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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Facebook Haggadah
This year's big Passover meme is pretty great, even though the "Facebook version of [fill in the blank]" metameme is kind of played out. As is the phrase "played out." But I digress.
On writing
The other day, I talked with a new friend about The New Yorker's recent article on David Foster Wallace. My friend said he found the piece depressing, presumably for the reasons that any account of a talented writer who kills himself would be a downer. I, however, didn't find it depressing, perhaps because my threshold is higher (I rarely find sad movies depressing, either), but perhaps also because an account of an author struggling to write the way he wants to, and remaining mired in feelings of worthlessness or talentlessness -- well, it's hardly surprising. I've known quite a few writers who found it damn near impossible to take a compliment, to acknowledge the size and breadth of their talent. I want to be able to declare myself a writer on a regular basis, and to believe that I'm a good writer, with the potential to become a great one, but it's hard to hold onto ideas like that, to internalize what's already true and use that absorbed reality as a foothold, a way to climb to loftier heights. That's the goal, though -- to keep at it, and to keep getting better.
I say all of this because I've decided to start a new writing workshop. I'll use the Kibbutz as a home base, but otherwise, in many respects, it'll probably resemble the workshop I started last year with Elana Kupor. I want it to convene twice a month, and I want its members to be fiction writers who already have a pretty good command of dialogue, description, and so on -- the elements of fiction -- but want to kick their game up several notches. My selfish motivation: I want to write and revise enough material to put together a portfolio and apply to MFA programs this year. I'd love to be a grad student by fall of 2010.
My first clear memories of writing come from a time when I was very young. Maybe I was five; it's hard to know for sure. I had a series of books that came with cassettes, the idea being that you'd read along in the book as the voice on the tape read the story. I decided to make my own book/tape combos, recording suspenseful tales of an heroic collie (my favorite TV show was Lassie), but also recounting stories drawn from my everyday life. I'd write and record, for example, a scene in which my friend Jason and I encountered a new boy, expressed typical male aggression (we became territorial and didn't let him play with us), and later apologized and invited him into the fold. I still have a couple of the tapes that went with the homemade storybooks, and it's slightly shocking each time I hear my squeaky, exuberant voice coming at me from the distant past.
In middle school, I wrote poems to amuse my parents. I remember that I'd work on them before dinner; some nights I'd present my newest creations at the dinner table. I think there were limericks about hippos and such. By high school, my poetry had taken the turn most adolescent poetry takes: I was contemplating the Big Themes, reflecting profoundly on the tiny emotional shifts in each moment of life. I did occasionally write a poem with a sense of humor. A short one called "Almost Together," about the fact that even physical intimacy can't completely unite two people (all speculation; at this point, I'd never been kissed), actually won an award. I was also writing fiction, and one of my short stories, about environmental issues in Antarctica, received first prize in the junior division of Michigan's annual Future Problem Solving Scenario Writing contest. Finally, a prose sketch of mine won first place in a Detroit Free Press competition for young writers. All three honors accrued to me in the 9th grade, which I suppose makes that year my teenage heyday. I tried to replicate the success of that prize-winning sketch the following year, but the result was a wan imitation rather than an effective follow-up. Not until the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, when I attended Interlochen's inaugural month-long Creative Writing Institute, did my writing make another significant leap.
It was at Interlochen that I met Peter Markus, a thin man in his late twenties or early thirties with slightly sunken eyes and wild black hair. He was the Institute's fiction writing instructor, and the first task he assigned us was to go out into the Michigan woods and come up with the best sentence we could. It was exactly the kind of challenge I had been waiting for: an invitation to spend lots of mental energy in one concentrated daylong burst. I forget what sentence I came up with, but the message was clear: Even a single sentence is worth mildly obsessing about, but the obsession must be playful and free-wheeling to be useful. Those were the primary elements of that life-changing month -- freedom and a sense of play -- and those are the aspects of my writing life that I want to reclaim this year. Peter also encouraged us to attack the act of writing ferociously; that ferocity, that sense of urgency, is something I'd like to return to as well.
I met other young writers at Interlochen, and they impressed and inspired me greatly. When summer was over, I thought about joining Peter's ongoing writing workshop -- he lived in Detroit -- but the workload of my senior year was daunting, and I had college applications to think about. I eventually declined the workshop invitation, which I regret sometimes. Had I accepted, I would have been making a bold choice to prioritize creative writing in my life. When I went to Oberlin College later that year as a prospective student, my meeting with the director of the creative writing program almost convinced me not to make creative writing my major. The professor in charge of the program was in his last year, had a reputation as a hard-ass, and took an unforgiving view of my reading habits. Like many a nerdy high schooler, I had read quite a few Kurt Vonnegut novels; yet Vonnegut, the professor insisted, had only awarded two of his own works "A" grades (everything else got a "B" or below). His point: Don't get bogged down reading too many works by one writer; read many writers, but only read their best books. The high-handed way he presented this argument (which isn't a bad one) made me feel like a child and a fool, a silly, mixed-up kid with ridiculous priorities. Not until my first-year English T.A. encouraged me to declare a major in creative writing did I recover my will to do so, and my belief that I could.
I took classes in poetry, creative nonfiction, literary translation, and even playwriting, but I never got around to fiction. This was because I was intimidated by it, and because it was what I really wanted to do. And perhaps because the primary fiction professor, Dan Chaon, was semi-famous and known to be a bit of a hard-ass, and I wasn't sure my constitution and writing were up to the challenge. (After all, the showdown with the former program chair had almost taken the wind out of my sails completely.) I fell just two credits short of a full major when graduation came around (I completed my other major, Spanish) and escaped Oberlin without ever having taken a fiction writing class.
I remember starting a short story when I moved to my friend Judith's house in the fall of 2002. The change of scenery had inspired me to sit down at my Toshiba laptop, the one I'd had since 1997, and compose a story about a house very much like Judith's. After scoring an internship at Seattle Weekly and becoming consumed with my work there as a budding arts critic, my creative writing fell away. Over the years, I rarely wrote poems; even more rarely did I begin short stories. I knew somewhere in my mind and heart that I missed creative writing, but I was writing for a living now, and wasn't that the dream? Wasn't that enough? The answer, of course, was (and remains) no. Many established writers of fiction, like Curtis Sittenfeld, earn extra money and prestige by writing journalistic articles, but they don't abandon their fiction writing. In fact, their journalism might be fueling their fiction rather than simply running parallel to it. I left the Weekly in 2006 after the New Times merger and moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, a neighborhood so packed with writers that it's said to be more densely populated with them than any other in the nation. Still, I didn't write creatively.
It took returning to Seattle and attending a friend's brunch party to move me back in the right direction. At Andrew Ash's apartment, I met Elana Kupor, and my discussion with her about shifting creative writing to the back burner in life, and (in my opinion) how sad and unnecessary that is, inspired me to think about starting a workshop like the ones I'd loved in college. (This time, maybe I can also inject a little of Peters Markus' gonzo spirit into the proceedings.) Early in 2008, she and I started a biweekly prose workshop that lasted until the summer, when I decided to leave Seattle for parts east. I never made it, and I currently live at the Ravenna Kibbutz and feel that no matter what my career path might be -- and that's still a sizable conundrum -- there's no question that pursuing an MFA in fiction writing would be a meaningful way to spend my time and energy as the first decade of the new century comes to an end. I'm not particularly frightened by the prospect of studying for and taking the GRE, if that's required, or getting together the more logistical aspects of an application, including the notorious Statement of Purpose. What I'm petrified by is the notion of revising what I've already written (a multigenerational family drama set mostly in St. Louis) and creating something new to go along with it -- in short, making a portfolio. (Most MFA programs seem to want around 30 pages, and it's usually either necessary or strongly advisable to include two pieces.)
When I write these tasks out the way I've just done, they don't seem so overwhelming. Still, I have a mental block that becomes a behavioral block around actually sitting down, several nights a week, and working to make my dream a reality. I realized today what the problem might be: The proverbial blank page, or the first draft awaiting significant revision, offers infinite possibilities, an unending number of paths. This might also be my problem with life: Too many choices, too few clear signals about which roads to take. Seeing this parallel, I also see that breaking back into the messy business of writing, and revising, and re-revising, and receiving feedback with as thick a skin as possible, and becoming ultimately a student of writing the way a person becomes a student of Buddhism -- one who learns theory but also persistently engages in practice -- could be the key to unlocking my "stuckness" in life. Finding one's passion isn't always what's most difficult; having the courage to follow it can be an even bigger challenge. I hope that in starting again, in beginning another workshop with the sincere hope that it will flourish and help all involved to grow as writers and as people, that I can cultivate courage in myself, inspire it in others, and move closer to realizing my purpose and destiny. Because once you know what you want to do, all that remains is to do it.
One last note: When I read Tessa Hadley's story in The New Yorker, there were several moments that struck me. Each time, the narrator had communicated some simple truth about life, about how people are, about how I am. Really, what good fiction can do is help you figure out the riddles of existence, including your own. Take this passage:
Hilda rang her.I've wondered for years why perfectly nice people who have a certain tone -- chipper, but also vaguely New Age and somewhat bossy -- drive me a little bit crazy. This brief passage paints Ally as a person like me, and Hilda as one of those well-meaning irritants. Then the story walks us through the ginger beginnings of their friendship, and I see a possible path to forming similar friendships in my own life. It's not as easy, of course, as reading a story and following its implicit instructions, but it's helpful to feel understood -- even by an author, someone I've never met -- and gently pushed out of my comfort zone into the possibility of doing things differently, even if it feels, at first, "remote" and strange and scary.
"Ally? Is that Ally? Remember me? I was the bitch in the supermarket. You're having a hell of a time. Why don't you come out here and yell about it?"
Ally felt remote from anyone who talked like this.
This, among other reasons, is why I want to write fiction: to capture moments -- truths -- like these and present them in a way that will resonate with people, and hopefully help them make sense of life as a whole, and of their own lives in particular.
Posted by Neal at 5:44 PM No comments:
Tags: academia, childhood, life, personal history, writing
I can haz ridiculous crush
Anya Garrett, the photographer/filmmaker/model/actress who starred in "Jewno," is perhaps my most accessible celebrity crush ever, inasmuch as she isn't Zooey Deschanel. Yet of course she remains well out of reach, and I have to question the wisdom of posting such a public crush announcement. Ms. Garrett, should you run across this post in your self-Googling adventures, please don't press charges. I'm silly and completely harmless. That said, if you're ever in Seattle, you should swing by the Kibbutz. (Actually, I'm not kidding about that part, and I promise to be on my best behavior if you do visit.)
Posted by Neal at 5:37 PM No comments:
Tags: celebrities, crushes
Young love
The New Yorker's fiction isn't as uneven as its poetry, and I should read it more often. Tessa Hadley's recent "She's the One" is a fine, low-key tale of buried sorrow, sharply and straightforwardly written. Well worth a read. Plus, that photo!
Posted by Neal at 5:11 PM No comments:
Tags: fiction, literature, The New Yorker
Bipolar babies
Just in time for April Fools' Day, Philip has pointed out an Onion item about manic-depressive infants.
Posted by Neal at 5:04 PM No comments:
Tags: depression, humor, media, mental health
God for the godless
As if in response to Ron Aronson's Living Without God, Temple De Hirsch Sinai's Rabbi Daniel Weiner has authored Good God: Faith for the Rest of Us -- which, despite its unfortunate (though probably intentional) invocation of Festivus, sounds interesting. The two tomes would make a stellar one-two punch for any spiritually oriented book club. Which means maybe I should start one...
Posted by Neal at 3:31 PM No comments:
Tags: books, Jew-ish.com, Jewishness, religion
Jew-ish.com editor Leyna Krow made you a mix
Not surprisingly, it's all Jewy. You'll like it.
Posted by Neal at 3:29 PM No comments:
Tags: Jew-ish.com, Jewishness, music
Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Until I'm 45
Attended a JDate mixer tonight for a proposed Jew-ish.com piece. Sadly, the event was lame in an exceedingly boring way, so there won't be an article after all.
Posted by Neal at 11:01 PM No comments:
Tags: awkwardness, dating, Jewishness
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Maybe you think the joke's a bit stale because the movie came out a while ago, but you know what? This is still Jew-larious:
Posted by Neal at 5:01 PM No comments:
Tags: humor, Jewishness, movies, parody, trailers
The LOLcat Passover story
Thanks to Debs, I'm able to share with you the most kittentastic holiday tale of them all:
TEH PASSOFUR STORI (lolcat version)
Oh hai! Teh Jooz and teh kittehs were lived in Egypts. Lifes were gud. Josiph had cote of mani of colorses and every kitteh listened to teh Andrew Lloyed Webers all teh day. Every kitteh wuz liek Happy Cat and tehre wuz cheezburgers.
But tehn Pharo wuz died. Oh noes! New Pharoz iz liek doggeh or Basement Cat. Maded Jooz and kittehs slaves. Sed DO NOT WANT! But wuz. Jooz sed, "Im in ur Egypts bilding ur piramids." Wuz not like piramid scheem u seez on nooz but like aktual piramid. Lifes are not gud. No nappings. No cheezburgers.
Pharaoh sez to Jooz: Babehs u no can haz. Kittehs secretly pleezed about teh nooz. Babehs are teh loud and taek attenshun away from kittehs so kittehs do not want. Pharaoh says kittehs can still has kittenses.
Mozis borned anyweh, adding to spekulashun taht Mozis wuz akshually a kitteh. Because of Mirium, who is speshul hoomin femunists liek, Pharo's dautur sees babeh Mozis in bullrushes, which iz plants kittehs eat when want to throw up on teh carpit latur. Dautur says, "WANT!" Kittehs think she mean teh bullrushes but means babeh. Silleh hoomin.
When Mozis no longer babeh but is hoomin, sed to Pharo: We can haz eggsodus? Pharo sed no can haz.
Ceiling Cat sended playgs to Egyptshuns. Wuz bad. Egyptshuns sai, "Oh noes!" Iz teh bluds, teh frogs, teh vermins, teh darknesses, teh boylz, teh hayl, teh beests, teh locusts, teh bugs, and teh striking of teh furst babehs.
Jooz puts lamb on door and kittehs eated it. Jooz and kittehs are spared from playgs. Kittehs espeshully spared cuz can see in teh darknesses and can chase teh frogs and teh locusts and teh mouses and eated tehm and maded cheezburgers out of teh cattle diseezed. Hoomans do not want, sez cheezburgers not koshur and from teh cattle diseez u will catch ur death. Kittehs ignore hoomins liek usual. Kittehs think playgs not so bad akshually. Is teh fud to nom and iz fewur babehs. Except teh hails, teh hailz iz bad for kittehs.
When Pharo's babeh was striked, Pharo sayed, "Do not want! Ok u can goes nao. Kthxbye." Teh Jooz and tehir kittehs packed stuffs quickly, teh kitteh toys and teh kitteh fud and teh kitteh brushes. No packeded litterbox because was going to desert wich is liek one giant litterbox. Hoomins had to bake teh breds quickli because spent time packing kittehs posesshuns. Maded matza out of cardboards. Matza does not has a flavur.
Indecisive Pharo is... indecisive. Changes his minds. Oh noes! Sends Egyptshuns after teh Jooz and teh kittehs, but is ok cuz kittehs run fast. Reach red seas which are not red. Hoomans willing to go into watur but kittehs no like water.
Charltun Hestun imitashun: Mozis is doing it pretti well akshually. With miteh and outstretchd paw, Ceiling Cat maded teh sea partz. Kittehs and hoomins walk through dry because kittehs do not liek watur.
