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Category: Film audiences
Art films and Videogames
Art films, or more precisely foreign language art films, are struggling to find an audience in the UK. (Sight & Sound, February 2016 has an editorial bemoaning this situation and it was discussed in Keith's post.) At the same time, the value of the videogames market keeps on increasing. It seems at least possible that some of those audiences who have stopped watching art films are now playing certain kinds of videogames. I hadn't thought too much about making this connection until one of the guest critics on Radio 4's Saturday Review (download here) remarked that certain kinds of videogames were for people who liked to work hard at 'reading' a story. It was probably Naomi Alderman (the novelist who writes about gaming for the Guardian), but all four reviewers of two videogames that have been successful in 2015 said that the experience was more like 'work' in that they had to take notes in attempting to construct a narrative. They compared playing videogames with both films and television – suggesting that TV, by comparison, was so 'easy' that if it were invented now there would be outrage about how it was rotting the brains of its audiences.
So, is this a useful observation? We need to be careful because there are so many variables in play here. First, it isn't the so-called 'specialised' cinemas that are losing audiences. What they are doing is increasingly moving towards showing Hollywood blockbusters and Anglophone 'quality films'. Audiences have stopped watching foreign language art films partly because they are difficult to find in cinemas. But they haven't turned away from subtitles. On Sunday night Channel 4 started broadcasting a German language drama and has announced free streaming of several more series via its 'Walter Presents' offer (which looks very exciting). BBC4's Danish/Swedish subtitled serial Broen ⎮⎮ Bron, which finished over Christmas, attracted on average 1.4 million UK viewers. The biggest audience for a foreign language film in UK cinemas in 2015 was not much more than 100,000 viewers.
We are constantly told that the videogames industry is bigger now than the film industry in value terms – and probably in terms of the number of players. Such comparisons are difficult to make. Games often cost much more to buy/rent than films (but probably provide better value in terms of hours of engagement). Videogaming also covers a wide range of different kinds of interactive experiences. I'm not able to compare them, but I suspect a game played on a phone while sitting on a train is a different proposition than the two games discussed on Saturday Review. One of these, Fallout, is a big budget blockbuster and the other, Her Story, is an 'indie' game. The reviewers found that both required 'work' to construct a narrative, but Her Story sounds nearest to the experience of art film, even though its potential narrative is closest to crime fiction, i.e. a supposedly 'generic' rather than 'literary' narrative.
I did once play computer games, back in the early 1990s. I eventually concluded that a) I wasn't very good at it – I lacked certain skills and that b) I could also become addicted to certain kinds of relatively simple games. So I stopped. I realise that videogames are now much more sophisticated but I'm not really attracted – though I have read several compelling arguments about how they have helped advance ideas about narrative. The crucial question is not about the small group of dedicated cinephiles but about younger audiences who might enjoy videogames, subtitled TV dramas and foreign language art cinema. How should cinemas attract them back? How should we educate distributors and exhibitors so that they consider this audience and cater for it? Anyone got ideas?
Here's the trailer for Her Story:
Our first million
Some time today this blog site will pass 1 million page views. It's not that many considering that we've been online since 2008, but it's still a sign that people are interested in a wide range of films. Perhaps more significantly we know that we've been visited from over 200 countries – more than the number of members of the UN – so our reach is genuinely 'global' (see the little 'Visitor Flags' indicator) in the sidebar. We hope at least some of those page visits have helped to entertain and inform.
Barring and Alignment: why they are bad for cinema in the UK
The announcement by the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield that they have been denied 'on date' bookings for films distributed by Artificial Eye/Curzon Film World is an example of a trade practice known as barring. This practice and the associated practice of alignment were in operation in the UK up to the arrival of the multiplex and the demise of the 'circuit cinema' – the single, double or tripled traditional cinema – in the early 1990s.
Alignment refers to vertical integration in the film industry and the practice of a distributor favouring its own chain of cinemas over those of a competitor. In the 1950s and 1960s in the UK the duopoly of Rank (Odeon) and ABPC (ABC) meant that in many locations there were two circuit cinemas competing for audiences. Each of the distributors not only favoured their own films in their own cinemas but also made deals with the Hollywood studios, aligning a Hollywood studio with their chain. Thus ABC cinemas showed Warner Brothers and MGM and the other studios went with Odeon.
Barring was the practice whereby a distributor simply refused to allow one of its films to be shown in a rival's cinema. Barring orders specified a radius of x miles around one of their cinemas inside which the film couldn't be shown by a competitor.
These practices have been looked at by UK industry regulators (e.g. the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, Office of Fair Trading etc.) on several occasions in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s. The EU is also concerned about the effects of such practices. In the main however, the advent of the multiplex from the 1990s onwards has meant that 'alignment' is no longer an issue and all multiplexes have the same access to the same mainstream films because barring is not possible without alignment. But the state of play in the specialised film market is rather different.
The specialised film market is difficult to describe (the definition comes from the UK Film Council and now the BFI) but lets assume it means all those films that are not likely to show across the mainstream multiplex market. They might appear on some multiplex screens but mostly will be seen in 'independent' cinemas. This sector is now changing and becoming dominated by three companies: Picturehouse, Curzon and Everyman. These three chains are all growing – opening/acquiring new cinemas, often 'artplexes' with 2, 3, 4, or more screens. Curzon is the biggest distributor of specialised films but Picturehouse also has a form of control over bookings for films by smaller cinemas. Curzon and Picturehouse effectively control the market for specialised films. If their bookers don't like your film, you have little chance of distributing it in the UK. Neither of them seem interested in Chinese, Japanese and South Korean films for instance – or Indian art films or independents.
The victims of the potential oligopoly control of this market are the public sector cinemas – those operating as charitable trusts and dependent on public funding. These are the cinemas once known as 'Regional Film Theatres'. Once these cinemas were abandoned by the BFI in terms of a booking service (i.e. negotiating booking s of films with distributors) they had to choose either to book films directly themselves (very difficult), use the new service set up by the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) or go to groups like City Screen (Picturehouse) who would deal with the other distributors. This made the independents more likely to follow the main distributors and to shift towards more commercial policies as the market got tougher and as other forms of public funding began to dry up. So, over the last ten to 15 years the programming policies of specialised cinemas has changed. The changes were signalled for me by the decision of Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle (booking service through City Screen) to show Sex and the City 2 in 2010, a decision which I understand divided the staff at the time. Now I am hardly surprised any more when I see a trailer for Star Wars at a Picturehouse cinema or the new Avengers movie showing at a Curzon or Everyman.
Keith in his recent posting is justified in complaining when the distributors (and their associated cinemas) get public support for these new programmes. There are three specific forms of support. The BFI puts money into the development and production of British films as part of cultural policy (as do European funds such as EU MEDIA) – with the aim that these be seen by diverse audiences. Similarly, certain foreign language films are supported in distribution to increase the diversity of the film offer. Finally, European funding goes to cinemas which show European films as part of the Europa Cinemas network (which includes the Showroom in Sheffield, Pictureville/Cubby Broccoli in Bradford – now operated by Picturehouse – and the Hyde Park in Leeds. The barring applied to the Showroom by Curzon, illustrated in Keith's post, goes against the reasoning behind this cultural support. It restricts access to films showing in the bigger cinemas at Showroom. It also penalises a cinema which is at the centre of the BFI's Audience Development programme as the centre of Film Hub North.
The BFI's response to Curzon's actions was in my opinion pretty feeble. The BFI is the nominated agency of British public policy in relation to distribution and exhibition as part of UK film culture. It should be making more robust statements or putting pressure on Curzon to desist this practice. Barring and alignment are not good for audiences, publicly-funded cinemas or UK film culture generally.
UK film distribution
A friend has just drawn my attention to a circular from the Sheffield Showroom to its customers. It includes the following:
Force Majeure is a new and award-winning Swedish film being released in the UK this weekend (10th April). It was our intention to show this film on its release date however we have been recently informed that Curzon Film World, the film's distributor, will not accept our booking and that from now on Curzon will not allow us to show their films on release date.
Showing the best British, independent, European and foreign language films has been our long-standing programming offer to you and we know from your feedback that you have appreciated our commitment to bring these films to you.
Whilst we recognize that Curzon, as a private company, can operate however it wishes, it receives substantial amounts of public funding to help support the release of its films and supporting public policy objectives for ensuring as many people as possible have the opportunity to see them.
[see http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/cinema/forcemajeure-note-customers]
The reference to public funding includes the monies from the British Film Institute to support the distribution of 'less commercial' films. It always struck me that the policy was misplaced – what provides variety and quality for UK film-buffs are the sadly decreasing number of independent cinemas. This includes the Showroom, our own Leeds-based Hyde Park Picture House and the new Manchester Cornerhouse cinemas: bizarrely renamed Home.
From before the 1st World War when the burgeoning Hollywood film industry planted its foothold in Britain, distribution has been the problem for film-goers. They enjoy a dominant position and [predictably] box office trumps critical quality. The French have a much more enlightened policy of film culture: and in the UK other arts do a lot better.
My experience of raising issues with film institutions is bleak. We need to follow the advice that Roy penned last year – support your local independent cinemas. I sincerely hope that the Showroom rides this one out.
