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Twitter made its highly anticipated Wall Street debut at $45.10 a share, sending the company's value soaring above expectations.
The social media giant opened itself for sale to investors Thursday in an initial public offering that was expected to raise nearly $2 billion and will test its ability to leverage its 232 million users into profits. The stock, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange at more than 70 percent over the $26 IPO price, hit a high of $50.09 and and ended the day at $44.90. The current trading price puts the company's total value at roughly $30 billion, CNBC reported.
"We are investing for the long term," Twitter CEO Dick Costolo told CNBC. "We think this is a long-term company — a company for which there is a fantastic use case for every person on the planet."
The market's opening bell was rung at 9:30 a.m. not by Twitter's founders or executives but by three Twitter users: Actor Patrick Stewart, a Boston police officer and 9-year-old Vivienne Harr, who set up a lemonade stand for a year to fight child slavery. In a tweet, the Stock Exchange said Twitter gave those three the honor because the company owes it success to Twitter users like them.
NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer said he was proud of how the Twitter IPO unfolded. He said it was part of a broader effort to lure tech firms over from the NASDAQ, an effort that involves building relationships in Silicon Valley long before companies contemplate an IPO and that would culminate with glitch-free experiences like Thursday's.
"We've been partners with Twitter for two or three years now," he said.
Trading under the symbol TWTR, the company set an IPO price of $26 a share, which would have valued it at $18 billion based on outstanding stock, options and restricted stock expected to be available after the IPO, according to The Associated Press. That number surged Thursday as the company joined the world's biggest publicly traded Internet properties, a stage dominated by Apple, Google and Facebook.
— Twitter (@twitter) November 7, 2013
Next to them, Twitter can seem like a skinny adolescent. It suffered through frequent management changes and boardroom clashes before turning to an "adult" CEO for guidance and stability. Revenue is exploding, thanks in part to the development of the "promoted tweet" and marketing partnerships with the television industry. But losses are mounting as well, and its growth in Twitter users has slowed significantly.
Still, Twitter arguably could not have picked a better time to go public. The bullish stock market is fielding a bumper crop of IPOs, and on Wednesday the Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high.
Twitter's IPO's success, and its stock's long-term performance, will help determine whether the company can become, in the words of Costolo, "the pulse of the planet" without losing its focus.
Twitter has tremendous power and reach -– it was instrumental in the Arab Spring uprisings and is, for millions of news consumers, the first digital draft of history — but observers say it runs the risk of being drowned by the deluge of 500 million or so messages it handles on a daily basis.
"It's fair to say that people have a harder time defining the appeal and value of Twitter relative to other social networks," said Scott Kessler, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ. "Facebook is a social network for friends. LinkedIn is a social network for business contacts. But people have a harder time describing Twitter. They need to do a better job communicating what they are, what they offer and how to get value from the platform."
With 70 million shares available on the market, the central concern among investors is whether Twitter can become profitable and, if so, how long that will take.
Twitter took in $317 million in revenues in 2012 but lost about $80 million. Revenues soared this year, to $422 million, but losses did too, to $134 million.
Facebook, by comparison, reported an annual profit of $1 billion before its May 2012 IPO. Its 1.2 billion users dwarf Twitter's.
But Facebook's IPO, listed on Nasdaq, is generally considered a failure. It overstated its initial asking price, was beset by trading delays and other glitches and ended the day up just 23 cents higher than its $38 IPO price.
Facebook's stock price has since climbed by about 28 percent.
Many analysts thought the company deliberately listed its initial price for institutional investors on the low side. Twitter started at a projected price range of $17 to $20 a share, then rose to a range of $23 to $25 a share before settling on $26 after markets closed Wednesday.
There was no outward gloating, but as NYSE officials pointed out how smoothly the process went, the May 2012 Facebook debacle was an obvious point of reference. Patrick Murphy, executive floor governor for Barclay's' which handled the price setting, said there had been "zero hiccups."
Scott Cutler, executive vice president of global listings for the NYSE, said that officials took a long time to set the opening price to ensure it properly reflected supply and demand on the open market, and to avoid volatility. It seemed to work: At noon, the stock still hovered just over $45.
"This one took a little longer than expected, but it's part of the process," Cutler said.
