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JMS Gives New BEFORE WATCHMEN Details, Defends Project
For fans of science fiction and comic books, J. Michael Straczynski brings about strong feelings.
Among some, he's hailed as the creative genius behind the TV series Babylon 5, recognized as one of the best sci-fi TV shows of all time.
To others, he's a brilliant screenwriter, the man behind films like the Oscar-nominated Changeling.
To comic fans, he's recognized for his six-year run to The Amazing Spider-Man, his revitalization of Thor, his best-selling revamp of Clark Kent's early years in Superman: Earth One, and his creation of original comics like Midnight Nation and Rising Stars.
But the writer, called JMS by fans, isn't without controversy. He publicly distanced himself from Marvel's retcon of Spider-Man's marriage during his Amazing Spider-Man run in 2007, and he more recently announced a surprise sabbatical from monthly comics, quitting when he was only a few issues into a much-publicized run on Superman and Wonder Woman.
Yet the extreme feelings that those projects have generated have been eclipsed recently by the buzz surrounding his latest project, Before Watchmen. The multi-issue event recently announced by DC Comics — which will be published in weekly chapters beginning this summer — is a prequel to the venerated 1985 graphic novel Watchmen by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons.
While Gibbons has apparently given his blessing to the prequel (although he reportedly declined an offer to participate), Moore has gone public with his rather heated disappoval of the project. Making it clear that he intended Watchmen to be a finite, stand-alone story, he told the New York Times the prequel is "completely shameless," stating that he didn't want money but rather, "what I want is for this not to happen."
While fans have taken sides both for and against the publication of Before Watchmen, there's no denying it's one of the most-talked-about comics for 2012. And it doesn't hurt that DC put together what most fans would agree is a "dream team" of creators for the seven Before Watchmen mini-series:
- Dr. Manhattan (four issues) by JMS with artist Adam Hughes;
- Nite Owl (four issues): JMS with artists Andy and Joe Kubert;
- Rorschach (four issues): Writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo;
- Minutemen (six issues): Writer/Artist Darwyn Cooke;
- Comedian (six issues): Writer Brian Azzarello with artist: J.G. Jones;
- Ozymandias (six issues): Writer Len Wein and artist Jae Lee;
- Silk Spectre (four issues): Writer Darwyn Cooke with artist Amanda Conner;
- Curse of the Crimson Corsair (back-up stories): Writer Len Wein and artist John Higgins;
- Epilogue (one-shot) by various creators.
This weekend, JMS is one of the featured guests at Wonder Con, and he's meeting one-on-one with thousands of fans for the first time since the announcement of Before Watchmen. As he participates in today's "DC Comics: All-Access" panel at Wonder Con, Newsarama talks to the writer to get more information about his stories for Before Watchmen and his justification for writing them.
Newsarama: Joe, one of the frequent critiques of the Watchmen movie was that it failed to connect with modern audiences because the Cold War feels alien to us now. Yet the hopelessness of that era and the fear of nuclear threat is central to understanding Alan Moore's story. As you go back and do a prequel, how much does the era inform the story? Or are you abandoning that part of Moore's efforts so that you guys can make "Before Watchmen" more relatable today?J. Michael Straczynski: I can't speak for the others, obviously, but in my case, I'm not applying what did or didn't work in the Watchmen movie to the scripts for the miniseries. A movie is a movie and a book is a book and they have different rules.
(And I think that ultimately the reason the movie failed to connect had little to do with the period or the Cold War; there have been plenty of movies set in that period that have successfully connected with audiences. The reason, I think, is that on an emotional level the Watchmen book is fairly cool to the touch; it's thoughtful, intellectual, with great characters, but nonetheless on the cool side. Film and television are hot mediums, in that they rely on passion and extreme emotions to reach across the darkness of a theater to affect the audience. Granted that there are some of those moments in the book, they are not what makes for a successful film, and in being so literal in the director's transferral of the story from print to screen, that coolness was preserved, and the film became emotionally distant.)
Leaving all of that aside, in both my mini-series, the period very much informs the story. In Nite Owl, we play out the story against the events of the period, especially as seen through the eyes of Rorschach (part of the story involves the partnership between him and Nite Owl).
In Dr. Manhattan we use the same period as background, but we also go back further. If you do the math, given that his father was German, one can make the assumption that Jon as a child was brought to America by his father during the rise of Hitler's Reich. This has the potential to have a profound effect on his character, and the decisions that came later. So period is definitely a part of both stories.
Nrama: As Before Watchmen begins, are these happier times for all the characters? Are the minis therefore more tonally upbeat? Or do we see the evolution (and erosion) of their characters toward what we know they'll become?
Straczynski: Nite Owl is a mixed bag; it starts out fairly upbeat, but there are some dark spots along the way, even there, dealing with Dan Dreiberg's family and the situation that could compel a young kid to seek out Hollis Mason in hopes of picking up the Nite Owl mantle. Dan is really kind of the most rooted character of the bunch, so he holds onto a bit of that idealism when others fall away, a distinction that's necessary given that even when we meet him in the original graphic novel there's still kind of a naive idealism to the guy.
The Dr. Manhattan mini is... hard to explain. It's neither upbeat nor downbeat. It's both a character piece about who Jon Osterman was, and how that affects Dr. Manhattan — and a mystery set against the backdrop of quantum mechanics and the question of free will. On a purely metaphysical basis, the story gets into the tall grass really fast.
Nrama: Isn't there an inherent challenge to making a prequel work (particularly in sequential form, which requires readers to be invested in what happens next) when readers already know what eventually happens to these characters? How did you and the other writers tackle that challenge?
Straczynski: There's this assumption that because we see them at a certain age, we know everything that happens to them. I disagree. It's like saying that because we saw the end of Superman in Alan Moore's brilliant Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, we therefore know everything that ultimately happens to this character. That doesn't change the reality that there are hundreds of stories that take place before those events. Life isn't about the final moments, it's about the journey, it's about process. What makes Rocky work as a movie is seeing him working his way up from the streets to the arena and the fight of his life. You could just show that fight, and it would be great, but seeing that journey illuminates that fight and adds profound meaning to it. So these books are largely about expanding upon and illuminating the journeys of the characters that brought them to the moment in time explored in the original Watchmen graphic novel.
Nrama: Another challenge to a prequel, presumably, is that it speaks only to those who have read the original work (although admittedly, in Watchmen's case, that's a lot of people). Are you and the others involved mainly writing this for people who have already read Watchmen? Or is the eventual Watchmen story not important to have read first to enjoy these stories?