Teh waturs close on teh Egyptshuns. Teh angels tehy are singing (angels are pretteh mean, akshually) but Ceiling Cat asks tehm to stop because angels tehy also can't sing veri well, like kittehs.
Teh Mirium and teh hoomins danced teh hole nite long but teh kittehs sleeped.
Posted by Neal at 4:51 PM 2 comments:
Jeffrey Toobin has an enjoyable article on Obama's Senate replacement in the latest New Yorker. Not only does it boast one of the wittier illustrations to run in the magazine of late (see above), its portrayal of Burris as "a figure of fun, because he was highly egocentric" -- so says former Chicago ward committeeman Alan Dobry -- offers the reader an opportunity for genuine schadenfreude. That Burris has already commissioned a mausoleum with "words of self-celebration carved into the wall," and that the achievements it records aren't overwhelmingly impressive, is entertaining enough; that he named his son Roland Jr. and his daughter -- wait for it -- Rolanda (not making this up) pretty much takes the cake. I've always loved The New Yorker's political profiles, and this one, in its sly way, posits an interesting idea:
In his very ordinariness, Burris may represent a triumph of sorts for the civil-rights movement, which was, at least in part, a struggle for black people to be seen as just like everybody else.
Posted by Neal at 4:24 PM No comments:
Tags: people, politics, The New Yorker
Monday, March 23, 2009
Ten reasons I like "Heroes" (the first season, anyway)
1. The show borrows elements of the horror genre, including all the awful things that happen to Claire (best example: when her house is nuked and she comes out looking like the Toxic Avenger) as well as Sylar's chosen method of killing and the upsetting way it's depicted
2. Bad things happen to characters we don't think will get hurt (or brainwashed), making the show both more suspenseful and less formulaic than typical network TV
3. The many creative uses, throughout the season, of Matt Parkman's ability to read minds
4. The casting of Linderman (Malcolm McDowell) and Hiro's father (George Takei)
5. Claire's friendship with Zach, which is just affecting enough to be sorely missed when it's yanked away and much appreciated when it's restored
6. The pitch-perfect introduction of Claire's mother's ability
7. The show's comic-book soul, which excuses the cornier bits of dialogue and makes the cleverer ones seem like wonderful surprises
8. The decision to use subtitles when Hiro and Ando speak rather than making them both fluent English speakers
9. The show's tremendous knack for end-of-episode cliffhangers
10. Jack Coleman, who plays Claire's father, and whose performance throughout the season (and particularly in the episode "Company Man") deserves much acclaim
Posted by Neal at 10:04 PM 1 comment:
Tags: television
Saturday, March 21, 2009
"Viva Sea-Tac"
Just heard the Robyn Hitchcock tune for the first time, thanks to KEXP. I love the lyrics:
People flocked like cattle to SeattleHas anyone ever written a song more specific to the Emerald City? For God's sake, he even mentions Ballard!
After Kurt Cobain
And before him the rain
Hendrix played guitar just like an animal
Who's trapped inside a cage
And one day he escaped
Do you want to pay for this in cash?
Viva! Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva! Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac
They've got the best computers and coffee and smack
Coming and going it has to be Boeing
The best form of defence is blow them up
In a regular cup
Have an espresso, You will? Oh I guess so
I feel my heart is gonna start to jump
'Cause it's wired to a pump
And the Space Needle points to the sky
The Space Needle's such a nice guy
But he never knows...
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
All the Norwegians, man, you should see them
Out in Ballard looking soulful at the pines
And also the Swedes
All of the groovers came from Vancouver
And some of them came up from Oregon
In case you don't know
But the Space Needle points to the sky
The Space Needle's such a nice guy
But you never know...
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva viva viva viva viva Sea-Tac
They've got the best computers and coffee and smack
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Viva Seattle Tacoma, viva viva Sea-Tac
Long live everything in Washington State
Including everybody
May they live to a million years
May they reproduce until there's no room to go anywhere
Clustered under the Space Needle
Like walking eggs with arms and legs
Alright, we can probably stop
The best tiramisu I've ever eaten
Recipe courtesy of Kibbutz guest Erica Zwick. It's beyond wonderful.
Posted by Neal at 11:35 AM No comments:
Tags: dessert, food, Ravenna Kibbutz, recipes
"Happy pills" in the (medical) news
Someone on Facebook posted a Medical News Today article on psychiatric meds. Amazingly, it's the first time I've ever seen the phrase "designer consciousness."
Posted by Neal at 1:11 AM No comments:
Tags: antidepressants, health, journalism, psychology
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sad news
I heard about Natasha Richardson on NPR when I got home from work. Her filmography was a mixed bag (I remember her best from the Parent Trap remake and Nell, which should tell you something), but she always seemed extremely classy. May she rest in peace.
Posted by Neal at 10:16 PM 1 comment:
Tags: celebrities, death, movies
Reversal psychology
Worth a read: D.T. Max's New Yorker piece on Michael Clayton writer-director Tony Gilroy, whose new comic thriller Duplicity looks not half bad.
Posted by Neal at 7:16 PM No comments:
Tags: movies, The New Yorker, trailers
As the world stopped turning
You've probably already read all about the P-I, and I'm so behind I didn't even get a copy of the final issue, but just in case, here are some highlights.
Sifting through the P-I's massive photo archive is a tremendous treat. I thought the following picture, of the Space Needle in progress, was particularly wonderful:
Posted by Neal at 7:00 PM No comments:
Tags: history, journalism, news, photography
All right, Facebook dating ads, you win
In the past, I've mocked Facebook's pathetic attempts to find me a girlfriend based solely on my Facebook doings. But today I was presented with a small ad accompanied by the above picture. (BTW: Is that just Kate Bosworth in glasses?) The headline read: "Like geeky girls?" Oh, Facebook -- if you have to ask, you already know the answer. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. You've seen through me, straight through to my most secret soul. I guess I no longer have the right to mock you. You nailed me, Facebook. I only wonder what I did -- what groups I joined, for example -- that resulted in this ad.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Beams of light in the darkness
When I stopped by Sonic Boom in Capitol Hill last week to pick up some empty CD cases for future mixes, I stumbled upon Dark Was The Night, the recently released benefit album from the Red Hot Organization, which has put out a number of compilations over the years to raise money for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness efforts. The price (between $12 and $13, I think) was extremely low considering the total number of tracks (31!), and though I tend to be at least as wary of benefit albums as the average person, I went for it. After all, the lineup of artists -- Bon Iver, The Books, Yeasayer, The National, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, and even quirky Canadian hip-hop artist Buck 65 -- struck me as the kind of zeitgeist-ish assembly you rarely find on mixes like this. Usually, a benefit album's roster is clearly intended to be hip but falls well short of the mark; this one seemed right on the money.
It's no great surprise that the record is a mixed bag; what is surprising is who shines and who falls flat. Spoon's "Well Alright" is the sort of mildly frantic, forward-surging minimalist punky pop they haven't released in years. Their last full-length album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was at once more experimental, heavily produced, and on target than previous strong but hit-and-miss efforts. The band's Dark track is peppy but forgettable, and its resemblance to their more low-fi earlier work suggests to me that this is more of a second-tier B-side than anything else.
What's more interesting is when an artist uses the freedom of the compilation format to depart from his or her usual style. This is what Sufjan Stevens does on the epic "You Are the Blood," which starts with R2D2-like electronic squawks and drones, then gives way to Stevens' distinctively gentle vocals. The music that surrounds them is considerably more downbeat than his usual neo-Americana orchestrations, though the lyrics evoke Stevens' usual theme of Christian praise:
You are the blood flowing through my fingers/All through the soil and up in those trees/You are electricity and you're light/You are sound itself and you are flightThat the "You" Stevens is referring to is God seems hard to deny; there's even a little blood imagery to invoke the Son as well as the Father. Still, like much of the artist's other work (especially on his 2005 masterpiece, Illinois), this is music that defies easy categorization and has greater potential appeal than a strange, dirge-like worship song normally would.
Some established bands, like the Arcade Fire with "Lenin" and the New Pornographers with "Hey Snow White," contribute light-hearted, unmemorable throwaways that might interest fans but are unlikely to grab newcomers, since they don't demonstrate anything close to the bands' full power. Rising Brooklyn tribal-rock outfit Yeasayer has the right idea with "Tightrope," a tune that feels tossed off in the best possible sense. It seems mostly about the band enjoying itself, and on albums like this, that's often a formula for success. "Service Bell," a brief, delicate duet between Canadian acts Feist and Grizzly Bear, is another winner that easily ranks with either band's best work, and "Brackett, W9" highlights Bon Iver's inspired, low-fi production and ethereal vocals to fine effect.
Dark's covers, on the other hand, are pretty uninspired. Conceptually, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' neo-soul sensibility is a great match for Shuggie Otis' smartly soulful "Inspiration Information," yet their take is more of a down-the-line single than a home run. My Brightest Diamond's version of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" adds nothing and is completely unnecessary, and even Antony's rendition of a Dylan song, "I Was Young When I Left Home," isn't more than the sum of its parts. (In contrast, Antony's contribution to the I'm Not There soundtrack, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," adjusted the song's tone from world-weary to mournful, thus serving as a true interpretation rather than a straight rendition.)
For me, a compilation track works best if it finds the artist going someplace new without sacrificing album-worthy quality. According to those criteria, Buck 65's "Blood Pt. 2," which samples the aforementioned Stevens track, is Dark's only runaway success. Buck's rhyming tangle of domestic details and drug innuendo ("cotton swabs and bloody lies") meshes beautifully with the horn-heavy production and the channeling of Stevens' haunting chorus. Unlike many of the double album's other tracks, "Blood Pt. 2," at a length of just over three and a half minutes, feels almost too short and definitely leaves you wanting more.
Posted by Neal at 1:58 PM No comments:
Tags: music
I'm sick
But I hope to be back soon with posts on Dark Was The Night, an HIV/AIDS benefit album that's packed to the gills with indie-rock royalty, and my new obsession, the first season of Heroes. Until then, take good care of yourselves!
Posted by Neal at 1:51 PM No comments:
Tags: illness, music, television
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thank heavens
Finally, in these times of untold woe and ruin, some honest-to-God good news. You did the right thing, kids.
Posted by Neal at 10:56 PM No comments:
Tags: celebrities, news, Sarah Palin
Purim = hamantaschen
And Debs has posted a wonderful essay about them to The New York Times' Bitten blog.
The art of autobiographical blogging
I feel a tad bit schooled by Sasha. But when isn't that the case?
Posted by Neal at 7:34 PM No comments:
Tags: blogging, friends, mental health
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Curtis Sittenfeld talks about "American Wife"
I haven't listened to this yet, but I will soon.
Posted by Neal at 11:03 PM No comments:
R.I.P., Lilli
She belonged to one of my boss's friends, and now she's in prairie dog heaven. I've not often seen anything so adorable, so I had to post the picture.
Posted by Neal at 10:58 PM No comments:
Best "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" clip ever
Ignore the asinine visual element and focus on the pure genius of the audio:
My sister played this for me while I was visiting her in L.A.
My sister played this for me while I was visiting her in L.A.
Posted by Neal at 10:51 PM No comments:
Tags: humor, NPR, technology, YouTube
The song that's stuck in my head this week
Damn you, Lily Allen.
In other music news, the new Decemberists single has a wicked sense of humor, albeit one I hesitate to get too excited about in light of where I work:
Posted by Neal at 10:32 PM 2 comments:
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Your spring reading list
Thanks to Leyna at Jew-ish.com's blog for this epic tip-off.
Posted by Neal at 4:46 PM No comments:
Tags: books, humor, Internet, Jew-ish.com
My band's first album
Per the delightful meme, here's the cover of my fictitious band's debut record:
Posted by Neal at 12:06 PM No comments:
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Softball in the snow
You've got to hand it to Seattle weather -- you can't say it doesn't have a sense of humor. It wasn't enough that recent precipitation rendered the Green Lake softball fields a slippery morass of mud and
duck goose poop; it also had to start snowing right in the middle of my first Underdog Sports League team practice. The people on the team seem nice, and frighteningly athletic compared to me. They were making great plays in the infield and outfield, and while I more or less held my own, I may end up being the weakest link.
I might have made a mistake in marking "3" as my level on the sign-up form; Underdog has five levels, of which 5 is the strongest and 1 the least skilled. The clever little tagline that went along with 3 was, as I recall, "I know what I'm doing, but... go easy on me, okay?" I thought that characterized my level of play pretty accurately, but my teammates appear to be the sort of players other teams would beg to go easy on them. That said, it's nice to be part of a team where the women can really hit, and it's also good to know that I'll be forced to hustle a little more than a weaker team would make me do.
Our self-appointed team captain, a tall, brawny fellow in a backwards Texas Longhorns baseball cap, told us he doesn't usually yell at players unless they commit softball's cardinal sin: playing outfield and not backing up the infielders. He emphasized how important it is to back them up. "It can win games," he said. "I shit you not." He also revealed that he dislikes losing, and that he came to practice hung over from the previous night's bachelor party. Anyway, our first game is next Sunday, with another practice preceding it on Saturday at 2 p.m. Here's hoping next weekend delivers less snow and a bare minimum of goose poop.
I might have made a mistake in marking "3" as my level on the sign-up form; Underdog has five levels, of which 5 is the strongest and 1 the least skilled. The clever little tagline that went along with 3 was, as I recall, "I know what I'm doing, but... go easy on me, okay?" I thought that characterized my level of play pretty accurately, but my teammates appear to be the sort of players other teams would beg to go easy on them. That said, it's nice to be part of a team where the women can really hit, and it's also good to know that I'll be forced to hustle a little more than a weaker team would make me do.
Our self-appointed team captain, a tall, brawny fellow in a backwards Texas Longhorns baseball cap, told us he doesn't usually yell at players unless they commit softball's cardinal sin: playing outfield and not backing up the infielders. He emphasized how important it is to back them up. "It can win games," he said. "I shit you not." He also revealed that he dislikes losing, and that he came to practice hung over from the previous night's bachelor party. Anyway, our first game is next Sunday, with another practice preceding it on Saturday at 2 p.m. Here's hoping next weekend delivers less snow and a bare minimum of goose poop.
Gordon Brown visited the White House...
...and all he got was this specially prepared set of 25 American movie classics. While much has been made of this in the media -- Brown gave Obama historically symbolic presents, and Obama gave Brown something he could have bought at Amazon.com -- I know which of the two gift sets I'd prefer.
Friday, March 6, 2009
"American Wife"
I'm nearly done with Curtis Sittenfeld's third novel, a fictionalized account of former First Lady Laura Bush's life. As Kurt Andersen notes in his back-cover blurb, it's a brave conceit, not because the people who inspired the story might cry foul, but because Sittenfeld's first-person narrative makes it hard not to feel sympathy for the former First Couple. (Yes, even George, who comes off as rascally and slackerish but not cruel or stupid.) It's fairly apparent even to someone like me, who has only a passing knowledge of the Bushes' biographies, which parts of Laura's life the author took liberties with, but after reading the Wikipedia entry on Madame Dubya, I was struck by how many things Sittenfeld transferred directly from reality to fiction.
Sure, her Charlie Blackwell and Alice Lindgren meet in Wisconsin, not Texas, and Charlie gets involved in his family's meat (rather than oil) business, but the basic trajectories of both lives are more or less preserved. Laura Welch did kill a high-school classmate in an auto accident (Sittenfeld makes them a quasi-couple, presumably to add pathos), and she was a school librarian and a registered Democrat before she met George. For his part, the president-to-be did own a chunk of a baseball team (albeit the Rangers, not the Brewers), he was elected governor several years after an unsuccessful congressional run, and he really did go from drinking too much and snorting coke to born-again Christianity.