Jonathan Corpina, a senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners, said that, besides the media presence that made the trading floor a bit more frenzied, the Twitter IPO wasn't much different than the others.
"The goal is to open the stock as the right price, where buyers and sellers are comfortable," he said. "There's a benefit to taking your time and go slow to make sure you get it right."
The company has said it will channel the proceeds of the IPO into operating expenses and capital spending. It is also expected to fund the acquisition of other companies.
Twitter had hoped heading into the day for what is known in the business as a first-day "pop," in which the stock price jumps during the early hours of trading.
In the minutes before the market's opening, there was a palpable sense of excitement on the stock exchange floor, which on normal days is relatively quiet and uncrowded. Traders gave each other high fives and slugged coffee. They expressed confidence that the IPO would go off without hitches that characterized the Facebook IPO.
"We've learned from their mistakes," one said.
One trader, anticipating the frenzy that will accompanying the IPO, said he would not be using Twitter this morning.
"I gotta trade, I can't tweet," he said. "I don't get paid to tweet."
When the initial clamor over the IPO passes, Kessler said, investors and analysts will look at Twitter's operations for its handling of three key goals: sharpening its brand definition, moving closer to profitability and generating more revenue through new advertising products, mobile platforms and international markets.
"As much excitement as there has been around the company and the IPO, they have to demonstrate that they can generate profits sooner rather than later," Kessler said.
Twitter has been vague about its advertising plans and when it expects to get into the black.
Kessler thinks it won't happen until 2015. Anything later, he said, could be seen by investors as a disappointment.
.@Twitter owes success to its users, so gives #NYSEBell to @SirPatrickStew, @VivienneHarr & @Bostonpolice#TwitterIPOpic.twitter.com/fAprlGV8Vs
— (NYX) NYSE Euronext (@NYSEEuronext) November 7, 2013


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'Aspirational' not inspirational teachers
I often show their pictures at conferences and explain that much of what I've learnt about technology and motivation has come from observing or talking to them. As their mother drove me to the station we were talking about their teachers. It stuck us that they've had two absolutely aspirational teachers in their life, neither who work in schools. I use the word 'aspirational' as I think it's what marks the following observations apart from the traditional 'inspirational' model. This is not to decry the many excellent teachers they've had in schools. (There's some outstanding teachers in their school and I've been lucky enough to witness the drama teacher and others give absolute master classes in teaching.) It's just that there's more to life than school.
Howard – master teacher
The first is a guy called Howard Mayes, who teaches them both Tae Kwon Do. Both boys love and deeply respect this guy, who's been teaching them four or five times a week for six years. Howard loves what he does with a passion, enjoying teaching and training as much as the hundreds of students aged 3-63 that attend his classes. He's also a master psychologist, knowing just when to praise and when to correct. He's taken his students to world class level (including one of my boys who won a silver medal at last World Championships), the other has won medals at national level. Even more impressive is the way he's taught our boys to teach others. They now get paid to teach younger kids, under his supervision, and have learnt stacks from this experience. Interestingly, in school, they are rated rather low on marks in PE, as they don't like rugby or football!
As parents we owe Howard a lot, and I can't praise this sport enough. Originally from Korea, via Chine, Tae Kwon Do has become a massive sport with more practitioners worldwide than any other martial art. Indeed, it is more than a sport, as it focuses on control, trust, self-discipline, respect for others, concentration of mind, flexibility, high levels of fitness, as well as defence. Just as importantly, it's about instilling intrinsic motivation in the person. The pupil strives to become the master by mastering themselves. Many parents are turning to disciplines like this, as it develops the whole person, giving them a range of useful life skills.
Phil – maestro teacher
OK, now for the second inspirational teacher. This guy Phil is my boy's (the musical one) drum teacher. He's over 60 but as lively and quick-witted as any 20 year old. Phil has taught drumming to hundreds of people, sometimes teaching the sons and daughters of those he taught years ago. Again, he's a master with young teenagers, taking them at just the right pace, with lots of encouragement but also doses of discipline. He organises master classes with famous drummers and gets them to help out at gigs. Phil has the experience and personality to be a great teacher. This, for me, matters a lot. Playing the drums has opened up a whole new world for my son. He's been introduced to jazz, swing, samba, percussion and all sorts of musical styles and now plays in a band of mixed age every Friday night. He loves it when the old guys get on down with Mambo No 5.
