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Review, Jirō Taniguchi memorial edition: Chichi no Koyomi
Posted: March 22, 2017 Filed under: review | Tags: biography, comics, drama, family, Jirō Taniguchi, manga Leave a commentOne blogpost is not enough to pay homage to the recently deceased Jirō Taniguchi, so here's another one.
Another noteworthy but largely overlooked manga by Taniguchi is Chichi no Koyomi (My Father's Journal), of which there is no English translation either. The reason for its negligence in the Western world is probably a different one, though: it might be too similar to Taniguchi's magnum opus A Distant Neighborhood – which was originally published four years *after* Chichi no Koyomi. Reading these two manga in the 'wrong' order makes Chichi no Koyomi feel like a compressed, less daring (no supernatural time travel) and more episodic (thus somewhat haphazard) rip-off of A Distant Neighborhood, when in fact the latter was more of a logical continuation or evolution out of the former.
Die Sicht der Dinge (父の暦 / Chichi no Koyomi)
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Author: Jirō Taniguchi
Publisher: Carlsen (originally Shōgakukan)
Year: 2008 (original run 1994)
Pages: 278
Price: € 16,90
Website: https://www.carlsen.de/softcover/die-sicht-der-dinge/20582 (German)
Yōichi Yamashita (i.e. not Taniguchi himself but an autobiographically influenced fictitious character) is a middle-aged salaryman who lives in Tokyo with his wife. When his father dies, he needs to return to his native Tottori for the funeral, for the first time in 15 years. There he meets his uncle, his sister and other characters with whom he reminisces about his father's life, Yōichi's own childhood and how the rift between the two came to be.
The events in the past are shown as flashback sequences, although they take up more space than the events in the present. I wouldn't call the present-day sequences a framing narrative, though, because several chapters begin in the past, then switch to the present, before they switch back to the past again, so that the past frames the present. There is some structural variation and jumping back and forth in time. The most strikingly structured episode is the one in which seven-year-old Yōichi runs away from home to his uncle in search of his mother: adult Yōichi begins to tell this episode on pp. 19-25, but doesn't pick it up again until 130 pages later.
Another interesting device, albeit employed only tentatively, is an unreliable narrator: two events from Yōichi's childhood are first shown as he remembers them, but later he learns from his relatives how he actually misremembered them. This device makes the story more dynamic; just as in A Distant Neighborhood, the past isn't fixed but changeable. However, there is also an emphasis on a historic event in Chichi no Koyomi, the Great Fire of Tottori in 1952, which makes the past more site- and time-specific in this manga than in A Distant Neighborhood.
Artistically, Chichi no Koyomi is Taniguchi at the top of his game. Particularly the characters and their facial expressions are spot-on, which is no small feat given the number of characters, most of which appear multiple times at different ages.
However, it should be noted that the German publisher Carlsen didn't do a particularly good job at flipping the manga so that it now reads left-to-right in this German edition: the speech bubbles and captions are often arranged diagonally in the panel, in which case the reading order is bottom(!)-left to top-right, which is awfully confusing. Furthermore, some panels are mirrored and some are not, resulting in the old problems of right-handed characters becoming left-handed and the like.
That being said, Chichi no Koyomi is a classic Taniguchi manga that one shouldn't miss. Together with The Walking Man and A Distant Neighborhood, this manga embodies the essence of Taniguchi's work as a mangaka.
Rating: ● ● ● ● ○
Review, Jirō Taniguchi memorial edition: Trouble Is My Business
Posted: February 28, 2017 Filed under: review | Tags: comics, crime, detective, Jirō Taniguchi, manga, mystery, Natsuo Sekikawa 1 CommentEarlier this month, Jirō Taniguchi died of an undisclosed illness at the age of only 69. During a career that spanned almost five decades, he authored or co-authored a huge number of manga. However, outside of Japan, only a few of them have earned the recognition they deserve.
One of these oft-overlooked titles is Trouble Is My Business, written by Natsuo Sekikawa. Originally published from 1979–80 (not counting the sequel series), it is Taniguchi's earliest work available in German. There are also French and Italian editions, but no English one yet as far as I know.
Trouble Is My Business (事件屋稼業 / Jikenya Kagyō)
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Authors: Natsuo Sekikawa (writer), Jirō Taniguchi (artist)
Publisher: Schreiber & Leser (originally Futabasha)
Year: 2014 (original run 1979–1980)
Pages: 294
Price: € 16,95
Website: http://www.schreiberundleser.de/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=33 (German)
Unlike in many of Taniguchi's better-known manga, there is little to no autobiographical influence in Trouble Is My Business, except that the protagonist, Fukamachi, is of the same age as Sekikawa and Taniguchi, and lives in Tokyo too. Instead of some contemplative family story, this is a collection of almost straightforward 'hardboiled' detective cases which are only loosely connected through the character of Fukamachi and his trouble with his ex-wife and daughter.
Rather than the crime cases and their resolution, the real draw here is the subtle humour which is usually based on the hapless, amateurish, down-and-out, small-time detective protagonist and his interaction with other quirky characters. But let's focus on Taniguchi's contribution, the artwork. Because already back then, in his early thirties, he had achieved mastery in draughtsmanship.
That is not to say his style didn't evolve after Trouble Is My Business. The most noticeable difference to his later works is that he didn't use screen tone as extensively back then, usually relying on parallel hatching to indicate volume and shadows. This results in an overall darker tonality, which is fitting for the 'noir-ish' story. My guess is that the reason for this artistic evolution is rather mundane: perhaps Taniguchi wasn't yet successful enough to be able to hire an assistant who could take over the time-consuming task of applying the screen tones.
Another difference is the frequent display of his skill at depicting technical objects such as vehicles, watercrafts, or firearms, whereas his (too overtly photo-referenced) cityscapes aren't as impressive as in his later manga. Something Taniguchi excelled at, back then at least as much as in the 90s, is the portrayal of a vast range of different characters. Each of them has a realistic but distinct look (with the sole exception of the barkeeper at Los Lindos, who looks indistinguishable from Fukamachi).
Recommended for fans of the genre, or anyone who wants to discover a different side of Taniguchi.
Rating: ● ● ● ○ ○
The best manga of 2016? Review of A Silent Voice and Yona
Posted: February 7, 2017 Filed under: review | Tags: 2016, Akatsuki no Yona, best-of lists, comics, drama, fantasy, Koe no katachi, manga, Mizuho Kusanagi, samurai, shōjo, year-end review, Yoshitoki Ōima 1 CommentIn this second part of a two-part blog post (read part 1 here) I'll review two more manga from 2016, the widely acclaimed A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima and the 'dark horse' Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi.
A Silent Voice (聲の形 / Koe no katachi) vol. 1
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Author: Yoshitoki Ōima
Publisher: Egmont (originally Kōdansha)
Year: 2016 (originally 2013)
Number of volumes: 4 so far (completed with vol. 7 in Japan)
Pages: 190
Price: € 7
Website: http://www.egmont-manga.de/buch-buchreihe/a-silent-voice/
This is it. This must be the best manga of 2016. While I can't claim to have read all manga from last year, it's inconceivable that another manga could be as good as A Silent Voice.
As with Orange, the synopsis didn't sound that exciting though, which is usually given as something along the lines of 'deaf girl is bullied by her new classmate but then they get to know each other better'. However, apart from the first 8 pages of a framing narrative, the girl (Nishimiya) doesn't even appear until page 50. This gives us a lot of space to get acquainted with the compelling character of Shōya, a sixth-grader who (similarly to e.g. Bart Simpson) does evil things without really being evil. Everything he does is motivated by his desire to 'defeat boredom' by all means. It's impossible not to like him when he exclaims, "I declare this day a triumph over boredom!", and it's understandable how he immediately sees his new classmate Nishimiya as a remedy for boredom and desperately tries to make use of her to this end.
They way Ōima crafts her story is simple but couldn't be more effective. By contrasting Nishimiya's ultimate kindness with Shōya's ever-increasing meanness while at the same time evoking the reader's sympathy with Shōya, we experience their conflict as a gut-wrenching lose–lose situation. It can't get more emotionalising than this. And even though the manga goes on for 6 more volumes, it's not even all that important whether Nishimiya will ever be able to forgive Shōya – the story as told in vol. 1 is already perfect in itself.
While the script would have been strong enough to work well even if it had been drawn by a lesser artist, the opposite is also true: Ōima could probably illustrate the proverbial phone book and it would still look good. The art of A Silent Voice is absolutely on par with the writing. Of particular ingenuity is the device of repeating panel compositions of certain scenes (Shōya and his mates hanging out in his room, Shōya getting told off by his teacher, Shōya talking at Nishimiya) – not copy-and-pasting but re-drawing them with myriad background details (the amount of which is incredible in many panels anyway) changed.
Rating: ● ● ● ● ●
Yona of the Dawn (暁のヨナ / Akatsuki no Yona) vol. 1
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Author: Mizuho Kusanagi
Publisher: Tokyopop (originally Hakusensha)
Year: 2016 (originally 2009)
Number of volumes: 3 so far (22 in Japan)
Pages: 190
Price: € 5
Website: http://www.tokyopop.de/manga/tokyopop-manga/shojo/yona-prinzessin-der-morgendaemmerung/
With vol. 1 released in both Germany and the US and vol. 20-22 in Japan last year, plus a popular anime adaptation the year before, I would have thought Yona to be the most talked-about manga of 2016. Instead, I found it on only one best-of-2016 list. Does that mean it's not actually that good?