The Board of Governors for the BFI is supposed to include two members who represent the ordinary users. As regular readers will know there is currently only one representative, and for some of us there is not much sign of representation by him. Action on this is overdue. In informing interested people the Board appear to follow the well-worn tactic of bureaucracies, stonewalling. Since a fresh election is overdue I have emailed a number of requests to the Board office asking for explanation. There has been a paucity of replies: this might be down to someone having read my earlier postings. However, a colleague has had the same problem, so I don't think it is just personal.
Now, at last, the Board Secretary has sent me a response: the main information is as shown below:
I refer to your query in relation to any possible arrangements for the election of a Member Governor in 2015.
In September 2014 the DCMS published the results of the first BFI Triennial Review since BFI became the lead public body for film in 2011. The report was a strong endorsement of the work of the BFI. It acknowledged the important contribution the BFI makes to supporting and enabling the UK film industry and it recognised the benefits that come from bringing the cultural and commercial expertise for film under one organisation. The Review proposed changes to the process of appointment of the Chairman and Governors. While the BFI considers the new process of appointment for the Chair and Governors, including the implications for the Royal Charter, the Board in consultation with DCMS, has extended the term of the current Member Governor, Peter Kosminsky, for one year.
This response begs quite a few questions. The Triennial Review actually stated the following:
Governance and Appointments
The BFI Chair is appointed by the Secretary of State and that the appointment is regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA).
The BFI Board members are appointed by the Secretary of State and the appointments made in accordance with OCPA principles, to be implemented as vacancies arise on the Board (with the exception of the Member Governor post(s)).
Clearly proceeding with changes stemming from the Review does not necessitate postponing the election of Member Governors. Apart from any prejudices among the Governors and management, there is at least one other possible factor. Revisiting the Review I noticed the following:
5.15 Cabinet Office guidance on good corporate governance recommends a majority of non-executive Board members come from the commercial private sector, with experience in running complex organisations. In the BFI's case, such expertise would not need to be limited to the creative sector.
As far as I can make out this process of Triennial Reviews was introduced in 2011. So it clearly bears the hallmarks of the current political illusion that 'commerce' always knows best. The period of austerity has actually demonstrated that this social group is driven by self-interest than any commitment to wider interests
Moreover this line conflicts with other pronouncements regarding the BFI and its predecessor The Film Council. These would include supporting British independent filmmaking: supporting young filmmakers: supporting diversity: supporting films of aesthetic or documentary value: supporting access to the wider world cinema. Indeed the Review document contains such contradictory statements. The BFI and DCMS review the size and make-up of the Board with a focus on increasing the diversity of the Board through future appointments. They mention women and ethnic minorities. There appears to be no mention of working class representation or audience members. The current Board members listed on the BFI Website are: [note, amount of detail varies for individuals]
Greg Dyke became Chair of the BFI in March 2008. Formerly Director-General of the BBC, Greg is also Chairman of the Football Association and Chancellor of the University of York.
Josh Berger is President and Managing Director, Warner Bros. Entertainment UK, Ireland and Spain.
Pat Butler is a partner at the Resolution Group and an expert in corporate and business strategy, operations and performance improvement.
Charles Cecil is a video game designer and co-founder of Revolution Software. In 2011 he was awarded an MBE for services to the computer games industry.
Alison Cornwell is Group Chief Financial Officer of Vue Entertainment International. She qualified as a chartered accountant in 1990 and spent 5 years in corporate finance before joining Disney's International TV business. At Disney, In 2005 Alison left Disney to become CFO of private equity backed Sparrowhawk Media which acquired the international assets of Crown Media Holdings. In 2008 Alison was appointed CFO of the international film distribution company, Alliance Films.
Pete Czernin lived and worked in Los Angeles for nearly 10 years for a number of production companies and studios. In 2005 he partnered with Graham Broadbent and set up Blueprint Pictures, a London-based feature film production company.
Ashley Highfield is CEO of Johnston Press. Previously he has held high-level posts at Microsoft and the BBC.
Tom Hooper is an Oscar-winning film director. His features include Les Misérables, The King's Speech and The Damned United.
Matthew Justice is currently Managing Director of Big Talk, the multi award-winning film and television production company.
Oona King, Baroness King of Bow, is a member of the House of Lords. She is a writer, broadcaster and political campaigner and a Diversity Executive at Channel 4.
Peter Kosminsky is an award-winning writer and director behind some of the most important and revelatory television of the past three decades.
Timothy Richards is the CEO of Vue Entertainment, which boasts over 66 million annual admissions from 1319 screens in 145 state-of-the-art cinemas worldwide.
Jonathan Ross OBE is a mainstay of British television and radio, rarely off the airwaves either as a presenter or as a host of his own distinctive style of celebrity guest interviews.
Lisbeth Savill [Deputy Chair] is a partner in the law firm Latham and Watkin's London office in the firm's Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice.
Andrea Wong is President of International Production for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and President of International for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).
One of the least diverse sections of British society is found in the leadership of the commercial sector, as women's and ethnic groups frequently point out. Moreover by definition when one becomes a leader in commercial enterprise one ceases [if one ever was] to be working class. The list indicates that it is only from the higher end of this sector that appointments are made. So there are no representatives from the Trade Unions or from the UK Film Societies, who actually have a national presence. Senior Managers attend Board Meetings: note though there is no reference to a representative of the BFI staff.
This emphasis follows on from another recommendation:
One of the key recommendations made in this Review is the development of a Business Development Strategy, focused on establishing a new commercial model which will optimise the value of the BFI's various assets, and identify new ways to increase income from private sources. Once established, this Strategy should help reduce dependency on Grant-in-Aid Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
This seems to me a staging post on the way to privatisation: though this view was roundly criticised at a recent Film Society Federation meeting. But the example in other sectors, including in the arts and culture, suggest that this is part of just such a process.
What makes the situation worse is the apparent inactivity of the current representative. With the honourable exception of Cy Young, these elected representatives have never appeared that interested in representation. Evan so Peter Kosminsky would appear to put his predecessors in the shade. As far as I can make out he has not issued a single report during three years to the people who elected him. He will only accept communications through the Board office. And he does not reply even to these communications: certainly not either to me or to a colleague who I checked with. And I have searched the minutes in vain for some comment by him: only his name in the list of attendees.
A colleague helped by unearthing his statement and manifesto for the 2011 election. In fairness to him it should be admitted that he makes no mention of representation at all.
But I think it is fair comment to point out that in the UK 'representation' is normally assumed to being open to the views and comments of those who elect the representative. He did write that
I would do everything in my power to protect the BFI from outside interference and from the erosion of its education and commissioning budgets
Unfortunately he does not seem to have had much success in this. He also wrote re the Regional representative post
As a confirmed non-South-East of England resident, I'm putting myself forward for election as a governor in that category. [i.e. Regional Representative].
I have to say I was surprised to find that him state in an interview that he lives in Wiltshire: not the inference I drew from his statement. Taken together with the listing of other Board members it appears that there is no representation from north of Watford – which includes the Midlands, the North of England, Scotland and Wales!
Unfortunately there seems to be little pressure either on the Board or on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to rectify this situation. Readers might give this some thought.
And note that Peter Kominsky also wrote in his statement that he regularly attends screenings at the National Film Theatre/Southbank. If someone sees him there perhaps they could ask him to tell them about his three years service on the Board: and whether he intends to give the electorate the opportunity to decide if they wish him to represent them for a further year.
PS Mark Newell advised me that there is now a notice regarding the extension of the Regional representatives term in the BFI newsletter and on the Website – presumably someone read this posting!
And there are some news sets of minutes up as well.
Mr. Turner (UK-France-Germany 2014)
Mr. Turner is an extraordinary film. Its reception stands as an exemplar of audience and critical responses in 2014. I was surprised when we turned up at the wonderful Hebden Bridge Picture House on a wet December evening to find a queue outside for a film released more than six weeks ago. The large audience was mainly over 50 and they were seemingly absorbed over 150 minutes. By contrast, when I had shown the trailer to an A Level student audience back in October before it opened they didn't think that the film would be particularly successful. However, despite strong critical responses and the Cannes acting prize for Timothy Spall in May, many of those in attentive older audiences have come out of screenings saying that they didn't understand/enjoy the film as much as they had hoped. One friend said that it felt long and drawn out – but that actually he'd never been bored. I can certainly understand this: my first reaction was that I'd seen three different essays rather than a coherent film. One is an essay about 'performance' constructed around Timothy Spall's portrayal of J.M.W. Turner, ably supported by turns from various Mike Leigh regulars and some new faces (mostly obscured by whiskers and bonnets). The second is about cinematography, production design, costume design etc. – a visual essay about representations of art and daily life in the first half of the 19th century. Finally there is Mike Leigh's diligently researched and at times inspired musings on theatre, art and new forms of communication in the same period. All three essays are high quality but they don't combine to make the conventional film narrative that the popular audience is no doubt expecting.
