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From Athens to Rome to Providence, R.I., the painful truth about pensions is the same: Unfunded liabilities need to be reformed, and unions don't like it.
The difference: Europeans go to the streets when they are unhappy, and Americans go to the courts. In Rhode Island, a pension-reform plan hailed as a national model is being challenged as unconstitutional. Striking down reform would be a disastrous move — not only for budgets but also for constitutional governance itself.
It's easy to sympathize with workers' desire not to have their pensions touched. Many have built decades of expectations on the basis of generous pension plans, and it seems unfair that they should lose out because benefits negotiated on their behalf turn out to be fiscally unsustainable. Moreover, employees, including public employees, think of themselves as protected by contracts that specify those benefits — and according to the federal and many state constitutions, states are not supposed to make laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
Yet the equation of benefits with inviolable contractual rights is too hasty, both legally and morally. As a legal matter, many public-pension plans are in fact created by statute, and it is well established that what a legislature may do by law, it may also undo. Most of the Rhode Island pension plans are clearly statutory.
Fiscal viability
Even when benefits are created by contract, the states' obligation to respect those contracts has long been interpreted to allow for them to be altered or even eliminated when public necessity demands it and the modification is deemed reasonable. The looming fiscal crisis in Rhode Island — and in many other states and cities — certainly satisfies the condition of necessity. Changes to the age of retirement and the mix of public and private guarantees are reasonable by any measure. In the end, the point of modifying pension plans is to preserve the fiscal viability of the government, which is much better for its creditors than seeing it collapse under the burden of obligations it cannot meet.
The moral justification for this legal rule is straightforward: The government creates property rights, and so the government can modify those rights when necessary. The same principle underlies taxes, which Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. memorably called the bill for civilization. The government may take some of the money I've earned because without its protection I wouldn't be able to keep it — or earn it in the first place.
It's certainly unfair that some people get penalized when the government finds it has overreached, and it's especially painful when the victims are working class rather than financiers. But the same principle that allowed the government to pay Chrysler's senior secured creditors 29 cents on the dollar applies equally to unions. In a pinch, the government may curtail some property rights to preserve the health of the whole system. No one ever likes it — and everyone, regardless of political preferences, makes the same conservative property argument against it.
So what protection does anyone have against a government that runs into crises and has to resolve them by spreading the pain around? The answer, bluntly, is democracy. If debt-holding hedge-fund managers didn't like the Barack Obama administration's Chrysler strategy, they could try to take him out of office (and, believe me, they did). If unions ultimately don't accept that pension reform is necessary to save the governments on whom they rely for their jobs, they can go after the politicians who designed it. To this extent, the Europeans have it right: The proper response to policies you don't like is to protest, not to sue.
Political judgment
In fact, the courts are the worst possible avenue for trying to block reform. The judgment that the system is broken and needs to be fixed is the very model of a political judgment best left to elected officials. They are the ones who understand practical realities — and they are the ones who lose their jobs if real-world problems aren't fixed.
The constitutional separation of powers is designed to preserve crucial political decisions for the political branches. True, judges can and should defend vulnerable minorities against discriminatory legislation passed by the majority. But this important role applies when there is a serious example of discrimination or when civil liberties are infringed. It shouldn't serve as a cover for blocking the majority from doing what is economically necessary to keep the state alive and healthy.
The lesson of judicial restraint on economic matters has been hard-won in U.S. history. In the early decades of the 20th century, conservative, property-protecting judges blocked progressive legislation on the grounds that it infringed the liberty of contract. It took the New Deal and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's court-packing threat to persuade the Supreme Court to allow Congress to legislate freely in the economic sphere. The legal challenge to Obama's health care reform was another example of conservatives using the cover of constitutional doctrine to disrupt a political result that they didn't like. It took Chief Justice John Roberts's principled stand for judicial restraint to uphold the law.
In the bad old days, judges were conservative because they were drawn from the property holding class. Today, judges in Rhode Island may have a common class interest with other public employees because they also have pension plans that are subject to reform. (Indeed, the state is seeking to have the judge assigned to the case removed over conflict of interest.) It would be equally conservative — and equally inappropriate — for those judges to block necessary reforms on the ground that they impair the obligation of contracts.
The Rhode Island courts should respect the law, restrain themselves, and make sure that their state continues to be seen as a leader in fiscal reform, not in judicial backlash.
Feldman, a law professor at Harvard University and the author of "Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices," is a Bloomberg View columnist.
All contents herein copyright San Diego Source ® 1994-2018


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WHITMAN, Mass. -- The late-winter storm that buried parts of the country was forecast to be little more than a nuisance for most of New England. Try telling that to Connecticut and Massachusetts residents who spent two days shoveling as much as 2 feet snow.
"The forecast was 4 to 6 inches and I think I'm looking at about 12 to 14 inches," West Roxbury resident Mark Spillane said as snow continued to fall Friday. "I did not expect to have to bring out the snow blower."
"We've lost our intensity in falling snow, but it's still deep," reports meteorologist Jim Cantore from Worcester, Mass. "But it's very heavy wet snow, so I recommend you be very careful when you're shoveling this stuff. It's like white mud."
(MORE: Track the Next Winter Storm)
The storm was centered far out in the Atlantic Ocean, and by the time it reached New England, forecasters were focused on the potential for coastal flooding and not snow, which in many places was predicted to reach a maximum of 6 or 8 inches.
The coastline was battered by three high tides during the duration of the storm, the worst Friday morning, when some roads in coastal towns were flooded with up to 3 feet of water. A vacant house on Plum Island, off the northeast coast of Massachusetts, was ripped from its foundation and collapsed into the sea. Other homes there were badly damaged.
But in most places, it was the persistent snow that threw people for a loop.
The National Weather Service reported nearly 13 inches of snow at Boston's Logan International Airport as of 1 p.m., with more than 2 feet in a few Massachusetts towns and nearly that much in many others. Some parts of Connecticut and New Hampshire also saw more than a foot.
With spring less than two weeks away, Lisa Parisella, of Beverly, Mass., had been ready to dig out her sandals. Instead, she found herself donning her winter boots for a trip to the grocery store to make sure she had enough food for her kids, whose classes were canceled Friday.
"This was unexpected," said Parisella, 47, an office manager. Forecasts had called for between 1 and 8 inches. Instead, her town had well over a foot by noon, and snow continued to fall. "I was ready to start decorating for spring. I was thinking, March, ready to take out the sandals, and I'm taking out the boots again."
Tim Wicker, a self-employed 32-year-old resident of Norwich, Conn., said the latest storm wasn't too bad, but he was also longing for spring.
"The other day I was out in a T-shirt," Wicker said. "Now we're dealing with this again. It's going to be 54 on Sunday. It's just New England."
(MORE: Impressive Snow Totals)
Charley Foley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, said the higher snowfalls were caused by winds swirling around the storm that subtly changed course from the northeast to a more northerly direction. That allowed the storm to tap colder air from Canada, pick up moisture from the warmer ocean and dump snow on New England.
"We did get somewhat surprised by higher snow amounts," Foley said.
The storm had been giving forecasters fits for days. After pummeling the Midwest earlier in the week, it dumped nearly two feet of snow in some part of the mid-Atlantic but largely spared the nation's capital, despite warnings that as much as 10 inches could fall on Washington.
Some school districts, including Boston, were criticized for holding classes Friday despite icy sidewalks and poorly plowed roads.
Boston public schools spokesman Lee McGuire said schools were kept open because the weather forecast was so fluid. Thursday night's forecast called for just a few inches of snow.
"We made the best decision we could with the information we had at the time," McGuire said.
The district said students whose parents kept them home Friday would be considered "constructively present" and their absences would be excused.
Boston resident Vera Miller was angry about the decision. She kept her grandchildren home after taking a look outside Friday morning.
"I said, `Oh no, you kids are staying home today,'" Miller said. "I just felt that school should have been canceled."
The snow made for a slippery Friday morning commute as far south as Pennsylvania and New York.
