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29 June 2012
Readercon 23 Schedule
I will be at Readercon 23 in a few weeks. It's the one convention I attend every year, and I'm especially excited about this year because the panels are especially interesting, the guest list is awesome, and one of the guests of honor is Peter Straub, whose work I am in awe of and who is among the most delightful people to hear on panels or in interviews or readings or, really, anywhere. (Honestly, if Peter Straub were a train conductor, I'd follow him from car to car. He'd get freaked out and call the police, and I'd get arrested for being a weirdo, but it would be so worth it!) Also, we get to celebrate 50 years of Samuel Delany's work. And we give out the Shirley Jackson Awards!
Before posting my schedule, I wanted to note the Readercon Book Club selections for this year. These are panel discussions of specific books, a "classic" and a recent work of fiction and nonfiction each. This year's are:
27 June 2012
"The Stains" by Robert Aickman
Today is Robert Aickman's 98th birthday, and in honor of that, here are some thoughts on my favorite Aickman story, "The Stains". I've been meaning to write about Aickman's work, and this story in particular, for a long time, but I have found it difficult to muster the courage to write about works that are so mysterious, so ineffable, so richly strange and deeply affecting. I think it is no coincidence that I have had the same struggle with the work of Franz Kafka, who is absolutely central to my reading life, and yet I have never written at much length about him at all. Aickman is not as great a writer as Kafka, but that's no insult; Aickman's talent and vision were narrower, his oeuvre less ragged. Nonetheless, there is an affinity of effect (and affect), partly, I suspect, because both writers were masters of writing from repressed obsessions, and both found unique, personal forms of fiction with which to encase those obsessions.
"The Stains" is a late story by Aickman, first published in Ramsay Campbell's anthology New Terrors. It won the 1981 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction, but has rarely been reprinted. (Currently, it's in print in the Faber & Faber UK edition of the Aickman collection The Unsettled Dust, which, along with a couple other Aickman collections, is also available as a Kindle ebook from Amazon, though I haven't found it for other electronic formats.)
It is the story of a civil servant named Stephen, whose wife, Elizabeth, has recently died, and whose very straight-laced, controlled world has begun to come apart. Stephen seems like a perfect representation of the stereotypical stiff-upper-lip, aging British male — but really there's nothing essentially British about this stereotype, for it is more generally a kind of masculine ideal: fastidious, emotionally repressed, with a sense that one's status as a (white, middle-to-upper-class) male should lead then to dominance over a world that always threatens chaos. Such attributes lead to a psychology that fiercely guards against the exotic. Stephen's Britishness (and Aickman's) will be important to the story, though, because of the story's subtle allusions to the Empire.
Marriage is, for Stephen and his ilk, a vital component in the fight against chaos, and Elizabeth was for him the nearly-perfect wife. ("They said he was a man made for marriage and all it meant. ... [H]ow many women would want to marry Stephen now? A number, perhaps; but not a number that he would want to marry. Not after Elizabeth.") A man made for marriage and all it meant. Elizabeth's only flaw was her inability to bear Stephen a child, preferably a son to carry on his name, lineage, tradition. But no man can have everything, and each needs some burden to bear.
It is no surprise that once Elizabeth is dead, Stephen's world shifts toward chaos. Their doctor immediately leaves, and he is replaced not by another man of the same mold, but rather someone different. "The new man was half-Sudanese, and Stephen found him difficult to communicate with, at least upon a first encounter, at least on immediate topics."
Stephen leaves to see his brother: the Reverend Harewood Hooper BD, MA. ("Their father and grandfather had been in orders too, and had been incumbents of that same small church in that same small parish for thirty-nine years and forty-two years respectively.") A man of scholarship and God, Harewood is also a "modestly famous" expert on lichens.
Labels: Aickman, colonialism, fiction, horror, masculinity, short stories, weird
23 June 2012
I had no intention of ever writing anything ever again whatsoever about Prometheus, or even mentioning the movie ever again in my life, but I just read two great pieces about it, so can't resist sending attention to them. (One links to the other, in fact.)
First, Elaine Costello's amazingly rich, provocative, nuanced, thoughtful, beautiful stream-of-theoryness wonderings about the film — about its economies and genders and races and religions, its unsaid saids and said unsaids. ("...which reminded me that the spaceship is a military-industrial [and so imperial-colonial] apparatus...") Here's just a tiny taste of an extraordinary tapestry:
What I wonder about is this: if David really can be read as an anti-colonial and anti-corporate saboteur, why does this progressive message, this transgressive messenger, still have to wear the most Aryan body imaginable? I'm aware that casting an actor of color as the android character would have made the slippages that David animates, between subordinate-saboteur, product-producer, and particularly colonial-colonized, perhaps more difficult to represent. (Though not necessarily; you can have Idris Elba imitating Peter O'Toole, why not? I would have watched the hell out of that, actually, can you imagine how fucked up and interesting that would be, the commentaries you could make on the reversal of racial drag, etc.) What I'm trying to say is that it is still impossible for mainstream Hollywood film to imagine a person of color in a role as potentially complex and subversive as David's. A character of color who could be plotting to destroy the imperial-corporate complex he was created within, and is forced to work for? That would be too radical. Which is to say, that would be too real.Subashini at The Blog of Disquiet picks up on some of Costello's ideas, and others, offering particularly interesting interpretations of the movie's use of body horror, its apparent nihilism, and Idris Elba as the One Black Dude:
Idris Elba once said himself, "Imagine a film such as Inception with an entire cast of black people – do you think it would be successful? Would people watch it? But no one questions the fact that everyone's white. That's what we have to change."
I do think that having acrimonious feelings towards the film is the actual point—the film seems to be a stand-in for a certain segment of humanity and its imperialist, ruinous ambitions, though like most films coming out of Hollywood this seems to coexist with its appreciation of capital, technology, and involuntary/reproductive labour. That in itself doesn't make it inherently unlikeable, not at all. But as Susan Sontag wrote in "The Imagination of Disaster," "Science fiction films invite a dispassionate, aesthetic view of destruction and violence—a technological view," and perhaps it's the nihilist technological determinism of Prometheus that is inherently unsettling. Perhaps it's this utter lack of meaning in the movie that is its meaning, and consequently the source of my loathing. Maybe a part of me just wants machines and people to get along? I'm not sure.
Labels: colonialism, film, Gender, Movies, race, science fiction, technology
22 June 2012
Shakespeare on Screen: Coriolanus and Private Romeo
A Shakespearean double feature: one, a relatively faithful adaptation of one of Shakespeare's least-loved tragedies, fully populated with Famous Brits; the other, a reconfiguration of Romeo and Juliet in an all-male military academy, made on a clearly minuscule budget with a small cast of pretty unknown actors. Neither is entirely a success, but they're not boring, and both are valiant attempts worth at least the time it takes to watch them.
Coriolanus was the last of Shakespeare's Roman plays (after Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra) and it has never had the popularity of its predecessors, despite being at least their equal in its rhetoric and drama. Indeed, T.S. Eliot once wrote that, "Coriolanus may be not as 'interesting' as Hamlet, but it is, with Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare's most assured artistic success." (Meanwhile, Shaw called it "the greatest of Shakespear's comedies.") Shakespeare took the basic story from Plutarch, but adapted it for greater resonance with the circumstances of early-17th Century England. He also simplified it for dramatic purposes — Plutarch's Coriolanus is politically experienced and shrewd, while a central fault of Shakespeare's Coriolanus is his inability to adapt his brute military talent to the political (or social) realm.
