sexual conduct, why are the activities and pleasures that attach to it, an object of moral solicitude? why this ethical concern?" (10)
- "'techniques of the self,' no doubt lost some of their importance and autonomy when they were assimilated into the exercise of priestly power in early Christianity, and later, into educative, medical, and psychological types of practices" (11)
- "and now i would like to show how, in classical antiquity, sexuality activity and sexual and sexual pleasures were problematized through practices of the self, bringing into play the criteria of an 'aesthetics of existence.'" (12)
- "this volume, The Use of Pleasure, is devoted to the manner in which sexual activity was problematized by philosophers and doctors in classical Greek culture of the fourth century B.C." (12)
Introduction/Forms of Problematization
- "the meaning of the sexual act itself: it will be said that Christianity associated it with evil, sin, the Fall, and death, whereas antiquity invested it with positive symbolic values" (14)
- "relations between individuals of the same sex
- fear and sex:
- "obsessive worries that medicine and pedagogy nurtured on the subject of pure sexual expenditure" (16)
- gonorrhea
- "some even advised to indulge only 'if one wants to do harm to oneself.' a very ancient fear, therefore" (17)
- ideal and conduct:
- elephants have good morals (!??!?!): saint francis of sales: "recommending the example of the elephant and the good morals it manifested with its mate. it was 'only a large beast, but the most worth of all the animals on earth, and the one with the most intelligence… it is tenderly loving with the one it has chosen, mating only every three years, and then only for five days, and so secretly that is is never seen in the act; but it can be seen again on the sixth day, when the first thing it does is go straight to the river and bathe its whole body, being unwilling to return to the herd before it is purified'" (17)
- mutual faithfulness i.e. monogamy is valued
- homosexuality
- nineteenth century stereotypical image of a "homosexual or introvert": "the way he gets dolled up, his coquetry, but also his facial expressions, his anatomy, the feminine morphology of his whole body" (18)
- "the theme of role reversal and the principle of a natural stigma attached to this offense against nature" (18) — i.e. what is really wrong is that the man isn't acting manly, and therefore "god" or whoever makes it known that this person isn't a real man
- soft boys: :"seneca the elder notices around him, with great repugnance: 'Libidinous delight in song and dance transfixes these effeminates. braiding the hair, refining the voice till it is as caressing as a woman's, competing in bodily softness with women, beautifying themselves with filthy fineries'" (19)
- "socrates' first speech in the Phaedrus alludes to it, when he voices disapproval of the love that is given to soft boys" (19)
- "it would be completely incorrect to interpret this as a condemnation of love of boys, or what we generally refer to as homosexual relations" (19) — it is more about gender inversion
- "definite aversion to anything that might denote a deliberate renunciation of the signs and privileges of the masculine role" (19)
- abstention from sex
- "the virtuous hero who is able to turn aside from pleasure" (20)
- "renunciation can give access to a spiritual experience of truth and love that sexual activity excludes" (20)
- "the thematics of a relationship between sexual abstinence and access to truth was already quite prominent" (20)
- "one must also not lose sight of the fact that the Church and the pastoral ministry stressed the principle of morality whose precepts were compulsory and whose scope was universal… in classical thought, on the other hand, the demands of austerity were not organized into a unified, coherent, authoritarian moral system that was imposed on everyone in the same manner" (21) — i.e. in Christianity people had to follow the rules or they were punished, in classical times, people were expected to follow the rules for their own good and in order to become better
- in classical times: "the proposed–more than they imposed–different styles of moderation or strictness" (21)
- "it should not be concluded that the Christian mortality of sex was somehow 'pre-formed' in ancient thought" (21)
- Foucault doing a quick feminist critique:
- "it was an ethics for men: an ethics thought, written, and taught by men, and addressed to men–to free men, obviously. a male ethics, consequently, in which women figured only as objects, or at most, partners that one had best train, educate, and watch over…" (22)
- "it was an elaboration of masculine conduct carried out from the viewpoint of men in order to give them their behavior" (23)
- axis of experience/domains (23)
- relations to the body
- relation to the other sex
- relation to one's own sex
- relation to the truth
- "locate the areas of experience and the forms in which sexual behavior was problematized" (23)
- "why was it in those areas–apropos of the body, of the wife, of boys, and of truth–that the practice of pleasures became a matter for debate?" (24)
- "how did sexual behavior, insofar as it implied these different types of relations, come to be conceived as a domain of moral experience?" (24)
Introduction/Morality and Practice of the Self
- definition of morality: "one means a set of values and rules of action that are recommended to individuals through the intermediary of various prescriptive agencies such as the family (in one of its roles), educational institutions, churches, and so forth" (25)
- "they form a complex interplay of elements that counterbalance and correct one another, and cancel each other out on certain points, thus providing for compromises or loopholes" (25)
- ethical work: "bring one's conduct into compliance with a given rule, but attempt to transform oneself into the ethical subject of one's behavior" (27)
- "telos of the ethical subject: an action is not only moral in itself, in its singularity; it is also moral in its circumstantial integration and by virtue of the place it occupies in a patter of conduct" (27-28)
- "in short, for an action to be 'moral,' it must not be reducible to an act or series of acts conforming to a rule, a law, or a value" … "but self-formation as an 'ethical subject'" (28)
- "decides on a certain mode of being that will serve as his moral goal" (28)
- "in certain moralities the main emphasis is placed on the code, on its systematicity, its richness, its area of behavior… the important thing is to focus on the instances of authority that enforce the code, that require it to be learned and observed, that penalize infractions" (29)
- "the subjectivation occurs basically in a quasi-juridical form" (29)
- "moral conceptions in Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity were much more oriented toward practices of the self and the question of askesis than toward codifications of conducts and the strict definition of what is permitted and what is forbidden" (30)
- "to remain free from interior bondage to the passions, and to achieve a mode of being that could be defined by the full enjoyment of oneself, or the perfect supremacy of oneself over oneself" (31)
Using pleasure
In an attempt to be an academic while not in school, I'm going to make use of my journaling and note taking skills and see if I can't use this blog as a place to jot down thoughts as I read various books.
To see how this works out, I'll start with the book I am currently reading: *The History of Sexuality: Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure* by Michel Foucault.
Last week I finished reading (for the second or third time) his *History of Sexuality: Volume 1: An Introduction*. Maybe if I get really ambitious I will try to transcribe some notes from volume one — we'll see how this first experiment works out.
Read all posts relating to History of Sexuality: Vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure.
Here is the citation for the edition I am using:
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality: Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. Trans. of L'Usage des plaisirs. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1984.
FF revisited
All along I thought that my favorite *Final Fantasy* game was *FF4* (*FF2* U.S.) was my favorite… then I replayed it and sorta had my doubts. Then I figured that since everyone likes *FF6* the best, I would probably be all "rebelious" and like a different one, say *FF7* the best… well, it turns out that as I am re-playing *FF6*. I can definitely conclude that *FF6* is indeed my favorite.
I think my love for *FF4* has mainly to do with nostalgia. I rememember playing it all the time back in elementary school… then in junior high I became even more obsessed and started writing a whole strategy guide/walk-through (before they were all over the internet) for the game!! But yah, I replayed it about a year ago, and the magic was gone. Oh well. Such is the way of nostalgia.
But *FF5* — damn! I am very much a "maximalist," so the more things the better. And *FF5* is packed with things — tons of characters (including two "hidden" characters), tons of espers and magic spells, tons of items, two worlds, etc. etc. And then, of course, the game becomes totally non-linear in the World of Ruin, which totally rocks.
So point of the story: I still want to revisit *FF7* to see if that one could be my favorite. I love the environmental themes of that game and it's somewhat "postmodern" themes (seriously, we talked about that in my Postmodernism and Japanese Mass Culture course!). For now, though, *FF6* remains my favorite *Final Fantasy* game.
Netflix plugin
The Netflix plugin that I first started using wasn't all to feature-oriented. It basically took a Netflix RSS feed and dumped it without any processing or formatting. That is, if you wanted to display your activity queue, it just spit the 3 (or however many DVDs you can have out at one time) most recent discs shipped to you, and the most recent discs you returned. Plus, it didn't have any way of displaying your rental queue.
Well, I didn't think that was too cool, so I decided to hack away at it.
First, I modified it so that it would only show the discs most recently shipped to you. Then I realized that it might be cool, also, to show the discs you most recently returned. So I took the function and gave it some arguments — you can specify an "action" as "rented" and "returned." Then I realized that you might want to see both in the same list, so I added an "activity" variable as well.
To that, I added the "queue" action which spit out your rental queue… Well, my queue has over 100 discs, so that was overkill, so I added the ability to limit (mine is current set at six, since that's about as far ahead as I plan my queue).
After I finished all of that, I thought sometime in the future it might be nice to customize the way the list is presented (mainly, whether it should be an ordered list —
 — or an unordered list —
), so I added arguments for those elements as well.
I'm not sure exactly how to go ahead and submit these modifications as a plugin, but I'll look into that. For the time being, here is the code if anyone else uses WordPress and wants the functionality:
function mynetflix( $action, $listtag="ul", $itemtag="li", $count=10) { global $activityurl; global $queueurl; switch ($action) { case "rented" : case "returned" : case "activity" : { $rss = fetch_rss($activityurl); echo "<".$listtag.">\n"; foreach($rss->items as $item) { $title = $item["title"]; $link = $item["link"]; $desc = $item["description"]; $parts = explode(":", $title, 2); $act = trim($parts[0]); $title = trim($parts[1]); $parts = explode(".", $desc, 2); $date = strip_tags(trim($parts[0])); $a = "<".$itemtag.">\n"; $b = "</".$itemtag.">\n"; if($act == "Shipped" && $action == "rented") echo wptexturize($a."". $title." ".$date.$b); else if($act == "Received" && $action == "returned") echo wptexturize($a."". $title." ".$date.$b); else if($action == "activity") echo wptexturize($a."". $title." ".$date.$b); } echo "</".$listtag.">\n"; break; } case "queue" : { $rss = fetch_rss($queueurl); echo "<".$listtag.">\n"; $i=0; foreach($rss->items as $item) { if($i >= $count) break; $parts = explode("-", $item["title"], 2); $num = trim($parts[0]); $title = trim($parts[1]); $link = $item["link"]; echo "<".$itemtag." value="".$num."">\n"; echo wptexturize("".$title.""); echo "</".$itemtag.">\n"; $i++; } echo "</".$listtag.">\n"; break; } } }
To use it, you define two varibles:
$activityurl = "look on your Netflix RSS page"; $queueurl = "look on your Netflix RSS page";
And call the function like:
<?php mynetflix('rented'); echo "\n"; ?>
<?php mynetflix('queue', 'ol', 'li', 6); echo "\n"; ?>
Magic! I love this stuff!
I really do impress myself 🙂 I just added some more functionality so that a page like My Entire Netflix Queue works… check it out. The biggest addition was the ability to show the description (which Netflix feeds in the RSS).
WordPress so far
I'm pretty impressed with this whole WordPress thing. It's really powerful and the plugins are awesome. So far I have one to show movies I recently rented from Netflix, to show songs I recently played on iTunes (using the AudioScrobbler plugin), and to allow my to upload images into posts (hence the random Sexy Boy post). I will definitely be checking out more.
I also love how customizble things are. I can control how the URLs are created, how many posts to show on the home page, how to format time, and so on. It's totally fun to play around with.
My next project is developing a theme. I really like the simple default theme. I do, however, want to customize it and make it my own. Except to see bizzare images and strange fonts soon enough 🙂
Other than all the technical WordPress stuff, the next step is to get back into the habbit of actually blogging. We'll see how that comes along…
Sexy Boy
Back from the dead
It turns out that I missed blogging too much, so here is my great return.
After taking a six-or-so month break, I realized how much I missed using my blog as a place to throw out ideas, get feedback on those ideas, and jot down random thoughts.
This version of the blog, however, is going to be a bit different than the previous incarnation. Instead of coming at this blog as if it were a total brain dump/diary/journal/etc., I'm going to be more focused and less random… I know that the randomness makes blogs sorta fun, but the dangers are: 1. you write about stuff that you later regret; 2. it's hard to develop an audience outside of your friends (who don't mind randomness) because every time someone visits there is something different; 3. you feel overwhelmed by the need to write about everything and the blog becomes more of a burden than something fun.
So with that in mind, I am going to try to set the scope of my blog to cover the following topics: politics (my rants against the cosnervative Christian right and their frightening growing power in the United States), movies (mini-reviews of films I watch), music, and cultural studies-type stuff (my thoughts on books I'm reading and whatnot). Note: absent from that list is stuff like: what I did last night, what I'm making for dinner, which Lord of the Rings character am I, etc. So yeah, less personal stuff is the ultimate goal.
Also, I am using a program called WordPress to manage the site. Although it was hella fun to write my own blog engine last time, it became annoying when I wanted to add things but didn't want to spend all the time figuring out how to code them and then finding the time to do the actual coding. I hope to do some modifications to WordPress to make it more my own (since it uses PHP also), so it'll still be unique (hopefully).
That said, welcome back everyone (if there is an "everyone†reading this now), and give as much feedback as possible — that's the most fun part of a blog.