When I got home I couldn't stop thinking about the film and felt frustrated until I found the Cannes press notes. Alongside the Sight and Sound interview these helped me to make sense of what I'd seen. The long synopsis of the film explains the background to each scene. Even then I needed to find out more about the chronology of events. Leigh does not provide any indication of dates as such so it isn't clear that the narrative runs from 1828 until Turner's death at the age of 76 in 1851. At first I struggled to be sure that the narrative was linear. It's worth at this point acknowledging that the film isn't a straight biopic and there is no 'requirement' to present the events in a documentary fashion. Ironically, those potential spectators who have decided not to watch a 'costume picture' – as well as those audiences upset that the narrative doesn't conform to the conventional mode – do not recognise that Mr. Turner is an art film (as distinct from a film about art). It's probably wise to state the other things that Mr. Turner 'isn't' as well. It isn't a straightforward film about Turner's 'artistic vision' as such. Leigh says that he watched many films about painters before writing the script. He also has his own background of an early art education to draw on, but he wants to avoid both the kind of films that make artists into mad geniuses (e.g. Minnelli's Lust for Life) or to try to recreate the artistic vision in terms of the filmic image in simple terms. What he does do is to focus on the artist 'working', getting his sleeves rolled up, grinding ingredients for paints etc. He also gives us ideas about Turner's approach in oblique ways, such as the joke about the elephant in the Hannibal canvas. I found these ideas about the working life of the painter one of the most interesting aspects of the film (see the image below about the hanging practices of the Royal Academy).
Something else that Leigh hasn't made is a film about the personal life of the painter and his relationships. We see something of Turner's involvement with three women, but only rarely do we learn anything about these women and what Turner means to them. I'm not a Mike Leigh fan and partly it's because I find that characters in his films are sometimes presented in a cruel way. The housekeeper is shown as a devoted servant/housekeeper who is occasionally 'used' sexually but who clearly dotes on her employer. She has a progressive skin disease, psoriasis, which I should have recognised from Denis Potter's The Singing Detective. This is shown but not commented on. She also has a comic way of moving about the house – rather like, as one of my friends commented, Julie Walters as 'Mrs Overall' in Acorn Antiques. It wasn't until I read the Press Notes that I realised that this housekeeper 'Hannah Danby' (Dorothy Atkinson) is the niece of Mrs Danby (Ruth Sheen), the woman with whom Turner has two children who in 1828 are young women. I must have missed that exchange of dialogue – some of it was difficult to hear. Turner is most settled when with a third woman, the twice widowed Mrs Booth (Marion Bailey). Overall, I think it is possible to see Turner as a rounded character who has many good qualities despite his deception of these women. But I never see Leigh as a humanist. He seems to want his characters to be exaggerated in some way. I'm trying to imagine a Mike Leigh melodrama where some form of 'excess' or exaggeration would be worked into the style of the film, but I just can't see it.
The visual essay in the film is based around the cinematography of Dick Pope, Leigh's long-time collaborator. Working with a digital format for the first time, Pope had the inspired idea of using classic 1950s lenses (used on the Everest documentaries in the early 1950s) with an Alexa camera. According to Pope:
These are lenses that have since been re-mounted and are now in great demand in advertising. A very retro lens construction, with tiny rear lenses . . . They have a very gentle, very romantic character, and are truly lovely at 75mm or 100mm on faces. They were a fundamental tool for this movie along with Alexa and Codex.
"This film was a joy to shoot", admits Pope. "We had resplendent weather for the duration. Perhaps Turner's blessing from heaven? I don't think the project could have been done with grey or cloudy weather because, as the painter admits at the end of the film: "Sun is god". (from the Codex website: http://www.codexdigital.com/casestudies/painting-with-light)
'Codex' refers to the Codex Digital company which has become an industry leader in terms of recording, storage and workflow hardware and software to be used with digital cameras. Pope argues that it was his experience using Codex RAW systems on a previous shoot that made it a good choice for Mr. Turner.
I've suggested that Leigh's approach to representing Turner's 'vision' 'isn't conventional. The main tenet of Leigh and Pope, working with production design and effects was to see the second quarter of the 19th century as Turner himself saw it. He was given the title of 'painter of light', the same term often used to describe what a cinematographer does. Pope and Leigh were lucky with the weather after they decided to follow Leigh's usual practice and shoot only on location. Pope relied on available light as much as possible, waiting for the right time of day. He matched Turner's palette by choosing the same colours where possible and then tweaking the digital images. The landscape shots are stunning but Pope argues that much of the film is about the interiors and this is where the 2.35:1 'Scope frame proved most useful, allowing Leigh to compose single shots with complex movements of actors in 19th century buildings and also to give us Turner's perspectives on these scenes. I can see that I'm going to need the Blu-ray of Mr. Turner and to study it in detail to see exactly what Dick Pope means in his interviews.
I realise that I've not mentioned the acting and the music. The latter worked well, but there was so much else going on I didn't have the time to think about it. The acting is what you might expect from a Mike Leigh film in which every actor enthusiastically gets into character through rehearsals and improvisation. Timothy Spall learned to paint so he would look authentic in the role (I think that I've learned about Turner's sketching style which seemed odd to me as a non-artist). Much has been made of Spall's grunts, another example perhaps of the Leigh method of discovering a reference in descriptions of Turner and then exaggerating it. I didn't mind this so much – Spall creates an interesting character, physically different perhaps to the real figure, but believable as a painter both validated and criticised by his peers.
The only criticism I would have of the whole production is that I thought the lighting of the images created by merging Pope's cinematography with CGI to visualise Turner's experience of seeing the Temeraire being towed to the breakers' yard (the subject of his most famous painting) just didn't work. Pope tells us the sunset is real and that it was shot in virtually the same part of the Thames estuary as the painting's setting. He argues that the CGI that creates the movement of the ship(s) works well, but for me it has that artificial sheen. The image above comes from an interview on IndieWire.
The film has been Leigh's most successful at the box office, making £6.3 million as its cinema run is coming towards its end. It did however cost over £8 million and needs to make around £20 million to move towards covering its costs. The international and the North American 'domestic' markets are going to be very important plus those ancillary sales.
I hope I've convinced anyone who has got this far that the film is very well worth seeing. Just don't expect a conventional artist biopic! The trailer below includes the CGI mentioned above (and also shows the very beautiful opening credits design) – but beware it is one of those trailers that shows you glimpses of many of the best scenes in the film:
Where have all the foreign language movies gone?
In the last few years, January has become a desert as far as diversity in UK cinemas is concerned. The US/UK 'awards films' fill all the specialised cinema screens that would usually take a major foreign language film release. Distributors are discouraged from competition with Hollywood and mainstream independent distributors. So, currently, 12 Years a Slave (eOne), American Hustle (Columbia/Entertainment) and Gravity (Warner Bros) are still in cinemas alongside The Wolf of Wall Street (Universal). Dallas Buyers' Club (Universal) and Her (Warner Bros/Entertainment) are to open soon. We did get The Missing Picture the Cambodian entry for Foreign Language film (in French) a couple of weeks ago but only in a very small number of cinemas and the Palestinian entry Omar has not yet been released in the UK.
I've complained about this before but it is getting worse and as Charles Gant reported in Sight and Sound (February), 2013 was the worst year for foreign language films at the UK box office since he started monitoring data in 2007. I genuinely fear that we are going to lose the audience for these films. The two most dynamic film industries in the world in terms of production and domestic success in 2013 are China and South Korea. When was the last time you saw a Chinese or Korean film at the cinema? I should point out that both exhibitors and distributors are part of the problem, but both are likely to rely on perceptions of what audiences want. Where do these perceptions come from? If younger audiences have never had the chance to see foreign language films how can they form a view about them?
It's very important to support any foreign language films you can find on release. We do get regular South Asian films in our multiplexes but they remain ghettoised. Please, please go and see what is on offer. I'm hoping to catch a Pakistani film today and a Chinese film on Tuesday (a special screening at Cornerhouse by the indispensable Chinese Film Forum UK). I'm also looking forward to tonight's last two episodes of The Bridge on BBC4. The popularity of foreign language drama on UK TV is one of the few pluses at the moment.
February should bring the new Claire Denis film Bastards and Lukas Moodysson's We Are the Best – while the former is most likely to attract devotees, the latter sounds like a return to more accessible filmmaking. I'm sure both will feature on the blog and I hope they find their audiences in cinemas.
Exhibitors abandon films not in English?
I thought about going to see a film in Leeds later this week. I generally prefer British independents or subtitled films but I like to have a choice. When I looked through the cinema listings for Leeds I discovered that every single film on offer was in English – and virtually every one was a mainstream American or British film. Leeds is a major city. It has suffered from the lack of a specialised cinema such as those that once formed part of the BFI's Regional Film Theatre network. The council still own the 1914 Hyde Park Cinema which often has excellent programmes (as attested by many of Keith's posts) but with only a single screen it is sometimes dominated, as in this week, by a film like Rush. The Vue in the city centre usually has something different on offer such as a British independent or a Hindi film, but not this week.
Leeds has been promised an art cinema/specialised cinema for some time and at one point it looked as though a City Screen might open but it didn't. Then earlier this year Everyman opened a three screen cinema in the new Trinity shopping centre. As expected, it is an expensive cinema (i.e. for the region at £11) but we did expect it to show some decent specialised films. The offer today is Diana, Rush, Insidious 2 and About Time. What a joke! The original Everyman in Hampstead was where I first saw most of the 1960s canon of art cinema. I weep when I think of what the name means now – stuffing your face with pizza watching Hollywood.
So with a population of 800,000 and something like 43 or more cinema seats, Leeds can't offer a film in any other language than English tonight. The nearest sanity is in Bradford (The Great Beauty, Wadjda at the National Media Museum and several Hindi titles at Cineworld or the Odeon) or Sheffield for the Showroom. I read a comment somewhere in the last few weeks suggesting that subtitles are 'difficult' with the implication that cinemas find it hard to programme foreign language films. With this kind of attitude I seriously fear for the diversity of cinema in the UK. No doubt we will return to this topic.


