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Innovative '32 Roadster From Johnson's Hot Rod Shop
It is truly amazing when you start to figure out how many hot rods that start out one way end up going in a totally different direction before getting finished. The number has to be in the high 90 percentile. That fact in itself is not a bad thing, unless someone gets caught up in a multi-year build and ends up with a mis-match of parts and themes. But the ability to refine and adapt as you go along usually means you're thinking about what your car is going to look like when you're done, and by staying focused it usually works out in the end.
The problem is when you're a rather creative individual, it's hard to leave well enough alone and just build a car but, when you have tied your livelihood into the project too, well then it's darn near impossible not to fiddle around with what's in front of you.
Such is the case with Alan and Angie Johnson, who run the well-known Johnson's Hot Rod Shop in Gadsden, Alabama. We say well-known because if you've been following hot rodding at all in the past 15 years you've either read about or seen at least one of their cars. A builder of last year's Ridler winner and recipient of multiple "Street Rod of the Year" accolades as well as many automotive magazine articles and covers, the varied cars that come out of the Johnson facility all have one thing in common: They are stylish.
But in an effort to educate his wife, Angie, on what it really takes to put a hot rod together, Alan Johnson worked out a plan for her to help build a highboy roadster that would eventually be used as her everyday car-something that could be driven without any worries that a more delicate high-maintenance machine might have. Angie also wanted to learn about rods as she didn't like being left out of the conversations when her husband would talk business. Plus she felt she needed to be better educated on how all the parts worked together when she would talk about parts to customers on the phone. When the project started, she took an active interest in welding by watching the guys in the shop, and then she picked up a MIG gun and learned how to do it (and liked it!).
When we asked Alan to describe how this car came about, and how it changed along the way, this is what he told us: "It was going to be a training tool to help Angie, and my parts manager, Shane, become more familiar with the parts and the processes required to build a car. They helped with the initial planning of the car, working at night and on the weekends for a couple of months during the initial mock up of the car. But, as it normally happens, all of our customers' cars took priority over any work happening on our own roadster. As the car sat with no work being done to it, the more I looked at it the more the original plan of building a simple Deuce roadster changed. I could see several unique parts being developed for the car and, in turn, making the parts into production pieces for us to sell. These items would set the car apart so it wouldn't be just another black '32 roadster, and they would have to maintain a traditional look and feel to go along with the build style of the car.
"The ideas started with the front radius rods. I saw the parts could be machined from billet aluminum, but made to look like an original wishbone that had been split with the seams welded and holes added. We made a couple of trips to Monterey, California, for the annual Pebble Beach Concourse and the historic races at Laguna Seca. I had seen several late '30s to early '50s European race cars and sports cars that had several items that I wanted to incorporate into our roadster.
"The road race tires on most of these cars had the same overall width and height of a Firestone or BFGoodrich bias-ply (that you would find on any traditional hot rod) but the tread pattern and sidewall had a very different look. Most of these tires are no longer available or, if they were, were not DOT legal for street use. When I first saw the Excelsior tire from Coker Tires I knew that was the tire I wanted to run.
"The hood louver idea came from the late-'30s Alfa Romeo, which had long tapered louvers in the hood top and sides. The first time I saw one I wondered why no one had ever done this with a '32 Ford. Later, I found out why, after Angie and I punched the louvers on the Pullmax it flattened out the hood top. The only way to get the correct curvature back was with hours-make that days-of hammering and stretching the louvers to allow the hood to go back to its natural shape.
"The nickel plating influence also came from these cars, and on Angie's roadster this was expertly handled by Jon Wright's Custom Chrome in Grafton, Ohio. Most of the European race cars I'd seen used either nickel or some type of bluing for a finish on any suspension or chassis part. Other influences came from the Doane Spencer roadster. I like the overall look of the Spencer roadster with the bobbed rear and no fuel tank, but I didn't want a rolled rear pan. I like the low-slung look of some of the channeled dry lakes roadsters, but I didn't want to lose the framerail detail or have the tire higher than the wheelwell arch just to get the right stance.
"I thought if the frame was kicked up in the rear to nearly touch the rear body panel it would get the car sitting lower with the tall rear tires. Then the 'rails could be bobbed and I could fab a curved spreader bar that matched the shape of the rear body panel to finish off the rear without using a roll pan, and small corner pieces could be made to finish off the outer framerail to the lower quarter-panel. This led to raising the rear wheelwells 2 inches and moving them forward about an inch to keep the area between the main body line and the wheel opening body line from getting cramped.
"The '36 roadster dash-to-door sweep is a copy from the Spencer car also. The elongated vent in the seat was something I saw in an early '50s Ferrari race car, and the leather strap for the hood side was also from the same car. I wanted something different for the interior of this car and I knew I wanted a minimal amount of material. The painted border on all of the interior panels comes from a '60s-era VW.
"When all of this was being fabricated I didn't know what I would do with the insert panels as I really didn't want to upholster them, so that was left for later as the car was being completed. Before the car was finished I saw a new Harley-Davidson Road Glide motorcycle that had a flat finish unlike anything I had ever seen, and it had the feel of rubber or velvet. After doing some research I found the supplier for the clear, which was called velvet touch. It worked out well giving a different texture to the inserts without covering them in cloth or leather. The dash concept was to use early '50s Ford components, including a '52-53 Ford gauge cluster (reworked by Classic Instruments), along with some raised detail areas around it the way a '32 three-window had, and making one of the raised details a glovebox door.
"The steering wheel design is a combination of many late-'30s European cars, as a lot of them had the multi-leaf-type spokes and most had a wooden ring. I liked the look of the center hub that I'd seen on a '30s Talbot Lago, but I wanted the painted grip and hub look of the late '30s to early '40s Ford steering wheels. And this wheel is one of the items we developed to sell over-the-counter at our shop. The rear sway bar comes from these same cars. Most of the street rod sway bars are too narrow to work well and the look doesn't belong on a traditional car. These race cars had splined sway bars that were as wide as the chassis and mounted as wide as possible to the straight axle. I just designed a splined sway bar arm that complemented all of the other suspension parts with the holes. The sway bar connector links-another item we now sell-are the same dog bone shape as the stock '32 Ford shock links."
The roadster body itself came new from Brookville Roadsters, but in pieces rather than as a complete unit. That way Alan had a chance to rotate and move the quarter-panels the way he wanted before he assembled the body. Along with the work to sweep the door tops onto the dash top, the dash was lengthened top to bottom to accommodate the larger instrument cluster. All of the metal fabrication was done in-house by Johnson crew members Tony Inman, Cirilo Garcia, Galdino Garcia, and Alan Johnson, with special metal finishing accomplished by Anthony Myrick.
The chassis uses American Stamping 'rails and boxing plates, but the 'rails are pinched at the cowl, the framehorns thinned up front, and the rear section kicked, shortened, and reshaped. The front crossmember is flat, while the center crossmember is made from 1 1/2-inch round tube with integrated driveshaft loops added. A Posies Model A rear crossmember was also used in conjunction with one of their Super Slider Model A springs, and it's the same type of spring used up front.
Other steering and suspension parts consist of a Borgeson box, Super Bell spindles, a Magnum 5-inch dropped axle, Pete & Jakes shocks up front and Bilsteins out back. Alan made (and now sells) his own aluminum radius rods, which not only come pre-drilled with lightening holes but one specifically placed so you can slide a tie rod through to connect the spindles. Heath Griffin had done all the machining on these parts when they were being developed, and they're now offered through their Perfection Hot Rod Parts by the Alan Johnson line. The 15×5 and 16×7 steel wheels came from Wheel Vintiques, and are wrapped with Coker/Excelsior rubber, and are topped with '39 Ford hubcaps.
The upside to building a car like this is you get to experiment with design and see how all these different elements look together. The down side is the original concept for the car, to build a simple everyday roadster for Angie, went out the door many months ago. But the finished product has garnered a lot of attention for Alan and his shop, and we know Angie is already looking for another project to call her own. The '32 Ford roadster is her favorite car, and the three things she wanted in a roadster (a Flathead motor, steel wheels, and a Rodwell windshield) all came to fruition, but the rest of the car exceeded everyone's imagination. So she hasn't given up on having her own roadster, but she knows it just may take a little more time to build just a simple one.