Straczynski: I think you have to be mindful of, and respectful toward both audiences, because I think they will both come to the party in varying degrees. I think the majority of readers will have read the original Watchmen, and a smaller subset will not have done so prior to picking up these minis. The challenge, then, becomes to craft a story that feels complete and can be read entirely by itself, but if you are familiar with the original graphic novel, it illuminates elements of the story that had not previously been expanded upon.
Of the two I'm writing, Nite Owl is probably the most accessible to those who haven't read the first graphic novel. The Dr. Manhattan mini is ridiculously intertwined with the original — in some cases moment by moment — but the over-arching story is still accessible if you haven't read the original graphic novel.
So the short answer is: If you don't know the original Watchmen, you can read these books and get an enjoyable, self-contained story; if you do know the original graphic novel, then suddenly a lot of the story starts taking on new meaning.
Nrama: Did you get to choose these two characters? If so, why did you choose them? And if not, why do you think these in particular were offered to you?
Straczynski: I went into this strongly wanting Dr. Manhattan. On the one hand, I have a longstanding interest in humanizing god-like characters (as with Thor), and on the other hand, I come from a strong science-fiction background, ranging from Babylon 5 to Twilight Zone and a bunch of published sci-fi short stories, and I like the idea of dropping anchor into a story that goes deep into the questions of meaning and free will and choice in a quantum universe.
I later learned that Nite Owl was available — he had originally been with another writer — and grabbed onto him the moment he became available, because that gave me the bookends of the Watchmen universe: the most powerful character, and in some ways the most vulnerable character.
Nrama: We've heard that "types of truth" is a central theme in the two mini-series you're writing. Can you explain how that idea applies to Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl?
Straczynski: When we had the "Big Meeting" in New York, we went through each of the minis we were writing, comparing notes with what each of the others was doing, and ensuring that we were consistent with the original graphic novel. They were all separate stories, many set in different time periods. So at the end of the meeting, I felt I had to raise the question: yes, these are all individual tales, but in the end, what is it we're saying? If they're not linked by one plot or situation, then thematically what is the core that unites these stories?
I kind of answered my own question by suggesting that there are five kinds of truth: the truth you tell to casual acquaintances, the truth you tell to close friends and members of your family, the truth you tell to only a few people in your life, the truth you tell to yourself, and the truth you don't admit even to yourself. Most of the stories under consideration that day seemed to me to hit the fifth kind of truth, and Darwyn grabbed that and ran with it, writing a long piece that was sent along to everyone else elaborating upon how this was the core of the books.
So it's as true for the two I'm doing as the others. In the case of Nite Owl, it has a lot to do with the circumstances that led him to seek out Hollis Mason, and become the second Nite Owl — things he may not want to face about his family and his past. In the Dr. Manhattan story, he has to come to terms with some choices he's made whose ramifications he has chosen not to see until they become unavoidable — and the fate of the world rests on how he chooses to react.
Nrama: Do all of the series come together at the end, uniting that theme in the epilogue? Or do the writers rely upon the original Watchmen series as the way all these stories come together?
Straczynski: They don't all come together to the same point, because they cover different time periods, but none of them go much beyond the start of the events of the original GN. So there's that redline in the timeline, but it's not a culmination point.
Nrama: You mentioned the "Big Meeting," but how closely are you working with the other writers on developing the Before Watchmen world, and what challenges have you encountered along the way as you hash out these separate stories?
Straczynski: It's actually been really smooth so far, thanks in no small measure to Dan DiDio's decision to get all of us in the same room in NY so we could lay out our plans and agendas. Whenever one of us has a question or hits a plot point that could affect what the others are doing, it goes up on the website we all share for discussion and analysis. But there have been very few of those, I think we're working together really well. I can't think of any substantial conflicts or hiccups so far.
Nrama: How much do the different characters show up in each others' stories?
Straczynski: It really varies, and I don't want to speak for the others because that's their turf. In Nite Owl, we see the Crimebusters meeting where Dr. Manhattan showed up, and that same moment is also in the Dr. Manhattan storyline because the events in one are mirrored in the other.
The Dr. Manhattan mini peels back what we thought we saw in the Nite Owl mini, in the telling of that scene to show something very different going on. So we see pretty much everyone, if briefly.
And there's a big role for Rorschach in the Nite Owl mini, as we look at how that brief partnership started and show the seeds of its eventual destruction.Nrama: With Dr. Manhattan, how much does your story hinge upon what happened in the Intrinsic Field Subtractor, and since we've already seen that story, how do you make it fresh and worth a re-examination?
Straczynski: It's a huge part of the story, and it dives right into the aspect of quantum mechanics that informs the whole story. From one quantum perspective, that scene is exactly what we know it to be, but from another quantum perspective, that scene is nothing like what we think it is. And it's in the conflict between those two versions that something happens that ripples out in every direction, threatening not just Jon but reality itself. It's huge.
Nrama: What era of Jon's life do we get to see in his mini, and what can you tell us about the journey we'll see?
Straczynski: We see a lot of it, ranging from his early youth, escaping Germany with his father, to his high school and college years, to the "present" (being just before the GN). There are some elements of Dr. Manhattan's personality that are formed by those events, and there are some things mentioned in the original GN that are now explained by his past history. At one point in the original GN, Jon says (upon meeting Janey) that he's always felt like he was being pushed into his choices. Well, now we get to see what he means by that, and the ramifications it has on a much grander, metaphysical scale.
Nrama: The preview art for the Dr. Manhattan series included Silk Spectre. How involved is she in your series? And was it a struggle at all to translate her story and relationship with Jon for a modern era?
Straczynski: She's there at the beginning, and at the end, and the middle is his journey to understand who and what he is, and what he's done to endanger Earth and everyone he loves, including and especially her. And no, there was no difficulty in making that work in a moden era; love is love, and love is timeless.
Nrama: In the first batch of Before Watchmen solicitations, Dr. Manhattan wasn't included. For those of us who will probably be reading this series as a weekly, is there a reason for the order of the releases, in that they must be read in this order? Or are they truly separate stories?
Straczynski: Yeah, they're separate stories, but by the same token, there are areas of overlap. So part of the finale of Nite Owl has to come out after another part of the story is revealed in another miniseries, so we had to time out the release schedule accordingly. Similarly, the Dr. Manhattan mini is kind of the bridge point in the cluster of minis, looking forward and backward, so that placement makes sense.
Nrama: In the Nite Owl story, how young is Dan when you start his story? Since Nite Owl has often been compared to Batman, does Dan's early pursuit of the mantle become an alternate take on Robin?
Straczynski: He's around 16 or 17 when we first meet him, and his family. He is moved by circumstances around him to try and contact Hollis Mason, and they do form a bond of friendship and training, but no, he doesn't become an alternate Robin. That's certainly what Dan expects and anticipates, but he ends up in a very different situation once Hollis announces his retirement.
