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We write with great pride and emotion that Barack Obama was elected the President of the United States of America. Emotions ran high last night as he delivered his inspirational acceptance speech. We can't remember the last time we cried such heartfelt tears of joy! As his victory was announced, people took to the streets in celebration with fireworks and dancing. With the roads flooded, we hugged our neighbors and embraced strangers with a message of true hope for our future. Heck even the police seemed excited! The sentiment that ran through the air is too powerful to describe in words. But today Americans should be proud of themselves. We know the world is proud of us. This the dawn of a new era of American Politics and we have officially taken our nation back!
We are also excited to announce that both Proposition 2 in California, to ban the confinement of farmed animals and Question 3 in Massachusetts, to end dog racing passed last night! We are proud of those two states for taking a stand against animal abuse and hopefully in the future we will see items like these make it to the ballots.
Now as Obama said last night, the road may not be easy but if we unite we can bring ourselves to prosperity once again. We are happy to hear that the first issue Obama plans to focus on is a new Energy Plan for our country, creating jobs and ending our dependence on oil. Trust us we are more than excited to celebrate, but we must brace ourselves for the next few years. But please note, our democracy is strong and revolutions exist in the power of the vote! We voted for change and now lets get it!
Thank you to all the campaign workers who knocked on doors and stayed late at phone banks, thank you to all the volunteers and members of Move On, thank you to all the hard workers at Power Vote, and thank you America for making your voice be heard loud and clear!
"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can." –President Barack Obama on November 4, 2008


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1. Symmetry is back! No way! It took me about three years to stop looking at everything as if I could fold the page and learn to think in three's and odds etc. Now everything is symmetrical. Ahhhhh!.
2. Chartreuse is the new black.
3. Succulence and Moss are the must have's items when accessorizing.
4. Layering is a must.
We learned so much in the class and I tried as best as I could to document everything. So sit back and scroll.
|I love this piece of furniture that serves as an extra mantle. After all it is all about having places to put things isn't it?
The two ivory vases I bought with the greenery for my mantle.
|This table reminds me of the Nell Hill table I just purchased for our study.
|I love how Susan layered these two framed photos and I love the paleness in color next to the stone. Our fireplace for the study is going to be stone as well, I like this idea.
|So here we go with the symmetry.
|Love this lamp, the inside has these gorgeous birds.
|Gotta love the orange!
|I love the symmetry here.
|This table is truly spectacular. I love all the earthy elements in decor, the stones, the plants and ferns and leaves.
|Another lovely table.
|This is my favorite color green. It just pops.
|This table was so heavy and beautiful. My camera didn't do it justice. It is an off white. Like sand.
|This seafoam color of these lamps were exquisite.
|My partner in crime, KC.
|I'm so mad this came out so dark.
|This mirror above the mantle is absolutely amazing. I want it so bad, I just need to get a bigger house to get it. Hee Hee.
|This couch is simply to die for, the color the texture and I love the pillows. And Yeah, nail heads. My new couch has nailheads too.
|I love these fabrics and textures. How they compliment each other is Divine.
|Okay so these are Susan's shoes. I love them so much I had to take a photo.
|This was my favorite chair.
|I think this pretty much sums Susan's philosophy along with Mae West's.
|And here is the chartreuse color. Lovely!

subset: commoncrawl


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At present, councillors get a free sandwich lunch provided for them on full council days. The value of this was cut earlier this year from about £9.50 per head to about £5. In addition, councillors can sign for food valued at up to £5 per day at County Hall on days other than those when the full council meets. Finally, we can claim back money spent on meals when we are away (out of Cornwall) at meetings on council business.
To my mind, it is only the last of these that employees in the private sector get and the only one that it is reasonable for councillors to get. Everyone else either brings a packed lunch to work or buys a sandwich. They have to pay for it themselves, so why shouldn't Cornwall councillors?
Jade's debate tomorrow won't end the right of councillors to claim for food. Technically, this can only be done by convening an independent remuneration panel - a formal review of councillors' terms and conditions. But this process itself costs money and so Jade is asking the council to agree the principle until such time as the panel next meets. But it is definitely a step in the right direction.
(Declaration of interest: In the past I have signed for food. I don't do so any more.)
UPDATE - The motion was overwhelmingly passed at today's full council.


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Hey folks, we've been blogging like crazy over at the new Molly Makes Do – if you haven't been getting the post via your reader please re"follow" the new blog. I've been told many loyal readers had to do this after the first month of the switch! Hope to see you soon!
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Last Reminder


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This half-month is going to be all about doing what lights you up and makes you feel alive! Follow your passions and distance yourself from anything that overwhelms you (at least until you're truly ready to deal with it).
Decks used: Shadowscapes Tarot, Five Realms Oracle, and the Wildwood Tarot
See you soon!


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People are spending more of their holiday dollars this year through catalogs and the Internet, according to a survey conducted by the New York-based Direct Marketing Association. Combined catalog and Internet holiday sales rose 8.3% this year, compared with the same period in 2005, the survey says. The 8.3% increase follows last year's increase of 7.5% over holiday 2004.
So far this season, online sales have increased 11.3% from the comparable period last year, and catalog sales have grown 2.2%. The DMA expects consumers and businesses to spend $144 billion on catalog purchases in 2006, up 7.5% from $134 billion last year. It also expects the Web to generate nearly $339 billion in sales of all products and services in 2006, up 23.3% from $275 billion in 2005.
What's more, more than two-thirds of Americans – 68% — shop from home, via catalogs, the Internet, the phone, or the mail. Seventy-two percent of women shop from the home or the office, compared with 63% of men.
About 60% of the merchants surveyed said that their combined catalog and Internet sales are up from the same period last year. That figure is down slightly from 64.3% of respondents to last year's survey. But fewer than 13% reported a decline in overall holiday catalog and Web sales, considerably fewer than the 23.8% of last year's respondents who said the same. Nearly 75% of this year's respondents reported higher Internet sales this holiday season than last year's.


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Two men made the news this week, both of whom said the right thing when it mattered most: one after being in the wrong place at the wrong time, one while being in the right place at the right time.
Rodney King became a household name in 1991 after a bystander videotaped him being beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a traffic stop. The release of the video and the subsequent acquittals of the police officers led to days of race riots, more than 50 deaths and $1 billion in damages.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he said the right thing when he made his televised plea, "Can we all get along?"
He drowned in a swimming pool this week at age 47. His death sparked a family discussion around the dinner table where my wife and I explained the story to our daughters.
The man who is in the right place at the right time is Frank Luter Jr., a New Orleans pastor who on Tuesday was elected the first African-American president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He also said the right thing.
"We cannot do anything about the past," he said. "It's gone. It's over with. However, we can do a lot about our future."
Luter is pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, an inner-city congregation that grew to 7,000 under his preaching before Hurricane Katrina destroyed the building – just the building – under nine feet of water. The church rebuilt and now welcomes 4,000 members and guests to Sunday services.
This is a historic moment. The "Southern" in the Southern Baptist Convention's name is there because of a pre-Civil War split with other Baptists over the appointment of slave-holding missionaries, and the convention remained segregated until the recent past.
Although things are better now than then, most Baptist churches today, like most churches of all denominations, are not racially diverse. In fact, only about eight percent of all churches in America are multiethnic, meaning that no one race makes up more than 80 percent of the congregation.
That's a little harder to explain to my children.
With 16 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the second-largest Christian denomination in the U.S., though its membership has declined each of the past five years – one of many reasons to reach out to people from different backgrounds.
In Arkansas, it's one of the state's dominant institutions. In a state of 3 million people, there were 520,521 Southern Baptists at the end of last year. In many Arkansas communities, the biggest Baptist church is the biggest church in town. Baptist Health is the state's leading heath care provider.
An Arkansan can be born and die in a Southern Baptist hospital, be educated by the Arkansas Baptist School System, attend one of the state's two Southern Baptist colleges, work for a Southern Baptist-affiliated employer, and retire in a Southern Baptist retirement village. The Bible says that we are dust and will become dust. In Arkansas, there's a good chance you'll be Baptist in between.
I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, graduated from Ouachita Baptist University, and now attend a church whose belief structure is similar to the SBC's.
While the convention doesn't have a proud history when it comes to racial reconciliation at home, it long has reached out to people of all backgrounds worldwide. The convention sponsors 5,000 missionaries in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean and another 5,000 in 153 nations elsewhere. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, which has more than 100,000 trained volunteers, is one of the country's three largest relief organizations.
Southern Baptists in recent years have been trying to make amends. The convention voted in 1995 to repent of its past failings and issued a strongly worded appeal for forgiveness.
In 1963, another King, Dr. Martin Luther King, said at Western Michigan University, "At 11 o'clock on Sunday morning when we stand and sing, and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation."
Sadly, 49 years later, that's still mostly the case. But this week, Southern Baptists took a step – a small one, but a step – in turning that present reality into a memory. That's good, because in heaven and on earth, we ought to do more than simply get along.