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Christopher Nickens knows his Hollywood celebrities, having penned bios of Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando and others.
He had no intention of writing about Marilyn Monroe — a subject he thought had been done endlessly — until watching a "Project Runway" episode when the contestants had to create a look inspired by Monroe, Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Kennedy. "I realized no one had ever done a book just about Mondroe's style, but there she was, considered an icon," Nickens said in a phone interview from Los Angeles.
Nickens collaborated with George Zeno, an illustrator who has spent more than 50 years collecting photos and memorabilia about Monroe, to write "Marilyn in Fashion, The Enduring Influence of Marilyn Monroe," (Running Press, July). Using photos, her film work and press materials, Nickens and Zeno were able to chronicle the star's style evolution from her humble beginnings as Norma Jeane Baker through her careful study of modeling and acting, to her transformation into Marilyn Monroe, actress and movie star. We're freshly aware of her on the 50th anniversary of her death. She was just 36 when she died on Aug. 6, 1962.
One of the reasons Monroe looked phenomenal in photographs was that she carefully learned the tools of the modeling trade, Nickens said. "She applied herself at Blue Book as if she were on scholarship at Harvard." She began modeling as a teen and her agent was among the first people to refine her look, teaching her to pose and lightening her hair. "She got much more work as a blond," he said.
"She was always very aware of how she looked," Nickens says. "There's an early family photo of her posing in bathing suit, standing on her tiptoes. She's someone who realized very early on how she presented herself was a ticket to some sort of success. She learned everything she could — she always knew where her hands were. I think she was instinctive about a lot of things."
From her platinum hair and the beauty mark above her lip to her skintight dresses and sexy sandals, Marilyn Monroe had the sexy market cornered.
How much of her fashion image was designed for her by the movie studios, how much was her own? "It was a combination," Nickens said. "Once she began to create the Marilyn Monroe persona, she worked very hard at refining what was best for her. She liked working with designers like William Travilla, who understood her. They were open to her suggestions."
But she also frustrated them by demanding her clothes be so tight, he said. Monroe often wore her movie outfits in her personal life, and since they were tailored for her, they fit immaculately. She also modified outfits to increase their sex appeal. "The studios were in charge but she was a rebellious girl and pushed the boundaries to separate herself from the other starlets," Nickens said. "Sometimes they were pulling their hair out."
Monroe was instructed to wear something modest when performing for President John F. Kennedy's 44th birthday celebration, but we all know that the Jean Louis gown was among the most risque dresses of all time, given the setting and occasion. In thin, nude fabric fully embroidered with rhinestones, the scoop-neck backless gown fit Monroe like second skin, and indeed, she wore nothing under it.
As Monroe's career took off, she was able to use her sex appeal but maintain her elegance. "Stars like Jayne Mansfield were vulgar," wearing too much makeup and jewelry as well as their sexy dresses, Nickens said.
George Masters, a noted hair and makeup artist of the era, told Nickens that Monroe would get ready for an appearance, then take one more look at herself in the mirror and whatever hit her eye first, she'd remove, such as jewelry.
"She was lovely naturally," Nickens said. "You'd see photos of her wearing just light lipstick. She didn't need a lot of makeup and she used it to enhance rather than look artificial."
Monroe worked with a number of studio designers, makeup artists and hairstylists. "She kept people close to her that she knew and trusted and they were happy to do it, to create this fantastic girl," he said.
But she also branched out, discovering such designers as Emilio Pucci, whose fabrics and patterns she loved.
Nickens says Monroe's style lives on in part because she died so young, at age 36. "Dying young and beautiful, we have Marilyn preserved," he said. "She will be that way to us forever."

subset: commoncrawl


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Minus is an excellent online storage service which gives you a very useful 10GB of server space, then allows you to upload files with drag-and-drop simplicity.
The process starts by creating an account at Minus.com. Don't worry, there are no lengthy forms to complete, in fact you don't even have to give the company your email address. At a minimum, just providing them with a user name and password is enough to get started.
Once this is done, install the Minus client and you can transfer files to the site immediately, just by dragging and dropping them onto its system tray icon. (Clients are available for Windows, the Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone, with Windows Phone
You can then download any of these files later, from this computer, or any of your others, just by logging in, selecting the files you need and clicking the Download link.
The system also creates a "shortlink" for each file. If you want to share one of them with a friend or colleague, just email them that link; they'll be able to download that file right away, but won't have access to anything else in your account.
Alternatively, you can make a folder entirely public, which means anyone will be able to search for and download its contents. This is perfect if, say, you've some large files you'd like to share with the world (the services supports up to 2GB files), but are worried about the bandwidth that will require, because Minus doesn't impose any limits on the number of downloads.
The company won't delete your files, either (as long as they don't break the rules, anyway: you can't share copyrighted material, for instance). Whether your files get 1 download a second, or a year, they'll remain on the server until you choose to delete them.
And useful extras include a screen capture tool. Press your chosen hotkey, capture either the full screen or a specified rectangular area, and the Minus client will automatically grab an image and upload it to your account, ready for sharing later.
Please note, as we write there's no option to purchase extra server space, so 10GB is your maximum per account. The company says there will be options to add more free space soon, though, so if you can live with 10GB for the moment then we'd say give it a try.
If you find the usual 1 or 2GB of free online backup space offered by other services isn't enough, then you'll like Minus. 10GB for free is much more generous, and the client is easy to use, if a little RAM-hungry (it required more than 60MB on our test PC).


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Fetch! With Ruff RuffmanPart game show, part reality TV, and part spoof, FETCH! features real kids, real challenges, real science, and an unreal host named Ruff Ruffman (yes, he's an animated dog!)
Visit the Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman website
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Delia TS spreads her legs in a suggestive manner!
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Delia TS bends over in her tight white pants!
Delia TS shows us her sweet ass and cock!
Download all of her photos and videos at DELIA TS


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USA's Muno and Sponcil claim ticket to Youth Olympic Games
Fajardo, Puerto Rico, December 8, 2013 – United States' Suzanne Muno and Sarah Sponcil edged Canada's twins Megan and Nicole McNamara in three sets 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 16-14) booking tickets to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China as winners of the NORCECA Central Zone Girls' Qualification Tournament on Sunday.
"Winning a spot to the Nanjing Games is awesome," Sponcil said after the match. "It was a great experience and we liked the environment. I also want to thank NORCECA for organising this tournament."
"It is the first time we have been in a qualification tournament and we were decided to leave everything on the court," Sponcil added. "We really never thought about the score."
In their semifinal match, they had to battle hard to overcome Puerto Rico's Lina Bernier and Eva Torruella winning 2-0 (29-27, 21-16). The McNamaras defeated Mexico's Diana Valdez and Stephanie Burnside 21-11, 21-17.
Despite the loss but as runner-ups, the Canadians will have a last chance to qualify for Nanjing at the NORCECA Final Qualification Tournament next March where all the silver and bronze medalists of the four zonal events will compete for two remaining spots at the Games.
In the match for third place and a spot the final confederation's tournament, Valdez and Burnside edged Bernier and Torruella in three sets 23-21, 13-21, 20-18.
Girls' Results
Semifinals: CAN d MEX 2-0 (21-11, 21-17), USA d PUR 2-0 (29-27, 21-16)
Bronze Medal Match: MEX d PUR 2-1 (23-21, 13-21, 20-18)
Gold Medal Match: USA d CAN 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 16-14)
Final Positions: 1. United States, 2. Canada, 3. Mexico, 4. Puerto Rico.
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Hiddenbrooke Golf Club is secretly tucked into the Solano County Hills, in beautiful Napa Valley, surrounded by our acclaimed 18-hole signature Arnold Palmer Golf Course.
Hiddenbrooke offers unparalleled vistas of Northern California with oak-studded hills that lends itself as a picturesque location for your wedding ceremony and reception. A wedding reception celebrates life's most joyous occasion. Hiddenbrooke offers personally designed weddings, from cocktail receptions to sit-down dinners. Our catering staff will execute the fine details of your wedding from initial planning to last minute arrangements.
What does Hiddenbrooke offer that no other facility can? We provide a 6-hour exclusive use of our 5 site package including the bridal room, lounge, reception area, buffet, dinner and dancing areas. In addition, there are 3 furnished outside decks for guests to enjoy the golf course views.
Our Facilities & Services
Relish our superb Northern California cuisine prepared by our own Executive Chef. Dine in our exquisite dining room, for formal or casual breakfasts, lunches and dinner banquets, with a panoramic view of the 18th fairway. All this in one convenient facility. Our skilled meeting coordinators will handle every detail, from soup to nuts. We offer complete banquet services for weddings, rehearsal dinners, anniversaries, and other social events.
Hiddenbrooke Golf Club is SO beautiful!! You have to see this Venue! It is Incredible!!