Sittenfeld cleverly divides the novel into four quarters, each marked by Alice's residence at the time. She starts out on humble Amity Lane in small-town Riley, Wisconsin, and ends up at the most famous address in the world: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The book's final quarter is, to me, the least interesting, since there's more summary -- this is what life is like as First Lady (hint: not all it's cracked up to be) -- than dialogue, and Sittenfeld is so good with the dialogue passages that I miss them when they don't come along every few pages. What I like about the book is that the author manages to engage some of the same themes that suffused her wonderful debut, Prep, including the clash of a small-town girl with the values, morals, and affectations of the wealthy East Coast elite.
Sittenfeld complicates this tension by humanizing everyone; the middle-class character, the outsider, has her issues, too, and the wealthy range from jerks to very nice people (as do the residents of Riley, of course). Except for that last quarter, it's a well-paced book, which came as a relief to me when I realized it's a 550-pager. Sittenfeld develops characters with an ease that can almost seem like sleight-of-hand; before you know it, you're emotionally attached to not just the protagonist but quite a few secondary characters as well. Also, the author uses mostly simple language to create a narrative voice that practically shimmers with intelligence.
Again, you may not realize while you're reading how well she chooses words, but that's what makes her choices a success. I've found the book hard to put down, which is a rarity for me when it comes to novels, and Alice Blackwell's voice, sensibility, and view of the world have gotten inside my head, coloring my thoughts on any given day. When I finish the novel, I'll go online and read and listen to the many interviews Sittenfeld has done since it was published. Until then, I want to savor it, because even my least favorite part of American Wife is still closer to wonderful than dull.
Update, 10:41 p.m.: Now that I'm even closer to the book's end, I realize that what I like best about it is similar to what I loved about Prep: The narrator is so consistently insightful that her observations prompt me to think more deeply and meaningfully about my own life and family. That's an impressive achievement in a first-person narrative, IMHO.
He ain't heavy, he's my father
During my visit to L.A. last weekend, I looked at some pictures I'd never seen before -- old photos my sister Lore brought out for us to peruse together. In one of them, my father is surrounded by his three children from his first marriage -- my half-siblings, including Lore -- as well as his first wife, Patricia. What struck me immediately was how large he was. When I was alive, my father was big, but I didn't think much of it until my teenage years, when I went from overweight to anorexic via a self-deprivation plan of my own design.
When I was at my most deluded and paranoid, I looked at people who were overweight and thought: I'd rather die than end up like that. Seeing the old picture of my dad this past weekend really moved me, and helped me realize how far I've come since the last time I visited my sister in California -- 15 years ago, when I was deep in the throes of my eating disorder. In 1994, she weighed me daily during my visit, as my parents and the growing number of specialists following my case insisted she had to. I, of course, hated being weighed and watched and told to eat what was in front of me. These days I still struggle with eating and weight and body image -- during my recent physical exam, I found out I'm back over 190, which is what I weighed when I unsuccessfully gave Weight Watchers a shot in 2007 -- but I've probably never had a healthier, more even-keeled outlook on those interlocking subjects, and that's worth appreciating, or even celebrating.
What struck me about the photo was that my father must have struggled even more than I have with his size, since he clearly passed out of adolescence and into fatherhood at an unhealthy weight. He never did what I did; he never fled the problem of being too heavy with all his might -- with such fervor, in fact, that he overcompensated, went too far, and ended up with a different, no less dangerous problem. Also, all of his children are doing better today than he was in that picture, and that's a nice way of regaining perspective when I give myself flak for overeating or not exercising enough. I've told several people lately that I still can't quite grasp how others, friends and acquaintances of mine, can actually enjoy exercise. For me, the act of exercising is still weighed down, so to speak, with middle-school baggage (being the fat kid, failing to do even one pull-up, all the humiliation that accompanied that kind of failure, etc.).
This year, I hope to develop a better relationship with exercise by doing things I actually enjoy -- softball, classes, bicycling -- rather than forcing myself to pay for yet another gym membership I can't afford and will likely underuse, or never use at all. I guess my heart broke a little for my dad when I saw that picture, but I was also glad that by the time he became my father, he'd lost at least some of the weight he'd carried around as a younger man. And as I try to get a better sense of what he was like at my age, I imagine it's inevitable that I would start to think of him less as my infallible, all-knowing father and more as a human being, flawed and well-intentioned and funny and good. He's been gone for nearly six years, and it saddens me that he'll never see me get married or have children. But if old photos and stories I've never heard can help me get a better sense of him, I'll settle for that.
When I was at my most deluded and paranoid, I looked at people who were overweight and thought: I'd rather die than end up like that. Seeing the old picture of my dad this past weekend really moved me, and helped me realize how far I've come since the last time I visited my sister in California -- 15 years ago, when I was deep in the throes of my eating disorder. In 1994, she weighed me daily during my visit, as my parents and the growing number of specialists following my case insisted she had to. I, of course, hated being weighed and watched and told to eat what was in front of me. These days I still struggle with eating and weight and body image -- during my recent physical exam, I found out I'm back over 190, which is what I weighed when I unsuccessfully gave Weight Watchers a shot in 2007 -- but I've probably never had a healthier, more even-keeled outlook on those interlocking subjects, and that's worth appreciating, or even celebrating.
What struck me about the photo was that my father must have struggled even more than I have with his size, since he clearly passed out of adolescence and into fatherhood at an unhealthy weight. He never did what I did; he never fled the problem of being too heavy with all his might -- with such fervor, in fact, that he overcompensated, went too far, and ended up with a different, no less dangerous problem. Also, all of his children are doing better today than he was in that picture, and that's a nice way of regaining perspective when I give myself flak for overeating or not exercising enough. I've told several people lately that I still can't quite grasp how others, friends and acquaintances of mine, can actually enjoy exercise. For me, the act of exercising is still weighed down, so to speak, with middle-school baggage (being the fat kid, failing to do even one pull-up, all the humiliation that accompanied that kind of failure, etc.).
This year, I hope to develop a better relationship with exercise by doing things I actually enjoy -- softball, classes, bicycling -- rather than forcing myself to pay for yet another gym membership I can't afford and will likely underuse, or never use at all. I guess my heart broke a little for my dad when I saw that picture, but I was also glad that by the time he became my father, he'd lost at least some of the weight he'd carried around as a younger man. And as I try to get a better sense of what he was like at my age, I imagine it's inevitable that I would start to think of him less as my infallible, all-knowing father and more as a human being, flawed and well-intentioned and funny and good. He's been gone for nearly six years, and it saddens me that he'll never see me get married or have children. But if old photos and stories I've never heard can help me get a better sense of him, I'll settle for that.
Posted by Neal at 6:28 PM 2 comments:
Tags: anorexia, body image, exercise, family, life, personal history, photography, weight
Shot a man in Reno?
If so, you might find it useful to confess.
Posted by Neal at 6:25 PM No comments:
Tags: confession, Internet
Catnip for grammar nerds
I discovered the archives of the NCSU Online Writing Lab and Grammar Hotline in the course of copyediting a document at work, but I quickly fell in love with it on a personal level. Passages like the following are what won my heart:
It is the Grammar Hotline's opinion that lowercasing brussels sprouts is one tiny step toward popularizing them. Furthermore, it is my considered opinion that Brussels sprouts are so vile that they do not deserve to be popular. In a quixotic attempt to keep them off my dinner plate, I am going to recommend consistent uppercasing of the "B" in Brussels sprouts.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Clearly, I need this shirt
A supposedly fun thing
D.T. Max's article in this week's New Yorker explores The Pale King, David Foster Wallace's unfinished third novel. The quietly iconic author of Infinite Jest committed suicide last year; my favorite of his works is the long essay "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," which lays bare the creepy nature of luxury cruises. Wallace's voice was consistently dazzling in its intelligence, and his sense of humor was both pointed and good-natured.
His superficial cleverness tended to give way to a kind of aching sadness, and Max's excellent piece reveals that this melancholy existed both inside him and in his vision of America, and Americans. His dissection of media and marketing, of the tiny tragedies of our consumerist society -- like his examination of the "courtesy smile" that's become a cloying, wholly counterproductive staple of customer service -- was rarely less than brilliant. I found a few of his observations, as noted in the article, particularly compelling:
In a letter to Nadell, he had made a promise: "I will be a fiction writer again or die trying."This, it seems to me, is precisely the kind of fervor that aspiring writers want; to those who possess it, however, it can be more affliction than blessing.
Wallace was pushing himself to get beyond the facile skepticism of "Broom." In 1993, he told Whiskey Island, a literary magazine, "This is a generation that has an inheritance of absolutely nothing as far as meaningful moral values, and it's our job to make them up."The quote above leads nicely into the next one:
As he told Salon, "I get the feeling that a lot of us, privileged Americans, as we enter our early 30s, have to find a way to put away childish things and confront stuff about spirituality and values."Indeed. That's more or less what I'm working through these days; no wonder Wallace resonated with Generation Y. And finally, the quote that might hit closest to home for me:
To DeLillo he wrote, "I do not know why the comparative ease and pleasure of writing nonfiction always confirms my intuition that fiction is really What I'm Supposed to Do, but it does, and now I'm back here flogging away (in all senses of the word) and feeding my own wastebasket."I feel this way about writing journalistic pieces versus writing fiction -- the former isn't that hard for me, whereas I can barely get myself to contemplate the latter. Writing, it seems, was the ultimate "supposedly fun thing" in Wallace's life. Yet unlike the frighteningly prepackaged cruise he describes in the essay, he could never get himself to abandon writing, to never do it again. For that, at least, we can be grateful.
Posted by Neal at 10:29 PM No comments:
Tags: depression, The New Yorker, writing
My chemical romance, part three
Some romances are destined to be short-lived. After less than two weeks on Celexa, I've decided to return to Lexapro. I could compensate for the price increase ($13 per month for Celexa, nearly $100 per month for Lexapro) by going to therapy biweekly rather than weekly, and as my money-management advisor, Moorea, wisely noted the other day, mental and physical health are things you can't put a price tag on, because everything else hinges on them. (Similarly, in tonight's Nextbook salon on Jews and the body, we discussed the idea that our corporeal selves are on loan to us from God, so we're obligated to treat them well; I think sticking with the medication that works absolutely qualifies.)
Anyway, I look forward to returning to Lexapro, since even my brief time off it has been marked by trouble concentrating and, amazingly, problems articulating my thoughts -- a situation I rarely find myself in. (Even if my thoughts are ridiculous, I can almost always spit them out coherently.) Here's hoping I don't have too much longer to wait until the contentment I've enjoyed since Thanksgiving comes back to me.
Anyway, I look forward to returning to Lexapro, since even my brief time off it has been marked by trouble concentrating and, amazingly, problems articulating my thoughts -- a situation I rarely find myself in. (Even if my thoughts are ridiculous, I can almost always spit them out coherently.) Here's hoping I don't have too much longer to wait until the contentment I've enjoyed since Thanksgiving comes back to me.
Posted by Neal at 10:20 PM No comments:
Tags: antidepressants, Celexa, Lexapro, life, psychology
The sincerest form of flattery
Priceless. Thanks to Kelly for the tip-off!
Posted by Neal at 10:03 PM No comments:
Tags: humor, Jewishness, parody, television
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
News feed
Since my last post, a bunch has happened. To wit:
- My boss pointed out author-provocateur (provocateuse?) Norah Vincent's newest outrageous, ethically questionable piece of muckraking;
- my former NWsource.com colleague Jon Palmer drew my attention to the Times' new blog, Coffee City;
- Facebook revealed plans for another big facelift;
- and former Seattle Weekly managing editor Chuck Taylor -- aka my former boss -- unveiled his new Seattle Post-Post-Intelligencer wiki, just one of many online responses to the probably imminent demise of the Seattle P-I. Chuck has been interested in the topic of technology and journalism for a long time, so it's good to see him stay ahead of the curve.
- visited my half-sister Lore in Los Angeles and took a lot of pictures (the image above is of a public high school, believe it or not);
- watched The Class, the Heroes pilot, and Atonement, the last of which was better than I thought it would be (The Class and Heroes were, respectively, quite good and just fine);
- saw the Irish band Lunasa perform on a wonderfully warm night;
- read quite a bit of Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife, which I'm really enjoying;
- began to realize that my 20 daily milligrams of Celexa aren't, thus far, measuring up to my previous prescription, 10 milligrams of Lexapro;
- visited L.A.'s Central Library;
- consumed various authentic Mexican delicacies, including candied lime skin stuffed with sugared coconut and watermelon, cantaloupe, and mango cut in pieces, tossed in a plastic bag, and seasoned with chili powder, salt, and lime juice;
- and got my beloved car, Gracie, back from the mechanic. She's doing fine.
Posted by Neal at 9:41 PM No comments:
Tags: antidepressants, blogging, books, car, Facebook, food, journalism, life, movies, photography, television, The Seattle P-I, The Seattle Times, travel, work
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Banchory Group PracticeBellfieldBanchory, AB31 5XSTel: 01330 822121
Saturday October 7th and Saturday November 4th 2017
If you fit into the right age group, are a carer or have any of the conditions noted below, we would like you to come along for immunisation -
The District Nursing Team will give flu immunisation at home for patients who are not well enough to attend.
If you do not fit into these categories but wish to be immunised, you can contact some of the local chemists, larger pharmacies or Albyn Hospital to arrange this. They charge a fee.
If you really do not want to be immunised please let us know as soon as possible. You can always change your mind, but it would mean that we do not have to contact you so often.
New Vaccination for 2 to 11 Year Olds -
All children aged 2 - 5 years old will be invited to attend for flu immunisation at the surgery.
5 - 11 year olds will receive the immunisation at their primary school. Look out for information from your school.
Pneumococcal Vaccine
The pneumococcal vaccine protects at risk patients from pneumococcal infection. Pneumococcus is a bacteria that can cause serious illness such as pneumonia and meningitis.
At risk patients include young children under 2 years old and people over 65 years as they have a higher risk of becoming unwell with pneumococcal infection. Older people are more likely to suffer long term health problems following pneumococcal infection.
One dose protects against pneumococcal infection and re-immunisation is not recommended except in special circumstances.
The vaccine is recommended for all people over 65 years old. Children under 2 years of age are offered the vaccine as part of routine childhood immunisation. The following people with serious medical problems are also advised to get the vaccine:
Contact the surgery for further advice if you think you may be eligible for the vaccination. If enquiring please avoid our busy times and contact us after 10:30am.
Copyright 2006 - 2019 My Surgery Website | Privacy & Usage | Edit | Staff Home | Site Map | Accessibility | Site T&C's | Service T&C's