In Scituate, Mass., a shoreline town about 20 miles south of Boston, police Chief Brian Stewart breathed a sigh of relief Friday morning after high tide. The town got some coastal flooding - it almost always does during major storms - and eight roads were closed under 2 to 3 feet of water.
"It's coming over the usual spots," he said. "I would say we were fortunate because at this point we have no reports of injuries or major damage."
In Whitman, which had nearly a foot of snow by 10 a.m., Maureen Chittick's house was among those that lost electricity for a while. Grandchildren Nicole Clark, 15, and Gary Clark, 13, came inside for an old-fashioned game with marbles after shoveling the snow out of her driveway.
"I was shoveling and I saw purple flowers underneath," Nicole Clark said. "I thought to myself, `Summer is never going to come.' I just want summer. Bring on the hot, the beach!"

subset: commoncrawl


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Four Flies on Grey Velvet (UK - BD RB)
The Wilson Bros examine Dario Argento's legendary "lost" thriller...
Well, it's official - Hell has indeed frozen over.
WARNING: The following review contains spoilers. Seriously - it blows the lot! Whodunnit, why and what happens to them. If you don't want to ruin the movie, don't read and just buy it!
Dario Argento's "Animal Trilogy" started life with his directorial debut, Bird With the Crystal Plumage, continuing the theme with 1971's Cat O'Nine Tails and quickly concluded in 1972 with Four Flies on Grey Velvet.
Four Flies on Grey Velvet tells the story of American rock drummer Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon), who is living in Italy with his emotionally distant wife, Nina (Mimsy Farmer); Roberto's life is turned upside down when he is persistently blackmailed for a murder he didn't commit, seeking solace in the arms of Nina's cousin Dalia, and as the bodies begin to pile up, Roberto tries to solve the mystery surrounding the original "murder" and unmask the killer determined to turn his life into living Hell. The question isn't as simple as "whodunnit", but that of "is everyone around him as honest as they say they are…?"
Argento's third film remained his most elusive thriller for many years, as it received scant distribution and was barely released on video in the eighties and nineties; fans had to make do with foreign language copies or one of the several seriously dodgy bootlegs that were in circulation. We were fortunate that our first viewing of Four Flies was on the big screen, at an all-day event at the University of Kent in the early nineties; the audience was made up of mostly bored media studies students who weren't particularly happy at having to attend the event on a Saturday, but there were one or two other Argento fans present, and Four Flies was second on the bill. Seeing the opening sequence - with it's dizzying series of camera angles that included gigantic wide shots, extreme close-ups and cameras mounted on the necks of guitars, all set to an acid rock score - was seriously mind-blowing and made a BIG impression upon us. We were more than aware of the scarcity of copies on video, but we were so eager to see the film again that we went through several of the aforementioned dubious bootlegs before importing a genuine VHS release from Greece, which was in French with large, ugly Greek subtitles burnt-in. We watched the thing so much that we became more familiar with it in French than English.
Argento sets out his stall of pulsing thrills right from the outset, with he opening title sequence of Four Flies being something so cool that we have always had great affection for. Roberto's band is seen in the recording studio, and our hero is being bothered by a pesky fly as he beats out a funky rhythm on the drums. His efforts to kill the thing without dropping the beat are intercut with flashbacks to events prior to this, showing a mysterious figure following him. This all happens while a damn cool instrumental track plays and the audience realises that the fly that Roberto has been trying to squash is a metaphor for what is going to potentially happen to the drummer himself.
There have been those who accuse the cast of merely wandering in and out of the story without displaying any sort of emotion. This is certainly not the case, as most of the cast inject a fair degree of emotion into their performances, but the execution of their dramatic duties is subtle, which makes us wonder if those whom hurl such accusations prefer their actors to wear neon signs whilst in front of the camera. When such an accusation is levelled against Michael Brandon, his performance can be seen as somewhat subdued, but we see this as Brandon's interpretation of a musician who is on the verge of creative burn-out and who has a marriage that is going the same way; any sort of passion that Roberto tries to show toward his wife is cursory, as though both of them know that things are finished between them and that an easy, apathetic divorce is about to appear on the horizon. His disconnection from the world around him is furthered when damning evidence against him starts mysteriously turning up in his daily life, adding paranoia to an already depressive personality.
Earlier on in the movie, Roberto comes across as a bit of a bastard, needlessly criticising his fellow musicians, neglecting his friends and even screwing around behind his wife's back, but Argento has carefully planned it all out to throw viewers off the scent. Most would link such behaviour to the paranoia generated through being stalked by a creepy guy all the time, with an escalation in low mood once being blackmailed through the "murder". Events put a strain on his marriage, forcing his wife to grow cold, with Roberto seeking out warmer, more understanding flesh elsewhere. Once the identity of the killer is revealed, it's a pleasure to work backwards and find that the chain of events was all according to plan. The culmination of an extra-marital was all by Nina's design, so as to give herself cause to hate Roberto as much as she did her father, allowing for greater satisfaction upon killing him
Legendary Italian screen icon Bud Spencer fills the screen (literally and metaphorically) with his presence, injecting both seriousness and levity into the story as Godfrey (or "God", as he hates to be known). Spencer displays an easy charm which is quite removed from the sort of character that most remember him for and it's always good to see him on his own and not playing second-fiddle to Terence Hill for a change. Though Godfrey is tetchy about having his name affectionately shortened to God and his role in this film is more removed from the action-orientated parts he was usually saddled with, Spencer's character uses his fists in the final act and saves Brandon in something that could be looked upon as divine intervention...
Regardless of how the aforementioned climax is meant to be read, there is a overt streak of religion running through the script of Four Flies. This is not to be taken literally, as our protagonist doesn't go running over to the nearest church begging for his mortal soul. It comes through the use of Bud Spencer's character God, and everything which revolves around him. Roberto literally turns to God in the face of death, and when meeting him in secret at a undertakers' convention, everyone is gathered together in the sight of God Almighty. As mentioned earlier, at the films' climax, Roberto is saved by an act of God, where his salvation from being murdered with a gun is a clear case of Deus ex Machina.
There are more overtly humorous sequences in Four Flies than in Argento's previous films, Bird With the Crystal Plumage and Cat O'Nine Tails, as there are sequences that are crammed with humour that would have seemed clumsy and out of place if they were handled by any other Italian director working in the giallo field. One such sequence - appropriately set at a trade fair for undertakers - allows for several amusing moments whilst expository dialogue is being delivered, making the necessary information easier to swallow than if it were just two characters talking in a small room or walking along a corridor. In some respects, Four Flies could be seen as stylistically the closest to the work of Hitchcock, as Hitch was always one to insert a degree of levity into a situation to relieve tension before building up it up again.
To this end, Argento also includes a number of lighter characters into the story - Bud Spencer's Godfrey has a comedic parrot (named Jerk-off in the English language version) that serves to inject humour into the gloomy and oppressive life of Roberto; Godfrey also has a comedic sidekick, a scruffy, shambolic individual known as The Professor, so-called because he "…kisses the ladies' hand and doesn't pick his nose in public"; there is also a postman who forms part of a running gag and the final pay-off is one that made audience of bored cinema students laugh when we saw it. It's these kinds of humorous additions which are sorely missed when directors try to get to serious with thrillers. You can still have a deeply grim murder-mystery, with all the violence you want, but it really helps to get the audience on your side by adding some chuckles in it to keep the audience off-guard.
If there is one character who is the both comedic and controversial in this film, then it would have to be Jean-Pierre Marielle's Gianni Arrosio; he is a most assuredly camp character, and initial appearances would cause one to make a snap decision and write him off a gay stereotype, but this is certainly not the case, as the ability to be able to perform his job is addressed almost immediately and Arrosio admits that he is terrible at his vocation, but this is on his own ineptitude, rather than any deficiencies due to his sexuality. The fact that he almost wears his inability to detect anything as a detective as a badge of pride ( "A fantastic record - incredible!") only adds to the sense of shock when he eventually works out the identity of the killer. As much as we defend the character against accusations of homophobia, we have to admit that there is something a little suspect about having Arrosi being killed whilst in a toilet cubical, though.