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Now My youngest daughter Jessica just got engaged! So wedding plans will be in the near future!
I lost my Mother in February...she is in my thoughts all the time. Mom always got excited about what I was making. I miss her alot! she was my biggest fan! Mom worked for the Girl Scouts and ran a United Way Day Care Center. We did lots together... and she was my encourager!
I'd like to share a video I did of my mom's funeral...
|Make a Smilebox photobook

subset: commoncrawl


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Researcher Shannon Buckley Luepold puts up a game camera to monitor a rusty blackbird nest. Photo courtesy of Shannon Buckley Luepold.
Rusty blackbird populations have declined by about 95 percent in the last 50 years, making their decline the fastest of any songbird in all of North America. They breed in stunted conifers deep in the wetlands of boreal forest and winter in the Southeast. Distinguished from other northeastern blackbirds by their bright yellow eyes and rust-colored feather edges, they are sometimes seen in mixed flocks with common grackles and red-winged blackbirds.
To learn why rusty blackbird populations have declined so rapidly, researchers from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry spent two years studying the bird's breeding habitat in managed forests in Maine and New Hampshire. They uncovered a web of interactions between timber harvesting practices, spruce and fir cones, red squirrels, and rusty blackbird nests.
Graduate student and lead scientist Shannon Buckley Luepold said previous studies indicated that red squirrels were the primary predators on rusty blackbird nests and that nests in regenerating clear-cuts may be more vulnerable to squirrel predation than nests in undisturbed wetlands. So she used cameras at 29 blackbird nests to identify predators and collected data on vegetation density, spruce and fir cone production, and red squirrel abundance.
Luepold found that all of the squirrel predation in her two-year study came in a year that followed an abundant cone crop. "What this suggests is that rusty blackbirds experience higher levels of nest predation by red squirrels in the year following a mast year, and that this predation can significantly reduce their reproductive success in those years," she said. "However, this is an ecological relationship that has likely existed for thousands of years, and is, therefore, not the driving force behind the decline. Rather, this annual variability in reproductive output could make it more difficult for the species to recover their numbers following a population decline, whatever caused the initial decline."
Luepold found that dense vegetation was another important predictor of nest survival, so harvest practices that reduce the density of young trees, such as pre-commercial thinning, could potentially be detrimental to the birds. Luepold recommends that wildlife managers working on rusty blackbird breeding grounds seek to maintain areas of young, dense softwood stands near wetlands to provide high quality nesting habitat.
On the other hand, she believes the efforts to increase rusty blackbird numbers will also need to focus on their wintering grounds, where habitat loss is a greater threat to the birds than predators and habitat quality on their breeding grounds. She said that 75-80 percent of the wooded wetland habitat where they winter in the Southeast has been converted to agriculture, and additional preferred habitat has been lost due to urbanization, which is much greater than the scale of habitat loss on their breeding grounds in northern New England and Canada.
"I think our project highlights how the effects of timber harvesting and other anthropogenic activities on other species are often more complex and nuanced than one might first imagine," said Luepold. "So much depends on the surrounding ecological context, and it often doesn't easily reduce to a simple good or bad, black or white sort of scenario."


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ProsUser friendly.
ConsNot perfect. Some users report that the meetings did not work out.
Full ReviewGotomeeting is the online meeting platform. Although there are other alternatives (such as Yugma, Webex, FuzeMeeting, and Lotus) Gotomeeting is like the Toyota of online conferencing. It's reliable and popular. With their services you can share whatever is on your computer screen and talk to as many as 15 people for each meeting. Users like how it is easy to use, and how you don't get overcharged as you do with some other web conferencing services. The service is easy to set up and use for everyone, as the software has minimal on screen buttons and complexity. Unlike a lot of other online meeting sites, this service does not charge those who have joined the meeting, just the business or individual who has bought the package. The service also doesn't have any lag time even when a lot of information is being exchanged. However, some users have reported that there is significant lag time when you arrange for a meeting between people from other countries as they may have slower connection speeds.
There are some online reviews, which say that the meeting did not work out for them. Clearly, if a meeting doesn't go as planned, it can leave a sour taste with whomever you are trying to conduct a meeting. Despite these negative reviews, there were only a handful of them when compared to all of the positive ones.
Although there are free services, which you can use to talk to pretty much anyone with a computer (mainly Skype), the sound quality of Gotomeeting is superior, which is important when you want to give off a professional business image. It's also very easy to use.
Gotomeeting is free for the first 30 days and costs $49 a month after that. You can also opt for the yearly plan, which will set you back $468. You should have no problems with customer support if you happen to have any technical issues or not understanding how something works. The general consensus from reviews online is that you aren't likely to have technical issues as the software is engineered well.
In its marketing campaigns Gotomeeting advertises that it will save you money by cutting down on travel expenses and time. Before you purchase it you have to make use of its free 30 day trial. Although you may think that an online meeting is adequate, your clients or business partners may disagree. Let's say you purchase the year package for $468, which lets you have as many meeting as you want for up to 15 participants within a year. It is very likely that in terms of opportunity cost saved (in terms of time) and travel expenses not undertaken you will have more than broken even on the $468 price tag. However, if you only use this service for 1 or 2 times in a year for some local participants you may want to reconsider. Yes, this service is useful, but you don't just want to buy it just to buy it. You want to make use of it.
What are some alternatives to this service? Yes, it is useful and yes it is easy. But it is relatively expensive compared to the other online meeting agents that are free. Although Skype is not perfect, it is accepted by many business people, especially in China. Although Gotomeeting's ability to allow users to see what is on their computer screens is neat, you can simply e-mail documents to members and then have a follow up chat using a free service such as Skype, which allows you to talk to pretty much anyone with a computer, or MSN Instant Messenger, which you can use chat. If you are intent on sharing your computer screen with others you can try using CrossLoop, which is free to use.
Final recommendation: Use it, just keep in mind that there are cheaper alternatives, albeit less "professional" and user friendly.


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by Colleen
This is a question more than a story. I've never considered myself to be psychic although I have felt, seen, and heard energies, spirits, ghosts, whatever you want to call it for as long as I can remember. Many of my first memories include seeing entities in my house or having an out of body experiences when I slept.
For a long time now, I have tried to ignore these things because of an incident in middle school which made my parents think I was schizophrenic and I have since tried to keep all receptors shut off. Even though both I and my parents have been told since then that I show no signs of mental illness and that I probably have some psychic ability, I still chose not to acknowledge any abilities I may have.
But in these past few years my health has been getting worse and worse. I usually don't sleep and when I do, I either have terrible nightmares, or moments when I am stuck in between sleep and consciousness where I'll see, feel, and hear entities. It's gotten worse since I went away to college since my dorm building used to be a hospital (I didn't know that until too late unfortunately) and now these energies are starting to affect me during the daytime in class.
I don't know how to deal with this. I want all of it to go away but I know that's not going to happen so if anyone knows any tricks to safely developing psychic abilities then please let me know because I am really starting to fear what kinds of bad things may get in if I'm too sick to keep them out.
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By Agent Bedhead | Film | August 4, 2007 |
For those fortunate enough to have escaped the Bratz phenomenon, there's a certain type of doll which 8- to 10-year-old girls describe as totally awesome, while their parents describe them (the dolls, not their daughters) as crap incarnate. These dolls, which are encased within shiny pink boxes brandished with the slogan "girls with a passion for fashion," are hunks of plastic dressed in tight, skimpy clothing and accessorized with voluminous hair, cell phones, and daddy's credit cards. The Bratz dolls also have massive heads with oversized and heavily made-up eyes and lips, and pert little noses of the type only created by Dr. 90210. When you add their impossibly tiny waists and disturbingly voluptuous hips and busts into the picture, you're left with a very lovely tranny prostitute. Let's put it this way — these slutdolls make Barbie look like a total prude, and they're not exactly what parents of these girls would welcome into the home. Which is probably why they are exactly what these same children whine for and are somehow receiving (Bratz sales beat out Barbie for the last quarter of 2006, meaning quite a few little girls squealed with delight when they found a slutdoll of their very own ho'ing underneath the Xmas tree). Turning to the film, there is one piece of good news: The Bratz movie wardrobe bears very little resemblance to that of the namesake dolls — their skirts might be too short and their heels too high, but the characters at least manage to keep their cleavage, crackage, and belly buttons covered. The bad news, however, is that Bratz is still a rather mind-numbing film that could have delivered some worthy messages but instead chose to heavily focus on the ever-so-important issue of choosing the most flattering shade of lip gloss for one's complexion.
The plot of Bratz is as simple as one might expect from a half-assed Mean Girls knockoff. Four BFFs (Best Friends Forever!) start their first day at Carry Nation High School by coordinating their outfits online. When they arrive at school, the four girls stroll confidently past the cliques of jocks, cheerleaders, brains, and emos like three Heathers and a Veronica, with everyone looking at them and declaring: "They're awesome!" However, the school's reigning princess and the principal's daughter, Meredith Baxter Dimly (Chelsea Staub), just won't stand for the disruption of the clique system by any individual expression. So Meredith uses her foolproof system to manipulate the four BFFs into different cliques: Sasha (Logan Browning) is black and has the jammin moves, so she of course joins the cheerleaders; Jade (Janel Parrish) is Asian and super smart, so she falls in with the geeks; Chloe (Skyler Shaye) is the ditzy blonde who becomes a soccer star; and Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) does nothing and has no friends but, since she's half-Hispanic, she might find solace with the mariachi band that hangs out in her kitchen. Yasmin also has a grandma (Lanie Kazan) to sing "La Cucaracha" with at the most inopportune moments, such as when they both are wearing either beauty masks or guacamole on their faces. This is heavy, confusing stuff, people.
By junior year, the four BFFs don't even speak to each other anymore, but then fate intervenes and the four find themselves together in detention. This is when they realize that they, like, totally miss each other, so they go shopping together and hatch a plan to, like, overthrow Meredith from her reign of terror. And how best to do away with tyranny?
A talent show!
As time must be found to properly rehearse for the upcoming performance, sacrifices are made — Chloe gives up her soccer, Sasha stops hanging with the cheerleaders, Jade lets her grades slip, and Yasmin … well, she remains hopeless and totally clueless. As a group, the foursome once again become somehow unstoppable, but they waste this power by mostly indulging in mutual materialism. After all, this is a world where anything remotely bad can be easily cured with a new and expensive pair of shoes. One of girls lets the following line slip out of her overglossed lips: "I love the smell of retail in the morning." (Which begs the question: Where's a canister of napalm when you really need it?) These girls essentially give up their own ambitions and interests in favor of bonding over vapidness masquerading as individuality, and this is supposed to be progress as promised.
As the villain, Meredith was written as the film's most revolting character. But it turns out that Staub gives the only entertaining performance of the film. Meredith carries a yappy dog and sings vapid pop songs about her own fabulousness with such gusto that Staub almost takes us into the realm of satire. But the film is prevented from entering that realm thanks to director Sean McNamara ("That's So Raven"), who's so overwhelmed with shiny objects that the production quickly descends into a mating session between MySpace and MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen." Meanwhile, Jon Voight fumbles through all the film's madness (including a carefully orchestrated food fight) as Meredith's father, the school's principal. It's a role that takes very little acting talent, as the character does little more than step aside to let his 12th-grade daughter run the school while he haplessly thumbs though a copy of "How To Run A Prison" when not bumping into walls. While Voight doesn't do much in terms of acting, he does sport a prosthetic nose, which makes one wonder whether he was trying to disguise himself or whether it's just that Owen Wilson was booked during the week of shooting. Either way, I'd say it's high time for Jon Voight to return his Oscar, with late fees to boot, while the rest of us skip the film and stay at home, keeping the roads clear so Voight can get to the Academy as soon as possible.
Agent Bedhead lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma and avoids the shopping mall at all costs. She also shows up daily at agentbedhead.com.Best Friends For Never


