text:
The Snom 300 telephone has a two-line LCD display that provides call information, with a menu-driven interface to navigate its features. It is suitable for use in small offices, call centres, lobbies and in the home. You can customise its six free function keys to configure such features as hold, call transfer or call forward. After using it for a while, the changes you make to its settings may no longer suit your purposes and you might want to reset it.
Press the navigation button downward to bring up the "Settings Menu" in the Snom 300's display.
Press the navigation button to navigate to the "Configuration-Reset" option, then press the check-mark icon to bring up the "Configuration-Reset" screen in the display.
Type the administrator's password into the text box marked "Admin Mode Pwd."
Press the check-mark icon. The Snom 300 will reboot and the phone will be reset.


text:
hairstyles salon
The Catwalk Hair Salon is famous for their dramatic hairstyles,
Denver Hair |Hair Salon Denver | Denver Hair Salons | Hair Salons Denver
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Charlotte Salons | Hair Care | Styling Secrets | Poza Salon | Hairstyles
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Women's Hairstyles; Men's Haircut; Hair Salon
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hairstyles from Salon Styler's database of 1000s of. Beautiful Long Black
Modern Hairstyles for Women: Salon Medium
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Name: Andrew Carnegie
Birth Date: November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919
Job Functions: Financier, Steel Magnate, Philanthropist
Fields: Steel, Financial Services
Mentor: Thomas A. Scott
Introduction to Andrew Carnegie
Napoleon Hill who wrote the timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich, had nine men that he used as invisible mentors, one of which was Andrew Carnegie. For this month, every Wednesday, we will feature one of the nine invisible mentors. Hill studied these nine men very closely, and as a result, was able to anticipate how they would respond when he faced a problem. Get to know these nine men.
Andrew Carnegie, the son of William Carnegie, a weaver, and Margaret Morrison Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835. The family immigrated to Allegheny City, Pennsylvania to pursue a better life. In this mini biography of Andrew Carnegie, you will learn how he became a steel magnate. After he sold his company to US Steel Corporation, he spent $350 million on philanthropic endeavors.
Andrew Carnegie's Steps to Success
- Although Andrew Carnegie had little formal education, his family believed in the importance of books and learning.
- At aged 13, worked as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill.
- He self-educated by reading voraciously and attending night school, where he learned double entry book-keeping.
- In 1849, became a telegraph messenger for the Pittsburgh telegraph office, and was subsequently promoted to the telegraph operator in 1851.
- At 18, in 1853, he was secretary and the personal telegrapher to Thomas A. Scott, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Pittsburgh division.
- In 1859, when Scott was promoted to Vice President of the company, Carnegie was promoted to Superintendent.
- During the American Civil War, Thomas A. Scott was named Assistant Secretary of War in charge of transportation. Carnegie was tasked with organizing the military telegraph system.
- Worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for 12 years which prepared him for the business ventures. His mentor, Thomas Scott taught him about financial investing.
- Invested in small iron mills and factories, the oil business, railroad sleeping car, and a bridge manufacturer. His entrepreneurial endeavors led him to England, where he sold the bonds of small United States railroads and bridge companies.
- While he was Superintendent of the railroad, he introduced the first successful sleeping car on American railroads.
- Aware of what was going on around him, Carnegie realized that steel was going to replace iron in the manufacture of rails, structural shapes, pipe, and wire, so in 1873, he founded J. Edgar Thomson steel rail company, which was subsequently launched into the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892 by combining all his assets.
- The company built the first steel plants in the United States.
- Carnegie was a shrewd businessman, undercutting prices, forcing his competitors out of the market. He reinvested his earnings into the company, and if he needed capital, he borrowed from local banks, never taking his company public.
- In five years, in 1878, the company was valued at $1.25 million.
- In 1880, he purchased majority shares in H. C. Frick Company. He made Henry Clay Frick his partner who subsequently became chairman of the Carnegie Company. Carnegie also relocated to New York City so that he could be close to the marketing centers for his steel products.
- Spent time planning new projects, finding ways to cut costs, and the improving the plants while Frick monitored mass-production programs to control prices.
- Carnegie married Louise Whitfield later in his life, in 1887, a year after his mother's death.
- Started traveling more, spending six months each year in Scotland. In 1892, while away there was a strike at Homestead mill. The way Frick dealt with the dispute, and Carnegie's inaction, tarnished the reputation the steel magnate had built and jeopardized the relationship he had with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers.
- At age 65, Carnegie sold his company for $400 million to US Steel Corporation, headed by J P Morgan.
Andrew CarnegieThe TycoonsAndrew CarnegieThe Empire of BusinessMeet You in HellAndrew Carnegie
Biggest Accomplishments – Why Andrew Carnegie's Contribution Matters
Andrew Carnegie donated $350 million toward the public good:
- Built 2,509 public libraries all over the English-speaking world.
- In 1895, the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh was opened. It housed an art gallery, a natural history museum, and a music hall.
- Built Carnegie Institute of Technology which became Carnegie Mellon University.
- Established the Carnegie Institution of Washington to encourage research in the natural and physical sciences.
- Built Carnegie Hall in New York City.
- Created the Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to provide pensions for university professors.
- Established the Endowment for International Peace to seek an end to war.
- Founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Lessons from Andrew Carnegie
- Give back to humanity to improve the well-being of the members. After he retired, Andrew Carnegie donated $350 million to various causes.
- Feed your mind. Carnegie was a voracious reader, and he formed relationships with intellectuals such as Mark Twain, English poet Matthew Arnold and philosopher Herbert Spence.
- Improve systems. Introduced sophisticated cost-accounting systems and kept detailed records of operations. Records enabled him to identify inefficiencies. He was able to lower production cost while increasing output.
- Control the production process: An early adopter of vertical integration. The raw materials came from his mills, which were turned into finished goods that were transported on his fleet of ships.
Why would Andrew Carnegie make a good invisible mentor?
An invisible mentor is a unique leader that you can learn things from by observing them from a distance. Andrew Carnegie was always improving himself and his company. He had the ability to identify the events and activities that would transform his industry.
- Triumphant Democracy (1886)
- The Gospel of Wealth Essays and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) (1889)
- An American Four-In-Hand in Britain (1883)
- Round the World. (1884)
- The Empire of Business (1902)
- The Secret of Business is the Management of Men (1903)
- James Watt (1905)
- Problems of To-Day Wealth-Labor-Socialism(1907)
The Autobiography of Andrew CarnegieThe Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely EssaysThe Empire of Business
Works Referenced/Cited:
Encyclopedia of World Biography
UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography
Science and its Times
Gale Encyclopedia of US Economic History
Dictionary of American History
Industrial Revolution Reference Library


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I've been busy with lots of things, for the last couple of weeks. Super tiring. But I kind of like it. The last time I busy macam ne, when Im back in AmBank. Sungguh tak cukup masa. But, this time around I busy and enjoy with what Im doing. So, no stress..No issue arised :)
@ Work
There's a major reshuffling at the office. I still buat portfolio yang sama. But, being just 6 months there I need to hadam all the jargon things cepat-cepat. Especially in the meeting, I memang selalu cepat lost, especially when they talked about the system. I have to learn hard. Very.
Raya Fever
Oh my, Open house like everyday. Even during working days. Thank God, murah rezeki. Dapat I makan macam-macam. My brother also hosting the open house in Malacca, so agak penat di sana. The best thing, dapat meet up with friends and get to know few friends. I did tagged Encik Tunang to his friend's open house. Yeah, glad that I can get-to-know his friends.
Wedding & Engagement Invitation Situ-Sana-Sini
Wedding pun setiap kali weekend mesti ada. Meriah. And did inspired me too. Heh. But, sorry I cant make it to most of the wedding. Siapa yang taknak pergi wedding kawan-kawan kan? :( Sobs, forgive me!!
Movie oh Movie
Since Encik Tunang and I tak cukup masa nak spend together tengok movie during fasting month, so both of us tiba-tiba rasa macam semua movie nak kena tengok. We watched Final Destination 5, Hantu Bonceng and Johny English: Reborn. I am no good at reviewing the movies but the 3 movies worth every penny. I tak berapa gemar Mr.Bean, tapi Encik Tunang beria ajak tengok sebab nak reformat otak I bila I keep mengadu I penat mentally physically. I need a good jokes to make me laugh and stay fresh. But I was too tired to really enjoy the movie 100%. But, I recognized his effort and I thanked him for that. He did helped me to distract myself. Thanks.
Desperately Nak Kurus
I've been talking the same issue over and over. Trust me, I memang manusia yang tak reti berdiet. But I have to. I have about 2months plus before the big day and I masih macam tu. I bukan nak slim and slender. Just that, I really hope I can cut down few kilos. Orang cakap, stress nak kawen boleh kurus, tapi I macam makin berselera ada la. So, the most I can do is substitute sweet drinks (juices, bicarbonat drinks) with plain water. I also forcing myself to drink more than 2 litre per day. I HAVE TO, even seksa asyik kerap ke toilet. Then, Encik Tunang paksa berjogging like once a week with him. Jogging dengan dia kadang-kadang stress jugak, sebab when I'm about to stop dia akan motivate I dengan cara yang agak macam paksaan. Heh. So, balik rumah dah malam terus bersiap untuk tido.
And....I sibukjugak with the wedding preps. I'll share about the wedding preps next time. Mengantuk sudaaa.. Hehe
Have a great night and am so looking forward for tomorrow. Thank God It's Friday. Finally. I want to have EXTRA rest during the weekend. EXTRA here meant I want to wake up very late on Saturday morning. Hew. :)


text:
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism has launched a constitutional challenge to the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) and unregulated bulk interception.
RICA serves as the basis for the lawful interception of citizens' communications, but we contend that there are fundamental flaws in RICA and that various sections are inconsistent with the Constitution.
We are going to court, starting with the high court in Pretoria, so as to strengthen the protection of journalists and the public against the abuse of this arguably necessary, but intrusive legislation.
The action is taken under our advocacy mandate, which is to help secure the information rights investigative journalists need.
Our complaints fall into two categories: firstly, the areas where RICA regulates surveillance, but does so inadequately; and, secondly, where it fails to regulate certain monitoring activities at all.
Where RICA does regulate, there are five main constitutional flaws:
There is a second category of problems with RICA in that it does not regulate certain kinds of interception at all.
The intelligence community presently monitors such communication without a warrant.
Interception remains a potentially powerful tool in the fight against crime.
But we argue that because it inevitably limits fundamental rights and may be chill the legitimate rights of journalistic and others, it is essential that its implementation is subject to proper checks and balances.
The founding papers were served on the ministers of justice, police, state security and communications, as well as other interested parties, last week.
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB supporter and help us do more. Know more? Send us a tip-off.