Nrama: So how much of a role does Hollis Mason play in the Nite Owl story, and how did you round out his character for the mini?
Straczynski: Hollis is integral to the story, and the areas where I rounded out or expanded upon his character touch some areas where Darwyn is doing some stuff in his own mini, and I can't talk about that in any detail.
Nrama: Can you tell us anything about Dan's motivations and thoughts as he turns toward becoming a superhero and learns the skill of crimefighting?
Straczynski: It's an escape from the life he's living, and the family situation in which he finds himself — and a measure of wish fulfillment. This is a kid who looks to Nite Owl as someone who can't be hurt (or at least so he thinks) by bullies or the unfairness of life, and that becomes a real inducement — and a stark revelation when he finds out it isn't quite like that. He goes into the hero business full of dreams and naivete and idealism — and surprisingly, manages to hold on to most of that even in the face of profound disappointment and loss.
Nrama: As you've been working with Andy Kubert and Adam Hughes on these two series, how does each style work with the characters they're drawing?
Straczynski: Andy does the initial pencils on all of it, then Joe jumps in to finish and do inks. So it's pretty seamless. The art they're doing is so great, and so strongly character-oriented. You can see the emotion on their faces, the thoughts behind their eyes, and that's so crucial to me, as the sort of stories I write tend to live or die by how much emotion the art can project.
Nrama Much has been said about why you and the other "Before Watchmen" creators believe it's not disrespectful move forward with this prequel despite Alan Moore's repeated objections. How would you sum up that argument? And has the thought of Babylon 5 getting a prequel without
your blessings changed your mind at all?
Straczynski: You have to compare this apples to apples if you want to bring Babylon 5 into this. This isn't a matter of DC doing Watchmen when Alan wants in and wants to do it. He's chosen not to engage, even when DC offered him ownership of the characters and even when they would cut him a check enough to dim the lights at DC for several weeks.
If Warners wanted to do a B5 prequel, and I said no... if they offered me all the money in the world and a big budget for the series and I said no... if they offered me total creative freedom and ownership of the show, lock stock and phased-plasma pistols and I said no... if they waited 25 years for me to change my mind, and I still didn't want to do it... then they'd be absolutely right to proceed without me, because I had opted to take myself out of that process.
Me, I'd love to do more B5 one day, and Warners knows that, and would love to have me involved. They've made that very clear, and in fact we almost had such a deal about a year ago — big budget for a reboot of the series, a full season order, and total creative control — when the new distribution system WB had hinged the deal upon fell apart at the last minute.
If Alan genuinely believes that characters should not be used in ways counter to what their creator intended, then we have a problem in his using characters created by other writers — the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Captain Nemo and others — who would not approve of how they are being used. (E.g., Hyde sodomizing the Invisible Man to death.)
If, as he says, it's okay because they're public domain, so it's legal, and their objections wouldn't matter, then we again hit a problem in that DC has the legal rights to these characters, and by Alan's logic his wishes shouldn't matter.
Watchmen, he argues, is a standalone story, and shouldn't be trifled with, but so was The Invisible Man, and Peter Pan, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's a slippery slope, and the ultimate translation of it all is that Alan feels that he can use other folks' characters in any way he chooses, but no one else can touch his characters, and I think the moment you take that position you lose a little of the moral high ground.
Look, the bottom line here is that I hate being on the other side of this issue. I've always said, and still believe, that Alan is one of the best of us, maybe the best. Every time I pick up one of his books, I'm blinded by the light of his writing. But to be a genius is not always to be right, and though it pains me a lot to say it, I honestly feel he's wrong, or at least intellectually compromised, on the issue of Watchmen, especially having profited so long, and so well, from the use of other writers' characters.
And if it's ultimately a matter of his feeling that he got screwed by DC, y'know, since you bring it up, I also got screwed on my contract for B5. I've never received a penny in profits from that show and never, ever will. But it was the best contract I could negotiate at the time. Maybe the contract he got was the best he could've gotten, and maybe he could've improved it, but we'll never know, and neither will he, because as he has stated, he never bothered to read the thing or get an attorney to look it over for him. Now, if you're not going to engage, if you're not even going to bother reading your contract, is what happens really a matter of being screwed, or is it, to a degree, a self-inflicted wound?
Everyone in the entertainment business gets crappy contracts when we start out, and into the middle of our careers. It's the nature of the business. You incrementally improve your deal over time, which is why even though I had a crappy B5 contract, I continued to work with Warners, knowing that at each new step I would improve my deal until now, it's pretty much at the top of what the industry can offer. Alan feels he got screwed, and he's entitled to feel that way; nobody else can get a vote on how we feel. But I would point to folks like Bob Kane, and Siegel and Shuster, and Jack Kirby, who all were screwed much more deeply and viscerally and in more costly terms. So that does kind of put it in perspective a bit. Doesn't make any of this right, or proper, or appropriate...but there needs to be some sense of proportion.
Nrama: Surely the whole idea had to give you and the other writers pause. Did it take awhile for it to grow on you (as it apparently has for some fans)? Or were you gung ho about it from the beginning?
Straczynski: I can only speak for myself: I was on board from the instant Dan DiDio first mentioned it. These are great characters, and I think they can have something profound to say to a contemporary audience. Yeah, you know that the moment you say yes you're dancing on the edge of the abyss, but that's the fun, and the danger, of the work. To walk on the high wire is to be alive.
Nrama: Did you know about this project when you took a sabbatical from monthly comics in November 2010? How would you answer the concern from readers that you implied that you preferred stand-alone, shorter stories and graphic novels (quitting your 12-issue commitment to Superman and Wonder Woman because of that preference), yet you're returning to monthly comics in a markedly shared universe again? Was that sabbatical an error, or is this different?
Straczynski: They're kind of slanting the facts there a bit. The process started when DC asked me to step back from Superman and Wonder Woman in order to turn all my attention to getting the next volume of Superman Earth One up and on the rails. The first volume (on the New York Times bestseller weeks for 32 weeks) did infinitely better than they had expected, becoming their biggest single-price-point item of the year, and they wanted to make sure the next one went off without a hitch, and I told them I could do either the two monthlies, or the next SEO, but to try and do all of that at once would be stretching the work too thin and I worried about quality control. So Dan said come on off the books, we'll give your notes to the other writers and keep going in the direction you started.