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Landry has a Family!
FROM RECENT UPDATE "Is Landry receiving any therapies? If so, what therapies? Yes, she has physical therapy everyday afternoon. From the video you can tell she changes so much since her trip to US. She is very happy and cheerful. She is willing to try to walk more with walker. She told us maybe a family would adopt her when she is able to walk without any assistant. (It breaks my heart, same time I feel so proud of this girl, wish we could help her to find a family)"
From those who were with her at camp
"Will participate some with transfer to bed/ wheelchair, low tone but great smile. Love seeing her smile. Independent in many tasks – easy going but doesn't like dogs/mascots."
"Landry chugged right along with us and joined us outside for the crafts and she seemed to enjoy them. I didn't see her smile as much. She seemed quiet to me, but again I was just assisting and was not one on one with her."
"I spent the most time with Landry. I was there the first and second night over night. When she first arrived, she was in tears. She cried all night long. The second night, we bonded more, and I gave her a bath. I figured out when the fuse blew that she was afraid of the dark. She loves to do things herself, even though we all tried to do things for her. Her legs are very cold, and she really loves it when I massages them with lotion. Landry began smiling more and we had a fun time getting ready for bed. The lights went out, and things got really quiet, and I heard her crying. She kept repeating that she wanted to go home. She motioned that she wanted her flashlight, so I gave it to her and she smiles from ear to ear! I then started singing to her, and she started singing to me! In fact, she sang all night long. I felt bad because she didn't sleep much, but I figured it was better than her staying awake and crying. She is very sweet, gentle, sensitive, and obviously loves to sing! She asked to see my phone, so I showed her the voice recording app, and that was her favorite thing ever! She loved to sing and listen to it back;-)! I used my pic slideshow app since it allows you to add music to slide shows. I made a slide show of the first day of camp pics with her singing in the background. Landry really touched my heart, and I miss her terribly. Her smile is contagious and once she starts, she can't stop!"
"Landry was very sweet and wanted to do the things the other kids wanted to do. During part of the time at the botanical garden I pushed Landry around. Even though we had to go the long way up the wheelchair ramp, and it took her a while to get in the hammock, she never complained. She always had a positive manner and had fun looking at the life cycle of a butterfly. At Chickfila she really wanted to climb the play area, so I and another volunteer helped get one level up."
"I spent the most time with Landry. She seemed to enjoy coloring and drawing pictures the most. Her personality is kind, honest and forthright, and is very caring toward younger children. I was moved when Landry asked me "What does God look like?" after I gave the gospel presentation on July 4th. I brought my two-year-old son along on several kids camp events, and Landry seems inquisitive about him, and went out of her way to be kind to him. She drew me a picture of a little boy standing in front of a house, and explained, "This is your little boy, in front of your house!", and gave it to me as a gift. When we were watching fireworks, she insisted that I record it in my phone for him to watch later, as he had already gone home. She often welcomed the other three-year-old girl (from the orphanage) to sit on her lap, and loved playing with her. No doubt she would be a kind older sister, should she be given the opportunity one day."
"After a couple days of camp, Landry warmed right up to camp and the volunteers. At the beginning of camp, she was a little frustrated that we didn't know what she needed or how to communicate with her. Once we found a coloring book and crayons—Landry all of a sudden wore a huge smile on her face. She loved to color and was really good at it too! While the other girls ran around and played on the playground, Landry was completely content to play catch with a giant ball, color, or blow bubbles. Landry was very particular about things. She liked to have her hair completely dried before going to bed each night, did not like wearing loose fitting clothes, and wanted to know where her belongings were. Landry was the happiest during our afternoon of water activities. One of our volunteers held her up on the side of the baby pool, so she could be part of the action. Landry liked shooting water at the other girls and splashing in the pool!"
TwentyLess is not an agency, it is an advocacy site run by an adoptive mom (me) who would love to see every child with a family of their very own.