text:
Please can you recommend a solution for the following requirement (we have our eye on the EL-001, but please advise...)
- To measure external air temperature, -10 to +60 degrees minimum range.
- ideally an IP65 rating, but we could put it in a box I suppose (unless the sensor can be extended up to 30m+)
- RS422/485 interface
- Please could you send me the handbook for your recommended solution?
- preferably separate AC or DC supply.
Many thanks,


text:
WOW! BROWS! With Majolica Majorca + Get A Chance To Win P10,000.00 worth of Majolica Majorca Products!
Beauty. Fitness. Fashion. Food. Travel. Unicorns. World Peace. Digify Corporation.
9 Lovely Thoughts
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text:
Happy Tuesday! It's been waaayyy too long since I've last posted... life has been
and Summery,
and crazy,
and beautiful.
Summer classes are now in full swing, and I'm officially doing full time course work for the next month. Even if that means more work, I'm super grateful for the chance to test out the full time waters - that way, I'll be more prepared for the possibility of going full time in the Fall. So, it's all good!
But, in the midst of all that school/job searching/normal life busyness, the picture above was such a sweet reminder.... the greatest moments in life truly are the simplest.
Having board game tournaments with my nephews.
Discovering psychotic shows on Netflix instant with my brother. ;-)
Little talks with my Mom and Dad.
Skyping with a friend.
Simple, sweet moments that I would never want to miss.
I hope you have a gorgeous day today!


text:
So I had this wonderful soul bearing post in honor of National Eating Disorders Week, however, I backtracked. I don't think I am quite that ready to bare my soul at this time. So in honor of the fact that I have no recipe, no witty quips, no nothin', I present to you my favorite songs to run/walk/samba/jump to (it's ok to be excited).
Music is very important to me in my everyday life. I grew up listening to everything from New Wave to Punk, Pop to Brodway, Opera to Dance and beyond. When I study, when I bake/cook, when I drive, and especially when I work out, I love having music on. Having a song that gets you pumped up and excited gives you that extra little kick in your arse that you need to power thru when you so don't want to be working out. This list is by no means conclusive because I have so many songs on my iPod (it's an addiction people) but they are ones that I turn to repeatedly.
So here they are in no particular order…
- Queen Ann's Revenge by Flogging Molly
- Rolling in the Deep by Adele
- Tell 'Em by Sleigh Bells
- F**k You by Cee Lo Green
- Raise Your Glass by P!nk
- Hammerhead by The Offspring
- Hey (Nah Neh Nah) [Milk and Sugar vs Vaya con Dios Club Mix]
- Kids in America by Kim Wilde
- The Bagel Song by Liquid Cheese
- I Know You Want Me by Pitbill
- Bourgeois Shangri-La by Miss Li
- Womanizer by Britany Spears
- Bam Thwok by Pixies
- Punk Rock Girl by Dead Milkmen
- Get Yo Sh*t by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
- Telephone by Lady GaGa & Beyonce
- Lone Highway by Phantods
- Ca Plane pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand
- Total Hate 95 by No Doubt & Sublime
- I'm Just a Girl by No Doubt
So get out there, dance and make a damn fool of yourself. What is the point of working out if you don't?
(BTW, these songs are all available on iTunes…just sayin')


text:
Lying to be perfect (2010) is a modern Cinderella movie that will make you re-evaluate your perspective in life and once again, believe in happy endings (at least for me). It is a must watch movie that will truly inspire you – totally relatable to real life scenarios.
The story revolves around Nola Devlin (Poppy Montgomery), an overweight, frumpy magazine editor who is dissed by her co-workers for her appearance alone. She created a secret alter ego, Belinda Apple – a famous and reclusive advice columnist, to prove her co-workers otherwise. Nola and her two BFFs, tired of getting treated rudely based on their weight and their waist sizes made a pact (Cinderella Pact) to help each other loose weight in 4 months inspired by Apple's advises. But, as they loose dress sizes, they face real issues that will test their friendship and build their self-esteem.
Here are some quotes from the movie that I just love love love:
"Was it hard? Yes. How did I do it? By reclaiming my power and getting out of my own way……"
"You should create the life you deserve."
You want a life? Get one! Grant yourself a wish to change and stop complaining then do something."
"Sometimes you have to close your eyes and read between the lines."
"We are all similar, no matter what our size. Within each of us there is a unique beauty and grace."
"She needed a fairy godmother to empower her with kind of self-confidence it takes to reject the insecurity brought on by unrealistic, overachieving,anorexic images in the media."
"Can't is not part of our vocabulary."
"Nobody said this is gonna be easy, right?"
"Fat or thin, you deserve that job. You need to believe that you deserve it."
"NO more broken cookies, NO more standing in the shadows, it's time you took center stage."
"There were people who told me that I was just a BIG GIRL with BIG DREAMS."
You can watch the movie at this link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ktJ6ECYt0
Or you can also read the book it was based on entitled "The Cinderella Pact" by Sarah Strohmeyer.


text:
Today we went to the aviation museum. I've got to say, as a closet mechanical junkie I found this place to be wonderful! Would I be terrified to actually fly in any one of these? Absolutely. But on the ground, all I want to know is how anyone figured out how to make these complicated engines.
I may be back with a sketchbook before long.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
After I finished my last piece, I found I had a paper trail as to how I got there, so I thought I'd share. Here's a progression for anyone who's curious.
For me, big pieces start small. Well, they usually start as big ideas, followed by frustration at not being able to realize said big idea, followed by disillusionment, followed by compromise. After that's all done, for me these things start with people.
After some lifedrawing,
and some uh... hideous stages...
I start gradually adapting sketches into characters.
With two rough ideas, I scanned this one in and played with size and position. Then I literally just printed out whatever I slapped together, at size.
Then I used my "lightbox" (*ahem* a piece of glass, a shade-less lamp, and three odd boxes) to continually draw over my 'frames,' letting them evolve a bit each time.
With an okay sketch, I did one final trace to grab the essentials.
I traced that sketch to my watercolor paper, penned it lightly, and attacked background with a pencil. (Background is my silent demon. It never ever looks like I pictured, but we usually end up in compromise.)
After a lot more frustration and usually 2-5 declarations of "I give up! Scrap this!" ("No, no, you can't scrap this is your last bit of paper!") we end up here:
Then I like to add some digital paint in there (careful not to actually paint over the real paint) to really bring out what I couldn't do with watercolors alone:
And that's it.
Posted by Jaimie at 9:21 PM No comments:
Labels: progression
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Some Really Nice Design Work (not mine)
Nothing new since my last terrible foray, and my job makes me want to bang my head against the wall this week, so here's some wonderfully beautiful design work by Uğur Derinoğullu.
Posted by Jaimie at 9:59 PM No comments:
Labels: graphic design, Not Mine, Things I wish I did
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Alright I don't have anything new.
Messing about. Dark-pencil finished sketch of red-headed Korean woman, poorly named Indigo.
And I just realized a bunch of things wrong with the sketch, namely that the face is really screwed up. Seeing mistakes is progress, right? Right?! Oh brother.
Posted by Jaimie at 5:59 PM No comments:
Labels: Indigo, messing about, messing up
Saturday, November 19, 2011
2nd Chance Kada'var
I felt badly about how much I mutilated this sketch in my first attempt to paint it. Round 2 - begin!
Posted by Jaimie at 4:44 PM No comments:
Labels: Kada'var
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Death and the Lamplighter
Posted by Jaimie at 10:11 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Death, digital edits, lamplighter, Mierlocke
Painting attemp
Posted by Jaimie at 10:00 PM No comments:
Labels: Indigo
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text:
Journal of Applied MathematicsVolume 2006 (2006), Article ID 53723, 24 pagesdoi:10.1155/JAM/2006/53723
Department of Mathematics, Khalisani College, Hooghly 712 138, India
Received 31 May 2006; Revised 25 October 2006; Accepted 22 November 2006
Copyright © 2006 Arghya Bandyopadhyay. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The 2D problem of linear waves generated by an arbitrary pressure distribution p0(x,t) on a uniform viscous stream of finite depth h is
examined. The surface displacement ζ is expressed correct to O(ν) terms, for small viscosity
ν, with a restriction on p0(x,t). For p0(x,t)=p0(x)eiωt, exact forms of the steady-state propagating waves are next obtained for all
x and not merely for x≫0 which form a wave-quartet or a wave-duo amid local disturbances. The long-distance asymptotic forms are then shown to be uniformly valid for large h. For numerical and other purposes, a result essentially due to Cayley is used successfully to express these asymptotic forms in a series of powers of powers of ν1/2 or ν1/4 with coefficients expressed directly in terms of nonviscous wave frequencies and amplitudes. An approximate thickness of surface boundary layer is obtained and a numerical study is undertaken to bring out the salient features of the exact and asymptotic wave motion in question.