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Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. A masterpiece, is the best work of an artist! YOU are God's best work. You are amazing!!! You are His work of art!!!!
This is the concept behind my mentorship program, "Be Your Best You"!!!! In every aspect of life, make every effort to "Be Your Best You", spiritually, emotionally, physically; inside and outside, "Be Your Best You"!!!!
Embrace who God made you to be and excel in the YOU, He created!!!! Spend time with God discovering all the plans and ideas He has for you. Don't try to be anyone else but YOU!!!! Physically take care of yourself, exercise and eat right. And take care of your skin, I love how Mary Kay Products make my skin feel clean and soft. Please take time to visit my website: www.marykay.com/alesiabrown take a moment to view the many products, you will love the "Timewise Anti-Aging Moisturizer". Believe me, I wouldn't share if this product hadn't blessed my life, "inside and out".
Be Your Best YOU!!!!


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It is the youngest district of Kerala located in its southern part.Also it is the smallest district of Kerala. The name Pathanamthitta is derived from two Malayalam words Pathanam" and "thitta", which together mean "array of ten "family" houses by the riverside". The famous river pampa and most popular sastha temple 'Sabarimala' is located in this place. It is the pilgrim center of Kerala.The Ayyappa pilgrimage creates an ethos not only for Kerala but the whole country.There are countless places to visit in the town of Pathanamthitta and its surrounding regions, and most of these locations are mainly temples and religious centers. There are various monuments and places of historical importance in the town of Pathanamthitta.
The main tourist attractions of pathanamthitta are Aranmula, Gavi, Konni,
Perunthenaruvi, Sabarimala.


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Happy Mayan/Galactic New Year!
The beautiful, new Galactic Calendar of the year 3 Manik (July 26, 2007 - July 25, 2008) is based on the Mayan calendar which I enjoy using each morning during my meditation. This is a very spiritual calendar and the Mayans understood and were masters at conscious creating or using the Law of Attraction. The Galactic Calendar assists one to actually tune in to the natural cycles, making it easier to manifest all intentions and desires. Using it daily assists all to move into the higher frequencies of the fourth dimension and into our new reality.
Wishing all of you a very happy, prosperous, galactic New Year!


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A dozen Minnesota companies have sent corporate money into this year's political campaign, from Securian Financial to Polaris Industries to Davisco Foods.
So why is everyone focusing on Target Corp.?
The question arises because Target finds itself alone in the center of the storm. To its critics, there are both logical and emotional reasons why Target has become the poster child in a nationwide controversy after it gave corporate cash to a group backing Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor with a record of opposing gay rights.
The logical reasons, they say, include Target being Minnesota's first corporate donor, Target being the largest donor ($150,000) and Target being the biggest company.
But the reasons are emotional, too, touching on Target's deep connection to consumers, even more so than for electronic retailer Best Buy — a corporate contributor that gave the same group $100,000.
"People have a much tighter connection with Target than with Best Buy," suggested Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. "I go into a Target store two or three times a week. I only go into a Best Buy store once or twice a year."
And when Sainz does visit Target, he sees a gay-friendly sensibility he finds appealing: Target plays up its urban coolness, noted designers and clever marketing and has located some stores in big-city gay neighborhoods — a notably different strategy than, say, rival Walmart.
When word broke that Target's donation aided an anti-gay-rights politician, "It's as if a member of our own family betrayed us," said Sainz. "That's why it has raised it to a fever pitch with Target, which is not necessarily there for Best Buy."
Earlier this month, when Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel apologized to employees for the donation flap and pledged a policy review, Richfield-based Best Buy made a pre-emptive strike of its own. That same day, CEO Brian Dunn said in a blog post that the company would review how it makes contributions, noting its own $100,000 donation had "disappointed and confused some employees and customers."
Such emotions are virtually nonexistent for lower-profile companies like Federated Insurance, Pentair and Graco, three other Minnesota corporations that, like Target, gave to the pro-business MN Forward group.
Like gay-rights groups, liberals belonging to MoveOn.org also tended to view Target warmly. To them, Target was "the progressive alternative to Walmart," as one official described it. Now, MoveOn.org is calling for a nationwide boycott — but only of Target, not the other Minnesota donors.
Jon Austin, a Twin Cities public relations consultant, said Target also had the misfortune of being the first major corporation known to make a large campaign gift. The practice only recently became legal following a controversial 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.
"Stuff that's new is inherently interesting," Austin noted. "Well, here is the first big application of the ramifications of Citizens United. So those things add to a story that's got legs.
"Then you get the piling-on factor, where you get people who, for their own purposes, want to keep the story going," Austin added. "It's not quite a perfect storm, but it's a Category 4 hurricane, at least."
Still, some see the long focus on Target as unfair to the Minneapolis-based retailer.
"Target was faced with needing to own up to a mistake that they made, which they did," said Mollie Young, a brand consultant at Nametag International. "They apologized and are trying to move on, and it is surprising to me that it continues to remain a topic of scrutiny."
This week, MoveOn.org launched a Boycott Target campaign on local TV, Target executives were back in the news declining to make an offsetting contribution, and three progressive-minded investment funds asked Target to change its contribution policy.
Target's take on this? The company isn't talking. A request for an interview Friday was declined.
Said Austin, who advises companies in crisis situations: "Unfortunately, sometimes the right move is to just stand in the fire and take it. They are in an unenviable position in that any move they make is going to have two consequences. One is to keep the story alive, and two, it's going to tick somebody off."
Young believes that eventually, Target will be fine.
"I firmly believe they'll weather it," she said, "because the core essence of the brand, and who they are, is positive."
Tom Webb can be reached at 651-228-5428.


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Our Design ProcessTo maintain some sense of sanity, we tried to be methodical in designing plans for the addition. We knew the features of the current floor plan that were deficient and some possible fixes we could incorporate. For developing new spaces we had lengthy discussions on what we felt was needed to accommodate our growing family. In the end we felt like we incorporated most of what we wanted and made reasonable compromises on other things.
Some design requirements we developed throughout the process included:
- A dedicated 1st floor laundry room, close to the kitchen.
- Increased kitchen area and counter top surface.
- Basement with room for workout equipment and pool table, possibly a bar area.
- Additional bedrooms to accommodate guests and future children.
- Separate bath facilities for the children and parents. We thought this would be important once the children enter their teenage years.
- Kitchen that opens to the living area such that you can keep an eye on children in the living space while in the kitchen.
- Strive for a more square overall structure to minimize material costs while maximizing area.
- Examine the current structure and attempt to utilize existing walls and partitions, or extend them naturally into the new construction.
- Load match major walls from the roof down to their bearing footer.
- Preserve the general "farm house" look when viewing the house from the street. The home's history made this an important rule.
When making any major change to the plans the wife and I would review it daily. Over a week's time any changes seemed to sink in. Eventually, through plan redraws and sometimes heated discussion, we seemed to piece together the aspects that work well and solve pieces of the puzzle that didn't fit. The process was quite iterative, and we found that the more plans and solutions we worked through the more confident we became with our final choices.
Existing StructureHere is the original 1st floor layout, the kitchen is in the back of the house and the front decking is shown in this drawing. The main entrance is in the kitchen.
As you can see the kitchen is quite small and the washer and dryer are in the kitchen, it's a bit awkward having first time guests walk directly into your kitchen/laundry room. Living in this space we found that we used the sewing room as storage, the dining room partially as a laundry, the bedroom as a nursery, and spent most of our time in the kitchen or living room. We were basically living in 300 square feet and it was tight. There was a narrow passage from the kitchen to the dining room such that you could not get through if someone had the fridge open or was working on laundry. Another oddity of this floor plan is that you must go through the bathroom to get to the basement.
The floor above has a half bath two small bedrooms and an odd room we simply used to store stuff. The second story didn't go over the kitchen. The roof line was simply a offset "T" with one portion butted into the other forming valleys in the middle, open gables on all exposed ends.
Here is the second story layout:
To give you an idea of how this all looks in real life here is a photo of the house from the front:
The New PlanWe worked through many iterations of our plan but there were really only two major versions. I'll cover the first version briefly but devote a bit more time and description to the second (and final) plan. Here is the plan of the first floor:
This plan featured an additional stairway to get to the second story and a wrap around kitchen. While the floor plan is expansive the separation of kitchen and living areas wasn't ideal.
Here is the second story:
The second story features a master suite. There is an awkward space at the top of the stairs as well.
We began doubting this addition plan once we found that the cost could be substantially more than we were comfortable with.
Here is something close to what we settled on for the first floor. To give you an idea of how the old fits with the new we show the new construction walls on this drawing as solid black while the old walls have no fill color.
This plan adds space by pushing out the back of the house and squaring it off. Doing this on the 1st story created an interesting issue dealing with the roof line on the second story.
To extend the entire area of the new space up to the second floor would require a complete roof restructuring and drastically increase the roof height to cover the span. This would really change the farm house look so we made a compromise by cutting out a portion of the second story plan creating something akin to two large dormers off the back (top of image below) of the structure.
To get a feel for how the various rooms would feel when completed we would often use an existing wall and lay out tape marking the new wall boundaries. Then someone could hold up an big sheet of cardboard or another large object to simulate the new walls where the tape was. Going over a few spaces this way we came up with some changes.
One critical change was to increase the width of the first floor laundry. We originally had it planned at 5ft wide. This would fit some washers and dryer combos but if we ever wanted to upgrade and put them width wise in this room we would have limited options.
We were not increasing the kitchen size considerably. We were adding more counter space with an island but not gaining much additional room for storage. The need for a dedicated pantry storage area became obvious as we thought about room use.
We also spent some time thinking about how we use bathrooms. Our reasoning was that the last thing you do (or should be doing) in there is washing your hands, so we should orient the sink near the exit. Additionally converting the roofing system from trusses to rafters allowed a little more flexibility with wall locations so we bumped out one of the bathroom walls upstairs.
Our plans morphed once again.
First Floor:
Second Floor:
Exterior View:


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Study links vehicle exhaust with lung cancer
19 December 2008
A recent study by Eric Garshick and colleagues reported that workers in the trucking industry who have had regular exposure to vehicle emissions have an elevated risk of lung cancer. The authors studied lung cancer risk in 31,135 unionized workers who were employed as long-haul drivers, pickup and delivery drivers, dockworkers, mechanics, hostlers, clerks and men employed in a combination of the first three categories. They found that lung cancer risks were significantly elevated in workers in two job categories: dockworkers and combination workers.
Lung cancer risks were also slightly higher in long-haul drivers and pickup and delivery drivers; however, these results were not statistically significant. There were no increases for hostlers, mechanics or men working in other jobs. The mortality risks increased with increasing years of employment.
The workers in the study were exposed to mixtures of air pollutants, including emissions from diesel trucks, gasoline vehicles, propane-powered forklifts, local traffic, as well as ambient background pollutants and secondhand cigarette smoke. Although the authors single out diesel exhaust as a major contributor to the increased lung cancer risk, this suggestion should be interpreted cautiously. Lung cancer risks were not elevated in the mechanics, even though they were exposed to the highest particulate matter (PM) and elemental carbon (EC) levels. It should be also noted that the dockworkers—who had the second-highest cancer risk—had the lowest PM and EC exposures.
The paper is one of a series of articles that report the results of a large National Cancer Institute-funded study of combustion particle exposures and lung cancer in the trucking industry. (Over eight papers have already been published and these are cited in the references.) The original objective of the study was to "asses the association of exposure to diesel exhaust with lung cancer mortality" in order "to detect (or refute) suggested carcinogenic effects of diesel exhaust."
Because the results of this trucking industry study will be used by regulators—the study was already highlighted by the California ARB—an independent evaluation of the exposure and health findings would help to assess whether the reported increase in lung cancer risk can be linked to any specific pollutant.
The study, titled Lung Cancer and Vehicle Exhaust in Trucking Industry Workers, was published in the October 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
Download the study


text: Easier to explain with example: index.php - This has a form on it with one field ($URL). I want $URL to be submitted to test.php Test.php contents eg. Hi, thanks for visiting, your site is $URL Obviously this is not what I will be using it for but just an example. So Test.php will already have the text and fwrite will LOOK for the variable and overwrite it. Also if possible does anyone know how to have a default value as well? So there can be a default value that can be overwritten and all URL's can also be overwritten in the future as well so it will not actually remove the $URL variable?


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On February 19, 2010, I asked this question: Is stealing from Microsoft OK because they have lots of money? As you might expect, the query generated a lengthy discussion. I framed the question in the form of three polls. Two of the poll questions were straightforward, with yes or no answers. The third question was loaded, designed to elicit an explanation based on the answer chosen.
I don't typically give my personal opinion in this blog because it is more important to hear what the TechRepublic membership in their roles as IT professionals have to say (your opinions carry more weight), but I feel it necessary to offer my two cents in this case.
No matter how you rationalize it or attempt to mitigate it, using any software, whether Microsoft Windows or not, without paying for a license to do so is just plain stealing. The arguments put forward in the discussion thread attached to the original poll (it costs too much, Microsoft is evil, I didn't get a CD when I bought my PC, piracy is not really illegal, etc.) are just smoke screens. If you are using the Windows operating system, you should be paying for it.
OK, I'm stepping down off the soapbox now. Here is how the TechRepublic membership responded to the original poll questions.
TechRepublic's Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report newsletter, delivered every Friday, offers tips, news, and scuttlebutt on Vista and Windows 7, including a look at new features in the latest version of the Windows OS. Automatically sign up today!
Full Bio
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the IT industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net, and TechRepublic.


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I saw these over on Tula Pink they are by Erin Michael for Moda
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Erin Michael
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 8:01 PM
Some of my flea market finds!
I am in love with this painting that I got for $1!
I was on the lookout for plates and I eyed these immediately and was also excited about the price! I got eight total, 4 of each for $3!
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 6:31 PM
Virginia Johnson
While at Barney's today I came across some of Virginia Johnson's new shawls. I am a big fan of her work so I came home and checked out her website again to see what else was new. I really love her Fall 08 lookbook. It is really inspiring.
Go check it out at http://www.virginiajohnson.com
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 12:27 AM
Wardrobe Remix + subway highlight of the day!
I had lunch at Barney's today with my new bosses. I start my new job on Tuesday! Very excited! I wore:
Dress - Brooklyn Industries
belt- was my mothers
shoes- aerosoles (shhh!) via housing works in downtown brooklyn
The highlight of my day was coming home on the F and guess who sat down next to me?!
Elizabeth Sweetheart one of the five new yorkers interviewed in NY Mag about their single color wardrobe The article is here if you missed it I wish that I had remembered that she was a fabric designer because I would have said something, but anyways she totally made my day!
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 12:04 AM
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Back from NH
I got back from New Hampshire yesterday. I feel like whenever I have been going back I always do the same things. This photo basically sums up how I spent my Sunday. Two words. FLEA MARKET
This flea market is out of control and I am sorry but the flea markets here in NYC don't stand a chance in comparison to the ones in NH. I came out after three hours and only spending $6 and came out with a vintage silk scarf, two linen table clothes, a few yards of really fun vintage fabric, the cutest painting that I am putting in my kitchen tomorrow, 6 cloth napkins with a great bamboo print in chartreuse (one of my favorite colors!) and a full bottle of avon perfume in a peacock shaped bottle! RIDICULOUS!!
Besides the flea market I made sure to stop at the local farms/ice cream stands and stock up on some fresh veggies that I made myself and my dad dinner with, cider donuts, and homemade pumpkin ice cream. yummmmy
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 11:35 PM
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I have been on the lookout for a new purse for a while now since I have loved mine so much that the straps are starting to fray. I am a one purse kind of girl (ok ok I recently bought a lesportsac bag too for more casual summer occasions, who wants to bring a leather purse to the beach? and besides who can resist their patterns?!) but usually it is just me and my trusty black leather purse. I stumbled upon this Calvin Klein one at Macy's and it is the perfect simple shape and size that I have been looking for. I think I may be purchasing it soon as a gift to myself in celebration of my new job!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Charm School Design
I never posted about my trade at Renegade with Alita aka Charm School Design I traded one of my pillows for this lovely necklace which I adore. It is a great conversation piece!
Buy your own here
On me!
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 11:36 PM
Flashback to Summer 07
I was searching to see if I could find any '08 DIS blogs and look at what I came across on flickr! Looks familiar doesn't it?
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 11:25 PM
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Wardrobe Remix August 3rd 2008
Going to McCarren Pool to see a free concert with some friends!
Tank- French Connection, the embroidery detail is really beautiful! thrifted
cut off shorts - APC thrifted
shoes - Top Shop thrifted
scarf - was my mothers
necklace - Porcelein key from Rare Device in Park Slope (rip!) $2.50 leather cord from my craft stash
all other jewelry- gifts from my mother
Posted by Kimberly Lewis at 2:55 PM


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With Ace Combat 6 flying loops on the Xbox 360, many Wii owners have been wondering if Namco's legendary flying series would ever get a taste of waggle through the Wiimote. While there's still no word on a Wii version of Ace Combat, the latest issue of Famitsu confirms something that could be just as good: a new flying game for the system from the makers of that series.
Bandai Namco will be bringing Sky Crawlers to the Wii, the magazine reveals. Based off the novel and the upcoming animated movie of the same name, but featuring an original storyline, the videogame version is being developed by the folks behind the Ace Combat franchise.
In addition to the high quality visuals we've come to expect from the Ace Combat series (go take another look at the PS2 versions -- they still look great!), Sky Crawlers will make use of the Wii's unique control setup for direct controls. The Wiimote will be used as your throttle, with the nunchuck used as your control wheel.
Sky Crawlers will hit Japan this Summer, presumably around the time of the movie's August 2nd release.