One of the reasons Coriolanus has probably not been as popular as many of Shakespeare's other tragedies is that its central figure is unlikeable, but not delightfully so. Richard III is utterly detestable, but the character is beloved of actors and audiences because he absolutely revels in his nastiness, and thus allows us to do so as well. (The same could be said of Titus Andronicus — Julie Taymor brilliantly showed how much our enchantment with such Shakespearean characters is similar to our enchantment with such characters as Hannibal Lecter.) But Shakespeare keeps us at more distance from Coriolanus. His verse is rough, raw, sharp; he has nothing but contempt for the masses and yet also loathes the aristocracy. His only comfortable home is a battlefield. More than any other of Shakespeare's protagonists, Coriolanus is the subject of other characters' conversations, and so his function within the play is less that of a tragic (anti-)hero than of a foil: through their responses to him and interpretations of him, the characters stand as a portrait of their society.
Labels: film, Movies, queer, Shakespeare
15 June 2012
Catching Up with the Caine Prize
This is my fourth post for the great 2012 Caine Prize blogathon. (See my first post for some details.)
With 2 stories remaining for our Caine Prize Blogathon of Wonder, I fell behind.
Thus, this post will be about the last two stories, "La Salle de Départ" by Melissa Tandiwe Myambo and "Hunter Emmanuel" by Constance Myburgh.
Both are solid stories with their own virtues and are, much to the jurors' credit, utterly different from each other.
Labels: Africa, Caine Prize, genre, pulps, short stories
13 June 2012
Yesterday, I posted a mocking attack on Prometheus that also linked to other attacks. I hated the movie, and so did plenty of other people.
But I don't want to give the impression that it is Friday the 13th Part XXVI: Jason vs. Maximus Prime. (Actually, that movie could be awesome!) Plenty of perfectly intelligent moviegoers have not merely enjoyed Prometheus, but embraced it. Adored it. Gone to see it more than once.
So, for some balance, here are four quotes from reviews and comments on the film that view it more positively than I or the people I quoted yesterday:
Roger Ebert:
Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" is a magnificent science-fiction film, all the more intriguing because it raises questions about the origin of human life and doesn't have the answers. It's in the classic tradition of golden age sci-fi, echoing Scott's "Alien" (1979), but creating a world of its own. I'm a pushover for material like this; it's a seamless blend of story, special effects and pitch-perfect casting, filmed in sane, effective 3-D that doesn't distract.
Andrew O'Hehir:
..."Prometheus" damn near lives up to the unsustainable hype, at least at the level of cinematography, production design, special effects and pure wow factor. This tale of a deep-space mission late in the 21st century, several decades before Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo will discover an abandoned alien spacecraft and its sinister cargo, is a sleek, shimmering, gorgeous and often haunting visual mood piece. No other recent science-fiction film, with the sole exception of "Avatar," has created such a textured, detailed and colorful vision of the human space-traveling future, and indeed it's reasonable to assume that Scott conceives of "Prometheus" as a pessimistic counter-argument to James Cameron's eco-parable on various levels.
Caitlín R. Kiernan:
And, lest charges of sexism arise, Kane is the first of the crew "raped" – a man – then Brett – also male – and then the ship's captain, Dallas – also male. Now, turning to charges of sexism in Prometheus (which I am seeing) as regards "rape" by the alien: What? The first person infected is Holloway, who unintentionally impregnates Shaw through consensual sex. Then we see Milburn mouth-fucked by a proto-facehugger. That's two men impregnated (though you might argue Holloway is, rather, infected) to one woman (the presumably male "engineers" not included). So, charges of a sexual bias towards women are simply baseless.
Glenn Kenny:
I've said before that I tend to measure certain genre pictures by the number, and quality, of what I call (if you'll excuse the phrase) Holy Crap! Moments. (I don't call them that, exactly, but what I actually call them can't be printed here.) In any event, in the notes I took for this film, on one page, in big block letters taking up pretty much two thirds of the page, I indeed wrote that phrase in the middle of one particular scene. You'll know it when you see it, and it is insane, one of the most perfectly perverse and beautifully executed pieces of shock cinema I've seen in years, an absolutely breathtaking and staggering and exhilarating set piece that kind of reminds you of every sick thing that cinema is good for. And that scene is more or less bracketed by sequences that, while not of equal impact (they couldn't possibly be), serve to buttress the truly insane sequence with whiplash-inducing excitement.
So far, Prometheus does not seem to be as epically polarizing a picture as, for instance, Tree of Life or 2001. Viewers' reactions vary, certainly, but I found it much harder to collect substantive quotes for this post than for the previous one, and far fewer people with a passion for the film that matched the passion of those of us who hated the film. There are certainly plenty of people who like the movie, or at least have mixed feelings that tend toward the positive, but the sort of writing about it that I've been able to find is mostly less specific on the positive side than on the negative, and most of the positive writings so far focus on the visuals, on Michael Fassbender's performance, and on the thrill/horror of the surgery scene. That may change with time, especially once the movie is available for home viewing, or once enough lovers of the movie get fed up with us haters and start firing back.
Labels: aesthetics, critics, film, judgment, Movies
12 June 2012
I haven't hated a movie as much as I hated Prometheus in a long time. It is a movie that screams for mockery.
Some of my favorite writings on it so far...
Nick Mamatas:
In the grim meathook future of this film, corporations rule the planet, CEOs rule their corporations on whims, and women wear naught but Ace bandages as undergarments, the poor sexy sexy things.
Kameron Hurley:
In the world of Prometheus, we all came from white dudes, who went around seeding the universe with their magical, life-giving sperm.
Genevieve Valentine:
One of the saving graces of the psychosexual terrorization in the Alien franchise is the leveling of the gender playing field – the rape threat they represent is omnipresent and sexually indiscriminate. But not in Prometheus! Thanks, Prometheus.
Richard Brody:
Which is to say that, despite the lack of intentional humor, lots of things in the movie are laughable, from the giant tiki-head of primordial power or the flying cruller that threatens humanity to the cumbersome pseudo-mythology that blends Sunday-supplement science with the kind of puffed-up archetypes of genesis that would have embarrassed Wagnerian epigones—and which Scott's proud earnestness renders all the more ridiculous.
Also, the production design and cinematography are dull and repetitive, the plot is little more than a videogame script (and thus about as much fun as watching somebody else play a videogame), the characters are all idiots and stereotypes who spout pseudo-profundities they apparently picked up from Fortune Cookies of the Gods, and Guy Pearce is stuck in Dustin Hoffman's Little Big Man make-up for no apparent reason. (I liked Michael Fassbender's performance, though. He seemed like a refugee from an incomparably better movie, A.I.)
10 June 2012
30 Years After Fassbinder: Where to Begin?
On June 10, 1982, thirty years ago today, Rainer Werner Fassbinder died. He was among the most remarkable filmmakers of all time, a director whose work I've wrestled with and adored for a while. His extraordinarily rich, diverse, and vast oeuvre has become the single body of film work that most fascinates me, though I still haven't been able to see it all (few people have).