text:
SLDN Toolkit Helps DADT Dischargees Fix Paperwork
A gay servicemembers advocacy group is launching a new online toolkit that will help LGBT veterans change their discharge paperwork.Servicemembers Legal Defense Network announced its effort Thursday to assist troops discharged either under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' or the military's prior ban on gay service.
SLDN Legal Director David McKean tells OutQ News that the Defense Department released guidance shortly after 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal that provides a pathway for changing one's service documents. He says his group is now working to get "as much information as possible" from discharged servicemembers to help them apply for the necessary upgrades.
McKEAN: With the toolkit, we hope to streamline some of that process, and we hope to get the word out to everybody who could be eligible that if you have things on your discharge paperwork that you don't like and you don't want there anymore, it's the case now that we can have that changed for you or apply to have that changed for you.
Among the changes are upgrading one's discharge characterization from "less than honorable" to one more reflective of their service. Another includes allowing LGBT troops to update their "narrative reason for discharge." McKean says for those dismissed under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell," it would mean changing it from "homosexual act" to a more generic "secretarial authority." And they can also try to replace their negative "re-entry code" with one that allows them to re-enlist.
Once servicemembers provide SLDN with the necessary paperwork to apply for these changes, the group will send the materials to the appropriate board for processing. So far, McKean says about a hundred applicants have utilized the new toolkit.
But McKean notes that changes to one's paperwork are not guaranteed.


text:
Hey everyone!!! My name is Melissa Murray I live in Upstate NY. I am a reading addict, I love almost everything but main YA, paranormal, thriller, and romance. I love to read, and started reviewing about 2 years ago and I fell in love with that also. I started my Facebook page a year ago to meet. Other book lovers like myself and I am loving it :).
I of course on this bog and Facebook page will be trying to keep up with monthly releases, reviews, author interviews and much much more. If you have any questions just ask and I will try and answer it.


text: Mom Pushing Stroller Killed by California Train But Susan Dibene manages to push her daughter to safety By Mary Papenfuss, Newser User Posted Oct 10, 2011 1:36 AM CDT 12 comments Comments The Tracks (©EliJerma) (Newser) – A Southern California mom struggling with a stroller over tracks was killed by a train, but first managed to push her 2-year-old daughter to safety. Susan Dibene, 33, was pushing the stroller along a sidewalk near the tracks when she attempted to cross as the guardrail of the Metrolink train was descending, reports the Los Angeles Times. The conductor and engineer spotted the woman struggling with the stroller, and they blew the horn, but were unable to stop in time. "She didn't quite make it," Riverside police Sgt. Dan Warren told AP. The toddler, Paris Belle, was uninjured and was taken home by her grandmother after the girl was checked out at a local hospital. The grandmom said her daughter was a "giving, creative" photographer, and a loving mother who "saved her daughter's life." But a police spokesman said Dibene should "never have put her child in harm's way to begin with." My Take on This Story Report a story error Show results without voting | 7% Annoying 10% Hilarious 0% Intriguing 76% Depressing 1% Brilliant 7% Scary


text:
So in about 3 hours:( noon Australian time) 8pm EST the first made to crave webconference starts.
I am so looking forward to Lysa's teaching.She has such a heart for God and is tackling the issues that are right on my heart! Thank you Lord for amazing teachers who help on this journey.
I really encourage you to "go".
Simply click on http://madetocrave.org/ and there will be a live twitter stream to interact with Lysa during the broadcast.
Monday, January 10, 2011
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text:
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
"You're Different. You Get Things Done."
This was one of the best complements I've received. It was from Paul Vallas, CEO of Chicago Public Schools. He was reflecting on my ability to move quickly to implement our ideas while his huge bureaucracy moved much slower. This photo was taken when we held a Conference at the Chicago Fire Department and Vallas was a keynote speaker.
I was reminded of this again when I read about the $30 million CPS wants to spend to help high risk students. No matter how good the ideas are, or how important, executing them in such a huge system will be much more difficult.
I've never had $30 million. In fact in 1992 when we decided to "create a database of the tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and try to create more frequent advertising to draw more consistent resources to all of the programs in the city" we had no money. We were just seven volunteers.
In the years since then, we raised $50k in 1993, $114k in 1994, $214k in 1995 and each year increased our revenue until 2000 when we raised nearly half a million dollars. 40% of this money was spent to build the Cabrini Connections program, and 40% was devoted to the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The rest was the cost of finding the money, and providing administrative services.
In 2001 our revenue went down to $350,000 and stayed in that range until 2006. Since our first host and benefactor, the Montgomery Ward Corporation had been providing us free space and utilities until they went out of business in 2000, this meant that we've been paying for these things since then (and without the $40,000 donation each year that Wards had given us since 1993). Nearly 30% our annual budget just goes to cover space, utilities and insurance.
Thus, we've never had more than $200,000 in a single year for the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which aims to help tutor/mentor programs reach youth in all poverty neighborhoods of Chicago. Compare that to the planned $30 million CPS is targeting toward less than 300 teens.
So when Paul Vallas says, "we get things done" he means we do a lot with very little and what we do has a huge impact per dollar in the third largest city in America.
While we don't have the resources big companies, or CPS have, we do have a flexibility and nimbleness that they don't have. When people told us in 1994 they would come together for a conference, we asked other programs to volunteer their expertise do do workshops, and we hosted the first Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in May 1994.
When people told us the appreciated the printed list of programs we provided at the first conference, we began printing our list of programs as a formal Tutor/Mentor Directory which we sent to all programs, schools, libraries, and many businesses and foundations. When we ran out of money to print and mail the directory, volunteers helped us create the on-line program locator which is available to more people every day than the printed directory ever was reaching.
We've listened to the needs of tutor/mentor programs, including the needs we recognized in our own Cabrini Connections programs, and we've tried to innovate solutions. In the Tutor/Mentor Institute we're sharing ideas that will only be achieved if other people volunteer time and talent and dollars. Yet because we do that, we find volunteers from all over the world.
Some of the animations on our web site were created by interns from Korea, Hong Kong and India. The on-line documentation system (OHATS) was rebuilt in 2007 by a volunteer in Baltimore with the work being done by his company in India.
If you have a vision, and you share that with other people, and don't have much of a bureaucracy, you can do a lot with the few resources you do have.
Thus, my proposal to CPS and other bureaucracies around the country is that you provide some resources, and some talent, and your own leadership, and enable us to work parallel to you. If we can innovate new ways to get volunteers and donors involved and in locations throughout a city like Chicago, you can apply these ideas in your own leadership, so more people respond. You are not liable for the mistakes we make, or what does not work. We are.
You can just take advantage of what does work....or help us make it work better.
Posted by Tutor Mentor Connections at 2:03 PM
Labels: innovation, leadership
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Click here to go to a carbon footprint calculator on the Nature Conservancy's website. You fill in information about whether or not you use Energy Star appliances, what your most frequent mode of transportation is and whether or not you recycle, among other things. The number that's generated is your estimated greenhouse gas emissions in tons of carbon dioxide.
It's pretty cool, and you can see areas where you can decrease your number. Thanks to Hanna for the tip!


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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Since i am a poorfag, i just took an ais kosong, or sky juice.
It's free, and it's err.. healthy? Yeah, sugar and condensed milk is bad for the six pack yo.
While i was half-way drinking, i can't help but to look inside my drink.
You know me, right.
And i saw this.
What the fuck is that shit floating in my drink???
I'm not sure where it came from, or how, and i don't really quite know if it has been inside all along, or what.
So, i threw it away and got the hell out of the cafe immediately.
It does remind me a lot of this story which happened 3 years ago.
So what do you think it is, people?
Please don't tell me it's..
18 comments:
- Mr.Clive said...
aduhhhh..takkanlah fobia sebegitu sekali....=_=
- May 31, 2011 at 2:23 PM
- Hans said...
fobia teruk ko nih arief
weih,aku dah berkurun add kau dekat facebook?
- June 1, 2011 at 2:37 PM
- adwafarahin said...
what is that actually?
i cant see it clearly lah
- June 1, 2011 at 2:52 PM
- Judiene said...
Oh my!
- June 1, 2011 at 6:42 PM
- asfira aminuddin said...
apa tuh? macam daki je. hihi. lainkali minum check dulu. bole sakit minum benda kotor.
- June 1, 2011 at 7:14 PM
- Emilia Emira said...
ape tuh??haha careful nanti saket perut plak kan susah..;)
- June 1, 2011 at 8:35 PM
- azalia hjsalleh said...
lebih sanggup minum air mineral je.
walaupun mahal tp lebih baik
- June 1, 2011 at 8:48 PM
- azie.azureEn said...
dats d cloud la.. for ur sky juice. hahahah tu klu ade bendasing, kadang2 kene tengok jgk if dalam cawan tu bersih ke tak
- June 1, 2011 at 10:08 PM
- BENA said...
amacam ? agak2 macam best tak benda alah tuh ? hahaha ;)
- June 1, 2011 at 10:48 PM
- ~ NANA ~ said...
hahahaha lawak pon ada
- June 2, 2011 at 12:57 PM
- enyheartsdiamond said...
eyewww! yuxxx! kalau nak minum, esp air yg jernih, i akan tengok kondisi gelas tu dulu, kalau lah air tu berwarna.. eyewww! masuk perut u dah :p
- June 3, 2011 at 2:05 AM
- Puteri Iqa Izyan said...
oh yeah~
tasty. hahaha..
actually, yuck!
- June 3, 2011 at 5:19 PM
- Ain Zulaikha said...
hahahhahaha habuk habuk... :D
- June 4, 2011 at 7:57 PM
- Rtp Farra Arisha said...
is it to jerkkkk? so becareful after this if u gonna get drink any water.
- June 5, 2011 at 9:00 PM
- Encik Psychopath said...
isi kelapa kot. LOL. order sky juice dapat coconut shake. syukur.
- June 6, 2011 at 2:06 AM
- Coffee Girl said...
Euughhh Arief! yuck! i cant believe you took a sip! poor you
- June 6, 2011 at 9:22 PM
- MIMIE AIZA said...
x semua kedai bersih
- June 7, 2011 at 10:12 PM
- Fina Sophie said...
on the surface ait? i think that's minyak la. dari bekas yg ada kena oil sikit, or maybe from your lips?? ehehehe
cdgn jawapan je. ahaha
- June 10, 2011 at 1:53 PM