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Fashion design schools in Maryland can help students become fashion designers. Fashion design is the art dedicated to creating apparel influenced by design, aesthetics, or natural beauty, as well as many other factors. The career of a fashion designer is one for those who possess a passion to combine creativity, originality, comfort, and design into a wearable product that appeals to today's world. A fashion designer creates clothing combinations of color, proportion, line, and texture. Students at fashion design schools in Maryland will learn the skills of sewing and pattern making, as well as the expertise and proficiency to become successful fashion designers.
The state of Maryland offers a great variety of topography from sandy dunes in the east, to low marshlands filled with wildlife and beautiful rolling hills. Maryland is also home to its share of fashion design schools as well. As one of the most progressive states in the nation, Maryland offers many opportunities for career growth. Maryland offers a wide range of fashion design courses at some of their technical schools, helping to fill the growing needs in the area of technical training.
Attending a fashion design school in Maryland gives you a unique opportunity to explore your creativity and imagination. You can study in a wide range of areas, such as textiles, sewing and tailoring, and fashion show production, among others. Taking a fashion design course is a wonderful start on a path towards a stylish career in the fashion world. You can become a menswear designer, a couture designer, or work as a merchandiser or store planner.
Fashion today has become a global industry spanning around the world across many countries. Fashion design colleges in Maryland offer degrees in fashion design and fashion design technology. There are many areas of fashion design for men, women, children and youth. Some garments are tailored for the individual, but most clothing today, especially casual and everyday wear, is designed for the mass market.
While fashion designers usually need an associate or bachelor's degree, some will combine a fashion degree with a degree in another related area such as business or marketing, as this helps to prepare them for opening and running their own business or store. Some of the basic coursework you may study in at fashion design schools in Maryland include color, sewing, textiles, fashion industry, pattern-making, computer-aided design, as well as the design of various types of clothing, such as menswear or footwear, for example.
Those who study to become a fashion designer can look forward to a career in areas such as fashion design, fashion merchandising, fashion marketing, fashion buying, fashion photography, styling, and many others. There is a growing demand for affordable, stylish clothing and the need for designers for apparel wholesalers will increase. Some of the best employment opportunities will be with companies that design clothing to be sold in department and retail chain stores. There are many fashion design schools in Maryland just waiting to help you get started on a wonderful new career!


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I was made to understand that there are words around saying that Malaysiakini has embark into selective publication of readers' letters and linking of blogs.
Well I am not very sure the allegation is true or not. It it seems that Malaysiakini have got the tendency to published letters and linking blogs to the privilege few.
Probably along the way, Malaysiakini has got the tendency of a MSM in term of their news delivery. I think supporting certain views or perspective is acceptable but reprieving others from expressing their alternative views is certainly not on.
But then again, it is 'their' news media and they can do what ever they want ain't it?
So much talk about liberty and freedom of speech...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Selective Publishing By Malaysiakini?
Posted by The Way I See It at 11:43 AM
1 comment:
There are many vultures and parasites and leeches in this world. When someone thru hardwork and sacrifice manages to achieve something, this is when these pariahs come. You can see many of them in the UN and high profeile ew successful organizations.
In news medias, expect these political scums, vultures, and bastards, especially Indians, to come in and start carrying balls to get a place in an established organization.
Then see what happens.
They start abusing the gate-keepers' seats for their own purposes.
I think, there's a lesson to be learnt from the Philippines. Crooks in the disguise of journalists and editors should be fearful. People shold not be fearful of them
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the only things keeping me social yesterday were chris' chili & advertising. i can't help it, i'm the demographic stereotype. for all of our reference & repeated viewing pleasure, myspace has a link to view all the ad spots from yesterday's superbowl. my favorites, none other than k-fed & coca-cola.
the ad spots
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Come Sunday the girls will be arriving, I and my co-counselor will be having a blast with a bunch of teen girls until Thursday afternoon. I'm excited for the girls to arrive as my camp director says without the girls we'd be just a bunch of weirdos in the woods.
Training was really good this year, especially compared to last year.
I like the staff a lot and the training just felt so much more practical. This will for sure be this camp's best year.
So some fun things to know about camp, Girl Scout camp especially.
- We have camp names: mine is Starlight. My counselors in my unit this week are: Giggles, Elphaba, Kit Kat, and Foxy. My bestie at camp is Pi.
- We sing a lot, like a lot. As work, as we play, before we eat. We sing.
- We empower girls to be themselves in our awesome all girl environment.
- Once a week we have scatters which are times when counselors teach the girls something they're passionate about
- We have theme days and meals: on the last week of training we had a challenge lunch my challenge was to eat my meal without my hands, it was hamburgers, it was hilarious!
- Every week we have a cookout and we cook our own epic meals over the fire.
- Every morning and night we do a flag ceremony in the morning one we do the pledge of allegiance and the girl scout promise.
- We have kapers (camp for chores) to give the girls responsibility and independence.
- Half our staff is international the majority coming from England, but we also have women from New Zealand, Sweden.
- We offer awesome and unique camp experiences to hundreds of girls over 7 weeks every summer!
So yeah, camp it's awesome it's unique and it's currently my first post graduation glitter adventure. I cannot wait to see what the next seven weeks have in store for all me. What's everyone else doing with their summer? What's your current glitter adventure?
More updates on camp soon 🙂


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Q:This blog entry was written by a person familiar with the work of the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft. He goes into details as to why IE doesn't always save images in their native format: http:// weblogs.asp.net/jeffdav /archive/2004/10/29 /249742.aspx
-- Chip Aubrey gmail.com
A: You're a man of few words, Mr. A., so I need to do some explaining. This column frequently hears from angry Windows users who suddenly find that the only format they can use to save images is the bulky BMP system from Microsoft. Images that one downloads in the GIF or JPG or TIF formats and such all get named "untitled.bmp" and will not save in the correct format.


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Whirlwind C-20-150-W2IMW2IF
20Pair Snake Trunk, W2IM to W2IF, 150ft
OUR PART #: C-20-150-W2IMW2IF Write the First Review.
Related Products
Multiline Cable Assemblies are designed to interconnect the components of Concert Series Splitters or other custom multichannel distribution systems.
NOTE: The image shown is for illustrative purposes. Actual product specificatins and appearance may vary depending on the part ordered.They are constructed with Whirlwind cable and inline W-Series multipin connectors.
The standard mating configuration for these cables is a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other for W1 and W2 multipins, or an input on one end and an output on the other for W3, W4 MASS and W5, W6 MicroMASS connectors.
Special configurations available on request.
To be the first to review this item, click here.


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Gov. Pat Quinn is again making a push for raising Illinois' minimum wage.
The Chicago Democrat has been visiting black churches in the Chicago area as he ramps up his 2014 re-election bid. On Sunday, he told congregants at Missionary Baptist Fellowship Church that helping those who live in poverty is a principle as old as the Bible.
Illinois last raised the minimum wage in 2010.
The state's minimum wage is $8.25 and Quinn wants to bring it $10 an hour. He's been trying to revive the issue this year. He spoke about it during his State of the State address in February.
However, a measure sponsored by state Sen. Kim Lightford didn't make it out of a committee.
Republicans and business leaders say raising the minimum wage kills jobs.
Quinn Again Pushes For Minimum Wage Hike
By Sean Crawford • Sep 2, 2013
Gov. Pat Quinn is again making a push for raising Illinois' minimum wage.


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Our Leadership
The British Primary Section is led by the Section Head, Mr Duncan Millward, who is responsible for all aspects of the leadership of teaching and learning across the section. The Head of the British Primary School reports directly to the CEO, who is the Executive Principal of the British sections.
The British Primary Section leadership team consists of Mr Duncan Millward, Section Head, and three Assistant Heads, Ms Karen Rowe, Mrs Katrina Millward and Mr Craig Gamble.
The Senior Leadership Team manages the Year Group Teams and oversees the Specialist Departments, including EAL and Learning Support. They are also responsible for the management of pupil welfare and ensure that the curriculum is delivered to the highest standard.
Other members of school have taken on Positions of Responsibility that range from Head of Music to Gifted and Talented Coordinator.


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Friday, April 27, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Wild Thing and I were dining out at a nice restaurant. I overheard the couple at the next table discussing their bill. "Well Mary," said the man, "Near as I can figure, and based on the price of the ham dinner you just ate, we got a hog back on the farm that's worth at least $137,000.
The aging process could be slowed down if it had to work its way through Congress.
On a California freeway: Fine for Littering
On the wall of a British Columbia cleaning service: Able to Do the Worst Possible Job
In a New York jeweler store: Genuine Faux Pearls
In a Kansas City oculist's office: Broken lenses duplicated here
In a Boston fast-food parking lot: Parking for Drive-Through Customers Only
Billboard on Florida highway: If You Can't Read, We Can Help
On the Triborough Bridge in New York: In Event of Air Attack Drive Off Bridge
On a Lockhart, Texas, gas station and minimart: We're out of Rolaids, but we've got gas.
At the basketball court in a Gastonton, North Carolina, YMCA: Anyone caught hanging from the rim will be suspended
On the door of an Ellsworth, Maine, restaurant: The Indian Trading Post will be closed for Yom Kippur
In a Grand Rapids restaurant: Half baked chicken
In a Dayton barbershop: During vacation of owner, a competent hair stylist will be here
On a Jacksonville, Florida, bookstore: Rare, out-of-print, and nonexistent books
On a library in Marlboro, New Hampshire, honouring Robert Frost: Frost Free Library
Bizarre Sex Laws 1. Most Middle Eastern countries recognize the following Islamic law: "After having sexual relations with a lamb, it is a mortal sin to eat its flesh."
2. In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.
3. In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman's genitals, but is forbidden from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
4. Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse. This also applies to undertakers; the sex organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times.
5. The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
6. There are men on Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry.
7. In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands. (The husband's lover, on the other hand, may be killed in any manner desired.)
8. In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens her mother must be in the room to witness the act.
9. In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time.
10. In Maryland, it is illegal to sell condoms from vending machines with one exception: prophylactics may be dispensed from a vending machine only "in places where alcoholic beverages are sold on the premises."
Dear Dogs and Cats
The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.
The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!
To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:
To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:
1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.
Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a "gazillion" dollars for college.
And finally,
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children
Here's some games to help you waste your time:


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Published February 4th 2010 (first published 2008)
Publisher: Puffin
Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Puffin
Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal
Rose Hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, Lissa-the last Dragomir princess-must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to gorgeous Dimitri Belikov, some rules are meant to be broken...
But since making her first Strigoi kills, Rose hasn't been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing nearer to the Academy's iron gates. And now that Lissa and Rose's sworn enemy, Victor Dashkov, is on trial for his freedom, tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever.
Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal undead are on the prowl, and they want vengeance for the lives that Rose has stolen. In a heart-stopping battle to rival her worst nightmare, Rose will have to choose between life, love, and the two people who matter most..but will her choice mean that only one can survive?
Review:Shadow Kiss is the third installement of the Vampire Academy Series. And I think is probably my favourite so far. We see the characters develop and the story has everything to keep to guessing. From start to finish there was always something going on but not to much that it was a distraction to the plot.
In Shadow Kiss Rose is trying to come to terms with the events that happened at the end of Frostbite. As well as trying to deal with everything else she has going on with Dimitri and the Gorgeous Adrian who is trying to get her attraction. For me I truely fell in love with Adrian in this one. He is just amazing (TEAM ADRIAN ALL THE WAY)
What I really enjoyed about this book is the action. It is packed with fast paced action from very early on and continued right to the end battle. Where Rose is left heartbroken and must make one of the hardest decisions of her life so far.
Richelle Mead has did all her fans proud with this installement, we have everything we wanted, laughter, tears, passion, mystery, action, great story and twists and turns that end of a major cliffhanger. Its simply Beautiful.
Rate: 4/5


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Monday, August 18, 2008
fennesz - Touch 7 inch series
I love the idea that a guitar can create all this sound....on one hand you think musicians will always be using guitars, they're so versatile, but at the same time if you're making sounds like these than conceivably you could do it with any instrument, so what's the point? Are you making guitars obsolete or more relevant?
I'm really getting lost in the weird guitar manipulations of Fennesz, checking out the ambient looped stuff on myspace I don't know how exactly this would work out on 2 sides of a seven inch, how the break is handled because the original track was an 8 minute digital download from Touch, who just recently pressed it on vinyl. Unfortunately I couldn't find this anywhere but imported from Touch or other mailorder places overseas.
A track like 'A year in a minute' is really dense and full of every type of sound, it's really hypnotic but structured to be more than just ambient noise, it's like listening to that disintegration loops stuff, it's slowly changing and kind of needs a lot of time to get everything, let it sink in. The Touch label has all kinds of other experimental music from Ryoji Ikeda and the like, but I might look for one of these full lengths by fennesz domestically.
Fennesz-Transition-Limited edition seven inch pressing from fennesz on the touch label. Part of the ongoing touch singles club series. The single features two tracks never released on vinyl before. The ep opens up with the track on a desolate shore which featured as a very limited digital release on the touch website last year along with a totally exclusive track a shadow passes by. Both tracks are quite reminiscent of the sounds of his amazing endless summer album with lots of glitchy sound effects layered behind washes of fuzzy guitars. Both sides end in locked grooves so you can basically listen to the last few second for ever. April 2008-7"-Touch
This is available from Touch records, or roadrecs in Ireland.
The big Matador Jay Reatard sale is tomorrow, so set your alarms for 3PM eastern time.....more tomorrow.
Posted by Jason at 10:46 AM
Labels: fennesz, seven inch series, touch records
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It took me about 3 days to post this. I used the Friday Sketcher's layout and my brand new stamps from Whiff of Joy. I just love them. I also used the new super cute cartridge from Cricut (Love Struck)! I glittered the cut out "fancy" heart & few of Charlotte's letters with Stickles. Yum! ;)
Sooo without too much of a delay (because I am typing with one hand - the baby is sleeping on me) here is my creation.
* Whiff of Joy - Charlotte with a mailboxc - The Love Notes Collection
* Sentiment - Just for You - The Love Notes Collection
* Bazzill Basics Paper
* KI memories - Heartbeat Crazy in Love
* Scribble Scrabble
* Embossing Powder
* Flowers by Petaloo
* Martha Stewart's Branch Punch
* Cricut + Cricut Design Studio
* Rhinestones by K&Company
* Stickles (Star Dust)
* ProMarkers + Shin Han Markers + Copic Spica Markers
Don't forget to leave me a comment, so I can visit your blog too!
P.S. I wasn't able to take better pictures, sorry ... you know, too little time, baby wanted to nurse.


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Seizing the Moment, Obama's Inaugural Address
Listening to the 2nd Inaugural address delivered by President Obama and the whole pageantry of the occasion, I was struck by two themes; we the people and fairness. His theme of "we the people' included the issues of; keeping the promise of social security, medicare and medicaid; responding to global climate change; fairness in how we somehow respond to wage and income differences, gender, equality and immigration. For readers, here is the full, actual text of this speech. And thank your for inviting Myrlie Evers to speak. That was a treat. Continue reading "Seizing the Moment, Obama's Inaugural Address"