subset: commoncrawl


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Earlier this year it was announced that HBO's incredibly popular and successful show Game of Thrones would be concluding after two more seasons. This was not only heartbreaking news to fans of Thrones but for HBO. How would they fill the massive gap left behind? Westworld might be the solution…but it isn't a guarantee.
Let's get two things out of the way…first, if you think Westworld is a traditional "western" that is far from accurate and secondly, this isn't anything like Game of Thrones. With that in mind, the premiere of Westworld was captivating, intriguing and slightly underwhelming.
Westworld is inspired by the 1973 film of the same title which was written by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Prey). Westworld is a futuristic theme park which is populated by robots with artificial intelligence, who flawlessly embrace their human form. Visitors to the park can jump into these active storylines and enter into an old-west "chose your own adventure" in which the journey has no boundaries. Murder, rape, and any sexual fantasy can all be played out.
Showrunners Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight, Person of Interest) and Lisa Joy Nolan have brought Westworld to life in a way that is not only visually stunning but inviting. As the audience, we are also entering into the park and behind-the-scenes; a two-way mirror into the events taking place. It should come as no surprise that Nolan is setting up many different storylines, with key details missing. After this premiere episode, you are intrigued to learn more but might have more questions compared to answers.
The cast of Westworld is where the show brings its true a-game. Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright are all playing key worlds within this new universe.
Hollywood heavyweights, Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins do not disappoint. Jeffrey Wright (Hunger Games: Catching Fire) is instantly captivating. He's portrayal of his character brings into question the balance between science and what drives humanity forward. Evan Rachel Wood is the most complex robot seen on screen since Ava (Alicia Vikander) in Ex-Machina. Her performance is chilling.
Putting aside production and the all-star cast, the most captivating portion of Westworld was exploring the disconnect between the visitors to the park and how they interacted with the artificials. It's a study of humanity and the lengths we will go to in order to experience true escapism without consequences.
The themes of Westworld range psychological profile on human nature to a true sci-fi epic and it's one intense, crazy ride for the audience. Providing us our own form of escapism from the current reality.
HBO is hoping for a home run and with Westworld, I believe they hit a double. Not bad for a premiere but this world and characters need to be developed more. This could be a case of when looking back on the whole series, we see the pieces being put into place that can impact things several seasons down the road.
After the debut episode concluded, I was engaged enough to return but Westworld will need to create a following in order to replace the powerhouse that is Game of Thrones.
I will be reviewing Westworld as a series, as well as, individual episodes.


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My brief encounter with artist Ulrike Arnold was the result of a botched attempt at a quick getaway.
We were exploring a cave occupied by Anasazi Indian hundreds of years ago(!) when I realized I needed to get back to Amangiri to shoot food. Ulrike works on a natural raised platform right outside the cave, and I thought I'd try skirting around her work area. She beckoned me up instead, telling me the fastest way back was through.
Once in her zone, I felt like a moth hopelessly drawn to a flame, and that flame was Ulrike. She twirled me around with things to show me, beguiled me with all the evidence of her labor: her smock, her paintbrushes, her glues, her canvas weighed down by rocks. She described to me her philosophies about art and creation, demonstrated the prayers she gives each day to her muse. She was a magnet, a spark, and I wanted to capture everything. It felt a bit greedy actually, the way I regarded her, and those five minutes in her presence felt like a moment frozen in time as the wind whipped our hair and rain droplets suspended everything around us.
Ulrike is Amangiri's resident artist and spends about two months out of the year on the property. Her medium is the earth (rocks and minerals she collects in the area) and the stars (meteor dust, provided to her by her meteor supplier!), which she grinds and lashes onto her canvas along with other found objects, the molted skin of a snake maybe. The elements do their thing—she doesn't interfere—and eventually a finished piece transpires. Her art is elemental by definition, organic by definition, the word terroir comes to mind. As in, the terroir of Ulrike's pieces makes them pure and authentic expressions of the land.


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This is Washingtons Blue Ribbon trout stream. There are some nice fish here 20+ inch trout. It is a difficult river to fish in some ways....as it is an irrigation river. The water is raised and lowered according to the farmers by a dam above. This fluxuation in water levels can turn the fish off. If you like a serious challenge of skill with a large trout payoff...this is the water in Washington. C&C always welcome.
This image is infact straight, although it might be more pleasing with a slight rotation to the right?
This snow/ice was about 4'ft tall.
A little backwater pond


text:
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text:
Dana Frasz wants to see a Food Shift – away from waste• Christian Science Monitor
Too idealistic? Frasz would argue otherwise. Hear her talk about her passion – FoodShift.
How much waste is there currently in the United States and how accurate are these figures?
Forty percent of all the food produced in the US is wasted.
This figure is from national experts on food waste – author Jonathan Bloom wrote "American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half its Food" and Dana Gunders has been researching this issue at the Natural Resources Defense Council.