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|Egg and pesto on grilled gluten-free toast.
Egg + Pesto on Grilled Toast Recipe
4 slices of your favorite gluten-free bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as needed
Prepared Basil Pesto
4 fresh large organic free-range eggs
Sea salt & fresh ground pepper
Shredded Parmesan, or vegan shreds, as needed
Lightly toast then grill the bread in a large skillet with enough olive oil to coat both sides of the toast.
Grill till sizzling and golden.
In the meantime, in a separate skillet, fry the eggs to your liking- over easy or sunny side up. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
Spread a generous slather of pesto on each grilled toast. Top with an egg and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Serves two.
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During National 4-H Week Oct. 7-13, Brunswick County 4-H youth and seventh-grade students from Shallotte Middle School participated in the 4-H National Youth Science Day Experiment.
Youth enhanced their engineering skills by learning to think like robotic engineers, assembling their own robots, also known as Eco-bots, and control surfaces in order to manage an environmental cleanup.
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When is a deleted file actually removed from your device, or at least when does it become unrecoverable? It turns out that this question isn't always easy to answer, nor is a secure file deletion easy to achieve in all circumstances.
To better understand this we have to start from the basic principle that when you delete a file on your computer you are only deleting the pointer to the file, not the actual data. The data on your hard disk drive (HDD) is stored magnetically in sectors on platters that spin round inside the HDD (we'll come onto SSDs in a bit). So, how does the computer know where to look for your file? It has a table of indexes such as the File Allocation Table (FAT) or Master File Table (MFT) in NTFS. When you delete a file in your OS, all you are actually doing is removing its entries from the table of indexes so your OS can't find it any more and doesn't know it's there. However, all the data is still stored on the disk and IS STILL RECOVERABLE! Tools like Piriform's Recuva can scan your disk for orphaned files and file fragments and allow you to recover them.
So, how do you actually securely delete a file so that it is unrecoverable? The most common way to securely delete a file is to overwrite it one or more times with other data before removing the entries in the index table. Different schemes for overwriting the data exist from NIST, the US DoD, HMG, Australian Government, etc. These usually consist of 1-3 rounds of writing all zeros, all ones or random patterns to the sectors, i.e. physically overwriting the data on the disk before 'deleting' it. There are many tools available to securely delete files and securely wipe drives according to these requirements.
Excellent, we've solved the problem of secure file deletion. Or have we? Well, no. There are usually some hidden areas of drives such as bad sectors that haven't actually failed, Host Protected Area (HPA), Device Configuration Overlay (DCO), etc. Interestingly, with DCO it is possible that you have a significantly bigger HDD capacity than is reported by the drive. Some manufacturers will sell bigger HDDs with the capacity artificially reduced for a variety of reasons. However, the important point here is that there are areas of the drive that you cannot normally access, but that may contain remnants of your data.
What of Solid State Drives (SSD)? Are they easier or harder to securely wipe? It turns out that they are much harder to wipe. SSDs can store your data anywhere and the controllers are programmed to 'wear' the drive evenly by keeping track of areas that get a lot of use and moving data around on the drive. So, assuming you keep roughly the same file size, when you edit your file on an HDD the original physical sectors will usually get overwritten with the new version. However, with SSDs, it is likely that the new version will be written to new areas of the disk, leaving the originals intact. It is very difficult to know where an SSD actually writes your data. They also have many hidden areas as above as well as capacity used to cope with failing sectors or evening up the wear. The long and tall of it is that if you use software to overwrite the file, like you would on an HDD, you probably haven't overwritten the data at all, but you will have reduced the life of your drive.
So how do we secure delete a file on an SSD? There aren't that many manufacturers of SSDs and most of them provide utilities to securely wipe their drives using the ATA Secure Erase (SE) command, which is a firmware supported command to securely wipe the whole drive, releasing electrons from the storage cells, thus wiping the storage. That's just wiped our whole drive though; how do I wipe just a file? Well, you can't really. You either wipe the drive or don't bother.
There is a 'gotcha' here as well though. I said earlier that there aren't many SSD manufacturers, but if you go to buy one there seem to be loads. Well, people like HP and IBM rebrand other people's SSDs (I believe they use Crucial). What's the harm in this? Well, they will sometimes re-flash the firmware to have their own feature set. That means that the original manufacturer's Secure Erase software may not work on them and the IBMs and HPs don't always provide an alternative (other than the traditional overwriting you would do on an HDD).
There must be something you can do though, surely? Well, yes there is. If you first encrypt your drive, or use file-level encryption, then the data that is on the drive should be unrecoverable (assuming you haven't stored the keys on the drive as well). This is actually your best bet for an SSD, but also does no harm on a traditional HDD.
OK, so if I want to get rid of a drive that is End of Life, what should I do? If it's an HDD, you should secure wipe it by overwriting the whole drive several times as described above, degauss it (i.e. using electro magnets to wipe the magnetic data on the platters) and then shred the drive. Yes, I did say shred the drive... into tiny pieces. You can get some impressive machinery to do this, or use a service to shred them on site for you. What about SSDs? Use the ATA Secure Erase function from the manufacturer's software and then shred them as before (just make sure the shredding process actually destroys the chips so they can't be re-floated onto another board to read them).
Sunday, 8 May 2016
File Deletion versus Secure Wiping (and how do I wipe an SSD?)
Posted by Luke Hebbes at 23:03 0 comments
Labels: digital leakage , Encryption , file deletion , secure file delete , SSD
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January 18, 2012
The Long Goodbye- Part 2
I'll confess, with no shortage of shame, that I had been putting this off for more than three months and am only writing it now because the Sundance Film Festival is starting tomorrow and some may be wondering why I won't be covering it. You see, I have retired from film writing; for Film Freak Central and a little less definitely for my personal website I Viddied it on the Screen. I had been going in this direction for a while, I fear. It's too difficult for me to get up at five in the morning, work all day, and then come home to write. Furthermore, it became too difficult to justify spending my free time writing. This work is rewarding, but it is work and I guess that I reached the point where the payoff didn't really warrant the effort. Most of the time, it's a struggle knowing that my wife was in the other room watching television and instead of joining her I was on the Word Processor trying to sort through my feelings about THE BABYSITTERS.
I tried, but never could figure a way to balance work, family, and this. But the actual cataclysmic event was being accepted into a part-time Master's program for social work. I've always seen film criticism as kind of a romantic dream job, not all that different from wanting to be an actor or director actually. Or a painter or novelist. Social work was kind of a synthesis between that romance, the social worker is at heart a kind of bohemian after all, and some kind of grounded pragmatism. No, it doesn't really pay all that well, but it IS a real career. But social work really isn't a compromise for me. All those years I covered Sundance, I came to realize that the people I was really jealous about weren't paid film critics, but LCSWs. After only one semester, I've realized that this isn't even just a career for me. It's making feel... whole in a way that no other career ever could. When I die, I don't know if I will look back on this life as being one of accomplishment. But I do know that I will be able to say that I was there when other people were at their worst , I was there when I was at my worst, and I never hid from any of it.
Maybe that was what I was trying to get at in writing about movies. I was trying to be honest and develop a real set of values that spoke truthfully of my own feelings and attitudes. And maybe I felt that I wasn't getting anywhere because I was dealing with the shadow of reality instead of the reality itself. That's just my best guess at this point. You could probably argue me down from it.
I feel pretty confident in saying that Korine and Morrissey have a more accurate understanding of poverty than DeSica or Rossellini. It's not a tragedy, it's a tragicomedy. To some extent, it's a cartoon. There was one boy I worked with that I don't think I will forget. He was a tall, skinny, "African-American" was lazy eyelids and big donkey teeth. He was always talking. He talked so much that you could see white stuff form in the corners of his mouth. He would ask female staff if they "had any black in them" and said that he was going to go into porn because you don't need to be good looking you just need to be well-hung. When the patients were allowed to make their own pizza he asked for one with chicken wings. At one point he asked me if "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" was based on a true story. I am not making any of this up. None of it. I occupied the same physical space as this person. Am I racist for noticing him? Obviously, he is not representative of all black people and obviously he is an outlier. But I tell you that he exists and I'm not going to pretend that he didn't exist. I wonder though, maybe it's not political correctness that keeps people from acknowledging his existence. Maybe most people aren't very film literate and don't understand the tradition that he comes from or they haven't learned how to regard other people as abstractions. See, I don't really know. I'm still working through this.
This really does feel like I'm breaking up. I have written about movies for almost half my life and it's hard to think that I'm really giving it up. It's been part of my life for so long and I don't think that it will really ever fully get out of my system. These last three months I've felt the itch quite a few times, but I've notably never quite worked my way to scratching it. I think this is all for the best.
18 comments:
- Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:59:00 AM EST
- Jack Sommersby said...
Best of luck to you, Alex. I've considered hanging up the reviewer gloves up myself, but I write for a site that lets me review as frequently or infrequently as I want, and I can concentrate on older obscure titles while the others do the new releases and film festivals. Then again, I don't have a career like yours that definitely takes a lot of time and mental energy; in fact, I don't even have a career, to tell the truth! I've learned a lot about writing from your extraordinary reviews, and though we'll always disagree on the merits and demerits of "Pulp Fiction", "The Shining" and "2001", I can always look at your opposing views and ask myself, "Hmmmm, maybe I'm missing the boat on this?" I especially love your unrivaled analyses of all the "Friday the 13th" films, and you're the only critic out there who even *remotely* makes me think I should give Kormine a second chance -- no small accomplishment, this!
Take the best of care, thanks for setting a great example for the rest of us critics with your stellar reviews, and also for sticking up for me on a blog some years ago when someone accused me of being a contrarian, when I'm far from that.
You're a real class act, amigo.
Jack Sommersby
- Friday, February 3, 2012 at 3:32:00 PM EST
- renfield said...
Mr. Jackson, yours has been a truly unique and valued voice in film criticism, and will be missed. Like the above poster, I have you to thank personally for introducing me to Korine, perusing AOL message boards as a young man and scared out of my mind by the possibilities of cinema. I have made a point of following your work since then. I think you are more open and self-aware about what assumptions you bring to your filmgoing than any other film writer I'm familiar with.
I hope films will continue to surface, perhaps on rare occasion, that you simply cannot help but engage with the pen, and that we will see your thoughts from time to time on the Viddied site.
- Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 4:22:00 AM EST
- Ricky Bobby said...
This is sad. Ian is MIA, Walter's mostly working on "Miracle Mile" greatness (can't wait, BTW) and now no more Mr. Jackson?!
I return to your Kubrick reviews often, Alex. I'll re-watch "2001" or "Full Metal Jacket" and then have to jump back on Film Freak Central and continue that open dialogue with your work. It's that insightful and a pleasure to read. Thank you.
Also, if someone on this site doesn't tear "War Horse" or "Tintin" a new asshole soon I'm gonna have a hissy fit. We get two Spielberg's in one month and neither are reviewed?! Arguably the greatest director of all time while also paradoxically the most disappointing and nada?! Please remedy this immediately. I nominate Alex Jackson. That is all.
- Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:46:00 PM EST
- Jack Sommersby said...
I've also missed a review of Fincher's "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
- Friday, February 10, 2012 at 6:53:00 PM EST
- Bill C said...
@Jack: Will try to rectify that when the BD comes out. In all sincerity, things are hopelessly fucked up right now and we're doing the best we can.
- Friday, February 10, 2012 at 7:44:00 PM EST
- renfield said...
Bill, why has Walt's Contagion review been removed from the site? Or did I hallucinate its existence?
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 4:20:00 AM EST
- renfield said...
Um....sorry, I found it in the video reviews. I feel ashamed.
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 4:22:00 AM EST
Triple post but fuck it. I thought maybe Chaw's ridiculously distasteful comments regarding the glee he took in Paltrow's death. So according to his interview with Charlie Kaufman, Walt views women as another species. And he explicitly fantasies about murdering at least one of them (we can assume he has similar feelings towards Penelope Cruz, non?). And he's in love with the children in Kick Ass and Fright Night? Jesus guys!
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 4:31:00 AM EST
- Bill C said...
@renfield: The "children" in FRIGHT NIGHT? You mean 23-year-old Imogen Poots?
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 3:29:00 PM EST
Right, the age of consent is 17-18. My bad, it's clearly perfectly okay.
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 5:32:00 PM EST
- Bill C said...
How old does a woman have to be before you can publicly admit she's attractive? 30? 50? 100?
Frankly, your original (well, third) post is a weird little ambush and I don't really get where it's coming from.
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 5:40:00 PM EST
I do not mean to troll. Am I totally off base to be concerned by a thread of misogyny I perceive in Walter Chaw's rhetoric? Perhaps I am being severe to the point of rendering my points unfounded. Chaw is one of the writers who got me into film criticism, and I've been in a number of conversations in which I found myself defending certain comments he's made, but it seems to be a little out of hand. You yourself chastised him re: the Cruz comments.
Maybe I'm just bringing my own hang-ups to the table. If so I apologize. I know bad juju is not what the site needs at the moment.
- Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 6:22:00 PM EST
Uh, renfield, can we please keep this blog focussed on Alex's unfortunate-but-understandable departure? If you want to indulge in a flame war with Walter, you can always e-mail him and go about it that way.
- Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:20:00 PM EST
Good luck with your future adventures, Alex. And thank you for putting up on your site, the only two film essays, I ever wrote. I liked what you had to say about "shadow of reality", a realization I came to myself a while back. I discovered that there is no profundity to be found in the "shadow", especially if it is your own. That you find by living in the big nasty world. TC.
- Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 10:36:00 AM EST
damnit, i have a ton of your review essays collected in a binder that i still look at now & again; i keep checking back at 'i viddied' for a fresh one. This sucks, though that 'shadow of reality' stuff is truer than ever for me too
- Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:50:00 PM EDT
Free Movies Online for free on your PC and Laptops.Get the best quality video and resolution on the quality of the movie,
- Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 12:06:00 AM EDT
want to see movie of your choice go and do visit http://movie72.com/escape-from-planet-earth-movie/ to get movies of our choice.
- Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 1:21:00 PM EDT