It was after this that I realized that for the first time in something like 10 years, I didn't have a monthly title to look after, and decided to take a two- or three-year sabbatical from monthly books. This would let me do the occasional GN or mini-series (such as this one), while letting me put in the rest of the time assessing my monthly work to this point. See, when you're writing monthly books — and I wrote over 300 published books over a 10-year span, averaging about one every 10 days — you're like a man running for a bus, there isn't time to stop and review your work to see where you succeeded and where you failed. (Unlike, say, a screenplay, which is a discreet unit and you can more readily learn the lessons that script had to teach you.) So I've spent the last year going through every single comic I've written and making copious notes on what worked, and what didn't. I've also spent a ridiculous number of hours online looking for negative reviews, both in print and on Youtube, looking to hear in the bluntest terms possible what people did or didn't like about the work, but in reality usually skipping past the positive reviews so I could dig into the negative ones. That's how you learn. So I'm still neck-deep in that process; if I feel I can come back to monthlies as a better writers, I will, otherwise I won't.
So no, there's no contradiction here. When I stopped doing monthlies, I said very specifically that this would allow me to put more time into doing GNs and miniseries, focusing without distraction. (Happily this stuff is all searchable on Google.) Nothing has changed.
And as an aside: I've turned in three of the four Dr. Manhattan scripts already, ahead of schedule, and I'm about halfway through issue #4 as I write this. I'm turning in issue #3 of the Nite Owl series this week, and I've already fleshed out parts of issue #4, so basically, I'm pretty much done. Since I'll be finished early, Dan has asked me to do another quick small project, then I'll dive into the Samaritan X GN. The next Superman: Earth One GN is also written and drawn, and is now being colored and lettered as we speak. So the focus on short projects and GNs has enabled me to give them my total attention and ensure that they come out on time.
Nrama: Now that DC has crossed this "philosophical" line, will there be an integration of the Watchmen universe with the DC Universe? And if you (presumably) can't address that, then more specifically for you: Do you think there ever could or should be an integration of the two universes?
Straczynski: That's a decision that can only be made far, far above my pay grade. That's a Dan DiDio and Jim Lee decision, and I haven't been privy to their thoughts on that issue. I think one can make a convincing argument on either side of that issue. So I will wait eagerly along with everyone else to see how that argument resolves itself.
Nrama: Finally, what do you want to tell fans of the original Watchmen — or even new readers — about what they can expect from Before Watchmen?
Straczynski: Leaving aside my stuff, because there the spectre of enlightened self-interest raises its ugly head, I've seen what the others are doing, and it's some of the best work they've ever done. Not one person involved with this project has phoned it in or slacked off. They (we) all know what's at stake, and everyone has brought his A-game to the project. Jae's art on Ozymandius is some of the most beautiful stuff I've ever seen in any comic book, anywhere. The writing Brian is bringing to his books is right at the top of his form. So what can you expect? Some of the best writing, and best art, by some of the best and most talented people in the business (and me, bringing up the rear), telling new stories about some of the most seminal and provocative characters in the history of comics publishing.
What more need be said?


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First, the Great Mad Men Le Cirque Error of 2013. Now, New Girl's Lisa Loeb Affair. Are TV's continuity peeps all on vacation in Tulum?
Two Sundays ago on Mad Men, Joan Holloway DARED suggest dinner at Le Cirque in 1968 when EVERYONE knows it didn't open until 1974. Kidding, no normal person would have a clue, except sick-in-the-best way creator Matthew Weiner, whose painstaking attention to detail extends to every fabulous retro artifact on the show from the correct cocktail tumbler shape of the era to the logo on Sally's Utz potato chips bag. How he didn't catch this, we know not, but he called it a "terrible error" and pretty much blamed the fact that Christina Hendricks ad-libbed that line.
Cut to last night's New Girl. You say…I only hear what I want to. I don't listen hard, don't pay attention to the distances Zooey Deschanel's running to anyone, anywhere. But that couldn't be further from the truth. I love New Girl and I replayed Nick and Jess's first kiss scene innumerable times, but I can't help but take issue with their misuse of Lisa Loeb's "Stay" in this otherwise pretty great cherry-popping episode. In the words of Rayna James and Juliette Barnes, they've got the wrong song coming out their speakers.
I went to the prom in the year 2000. (In a two-piece Jessica McClintock dress inspired by J.Lo's Oscar red carpet ensemble that year. Naturally.) This is why I know that Lisa Loeb's "Stay" would not have played during Jess's almost-virginity loss scene, set at her 2000 prom.
"Stay" came out six years earlier in 1994, the same year as the Reality Bites soundtrack, a.k.a the backdrop to every sleepover that ever occurred. Honorable mention to Juliana Hatfield's "Spin the Bottle," but "Stay" was the song you knew every word to, a song whose lyrics you shouted—( "YOU SAID THAT I WAS NAIVE BUT, I THOUGHT THAT I WAS STRONG, OH!")—in unison with all of your overall-clad friends. Or cranked up on the radio on the way to the prom—in 1994. "Stay" is so '94 that, almost like muscle memory, it conjures baby tees and reading YM and velvet chokers with crosses dangling off them and, most of all, Lisa's cat-eye glasses.
Which is why it felt like a glaring error that New Girl chose this "I Love the '90's" greatest hit for a prom scene set in 2000. Especially since there was no shortage of 2000 hits that would have underscored this scene just beautifully. Among them, Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You," Brian McKnight's "Back at One," Ricky Martin's "She Bangs," Backstreet Boys' "That Way," (which came out in '99 but was still in heavy rotation)...to say nothing of Sisqo's "Thong Song" and Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin."
Anyway, we feel a little cold and alone thinking that our favorite shows aren't fact-checking the sh*t we are manically tweeting about on the "second screen." But alas, I cannot quit this Ross-and-Rachel action between Nick and Jess. Or the upcoming Taylor Swift cameo. Or the inevitable disaster that will be Cece's wedding. Last night's—SPOILER ALERT—slow-mo sex scene ending was so magical, we're already moving on. I thought, 'hey I can leave, I can leave,' ohhhh, but now I know that I was wrong. 'Cause I'd miss you. Yeah, New Girl, I'd miss you.
Photo Credit: Fox
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subset: commoncrawl


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This was orignally published in 1987 by Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
The establishment, of a very successful crude oil futures market by the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) has introduced a new and important factor into the process of oil price formation. Trading in crude oil futures has been expanding very rapidly and now provides an instrument that enables economic agents to hedge against short-term price risks. The NYMEX is also a reading mechanism or oil price discovery in the short term.
However, as is the case for most futures markets, NYMEA contracts extend over a fairly short time horizon (eighteen months in theory but only four months in practice), and there is a lack of fiexibility prevailing once a hedge has been initiated ( a price is rigidly fixed from then on no matter what the market does afterwards).