There is a real sense of tragedy to the entire mystery surrounding the killer, and not just that of suffering at the hands of a merciless father in a miserable childhood. In Argento's previous The Cat O' Nine Tails, the assailant takes great care to create a false set of circumstances to cover his tracks, in this case staging a robbery to get rid of the damning evidence containing his "XYY" genetic makeup, but things aren't so simple in Four Flies on Grey Velvet. This time around, the killer strives for reality and truth - albeit someone else's - for her own purposes, that of carefully keeping Roberto in her life long enough to get revenge on her father though his physical resemblance. Unbeknownst to Roberto, she never was, has been or will be interested in anything about him, that their entire life together was a carefully-controlled convenience and she would never in any way love him, a tragedy almost Greek in its poignancy. Four Flies on Grey Velvet has a much more complex psychological undercurrent than most credit it for.
Four Flies continues a theme often used in Argento's murder mysteries, one which was initiated with Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and expanded upon further in Profondo Rosso, that of blurring the line between genders. For his first outing, it was the question of just which of the sexes was the killer, with the crucial twist firmly answering it. With Four Flies, a perfectly functioning girl goes through Hell for the crime of being female, emotionally twisting her inside and adopting the more base qualities of the male of the species in order to exact a slow-burning revenge. Nina is the perfect example of Anthony Burgess' premise for A Clockwork Orange: someone healthy and wholesome on the outside, crippled and mechanical within. Argento would take it further next time, adding another dose of homosexuality and instances of both cross-dressing and transvestism into the mix.
In some cases, Argento seems to be refining past sequences from his previous two films as if to correct what he seems as "imperfect" filmmaking. In Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Tony Musante found himself helplessly trapped between two glass doors, with the killer making a hasty retreat. Cat O' Nine Tails saw James Franciscus sealed into a mausoleum whilst the culprit scarpered. As though unhappy with the assailant fleeing the scene and the environments not being constrictive enough, Argento created the ultimate version for the final part of his "Animal Trilogy". One of the prime suspects for making Roberto's life a misery finds herself out waiting for her boss to meet her, but finds that she's only there so that a loose end can be tied up. Running for her life, the minion ducks into an alleyway which begins to narrow as she goes further along, mirroring the walls of reality closing in around her. Eventually she is wedged with no way out, as the killer makes their move, and silences the accomplice forever. It's a terrifically disconcerting scene, sure to freak out anyone with even the mildest fear of claustrophobia.
Whilst the above sequence might strengthen Argento's moniker of "The Italian Hitchcock," Four Flies offers an instance where Dario might have trumped The Master's intentions in one particular scene. The killing of Arbogast in Psycho (for our money, the best shock in the movie) had been written in the script that "he hits every step" on his deathly fall down the infamous stairs, but a more elaborate, and some might say "easier" option of having him stumbling was employed. When the character of Dalia is set upon by the killer, the final stab sees her dying body plunge head-first down a flight of stairs, her skull hitting each one on the way down. This is almost a perfect transposition of the words from the Psycho script. Homage, theft or mere coincidence - you be the judge.
There are a number of people out there whom have drawn direct comparisons between some of Argento's seventies movies and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, with Four Flies' theme of a doomed couple trying to sort out their rocky relationship whilst a killer stalks the area. Whist there are probably closer links to Profondo Rosso, the surprisingly daring sex-scene in Four Flies on Grey Velvet almost seems like a template for the "were they really doing it?" screwing sequences in Roeg's later film. The whole thing is rather ironic, as Francine Racette - whom plays hide-the-soap with Michael Brandon - ended up marrying none other than the star of Don't Look Now, Donald Sutherland himself! How many degrees of Kevin Bacon was that!?!
Along with indeterminate gender, another instance of something being carried over into Profondo Rosso was an unfortunate event which transpired on the musical front. Ennio Morricone turned Bird with the Crystal Plumage into an thing of angelic beauty with his terrific score, and helped to paper over a number Cat O' Nine Tails' shortcomings with another superb contribution, but when the celebrated musician turned in his work for their third project together, Argento didn't want to/contractually couldn't use most of his compositions. He originally wanted Pink Floyd to work on the movie, but ended up utilizing some of Morricone's work, with a guitar-based rock filling out the rest. A similar - though more amicable - fusion of two contrasting styles occurred on Profondo Rosso, with Gorgio Gaslini collaborating with Goblin to make one hell of a soundtrack, with the opposing blending perfectly. Four Flies' score is superb, and sure to bring a smile to giallo fans whom haven't caught up with it yet, and we have to say that the only way you'll pick out the polarized styles is by snagging a copy the album. By the way, it was a quarter of a century later that Argento and Morricone worked together again.
An example of just wonderful Morricone's work is comes when God saves Roberto from the murderous intentions of his deranged wife. Nina flees in a car, only to literally lose her head in a crash that was filmed in slow-motion using an experimental scientific camera that shot at such a high frame rate that it had to be cooled whilst in operation. Whilst on a technical level, the results were more than worth the effort involved, as this provides the most beautiful death of an antagonist in cinema history; Nina's eyes widen as she faces her unavoidable demise, as the back of the vehicle starts to plough its way through Nina's car and the windscreen eventually explodes into a million pieces. But when melded with the gorgeous sounds of Morricone's haunting "Come Un Madrigale" it becomes an almost joyously gorgeous work of cinematic art. This poetic motor vehicle death is in stark contrast to the one seen near the end of Argento's next giallo, Profondo Rosso, where the character suspected of being the killer gets his foot caught on the side of a truck, is dragged along the streets and then has his head squashed like a melon under the wheel of another very heavy petrol-driven Behemoth.
For the many coming to the party late, the reason as to why this film is titled Four Flies on Grey Velvet has proven a controversial one; the very notion of being able to extract information from the retina of a dead person was something outlandish and likely to induce a chorus of tutting. The theory had been floating around since the middle of the 19th century and Argento himself was apparently reluctant to use the idea, one which was dreamed up by co-writer Luigi Cozzi, but was sold on the idea after FX-wizard Carlo Rambaldi showed him an example of the effect that could be employed. Though the scientific validity of this theory has long been shrouded in mystery - anyone remember Starcrash? - it's still a great idea for the twist in a giallo, and when the significance of four flies on grey velvet are revealed, it's pretty damn cool.
Whilst the music remains deeply cool in a very funky way, Four Flies on Grey Velvet remains the most dated of Argento's seventies output when it comes to fashion crimes. Those watching born within the last thirty years will find either amusement or bemusement when confronted by large-winged shirt collars, Caucasian afros, huge lapels, droopy moustaches, frilly shirts and numerous other sartorial cul-de-sacs caught on camera. Those born during or before that particular period will merely cringe at such outlandishness. Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Cat O'Nine Tails were fairly neutral in terms of their period clothing (with the latter having slightly more extravagant clothing than the former) and Profondo Rosso's clothing and hair aren't nearly as likely to make viewers lose their lunch. We're happy to say that Four Flies on Grey Velvet still manages to transcend such matters, and you naturally adjust/filter to allow your enjoyment of the movie to be unspoiled by the decade taste forgot, for a movie with a fashion-related title.
In the mid-nineties, we took it upon ourselves to do a bit of investigating as to what happened with this most obscure of Agento's movies, and started gathering notes for an article about it. It probably helps to anchor the exact time when we reveal that the piece started with: "Bollocks to Carmen Sandiego, where on Earth is Four Flies on Grey Velvet". Said notes are lost to time, but it detailed our attempts to find to just why it was so obscure, not to mention at the origin of the famously awful bootleg. We wrote to Paramount in the attempt to chase up if they still owned the rights - this is before the days of merely dispatching an email - and got back a letter so generic in tone it was almost patronising. "Whilst we appreciate that there would be some interest in such a title…" before going on to say that they had no plans to release it. At the other end of legality was the pirate copy, which turned out to be an nth-generation copy from an original obtained by projecting an anamorphically un-squeezed 16mm print at a breeze-block wall and pointing - what seems to be - an original Ferguson video-star camera at it. Clearly this was made by a fan, and we salute his ingenuity.
