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You are surrounded by an ocean of indescribably rich blue, the surface still visible many yards above. Suddenly, from all around you, a perfectly symmetrical bubble ring appears. This watery circle within the ocean calmly drifts upward and begins to expand around you. You follow it slowly, gracefully, until the circle seems to finally disappear. With beautiful oceanic sounds enhancing your environment, you experienced all of this without getting wet. But that doesnt mean that you wore a wetsuit. You have been witness to Dolphins, the latest offering from MacGillivray Freeman Films, one of the premiere producers of large-format movies. And, like a growing number of movie viewers, you thought it worthwhile to visit a special theater to view this spectacle, likely on a 70-foot high by 100-foot wide screen, with six channels of surround sound. It is a cinematic experience you will surely want to have again.
The name that most often arises when discussing the large-format film industry is IMAX, a Toronto-based hardware company which chiefly provides theaters with its specialized film projectors, in addition to producing the films and constructing the cameras with which they are photographed. IMAX works in the world of 70mm film, unlike most theatrical feature films, which predominantly deal in 35mm film. The obvious benefit of an IMAX production is that the size of the film is 10 times greater than that of most movies. IMAXs format constitutes 15 perforations per frame of film, compared with the standard four perforations for a frame of 35mm film. Also, the film runs through its cameras and projectors horizontally on a "rolling loop," allowing a much greater area of exposure and a smoother presentation of the selected image. The result is a breathtaking combination of size and clarity in both sound and picture.
Inarguably, large-format films are a significant presence in todays moviemaking world. With over 300 large-format theaters in existence, the medium has gained considerable ground in its 33-year history. "Its a completely new way of making movies," said Greg MacGillivray, co-founder of MacGillivray Freeman Films and Dolphins director. "It is so different from a 35mm feature film that a filmmaker has to throw away all his preconceived ideas and learn again. The audience comes to an IMAX theater expecting something thats bigger, more experiential, and more thrilling than a normal movie experience. Since the audience looks at it differently, the filmmaker has to consider the medium in a completely new and different light."
THE HISTORY In 1967, the IMAX Corporation built the first large-format projector for the Montreal EXPO, followed in 1970 by the first camera. At the time, Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman were partners, having graduated from self-produced surfing films to specialized sequences in mainstream features and TV commercials, including a great deal of helicopter photography. "Our own films were so different," recalled MacGillivray, "that they got a lot of press and attention in Hollywood. The first thing that we did in large-format was a Cinerama film for Mazda Motors in 1973. Cinerama was a three-screen format where you shoot with three cameras and the image is projected on three screens which overlap. We later did a Circle-Vision film on China, which involved nine cameras and nine screens! It still plays at Disneys Epcot Center at the Chinese Pavilion. We have always been a company thats tried to use strange formats betterhow to amaze an audience with something technically new, but also with strong storytelling content."
MacGillivray Freemans efforts led to their first IMAX film, To Fly, in 1976. At the time, the IMAX Corporation had only two large-format cameras. Built in 1970-71, those first-generation units were somewhat crude and weighed 80 pounds each. "On To Fly, we were shooting scenes that would take the format another big step," said MacGillivray, "so we paid IMAX to build three new cameras with better specifications. Then, Jim and I studied every IMAX film that had been madethere had only been 12. We tried to put the audience into the action, much like our surfing films had done." Playing exclusively at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, To Fly became the highest- grossing documentary and IMAX film of all time and helped the IMAX Corporation build more theaters. "The Smithsonian has grossed around $50 million with that one film," said MacGillivray. "It took a while for the word to get around that they were doing so well with To Fly. Then, starting in 1980, every museum in the world wanted an IMAX theater."
Amazingly, at that time, only three other IMAX theaters existed: in San Diego, St. Paul and Spokane. With the success of To Fly, IMAX theaters rapidly began construction across the U.S and Canada and eventually in 22 other countries. Sadly, Jim Freeman was killed in an accident shortly before To Flys 1976 release, and was never able to share in the phenomenon he helped create. Greg MacGillivray has faithfully carried the torch they both lit: MacGillivray Freeman Films followed To Fly with Behold Hawaii in 1983 and has been the leading IMAX creator with over 20 productions.
Other independent filmmakers began to make large-format productions during this period as well. In 1985, director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson made Chronos, a spectacular non-narrative IMAX film which relied on imagery and soundtrack to tell its story. Additionally, over the past 20 years, the IMAX Corporation itself has engaged in filmmaking and distribution, with titles including T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (1998) and Titanica (1992). 3-D has even entered the picture, with films like T-Rex and Jean-Jacques Annauds Wings of Courage presenting the medium in an even more spectacular manner.
Currently, around 200 brand name IMAX theaters are in operation. With few exceptions, all are independently owned and operated, though IMAX projectors are installed in every theater bearing their name. In 1999, around 24 IMAX films went into production, and the number is only expected to grow in coming years. Whats more, companies such as iWERKS Entertainment and filmmakers such as special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull have produced numerous large-format "ride films" over the last 20 years. Typically stationed at amusement parks and Las Vegas theme attractions, ride filmswhich are rarely longer than five to 10 minutes, and are more driven by thrills than narrativehave become very popular with audiences. It seems that the only obstacle to creating large-format productions is its perception as being a specialized experience. "Not every subject lends itself to this type of treatment," said MacGillivray. "Thats not to say that some films could not be made in the format and benefit from it, but I believe its going to take at least 500-600 theaters before the financial equation makes it worthwhile to do a feature in the IMAX format. That might be another 10 years."
THE TECHNOLOGY In the 1950s, to compete with television, movie theaters began to advertise the concept of "widescreen." In essence, Hollywood introduced a method of shooting and projecting anamorphic 35mm filmit was called Cinemascope. Basically, theaters could show a widescreen picturefirst by building a wider screenbut still use their 35mm projectors; with Cinemascopes anamorphic technology, the 35mm image was projected "wide" across the screen.
Though the novelty of Cinemascope died off, filmmakers began experimenting with larger film formats by graduating to 70mm film negatives and prints.
The breakthrough idea behind large-format films lies in the basic physics of film: 70mm is twice as large as 35mm filmclear enough. But taking the concept further: rather than utilizing the width of the frame as the width of the image on the screen, 70mm film is run horizontally through both camera and projector to achieve a larger film frame, using the width of the film as the height of the frame. In the IMAX format, with 15 perforations for one frame, as opposed to other 70mm formats, every frame is two inches tall by two and three-quarter inches wide, which makes it ten times larger than a 35mm frame. Eight-perf 70mm, another popular 70mm format, is half of the overall size of 15-perf 70mm. "Most Hollywood feature films are 4-perf 35mm with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1," MacGillivray explained. "David Leans films Dr. Zhivago, Ryans Daughter, and Lawrence of Arabia were all shot in 5-perf 70mm. Our films are all shot in 15-perf 70mm, with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the same proportion as a TV screen. That allows us to reduce to TV-video formats very easily."
Of utmost importance in creating a large-format film is adapting the camera technology to the needs of the filmmaker. While IMAX has leased cameras to various filmmakers, production companies like MacGillivray Freeman Films have supervised the construction of their own cameras. "We built the finest studio camera, the W-4, in 1987," said MacGillivray. "Its about 100 pounds and is hard to use in the field, but it is the quietest, steadiest, and has the best optics for shooting in IMAX." For optimum results, many IMAX films like Dolphins use "fisheye," or anamorphic lensesthe 30mm and 40mm varietyand are shot at 24 to 48 frames per second.
Needless to say, you must have enormous cameras to run a large film format. The camera taken to the top of Mt. Everest for MacGillivray Freemans Everest weighed 42 pounds; in 1990, MFF developed the lightest possible IMAX format camera for Steadicam use and special shots. "It weighs 25 pounds, but only shoots a minute and a half of film," said MacGillivray. "Its unreliable and fragile because its light. We also built a high-speed camera that we owned in conjunction with IMAX that ran 110 frames-per-second. Of course, it was about zero degrees on top and the wind chill factor was -30°, so the camera and equipment were weather-ized down to -40°."
For both Chronos and their large-format followup, Baraka, Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson constructed cameras that would execute complex time-lapse motion-control shots that were the centerpieces of those projects. "Our camera on Baraka electronically moved the film at a maximum frame rate of one frame per second," said Magidson. "The film magazine was two 35mm Arriflex magazines that were cut off and welded together to hold a 65mm negative, the negative size that makes a 70mm print. Ron designed it, and my company manufactured it in aluminum." Baraka, which was shot in 5-perf 70mm and theatrically distributed in 1992, has recently been released on VHS and DVD. (see MM #37ed)
Finally, a vital element in realizing large-format films is in their ultimate manipulation and output. Typical feature films are processed, work-printed, and released in their original medium, for example, 35mm. With large-format films, this entire procedure is specialized. For Chris Reyna and Imagica USA, dealing with 70mm negatives is second nature. Reyna is a veteran large-format consultant on films such as Chronos and is president of the Large Format Cinema Association. He supervises 80 percent of all the visual effects for large-format films at the Marina del Rey area-based Imagica USA. First, most 70mm films are processed and printed at labs like Consolidated Film Industries (CFI) in Hollywood. Then, Reynas company will take the negative and create whatever effects or conversion to other film formats the moviemaker requires. Reyna cites a key example in the history of large-format films: "Using an optical printer, we converted the 15-perf negative of Chronos to 8-perf, which was a more readily available format as far as projectors were concerned," Reyna said. "That started a market that is now thriving. Sixty-five to 70 percent of all 15-perf films are now cross-printed to 8-70. Usually, the rule is that if it has commercial potential, it is converted. Many distributors are now marketing 8-70 at the same time they are releasing a film in 15-70, because some locations only have 8-70 theaters." The last step in the process is negative cutting, which is done at David Keeley Productions (DKP), a brand-new facility in Santa Monica with three IMAX screening rooms for viewing 15-perf 70mm prints.
Presently, Imagica also utilizes a revolutionary machine called Bigfoot, a 70mm digital film scanner which allows the company to bring frames of film into the digital world for various types of effects enhancement. Then, using digital film recorders, Imagica is able to output the digitized film to virtually any film format in existence. "We do 98 percent of the format conversions from 15-perf 70mm to 8-70 and to 10-70 in the world," Reyna said, noting that IMAX films might one day require routine "cross-printing" so that they can play in standard 35mm theaters. "There havent been that many films that require conversion from 15-perf 70mm to 4-perf 35mm. That market doesnt exist yet, but it will very likely exist in the near future."
THE FILMS "Our films are drawing about 15 percent of the population," Greg MacGillivray explained. "That group is very homogeneous in their makeup: very well-educated, affluent, and interested in educational topics. They come to an IMAX theater two to three times a year, whereas they may go to other films 10 to 12 times a year. I dont think were going to get them to come more often. They look at it as something speciallike going to a Broadway play or a ballet; they do it once or twice a year because they love the experience, but its not something that they want to do every week."
Understanding that reality of the large-format audience is crucial to the modus operandi of the 30 filmmakers who are continually working in the medium. "We distribute and market all of our films," said Alec Lorimore, vice-president of production and development for MacGillivray-Freeman Films. "Therefore, in addition to the educational criteria that the museum theaters are looking forand they are the majority of the potential market for these filmswe are looking for something that is uniquely benefited by the large-format medium, a story that wouldnt be the same if you saw it on TV, for example. Whereas 10 years ago, there was a much lower bar in terms of what kind of content was required for an IMAX film; people are demanding more from a large-format film today. Theyre looking for better content, stronger characters, better stories. It is pretty hard to satisfy all the criteria." As such, Lorimore and MFF are planning the Great Adventure film seriesa 10-film plan starting with this springs Dolphins. In March, 2001, MFF will debut Journey into Amazing Caves, followed by Coral Reef Adventure in 2002.
Directing Caves will be MFFs vice-president of production and post-production, Stephen Judson, who has edited every MFF IMAX film since 1983, including Dolphins and The Living Sea, the companys first foray into the ocean. "One of the things thats different about an IMAX film is that so much of it is about the experience of the shot," said Judson. "We try to select shots that will allow the audience to get the feeling that they are in a place that they couldnt otherwise go to. When we do find such shots, we tend to build sequences around them rather than building scenes around a performance. Then, we tend to want to let those shots play."
In assembling films like Caves, Dolphins, and Everestfor which he went on the expedition and wrote the narration, in addition to producing and editingJudsons criteria for his large-format productions are a good summary of the genre. "Our films are a hybrid between features, dramatic films, and documentaries," he noted. "Photographically, we tend to achieve a style thats very smooth and closer to features. In other ways, the films have the feel of a documentary. We have a script, but things happen on location, so theres a fair amount of surprises in terms of what we are actually going to shoot. Its nice to have more of a spontaneous feel to the cameraworkit always adds to the verité feel." MM
Scott Essman tells us he saw Chronos on a regular basis while at USC in the mid-1980s. He has written on several specialty topics for MM, most recently "The State of the Art in Animation," last issue. You can write to him at visionary email@example.com, or send your comments to email@example.com.


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Weekend Superhero: Wondering about Wonder Woman
The third "Wonder Woman" trailer was released last week, and I've been hearing more of the same from fans-in-denial.
The third "Wonder Woman" trailer was released last week, and I've been hearing more of the same from fans-in-denial.
"It looks like fun!"
"Not as dark as the other DC movies."
"It looks like it'll be much better than 'Batman v Superman'."
Honestly, I can't disagree with any of those knee-jerk reactions (except maybe the first one). However, I'm also not particularly enthused by any of them. While I admit to a mild interest in a female-led superhero movie, that's not enough of a draw to make me blind to the shortcomings I see in this – and all – of the "Wonder Woman" trailers.
I saw an article recently in which a producer of "Wonder Woman" talked about how they wanted to avoid the cliche of the origin story in this movie. Origin story fatigue is real, and it's nice that producers are picking up on that. However, this trailer seems to contradict that statement a little. It opens with Diana Prince as a little girl being shown the greatest weapon of her people. It's then followed by a brief montage of her training as she gets older. That's kind of what an origin story is.
Sure, the whole movie won't be an origin story, but the origin is going to be present and it's surely going to take up a good chunk of time. Or, they'll gloss over the origin and it'll feel slapped together and unnecessary, like Batman's origin in "BvS".
So what's the big deal if the origin story is present for 10 or 20 minutes? Not everybody is as familiar with Diana Prince as they are with Bruce Wayne, so it may help to actually have that background. But this ties in to a larger issue that I'm worried about, which is how much time will this movie actually cover?
In the previous trailers, it was clear that the movie would start on Themyscira and then shift to the modern world. On Themyscira, Diana would meet Steve Trevor, he'd learn about the Amazons, and then Diana would learn that the rest of the world needs help and agree to help Steve. Once off Themyscira, there'd be a series of probably groan-worthy fish-out-of-water scenes featuring Diana acclimating to a weird culture. The danger would rear its head, then Diana would blow everyone away by donning her outfit and beating the Hell out of the enemy.
That in itself would take up a feature-length movie. Now we have to consider they are going to try and squeeze scenes of Diana's childhood into the mix as well. Immediately, I get flashbacks of "Man of Steel", which felt like an overly long movie trailer because it was so sloppily edited. On top of that, we are going to need some scenes that the villain gaining power, as all superhero movies need a good antagonist.
Perhaps I'm cynical, but Warner Bros has not proven to me that they can handle all these moving parts with any sort of grace. Marvel could handle this task easily. In fact, they did in "Guardians of the Galaxy". But given the track record of DC, paired with the general style they have molded these films to be like, I just don't have faith that all these elements are going to come together smoothly. Either they will touch all of them, but in a rushed manner and with no real depth, or they'll just forget some and the plot will feel incomplete (again, like "BvS").
For arguments' sake, let's say the story comes together really well. The other big thing that people are pointing out is the action. Much is made of how much brighter "Wonder Woman" looks to the other DC movies, and it's true. I agree that I can see all the action in the trailers thus far. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing looks totally generic and more of the same loud, ugly CGI destruction I've already gotten from DC. It's not enough to increase the brightness of the picture; we also need to see some creativity in the action.
Finally, and I may truly be alone on this, but I don't like Gal Gadot in this role. I didn't like her in "BvS" because her ESL skills were subpar, and I'm just hearing more of the same in these trailers. She has great physicality, but her acting chops just don't look to be up to snuff. Maybe seeing the compete performance will surprise me, but I am incredibly wary going in to this.
Will "Wonder Woman" be better than "Batman v Superman"? Almost certainly; I mean, not many things can be worse. "Suicide Squad" tried really hard to be worse, but failed even in that task. I think "Wonder Woman" has a 60% Rotten Tomatoes score written all over, which would be a massive success for WB and DC.

subset: commoncrawl


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On Saturday 06/06/15 from 9am to 5pm, our partners with the Fallen Firefighters and EMS memorial teamed up with Springfield Ford to do the annual Test Drive Event held at the Springfield Mall. The goal was to test drive over 300 vehicles and that goal was reached.
Springifield Ford will be making a generous donation to the Fire & EMS Memorial Fund as well as the Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. A big thanks goes out to Springifeld Ford, but also to our neighbors at the Fallen Firefights and EMS Memorial Committee! Way to go guys!
At June's meeting, County Council honored the Police, Fire & EMS memorial foundations, as well as Springfield Ford for meeting it's goal and making such a generous donation to our causes. Thank you County Council.


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FDNY sends bill addressed to 'Unknown Asian'
By Laura Shin
Published : December 12, 2013
The FDNY had some explaining to do after it recently sent out a mysterious ambulance bill addressed to "Unknown Asian."
The $784 bill was delivered to The New School's 2 W. 13th St. building earlier this week, The New York Postreported.
A dean's office assistant at the school found the bill in the office mail.
"When I saw it said 'Unknown Asian,' I thought it was racist," said Chris Rivera.
Christine Ahn, another staffer in the office, opened the letter.
"I hesitated to open it but then I was like, 'Well, I could be an unknown Asian,'" she said.
The unknown patient was billed for an ambulance ride on Nov. 1 from 255 W. 14th St. to Beth Israel Medical Center.An FDNY source told the Post that the female patient was transported about 3 a.m. for a "drug or intoxication" issue.
A person accompanying the woman told EMS that she lived in The New School's dormitory. When EMS workers could not identify the woman by her name, they filled in "Unknown" for her first name and "Asian" for her last name.
The paperwork was processed and a contractor sent out the bill.
The FDNY is working to correct the issue and has asked its vendor not to send out bills that have "unknown" for a name.


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I am running out of septal cartilage and there is a good chance that I might need ear cartilage or extra cartilage so at this point I am going to make a decision to harvest some ear cartilage. I am about to take some cartilage from the ear and we are going to utilize the previous incision that she had from her autoplasty, which is pinning the ear back.
We are exposing the cartilage. At this point we are starting to carve out some of the ear cartilage. Again, everything is scarred here since she has had previous surgery with her ear here so the dissection is more tedious. We are dissecting out the cartilage from the scar tissue. There is not a lot of cartilage here for me to use but at least we have some. Once again, the reason why this dissection is a little bit more tedious than normal is because she had her ears pinned back when she was younger. The reason why we choose the left ear is because the left ear she feels sticks out a little bit more than the right at this point. By removing this extra cartilage we will even make her ears a little more symmetric. Here is a nice piece of cartilage that we will be using from the ear. This will do us just fine and then we are going to close it and go back to the nose.
At this point we are closing up the back of the incision and the cartilage that we just harvested will absolutely do us wonders for making sure we have enough grafting of cartilage for her nose.
Right now what we are going is placing a cotton bolster and this will help the back of the ear heal faster and prevent any collection of fluid. This will come out also in one week when the rest of the stitches come out.
We are done taking cartilage from the ear and I am going to go back to the nose.
We just finished seeing Erica at six weeks following her rhinoplasty surgery. I am thoroughly please. I am ectatic about her early results. As you can tell by looking at the before and after photographs, her nose looks a lot better and she still has a lot more healing to go. I am very happy for her right now.
View Erika's Before and After Photos


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washington park modern home + bathrooms
The Twigg family set out to build their house amongst the Portland
Arboretum trees, enlisting Darin Dougherty (formerly of SEED
architecture), to design a modern masterpiece for their family to roost,
relax and grow together. bright designlab brought their sharpened pencils to the bathroom drawings by selecting complementary finishes and completing the fine details. The details for the kids bath include walnut cabinetry, stacked tile, and bright laminate on the interior of the vanity. The master bath design is complemented by serene and sophisticated finishes in gray, white and walnut.
The Scope: Kitchen design, finish palette and selections, bathroom details and finishes, custom desk design, lighting selections.


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When Stephen Kiruri graduated from university in Kenya, he had trouble finding employment. Family members and relatives kept asking him to handle their errands. So much so, that Stephen finally resolved to charge for his service -- which led to the birth of Petty Errands. Today, Petty Errands is one of the most successful courier services in Nairobi, and Stephen has been recognized as the "Most Inspiring Business Person" by Kenya Television Networks. Stephen's current decision is whether to continue the business on his own, or whether to sell a minority or majority stake to raise capital for further expansion.
The birth and growth of Stephen Kiruri's small business, along with those of other small firms, are now being captured in case studies shared across several African universities. They are serving as learning tools for Africa's small entrepreneurs seeking business knowledge through real-life "case studies"of small firms. In Nairobi, with IFC's help, three universities --Kenyatta, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural & Technology, and Strathmore -- have researched dozens of small firms and disseminated the results in Kenya and abroad.
The work is now being taken up beyond IFC by a consortium of universities dedicated to the dissemination of business knowledge globally.
For more case studies developed on small business experiences in Africa, click here.
For more information on the work of the international business school consortium dedicated to disseminating business knowledge in Africa and worldwide, click here.


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Let me guess, you have been playing Irish Times Crosaire crossword and got stuck on the clue Star carries a number of spirits and top rums down on the beach. Well, you have come to the right place to find the answer to this clue.
While some crosswords are much simpler than others, most require that players have a vast knowledge of the language and possibly even various topics. So while crossword puzzles are seen as a more intelligent game, they can be very frustrating for players to complete and even experienced crossword players need some help occasionally.
When finding the answers to the clues becomes too difficult, there's no shame in looking for them online.
Now you have the answer to your clue. Its time to move on to the next clue. You can browse through the list with all the answers to the Irish Times Crosaire crossword of December 11th, 2017. Or you can use the search form below to find the answer (no matter if its Irish Times Crosaire Crossword or any other crossword).
|Irish Times Crosaire crossword of December 11th, 2017 other clues
|4 down is in hospital removing splinters perhaps
|A port doesn't go with pot roasts - get rid of it
|Agreed to be taken out of ringside seat - I kid you not
|Buys and sells partridge with a shortage of pig
|Come to terms with college having a popular name in Germany for French negativity
|Concern for disturbance in street
|Disreputable organisation linked to noble
|Drawn out for State's concert venue for some considerable time
|Hotter swimming snaps from warm regions
|Hurry up with releases
|Is capable of taking a call at home to come down to the bar
|Little relative with colic freaks out in the vegetable shop
|Medicinal amount from bottle of Calvados exhibited
|Needs to approve what view The House will take with responsibility for half of those in 22 across
|Niche for vocal criminal on ecstasy
|No shadow of a doubt and not on? Civic disturbance!
|Novice edits novel on the stock exchange?
|Object to plainclothes policeman outside banks
|One coin, possibly a quarter, found in money belt
|Puts away for track trials needing no introduction
|Some characters override a decision that's out of this world
|Sounds like something portrait artist might do with designs on a principal
|The one that's not open could start to mature, like wine by the start of the year
|Thrilled by story set up by writer
|What Humpty Dumpty might do in the autumn in Boston and in the North of Ireland
|Winds up Sam out of madness
|Women removing the top samples from drains
We offer support and help with a wide range of crosswords and are guaranteed to make sure you complete everything; the site is also updated regularly to make sure that all of our answers are correct and to add more crosswords to the ever growing list.__IMAGE__
If there is any problem with the answer, please contact us! We will fix the problem.


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The Aberdeen Arts Council is raising money for a piano and additional lights for the Performing Arts Center that were not included in the building costs. The estimated cost of the Piano is $35,000 and the lights will cost around $65,000. Altogether we are seeking to raise $100,000 for this project through Seat Donations. In recognition of every donation of $250.00 or more, we will place a small plaque on one of the seats in the new Performing Arts Center. We recognize that this is a very ambition goal, but we also know of the generous spirit of the people of Aberdeen and appreciate their support of the Arts.
The Aberdeen Arts Council is 501(c)3 non-profit and all donations are tax-deductible.


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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president has ordered the cancellation of a deal to buy 16 helicopters from Canada and says purchases of U.S. arms should also be stopped because of too many imposed conditions, although he says he still supports President Donald Trump.
President Rodrigo Duterte's order, issued in a news conference late Friday, came after the Canadian government decided to review the $300 million helicopter deal due to concerns the Philippine military might use the utility helicopters in counterinsurgency assaults.
Duterte said: "I want to tell the armed forces to cut the deal, don't proceed with it and somehow we will look for another supplier."
Duterte did not elaborate on why he wants purchases of U.S. arms to be stopped.


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Regrettably, I am unable to reply to any email from constituents outside of the district. Please enter your zip code to verify residency and go to the next step
If you do not know the four digit +4 extension for your zip code, please check the U.S. Postal Service website for more information.
If you have any difficulties, please phone (202) 225-8203 or report a website problem.


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The Office of Continuing Education at the Blackfeet Community College provides a venue for the college to offer courses, educational opportunities, and special events outside the offered university curriculum. The courses provided by the Office of Continuing Education are targeted primarily toward the larger community and/or specific interest groups.
The Office of Continuing Education offers programs, lecture series, and courses with the shared mission of the Blackfeet Community College to provide a venue for teaching skills for living and making a living. The courses, workshops, and programs are only offered for general credit at this time. **
Courses and programs offered through continuing education will also help build community awareness and cooperation. In addition, the continuing education offerings will also publicize the college to the community and even a larger base with some of its programs. This will help with student recruitment to the College's degree programs as well as with retention by building strong relationships with the College's faculty and staff to potential students who take part in the courses and programs offered by the Office of Continuing Education. Courses and programs will be offered via partnerships and collaborative efforts with entities and businesses. Courses will focus and provide a competitive advantage because BCC continuing courses are:
The goals of the Office of Continuing Education are in line with the mission of the Blackfeet Community College. The courses and programs selected to be offered for continuing education credits will provide a high quality, individualized educational experience. Courses and programs offered through continuing education will be designed to match the student pool demand.
**CEUs are considered "general" credit then that participant will earn CEU credit/s which will be documented on a certificate attached to a student copy of the CEU form. Please advise participants to keep this for their records. If no signature is on the CEU form; the coordinator will initial the form for the instructor or workshop coordinator.
**All CEU certificates will be completed in a timely manner and returned to the instructor/s of the course or workshop. It is the responsibility of the instructor/s to get the certificates to the participant or mailed by the coordinator. CEU credits will not be counted towards "actual credits" or PELL Payout.
**In order to use a classroom or meeting room for the workshop or class. A facility use application must be filled out. The application may be picked up from the administration receptionist, or you can download it from this website. The Facilities Committee meets every Tuesday, and all applications are reviewed at that time. Please have your request submitted by 12:00pm on Tuesday; at least one week prior to your event. As our facilities often fill up during the academic year so we suggest you turn in your application as far in advance as possible. The facility use fee will be waived if BCC is able to offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for your workshop or class. A possible workshop fee will apply to all participants.


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1991 Acura NSX: Kulinary Mille?
June 05, 2012
Last year, I participated in something called the Kulinary Mille -- a celebration of gasoline and gastronomy. It was an endless parade of excesses and I think I'm still recovering from it. Somehow, the organizers saw fit to invite me once again, and, well, I figured I'd take one for the team again. Poor me, huh?
The big question is, "what do I drive?"
I need something fast and comfortable. At the moment, the only car that meets those requirements is our long-term NSX (I think the Audi A8 is too big and "old guy" for the trip). Our Mustang participated in last year's Mille, plus it's going away soon (sniff).
What do you think? Is this the right car for the Kulinary Mille? Check them out on Facebook here.
Mark Takahashi, Automotive Editor


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Sunday, November 29, 2009
New Work By Sam Birchman
Seattle's Best Painter Exhibits at Form/Space Atelier December 11, 2009- January3, 2010. Vernissage December 11, 6PM as part of the Belltown Artwalk; www.belltownartwalk.com . Second Friday!
Posted by Paul Kuniholm Pauper at 1:18 PM No comments:
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Vladmaster Installation
Posted by Paul Kuniholm Pauper at 6:54 PM 1 comment:
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Form/Space Atelier Program For November 2009
Form/Space Atelier Program For November 2009
Show Title: Actaeon At Home
Show Duration: November 13- December 6, 2009
Opening Reception Friday November 13, 6PM, as part
of the Belltown ArtWalk www.belltownartwalk.com
Experimental Filmmaker Vladimir exhibits her 5th interactive film experience
Actaeon At Home. Vladmasters are handmade View-Master™ reels designed,
photographed, and hand-assembled by Vladimir. They make use of toys, neglected
household objects, and odd ephemera to tell 28-picture tales of train chases,
missing steam shovels, disastrous dinner parties, and overly adventurous
Actaeon, to the ancient Greeks, was a hunter unlucky enough to get a good look
at Artemis bathing naked amongst her nymphs. For his trespasses, Actaeon was
transformed into a stag and then devoured by his own hounds. Our Actaeon, may
or may not have anything to do with the historical Actaeon. He is a small man
in a room with striped wallpaper and antlers and a typewriter and a collection
of Currier & Ives prints. Oh, also there is a train chase.
This new Vladmaster is narrationless. Instead of talk there is the Apt
Ensemble, a trio of musicians who lead you through the Vladmaster story
playing a variety of instruments and providing the odd sound effect. Listen
carefully and you will hear everything from a pump organ to a tuba to a
musical saw to a train whistle. This is also the first Vladmaster set
photographed entirely in glorious black and white.
This Vladmaster was made to debut in a live performance with the band and
emcee Tim Nickodemus for the 2005 PDX Fest Invitationals where Vladimir was,
with some tongue in cheek, crowned the World Champion of Experimental Film.
This set consists of four handmade Vladmaster reels, the box to keep them in,
and the mini-cd soundtrack. The music was written by Peter Broderick and
Nathan Crockett; performed by the Apt Ensemble (Peter Broderick, Nathan
Crockett, and Branic Howard) and recorded by Peter Broderick. Tim Nickodemus
introduces the CD. Douglas Jenkins is the human star of the photographs. The
story was written and photographed by Vladimir who also designed the reels and
Interview by Ross Simioni
Illustration by Tony Millionaire
Inspirations for Vladmasters:
Gertie the Dinosaur
EarlyFritz the Cat
The artist who goes by the name Vladimir is one of the only known filmmakers
working with View-masters, which, if you remember, are those cheap-looking toy
binoculars usually filled with images of zoo animals or dinosaurs. Instead of
watching her so-called films on movie screens, audience members hold
"stereoscopic viewing devices" up to their eyes and click through picture
reels of dioramas, action figures, and abstract photographs of trains. She
calls them Vladmasters.
Through her website, Vladimir mails her handmade films around the world, each
one accompanied by a spoken-narration CD and sound track. Her "picture
stories" have included adaptations of Calvino and Kafka, along with some of
her own writing, like the one about the pseudo-mystical congregation of
farming machinery. She claims to "seek out the forgotten, the discarded, and
the overlooked objects of this world...and [takes] tiny, tiny photographs in
order to tell their stories."
Since 2003, she's become and anomalous staple in the independent film festival
circuit, winning the World Champion of Experimental Film title on multiple
occasions. She remains active in her hometown of Portland, Oregon (also the
home of the View-Master), where she works as a projectionist, creates her own
scretch-it Vladlast lottery tickets, builds Super 8 film experiments, and
works as a quality assurance engineer at a software company.
This interview took place over email, with Vladimir responding from both
Portland and Brisbane, Australia, where she was participating in the Other
Film Festival. —Ross Simioni
THE BELIEVER: When you set up a performance — or is it better to call it a
screening? — what happens, exactly?
VLADIMIR: Sometimes I compare my performances to synchronized swimming. At a
performance, everyone in attendance is given a viewer and a set of my handmade
disks. There is a brief instructional introduction, and then we begin the
sound track, which leads everyone through a tiny private screening experience
just past the end of their nose. There are ding noises on the sound track to
cue the turning from one image to the next. Sometimes there is a narrator and
sometimes there's just music. Perhaps the most exciting moment is
participating in the ker-think of tens or hundreds of View-Masters turning
simultaneously after that very first ding.
BLVR: Would you say that's the ideal scenario for someone to experience the
vladmaster? In a theater, like most films? I just received the vladmasters you
sent me in the mail, watched them all in my living room all day, and really
enjoyed the private storytelling feeling. It felt almost like reading.
V: I like both the theater and the personal experience. The great thing about
the theater is that there is a sort of euphoria and excitement that comes from
the experience of just being in a crowd of people who are all holding
View-Masters and all experiencing this sort of simultaneous media for the
first time. The crowd experience is really wonderful, but I think that the
more personal private experience that you had in your living room is probably
more conducive to reflection and paying attention to the story. Perhaps you
could call one a roller coaster and one a scenic drive?
BLVR: A little while ago, I heard David Lynch talking about his appreciation
of the laptop computer, how it has completely transformed cinema by
encouraging people to watch films alone, more like the intimacy of books. It
also encourages people to use headphones, which brings a renewed appreciation
to the way sound and music function in a film.
V: I really like this idea. The intimacy of the viewmaster viewing experience
is very important to me. I'm a projectionist and one of the wonderful things
about projecting movies is that you get to hold every part of them in your
hand. You get to see the film as an object and to see the individual frames. I
think the View-Masters present a similar experience: you can view them
narratively, as time-based, alongside the soundtrack, but you can also hold
them in your hand, see their individual parts, and appreciate them as craft
BLVR: That reminds me of how Stan Brakhage painted directly on his film. When
I first realized what he was doing, my idea of film was suddenly transformed
from an abstract thing, with images floating in the air, to the idea of actual
physical film stock. He broke that "fourth-wall" of physicality.
V: I'm sad to say I haven't seen very much Stan Brakhage, but I was fortunate
to see two nights of films by his close friend and collaborator Phil Solomon
when he visited Portland. He treats the surfaces of his films chemically so
that you see the surface layers buckling and peeling. The original images
decay and fray and become submerged beneath the layered surface so that his
films are filled with a sense of beauty and loss. There is also a Bay Area
collective called SILT who often work with the decay of the film image by
leaving their films in holes in the ground to get moldy and be eaten by
creatures. I saw a wonderful 8mm film they hand-fed through a broken
projector, sometimes holding it too long in front of the lamp so that you
could see the image start to melt.
Perhaps at the other end of the film-as-object spectrum, there are Bruce
McClure's films. He strips film down to its most basic elements: light and
dark. He does multi-projector performances in which each projector is running
an identical film loop that consists of several black frames followed by a
single clear frame. He uses dimmers, the focus on the projectors, and
occasionally gels or different shaped gates to manipulate the stroboscopic
shapes created by the film. The sound for his performances is generated by
passing the sound of the frames running through the projector through various
pedals to create a rhythmic pulse that matches the pulse of the visuals. They
are without doubt the most physiologically affecting films I've ever
BLVR: The concept of viewing a film has always been so removed from the idea
of performance, but with your work and, say, McClure's, there's that element
of it's-happening-right-now — something you don't get with pre-recorded films.
Do you think this connection with film comes from your work as a
projectionist, where you're sort of "performing" the film?
V: When you're a movie projectionist, the goal is actually one of
self-abnegation. A good projectionist is an unnoticed projectionist. This is
perfect for me because I'm always trying to make myself disappear. I've always
just used the word "performance" for lack of a better alternative with my own
shows. Most of the time during my shows, I'm looking awkwardly down at the
floor and waiting for the soundtrack to end. If anyone can be said to be doing
the performing, or the projecting, during my shows, it would be the individual
audience members.
The thing I've taken from projecting is just the intimacy with the medium.
Because we tend to show older prints, before we show a film, I pass every reel
through my gloved hand to check for damage. When you do this, you become
hyper-aware of the individual frames and of the process of these discrete
pieces becoming a fluid whole. It is exactly like calculus.
I think that there are many people who turn their films into performances and
also make the audience hyper-aware of film's construction and mechanism. Bruce
McClure is certainly one of them. I've just been lucky to see three of his
performances in the space of a week and a half at the utterly amazing
OtherFilm Festival in Brisbane Australia. Almost every film there had a
performative element. The projectors were always in the same room as the
audience and mostly projected by the filmmakers.
I saw two wonderful multi-projector performances by the great Australian
filmmaker Dirk De Bruyn. He began each of his shows by shining a flashlight
around the raised arms and reels of the 16mm projectors. The shadows of the
reels would play around the audience as a sort of initiation into film via a
ritualistic invocation.
There was also a performance by Sally Golding and Joel Stern, two of the
organizers of the festival who also do performances under the name Abject
Leader. Joel does live soundtracks and Sally makes films. She's a fellow
projectionist and also a film preservationist and her work is steeped in
experimentations with film substance and film history. The performance that
they did at the festival dealt with early cinema color techniques in which
consecutive frames of film would be shot behind red, green, and blue filters
onto black and white film and then projected back through those same filters
to create a full spectrum effect. Sally set up three projectors pointed
straight into the audience, one each with a red, green, and blue filter, and
then stood in the center of the room holding up a large picture frame filled
with tracing paper. She makes the audience stare into the glare of the
projector and then rescues us by physically interrupting the glare and locking
the three projections into a single image.
BLVR: One thing I've never been entirely clear about is the job of a
projectionist. What's the whole process there?
V: The average feature film comes in two very heavy metal cases each
containing three 20-minute reels about 18 inches in diameter. Probably 95
percent of theaters run these reels on what is called a platter system. This
means that they build all of the reels onto one big platter so the projector
pulls the film off of one level of the platter and spits it back out onto
another. The whole film runs through a single projector in a single pass with
no need for a projectionist other than to build the film and push the START
I'm lucky to work at a theater that doesn't use platters. Instead we use two
projectors and do reel changeovers. Over the course of a film, the
projectionist switches back and forth between the projectors four or five
times. At the end of each reel of film there are two sets of cue marks,
approximately 8 seconds apart. When one reel is winding down, I stand at
attention next to the projector that is not running and keep a very careful
eye on the top right corner of the screen. When I see the first cue mark, I
start the second projector, which then has 8 seconds to get fully up to speed.
At eight seconds, I see the second cue mark and hit the CHANGEOVER button
which simultaneously closes the dowser on the first projector and opens the
dowser on the second. If my timing is off, or if I miss the cue marks, the
audience is treated to anything from a half second of black to a very
embarrassing six seconds of countdown leader.
BLVR: The Vladmasters have been in a ton of film festivals, and you actually
won the title of World Champion of Experimental Film a few times, which means,
by all standards, you are clearly a filmmaker. But at the same time, you're
not a filmmaker in the same way that pretty much everyone else is a filmmaker.
V: IN terms of the audience experience, which is of a visual and audio
narrative that takes place oer a pre-determined time line, I'm closer to
making films than anything else. I certainly feel comfortable beinga part of
film festivals. However, when I'm making things I don't think of them as
films, I think of them as stories. If I had my choice I think I'd go with the
very simple description "picture story."
BLVR: So then, if you had to place yourself in a lineage of directors,
filmmakers, or picture-story makers, where would you be? On your website it
says that you enjoy "the very early films of Rene Clair."
V: Although I love film, I don't often think in terms of cinematic models when
I'm working on a project. I get more caught up in the very strict parameters
(twenty-eight photographs over four disks) of the View-Master and I
concentrate on working things into that tight little structure. One of the
great delights in working with the form is in the moment of anticipation, in
the narrative disjunction, that comes in the jump from one frame to the next.
To me this jump feels more akin to turning a page in a storybook than to
smoother flow of a film narrative.
The one time I did look to cinematic models was working on Actaeon at Home. I
knew that that would be a show with live music and no narrator, so I was
trying to create a purely visual logic for the jumps from frame to frame. I
was inspired by early animation. Looking at something like Gertie the Dinosaur
or early Fritz the Cat cartoons you get a sense of these early animators' joy
in discovering the infinite malleable possibilities of lines in motion. There
is a glorious anarchic logic and infinitely transformative quality to those
worlds that I tried to capture, in stiffer form, in Actaeon.
BLVR: Another thing I want to ask you about is Portland, which, per capita,
seems like one of the most artistically exciting cities in the world right
now. It also seems, from the outside, like there are these very close-knit
artistic communities tying together all types of musicians, artists, and
filmmakers in a free-spirited sort of way.
V: I'm probably not the best person to talk about the Portland art scene just
because I'm very, very shy and mostly opt to retreat from the world. That
said, I probably never would have become a sort-of filmmaker if I hadn't moved
to Portland and discovered organizations like the ones I mentioned above. When
I moved to Portland, after college, I had spent four years programming a
university film series and had a good background in foreign and classic film
history but no real concept of experimental or underground film. The only
models I had of regular people making films were unnecessary imitations of
Quentin Tarantino. Coming to Portland I discovered a whole other idea of
making films, films that were small, personal, homemade, and felt completely
apart from anything I had seen before. It was not unlike discovering, at the
age of 13, that there were people who made music that was not played on Top 40
radio stations.
BLVR: So how did your awakening to experimental film unfold? What directors
helped to usher you out of the "Top 40" of filmmaking?
V: I don't know if experimental is exactly the right word for the films that
attracted me. I think I might more use the term handmade. Some of them were
certainly experimental, but just as many were simply small or personal or
homemade. One thing that happened a week or two after I moved to Portland was
that I went to a screening by the Tiny Picture Club. This is a Portland Super
8 collective. Their logo was like the Superman logo with an 8 replacing the S.
It was a very chilly November and the screening was in a tiny, unheated
Quonset hut. There were about 50 people crammed in there, sitting on the
floor, with musicians along one side of the room. They played along to about
10 different Super8 films about dreams. The films were all very small, simple,
and joyous. Much of the footage was hand-processed and scratchy. There was
some stop action animation. There were homemade costumes and masks. There was
an introductory film set to the T-Rex song "Bang a Gong." In it all of the
members of the club wore white jumpsuits with their logo emblazoned on the
back. They were running around a park with their cameras. There was much
pixilated action made to make them look like they were flying, levitating,
rotating in circles on the ground on their bellies. The feeling I felt sitting
in that room and watching those films was exactly like the feeling of falling
in love.
BLVR: Do you make any handmade films yourself?
The only films I've made have been super8 films with the Tiny Picture Club.
The thing that I enjoyed most with films was trying out technical experiments.
I used to work in the Equipment Room for the film school at the Northwest Film
Center, so I had access to all kinds of super8 cameras and projectors. I built
a device that could control up to three super8 cameras simultaneously and
could run them at either eighteen frames per second or off of a
intervalometer. It was pretty cool but, other than filming some friends
playing soccer in a park one afternoon, I never really figured out anything
good to point the cameras at.
BLVR: You once said that Atari is one of your favorite art forms. You said you
liked the video games where you could still see the pixels. I'm curious if
this ties in with all of these homemade ideas. Without any of the
high-fidelity bells and whistles, it seems like there is less of a separation
between the artist-creator andthe viewer.
V: I think what you said about the lack of separation between creator and
viewer is exactly right. I like to be able to get a sense of craft and
humanness behind work. When I see the little pixels rolling by in an Atari
game, I think back to BASIC programming and how hard that little computer is
thinking and how hard the programmer had to work to put all those pixels in
just the right place.
I'm very bad at actually playing Atari games. I rarely make it past the first
level. However, similar to the viewmaster, I love them as absurd little
mini-narratives. The narratives are really what give form and understanding to
the pixels. If you take a game like Space Invaders or Galaga or even Frogger,
and watch it, forgetting the narrative, you're left with the motion of
abstract colored forms. It's only those couple of text windows at the
beginning (which nobody pays much attention to) that provide form for the
whole structure and objective of the game. One of my favorite mini-narratives
goes along with a game whose title escapes me at the moment — it's the one
where you are a good robot sent to save the last human family from the evil
I've recently encountered some interesting Flash games online that return to a
completely abstract and non-narrative form of the video game. One in
particular is called Boomshine. It's a field of slowly moving colored balls.
The objective is to click your mouse somewhere on the screen to create an
expanding ripple. Every ball this ripple touches turns into a new ripple. You
try to turn as many balls into ripples as possible with your single click.
It's so simple that it doesn't require directions, yet it's also beautiful and
incredibly addictive.
BLVR: OK, I just played Boomshine for twenty minutes and I was in some sort of
weird trance with that game. Plus, you're right about the directions. To
figure the game out, you just get to resort to simple visual assumptions
(e.g., if I do A then B happens). In the context of this conversation, it
reminds me a little of the abstract filmmaking you've been mentioning, where
you're forced to start thinking things like "That thing over there is moving
fast, and the other thing is moving slow." It engages the mind in such a
different way than narrative film.
V: I'm very untrained when it comes to watching experimental film. I don't
think I could make an abstract film if I tried because everything inside of my
head only knows how to operate on cause and effect. But I do like to sit back
and enjoy other people's abstractions even if I'm always very self conscious
about not appreciating them in the right way. This might be why I like
Boomshine so much. You get cause and effect alongside your abstractions. I
can't help but trying to make sense of everything I see whether I'm supposed
to or not.
BLVR: And finally, just to clarify, Vladimir is not your birth name, right?
V: I was never enamored of my birth name and I'd always planned on changing it
when I went off to college. But one day, when I was sixteen, one of my English
classes had a class assignment in which we were supposed to pair up and write
little essays about our partners based solely on looking up their name in a
few baby books. Maybe it was just my natural impulse toward sabotage, but it
seemed like the perfect opportunity to make the change. I had a sharpie and an
index card and I made myself a name tag introducing myself by my new name.
Ever since then, I've been Vladimir. I have now been Vladimir for almost half of my life
Posted by Paul Kuniholm Pauper at 10:55 AM No comments:
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text:
I think that my current project, working on the #WeAreLidl event is one that stands out in particular. Working on the #WeAreLidl event is particularly interesting because it has never been done before. The event, which is for all Lidl employees, is focusing on the ways Lidl looks after its employees so that they can look after our customers. This focus is giving me the chance to directly engage with my colleagues to cement who Lidl is and our vision.
Since starting in Lidl I think I have helped change certain perceptions that store colleagues have of Head Office. During my time in store, I was able to build strong relationships with my store teams, let them know the type of work we do and show them that we want to understand their daily operations and challenges. I feel that I have helped bridge the gap and improved the relationship and understanding between Store and Head Office colleagues.
Lidl colleagues make you feel welcome, give you responsibilities, push you to challenge yourself and take time out to invest in your development. You are always challenging yourself, learning new skills and meeting new people.
I chose the Lidl Graduate Management Development Programme because it's not like any other graduate programme out there. Despite being hired into one particular stream, the programme gives you the unique opportunity to experience all areas of the business operate.


text:
A team can come up with its best but still end up on the losing side. India got everything right in their semi-final clash against the West Indies. They posted a target of 192, formidable by Twenty20 standards, the top order came good for the first time, the magnificent Virat Kohli survived two run-out attempts in a single ball miraculously and delivered a stellar knock yet again, running between the wickets was fantastic and India had the destructive Chris Gayle back in the dug-out early.
Everything that should go right in a match was going right for the hosts. The fans could not have asked for more.
With so much going India's way, they could not have anticipated the heart-break that was in store. The stunned silence in the stands in the end said it all. Cricket can indeed be cruel.
Now, did we really do everything right? Seen from the perspective of the match, the answer would be 'not really'. The total of 192 was below par on a pitch where 229 was chased down with ease. We were at least 30 runs short. We ran those brilliant twos, but the other team replied in fours and sixes. Our top order fired but in the hindsight, didn't fire well enough. It could have done much better in terms of run rate on an easy wicket. Coming to the bowlers, those of West Indies were in far better control than the Indians. Only the experienced Ashish Nehra stood out.
On a pitch which has been favourable to sides chasing targets, losing the toss was the first setback for India. They have been chasing well in this tournament and would have loved to do it again at the Wankhede. However, knowing the nature of the pitch, they should have aimed at a higher total. Was Rahane's 35-ball 40 poor batting given the circumstances? Was Rohit's 31-ball 43 too slow? Perhaps yes. Both could have done much better since they understand the pitch much better.
'India restricted to 192' may sound funny but that is exactly what the West Indies managed to achieve. Their bowling revealed greater maturity and better planning given the conditions. That the Indian batsmen were running for those desperate twos and the occasional three meant they were not getting too many balls to clear the boundary. But for Kohli's masterclass India would have ended with a far smaller total.
While India's batting didn't measure up, the bowling too faltered. It has been a fragile bowling attack always, depending heavily on the odd brilliant performance of a couple of them. When R Ashwin, skipper Dhoni's go-to man on every occasion, failed to weave his magic on batsmen it was all but over for India. Jasprit Bumrah was brilliant in patches but patches are not what the team needed. Someone one must ask the question whether Hardik Pandya is good enough to be bowling at this level. Ravindra Jadeja is another story. When they failed, they failed together.
It's clichéd but it has to be told: the better team won. Those who have been viewing the recent success of West Indies through Chris Gayle only must take note. They are a complete team with competent players. They managed without Gayle's contribution. Had Lendl Simmons not been lucky with those no balls, they'd have still outdone India. While it was a credible team performance for India too, the Windies proved to be several notches higher.
Here's something for India to ponder. The pecking order in T20 cricket has changed. England, New Zealand and the West Indies have now emerged as superior teams. They come much higher on the scale of collective ability. All of them have found their own formula for success in this format while India appears jaded in their approach.
It's heart-break time for all. It should be introspection time too.
Updated Date: Apr 02, 2016 08:48 AM


text:
i'd like to sit down and draw for a few hours and let all the weight of my thinking mind be still for a while. it feels like a burlap bag loaded with large rocks that sits perched on the top of my head. these rocks make sleeping unconfortable and i shift back and forth trying to get a better position. (this situation is made worse by a bed that was designed in the 1800′s, the kind with a mattress perched high atop a set of thin springs, making the slightest move like surfing rapids. my husband and I are taking turns on the couch so we can at least get a few hours of shuteye a night. i am still undecided which is better, the bed or the couch, they each present their own set of problems. couch=slope. bed=bounce. slope or bounce? bounce or slope? i spose the overactive brain doesn't help the situation.)
but all of this is normal as I am finishing up the book manuscript. not having a real "home" currently (we don't move into the house until October), i am trying to find the right place to work. nothing feels right. i put a cold piece of pizza into a plastic bag and throw it into my carry all. i now flit from cafe to library to park. i'm not going back (allowed back) to the apartment until i complete ten pages.
i need to just get down to it, but i'm fighting it today. like i so often do. every time this happens i think…"this time i won't be able to do it."
but i always do. it will all get done.
as always i have found the perfect quote for the occasion, (leave it to Corita to soothe my creative brain and let me know that i am exactly where i am supposed to be)…
"I have an idea for making something or i have a deadline…and i always have a kind of natural resistance to getting down to it. Somehow I feel that this kind of natural resistance is quite healthy–because all the information, sources and ideas need cooking before they can be served. So I go on living and I go on doing what might seem to be very uncreative things like shopping or cooking or washing the dishes or answering the phone or writing letters–and sometimes the data comes out and asserts itself into my consciousness, and i live with it for a while." ~Corita Kent (from "Learning by heart")
i now summon the bookwriting gods to come and help me. i'm not sure where the best place to contact you from is but i am planning right now to go eat my pizza on the grounds of Russel Sage.
just so you know.
and i'm wearing my green shirt with the white flowers.
and my red sneakers.
just so you know.
ten pages.
how 'bout now?
1:21 pm
I hope the book gods come down to help you today! I can so relate. It's amazing who important things like the laundry can be when you have to – really have to – get some writing done.
2:02 pm
I hope the bookwriting gods have found you. If they haven't yet, I'm pretty sure that they will in the end. Love the quote from Corinta Kent. It's about the part that I find hard to do: just let it be for a while.
2:46 pm
I can imagine that not having a "home" right now is really ungrounding. it would be for me. it is hard for me to create when I don't have a proper space to be in and it also takes me awhile to feel settled into a space.
but then I wonder if this kind of situation strips away all the distractions and you are left with only what you have to do, kind of like when I have traveled and only had my little rolly suitcase, I was so much more *present* where I was just then. no fun papers and art supplies and books to play with. just life.
no matter what be gentle on yourself. you are in fantastic transition!
3:53 pm
You are wonderful! Thank-you for such a beautiful, inspiring site!!!
4:26 pm
I know they'll find you. And we'll all be better off for it. :)
7:48 pm
Good luck with the 10 pages, Keri! May the bookwriting gods find you, red sneakers and all. As for the sloping couch and the bouncing couch…just imagine how great your own bed will feel after you move into your new house this October! I don't think I'll be sleeping a wink tonight, either, as I'm heading up to Canada tomorrow morning – yippee! Oh Canada! I'll raise a cup of Tim Horton's coffee in a toast for you while I'm there, Keri. :)
9:03 pm
Keri ~
Could you take mattress off those springs and place it onto the floor? Surely that would be more comfortable. Or maybe use a futon on the floor?
Blessings ~ Kaye
10:34 pm
Keri, I love Learning By Heart soooo much, thanks for reminding me how much. I re-read it every so often and buy copies to give to my friends. I do wish it would come back into print!
Looking forward to your new words, in the meantime I hope you can get some sleep!!!
kind regards,
~Jodi Lynn
11:18 am
I am so very grounded these days (and that's not a bad thing, oh no) but I wish to feel a little less grounded. the flitting from cafe to park to library sounds so absolutely deliciously lovely to me right now, I could cry.
(I perhaps missed the point of this entire post. however, I wish for you ten splendid pages of writing)
3:00 am
Movement is good way to jog the noggin..You must concentrate on your frontal lobe and peer into the thoughts of quantum physics..this was mentioned in a video I just rented called'" What the Bleep do we Know..Down the Rabbit Hole"..one of the most thought provoking films I have seen in a long time..In the meantime Miss Troy inhabitant.. I do wish you quantum leaps in your book conciousness and more cups of hot jasmine tea..sweetie.
From the old greyhair..Khani
8:34 am
I suggest you sleep on the ground. it is ok. I always sleep on the ground.
12:06 pm
hi keri
i stumbled on your blog and it has been a whilwind ride for sure. i bought your book and have read it several times through. all i can say is you seem like the kind of person everyone is searching to have as a friend. you really have the "living in the moment" thing down and i am so glad i have been able to benefit from your ideas. hang in there, these are tough times for sure. seems like everyone is trying to find a way to make a living, find a place to live that isnt too crowded, trying to make a positive difference in a complicated yet exciting world.
2:33 pm
I'm heading out today, too. To write. To be alone. Just to be. Much luck and speed on those ten pages.
6:24 am
sending you book writing vibes
5:45 pm
Hope the pages got done. Is that Sister Corita Kent, printmaker and wise woman from that quote? I had a sudden rush of remembering her work…
10:24 am
Oh my! So glad to know that I'm not the only one with that "natural resistance" to the creative flow. Thanks so much for sharing that quote. It made me instantly feel better!
10:46 am
Another great post. I am going through a period of feeling punished yet knowing this is the way it has to be. The positives can be hard to hold onto at times like this.
6:34 am
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3:59 pm
hi keri! you know, this may sound weird but..have you thought of turning your blog into a book or zines and selling them? it's all there and done and waiting to be printed..you know? it may sound like a dumb idea nowadays since there are so many blogs online, and we've relegated them as being ephemeral i suppose, but i think of the journal of a solitude book and the sabrina ward harrison books — i'd like to read your blog from the beginning without having to be on the computer. and you do so many great illustrations..i'd like to have a bunch of your online pictures in print on my shelf. like the moonlight chronicles! anyway, i just thought i would throw that out there. best of luck to you guys. :)
6:06 pm
You are so cute!


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Yoga Styles Posted By : Mayk Zolinski
The various styles of yoga that we have come to know about are rather recent developments. If we have a look at the root of yoga we will discover that they have all evolved from one single form. In fact the three proponents of the most popular styles of yoga – Iyengar, Astanga, and Viniyoga – had the same person as their teacher, Krishnamacharya. Similarly, the other two major styles of yoga – Sivananda and Integral were again developed by student of another teacher Sivananda.
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A massive Star Wars X-Wing spaceship has landed on New York's Times Square.
Well, not quite. It's actually a replica of one flown in the famed movie franchise and represents the largest model ever made by Danish toy company Lego.
Unveiled Thursday, the spectacular structure consists of more than 5.3 million of the company's multi-colored plastic bricks, weighs almost 46,000 pounds (20,865 kilograms) and took 32 builders about 17,000 hours to put together.
"I built pretty big things with Lego, but this is the biggest ever," said Lego master builder Erik Varszegi at an unveiling ceremony in the iconic Manhattan square that drew a crowd of curious onlookers.
"It's a life-size version," he added. "That means the same scale it was built for the film."
Used by Luke Skywalker to destroy the Death Star in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, the X-Wing model promotes the premiere of "The Yoda Chronicles" the Cartoon Network next Wednesday.
Its creation and transfer to New York is movie material in itself.
It began to be assembled a year ago in the Czech Republic before being transported by ship to the United States.
Once on American soil, it went to a warehouse in the state of New Jersey where — in three separate parts — it spent the last leg of the trek to Manhattan in a truck.
The model will stay in Times Square until Saturday before taking off again for the Legoland California Resort on the outskirts of San Diego, where it will be on show until the end of the year.
A George Lucas creation, "Star Wars" has achieved cult status since its 1977 premiere.
The movie, which launched the career of a young Harrison Ford, was soon followed by the equally popular "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983).
In the late 1990s, Lucas drew mixed reviews when he resurrected the blockbuster series with a prequel trilogy: "The Phantom Menace" (1999), "The Attack of the Clones" (2002) and "The Revenge of the Sith" (2005).
Walt Disney Company announced plans to revive the series in October, when it bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion. Sci-fi and action filmmaker J.J. Abrams will direct "Episode VII," scheduled for release in 2015.


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As this training is subsidised by the NSW Government, there is no cost to you. We will be running our Pre-Apprenticeship Program starting in November 2018. Please register your interest below to be the first to know when the dates are finalised.
Do you meet the criteria?
The dates for non-VET student programs are as follows:
Group 1 - 12 November – 7 December
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Group 3 – 7 January – 1 February
If you can commit to the 4 week program and meet the criteria above, call us on (02) 8586 3533 or complete the form below and we will be in contact.
02 8586 3555


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Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts on Tuesday thanked everyone for the messages of support she received in the hours after she announced that she is battling MDS, or myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare disease of the blood and bone marrow.
"I slept like a baby last night for the first night since my diagnosis," she said, at the top of Tuesday's show.
"My family and I are overwhelmed and comforted by the response from everyone," she added.
Since the announcement was revealed on Monday, Roberts, 51, has received well wishes from everyone from Katie Couric to First Lady Michelle Obama, who tweeted yesterday, "Barack and I have you in our prayers. We believe in you and thank you for bringing awareness and hope to others."
Roberts added she also had a "lovely conversation" with Ann Romney, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998.
Robert's diagnosis comes just five years after she successfully completed treatment for breast cancer. She joined Good Morning America in 1995.
MDS, known also as preleukemia, occurs when blood cells fail to reach a mature state, and remain in the bone marrow. The disease can lead to anemia, rapid bleeding or severe infection when the defective cells outnumber the healthy cells.


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Afternoon Links of Awesomeness: Tuesday Nov. 15, 2011 [1]
Is There Room for Religion in New Anti-Bullying Legislation?
In light of Lady Gaga's new campaign [4] to combat bullying, plus the passing of Michigan's new bullying legislation [5], a recent post on Get Religion asks [6]: "Would anti-bullying legislation forbid us from talking about our religious views?" With ambiguous language used in the new proposals, the deeper question about the nature and definition of bullying has begun to surface.
Reality TV's Latest Sensation: All American Muslim
TLC's newest series, All-American Muslim [7], depicts the lives of Muslim-American families as they "struggle to balance faith and nationality in a post-9/11 world." After the first episode aired, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer writes on Religion Dispatches [8] that when the media isn't talking about Islam and terrorism, they're talking about Islam and the role of women (which was the subject of the first episode). In her evaluation of the new series, Abdual Khabeer critically engages it, exposing its troupes, praising its strengths, and looking toward a future of conversation. For more coverage on All-American Muslim, see the CNN clip below.
Hunger and Hunger-Related Illness Fuels 'God's Love We Deliver'
Calling all New Yorkers, this weekend Race to Deliver is hosting its 18th annual God's Love We Deliver [9] run in Central Park. The race is meant to be a symbol showing the collective efforts of those uniting to combat hunger and hunger-related illnesses. While registration is closed to participants, many runners are seeking support monetarily, physically, and spiritually.
Health Care Meets Occupiers Right Where They Are
While universal health care is yet to spread across the nation, a group of physicians in the New York are providing free medical care to the occupiers (and pets) in Zucotti Park. In a recent commentary [10] on this action, Good editor Cord Jefferson writes, "It's all a far cry from a functional single-payer health care system, of course. But it's evidence that a dedicated group of people willing to sacrifice some time and money for the sake of others can benefit the well-being of everyone." Meanwhile, the occupiers are heading into their second month of residency in New York City.
Chocolate University Harvests Community
Chocolate University [11] – a small collective of artisan chocolate enthusiasts – takes cocoa and justice seriously. Located in Springfield, Missouri, the small organization imports its beans directly from farmers in the Philippines, Tanzania, Ecuador, and Honduras, allowing them to use single origin cocoa beans for products while also partnering in fair profit sharing for farmers, communities, and neighborhoods. Students at the U.S. program also reach out to educate their local community. At Pipkin Middle School, students interact with the university to form a connection with Malagos Elementary School in Davao, Philippines. Read about the unique effects [12] this program is having in their community and in communities around the world.
Bill McKibben's Theology of Stewardship
Last weekend activist Bill McKibben spoke with Religion Dispatches [13] about environmental stewardship. On Sunday, surrounded by thousands of people at the White House opposing the construction of the Keystone pipeline, McKibben shares: "I don't worry all that much about the theology. Everyone can easily see a justification for getting involved in this fight, whether it's stewardship or love of neighbor. And once someone is actually actively engaged in the fight, the theology starts to follow. Praxis, as they say. You break away from being I-dolatrous (which is the basic problem here, I think) when you engage in common action, shoulder to shoulder." Click here for more on the Keystone Pipeline [14].
Three Cheers for God!
The latest debate intersecting the realms of American sports and Christianity is over Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and his frequent, and some might say excessive, public expressions of faith. Tebow has been attracting enormous coverage on ESPN, but more recently in the New York Times [15]. Read an evaluation of Tebow's religion and its media coverage via Get Religion [16].
"I'll Be Your Friend, I'll Help You Carry On..."
And in case you missed R.E.M's Michael Stipe, producer/musician Brian Eno, and comic virtuoso Stephen Colbert sing "Lean on Me," the break-out trio give their take on the classic neo-spiritual on last week's Report. See the video below.
Joshua Witchger is a web assistant at Sojourners.


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Lil Wayne wasn't having it while in a deposition for a lawsuit, providing sarcastic answers to questions and vaguely threatening the lawyer by stating that "he can't save you in the real world."
During an interview with Booska-P (via HHNM), Fif mimics Weezy's responses, repeating what he said word-for-word before cracking a smile at the end of the clip.
The 25-minute interview also sees the G-Unit boss touching on possessing Gunplay's chain, liking Drake's music, making peace with Fat Joe and more.
Watch the full interview below and skip to the end of the second clip to see him imitate Wayne.
RELATED: Shyne Alleges 50 Cent Cooperated With Authorities To Bring Down Irv Gotti


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Rosholt in Talks with Kansas Commission After DQ Loss
Jake Rosholt maintains that his foul on John Ott was unintentional. | Photo: Keith Mills/Sherdog.com
Jake Rosholt believes that the incorrect call was made in his last fight, and he's looking to right the wrong.
The Texas-based UFC veteran was disqualified in the third round of his 200-pound catchweight contest with John Ott at Titan Fighting Championship 18 last Friday, May 27, after landing was what was interpreted to be an intentional, illegal knee strike to the head of the kneeling Ott. Despite dominating his opponent from start to finish, Rosholt walked away from the bout at Memorial Hall in Kansas City with a loss tacked to his record.
Since that time, Rosholt and his management have been in talks with the Kansas Athletic Commission in an effort to overturn the decision. Rosholt has admitted in interviews that while the strike was clearly illegal, it was just as clearly not intentional, and he therefore should not have been disqualified. Rather, the bout should have either been ruled a no-contest or gone to a technical decision based on the completed rounds.
While Rosholt's camp is serious about changing the decision, they have not yet filed a formal, written appeal with the commission.
"We're just talking," KAC Boxing Commissioner Troye Blackmon Wednesday told Sherdog.com, also explaining that there could be no discernible timetable for the commission's ruling since the appeal has yet to be put into writing.
However, Rosholt told Sherdog.com that he was prepared to do what was necessary to have the loss removed from his record. If a formal appeal is required, then the fighter asserts he will act accordingly.
"I'm not trying to make a big spectacle of it," said Rosholt, "but there's definitely an appeal [of the disqualification]. If I need to sign my name to something, then I'm going to do it."


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YESRs—where and why they're available
October 2005
PAP/NGC Programs Review
William D. Tench, MD
The year-end summary reports, or YESRs, for 2004 for nongyn and gyn cytology
programs are now on the CAP Web site. They are an integral component of the
CAP-sponsored interlaboratory peer comparison programs in gyn and nongyn cytopathology.
The information they contain sets these programs apart from proficiency-testing-only
Each report contains a summary of the laboratory responses to all of the testing
challenges throughout the year and provides useful information for establishing
benchmarking and individual laboratory performance. In addition, the nongyn
report includes an analysis of the responses for two specific organ systems,
thyroid and lung, and identifies potential problem areas in diagnoses in these
organ systems. The online report makes this information readily available to
all participants, and it mitigates the problem of paper reports becoming lost
in disorganized offices.
These reports can be accessed through the CAP Web site by (1) entering "Year
End Summary Report" into the search box at the top right corner of the
Web site and subsequently selecting the search result option "Cytopathology
Resource Committee" which includes choices for each of the individual
reports, or (2) selecting "About the College" in the tool bar at
the top of the page, then selecting "Committees/Councils" from the
options on the left of the page, followed by selecting "Cytopathology
Committee," and scrolling midway down that page to each highlighted separate
Each report contains a significant amount of data and may require patience
to download onto your computer, even through a relatively fast connection. That
patience is rewarded by the ability to save a copy of this report into a readily
accessible folder on your own hard drive, relieving you of the need to keep
an organized and space-consuming paper file.


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Answered By: Janie Rager Last Updated: Oct 12, 2016 Views: 22
Answered By: Janie Rager
Last Updated: Oct 12, 2016 Views: 22
There are 3 group study rooms available on the second floor that will accommodate a maximum of three people. Ask for the key
at the Public Services Desk. They can be used for a 4 hour period.
There are 2 study rooms on the lower level that do not require a key. All rooms are first come, first served.
There is an Instruction Lab on the lower level that accommodates 20+ people and can be booked in advance. It also has a key and can be used for a specified period of time.
The classrooms on the second floor are booked through the Registrar's Office. Students can use these rooms in the evening or weekend as long as there are no conflicts with class times.


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Sneak Peek! Check Out These Three New Clips From Tim Burton's 'Alice In Wonderland'
Off with her head? We hope not! We can't wait to see more of Alice and her crew in Tim Burton's wacky live-action revamp of Lewis Carroll's classic children's book
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would," Alice (of Wonderland) says in Tim Burton's version of Lewis Carroll's classic novel. And yeah, that pretty much sums up the movie itself.
The creatures and people of Wonderland get the full Burton treatment, and succumb to his particular brand of whimsy. In these three clips from the film – which hits theaters March 5 – Mad Hatter Johnny Depp (looking all Edward Scissorhands-meets-Sweeney Todd) takes Alice, played by newcomer Mia Wasikowska, to his rather unconventional tea party.
In other words, Alice in Wonderland looks totally freakin' awesome. We can't wait! Can you?


text: It's been a busy summer on the farm, and suddenly fall has arrived. This seems to happen every year! The lady ducks are doing awesome and loving this warm days/cool nights time of year- check out their eggs on a special at the Wedge Co-op this month!) The organic pastured broiler chickens are growing plump (I will have extra dressed […]Read more


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Write to Read Featured in East Bay Express and East Bay Times
Write to Read (WTR) is a literacy program that raises teens' reading comprehension levels up 6 grades. On average, teens enter the program with a 5th-grade reading level and by the end of the program, they reach an 11th-grade reading level. Students depart the program scoring at a level that prepares them to tackle high-school level reading and gives them an opportunity to further pursue education and employment goals.


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Civil service. It evokes images of inefficient agencies manned by slackers nestled in a bureaucratic bosom. They are virtually impossible to fire, their pay far exceeding their abilities.
But there's another view: Civil service shields competent public-sector workers from politics. Not much would get done if personnel churned with each election, and imagine the corruption, supporters say, if every worker were hired by the mayor.
Most state workers are protected by civil service, along with workers in 20 of New Jersey's 21 counties. But only 193 municipalities, out of 566 in the state, use civil service.
Republicans, led by Gov. Chris Christie, believe civil service — created before labor unions and strong workplace laws — has outgrown its usefulness and interferes with common-sense management. They want to allow towns to opt out, by ordinance or referendum, as part of the property tax tool kit.
Some mayors say civil service is redundant (because of other protections), costly (because it impedes firing a lousy worker or transferring a good one) and regressive (because it thwarts shared-services agreements between towns with civil service and without). "It's a noose around the neck of every public official," says William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
Republicans see the corruption argument as a red herring and ask: Why isn't corruption rampant in the 373 municipalities that don't have civil service?
Still, Democrats insist that, without civil service, everyone from dog catcher to administrator could be vulnerable to political house-cleaning. They say if mayors want to share services or merge, the civil service hurdle can be — and has been — cleared.
But even civil service supporters admit it needs an overhaul.
Hazy disciplinary rules must be sharpened and the hearing process streamlined. Employees deserve due process, but towns deserve speedier decisions. Rulings by an administrative law judge can take a year or more. Tack on more time if there's an appeal.
This year, 711 cases were opened, 623 were cleared and 665 are pending in the Office of Administrative Law. Judges are treading water.
The CWA, the state workers union, has quickened its grievance process, which could be used as a municipal model. Cases are fast-tracked to mediation and, if there's no settlement, arbitration within 90 days. Those decisions are usually rendered within 30 days. An arbitrator's decision is final; no appeals. Speedier resolutions and fewer lawyers mean less back pay and less legal fees.
In crafting new civil service rules, bumping rights should be loosened, job titles reduced and tests toughened. When nearly everyone can score 100, the best candidate to hire or promote doesn't stand out.
Towns should be able to opt out, but only by referendum. Let voters, not mayors, decide. But before that happens, the governor and legislators should overhaul civil service for communities that might want to keep it.
Taxpayers can decide if civil service stays or goes, but they should vote on an improved model.