Yona is marketed as a fantasy story for the shōjo demographic, which is an interesting niche – although 'fantasy' might be somewhat misleading, as there are no supernatural elements (at least in vol. 1), so it's more of an alternate history story in a vaguely medieval East Asian setting. This genre mix means that the manga has to deliver not only on drama and romance but also on 'swordplay'. While the drama/romance part works out fine (could there be anything more dramatic than Yona's father getting killed by the man she is in love with?), the few action scenes seem stiff, especially when compared to manga by masters who appear to feel more at home in the 'samurai' genre such as Sanpei Shirato, Gōseki Kojima, or Hiroaki Samura.
Another problem of this volume is its slow pace: at the end, Yona flees from her father's murderer and embarks on a journey that will surely end in another dramatic confrontation with said killer. It's palpable that this is the beginning of what will eventually become an epic and probably very exciting and good story – but in vol. 1, we're simply not there yet.
Rating: ● ● ● ○ ○
To sum up, in my humble opinion, A Silent Voice is the best manga of the year 2016. However, there are several other strong ongoing series with which I have yet to catch up to their 2016 volumes, so maybe there's going to be a third review post later this year.
The best manga of 2016? Review of Orange and Knights of Sidonia
Posted: February 2, 2017 Filed under: review | Tags: 2016, best-of lists, comics, Ichigo Takano, manga, mecha, Orange, ranking, romance, science fiction, Shidonia no Kishi, shōjo, Tsutomu Nihei, year-end review 1 CommentAre the manga that almost everyone put on their best-comics-of-2016 lists really so awesome? (Spoiler: yes, they are.) Or was the actually best manga a completely different one that was overlooked by most? In this little two-part blog post [EDIT: read part 2 here] I'll review two titles from each of those categories.
Orange (orange) vol. 1
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Author: Ichigo Takano
Publisher: Carlsen Manga (originally Shūeisha and Futabasha)
Year: 2016 (originally 2012)
Number of volumes: 3 so far (completed with vol. 5 in Japan)
Pages: ~190 (+ 30 pages backup story)
Price: € 8
Website: https://www.carlsen.de/serie/orange/72643
Orange is the highest-ranked manga in the aggregate ranking of 2016 year-end lists, so it certainly is the most popular among critics. But is it also the best? If you only go by its synopsis, you wouldn't think so: 16-year old Naho mysteriously starts receiving letters from the future, written by herself at age 26. The letters are mainly concerned with Naho's new classmate Kakeru, who will die next year, and adult Naho wants teenage Naho to prevent this.
Magically travelling back to one's teenage days is not a particularly original premise for a manga – cf. the recent ReLIFE by Yayoisō and 31 I Dream by Arina Tanemura, and of course Jirō Taniguchi's 1990s masterpiece, A Distant Neighborhood. The new spin in Orange is that 26-year old Naho doesn't travel back in time; she only sends letters but can't control what her 16-year old self does, and 16-year old Naho doesn't know anything about her future except for what she reads in the letters.
This makes for an ideal starting point for the compelling exploration of a theme that was also central to Taniguchi: regret. One could even argue this works better in Orange, because although 16-year old Naho knows what she is supposed to do (according to the advice in the letters), she often can't bring herself to do it, or decides against it, or simply misses the opportunity. The letters don't change who she is; they don't turn her into another, more courageous, person.
Add to that some gorgeous artwork (masterly use of screen tones!) and you get an almost perfect manga. Almost, but not quite: what took me by surprise was that the story is partially set in the time of adult Naho, and – not unlike the much-reviled epilogue to the final Harry Potter novel – I don't think this works all that well. While the manga demographic terms of shōjo and josei are often problematic, this distinction might be at the core of the problem here: a reader can identify with either Naho the wife and mother or Naho the high schooler, but probably not both.
Another potentially problematic element is the unlikely plot device of sending letters back in time in an otherwise realistic setting, which as of vol. 1 hasn't been explained yet. An unconvincing explanation at the end can still ruin a series that had been good up to this point (I'm looking at you, Nobuaki Kanazawa), so we'll have to wait and see how this is handled in the four remaining volumes of Orange.
Rating: ● ● ● ● ○
Knights of Sidonia (シドニアの騎士 / Shidonia no kishi) vol. 14
Language: German (translated from Japanese)
Author: Tsutomu Nihei
Publisher: Egmont (originally Kōdansha)
Year: 2017 (originally 2015)
Number of volumes: 14 so far (completed with vol. 15 in Japan)
Pages: ~170
Price: € 7.50
Website: http://www.egmont-manga.de/buch-buchreihe/knights-of-sidonia/
Ostensibly, this penultimate volume of Knights of Sidonia has little to do with 2016: the original Japanese tankōbon was published in 2015 already and this German translation only this year. However, the 15th and final volume, which is yet to be published in German, came out in the US last year, so I would have thought the conclusion of the series would make a bigger impact on the Western manga scene.
Instead it seems to have gone by unnoticed – it wasn't on any of the best manga/comics of 2016 lists -, which is a shame because of the historic significance in the field of science-fiction manga that this series has already earned itself due to its scale (surpassing Tsutomu Nihei's earlier magnum opus, Blame!, by 5 volumes), its ambitious genre-bending, and its modernisation of the venerable mecha genre.
I've sung the praises of the series before, but how does a a single volume hold up when judged individually? In the case of vol. 14, it's an above-average volume because many exciting things happen in it: there's an alien infiltrator aboard the mothership Sidonia, Mrs Hiyama the talking bear makes several appearances, we get to know the enigmatic captain Kobayashi better, we even learn something about protagonist Tanikaze's origin, Tanikaze gets a new mecha model, etc.
That being said, Knights of Sidonia might be a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts – or rather, being precisely the sum of its parts, with each new volume adding to the enjoyment of reading, rather than merely replicating it. For each awesome scene, there's a sequence where it's hard to figure out what's going on (particularly the space fights), or an unlikely twist that's only there for shock value. But put together, there's a lot of awesomeness over the course of this series.
Rating: ● ● ● ● ○
The best comics of 2016: a meta list
Posted: December 31, 2016 Filed under: review | Tags: 2016, best-of lists, comics, ranking, year-end review 1 Comment[UPDATE: added 2 more lists – Chicago Public Library and AiPT.]
[UPDATE: added one more list – Comicgate.]
[UPDATE: added 9 more lists – Autostraddle, 3× Barnes & Noble, The Beat, ComFor, Comic Report, ComicsAlliance and Odyssey.]
[UPDATE: added 3 more lists – Amazon, Graphixia, and Rob Clough's -; thus the strikethrough text in the comments and the little arrows next to some comics to indicate that their rank went up or down compared to the previous version.]
Towards every end of year (and shortly afterwards), lots of people publicly share their opinion on what the best comics of that year were in the form of best-of lists. Aggregating these lists into one 'master list' or 'meta list' might yield, if one believes in the 'wisdom of crowds', the best of the best.
For 2015, such lists were compiled by Multiversity Comics and ICv2, and their straightforward method was to simply count in how many best-of lists each title appeared, and then to rank the titles by that number. So I did that too, but I'm not quite satisfied with this method, and thus also offer a new kind of ranking below. Here's the top ~25 according to the 'old' ranking method first:
1.) The Vision by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Jordie Bellaire (on 16 out of 36 lists)
2.) March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (14)
3.) Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang and Matt Wilson (12)
4.) Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (10)
Patience by Daniel Clowes (10)
6.) Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier (8)
Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden (8)
Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart (8)
9.) The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew (7)
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (7)
11.) The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson (6)
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (6)
13.) Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze and Laura Martin (5)
Dark Night by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (5)
Faith by Jody Houser, Francis Portela and Marguerite Sauvage (5) ⇧
Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano (5) ⇧
Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt (5)
Mooncop by Tom Gauld (5)
Orange by Ichigo Takano (5) ⇧
Panther by Brecht Evens (5)
21.) The Fix by Nick Spencer, Steve Lieber and Ryan Hil (4) ⇩
Hellboy in Hell by Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart (4) ⇩
I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa (4) ⇧
The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (4) ⇩
Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura (4) ⇧
The Sheriff of Babylon by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (4) ⇩
A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima (4) ⇧
…and then there would be lots of titles found on three or fewer lists.
The problem with this ranking method is, it gives equal weight to a comic that is ranked #1 and one that is ranked #20. With unnumbered best-of lists, the problem is that a comic included on a top 5 list is given equal weight to one in a top 30 list. Therefore I suggest to assign points, based on the list with the highest number of comics (in this case, NPR and B&N Comics with 30 each). For titles on numbered lists, each title is given 30 points minus the respective rank, plus 1 because otherwise a comic on #30 would get no points at all. So e.g. a comic on the top spot gets 30 points, a comic on #7 gets 24 points, and so on. For unnumbered lists, all comics get 30 points minus the total number of comics on the respective list, plus 1 because otherwise no points would be given for a top 30 list. Each title in a top 10 list, for instance, gets 21 points, while a comic in a top 20 list gets 11 etc. Here's the top 25 ranking based on this 'new' method:
1.) The Vision by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Jordie Bellaire (295 points)
2.) March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (245)
3.) Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang and Matt Wilson (221)
4.) Patience by Daniel Clowes (190)
5.) Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart (170)
6.) Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (162)
7.) Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier (152)
8.) Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden (139)
9.) Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (129)
10.) The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew (128)
11.) The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson (126)
12.) The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (109)
13.) Panther by Brecht Evens (102)
14.) Orange by Ichigo Takano (93) ⇧
15.) The Sheriff of Babylon by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (89) ⇩
16.) Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano (88) ⇧
17.) The Fix by Nick Spencer, Steve Lieber and Ryan Hil (85) ⇩
Hellboy in Hell by Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart (85) ⇩
19.) A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima (84) ⇧
20.) Dark Night by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso (77) ⇩
21.) Hot Dog Taste Test by Lisa Hanawalt (73) ⇩
22.) Megg & Mogg in Amsterdam by Simon Hanselmann (66) ⇩
23.) Un océan d'amour by Wilfrid Lupano and Grégory Panaccione (63) ⇩
24.) The Legend of Wonder Woman by Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon (62) ⇩
25.) Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro (61) ⇩
Midnighter and Apollo by Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco and Romulo Fajardo Jr. (61) ⇩
The advantages of this second meta list become apparent: there are fewer ties, showing that e.g. Patience is far more popular than Monstress even though they are both on the same rank on the first list. Rosalie Lightning and Monstress even swap their relative positions, because the latter was included in more lists but on lower ranks. The biggest surprise, though, is that Megg & Mogg makes almost makes the top 20 in the 2nd meta list – it is found on only three lists, but always on high ranks – whereas Black Panther disappears (or more precisely, drops out of the top 25 to rank 27 28).