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I like the teamup of NP, James Franco, and David Gordon Green but I'm a little nervous about the fact that they're doing a medieval comedy written by the happy-to-be-here Danny McBride. The costume possibilities are intriguing though....(Cinematical)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
NP gets medieval
I like the teamup of NP, James Franco, and David Gordon Green but I'm a little nervous about the fact that they're doing a medieval comedy written by the happy-to-be-here Danny McBride. The costume possibilities are intriguing though....(Cinematical)
Words that come to mind when listening to Grizzly Bear's new album Veckatimest: polished, craft, anxious, free-floating, and (to quote this) cold. Is this really where we are with "indie" rock? (Substitute "alternative" or whatever overused adjective you'd like) Typically when discussing a new CD I'd refer to a couple of tracks as either highlights or failures but with Veckatimest the effort required to figure out when one song ends and another begins obscures any pleasure in individual tracks. We've come a long way from (to cite a personally meaningful example) an album like R.E.M.'s Murmur, an album so rooted in the circumstances of its own creation it might as well be producing weather patterns. Tell me something about who you are Grizzly Bear; Veckatimest feels like it could have been recorded by anyone at anytime who had the requisite knowledge of recording studio geegaws and flangdoodles. I mocked Sasha Frere-Jones for this piece about the lack of rhythm in indie rock, but after reading all the Grizzly Bear anticipation and then hearing the album I wonder if he wasn't lowballing it.
Winona is free
You'll have to track down the magazine to read the full piece, but it seems Winona Ryder is doing just fine (and working with director Rebecca Miller) despite what you may have heard. (Jezebel)
Even though this piece doesn't touch on her shoplifting, you do get a little bit of insight into Winona's psyche — when talking about basing her Pippa Lee character on someone she used to know, she says: "In this day and age with antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs and diagnoses, there's so much to blame your problems on. Everybody has a disorder of some sort." She also admits she had an "extra-large breakdown" when she was 20. "I had just done Dracula and Edward Scissorhands. I had just had my first real break-up, the first heartbreak. And I think it was really ironic because, like, everybody else just thought I had everything in the world, you know, I had no reason to be depressed, everything was sort of at its peak, but inside I was completely lost."
Blog Catch-Up Day!: The Beastie Boys - "So What'cha Want"
Today I'm going through and picking up on some things I haven't had time to blog about this week, so I'll kick it off with this video from Jimmy Fallon's show. You can insert your own comments about the rebels becoming the establishment...(seriously, look at the way they're dressed).
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A conversation about music, life, and fatherhood between Jason Isbell (whose new CD with his band the 400 Unit is one you should get) and Justin Townes Earle (whose new CD is one I should get). (Aquarium Drunkard)
JI: Yes, I'll take it now, I'm not gonna fight against it anymore. Let's see, I got some more here. That kinda goes into umm…the kinda stuff you play really to me has a real old-time feel to it, you know, and it feels like a lot of old mountain music that I grew up with that my granddad played and a lot of really old country and even you know some gospel kinda stuff in there. And I'm wondering, I feel like you personally, you know, when I actually spend time around you, I see you more as kind of a punk rock guy and, you know, I'm not just talking about the tattoos or whatever, but just from knowing you over the years. What do you feel like are the similarities between those two spirits or those two kinds of music — how do those lines cross really?
JTE: I think they cross in the simplest fashion just because musicians have always been looked at as outlaws, and somehow through history, I don't exactly know how it happened, I don't know how people ended up translating Johnny cash into punk rock. But it ended up happening and it was just this attitude thing when these guys were coming up back in the day you had a bunch of rough and tumble folks like Charlie Pool and Dock Boggs. The kind of characters that may have been from the hills, but they'd shoot your ass in a second. They were rough, they drank, they didn't give a shit what they said to anybody or what anybody said to them, they were gonna do what they wanted to do. And I think you know even though Dock Boggs did use his wife as a shield in a gunfight in Bristol Tennessee, I think he pulled off punk rock a little classier than Sid Vicious did.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Asking questions
I wish I'd read this post at Parabasis before I directed my first play, but I think it really gets at what a good director should do and at what kind of a director I want to be. Most of the questions in the show I directed centered around what one might call the "mechanics of comedy," questions like "How far away should two people be from each other when one is throwing a drink on the other?" But I think Isaac is right when he says it's the director's duty to find the answers to all the questions in the script be they thematic, logistical, or mechanical. I'd also add that I think finding those answers can be a communal effort. I'm nowhere near confident enough in my directing abilities yet to think I have the best answer to any question, but if I've cast well and created the right atmosphere in rehearsal then it should be a matter of my having to choose between competing good ideas.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
In Treatment
I have no idea whether HBO plans a third season of In Treatment or if the Israeli source material went into a third installment but I have to commend Gabriel Byrne on his stamina. For an actor of his stature to do what's essentially a season and a half of television in which he's in almost every scene while playing a grumpy, self-absorbed, and emotionally distant man the material has to be pretty good, and the second season of In Treatment largely lived up to Byrne's commitment to his role. Beginning with a visit from the father (Glynn Turman) of the patient who died while in Paul's care last year, season 2 began with Paul's visit to a lawyer named Mia (Hope Davis) about the lawsuit brought by the patient's family.
Paul and Mia have a history; he had treated her years before when she was pregnant and Mia holds him responsible for the decision to terminate the pregnancy and for her failure to find a husband and raise children in ensuing years. I've been a fan of Hope Davis since Next Stop, Wonderland, and her theater background serves her well in the show's close quarters. Yet the Mia episodes didn't shed much light on Paul's behavior with Laura and Alex in season 1 (though Davis's resemblance to Melissa George can't have been an accident) or on why Mia hasn't had much luck meeting a man. Mia is all over the place emotionally; telling tales of casual sex after bursting into Paul's office with baked goods then recalling a break down after a fight with her father. A couple of episodes dangled some erotic tension between Paul and Mia but that felt forced given the disaster of the near-relationship with Laura. Despite Davis's strength Mia ended up being the most conventional character of the season, simply not possessing the tools to balance work and a personal life thanks to mixed messages from her parents and a major case of denial.
This season of In Treatment belonged to Alison Pill and John Mahoney. Pill's flinty April was a sort of inverted version of season one's Sophie (who gets a callback in the final April episode). Where Sophie was anger and raw emotion, April comes to Paul with her defenses already up. Recently diagnosed with cancer, April is convinced that going through chemo and allowing her family to help her would be signs of fatal weakness. Pill's collapse in Paul's office when he won't take her to chemo a second time was the scene of the year, but it's her insistence on subsequently expressing grief at the death of Paul's father and on not being allowed to act like a brat in Paul's office that marked the biggest change in the show this season. Season one's patients seemed concocted to bring Paul to a crisis point as a husband and father, to set up why Paul is divorced and living in Brooklyn this year. Season two's patients are much more combative - arguing with Paul, acting out and then apologizing, or in the case of divorced mother Bess moving away despite the fragile emotional state of unhappy son Oliver (Aaron Grady Shaw). April's insistence on thanking Paul for the work they've done gives her story arc a pleasingly unruly finish, a sense that her life exists outside the office and will maybe even eventually lead back to therapy.
John Mahoney's Walter is a character we really haven't seen on TV before, a successful man at the end of his professional life (a CEO forced out after a scandal) who isn't sure what to do next. Like all of the other patients (except maybe Oliver), Walter's story isn't really resolved but we've seen the most interesting part therapeutically speaking. Mahoney gets to play a range of emotions rarely seen in a single TV season, from curt dismissiveness (we get the feeling he's squeezing Paul in) to utter helplessness. I always thought Mahoney was wasting his time on Frasier (go back and look at his performance in Say Anything), and his work here makes me think about what roles he might have played in the years he was tied down by his TV job.
If In Treatment has aired for the last time then it's stopping at a good place. Paul, who in the last episode ends his own therapy with Gina (Dianne Wiest), has learned a little humility and the limits of what a therapist can do and is free from the legal cloud he was under when the season began. Byrne's performance will live on thanks to DVD and reruns but I can't help wondering if he isn't ready to show a few more colors.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Jay Bennett
I didn't go back and watch I Am Trying To Break Your Heart when I learned of the death of former Wilco member Jay Bennett at age 45, but I still remember the scene where Bennett obsesses over some detail of recording the song "Heavy Metal Drummer" and Jeff Tweedy almost palpably suppresses a freakout. It's never clearly spelled out why Bennett was fired from the band; my impression was that Tweedy didn't really want another strong personality in the band and was threatened by the volume of Bennett's ideas. I've no idea whether Bennett's suit against the band for alleged unpaid royalties had merit but it's disturbing to read that lack of health insurance and pending surgery were concerns in Bennett's last days. (The cause of death has yet to be determined) (NYT/Gawker)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Terminator Salvation
Terminator Salvation is a fairly entertaining action film as far as it goes but doesn't feel like it has much to do with the James Cameron-directed entries in the series or even the loud third film with the female Terminatress. Special effects be damned, there was something about watching the Connor family and Arnold Schwarzenegger's outmoded model T-whatever fight off the visitors from the future in our relatively analog present. Salvation takes us into the world left over after "Judgment Day," when the Skynet computer system becomes self-aware and wipes out most of humanity. I'll be the first to admit that the nearly obliterated world of Salvation is well conceived and free of obvious digital imposition. During several crisply executed action scenes I never felt like I was watching obvious CGI shots or other post-production gone awry, but I also didn't understand why I needed to see all this since John Connor's future actions to protect his family and younger self are well known from earlier movies.
What has happened to Christian Bale? Bale-bashing has become a popular sport around the 'sphere at least since that fight with his family when The Dark Knight opened, but more importantly (just like in TDK) all the feeling seems to have gone out of Bale's acting. There's a doggedness to the performance that rises to what the functional screenplay calls for but doesn't bring any depth (or, loaded word) humanity to the material. John Connor is a hole at the center of Salvation. Sam Worthington as convict-turned-cyborg Marcus Wright does somewhat better and the surprising heart of the film is Anton Yelchin as time traveler to be Kyle Reese. As for the women let's just say Linda Hamilton (or even Lena Headey) is sorely missed. Sorry Bryce Dallas Howard and Moon Bloodgood, but I hope you each got a nice check and get better scripts next time. There's no reason I can see to bash McG (who does not in fact give himself two "directed by" credits) other than the fact he made something only mildly watchable out of a beloved property. I wanted something a bit more sweet-and-sour from Salvation, a bit more of Michael Ironside's (as a kill 'em all Resistance general) ham and especially some of Arnold's cheese.
Sunday Music: Iron & Wine - "Upward Over The Mountain"
From 2008. If you only know the album version you don't know this song.
Cannes winners
The results are in: (San Jose Mercury News)
Austrian director Michael Haneke's somber drama "The White Ribbon" claimed the top prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, where Quentin Tarantino and Lars von Trier entries earned the acting honors.
It was a big night for Austria, whose triumphs included Christoph Waltz as best actor for Tarantino's World War II epic "Inglourious Basterds." Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best-actress honor for von Trier's "Antichrist," a film that riled and repelled many Cannes viewers with its explicit images of physical abuse involving a grieving couple.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Dept. of Things To Wait One Second For
Friday, May 22, 2009
Jammed on Jams
Juliana Hatfield on all-star jams, the first Lilith Fair, and a certain band from New Jersey.
In 2006 I took part in a Bruce Springsteen tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. The proceeds were to benefit a children's music education program. An eclectic bunch of people, including Patti Smith, Pete Yorn, Ronnie Spector, North Mississippi All-Stars, Odetta, Jesse Malin, and me (Jewel was billed but she never showed up), each played one Springsteen song of our choice. Bruce was there, hanging around backstage, mingling, watching the performances. At the end of the night, after the last scheduled act had finished, Springsteen walked from the wings out onto the stage, to the delight and surprise of the audience (Bruce hadn't been announced as part of the program). After saying a few words of thanks, Springsteen led the house band into his "Rosalita" and motioned for everyone watching from the sidelines – all the musicians and singers who had performed – to come out and join him on the song. With much determined, insistent goading by everyone around me I was convinced to tag along onto the stage after all the other performers. I positioned myself behind a bunch of people, right in front of the drums, in mortal fear that one of my fellow musicians would grab me and push me in front of a microphone at the front of the stage, in full view of the audience, when I didn't know the words to the song. (I loved Springsteen in theory, but his radio hits were really the only songs of his that I knew well enough to sing. I'd learned and practiced just one of these hits – "Cover Me" – for the concert.) As the singer from the Hold Steady went, basically, nuts, jumping up and down like a giddy kid while singing excitedly into the front mic he was sharing with Springsteen himself, I stood in back, hidden, and I clapped along in time to the song, like an idiot with nothing better to do but clap, grinning in spite of myself (I even laughed out loud a couple of times), because I was on stage with the Boss – the Boss! – and how many people ever will get to do that? I knew how the Hold Steady singer felt; he just had a different, more visibly enthused way of expressing his wonder and amazement at his circumstances in this precious, bizarre, fleeting (who will even remember the Hold Steady in five years? who remembers me?) and kind of wonderful moment than I did.
Life songs
I've neglected to mention the cancellation of NBC's excellent cop show Life, yet another victim to the network's decision to give Jay Leno 5 hours of weekly prime time air next fall. At least I don't seem to be the only one missing the show or its excellent choices in music. (All Songs Considered)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Do the Shuffle #34
Total Songs/Minutes (approx.) - 8/42
Miscellaneous Fact: Today's short playlist brought to you by Mr. Jarrett and Mr. Dylan
Angels & Demons
My late review of this movie should tell you something about my level of interest in it. Angels & Demons is marginally better as movie than The Da Vinci Code; there are fewer scenes of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) poring over old documents and explaining history. The plot is just as much of a mashup of anti-Catholic hysteria and historical speculation; this time around it involves the Church's relationship with the Illuminati, a secret society depicted as superrationalists fighting Rome's outsized spiritualism. Everyone from Ron Howard and Hanks on down looks bored with only the professionalism of Stellan Skarsgard (inscrutable Vatican cop) and Armin Mueller-Stahl (inscrutable Cardinal) preventing me from drifting off. Dan Brown's desire to let no Catholic go untainted is exposed in the last half-hour; the movie has about four endings which aren't worth the time it takes to describe them. Look for the scene where Ewan McGregor's parachute shows up- that's when things are about to get crazy.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Sticking up for Blueberry
Videogum nominates My Blueberry Nights for the worst movie of all time, which of course it isn't. I'll give you that Norah Jones might not have been the best choice for leading lady but if someone gave you a choice between seeing "Wong Kar-Wai's valentine to America" or a Martin Scorsese-directed movie about the Dalai Lama you'd think twice wouldn't you? Any director willing to go outside his comfort zone will always get a hearing here. My take on Blueberry.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Read it now, avoid the lines
Have you ever had that feeling of knowing maybe you should see a film but not wanting to because of how you'd feel afterward? Roger Ebert to the rescue with a post that describes key events in Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, the film that's got Cannes all abuzz.
The Book I Read: The Song Is You by Arthur Phillips
I've tried to get a post going on Arthur Phillips' The Song Is You a couple of times and I think that what has gotten me stuck is the novel's willful inconsequence, its fixation on what I'll call "Lonely New York Moments." The first time I went to New York on my own a few years ago I had the probably not uncommon feeling that if I lived there it would be possible to feel very crowded and also very lonely at the same time. That's sort of the position that Phillips' protagonist Julian finds himself in. Julian is a successful director of commercials who seems to have no ambition to go further (not even into music videos). Divorced from Rachel, Julian would have no trouble picking up women if only he had the desire.
Things change when Julian sees the singer Cait O'Dwyer and her band on a chance solo visit to a bar (Lonely New York Moment #1). Cait is younger (late 20s to Julian's mid 40s), a commanding stage presence, and the instant object of desire for band mates and audience members alike. The rest of The Song Is You is the chronicle of how Julian uses modern technology to almost but not quite have an affair with Cait and of the reasons why he doesn't. (I'm leaving out a key past event which Phillips underplays but uses to explain Julian's behavior) Along the way there's iPod listening on the subway, hanging out along in dog parks, and messing about in the stairwells of apartment buildings.(LNYM's #2-4) As much as I wanted to like The Song Is You (being a fan of Phillips' Prague and Angelica) the overall effect is like hearing a late night anecdote from a friend with a "...and then I did what I should have done all along" ending. Cait's guitarist, Rachel, and Julian's brother (whose subplot deserves its own short story) all get a turn on center stage, padding out what's really quite a short book about loneliness and music's ability to sometimes alleviate it. I still look forward to Phillips' next book and I think there's a good novel to be written about the rock clubs and music blogs of Lower Manhattan. The Song Is You suffers from being too mature for its own good.
A Brighter Summer Day
My favorite film of all time is Yi Yi, directed by the late Edward Yang. Yang's other work is more than a little hard to come by; it's with great pleasure that I link to this post about an earlier (and even longer) Yang film A Brighter Summer Day. Thanks to Martin Scorsese and the folks at Cannes I might have a chance to see a critical work from a director I'm still getting to know. (Moving Image Source)
We only discover at the end that the film is a bolero, rising silently to a chilling moment of climactic violence, but its affect is decidedly unmelodramatic. The film's length is a vital factor, and requires one to paradigm-shift into a distinct film-watching mode. Genuine length—utilized as time undergone, as film-watching in a perpetual state of re-self-definition, as personal investment, as movie-life in the grip of duration, exhaustion, and accretion—is a tool largely misused and misunderstood by Americans, who demand that any random five-minute chunk of a film be as exciting and distractive as the film is as a whole.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Portman puts pin in Penn story
No surprise, but NP has officially denied the much rumored relationship with Mr. Penn. (HuffPo)