I've written a bit about Fassbinder, and specifically his astounding TV movie World on a Wire, previously, but I've resisted writing about him more, partly out of a sense of humility in the face of his accomplishments and partly because I still feel, even after years of watching his movies, very much a beginner as a Fassbinder viewer.
|Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
But even with the acclaim Fassbinder has received and the esteem in which he is held by many cinephiles, his films seem to have trouble staying available to viewers — though roughly 75% of them have been released on DVD at one point or another in the US or UK, many of those editions have long gone out of print, and some, like the US DVD of Effi Briest, now sell for quite a lot of money on the used market. (I am grateful to my past self, who bought it for a perfectly reasonable price when it came out in 2003. The Arrow Films UK DVD is available, though.) Recently, Criterion's magnificent boxed set of The BRD Trilogy went out of print, though Criterion has reportedly said there will be a re-release at an unspecified time in the future.
I have decided to try to write a bit more about Fassbinder, then, to keep his name out there, to try to express some of what I find so affecting about his films, and, most importantly, to proselytize in his favor, with the hope that other people will do so as well, because it is only through proselytizing that more of his work may become, and remain, available to audiences worldwide. (If anybody out there wants to join me in writing about Fassbinder over the coming months, please feel free to put links to what you write in the comments here, or email me.)
|Fox and His Friends (1975)
For this first post, it seems most appropriate to offer some suggestions for newcomers to Fassbinder. Certainly, the immense amount of material he created makes beginning seem daunting, but even more than that, if you start with the wrong film, you may be put off too soon. Fassbinder's not for everybody (who is?), but I strongly believe you can't tell if he's for you if you begin in the wrong spot.
For instance, I spent years thinking I hated Fassbinder because the first movie I watched knowing it was a Fassbinder film* was The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. I have since come to cherish it, but I really spent about five years avoiding everything by Fassbinder because I had so hated Petra von Kant on a first viewing.
|The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
At his invaluable Fassbinder pages, Jim Clark suggests starting with The Merchant of Four Seasons. Not a bad suggestion, but it depends on who you are and what sorts of films you're used to. A lot of people could find Merchant a little hard to get into, a little too slow or ponderous. (If there are multiple movies you like that other people have called slow or ponderous, then by all means, start with Merchant of Four Seasons, because it's wonderful and full of many of Fassbinder's major concerns.)
The film that cured me of my Fassbinder-hate was Fear Eats the Soul. I went into it with low expectations, since I thought I hated Fassbinder, but I was fascinated by Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows and Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven, so I thought, "Okay, I guess I have to break down and watch one of those godawful Fassbinder movies, since Far From Heaven is as influenced by Fear Eats the Soul as it is All That Heaven Allows..." It was actually the perfect attitude to have, because it caused me to put up the wrong defenses, and by the end of Fear Eats the Soul, I was weeping, absolutely shattered, utterly entranced, and totally and completely in love. After that, there was no turning back. I put every available Fassbinder movie on my Netflix queue and watched them all in about six months or so.
Fear Eats the Soul is the only Fassbinder movie I've used in a class, and some of the students liked it very much, which is another reason why I'm pretty confident suggesting it as a starting point, especially since the majority of my students have never encountered much beyond recent Hollywood movies. No undergraduate class in my experience entirely loves any film in a language other than English, never mind one quite as "weird" (read: "not mainstream Hollywood") as Fear Eats the Soul, but there were at least a few students who really fell under its spell on the first viewing.
I think the next one I watched was The Marriage of Maria Braun, which I had seen in high school but hadn't known anything about, and had more or less forgotten. It's become my sentimental favorite of Fassbinder's movies, and would also make, I think, a pretty good starting point. It's among Fassbinder's best, certainly, and while there are others more accomplished in various ways, Maria Braun has, for all its difficult moments, a real likeability — perhaps "approachability" is a more accurate word. The story moves along at a faster rate than some of Fassbinder's others, and Hannah Schygulla's performance is entrancing and unsettling.
After that, you may want to watch the rest of the BRD Trilogy (Veronika Voss and Lola), Merchant of Four Seasons, or try World on a Wire. If you're feeling ready to branch out to some of the more ... idiosyncratic ... corners of Fassbinder's world, The Third Generation wouldn't be a bad choice. Or you may be ready to appreciate the slow, tense, suffocating world of Petra von Kant. If you can find a copy of Effi Briest, by all means watch it. If you want to explore Fassbinder's more explicit (in every sense) and controversial portrayals of sexuality and identity, try Fox and His Friends, In a Year of 13 Moons, and Querelle. By this point, you'll certainly know whether Fassbinder is for you, and if he is, you will want more, more, more — which means, it's time for Berlin Alexanderplatz.
|The Third Generation (1979)
There's plenty more, of course, and all sorts of avenues to explore. But that's not the real challenge; the real challenge is to calibrate yourself, and it should only take a few movies to do that. Fear Eats the Soul, The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Merchant of Four Seasons — not only some of Fassbinder's best, but films that will prepare you for the more difficult, challenging, messy others. The pleasures of Fassbinder's movies are inexhaustible.
We have been thirty years without him. And yet the world seems only to be beginning to know him.
*I had seen, and more or less enjoyed, The Marriage of Maria Braun and Effi Briest previously — the former because my father had a VHS of it, and I watched it sometime in high school when I was falling in love with German cinema; the latter during my senior year of college, when a 35mm print was shown at the University of New Hampshire and my German teacher told us if we didn't see it, we were depriving ourselves of a sublime experience. She was right, though I didn't fully appreciate it at the time because I thought the story was trivial and tedious. I was an idiot.
Labels: Fassbinder, film, Movies
08 June 2012
The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard
My review of Lucius Shepard's The Dragon Griaule is now available at Strange Horizons. (And the book itself is now available from Subterranean Press.) It's an extraordinary collection of stories, rich and multifaceted, nearly 30 years in the making. (I'm probably the only person on Earth who also reads it as a kind of allegory of Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author", but I think the stories are rich enough to survive even the most idiosyncratic readers...)
Lucius Shepard published his first story of the immobilized, mountainous dragon named Griaule in 1984, and each of the four stories since "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule" has furthered the purpose of showing up the evasive, escapist stupidities at the heart of the phrase once upon a time.Read the rest at Strange Horizons.
Or maybe that wasn't their purpose, in Shepard's mind. It doesn't matter. Purpose or not, it is their effect, and it is an effect that grows out of the stories' distant relation to fairy tales of dragons and maidens and gallant knights and, as a Shepard character might say, all that horseshit.
Thanks to Subterranean Press, we now have the five Dragon Griaule stories (novellas, mostly) together between two covers instead of scattered through various anthologies and magazines, along with a new novella, "The Skull." For the first time, it's easy to read them one after the other. We can spy on their correlations, theorize their conjunctions, and spelunk through the shadows linking their darkest caverns. On their own, the stories are moments of myth, shards of a fantasy land that, it turns out, is just around the corner from our own. Together with the added narrative iterations of "The Skull," the stories show themselves to be a tapestry of texts, histories, myths, horrors, deceits, contrivances, lies, illusions, and, in the end, hopes.