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30 April 2011
Time Bandits
There's something imperfect and fun about this. It's hard to look at it not as a really, great, amazing film, exactly, but as someone with really amazing potential stretching and trying something new -- it feels a little like looking in a master's sketchbook and seeing the seeds planted, ideas that would blossom in later works. It's not a bad film as a standalone, but it's messy, and it's tough to pin down. It feels like it waffles between frivolous madcap Monty Python-light and something deeper, darker, more philosophically and morally rich, but I can't decide if the vacillations feel like the filmmaker is unsure himself, or if he's daring me to believe both simultaneously. It's both extremely thoughtful (Evil insisting he wasn't created; recurring themes of parenting from a child's perspective) and extremely thoughtless (Palin and Duvall's recurring characters; Evil's topsy-turvy pain-is-pleasure idiot thugs). I mean, it's episodic, sure but the tone shifts so wildly that in retrospect it's hard to place Sean Connery's scenes, John Cleese's scenes, Michael Palin's scenes, David Warner's scenes, and Ian Holm's scenes are all inside one film.
I will say this, though. Something that has stuck with me from the very first time I saw this as a child, and continues to haunt me and my own work today, is the very end, after the (let's face it) extremely easy, peril-free literal deus ex machina of God (the Supreme Being, anyway) stepping in and cleaning it all up. Yes, there's a weird/nice little exchange where He is indifferent to the dying and suffering caused just because he wanted to test his new creation (Evil) and that works on so many different levels (a child's disillusionment of his parents' infallibility; modern society's exuberant lust for gadgets and knickknacks at the expense of a great many things; philosophical and theological debates about the nature and being of both God and Goodness), and even if it's a cheap-shot scene it's a good one. But what really sticks with me isn't any of that; it's when he goes home and finds his house on fire. His parents and him barely escape, and then Mom and Dad, negligent and borderline loathsome as they were, brazenly touch the last scrap of Evil and explode. Kevin is left standing alone calling out for a Mom and Dad that aren't going to return -- and the credits roll. Aside from an odd scene of Agamemnon (Kevin's would-be adoptive father) winking at him as a modern-day fireman, there's not even a trace of hope in this ending. I mean, it's not like the fireman hangs around and says, "What's the matter, little boy?" He winks and drives away, and Kevin is alone in the world, eleven years old, standing outside his house, two dead parents and nothing else. That haunted me as a kid -- partially because in my kid brain I was trying to work out if somehow Kevin deserved this (I think instinctively we all expect characters, especially in kids films and comedies, to get only what they deserve at the end of the story), but partially because I couldn't think of many things more terrifying than the tetherlessness that we leave this story with. He didn't ask for any of it (in fact, my gut wonders if this even works as a traditional narrative; I'd have to watch it again to even determine what Kevin wants as a main goal throughout the story... he's a very reactive character, around for the ride and sometimes trying to help/sometimes trying to stop/sometimes trying to flee our title gang) and what he gets for all the trouble he goes through -- I suppose much like the theological knowledge that God allows Evil and suffering to exist only as a way of exercising something we call freewill -- is nothing but the helplessness of spiraling in a void.
I'm somewhat aquaphobic; I can't swim and my body freezes up beyond my control if I'm floating in a body of water without touching a wall or the floor. This film, when I stop and take it seriously (which I did very much as a child; and which I have a harder time doing as an adult, without caveats), leaves me with the same kind of free-floating existential panic. So I guess I'll concede that for all of its flaws, the parts of it that hit at all, hit very hard. And that's definitely something.
By travis ezell at 3:30 AM 0 spams
Tags: t, terry gilliam
29 April 2011
Forbidden Planet
I am going to go old-school on my comments tonight, keep it very short, because I expected to fall asleep to this and didn't. The story is really talky, and the science is really hokey, but the plot is pretty interesting, the acting better than typical B-movie, and most of the effects really are pretty astounding. It's a very cerebral story and, admittedly, you can see the end coming a mile away, but for the most part they make getting there entertaining and the reveal satisfying.
And oh, young serious Leslie Nielsen, and your proto-Kirkian love affair with the first lady living on another planet that you meet. How earnest you are, and yet how dashing!
By travis ezell at 2:42 AM 0 spams
Tags: f, fred m. wilcox
26 April 2011
I don't have as much to say as usual. I put this on to end another long night of writing. Mostly I put it on to see one scene very early -- Max Fischer seeing Miss Cross for the first time, since so much of the movie is carried by his ridiculous, unrealistic, unrequited love for her. Rushmore is about a precocious dreamer who really doesn't understand how real people act in a real society, but whose tenacity is an unstoppable force. His inability to grasp that he can't get his way is the main ingredient of his success. There's something similar in the hearts of Max Fischer and my script's main character, though I'm not sure which is the more exaggerated version.
As Wes Anderson films go, this one feels more emotional than the rest, and in a weird way probably his most personal -- there's something honest and self-deprecatingly two-sided in the depiction of Max's insularity and the limitation of being so sure of your own dreams that might speak to the filmmaker himself and the nature of his output.
I also noticed a lot of odd cuts in this film, sloppy cuts on action to too-similar framings that on the one hand smacked slightly of a filmmaker still finding himself and not quite mastering his craft, but on the other hand came off as refreshingly uncontrolled and raw compared to the too-tight artificiality of his later projects, which added a right kind of plucky Max Fischerness to the film.
Last quick, disconnected comment: I do believe we get to watch Bill Murray actually act here, something I know the man can do but I tend to think he doesn't like to unless he has to -- he seems perfectly comfortable to coast through a film "being Bill Murray" (something he's very good at doing) when he can get away with it. But Rushmore was one of the first out of a slump, wasn't it? And as such, he maybe had less leeway to ride the wave of his own cool factor.
By travis ezell at 2:25 AM 0 spams
Tags: r, wes anderson
20 April 2011
The world of Brazil is complex and rich, but for all its über-Gilliamesque intricacies that fold in on themselves, it never feels arbitrary, or odd just for oddness's sake. Maybe the best thing about the world of Brazil (and probably what makes it such a lasting and resonant film) is that for all the deep weirdness -- weirdness that goes far beyond just the surface of this world -- it's ideologically consistent. It's a study in bureaucracy that takes itself seriously enough to build up a layered world and it applies the skewed philosophy to every layer. It's populated with characters just as "ideologically consistent" as the world: petty and small-minded, people who can only see their corner of the puzzle, but who sympathetic and layered enough to be more than just props or fill-ins for necessary roles.
Actually, the characters here remind me of what I've been saying about science fictions films I've seen lately: it seems to me an easy (read: lazy) mistake to create the perfect character for the role you need him or her to fill just so your story can move along the beats you want it to. Seems like it would always be better storytelling if you put the wrong person for the job and then find a way to make them the right person, though their choices and actions. Instead of a washed-out astronaut hero with nothing to lose, why not make him a guilt-ridden alcoholic who can barely keep his shit together and has three kids back home he's ashamed of himself for neglecting? Now, when the Martian Almond Aliens ask him to join them on a crazy adventure to the center of the galaxy, you have your hero faced with an extremely difficult decision rather than a no-bainer.
In Brazil, Sam Lowry is a pointedly unambitious, keep-your-head-down man who not only believes in the bureaucracy of the system, but is perfectly happy to be nothing but another cog. His old friend Jack Lint is one of the main antagonists in the story (the true antagonist here is The System, with Jack as a common stand-in) not to mention a torturer and murderer, and yet Jack is the nicest, warmest man in the Ministry, an ambitious ladder-climber but also a capable husband and father (in a detached, working-dad/yuppie sort of way). Sam's old boss Mr. Kurtzmann, head of the Department of Records, isn't the right man for the job, traditionally speaking: he's a sniveling coward who can't control his work force, doesn't understand half the equipment in his office, and is so absolutely terrified of the culpability that comes along with committing any kind of action whatsoever that he fakes an injury to get out of signing his name to a document (arguably, in the world of Brazil these things add up to make him the exactly right person for the job of Head of Department of Records). Harry Tuttle, Jill Layton, Ida Lowry, and even the two mean-spirited bunglers from Central Services are just as good examples of the not-perfect person for the role they play. In each case, it's not as simple as choosing the polar opposite of what the role ought to require -- it's messier than that, and that's the point. But each character either struggles with himself or contradicts himself and his nature and that keeps the story dynamic, entertaining, and somewhat more nuanced.
I also went through the first act and did a beat analysis, studying how we move into the story and get the necessary exposition out there. Not shockingly, Brazil fares somewhat better than the other films I've watched this month. First, the exposition delivery systems (the method by which they dump all that info on us) are original and dynamic; second, they're entertaining and humorous; third, each moment and shot manages to work on a minimum of two levels (e.g., backstory and world-building; theme and characterization). It's just -- it's a classic. A tight, beautiful script, completely madcap but firmly controlled, directed by the right guy.
I didn't get into the visuals or the dream sequence or the art/effects/framing, but all of those are just as inspired and multi-layered as the stuff I did rave about. And the visuals! the flying-through-the-clouds dreams, the bizarre ducts-and-wires Rube Goldberg-meets-Orwell nightmare world, the miniatures throughout -- they're all so fucking pretty! Like I said, a classic. Hardly news to anybody: it deserves its reputation.
By travis ezell at 3:27 AM 0 spams
Tags: b, terry gilliam
19 April 2011
Red Planet
Red Planet came out to ride the coattails of (or "compete with," if you want to be generous) Mission To Mars, and I remember both being fairly sloppy, disappointing, with pretty hokey dialogue and hokier plots, but this is by far the lazier of the two movies -- the story seems lazy, the science seems really lazy, and the themes feel more like they were added to the dialogue the day of the shoot. Clunky editing doesn't help either (like flashing back to deleted or extended scenes to let a couple of characters have superfluous character moments).
Plus, as a study in the Act One world-building exposition-delivery stuff, this was lazier and stiffer than The Angry Red Planet, which at least gave me characters talking for a reason. Here we get a big (mostly unnecessary, as it turns out) infodump from Captain Bowman, who is neither our main character nor our most important. Something interesting could have maybe been done with her as their eye-in-the-sky (kind of an inverse man-in-the-hole), an overseer to the heroes' adventures and struggles -- almost as if she was the Computer Voice in all those space operas and starship adventures, but of course Bowman has her own computer voice here, which sort of muddies up that analogy -- but they never really do. Instead, she's (I guess) more like Penelope to Gallagher's Odysseus, except a) the closest thing they have to a romance is he sees her naked and later we see a flashback to an earlier scene where they almost kiss (which apparently wasn't important enough to leave in the movie except as a flashback), and b) Gallagher is a far cry from Odysseus going on a voyage (again, that's a direction they might have taken things, were this a very different story).
Part of the problem with the story is that no time is spent building up the urgency or need of the characters. We're told Earth is overpopulated, running out of clean air and water, a dying crowded mess of a planet, and that all the international organizations have banded together to send five white Americans (well, one vaguely Latino guy and an old Brit among them, to be fair... plus isn't Val Kilmer Native American or something? I'm kidding) to find out why the long-distance terraforming efforts like algae-bombs and habitat-landers seem to be missing.
Along for the ride, the old Brit mentioned above, is a tragically, preposterously wasted Terence Stamp as a "former scientist" (?) named Ch'something, not worth looking up, whose clever little exposition-tag our narrator-captain offers us is "the soul of the mission." He hasn't found God, exactly, but apparently he's given up science because he is looking for God, and so he turned to... philosophy? It's all a little sloppy and confusing, but from a dramatic standpoint I guess he's there to suggest that some things can't be explained by your precious science. The movie then goes out of its way to make sure you see that, yes, everything can be explained by my precious science (even if that means all of the mysteries of the planet can be explained by secret Martian bugs ["nematodes," a fun word] that eat algae, and also metal, and also love human blood the most, and are extremely combustible, but when they aren't termiting you they produce breathable oxygen and are slowly terraforming Mars all on their very own).
Once they've explained to you in detail how it all makes perfectly logical scientific sense, within the confines of the fantastical story anyhow, Captain Bowman wraps things up with another bit of voiceover (or maybe it was a mission debrief to Houston? I forget, to be honest) in which she says "Ch'whatever always said there was more to the universe than science could account for, and I'm just the captain here who doesn't know what happened down below, but that sure seems to sum things up for me." Okay, it's a lousy and snarky paraphrase, but basically she suggests that hey, maybe it was all God's will after all, because of all the miracles we saw or something. The only miracle I can think of that we witnessed on Mars was the random upcropping of Martian life (about which we are assured "where there's air and water, there's life"); or maybe she meant the sudden self-awareness of the combat robot AMEE they decided to bring along (about which we are assured "her processor's been damaged"); or maybe it's the fact that no telemetry or telescope from Earth or Martian orbit could locate the glowing green or orange algae fields, or identify an oxygen-rich atmosphere (they couldn't even identify the oxygen-rich atmosphere when they were standing in it, until they almost died -- a fine moment for Gallagher to take a "leap of faith," but instead it was played as the grasping-at-straws backwards-thinking flailings of a desperate and dying man).
Anyway, it's silly and it's not very well thought out, nor very well executed, but it's a Martian Astronaut movie, so it's kind of fun. Actually, I wanted more astronautness here, more like Mission To Mars. Once they got there it played out more like a crashland-in-the-mountains kind of story than an astronauts-on-Mars kind of story. There's air, there's gravity, there's some kind of (robot) cougar stalking you, there's a horde of (alien) insects, and there's the same kind of mysteries and puzzles, obstacles and solutions that could have been told in some remote Antarctican or Andes Mountain story, with only a couple of tweaks.