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Collecting data from IoT devices on Azure
Even if IoT term is present as a buzzword nowadays, it does not hide the fact it becomes a trend. All manufactures want connect their products to internet. Sometimes it makes absolutely great sense and sometimes it is just a rotten vogue. Sometimes you want to buy smart device shouting information into the world and sometimes you want to get silent thingRead more


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Xiaofeng Zhu, Shichao Zhang, Jilian Zhang, Chengqi Zhang
Various approaches for dealing with missing data have been developed so far. In this paper, two strategies are proposed for cost-sensitive iterative imputing missing values with optimal ordering. Experimental results demonstrate that proposed strategies outperform the existing methods in terms of imputation cost and accuracy.
Subjects: 12. Machine Learning and Discovery; 12. Machine Learning and Discovery
Submitted: Apr 1, 2007
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Bellevue Hospital is the oldest public hospital in the United States and it has been at the center of our clinical and educational mission. A flagship institution for the New York City Public Hospital System, Bellevue is all about service, about giving the best care possible to patients no matter who they are or how much money they have. Patients at Bellevue, Tisch Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center all receive care from the same faculty, house staff, and students. That synergy, developed over more than 150 years of service, is deep in the culture of NYU and shapes everything we do.
Today, NYU Langone Medical Center also includes the Hospital for Joint Diseases and the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine. We are dedicated to giving all patients access to the best healthcare services in the world and making sure our students are part of this institution.
This website is a hub for student activities here at the NYU School of Medicine. From well over 80 student run clubs and organizations to student government and daily student life, NYU School of Medicine is dedicated to its students and the broader community. This website is run by students, for students, because we love this school and want to make the best of it!
Medical Education of New York University Medical SchoolNew York University School of Medicine has recently implemented the curriculum for the 21st century. The new curriculum consists of 18 months of basic science and two and a half years of clinical training. Students take the USMLE Step 1 exam after the clerkship year (with the exception of MD/PhD students, who take it before starting their PhD work). This allows students additional time to take electives, conduct research, or go on away rotations. Other features of the curriculum include NYU3T (a joint program with the New York University College of Nursing) and PLACE (Patient-Based Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Experience).
The NYU School of Medicine also offers several 5-year joint degree programs, some of which can be optionally completed in 4 years.:
- MD/MPA in Health Policy and Management (with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service)
- MD/MPH in Global Health
- MD/MBA in General Management (with the New York University Stern School of Business)
- MD/MA in Bioethics
- MD/MSc in Clinical Investigation
NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class, patient-centered, integrated, academic medical center, is one of the nation's premier centers for excellence in clinical care, biomedical research and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is composed of four hospitals – Tisch Hospital, its flagship acute care facility; Rusk Rehabilitation; the Hospital for Joint Diseases, one of only five hospitals in the nation dedicated to orthopaedics and rheumatology; and Hassenfeld Children's Hospital, a comprehensive pediatric hospital supporting a full array of children's health services across the medical center – plus the NYU School of Medicine, which since 1841 has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history. The medical center's tri-fold mission to serve, teach and discover is achieved 365 days a year through the seamless integration of a culture devoted to excellence in patient care, education and research.


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What I've heard and read from Sam Harris has been on progressive media outlets where he has been quite reasonable, in most respects. I had no idea how nutty he can be until I listened to today's Equal Time for Freethought show on WBAI.
Sam Harris actually supported torture, in some circumstances.
The disturbing Huffington Post item is from 2005.
Imagine that a known terrorist has planted a bomb in the heart of a nearby city. He now sits in your custody. Rather than conceal his guilt, he gloats about the forthcoming explosion and the magnitude of human suffering it will cause. Given this state of affairs—in particular, given that there is still time to prevent an imminent atrocity—it seems that subjecting this unpleasant fellow to torture may be justifiable. For those who make it their business to debate the ethics of torture this is known as the "ticking-bomb" case.
While the most realistic version of the ticking bomb case may not persuade everyone that torture is ethically acceptable, adding further embellishments seems to awaken the Grand Inquisitor in most of us. If a conventional explosion doesn't move you, consider a nuclear bomb hidden in midtown Manhattan. If bombs seem too impersonal an evil, picture your seven-year-old daughter being slowly asphyxiated in a warehouse just five minutes away, while the man in your custody holds the keys to her release. If your daughter won't tip the scales, then add the daughters of every couple for a thousand miles—millions of little girls have, by some perverse negligence on the part of our government, come under the control of an evil genius who now sits before you in shackles. Clearly, the consequences of one person's uncooperativeness can be made so grave, and his malevolence and culpability so transparent, as to stir even a self-hating moral relativist from his dogmatic slumbers.
This is so absurd. On a factual level, people who actually do interrogations report that torture leads to bad information, precisely the opposite of what one would hope for in the "ticking-bomb" scenario. Any reasonable person should be able to see why. When a person is being tortured, they are being given an incentive to tell the inquisitor what they think the torturer wants to hear. That is usually different than the actual truth.
Harris tried to argue for a limited use of torture, not one that would correspond with the Bush regime's policies, at least in theory.
I am one of the few people I know of who has argued in print that torture may be an ethical necessity in our war on terror. In the aftermath of Abu Ghraib, this is not a comfortable position to have publicly adopted. There is no question that Abu Ghraib was a travesty, and there is no question that it has done our country lasting harm. Indeed, the Abu Ghraib scandal may be one of the costliest foreign policy blunders to occur in the last century, given the degree to which it simultaneously inflamed the Muslim world and eroded the sympathies of our democratic allies. While we hold the moral high ground in our war on terror, we appear to hold it less and less. Our casual abuse of ordinary prisoners is largely responsible for this. Documented abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere have now inspired legislation prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of military prisoners. And yet, these developments do not shed much light on the ethics of torturing people like Osama bin Laden when we get them in custody.
In practice, I'm skeptical of the notion that torture being considered "ethical" under highly limited circumstances is possible in real life. Let's take the Iraq war, for instance. Troops involved in the occupation are in danger from any direction all the time. There literally is no way to distinguish somebody who wants to kill them or their friends from a little girl walking to school. (The friends part is of particular importance because the situation and current military practice encourages occupying troops to form extremely strong bonds of friendship.)
They live the "ticking bomb" scenario on a daily basis. If they act according to Harris' view of ethics, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis will be tortured. Apparently, that may well already have happened.
Harris then goes on to make an argument that conflates torture with other forms of warfare both practically and ethically. It doesn't make much sense, given that actual objectives have been historically shown to have been achieved with warfare, while torture has yet to be shown to accomplish any goal other than to make the targeted population suffer.
I hope Harris has changed his mind since then. It would be nice to think he has become more rational on the subject now that the US is further past the 911 attacks, but I have not been able to find any evidence of this online.


text: Mass for Joseph Myss, 91, former president and chairman of Cragin Federal Savings and Loan Association, will be said at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in St. Genevieve Catholic Church, 4835 W. Altgeld St. Mr. Myss died Monday in the nursing pavilion at 1001 N. Greenwood Ave., Park Ridge. Born in Austria, Mr. Myss came to the United States in 1910 and later became a building contractor in the Cragin area, where he had lived for many years. He joined Cragin Federal full time in the late 1940s. Survivors include two daughters, Caroline Harbst and Evelyn Daley; a son, Edward E.; nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.


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What is district energy?
District energy systems produce steam, hot water or chilled water at a central plant to maximize efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The steam or water is then piped underground to individual buildings for space heating, domestic hot water heating and air conditioning. District energy is already an environmentally friendly solution, but Detroit Thermal derives steam partially from clean, renewable sources to further minimize the system's carbon footprint.
Individual buildings served by a district energy system save extensive amounts on energy costs because they don't need their own boilers or furnaces. The benefits of district energy systems include:
For more than a century, district energy has been an innovative energy solution to increase reliability and cost-effectiveness. It has proven to be convenient, safe and reliable. But for the next century, one in which energy efficiency and environmental concerns are more vital than ever, the outlook for district energy is even more promising.
Detroit Thermal is a proud member of both the U.S. Combined Heat and Power Association (SCHWA) and the International District Energy Association (IDEA). For an in-depth look at the benefits of district energy, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, please visit the IDEA website: www.districtenergy.org.
For a free, no-obligation economic analysis of using Detroit Thermal in your planned or existing facility, please contact Rick Pucak, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Technical Service, at email email@example.com.
News Media Contacts:


text: Heaven was 2 months on the 11th February and she is growing fast.She has a developing personality and is very alert and attentive and loves mummy singing her songs! She also loves Bollywood music! She is very relaxed when we bath her and is most content when we hold her and go on a walkabout so she can see what is going on! She's very strong willed(like her daddy) and has her favourite toys which she looks closely at at knocks away x


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- Godofredo Ortega Muñoz San Vicente de Alcántara, Spain, 1899 - Madrid, Spain, 1982
This button adds artworks from lists or content page in order to organize a visit to the Museum. Clicking 'Print', artworks are arranged in a document by floor and room to facilitate the visit.Select artworks
List of selected artworks. Maps for the tour in the museum


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Nyko has three new products made for the 3DS, and one for the Kinect
I always like to report on what Nyko is up to, and, as you can see from the image, the video games accessory company had a very significant presence at E3 2011. Nyko has realized the the 3DS is the new iPod, and three of their newest products are similar in design to Apple accessories.
For example, there is the Shock'N'Rock, which is a "battery, sound and feedback enhancement for the Nintendo 3DS". Think of it as a portable battery and speaker, like the one that you might have for your iPod/iPhone. This is similar to the Charge Base, a "charge stand and high capacity battery kit", which also reminds me of an iPhone accessory, the battery pack for the iPhone like the ones from Mophie.
Last is the Play Clock, designed to work as an alarm clock with "powered speakers and charging dock for the Nintendo DS". No doubt you probably have something like this near your bed, designed for your old-school iPod.
Well, I'm sure you see the pattern here as far as 3DS accessories are concerned. Nyko also has the Zoom, a play reduction lens for Kinect. Apparently, some people don't have the space that the Kinect recommends for motion-controlled games, and this reduces the normal amount of space by about 40 percent.
All in all, Nyko pulled out all the stops once again at E3, and it looks like all of these products are available on their catalog now. The Shock'N'Rock is $39.99, the Charge Base is $29.99, and the Play Clock is $39.99. As for the Zoom, it is $29.99.