Personally I find it interesting (and rather sad) that only six seven lists (Goodreads, Derek's at The Comics Alternative, Amazon, Graphixia, Comic Report, Comicgate and Chicago Public Library) included a manga along with non-manga comics. Apart from Orange, Punpun, and A Silent Voice, the only other manga further down on the meta list, due to their inclusion in two or three lists four or fewer lists, are Princess Jellyfish (35), Assassination Classroom by Yūsei Matsui (36), One-Punch Man by Yusuke Murata and One (34 37), and Wandering Island by Kenji Tsuruta (49) I Am a Hero (40), plus a few others that didn't make the top 50.
The two three highest-ranked German comics just missed the top 30: Madgermanes by Birgit Weyhe (32), Röhner by Max Baitinger (tied for 32), and Didi & Stulle by Fil (34 37).
These are the lists I considered:
Adventures in Poor Taste (manga), Amazon, Autostraddle, Barnes & Noble: New Manga / Ongoing Manga / Comics & Graphic Novels, The Beat (multiple mentions only), Best and Worst Manga of 2016 Results – Comic-Con International (first 4 categories only), Chicago Public Library, ComFor (German), Comicgate (German), Comic Report (German; multiple mentions only), ComicsAlliance, The Comics Alternative (counting Andy's and Derek's as two separate lists), Forbes, Goodreads, Graphixia (first 2 categories only), The Guardian, High-Low (Rob Clough), How To Love Comics, io9, NPR, Odyssey (Rachel Freeman), Paste, Publishers Weekly (Best Books 2016, 'Comics' category), Rolling Stone (German), School Library Journal, Sumikai (German), Slate, Tagesspiegel (German), Unwinnable, Vox.com, Vulture, Washington Post, Women Write About Comics.
Did I overlook a noteworthy list? Tell me in the comments.
When an artist carousel actually works: Review of Moon Knight (2016) #6-9
Posted: December 21, 2016 Filed under: review | Tags: comics, Francesco Francavilla, Greg Smallwood, identity, James Stokoe, Jeff Lemire, Jordie Bellaire, Marvel, mental health, Michael Garland, Moon Knight, superheroes, US, Wilfredo Torres Leave a commentThese four issues constitute a story arc of their own (titled "Incarnations"), the end of which is also marked by Greg Smallwood's return as the sole artist from the next issue on, so it makes sense to review them now.
Language: English
Authors: Jeff Lemire (writer); Greg Smallwood, Wilfredo Torres, Francesco Francavilla & James Stokoe (artists); Jordie Bellaire & Michael Garland (colourists)
Publisher: Marvel
Pages per issue: 20
Price per issue: $3.99
Website: http://marvel.com/comics/series/20488/moon_knight_2016_-_present
Previously in Moon Knight: Moon Knight has escaped from the mental asylum but then met his patron god Khonshu, fell out with him, jumped from a pyramid, passed out and awoke in his Steven Grant persona. He is producing a film starring his girlfriend Marlene as the female lead. Everything seems fine and the last panel of issue #5 shows a smiling Steven.
And here his troubles begin. Our protagonist keeps involuntarily changing in and out of his identities, and his surroundings change with him. Everywhere he is haunted by incarnations of his tormentors at the mental asylum, nurses Bobby and Billy and psychiatrist Dr Emmet. And also by werewolves from outer space.
Neither Moon Knight nor the readers know which reality is actually the real one. The guest artists reduce the subtlety somewhat, but it is also an interesting gimmick that each of Moon Knight's personas/realities is drawn by different artists: taxi driver Jake Lockley by Francesco Francavilla, film producer Steven Grant by Wilfredo Torres and Michael Garland, and space pilot Marc Spector by James Stokoe.
So how exactly does this brilliant device of switching back-and-forth between identities work? Jeff Lemire employs a variety of ways to do this, but let's take a closer look at the beginning of this arc in issue #6. The first panel (art by Torres and Garland) shows Moon Knight in his old cape fighting some villain in what looks like ancient Egypt. So far, this could be a classic Moon Knight story. In the second panel though, a speech bubble is partly obscured by a boom microphone, and on the following double page we learn that this was only a Moon Knight film being shot, produced by Steven Grant. The name of the leading actor though, whose face we never get to see, is Marc Spector – the real name of the real Moon Knight!
On page 5, Steven and Marlene enter a taxi and talk about a fundraising event at a mental hospital (because their film "explores some real themes… identity, mental illness"), which of course later turns out to be the hospital where Moon Knight was detained earlier. The last panel on this page contains a caption: "Steven Grant is too soft for what comes next…", and on the next page (from now on drawn by Francavilla) their taxi driver turns out to be Jake Lockley! After he has dropped Steven and Marlene off, he meets his friend Crawley, who remembers the events from the first arc (the escape from the mental hospital) but Jake can't.
Crawley tells Jake on p. 9, "You're in the hospital right now", then disappears. Jake opens the trunk of his taxi where he keeps his Moon Knight costume. The following page is drawn by Torres and Garland again, and on the first panel we see Steven Grant looking at his dinner suit (which looks not unlike Moon Knight's 'Mr Knight' costume) on his bed from the same perspective. Apparently he and Marlene are getting ready for their fundraising party at the hospital. Steven is confused and says to Marlene, "I – I was somewhere else! I was in this cab and there was this man, this old man with white hair, and he told me – he told me I was in a mental hospital."
Marlene answers, "Have you been taking your meds? […] You remember last time you got off, how you got." So (according to this version of Marlene) Steven is mentally ill, which would explain the Jake Lockley scene as Steven's delusion. But Steven doesn't even remember being on medication at all.
And so it goes on. It's a joy for the reader to gradually realise on how many levels the various realities are intertwined, and how they all contradict each other. Until issue #9 when Moon Knight, in his Mr Knight outfit and drawn by Greg Smallwood and Jordie Bellaire again, confronts his other three personas, defeats or makes peace with them, and they vanish.
The "Incarnations" story arc was one wild ride, and if Lemire, Smallwood and Bellaire keep up their good work in the next arc, Moon Knight will surely be the best current Marvel comic, now that The Vision has ended.
Rating: ● ● ● ● ○
Arjun Appadurai's Modernity at Large – in comics?
Posted: November 30, 2016 Filed under: review | Tags: Arjun Appadurai, comics, economics, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, globalisation, Marvel, postmodernism, superheroes, The Vision, theory, Tom King, US 2 CommentsArjun Appadurai's book Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization was published in 1996 but is based on texts written around 1990. Its core is the chapter, "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy" (27-47), first published as a journal article in 1990. Thus it can still be seen as a continuation of the discourse on postmodernism/postmodernity from the 1980s (as reflected on this weblog by the series of posts on texts from 1980 to 1985).
The new element that Appadurai brings to the postmodernist discussion is globalisation: his aim is "to construct what John Hinkson calls a 'social theory of postmodernity' that is adequately global" (47), although Appadurai usually speaks more often of "modern" when he means the present day. The important point, though, is the rupture or paradigm shift that he suggests to have occurred around 1970: "it is only in the past two decades or so that media and migration have become so massively globalized, that is to say, active across large and irregular transnational terrains" (9).
This leads to the present-day "new global cultural economy" (32) that needs to be analysed by a framework of five "dimensions of global cultural flows" (33):
- ethnoscapes, i.e. the flow of people,
- mediascapes, i.e. mass media and the images and information they convey,
- technoscapes, i.e. the distribution of high-tech knowledge, machinery, and skills,
- financescapes, i.e. "the disposition of global capital" (34), and
- ideoscapes, i.e. "meaning-streams" in "the discourse of democracy" (37) and other ideologies and concepts.
It would be easy to apply this framework to comics as commodities, i.e. comic books, TPBs, tankobon etc., the production and reception of which are nowadays almost always transnational processes. But are these global cultural flows also reflected in the content of comic stories? While this is not meant by Appadurai as a characteristic of postmodern cultural works, it is not far-fetched to expect that postmodern works are more likely to reflect a global cultural economy than previous ones.
This also gives me the opportunity to write about a comic that more should be written about (though it surely will be included in many end-of-year lists for 2016) because of its outstanding quality: The Vision (I keep seeing the title given simply as Vision, but on the covers it clearly says The Vision) by writer Tom King, artist Gabriel Hernández Walta and colourist Jordie Bellaire. Across the 12 issues, I found the following traces of Appadurai's landscapes:
- ethnoscape: the series is about the 'synthezoid' Vision having created an artificial family – wife, daughter and son – and moving into a house in Arlington, Virginia. This, and their difficulties of settling in among humans, are of course metaphors for transnational migration and xenophobia. But there is also proper migration represented or at least implied in The Vision: in #4, the children, Vin and Viv, play with a football that has "Fighting Redskins" and a caricature of a Native American printed on it. It's the mascot of their high school, they explain to Vision, and only recently has it been changed to the "Fighting Patriot", a politically correct "colorful bull in a three-corner hat". This little episode brings to mind that naturally, there are only few Americans whose ancestors were not transnational migrants.