With quantum leaps in home entertainment technology, it's got to look at whole lot better than we've been used to. So just how does Four Flies on Grey Velvet fair when thrust into the spotlight of high-definition? Let's shine a blue ray through its eye and find out…
For a movie only really seen through hideous bootlegs (aside from the MYA DVD, of course) this new high-definition effort bombards the eyes with a clarity fans had only seen in the wettest of dreams. There is an ocean of detail to be discovered, and opens up an entirely new experience of those with a taste for Italian terror. A perfect demonstration of just how good the resolution can be is how you can see right through the rather flimsy top worn by Mimsy Farmer during the movie, and certainly earns the transfer a couple of points for that display,
The colours are pretty vivid, and we'd hazard a guess that this is fairly close to how it was lensed, given that the period was one of gaudy hues anyway. Our theatrical experience of the film came from a pretty battered 16mm print, so there's no way of directly knowing just how it originally looked. There is a degree of grain, and the image hasn't been scrubbed to within an inch of its life in any kind of Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition way. It isn't as coarsely-textured as Blue Underground's edition of Bird with the Crystal Plumage, but there is certainly detail to be found, with close-ups of faces looking particularly nice. Argento planned the movie to be very dark in hue, designed to viewed in total darkness, and the black-levels are pretty supportive of those intentions, faithful to the stock used by the Italian industry at the time.
If there are any major faults to be found, they would have to be inherent in the HD mastering struck by other hands, but we suspect that every subsequent edition will be all use the same materials, as the creation of another HD master is highly unlikely. There has been much internet chatter about the optional "missing footage" integrated into this release, and it is a bit of a mixed bag and we have to say that whilst they help to smooth out a couple of major jumps, the quality really is pretty poor in comparison. It's likely that Helen Keller would have been able to spot the difference in prints, but it's balanced out by the way it makes the movie more "complete," and to alleviate any doubts you would have in watching it without them, just take a look at the movie minus the new footage. The jumps are horrible, taking you out of the film and plonking you back in your living room more efficiently than a particularly shrill alarm-clock waking you up in the morning. The coda to the running postman gag is ruined, and the crucial piece of information that Dalia is Nina's cousin is completely lost, leaving Four Flies virgins in the dark as to exactly who she is. Other releases won't have the missing material presented any better, so this isn't a deal-breaker.
Shameless have spent a lot of money and effort cleaning up the audio for this release of Argento's lost movie, and all other efforts aren't even in the same race. The MYA DVD had one hell of a problem with the sound, as it seemed to have been taken from a rather questionable PAL source, with no attempt made to correct a severe problem with the pitch. From the samples we heard, it was pretty horrible, and was the primary reason why we stayed away from it - not the mention the missing footage. Such problems are well and truly banished, as this is an absolutely cracking 2.1 DTS HD-MA version of the English audio track, with the pitch corrected, and not riddled with crackles they way the bootleg Retromedia edition was.
This comes from Shameless getting access to the original audio mag, allowing for a rich, dynamic presentation. It really is a revelation, and you'll want to crank up the volume to have the music blow the roof off, and it really is a ton of fun, son - as they used to say in Smokey and the Bandit. It says a lot that one of us turned their amp up to listening-level as the movie was about to start, greeted by the thunderous opening drum-roll, so loud it was met with the words: "JESUS CHRIST!!!" Due to the restoration of some crucial footage the end, there was the same problem with material in Profondo Rosso: it was never dubbed into English, and Shameless provides subtitles for the Italian dialogue when the footage comes up.
The Italian track is a rather nice option, although not as rich as the English version. Accompanied by English subtitles, it allows fans to see Four Flies on Grey Velvet the way it went out in its native land. Makes a change from yet another bloody screening in French, which was saddled with Greek subtitles! If you want the full Italiano experience, then you've certainly got a perfectly good way to watch it. By the way, hats off to Shameless for not just sticking "dub-titles" onto this track, as we get a set of faithful translations with it!
Both English and Italian dubs come with the Dolby Digital 2.0 option, but with the audio sounding significantly thinner and more disconnected, we recommend you make the higher-fidelity soundtracks you listening mode of choice.
The Art of Murder: An Interview with Luigi Cozzi: Regardless of how you feel about his chief contribution to Four Flies, there is no denying that Luigi Cozzi is spilling his memories of the Italian movie scene, conveying them with clarity and a sense of realistic detachment which many other interviewees could learn from.
Naturally, Cozzi takes credit for the "sci-fi" element to Four Flies, and you have to admire just how causal he is about it, as bringing something in a movie which blights it for many people is not to be taken lightly. With his input as strong as it was, it seems funny that he takes time out to label numerous other elements of the film "absurd," along with using other disparaging words. This is the guy whom came up with the eye gag for it…
Sergio Martino comes along to point out that a murder in his stand-out giallo The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, but Cozzi is adamant that neither he nor Argento had seen that particular film. As a matter of fact, Dario claims to have never seen any of the gialli produced in the wake of his movies, even going so far as to say that il Maestro hates them, but when clips of both Four Flies and Martino's work are played side-by-side, the similarities are unmistakeable. He clearly doth protest too much. Other cinematic and literary "influences" are discussed, but none seem as blatant.
It caught our attention that the reason why the violence is noticeably stronger than Argento's previous movies is because only old films were played in TV in Italy, and ones with stronger content would stand no chance of getting screen anyway, so Dario decided to really push the boundaries on it, with residuals out the equation. To that end, Cozzi also explains that the death scenes were written first, and the rest of the story constructed around them, and that the final product flows well without such a fact being screamingly obvious, shows they did it well.
Anyone with a feel for cinematography will be intrigued by Cozzi discussing the look of the movie, that of a darkness which is embedded in the very celluloid of Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Once again, this came about due to there being no chance of a TV screening, and dark visuals really don't carry over to the cathode ray tube very well at all. This allowed the freedom to use great swathes of blackness during the film, keeping characters in the dark visually as well as psychologically. Cozzi claims that only raw celluloid can properly show the black-levels correctly, and that even DVD can't do so. Blu-ray might have something to say about this, though…
The blessing and considerable curses of using the ultra-high speed cameras for key sequences are addressed, with considerable detail provided in just how much of a pain in the arse they were to work with. Expensive re-takes, irate members of the Argento family, replacement cars needed, underpowered frame-rates - you name it, they are here. With the Shameless Blu-ray release, talk of the visible line produced by the film going through the camera is rendered moot, as this terrific edition has gone to the trouble of removing it, so that nothing spoils the inherent beauty of the images Dario created. A note at the end of the documentary informs the unwary that the line has been digitally erased, FYI.
The signing of Bud Spencer is covered, and is particularly interesting. One of the most sought-after actor in Italy at the time, Spencer wanted a change from the westerns he was internationally known for, but he was an expensive proposition. A friend of Dario's, he agreed to do the movie for expenses only as a favour to the director, on the proviso that his name not be aggressively used to promote the movie.
Casting, music problems, locations - they are all here, and it might well be that Argento himself wouldn't have added a great deal more to the proceedings, as Cozzi covers things pretty thoroughly, even though there are times when his tone might rankle those waiting to see a decent copy of the movie, or even watching it for the first time. This is a damn good companion-piece to the movie, and is definitely worth forty minutes of your time, but beware spoilers!
Trailer: Sadly, this isn't either the American teaser, nor the US trailer found on many Arrow releases, but one which Shameless have put together themselves. It's a coming-attraction put together by enthusiasts bent on making the movie look as attractive as possible to a modern audience, and pretty good it is, too.
Italian Trailer: Now this is almost legendary - it's so funky and loaded with utter weirdness that it almost feels as though it is trying to drill into your skull, utilizing way-out imagery rather than a surgical drill. Like the trailers for the previous two entries in the "Animal Trilogy" it uses specially-shot footage intended to grab the attention though psychedelic imagery, and we defy anyone to watch it and not feel as though they have just watched the Grateful Dead in concert. A very welcome time-capsule.