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Should your business be revoked, voided or on the inactive list,
you may reinstate it through the online
reinstatement service which begins with the annual report
filing. To enter the online system, you will need your corporation
identification number and the month and year the business entity
was originally formed or authorized to do business in New Jersey.
business types EXCEPT for-profit corporations will be able to
complete the entire reinstatement process online. If your business
is a for-profit corporation, you will be able to submit delinquent
annual reports and reinstatement forms and fees online. Since
all profit corporations must obtain a tax clearance certificate
before reinstating, an application and instructions for requesting
a tax clearance certificate will also be provided in the online
session. You will be notified of the reinstatement after the
Division of Taxation issues the required tax clearance certificate.
you have any questions regarding the reinstatement process,
you may call 609.292.9292 for assistance.


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Top-Rated Naturopathic Clinic & Chiropractor in the Plymouth Area
Your Wellness Journey Begins at DHS
Diverse Health Services is a naturopathic care practice helping those in the Plymouth area reclaim their health and discover more energetic, focused, and pain-free lives! Michigan's leading holistic health care professionals, Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D and Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP are dedicated to helping you achieve your optimum wellness through education, healthy alternatives, chiropractic care, and nutritional guidance.
Our successful naturopathic care practice focuses on prevention, treatment, and optimal health through a variety of methods that promote our body's inherent self-healing process. We offer better health and a better way of life by teaching and practicing the true principles of alternative health, whole food supplements, and chiropractic wellness care. If you are looking for all natural, alternative health services to treat common ailments, lose weight, reduce joint pain, promote healthy skin, reduce prescribed medicines, treat sciatica, or back and neck pain, call Diverse Health Services.
Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D
Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D is a graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic and has had a local private practice since 1981. He has "Diplomat" status in the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and is a member of the International Pain Control Institute. Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D has a Ph. D. in Clinical Nutrition.
Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D has a highly successful local private practice in Novi, Michigan and is highly renowned all over the country for his staggering results in chiropractic and alternative treatment. He has utilized the CRA method in his practice and has become a master of the technique.
He lectures for hundreds of people interested in alternative health. His first audiotape, "Kill the Cravings" has already made it around the world! His lectures continue three times every year and his past lectures are available on YouTube and DVD.
Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP
Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP is a Chiropractic graduate of Life University in Marietta, Georgia and has been an associate with Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D since 2009. He utilizes CRA (Contact Reflex Analysis) for assessment and diagnosis both in Chiropractic Care and Nutrition. Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP is also certified through the Functional Medicine University as a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (CFMP). He is pursuing a Diplomat in Nutrition.
He is very active in his community and lectures on various health topics several times a year. You can find his recent health lectures on DVD at the office or on YouTube via the Diverse Health Services website. Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP is also a member of the South Lyon Business Network International Group and Michigan Association of Chiropractors. His passion is alternative healthcare and he strives to change the mindset of people by getting them to think outside the box.
Chiropractic Care Services in the Plymouth, MI Area
Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D and Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP are highly knowledgeable in vitamins and minerals and are constantly researching new studies regarding health. With the help of technology, we have become a worldwide practice, helping patients in Australia, England, Sri Lanka, China and beyond via SKYPE appointments. We believe in educating our patients so both doctors hold free public lectures throughout the year. Our lectures are also available for viewing on YouTube.
We strive to treat each patient with the right protocol dependent on their health issues. Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D and Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP believe in targeting the cause and not the symptom. Unlike other alternative care offices, we avoid the cookie cutter module that can put patient care in the wrong direction. Health issues come from the whole body and not just the spine.
Spinal and Chiropractic Adjustments
Also called spinal manipulations, the goal of chiropractic adjustment is to relieve pain and improve your body's physical function. Our doctors provide the finest chiropractic adjustments and wellness care to our patients. We provide advanced spinal correction utilizing "state of the art" chiropractic techniques. As a Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D has 35 years of training and experience in spinal adjustment.
Nutritional Consultations & Naturopathic Care
Blood tests, hair analysis, individual genetics, medical history, and medical procedures all play a part in a patient's health. Dr. R.E. Tent, D.C., N.D., Ph.D and Dr. Jeff Senechal, D.C., CFMP investigate each individual patient's medical background in order to treat them in the best way possible. With a variety of whole food supplement options, patients are cared for with an individualized protocol. Using whole food concentrates, we are able to treat patients without the adverse side effects of prescription medications.
Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA)
Contact Reflex Analysis involves the system of fuses or breaker switches called contact reflexes. Contact Reflexes are so unique that we are able to monitor the function of each body system and/or organs merely by contacting these electrical contact points and testing them by a new muscle testing technique.
Why do our patients value Diverse Health Services?
"Dr. Jeff is incredible. By far the best chiropractor I have ever been to. The follow up after you receive care is impressive. It is obvious that they are passionate about helping their clientele, not just collecting their money. Also the first chiropractor that I have been to that did not try to pressure me into dozens of future appointments. I felt better after my visit with Dr. Jeff than I had felt in years." Kirk Lanam


text:
Holiday Networking Tips
The holidays provide ample opportunities for advisers to network with prospects. Here are a few tips on how to do so successfully.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... the rarer the room ... Heidi primetime for advisors network ... here to give us some tips is copping Cuts Carol Ward ... said Carol's so often people to a cocktail party with the intention of networking and the mullet they start talking to someone they start looking around the room ... to talk to someone and felt that the band room that is that it's also a networking mistaken such a networking stink if you're making a connection with the person ... you're talking to you lost the potential for a client and colleague ... maybe even a friend ... on contact and staying focused on the person in front of you ... he's one of the key strategies ... for good networking ... is also open ended questions can help an advisor ... open ended questions which are who what where when why and how as a journalist you know when you're reading story you ask those questions ... he keeps people from having limited answers ... saying to someone ... you like your job ... or my answer yes or no but you could say something like ... that you get into that appeal to ... reach the last person to talk more hoops than allows you to listen for information ... that you have in common ... forms of rage ... then you have that connection ... you can springboard from that connection going forward ... to potential business together or to have a potential client ... as of late it's ... also another thing that offer for some people ... gracefully leave a conversation especially if you wanna have a follow up with that person the BBB of a potential client cutting into that and and a nice way ... it's important to say ... that it's been a pleasure speaking to you ... I'm going to have ... come to work with some other people ... like to stay in contact with you here's my business card me I have yours ... to walk away this is he ... on the back and that this is hard ... to write down ... any thoughts that you haven't got that connection not just what they do ... something that you discuss so that we need to follow up ... you could say it was a pleasure talking with you that your ski trip in Vermont I enjoyed scheme to ... meeting the future we can get together talk about doing business together support such a hard sell them to reach an update that ... it had a scare off your Wellcome ...