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Once orders are placed, they can not be changed. If you place an order and wish to cancel, please do so within 24 hours.
Always burn candles responsibly. Never leave unattended or near pets and children. Do not consume any of our product, even though smell edible,, do not eat ! :)


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I was asked last week to testify in favor of House Bill 1226 in front of the State Senate Finance Committee; the bill was introduced to provide funds for respite to families caring for those that are unable to care for themselves. The bill passed this committee and is now headed for the Appropriations Committee, my testimony:
'Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Kelly Krei, my wife, Michelle, and I are the parents of twin 17 year old boys both born with Down syndrome and both diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. We are married and have lived in Adams County for the last 28 years.
My sons, Hunter and Kyle, require 24/7 supervision. They are non-verbal, require assistance with hygiene, eating, general safety and daily activities. In short, the only time they don't have a set of eyes or ears on them is when they're asleep.
In 2006 I was told by my employer that I was placing a higher priority on my children than my job so I quit my job to stay home with my boys. My wife and I made the decision that my wife's career, as a United Airline's flight attendant, would remain primary because of health insurance benefits. In 2007 when our household income could not support us, my mother moved in with us to help financially, she is 72 and still works a full time job. In 2008, my wife took a 30% cut in pay and a 100% increase in the cost of employee benefits. I returned to work 6 years ago taking a job in the insurance industry because of the flexibility it provides me to meet my boys' needs. I average about 30 hours per week. As you can see, our lives have been greatly affected.
The boys were born in 1995, we did not take a 'vacation' until we enrolled them in Adams Camp in 2000. This is a one week intensive therapy camp which had a per child cost of $2,000 per week – $4,000 for my boys. We now enroll the boys in an adventure camp with the same nonprofit at a cost of $750 per week per child. This is our only break, our only respite. When we send our boys to camp my wife and I stay in a townhome 10 minutes from the camp in case of emergency. We receive a total of 5 nights per year to ourselves, by ourselves, scratch that . . . in order to keep the cost of our lodging affordable we share the townhome with another couple . . . semi-by ourselves.
In terms of financial help, we gratefully receive $300 per month from North Metro Community Services, Adams County Community Centered Board, for respite and medical expenses not covered by health insurance; the out-of-pocket expense totals more than $8,400 annually.
As you can see, we struggle and unfortunately, have considered bankruptcy. There is no extra money for a night out or away from our boys. Our life is challenging and our future poses significant challenges. When our sons reach age 21 and are no longer eligible for high school, there is a wait list for available services. The current expected wait is 7 to 8 years.
It is my family's hope that you pass HB 1226 to create a fund supporting respite. Even with three adults in the house at times, our family does not get a break from caregiving because of my boys' great needs. ANY break from caregiving would be welcome and greatly appreciated. Like many other families, respite is the key to caring for Kyle and Hunter in our home.'
My immediate thought was decline to testify because I would be too nervous to speak in front of 7 or so State Senators but then I thought, what would Kyle and Hunter think . . . would they be proud of me for speaking or not, so I did the right thing and spoke.


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You know it's going to be a fun reception when EVERYONE is surrendering to "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake BEFORE the festivities officially begin.
Such was the joyful atmosphere at the recent wedding of Colleen Viola (daughter of Roger and Kathy, Duane's brother and sister-in-law.)
There was so much love swirling around the place you couldn't help but SURRENDER to it…as well as to the music. Duane was thankfully off the hook because my West Coast bestie, Kedric Hubbert, was in attendance. Not only is he handsome and charming, he's a great dancer who LOVES the same music I do. If he lived near me I am sure I would be a size two from all the dancing.
Can't resist. Here are some sigh-worthy highlights:
It felt so good – it feels so good -to just let go, doesn't it?
The opportunity to SURRENDER always comes with an invitation.
Too often I just keep plugging away at my computer and decline the offer.
How about you?
I do know that in this fleeting experience that is life, it's the times that I said yes that created the best memories.
The older I get, I realize you CAN dance like no one's watching because…well…usually no one is!
And now, parting thoughts on SURRENDER and the new WOW:
Beware of opportunities to put your foot in your mouth this week! (Whenever I get the word WISDOM, I use it as a yellow caution sign.)
But also, look for the insights that will make your life richer.
Love to you all!


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You've been hacked – Now What?
No matter how well your business is prepared, there is always a risk of being hacked or experiencing unintentional information disclosure. While you can't eliminate all risk, a business can implement policies, procedures and plans to mitigate potentially disruptive security events. In this whitepaper, we'll briefly list what to do if your company has been hacked in California. Listed are recommendations made by the California Office of Privacy Protection that include updated definitions of California's Amended Data Breach Law.
California has four definitions that define at-risk data — Unencrypted, computerized information, specifically:
- First name or initial and last name, plus any of the following:
- Social Security number.
- Driver's license number or California Identification Card number.
- Financial account number, in combination with any required code or password permitting access to an individual's financial account.
Once you have determined your data has been compromised, follow these "Best Practices" guidelines, part of an overall, pre-defined Information Security Plan. First, take necessary steps to contain and control the affected systems. Shut down all access points and isolate the system. Contact Corporate Legal to inform them of the breach. Next, conduct a preliminary investigation of the breach. Utilize outside parties if necessary to ensure impartially and efficiency in conducting the assessment. Regardless, be sure to document all activities as you do. If the breach affects over 500 people's personal information, notify Corporate Legal, who should then notify the CA State Attorney General at: http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reporting.
From there, implement a notification plan if compromised information contains personal data. This includes a username or email address that, in combination with a password or security question and answer, would permit access to an online account, medical information or health insurance information. Be sure to inform all stakeholders, including customers, partners, vendors and such. Contact law enforcement of suspected illegal activities and notify affected individuals within 10 days of the event, unless law enforcement directs otherwise. Be sure to contact individuals whose information is also on paper-records or computer print data in your possession. If you cannot identify which particular individuals may have been affected, notify the entire contact group to cover your bases. Document the notification and identification process as well for the investigators and Corporate Legal. Next, be sure to alert the credit reporting agencies of the breach and arrange for quality credit monitoring service for users are consumer information is involved.
There are two kinds of organizations; those that know they've been hacked and those that don't know they've been hacked. As important as it is to work on preventing such attacks, how a company responds in such an incident is equally as important. This is not only to preserve the trust with customers, partners and vendors, but also in following the letter of California law.
By Cameron Matthews is the CTO of Sentek Global, a San Diego-based provider of cyber security and technology solutions for corporations and government agencies.


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Lilly Pulitzer
Brynle Dress - Bright Navy In Reel Life
Regular price $198.00
Beautifully bright and bold is the Brynle Dress. Machine washable and non-iron, this dress is ideal for packing and just everyday life.
- Easy Fit, Machine Washable, Non-Iron, Dress With Gathers At Neckline, Center Front Placket With Button Loops And Gold Buttons And Smocking Detail At Sleeve Cuff.
- 36" From Top Of Shoulder To Hem.
- Length: Above The Knee.
- 100% Polyester.
- Machine Wash Cold. Separately. Delicate Cycle.
- Imported.


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Confirm suspected laminopathy caused by LMNA deletions/duplications including Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy type 2, Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 1B or dilated cardiomyopathy.
- Patient Preparation
- Collect
- Lavender (EDTA), pink (K2EDTA), or yellow (ACD Solution A or B).
- Specimen Preparation
- Transport 3 mL whole blood. (Min: 1 mL)
- Storage/Transport Temperature
- Refrigerated.
- Unacceptable Conditions
- Remarks
- Stability
- Ambient: 72 hours; Refrigerated: 1 week; Frozen: Unacceptable
Characteristics of Laminopathies: Mutations in the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene cause a broad range of clinical diseases collectively termed laminopathies. Clinical findings are highly variable.
Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, type 2 (EDMD2): Joint contractures, progressive muscle weakness and wasting, and cardiac disease with conduction defects and arrhythmias.
Incidence: Unknown.
Inheritance: Autosomal dominant or de novo.
Penetrance: Variable.
Cause: Pathogenic LMNA gene mutations.
Clinical Sensitivity: Clinical sensitivity is dependent upon the specific LMNA-related disorder.
Methodology: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) to detect large LMNA coding region deletions/duplications.
Analytical Sensitivity and Specificity of MLPA: 90 and 98 percent, respectively.
Limitations: Diagnostic errors can occur due to rare sequence variations. Single base pair substitutions, small deletions/duplications, regulatory region mutations and deep intronic mutations will not be detected. Deletion/duplication breakpoints will not be determined. Large deletions/duplications in exon 8 may not be detected. Mutations in genes other than LMNA will not be detected.
Counseling and informed consent are recommended for genetic testing. Consent forms are available online.
|Component Test Code*
|Component Chart Name
|LMNA Deletion/Duplication Specimen
|LMNA Deletion/Duplication Interpretation
- Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy Type 2
- LMNA deletion/duplcation assay


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After buying the whats app the new owner of Whats App that is Mark Zuckerberg has added many feature to the application some of them are very good like hiding your status and profile picture from unknown people while some feature got slightly negative feedback like
the feature sender get the blue tick mark as soon as the receiver reads the message.
the feature sender get the blue tick mark as soon as the receiver reads the message.
Sometime ago they launched the feature Whats App web due to which a user can use its Whats App on PC just by scanning the bar code and there are many more features that are added recently.
WhatsApp Web..
Free Calling Feature:
But now they are going to include the feature which will be surely bring the joy to the user as they are trying to include free calling on Whats App. Yes they have given out the code for rooted smartphone but the code is still not working but the news from the source is that they are soon going to rolled out official update for rooted as well as non rooted phones after which the free calling through whats app will be fully functional.
As we know the developers are providing the best service to their user so this is good news for all the user that now they can get a fee calling feature from one of the most successful developer
Introduction of this feature in market will a huge blow to the competitor
Of the whats app as people will prefer the best quality first.
We have download the code for rooted phone and tried in one smartphone the feature is still not available but the user interface (UI)is ready here is the image of it for you so that you can imagine how the design will be.
So let's hope they will roll out update soon so that we can enjoy the new and most efficient feature.
If you have any doubt or queries regarding this please write it in comment section.


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Property Location
With a stay at Embassy Suites Denver-Downtown/Convention Center, you'll be centrally located in Denver, steps from Colorado Convention Center and minutes from Bovine Metropolis Theater. This hotel is within close proximity of Buell Theatre and Denver Performing Arts Center.
Make yourself at home in one of the 403 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and microwaves. 37-inch flat-screen televisions with cable programming provide entertainment, while wireless Internet access (surcharge) keeps you connected. Private bathrooms with shower/tub combinations feature complimentary toiletries and hair dryers. Conveniences include phones, as well as safes and desks.
Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities
Enjoy recreational amenities such as an indoor pool and a fitness center. Additional features include gift shops/newsstands and wedding services.
Satisfy your appetite at the hotel's restaurant, which serves lunch and dinner. Dining is also available at a coffee shop/café, and room service (during limited hours) is provided. Mingle with other guests at a complimentary reception, held daily. Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a business center, a computer station, and express check-out. Planning an event in Denver? This hotel has 25,000 square feet (2323 square meters) of space consisting of conference space and meeting rooms.
Are you affiliated with Embassy Suites Denver - Downtown / Convention Center? Apply to the Hotel WiFi Connect program to take control of your account, improve your hotel's confidence score and ranking.
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Jacob Tremblay, the cutest tiny human on earth, has out-cuted himself — again. On Monday, the mini gent posted a photo collage of himself and Sofia Vergara. Two of the photos are throwbacks of the Room star and the Modern Family actress together on the set of Tremblay's first movie, The Smurfs 2 (to which Vergara lent her voice). Sofia looks smoking in red, and Jacob is a veritable nugget.
The other two pics are of the duo from Sunday evening's Oscars. There's a red carpet shot showing Vergara stunning in a navy gown and Tremblay looking very dapper in a tux. The other is a candid from inside the theater, and the looks they're exchanging are so adorable. And it sounds like the 9-year-old already knows just the right thing to say to the ladies. "I have aged SOOO much, but @SofiaVergara hasn't aged a day!" Tremblay — or, more likely, one of his sexy parents — captioned the post. What a sweetie.


text: According to the DCARR Live OSCAR Status site, the last reports of hearing AO-51 were ... -AA6PK Glenn in Texas 11/25/11 2031 UTC. -PU2SHF Henrique in Brazil 11/27/11 at 0131 UTC If you can help make this page more accurate ... http://tinyurl.com/AO51-DCARR ... please let me know! I hope it is premature, and that '51 will be back in some mode soon ... Clint K6LCS 909-241-7666 Skype - clintbradford


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Jiggered Ceilidh Band were playing at Glenskirlie House for only the second time last night. It's a really nice venue- the castle next door is impressive but so is the House itself. So it was the perfect setting for Vicki and Steve's wedding. They had asked that we play Deacon Blue's Cover from the Sky for their 1st dance so we learnt it for them and it went down well.
It was also good fun having some friendly heckling from a couple of members of rival band Strings Attached. Dave and Alistair were both there, so we had to be on top of our game. Our Ewan is still out of action with his kidney problems so Andi ably filled in on drums.
Posted at 7:51 on 31st January 2010 by Chris Smith
Jiggered Ceilidh Band have been approached by ITV about possibly appearing on the latest series of Four Weddings on Living. The show basically allows 4 brides to attend and then rate (*cringe*) various aspects of each other's weddings. Sounds like a potential bloodbath! "I rate your dress 3 out of 10", "your groom's speech was no more than a 2 out of 10"...Anyway, watch this space for more info!
In the meantime, I came across a website that allows you to get yourself ceilidh-dancing on the world wide web (aptly called the World Wide Ceilidh). Upload a photo of you and your dance partner and then get started!
Posted at 16:04 on 28th January 2010 by Chris Smith
Jiggered Ceilidh Band were in action for Burns' Night. This year we were playing in Strathclyde Union- it was on Level 8 (Vertigo) and brought back loads of good memories since the Union was where it all started for us back in 2002. The room was packed with students who were ceilidhing enthusiastically from 10 till 12.
The night got off to a bit of a ropey start when our drummer Andi (filling in for kidney-less Ewan) locked his flat keys in the flat leaving him drum-less. Thankfully we managed to get a hold of a set in time for the gig kicking off.
That's us until Saturday when we have a wedding in Kilsyth.
Posted at 16:15 on 26th January 2010 by Chris Smith
In the final ceilidh of 2009, Jiggered Ceilidh Band travelled to Cumbernauld through lots of snow to play our Hogmanay gig at Craighalbert (great to be back with our friends and fans there). The end of the gig saw lots of car-pushing as the temperature was MINUS EIGHT and the snow was thick.
Ewan brought his antipodean pal Jaunty to the ceilidh. It was Jaunty's first ceilidh and he loved it but said it had a lot of similarities to bush dances in Australia (we're considering changing our name to Jiggered Bush Band)! Jaunty asked us where the word "Hogmanay" came from. It seemed embarrassing that we didn't know but neither does Wikipedia which makes me feel slightly better!
Anyway, looking forward to more gigging in 2010!
Posted at 10:14 on 1st January 2010 by Chris Smith