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Each month, Philly writer/musician/person Chris Hurdle hosts comedians and/or funny friends for The Internuts Podcast, a comedy program which explores "the very worst the internet has to offer," from Craigslist posts to fan fiction.
Last month's episode featured stand-up Carolyn Busa, and the latest episode featuring Thelma Weinstein and Jim Conrad just came out. You can listen here, or through iTunes.
And here's some more background on the 'cast from Chris: "The show began with only my friends as guests but eventually I got bold and started reaching out to comedians, improvisers, writers, bloggers, and others from the comedy community (mostly from around Philly). In the beginning my friends also made up the bulk of the audience (out of pity, I suspect) but eventually the audience grew to be several thousand strangers, thanks exclusively to word of mouth (and pity, I suspect)."


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Monday, August 15, 2011
Quilts, food and beach sessions
5 comments:
You look beautiful!!! I hope you still have plenty of energy!ReplyDelete
Your photo makes me miss being pregnant. You look so beautiful. I would like to invite you to visit my blog to enter my giveaway. Check it out if you are interested. http://imapretendchef.blogspot.com/2011/08/food-should-taste-good-giveaway.htmlReplyDelete
You look fantastic...I wish I could be a beach bum. Everything seems so much better when you are digging your toes into the sand :)ReplyDelete
You look lovely. I had a vegan pregnancy and I was really small. You must just be having a different experience with this one.ReplyDelete
I did recently read a study that said vegans tend to have a slightly higher rate of female babies...
Love the quilts! They are super cute and you look beautiful! I think that the beach is the best place to be especially when you are pregnant. Looks like you are enjoying your summer. :)ReplyDelete


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Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Halcyon Yarn
Sunday, June 3, 2012
E.S. Frost exhibit for the HRMNA
The shop opened on Friday and has a colorful display of over 300 rugs and other items for people to purchase. The rugs in the shop were each hand hooked and donated to the HRMNA so that the Museum can earn funds and continue a sustainable income. If you have a handcrafted rug or other item you would be willing to donate please contact me. The shop currently has small wool brooches, knit and crocheted shawls, mug mats and small pillows that are beautiful in addition to the larger rugs.
The rugs hooked by the "Frost Fairies" have been shipped and have either arrived or are enroute to the Museum. I wanted to give you a peek at the rugs. Other than the museum Board and the Fairies, you are getting the first view. Our Maureen hooked the Rooster & Chicks, Judith Hotchkiss the Mallards, Donna Lees Bleam the Deer, Beth Zerwick Tembo the teal floral,Phyllis Lindblade the Lion, Linda Stewart the Cat Welcome, Theresa Heinz the Rose Spray Welcome. Nancy Slye and Kathy Spellacy also made rugs but I do not have pictures yet. Enjoy!


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The City
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Children Playground
Wedding Chapel
Coral Triangle Initiative
3 Star Hotel
Health & Medical facilities
Educational Facilities
Spa Rejuvenation Center
Browse Our Products
Disclaimer :
This website has been carefully and thoroughly prepared, designed, and created, however, inaccuracies do happen and we cannot be held responsible for any mistakes that may have been made while the materials were created. Efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the website and contained materials and will continue to do so. All floor areas, sizes, and dimensions are approximate, and are subject to final measurement survey using tools, criteria, and methods that are determined entirely by the developer.
Developer has the right to change the development schedule and the design of the project without prior notice. All artists' impressions, renderings and illustrations that are provided in media form may not always reflect the conditions of the actual specifications. Developer reserves the right to change the name of the building façade, logo, or modify the units to meet the appropriate licensing requirements to match authority's regulations. Some units may not have all specifications listed but we will do our best to deliver our products with utmost accuracy. Please check with our sales team for the latest information and development.
Copyright © 2014, Grand Kawanua International City.


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No. 24 – Max Ziel
Before they were Lakers, some sportswriters referred to Oswego athletes as "Zielmen," a testament to the influence of legendary Coach Max Ziel on the college's early athletic programs. A World War I veteran and Alabama native, Ziel started his colorful coaching career at Oswego in 1921 and retired in 1957.
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EXCLUSIVE Behind-The-Scenes: Casey James Says He Didn't Pick 'Mrs. Robinson' To Appeal To Cougars…Or Kara!
I got the inside scoop on what the Idols really thought of their movie week performances – and contrary to popular belief, Casey did NOT craftily choose said song to appeal to his older fan base!
There were some chuckles (OK, a lot of them) when Casey James picked Simon & Garfunkle's "Mrs. Robinson" as his song of choice during movie week. And although he's been the obvious object of 39-year-old judge Kara DioGuardi's affection since day 1, the sexy 27-year-old swears his selection wasn't a sly bid to woo his older fans – including Kara.
"I picked the song because I love the song," the Texas native said from the American Idol green room, where we were hanging out post-show May 11. "I thought when I picked it, I thought it was funny because of the cougars but that wasn't why I picked the song."
He added of being typecast as a boy toy, "I think everybody has got something they've talked about more often than not. I took my shirt off to get through to the Hollywood round, so I can't really complain, you know? It is what it is. I'm just happy to be here."
I'm happy Casey's still around, too. Not because his performance was so amazing (it was quirky at best), but because he really is genuine, cool and calm. Immediately after settling down to chat, he kicked off his cowboy boots and hunkered down to relax. There was no affectation and star power clearly hasn't gone to his head yet (which I can't say for Michael Lynche – the guy reeks of arrogance).
He's accepted his pretty boy status and makes no admissions for it, even laughing when Mike, 26, said of their duet to Bryan Adams' "To Really Love A Woman", "The only thing that differed from my vision [of our performance was] they switched sides to give Casey's hair a better camera angle."
When asked the great hair question – how does he choose whether to leave it flowing or in a ponytail – he shrugged and answered, "I think if I'm rocking out a song, I like to have it down, I guess."
But don't pigeonhole him as any other kind of artist. Casey told HollywoodLife.com exclusively that he doesn't want to be defined as "anyone but himself."
Think he's into himself if you will, but I think he just really knows and likes who he is. He's confident, and what's wrong with that?


text:
Need an ATM in Chicago?
Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States and buzzes with energy all year long. It has so much variety to offer visitors from Soldier field to the Navy Pier in Grant Park. With abundant tourism in Chicago, if you are an owner of an establishment, more people could spend their money in your business if you had a Chicago ATM.