Then there are characters in this comic who represent, through their name and/or appearance, more recent immigration waves than the Mayflower – Leon Kinzky, the Asian-looking Matt Lin, and Marianella Mancha. Her son Victor Mancha even draws a connection between himself and the Spaniard Don Quijote de la Mancha on the sole basis of their names (in #8).
Finally, there is a long quote from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice about being Jewish. - mediascape: specifically, Appadurai means electronic media such as television (3, 35), so the play The Merchant of Venice first shown as a hardcopy book in #5, though written in England, doesn't count. Although there is some talk of "downloading" and "uploading" things and some smartphones are shown, there are few instances of content being electronically mediated across national boundaries. One example is Vin "downloading Bach's cello concerto" in #3 – while we are not told where the recording was made, at least the composer is German.
- technoscape: a series with androids as protagonists is bound to feature lots of high-tech machinery, but the sources of all these gadgets are Ultron, Vision and Tony Stark – so I think it's all 'made in USA'. No transnational flow here.
- financescape: in the beginning of the comic, Vision mentions his difficulties in getting a steady income, and Tony Stark, the embodiment of wealth in the Marvel universe, appears a few times. Apart from that, financial matters don't play any role in The Vision, let alone transnational financial flows.
- ideoscape: The Vision is quite a cerebral comic, but few ideas that can be traced back to outside the US are mentioned. In #9, however, Victor Mancha says: "Vin's reading this book [The Merchant of Venice] over and over. Like he's obsessed with mercy and justice." So some ideas have travelled from England to America after all.
To sum up, applying Appadurai's framework to the content of a (supposedly postmodern) comic doesn't yield as many representations of global cultural flows as I had expected. But, again, that's not what it was intended for. Applying this framework to the para- and extratextual information pertaining to a comic, however, would surely reveal it as a product of Appadurai's global cultural economy.


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Rod Prosser
Senior Art Director / J. Walter Thompson New Zealand
With almost three decades at J. Walter Thompson (coincidentally, the average age at the agency), few people have a grasp of retail advertising like Rod Prosser. In a former life Rod also worked at DDB and Bates and has worked on a myriad of brands over the years including Ford, Shell, AMP, HSBC, Heart Children and McDonalds.
He even claims to have designed the first Happy Meal Box here in New Zealand (they actually came in cardboard boxes in those days). With five kids, Rod's seen a few Happy Meals in his time too.
His work has been recognized at both local award shows and international ones such as the Cannes International Advertising Festival, but what really makes Rod's wheels spin is creating work that works. Winning Gold for an Appliance Shed retail campaign at the 2015 Effies Awards was a genuine career highlight.
When he's not at work, you'll find him spinning the wheels of his road bike, which he's even ridden on the public stage of the Tour De France.

subset: commoncrawl


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11th Annual Sebring Sensation - Sponsored by Steeda
The Track Guys 11th Annual Sebring Sensation is set for May 25th May 26th at the famed Sebring International Raceway in Sebring Florida. Once again, Steeda Autosports is a proud sponsor of the event, which provides individuals the very unique opportunity to challenge their driving skills at one of the most famous and historic race tracks in the world Sebring International Raceway. The Steeda Team will be there Saturday with a variety of our street and race vehicles.
http://www.steeda.com/blog/2013/05/1...ing-sensation/ You can register here: https://www.motorsportreg.com/index....1A1D268F8AD298 Best Regards, TJ |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:52 PM. |


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Illegal Immigrants Who've Passed The Bar Want To Practice Law
The latest immigration battle:
Illegal immigrants brought to the USA as children, and who later graduated law schools in California, Florida and New York, are trying to gain entry to their state bars so they can work as attorneys.
Sergio Garcia's family illegally crossed into the USA from Mexico when he was 17 months old, and he went on to graduate from Chico State University and Cal Northern School of Law. He took the state bar exam in July 2009 and passed it but was told he could not join the state bar — a standard requirement for all practicing attorneys — because he had checked a box on his application that said he was in the country illegally.
The California Supreme Court asked for opinions on the question and could hold oral arguments in Garcia's case before making a decision. The California State Bar told the court this month that Garcia and others like him should be allowed to be licensed, but it is awaiting guidance from the Supreme Court.
Subscribe to my premium podcast and get exclusive access to the listener club.


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eronica helps her friend Carmen plot revenge on her clingy boyfriend, after he releases a scandalous tape of her over the Internet. Meanwhile, Keith decides to track down the missing Duncan in exchange for the huge Kane reward.
Kristen Bell Veronica Mars
Jason Dohring Logan Echolls
Percy Daggs III Wallace Fennel
Francis Capra Eli 'Weevil' Navarro
Enrico Colantoni Keith Mars
Teddy Dunn Duncan Kane
John T. Kretchmer Director
Phil Klemmer Writer
John Enbom Writer
Veronica Mars 120


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III OF DREAMERSNurkostamNeo-Prog |
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
III Of Dreamers can be, I do consider, a passport for them to step up toward an obvious progressive rock scene. Throughout this whole album are filled with heavy, drone, dark and dangerous soundscape ... however, this can never make us depressive at all. Complex but delightful sound steps go firmly ... much influenced by lots of pioneers in 70s progressive rock world. Despite of some catchy flavour in their previous EP, we can hear something like NURKOSTAM's strong progressive intention in this work, can't we?
Anyway, listen to the first track "Ulrich" and we can feel rigid darkness like Discipline-Crimson or strict sound-footsteps like Wigwam. As if a Heavy Rock Giant should break this overture out by stamping his feet ... this dangerous atmosphere even only for three minutes is very impressive. On the contrary, in the following song "The Camel Song" should they be conscious of some Camel texture? Or rather, this dramatic show reminds me Genesis' one. Smooth, dreamy keyboard works upon 'eavy dark depressive drumming can strike me directly. Flat and warped voices are a bit tough for me though ... "Ocean" is a windy, fruitful and monophonic flower garden. Please take a rest for a while upon here ... and their drama gets enthusiastic, passionate in such a quiet air. "Motherside" gets started with crazy psychedelia, with hard touch of dry psychedelic rock around 1970 (like Jacks' Marianne). The most interesting one for me in this album, and the last "Anon" too ... reminds me Ange in Philips era, very sensual and sticky / slimy synthesizer launcher over there. The epilogue goes on the peak of their dramatic storm.
From me one phrase, a great show indeed.
As on their previous album, Nurkostam kick off with a piece that shows a strong King Crimson influence, filtered through Anekdoten. I noticed immediately, however, that the production on the song seemed murkier and fuzzier - as though the group didn't have access to as advanced a studio as they had used on XIII.
Though this is disappointing, it isn't as damaging to the material as it might be, since III of Dreamers is a murky album which deliberately works to establish a spooky atmosphere, both with the driving, almost Zeuhlish rhythms of the Overture and the quiet, mysterious Camel Song (which features sudden Mellotron-led interjections which put me in mind of early King Crimson). A shadowy, mysterious tone asserts itself with the first tracks of the album, and though once again the vocals do very little for me, at least this time around they don't upstage the gorgeous instrumental work.
The moody opening gives way to gentle nostalgia in the placid Ocean, which has a sort of Sigur Ros quality to it and is really quite charming, with its muffled guitar sound contrasting against clear, twinkling tones. In similarly post-rock-influenced territory is the quietly dramatic The Dreamer, whose piano- and strings-led instrumentation travels from the calmness of Ocean back to the more troubled moods of the album's opening. It's certainly a decent track, and whilst I would usually think it a bad decision to sequence two instrumentals which don't involve full band instrumentation back-to-back, the emotional journey this part of the album takes you on is ample payoff for such an approach.
The second half of the album is somewhat less impressive. Almost Famous begins with a "tuning up" section followed by gentle acoustic guitar and restrained keys, before breaking out into a full band piece at the two minute mark, in a manner reminiscent of early Yes (it sounds like an earnest attempt to do their take on the sound of the Yes Album). Whilst pleasant, I think the acoustic guitar intro lasts slightly too long, and whilst the synth work in the outro is certainly tasteful, I think the vocals unfortunately show up the limitations of the band's vocalist once again. The inclusion of Polyphonic Spree-styled backing vocals is a help, no doubt, but when your backing singers are upstaging your lead singer then you've got a problem.
This is followed up with "Dike", which sounds to me like a careful tribute to Stupid Dream- era Porcupine Tree, especially with its inclusion of electronic drum rhythms and the guitar sound. Again, like so much of the material on XIII, it's a competent exercise in mimicing the style of a successful band, but it doesn't exactly help stake out what makes Nurkostam uniquely Nurkostam - if, indeed, the band has any identity at all separate from its influences. The louder, harsher Motherside that follows up Dike, in its allusions to later-period Porcupine Tree, only underlines this point. The album does at least finish on a high note with Anon, which includes a few jazzy influences and a certain foreboding atmosphere which creeps in over the course of the track, reminding me of the higher standards set earlier on.
I realise that doing a simple track-by-track review of an album isn't always the best approach, but with this material I struggle to find other ways to approach it; once again, Nurkostam have come up with a collection of songs that are all going in different directions, demanding that they be assessed separately rather than as a whole. On the whole, I'm going to give III the Dreamer a three-star rating: it's a definite and clear improvement over the debut, but it's let down a little by uneven production standards and, in particular, a few weak tracks in the second half.