Labels: Cheney publications, fantasy, lucius shepard, reviews, short stories
05 June 2012
Seeing War
I was futzing around trying to create a video essay showing links between Cornel Wilde's 1967 war movie Beach Red and Terrence Malick's Thin Red Line, not really getting anywhere, when I watched Kevin B. Lee's video essay "War Movies for People Who Don't Like War Movies". Most of the video offers his take on two films, Marwencol and La France (films well deserving more attention), but as someone who has seen a lot of war movies, and who would put a few on any list of top movies of all time, I struggled with the opening of his essay, even though he quotes my beloved Francois Truffaut:
It seems to me that while yes, we can point to specific techniques that glorify war and embody fantasies of glorious violence, we can't necessarily predict how those techniques will affect all audiences. For instance, I loathe Saving Private Ryan. Every frame of it. Yet I also realize my loathing is pretty personal, and that plenty of people have found that film, particularly its first 25 minutes, a deeply powerful conduit toward understanding some of the horrors of war. Alternately, being a Malickoholic, I love The Thin Red Line, but I'm not entirely unsympathetic to criticisms that it aestheticizes war in a way that is not so much glorifying as it is perhaps trivializing or fetishizing or something. (I don't agree, obviously, but I do think it's necessary to think through the beauty of the film's images.)
So anyway, with all that in mind, as well as a recent re-viewing of one of the most affecting and disturbing war movies I know, Come and See, I broadened the scope of my Beach Red / Thin Red Line essay and turned it into an essay on war movies and spectacle:
There's no such thing as a truly anti-war film, Francois Truffaut once said. By depicting the adventure and thrill of combat, war movies can't help but glorify their subject, fueling fantasies of spectacular, heroic violence. It's a case where the sensational beauty of cinema works against our humanist impulses rather than for them.I'm not sure that categorizing war films into either a pro-war or anti-war box is the most helpful view of them, but the question of the spectacle of war in the spectacle of cinema is certainly worth thinking about. Lee says he's a "not a fan of war movies as a general matter of principle", but his set-up doesn't do anything to distinguish the violence of war movies from the violence of westerns or crime films or whatever — what makes the subject of war more likely to inescapably "glorify their subject, fueling fantasies of spectacular, heroic violence"? By that logic, Lee must not be a fan of any violent movies. That's a nice principle, and I might believe it from somebody who didn't much like movies in general, but Lee clearly likes movies. (Perhaps the problem is really the word "fan".)
It seems to me that while yes, we can point to specific techniques that glorify war and embody fantasies of glorious violence, we can't necessarily predict how those techniques will affect all audiences. For instance, I loathe Saving Private Ryan. Every frame of it. Yet I also realize my loathing is pretty personal, and that plenty of people have found that film, particularly its first 25 minutes, a deeply powerful conduit toward understanding some of the horrors of war. Alternately, being a Malickoholic, I love The Thin Red Line, but I'm not entirely unsympathetic to criticisms that it aestheticizes war in a way that is not so much glorifying as it is perhaps trivializing or fetishizing or something. (I don't agree, obviously, but I do think it's necessary to think through the beauty of the film's images.)
So anyway, with all that in mind, as well as a recent re-viewing of one of the most affecting and disturbing war movies I know, Come and See, I broadened the scope of my Beach Red / Thin Red Line essay and turned it into an essay on war movies and spectacle:
Labels: film, Movies, spectacle, video essays, war
02 June 2012
Delany & The Bat
Ed Champion interviews Samuel Delany for his Bat Segundo Show. An informed, wide-ranging conversation that's very much worth the time to listen to:
Delany: And I think pornotopia is the place, as I've written about, where the major qualities — the major aspect of pornotopia, it's a place where any relation, if you put enough pressure on it, can suddenly become sexual. You walk into the reception area of the office and you look at the secretary and the secretary looks at you and the next minute you're screwing on the desk. That's pornotopia. Which, every once in a while, actually happens. But it doesn't happen at the density.
Correspondent: Frequency.
Delany: At the frequency that it happens in pornotopia. In pornotopia, it happens nonstop. And yet some people are able to write about that sort of thing relatively realistically. And some people aren't. Something like Fifty Shades of Grey is not a very realistic account.
Correspondent: I'm sure you've read that by now.
Delany: I've read about five pages.
Correspondent: And it was enough for you to throw against the wall?
Delany: No. I didn't throw it. I just thought it was hysterically funny. But because the writer doesn't use it to make any real observations on the world that is the case, you know, it's ho-hum.
Correspondent: How do we hook those moms who were so driven to Fifty Shades of Grey on, say, something like this?
Delany: I don't think you're going to.
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text:
MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams claims to suffer from nerves and jitters before her first-round matches at the Grand Slams.
She certainly didn't show it, winning her first set in 21 minutes on Tuesday night on the way to a 6-0, 6-4 win over Alison Van Uytvanck at the Australian Open.
The 18-time major winner has only once lost in the opening round at a Grand Slam tournament, and this is her 58th. One more Grand Slam title and she'll pass Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time list of champions.
"If I could get to 19 in Australia that would be amazing," said the top-ranked Williams, who won the last of her five Australian titles in...

subset: commoncrawl


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10 Iconic Photographers to Discover at The Photography Show
Artsy Specialist
Image rights: Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / copyright © The Estate of Diane Arbus, LLC. All rights reserved
"diane arbus: in the beginning"
Venues: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2016); SFMOMA, San Francisco (2017)
American photographer Diane Arbus is famous for her poignant portraits of individuals on the margins of society, such as street people, transvestites, nudists, and carnival performers. Arbus's work is highly controversial, eliciting in some viewers an overwhelming sense of compassion, while others find her images bizarre and disturbing. Her practice challenged established conventions dictating the distance between photographer and subject, resulting in the raw psychological intensity that characterizes her photographic portraiture.
American, 1923-1971, New York, New York
10 Iconic Photographers to Discover at The Photography Show
Artsy Specialist
From Dalí to Rembrandt, 9 Artists Whose Mothers Became Their Muses
The Art Genome Project
10 Photographers Who Captured the Grit and Glamour of L.A.
Artsy Editorial


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I know these are next to impossible to find. But... if anyone is able to get ahold of one of these great sets I would be so greatful.
here is the link so you can see the set(s) I am talking about.
"Each day is a gift, not a given right."
Not the lunch sets per sey but they have the lock & lock boxes at Wal-Mart - that's where I got mine - then added a lunchbox / cooler.
I'm on a get healthy kick - since I quit smoking - next stop weight loss - let the journey begin.
Oooh my new set (and incidentally the one I now use most frequently), is like the first two (minus the bottle), but I got it in Vietnam... so that's probably not really helpful to you :/
"A common way to tell if it is well cooked is to throw the sausage onto a hard surface; if it bounces, the sausage is good."
Unfortunatly, not the box set, but recently while I was in Ross (if you don't have one, it's like a TJ-Maxx or Marshalls) and i found all kinds of random lock and lock containers decently priced while rummaging the kitchen section. However, with those stores it can be hit or miss, but it doesn't hurt to look anyway (you might find other neat kitchen goodies)!
Yum yum bento yum yum!