text:
Master of Science in Nursing - Population Health
Description of Program
Students are invited to experience the distinctiveness of Population Health Nursing in the 21st century. The Master's of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree program is designed to prepare advanced population health nurses to address the health needs of vulnerable populations and communities as they currently exist and as they will evolve in the future. Students acquire advanced knowledge and skills in population and community needs assessment, analysis of aggregate data, health planning, as well as program development, implementation, and evaluation.
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text:
To Be Determined
I read. Mostly Romance. I like to talk about books. The end.
Recently added
8:00 pm 24 August 2013
Too short for the plot. So much potential conflict was skipped over.
The Seduction Hypothesis
8:00 pm 24 August 2013
I told myself I wasn't going to read any more m/f BDSM that featured a male dom/female sub but 1)I wanted to try audio and this was the first sample I thought I could listen to for several hours, and 2)the dom is introduced to the lifestyle in this story. I decided to go for it, and I'm glad I did. BDSM is something Ben and Lindsey have to learn, and it's both hot and adorable to see it happen. The reason I'm tired of stories with male doms is that the ultra-confident alpha is just so boring. Ben comes across as a real person, and watching him figure out this new world--watching him be unsure of himself sometimes and make mistakes--was sexy as hell and incredibly romantic.
To Have and To Hold
8:00 pm 9 August 2013
You know how, in many historicals, there's this bad guy who the heroine is forced to be in close contact with? Maybe her guardian, or the man her family is pushing her to marry, or her employer--whoever he is, he wants her, and takes advantage of the fact that she's under his control. The hero has to rescue the heroine, because this guy can't be reasoned with. That guy? He's the hero of To Have and to Hold. Look, I like morally ambiguous characters as much as the next person, but there's nothing ambiguous about Sebastien. This man gets off on hurting Rachel, and offers her a job with the intention of raping her. He loves to fuck with her head and keep her on a terrifying edge at all times. He'll occasionally realize that he's behavior is fucked up but he continues on, because his daddy ignored him and his mommy and big sister are whores. Or something. His redemption consists of being compared to people who are even worse than he is and not being mean to Rachel anymore. He still thinks of her as his possession, doesn't respect a single decision she makes that goes against what he wants, but he gets her a puppy and makes her orgasm, so it's all good.
8:00 pm 19 July 2013
Heroine who makes a conscious effort throughout the story to stop being a doormat and a vulnerable hero with some asshole moments who acknowledges and feels bad about being an asshole. Add some adorable flirty dialogue as a relief from the angst, like:"Since when are gowns deadly?" [...] "Shoes are regular serial killers, but dresses are harmless," she teased.He couldn't help the twitch of humor at the corner of his mouth. "I've seen dresses short enough to take a man down. Whiplash is a common occurrence."Her smile grew. "I nearly died of embarrassment in a bathing suit once. True story."This Presents just worked for me. I won't go into the plot, except to say that it's mostly typical HP fare. What makes this one great is that hero and heroine are so recognizably human in their reactions to the drama they're mired in, and that so many HP staples are turned on their heads. Lauren is aware that her timidity and willingness to be walked over are a problem, and we get to see her changing step by step, with a few backslides along the way. Her dead husband was, conveniently, a cheating jackass, but--and this is truly miraculous for this type of story--she was sexually satisfied with him despite being otherwise unhappy. She even says once that with her husband away so much she sometimes wished she were the type to cheat. A heroine with a libido independent of true love's aphrodisiac properties? How in the world did this get published? Paolo is never allowed to be a jerk without an explanation, and his behavior never crosses the line into unforgivable. The man want Lauren and is seriously terrified of getting hurt. And he's a rich banker who actually has to work hard, and doesn't have the freedom to just live as he pleases without consequences. This story is what I hope for every time I open an HP--soapy, over-the-top plot with characters that talk and act like real people.
The Story Guy (Novella)
8:00 pm 9 July 2013
I went back and forth between a 2 and 3 with this one. Ultimately, lovely writing and an enjoyable premise couldn't make up for the plot and what I felt were weak character motivations. The more I thought about the story, the more those things bothered me. Carrie is a 30-something single woman who's feeling a bit low emotionally at the start of the story. She has a good life--loving parents, friends, nothing really to complain about, but loneliness has started to set in. One night as she was perusing the personal ads on a craig's list-like site for laughs, she came across an ad by a man looking for someone for kissing only on Wednesday afternoons. Intrigued, she answers the ad, and after an IM conversation she and Brian decide to meet. The attraction is instant an mutual, the kissing fantastic, and Carrie almost immediately decides she want more. And that's where the story starts to lose me. After two make out sessions, a few flirty IM conversations, and seriously hot phone sex, Carrie feels entitled to Brian's emotions. She insists on crossing boundaries that he very clearly delineated from the start. I couldn't get past this, and it colored how I viewed every one of their interactions from then on. Brian is a lawyer in a job he hates. He's been his sister's sole caretaker since he finished law school. Stacy suffered severe brain damage when she was 17 due to a car accident. Their mother couldn't/wouldn't care for Stacey well, and left the state as soon as Brian took over her care. Having no one other than home health aides and an adult day care facility to help him, he's completely consumed by his caretaker role, and doesn't see room in his life for anything else. Every decision he's made in his adult life has been based on how best to accommodate his sister's need, and his Wednesday kissing sessions is a way for him to find some relief without risking emotional involvement. He's so attracted to Carrie that he goes ahead and makes the leap, but I never really believed that he was ready to do that.The first person POV does Brian a huge disservice. Because while he tells Carrie about his negative feelings about his life, she has such a romanticized view of his caretaker role that we never see him being anything less than perfect. The writing gets a bit overwrought and frankly sappy at this point of the story. Stacey is used as a tool to show us how great Brian is, and because Carrie is so smitten we never see the reality of how difficult things can be. Carrie tells us, sure, but because she sees it all as evidence of what a wonderful man Brian is, I don't get the sense that she really sees Brian and Stacey is actual, complex individuals that exist outside of her feelings for him. Like when Carrie gives Stacey a bed bath:I whisper to Stacy all the things I loved about her brother, and asked if it would be okay if we shared him. I told her she would always be his little sister, but that I'd like to hang out with him too.And when they tour a residential facility :This is, of course, the privilege of love, to bear witness to a strong man's grief over the little sister he could never save, as much as he tried to, with every moment of life. And this:To live with that fear, and never have any confirmation that anything you did was the right thing? It's astonishing, every kiss he's ever given me. And that completely unsubtle language makes up the entire final third of the story. It felt very melodramatic in some points. In the end, I was unsure of Brian and Carrie's feelings for each other. Did Carrie cling to the first good man she lusted over to end her loneliness? After the all-consuming role of sole caretaker, could Brian really be able to adjust to an equal partnership so easily? I can't tell.
Devil's Cub
8:00 pm 3 July 2013
Closer to 3.5 stars. This book is my first Heyer. I've been reading Romance for 20+ years, but never had any interest in Heyer (I decided early on that anything labeled "traditional Regency" must be boring) until twitter. There seems to be a lively Heyer discussion at least once a month, and the description of Devil's Cub interested me enough that I decided to take the plunge. I'm glad I did.Devil's Cub is unemotionally written. It didn't feel like an author crafting a story; it was more like a reporter diligently recording everything said and done without any commentary, letting me come to my own conclusions. That's not a criticism. It was weird at first, but once I got used to all the dialogue I found I liked having to judge the characters by nothing but their words and actions. There's only a few instances where I felt I was in a character's head at all, and while that's not something I'd want to read all the time, it made the story seem more real, somehow. It's one thing when you know what the characters are thinking and feeling no matter what they're saying, but we don't have that outside of fiction, and not having that knowledge in this novel reminded me how much risk and faith is involved in love and relationships. Because of that distance, however, I never felt emotionally invested. I was thoroughly entertained, I wanted to know what happens next, but I didn't really care about Dominic and Mary. I was interested in them because they just happened to be the protagonists of this story, but if they hadn't ended up together, well, that would have been because that's what happened. No point in complaining about the facts, you know? Devil's Cub doesn't feel like a romance; Dominic and Mary don't actually spend much time together on the page, and Heyer doesn't spend any time on their feelings. Mary falls in love in the space of one sentence, and while we do get some glimpses of Dominic's changing feelings, it wasn't enough for me to consider this book a love story. That said, I can see why Heyer is considered the mother of historical romance. Everything felt so familiar. I instantly recognized Dominic--the rich, titled rake, a crack shot who wins every duel and always comes out on top when gambling. Unlike most "bad boy" heroes, though, he's actually shown to do bad things without any justifications to make his actions palatable to readers. The guy's an asshole in many ways, and with his money and upbringing and enabling mother, what else could he be? He's not a caricature, though. He does have his good points, it's just that Heyer doesn't try to bullshit us with a "bad boy with a heart of gold" plot. Mary was also familiar to me as the only level-headed member of a family made up of an ambitious mother and twit of a sister, who sacrifices herself for her sister. She's not a martyr, however. Most of her actions come from a sense of bone-deep practicality. There's definitely an alphahole tamed by love vibe, which is ubiquitous in the genre. It's not so much that Dominic changes because he's in love, it's that he's with a woman who isn't weak, which makes his behavior tolerable. Take this exchange between Mary, Dominic, and his father:'You will be married,' said his grace, 'in Paris, at the Embassy.''But sir-''A little coffee, my lord?' said Miss Challoner.'I never touch it. Sir-''If his grace wishes you to me married at the Embassy, my lord, I won't be married anywhere else,' stated Miss Challoner calmly.Mary clearly won't be putting up with any of his nonsense. There's so many other hints of common Romance tropes and characters and Devil's Cub felt almost satirical near the end. I kept smiling, thinking, "So this is how that got started." I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.
8:00 pm 25 June 2013
I liked how it began, with the heroine breaking a contract because the hero offered more money. Bold move for an HP, or any romance, really. The heroine--a successful public relations consultant--is a 27 year old virgin, which normally would be fine in an HP (I know what I'm signing up for), but not with a heroine with her background and lifestyle. And then the hero turns out to be a really wonderful rich womanizer who does all these great things but doesn't want anyone to know about them even thought he's spending a ton of money to make sure who looks good to the public. Yeah. And then they decide to fake an engagement for a really flimsy reason. My TBR is too bloated for this.
8:00 pm 23 June 2013
Really gripping plot but the romance fell short for me. The "I love yous" came way too soon and that became a distraction.
8:00 pm 23 June 2013
Really gripping plot but the romance fell short for me. The "I love yous" came way too soon and that became a distraction.
8:00 pm 23 June 2013
Really gripping plot but the romance fell short for me. The "I love yous" came way too soon and that became a distraction.
An Invitation to Sin (Harlequin Presents Series #3146)
8:00 pm 20 June 2013
Now that's my kind of "bad boy" hero. Luca Corretti is fun. He's rich, good looking, has everything going for him, and while he does have some issues from his childhood there's no big sob story to explain away his choices. He sleeps around and behaves in irresponsible ways simply because he can, which is just what I'd expect from a man of his background. He doesn't brood, because he has no reason to. Life is good and he's enjoying the hell out of it. Taylor Carmichael has been an actress since she was an infant. She's starting work in a film produced by Luca's cousin--a comeback for her, since she's been out of the business for several years do to various scandals (dropped her overbearing mother as her manager when she was 17, got romantically involved with a much older director, had several people betray her to the press...). She wants to put her past behind her and be taken seriously as an actress, which means not doing anything that would create tabloid headlines. She keeps herself under strict control at all times. Taylor and Luca fake an engagement after getting caught in a compromising position. Luca wants to be taken seriously by super conservative board members, and Taylor's under pressure with the movie's producer and director, since they don't want and scandal attached to their film. And that's my only problem with this book--the motivations don't make much sense. I found it hard to believe that a movie producer would fire an actress because of a "scandal." And there's a threat hanging over Taylor's head throughout the story, which had me going, "That's it?!" when it was revealed near the end. Too much angst and drama over something fairly benign, by Hollywood standards. Despite that, I really enjoyed reading how Taylor and Luca interact. They snipe at each other, not in a mean way but like two people with strong personalities who enjoy getting each other to react. He tries to get her to relax and be herself, and she gradually gets him to lower his guard. You could see them growing to like each other and then fall in love, without becoming different people. I could totally see them spending their lives taking turns driving the Ferrari too fast and generally having a blast.
8:00 pm 4 June 2013
I reveal the main characters identities, so if you want to remain unspoiled on that stop here.Like with most books in the Psy/Changeling series, I had multiple ratings in mind for Heart of Obsidian, each for different aspects of the story. Overall I'd give it a bit less than 4 stars. The romance between Kaleb and Sahara was the best part of this book. It was mostly just the two of them for the first half, with very little interaction with others. I got to know them; their intimacy felt organic, especially compared to Hawke/Sienna (yeah, I'm still bitter about that pairing)and Riaz/Adria--I never really got those couples. I did have some issues, though, mostly with Kaleb. Kaleb is a former Councilor, and like all Councilors, has committed all kinds of immoral acts to get ahead. Authors typically go one of two ways here--either a full on redemption, atone for past sins story, or a "but s/he had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing those evil things so it's okay" story. Unfortunately, Singh chose the latter, and it felt like a cop-out. To be fair, I go back and forth with that type of character and with redemption stories in general; chances are good I wouldn't have been completely satisfied with the first option, either. While I need true redemption when it comes individual relationships, when it comes to characters who do bad things on a larger scale I'm more ambivalent. I don't want every bad guy to turn completely good (and it's not like Kaleb's ends up a boyscout), even when the bad guy becomes the hero. Though I have no idea if such a hero could actually work, so...my feelings on this are complicated, is what I'm saying.(A tangent to illustrate the point--I adore the character of Nikita. At the start of the series she was a perfectly Silent Councilor and unfeeling mother to Sasha, and the way things have evolved we now know that she's done a lot to protect her daughter over the years. She's also gone against Psy rules to help others when it aligns with her interests. That's enough good for me. I worry that she's going to be completely whitewashed by the end of the series, when what I love about her is that she's smart and ruthless and does things--good and evil--for personal gain without being a complete monster. I don't want all characters to be so morally ambiguous, but Nikita still is and that's what Kaleb should have been at the end of this story.)The overall plot was a mixed bag. Kaleb and Sahara are both Psy, which is great for two reason: 1)No mating drama--and after they way things went down in the last two books, I really needed a break from that. I've never been a fan of the concept, but KoS and ToN officially made it dead-to-me. 2)We got a much closer look at the going-ons of the PsyNet and the ongoing civil war. I've always found the Psy to be the most interesting of the three races, so that was a big plus.The problem with the Psy/Psy pairing is how little we see of the other races. While I didn't miss anyone per se, seeing the Psy, Changelings, and Humans strategize and deal with each other--the complexity of those relationships--is a highlight of the the series for me. Their absence for most of the book may have led to a stronger romance, but Singh's world-building throughout the series is excellent, and I read it primarily for that reason. (This wouldn't have bothered me if HoO were book #4 instead of #12--it's more about my expectations than anything wrong with the storytelling.) This book isn't the end of the series or the current story arc, though I'm at a loss as to where the story can go from here. I do think there's more story for Kaleb, since he ends up taking over the Net as a sort of benevolent dictator, which, if we're talking true freedom for the Psy, isn't exactly ideal. Democracy, anyone? It'd be interesting to explore that, but I didn't see any hint of it. Of course, there are still plenty of characters to write about and pretty major hinting about who the next book will focus on, but the major conflicts that the series has been dealing with feel mostly complete.
8:00 pm 25 May 2013
DNF. I thought the relationship and emotions started too quickly. The hero was supposed to be spying on her from the beginning, but because of the instant attraction it hadn't gone anywhere by page 100, which is where I gave up. There was nothing at all bad about this story, but it just didn't work for me. The author has a lovely voice and I'll be checking out her future books.
The Rebound Girl
8:00 pm 19 May 2013
Super sweet kindergarten teacher hero and bold, brash and cynical plastic surgeon heroine--this is an opposites attract + gender-role reversal love story, and it works. If The Rebound Girl were comprised entirely of scenes of Matt/Whitney interacting and falling in love, I would have easily rated this book a 4 or even 5 stars, but the plot. Good god, the plot. Whitney--along with her friends Kendra and John--has moved to Pleasant Park to open a medical spa. Twelve years ago, Whitney, a student nurse at the time, decided to become a plastic surgeon after her plastic surgeon boyfriend, Jared, cheated on her while they were in Guatemala with an Operation Smile-like organization. Whitney, Jared, Kendra, and John were all best friends at the time, and the medical spa had been a shared dream. When Jared ruined that relationship, Whitney decided she'd take over as the surgeon of the group. And that's where the problem starts for me. Whitney was a 22 year old student in a 2-year relationship with Jared, a renowned plastic surgeon even though he was in his mid-to-late 20's at the time. Unless he started med school at 8, that just doesn't fly. The fact that Whitney is supposed to be a great surgeon at 34 doesn't make sense either, since she didn't decide on surgery until she was 22, which means she would have had to take the MCAT, apply and get accepted to med school, and then finish school, internship, residency, and fellowship in 12 years, then immediately go into private practice as the sole plastic surgeon. I might have been able to ignore all that, but it was constantly brought up in one way or the other, forcing me to do the math. Matt is almost too good to be true. He's a genuinely good person, recently divorced after his wife had an affair. And that's where "too good" comes in--he can't let go of his ex. He's not in love with Laura, and he acknowledges that part of the problem with his marriage was that he didn't care enough, but he's too committed to being a good, non-angry person to draw some boundaries. While I like that he's not bitter about his marriage and gets along with Laura, going to her house every week to check on her and help with the house was too much. There's a fine line between being nice and being a sucker, and he was sometimes so far over that line that I wanted Whitney to run for the hills. Whitney is charmed by Matt's sweetness, so different from her own personality and that of every other man she knows. She's loud, cynical, has zero impulse control, is brutally pragmatic, and Matt--while not a fan of her outlook--likes her that way. As Whitney puts it:"She'd never met a man so attracted to and repulsed by her at the same time."When discussing her profession and her reasons for choosing plastic surgery (money):"Matt blinked. The things she was saying--they were cruel words, harsh words. But she was being neither cruel nor harsh. Whitney was matter-of-fact and decisive...and proud."Whitney is a person who's completely confident in who she is, and so is Matt. As nice as he is, he's no pushover, which makes his behavior towards his ex especially baffling. Whitney might be pushy, but it's always clear to me and to Whitney that when he goes along with Whitney's decisions, it's because that happens to be what he wants, too. He has no problem calling her out when she's wrong and setting boundaries with her, even going so far as instituting a no intercourse rule during their affair because they're not officially dating (which I found incredibly juvenile, honestly, as if PIV sex is the only type that counts). His relationship with Laura is a constant source of friction with Whitney...as a victim of a cheating partner herself, she can't understand his willingness to be Laura's savior; Matt gets angry that in spite of Whitney's insistence that what they have be nothing more than a rebound fling, she tries to set rules for him outside of their deal. He wants more, but he's not going to roll over to get it. She realizes this, and apologizes because even though she's not ready to get seriously involved, she doesn't want to lose him. I love seeing the back and forth between them, they genuinely like and enjoy each other, and when one of them messes up, there's always a call out followed an apology and attempt to understand. And then Jared shows up. The medical spa is in trouble before even opening because--and this is another problem I have with this story--the townspeople don't approve of Whitney's behavior. There's a reason I avoid small town romances like the plague, and nosy neighbors with bunched-up panties over shit that's none of their business is it. Those people are also part of the reason why Matt is so protective of Laura--the town essentially shunned her over her affair. Whitney's mother contacts Jared, hoping that he could help save the business, world-renowned paragon that he is. He arrives, smarmy as hell, Whitney pitches a fit, her friends take Jared's side, and what follows is some rage-inducing justifications. I understand that it provided closure for Whitney, but after reading about Matt and Laura's past, I wasn't thrilled with the implication throughout the story that all cheating has some deeper cause--usually the fault of the person cheated on--and not just on the cheater being an entitled asshole. (I smell a sequel with Jared as the hero. No thanks. I can deal with a hero who cheated on an ex over a decade ago, but not with that kind of set up.) Jared--through no fault of his own--is also the cause of a final big misunderstanding between Matt and Whitney. It was cliched, and the resolution was over-the-top. It could have worked for a different type of story, with different characters, but it was out of place here. Plot issues aside, it was lovely seeing a relationship develop between such different people who liked each other exactly as they are. This isn't a "redemption through love" story. No one becomes a better, kinder, more humble version of themselves because of love. This is a story of two adult individuals each with their own personality and experiences and faults, who fall in love and make the necessary adjustments to make their relationship work. I like that.
8:00 pm 13 May 2013
I hadn't realized that this was an unrequited love story when I picked it up. That trope rarely works for me, and the heroine had been in love with the hero for 15 years, whom she hadn't seen in all that time, so this one never stood a chance.I had a few other problems with this story. The reason for the marriage/engagement of convenience was weak. There was an evil ex-wife used to make the heroine look better in the hero's eyes. And in the end, I didn't believe he loved he, really. He went from liking that the sex (all fade to black, btw) was good and she was good with his kids and she took care of him to the leap that he was in love, though I never saw that development on the page.
8:00 pm 2 May 2013
3.5 stars. This story started out strong--an over-the-top plot that worked because of human, grounded characters. Dramatic in the very best way, with high emotion and edge of your seat suspense. And then it just fizzled out near the end. The explanation for it all just didn't fit for such a big mystery--the motivation wasn't strong enough and that lead to some significant inconsistencies. I was left with too many unanswered questions.
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Normally, civil and criminal matters remain on distinct sides of the court system, but in Anthony's many ongoing cases, they're intertwined.
will she ever just go away?
25 Jan 2012 7 Comments
by Kim in Uncategorized Tags: America, casey anthony, caylee anthony, freedom, politics
Previous Our money goes for this Next A fun game for Thursday
7 Comments (+add yours?)
More than six months after Casey Anthony's attorneys filed notice they intend to appeal her criminal convictions, they have yet to submit an initial brief laying out the substance of her legal challenge.
While her criminal appeal moves at a seemingly glacial pace, civil suits filed against Anthony progress through the circuit court here in Orlando. One of the three is set for trial in April.
Jan 26, 2012 @ 01:50:33
Matt Morgan said the swamp moster was gaming the system.
She is hoping to leave the country before any civil trials. JMHO
let her go, we are happy to see the last of skanky and the gang
The news that Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. will seek re-election prompted this fierce reply from a reader: "He's obviously looking to set more GUILTY FREE."
The reader was commenting on the Casey Anthony trial, which gave Perry national visibility.
WFTV-Channel 9 anchor Greg Warmoth noted today that Perry is seeking re-election as circuit judge of Orange and Osceola counties in August. Perry is in his eighth term as chief judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit, Warmoth added.
Jan 25, 2012 @ 18:33:27
I was thinking about Perry and this case-is it true that he could have questioned the jurors about their verdict and asked them to reconsider? I heard that he could but it was by a very upset commentor.
He most certainly was not "stricter", imo.
I don't know what the law is, he would though. Certainly if he could have he would have
When Zenaida Gonzalez's civil suit against Casey Anthony goes to trial, "In Session" will provide pool coverage.