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AuthorsRoman Lysecky
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Arizona
ECE Ph, D.
University of Arizona
- Introduction to Java
- Basic Objects
- Basic Methods and Classes
- Data Types
- Branches
- Loops
- Arrays
- Methods Continued
- Classes Continued
- Inheritance
- Abstract Class and Interfaces
- Generics
- Collections
- JavaFX
- Input / Output
- Exceptions
- Recursion
- Memory Management
Available with zyLabs
- ~600 participation activities: Questions, animations, tools
- ~100 auto-graded programming challenge activities using built-in programming environment
- Customized for early use of objects, both built-in and user-defined
- Additional material includes command-line arguments and engineering examples
The zyBooks Approach
Provides interactive learning of programming foundations and Java. Emphasizes a solid understanding of memory. From the moment variables are introduced, the material shows via animations how variables exist and are updated in memory. The continued showing of memory helps clarify challenging topics like pass-by-copy/reference parameters, object creation, garbage collection, and more. Furthermore, the material includes emphasis on disciplined program development, including incremental development, modular development, and testing/debugging. This material is primarily a re-ordering of the "Programming in Java" zyBook to support an early objects introduction, with a few sections added to improve content flow.
This zyBook can also be mix-and-matched with others, such as with Data Structures Essentials (a popular combination).Evaluate


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Lawin new roads
Done! 574 - OngCC
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A CAIRNS suburb named in a secret report into youth sexual abuse and domestic violence has its problems but isn't a ghetto, its resident MP says.
CAIRNS West and the Cape York indigenous community of Aurukun are at the centre of a Newman government report which hasn't been released at the request of its author.
Originally published as Cairns suburb is no ghetto: resident MP


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What Are Some Tasty Yet Non-Sweet Food Gifts?
Q: I've just begun dating someone new and his birthday is coming up! I want to give him something small since we haven't been together long, but I wanted to add in a homemade treat to make it more special. The catch is that he doesn't like sweets! I'm at a loss — does anyone know of a giftable food that isn't sweet?
Sent by Emily
Editor: Emily, sure! What about a batch of breakfast granola? Or some DIY potato chips? You could also try this recipe for chips with rosemary, or these spicy plantain chips.
Readers, any creative ideas for Emily?
Related: Food Gift: Ethnic Spices and Recipe Ideas
(Image: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan)


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Especially for American citizens:
I voted for President Bush, and I still think he is a good man at heart. But I'm afraid that between pride and fear he is leading the country in the wrong direction. He seems to think that just because he was re-elected the people will support any action. And the thing that is supposed to keep him in check – the Congress – isn't doing its job.
So, in part to make up for my 2004 vote, I am sharing this message in the off-topic section of least 100 message boards (and you folks are lucky #1). Please consider the following:
(1) VOTE in 2006! A lot of people only vote in presidential elections, or don't vote at all but guess what - 2006 will be about the president. The Congress who is elected in 2006 will be the ones to hold President Bush accountable – or not. And if you don't vote, then don't complain about anything the government does. By not voting, you a saying that you like the way things are.
(2) When in doubt, vote for a Democrat. Now, if there is a clear difference in the candidates then off course you should vote for the best one. But a lot of times the candidates aren't really that different. In those cases, if you are concerned about President Bush, then vote Democrat. It will be the Democrats most likely to hold President Bush accountable – not because they are any better than Republicans, but because they want the power. But what ever their motivations, better to have the checks and balances in place.
Thank you for listening to me. Please feel free to contact me at -snip-
[ Edit: Email address removed. Please use private messaging. ]


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HISTORY DETECTIVES | "Korean War Letter, Diana, Lookout Mt. Painting" -- Preview | PBS
http://www.pbs.org/historydetectives Coming up on History Detectives: "Korean War Letter": The daughter of a Korean War Veteran (MIA) looks for the man her father mentioned in a letter. The letter says this man saved her father's life. "Diana": Could this be the first true, widely published lesbian autobiography? "Lookout Mt. Painting": This painting depicts the Civil War battle of Lookout Mountain. What's the story behind the prisoner who painted the scene? Watch full-length editions of HISTORY DETECTIVES at http://video.pbs.org/program/1138014438/ To see when it airs near you, go to: http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules
Length: 00:31


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Home > kitchen & dining > all kitchenware & dining
Brand: KonitzBreed: VariousFinish: Porcelain
Low stock, available for despatch
Height 10.5cmVolume 415ml
Beautiful porcelain mug from the lovely Les Chats Dans L'Art series. This mug depicts a detail from Goya's Manuel Osorio Manrique Zuniga, showing a magpie being watched by three cats. If you look carefully you will notice that Konitz have made bit of a mistake in their reproduction of this detail; check-out the original. Maybe that just makes it a bit more interesting, (and gives an opportunity to show off your knowledge of art!?)There are five more arty mugs available in this series.
We are an independent shop selling gifts, art cards and jewellery for cat lovers. We focus on quality, originality and first-class customer service.
Finding the right cat gifts
We try to keep our website both attractive and useable. We want you to find the gift you're looking for with just a couple of clicks and we have developed four easy ways to help you achieve this.
There are hundreds of independent retailers struggling to survive in the UK. The huge conglomerates have already had a terrible impact on our high streets and are gradually doing the same to smaller businesses elsewhere in the UK. Buying from Tattypuss and similar independent retailers helps maintain a solid and sustainable economy in the UK. We support other small businesses, individual artists and independent manufacturers. We pay our taxes in the UK.You will see some terrific art, sculpture and craftwork that you won't find amongst the giants. The reasons are simple: cultivating sustainable business relationships takes time, care, passion, patience and responsibility. There are no quick fixes, no huge profits, just the satisfaction of providing a service, doing a good job, and helping other do the same. We are passionate about our business, and we don't want to lose it.
We are always trying to improve. We welcome any suggestions or feedback you may have regarding our website, our cats, gifts, jewellery, cards, attitude, service, sense of humour, or anything else. Thank you for supporting small British businesses.
Royal Mail 1st Class
It may be necessary to split a heavy order
Full Details
We can deliver anything to everywhere else in the world - but for parcels over 2KG please contact us so that we can find the best price.
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Why we can no longer ship to USA and Canada
We have some wonderful customers and friends in the US and Canada. Unfortunately by 2013 the cost of our public liability insurance for shipping to North America exceeded out total turnover there.We know our insurance risks are low - due to the quality of the products we supply and the care we take in dealing with our customers. (We have never received nor made a claim.) But we are yet to find an insurance company in the UK who can assess the risks reasonably.We would love to ship to our American and Canadian friends again and would welcome any suggestions regarding insurance.
Customers who bought this item also bought:
Les Chats Dans L'Art- Cat Porcelain Mug: Marc£9.99
Les Chats Dans L'Art- Cat Porcelain Mug: Prang£9.99
Les Chats Dans L'Art- Cat Porcelain Mug: Renoir£9.99
Les Chats Dans L'Art- Cat Porcelain Mug: Steinlen (red)£9.99


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|The $79 Endless Computer on the left, bigger and more powerful version (more expensive) on the right.
A rolling collection/commentary on the connections between new media and the study of English.
Friday, February 19, 2016
The Endless Computer
As we were discussing today the digital divide and access to content, I remembered some of the effort that people have made in the past in their effort to provide computers and access to disadvantaged people around the world. One such recent effort is the Endless Computer, a tiny computer that comes with a bunch of educational content already loaded, for places where internet access is sketchy.
You need a TV screen of any sort for a monitor, and users would need to get a keyboard, but it's a step in the direction of having affordable computers for people without a lot of resources.
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No longer will you have to read my long posts because they stop today. Still Debating if I should keep them or not.. Most likely they will stay but who knows what the future holds? If you do know plz tell me 😉
Finished my skate deck design last night. There are three characters in it. The main is Sedric the Vampire Sunflower. His cousin Sandeep the Vanpire Sunflower and the Were-Mower are the secondary characters. The Were-Mower is attacking Sedric; both Sedric and Sandeep are doing a sunflower seed air strike.
–> The rest of the production photos.
Design Elements:
Name: Beside Sedric's Stem.
Vector Elements: Sedric the Sunflower, Sandeep the Sunflower, and the Were-Mower aka Moe.
Raster Elements: Grass, Sky for Background.
Typography: Self-creative.
Texture: The Blood Drops were made with water colour paints, and were later touched up in illustrator before being added as a symbol for easy duplication.
Branding Theme: Tru Boards