text:
I brought back Cowbirds in Love after it being down for a year, and the xkcd forum had always been a good source of support back in the day so I figured I'd say hi.
If you haven't seen the comic before, I just made a new new reader guide to introduce new people to the comic.
Cowbirds in Love returns
Think your art is better or your stick figures worse? Got a link to a site you want to share? Post it here!
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Translation Disclaimer
Report malfunctioning City-owned street lights by calling (510) 981-CITY (2489) or by submitting a request through the Online Service Center. It is helpful if you can provide the street light number (4-5 digit alpha numeric) which is located on the street side of the pole, vertically, at approximately 5 feet from the ground.
Unfortunately, we do not have the staff power to keep a continual watch on all City streets. When there is a problem, we appreciate your bringing it to our attention. Please submit an electronic request through the Online Service Center or call Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489) as soon as possible.
Please call Animal Care Services at (510) 981-6600. Additional information is available at www.CityofBerkeley.info/animalservices/.
If you see oil, caustic items, or any other hazardous liquids going into a storm drain, please report it by calling Toxics Management at (510) 981-7460.
Please call Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489) as soon as possible. If you want to ask for a new sign to be installed or have other traffic control questions, please contact the Public Works Transportation Division at (510) 981-7010.
You can take these items to the City's Transfer Station at 1201 Second Street. These items require an additional special handling fee to recycle. These fees and additional information can be found at www.CityofBerkeley.info/contentdisplay.aspx?id=5710. For additional questions, contact Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489).
Please contact Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489).
Call Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489) with your name, address, and telephone number to order a plant debris cart.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) provides water service to residents of Berkeley. If you have a concern about water leaking on your property, a broken water main or a hit hydrant please call EBMUD's 24-hour customer service line at 1-866-403-2683. EBMUD is responsible for repair of leaks on the street side of the meter and the meter itself. Any pipe repairs on the customer side of the meter are the responsibility of the customer. Additional information is available at their website at http://ebmud.com/customers/water-leaks-frequently-asked-questions.
If the water has a sewage odor or is the result of a rain storm or an unknown source, please call Customer Service at (510) 981-CITY (2489).
The Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront Department is responsible for maintaining City street trees. Call the Parks Division Field Office, Forestry Unit at (510) 981-6660 or send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com to request this service. More information is available at www.CityofBerkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=8832.


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MOTU Updates Performer, Plugs
MOTU showed off their new plugins on a new version of Digital Performer (that thing is still around???) — some high quality stuff. Directly competing with Apple's built-in plugins for Logic Pro, MOTU's line of plugins features the following:
Electric Keys, a low latency 40GB keyboard sound library of electric pianos, organs, clavs, tape samplers, string machines and more classic and vintage instruments. Nearly all are sampled at 24 bit, and the plugin is 256-note polyphonic, and is complete with an effects rack and amp simulator.
BPM, which looks remarkably similar to Apple's drum sequencer, gives you the ultimate rhythm programming experience. Includes plug-and-play support for hands-on pad controllers like the Akai MPD32, which is good news for many sample pad enthusiasts, but now with unlimited sample layers per pad (or as much as your computer can handle). Awesome tool for electronic music performance and beat sequencing.
Ethno2 delivers stunning ethnic and exotic instrument sounds from Africa, Asia, Australia, India, South America, and more. I may have to buy this just for the penny whistle and Celtic instruments, and the Flamenco Percussion and guitars.
I didn't get to hear the Symphonic instrument, and I have a hunch that it may fall a little short compared to other libraries (ie Vienna and EastWest). If you've heard it, let me know what you think.
BigFishAudio and Vir2 Instruments Ready to Release Electri6ity
Electrici6ity is the most epic electric guitar virtual instrument to hit the market (ok it's not out yet, but get ready). This awesome instrument contains some of the most advanced, detailed, and versatile collection of guitars ever. The plugin features the Strat, Tele, Les Paul, P90, Rickenbacker, Danelectro, ES335, and L4 and uses 24-bit samples from each, with three pick up options for each. Every, and I mean every fret of every string was sampled for this library. Downstrokes, upstrokes, ghosting, mutes, hammer-ons, slides, pulloffs, and more are included for every guitar. Articulation and Velocity morphing adds depth and seamless transitioning between effects, while the advanced AI adapts to your playing, allowing for fluid lines, 2000 different chords and positions, and more. If you sequence guitars, this one is a must have.
Piano Sounds from Synthogy
If you're looking for some fresh Piano samples that hit the spot with realism and features, you have to check out Synthogy's new Ivory II virtual instrument. Featuring tons of pianos and synths from uprights to grands to synth combos, this piano instrument has half-pedaling, pedal noise, lid position effects, tuning tables, and even sympathetic String Resonance. Check it out at Ilio.


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About PCGS
Find out what PCGS can do for your coins
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) represents the industry standard in third-party certification. When you choose PCGS, you get:
- Impartial grading and authentication by the world's top experts
- Incomparable value – PCGS-certified coins are known for realizing top prices
- Everything you need to know about coin grading
The PCGS Story
In 1985, a small group of the nation's leading coin experts recognized that for the rare coin industry to realize its potential, some serious problems needed to be addressed.
Market participants soon became aware that one of the fundamental factors of determining rare coin values is the physical condition, or grade, of the coin. But due to the absence of a universal grading standard, they were caught in the middle of divergent definitions.
The PCGS Guarantee
The PCGS Guarantee of Grade and Authenticity is fundamental to our concept of third-party grading. The cash-back policy ensures the accuracy of the grade assigned to any PCGS coin as long as it remains in its tamper-evident holder.
As the owner of a PCGS-graded coin, the customer will have the benefit of PCGS's Guarantee of Grading Accuracy and Authenticity and each PCGS Authorized Dealer will accept the grades assigned to the coins by PCGS.
Need Help?
Site Map
A useful guide to all areas and pertinent topics on PCGS.com
A comprehensive list of frequently asked questions and their answers.
Contact Us
PCGS Customer Service lines are open Monday - Friday 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
In the U.S. call 800-447-8848
Outside the U.S. call 949-833-0600
E-mail: [email protected]
Mailing Address:
Professional Coin Grading Service
P.O. Box 9458
Newport Beach, CA 92658
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT), the leader in third-party authentication and grading services for high-value collectibles including rare coins, trading cards, tickets, autographs, and memorabilia.


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Oracle Application Express 4.2.1.00.08 has just been released and is available for download. The patch set can be downloaded from My Oracle Support (search for patch# 14732511) and the full distribution is available on Oracle Technology Network.
In the APEX 4.2.1 Patch Set Note you will find the 120 bugs which got fixed and also other interesting information like the known issues.
Have fun upgrading!


text:
Inspired by "Between the Lines" from designer Mabeth Oxenreider
Quiltmaker: Laura Boehnke
General Tip
The featured large-floral border print has the olive floral stripe actually built into the fabric. If you're using those exact fabrics, cut large-floral print strips 11x64-1/4" and eliminate olive floral sashing.
1/2 yard light green tone-on-tone (blocks)
1/3 yard mottled beige (blocks)
1/3 yard dark rose tone-on-tone
2/3 yard rose large floral (setting and corner triangles)
1/2 yard beige floral (setting and corner triangles)
1/2 yard pink tone-on-tone (sashing)
1/4 yard dark olive tone-on-tone (sashing)
5/8 yard olive floral (sashing, binding)
2 yards tan large-floral border print (border)
3 yards backing fabric
54x72" batting
Finished quilt: 47-3/4x64-1/4"
Finished block: 4-1/2" square
Quantities are for 44/45"-wide, 100% cotton fabrics. Measurements include 1/4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated.


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Aubrey Mecham and Brady Sanderson announce their marriage on Friday, August 5th in the Bountiful Temple. Aubrey is the daughter of Glen and Carol Mecham of Morgan. She graduated from Morgan High in 2007 and Utah State in 2010 with a Bachelors degree in Human Resources and minor in Business Finance. Brady is the son of Derl and Laureen Sanderson of Brigham City. He graduated from Box Elder High in 2007 and shortly after served in the Missouri St. Louis mission through fall of 2009. He currently attends Utah State University. The couple will reside in Logan. For those who wish to celebrate with them a reception will be held that evening from 6:30-9:0pm at the Mecham residence.
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At a press conference in Santa Monica on Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced a new suite of products including the new Kindle Paperwhite and three versions of the Kindle Fire HD (for a full list see this post by Forbes' Eric Savitz).
While the new Paperwhite e-reader includes impressive features like front-lit technology and 62 percent more pixels than its predecessor, the Kindle Fire HD stole the show. Features of the new and improved Kindle Fire include:
The Kindle Fire HD brings Amazon in closer competition with Apple's iPad. The biggest difference is now price. Bezos showed a slide at the event comparing one model of the Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE capabilities and 32 gigabytes of onboard storage with the iPad 2 32GB 4G model. The total yearly cost difference (including a data plan) of the two devices was $549 (Kindle Fire HD) versus $959 (iPad 2). That's a $400 savings.
But what does this mean for the future of e-reading? Are e-readers just a passing fad? An "intermediate technology" between the print book and the "everything in one device" tablet?
Tech writer Devin Coldewey explored this idea in a recent post for NBCNews.com:
"… e-readers survived as a device class by focusing on one form factor and one purpose. Just as PCs coalesced into the desktop form factor in the '80s because it was the best option at the time (laptops were enormous; tablets were science fiction), e-readers did what the market demanded of them and the result is that the devices we know as e-readers have an incredibly narrow definition.
But the desktop PCs of yesteryear are increasingly anachronistic in a world where smartphones, tablets, ultra-light laptops and so on, are usurping their functions. And e-readers will have to make similar adjustments, because they can't stay replacements for paperbacks forever."
Amazon clearly hasn't given up on the e-reader yet. But the emphasis on tablets, which are becoming increasingly affordable, means more choices for the consumer.
Consumers will have to weigh the costs and benefits of having "everything they need in one device" while paying a bit more versus having a device exclusively for reading but one that maintains that "focused environment" inherent in print books. It's a competition between convenience and discipline--and Amazon now offers a suite of viable options for both sides.
Amazon seems sensitive to issues relating to focus and distraction, at least where children are concerned. It added a feature that allows parents to control how much time children spend on various media, from videos to games, while letting them read as much as they want.
But whether adults are willing to place the same restrictions on themselves remains to be seen. As the tablet wars continue, and devices intended exclusively for reading are traded in for multimedia entertainment systems, what will the future of reading look like?
Follow me on Twitter: @julietvbarbara.