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Set proper format of timstamp into local time in GridView of yii. When someone is reffering to application property or application config it means "root" config variable, in this case timeZone. Config part:
// in protected/config/main.php
return array(
'timeZone' => 'Asia/Calcutta'
// Other configuration....
Hope it will help you.
How to set a dynamic timezone in yii2


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I was pretty excited to get this even though the markings are light. I thought is was awesome since you dont see many of his catchers mitt, and I don't ever recall seeing a lefty.
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New Super Mario Bros U's claim that it will run in 1080p has been removed.
Yesterday Nintendo stated that the launch title would support the higher resolution, and not just 720p.
However today the statement was changed to simply "high definition" on the game's official website.
While Wii U has been confirmed to support 1080p, Nintendo had yet to confirm any titles which would offer the resolution.
New Super Mario Bros Wii U allows multiple players to tackle levels together using standard Wii Remotes, while a fifth player helps out by shifting on-screen objects around with the console's tablet controller.
New social features enable players to communicate with one another in real time over an internet connection. Conversations will appear in the form of virtual post-it notes on the game's overworld map.
The game was recently confirmed as a Wii U launch title, releasing alongside the console on November 18 in North America and November 30 in Europe.
> Wii U hands-on with Nintendo's line-up: Mario Bros U, Pikmin 3, more
Screenshot gallery - view New Super Mario Bros Wii U images below:Gaming: Super Mario Bros (Wii U)


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i know! me and my friends have been quoting it all week!
dude, i think im going through the same thing. total lack of motivation for blogging and lots of crying. kidding about the crying.
oh god I was rolling on the floor laughing for a solid fifteen minutes..brilliant
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Let's Misbehave
92nd Street Y
Reviewed by Deirdre Donovan
As seen Sun Feb 12, 2017
Teaser: Cole Porter is resurrected at the 92 Street Y with some "de-lovely" tunes from The American Songbook.
The 92nd Street Y "Lyrics & Lyricists" program recently presented "Let's Misbehave," a whirlwind tour of the art and life of the great American songwriter Cole Porter. Written and hosted by 92nd Street Y's Artistic Director David Loud, Porter devotees not only learned what made Porter tick but what made him click with music-lovers who savor brilliance and precision in a tune.
Accompanied on stage by vocalists Allison Blackwell, Lewis Cleale, Nikki Renee Daniels, Rebecca Luker, and Matthew Scott, Loud adroitly balanced the program with his narration and the vocal performances. Rather than presenting Porter's songs in strictly chronological fashion, Loud zig-zagged through three decades, from the 20s through the mid-50s. No doubt the audience was treated to a hefty—and delicious--slice of The American Songbook. What's more, Loud posed the pesky question at the outset of the program: "Just what is this thing called Cole Porter?"
Instead of answering it outright, Loud deep dove into the songs themselves. The opening number was "Let's Misbehave," a ballad that was embraced by many but shrugged off by others. According to my program notes, it was first introduced at the Ambassadeurs Café in 1927 but, alas, would be cut from the musical Paris (1928). In any event, it pointed up that Porter's career was no cakewalk and that the icon suffered many rude bumps on his road to fame.
Three other songs followed this opener. But it wasn't 'til the orchestra played the first notes from "You're the Top" from Anything Goes (1934) that the audience really perked up their ears. It was energetically sung by the cast, who wonderfully teased out its daisy-chain of flatteries. When this faded out, the orchestra immediately segued into "It's De-Lovely" from Red, Hot, and Blue (1936), affectingly sung solo by Cleale. Good as it was, the show really ratcheted up its tempo when Blackwell, Daniels, Cleale, and Scott crooned the classic "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" from Paris (1928). Few other songs better showcase Porter's impudent wit and naughty sophistication. Written early in Porter's career, it truly put him on the map of the musical world and made him a songwriter to reckon with. Though six more ballads followed this gem in Act 1, none connected quite as strongly with the audience.
If Act 1 was fun, Act 2 was doubly so. It opened with Cleale and Scott reprising "Let's Misbehave"--but delivered with more of a wink in its second go-round. On its musical heels, Blackwell, Daniels, and Luker joined their feminine hearts in "Let's Not Talk About Love" from Let's Face it! (1941). True, Porter's lyrics outclass his music here. But the three female singers added an "oomph" that made the number winning. Of course, the real highlights in Act 2 were the selections from Porter's late-career masterpiece, Kiss Me Kate. For who can resist the electricity pulsing through the song "Another Op'nin, Another Show"? The blazing lyrics of "Too Darn Hot"? Or the literate wit tucked into "Brush Up Your Shakespeare"? In short, Act 2 was chock-a-block with Porter at his best.
While the vocalists breathed life into Porter's songs, Loud infused the "soul" into the 2-hour program. He recounted anecdotes from Porter's career and personal life that illuminated his entire canon. He shared telling details from Porter's privileged childhood in Peru, Indiana, and how his mother was the one who always believed in her son's musical talent. Loud also cited the friction that existed between Porter and his wealthy grandfather J.O. Cole. It began when Porter insisted on attending East Coast schools, namely Worcester Academy and Yale, despite objections from his grandfather. Loud noted that Porter succeeded at musically distinguishing himself at both Eastern academic institutions. However, when he later shifted over to study law, he proved to be a poor student at Harvard Law School. Nudged by his professors to transfer to the Music School, Porter quickly obliged them. Loud, at this point, raised his eyes from his script and paused, as if to let the audience know that Porter did have chinks in his armor indeed. But even so, Porter eventually landed on his feet by returning to his real passion: music.
Loud spiced up his patter even more by divulging details about Porter's sexual dalliances. To wit: Porter had many male lovers over the years, even though he remained married to his wife Linda. Other tidbits shared? Loud broadly outlined Porter's dozen years in Europe, his social forays into high society both on the continent and back in the U.S., and of course his "breaking the rules" of songwriting and the conventional forms. Loud delivered, in fact, a master class on the icon, pointing out the hallmarks of Porter's style, including his inverted syntax, unexpected rhymes, word play, and humorous juxtaposition of classical and popular images. Loud wrapped up all of Porter's artistic idiosyncrasies in four words: "It kept people listening."
Although the focus was on the life and art of Porter, the deco artwork slides lent to the atmosphere—and was visually scrumptious. During the performance, one saw a kaleidoscope of projected images that underscored the mood of each song and anchored it to a specific time or place. The deco artwork never upstaged the music, songs, or Loud's patter but it certainly infused a rich texture into the musical proceedings.
All in all, "Let's Misbehave" was a joyous celebration of Cole Porter's life and art. Not only was it a terrific primer on Porter's life but a sensational sampling of his well-known and not-so-well-known songs. Whoever was lucky enough to be present at this tribute to Porter learned why he was the reigning sophisticate of songwriting during the 20s, 30s, and 40s.
Off Broadway
Five performances only.
At the 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan.
For more information on the 92nd Street Y programs, visit www.92Y.org
Running Time: 2 hours with a 15-minute intermission.


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Last week, Chef Craig Hastings, from Kirkland Tap & Trotter, came by the Baking Steel test kitchen for a pizza session. He had a few ideas in mind, the first being an asparagus pizza recipe. We are in the middle of asparagus season, so I thought this was a great idea, it would be the perfect time to share the recipe with all of you. It was time to preheat the Baking Steel, and prep the ingredients.
After stretching the dough out, it was time to layer the pie. First up, Craig spread ricotta over the surface of the dough. Next, he added white and purple asparagus which was coated with roasted garlic oil. Lastly, a little parsley garnish before launching the dough onto the Baking Steel.
After a few minutes on the Baking Steel, using the broiler method, our pizza was done. We added balsamic...took a few pictures, and it was time to slice & test the results.
Amazing. Craig know's his stuff. The ricotta added a creamy flavor and the asparagus and balsamic flavors complimented each other beautifully, as I knew they would. I would without a doubt recommend trying out this recipe for your next pizza night.
4 oz. fresh Ricotta cheese
7 or 8 stalks Purple & White Asparagus lightly coated with roasted garlic oil.
Parsley for garnish
Olive oil
3 or 4 garlic cloves
Balsamic Glaze (reduced balsamic vinegar)
1. Preheat your oven to 500 F with your Baking Steel on the second to highest rack.
2.To make the roasted garlic oil, smash and peel garlic and roast in oven with olive oil. Remove and and coat asparagus, put aside.
3. Stretch or roll out dough into a 12 inch round, place on a lightly lubricated peel, semolina or flour works best. Give the dough a little "jerk" to be sure dough is loose. Continue doing this throughout the pizza making process.
4.Distribute Ricotta cheese over the entire surface, leaving about 1/2 inch around the border.
5.Place lightly coated asparagus over the top. Remember less is more, you want your dough to cook thoroughly. Garnish with parsley and sprinkle olive oil around perimeter.
6.Launch on to hot Baking Steel and bake on convection for 4 minutes. Reach in and give it a little spin, switch oven to broil for remaining two minutes.
7. Remove carefully, slice and serve.