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Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-2) at Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0)
|Date & Time
|Saturday October 1, 2016, 12:00 PM (EDT)
|The Line
The Line: Ohio State Buckeyes -38 -- Over/Under:
|TV Channel
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Ohio State Buckeyes clash Saturday afternoon in a Big Ten matchup at Ohio Stadium.
The Rutgers Scarlet Knights look for their first win over a ranked team since beating USF in 2009. Chris Laviano is completing 52.2 percent of his passes for 647 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Laviano has at least one touchdown pass in four of his last five games. Janarion Grant and Jawuan Harris have combined for 371 receiving yards and two touchdowns while Andre Patton has eight receptions. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights ground game is averaging 220.2 yards per contest, and Robert Martin leads the way with 358 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, Rutgers is allowing 26 points and 362.5 yards per game. Kiy Hester leads the Scarlet Knights with 25 tackles, Julian Pinnix-Odrick has four sacks and K.J. Gray has one interception.
The Ohio State Buckeyes look to keep the ball rolling and have had two weeks to prepare for this contest. J.T. Barrett is completing 67.1 percent of his passes for 650 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception. Barrett has 11 touchdown passes in his last four games. Curtis Samuel and Noah Brown have combined for 393 receiving yards and seven touchdowns while Dontre Wilson has eight receptions. The Ohio State Buckeyes ground game is averaging 306 yards per contest, and Mike Weber leads the way with 351 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, Ohio State is allowing 12.3 points and 278.3 yards per game. Raekwon McMillan leads the Buckeyes with 20 tackles, Sam Hubbard has 1.5 sacks and Malik Hooker has three interceptions.
The Scarlet Knights are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 conference games and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall. The Buckeyes are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games following a bye week and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
This is a ton of points to lay, especially for a Rutgers team that's played improved football, which includes losing by just one touchdown to Iowa last week. However, Ohio State has had two weeks to prepare and rest for this game, and the Buckeyes have outscored the Scarlet Knights 105-24 in the last two contests. So, while the number is massive and I hate laying big chalk, the Buckeyes should be able to cover it if they want to play four full quarters.
Expect a blowout.