Still, spacemen, am I right? And lessons in what not to do. Don't breeze over too much world-building set-up in verbal exposition. And don't bring Terence Stamp onboard to read a couple of embarrassingly hippie-ish lines and then give up and die without an ounce of gravity (heh) or punch. Lessons, noted and learned!
By travis ezell at 5:59 PM 0 spams
Tags: antony hoffman, r
16 April 2011
Star Trek: Insurrection
I've been watching a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation lately, just cycling through from season 3 all the way to season 7 in my downtime or vegging-out nights at home. It's spotty but generally very good, and I guess I just felt recently like continuing that trend by revisiting one of the more generic Next Generation movies over the last few nights as a fall-asleep-to choice. I remember it being pretty bland, a little too new-agey for its own good, and more about the actors and writers having fun with the characters than it was about developing them in a meaningful story. (Unequivocally, this falls into that recurring theme of late, plot-driven science fiction stories that don't give enough attention to characterization [for my tastes], just like this and this and this.) It's also an odd-numbered Star Trek film, the ninth, and we all know what that means.
But for all of that, it's actually surprisingly watchable. Especially when stacked up against the last few episodes of the TV series and not the other, admittedly better Star Trek feature films (it follows the mostly very good First Contact, for example -- though it's worth noting that it's succeded by Nemesis, which is basically the X-Men 3 of the Next Generation movies/universe). To geek out for a moment, Insurrection is basically a recap of several decent episodes, off the top of my head it steals major plot-points from "Who Watches The Watchers?", "Brothers", and "Homeward" -- and to be honest, aside from combining elements to keep the story moving, it doesn't even offer a very original take on these ideas. It also insists on making Picard a Kirk-style action hero -- though I suppose both Generations and First Contact had already started pushing us down that road, it's still weird when comparing him to the stoic diplomatic Picard of the TV series (and frankly, hard to believe as a natural development of the same character). But it's not bad. It's reasonably smart, and the fan service paid is neither pandering (exactly) nor totally out of character -- Data's awfully smarmy-human in most scenes but I guess by now he's experienced emotions so many times I can't even keep track, so why not; and Riker's gotten awfully soft and well-fed for a dashing new ship captain, hasn't he?
The only other comment I have is, it's always been my opinion that the difference between an okay Star Trek movie (which I'll generously lump this one into) and a great Star Trek movie is the villain. Star Trek II had Khan; Star Trek VI had General Chang (plus, insidious conspiracy); First Contact had the Borg Queen. Even The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV had interesting non-human/truly-alien adversaries. Hell, Christopher Lloyd cut a decent Klingon villain in Star Trek III, for that matter. But F. Murray Abraham falls into an unfortunate pile with Malcolm McDowell, Tom Hardy, and Eric Bana: fine actors who just can't salvage uninteresting, kind of cheesy villains. Like Batman, like James Bond, like any number of action movies or thrillers: without a good villain, it doesn't matter how cool your heroes are.
In my mind, this was more like a ridiculously expensive reunion episode more than a feature film. I'd say that's how III and IV and Generations feel, too. (Star Trek V wants to feel that way, and the not-unbearable parts of it definitely do, to a fault; but it's easier to just pretend there never was a Star Trek V.) So in a way it almost feels silly to blog (rant) about it here, where I generally don't write-up every TV series I watch (I've made exceptions when I felt I had something I wanted to say). But it's a movie, so I gave it the full service. And I more or less enjoyed it, even the weak parts (oh, and a side-note: now that I've seen all of TNG's successor and this film's contemporary, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I do want to say I found it satisfying that there were references to the galactic-political situation of that show, giving a sense of consistency to the continually expanding world). And since I enjoyed it, I figured it deserved a little bit of blather. And so there you go.
By travis ezell at 3:14 AM 0 spams
Tags: i, jonathan frakes, s, star trek
15 April 2011
Source Code *
I feel mixed about this film, but more positive than negative. It leaves you a little dissatisfied, doesn't it? (Everything else I say is blatant SPOILER territory, so don't blame me if you keep reading!) It comes on so goddamn strong and fast, an on-the-train thriller where you have eight minutes to explore alternate histories before the moment collapses on itself. Every eight minutes a brutal explosion; then you flash back to a mysterious chamber and get a new piece of the puzzle; then you have another eight minutes to abuse the consequence-free nature of your impending death while you hunt for the bomber, and then another brutal explosion. The first half moves so fast and smart -- Captain Stevens even begins bucking the rules about as fast as we can infer them -- and the the midpoint (when the hero's quest traditionally evolves and changes directions) is such a sharp and unorthodox shift, veering away from "catch the bad guy in a contained space (and time, no less!)" thriller into a much vaguer, existential dilemma of causality and possibility. It's an interesting direction, and comes naturally (almost inevitably, really) out of Stevens's character and situation, but the stakes and pacing and emotional weight of it shift so drastically, it's easy to feel like the story veered away and left you cruising on an untaken path. (Confession: I struggled to work that weak-ass metaphor around not making any kind of a train pun/analogy.)
I think the reason this feels odd -- apart from some slippery metaphysical and existential questions the end brings up, but one thing at a time -- is because the whodunit chase that starts the story off with a bang gets wrapped up tight somewhat easily and sooner than you expect, and the second half of the story (Stevens hoping to get back onto the train one last time, to set everything right; and Goodwin deciding to honor Stevens's last wish and euthanize him) feels a little like an extended denouement. Once the authorities have Derek Frost in their hands, it feels like there's a missed beat, a moment where the stakes and the urgency drop too steeply, and even though it's still Stevens's life at risk and even though there's still the chance of saving everyone who died in the first, "unstoppable" train explosion, it just feels kind of arbitrary -- I guess I just didn't buy that Stevens wanted it enough? I buy that he insisted he could change the past, and I certainly buy that one more eight-minute try, in a more real-feeling body and world, would be preferable to chilling in that weird chamber and knowing you weren't really there, or waiting to cease existing altogether. But I don't buy that he had any chemistry with Christina (for all the natural chemistry Michelle Monaghan shared with Robert Downey Jr in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, there was none of that here... none at all) and I don't think he made a compelling enough case for Captain Goodwin to go against protocol so boldly in his favor.
Which I guess brings me to my last real "beef" with the story, which is that, aside from Colter Stevens, nobody in the story seems to react like real people at any point, especially Christina. I kept waiting for the explanation to be that Stevens wasn't visiting actual pasts but some distortion based on the teacher Sean's recollections or perspective, or something. I kept waiting for it to be deliberate, another clue to the truth of his situation, that she kept reacting so oddly and passively, that others kept allowing him to dominate with only a passing gesture toward resistance -- the way it feels when you suddenly realize you're dreaming and you begin acting accordingly, and "people" resist a little, and then go with it, whatever "it" is. So the further in we went, as we learned that it was all real, more or less, the more that kind of "disconnect" felt off-putting. And outside the Source Code, Goodwin and Dr. Rutledge didn't feel much more "real" in their development, either. They both had subtle character moments, tells that were nicely understated but still filled in some story, but they just never felt fully dimensional or real to me, which hurt the story a little.
Mostly, that all boils down to a story that's plot-driven, where the characters were designed to suit the needs of the story and to keep the story moving where it wanted to go, rather than the story going where the characters wanted it to go. The arbitrariness of the last half which should have felt natural and organically unpredictable; the disconnect and detached passiveness of everyone except our hero throughout; these people were who they needed to be and made the choices they needed to make so that we could tell this specific story in this specific way. (It's the exact same thing I've been seeing in other half-dissatisfying science fiction films I've watched lately, both newer films and older ones.)
But despite all of this, I did kind of like this movie, and I'd definitely consider seeing it again. It's smart in its selection of detail and paucity of exposition (and what exposition the story does have boils down to unnecessary and unscientific silliness, like a scientist talking to a child rather than a lot of distracting technojargon and arbitrary rulemaking), and it doesn't waste time going through the motions just so the audience can get comfortable in the world: it assumes you're smart enough to keep up, and it knows you'll be one step ahead of the confused character, because this isn't your first rodeo. You've seen virtual worlds, time travel, train-thrillers, ticking time bombs, and Quantum Leap; just because Stevens doesn't know what's going on doesn't mean you don't, and that's smart of the story to acknowledge. By comparison, I think I like Source Code a good deal more than Inception -- though both films feel a lot more engaging in their first half and a lot more dry or sparse in their second (Source Code loses the lit-fuse urgency and strays into "what's it all mean?" territory; Inception strays from the surreal and unpredictable into the too literal and unimaginative, which runs counterintuitive to what you expect a "dream within a dream" to be like).
That was a lot more than I expected to say. I didn't even get the loose existential ends the story leaves us with. So, briefly: If Stevens gets to keep going in Sean's body just because he changed the timeline, what happens to Sean's consciousness? Where is Sean? Further, if Stevens's consciousness is being transmitted into the past from several hours in the future, and he creates a parallel timeline where the body he's transmitted into doesn't die, and he can continue in perpetuity in this new body, is his consciousness still dependent on his crippled, barely-living body in the Beleaguered Castle labs? The film seems to imply yes, but does that mean his mind is technically living perpetually x hours behind his body -- that, effectively, his body is in the future? More complicated: is "his" body, his version of his body, in the unaltered timeline, still continuing? Is Stevens's mind tethered to a different reality, at a different temporal point, and both are moving along their permanently-distinct paths until one or the other dies? Will Sean return to his body if they shut off Stevens's body, or will Sean's body drop dead -- or will that parallel dimension collapse upon itself? (Is it "stable?" or is it dependent on a perceptual agent and a stable tether? Do infinite universes coexist or is there a single universe capable of creating other quantum universes but only when they are being perceived by someone from the "real" universe?) I could go on and on.
The end -- the train not exploding, Stevens continuing as Sean, Goodwin receiving the email and choosing not to initiate the program in the first place -- all circles back on itself in a way that's interesting and a little mindbending, and it asks a lot more questions than it answers. And I do think it's smart to leave those things unaddressed, but it's hard to say whether I should be generous and praise it for a wildly open-ended conclusion, or be critical and call the ending inconsistent and messy. I guess, as a fan of open-endedness and ambiguity in storytelling, I fall into the former camp, but skeptically so.
Moon was a balls-out unimpeachable example of thoughtful, character-driven "hard" science fiction, a tight package and a closed-circuit of a story that implied a much richer world beyond every edge of the frame. In a similar vein, Source Code is more of a tricky, slippery idea-driven/plot-driven piece of entertaining science fiction that splits the difference between "soft" and "hard." It's nowhere near as simplistic and over-literal as Avatar or Inception, but on the other hand it's not as elegant and sharp as Moon or District 9, for example. Basically, it's a story that seems fun to think about, but you get the idea that, unlike Stevens, if you stray too far outside the frame, the whole thing actually will collapse very easily.
Seen at the Regal Fox Tower.
By travis ezell at 1:46 AM 0 spams
Tags: duncan jones, s
12 April 2011
The Angry Red Planet
Hard to know what to say about this. Such attention to technical detail, but the detail's all fabricated technobabble. In a lot of ways I'd say this is the prototype for Mission to Mars, the way it has more excitement for its faux-verisimilitude than for its characterization or drama; the way it clumsily dumps an endless barrage of exposition and hokey sentiment into the mouths of every character; and the way the whole film treats Mars like a mysterious threat but in the end the Martian "message" is surprisingly humane and civilized -- though in Mission to Mars that message is an invitation to explore the cosmos, and here in The Angry Red Planet the message is a weirdly parental one, akin to "We've been watching you, and do as you like, but stay out of Mom and Dad's bedroom or you'll be in big trouble, mister."
Also like Mission to Mars, this was a story about a series of events, and the cast was basically filled out in a way that gave us what we needed to make the story work -- including what I have to say is the least realistic crew selection I've ever seen in an astronaut/space movie, like trying to split the difference between the useful archetype diversity of Gilligan's Island and the mutli-discipline scientific-family of Lost in Space. The characters here are too perfectly what is needed to tell this story, and never come off as interesting or believable. In fact, with his rugged kind-of-good looks and brutish masculinity, I gather Colonel O'Bannion is supposed to be a kind of knock-off Bogart, but he comes off more like a heavy. The "dark alley" flirtation between him and "Irish" is less sparky and more rapey. Professor Gettell and good-ol' working class Sam come off more like cartoonish caricatures than genuine people. But the film is 1959, and a b-movie sci-fi thriller, so I'm fully aware that I'm gauging it on unfair criteria.
There's something interesting to the story, definitely, but more in a proto-Star Trek way than anything useful. The exposition moves pleasantly fast, which is worth noting, but it's so stiff and forced all I can take from it is a list of cautionary examples -- how not to inform your audience of the crucial details. The characterization starts to take hold in rudimentary ways, painting with a broad brush but at least painting some characters, but it never really amounts to anything more than "Irish and O'Bannion (supposedly) have chemistry, the Professor is old and smart, and Sam is dumb but good-hearted." The adventure of the story wraps up like a Star Trek episode, with some arbitrary technojargon about electrocuting giant amoebas which have swallowed their ship. Though to be fair: no doubt this seemed a lot more novel and original before so many Star Trek episodes, particularly one where they have to electrocute a giant amoeba which has swallowed the ship (heh). And the end, for all its scares in the middle, seemed particularly toothless, with an easily found and listened-to message from the Martian superbeings; a surprisingly easy-to-cure infection on the Colonel; and no real threat remaining to either our characters or our planet, beyond a vague "you guys are awfully violent, so steer clear" kind of thing. I imagine the message of being watched from space and judged "technological adults, but moral and spiritual children" probably rang pretty true during the Cold War -- but it doesn't really do any dramatic favors to wrapping up an eighty-minute adventure to Mars and back.