For the business owner in Chicago, Illinois, by being the first to get a Chicago ATM with International Cash Systems, you are now ready to cater to your customers needs. The core of the Chicago ATM business model is to earn income from the surcharge on each transaction. It's always important to keep in mind that a sizeable percentage of the money withdrawn from the ATM will be spent at your location. With International Cash Systems you will not only make money on the surcharge but you will also make a profit from the cash sale. Don't just go with any Chicago ATM provider; choose International Cash Systems for all your ATM needs.
One of the best ways to increase your sales is to put up a Chicago ATM, but don't choose any Chicago ATM choose International Cash Systems. The International Cash Systems team of professionals understand their job is to help our customers experience unrivaled efficiency, reliability and to exceed the expectations of our customers. For the past 20 years we have helped businesses of all sizes benefit from an ATM Machine. We take care of all the heavy lifting. We provide you all the tools necessary to get up and running and to start putting more cash revenue in your business. Here at International Cash Systems we know how to Turn Cash Into Profit.
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text:
Sociology is the study of society. Those who study sociology are interested in the relationship between the individual and society. By taking sociology courses, you will learn about race, ethnicity, gender, social class, sexuality, deviance, culture, subcultures, work, families, social change and much more.
Students who graduate with a degree in sociology and enter the job market directly will find themselves competing with other liberal arts students, but with an advantage - a special appreciation for diversity and the ability to work with people from diverse background.
Although few occupations include "sociologist" in their title at the bachelor's level, the sociological perspective is excellent preparation for a wide variety of occupations. You should look for an entry level job, gain experience through internships and watch for opportunities of specialized training or advanced education.
If you are approaching graduation (or have recently graduated) and are seeking a job in the business world, focus on general areas of interest that motivate you. Sociology majors who are interested in organizational theory gravitate toward organizational planning, development and training. Those who study the sociology of work and occupations may pursue careers in human resources management (personnel) and industrial relations. Students who especially enjoy research design, statistics and data analysis seek positions in marketing, public relations and organizational research. Courses in economic and political sociology, cultural diversity, racial and ethnic relations, and social conflict can lead to positions in international business.
Employers value graduates who have a keen understanding of the impact of cultural, racial and gender diversity in the workplace, and who comprehend the global nature of business and industry. Interviewers will seek to determine if applicants can easily adapt to organizational life in the private sector. In particular, this means the ability to work well with others as part of a team.


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Mr. Hoo brings his fun, acoustic rock for familes to The Wiggle Room every Thursday morning. Mr. Hoo will play and rock out while the kids play and rock out! Show is free with full day admission to The Wiggle Room. $11 for one child, $8 additional children, $5 wobbler/crawlers.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: October 9BOOK READING WITH THE HOLLYWOOD SENIOR CENTER!
Later Event: October 16BOOK READING WITH THE HOLLYWOOD SENIOR CENTER!


text: Find this wine Find this wine Benton Lane Pinot Noir 2009 Fantastic getaway in Texas hill country... Pin It Tweet 7 years ago by Liz S. More posts Benton Lane Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Oregon. From NYC trip 4 years ago by Hamblinjanice94 Benton Lane Oregon Pinot Noir Saturday night with Tina. Gift from parents for one of her plays 5 years ago by Alisonedwards6036 Benton Lane 2010 Pinot Noir Grappa, Park City 5 years ago by Lscott5 Benton Lane Pinot Noir 2011 Enjoyed at Pin Stripes for a holiday lunch with co-workers 5 years ago by cuuby4 Benton Lane Pinot Noir 2010 Recommended by Jared Black. 6 years ago by Jswanson


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Second Annual International Conference on:
"Understanding Sustainability: Perspectives from the Humanities"
May 20-22, 2010
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
Proposal Guidelines:
We welcome proposals both for traditional academic paper presentations as well as other formats, including panel discussions, interviews, workshops, art installations, and media screenings. Presentations that speak broadly to an interdisciplinary audience and that seek to stimulate broad conversation about the future direction of green or environmental knowledge and practice are especially encouraged.
Please send proposals of 250 words or less by Monday, January 4, 2010 to: email@example.com
Our agenda:
We hear talk of "sustainability" everywhere—sometimes as an ecological vision, an advertising strategy, a countercultural dream or even a business model. Given the diverse uses of "sustainability," how might those of us who invoke it most effectively address our ecological, economic, and social challenges? This conference is an invitation to construct bridges across the diverse terrains of sustainability theory and practice, engaging in productive dialogue and debate that might lead to innovative green frameworks for environmental scholarship, activism, research, and policy.
To these ends, the Second Annual International Conference on "Understanding Sustainability" seeks to encourage innovative dialogues between diverse groups that are not always in conversation.
- Humanities scholars working in fields such as ecocriticism, green cultural studies, environmental ethics, philosophy of science, and environmental history
- Social scientists working in the areas of social sustainability, environmental justice, environmental economics, sustainable business practices
- Local designers, city planners, and social service providers who are building Portland's reputation as a leader in sustainability, and
- Artists and activists shaping ideas of green ethics and aesthetics or new strategies of political participation
For more information, please visit: http://culturalstudies.english.pdx.edu/ResearchGroups/sustainability/


text:
Flash Player 10.1 and Flash Media Server 3.5.3 support two exciting new buffer management features: Stream Reconnect and Smart Seek. To see them in action, check out this example: Stream Reconnect and Smart Seek example. Right-click on the example and choose View Source to see the code.
The example is also linked from the Flash Media Server 3.5.3 New Features Guide. This doc has all information you need about how to use the Smart Reconnect and Smart Seek ActionScript APIs.
Here's a quick, high-level view:
Stream Reconnect
With the release of Flash Player 10.1, you can deliver video players that continue to play media seamlessly when a connection is dropped or when a client switches from a wired to a wireless network connection. Adobe Product Manager Kevin Towes says:
We've essentially decoupled the buffer from the connection – which allows video to play back even if the connection drops. Developers can use ActionScript to reconnect to FMS and resume playback – and if this is done before the buffer empties, then there will be no perceived disruption.
Smart Seek
Flash Media Server 3.5.3 and Flash Player 10.1 work together to support smart seeking in VOD streams and in live streams that have a buffer. Smart seeking uses back and forward buffers to seek without requesting data from the server. You can step forward and backward a specified number of frames. (Standard seeking flushes buffered data and asks the server to send new data based on the seek time.) Smart seeking reduces server load and improves seeking performance. Use smart seeking to create:
•Client-side DVR functionality. Seek a live stream within the client-side buffer instead of going to the server for delivery of new video.
•Trick modes. Create players that step through frames, fast-forward, fast-rewind, and advance in slow-motion.