They're available in Australia (sorry, I can't see where you live) in homewares stores and David Jones (department store). I have one and it's pretty good. A bit big just for lunch though, but if you need snacks as well it's pretty great.
I bought exactly that set yesterday for about $15. I got the last one. BUT, I know where to find it, so the next time I'm up there I'll watch for you. (I didn't see where you live, but if you're in California, I got it at MV Imports in San Mateo on 3rd.)
Send me a private message if you get one before you hear from me.
I bought exactly that set yesterday for about $15. I got the last one. BUT, I know where to find it, so the next time I'm up there I'll watch for you. (I didn't see where you live, but if you're in California, I got it at MV Imports in San Mateo on 3rd.)
Send me a private message if you get one before you hear from me.
I sent you a pm begging you to get one for me. :)
It looks the same to me as this set, but in different colours, with a different bag:
If this is the one that people are after, I know a Canadian on-line source (I think they only ship to Canada though)
Again, not that set exactly, but in Canada Zellers sells a wide selection of lock & lock boxes.
i am from sydney. My friend had the same set that you wanted. She said that she got from www.amway.com.au, I looked the website, but no this type of lock & lock box at moment. here is sydney, very hard to find the nice bento box.
I've purchased a lock and lock set from Australia. I can't get anyone else in the UK or anyone who will deliver to the UK.
Should be here in about 10 days time.
Total cost delivered was $43 Aus, which is £20.34 GBP or $27.67 US
I can't wait , I'm so excited to have found this!!!
For anyone in the Toronto area:
PAT supermarket on Bloor near Christie station carries Lock and Lock lunchsets. They have two boxes (one has partitions), a a water bottle and some foldable chopsticks. They have both red and grey (perhaps blue as well, not sure). They are CAD 16.99.
They bag and the boxes are look like these -- pretty! (the bag is not striped -- sort of a solid color, with small polkadots, and also taller (to fit the bottle) and the chopsticks come in a holder and are collapsible)
the bottle is like the one here, just a different color for the cap.
Here is a better picture
Just imagine a deep red box and a red bag, plus chopsticks.
That Lock and Lock set is available for $14-15 at Kukje Market in Daly City, California; both in red stripes and blue stripes. They also carry a smaller version without the drink container for slightly less. I don't use the drink container, but like the larger style because I can add a piece of fruit or another container if I like.
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Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,
As some of you may have noticed, Comcast recently raised the mail storage limit from 10MB per account to 250MB per account. Since Comcast provides up to 7 e-mail accounts, you are now getting 1.75GB of total e-mail storage. This storage is in addition to the 175MB of total Personal Web Page storage and unlimited photo storage through the Comcast Photo Center.
Coupled with this increase in storage, we have modified our deletion policy for e-mail. In order to assist mail users in keeping these larger mailboxes more manageable, Comcast will delete mail in your inbox that is unopened and unread after 60 days. We will never delete any messages that you have opened or any messages, opened or unopened, that you file in your personal folders. To see how to set up personal folders, please click here.
We have made these changes to meet your Broadband usage needs. We will be reviewing these policies throughout the rest of the year and will inform you of any future changes.
Thank you,
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text:
46 U.S. Code § 12304 - Certificates of numbers
§ 12304.
Certificates of numbers
A certificate of number is granted for a number issued under this chapter. The certificate shall be pocketsized, shall be at all times available for inspection on the vessel for which issued when the vessel is in operation, and may be valid for not more than 3 years. The certificate of number for a vessel less than 26 feet in length and leased or rented to another for the latter's noncommercial operation of less than 7 days may be retained on shore by the vessel's owner or representative at the place from which the vessel departs or returns to the possession of the owner or the owner's representative. A vessel that does not have the certificate of number on board shall be identified when in operation, and comply with requirements, as the issuing authority prescribes.
(b) The owner of a vessel numbered under this chapter shall provide—
(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 591.)
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised section
Source section (U.S. Code)
Section 12304 describes a certificate of number and stipulates when it must be carried on board a vessel. It also requires that the number issuing authority be notified when a boat is sold, transferred, destroyed, or abandoned, or when the owner's address changes.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


text:
MES Cards Birthday Cards Cards for Kids Thank You Cards Halloween Christmas Cards
Card templates for kids; add personalized text, edit and print cards online for free.
Printable card with underwater dolphin, swimming, profile, reflection, cute, smiling, animal, blue, calm, nature, sunlight, sunrays, dolphin.
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To print dolphin envelopes for this card, use the envelope template. You can make a blank evelope or choose from styles that match this theme.
To print your dolphin card, click the 'print' button at the top left of the card template when you are ready. The double-action card maker gives you the option of printing a quarter fold dolphin card (default) or a half fold dolphin card.
Make as many dolphin cards or party invitations as you need. There are more dolphin card templates on the dolphin cards page.
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President Barack Obama said Saturday the U.S. stands ready to provide whatever assistance Algerian officials need in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack at a natural gas complex in the Sahara.
The four-day standoff appeared to end Saturday after Algerian special forces stormed the complex. The clash left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.
The State Department issued a travel warning Saturday night for Americans in or traveling to Algeria, citing credible threats of the kidnapping of Western nationals. The department also authorized the departure from Algeria of staff members' families if they choose to leave.
In a statement from the White House, Obama said the blame lay with the militants and that the United States condemns their actions.
"This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al-Qaida and other violent extremist groups in North Africa," Obama said. "In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."
Earlier Saturday, during a news conference in London with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, British Defense Minister Philip Hammond called the loss of life appalling and unacceptable.
"It is the terrorists that bear the sole responsibility," Hammond told reporters.
Hammond didn't criticize Algeria's handling of the attack directly, but he appeared to reference the increased concern from world leaders about the lack of transparency in Algeria's anti-terror operation.
"Different countries have different approaches to dealing with these things," he said. "But the nature of collaboration in confronting a global threat is that we work with people sometimes who do things somewhat different, slightly differently from the way we do them ourselves."
Panetta said that "those who would wantonly attack our country and our people will have no place to hide."
"Just as we cannot accept terrorism attacks against our cities, we cannot accept attacks against our citizens and our interests abroad," he said.
Baldor reported from London.


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Travel Forum 7 years ago
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chowitzer Australia and especially Thailand are high up on my list of places I'd like to see but as I'm planning to travel slowly from west to east those destinations will probably be nearer the end of my trip, and since I've never embarked on anything this large before I'm still not entirely sure how long that will take me. I can say that after I am in South America (I will have family business to attend to in Chile in December) I will be looking to cross the ocean toward Africa then north through Europe before staying for a short while in England (I've family there as well). I'll use England as sort of a "home-base" to plan my path eastward which will eventually culminate in getting to the East Indies and SE Asia and Oceania. Your thoughts?


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I have always been interested in photography but since 2004 I switched from film to digital and have really concentrated on improving my photography skill. I trust this shows in the quality of images I am taking. I take photos here on my blog for my own enjoyment and share them with you in hope you, the viewer, will enjoy them too.
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text: I'm teaching a Network Security class this fall. I'm looking for a cake assignment to give on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving instead of class. I was thinking of having them watch a moving with hacking / security over break and then discuss after returning from Thanksgiving break. I can think of the Net and Hackers. Any other movies you can think of?


text:
Links to sites dedicated to a particular composer
Links to sites dedicated to a particular composer
The following links are available for your selected type. To visit the site click on the link below:
|Aa, Michel van der
|Michel van der Aa's official website
|Adams online scores
|View online scores
|Adams, John
|John Adams's official website
|Bernstein at 100
|Explore Leonard Bernstein's music for the 2018 Centennial
|Bernstein Online Scores
|View Bernstein online scores
|Bernstein, Leonard
|The official Leonard Bernstein website
|Borowski, Johannes Boris
|Johannes Boris Borowski's official website
|Britten and Pears photographs
|Official website for Clive Strutt, photographer of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in the 1960s
|Britten-Pears Library
|The official website of the Britten-Pears Foundation
|Chapela, Enrico
|Enrico Chapela's official website
|Chemin-Petit, Hans
|The official website of composer Hans Chemin-Petit (1902-81)
|Christopher Norton
|Official website of composer and educator Christopher Norton, creator of the Microjazz series of publications.
|Copland Online Score
|View online scores
|Debussy Centenary
|Orchestrations of Debussy's music for the 2018 Centenary
|Delius Trust
|The official Delius website
|Deutsch, Bernd Richard
|Bernd Richard Deutsch's official website
|Einem Centenary
|Explore Gottfried von Einem's music for the 2018 Centenary
|Einem, Gottfried von
|The official Gottfried von Einem website
|Elgar Society
|The Elgar Society's website
|Finzi Trust
|Official website of the Finzi Trust and Finzi Friends
|Gál, Hans
|The official Hans Gál website
|Grosskopf, Erhard
|Official website of composer Erhard Grosskopf
|Haas, Pavel
|Website of the Pavel Haas Foundation
|Hatfield, Stephen
|Stephen Hatfield describes his works
|Höller, York
|York Höller's official website
|Horne, David
|Scots composer and pianist
|Hummel, Bertold
|The official Bertold Hummel website
|Jenkins, Karl
|Karl Jenkins's official website
|Jolivet, André
|Official website for French composer André Jolivet
|Keck, Jean-Christophe
|The official website of OEK editor, composer & conductor Jean-Christophe Keck
|Kelterborn, Rudolf
|Rudolf Kelterborn's official website
|Koch-Raphael, Erwin
|Erwin Koch-Raphael's official website
|Laks, Simon
|Website of the Szymon Laks Foundation
|Lees, Benjamin
|The official website of American composer Benjamin Lees
|Machover, Tod
|Tod Machover's page on the MIT website
|Mackey, Steven
|Steve Mackey's official website
|Mamlok, Ursula
|Ursula Mamlok's official website
|Martinu Foundation (Prague)
|The official website of the Martinu Foundation in Prague
|Matthews, David
|The official David Matthews website
|Maxwell Davies, Peter
|Peter Maxwell Davies's official website. [Please note this site is currently unavailable and will be relaunched shortly.]
|Monk, Meredith
|The official website of American composer Meredith Monk
|Mower, Mike
|Website dedicated to publishing the sheet music of Mike Mower
|Neuwirth, Olga
|Olga Neuwirth's official website
|Nyman, Michael
|Official website of composer Michael Nyman, including the Michael Nyman Band and Michael Nyman Records
|Oehring, Helmut
|Helmut Oehring's official website
|Pflüger, Hans Georg
|The official Hans Georg Pflüger website
|Prokofiev Archive
|The home page of the Prokofiev Archive
|Prokofiev Foundation
|The official website of The Serge Prokofiev Foundation
|The official Prokofiev.org webpage
|Rao, Doreen
|The official website of choral composer and educator Doreen Rao
|Redel, Martin
|Martin Redel's official website
|Reich, Steve
|Steve Reich's official website
|Rorem, Ned
|Ned Rorem's official website
|Ruiz-Pipó, Antonio
|The official Antonio Ruiz-Pipó website
|Schultz, Wolfgang-Andreas
|Wolfgang-Andreas Schultz's official website
|Scott, Cyril
|The official website of composer Cyril Scott
|Shostakovich Centre
|The website of the Shostakovich Centre in Paris
|Shostakovich UK Society
|Website of the UK Shostakovich Society
|Stephen Chatman
|Stephen Chatman official web site.
|Strauss, Richard
|Official website for the composer, run by the Strauss family
|Strauss, Richard
|The Richard.Strauss.com website
|Stravinsky, Igor
|Website of the Fondation Igor Stravinsky, based in Geneva (French/English)
|Szpilman, Wladyslaw
|Official website of Polish composer and pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, subject of Roman Polanski's film The Pianist
|ter Schiphorst, Iris
|Iris ter Schiphorst's official website
|Torke, Michael
|Official website of composer Michael Torke
|Valtinoni, Pierangelo
|Pierangelo Valtinoni's official website
|Waghalter, Ignatz
|The official Ignatz Waghalter website
|Yun Society
|The official website of the International Isang Yun Society
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JOHANNESBURG – A chipped street mural in South Africa's Soweto township depicts stations in the life of Nelson Mandela, each matched by a portrait of the global icon as he advanced from robust youth to old age. Now this infirm giant of history faces a struggle with mortality, its duration unknown but its outcome certain.
There may be no living figure so revered around the world as a symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation, his legacy forged in the fight against apartheid, the system of white minority rule that imprisoned him for 27 years.
As an idea, Mandela is monumental. As a 94-year-old man, he is frail and vulnerable, in hospital since Dec. 8, shielded from outside scrutiny by protective relatives and the South African government and military.
"He's sick. What can we do? He's sick," said Beauty Sedunedi, a Soweto resident who described Mandela as a hero. "People are crying, `Oh, he mustn't die, he mustn't...' If God says `come,' he'll come."
The former president would probably agree with that down-to-earth sentiment, as a man who is said to have been uncomfortable with his iconic status. The narrative of what he endured and what he contributed in the name of all South Africans tends to eclipse any personal failings, or shortcomings as a president when he took office for a five-year term after the country's first democratic elections in 1994. The country today struggles with poverty and inequality, but Mandela is widely credited with helping to avert race-driven chaos as South Africa emerged from apartheid.
He was diagnosed with a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital, and the South African presidency said Monday that Mandela would spend Christmas Day there. The physical decline of Mandela, who boxed in his youth and exercised regularly in prison, could be anyone's story; an ordinary man would make this wistful journey alone, or within the cocoon of family intimacy.
In the case of a man-turned-myth, however, the media, the government and the nation are passengers on what has become an awkward ride, defined by tension between the right to medical privacy and the public's interest.
"They were very secretive about his health," Sebastian Moloi, another resident of the Johannesburg township of Soweto, said of the government's initial, sometimes contradictory pronouncements about Mandela's condition. "They shouldn't keep it away from the public."
Moloi spoke outside Regina Mundi, a Catholic church that was a center of protests and funeral services for activists during the apartheid years. He said Mandela was the "godfather" of South Africa, but objected to extreme discretion about Mandela's hospital stay, saying: "He gets enough privacy in his home."
Officials have reported that Mandela has steadily improved, but warn the situation is inherently uncertain because of his age. The media has urged the government to provide regular updates or briefings with doctors. Dire rumors have swirled on social media, angering Mac Maharaj, the presidency's spokesman.