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Week 6: Now That's More Like It!!
I am 6 weeks into my 8 week lean out and I am happier after these last 2 weeks. When I posted my 4 week progress pics I wasn't very happy. I looked bloated and too soft, but like always, that passed and I worked a little harder, kept my nutrition in check and kept my goal in mind.
Here is my progress so far....
The one on the left is from this morning and the one on the right is from 6 weeks ago.
As you can see there is a huge difference in my lower abs. This is the hardest (and last) place for me to lose fat. You can't see it here, but my obliques are starting to show as well.
This has some to do with my programming but 90% of it has to do with my nutrition. It is very true...Abs are made in the kitchen.
I'm also excited because my legs, arms/shoulders and back are becoming defined as well.
So I have 2 weeks left on my 8 week lean out phase and it will probably be the hardest 2 weeks but I am so excited for the challenge!


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Empress Theatre
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22 Feb
Neal Schon's Journey Through Time Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort
28 Feb
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Mama's Makin' Bacon Drag Brunch The Grand Ballroom


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Nothing is better than a pull at your heart strings goodbye ending to a love story. Just thinking about my recent goodbye makes me remember one that gets me every time. Even as I post it, I am tearing up.
So now, my sweatheart…I will write you well.
How do you say goodbye these days? I will see him on Facebook. We will have contact on the phone, for goodness sake, he will only be a plane ride away. But, I feel like he just left me in Oz to go back to Kansas. In short of 36 hours, his twin car to mine will be taking him back to the land of E Pluribus Unum.
One of the my first thoughts of him was, "well you are not in Kansas anymore." He had only heard that one a thousand times. Truly, geniune and kind. He tells me, that this was not who he has always been. Tennessee for him for a place of healing, wellness and sobriety. He always said, "I am still in Tennessee for a reason." At times, I wondered if I could be that reason. But like always, I chose wrong and chose my way out of one of the worst "what if" moments of my adult life.
It has been easy to put a Wizard of Oz spin on this with him being from Kansas, but I never could label him as one of Dorothy's sidekicks. He is brave, he is loving and he is very smart. I was totally wrong, he is Dorothy-leaving Kansas to gain courage, love and intellect here in Tennessee to take back to Kansas.
So if he is Dorothy then who am I? Am I the Lion because I didn't have the courage to date him seriously these last nine months. Am I the Tinsman because I looked at my options and pretended to not have a heart when I did truly care for him. Or am I the Scarecrow, without a brain to take this opportunity and….You know, you can "what if" yourself to death.
Here is the deal: yes, he was always going home and that scared me to death that I would fall deeply in love and when he left be a mess. So, yes that makes me the Lion. And yes, if you conduct the heartless pros and cons of the situation, I chose the option to pursue another relationship or two, or three in the last nine months. So, yes that makes me the Tinsman. And yes, our situations were the furthest from ideal. I attempted to be smart…So yes, that makes me the Scarecrow. Fearful, heartless and brainless!
You have shown me what true courage looks like. Your passion for your family, your adoring words and deeds towards me show love. You have wisdom beyond your years. Part of you wisdom is your telling me that we can't live in our past. What we had, as short and as disjointed as it became was lovely and will never for a moment not be treasured.
So my sweet, lovely Kansas boy, are your ready to go home now? "You've always had the power to return to Kansas, you just didn't know it until now."