text:
Magic Chain Wine Bottle Holder
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- Highlights
- Fine Print
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With a little bit of magic and some serious craftsmanship, this chain wine holder creates an optical illusion and appears to defy gravity
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Please enter delivery details at checkout. Once purchased your goods will be automatically sent to your address approximately three weeks after the end of the promotion, no further action will be required
Members can purchase up to twenty vouchers (gift vouchers aren't available for this offer, but you can purchase multiple vouchers and give the product as a gift)
Your product will be delivered to you by the supplier of the product. The estimated delivery time for this product has been provided by the supplier
Please allow more time for delivery to regional areas
Not valid in conjunction with any other offer and not redeemable for cash
Please ensure your address is correct. Incorrect addresses will incur a re-delivery fee


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Beginners Help ( Start Here)
Helping Puppy find user_cram.fs at boot
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 15:28
Post subject:
Helping Puppy find user_cram.fs at boot
so I have my drive booting with syslinux, it loads everything into the ram and when it gets to loading user_cram.fs off the usb drive it fails to find the drive. After failing to find the usb drive it automatically checks the cd-rom for usr_cram.fs and if i have the cd in at the time it will go ahead and load it, loading the GUI.
So i don't understand after loading the other files off the drive why when it comes to usr_cram.fs it can't find the device no matter where i look, sda sda1 sda2 sdb sdb1 sdb2 ( I have no other usb devices plugged in )
I need help
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 15:37
Post subject:
these guys were having the same exact problem as me but no help was really given.
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Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 465
Location: Auckland, NZ
Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 18:54
Post subject:
the thing about the boot process is that PuppyLinux doesn't know automatically where it came from, so it has to hunt for the last part of it before it gets into x windows, which is the usr_cram.fs file.
I've found that if you put the usr_cram.fs file inside the pup001 file, that PuppyLinux will find it more reliably.
So if when you boot up, you get to that red text saying "can't find usr_cram.fs" you can fix by doing these commands:
# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs 1005848 9520 996328 1% /
tmpfs 1005848 9520 996328 1% /
/dev/hda6 7808356 4701428 3106928 60% /mnt/home
/dev/loop1 507748 192071 289463 40% /root
/dev/loop0 562020 246343 289463 46% /usr
none 562020 246343 289463 46% /usr
Look for a /dev/loop* on the left with a /root on the right (on same line)
If there is one then proceed to step 2
Make sure that you know where the usr_cram.fs file is, and copy it to the /root directory (this is copying into your pup001 file)
(e.g. if copying from cd, mount the cd)
# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
# cp /mnt/cdrom/usr_cram.fs /root/
flush file system buffers:
# sync
restart your computer
# restart
Hope this helps.
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 19:59
Post subject:
thank you so much, i will try this when i get home.
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 22:39
Post subject:
ok well, the problem seems to be that when it goes to
"Puppy wants to mount the users home device"
mounting /dev/sda1 on /root failed: no such device or address
mounting /dev/sdb1 on /root failed: no such device or address
looking for usr_cram.fs on cd...
so puppy can't find the root or usbdrive
and therefore can't find usr_cram.fs
i have no idea what to do, perhaps an adjustment to the syslinux.cfg,
or would an image.gz file that has the usr_cram.fs work?
help would be greatly appreciated
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Official Dog Handler
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 1238
Location: Queensland
Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 23:31
Post subject:
What sort of USB device are you using and which version of Puppy.
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Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 23:49
Post subject:
A PNY 512 mb PNY Attach� (no extra drivers came with it, runs great plug+play)
puppy bare-bones 1.0.3
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Official Dog Handler
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 1238
Location: Queensland
Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005, 23:55
Post subject:
Have you tried any other version of Puppy and how did you do the install.
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Posted: Tue 14 Jun 2005, 00:10
Post subject:
I haven't tried any other versions, for the install, I made the cd, I used the script on the cd to put the four files on the drive, I actually ran it twice once for each partition, because it didn't boot otherwise, I had sda and sda1. They were both the same device, i assume they were different partitions because sda was call PNY DIRECT ACCESS i think, and sda1 said something about the ms-dos fat partition, there was only the one usb device plugged in. Through ms-dos i copyed syslinux.exe, syslinux.c and makefile onto the drive, i ran syslinux.exe ---" syslinux -s f: " to make the drive bootable. And it boots now. It just can't find the usb drive after everything is loaded and hence can't find usr_cram.fs And yes I have tried the usb ports on the front and back of my machine because someone posted that his computer had a foreign hub controlling the front usb ports and it lost control through the boot just like mine is doing. So i'm now pretty lost
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Posted: Tue 14 Jun 2005, 00:49
Post subject:
I think i'll go ahead and try my luck at barebones 1.0.2 since this other guy said his 1.01 and 1.02 works but not 1.03, and his couldn't find the usr_cram.fs or mount his home dir like mine. so i'll get back to you guys about it.
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Posted: Tue 14 Jun 2005, 01:26
Post subject:
SUCCESS FIRST TRY. I'm not sure why 1.0.3 didn't work but 1.0.2 mozilla bare bones works wonderfully.
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Posted: Fri 22 Jul 2005, 07:03
Post subject: got 1.0.3 working
I have had the same problem (with a 512MB Corsair Flash Voyager). Managed to get is working with the following (from memory!)
mount /dev/sda /mnt/flash
mount -o loop /mnt/flash/usr_cram.fs /usr
mount -o loop /mnt/flash/pup001 /root
And X started up. However, this does not persist - if I reboot I have to do it again, and I notice some of the apps will not work (mozilla and abiword). Still, finally got linux working(ish) off a USB pen!
Maybe I'll try 1.0.4 - is this problem fixed in the latest version?
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Posted: Fri 22 Jul 2005, 07:38
Post subject:
sda this relates to the WHOLE drive.....ie what would initially be an unpartitioned drive
sda1, sda2, sdaxx these relate to the PARTITIONS and these must be the device file that is mounted...not sda
ok after manually mounting usr_cram.fs logout and log back in then start your x session.........This is related to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable...trust me on this one I know it works...
So to recap...Puppy should only be installed to sda1 or sdaxx not sda. And the same goes for mounting mount /dev/sdaxx not /dev/sda
I think the syslinux (or a readme) site has an explanation as to why some USB flash drives are difficult to get to boot
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Posted: Fri 22 Jul 2005, 07:55
Post subject:
I thought it strange that it worked on /dev/sda not /dev/sda1, however I had a nightmare formatting the drive. If I used fdisk and mkdosfs from the Puppy liveCD or from my Ubuntu installation on my desktop, the usb stick will not boot. If I format the drive using Windows XP, it will not boot. The only way I found was to used the flash utility supplied by Corsair. The copy the files int the flash drive, run syslinux, and all as described.