Sunday Music: Kristin Hersh - "Listerine"
My favorite alt-rock lady doing a track from one of her solo CD's. Read about her future plans at the same place I found this video. (BrooklynVegan)
TV Catch-Up
I'll admit I only watched one episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, the current cause celebre of TV bloggers and scifi aficionados. If you're also ignorant of Whedon's latest creation (and future source of massive DVD revenues for a large corporation) I'll refer you to this post by Todd, which makes a good argument for bringing Ms. Dushku and Co. back based on the show that Dollhouse might become. (HND)
It behooves us to remember, of course, that the show isn't perfect. For all of Whedon's faith in series lead Eliza Dushku (who plays the doll Echo), the actress has only been up to what she's been asked to do sporadically. Whedon has never had as strong an eye for casting as his closest TV look-alike, J.J. Abrams. For every Nathan Fillion in Firefly, there's a Marc Blucas in Buffy – someone slightly out of their depth who has a look that fits the character more than the soul of that character. Whedon's exceptionally good at figuring out how to write to these various actors' strengths, though, and he's very good at directing his stars when he gets the chance (witness how the occasionally moribund Sarah Michelle Gellar lights up the screen like a genuine movie star whenever Whedon directs an episode of Buffy).
Saturday, May 16, 2009
What have I been doing?
This is the longest I've gone without blogging in a while, and since I think I only alluded to it earlier I'll let you in on the fact that the reason is that I've just finished directing my first play. The Mystery At Twicknam Vicarage by David Ives ran this weekend at the Greenville Little Theatre here in Greenville, SC and if I do say so myself it was well received. I'm still mulling over the differences between acting and directing, but for now I'll just say that I definitely want to direct again. Blogging will resume....now.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Star Trek
When word of mouth on a film is as strong as it was on JJ Abrams's Star Trek it's often a setup for disappointment, but I'm happy to report that this Trek lives up to the hype. Abrams had no investment in the franchise so there was ample opportunity for screwing up a property in need of a new direction, yet the film keeps to the spirit of Gene Roddenberry's creation and to the established behaviors (with some provocative new additions) of even the minor characters.
Chris Pine has more than the required amount of swagger and wit for Kirk, and the backstory of him joining Starfleet to avoid a life of boozing and bar fights feels right. Pine is an able choice to carry Trek into the future, but this Star Trek is Spock's show. Perhaps the most important but subtlest reimagining of the Trek universe is the reconception of the Vulcan psyche. It's long established that Spock is half-human but the TV show and older films stopped there. In the JJ Abrams Trekverse we're told early on that Vulcans do have emotions; they're just really, really good at controlling them. The young Spock must choose between a career in Starfleet and a post at the Vulcan Science Academy while dodging taunts about his half-human heritage. Fed up with being treated like an African-American who has just passed a "literacy test" in 1960's Mississippi, Spock leaves his human mother (Winona Ryder) behind and enlists. Zachary Quinto's Spock is full of resentment and and a contempt for Kirk's bravado that would have dismayed fans of the older films. Even though Kirk and Spock are necessarily thrown together by film's end their differences aren't settled (since Kirk seems to have stepped over Spock on the Starfleet food chain) and there's room to test the relationship in future films. It was awfully good to see Leonard Nimoy again, and he even gets a bit more range than the earlier films allowed him. By the time Nimoy's Spock is thrown together with the younger Kirk Spock has learned that the connections one makes with others are all that really matters. He's also understandably glad to see a friend who in his timeline would have died decades before. While Nimoy's Spock is still unmistakably Vulcan, his human side has gained some purchase by the time we encounter him here.
What else to say about this rarest of treats, a satisfying summer blockbuster? Zoe Saldana's Uhura is a perfect creation for a 21st century Trek: she knows what she wants from her career but allows herself ample time for a surprising (and welcome) workplace relationship. I've read some complaints about Eric Bana as the villain and it's true that the character doesn't develop much after he's introduced, but this is genre science fiction after all. Bana's tattooed Nero is a nice change from seeing Christopher Plummer under pounds of Klingon makeup. One final thought on casting: The late Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird, played an Admiral in two of the '80s Trek films. Tyler Perry, you're no Brock Peters.
Star Trek c. 2009 presents a Federation that's an active force for good in a complex world. I'd say Kirk, Spock, and the rest are needed now just as much as ever.
Dept. of Films I Want To See
Atom Egoyan talks of his new film Adoration and asserting his Armenian identity. (Greencine)
Q: You have certainly talked about it more since making Ararat. There are allusions in Next of Kin, but your "Armenian identity" did not really come about until Ararat. You made it your international identity as a filmmaker.
A: Yeah. That's something I was not expecting to do, but I realized on the scale of that film and the response to it, it warranted I take a clear position. Interestingly enough, Arsinée had to take a more ambiguous position than what she's normally used to as well.
What are film bloggers talking about?
Do the Shuffle #33
Songs/Minutes: 11/39
Miscellaneous Fact: I actually thought the song from the new Conor Oberst CD (which is sung by one of his bandmates) was another Vetiver track.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The man himself talks creativity and his new film The Limits of Control. (Film Comment)
But anyway, that stuff was floating around in me, so it's my normal process to have these things and then start drawing details and eventually a plot. But this one I kept very minimal because I wanted it to expand while we were shooting. I wrote the story in Italy over a period of a week or so, and I wrote a 25-page story, and there wasn't really dialogue in it at all. So I used that and I took that to Focus and said, I want to make a film based on this story, I'm going to expand it as I go; I wanna cast these people. And they were like, Wow, yeah, great… I felt they'd say, Go write a script and come back, but instead they said, No, if that's how you wanna do it, we're interested in that. So they financed the film.
Shock Talk
The upside of nasty blog comments? (Wash. Post)
The subjects that have generated the most vitriol during my tenure in this role are race and immigration. The racist comments showed up regularly during the presidential campaign and have continued at a slower pace since Barack Obama's election. Racist remarks often accompany stories about crime and violence. The untimely death of the Washington Redskins' Sean Taylor would be the most appalling example. Where does this hate come from? Do we need to know it's here?
Yes, we do. But I am heartened by the fact that such comments do not go unchallenged by readers. In fact, comment strings are often self-correcting and provide informative exchanges. If somebody says something ridiculous, somebody else will challenge it. And there is wit. My favorite one-liner came in the coverage following the botched swearing-in of President Obama by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. A reader self-identified as "HumbleGovWorker" observed that "This is not one for the Harvard Law Alumni Newsletter." Both Obama and Roberts are Harvard Law grads.
NP is "Funny"
NP is interviewed by Zach Galifianakis for Funny or Die's "Between Two Ferns." It's all a big joke but doesn't have that loony, offhand quality of the site's best stuff, and we know NP can be funnier than this.....
Monday Music: Bon Iver & My Brightest Diamond - "Flume"
From the "Dark Was The Night" concert at Radio City Music Hall.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Tilda's Baker's Dozen
13 Things You Want To Know About Tilda Swinton. (Indiewire)
11. According to her, she doesn't know one thing about acting.
"There's this endless disclaimer that I always feel I honestly have to give about not being an actor," she said in all seriousness. "Because it really does feel most honest. I always feel that real actors are going to stand up and say 'you're a fraud! Confess it!' And I want to be the first to say that I never pretended to be anything else. I always pretended to be a film fan first, and an artist's model second. I'm in front of a camera, because I'm curious, and that's about it. I don't know one thing about acting."
Past Blasts
Betty Aberlin of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood fame (and two Kevin Smith movies?) on Fred Rogers, Barack Obama, and those puppets. (Billevesees)
It just felt totally like serendipity. I didn't begin to know, again, the implications of it. I just knew that the work was really worthy, and that as a musician, as a lyricist, as a child-development-audience-focused, kindly, secretly ministerial, not-so macho guy, [Fred Rogers] was modeling the possibility of kindliness.
[At first,] I thought that was just complete poppycock — "Come on, what is this 'Neighborhood'? Say hello to the postman, and 'Hi, Mr. So-and-So, how are you doing?'" I just thought, "Right. That's a Good Housekeeping kind of thing, come on." Because I came from New York, where if somebody says, "How are you doing," you think, "What do they mean by that?" And then years later, I realized I was the one with the skewed reality. That I had been inculcated with a sense of mistrust and danger, because that's what the city was, when I navigated it all by myself.
Do the Shuffle #32
Total Songs/Minutes: 7/36
Miscellaneous Fact: Running v. Walking + 10 minutes of Van = short playlist
Friday, May 08, 2009
"It's the place where poetry comes to die..."
Good music links today. Meet St. Vincent, whose new album is partially inspired by Terrence Malick's Badlands. (NYT)
Ms. Clark released her debut, "Marry Me," in 2007, to critical acclaim. Writing in The New York Times, Kelefa Sanneh called it "an extravagant collection of songs that show off everything at once." It has sold about 30,000 copies. With the voice and bearing of a retro chanteuse and indie cred, she could have easily coasted on soft and palatable; instead "Actor" relies on more of the driving guitars and complex orchestration that have made her stand out.
"She doesn't fall into one category, i.e., a singer-songwriter for example, so she's not pigeonholed," said Miwa Okumura, a senior product manager for Beggars/4AD. Ms. Okumura compared her to a diverse range of acts, from the folky Bon Iver to the indie rockers the National to the multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. "She rocks out," she said.
Watt Spiel
Bassist Mike Watt, famously of The Minutemen and now an Iggy Pop sideman (among other things), has stayed true to himself. (Brooklyn Vegan)
You know, a lot of things was a reaction to arena rock. Like the idea of meeting people who played in music-this idea of expression would be a personal side to them-was like wow. Before, music was like building models, you know. But it was a whole different trip to us. To us it made no problem about learning Pop Group and Wire and Germs, and it was no fucking stretch for us. I know looking at it from the outside world, it's like this is insane. And then learning about John Coltrane--because we hadn't heard any of it growing up. When [artist and resident poster-designer for the SST scene Raymond] Pettibon played me Coltrane, I thought he was doing punk too. I just thought he was a little bit older. I didn't know he was dead.
Dark Was The Night in concert
From his blog, David Byrne on the recent all-star Dark Was The Night concert and why it didn't contain any "factory-made" product.
There's a lot going on musically right now. It's an exciting time. Other than Sharon Jones' soul music and some of the other artists' folk leanings, the overall tendency amongst this group seems to be a kind of potpourri of art rock. I mean that in a good way — it's art in that pop music is taken, assumed even, to be a serious and open form; a genre that admits a wide variety of approaches and instruments; and a musical form that is equal in depth and emotion to anything else out there. That's a really different approach than what might be called traditional rock or pop, which can be extremely dogmatic — not to mention disposable — with prescribed instrumentation, tempos and subjects. There's a sense of seriousness about this crop of artists — serious play, but still serious.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Grab Bag
Johansson is well out of it, I reckon. If, as seems possible, she was encouraged down a self-indulgent path by her recent association with Woody Allen (himself the contributor to the 1989 portmanteau film New York Stories) then inscrutable fate could be exercising a little tough love by evicting Johansson from the most unappetising movie smorgasbord. But it could also be that her short film would have been far superior to everything – who knows?
He also informs me that despite early reports and the information on the IMDB page, Cate Blanchett's voice is nowhere to be heard. It's Meryl Streep supplying the pipes for "Mrs. Fox". George Clooney, as you already know, voices the title character. My friend thought the voicework was excellent -- none of the dip in quality you sometimes get when filmmakers feel the need to have all celebrity voices [*cough* every studio but Pixar]. Sadly, Anjelica Huston has but a voice cameo (the other bit voice players are Brian Cox and Owen Wilson). Come on, Wes ... she's earned a front and center role by now. Next time, maybe?
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Dept. of Leaving The Herd
Believe it or not, some people do not like The Wire. (Kottke)
Perhaps it is in the office where the show falters the most, sometimes having camera shots zoom in on a person for three seconds at a time while they are thinking about nothing. Then there is the whole thing with the detective using a typewriter. Okay, did I miss something? Is this 2008 or 1978 people?? High Profile crime unit using typewriters, sure I buy it and a bag of that counterfeit money they had in the first episode.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
The Soloist
The Soloist doesn't hit the dying newspaper angle as hard as State of Play but instead ends up being about something I don't think I've ever seen dramatized on film before: the amorphous but unbridgeable gap between reporter and subject. LA Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) is the kind of newspaperman most cities can't afford anymore; in the film's version of the newsroom he seems to operate entirely as a free agent with only minimal supervision from his ex-wife/editor (Catherine Keener). Lopez is just looking for a story when he encounters Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless man playing violin under a statue of Beethoven in a city park. With a little investigation Lopez discovers Nathaniel was a cello prodigy who dropped out of Julliard after developing schizophrenia.
Although his initial interest in Nathaniel is purely journalistic Lopez becomes more than just an impartial observer once he's delivered a new cello (from a Times reader) and helped Nathaniel get situated in the LA homeless community. It's here that the movie becomes more involving and less cliched, since director Joe Wright films the Skid Row neighborhood where Nathaniel hangs out with nightmarish particularity. Wright comes perilously close to fetishizing the homeless on a couple of occasions, but the performance of Nelsan Ellis as a seen-it-all counselor helps ground these scenes in some kind of reality. Lopez's idealistic fantasies of medicating Nathaniel and restarting his musical career are barely taken seriously; Susannah Grant's screenplay (which features more than a few clunkers about the beauty of Nathaniel's playing) is clear headed about the possibility of socializing a man with mental illness as severe as Ayers. Jamie Foxx gives a performance as singular and locked-in as one of Nathaniel's runs through a Beethoven concerto. (The flashbacks "explaining" Nathaniel's illness add little to the story) Foxx's mannerisms are carefully worked out but he never lets his guard down and truly engages his costars; the choice feels right and means the movie doesn't wander into heartstring-tugging sentimentality. Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Predjudice) is still more comfortable with the rhythms of the English country house than with 21st century America, but his outsider's touch and cool sensibility were just what this story needed.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Kermit gets the VIF tour
Wishing I could see the exhibition of Jim Henson's work that inspired this thought: (CulturePulp)
It now takes teams of computer jockeys using reams of processing power to conjure the same suspension of disbelief that Henson could create with a hand shoved up a sock, and Henson's comic timing was sharper. Two decades on, I find myself wondering how much "movie magic" has really progressed, frankly, because in 1979's "The Muppet Movie," Kermit and Fozzie were really behind the wheel of that Studebaker, and today they'd try to do the whole thing with green-screens and everything would look too shiny and you wouldn't feel a thing.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Sunday Music: Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals - "Put It On Me"
My friend Margaret just saw him in concert and I've always loved this song. I wonder if the sedentary studio audience bothers the musicians?
Friday, May 01, 2009
....and away we go. The summer blockbuster season begins in earnest today with this X-Men "origin story" which in all honesty doesn't so much reboot the franchise as put it on a lazy susan. It's too expensive to assemble a cast of big names for more X-Men adventures, so (if audiences are amenable) Wolverine is the first of a purported series of films exploring the pasts of various mutants (Magneto? Deadpool?) and the assimilation of younger X-kids at the school run by Professor Xavier (a "First Class" film is planned with a young cast). Hugh Jackman (who also produces) returns as Wolverine, the sharp-clawed soldier with a libertarian streak who anchored the previous three films.
Wolverine answers all the questions raised by the original trilogy and familiar to comic fans. Who is Wolverine, aka Logan, and how did he get this way? The film's prologue is a quicker version of the Watchmen opening credits, as Logan and his brother Victor (Liev Schreiber) fight their way through a century and a half of American wars. Their mutant powers (Logan's expanding skeleton and Victor's, well, toothiness) make the brothers indestructible and easy pickings for Col. Stryker (Danny Huston), who recruits the two for a "special team" of mutants formed to covertly fight America's enemies. Or so Stryker would have us believe. The real purpose of the team (which also includes Ryan Reynolds as "Wade Wilson" and will.i.am as "John Wraith") will be well known to X-Men scholars and will eventually lead to Logan's injection with "adamantium," the element which makes him self-healing, and to the wiping of his memories by Stryker.
Director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) seems an odd choice for this material but handles it well enough, though he's clearly more interested in Logan's civilian life with Kayla (Lynn Collins) in the Canadian mountains before he's pulled back into Stryker's mutant-on-mutant fray. Unlike the two Bryan Singer-directed X-Men movies, Wolverine only engages the question of how the mutants blend with human society in the most superficial way. Schreiber's Victor (soon to be Sabretooth) makes a more interesting antihero than Ian McKellen's Magneto, but the character is turned into a stooge for far too much of the plot, and too much of the story takes place in a sort of summer-movie limbo of "secret labs" and blasted out landscapes. The use of other X-Men characters feels like a marketing move to set up sequels, though I wouldn't bet the farm on an overmatched Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. (Ryan Reynolds, you were pretty good in Adventureland but I now want to punch you again)
Wolverine delivers the goods in the sense that Jackman is in good form and the movie seems to touch all the required plot points, but the fourth go-round for this character winds up being more of a nod to the fanboys than anything else (If I didn't know anything about the X-Men, Wolverine would be incomprehensible). I'd like to see the sensibility of the earier films brougt back in future installments; and we all know they're coming, don't we?
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Different Types of Chickens - Plans To Build A Chicken Coop
While there are dozens of different types of chickens, selecting one to be a part of your flock can be challenging.
How To Build A Chicken CoopFirst you'll want to consider the role of the chicken meaning, is it a pet, will it be bread for meat or an egg producer? There are lots of choices to make when selecting the right type of chicken. Chicken Coop For 6 Chickens.
The top egg laying chickens that produce white eggs are Ancona, Andalusian, Catalina, Hamburg, Holland, Lakenvelder, Leghorn, Minorca, and Redcap.
Portable Chicken Coop. There are also chickens that lay brown eggs and they include Australorp, Java, Naked Neck Turkin, Plymouth Rock. Building Free Chicken Coop Plans. Many of these chickens have good dispositions and are relatively mild mannered and good producers.
Small Chicken House. Meat producing breeds consist of Cornish and Cornish Cross.
Backyard Cheap Chicken Coop. Some hens of specific breeds can both be used as egg producers but also provide a good source of meat. Chicken Coop Plans For 12 Chickens.