English Language Credits: For the sake of completion, these are presented for your viewing pleasure. Taken from a rather ropey print, but interspersed between clips from the HD materials, you get to see how English-speaking audiences were introduced to the movie, and our favourite is the appearance of "You have just seen Four Flies on Grey Velvet" at the start of the end titles. A nice inclusion for all of us whom got those crappy bootlegs over the years.
Photo Gallery: Now this is so very, very cool. This covers absolutely everything on the publicity-side of Four Flies on Grey Velvet, containing a couple of sets of lobby stills, numerous theatrical posters, extensive production photos, a Spanish press book with the movie presented in panel/caption form, and everything in between. Our favourite is the exploitation notes given out to theatres by Paramount with suggestions for promoting the movie, the main one being to sponsor a rock group in conjunction with screenings of Four Flies. Yep, the blurb says that rock and roll is still thriving, and urges theatre managers to take advantage with this and get local bands in the press to help put arses on seats. It's absurd, and utterly fascinating. This is one of the best photo galleries we have seen as reviewers and fans of higher formats.
There will be many who will watch Four Flies on Grey Velvet and wonder what all the fuss was about. These people are called "plebeians". They are will have been weaned on modern thrillers, with lightning-fast editing, stunt-casting and post-ironic humour so as to make them more palatable, with anything released prior to the advent of DVD lost on them anyway. To the rest of us, the wait is finally over, and the full beauty of Argento's "lost" giallo can be seen in a way which the faithful could never have imagined. What with it being 2012 and the release of one of the most cherished of unreleased Italian horror genre, the outlook for mankind in somewhat bleak. The Four Flies of the Apocalypse are upon us. It's the end of the world as we know it, but finally watching Argento's most unloved thriller on Blu-ray, we feel fine.
Viva Argento.
Viva Shameless.
* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray release but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.
Review by Wilson Bros
hogaburger Contributor Join Date: April 2007 Location: United States Posts: 1,153
Marvelously thorough review, even if I did skip the feature section for now.
I didn't even know this was coming out. I'll probably have to import it as I recently did with Tenebrae and Suspiria. Now if I can just find The Bird With the Crystal Plumage in the correct aspect ratio for less than $100, I'll be in business.
I didn't even know this was coming out. I'll probably have to import it as I recently did with Tenebrae and Suspiria. Now if I can just find The Bird With the Crystal Plumage in the correct aspect ratio for less than $100, I'll be in business.
Gabe Powers Editor Join Date: September 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4,721
Making me second guess this one guys. I can't wait to import this one myself.
Wilson Bros Reviewer Join Date: August 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,183
Thanks to you both! This release really IS something to get excited about.
Who'd have thought that out of all of Argento's films, Four Flies would be released on Blu-ray ahead of Opera?
Kevin & Nick W
Who'd have thought that out of all of Argento's films, Four Flies would be released on Blu-ray ahead of Opera?
Kevin & Nick W
toonloon Member Join Date: December 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 241
"For the many coming to the party late..." you got my number!
I've waited weeks to read this review as I took very seriously and thank you profundly (pun intended) the spoiler warning.
I hadn't seen this but I always enjoy your reviews and was looking forwards to this one. I even peaked in twice but quickly backed off while I waited for my BD to arrive.
It's a great addition to my Arrow Argento's, although it would have been nice if Arrow had released this. Having said that, this product is more conistant than a lot of Arrow releases and I enjoyed it very much.
As I did reading this review.
I've waited weeks to read this review as I took very seriously and thank you profundly (pun intended) the spoiler warning.
I hadn't seen this but I always enjoy your reviews and was looking forwards to this one. I even peaked in twice but quickly backed off while I waited for my BD to arrive.
It's a great addition to my Arrow Argento's, although it would have been nice if Arrow had released this. Having said that, this product is more conistant than a lot of Arrow releases and I enjoyed it very much.
As I did reading this review.
Wilson Bros Reviewer Join Date: August 2004 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,183
Thanks for the terribly kind words, toonloon.
Please excuse the dip into nostalgia and how we came to see the film, but we think that it helps to put things in context when we're reviewing something we love. We like to think that we don't venture into Harry Knowles-like self-indulgence and self-congratulatory backslapping!
It was a bit of a headscratching as to why this was put out on the Shameless label, rather than being released on Arrow, but we guess they have their reasons.
All the best!
Kevin & Nick W
Please excuse the dip into nostalgia and how we came to see the film, but we think that it helps to put things in context when we're reviewing something we love. We like to think that we don't venture into Harry Knowles-like self-indulgence and self-congratulatory backslapping!
It was a bit of a headscratching as to why this was put out on the Shameless label, rather than being released on Arrow, but we guess they have their reasons.
All the best!
Kevin & Nick W
Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over
Disc Details
Release Date: 30th January 2012
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.35:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: English DTS HD-MA 2.1, Italian DTS HD-MA 2.0, English Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English
Extras: Introduction by Luigi Cozzi, Interview with Luigi Cozzi, Alternate opening and closing credits, Trailers, Shameless trailer park
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Bud Spencer
Genre: Thriller
Length: 100 minutes
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House of the Week: Waterfront in the Adirondacks
A waterfront property in the Adirondacks with views of Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain and contemporary big sky Montana stunner with a soapstone fireplace. WSJ'S Stefanos Chen joins Lunch Break with a look at this week's House of the Week contenders, and to unveil the big winner. Photo: Margie Philo.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... I ... we are back but that it wants Peckham Wendy downs it is time for House of the week you voted ... you decided somebody wants to the standards and tell you the way as I said this and ... I you bringing ... your real beside me is the winner of the Act and the winner is ... set to write ... about this person we need to look at Sands point ... out with that seems like Maryland that is in that the male while in ... China and yet it's an eight bedroom home actually with swords can she write this it was ... the home of suffered its ... name was Harry Redford and leave off ... a very prominent for time and was a philanthropist and the owners currently have that to me that this nine thousand square foot home ... on the renovated a lot of work into it ... and that is ... currently on the market for four point five mile ... four point five million are a beautiful BancAnalysts reiterates as planned long Island nominal along one of my head down south I and I wanna move on to the screen and with a very colorful past he said this isn't a great home in the borough of Pennington in New Jersey another historic Comet's Queen Anne style with that creepy ... creature ... bouts of original features and one cool thing about this home with the owners Discovery Walgreen stitching it was that back in nineteen oh three ... you do is actually a new story that the previous owner Colonel Kunkel was an ... owner ... I was accosted by a must read on the property any actually got to see reflect the mosque that one ... well through a couple I think is that military strikes held us to adapt to new data ... that ... every house needs a good story examiners one story from there ... I end up one point one five million yes I Talisman every big sky country this is where my my heart goes in not even knowing much about ... without the home of really the last year was a pure sacrifice form for function ... it's a custom built home ... the owner built it so that they're plain Windows to get the great views of mountains ... aam and of but but being a month and if you knew that there's plenty of someone so common and because of the elevation there ... been given a cookout madhouse Kapiti bay window that so there are a ton of smaller narrow windows instead so that you get plenty of natural agnostic accused of having their home countries color did so again very odd very content bring out a soap stone fireplace and there I mean that's sometimes one of the best things to like retain heat on the fire I have an online and it just a little keyed up and I might just cast on which to go cold overnight ... sentences radiates as the yen weakened as basically been tremendously and is down there and keep it Shlomo the ninth straight and reduce its flesh is this initiative ... but that the price on that one is two point five million ... yes okay what's the revenue was two point five hrs with options more going auction tomorrow alright advertising site and that I'm that kind she calmly that's it that this is ... a home that it's got a bunch of great waterfront is just about over two and fifty feet on the water in Lake placid ... as in Korea and Iran that feel to it ... their extensive use of the water ... there's one of them the Scarlets is is this huge deck that is right on the water is that the family spent some time up there ... there's a guesthouse there's an old house so we you can you can keep your boats and plenty of plot activities on the property is well ... and that's just under five million dollars a lot of I it's a lot of waterfront property to ... therefore this yet it's very nice on and they had a sunny renovation alright just under five million are ... I want the Montana home by dawn of the one and tell you is a very close one actually came down to the Adirondack style home and the winner ultimately was clean and green and in Shanghai Sept missed and more


text:
Windows Process Director is a rogue anti-spyware program from the Rogue.FakeVimes family. This program is classified as a rogue as it displays false information in order to trick you into purchasing the program. This particular variant is spread via two methods. The first method is the use of hacked web sites that exploit visitor's vulnerable programs in order to install the rogue without their permission. The second method uses web sites that display fake online anti-malware scanners that pretend to scan your computer, state that it is infected, and then prompt you to download and install Windows Process Director in order to clean it.
Once the rogue is installed on your computer it will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once started it will perform a fake scan and then state that there are numerous infections present. If you attempt to use the program to remove these infections, though, it will state that you first need to purchase it before it can do so. This is a scam as the scan results are all fake, and in many cases, the infected files do not even exist on your computer. Therefore, please ignore the scan results and do not purchase the program.
While the rogue is running it will also hijack many of the infected computer's functions. For example, when you attempt to run an executable it will terminate it automatically. Furthermore, Windows Process Director will hijack the Windows Task Manager and Registry editor so that when you launch them, it will instead open the rogue's Advanced Process Control screen, which acts like a task manager. This allows the rogue to take full control of your computer until you pay the "ransom".
Last, but not least, this infection will also display fake security warnings that are designed to make you think that your computer has a severe computer security problem. These warnings may state that your computer is downloading copyrighted material, has viruses, or is sending out spam email.
Firewall has blocked a program from accessing the Internet
C:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe
is suspected to have infected your PC. This type of virus intercepts entered data and transmits them to a remote server.
Attempt to modify registry key entries detected. Registry entry analysis is recommended.
Warning! Identity theft attempt Detected
Hidden connection IP: 22.214.171.124
Target: Your passwords for sites
Just like the scan results, all of these security alerts are fake and should be ignored.
As you can see, Windows Process Director is a scam that was created to trick you into thinking your computer was severely infected so that you will then purchase it. For no reason should you purchase this program, and if you have, you should contact your credit card company and dispute the charge stating that the program is a scam and a computer virus. To remove Windows Process Director and related malware, please follow the steps in the removal guide below.
Windows Process Director Removal Options
Self Help Guide
If you are uncomfortable making changes to your computer or following these steps, do not worry! Instead you can get free one-on-one help by asking in the forums.
- Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is
open later in the fix.
- It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow
you to download files on the infected computer. If you run into this problem
when following the steps in this guide you will need to download the files
requested in this guide on another computer and then transfer them to the
infected computer. You can transfer the files via a CD/DVD, external drive,
or USB flash drive.
- Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking using
the instructions for your version of Windows found in the following tutorial:
How to start Windows in Safe ModeWhen following the steps in the above tutorial, select Safe Mode with Networking rather than just Safe Mode. When the computer reboots into Safe Mode with Networking make sure you login with the username you normally use. When you are at your Windows desktop, please continue with the rest of the steps.
- This infection changes your Windows settings to use a proxy server that
will not allow you to browse any pages on the Internet with Internet Explorer
or update security software. Regardless of the web browser you use, for these
instructions we will first need need to fix this problem so that we can download
the utilities we need to remove this infection.
Please start Internet Explorer, and when the program is open, click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options as shown in the image below.
- You should now be in the Internet Options screen as shown in the image below.
Now click on the Connections tab as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Connections tab as shown by the image below.
Now click on the Lan Settings button as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Local Area Network (LAN) settings screen as shown
by the image below.
Under the Proxy Server section, please uncheck the checkbox labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN. Then press the OK button to close this screen. Then press the OK button to close the Internet Options screen. Now that you have disabled the proxy server you will be able to browse the web again with Internet Explorer.
- Now we must end the processes that belong to
Windows Process Director
so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please
download RKill to your desktop from the following link.
RKill Download Link - (Download page will open in a new tab or browser window.)
When at the download page, click on the Download Now button labeled iExplore.exe download link. When you are prompted where to save it, please save it on your desktop.
If you are unable to connect to the site to download RKill, please go back and do steps 3-6 again and make sure the infection has not reenabled the proxy settings. You may have to do this quite a few times before you can get RKill downloaded. If you still cannot download the RKill program on the infected computer, you should download it to a clean computer and copy it to the infected one via a USB flash drive or CDROM.
- Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe
icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with
Windows Process Director
and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various
malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will
automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a
message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just
a fake warning given by
Windows Process Director
when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into
these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning
on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically
will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that RKill
can terminate
Windows Process Director
. So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You
will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot
your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.
If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the other renamed versions of RKill from the RKill download page. Both of these files are renamed copies of RKill, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new browser window or tab.
- At this point you should download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, or MBAM, to scan your computer for any any infections or adware that may be present. Please download Malwarebytes from the following
location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in a new window)
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including
this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mb3-setup-1878.1878-126.96.36.1999.exe.
This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue
with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings
and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave Launch
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button. If MalwareBytes prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
- MBAM will now start and you will be at the main screen as shown below.
Please click on the Scan Now button to start the scan. If there is an update available for Malwarebytes it will automatically download and install it before performing the scan.
- MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can
take quite a while, so we suggest you do something else and periodically
check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
- When MBAM is finished scanning it will display a screen that displays any malware that it has detected. Please note that the infections found may be different
than what is shown in the image below due to the guide being updated for newer versions of MBAM.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the seleted malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
- As this infection also changes your Windows HOSTS file, we want to replace
this file with the default version for your operating system. Please note
that if you or your company has added custom entries to your HOSTS file then
you will need to add them again after restoring the default HOSTS file. In
order to protect itself,
Windows Process Director
changes the permissions of the HOSTS file so you can't edit or delete
it. To fix these permissions please download the following batch file and
save it to your desktop:
hosts-perm.bat Download LinkWhen the file has finished downloading, double-click on the hosts-perm.bat file that is now on your desktop. If Windows asks if you if you are sure you want to run it, please allow it to run. Once it starts you will see a small black window that opens and then quickly goes away. This is normal and is nothing to be worried about. You should now be able to access your HOSTS file.
- We now need to delete the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\HOSTS
file. Once it is deleted, download the following HOSTS file that corresponds
to your version of Windows and save it in the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
folder. If the contents of the HOSTS file opens in your browser when you click
on a link below then right-click on the appropriate link and select Save
Target As..., if in Internet Explorer, or Save Link As..,
if in Firefox, to download the file.
Windows XP HOSTS File Download LinkYour Windows HOSTS file should now be back to the default one from when Windows was first installed.
Windows Vista HOSTS File Download Link
Windows 2003 Server HOSTS File Download Link
Windows 2008 Server HOSTS File Download Link
Windows 7 HOSTS File Download Link
- Now reboot your computer.
- As many rogues and other malware are installed through vulnerabilities found
in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use
Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer. A tutorial on
how to use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs can be found here:
How to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs using Secunia Personal Software Inspector
Your computer should now be free of the Windows Process Director program. You may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future, as if you had the real-time protection component, that comes with the paid for version, activated it would not have allowed this infection to install.


text:
Earlier this month four of our esteemed jurors gathered to deliberate over the WAN Urban Regeneration Award Completed entries, and the question at the forefront of everyone's mind was what makes a good urban regeneration scheme. As described by Martyn Evans, Creative Director of Cathedral Group and member of the Completed Projects jury panel, this year we were looking for projects where 'the regeneration was more than making what was unattractive and ugly a good place to be, but how that then inspires how people live and interact with the city'.
From this the 'Completed' panel had the task of narrowing down the longlist to six. A list of submissions from all around the globe each with their own spin on urban regeneration, whether it was transformation of a waterfront and bringing back wasteland to the people, or redeveloping urban squares creating a socio-economic change within the heart of a large city.