By travis ezell at 4:24 AM 0 spams
Tags: a, ib melchior
06 April 2011
Mission to Mars
This is probably my third time seeing this film, including way back when (all the way back at the dawn of time, in the year 2000) when it played in theaters. I guess I'd basically describe it as equal parts entertaining and underwhelming -- not quite disappointing, and not quite exciting. The script is a bit hokey, with by-the-books dramatics and characterization, clunky exposition and backstories, all that. But the technical details, though simplistic-feeling, also have a real sense of verisimilitude to them. It feels very much like someone excitedly did a lot of really good research into realistic advances in space exploration technology and culture, but maybe hasn't spent a lot of time around real humans. In fact, for all the detail put into space suits and orbital velocities, there is no sense that life continues for any of these characters when the camera's not actively on them. They exist only as elements in this particular story, the perfect combination needed to get from Point A (a disaster involving the first astronauts on Mars, in a curiously but conveniently un-televised event) to Point B (Jim staying behind to accept the Close Encounters-style invitation to explore the cosmos in an alien ship). There is no life beyond the edges of the frame, but within the frame some reasonably exciting stuff does happen.
So -- seriously -- who is a better director for this kind of material than Brian De Palma? Apart from vague similarities to 2001, it's not full of homages to classic cinema (probably somewhere there's a wink or a nod to Hitchcock somewhere in there... right?), but the self-conscious style and the use of movie expectations to keep the story rolling along fits De Palma just fine. There's something exuberantly unambiguous and hamfisted in the storytelling, the emotions, and especially the strange, mildly unearned sentimental montage at the end, and watching this now it's hard to fault it for its obviousness or patness: it's hardly accidental or unconscious. As a story about a man solving a hundred-million-year-old puzzle and earning a chance to join the proto-human Martians somewhere out in the galaxy, it does everything you'd expect it to do, and it does an all right job of it.
For the most part the space- and Mars- and astronaut-related visual effects all look surprisingly good (I'll overlook the wrongness of the zero-G liquids), which makes the weird cartooniness inside the Martian Face structure all the more unusual, and I remember thinking before that this was just another case of You-Never-Should-Have-Put-The-Camera-Inside-The-Ship (to reference Close Encounters of the Third Kind for a second time), but I'm willing to give a tiny bit more leeway here, since it's pretty clearly meant to be some kind of a holographic representation, a CGI simulation in other words, and not a photorealistic depiction of the ancient Martian, or of the Solar System History lesson. Again, with so much of the movieness of this feeling slightly self-conscious, I'm inclined to at least wonder if it wasn't a deliberate choice, letting the alien look less than realistic (it being a film from 2000, when CGI was still coming out of its infancy, doesn't really help support this theory). What it doesn't forgive is the awkward, goofy design of the alien itself. But, whatcha gonna do.
From the perspective of writing reference, though, it was interesting to note how sharply delineated the first act info-dump is, leaping ahead in time (necessarily) and cramming as much conveniently on-the-nose dialogue into each sequence as possible. Again, it's hard to ignore the artificiality of the whole enterprise, the convenience of almost every scene (this unfortunately diminishes an otherwise memorable and dramatically exciting death scene halfway through the film -- you all know which one I mean). Again, the pieces are just too well-suited to the needs of the story, and so at no point do you really get a sense of tough choices being made even when the choices being made would ostensibly be very high-stakes, very difficult decisions.
It's a case of the cart before the horse: they had a story they needed to tell, these guys -- humans get to Mars; on Mars they find a mystery that kills three and strands one; the rescue mission gets to Mars and finds their stranded friend, from whom they learn some key pieces of the story; a challenge is posed, accepted, and met; a deep secret of the universe is revealed; and someone from the party has to be perfectly suited to make a leap of faith. To tell that story, you look at the pieces you need and you fill them out accordingly. That's plot-driven writing. In character-driven writing, you'd set up the mystery and the puzzle, and then put the wrong sorts of people in these situations, and see what they do instead. Maybe the Martian Cyclone-Worm/Spaceship-Invitation Doohickey goes unsolved for fifty more years. I don't know. The point is, this isn't character-driven. And it's okay, but... well, I guess it's clear where my preferences fall.
(Further, the story demands that when the hero leaps off a cliff we don't give too much thought to the logistics or ramifications of that: a single human alone, in some strange alien spaceship, chasing after a very alien race with completely unknown cultural and ideological -- let alone biological -- expectations, needs, or desires... do the proto-human Martian Almond Men want to eat him? study him in a zoo? is he the final step in a hundred-million-year-long experiment in evolution and xenobiology? It seems pretty weird if they just want a single human friend, doesn't it? Compound all that with the fact that this race left Mars before single-cell life on Earth had developed -- I mean, that's a pretty big head start; in the time it took amoebas to become spacefaring hominids, what changes do you think these highly advanced, genetics-mastered spaceworthy Almond Giants have undergone? What exactly is waiting out there for him, best case scenario? It's not like they're going to remember sending out a party invite when they were forced to abandon their home to an asteroid crash. Also, if I'm going to fill this long parenthetical with hole-punching, I can't walk away and not ask: when their lush green Mars was turned into a lifeless husk, why was soaring through space toward a new galaxy a better option than hopping one planet closer to the Sun and populating Earth themselves? It was worthy of their raw genetic material but it wasn't worthy of their cities and culture?)
Anyway, like I said: this story desperately doesn't want to exist beyond the edges of the frame. The characters, the technology, the mystery, and the secret origins of life on Earth. It's like the façades built for those old 1950s westerns: entire towns that were nothing but storefronts and boardwalks, held together on the backside by plywood crossbeams. If you look at it head-on, it's a beautiful, sprawling, detailed frontier town. But if you cock your head to either side and peer around the edges, beneath the surface or into the shadows, you realize how poorly supported and precarious the whole thing is.
Several cautionary tales in all those colorful metaphors, as I return now to working on my script.
By travis ezell at 10:15 PM 0 spams
Tags: brian de palma, m
04 April 2011
I knew I'd never seen Metropolis all the way through, but I thought I'd seen more of it than it turns out I had, so sitting and watching the "Complete" version with all the restored "lost" footage was a real treat. The number of films I could catch reference to here, feeling the impact backwards as it were, was pretty incredible. Several Spielberg films (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Lucas (THX-1138, Star Wars: A New Hope), Gilliam (Brazil most notably) and even more offbeat fare (The Hudsucker Proxy, Joe vs. the Volcano) all come to mind.
The metaphor and visual poetry throughout was pretty great. For one the (explicitly repeated) theme that "The Heart Must Be The Mediator Between The Head And The Hands" played out in pretty interesting ways, although the very end with Freder literally mediating between Head (his father, Joh Fredersen, the Master of Metropolis) and the Hands (the foreman Grot, the Master of the Heart Machine and the ad-hoc leader of the city's workers) was a bit too direct to resonate as much more than an easy way to resolve the characters' stories. Taking the "God" out of the Tower of Babel story and turning it into a stone-cold ideological metaphor of class was pretty cool, especially in the economical way it was handled with so few lines or scenes (the leaders and thinkers who come up with Babel think of the word as an exultation of their own and God's greatness; the workers hired to slave away and die for its construction see the same word not as cry of praise but as a curse of despair; therefore it is as though the men all spoke a different language and could not communicate with each other, and so the Tower of Babel was cursed to remain unfinished).
Actually -- and not surprisingly considering my obsessive focus of late (the reason I haven't been blogging is that I haven't been watching films; the main reason I haven't been watching films is that I've been pushing myself for eight to ten hours a night, writing) -- the way the film most impacted me is the way it threw some elements of my "end of the world romantic black comedy epic" script into sharp relief. The theme of Heart vs Hand vs Head is actually no small part of the story I'm working on, and the way the future is depicted here too is actually kind of relieving (that I could "reference Metropolis" in my depiction of rulers, thinkers, and workers somehow makes that seem at least a tiny bit less daunting -- especially the "rulers," which have been giving me a little trouble). Even the technology of throwing a lever and transferring the identity of Maria into the Machine-Man robot has a pretty clear parallel in the story I'm working on (though, at least right now, I have no intention of making the post-mad-scientist woman turn evil and maniacal).
I already know I'm going to be revisiting this soon for a beat-analysis and writing exercise, because I have a feeling considering the themes and approaches this film takes with its story may have an impact on the telling of my own. Maybe I'll have more insight then, beyond "It does things well, and the story feels similar to my own in unexpected ways." I will say this, though: even by today's standards most of the visual effects and sets look pretty amazing; by 1927 standards they must have blown people's socks off. And the use of film as a medium to tell a story that couldn't be told any other way -- the non-literal, the visual poetry and metaphor, the operatic drama combined with heady modern themes and huge, lush setpieces -- make me wonder about all the later, American films by Fritz Lang I've seen over the years. Did I miss something? They struck me as gorgeous, and well-told, and well-acted and directed, but I don't remember any of the kind of boldness of storytelling that you find here in Scarlet Street or The Big Heat or The Woman in the Window.
Wonderful film, deserving of every bit of its reputation.
By travis ezell at 1:00 AM 0 spams
Tags: fritz lang, m
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Springwell runners prepare for Round the Bridges road run
Thursday, 29 June 2017
SPRINGWELL Running Club are gearing up for the annual Jude Gallagher MemorialRound the Bridges 10 mile road run which will take place this Thursday, June 29 at 7.30pm. Since it was first staged in 1980, the Round the Bridges race, despite undergoing a few changes in management and a couple of alterations to the course, remains one of the most popular events in the road racing calendar.
The race was renamed the 'Jude Gallagher Memorial Round the Bridges' race in memory of club member Jude Gallagher who had passed away in 2000.
Under the stewardship of former Race Director, Columb Knowles, the number of competitors has steadily increased and this year, the current Race Director, Thomas Moore is expecting some 700 runners to take part in Thursday's event.
The course, one of the flattest available with only a rise and fall in the gradient of 49 feet over its ten miles, is ideal for runners of all abilities, whether they are looking for a personal best or simply want to complete the ten mile distance.
The race has become known as an entertaining, well organised event that caters for runners of all abilities, with an exceptional after race spread of refreshments for the prize-giving.
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Illinois lags on solar jobs
By Jamey Dunn
A new study found Illinois is not keeping up with some neighboring states on job creation in the solar power industry.
The study to take stock of jobs created by the expansion of solar power across the country was conducted by the Solar Foundation, a non-profit group that funds solar research; Green LMI , which specializes in predicting the future of labor markets; and Cornell University .
According to the report, as of August 2010, more than 93,000 people nationwide work in solar power, and half of companies in that field expect to hire new employees in the next year. Those jobs include manufacturing, installation and sales. There are solar companies in every state, but the industry is mainly concentrated in the western and northeastern parts of the country. California leads the nation with 30 percent of all solar related businesses and more than 36,000 solar jobs.
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio all made it into the report's top 20 states for solar job creation, but Illinois did not.
According to the research, Illinois has about 530 solar-related jobs with a projected growth to nearly 700 jobs by 2011. That compares with Indiana — ranked 10th in the country for solar employment and growth — with more than 1,600 jobs and projected growth to more than 1,800 by 2011.
Environment Illinois says the General Assembly can take steps to help Illinois catch up with its neighbors in the solar sector. Miranda Carter, a field associate with Environment Illinois, said a few key changes could help the state keep pace.
One plan is to allow larger solar operations to sell extra power that they create back to utilities. Now, smaller operations, such as private residences and small business, can generate power with solar panels or a wind turbine and sell back what they don't use under a policy called net metering. Carter said larger operations, including warehouses and big-box stores, such as Walmart, need to be included in the policy.
Carter said 16 other states allow those larger energy producers to sell their surplus power. "Illinois will lose business to those states unless we change the law. Illinois is home to many flat-roofed industrial and commercial space that is ideal for solar installation, but these companies will not proceed unless they get the full worth of the energy they produce."
She said reworking the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (PACE) would also help to expand solar power in Illinois. Such programs allow homeowners nationwide to get municipal bonds to make their homes more energy efficient or install alternative energy improvements, such as solar panels. They pay off the loan with their future energy savings. "The price or upfront cost is what is so difficult for people," Carter said.
However, Sen. Mike Jacobs, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said solar power needs to be more reliable before the state starts setting such policies or subsidizing it. "I am still waiting for that big new idea that's really going to get this off the ground."
Jacobs, a Democrat from East Moline, added, "Really I just think that we need to make sure that we take care of our current employers before we go chasing new ones."
Jacobs said he is concerned about the expense, which could be associated with expanding net metering and PACE in Illinois. "Both of those put their hands in the pocket of consumers," said Jacobs. "We may be behind a little on solar, but I don't view that as a bad thing. Frankly it is very expensive to the customer. And somebody's got to pay for this."
Check back tomorrow for a report on Illinois job creation and development in the wind power sector.