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New writing on the fight for Black lives comes to the Fringe
CalArts Festival Theater Presents:
Young American playwright Dionna Michelle Daniel makes her international debut with her original new work, Gunshot Medley, where past and present meet in a haunted North Carolina graveyard to explore the deep seated racial tensions in the United States.
Set to classic Appalachian folk music and gospel spirituals, this provocative new work stretches across the Antebellum American south through present day to weave a rich history of the Black-American experience, blending poetry and song to respond to the historical expendability of Black bodies and the lives lost to hatred, racism, and police brutality.
Three slaves—Betty, Alvis, and George—are stuck in a state of limbo, perpetually tasked with cleaning up the wreckage of systemic racism purveying contemporary America. Numbed by the continuous loss of Black lives, each character grapples with the meaning of their own death as they witness history repeat itself time and time again. An ever present fourth character, the High Priestess of Souls, an incarnate of the Yoruban goddess Oya, awakens each character to their condition, inciting action and social change. Betty, Alvis, and George must confront the need to answer her call and their fear of what it means to do so.
Gunshot Medley was born out of the Charleston church shootings and the debate surrounding the insensitive usage of the Confederate flag. A combination of spoken word and live music shed new light on the American slave narrative while paying homage to the real Betty, Alvis, and George, three historically documented slaves that died in North Carolina before the emancipation proclamation was signed. Daniel's haunting new tale is a call to action; it is a story of many generations and the perseverance of the human spirit.
Gunshot Medley, one of three shows presented by CalArts Festival Theater, opens at Venue 13 on Saturday, August 6 at 14:45 and runs through Saturday, August 26. There are no shows Monday August 14th and Monday August 21st.
What was the inspiration for this performance?
Every human being has a moment when their soul cries, "Enough is enough!" Gunshot Medley was the product of one of those moments. While staying with my parents in North Carolina during the summer of 2015, I watched racial tensions fester in the South after the Charleston church massacre.
As the news of these nine deaths played across mytelevision screen, my body began to overflow with an array of emotions. Each life of another African-American person that has been lost to racism and police brutality reopens the wound of grief Black America has endured for centuries. While their nine faces flashed on CNN, I was shattered. I was angry. I was broken. Enough was enough but I didn't know what I could do. Where was I supposed to channel my pain in times of intense mourning?
During that time, I vividly recall the fury in my bones when white men road up and down my street with huge Confederate flags hoisted onto the backs of their pick-up trucks. The Confederate flags that some southerners kept tucked away in closets, chests, and attics due to shame were now proudly displayed on porches and flag poles all throughout North Carolina.
However, this was nothing new. All throughout my life the Confederate flag was made visible in many different ways. It is just that after Charleston, my instances of encountering this symbol of racism and ignorant pride tripled.
One day while visiting one of the oldest cemeteries in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I came across a segregated graveyard that housed the bodies of both African-American slaves and white Confederate soldiers. The section where the Confederate soldiers were buried was well kept while the slaves' graves were hidden from view. In the slave section, there were three tombstones with the names Betty, Alvis and George. All that was left were their first names and the dates of their deaths.
All of the deaths preceded the Emancipation Proclamation. The moment I saw those names and dates etched into stone, my soul knew I must tell their stories.
Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
I believe performance will always remain a good space for public discussion of ideas. Theater has always been that sacred space of ritual and discourse. I believe, especially in the American theater, that we are coming into a new chapter of political and socially engaged theater. Due to our new president and the social unrest in the United States, art is becoming even more weighted. Plays that could promote escapism seem futile at this moment. The work that we want to see breaks open a discussion about the issues that we normally find too hard to address.
How did you become interested in making performance?
I vividly remember viewing Jackie Sibblies Drury, "We are Proud to Present…" which was directed by the brilliant American director Nataki Garrett. That show changed my perspective of what the theater can be. The play touched on topics such as appropriation, colonization, and genocide all while making me laugh, cry and become incredibly angry.
The play was experimental, the actors breaking into an almost Brechtian conversation with the audience, while in other parts reenacting the genocide that took play in Namibia. That production made me realize that theater that tackles politics and social issues can be cathartic as well as utilizing a distancing effect. The two tactics together, creating this strange dissonance in me sparked a need for further dialogue and action.
Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?
The approach to making Gunshot Medley is traditional. However, the heart of the play lies in its mysticism. The actors and I speak about the idea of possession. We talk about it as letting the words speak through them instead of them speaking the words. It is essential to this piece to tap into the world of the sublime because the playbegan as an act of possession. It is a story that found me and needed to be told no matter what.
Does the show fit with your usual productions?
Usually, my role in the theater is that of the actor. This production is my debut as a director. It is also one of my first plays I've written. However, my writing and art have always been political. Gunshot Medley combines my fascination of politics, music, and poetry all in one.
What do you hope that the audience will experience?
I am interested in bringing this show to the Fringe due to Appalachian folk music's roots in English ballads, and Irish & Scottish traditional music. The play, interweaved with these classic songs, makes it evident that good music speaks to the soul. I want to offer hope to those who come to view this piece and to the next generation.Gunshot Medley highlights the intersection of these cultures to show that we as humans are more alike than we are different. This piece is not solely a play about what it means to be black in the United States but a story about the perseverance of the human spirit.
Three slaves—Betty, Alvis, and George—are stuck in a state of limbo, perpetually tasked with cleaning up the wreckage of systemic racism purveying contemporary America. Numbed by the continuous loss of Black lives, each character grapples with the meaning of their own death as they witness history repeat itself time and time again. An ever present fourth character, the High Priestess of Souls, an incarnate of the Yoruban goddess Oya, awakens each character to their condition, inciting action and social change. Betty, Alvis, and George must confront the need to answer her call and their fear of what it means to do so.


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JZO's founding duo – Joseph O. Ike, and Olamide E. Akindeinde are true fashion enthusiasts with a unique perspective on African Fashion, particularly the menswear genre.
At JZO, the belief is that African Fashion is not confined to "traditional" definitions, but can also be considered "contemporary". The brand's vision is that of a simple, unique, elegant and contemporary style of menswear influenced heavily by African themes but tailored to for the global minded consumer.