The dreamy and creepy atmosphere that characterizes Sigur Ros' music is also to be found on this release, contrary to their short debut. Nurkostam obviously have found their musical destiny in the meantime and chose the complex, inaccessible and dark road within prog.
So this could be the cup of tea of many hardcore proggers and I would certainly advise them to have a listen when they run into this output. Neo prog is obviously the wrong category for Nurkostam if this is to be their road in the future. That is if you expect anything like Marillion, IQ or Pendragon. Mentioned references are just about the opposite of neo prog I strongly believe. So beware if you are an old fashioned neo devotee. If you like the bands I mentioned in the first paragraph though I would give this III of Dreamers a chance. Three stars (3,5) nonetheless (despite my different taste) because this is truly progressive and interesting enough to go for.
The second album and first full-length recording of this Finnish atmospheric rock trio, Nurkostam identify themselves as a laid back group of musicians with this, 'III Of Dreamers'. A fairly unknown band, I had little idea of the music I was going to hear from these guys, besides the rather mixed reviews they seemed to be getting over the site. While differing opinions on music can usually mean a very challenging record, 'III Of Dreamers' is mixed because- simply put- it is a lukewarm record. Although Nurkostam has a few great things going for them on this album, the sheer anaesthetized, and overly laid back feel of the album can make it a bore to someone not entirely invested in the mood.
When trying to describe the music of this trio, a more vintage-sounding Sigur Ros would come to mind. The band takes more than a few tricks from the sound of that band, but there's also a wealth of classic prog rock sounds, not lastly being that of the mellotron, which they use heavily in tandem with the dreamy and almost always mellow guitars. The vocals at times get a little deeper, but they largely sound close to Jonsi's.While they are quite close to Sigur Ros in their sound, the addition of vintage elements makes them a little more original, so Nurkostam has this going for them. Where I think 'III Of Dreamers' starts to falter is in the actual writing of their music. The album's undeniable highlight 'Almost Famous' is structured nicely, and has some beautiful melodies to keep it going. The track after that 'Dike' features a drawn out instrumental guitar soundscape that gets pleasantly eerie. As a rule though, many of these tracks feel like they never go anywhere, and the album ends before it feels like it ever got started. There are a few parts here where the energy begins to build, but overall, 'III Of Dreamers' gives the feeling of sitting down to watch a movie, falling asleep, and waking up just to catch the ending credits. It may be relaxing, but its certainly disappointing.
After 'Overture' we move into the main part of the album, This is dark music, just what you would expect from Finland, but not dark in the heavy ways of Sibelius, Or the chaotic way of Havoc Unit, this is dark in a mellow way, a darkness full of peace, could be like snow falling at night. But still I get a chill, like something disturbing is luring in the darkness, waiting to explode. The explosion dont happen, although we get some extra tension on 'Motherside' and the last part of 'Anon' ending the album, the only tracks where we seem to get a glace of the luring evil.
The album is in general low speed, with nice composition, mostly Symphonic inspirations, little if any drumming on the tracks, and not much electric guitars. Mellotron, Keyboards and Acoustic guitars, is the dominant impression, with some vocals, best used on 'Dike', one of my favorite tracks from the album. Another highlight is 'Anon', a long Symphonic builder, reminds me in parts of The Devils Triangle (King Crimson), but again far from as scary and anarchistic as Fripp.
In my opinion the album is clearly an improvement from XIII, the hole thing fits together much better, some part are wonderful, others not as much, but over all a stronger release from this independent prog band from the far north. Subjectively I am missing the explosion(s) into a more anarchistic music. Nothing wrong with this kind of mellow music, but I'm under the impression that the band is building up a tension, something is not as nice as it seems, we just never get that full answer. Who knows if that answer will come sometime in the future ?
Nurkostam is a neo-prog band from Finland that is virtually unknown to the progressive rock community. However, the band has been around for over a decade and has to date released three albums. They play a brand of psychedelic-influenced proggy alt-rock influenced by various classic bands like King Crimson, Pink Floyd, and Genesis. Mix a little alt rock and doom rock in the vein of Anathema and even post rock traces akin to Sigur Ros to the music and you have a pretty accurate portrait of Nurkostam's music. Sounds pretty good, right? For the most part, no. The main problem with the band's debut full length album III of Dreamers is a sad, simple, and much too common mistake amongst independent bands: the production is terrible.
The compositions, although in many places rather simplistic (may be a tip of the hat to the simplistic philosophy Floyd kept through most of their career), are for the most part good, but the fuzzy and unprofessional production butchers the music. As a drummer, the drum recording grates against my skin, as it seems that they were either recorded with a single microphone or by someone who is terribly unskilled with recording. Whether this effect of muffled, cruddy recording was intended I don't know, but I could never imagine that being a desired effect. Luckily the drums are not a very essential part of the music, but when they do appear, they are certainly a painful aspect of the music. Although I try to ignore production when reviewing albums, when a case like this presents itself, when the music is seemingly effected by the production I have a hard time pulling myself through a whole listen, it is a necessary measure.
Now musically the album isn't terrible. The music isn't the most sophisticated and is almost surely not neo-prog in the sense of neo that Marillion, IQ, and Pendragon have made us accustomed to. This music is more the lo-fi, mellow type of neo that pops up once and a while amongst the mass of neo-prog artists. The music implements heavy use of mellotron, melodic guitar noodling, and sparse but apparent bass lines. The vocals are to be taken with a grain of salt - at times they are mellow and melodic and complement the music well, while at other times they are harsh and rather difficult to listen to.
In the end, this album is a pretty mediocre release from this promising band. Sadly, it's only a few major errors that really put this band in the spits. Quite terrible production, overall uninspired compositions, and the lo-fi style of neo-prog that to be honest really isn't my cup of tea make this album a rather undesirable album in my opinion. The band's diverse and interesting combination of influences give the band a really great potential, but I think they need to iron out these errors before they will go anywhere in the progressive rock world. Potential and all, this album isn't anything special. 2+ stars.
What strikes me vividly is how bad the production is. The drums specially are appalling. Finish bands were always known for their excelent recording sound. So much so it is hard to believe it wasn�t done on purpose. For the songwriting is good overall. And they do have some nice ideas and seem to be good players (again the production might give a false impression). There is lot of mellotron and some monochromatic guitars. Several parts are quite climatic in a KC way in the 70�s. Vocals are mediocre at best. That is a department they should look for improvement fast (along with the even more urgent better recording technique and producer).
All in all not a bad CD, but clearly it has several issues that I hope will be solved by the next releases. If you like the style I mentioned before you should give this record a chance.
Rating: 2,5 stars.
As with the first two releases, there is so much going on here that to label the band is very difficult. Eclectic is the word which probably comes closest to describing their influences and output.
The opener, Overture (Ulrich), is a fantastic instrumental piece featuring swirling keys, a lovely bassline, and interesting guitar. Most clearly Crimsonesque, reminding me strongly of that band's Wetton era output without ever being wholly derivative. A very nice start.
The Camel Song features a lovely mellow start, with flute, and downbeat lyrics set against a lovely mellow melody. It is the prime evidence of a band who have taken a massive leap forward in terms of songwriting and delivery, and I especially love the powerful bass riffs. There is all sorts here - traces of Floyd, Crimson, early symphonic prog, in fact too much to really classify.
Ocean is a very nice ambient track featuring a dreamy guitar lick and simple percussion. Very effective track.
This mood continues with The Dreamer, which pulls off that very difficult task of telling a story without speaking a word. The orchestration, simple piano chords, bass, and effects create a peaceful atmosphere, one in which you can visualise the subject dreaming. Fantastic.
As for Almost Famous, the start reminds me strongly of much Of Anthony Phillips' acoustic output, before the vocals enter and the mellotron begins to cast its spell, whereupon the track takes on a far more ambient, almost folk prog, feel. The vocals let this down a bit, in that the male lead is a little bit too "down" to represent the uplifting feel of the track, and the band would have been better, in my opinion, by allowing the female backing vocalist (I do not know her name) to take a far stronger lead, because she has a lovely, lilting voice far more in place with the soaring music that accompanies the track.
Dike returns us to far darker territory, and the booming bass makes a triumphant return accompanied by a very strong mellotron in parts. Throughout, a whole host of instruments and effects (again, quite Floydian) make their presence known, and on first listen it is all quite overwhelming, and easy to state that it somehow "lacks direction". It is not until you hear it a few times that you really begin to appreciate what is a very good, dark, and accomplished piece of music very well performed.
There is another complete change of mood on Motherside, which hits you like a train coming at full pelt. Very heavy (again, I love the basslines) and also very psychedelic, this is not a track which you can say that you will relax to of an evening with a glass of wine, but it is certainly an interesting journey.
Things come to a supreme conclusion on the closer, Anon, which is again a very clear reprise of the band's strong early to mid Crimson influences, taken together with a satisfying feel for the symphonic. The buildup to the climax is electrifying and extremely well performed. They really have come on leaps and bounds in terms of their performance, because this is a track which has you utterly engrossed. It is the perfect close to this album, because it is, clearly, the whole of the parts of which preceded it.
In my reviews of the first two EPs, I stated that this band showed promise, and that promise is very clearly realised on this album, and I hope, and believe, that they will go from strength to strength. Others have mentioned the "poor" production on this album, but I can definitely state that listening to it in the Flac download format I have makes for pleasant, and good quality, listening.