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Looking for outsource 3D modeling company.
Who do you use for outsourcing 3D modeling?
Who do you recommend?
3d visualization
Comments and discussions about Premiere, After Effects and other video applications
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Re: 3d visualization
I think Archicgi is what you looking for.
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Risotto. It's earned the reputation of being difficult to make and, truth be told, I've mucked-it up more times than I care to mention. Before trying this recipe, my little arborio rice dish never came out right. It was always far from the creamy dish it should have been. Without fail, it would come out pasty and goopy, and quite frankly, not very edible. The outcome was always the same: hot mess.
But my dear friend Charlotta put me onto this recipe, one that she said was fool-proof. And indeed it is. It comes from The Gorgeously Green Diet and I've made it three times...successfully! Whooo-wee. The white wine and the dried mushrooms give the dish so much flavor-- and I just top it off with a little olive oil, shaved parmesan and lemon juice.
Like many risotto dishes, this recipe uses dried mushrooms instead of fresh ones. That's because the water used to rehydrate (reconstitute) the dried mushrooms adds so much flavor to the dish (I added the mushroom-infused water toward the end of the cooking process). I used porcini, portobello, hen of woods and "forest blend" so far, but next time I think I'll add some fresh chantarelles as well.
You can make this risotto with confidence and without fear that your culinary efforts will result in a mushy mess. Then pour yourself a nice glass of chilled white wine and enjoy.
Bon Appetito.
Serves 4-6
1-ounce package mixed dried mushrooms
About 1 quart vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 3/4 cups risotto rice
2 wineglasses (dry) white wine
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Freshly grade Parmesan cheese
Put the mushrooms in a measuring cup and cover with 2 cups of hot water. Set aside.
Pour stock into a medium saucepan and heat gently. Keep warm over low heat.
In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the rice, turn up the heat, and stir until the rice looks translucent (mine never got completely translucent--but close). Add the wine and stir until almost evaporated.
Now you are ready to add your first ladle of stock (you never leave a risotto- it needs to be nursed!). Keep stirring as you add more and more stock, waiting until each addition is absorbed until you add the next ladle. After 15 minutes, taste to see if the rice is cooked; if it needs more time (and mine did), add a ladleful of the water that the mushrooms have been soaking in. The risotto is cooked when the rice is slighly al dente. Take it off the heat and stir in the mushrooms and butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste, spoon into bowls, and top with a generous dusting of cheese (I added a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of lemon juice too). Enjoy!


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Up 2,146 this week
Richard Lester (I)
Richard Lester was one of the most influential directors of the 1960s, and continued his career into the 1970s and early '80s. He is best remembered for the two films he helmed starring The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (1964) (1964) and Help! (1965) (1965), the frenetic cutting style of which was seen by many as the predecessor of the music video a... See full bio »
Born:in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA


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#retirement villages
# retirement-villages - Saturday 15 December, 2018
Government wants building of old age retirement villages to begin by November 2019
A recent PAC report said it is not clear that the cost of care in public nursing homes is providing value for money to the taxpayer.Share47 Tweet
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THE LEAKING OF the UK government's plans for a no-deal Brexit have laid out the potential for a hard border in Ireland and protests and food shortage in Britain.
The news came as there were reports that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was laying the groundwork for a general election. Johnson reportedly favours an election day after the Brexit date of 31 October.
In Ireland, Fianna Fáil leader has said his party would not spark a general election until the picture on Brexit becomes clearer. This could be complicated if we get another, longer, extension to Brexit.
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Translating well-known books to Irish could be the best way to get pre-teen bookworms learning Irish.
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Saturday, December 12, 2009
W. Eugene Smith at war
This month's Salon Section features outstanding photographs taken by Gene Smith, twenty-five-year-old war correspondent. They were selected from the seven hundred pictures which Smith made during a period of nearly eight months, much of which time was spent aboard a carrier. A feature article describing his experiences in the South Pacific appears in conjunction with this selection of dramatic pictures.
Camera on a Carrier
W. Eugene Smith, War Photographer in the South Pacific, flew 15 times against the Japs
By JOHN R. WHITING
THE radio compartment of an Avenger is not a very good place for a photographer. It's too narrow to move around in; there's no place to sit down; there's very little room for cameras. But if the Avenger is flying over a Japanese-held harbor and there are a few holes cut in the Plexiglass housing, and the pilot banks to a good camera angle over an exploding tanker--it'll do.
W. Eugene Smith, twenty-five-year-old war correspondent, found these things out about Navy planes in combat over Tarawa, Truk, Kwajalein, Eniwetok and Tinian islands. He found out about darkrooms aboard aircraft carriers, how close an aerial camera will focus, and how cameras stand up under combat conditions.
When he started from the Pacific Coast for Hawaii, Gene Smith had two Ikoflexes, a Rolleiflex, a 4 x 5 Graflex, a Speed Graphic for color and another fitted for aerial work, a Contax with five lenses, and a Kodak Medalist.
Eight months and 700 negatives later, Gene came back to the mainland for repairs. One camera had a jammed shutter, one was smashed internally, two wouldn't wind film, two had sprung boxes, several wouldn't focus properly, and one leaked light through a bent shutter leaf. The record of the experiences of those cameras--and of W. Eugene Smith--is a photographic story, an aviation story, a human story.
The record begins on the day when the Public Relations Officer of CINCPAC (Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet) at "Pearl," as they call it in the Navy, called Smith in to say: "Tomorrow you go to sea. Be here at two o'clock with a minimum of essential equipment." That night Gene checked his cameras over for the thousandth time, counted out his film and flashbulbs, and incidentally packed the extra khaki shirts of his war correspondent's uniform. He looked over his credentials as a photographer for Flying, Radio News and POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, sister magazines of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, wrote last letters home to his mother and his wife, and finally decided he was ready.
It was only when the launch had taken him to the side of the slim gray ship that he knew he was assigned to a cruiser for his first trip. A routine patrol cruise: Smith photographed scout planes landing on the ocean, taxi-ing up to the ship, being hoisted aboard by a crane's steel fingers.
Far from the Japs, life seemed so boring that the crew seizcd upon the crossing of the equator for a high celebration. Gene photographed shaving of heads, mock trials, King Neptune in a paper crown, and all the other age-old high jinks of the sea. He tried to protect his camera from salt spray as the sailors crossing the line for the first time were initiated with a fire-hose shower. Just in time he handed his Ikofiex to an officer as a yelling mob of sailors decided to put Smith through the same ceremonius roughhouse he had just photographed!
That night, in his cabin, an unoccupied corner of the Admiral's suite, he cleaned his salt-sprayed camera inside and out with an oily rag, wondering if he ever was going to see a battle. If you had told him that in the next eight months he would cross the equator another forty times and usually be so busy looking for Jap planes that he wouldn't even think of the Shellback rigmarole, he wouldn't have believed you.
It was September 18 before Smith saw action, as his cruiser steamed along as protection for carriers attacking Tarawa Island, still Jap-held. His battle station was the searchlight platform, with hand-lines around it. Gene fell off, and his Speed Graphic and Graflex took a 15-foot drop to the deck. When the damage was checked over the Graphic was way out of line and the Graflex had lost ground-glass and mirror and its lens had rolled across the steel deck--but the lens was still intact.
"But I'm still not getting battle pictures," Smith was saying to himself.
For his next cruise he drew another ship, a small carrier in a task force. When he asked the captain of his carrier to let him fly in the first big-scale American attack on Wake Island, the answer was always, "I'm sorry. Not this time."
So Smith watched the planes lined up on the flight deck, stood in "air plot," the tactical headquarters for the planes, as they took off on the famous Wake raid of October 6. He was shooting Hellcat takeoffs with his Rolleiflex when the film-winding mechanism broke. Another camera down, but all he had to show for his work so far were pictures of planes with folded wings; of destroyers coming alongside with bags of mail, of bombers and fighter planes heading out into the sun, bound for strikes against the Japs that he couldn't watch. Once he flew a patrol flight.
This still wasn't battle action, and the first thing Smith knew, he was back at "Pearl," waiting again for his next ship. But plans were changed and it didn't come in. Instead, one Saturday night he got a call to repack his equipment, cutting out all surplus weight, and report to the offices of Naval Air Transport. Sgt. Johnny Bushemi, Yank cameraman, helped Smith pack his cameras, lenses, bulbs, and film.
A long overwater flight in a giant PBY, a short stay at a tiny port "somewhere in the South Pacific," and finally Gene saw his ship coming into the harbor--a trim new carrier of the Essex class, the most significant ship of the war. This was to be Smith's home for the next four months; aboard her he was to pick up some of the fine points of being a war photographer, such as stowing cameras in different parts of the ship in case a bomb hit knocked out one set of his equipment; in her darkroom he was to stay up many nights developing aerial photographs of some of the most violent American strikes against the Japanese islands.
The carrier moved out to sea, part of a task force with a still secret mission. One day the ship's loudspeakers carried these words: "This is your captain speaking. Within 48 hours we will be engaged with the enemy. There will be more details of our mission tomorrow."
Tense, carrying at least the Contax always around his neck, Smith kept constantly "topside" (above deck) in case of action. The next time the captain spoke to the crew it was to reveal that they were going in to raid Rabaul. Once again Smith wanted to fly with the attacking bombers, hut the word was still "No. Not this time." For a short moment he was almost assigned to Plane No. 26, but once again plans were changed.
So, in the hours before the strike against the Japs, Gene Smith talked with the fourteen Navy cameramen on the ship, figured which was the best place to be during the attack, and finally measured off the tiny space on the searchlight platform (again his battle station) so that he would be out of the way of the swinging barrel of a battery of 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.
The carrier neared Rabaul, a clanging bell sounded General Quarters, a bugle blew, and then a voice over the loudspeaker boomed: "General quarters. Man your battle stations!"
The planes took off for the Jap base and for tense hours the men on the carrier awaited their return. Once Smith climbed up into the "island" and listened in on the radio as the attacking pilots talked among themselves. Once he stood down close to thc flight deck and watched a TBF coming in for a landing--the torpedo planes had run into anti-aircraft and a flock of Zeros on their way back, but as the damaged Avenger came in one hand stuck out from the fuselage, with a gunner's thumb cheerfully pointing up.
Then it happened. Dive bombers and torpedo bombers, refueled, were line up on the deck. The last of a flight of Hellcat fighters was about to take off when the huge Executive Officer of the ship rushed past Smith, saying "Get your helmet, a Jap raid will be here any minute."
Smith ran for his battle station. The last Hellcat ran down the flight deck between the anti-aircraft fire of the carrier. Thirty-five Jap dive bombers headed for the ship, black puffs of smoke specking the sky about them, shells now and then winging one.
Diving from 9,000 feet the Vals (Navy slang for Jap dive bombers) came in. The Hellcat's flaps were still down, its landing gear still unretracted as a Jap plane flashed in front of the plane. The pilot pulled the trigger and flred a short burst of his six 50 calibre guns. The Val smoked, crashed into the sea.
Ensign Billy Watts, ten seconds after his first combat flight started, had brought down a Jap plane. From his searchlight platform Smith took a picture of the anti-aircraft guns firing at a diving Val, then, seconds later, whirling under one of those 20 mm guns, he followed a bomb with his camera and as the carrier swerved, clicked the shutter just as a near miss sent a geyser of water towering toward the sky.
The AA guns swung to starboard and he heard someone yell "Torpedo planes!" Smith decided to get to the other side of the stack. He jumped the four feet from his searchlight platform, and just as he landed on the deck he saw something bright falling--his Contax had broken loose from the neck strap. By the time he got around, the torpedo planes had been driven off for at least a moment. He got his helmet and inflatable life belt, then picked up the Contax. It looked fine on the outside, but the inside was a mess of broken gears.
The attack continued for an hour. Once there were burning Jap planes on the horizon every fifteen degrees around the ship. Officially, 86 out of 125 attacking Japs were listed as shot down by planes or AA fire in the attack. Four American planes fell to the Japs; others were hit. The most tense moment in Smith's life to that day came when plane No. 26, the one in which he had almost gone up, landed with the rear-gunner, in whose place Gene wouid have flown, badly, bloodily wounded. It was weeks before he was even out of the hospital. Later Smith was to feel the same way about another piane casualty. But on this day of the Rabaul raid, it was work, work, work.
That night Smith helped the photo crew of his carrier develop their pictures until nearly 1 a.m., when he finally got a chance to load his Nikor reels with two rolls from the Medalist and two from the Ikoflex. He put the reels into the big tanks of DK-20, waited, rinsed, then fixed the film, and finally turned on the lights to look at the negative of the near-miss of a 500 pound bomb (see photograph, page 45), one of the great pictures of the war. After he had looked at the four rolls of the Jap attack, he kept on developing until 5 in the morning, finishing up all the odd rolls of film on hand. Once, whlle film was in the developer, he took a look at the inside of his Contax and sadly added it to the casualty list.
What is the photolab of a new U. S. carrier like? Five rooms, several enlargers, big wooden tanks along the walls, all on the level of the hangar decks, amidships. It's pretty much like any other commercial photolab where thousands of negatives and prints may have to be processed in a few hours.
This particular lab, like the fourteen men in the photo crew, is under the direction of the photographic officer, Lt. C. K. Eaton of Los Angeles. Lieutenant Eaton's men turn out increasingly better work, but the quality still does not suit him. Many of the men are without previous experience with cameras and not even the Navy's flne Photo School at Pensacola can make up for that lack.
Smith, asked for a critical appraisal of Navy photography, was loth to speak harshly of men who risk their lives to get their negatives, but he did have some cool comments about teaching photographers to "do things by the book," without regard to changing conditions. "Inflexibility" would be his one word of criticism of Navy cameramen. If other words could be added, they might be "lack of training in coverage; lack of appreciation for quality developing and printing; ofttimes improperly chosen equipment (of a score of Medalists aboard the ship, not one was equipped with a lens shade)." The Navy, of course, would have its side of the story in reply: the speed with which the personnel have necessarily been trained, the basic routines which secure adequate pictures under almost all conditions, the differing requirements of Navy and press photography. The Navy's pictures are military reconnaissance photos, and composition, drama, or print quality don't count one tenth as much as getting the picture, getting sharp details, and getting prints out fast. Both Smith and the Navy would agree that intelligent criticism was one way to improve Navy photography and on the other hand, that "adequate" is not good enough for the U. S. Navy.
Even with half his cameras out of commission, Smith still had his Medalist, his aerial Graphic, and an Ikoflex in working order. The aerial Graphic had been made from a regular 4 x 5 Speed Graphic, with a metal hood substituted for the leather bellows, in order to stand wind pressure. He had had a bayonet mount installed for his filter and lens shade.