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Mobile Observatory Pro v1.82.1
Requirements: Android 2.1 and up
Overview: Mobile Observatory is the most complete astronomy app on the Android market and the perfect tool for anybody interestered in the sky's wonders, from the occassional sky gazer to the passionate astronomy-amateur.
You want to know if the next lunar eclipse is visible from your location or when the next bright comet is visible? You would like to be notified by your smart phone the next time, Jupiter and the Moon meet in the sky? You want to know what the blazing bright object in the evening sky is? You want to be always up-to-date which celestial events are visible from your location? Then this app is a must have for you!
The app does not only include a live, zoomable sky map telling you what sky object you are looking at but provides you with loads of detailed extra information on stars, planets, deep sky objects, meteor showers, comets, asteroids, lunar and solar eclipses as well as detailed ephemeris of all included sky objects and an interactive top-down view of the Solar System. All that in just one app!
Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mobileobservatory.
Mobile Observatory provides the following features:
- Zoomable sky map showing stars, planets, asteroids, deep sky objects, currently active meteor streams
- Interactive top-down view of the Solar System showing the actual positions of all planets, the Moon and asteroids
- Live mode (point device on sky and get information on what you see)
- Calendar showing detailed descriptions of celestial events for up to the next 31 days
- Push celestial events to your phone's calendar and set a reminder alarm
- Rise, set, and transit times for any object
- Position of any object in the sky (altitude and direction)
- Twilight times, length of day
- Bright Star Catalog (~9000 stars) with detailed information about each star
- Messier Catalog (110 objects) complete with images
- Caldwell Catalog (110 objects) complete with images
- Meteor streams (begin, maximum, hourly rate, …)
- Lunar and solar eclipses information
- Bright comets (automatically selected according to the date)
- Bright asteroids (total of 5000 in the database)
- Moon phases, the apparent view of the sun and planets
- Current image of the Sun and sun spot number
- Widget with rise & set times of the Sun and Moon (works only if the app is not copied to the SD card!)
- Automatic location determination from the mobile network or GPS
- Select a location from a built-in database of 20 000 cities or online via Google Maps
- Choose any time and date
- Detailed ephemeris, visibility information of all objects
- Dates of conjunctions between any object with planets or the Moon (e.g. find the next conjunction of the Pleiades with the Moon)
- Animated 3D-view of the Moon and the planets
- Accurate calculations for dates between 1900 and 2100
No internet connection is required for the calculations (only for the live-image of the sun). Mobile Observatory uses OpenGL to display the apparent view of the planets and the Moon.
More Info:
Download Instructions:


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Eileen Redzepi did not have Sir Mack for long, but during their few months together she grew to love her Doberman pinscher.
When Sir Mack disappeared Sept. 21, the 20-year-old nursing student searched the neighborhood for him without luck. She placed an ad in a newspaper offering a reward for the dog`s return.


text:
Help me write something
Budget ₹600-1500 INR
I need you to write some content for a website. Effective conting writing.
18 freelancere byder i gennemsnit ₹1897 på dette job
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Japanase National STREET FIGHTER IV tournament
You are already one lucky person if you just live in japan, but Capcom is making you feel even luckier to know that the first BIG SF4 tournament will be held across Japan (and only japan).
The tournament's prelimenary matches will start in november with the final match scheduled to be on january 2009.
The tournament itself will be held at 120 arcade places across Japan.
If you live in japan and think you can take on Daigo's amazing skills make sure to register.
source: SF4 dev blog and Kotaku
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
Feilhaber Sidelined
U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber has been diagnosed with torn meniscus in his right knee that will require surgery. Feilhaber suffered the injury in the 67th minute of the U-23 MNT's 3-2 loss to Turkey on May 21 at the Toulon International in France. He traveled to Los Angeles this morning to be treated by U.S. team doctor Bert Mandelbaum. Following the procedure, Feilhaber is expected to be sidelined from 4-6 weeks.
Posted at 2:15 PM
1 comment:
- Rosie said...
- May 24, 2008 at 5:02 PM
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text:
It was a pleasure to learn more about Jed, and I'm looking forward to reading about him and Connor soon.
caroaz [at] ymail [dot] com
Thank you Carolyn!Delete
Thanks for the great interview. I think I am going to like Jed!
Thanks, Jen, I hope so! <3Delete
Sounds like a great read.ReplyDelete
Forgot my email
I also think honesty is a great attribute. Sounds like a good read,
wildnmild4u at yahoo dot com
I enjoyed Jed's interview. Thank you!
ree.dee.2014 (at) gmail (dot) com
I enjoyed reading the book description and learning more about this book. This book sounds like such an interesting read. Thanks - allyswanson at hotmail dot com.ReplyDelete
Congratulations on the new book!
annmarief115 at gmail dot com
I enjoyed the interview, can't wait to get my hands on this book!
A great interview thank you.
Love getting inside Jed's head! Thanks for the fun interview!
slickreads1100 @ gmail dot com
fun interview
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
Loved the interview! Toni violet817(at)aol(dot)comReplyDelete
Good luck with the release!
Thank you for the character interview! Best of luck with the release =)
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Oh, that was sweet.