When you look at the neo prog label the band have been assigned, some of you who associate that with the likes of Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Arena & etc (all of whom I love) might be put off. Don't be. If you like your prog eclectic, spacey, and, in parts, downright unpredictable, then you really should give this album a fair punt. Certainly, fans of Crimson, earlier Floyd, ambient prog, and music that is more than initially presents itself will enjoy this album.
Four stars for this, an excellent album which I will return to over the years to come. I have a feeling that this band will become a whole lot better known in the prog community over the next few years, and I wish them well. I would also acknowledge my gratitude to them for making their music available to me to review.
Having been invited to hear Nurkostam, I was really disappointed with their two EPs, "XIII" and "-C-". I dunno, it was like I could not not connect with their sound. But before his debut album, "III of Dreamers" , I can say that this trio has great potential.
Oh, man, but what is a major breakthrough. It's as if they had received a "divine inspiration" to get something good. The sound of this album is far superior to their flawed EPs. Each song has a different side, something unique to offer. There is a greater range of influences than before, but above all the sound is very unique, different and experimental. Keyboards are clearly present: a lush synthesizers, mellotrons (at least I think it's mellotrons) and bodies that abound on the album. Guitars are another strong point, and there are some instruments such as cello and flute, which are well used.
Unfortunately there are vocals. One thing I hated about "-C-" those were dark and out of tune vocals. Because of them, "The Camel Song" is almost a disaster . Lucky for me, most of the album is instrumental, and there is a beautiful female voice who sings in a song-not to mention the last song, "Anon", which get a great jazz vocals with a decent and advances to more complex passages.
3 stars. Nurkostam my heart is not in yet, but this album is a considerable advance.
"The Camel Song" does not sound anything like the band Camel. This is some decent symphonic prog on the more sombre side. "Ocean" is a clean electric guitar and vibraphone based instrumental. Nothing horrible but nothing special either. This is followed by "The Dreamer" which is almost straight classical music, like something from a film score. "Almost Famous" starts out very quite. Only after 2 minutes does it turn into symph rock with harmony singing and great retro synth sounds.
"Dike" is acoustic guitar based and slightly sinister sounding until electric piano, bass drum and vocals come in. Some drum machine and Mellotron in this track. A spoken word part in Finnish in the middle. The more sinister sounding acoustic guitars get reprised with some cool synth sounds. One of the stand out tracks on the album. "Motherside" is the only real rockin' song here. Goog guitar and bass tones along with harmony singing. A long echoed spoken word section in English with an almost ambient backing in the middle before the music gets more dramatic sounding until 5 minutes when we get some tribal percussion and synthetic choirs. Strange song.
"Anon" begins almost sounding like Sgt. Pepper's-era Beatles. Then minimal piano and more spoken word in English. Around 2 1/2 minutes it turns into darker symph prog. Nice guitar arpeggios halfway. Later the music builds towards a crescendo then mellows out for a bit and comes back rockin' with symphonic keyboards. Odd start but great ending to a song, and great ending to an album. I actually didn't enjoy this album as much as I did their EPs. A little too inconsistent and these guys may be too diverse for their own good. This is still a well-written and made album, just not my cup of tea generally. I'll give this a 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars.
This is the only full-length album this Finnish outfit has released so far, after two EP's and a recently cooked DVD. Released in 2009, "III of Dreamers" is composed by eight tracks that make a total time of 46 minutes approximately, in which we will find some spacey soundscapes, melancholic tunes and even rockier and crimsonesque ones.
It opens with "Overture (Ulrich)" which has a dreamy mellotron sound accompanied by bass and drums creating a constant and repetitive rhythm, and a nice guitar playing low notes. After a minute it slows down and a delicate piano sounds enters, but lasting only some seconds before the song changes and that mellotron appears once again.
"The Camel Song" is the longest track and probably their most ambitious. It starts slow with vocals and a calm sound, a minute later keyboards appear and create an extraordinary background, changing also the mood of the track. The sound of the bass is sweet, and the addition of acoustic guitar notes puts new colors in the scene. There is a moment of tranquility that suddenly ends when the music volume increases along with emotional vocals. Later there is a beautiful cello that perfectly complements the disarming sound. Very nice track!
"Ocean" is a shorter instrumental composition with a melancholic and even sad sound, not bad, but it can be skipped without remorse. "The Dreamer" is another mellow composition but much more elaborated and comprised of several musical elements and textures. This has some kind of neo-classical style that actually reminds me a little bit of Karda Estra. It could perfectly work as a film soundtrack. While the music continues, you (the listener) will be more interested and captivated.
"Almost Famous" has some kind of emptiness in its music, a lot of pauses and a slow development. After two minutes its wings are spread at last, with symphonic keyboards, acoustic guitars, drums and vocals, reminding me a little bit of Yes. Its delicate sound may be a double-edge weapon, because you may feel charmed, or bored.
"Dike" continues with that mellow and calm sound. The vocals are always charming, even relaxing. And here the guitars are a bit more protagonist with different figures and notes that create wonderful textures. There is a great mellotron apparition that help in all senses, when it sounds you are in a different world. This song is of Nurkostam's finest moments.
"Motherside" is another cool track, with a heavier sound made by strings and drums, however their softness and mellow label is always present. After three minutes there is a part where the music almost stops completely, while a man is speaking. It has also some electronic elements that put a different style in the music, creating diverse atmospheres and chaotic passages. I like that tension and how everything explodes all of a sudden.
"Anon" is the other long track, and also the last of the album. Here you can appreciate a well-structured song with some crimsonian hints, with spoken words once again and with that mixture of melancholy, sadness and hope. The experimental side of the band can also be noticed here, with the addition of some quirky sounds made (I think) by guitars. At half the song the piano plays a wonderful role here, creating a cool background while drums and other elements are accompanying. The last two minutes are the best in the whole album, check that tension created and those spectacular atmospheres. Great!
This is a great album by the Finns, however I don't totally love it, and I believe it has some highs and lows, anyway it is worth listening because it will bring you moments of quality. My final grade will be three stars.
Enjoy it!
The first thing that strikes me is the lack of mastering on this album. It seems like the mastering has been done by a computer and not by a mastering engineer. An artist/record label can save hundreds of euros on this. But the result is always bad sound. Which this album has. It feels a bit lifeless. Like lifeless beer.
Getting past the sound, the music here is very varied. From Sigur Ros via King Crimson to prog folk and Renaissance. Most of the music here is pastoral. I have yet to hear any Neo Prog here so a re-labelling is in order, me thinks.
This album most of all reminds me about the English female fronted bands from the 1970s with a lush, symphonic prog sound. There is plenty of orchestral instruments here and a lot of references to classical music. Then again, there is a lot of references to King Crimson and eclectic prog too.
The sound is a problem for me and the reason why this is not the great album it should have been. But the music here is full of intricate details and is very good. I have no favorite songs though. One or two killer tracks would had done wonders for this album and for the band. But they are onto something and I hope they continue their good work.
3.5 stars
It opens very Floydian, or better, with drums like David Gilmour's "Until We Sleep", but with the guitar playing few high pitched notes reminding a bit to Alan Parsons. It's just a start. soon the things change and the ambient is darker with atmospheres and dissonances close to King Crimson.
"The Camel Song" doesn't have anything to do with Latimer & co, apart the rhythm that has the same lazyness of Rajaz. The slow rhythm of a camel in the desert. Musically is like Roger Waters joining the King Crimson as the bass reminds to the pre-dark side Floyd (Set The Controls or even Careful with that Axe) while the other instruments are playing in a very Crimsonian way, specially the keyboard with sounds similar to Mel Collins. The final is almost symphonic. It's a very good track.
"Ocean" is quiet and relaxing, with just guitar and bells. It makes me think to the dreamy world of Syd Barrett or to the early Floyd of Grantchester Meadows.
"The Dreamer" is a great track. I hear a classic influence and the title is very appropriate. In general I like this kind of ambient music that's capable of let your mind fly away below your level of conscience. The choir in the last two minutes is an enhancement to an already excellent track.
"Almost Famous" opens with a very bass keyboard note and acoustic 12 strings guitar between Gilmour and Anthony Phillips, probably closer to the second. This song is probably one of the reasons why Nurkostam are (incorrectly IMO) included in the neo-prog subgenre. It's melodic and the usual dissonances are missing.
"Dike" is totally different, instead. Dissonant guitar opens the most Crimsonian track of the album. The dissonances are soon absorbed by a more melodic ambient with only the bass continuing on the guitar notes. The vocals are in the background. They unexpectedly sound in the same way as vocals sound on the Dan Britton's project "All Over Anywhere".
"Motherside" is more rocking but still in the vein of KC with a bit of experimentalism, not so accentuated to be suitable for avant, but surely far from the symphonic and the neo-prog. The speech in the middle accompanied by guitar only, first, then by electronic noises reminds me the post-rock band "From Monument To Masses", probably just for the speech. Then the voice leaves and we have the most experimental moment of the album. If I had listened to this track only I would have thought to avant.
The last track, "Anon" has a symphonic and melodic start but the sounds are again very "early Crimson". Then it calms down then the voice and the subtle atmosphere give me the idea of a smoky jazz-pub. The final is a dramatic crescendo. Out of the pub waiting for something to happen...a pause and a new crescendo that grows symphonic. An excellent closer that suddenly stops.
The Crimson influence is very strong but the band has an own sound. I don't have doubts in giving this (underrated IMO) album 4 stars.
Unlike the two EPs the band has distributed, III OF DREAMERS feels more confident of a work of art. The actual preluding ''Overture'' really does function like a good overture and helps solidify the sound at least for the first few tracks. Maybe not the most dynamic of sorts, but the symphonically jazzy atmospheres the band produce are mesmerizing. The one problem is that during ''The Camel Song'', there are some awful off-key vocals that ruin the mood.
Nurkostam can be a pleasant instrumental neo-prog soundscape type of artist because they can make a good niche for themselves there. The tracks ''Dike'' through ''Anon'' sputter the continuous motion of the mood set earlier by wringing out the concept (or so I interpret), but lacking the confidence in the vocals to do so. It's frustrating to sit through a song only to endure weak padding to underline a philosophical speech that I simply have not the bother to hear. At least on ''Anon'', the group can crescendo well enough to the point where sitting through the whole thing was worth the trouble.
It is without a doubt in my mind the best of the Nurkostam works so far. If the group can make an instrumental album in the future, then I would be very intrigued. Sadly, the back half of III OF DREAMERS doesn't quite cut the mustard, and the artsy guitar feedback on ''Motherside'' sounds like it came directly from a Sonic Youth album.
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Fairport Mardi Gras
2017 Fairport Mardi Gras
Friday, June 30 - Tuesday, July 4, 2016
Fairport Mardi Gras
2017 Theme:
(Check back later....a theme is normally chosen in February)
We invite you to come down to our beautiful beach and enjoy the Fairport Mardi Gras festival.
We will be having the annual parade, Senior Citizen Day, 5K Race/2 mile walk, Kid's Day, Veterans Day, and fabulous fireworks!
We will keep you posted with any updates, so mark your calendar and we will see you in July!
Fairport Mardi Gras Committee
Check out Fairport Mardi Gras on
.....watch for updates, pictures, and more!
Festival Information:
Coming soon
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Bridge Update
: The lights are down, the traffic is
flowing and the bridge is OPEN!
Fairport Mardi Gras Board:
Jim Cardina, President
Wendy Carlson, Vice President
Barb Carlson, Treasurer
Wendy Sharpe, Secretary
Sharon Lowthian, Advertisment Chairperson
Wendy Sharpe, Parade Chairperson
Pam Hummer, Queen Chairperson
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Jewel Hall
Several year ago I began making this recipe. Every time I took it to a function, not a nibble was let. I hope you enjoy it too.
- 4 c
- peeled and sliced granny smith apples
- 1/4 c
- orange juice, fresh
- 1 c
- sugar
- 3/4 c
- all purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 tsp
- cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp
- nutmeg
- pinch
- of salt
- 1/4 c
- butter cut up while cool
- whipping cream, optional
1Pre heat oven at 375 degrees F. Butter a 9 inch pie plate. Arrange sliced apple in pie plate, mounding them up in the center. Pour orange juice over apples. set aside.
2in a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour, sugar,cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cut in cool butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples.
3Bake 45-55 minutes until topping is brown and apples are tender. May serve warm with heavy cream if so desired.
About this Recipe
Course/Dish: Pies, Fruit Desserts
Other Tag: Quick & Easy


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Impressed By Disturbed, Ozzfest Adjusts Lineup
Chicago group bumped from second to main stage, sandwiched between Crazy Town, Linkin Park.
Ozzfest 2001 has undergone its first lineup change after just one show.
Tour spokespersons estimated that twenty thousand fans, many from a less-than-ideal vantage point, clogged the second stage to see Chicago's own Disturbed perform at the event's Friday kick-off in Tinley Park, Illinois (see "Metal Scrapes Against Metal At Ozzfest Opener"). Witnessing the overwhelming crowd response, organizers bumped the band from closing out the second stage to joining the big boys on the main stage, sandwiched between Crazy Town and Linkin Park.
The change took effect Saturday at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin.
Ozzfest continues its path of devilish debauchery tomorrow in Indianapolis.


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In the Spirit of the Celebratory Season
A Message from Deb Derrick, President of Friends of the Global Fight
Before we disembark for the holidays — and coming off of one of the busiest times for the Global Fund and Friends of the Global Fight — I wanted to "press pause;" taking a moment to not only appreciate but celebrate the astonishing efforts of the past few months.
Earlier this month, on the heels of World AIDS Day, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held its Fourth Voluntary Replenishment conference in Washington, D.C. There, donors announced their commitments to the organization for 2014 to 2016. The news was thrilling. President Obama made an unprecedented U.S. commitment and the collective efforts of the Global Fund, its partners and advocates resulted in the largest financial pledge ever made in the fight against these three diseases. Together, 25 donor and implementing countries, private foundations and companies pledged $12 billion to the Global Fund. This is a 30 percent increase over hard commitments secured at the last replenishment meeting in 2010, and it will translate directly into more lives saved.
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, the United Kingdom and several Nordic countries pledged a significant increase in funding — committing approximately $1.6 billion and $750 million, respectively. Italy also rejoined the ranks of Global Fund backers. For the first time ever, Mexico became a donor. In addition, this year marked a significant trend in increased domestic investment by several African nations, highlighting the efforts of implementing countries to take a greater leadership role in fighting the three diseases on the ground. The Republic of Korea — a Global Fund grantee as well as a donor — doubled its commitment, pledging $6 million.
The private sector played an important role as well. Companies such as Chevron and BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities made commitments. Other corporations, such as Eli Lilly, are developing innovative partnerships with the Global Fund. In addition, (RED) raised $40 million and Indonesia's Tahir Foundation committed $65 million over five years — an amount matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
These announcements have set the stage for a successful, multiyear replenishment effort that will continue into 2014 and beyond. The New Year promises to be an exciting one, with this continued global resource mobilization effort, the Global Fund's new funding model expanding from early applicants to all grantees, and growing engagement from implementing countries, the private sector and civil society. There will be much to do and, no doubt, much to report.
In the meantime, I wish you all the happiest of holidays and thank you for your continued support of Friends of the Global Fight!
A View from the Hill
There is much action related to the Global Fund to report on this quarter.
On November 13, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama urging him to set a new goal, through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to double the number of people currently on antiretrovirals to 12 million by the end FY16. They also urged the Administration to work diligently toward ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015. The letter was signed by a bipartisan group of 40 Members of Congress.
Shortly thereafter, Congress passed the PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act of 2013 with unanimous, bipartisan support. The bill extends certain provisions of PEPFAR as well as the 33 percent cap on U.S. contributions to the Global Fund. President Obama signed the bill into law on December 2, during the White House observation of World AIDS Day. At the same time, he reaffirmed the Administration's commitment to remaining a global leader in the fight against AIDS.
In the lead-up to the Global Fund's replenishment conference in December, Friends worked closely with Dr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, spear-heading various activities to increase support for the Global Fund. Dr. Dybul met with key Members of Congress and the Administration to emphasize the importance of the United States' contribution to the Global Fund in leveraging resources from other donors. He noted that the U.K's pledge was a clear example of this leverage in action: the U.K. was spurred to increase its pledge after the Obama Administration requested $1.65 billion for the Global Fund and House and Senate appropriators each endorsed that same, record funding level.
Then, during the replenishment meetings, the U.S. gave further unprecedented support for the Global Fund. President Obama announced that the U.S. Administration will commit $4 billion to the Global Fund for the replenishment period 2014 to 2016 — plus an additional $1 billion through a challenge grant — for a total commitment of up to $5 billion. Under this challenge grant, the U.S. will contribute $1 for every $2 committed by international donors through September 2014. This marks a potential $1 billion increase from the Administration's previous pledge to the Global Fund for 2010-2013.
Friends was particularly pleased that the President personally delivered this news, but we were also pleased by subsequent endorsements of the Global Fund by Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.
Finally, and on the broader budget front, Congressional leaders reached a two-year bipartisan budget compromise on December 10 to prevent another federal government shutdown. The deal sets top-line numbers for FY14 and FY15 that allow the Appropriations Committee to fund U.S. government programs through the regular, annual appropriations process for an entire fiscal year. This mitigates the short-term, continuing resolutions which have been the practice in recent years and which have proved challenging for long-term program planning. The deal was then approved by the House on December 12 and was passed by the Senate on Dec. 18. The Appropriations Committee will now begin the process of writing legislation to extend the FY14 Continuing Resolution through the end of the current fiscal year, September 30, 2014.
Donors Save Lives: Namibia Picks up the Mantle
More than 20 years ago, HIV/AIDS was taking a devastating toll in Namibia. Prevalence peaked in 2002, when nearly a quarter of the adult population was HIV-positive. That all changed when the Global Fund, PEPFAR and other external donor resources poured into the country in the early 2000s. These investments helped stem the AIDS crisis and allowed Namibia to shore up its health system.
Today, more than 80 percent of people with HIV in Namibia have access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, more than 90 percent of pregnant women are tested and treated, and AIDS-related deaths and HIV-incidence have fallen by more than half. To build on this progress, the country laid out a National Strategic Framework to prioritize and set targets for prevention, treatment, behavior change and support for marginalized populations.
Despite its high disease burden, and as an upper-middle-income country, Namibia has already absorbed a portion of its own health costs. At a recent event held during the Global Fund's Fourth Voluntary Replenishment Conference in Washington, D.C., Dr. Richard Kamwi, Namibia's Minister of Health and Social Services, proudly announced that the Namibian government now funds 60 percent of the national response to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
International donors are still heavily invested in the country, but the nature of those investments is changing. Today, external funding accounts for less than half of the total resources for the HIV response.
For more examples of how the Global Fund is working to help countries take control of these diseases, read Friends of the Global Fight's Steps toward Sustainability report.
Highlights from the Fight
Below are a few resources where you can learn more about the work of Friends of the Global Fight and the opportunities before us to defeat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria:
- In the September issue of PSI's Impact Magazine, Deb Derrick talks about why now is critical moment in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
- A Nothing But Nets blog post highlights strides being made to shrink the malaria map, including success in recent vaccine trials.