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Get the Look: Modern Canopy Bed
I love the look of the canopy bed in this bedroom. Simple and classic and yet modern and fresh. I scoured the internet looking for this bed (found it!) and in the process rounded up a few really lovely modern canopy beds.
- Woodland Slumber Canopy Bed from Anthropologie This is the bed featured in Leila and Buff's bedroom. $2,698
- Pavillion Black Canopy Bed from Crate & Barrel You can never go wrong with basic black. $1,199
- Architecture Queen Bed from Room & Board For fans of colorful interiors, this bed is available in a rainbow of hues. $1,199
- Ellsworth Poster Bed from Ethan Allen The horizontal planked headboard on this bed is a nice touch. $1,999
- Farmhouse Canopy Bed from Pottery Barn A little shaker styling gives this bed a classic look. $1,499
- Bedroom Style: 10 Ways to Dress Your Canopy Bed
- Canopy Beds: Four Poster Goes Modern
- Favorite Canopy Beds: From Feminine Chic to Masculine
(Images: 1. Leila & Buff's Beautiful Beach Abode. All others: As credited above.)
Apartment Therapy supports our readers with carefully chosen product recommendations to improve life at home. You support us through our independently chosen links, many of which earn us a commission.


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Hello and thank you for visiting! It is my goal as your full service real estate agent specializing in foreclosures and investment properties in the Allegheny County and surrounding areas, to provide you with superior service at all times. My local expertise and extensive real estate experience will benefit you whether you are serious about buying or selling a home at this time, or are a returning client checking out the many homeowner resources I offer.
Buying a home? I look forward to helping you select the home of your dreams by taking time to listen to your needs and desires.
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Member of "The Real Estate Top 400", a national awards ranking sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, REAL Trends and Lore.
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Liphofung to Libono
distance: 63 km
vertical ascent: 1700m
time: 8:33
The day started with a most excellent singletrack up along a river with plenty of Cosmos, fun flat rock surfaces and a stream crossing or 2. We crossed the river at a rickety bridge. On the other side the singletrack made way for some jeeptrack, in a nice bad condition with some mud every now and again. The jeeptrack petered out into a not-always-ridable singletrack contour. My bike pointed itself downhill very quickly, but I realised soon that there were no bike tracks where the bike was heading - luckily Tumi (the track-builder and sweeper) saw my tracks going off-track and followed me to show the shortest way to the right track. The less-ridable singletrack changed to very enjoyable singletrack, more flat rock surfaces, and then we joined up with a gravel road.
We filled up with water at the first checkpoint, then climbed a mountain before Tumi led us off the path on a very long downhill-singletrack. We had to catch some cyclists who went the wrong way, and then continued downhill - fields of cosmos and sunflower; the track was rough but ridable because it was mostly downhill. At this stage Francois and Ray were voicing concerns that we were off the map. Tumi suggested that we cross over to the South-African side of the river. Here we're crossing over to the other side:
We followed a gravel road with huge strange cathedral-like rock formations around us, and crossed back to arrive at the second checkpoint a few minutes before Tamara (who was driving the checkpoint-bakkie). The front guys (who followed the real path in stead of venturing off the map) arrived shortly after with stories of wicked climbs (and presumably some downhills to match).
A very nice lunchbreakspot under trees next to the river. Sandwiches with (discarded) thick slices of pink polonie and apples. Filled up with water, and then continued on a gravel road between maize and cosmos-fields - this soon became a long hot climb.
From here on it was just boring - around 25 kays of gravelroad that just went up and down and on and on. The last km or so we were surrounded by horsemen who escourted us into Libono. (pronounced Dibono - under certain conditions an L is pronounced as D in Sesotho)
David (Freedom Challenge) organised some hot showers :D
The rest of the afternoon was whiled away in the shade on the grass while watching the Libono Arts Company in action. here's Grant taking pictures of the first act:
After dinner at the community centre we were off to local huts for the night.


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Holly Springs, GA GED Test Centers
If you are searching for GED testing locations in Holly Springs, Georgia please see our listings below as well as cities near Holly Springs., Georgia. Choosing a good GED testing location is important, especially if you want to arrive fresh for your test in Holly Springs. Try to pick a nearby location if possible to minimize your travel time and come ready to succeed. Keep in mind that beginning in 2014 many states now offer the TASC test. It is an alternative to the GED and many states only offer TASC and some offer both. Check to see what test you are taking based on your state!
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240 Barber Road
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Other GED CentersFlorida GED Testing
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By John Fordham/The Guardian
The imaginative and fluently skilful German pianist Michael Wollny covered music by Alban Berg, Edgard Varése and the Flaming Lips on his last album, but the 14 tracks here are mostly his own work or that of his superb trio with Christian Weber (bass) and Eric Schaefer (drums) – save for the odd excursion into the Twin Peaks soundtrack or the music of medieval master Guillaume de Machaut, and a piece by Wollny's former teacher Chris Beier, whose piano-playing was undermined by a neurological condition. Nachtfahrten – "night journeys" – is a more shaded, melodically sparing venture than its predecessor Weltentraum, with Beier's enforced retreat into essences and understatement a key inspiration, but its layering and fine details are just as fascinating. Schaefer's Motette No 1 springs ingenious improv from a rocking vamp, Beier's White Moon is a beautiful melody enhanced by a steady, Mehldau-like manner. Schaefer's Ellen has the kind of pop-ballad feel that Esbjörn Svensson might have given it and Au Clair de la Lune wanders wistfully amid pinging cymbal sounds and sparse drum rolls. They are one of the world's great jazz-driven piano trios, and Nachtfahrten takes nothing away from this assessment.
John Taylor
By CamJazz
"A family project" is how Alex Taylor, singer-songwriter as well as John's son, labels the English pianist's latest album. And that is exactly what it is, considering that John, who wrote the music, and Alex, who wrote and sang the lyrics, are joined by Leo Taylor on drums. Oren Marshall on tuba, whose surname is not Taylor but who is most assuredly very close to the Taylor family, completes the quartet. Together they recorded the album entitled "2081" drawing inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron", published in 1961. John Taylor was commissioned to write the music to this album by BBC Radio 3 for the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Originally written for octet, it was then readapted for the "2081" quartet. Alex explains: "Vonnegut's story depicts a dystopian future in which everyone is equal. Nobody is allowed to be smarter, better looking or more physically able than anyone else. Those individuals who are gifted with intellect, talent and so on are made to bear 'handicaps'". At times, John Taylor's musical realm is reassuring and consistent with his own standards, while, at other times, it conveys the mysterious, unsettling future depicted by Vonnegut, by pursuing a hybrid sound, mingling jazz, pop and the soundtrack mood. This pursuit definitely benefits from the sonic scenarios opened by Marshall's tuba, as well as the Leo's drumming style (already launched on a brilliant career on the indie-rock scene with his band The Invisible), who very often introduces modern, offbeat hypnotic rhythms here. Alex further explains: "I wanted to be able to tell a love story within the world Vonnegut created, from a standpoint external to the novella but very much in that theme".
John Taylor ( Piano ); Oren Marshall ( Tuba ); Alex Taylor ( Vocal ); Leo Taylor ( Drums )
Nak Trio
The Other Side Of If
By Challenge
"Jazz made in Poland" has been considered a seal of quality since the 1960s. Well-known musicians as Zbigniew Namysłowski, Tomasz Stańko, Michał Urbaniak, Krzysztof Komeda, Zbigniew Seifert, Adam Makowicz, Jan Wróblewski, Urszula Dudziak, Leszek Zadlo and Vitold Rek shaped an unmistakable style that lifts the substance of American swing with the yearning of the Eastern European bloc countries for freedom and adventure to a high quality, exciting common denominator. Admittedly, the explosive, sparkling atmosphere of Polish catacomb and underground jazz belongs to past at the latest since the political upheavals in Europe at the end of the 1980s. Today, it is above all pianists who set the tone of the cultural image of the country. Marcin Wasilewski and Leszek Możdżer are getting worldwide recognition with their diverse projects as creators of a new musical language. It is quite possible that three young Polish musicians will be mentioned in one breath with them in the future: Dominik Wania (piano), Jacek
Kochan (drums) and Michał Kapczuk (bass) have joined forces under the cryptic slogan "NAK Trio" to create a community of interest exceptional in every way.
You can consider these names as quite representative of the unconventional approach of the combo, which runs like a thread through all their actions: not straight ahead, but always a bit out-of-the-box. NAK does not stand for the initial letter of the last name of the protagonists as in other formations, but instead for the final letter: KochaN– WaniA – KapczuK. It continues consistently in this direction with the title of their debut album "The Other Side Of If". Although all of this is probably a bit abstract, indefinable, perhaps somewhat philosophical, drummer, composer and producer Jacek Kochan apologizes smiling. "If you think about the exact meaning of the word 'if', then a few questions first arise in your mind in any language. 'What if?' 'What would happen if?' Perhaps 'Would it be better or worse if?' Since the answer always remains unresolved and consequently the symbolism of the little word 'if', there is a certain fascination, something mysterious, with respect to everything." In exactly the same way, Jacek Kochan, Dominik Wania and Michał Kapczuk want to enchant their fans. Far from the classic A-A-B-A jazz pattern, the seven original compositions are based more on two masters of classical modernism the 20th century, the Hungarian Béla Bartók (1881-1945) and his Polish compatriot Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994). "We consider it important that all four instruments are in the forefront," Kochan explained. Excuse me, in a trio? "Simple," laughs the primus inter pares (the first among equals) of NAK trio. "Bass, drums, and the left and the
right hand of the piano player. The reason is that Dominik has developed a technique with his left hand that is very unique and differs clearly from that of other jazz pianists. The melodies and harmonies have more of a chromatic structure. I hope that this does not frighten off jazz aficionados too much, because it actually still is jazz. Our jazz. However, fans of classical music might also like it!"
Philippe Duchemin Trio
Three Pieces
Piano : Philippe Duchemin; Acoustic bass : Patricia Lebeugle; Drums : Jean Pierre Souchu
1- Take bach (4'44")
2- Honey (6'23")
3- fond brun (7'15")
4- Bernie's Tune (5'51")
5- Fumet (5'34")
6- Quand je monte chez toi (7'05")
7- What is this thing called love (5'55")
8- Lucy in the sky with diamond (6'01")
9- Tea for two (5'18")