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The 'Biblical Superhero' Who's About to Invade the Box Office and Prove Just How Powerful God Is
Go behind the scenes of Pure Flix's upcoming film, "Samson" — and learn more about its powerful message that could transform our culture:
As Christian movie house Pure Flix prepares for the Feb. 16 release of "Samson," a film about the popular biblical figure known for his supernatural strength, CEO Michael Scott is revealing how he believes the film will help teach Christians some valuable life lessons.
READ: 'God Put Him There': CNN's Don Lemon Quotes Bible During Incredibly Awkward Face-Off With Franklin Graham
"So much in our lives today … we're focused on our things, it may not be God's things. We may be off track in what we're doing," he said, noting that Samson's story of regaining his strength to defeat his enemies offers up some lessons in perseverance. "Ultimately, God came through and [Samson] was able to finish what God had for him and finish strong."
Scott, who likened Samson to a "biblical superhero" of sorts, said that he believes it's a good time for an action-themed Christian movie to take center stage, particularly one based on a figure who is so known and loved.
"There's a great love story in this … but it's also got the action element," he said. "It's just timely for a movie like this with all the other fare that's coming out in the marketplace."
Scott also discussed the history behind how Pure Flix came to make popular, feature-length pictures, noting that the company started off in 2005 by producing small films.
Over time, though, the business evolved to yield features such as "God's Not Dead" and "The Case for Christ."
The lessons that have been learned along the way have been profound, with Pure Flix becoming so established that the company now makes a global impact through its films, messaging and a streaming platform.
"What I was shocked by … [is] the amount of impact a movie can have … we can really communicate with our culture today," Scott said. "If you have an incredible story that can be packaged up with the right message … I think it can be a powerful tool used for the Lord."
And the film company's audience isn't solely comprised of Christians, as Scott said that up to one-third of its film viewers are "non-believers."
"I'm thrilled to be here at Pure Flix … and just watch what God can do," he said.
Dear Readers:
If ChristianWeek has made a difference in your life, please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.
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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post2936156770075369538..comments2019-02-05T21:15:37.779-08:00Comments on Flavors of the Sun: Cantaloupe-Yogurt Soup with Ginger, Lime, and MintVictoria Challancinhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-91662670925579830452013-07-17T18:22:36.804-07:002013-07-17T18:22:36.804-07:00What a beautiful and simple recipke! Previously co...What a beautiful and simple recipke! Previously commenced data involving subsequent spring/summer quality recipes and will also be included quickly! Funny: I'm quite happy to eat preparing salads through the winter time, but this is good for searching ahead :) ! Using a large rainfall depressive disorders having recorded on people along with morning temperature ranges around Two H methinks rs goldhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-90660039951152514532013-06-30T10:02:31.562-07:002013-06-30T10:02:31.562-07:00Melons are perfect for the heat, I can never get e...Melons are perfect for the heat, I can never get enough of them in the summer time. Your soup sounds refreshing, light and filling at the same time. Thanks for being a part of the YBR this month:) Nancy/SpicieFoodiehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-11182448893123878012013-06-22T03:58:18.616-07:002013-06-22T03:58:18.616-07:00I don't think I've ever had a melon soup. ...I don't think I've ever had a melon soup. How lovely to be amongst all that hot weather - I'd love some. Such a cold, wet and frightful weekend here in Sydney xxHotly Spicedhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-79687846718142553992013-06-21T19:22:50.517-07:002013-06-21T19:22:50.517-07:00Love the flavour combination, true! Love learning ...Love the flavour combination, true!
Love learning new facts about foods and your photo is lovely too!
Cheers! JoanneJoanne T Fergusonhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-45999066398532075822013-06-21T18:18:09.366-07:002013-06-21T18:18:09.366-07:00What a beautiful and easy recipe! Have already be...What a beautiful and easy recipe! Have already begun a file of next spring/summer recipes and this will be added promptly! Funny: I am quite happy to eat salads throughout the winter months, but this is for looking ahead :) ! With a huge rain depression bearing down on us and morning temps around 2 C methinks no! no!! Love the bug on the door . . .email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-21337540592620481412013-06-21T16:42:01.651-07:002013-06-21T16:42:01.651-07:00I'm really intrigued by this recipe! At first ...I'm really intrigued by this recipe! At first I thought that it was a sweet soup but it isn't at all! And hehe you'll laugh but when I was in Oman, I took loads of photos of doors! They were so colourful and fascinating! :DLorraine @ Not Quite Nigellahttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527477405539834543.post-72135176601962859422013-06-21T16:11:44.829-07:002013-06-21T16:11:44.829-07:00This sounds like a cool and refreshing soup. I agr...This sounds like a cool and refreshing soup. I agree with you about using fresh ginger...I'm sure it really enhances the flavor.Karen (Back Road Journal)http://email@example.com


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Yesterday, GSBC Bleacher Report received multiple reports that an incident had occurred involving the Dining Hall. The Maintenance Department was alerted of the situation and were called upon to fix the situation. After 4 hours of working on this particular situation, the Maintenance Department was able to get the situation resolved. Maintenance employee Jonson Yoshimura was quoted as saying, "It was definitely a long afternoon, but we were able to get the situation resolved and everything is back to normal."
Due to the situation, the Dining Hall had pizza for the lunch for all the college students. There has been no statements issued from the Dining Hall regarding THIS situation, BUT everything was back to normal and up to speed today. Once again, we are very thankful for the Dining Hall and everything that they do for GSBC!! The Maintenance Department is to be commended for the special assistance that helped resolve the situation before it could get out of hand!


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Many consumers consider insurance as somewhat of a grudge purchase, we would all prefer not to have to pay for it as many of us will pay premiums without ever, hopefully, having to use the service that we are paying for.
With this in mind, it is fair to say that many people fill out their proposal forms for insurance cover in a somewhat generous way by providing inaccurate information that will bring the premium down a little. In fairness to most consumers, many see this practice of omitting certain minor details as an innocent practice, but beware, your insurers and the wider insurance industry, including ourselves, do not. Continue reading Honesty is the best policy, the Proposal Form


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Numerous games can be found to play clash royal with people worldwide. Development in technology made a miracle in games. This sophisticated technology using the aid of internet's most enthusiastic item is Online Games. There is a digital world computer generated online environment. We are able to find countless people for online digital games. Using the development of web, games are becoming the most used among all age brackets. You can begin playing game simply by signing to numerous sites of games. You receive different options to select. The traditional sports activities for example basketball, cricket, baseball, soccer, golf, etc were initially released to play online, that have been left far behind.
Games are now getting more and more exciting and fun when you are enjoying the sport really. These activities are available in different groups for example animals, people, 3D, infants and horses. There are several digital games like Second Life, where we are able to locate colleges are experiencing classes. Here instructor can train quickly using the aid of student and slideshows you should not visit school. The student hears and can view the instructor from convenience of home. We are able to find numerous kinds of digital online pet activities for example puppy electronic pet game, automobile digital pet game, pet and pet digital game, seafood, cows, cow, drive, moose, bull, camel, poultry, etc digital pet activities can be found to play online. In these virtual pet games Youhave to create your dog and you will play with online.
You may also create a design child to play online digital games or a digital place. Character is the online electronic game. Here you can alter the look of body functions hairstyle, and facial features and so forth. Changes by choosing the stock, transforming the components, tools of the choice in clothing design are available. You may also talk to another online person either by voice conversations or by talking written down. Communication can be possible with actions. Kind whatever chooses the person you wish to speak within the dialog box and press enter. Actions may also be chosen in the stock. This next Clash Royale Strategy game also offers travel choices to its customers. You may play online digital activities of activities. Every digital sports game may be the reproduction of sport of its related activities. Individuals in playing online sports digital activities go true that will be more involved precipitated by online rating system.


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A few people have asked me what my little apartment in Le Marais looks like. It's small, but perfect for my needs and I put together a rather Picasso-like photo montage of it.
My midnight excursions have been continuing here. I've been walking between 10 and 15 miles a day, setting out in a direction with a particular type of photograph to make and I don't come back until I know I have it.
And sometimes there are surprises along the way. Last night I was walking along the Seine on Avenue de New York, past a large building with a huge courtyard. I heard the thumping of deep bass and drumming. As I walked up the stairs to the terrace, I saw that a large rectangular reflection pond area, which was now dry, was full of kids. And in the middle of it all were a couple of fire performers.
I continued on and took a picture of Le Tour Eiffel from the same place I have since 1994 along Avenue Albert de Mun. It's become sort of a tradition for me to take a picture from that nondescript place.
Earlier in the day I visited Maison Europeenne de La Photographie Ville de Paris. There was an exhibit there by an artist called Georges Rousse who creates large photographs in a series called "Bending Space" where he painstakingly paints shapes in open spaces but can only be seen correctly from one specific vantage point. The shapes appear to hover in mid-air, yet they are actually painted on the walls, stairs, pipes, beams and other characteristics of the space.
As i walked through the gallery, I thought it was quite apropos. So many times I find myself walking around a problem not being able to figure it out. As much as I try, there doesn't seem to be an answer until I look at it again from a very specific vantage point.
Most of the time when I travel, I get a very specific clarity of vision. On this trip however, I'm left with more questions than answers. Perhaps before I leave Paris, I'll find the specific place to stand to figure some of those out.