Only a few days after the Rabaul raid, the carrier, in a newly made up task force, again headed for Jap territory. This time it was the Gilbert Islands--and this time his long sought permission to fly came through. Once in a TBF (Avenger), once in an SB2C (Hel!diver), Smith flew over Japanese territory. On these flights he learned how to take a pair of pliers and knock out the plane's Plexiglass housing so his cameras would have a free swing. He aiso learned that none of his cameras was really adequate for action pictures from a low-flying, speeding plane. He began to scheme a way to get around this difficulty.
Then, November 18, the bombing attacks on Tarawa and Makin Islands came to a head as the great invasion fleet moved in. They called it "D-Day," that third day of the assault on Tarawa, when bombing and shelling were followed up by the fleets of invasion barges. The water bugs waited offshore from the isiand, circling constantly, then moved in at signals, advancing upon the beachhead in waves. From overhead Smith aimed his cameras at the pattern of whitccrested wakes, at the smoking island with its wrecked piers, at the U. S. Marines who were on their way in to write another page in history. For the next five days the carrier was under attack almost nightly. They ate fast, waiting for "Betty Time," when the bombers came.
He wanted to go ashore--but the carrier's job was air cover for the landing and there was no place for a plane to land on Tarawa until the fifth day. Finally he got an O.K. from the Admiral and Lieut. Comdr. Frank Whitaker took him along in a TBF, landing on the hastily rebuilt airstrip almost on the tail of the first U. S. planes to come in.
"We're taking off in one hour. Be back here!" Whitaker told Smith who was already running towards an unused jeep. By fast talking he got permission to use it (how would a Marine lieutenant be able to foretell that Smith would run it into a shell hole and knock out the brake system in five minutes?).
Smith's Tarawa shooting cannot go on the "famous" list, for the Marine photographers who had landed two days before--some even taking color movies, two giving their lives--made the immortal pictures of that action. But he did record the gutted frames of planes, the Marine burying parties tossing sand on dead Japs, and in one shot the gray, macabre horror of a ruined pillbox overlooking a twisted Jap rifleman's body. And he did get back to the airstrip after a mad, hectic hour of stopping his jeep to read signs that warned, "Danger - Mines," careening through the wasted tree stumps of a battered stronghold. With his friend, Whitaker, squadron leader of the torpedo planes, he once again landed on his carrier "home," his Ikoflex and Medalist around his neck, his aerial Graphic in his hand. Only casualty: lens shade and filter, despite bayonet mount, lost from the Graphic in a dive-bombing attack.
But his plan for more specialized equipment really got going. First he talked someone into cutting special camera hatches--two holes in each side of the transparent Plexiglass housing--into TBF No. 13. Then, because his picturts were already proving of value to the Navy, he discovered that it wasn't so hard, after all, to borrow a Fairchild K-20 aerial camera. Before long, in strikes against Naru and Kavieng, Smith was having camera-fun, aiming the 50 shot, rapid-fire K-20 at Jap harbors. He had to learn a new camera geography--how to stop down to f 11 and set his shutter speed to 1/500 second, how to put on the minus-blue filter, how to load the special rolls of Tri-X and Super-XX film. Pictures on these flights? "Nothing much," says Smith.
The exact times and sequences of the jobs of a carrier cannot be set down, but somewhere in this time Gene took time off from carrier cruising to fly in a B-24 (Liberator) from an island down to Guadalcanal, carrying his Ikoflex and an extra Contax he had purchased from an officer. He also took part in a mixed military venture: Marines, flying in Army C-47 cargo planes, dropping ten tons of supplies by parachute to U. S. forces near Bougainville.
And then towards the end of January, back on his carrier, he felt the tension in the air as the gigantic armada moved in for the Marshalls invasion. On January 29 he flew in No. 13, his plane with the camera hatches over Kwajelein Atoll, aiming his K-20 at Jap airfields pockmarked with U. S. bomb hits, at Jap planes burning from U. S. incendiary bullets, at sinking Jap ships. Two of the four planes in his flight were shot down by Jap AA.
Then came Eniwetok, the day after. The going in the air-fighting was easier...pilots were soon to complain that there were no more targets. Once, after strafing and bombing a Jap freighter, Smith's pilot held up the attack for a minute so they could swing closer for more pictures (see pages 48-49).
On the morning of February 2 the planes were due to make a strike against Engebi Island. An Avenger carrying the Navy cameraman who was to record the bomb damage had trouble, went into tbe water. Whitaker, the squadron leader, asked Smith by radio if he would make pictures for the Navy that day (he was assigned to Lt. Dickson's plane). Raymond Clapper, writer aboard the carrier, was assigned to Whitaker's plane.
They headed for the already plastered Jap atoll. The flight had just finished bombing Engebi, and Smith had just finished taking a record picture of a hit on the island, when over the interplane radio he heard Whitaker call for his flight to close in behind him. Smith wasn't watching in that direction, but one of the four planes was directly under Whitaker's, and Whit didn't see it. He started to peel off, his wing dipping low, his Avenger side-slipping toward the fourth plane.
In his earphones Smith heard an excited pilot's voice: "Mid-air collision. Mid-air collision!" His own plane banked and turned, and as Smith lifted bis camera to the hole in the Plexiglass, he saw two bursts of flame on the water: Whitaker's plane with Clapper aboard, and the one that had been underneath. Gene's photograph of the death of the two TBF crews, including a squadron leader, and one of America's great newspaper writers, was just two puffs of smoke against a vast expanse of waves, but it was put into the newspicture pool and appeared in countless newspapers and Life magazine.
That night there was a quietness in the pilots' rooms aboard the carrier, and Gene Smith, who had eaten with Clapper in the officers' wardroom, who had been flying with Frank Whitaker for many weeks of the kind that are like years back home, was quiet in the darkroom as he developed his films. There was not much celebrating of the Marshalls' succcssful invasion.
About this time a whisper began to he heard in the ready room, where the pilots gathered while waiting for operational orders. That whisper was "Truk!"
Truk, called the Japanese Pearl Harbor, had been the subject of jokes before. To say "I'm taking off for Truk" was the height of something funny; it just wasn't done. Gene Smith, when you press him for the truth, will tell you that he, like the pilots with whom he sat for hours playing phonograph records in their spare time, was a little fearful at these whispers of "Truk! Truk! Truk!" Not even the ease of knocking out the Jap airfields at Eniwetok and Kwajalein did much to lessen that feeling of awe. Truk was still a dread word. But, officially, the carrier was just cruising around.
Sometimes they would be under attack by Jap planes, but the fighters and anti-aircraft fire from other ships kept the enemy planes so far away that the only pictures Smith got showed miniature ships on the horizon, surrounded by tiny puffs of smoke. Once or twice destroyers reported submarine contacts, but nothing happened. Once, at night, Gene photographed a distant scene: a Jap plane hit and falling to the sea in flames. His caption on that shot, when it came into the POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY office, read: "I could have made a better picture at home in the bathtub, with a pen-light."
The whispers about Truk grew louder, until one day the loudspeakers revealed that they were really going in for a raid on the Japanese bastion. No, not a raid--an all-out pounding. As the carriers with their escorts sailed toward the coral ring of Truk, someone noticed Smith, walking across the flight deck with an assortment of cameras around his neck and in his hands. He heard the remark about his weighted-down appearance: "If the ship goes down, I know who'll hit the bottom first!"
Between attacks, moving in for a strike, is a tense time aboard a carrier. Pilots sit around, waiting. Some of them play phonograph records. Gene had nearly a hundred of his own records along, and with two pilots formed a classical three-some. When all their records were pooled they had 350--a goodly number for idle hours. One day Smith wrote home, "Speaking of music, I have found what I believe to be the most powerfully dramatic music in the world. It is absolutely electrifying: the shrill bugle call sounding Torpedo Defense."
One day he noticed that his remaining Ikoflex was developing an ailment: a sprung shutter blade. Indoors, for flash shots, it was all right. Outside, in the bright tropic sun, it leaked light, and some streaked negatives are th€ result. Earlier, a Fairchild Aerial Camera repair expert at an island base had helped him refocus the Ikoflex, but this latest bug made things serious.
He took to carrying his newly purchased Contax (whose shutter speeds were all off) always around his neck, loaded with Plus-X. The Medalist he kept up on the bridge, and the sick Ikoflex in the aerologist's office up forward. Th€ aerial Graphic was developing troubles by this time and then he noticed a new affliction on all his cameras: fungus growing on the lenses. It took lens tissue and rye whiskey to clean them off!
The Truk strike changed from the waiting period of the jockeying approach into the fateful pre-dawn hour before. The big worry was whether they'd be attacked by land-based planes from Truk, but everything was clicking perfectly (except Gene's cameras). While it was still dark the Hellcat fighters took off. A little later the first flight of dive bombers started warming up on the after part of the flight deck. Lieutenant Dickson, with whom Gene was now flying steadily, smashed the elevator of his plane, so Smith couldn't fly with the early TBF's. He was eating an apple in the ready room when Dickson stuck his head in the door and said, "Come along, we're going."
Truk! It was being said out loud now, almost gleefully. Most of the Jap fighters had already been shot down, and although the great base was well protected by ack-ack, the planes that were attacking were coming back for more bombs and gas. But it was still Truk.
They flew in formation to the outer ring of coral, then started heading down. They could see the smoke of strafed airfields and burning ships in the harbor as the flight of four Avengers glided down. Dickson checked his target (the whole job was done so methodically that each flight had a section of the harbor assigned) and then the planes headed for a tanker in a torpedo run under fire.
At a thousand yards the "tin fish" started dropping: two didn't make proper power runs (as you can see by the crooked wakes they left in the picture on page 47), one missed but went on half a mile to hit another freighter, and the torpedo dropped by Dickson went smack into the tanker. Dickson cut to the left in a steep bank, then turned again for a moment as Smith shot the picture of the target with four torpedoes heading for it, then dived on a gunboat that was almost directly under them. For seconds the tracers from the plane and the gunboat's anti-aircraft guns were crossing in midair.
If Gene had any ideas about holding up the attack so he could make better pictures, he didn't mention them as the flight of TBFs, relatively unscathed, streaked back towards the carrier. He did take a look at the smoke spirals in the harbor and noted that six or seven Jap ships were burning in one corner, and he did think to himself, "What a swell guy it was who designed this K-20 for highspeed work." Like the others, he also thought, "My God, I've flown over Truk!" And in admiration of his Lieutenant Dickson who had worked his way up in twelve years from plane-pusher on a carrier's deck to pilot, he had still more ideas--for Dickson flew them in, and out again.
After Truk came other actions: the Marianas, where the hard-hitting carriers were beginning to run out of bombs and "air plot" decided to drop depth charges instead. At Tinian Island Smith took a shot as carefully composed as any of his peacetime ones for Parade or Life. In the foreground was a TBF--in the background was the airfield with three pillars of smoke climbing toward the Pacific sky. He knew by now that his non-focusing aerial camera would be sharp on planes as close as 80 feet. Just before he made this particular shot he discovered his flight was under attack by Zeros, but the fight was soon broken off by the Sons of___Heaven.
It was during the Marianas attack that Smith listened in on the inter-plane radio and heard the slow, easy-going voice of one of the pilots with whom he had pooled records say, "I'm hit in the shoulder and I'm going down." Smith's plane was so badly shot up it nearly crashed in landing.
It was at this time that Gene Smith's last working camera went haywire. The next day he climbed to the bridge to get his Medalist and discovered that someone had fooled with the levers and got it out of whack.
One day he heard that in the Eniwetok landing Sergeant Bushemi, who had helped him pack and who had laughingly taken Smith's kidding about being a character in "See Here, Private Hargrove," had been killed.
Not very long after this Smith's carrier headed for port and he began to get ready for a trip to the mainland for camera repairs and refitting. He had had his share of troubles: Once there was no mail for two months. Another time he discovered his color film had all gone bad from improper storage. Once he landed on his carrier, checked upon the plane, and found machine guns had put bullet holes in a neat bracket all around the place he stood. Another time he had to have several teeth pulled.
At the other end of Gene Smith's big adventure--the office where his negatives arrived from the Navy censors, we were having a satisfaction that Smith seldom had from his work: seeing 11 x 14 prints. It kept us saying, "Here's a guy who's proving what a camera can do in a war."
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- http://china-arsenal.blogspot.com/ said...
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- December 13, 2009 at 10:06 AM
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