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Christine Hubbs
Sponsored By
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About Alberto
Welcome football fans, I am Alberto Martinez Miller and I am a HUGE Seattle Seahawks fan! and I love to provide quality merchandise for demanding people as are all fans of this amazing sport.
I was born in Paso, Texas. 59 years ago but all my life I have settled in Mexico. I have always like
d football because my father and older brother enjoyed watching the games and they infected my taste for sports.
I decided to build this site to make it easier for you to get authentic NFL jersey teams and players. I have seen that many fans struggle to get the authentic jersey of individual players and their favorite team.
If you do not get a Jersey into the site, contact me to find it immediately and see if it is available anywhere in the world.
Let's enjoy the games!


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The kids were so excited about riding the bus! For some of them, it was more exciting than the zoo!
I have to admit, as I followed the bus there, I had a lump in my throat! I could have easily cried. I just couldn't believe my Hunter was on that bus! Is he that old? Is it really time for his first field trip?!
He was so excited when he saw me! He said, "Teep, I'm so glad you're here!" For those of you who don't know, he calls me Teep-rhymes with keep. He no longer calls me mom, mommy, or mama- it's Teep! We have no idea where he got it from and we can't think of anything remotely close to the name Teep. It's my special name from him, so I'll take it!
Looking at the elephants with Cade. He was in Hunter's class last year.
Zebras- the animal Hunter wanted to see the most!
Playing on the Safari Jeep with his class!
Watching the Swinger Monkey! I must say it was so entertaining to watch and we stayed there for a good 20 minutes! The kids would just laugh and it was so neat to watch the monkey swing from tree to tree.
George himself entertaining all of us!
Still watching! They were amazed by him and so was I!
Love this picture of us-just wish he was looking at the camera!
His teacher, Mrs. Rachel!
Such a ladies man! Such a cute picture with Lexie, Ava, and Caroline!
He was so excited about the Rhino being so close! He kept telling me to take it's picture, not his!


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Welcome to Fair Deal
We are a social enterprise company providing assistance and support for people with learning disabilities, older people and young people.
Based in Castlemilk in Glasgow, we work alongside people who use our support, to help them have the kind of life they want.
For our ground breaking work in valuing people with learning disabilities as active citizens, we were proud winners of the Social Enterprise of the Year Award for 2013.
In 2013 we also won the Evening Times Community Champion Award for our innovative project called 'Help Yourself Grow'. We were also winners of the 2014 Streets Ahead Award.
What we do
We offer a range of activities and support options for people who may wish to use their individual budget to buy what they need from Fair Deal. Self directed support options means people now have more choice and control over the services and support they receive, how they are supported and when that support takes place.
At Fair Deal we are committed to personalised and individual support arrangements that create opportunities for people to build friendships and relationships where they want to. Whether you are a young person leaving school and planning your life ahead or someone who just wants to change their support arrangements and try something new we can help you. Why not contact us?
Self directed support means people have more choice and control over the services and support.
At Fair Deal we are committed to personalised and individual support arrangements.
Our Award Winning Cookery & Gardening Courses.
Make a donation to Fair Deal
Help Fair Deal by making a donation via or Justgiving page.
Latest Videos
Let Laura explain
Laura explains the difference Fair Deal has made for her.
Laura is supported by Fair Deal and has been for a number of years.
She now has a very full life and is involved in a range of things from voluntary work going on holiday with some of her friends.
She can tell you all about the difference Fair Deal has made in her life and how she is directing her own life by the way she uses her support.
Latest Blog Posts
Help Yourself Grow Graduation 2018Posted 13th July 2018
Since our last newsletter we have held our Help Yourself Grow Graduation for year 2…


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- Getting enough exercise (physical stimulation)
- Getting enough mental stimulation
- Getting out of the house to avoid 'cabin fever'
Staying Sane Indoors
17 comments
- Amy said...
Very helpful post, especially in these cold months ahead! You may enjoy reading "Room" -- great fiction novel that relates well to your comments about making do and being content with what you have!
- January 14, 2011 at 10:42 AM
- Leigh Anne said...
Thanks for the ideas! I am really struggling w/ keeping the activity going in the winter. And, thanks for the mini trampoline review. I've seen them and wondered....might have to invest in one :)
- January 14, 2011 at 12:49 PM
- Tracy said...
Great post. We live in Michigan, so are largely homebound for a large portion of the year. I make a point of breaking up our day to avoid monotony and we do try to get out at least once per day. That may mean something as simple as going to the gym (where the kids play in the babysitting room), to going to the library or a playgroup, or even outside in snowsuits, but I find that if we get out once per day, even if it's just a car ride, that alleviates a lot of issues.
The kids are also granted more free-playtime. I try to have toys in each of the major areas of our home, so they can move from room to room to avoid boredom.
I DO allow TV, but limit its duration and the total amount per day. It's all educational programming, like the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street, or Word World (and my son LOVES Chuggington.) I use TV for reward or for times when I want them to calm down a bit.
We also have sing along time (with songs that encourage activity, like "I'm a Little Teapot", the "Hokey Pokey", etc...as well as dance parties to random music. That helps us ALL get the wiggles out. :)
Every little bit helps!!!
- January 14, 2011 at 3:47 PM
- Stephanie Rawlins said...
Tonight my kids (ages 3.5 and 2) spent their excess energy going through an obstacle course I created in the living room. Basically they ran down a hallway, crawled under a coffee table, jumped from one throw pillow to another, then crawled under another table, and jumped onto the couch. Nothing glamorous, but all the jumping and running had them grinning from ear to ear. And now they're SOUND asleep!
- January 14, 2011 at 7:29 PM
- celestevy said...
For exercise, one thing that Isabella loves doing with me is exercising. In the mornings if I am doing an exercise dvd she is there alongside of me trying to do it.
- January 15, 2011 at 12:23 PM
- tracylynne said...
I filled the kitchen sink with water and some plastic toys and my little guy 18 months played in the water for over an hour while I cleaned the kitchen and cooked. I also have a little sandbox inside that I put on a piece of plastic on the floor and let him play in..
- January 18, 2011 at 10:05 AM
- Rachel Stella said...
I have been thinking about getting one of those indoor mini tramps for a while now. But I was thinking of getting one with a handle on it (do you know what I mean?) so that little kids can use it too. Have you had experience with this kind? Which do you think is better to get? The only one I've actually seen in person is the one my grandma used to use when I was a little kid!
Or course, if anyone besides valerie has an answer to this question feel free to give it!
- January 19, 2011 at 7:14 PM
- Plowmanators said...
Thanks for the suggestion Amy!
- January 26, 2011 at 10:44 AM
- Plowmanators said...
I am really liking the mini-tram Leigh Anne. It is a good workout for me, too :)
- January 26, 2011 at 10:44 AM
- Plowmanators said...
Thanks for your ideas Tracy!
- January 26, 2011 at 10:45 AM
- Plowmanators said...
Stephanie, that sounds so fun! What a great idea!
- January 26, 2011 at 10:45 AM
- Plowmanators said...
That is funny Celestevy. My kids will do that too. They want to exercise like Mommy. Just another testament to the power of example!
- January 26, 2011 at 10:46 AM
- Plowmanators said...
Tracylynne, that is a great idea! I haven't ever tried that before.
- January 26, 2011 at 10:46 AM
- Plowmanators said...
I haven't ever used one with a handle. I think it could be fun, and I know that is the kind Raegan and Maureen have.
McKenna jumps on the one we have without a handle, so it is still little kid friendly.
You know how frugal I am. I went with this one because it is at least half the cost of the one with a handle. Plus it has more jumping space, so two kids can jump at once. Finally, I can exercise on it, too. That wasn't a factor when deciding, but since getting it here, I have enjoyed that. It works muscles that don't normally get worked otherwise.
- January 26, 2011 at 10:48 AM
- Plowmanators said...
Anyway, all that to say that I think you would probably be happy with either one.
Oh, another factor was that I want to be able to store it as easily as possible. I don't want to have it out all the time, but that probably isn't a factor for you.
- January 26, 2011 at 10:49 AM
- Rachel Stella said...
Hmmm, now I want both kinds. One for me and older kids to use and one with a handle for little kids to use :) But that isn't going to happen. Now I'm even more indecisive! On a side note, I did find one where the legs and handle come off for easy storage, but I wonder if it would be as sturdy as other ones.
Thanks for your thoughts!
- January 26, 2011 at 1:55 PM
- Plowmanators said...
Good luck :) I was there a few months ago. I let my frugality drive me :)
- February 9, 2011 at 3:52 PM


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Well Boys and Girls (or boy and girl depending on how many people read this thing):
Lots and lots of updates since (almost) March. As we say to our grandparents way too often "I've been meaning to be in touch.."
It's been almost overwhelming how much has been going on since the spring. Good news, great news and an amazing summer so far. Jet setting (not private), learning, moving forward and eventually settling in. Updates are forthcoming -- no, really -- but at the moment I'm between countries (doesn't that sound too diva-ish?) and am in a bit of a rush.
Short story shorter, things are looking up for the chippee with lots of work moving from the back burner to the front and finally back where I belong in the best borough on earth, soon. But you know the lady does love to fly about! The completely sedentary life isn't for me!
BTW, my email address is good but for a more collective experience, I also have a bit of representation on Facebook. No, I don't write on that much either, but I will be posting updates on my goings (including gigs!) on there, too -- in case my infrequent posts here have jaded you!
When I land for a minute I'll holla,
Thursday, August 07, 2008
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Back in April we started on the path to creating our own annual pictorial meadow, through May, June, July we saw it struggle against the elements and in August we saw it come into its own. Now in September we are reveling in its swan song as the late cosmos, more tardy due to the weather, rocket up and flower.
|Cosmos starting to flower among the cornflowers
The Pastel Annual Mix featured here has had its ups and downs, swamped by snow at Easter and constant downpours through summer. Though the bed is now getting beyond its best, the cosmos are bulking up and covering over the die back on the Bishop's Flower, which has been a stalwart all summer bringing in bees and other pollinators from miles around. This has been a border that has been regularly visited through summer by butterflies and bees. Though we did spray off the bed back in April, inevitably some grass made its way back, along with the dreaded sheep's sorrel that plagues us at Pig Row. We were able to remove the latter but left the grass as we did not want to disturb the roots of the mix. We have plans to cultivate the bed at the start of October or better still we will leave the flowers to run to seed for the birds and then clear next spring.
|Cosmos flowering with more buds breaking
Throughout the trial, this annual mix has been incredibly easy to manage. We have done nothing to intervene, even when we had high winds the mix stood up against it. This was down to how the plants grew, as they grew the foliage, stems and flowers supported each other, knitting together into a delightful tapestry. Even those flowers on the fringes that flopped over just made the whole border look softer, romantic, sumptuous and beautiful. This is a bed of annuals that you can't just walk pass, you have to stop to see what surprises it has thrown up from the burgeoning blue cornflowers that raged through August, to the Bishop's Flower that was the first to flower and the last to set seed, to a wonderful white frilly poppy that appeared only yesterday in the mix. This is a statement mix in your garden and it has been commented on regularly by friends and neighbours who want to sow the same mix in their gardens next year. This is a Pastel Annual Mix that constantly changes, as one of our friends said, 'I just want to pull up a chair and watch it'. It is the kind of mix that is a delight to look at and its tactile nature cries out for it to run through the border from front to back. Next year we will sow a larger mix that does this, running from the path in a snaking, undulating river that runs from the front of the border to the back, drawing us in with hands and eyes.
|White poppy beside the last of the Bishop's Flower
|Cut flowers from the pastel annual mix
Now, if you think annuals may be hard work, here's the proof in images that a little time sowing equals a lot of joy over the summer.
Seeds sown and reviewed here were received free of charge.


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CSFPDX LLC of Garibaldi, Oregon is voluntarily recalling ALL CS Fishery Wild Albacore Tuna with any codes starting with "OC", canned by a third party, Skipanon Brand Seafoods LLC, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium which can cause life-threatening illness or death. Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled.
Botulism, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning, can cause the following symptoms: general weakness, dizziness, double-vision and trouble with speaking or swallowing. Difficulty in breathing, weakness of other muscles, abdominal distension and constipation may also be common symptoms. People experiencing these problems should seek immediate medical attention.
This recall only affects the CS Fishery Wild Albacore Tuna in cans, net weight 64 oz. (4 lbs.), code OCK 16APR2017 (can be found on either the bottom or on top of the can),which we purchased from Skipanon Brand Seafoods LLC. Our other canned seafood products, including 7.5 oz. canned premium Wild Line Caught Albacore Tuna, are not affected by this recall.
The recalled product was sold to consumers at our retail location or distributed to retail stores and wholesalers in Oregon. The last date of distribution of recalled products was September 2015.
There have been no reported cases of illnesses associated with our product to date.
Consumers who have purchased recalled CS Fishery Wild Albacore Tuna, 64 oz. cans, are urged to destroy or return it to the firm for a full refund.
If you have any questions, please call CSFPDX at 503-609-0071 between the hours of 9 am and 4 pm PST, Monday-Friday.