To Jonathan Kendall, Head of Urban Design at Fletcher Priest Architects, 'regeneration is when the state or developer doesn't act normally'. As well as looking at the overall design and innovation within the project it was apparent that each successful project that made it into the coveted shortlist came from clients, or sometimes the state, who did not act effectively.
Perhaps one of the most challenging was the Guthrie Green Park, Tulsa by SWA Group, where the client invested millions into the project, ultimately championing a green scheme. "What's really interesting are the geothermal piles; how it actually supplies a non-profit organisation. You think about public spaces and how difficult it is in the UK to provide them and underneath (that park) is a mechanism to provide energy," mused Kent Jackson, Design Director of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Other shortlisted schemes favoured projects which were economic and social drivers; Burns & Nice 'transformed' Leicester Square and Donald Insall's 'spectacular' Quadrant 3, strove to redefine one of London's biggest tourist destinations despite their 'grim' appearances. Whilst these projects arguably would always succeed, Jonathan Kendall felt they were 'good pieces of architecture with an urban implication' with Morten Schmidt of schmidt hammer lassen architects agreeing that they were an example of the 'state doing something to really change the behaviour of the people.'
However, it was not just projects with long term economic goals which caught the jurors' attention. 'I want to know that these clever things that do a really specific job can transform the economy of the area of the city, change it; make people want to live there,' considered Evans of Turenscape's Houtan Park, Shanghai. The scheme was commended for its excellent green credentials; using a constructed wetland to cleanse and purify the Huangpu River. It was the architect's focus and drive to create something not purely for leisure but to affect long term change that made it an excellent regeneration scheme.
Similar attributes were also found in Burgos & Gurrido's M30 (Manzanares Lineal Park) and Taylor Cullity Lethlean with Wraight + Associates' North Wharf Promenade, Jellicoe Street and Silo Park schemes which in Schmidt's mind 'really regenerated pedestrian activity to something which is as vibrant as the activity before', the sign of truly successful urban regeneration projects.
In the next-door room, Alan Thompson, Head of Design Review for CABE, Biljana Savic, Urban Programme Manager at The Prince's Foundation for Building Community and Richard Brown, Director at Keith Williams Architects came together to discuss twenty-five longlisted schemes for the Urban Regeneration Unbuilt category.
Crucial to our panel was finding a good cross-section of projects for the final shortlist of six. The jury's shortlist demonstrates a range of geographical locations and approaches to urban regeneration, with a collection of ambitious schemes that make a vital impact at various scales.
The first to make it to the shortlist was BHI Architects' Changxing Green Urban Community, an impressive agricultural project in China which maps out a 60 sq km eco-city which Thompson termed 'truly unique and visionary', a statement echoed by the rest of the jury.
At the opposite end of the scale was the University of Arkansas Community Design + Marlon Blackwell Architect's Creative Corridor, A Main Street Revitalisation for Little Rock in Arkansas which looks to regenerate a four-block section of the 193,000-strong city. The approach taken by this team is one that the jury panel saw a number of times during the session - taking a portion of a city and rejuvenating it through the creative industries. This particular example stood out for its achievability and human scale, Brown musing that it is 'a hugely do-able and practical project which would make a huge difference' to the people of Arkansas.
It wasn't only scale that varied over the six shortlisted schemes but approach. While BHI Architect's project looks at a slice of land and suggests a transformation through agriculture and the Arkansas project looks to the creative industries to regenerate a city, Gustafson Porter LLP's Valencia Parque Central was selected for its integration of leisure, environmental strategies, sports and 'urban celebrations'. A truly multifunctional space, the 21st-century park project was applauded for its finer details as well as wider masterplan with Thompson concluding: "I particularly like the reference to usability at night with the lighting in order to keep it safe."
Not quite making the final shortlist but deemed deserving of a Special Mention is Studio Egret West's The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, UK. Whilst the jury were impressed at Studio Egret West's handling of the brief and intention to keep a large proportion of the existing buildings intact, it was felt that the site was too cut off from its surrounding neighbourhood and isolated from the community. As such, it has been awarded a Special Mention.
All projects marked 'ECO' have been longlisted for the ECOWAN Award.
By Jade Pollard and Sian Disson
Urban Regeneration - Completed
Guthrie Green Urban Park, Tulsa, United States - SWA Group (ECO)
Martyn Evans:
- The programming of it is as high-profile in the submission as in the geothermal design making it come alive
Morten Schmidt:
- We all know these American Centres, an attempt to do something different
Kent Jackson:
- What's really interesting as well is that geothermal - how it actually supplies a non-profit organisation - you think about the public spaces and how difficult it is in the UK to provide it, and underneath all of this is a mechanism to provide for non-profit organisation
M30 (Manzanares Lineal Park), Madrid, Spain - Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos
Martyn Evans:
- Regeneration of a place is more than making what was unattractive and ugly a good place to be, but how that then inspires how people live and interact with the city
Kent Jackson:
- Stitching together the neighbourhood
Houtan Park, Shanghai, China - Turenscape (ECO)
Martyn Evans:
- Nice, clever
- It's not just a pretty park; I think these clever things that do a really special job also transform the economy of the area of the city, change it. It makes people want to live here
Jonathan Kendall:
- A worthy project
Leicester Square Redesign, London, United Kingdom - Burns + Nice
Martyn Evans:
- It is a real transformation
Morten Schmidt:
- It's not only old and young people gathering there, it's groups and people who can sit - It is the glue that's trying to stitch this place together; modest as a bench but it's the bench that opens it up
Quadrant 3, London, United Kingdom - Donald Insall Associates
Martyn Evans:
- Spectacular - Thumping great building in a not very pretty place…it was grim around there and now it's not
North Wharf Promenade, Jellicoe Street and Silo Park, Auckland, New Zealand - Taylor Cullity Lethlean with Wraight + Associates
Kent Jackson:
- Keeping with the industrial language
Morten Schmidt:
- Seamless connection and use of old and retaining structure - What is interesting in this one, I presume there are some old industrial buildings that they will use so it is more than just leisure; they are workspaces which I find interesting when they integrate these things. Some of these park projects it's just leisure, places where you really regenerate the activity - something which is as vibrant as the activity before was
Special Mention
Westminster Pier Park, New Westminster, Canada - PWL Partnership Landscape Architects (ECO)
Martyn Evans:
- It's come a hell of a long way
Kent Jackson:
- in terms of sustainability it is excellent, extremely commendable
Urban Regeneration - Unbuilt
Changxing Green Urban Community, Changxing, China - BHI Architects (ECO)
Richard Brown:
- A reinvention of agricultural architecture
Alan Thompson:
- Is this proposed as a bottom up solution to urban design?
- This project is truly unique and visionary, but one wonders if it is a bit 'too dreamy' and therefore unlikely to be realised
Biljana Savic:
- Great depth of vision in China, where anything is possible. But is it urban regeneration, or urban design?
Atlantic City Tourism District Master Plan, Atlantic City, United States - The Jerde Partnership
Alan Thompson:
- A very sensitive solution to a city that desperately needs regeneration. Combines the essence of Atlantic city with a much more user friendly option
The H+ Project, Helsingborg, Sweden - Erik Giudice Architects
Biljana Savic:
- A very innovative solution to urban regeneration
- Master planning in essence. The architecture is a little far-fetched, and probably undeliverable, but the innovation and inclusiveness is very encouraging
Richard Brown:
- Creating a social atmosphere, encouraging residents integration
Newtown Creek Concept Master Plan, New York, United States - Perkins+Will (ECO)
Alan Thompson:
- A project that envisages 'healing the edges of the city'. A definite contender for the ECOWAN award, particularly because of its vision
Biljana Savic:
- This entry is only held back by the lack of detail in the planning
Richard Brown:
- This project would unite the two districts of Brooklyn and Queens, and would be regeneration in a very positive sense
The Creative Corridor A Main Street Revitalization for Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, United States - University of Arkansas Community Design + Marlon Blackwell Architect
Alan Thompson:
- A very positive project which would change the everyday existence of people's lives in the area
Richard Brown:
- A hugely do-able and practical project which would make a huge difference
Valencia Parque Central, Valencia, Spain - Gustafson Porter LLP
Alan Thompson:
- A really delightful project, that whilst may be better suited to a landscaping competition would have a huge impact on the city. I particularly like the reference to usability at night, with the lighting, in order to keep it safe
Richard Brown:
- This project would have a hugely beneficial impact of the lives of its users
Special Mention
The Old Vinyl Factory, Hayes, United Kingdom - Studio Egret West
- A better solution than project number four (also Studio Egret West) as it seems to integrate existing buildings, and inclusive of the industrial history of the site


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A Grand Tour of Scottish Fiddling, Part 1: Aonghas Grant of the West Highlands
Nov 14, 2011
Charles Horner: Fiddle Maker of the Cumberland Plateau
Nov 12, 2011
New Brunswick's Eddie Poirier: At Home on the Strings
Aug 22, 2011
A Son's Tribute to Fiddlin' Paul Warren
Aug 21, 2011
Hold On! A Look at Bow Holds in Traditional Fiddling
Aug 20, 2011
[Ed Note: Check out a couple of video clips of Roger at the bottom of this page. Thanks to Roger for sharing!]
Roger Cooper is a link to the past for what he calls "Big Sandy River" style fiddling. He says, "I've never heard anybody else call it that. But to me, the fiddling and tunes through this area of eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and southwest West Virginia have a common style and sound." Roger learned from his old friends and mentors who comprise a list of who's who of the area's old time fiddlers. His relationships with Buddy Thomas, Bob Prater, Morris Allen, Jimmy Wheeler, and George Hawkins make him a primary resource for the region's rich fiddle tradition.
Roger's musical life and fiddling have been well-documented on his recordings: Going Back to Old Kentucky and Essence of Old Kentucky on Rounder Records. It is apparent, after reading the liner notes, he is more comfortable shifting attention from himself to the old fiddlers who were his friends and mentors. Joe Dobbs, retired radio host of Music from the Mountains, comments, "Roger truly loved Buddy Thomas and those old people. He didn't necessarily have an interest in the cultural significance because they were his friends and neighbors. He loved being around them and playing those old tunes they had kept alive in spite of the growth of commercial music."
One of the defining characteristics of Roger's fiddling is the rhythmic pulse of his bowing. Flatpicking guitar champion Robin Kessinger agrees. "I've played guitar a lot behind Roger over the years. His fiddling is precise and clear and his timing is impeccable. But the thing I've learned most from playing with him is rhythm. I don't mean timing, but the pulsating rhythm he puts in a tune." Roger considers this hard-driving dance rhythm and pulse the most important element in old time fiddling. He likens the strong beat to a fly wheel on an engine which must have enough initial spin to set itself in motion, which he regulates with bow speed. Though he considers himself a down bow fiddler, his frequent use of shuffle bowing is often disguised by his equal emphasis on the up bow. He developed this by backward bowing (leading with an up bow) tunes like "Martha Campbell," stating that many old-timers, like George Hawkins, took pride they could bow either way.
Roger also notes he puts a lot of pressure on the bow. "I like to get everything out of a fiddle I can. I remember J. P. Fraley had bought a Hayslett fiddle [Harold Hayslett is a renowned violin maker from Charleston, West Virginia]. We were jamming and I kept eying that fiddle thinking, 'I wonder what that fiddle's really got?' because J.P. played pretty light, never very hard. So I said, 'J.P., let me play that fiddle.' Then I really tore into it. I tried to get everything I could out of it. Finally J.P. squawked, 'Give me that fiddle back. You're goin' to play the guts out of it!' J.P. was real mild mannered and easy going but he really got excited." [laughs]
Another ingredient to Roger's fiddling is his ease at improvising and creating melodic variations. "I think of the basic tune as the skeleton. After you learn the basic skeleton there are a lot of different ways you can approach it. The good fiddlers around here put their twist on it." He comments that though there was some isolation (geographically), the river trade and travel brought musical influences from a lot of different places, making old time fiddling along the Ohio River Valley different from the coal fields or isolated mountain areas.
Although Roger's hard-driving style and melodic variations were influenced by his mentors, his fiddling is distinctly Roger Cooper. To Roger, individual style is one of the ingredients that make old time fiddling a living tradition. "It's fine to learn to play a tune just like Buddy Thomas or someone else, but as you become a better fiddler your personality needs to come out. That's your individual style. Otherwise you're just copycattin'."
Roger is also active in teaching the tunes and fiddle style he learned from his mentors to a new generation of interested fiddlers. He is a master artist teaching through the Kentucky Arts Councils' Folk Arts Apprenticeship program and teaches each summer at the Cowen Creek Mountain Music School in Whitesburg, Kentucky. He has also produced a learning DVD, entitled Splitting Hairs. "The only way to keep these tunes and style alive is to teach it to young people," he says. "They're the future of this music."…
Roger's recordings, Going Back to Old Kentucky and Essence of Old Kentucky, are available from Rounder Records as downloads; a physical CD of Essence of Old Kentucky is now available from Musical Traditions Records (www.mtrecords.co.uk). The liner notes go into detail about his mentors, the regional style and tune backgrounds. His learning DVD, Splitting Hairs, is available from the Jesse Stuart Foundation in Ashland, Kentucky (jsfbooks.com) along with free downloadable transcriptions to six of his local tunes.
[For the rest of this article, as well as a transcription of "Susan's Gone" as played by Roger, purchase the Spring 2011 issue.]
[L. Scott Miller is a freelance musician, writer and educator. He is the 2010 Grand Master's Traditional Fiddle Champion and is passionate about the fiddling from his native Ohio River Valley.]


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Burger "joints" seem to be the fastest growing eateries in Rhode Island. And I'm not talking fast-food burger joints.
LUXE came along with one of the earlier upscale establishments, complete with white tablecloths and valet parking. We now have Red Robin in Warwick Mall, where the wait on weekends can be nearly an hour long. Restaurants like Twin Oaks and Ted's in Cranston serve gourmet burgers.
And now we have BBC, or Better Burger Company, at 215-217 Thayer St., a block from the Avon Theatre, where you can order a burger that is antibiotics and growth hormone free and from a cow that is organic and grass-fed.
BBC broils their burgers over an open fire with olive oil on artisan buns. What more could you ask for?
The classic burgers, with lettuce, tomato and their homemade ketchup come in three sizes: 5.3 oz ($4.49), 8 0z. ($5.99) and 10 oz. ($6.99). They have seven Specialty Burgers at $5.49, $6.99 and $7.99.
We tried the 8 oz. (plenty large enough) Blue Moon and loved it. Joyce ordered hers rare, and that's the way it came. Mine was a perfectly cooked medium rare. Toppings included crumbled blue cheese, mushrooms and fried onion rings, in addition to the lettuce and tomato, and made the sandwich a challenge to get around…but oh so tasty.
You can get free extra toppings of their special BBC spicy aioli, onions cooked raw, fried or caramelized, jalapenos, roasted peppers, and a variety of other sauces.
We went back to try their Gyro Burger, with lamb-beef gyro, tzatziki (great sauce), tomato and onion, and the Ivy League Burger with Swiss, mushrooms and caramelized onions (Joyce), which were also great.
I stole a few of a friend's sweet potato fries, which were better than the Greek fries, with feta cheese and oregano thrown over them ($2.95).
They also serve "wholesome" burgers made out of salmon, turkey, falafel, black beans, or veggies, plus other sandwiches and wraps, including chicken, tuna and turkey.
The fries include sweet potato, cheddar, chili and Greek fries, with oregano and feta cheese ($2.95). The Greek fries were the only disappointment. We couldn't taste the oregano and the feta fell to the bottom of the dish.
BBC also has a full breakfast menu and a beer and wine license.
A rarity on Thayer St. is free parking, although there isn't a lot of it. Check them out at www.betterburgercompany.com.