- Friends' Board chair, Jonathan Klein, writes about his admiration for Nelson Mandela and how it inspired his own efforts to defeat HIV/AIDS in South Africa and around the world in Forbes.com.
- As part of a series of articles in the The Huffington Post coinciding with the United Nation's General Assembly, Friends highlights the Global Fund's efforts to target high-risk populations, thus helping to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS and save more lives.
- A summary of Friends' event with renowned economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs was covered on the Making Malaria History blog.
- Deb Derrick offers some timely Thanksgiving gratitude while encouraging the world to mobilize resources and ensure long-term, sustainable solutions in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
- United Nations Secretary-General's MDG Advocate & Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers highlights the Global Fund's role in a historic malaria net initiative in The Hill.
- On December 11, the World Health Organization released the World Malaria Report 2013.
This post was originally published in December 2013.


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News about Adoption.
Apple Pay adoption low, says report
October 7th, 2016
Only one in ten iPhone owners have used Apple Pay and, among those who haven't done so, 63% said it's because their preferred merchants don't support it as a payment option, research from Parks Associates reveals. "Only 19% of US smartphone owners and 15% of smartwatch owners have used a mobile payment app," the firm adds.
Take part in our 'NFC and the IoT' webinar today
March 2nd, 2016
NFC World's educational webinar on NFC and how it can be used to lift IoT adoption by bringing plug-and-play simplicity to smart homes and the internet of things will be held today at 15:00 GMT. NFC and the IoT will be presented by NXP's Pierre Goarin and there'll be plenty of time for questions from the audience afterwards. Sign up to join the webinar here.
Mobile payments face "substantial hurdles" in 2016, says Atlanta Fed
February 23rd, 2016
Limited merchant acceptance points, fragmentation and consumer concerns over security and privacy will remain "substantial hurdles" to mobile payments at the physical point of sale in 2016, according to analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Fingerprint, facial and iris recognition will dominate as the most-used biometrics, a blog post by the reserve bank's Retail Payments Risk Forum also predicts, although the technology is expected to "face critical adoption challenges". EMV will pick up pace in the year ahead, the forum adds, while ACH same-day service will "not be a huge hit".
Taiwanese banks to roll out hybrid HCE payments platform
October 26th, 2015
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June 15th, 2015
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February 9th, 2015
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Amex warns of slow mobile wallet adoption
October 17th, 2014
American Express has warned that mobile wallets are likely to see slow adoption, even for Apple and its customer base. "Mobile wallets have had the potential to change consumer behaviour for some years but it's unlikely to be an overnight shot," CFO Jeff Campbell said during the company's third quarter earnings call. "It will take time even with Apple's innovative technology and customer base."
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Bali Blinds & Bali Shades
- Bali blinds and shades for every need
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- Industry leader for innovation
Bali, an industry leader for blinds and shades Do-It-Yourselfers, is dedicated to improving the environment, contributing to energy efficiency in the home and the use of renewable resources in their products. With cordless, blackout, top down/bottom up, and motorized options, Bali's natural and bamboo shades material comes from renewable sources and their wood blinds are harvested through sustainable yield forest management. Fabrics made with low-emission and irritant/allergen-free methods help reduce asthma and other health-related issues. Many of Bali's solar shade fabrics are GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality Certified for low VOC. What started in 1939 in Mineral Point, Wisconsin with a famous piece of drapery hardware known as the "badger crane" is now the major brand in window fashions known as Bali.
Bali® 2" Faux Wood Blinds
retail $74.63 $50.00 + an extra 20% off
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Bali® Northern Heights Collection 1" Wood Blinds
retail $134.33 $90.00 + an extra 20% off
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customer reviews for bali
"Great Value"
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Product Overview↑ Back to Top
Get professional grade cleaning yourself with this innovative Bissell 86T3 Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner. It's power brushes eliminate dirt and the tough stain tool gets hard to reach areas like stairs. The Bissell 86T3 out cleans the leading rental machines.Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed...
Technical Specs ↑ Back to Top
Vacuum Style |
Upright |
Motor Amperage |
12 |
Debris Collector Type |
Tank |
Cleaning Path |
10" |
Cord Length |
25 Feet |
Height | 22.0 in |
Width | 36.0 in |
Weight | 42 lbs |
Depth | 22.0 in |
Package Contents
- Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine
- Instruction Booklet
Ratings & Reviews ↑ Back to Top
Reviewed by 249 customers
Displaying reviews 1-10
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Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I have owned 2 of the little green machines in the past and would not do without it in my house for small cleanups and the car so when I was able to afford the big green machine I jumped on it and happy I did! This is an amazing machine it has so much suction and cleaning power that It lightened an old stain I had from a spill years ago! It moves back and fourth too, not like the ones you rent,and even though this thing is heavy it is very easy to maneuver and that's coming from a person with bone cancer. The dry time was around an hour I would say but you can always put a fan on to make it dry faster,The only down side is I don't see the water getting sucked up and I'm not use to that
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I have only had a chance to use it once and I was impressed with the quality and power, it cleaned very well except for a couple of stains which I didn't treat before cleaning, which is probably why it didn't completely clean them. I am very satisfied that this is one of my better decisions and purchases. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to pay the price but after considering the cost of having my carpet cleaned I am sure it will save $$$. If i have any complaints it would be that the machine is kind of heavy to move around when cleaning but I know it is a heavy duty commercial type machine and I can live with that. ;-)
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I LOVE my big green machine! One of the things I absolutely love is that all of the compartments are cleanable. Like other shampooers you get hair and gunk stuck in certain places that aren't reachable to clean. Not this one! All of the places that suck through are cleanable. When I'm done I take the shampooer out back and use my hose to rinse through all of the compartments and it's just as clean as day 1. My carpets feel so clean under my feet. I will say at first I was pressing water trigger going forward then released for backward pass which didn't seem to work as I'd like. Then I discovered pressing water trigger while walking backward pass, releasing then going forward pass worked amazingly. Thanks Bissell!!
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
The Big Green does an excellent job. It is easy to use although a bit heavier than I thought it would be. Even so I could handle it well and I only weight 123 lbs. I would highly recommend the Big Green.
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I have this machine and I luv it ,,keeps my carpet Fresh and clean , i shampoo my carpet once a month do to two dogs and my company say they couldn't tell I have pets , so if you have the extra money I really recommend this shampoo machine
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
Over 25 years of using Hoover and supermarket machines-the Bissell blows the others away.
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I have several rescue dogs, some of which are quite old now and not as diligent as they once were in letting us know when that have to go out. I purchased this as a replacement for my old Hoover and boy what a difference. In addition to stain removal I cleaned all of my carpets after seeing how well it did and was amazed, even carpets that had been routinely cleaned looked like new with this machine. This is the fifth carpet cleaner I have owned over the years, the others, Hoovers and and lower model Bissell's which I thought performed well are no comparison to this model. Higher capacity tanks are much easier to fill and dump and the upholstery cleaner actually works very well on this model, pulling up most of the water unlike others that would leave the furniture very wet. Wish I had made this purchase years ago.
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I have used this machine 100+ times & then a couple of months ago it stopped sucking up dirty water so well. Eventually water started spitting out top black/white spinner button. I found the authorized repair place & within a couple days they fixed it. Works just like new again! Best carpet cleaner I've ever used. Had been renting routinely at Lowes for a while before purchase. Absolutely works just as well ( I had thought maybe stores was more commercial version I guess). So glad I took plunge to purchase. Will keep your carpet beautiful & fluffy forever :)
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I bought this carpet cleaner after reviewing many other products on the market. I was replacing my Bissell Pro2x Heat unit that had failed after many years of use (had so long forgot when i bought it) - the bladder and dirty water container finally failed. So, i upgraded to this Bissell Big Green unit and could not be happier! I must say it was definitely worth the extra investment. I have used the unit twice to clean my carpets. I have a Chow Chow (lots of hair) and two long haired cats and this machine has no issues cleaning up after them. I have yet to us this to clean my cat climber, stairs, furniture, and car interior, as i have just received my accessories. (separately ordered form Bissell) The clean water and dirty water units are a larger size which is convientsince do not need to empty and fill too often. The vacuum extracts most of the water and my carpet dry within a few hours (i washed them three times each cleaning) I would only recommend a couple design changes to the unit - a slightly wider cleaning spread and swivel wheel on the bottom to allow easier movement (similar to the pull along luggage). I definitely would recommend spending a little extra upfront and purchasing this unit if you clean your carpets a lot and want a unit that does a beautiful job on your carpets.
Comments about Bissell Professional Big Green Carpet Cleaner:
I purchased this cleaner to replace a Hoover dual v that had served us well. After reading about all the equivalent cleaners to replace it I felt like I couldn't decide. Then I came across this one. After reading the reviews and watching all the videos I could find, I decided to move up a level. After cleaning our carpets, I couldn't be more satisfied. The cleaner cleaned the carpets and the stairs. They are clean. Very pleased!!!
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XRay 306220 T3 12 Center servo mount
for the T3 2012
Center Servo Mount is made from high-quality, CNC-machined graphite and it allows the servo to be mounted to the chassis without touching it. The servo is mounted using three stands and without any other modifications. With this new servo mounting method, unwanted chassis tweak is eliminated while at the same time it provides more overall traction. The new servo mounting position improves the balance of the car as the servo is mounted more in the center of the chassis.
• High-quality, CNC-machined graphite • 3-stand solid mounting • Improved chassis balance • Eliminates unwanted tweak • Increased overall traction