I did notice that when I have formatted with the corsair utility, fdisk complains about overlapping partitions.
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Joined: 27 Apr 2006
Posts: 2
Posted: Thu 27 Apr 2006, 16:40
Post subject: on boot: Mounting /dev/sda1 on /root failed: No such devi...
As with the others posting to this thread Puppy has been unable to find my user_cram.fs file when booting from USB flash. I have found that removing and re-inserting the USB drive at the correct point in the boot process works around the problem. Here are my specifics:
-SanDisk Cruzer Mini 512MB USB Flash drive
- Dell Optiplex GX60 w/ latest BIOS flashed
-USB drive formatted with HP USB Disk storage Tool as vfat/win32 single partition
-Puppy live CD version: puppy-multisession-1.0.8r1-mozilla
-USB install using "Install Puppy USB" script with all defaults to /dev/sda1
During the boot process there is a long pause after the usb drive info is displayed:
Vendor: SanDisk Rev: 0.2
Type: Direct Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
sda: Write Protect is off
It is at this point that there is a long pause in the boot process during which if I remove and re-insert the USB drive user_cram.fs is successfully found and Puppy boots as expected. If, however I do not remove and re-insert the usb drive at this point the following error messages are reported after the long pause (the first line shown below starts with the last one shown above):
sda:<6>scsi: device set offline - not ready or command retry failed after bus reset: host 0 channel 0 id 0 lun 0
SCSI disk error: host 0 channel 0 id 0 lun 0 return code=50000
I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 2
I/O error: dev 08:00,sector 0
The boot process then continues with the typical complaints about not being able to find user_cram.fs and I am dropped to the shell. At this point if I try to manually mount /dev/sda1 I am told that the device does not exist. Though I haven't tried it, I suspect that removing the USB drive and re-inserting it at this point may make it mountable.
I have not been able to try booting on other machines but will do so this evening. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this or would like me to do any further testing or provide more information I am happy to do so.
- Ben
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GM chief: Automaker might not survive bankruptcy
WASHINGTON — Facing a March 31 deadline for the government to accept its restructuring plan and provide more taxpayer rescue money, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said Tuesday that a forced bankruptcy could spell the end of the storied carmaker.
Wagoner, at a breakfast interview with a small group of Washington reporters, acknowledged that many industry analysts expect GM to be forced into a form of prepackaged bankruptcy from which it could emerge within months, but he warned that such a move would be risky and could prove disastrous.
"A lot of people who write about bankruptcy I don't think have ever been in bankruptcy. And what I've learned from studying it in detail is that it brings significant risks on and puts things out of the control of the board and management and the controls of other parties," Wagoner said.
He added, "You talk about fast prepacks that could work in 30 or 60 days, and what I've learned is it could work, and it might not work. And if it doesn't, it could mean in the end a long period of bankruptcy, which I believe would result in the liquidation of the company because . . . consumers will shy away from buying vehicles from companies in bankruptcy."
Wagoner and other GM officials have been meeting regularly with members of a presidential task force as well as working with the United Auto Workers union, suppliers and investors to arrange some sort restructuring outside the courtroom.
GM would like another $4.6 billion in taxpayer support and a $12 billion line of credit. That's on top of $13.4 billion from taxpayers that it's already received. The new money is contingent on approval of its restructuring plans. Many Republicans in Congress, and a broad swath of industry analysts, argue that bankruptcy is necessary to get GM's costs under control.
"If we could accomplish 99 percent outside of court that we would inside of court, why in the world wouldn't we do it outside of court? You save the risk and, by the way, at a much lower expense from the standpoint of support," Wagoner said. "Because if we were to file for Chapter 11, there is no debt financing other than the U.S. government and that would be a potentially huge amount of financing required. So I think it makes sense from everybody's perspective to do this outside of court."
Given congressional and public reluctance to pay for more bailouts, analysts agree that the betting money remains on a structured bankruptcy, arranged, however, before GM files for protection from creditors, to minimize surprise. Still, a bankruptcy would send shock waves across the automotive supply network.
"We're still holding out some slim hope here. The weight of evidence seems to be mounting against the rescue loan package, and GM is becoming more resigned to that," said George Magliano, the director of North American auto-industry research for IHS Global Insight, an economic forecaster in Lexington, Mass.
A major obstacle to restructuring remains the bondholders, who stand to lose on reimbursement of their bonds as GM tries to shed two-thirds of its debt load, estimated at more than $27 billion. These investors are playing a game of chicken, holding out as long as possible for the best deal while trying to keep GM out of bankruptcy, where they could be left with far less.
When he was asked about the bondholders, Wagoner treaded carefully, noting that there are a lot of competing interests at play.
"Look, these are challenging issues, so I don't think you expect anybody to come in and say, 'Look, we'll just do everything you want and we don't care about what anybody else does,' " he said. "It is a triangulation, and we need to bring everybody to the table at the same time, and that's a work in progress."
The GM chief confirmed that growing outrage over bonuses paid by insurer American International Group, similarly rescued by taxpayers, could darken the public's mood for helping auto manufacturers more.
"I think it would be better for all of us if this wasn't playing out this way," Wagoner said.
There's a dramatic distinction, he said, between banking and finance rescues and aid to the automobile industry.
"We've been pretty clear on the amount of funding support we need, which is dramatically smaller. Second of all, the kind of business we are has a significantly greater footprint in Main Street versus Wall Street," Wagoner said, adding that the restructuring also requires GM to adopt energy-efficient technologies.
"The GM case, everybody has skin in the game. Everybody who could participate is, from executive salary reductions — involving all of our executives and almost all salaried people — to significant re-cutting of labor contracts with unions to dealers to suppliers," he said.
After almost nine years as the CEO of a company whose health long has been synonymous with the health of the U.S. economy, Wagoner was candid about his predicament.
"Let me tell you, living hand to mouth is no fun for anybody," he said.
What GM's Wagoner says on health care, car sales stimulus
To ask a question about this story or any economic question, go to McClatchy's economy Q&A
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Switzer Performance built Red Katana — a souped up Nissan GT-R with 300 extra pounds of performance add ons — to be a drag strip slayer. Churning out 1,000 hp on pump gas, the street legal car puts out 1,300 horsepower at the wheels on race gas.
That's insanity.
On his second full pass in Red Katana, John Shepherd reached 163 mph, completing the run in 8.97 seconds. GT-Rs are pretty damn quick to begin with, but this blows stock, and even sort of stock GT-Rs out of the water.
All Race Car Rick, the obligatory dumbfounded pit clipboard guy could say was, "What the fuck?!" and, "That's insane!!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves.