text:
Read This:
Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business and More
by Entrepreneur Press and George Sheldon|
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12. ELECTRONICS REPAIRHas expansion possibilities
This business is similar to the computer repair business, but you will take on all sorts of electronic equipment besides just computers. With smaller electronics, you will need to be prepared to have customers bring their repair projects to you, as you would have difficulty recovering the cost of driving around picking up broken equipment and returning it. You may also want to encourage people to give you their old electronics so you can use them for parts.
13. EVENT PLANNINGHas expansion possibilities
One of the first things you need to do is visit every potential event location with which you plan to work. Work with the marketing manager to tour each site and learn what is available at each location. Start a database that will allow you to sort venues by varying features--the number of people each site holds, if there is AV equipment available on site, will you need to arrange for rental chairs, etc. Then when you are beginning to plan an event with a client, you can find out what the key parameters are for the event and easily pull up the three or four sites that meet the basic criteria. and engagement parties, etc.
Read This:
Start Your Own Event Planning Business
by The Staff at Entrepreneur Media and Cheryl Kimball |
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| Barnes Noble
14. EXPERT WITNESS SERVICEExperience, training or licensing may be needed
One way to make money in this field is by being an expert witness yourself. If you have an expertise that could be useful in legal cases, you can market yourself to attorneys to act as an expert witness. Another way to be active in the expert witness field is to play a sort of matchmaker, matching attorneys up with expert witnesses for their cases--either for the defense or for the prosecution. Expert witnesses for big money cases can be expected to fly anywhere to testify. There's no reason your database of witnesses can't be from all parts of the country.
Republicans and Democrats alike are supporting President Trump's acceptance of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's resignation on Thursday.
The big picture:
Pruitt was
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, yet through it all President Trump stood by him publicly, saying in April that "Scott is Sunglasses Soft Colours grey female Gerry Weber vsENA
" despite being " TOTALLY under siege ." Pruitt ACCESSORIES Hats Colmar ACd13G5q
to "unrelenting attacks on me personally," saying they "are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us."
Finally. Actually he did a horrible job. He was a disaster and an embarrassment from day one, and the country is far better off without him.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY): Senator Bernie Sander s (D-VT): Sen. John Barasso (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Sen. Aalto squareframe sunglasses Retro Superfuture 1HsvdznU1k
One down with the resignation of , dozens more to go until we've drained the swamp of the Trump Admin's toxic culture and corruption.Former Director of the U.S. Office Government of Ethics, Walter Shaub:
Good riddance to a locust named Scott Pruitt. Sadly for those of you in Congress who enabled his rampage by abdicating your duty, this departure closes the door on your opportunity for redemption. You've set a new bar for government ethics, and we'd need shovels to fall below it.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW):
You may not be able to hear the litany of names the barista calls you, but you notice her slam the cash register drawer.
Everyday mind reading is based on inference: What is this person most likely thinking and feeling right now? People are good at this, and the more we know about another person, the better we are at it, Ickes shows.
In collaboration with colleagues and graduate students at his university, Ickes put pairs of unwitting strangers in empty waiting rooms for six minutes and videotaped their interactions. Each subject was then asked to watch the video, noting what he or she was thinking throughout the experience, as well as guessing what the other person was thinking. Then Ickes compared the accounts.
Some missed completely, like this pair:
He said: I was thinking that I needed to shave.
She inferred: He was feeling tension because there was no conversation between us.
And there were those who read their partners perfectly, like this pair:
She said: I was feeling embarrassed because it seems like everyone expects you to have a major.
He inferred: She was feeling embarrassed about not having a major.
Ickes found that our ability to read strangers during a six-minute interaction is limited, but other experiments showed that we have much greater accuracy when reading our friends' behavior. That's not really shocking, but what is surprising is that when study subjects spent just a little more time with a stranger, their ability to read that person was just as good as their ability to read close friends. The magic time span? Thirty minutes.
Time, or at least the amount of information acquired over time, is crucial to empathy. That is not only the case for real-life encounters, but also for stories.
When we talk about empathy, we often talk about it abstractly, like it's some emotional aether wafting about our insides. But empathy develops in tangible ways in the brain that neuroscience has made great strides in understanding over the past decade, neuroscientists Jamil Zaki and Kevin Ochsner write in a 2012 article in Nature Neuroscience .
These scientific advances can help us better understand what we have intuitively known for a long time—that journalistic stories can produce empathic responses in readers—and why some suggest that digital reading may be changing those responses.
Neuroscientists Philip L. Jackson and Jean Decety have
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and describe the main neural processes as the foundation of empathy. For example, when you see someone in distress, you may have an immediate reaction in which you imagine yourself having that same experience. This process is often referred to as "experience sharing." While experience sharing can be affective and automatic, another crucial process that forms the basis of empathy involves consciously reflecting on another person's experience, also known as "perspective taking." Finally, those two processes fuel motivation and action to help improve the other's situation.
If you are considering incorporating a company in Delaware and would like to know how, here's what you should know, including information on opening your business bank account, obtaining a local business license, planning your first official meeting and other important details.
If you have any questions about the business formation process, please contact our helpful staff by phone (800-345-2677),
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or live chat.
Step 1 Choose the type of Delaware business entity best suited to your needs: general corporation, close corporation, non-stock corporation, benefit corporation, LLC, series LLCor limited partnership. Compare Delaware business entities here .Step 1
If you choose a general or close corporation, you'll need to select the number of shares you want to authorize. Learn more about those choices by viewing our section on understanding your company's stock .
Step 2
Select the business formation package that meets your requirements: Green, Basic or Standard. Packages start at just $279, with Expedited Service available for an extra charge. Our pre-priced
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include all state filing fees, Registered Agent Feesand shipping costs. Unlike some other business formation companies, there are no hidden fees .
Step 3 Select the name for your new company and the suffix that describes the type of business entity. Commonly accepted suffixes for corporations are: Incorporated (or Inc.); Corporation (or Corp.); Company (or Co.) and Limited (or Ltd.). For LLCs, the only endings permittedare LLC, L.L.C. or Limited Liability Company.Step 3
Keep in mind your company name cannot contain the words "bank," "insurance," "trust," "university" or "college."
We can check the availability of a company name in Delaware for free at your request.
You do not have to form your business in the state in which your business is physically located, nor do you have to form your business in the state in which you conduct most or all your business. Delaware has proven to be the best state in which to form a business , regardless of whether your business is large or small, domestic or international.


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If you have ever wanted to produce your own cheaper than dirt survival food...this is going to be the most important message you will ever read.
Here is why:
There now exists a new video course that reveals how to safely prepare and store foods in the event of a dangerous worldwide crisis. It's designed for anyone who is frustrated with surging grocery prices and the very real possibility of empty shelves during the latter half of the Obama administration.
The success of the new videos has already encouraged hundreds of people who never thought they could preserve their own food to take action and finally start storing their emergency supply.
Massive Food Shortage Creates Worldwide Chaos!
Skyrocketing food prices are hitting pocketbooks worldwide. The world's poorest countries which have the highest population bases are most at-risk as core food supplies become scarce. Worldwide grain supplies are dropping precipitously. Exporting nations are now themselves running out of grain.
As a result, hunger is spreading worldwide. Already, several African nations have had citizens killed in food riots. There is talk that the government in Bangladesh could be toppled over soaring food prices. Food-related tensions and unrest are breaking out in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South America. Armed soldiers now stand watch over rice distribution in more and more countries. Just a few miles to the South, food riots have broken out in Mexico and Haiti. Estimates are that 33 nations are at risk of conflict and social unrest because of food shortages.
That's a lot of suffering. And, Americans who know their history understand all too well, suffering tends to bring out the ugly side in human nature. Right now, Americans just change channels when they see others starving on television. But it seems America could be next. The dollar is quickly losing value and the U.S. is more dependent on foreign food production than ever. Already grocery bills are rising faster than incomes. Wheat, corn, soybeans, bread, apples, beef, chicken, eggs, and milk: prices for these items are shooting up by double-digit percentages. Coupled with energy prices pushing skyward, more and more Americans are feeling the pinch which now includes food shortages. Many experts think we could be approaching the greatest disaster in the country's history. Many Americans are starting to prepare.
How To Prepare For An Unthinkable Crisis!
There is still time for you to prepare, but you have to start learning how to make your own survival foods as soon as humanly possible. The best way to do it is to get the inside scoop on how to do it right. Fortunately, there is a way to get twenty years worth of food storage secrets crammed into two DVD's.
This new food storage system is called Food Storage Secrets. You do not need a lot of expensive equipment to store foods for a crisis using the methods taught here. Even better, Food Storage Secrets pays for itself quickly as you begin to put away garden produce or even meats that you buy on sale. For most folks it's simply the biggest bargain of their lives. You can finally become self-sufficient and any extra money saved in food expense goes right back to your pocket. Frankly, at the end of the day, Food Storage Secrets actually makes you money!
What's more, the videos take you by the hand, step by step, through the entire process of "putting away" almost any food you can think of. It's very much like having a food storage professional right there with you every step of the way.
Makes Creating Survival Foods Easy!
It's extremely easy to start storing food using this method and you can immediately understand why actual users of the "Food Storage Secrets" system are saying things like this:
Can These Videos Keep You Alive In A Crisis?
It depends. They won't help you if you just buy them and put them on a shelf somewhere. It's best if you really want to get off the grid, prepare for a crisis and learn to be self-sufficient.
Food shortages are now likely in the U.S. in the near future. One single strategic terrorist bombing can literally empty grocery store shelves for months at a time. Will you be ready when the unthinkable happens? Sadly, most Americans will not be. Most will demand that the government "do something." But the truth is...
The Government Won't Help You In This Crisis!
Powerful Living
Food Storage Secrets
Dept. C77
2200 IL Rte 84
P.O. Box 361
Thomson, IL 61285

subset: commoncrawl


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Author speaks to students, business leaders
Zig Zigler once said "I've never met an ungrateful person who was happy, and I've never met a grateful person who wasn't." The power of positive thinking and boldly taking risks while running toward your dreams was the message that met more than 70 high school juniors and seniors from seven area schools Nov. 14, during the 2012 Central Nebraska Technical Career Day. The event is spearheaded by the Custer Economic Development Corporation and supported in multiple capacities by twenty local businesses. Thanks in part to a grant provided by the Custer County Foundation, the students were welcomed and energized by nationally recognized author and motivational speaker, Mary Kay Mueller. Mueller grew up in rural Iowa and currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 34 she found herself in a domestic violence shelter, suffering from co-dependency. What she learned while enduring theses hard times was that people do not take care of themselves and often blame hardships on someone or something instead of looking in the mirror and beginning a change for the better within themselves. She started an in home support group and soon wrote her first book "Taking Care of Me". Mueller's next book, "8 To Great", outlines an eight step process to self empowerment. It is used by schools in eighteen states and has been integrated in the training programs of several Fortune 500 companies. CEDC President, Melissa Garcia elaborated, "Four years ago, the CEDC was looking for away to be a catalyst in creating a relationship between the talent of our high school students, and the business community looking to fill its available positions with quality workers. "This interactive, engaging day is the product of that brainstorm. Each year the committee ask, 'How can we do this better?' The addition of Mary Kay Mueller is a result of that." After listening to Mary Kay Mueller, the students participated in tours of local businesses and had a chance to see interactive presentations from Nebraska community colleges. The students wrapped up the day with a fun question and answer session, and a nice incentive to participate in giving feed back on the days events. B-D donated a Nook to be drawn from the names of students willing to submit answers to the post event evaluation. A few of the comments that were submitted through the feedback forms were: "I loved going to other businesses around town and seeing what they do behind the scenes. It's not every day that one thinks about how the product they are receiving is made. I think it made myself, and other students, grateful about what actually goes on in a small town." "(I) was very excited about the impact the career fair had on the three students from our school. All three of them came home saying they know where they want to work, and what they want to do. That is HUGE." Garcia felt as though the day was a success, and the committee is already looking at how to grow next year's experience for our future leaders.


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Audio on demand
Captain James Cook series
Events and exhibitions held at the National Museum of Australia exploring objects and collections linked to Captain James Cook and research into his Pacific voyages.
Encounters with wondrous things: the historical significance of the Cook-Forster Collection
Professor Paul Turnbull, Griffith University
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
The historical significance of the Cook-Forster ethnographic collection of the University of Göttingen in Germany is examined by historian Paul Turnbull.
Discovering Cook: Georg Forster and the image of Captain Cook
Nigel Erskine, Australian National Maritime Museum
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Curator Nigel Erskine discusses the official account of Captain James Cook's third Pacific voyage, particularly the introductory essay by German naturalist and fellow voyager Georg Forster.
To attempt some new discoveries in that vast unknown tract
Professor Adrienne Kaeppler, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, United States
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Anthropologist Adrienne Kaeppler outlines the research that has gone into reconstructing the ethnographic collections from Captain James Cook's three Pacific voyages.
Looking across the beach – both ways
Professor Greg Dening, Australian National University
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Historian Greg Dening examines the cultural achievements of the Sea of Islands or Pacific peoples with a particular focus on Tupaia, a priest of Oro, who joined Captain James Cook on the Endeavour.
Footprints in the sand: Banks' Maori collection, Cook's first voyage 1768-1771
Paul Tapsell, Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Historian Paul Tapsell discusses how artefacts in Joseph Banks' collection from Captain James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific can be viewed as 'taonga', or Maori treasured possessions.
Cook, his mission and Indigenous Australia: a perspective on consequence
Doreen Mellor, National Library of Australia
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Curator Doreen Mellor examines the life-changing consequences for Australian Indigenous peoples of Captain James Cook's first Pacific journey, and subsequent European settlement, as the background to the story of the Stolen Generations.
Brushed with fame: museological investments in the Cook voyage collections
Lissant Bolton, British Museum, United Kingdom
Captain James Cook series, 28 July 2006
Historian Lissant Bolton considers the nature of Captain James Cook's fame in a museological context and discusses how difficult it is to present artefacts from the Pacific in an exhibition without reference to Cook's three voyages.


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Vegan Meal Plan
All topics relating to health, diet, nutrition programs and any questions you might have about general health.
Moderators: Mini Forklift Ⓥ, C.O., Richard, robert, SyrLinus
4 posts • Page 1 of 1
Vegan Meal Plan
Where do we find vegan meal plans for bodybuilding?
- Mini Forklift Ⓥ
- VBB Moderator, Powerlifter & Ultrarunner
- Posts: 3900
- Age: 40
- Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:13 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Contact:
Re: Vegan Meal Plan
There are plenty of recipes on here (I started up a thread a while back and I am sure there's heaps more if you wanted to do a quick search).
Robert's book is also a fantastic, must-have resource.
Robert's book is also a fantastic, must-have resource.
- jungleinthefrunk
- Gorilla
- Posts: 928
- Age: 33
- Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:10 am
- Location: New Jersey, USA
- Contact:
Re: Vegan Meal Plan
This is my meal plan..
Darth Vader from Sandlot once said, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Then he later died.
Re: Vegan Meal Plan
Those are both great resources, also a lot of people keep detailed journals of what they are eating in the fitness journals thread of the forum.
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text:
Mathematics for Electrical Engineering and Computing embraces many applications of modern mathematics, such as Boolean Algebra and Sets and Functions, and also teaches both discrete and continuous systems - particularly vital for Digital Signal Processing (DSP). In addition, as most modern engineers are required to study software, material suitable for Software Engineering - set theory, predicate and prepositional calculus, language and graph theory - is fully integrated into the book. Excessive technical detail and language are avoided, recognising that the real requirement for practising engineers is the need to understand the applications of mathematics in everyday engineering contexts. Emphasis is given to an appreciation of the fundamental concepts behind the mathematics, for problem solving and undertaking critical analysis of results, whether using a calculator or a computer. The text is backed up by numerous exercises and worked examples throughout, firmly rooted in engineering practice, ensuring that all mathematical theory introduced is directly relevant to real-world engineering. The book includes introductions to advanced topics such as Fourier analysis, vector calculus and random processes, also making this a suitable introductory text for second year undergraduates of electrical, electronic and computer engineering, undertaking engineering mathematics courses. The book is supported with a number of free online resources. On the companion website readers will find: * over 60 pages of qBackground Mathematicsq reinforcing introductory material for revision purposes in advance of your first year course * plotXpose software (for equation solving, and drawing graphs of simple functions, their derivatives, integrals and Fourier transforms) * problems and projects (linking directly to the software) In addition, for lecturers only, http://textbooks.elsevier.com features a complete worked solutions manual for the exercises in the book. Dr Attenborough is a former Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering at South Bank University. She is currently Technical Director of The Webbery - Internet development company, Co. Donegal, Ireland. * Fundamental principles of mathematics introduced and applied in engineering practice, reinforced through over 300 examples directly relevant to real-world engineering * Over 60 pages of basic revision material available to download in advance of embarking on a first year course * Free website support, featuring complete solutions manual, background mathematics, plotXpose software, and further problems and projects enabling students to build on the concepts introduced, and put the theory into practiceThe text is backed up by numerous exercises and worked examples throughout, firmly rooted in engineering practice, ensuring that all mathematical theory introduced is directly relevant to real-world engineering.
|Mathematics for Electrical Engineering and Computing
|Mary P Attenborough
|Newnes - 2003-06-30
You must register with us as either a Registered User before you can Download this Book. You'll be greeted by a simple sign-up page.
Once you have finished the sign-up process, you will be redirected to your download Book page.How it works:


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The Teaching with Primary Sources Journal
Strategies and resources for K-12 classrooms from the Library of Congress
The Civil War Across Disciplines, Vol. 5, No. 1, Winter 2012
This issue explores how teachers can use primary sources to teach about the Civil War across disciplines.
More about this issue's theme
Teaching About the Civil War with Primary Sources Across Disciplines
In this feature article, the author offers historical insight and strategies for teaching about the Civil War with primary sources across disciplines.
Research and Current Thinking
Summaries of and links to online resources--articles, research reports, Web sites, and white papers--that provide research and current thinking relating to the issue's theme.
Teacher Spotlight
Rebecca Byrd, a middle school teacher at New Center School in Sevierville, Tennessee, offers ideas for using primary sources to teach about the Civil War in social studies and other subject areas.
Learning Activity – Elementary Level
Students work in pairs to analyze an 1863 map of the Battle of Nashville, created by the Union army, for clues about its purpose. They form a hypothesis, support it with detailed observations and develop their own questions about the map. Each student writes a paragraph demonstrating how a soldier may have used a map like this one before or during battle.
Learning Activity – Secondary Level
Students work in small groups to analyze sets of Civil War-era primary sources, including photographs, manuscripts and sheet music. They make inferences about the short-term and long-term consequences of the Civil War for those on the homefront based on primary source evidence. Students synthesize and express their learning by writing a letter from the perspective of a civilian during the war.
Previous issues of The TPS Journal, formerly known as Teaching with Primary Sources Quarterly, are available through this archive.


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Car that crashed into Charlottesville crowd had Ohio plates
The car pictured in a report from the Charlottesville Daily Progress that crashed into the crowd of protesters Saturday in Virginia carries Ohio plates.
There is no indication yet whether the man to whom the car is registered was driving the 2010 Dodge Charger when it ran into the Virginia crowd, killing one person and injuring 19 more.
A Virginia state official says the person driving the car is in custody.
This story will update as more information is available.


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You know him from such classic movies as The Bodyguard, Field Of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, and dozens more, but these days Kevin Costner is tapping in to a new generation of fans, and performing to a different audience.
His country music band, Kevin Costner & Modern West, is currently touring the globe and performing songs from their current album Famous For Killing Each Other, and though you know him first from the silver screen, music was his first love.
In an exclusive CBS interview, Costner tells US 99.5's Trish Biondo that movies and music play an equal part of his life. "I don't separate my music from my movies, because most of the songs you will hear were written during the making of those movies. It's not an 'okay lets start taking me serious for music, and please forget about my movie life.'
Kevin Costner (Photo by Henning Kaiser/AFP/Getty)
It makes perfect sense that music would have been Costner's first influence. His grandmother, mom and aunt all played the piano. "I took the stupid piano lessons. Not that they were stupid, but they just kept me locked up as a kid. I would look out the window and see everybody playing, I would just be thinking, this ain't happening. I did that for about 4 years."
What's his secret now to keeping the energy and drive in place? "Staying interested. Whenever you're interested in your business or your personal life…that's a great place to be." He continues by saying "whenever I'm not interested, it's kind of a tell tale sign that I should be doing something else."
Kevin Costner & Modern West Famous For Killing Each Other. Download or purchase here.
If you catch Modern West on tour, according to Costner you can hear "four to five songs from his most recent 19 track album, as well as songs from the band's previous two releases. Costner says he was working on Famous For Killing Each Other: Music From and Inspired by Hatfields & McCoys while he was making the mini-series (Hatfields & McCoys) and began to write about the people "in that time." He describes the album as the "fabric of our nation" and admits it has a "pretty severe title with a certain level of violence, but it is an easy listening record."
"The Angels Came Down" is a song that has particular meaning for Costner and shows his compassionate side. A song written about the Civil War, but as he tells it "it really deals with any man or woman who would find themselves on foreign soil at that last moment in their lives."
He relates a story about a really "unbelievable letter" he received from a woman who had lost her son. She tells him in the letter, that her son had been machine gunned, and he died on the helicopter enroute to the hospital. She was haunted by this, but when she heard the song, she said it helped her imagine a different ending for her son's life. "It just kind of floored me, that it helped her imagine a different ending for her son."
The song is intended to be a meaningful tribute to the organizations and people he supports including Gold Star Mothers and Gold Star Wives, though he says it's "not the kind of club anybody wants to belong to," they represent those who have lost a spouse, son or daughter in the line of duty.
Does Kevin Costner believe in angels? Yes he does. "Yeah, I ask them every night to watch over the people I love and sent the toughest ones you got too for the people I care about."
Performing along the way, he has learned some tough lessons and had some Taylor Swift related "Mean" experiences. He admits he doesn't have a "thin skin" but can get his feelings hurt. Costner did relate the experience in the interview, but isn't the type of guy to dwell on the negative.
One place you won't see Costner is behind the judges table on American Idol. In regards to possibly filling the shoes of the likes of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, he tells us that he wouldn't consider the "gig." Recalling when he was in his first play, "I was awful…really bad, and I knew I was bad…the difference was, I knew it was what I wanted to do and knew I would get better." His reasoning is that it doesn't matter what a lot of people think and you can really crush somebody. Some people (judges) are better at that and he gives Howard Stern (America's Got Talent) as a "really great" example. "I think he surprises everybody when you think he's gonna blast somebody and he doesn't."
"When I audition actors, when I direct, I swear to God, I want them all to get the part. I want people to succeed."
It is obvious that this family man's upbringing gave him a solid foundation and life lessons that he strives to pass on to his own children. "I don't care what they become in life, I'm more interested in what kind of people they are. I'm really proud of my kids."
As far as his own dreams go, Costner says he is living them. He jokes about acting out his dreams in reference to his movies when he says, "Hey, I pitched a perfect game in Yankee Stadium, (referring to For Love of the Game) don't ever forget that – almost made it to the bigs in Bull Durham and feel like I took mushrooms in Field of Dreams." Speaking of baseball, Kevin insisted on giving a shout out to the Cubs – "every time I come to that town and have a chance to see a game that whole organization opens up their arms to me – they're very cool they don't make me go up and sing, I just get to watch and enjoy the game."
We also get the inside scoop on his clothing company (designed around diving, marine and archaeology) and his adventures in Mozambique. Click here to hear the full three part interview from US99.5's Trish Biondo.
Steve Koscik / US99.5
Nanci Haskin/CBS Local


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ECU's Entrepreneurial Initiative
Harnessing the entrepreneurial energy of the region. ECU's Entrepreneurial Initiative takes full reign in encouraging and supporting the entrepreneurship within the University community and eastern NC. The EI offers a wide range of training and business support services to assist existing entrepreneurs and provide programs that stimulate the entrepreneurial culture of a community and encourage potential and aspiring entrepreneurs to start businesses.


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(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
When President Obama announced his sweeping new plan for preventing gun violence on January 16, it included no fewer than twenty-three "executive actions," in addition to a series of legislative proposals. The message was clear: in the face of congressional intransigence—on gun control and beyond—Obama will push changes through the executive branch that he believes to be for the good of the country. "Congress too must act, and Congress must act soon," Obama said, while making it clear that the White House will not wait for the GOP-controlled House.
It was not the first time the president has flexed his executive muscle. Obama deployed such power during his first term on a number of notable occasions. The "Mini–Dream Act" executive action, for example, was hugely successful, both in terms of public policy and progressive politics. It helped people in an immediate and tangible way, was enormously popular with Latinos and Asian-Americans, and may well have won him re-election.
Others, like raising the CAFE standards to demand better fuel efficiency from carmakers and capping student loan payments, were part of the Obama administration's "We Can't Wait" initiative, launched in the fall of 2011, following the debt ceiling fiasco and the House Republicans' refusal to seriously consider the American Jobs Act. "We can't wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job," Obama said at the time. "Where they won't act, I will."
The president has also acted through the appointment process. He made a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, despite intense congressional opposition, and another three recess appointments to the five-member National Labor Relations Board, putting it back in action after the Republicans refused for months to confirm any new members. Obama also handed down the Health and Human Services Department contraception mandate—a critical fulcrum point in the GOP's politically costly "war on women."
Less high-profile measures have included utilizing the 1906 Antiquities Act, first used by Theodore Roosevelt to protect historic or beautiful public land, to preserve a few areas, including Fort Monroe in Virginia and Fort Ord in California. Last fall, Obama also named Colorado's Chimney Rock Archaeological Area as a national monument, and dedicated the César E. Chávez National Monument in California.
The president can do much more. So can the cabinet departments and federal regulatory agencies. As Barack Obama begins his second term, and weighs his overall legacy, it will be crucial for progressives to push him to act on a broad range of issues for which there is an absence of congressional will (or a concerted effort to block progress). Pressing for reforms through executive action—using both "street heat" and "suite heat"—should be a serious focus of our work in the coming months.


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Land Rover Range Rover Sport Exhaust Muffler Replacement Cost
Know what price you should pay to get your vehicle fixed.
What is a muffler?
The muffler is the last step for exhaust gas on the way out of the exhaust system. Mufflers reduce the noise created by exhaust gases emitted from the engine to make sure the vehicle drives quietly.
How does the muffler work?
The muffler uses several sound deadening chambers that absorb vibrations as the exhaust gas passes through this forced maze. After passing through multiple chambers and baffles, the exhaust noise is quieted down to the designed level.
Find a Certified Mechanic
What are the symptoms related to a bad muffler?
When the muffler has become sufficiently corroded it will no longer muffle the exhaust noise properly. The muffler brackets or rubber hangers can also break, allowing it to swing underneath the vehicle and hit the undercarriage. Some high end vehicles have vacuum or electronically actuated flaps that adjust the noise level, and when faulty can cause rattling noises from the tailpipe, or excess noise when the flaps are stuck open. In the rare case the muffler is clogged, they engine may fail to start, stall, or run roughly due to excess back-pressure.
Can I drive with a muffler problem?
Driving a vehicle with a hole in the muffler will generally not cause any harm. The engine will not record any data concerning the muffler, because the oxygen sensor is located before the resonator and muffler. If the muffler is clogged, the vehicle will most likely not be able to start, or stay running.
How often do mufflers need to be replaced?
The number one cause of muffler failure is corrosion from road salt or other debris. Collisions can also damage mufflers when the vehicle is rear ended. There is no recommended replacement interval for mufflers, and they often last the life of the vehicle.
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How are muffler issues diagnosed?
Diagnosis of a muffler issue is typically visual in nature. The condition of the muffler, exhaust pipe, and hangars will be inspected, and any corrosion or excessive wear will necessitate replacement. Furthermore, if the engine will not start, and no air comes from the exhaust pipe, the muffler may be disconnected to locate the clog. If the muffler is clogged, it will be replaced.
How is a muffler replaced?
Replacement varies with vehicle type. Many factory mufflers only require the rear most section to be unbolted and replaced with new. Because of the location, usage of penetrating chemicals and heat may be required to free the corrosion on the fasteners. If installing an aftermarket muffler with different flanges, cutting and welding of the original exhaust pipe may be necessary to fit the new one.
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While the muffler is off for replacement, consider replacing the rubber hangers or "donuts". If these are worn or missing, the muffler will move around unrestricted and cause the junctions to fail even on quality replacements.
What to look out for when dealing with muffler issues
With exception to some high-end aftermarket performance systems, the OEM muffler is usually the best one for your vehicle. Having a shop weld on an off the shelf muffler will be cheaper in the short run, but may fail more often depending on the quality of the aftermarket muffler, and the quality of the shop's welding ability.
Can I replace the muffler myself?
Replacing a muffler is only a DIY capable project if the existing muffler and replacement muffler can be changed without welding. If welding is required, a professional exhaust welder should complete the repair.
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WITH ALL the art world frenzy about "outsider" art, this river city, renowned for its beautiful antiques shops, trendy restaurants and expensive boutiques, could boast about its own genuine "outsider" artist.
If the folks on upper Warren Street, Hudson, only knew about him.
Earl Swanigan, who has been painting since the age of 10, is the genuine article, that is, he sells his art "outside."
He is a familiar sight on lower Warren Street, between Third and Fourth streets, where he displays his signature cats, dogs and chickens diagonally across the street from the venerable Hudson Opera House.
"Mostly, I paint dogs and cats and chickens doing things like human beings would do," Swanigan said.
He paints in the Japanese print style of two-dimensional figures without perspective against a flat background. He signs his paintings, simply, "Earl."
Swanigan's pictures exude a certain, na�ve charm that brings smiles to passersby: dogs jumping rope, chickens boxing, a black little Miss Diva cat in a long evening gown with paw poised coyly just inside an opening in the dress, a white cat with gorgeous green eyes stretched out languorously - and smiling.
A native of Columbus, Miss., Swanigan met his wife, Marcella, in 1987.
"She had people up here so we started coming up and finally stayed here," Swanigan said. "I was younger then and didn't mind the cold as much as I do now."
Swanigan's studio is on the second floor of an apartment house in the Fourth Street neighborhood. His work area fronts on Warren Street and the two big windows afford excellent light even on the gloomy day of the Freeman visit.
"I can make maybe five to 10 pictures if I work all day," Swanigan said. "Sometimes, I get tired and don't do as many."
Swanigan also paints famous people, such as a credible likeness of First Lady Michelle Obama, or the African American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. Frederick Douglass, as well as celebrities, such as Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth Taylor and Mr. T from the A-team television show.
"I like to do the portraits, but the dogs and cats sell better, so I do them most of the time," Swanigan said.
Swanigan and his wife live a few blocks away from the studio and most days he walks both ways.
"I get inspiration from what I see the kids in the neighborhood doing. Or something my grandkids are doing. I snap a picture of them and use it in the studio to pose the animals," Swanigan said.
"Anything that comes to mind," he added.
The day of the Freeman visit, Swanigan was painting Valentine cats kissing. He said he makes a heart-shaped template, then cuts the heart-shaped background with a utility knife.
Swanigan doesn't use standard artist's materials as his canvas.
"I get my materials from all over," Swanigan said. "In the alleyways, they're always tearing down some old buildings and I get free boards for my backgrounds."
He said he purchases his acrylic paints from The Spotty Dog, a few blocks up on Warren Street, because he gets a 10 percent discount there.
Asked about becoming a "famous" artist, Swanigan laughed.
"I come from down South. The way I came up, my daddy and momma didn't have much. But, I learned from them to be content. Not be competitive."
Swanigan said an art dealer promised him he'd be a millionaire in three years if he came to Germany with him.
"But, that's not how I grew up," Swanigan said. "I'm not rich, but I'm content with what I got. I'm gonna die and leave here anyway, so what does rich do?"
Swanigan is a near-constant presence on Warren Street, standing on the sidewalk displaying his art near the former Kennedy Fried Chicken, most Saturdays and Sundays, but more often during the summer.
"I'm getting older and I can't stand as long," Swanigan said. "Sometimes, I have to sit and rest a bit before I go back on to the street."
And, Swanigan said, the street has been good to him.
"The people come and they look at my pictures. And, they buy them," he said. It's rare to see one of Swanigan's paintings still on display the following weekend, so his work is selling.
More telling, perhaps, is that several antiques dealers farther up in the choicier sections of Warren Street are displaying Swanigan's art. And the darling boutique, Kosa, is selling "Earl" T-shirts.
"I been working with Kosa for a few months now," Swanigan said. "They're selling a few T-shirts with my art on them," he said.
"I don't need to live on top of the world. If I make a few dollars selling my art, I appreciate what I got on the street," he said.
Swanigan does commissions and may be contacted at (518) 697-9561.


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Shekarchi an advocate for senior citizens
To the Editor:
I have known Joe Shekarchi for many years and urge the voters of Warwick's Representative District 23 to support him in the Nov. 6 election. Joe's background in working with small businesses gives him a keen understanding of the hard work that it takes for our entrepreneurs to start and grow a small business and how government can best assist. His work with the Warwick Housing Authority has given him tremendous insight on the importance of affordable housing – an issue important to all families in our state, those just starting out and those in their retirement years.
With 17 percent of its population age 65 and over, Warwick has a higher percent of older residents than the state as a whole. Joe recognizes this and has committed to being a forceful advocate for our senior citizens. Joe Shekarchi will bring energy and fresh ideas to his work as a legislator and a commitment to work on behalf of the people of the 23rd District and residents of Warwick. As a former state legislator from Warwick, I am pleased to support Joe's candidacy.
Maureen Maigret
Yeah right...Look at Shawomet Realty and all those land deals! Warwick's version of Patrick Conley.
I would like to point out the fact that Mr. Shekarchi did not register to vote in District 23 until May 17, 2012. He owns a home on Commonwealth Ave. He bought a foreclosed property for $63K. I have lived in the District for 25 years. He will use this opportunity as a stepping stone. He only has his own self advancement as his agenda. I am running for State Rep in District 23. I will not seek higher office. My goal is to help the hard working people of the District. Time to "ELECT A BUSINESSMAN, NOT ANOTHER LAWYER".
It,s so funny how people can do things . shekarchi is ok . to bad so many other people isn,t so SHARP. wait i know 1 more THE KING


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Heartland Bank's Downtown Columbus Branch Opens This Week
Jan 31, 2014, 08:36 EST
GAHANNA, Ohio, Jan. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- G. Scott McComb, Chairman, President and CEO of Heartland Bank is pleased to announce that the recently purchased 101 South High Street building has been restored and the bank's new office is open for business.
While Heartland has operated a downtown branch since opening their doors in 2006 on East State Street at Capitol Square, the new site gives them a presence in the gateway to the southern portion of downtown Columbus. "This new location will give us increased visibility and an opportunity to expand our relationships and community involvement in downtown Columbus. Downtown has now evolved into its own distinct community and deserves their own Community Bank," stated McComb. A noticeable feature of the new space will be exterior signage that features a 32'x40' video display board that will be used to showcase clients, local events and organizations that the bank has partnered with over the years through philanthropic endeavors. The display board will be installed this spring.
Heartland Bank partnered with Bill Schottenstein on the purchase of the building and signage. Lion Construction completed the build out and the design. Greg Schenk of the Schenk Company represented Heartland for site selection and real estate services.
About Heartland Bank
Heartland BancCorp (OTC-BB: HLAN) is a registered Ohio bank holding company and the parent of Heartland Bank, which operates eleven full service banking offices. Heartland Bank, founded in 1911, provides full service commercial, small business, and consumer banking services; alternative investment services; insurance services; and other financial products and services. Heartland Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve, a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Heartland BancCorp is currently quoted on the over-the-counter (OTC) Bulletin Board Service under the symbol HLAN. Learn more about Heartland Bank at HeartlandBank.com.
Media Contact
G. Scott McComb
Chairman, President and CEO
SOURCE Heartland Bank


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Family Pet Hospital & 24 Hour Pet Emergency Centre, in Southern Alberta Canada, is seeking a Veterinarian to join our practice.
At Family Pet Hospital we strive to provide the highest quality medicine with a client/patient focus. We are a 6 doctor team and growing. Family Pet Hospital is a 24 hour emergency clinic in which we staff a RVT on site 24/7 and offer referral emergency services to other clinics. We are also a Gold Standard Feline Practice.
From our dynamic practice manager to our compassionate and friendly staff, this team is always eager to work and learn from each other. Each doctor is provided their own personal RVT and our duos work together to support the clients and work efficiently on each case. Family Pet Hospital is a state of the art facility, offering above average compensation, signing/relocation bonus, base wage, monthly incentive bonuses, association dues, CE allowance, staff discounts, and health benefits.
About the Hospital:
About Lethbridge, Canada:
Small, friendly city of 100,000 people. We have all the amenities of the big city with minimal crime, stable economy, lower cost of living, milder winters and many fresh air possibilities. Enjoy skiing, hiking, and swimming all close to the city. Our clinic is located close to the city centre with many beautiful surrounding communities.


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Ocean Motion Surf Co.
St. Simons Island, GA 31522
We rent easy-to-pedal lightweight aluminum cruisers. baskets, helmets & locks provided. We also specialize in kayak tours around St. Simons Island.
Pristine coastal waters and marsh creeks are easily and quietly accessible by kayak. Novice and experienced paddlers will enjoy the beauty of one of Georgia's hidden gems. The Golden Isles is surrounded by a rich and diverse ecosystem that supports animal and plant life on the coast. Our seasoned and knowledgeable staff enjoy interpreting coastal Georgia's enchanting salt marsh. Come join us for a paddle and see nature at its finest. For those not interested in a guided trip, we offer kayak rentals off the beach.
Info & Amenities
Hours of Operation
Sunday: 9:30AM - 6:00PM
Monday: 9:30AM - 6:00PM
Tuesday: 9:30AM - 6:00PM
Wednesday: 9:30AM - 6:00PM
Thursday: 9:30AM - 6:00PM
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Admission & Fees
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Jackson Hole Ambassadors
Travis Rice
Arguably the greatest big mountain snowboarder alive today, Travis's career spans the gap from international podiums to making the two biggest snowboard films of all time, "That's It, That's All" and "The Art of Flight." Travis has made a living traveling the globe in search of snowboard adventure but has always called Jackson Hole home.Meet Travis
Tommy Moe
Tommy Moe is one of only two U.S. men to win an Olympic downhill competition and one of three Americans to ever take home two alpine medals from one Olympic game. Moe serves as a Ski Guide and Special Ambassador for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the place he's called home for more than 10 years.Meet Tommy
Mark Carter
Carter is a born-and-bred Wyoming guy, and you can see it in all aspects of his life. On the snow, Mark's style is fluid and dialed. Although he's traveled the world for snowboarding, he'll come home to the tram line for years to come.Meet Carter
Lynsey Dyer
One of Jackson's most recognizable athletes, Dyer has built a reputation for skiing with the boys and — a lot of the time — better than the boys. Her stardom can be felt from coast to coast as she continues to impress and progress.Meet Lynsey
Cam Fitzpatrick
Cam Fitzpatrick knows that home is where the heart is. Growing up in Jackson, Cam's passion for all things boarding began early. Now his talents have turned to accolades and awards. Everyone is eager to see what's next for Fitzpatrick.Meet Cam
Hadley Hammer
Hailing from these same mountains that she calls home today, Hadley Hammer has become one of the hottest names on the Freeride World Tour. That success doesn't come without being one of the hardest workers around.Meet Hadley
Bryan Iguchi
From the sea to the mountains, Bryan Iguchi has mastered nearly everything in between. The "Guch" has taken his California style and turned it into something special. One of the best in the biz, Brian has mentored many others on this list, and its to no surprise they joined him as Jackson Hole Mountain Resort athletes.Meet Bryan
Breezy Johnson
Breezy Johnson is a born-and-raised Jackson Hole skier, now on the U.S. Ski Team; she is quickly becoming one of the most-talked-about American downhillers on the World Cup circuit.Meet Breezy
Forrest Jillson
Local ripper Forrest Jillson has been ascending the ranks of the freeskiing world over the last couple of seasons. Having grown up in Jackson — with a father on ski patrol — JIllson's abilities are unquestioned, and his passion for this place is much the same. We're excited to see what is next for Jillson.Meet Forrest
Rob Kingwill
Another of Jackson's homegrown heroes, Rob Kingwill's stoke for our mountain and the sport is unparalleled. Known for his parts in Warren Miller movies and his travels across the world in search of snow, "Kinger" will forever be a part of Jackson Hole, and that's something we're proud of.Meet Kinger
Owen Leeper
A Colorado native, Owen Leeper might be one of the only people more comfortable in the air and inverted than standing on his own two feet. His passion for skiing and progressing the sport stands out and is what drove him to call Jackson his new home. A day skiing with Leeper reminds you anything is possible.Meet Owen
Brolin Mawejje
Brolin Mawejje is not your average snowboarder. Growing up in Jackson via Uganda and Boston, Mawejje had to find his niche. Snowboarding became his passion, and needless to say, he never looked back. Now he hopes to become the first African snowboard Olympian in 2018.Meet Brolin
Jess McMillan
A no-doubt shredder, Jess McMillan has made skiing her life and Jackson Hole her playground. From podiums across the world to world-class Teton ski mountaineering, McMillan continues to set the bar higher. She has carved out a spot for herself in Jackson Hole's ski culture for years to come.Meet Jess
Blake Paul
A character indeed, Blake Paul has changed the game. From deep powder turns to the skate park, Paul's style is unmatched. He'll be the guy grinning while filming for his next project at a mountain near you.Meet Blake
Griffin Post
An accomplished freeskier, writer, and all-around good dude, Griffin Post lives for adventure. The sport has taken him across the world, but Post notes that no place is better than Jackson to push the envelope, which is why he has decided to call this place home.Meet Griffin
Daniel Tisi
A star in the making, Daniel Tisi is our youngest member of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ambassadors team. Don't let that fool you — Tisi has grown up among his idols, and it shows. Riding big lines and dominating the park scene has landed Tisi sponsors from near and far.Meet Daniel
Andrew Whiteford
Whiteford has grown into a household name not only around Jackson but in the skiing and biking community worldwide. Andrew's abilities on the hill are matched only by his ability to edit footage and produce top-notch videos off the hill.Meet Whiteford
Crystal Wright
Crystal Wright is every bit as Wyoming as one can be. Spending her summers on horses and her winters on skis, she personifies the balance of Jackson Hole. Accomplished on both the ski racing and freeskiing circuits, Wright has chosen ski mountaineering as her next passion.Meet Crystal
Alex Yoder
Alex Yoder has developed a sort of style and flow that cannot be mistaken. He's perfected the art of the turn, and it's that skill that has taken him across the world. Riding boards of all shapes and sizes, Yoder can do it all.Meet Yoder
Gary Endecott
Born and raised in Wyoming, Gary Endecott took up skiing in high school. As part of the Teton Adaptive Team, Endecott fell in love with the sport and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Learning to ski at the resort has prepared Endecott to represent Wyoming this winter at the World Winter Games - a huge honor. The Special Olympics global competition is taking place March 14 -25, 2017, throughout Austria. Endecott will be training for it at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, in the gym and at the National Winter Games in Vermont this December.Learn More
We're rooting for Endecott and are excited to see him represent in the Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom competitions.


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Reviewed By Chiu-Fei M (EMERYVILLE, CA) Reviewed for a 2005 Acura RSX —6/20/2013 12:39 AM
put it on my rsx sounds great.
There are no customer reviews for this product
Reviewed By Charles M (Omaha, NE) Reviewed for a 2005 Acura RSX —4/26/2011 1:55 PM
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Acura RSX Type-S Diesel Exhaust Systems


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A report from the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) finds that the U.S. immigration system fails children who come alone to the U.S. in search of safety, stability, and protection.
There has been a surge in recent years of unaccompanied minor children coming to the U.S. "These children, fleeing now in record numbers, face a system that was created for adults, does not provide them legal counsel, and is not required to consider the child's best interests," said Lisa Frydman, CGRS Associate Director and Managing Attorney. "And this is despite the potentially enormous impact of these proceedings on children's lives."
The report, "A Treacherous Journey: Child Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System," issued jointly by CGRS and KIND, recommends the creation of a more child-friendly system that will help ensure the protection and rights of unaccompanied migrant children, whether in the U.S. or returning to their home countries.
No right to counsel
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Refugee Resettlement handled the cases of 24,668 unaccompanied minors in fiscal Year 2013. The vast majority, 97 percent, came from Central America and Mexico. Those numbers are predicted to increase dramatically as instability in those regions continues.
"These migrant children should be treated as children, first and foremost," Frydman said. The children have no right to government-appointed counsel; more than half do not have attorneys, the report states. "Unable to make their case before an immigration judge and against a government attorney, some children are sent home to dangerous, even life-threatening situations," Frydman said.
The report recommends detailed solutions and numerous reforms, including representation, due process reforms, child-sensitive policies and procedures, and creation of a new form of "best interests" immigration relief for children who do not otherwise qualify for immigration status, but for whom return would be harmful to their safety or well-being.
The report was produced with support from the Migration Program of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Read the full report here.
The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) at the University of California Hastings College of the Law provides legal expertise, training, and resources to attorneys representing asylum seekers – in particular, women, children, and LGBT individuals – advocates to protect refugees and advance refugee law and policy, and uses domestic, regional, and international human rights mechanisms to address the root causes of persecution.
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) was founded by Angelina Jolie and Microsoft to create a pro bono movement to provide high quality legal counsel to unaccompanied refugee and immigrant children in the United States, which the organization does in partnership with almost 200 major law firms, corporations, and law schools. KIND serves as the leading organization for the protection of unaccompanied children who enter the US immigration system alone and strives to ensure that no such child appears in immigration court without representation. KIND also leads an innovative project to ensure that children who are returning to their homelands can do so safely by providing comprehensive services to ensure their successful reintegration.


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Cancun? Can do! — Tila is excited to be taking her top three off to Mexico for a fun-filled adventure, because it's their last chance to "prove to me who they really are and how they feel about me now that we get to spend some really quality time together."
As they pack their bags, Amanda asks Dani and Bobby if they are sad that Ryan's gone. Dani is quick on the draw with her "no!" but Bobby is a little sad. He liked a having another guy around because, as you remember, Ryan was his only "real" competition. Which is why he's the last man standing alongside two women. Ass!
He starts to mouth off about there being "more vagina than penis here" when Dani cuts him off. She wants to know why he's so "threatened." I'm thinking it's because he knows that Dani is and always has been his only "real" competition.
Grandioso Hotel — The gang arrives in Cancun and is whisked away to the very fancy Melia Hotel. They're all excited to be there, but Bobby is borderline hysterical. By his own admission, he's never been out of the country. But it appears that he's also never been to a hotel.
As they make their way up to their suite, Bobby can barely contain himself. Oh my God, an elevator! Oh my God, a kitchen! The luxury of it all!
Amanda sneers that Bobby is revealing himself to be less than worldly — a "two-star hotel kind of guy." This coming from a two-dollar hooker-looking kind of girl.
Our cruise director, Tila, arrives to tell the kids that each day they're in Cancun , they'll have a super fun group activity, and each night one of them will enjoy a private date with her. (If Julie McCoy had rocked some tats and tossed back shots like Tila, I don't think The Love Boat would have ever been cancelled.)
Over lunch, Tila warns tells them that she's ready to be in love, and that she loves very passionately. Amanda nods vigorously (but then, she does this when Tila says anything), and Bobby looks a little nervous. I maintain my conviction that Tila is simply too much woman for him.
But Dani doesn't flinch. In fact, she doesn't even let Tila finish her proclamation. She tells Tila that she recognized her passionate nature when she took her home to meet the family. What was your first clue, Dani? Maybe when she dry-humped your granny's leg?
This sends Tila on a praise Dani tangent. She recalls the affection that she felt from Dani's co-workers and family, and how it made Tila feel like Dani was "surrounded by so much love."
Amanda nods vigorously, but when we cut to a confessional interview with her, she mocks Dani's bor-ing life as a firefighter. Amanda says that Dani "has to know what's happening day to day," and to me this sounds impossible unless Dani is one of those pyromaniacs who works in the fire "industry" à la "Axe" in Backdraft.
Additionally, Amanda sniffs, Dani's goals are "nowhere near Tila's." I don't know what Dani's goals are, but then, come to think of it, I don't know anything about Tila's goals either. They're both constantly surrounded by groups of guys on the job; they both can work a pole … hmm, I don't see a problem here.
Bobby tries to find a way to get in on the fun. He talks about being a small-town guy, and it's clear that he's a little embarrassed about it. But Tila finds it charming! She loves his country boy ways.
Amanda is so busy creating a wind tunnel with her head-nodding that she doesn't hear Tila say this to him. This will matter later.
Tila tells Amanda that when she visited her family, she learned that she's not just some obnoxious, braying rocker chick. But Tila says it much more nicely than that. Bobby and Dani nod and smile tersely as Tila sings Amanda's praises, but they are totally skeeved out.
Flipp(er)ed off — One of the many super fun activities that Tila has arranged for them all is the chance to swim with some dolphins. Tila talks about how excited she and the contestants are to do this, and how getting pushed around by the dolphins is like "an orgasm … under water!" The dolphins nod and smile tersely, but they are totally skeeved out.
Tila finds Bobby's wide-eyed wonder at pretty much everything they do in Cancun totally endearing. As Bobby raises his arms to the sky and is propelled forward through the water by the accommodating dolphins, we hear the strains of Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All."
The only thing funnier than this is the pairing of the lyrics "They can't take away my dignity" with Amanda's bikini-bottomless ride with the dolphins. Whoops! Thank God the editors aren't on strike!
Afterward, Tila announces that she has to go back to the hotel to get ready for her date with … Amanda. What!?
Tila tells us, "Amanda has proven to me that she's willing to do whatever it takes to get me to be her woman." Taking the cue, Bobby and Dani begin loosening up the strings on their respective board shorts.
Amanda tells us that her strategy in Cancun is to expose her competitors. And I don't think it has anything to do with the board shorts.


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Paychecks still haven't recovered from the financial crisis and raises in the US have stagnated. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't push to increase your worth.
You want to know the going pay rate for your job, but it's also important to link your success with that of your employer. Based on the science and psychology of negotiating for a heftier paycheck, here's the complete guide to getting a raise:
Most raises are given to prevent good employees from leaving
You don't usually get a raise because "you deserve it" or just because you worked hard. A 2010 study showed that raises are given to retain top performers. So if you're not an A-team player at your office and upper management doesn't feel you're flight risk, don't count on a significant bump in pay.
"They need to like you."
The first thing Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra tells his MBA students about salary negotiation is "They need to like you." Other leading experts agree. Persuasion expert Robert Cialdini tells me that liking someone is one of the six fundamental pillars of influencing people. Want to be more likable? Research shows you should encourage others to talk about themselves and ask for their advice.
Make your accomplishments visible
Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer told me that the key to getting ahead is getting along with your boss, working on the projects she's interested in, and letting her know about your accomplishments. What's the best way to do this without being overbearing? Once a week, send an email summing up all the forward progress you're making.
(Image via Tack Tack/Shutterstock.com)


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Extend the beauty of select Oriental-design rugs from the Original Karastan Collection to the stunning impact of a wall-to-wall installation. Each is woven through-the-back on our exclusive Axminster looms and features only the finest imported worsted wool yarns, skein-dyed and lustre washed for enduring beauty.
Karastan offers hundreds of styles in carpets and rugs — distinct colors, styles, textures, etc. and every Authorized Karastan Retailer carries slightly different selections of flooring choices. In order to help assure what you see online matches with what you will see in the store, we need to know which store you would prefer to visit. You can always change to another store later.
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In order for Karastan.com to show exactly the same products online as you can find in your local store. Just click one of the four choices below or choose skip this step and get to the online product galleries. If you change your mind, you can always choose another Store later!
If you choose to skip, Karastan.com will make a best guess as to which store closest to you carries the most flooring options. At any time, you can choose another store nearby as the best option for your flooring needs. Go to "My Karastan" and click "change" to change your Karastan store.
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[1:06:30] -
God's redemptive plan for your family, plus Tim Sisarich tackles family brokenness, and a couple doubts they can reach their wedding day without having sex.
Featured musical artist: We Are the Monks
Comment on this week's show
[26:41] -
It's easy to look at the culture's (or your own family's) dysfunction and start assigning blame. The fact is, there's a lot that's gone wrong with the family in recent generations. But we don't need to buy into the world's script. God designed the family and has great plans for it; He even has plans for your family. Focus on the Family is unveiling a documentary that details this vision, and our panel takes the film's themes and makes them our own. Where could your view of family use a tune-up?
[26:30] -
Tim Sisarich set out on a global journey to discover what's gone wrong with the family. What he discovered was certainly not what he was expecting. As host of Focus on the Family's soon-to-be-released documentary, Irreplaceable, Tim learns that not only has our view of family eroded, but a reclamation of it begins with our own (sometimes very small) choices.
[10:09] -
They haven't had sex, but they've done pretty much everything else. Now engaged, they're not sure they can save sex for the wedding night. Are they even asking the right question? Candice unpacks this sober discussion.
Helping young adults mature in Christ and prepare for marriage and family. Learn more
© Focus on the Family 1998-2018


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Much Ado About Nothing
7 p.m., McCaw Hall
Joss Whedon's festival-opening take on Shakespeare's nuptial comedy is sold out, but scheduled to open here June 21. Shot with Hollywood friends in his own house (and it is a nice house, paid for with all that Avengers and Buffy money), Much Ado isn't a vanity project, since these performers are all TV pros. Still, it has the feel of a weekend-home amateur theatrical, with everyone straining to put on a jolly good show and prove their appreciation for the classics. Look! There's Nathan Fillion as the buffoonish captain of the guard, Dogberry! When did he last deliver lines in iambic pentameter—high school? Still, he heaves his shoulders and has fun with his thick-headed part. As the quarrelsome lovers Beatrice and Benedick, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker have a better grasp of the language, but their careful syllables don't always match the sense of the words. Back in '93, the Americans stood out for the same unfortunate reason among Kenneth Branagh's mostly British Much Ado cast—poor command of the text. Absent that, there's a lot of clowning and eye-rolling that matches the contemporary mood (though the film's shot in black-and-white). The tone is playful until the disastrously overplayed melodrama of Hero and Claudio's first (failed) wedding ceremony; Hero's impugned virtue and staged death are treated like tragedy instead of a comic misunderstanding during a long, drunken weekend's festivities. Denisof struggles with Benedick's soliloquies, which Whedon ought to have cut to match the movie's modern tailoring. Besides the cell phones and Prada suits, more liberties should've been taken. BRIAN MILLER
The Deep
Noon, Pacific Place
True survival stories are never as impressive onscreen as in our imagination, reading the newspaper accounts or survivors' books after the disaster. Based on the 1984 sinking of an Icelandic fishing trawler, The Deep essentially a one-man show, like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Here our protagonist is stoic, doughy Gulli (Ólafur Darri Ólafssen), who looks nothing like a hero, and his boat's foundering is nothing like The Perfect Storm. The net simply snags on a rock; the crew doesn't want to cut it loose; a winch malfunctions; and Gulli is suddenly dog-paddling three miles to shore in the freezing North Atlantic. He talks to a seagull, recites the Lord's Prayer, and asks God for "just one more day" as he swims. None of this is terribly interesting to watch, and Gulli's ordeal takes place at night, so director Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband, 101 Reykjavík) adds various flashbacks and home-movie scenes from Gulli's volcanic-island home. (He comes from a nation of hardy survivors, you see?) The Deep's modest approach suits its phlegmatic hero, whose survival—and that's hardly a spoiler—becomes the subject of scientific curiosity. "I'm just a man, a very lucky man," says Gulli, but such humility doesn't make for a very compelling movie. BRIAN MILLER (Also 12:30 p.m. Sat., May 18; 9 p.m. Sun., May 19 at Egyptian.)
2:30 p.m., Pacific Place
Like a Bollywood spin on Tropic Thunder, a filmmaker is kidnapped by guerrillas while on a remote location shoot. Only the irrepressible Sunny (Sharib Hashmi) is merely an assistant to the foreign crew, unlike Ben Stiller's action-hero diva. And because he's Indian and his captors are Pakistani jihadists, the threat of execution ought to be a little more real. But that's not the agenda of director Nitin Kakkar. He gives Sunny a Pakistani protector, Aftaab (Inaamulhaq), who's conveniently a movie lover, too. Soon Sunny is directing his own tearfully pleading hostage videos, which is actually quite funny; these mujahedeen despise such Western technology, yet depend on it. ("You look like George Clooney," says Sunny while directing the rebel leader, who doesn't protest.) There are more political jokes to be made here, but the feel-good Filmistaan doesn't pursue them. A frustrated actor, Sunny is soon entertaining the village kids, directing a movie with local talent, and befriending everyone in sight (possibly including one jihadi). The sense of danger drains into the sand, and Filmistaan becomes a broad parable of national reconciliation; Sunny and Aftaab both speak Punjabi, but movies form the universal language here. BRIAN MILLER (Also 9 p.m. Mon., June 3 at Harvard Exit; 5 p.m. Tues., June 4 in Renton.)
[PICK] Imagine
4 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
Polish director, English lead actor, German lead actress, a bunch of kids speaking several languages, and the whole thing's set in Lisbon? This kind of Euro-pudding co-production is often a mess, with the clashing accents dictated by complicated financing and tax incentives. But whatever its genus, Andrzej Jakimowski's oddball tale of blindness and echolocation—yes, like a bat uses in the dark—won me over. Ian (Edward Hogg) arrives at a clinic, housed in an old monastery, to help the kids gain confidence and navigate the world safely. Only he refuses to use a cane. Is he even blind? The children both doubt him and worship him. His navigation is uncanny as he clicks his tongue and stomps his boot heels to listen for obstacles. (It's kind of what Ben Affleck did in Daredevil, only more plausible.) Over and over, Ian instructs his pupils to construct an aural picture of the space around them—to imagine, yes, their surroundings. Then there's Eva (Alexandra Maria Lara), who like Ian hates the stigma of blindness. She wants nothing more than to visit the neighborhood cafe and flirt with men who don't think she's sightless. Together, they're a proud, prickly pair; and it's never clear if they'll end up together. In one lovely moment, Eva applies her makeup by touch before a big date. And in a funny shopping montage, Ian directs her to buy the loudest heels in the store—which are conveniently the sexiest, too. Hmmm . . . maybe that guy really can see? BRIAN MILLER (Also 7 p.m. Tues., May 21; 6 p.m. Sun., May 26 in Renton.)
[PICK] Stories We Tell
4 p.m., Harvard Exit
Canadian actress Sarah Polley has been impressively transitioning to the other side of the camera with Away From Her and Take This Waltz, but nothing prepares you for this kaleidoscopic view of her own family life. Polley was born in 1979 to Diane and Michael, both stage actors, not long after Diane had been doing a long show in Montreal. She returned home to give birth to Polley in Toronto; 11 years later she died of cancer. Those are the basic facts, but none of the family members Polley interviews can agree on much else. Father Michael reads from a long manuscript in the recording studio, directed by his daughter; and we see a dazzling array of old super-8 home movies, the colors all fading to red, whose origin Polley explains only at the end (I won't). Her family is somewhat bohemian; Michael tells his wife that if he can't make her happy, she should take a lover. Their five kids, from two marriages, look back on that free-spirited era with eye-rolls and cheerful resignation. The times have changed by the time—roughly seven years ago—that Polley began to question her parentage. Stories We Tell represents that investigation, but its concerns are deeper than DNA. When a sister asks the film's purpose, Polley says it's "to bring someone to life through the way we tell stories about them." It's not about her heredity, but a loving tribute to her mother. The film opens May 31. BRIAN MILLER (Also 5 p.m. Sun., May 19 at Harvard Exit.)
[PICK] Furever
6 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
Where some may shed a tear and bury Fido in the backyard, other pet owners so long to preserve the memory of a furry friend that they mummify, freeze-dry, stuff, clone, or opt to convert its ashes into "memorial diamonds." Such practices may seem macabre, but in Amy Finkel's unlikely documentary about posthumous companion animals, we recognize both the American obsession with pets and our nation's cultural privilege. "If you were in a city in Iraq that's being bombed," observes UW sociologist Dr. Pepper Schwartz, "you're probably not grieving for your dogs as much." Finkel pursues her topic objectively, interviewing eccentric taxidermists, pet psychics, professors, pet undertakers, and veterinarians. We hear the heartbreaking accounts of owners who "just can't let go," and despite the excesses and eccentricities on view, that's what matters—the grief for a beloved animal. Furever offers an oddly compelling look at the universal experiences of love, loss, and compassion. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT (Also 11 a.m. Sun., May 19 at Harvard Exit.)
[PICK] The African Cypher
6 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
Break-dancing may have originated in America, but in post-apartheid South Africa, that urban art form —and b-boy culture with it—continues to evolve, adapting to cultural rhythms, traditional dance forms, and politics. Documentary director Bryan Little captures the many different styles emerging in the townships, paying particular attention to one Soweto crew, The Movers & Shakers. "Life is not a movie," says Mada Sthembiso. "We are not acting, we are living." Amazing athleticism and innovation are expressed in each step, but we also see the time and care required to master them. As with much street art, each young dancer shares a motivation to rise above the poverty, violence, and hopelessness that pervade their lives. As the dance crews prepare for the Red Bull Beat Battle (also featured in the 2010 SIFF doc Turn It Loose), Little focuses on the fate of Sthembiso's dance partnership with Prince Mofokeng. This subplot detracts somewhat from the greater scope of the movie, which conveys the wonderful dancing and the hopeful hearts of the dancers. Those subjects—not Little's commentary—keep the film wildly absorbing. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT (Also 1 p.m. Sun., May 19 at Pacific Place.)
[PICK] Key of Life
6:30 p.m., Egyptian
A struggling, suicidal actor and an amnesiac hitman both get an unexpected shot at a brand-new life when they cross paths and swap identities in a bathhouse in this lighthearted black comedy from writer/director Kenji Uchida. Sakai Masato is the likable but self-defeating actor (he can't even kill himself without botching it) who swaps his one-room dump for the lavish apartment of Teruyuki Kagawa, a methodical assassin who loses his memory after slipping on a bar of soap (cue slapstick pratfall) and wakes up in the actor's life. Ryoko Hirosue adds a twist of oddball romantic comedy as a coolly efficient career woman who organizes her life just as she runs her magazine: She sets a wedding date before even finding a boyfriend. Director Uchida, whose mix of social satire and wild goofball twists recalls the comic sensibility of one-time SIFF favorite Sabu (Unlucky Monkey), deftly tracks the inevitable chaos while putting the full-blooded characters front and center. Personality triumphs over circumstance, even when circumstances take some unexpected (and thoroughly entertaining) turns. Though the film runs over two hours, the measured pace, tidy narrative, and likable characters keep it alive. SEAN AXMAKER (Also 6 p.m. Sun., May 19 at Pacific Place.)
Our Nixon
7 p.m., Harvard Exit
I come from a family of rabid Nixon haters. With my grandfather, I watched what seemed like all of the Watergate hearing on TV. (If childhood memory serves, he bought a new color set for that express purpose, because black-and-white wasn't good enough for his contempt.) So while I wanted to like this found-footage archival mashup of super-8 home movies made by Nixon's White House staffers, maybe I know too much about that era of American politics. To me, the stories of H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Dwight Chapin are relatively familiar, but director Penny Lane has to interpolate lots of old TV broadcasts and after-the-fact interviews to explain why her archival footage is so wonderful. And it is: Here is the cheerful, playful, colorful, and dare I say Nixonian optimism of his first term. He crushed McGovern, and his staffers had every reason to gloat. (It's worth remembering that, were it not for the Watergate break-in and coverup, Republicans would've held the White House for 20 consecutive years; Carter was the historical aberration.) Still, Lane shrewdly overlays Nixon's secret audio recordings—unknown to Haldeman and company—to give ominous context to their backstage scenes. And in one priceless bit, after Nixon praises the Ray Conniff Singers at a White House concert ("If the music is square, it's because I like it square"), a brave young woman in the chorus holds up a Vietnam War protest sign and denounces the president. His minions didn't realize it, but they were filming the future. BRIAN MILLER (Also 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 19.)
Stuck in Love
7 p.m., Pacific Place
That the title of director/writer Josh Boone's feature debut was changed from Writers to Stuck in Love was a wise marketing move. This is at its core a humorous family drama about the pains of the past and the power of love. And yet, it really is all about the writers. There are three: Bill Borgens (Greg Kinnear) is a successful novelist and pitiable cuckold. His daughter Samantha (Lily Collins) is a young novelist with thick emotional walls and ribald demeanor. And his high-schooler son Rusty (Nat Wolff) is a wannabe novelist who worships Stephen King. It's a pleasantly dysfunctional trio, and the characters' affection for one another is clear, even after the publication of Samantha's first book, inspired by the night her mother (Jennifer Connelly) ran off with a dimwit local gym owner, triggers everyone's insecurities. Adapting John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars, Boone does a fine job of weaving three concurrent romantic narratives, even if his supposedly stubborn characters do undergo massive transformation a bit too easily. The big problem with the script is Connelly's character, upon which so much of the drama depends. She isn't a writer; rather, she's just a reader, about whom we know so little she might as well be a blank page. Perhaps that is why her three writers love her so. MARK BAUMGARTEN (Also 4 p.m. Sun., May 20 at Egyptian.)
[PICK] Interior. Leather Bar.
9:30 p.m., Egyptian
Co-directors James Franco and Travis Mathews, learning that 40 minutes had been censored from William Friedkin's incendiary 1980 film Cruising, decided to remake/reimagine them. We see some of those completed scenes, but basically this is a making-of doc. In other words, we are watching Franco's footage of Mathews filming actor Val Lauren playing Al Pacino playing undercover cop Steve Burns playing gay. To recreate the discomfort Pacino's character (and presumably Pacino himself) felt while shooting the original steamy S&M-bar scenes, they naturally had to cast a straight actor in the role. (After we see Lauren and his fellow thespians receive a lesson on how to cruise, it becomes amusingly clear they needn't have bothered—the attitude and body language of a gay man on the prowl in a club is identical to an actor's habitual, perpetual how-do-I-look self-consciousness.) For a working actor, Lauren's surprisingly unworldly, and consequently Interior. Leather Bar. is primarily an exploration of his personal conflict over all this scary gay stuff. On the phone with Lauren, we hear his agent's harangues, warning him of the damage to his reputation that'll be done by "Franco's faggot project." (Because of course after Cruising, Pacino's career tanked.) Since Franco's stated motivation for this exercise was a demand for the freedom to explore sexuality on film, and since the unseen agent's homophobia thus lies at the crux of the issue, it's odd that these conversations are the scenes that ring falsest; and when we later see Lauren sitting against the wall of a parking lot, his script in his lap, reading aloud the stage direction "Val sits against the wall of the parking lot. The script is in his lap. He reads to himself," you suspect the entire thing—in yet another layer of meta—is a fully scripted put-on. (What's not simulated is the close-up fellatio; take this either as warning or encouragement.) GAVIN BORCHERT (Also 3:30 p.m. Sun., May 19, Egyptian.)
[PICK] Mercy
9:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
An unhappily married German couple moves to possibly the most depressing place on Earth, a Norwegian town called Hammerfest, far north of the Arctic Circle. And it's winter, meaning the sun won't come up for months. Can this marriage be saved? And do you have the strength to journey along with Niels, Maria, and their young teen son, Markus? "All we need is a second chance," says Maria, but the odds of that seem very, very long in Hammerfest. And yet the town and its inhabitants have some interest. Maria adapts, joins the community choir, while Niels takes a mistress. You wouldn't bet on anything but divorce, especially after a fatal car accident complicates the plot. (The dialogue shifts among German, Norwegian, and frequent English.) Mercy is long (131 minutes) and slow, but in a good way. Director Matthias Glasner counts down the days of winter with graphics on screen. We feel the winter waning, the uncaring enormity of the frozen landscape, the gradual coming of the light. Whether the Gaimann family can recover from tragedy and marital apathy is never certain, and Glasner never pushes toward melodrama or easy resolution. The seasons must inevitably change, but conscience can be a harder turn. BRIAN MILLER (Also 4 p.m. Mon., May 20.)
Storm Surfers 3-D
9:30 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
This is a fine documentary, perhaps even a success, when it sticks to what it purports to be: an extreme sports flick that uses 3-D cameras attached to boards, held by surfers, and hovering from helicopters to immerse us in the huge waves found miles off the Australian shore. Sadly, ocean swells aren't the only thing directors Justin McMillan and Chris Nelius try to immerse us in. They also chase storylines meant to add gravity to the film, but end up making it feel lost at sea. The legendary surfers the film follows, Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll, are too wooden onscreen to be engaging. And as we watch an injured Carroll rehabilitate himself on waves much smaller than the promised stormy swells, the doc's already flimsy narrative crashes into the reef. DANIEL PERSON (Also 2 p.m. Sun., May 19.)
After Winter, Spring
4 p.m., Harvard Exit
The Périgord is a rural farming region in southwest France, and Judith Lit is a New York woman lucky enough to own a vacation home there. Over three years, she filmed this loving portrait of her neighbors—four extended families who run small farms operating by centuries-old traditions. Here and in France, Lit notes, monoculture factory farming has become the rule—one reason food is so cheap by historical standards, but she has no interest in ordinary consumers on a budget. She's a privileged woman who'd never set foot in a Walmart; and if you can't afford to eat organic, this doc's not for you. Their faces lined and fingers gnarled, the farmers share their rustic wisdom. "You should never take more from nature than you need," one tells Lit. True, but as another farmer admits, 50 percent of his revenue comes from government subsidies. Raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, Lit doesn't lack self-awareness, musing that her project is "a nostalgic effort to put myself where I used to be." She both romanticizes this dwindling, aging population and takes note as new, value-added businesses are attempted. One family adds a farm-to-table restaurant; another sells boutique foie gras; and a new couple attempts a line of organic berries—which proves too fantastically labor intensive. For the faces and landscape, Lit's film is never less that a pleasure to watch—and if you're looking for a vacation home in the Périgord, I can promise you there will be plenty of parcels to buy in the next decade. BRIAN MILLER (Also 8:30 p.m., Mon., May 20 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.)
Pit Stop
6:30 p.m., Harvard Exit
Yen Tan's film focuses on the parallel stories of Gabe (Bill Heck) and Ernesto (Marcus DeAnda), both scruffy and blue-collar-y, well north of 30, and as out as they can be in the Texas backwater they call home. Pit Stop makes the point, movingly, that a small town's limited dating pool makes life tough for everyone, not only gay men. Each character's relationship history is a cobbled-together tangle of men, women, married people, single people—whomever they can latch onto, no matter how ill-suited. Gabe and Ernesto have two exes each, for instance, whom for various reasons they can't escape. (If the town's so small, though, why haven't these two met yet? This implausibility is dealt with pretty perfunctorily.) The subtlest performance comes from indie It Girl Amy Seimetz as Gabe's intimacy-starved ex-wife Shannon; Heck and DeAnda score a little lower on the convincingness meter, though not enough to keep you from rooting for their characters. If Pit Stop were longer than its 80 minutes, though, you'd be on the verge of throwing up your hands and thinking Geez, quit moping and move to Austin already. GAVIN BORCHERT (Also 4:30 p.m. Mon., May 20, Pacific Place.)
9 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
This Hong Kong revenge flick opens with a gloriously violent, overdone, slo-mo brawl in a shower room—golden sun beaming in the windows because, well, it just looks better that way. Who or why these guys are beating one another to a bloody pulp won't be explained for another hour. Eventually the fight's winner, rendered mute by a knife in the throat, emerges from jail after 20 years. Silent Wong (Nick Cheung) takes a creepy, voyeuristic interest in a young piano student (Janice Man), who goes home to an even creepier and more possessive father (the bilingual Michael Wong, who vents his rage in English). Directed by Roy Chow, Nightfall is a puzzle picture; our trying to sort out who's who places us on the side of grizzled Inspector Lam (Simon Yam), a widowed cop with his own daughter to defend. While the movie ends up being a little too sentimental and predictable for my tastes, it's got some great action bits. When the cop finally tracks his quarry to a glass-bottomed gondola, a ferocious fight erupts in the enclosed space. Then comes a wonderful pause as Lam realizes that Wong, with the slightest smile on his face, has no desire for either of them to survive their meeting. Hundreds of feet above the ground, Wong points his gun in an unexpected direction. It's my favorite moment so far at SIFF. BRIAN MILLER (Also 9 p.m. Wed., May 22.)
Out of Print
7 p.m., Harvard Exit
Director Vivienne Roumani tangles with the thorny questions that the digital revolution poses to the future of the book in Out of Print without taking sides. It's a choice that results in an unexpectedly engaging hour of B-roll and talking heads. What's most entertaining to watch is the passion with which her egghead subjects argue their points. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, seemingly the natural antagonist in this story, emerges as the most charismatic and passionate reader of the lot. "Isn't that an odd question," Bezos answers when asked what format he reads in, his eye bulging with glee. "Can you imagine asking that question 10 years ago?" On the other side is novelist, attorney, and Authors Guild president Scott Turow, who, in his stern denunciation of e-book pirates and Google, comes off as a sort of Joe McCarthy of copyright. The narration by Meryl Streep is minimal, which is appropriate, but the light touch sometimes undermines the doc's evenhandedness. The portion devoted to the Digital Public Library of America, for instance, has the sheen of an infomercial. Anecdotes from successful authors provide more color than substance. Still, listening to Ray Bradbury talk about writing Fahrenheit 451 on a library typewriter is always fun; and the story of Darcy Chan's e-book success is a riveting and hopeful sign for the future. MARK BAUMGARTEN (Also 5 p.m. Tues., May 21.)
[PICK] Scrapper
6 p.m., SIFF Cinema Uptown
Making its premiere at SIFF, Brady Hall's local feature follows one of those anonymous day laborers driving around South Seattle in an old red truck. Why should we pay attention to this particular guy? Mainly because of the quiet, concerned dignity of Hollis (TV actor Michael Beach, currently on The Client List), who carts away scrap metal to sell at the recycling depot. Hollis has no history or friends, just an ill, elderly mother at home. He patrols the alleyways, backyards, and construction sites—a connoisseur of junk and an observer of hidden doings. One such foray takes him into a suburban S&M dungeon, where an 18-year-old girl dangles from Japanese kinbaku bondage ropes. "What are you, some kind of Republican?" she snaps at the astonished Hollis. Well, no—he's not exactly uptight, but he's depressed and prone to disturbing dreams (caused by his nicotine patch). And he's a hard worker, which inspires the girl, Swan (Anna Giles), to become his assistant; scrap metal will pay better than Craigslist bondage jobs, she figures. Scrapper is about their unlikely friendship, no more and no less. Although a few punks and vandals threaten the two, it's a modest drama that revolves around the routine of work. It puts you in mind of Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, Man Push Cart), whose characters live in the constant now, defined by their labor. And from salvage, possibly, comes salvation. BRIAN MILLER (Also 4 p.m. Wed., May 22.)
[PICK] Bwakaw
9:15 p.m., Harvard Exit
Rene (Eddie Garcia), an elderly man in a village in the Philippines, though healthy and active, has already checked out: Almost all his belongings are prematurely packed in boxes labeled with the names of the acquaintances who'll get them after he's gone. The gently unfolding events that persuade him not to give up so soon—as one character puts it, "Instead of just waiting for the day you die, do whatever makes you happy"—form the plot of Jun Robles Lana's quiet dramedy. Like most lonely people (the title refers to Rene's closest companion, the stray dog he adopted), he's abrasive, his shields always up—with cause, since he's gay and spent most of his life hiding it. Bwakaw leaves questions unanswered about just how big a stigma that is in Rene's village; everyone he knows, with one dramatic exception, seems to know and not care. Lana seasons his tale with dashes of black humor and bittersweetness. Bring tissues. GAVIN BORCHERT (Also 4 p.m. Thurs., May 23, Harvard Exit.)