"Why are there no voices raised in our society against the human depravity manifested in such rumors?" Eyewitness News, a South African media outlet, quoted Maharaj as saying. "It has become a matter of concern. Is it not time for all of us to look at ourselves in the mirror?"
In fact, Mandela's public image has been closely managed for a long time. He has not been seen on a major stage since South Africa hosted the World Cup football tournament in 2010, and his meetings have become increasingly rare.
In August, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Mandela at his home in the village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province. An Associated Press photographer who accompanied Clinton said the former leader appeared "fragile although also happy," and seemed pleased to see his visitor.
"After some deliberation, at the last moment, I was allowed inside to photograph them together. While I was in the room I never heard him say a word or hardly even move," photographer Jacquelyn Martin wrote in an email. She described how aides encouraged Mandela to smile for the camera and remarked fondly to him on what a beautiful smile he had. They called him "Madiba," which is Mandela's clan name, a term of affection.
"He scarcely moved and was a whisper of the legend," Martin wrote. She said Mandela was seated in a corner with a blanket over his legs and a newspaper in his lap. His wife, Graca Machel, was also there.
In 2009, British journalist David James Smith met the Nobel laureate while working on "Young Mandela," a book that sought, in part, to humanize the man by examining reports about his often conflicted family life.
In an email, Smith said he was required to sign a document promising he would not ask "direct questions," take photos or ask Mandela to endorse any products.
"He was sitting in his huge office behind a massive desk and seemed slightly shrivelled and sparrow-like in comparison with the sharp-suited giant of the 1950s I had come to know so well from my research," Smith wrote.
"He apologized for not getting up to greet me. `My knees will not allow it.' I struggled to get a conversation going for a few minutes until I told him I had been to Qunu and met his `brother' Sitsheketshe, who had been brought up with Mandela as his brother after his own parents had died."
Smith recounted: `"Ah, Sitsheketshe!' he boomed. `Do you know the story of how he came to live with my family?' I did but said I didn't and off he went ... He seemed mortal and ordinary and that I think is one of the reasons why, though not a saint, he is a very great human being."
Sitsheketshe Morris Mandela, Nelson's cousin, died this year at the age of 80.
History offers rough parallels for Mandela and the movement to safeguard his legacy as he approaches the end of his life. Men of his stature -- American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi -- were assassinated while actively engaged in their callings. Tragedy elevated their reputations.
The Soweto mural marks Mandela's birth in 1918; the Rivonia trial that led to his conviction for sabotage in 1964; the 1990 release from prison; the 1993 awarding of the Nobel peace prize to Mandela and the last white ruler, F.W. de Klerk; Mandela's 1994 election as South Africa's first black president; and his 90th birthday in 2008.
Truly, a momentous life. Yet Mandela, whose image adorns South African banknotes and statues and whose name was bestowed on buildings and squares, found ambiguity in it. In a passage described as part of an unpublished sequel to his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom," he wrote:
"One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image that I unwittingly projected to the outside world; of being regarded as a saint. I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying."
Reflecting on his 2009 meeting, Smith said in an interview that Mandela still retained his spark of charisma, "the glint of mischief that he had that people were so charmed by, presidents and paupers."
But he added: "You can imagine that must be almost gone now."


text:
Within a month after completing the course, Digital Marketing Skill Institute helped me to secure a job at Media Integra Concept, as a Digital Marketing Strategist, where my digital marketing skills are put to use on a daily basis for top companies like United Bank of Africa (UBA), Travoola in South Africa, Thespian Family Theatre Company and many more. I am really excited I did not hesitate to join the course. @damilolarobert
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Perfect as a gift for any beer and cheese lover, the boxes have a retro look evoking the old time beer labels and muted earthy colors. These are a tasty complement with your favorite craft beer and cheese. They also pair well with smoked salmon, prosciutto, pate, liverwurst, charcuterie or cultured butter.
Varieties Sold Separately.


text:
Emily Arnold was watching TV with her mother the day after the Dec. 14 massacre at a Connecticut elementary school and heard a reporter say the shooter allegedly had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
LAKELAND | Emily Arnold was watching TV with her mother the day after the Dec. 14 massacre at a Connecticut elementary school and heard a reporter say the shooter allegedly had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
Emily, 15, has Asperger's, a form of autism. The Lakeland girl reacted to the report with such dismay her mother, Amy Arnold, wrote down her words.
"Great — now we will be treated like animals and feared," Emily told her mother. "I have so much to give to society, and I don't want be shut out just because I have Asperger's. I think we should interview individuals with the condition and let us speak up."
The Arnolds and other advocates for people with autism worry media reports identifying mass killer Adam Lanza with Asperger's syndrome may create an unwarranted stigma, causing some to connect the trait with an inclination toward violence.
"I think people are looking for a reason, looking for something they can pin it (the attack) on," said Lakeland resident Lauren Magnusson, whose 18-year-old daughter has Asperger's syndrome. "But I think they're looking at the wrong thing to pin it on."
Asperger's syndrome, first identified in the mid-20th century, is often described as a high-functioning form of autism spectrum disorders. �Autism, estimated to affect one in 88 American children, is a range of neurodevelopment disorders typified by social and communication difficulties and repetitive behaviors.
Asperger's syndrome is often distinguished by an obsessive interest in one subject or activity, along with peculiarities of speech and struggles to engage with peers. Advocates for people with Asperger's speculate that such historical figures as Mozart, Beethoven, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson may have had the disorder.
The National Autism Association issued a statement after the Connecticut attack: "As advocates, we now face the additional fear that children and adults with Autism may become collateral damage of irresponsible media coverage. Regardless, there is no link between planned violence and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Those with ASD are victims of crimes like this, not the perpetrators."
Magnusson, a teacher at George Jenkins High School, said she was shocked when one of her students, knowing that her daughter has Asperger's, asked whether she might be capable of such an attack.
Her response: "Are you kidding?"
Magnusson said her daughter, who asked not to be identified, attends the Honors College at the University of South Florida. Magnusson said she warned her that she might hear questions about her diagnosis.
"I think she was concerned that people might think ill of her," Magnusson said.
Lakeland resident Nicole Torres, whose 11-year-old son has autism, said media coverage of Lanza's apparent diagnosis has been a subject of much recent discussion in the autism community.
"I am deeply concerned at the inaccurate and irresponsible coverage provided by the media," said Torres, the founder of a local autism support group.
"There is no evidence showing that individuals with autism are prone to calculate or plan mass killings like this. ... I think it's important that the media not inadvertently victimize individuals with ASD by allowing false perceptions of the disorder to reach the public."
It's important to recognize that all forms of autism, including Asperger's, are developmental disorders rather than mental illnesses, said Karen Berkman, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa and director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities.
What's the difference?
Berkman said developmental disorders occur before age 22 and generally last throughout a person's lifetime. Such disorders can cause delays in all aspects of daily living or meeting developmental milestones.
By contrast, she said, mental illness can be either temporary or chronic and generally interferes with a person's thinking, feeling, mood and ability to relate to others.
Berkman said a 2006 article in an academic journal suggested people with Asperger's are involved in the justice system at a rate higher than their percentage of the population, but she said that probably reflects misunderstandings that result when those people fail to recognize the emotions or intentions of others.
"The person in Connecticut would appear to have planned this event with some forethought, and not (as) a random, impulsive act," Berkman said by email. "This would not be in line with what we would expect from a person with Asperger's. ... Having Asperger's in and of itself is not likely to produce the tragedy we saw in Connecticut."
Torres said it's possible for someone to have a diagnosis of autism and a mental illness. She said that might turn out to be the case with Lanza.
Emily Arnold is a 10th- grader at Lakeland's Monarch School, a private school devoted to children with autism. Her mother is the school's executive director.
Amy Arnold said her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 10. After a delayed start in reading, she now reads at a post-high school level and plans to attend college.
The main elements of Emily's condition are an extreme sensitivity to noise and a tendency to obsess over one area of enthusiasm. For about 10 years, that fixation has been Pokemon, a Japanese franchise of animated characters.
Emily said she hasn't had anyone try to associate her with the Connecticut killer, but she discussed the issue with one of her teachers, whose son has Asperger's.
"My computer teacher worries about the same thing I do," she said. "She kind of worries we're going to get labeled as a group of crazy, psycho people."
Emily said people unfamiliar with Asperger's might assume everyone with the diagnosis is a potential mass killer.
"With the way everybody sort of thinks today, they kind of put everyone in a collective group and put a label on that group," she said. "If they will take everyone with Asperger's and label them serial killers, that wouldn't be very good. It's like if you take a dog breed and label that dog breed bad, then all of a sudden people want to start putting down that dog."
She said she can't imagine anyone with Asperger's carrying out a murderous attack.
"Asperger's doesn't usually cause violence; it usually causes more breakdowns where you want to curl up in a ball and not do anything and cry because of whatever reason," Emily said.
Amy Arnold said her daughter and others she knows with Asperger's tend to be extremely respectful of authority and careful to follow rules.
Arnold said the Monarch School has an entire class of students with Asperger's. She said two who graduated last year are now in college, and three who will graduate in the spring plan to attend college.
Magnusson said the increasing prevalence of autism means most Americans are likely to know someone with the disorder. She said she hopes familiarity will dispel any false impressions that people with Asperger's syndrome are prone to killing sprees.
Magnusson said some news reports have described Lanza as having no empathy for others. If that's accurate, she said, it doesn't fit the profile of a person with Asperger's syndrome.
"I've never seen a more empathetic person in my life than my daughter," Magnusson said. "She may not be able to read the social cues and know you're distressed, but once she knew you were distressed, she would do anything to comfort you."


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Rare are the occasions when I disagree with Hadley Freeman, there was a bit of fuss about bright opaque tights when her book came out but on the whole she's a good 'un.
Today in Guardian though Hadders was less than enthusiastic about the Comme des Garçons collection for H&M saying: "while Comme's granddad styles might look like the apogee of chic when done with the highest quality of fabrics and sold in the snootiest of department stores, the budget versions, one suspects, will have a different look."
Ok so the hammer pants may not become one of the bestsellers but the menswear is actually pretty good. We featured pictures yesterday and I think this will be one designer collection the men can actually get their teeth into, for once.


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Learn on-the-job peacekeeping skills that will help you prevent blowups, mediate disputes and foster teamwork. You will learn how to defuse conflicts involving negative or hostile internal or external customers. You can turn complaints into opportunities to create satisfied customers: It's a matter of learning what works. Although situations vary, the way you communicate often plays a large role in whether you succeed in meeting the customers' expectations. Learn to identify what the customer really needs from you to ensure satisfaction. By focusing on the process rather than simply the task, you can impress both internal and external customers with your ability to:
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Customer Service. We've all been through this type of training in the past. The customer is always right, smile into the phone, show concern for the customer's situation, etc. While this is the standard in the retail environment, the world of higher education is different and may require a fresher approach. In this session, we will look at the concept of customer service in a new light – the customer experience. We will discuss how the customer experience directly impacts five areas within the University environment and how to best manage the experience to achieve a positive outcome.
This interactive workshop provides an opportunity to assess your satisfaction with your own job performance and identify areas in which your self-confidence may be as healthy as you would like it to be. Participants will learn about the connections between the level of our self-esteem and the ability to remain persistent and self-motivated to achieve our professional goals.Learning objectives covered in the workshop include:
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When is the tuition bill due?
Tuition and fees are billed two weeks prior to the beginning of each session. All balances must be paid on or before the first day of class unless another payment arrangement has been made with the Office of Student Financial Services.
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The Office of Student Financial Services accepts the following forms of payment:
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Please be sure to include the student's name and ID number on the check or money order. A fee of $25, in addition to any late payment fees, will be charged for any dishonored check. Foreign check collection fees will be charged when applicable.
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If payment cannot be made in full, a student may be eligible for either the Tuition Deferment Plan or Financial Aid.
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To apply for financial aid, a student must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and an Emmanuel College Application for Financial Aid for Graduate & Professional Programs students. More information can be found on the Financial Aid Applications page.
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BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King College offense returned to form in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-12) victory over the Converse Valkyries on Friday night. Summer Kremer led the Lady Tornado with 12 kills while Payton Tipton equaled that number in digs on King's Community Night at the Student Center Complex.
Sophomore Summer Kremer (Mills Creek, N.C.) and freshman Lauren Willoughby (Cary, N.C.) each had four kills in the first set, helping the team break away to a 25-18 win. With the score 14-13, sisters Grace and Olivia Underwood (Pearland, Texas) led the Lady Tornado at the service line to break out to an 18-14 lead. Three of Kremer's four kills came during the team's 9-5 run to close out the first game, including the set-clinching kill.
King's offense continued to heighten as the team's attack percentage rose to .367 and .524 in the final two set wins, respectively. Willoughby added three more kills to her line in the second set, while the defense, led by Payton Tipton's six digs, kept the Valkyries hitting just above .100 for the set. Converse kept it close, staying within a point of King until the 17-16 mark, where King closed out the game on an 8-3 run with help from four Converse errors.
Kremer collected six more kills on 11 attempts (.545) in the third set as the Lady Tornado rolled to a 25-12 win to take the match. King posted an errorless final frame, going 11-for-21 (.524) as a team on the offensive end.
King's leading attacker finished with 12 kills on the night as Kremer went 12-for-27 (.370) with two errors on the night. Lauren Willoughby finished the night with seven kills in two games played.
Payton Tipton (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Brooke Calhoun (Johnson City, Tenn.) each finished with double-digit digs. The sophomore, Tipton, finished with 12 digs while Calhoun ended with 10.
Freshman setter Olivia Underwood had 18 assists while putting up a service ace and two block assists. Middle blocker Grace Underwood led the team at the net with three block assists and one solo block.
The Lady Tornado will engage in two games on Saturday, Oct. 6, as part of a tri-match with Erskine College and Carson-Newman College. King will play the Flying Fleet in a battle for first place in the West Division of Conference Carolinas. Both teams currently are 6-2 in the division and will play at 11 a.m. After Erskine and Carson-Newman play at 1 p.m., King will play the Eagles at 3 p.m. All games will be played in the Student Center Complex with live stats and video available for all matches.