Of course, Phil really knows what matters and that's practice. This is what distinguishes many school teachers from people like Phil. School teachers are not, in my experience, big on homework, because they place undue emphasis on the classroom and their own role as teachers. People like Phil see their role as mentors. The classes are just the starting gates. It's what they do on their own that counts.
Lessons learnt?
Sorry, if this all sounds like proud dad stuff, but the important lesson here is that, for many parents, the learning outside of school is often of a higher quality than that in school. Why is this?
The lessons, for me, are clear:
1. Mixed-age peer groups are often better than single-aged peer groups
2. Trained teachers are not always the best teachers
3. Teachers have to really love what they do
4. Teachers must win the respect of their learners
5. Teachers must win the respect of parents
6. Teachers have to like the kids they teach
7. Teaching must be aspirational
8. It's all about practice
9. Learners like being asked to teach
10. Schools need to embrace those who teach outside of schools
11. Good teachers make students aspire to succeed
This last point is important. Inspirational teachers seem to me to be performers and often appear to be the ideal. Great teachers play a more important role, making learners aspire to higher levels of achievement. They understand that it's not about the teacher but turning the learner into a teacher to both themselves and others. There's a big difference.
My kids hate missing any lesson from these two guys, which is a little different from their attitude to school. I would like to see at least one afternoon a week given to paid external teachers. At the very least I'd like to see external teaching and learning recognised by schools and examination boards. Shouldn't a student who is at the absolute peak of physical fitness, trains five times a week and competes

subset: commoncrawl


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"Chefs & Farmers Facing Future" forum focuses on Hawaii food sustainabilityLeeward Community College
Marketing Officer, Culinary Arts Program
Kathleen R. Cabral
Marketing Officer, Chancellor's Office
Creating a more sustainable, food-independent Hawaiʻi is the focus of "Chefs & Farmers Facing Future," a forum presented by Leeward Community College Culinary Arts Program. The daylong forum is presented on Friday, April 15 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the College Theatre. Chefs join with farmers and ranchers to find ways to move Hawaiʻi's food independence forward.
Sessions range from Hawaii Regional Cuisine to protein security with discussions on aquaculture and Hawaiʻi's beef industry, and opportunities to talk with industry professionals and culinary students about the future of food in Hawaiʻi. The forum is designed for chefs, culinary students, farmers, ranchers, other food industry professionals, and community members interested in Hawaiʻi's sustainable future.
Hawaiʻi is the most geographically isolated community and heavily dependent on imported food and fuel. Roughly 85 percent of the food consumed in the island state is imported, which makes Hawaii highly vulnerable in times of crisis. The tragedy in Japan and rising cost of oil is a wake up call for Hawaiʻi to take serious steps toward becoming more food self-sufficient.
The list of chefs committed to engage in the conversation include renowned Hawaiʻi Regional Cuisine chefs such as Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi and Peter Merriman—along with culinary professionals representing Oʻahu's top resorts: the Halekulani Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the new Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina.
Participating food producers include Big Island rancher Michelle Galimba of Kuahiwi Ranch, Alex Franco of Maui Cattle Company, Richard Ha of the Big Isle's Hamakua Springs Country Farms and aquaculturist Norbert Sporns of Seattle's HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries.
"The amount of talent gathering under one roof to address increasing local food production is unprecedented," says the college's culinary arts program director, Tommylynn Benavente. "An event such as this has never been staged before and we expect creative solutions and action to come out of this forum."
The impact of food import replacement is significant. According to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, replacing just 10 percent of the food Hawaiʻi currently imports would amount to approximately $313 million. Assuming a 30 percent farm share, $94 million would be realized at the farm-gate, which would generate an economy-wide impact of an additional $188 million in sales, $47 million in earnings, $6 million in state tax revenues, and more that 2,300 jobs.
Joining the Leeward's Culinary Arts Program in staging the event are the co-founders of She Grows Food.
Limited seating is available to the general public with a $20 admission fee, which includes a locavore tasting. To register visit www.shegrowsfood.com. For more information contact Dan Nakasone at (808) 622-4032 or email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For more information, visit: http://www.shegrowsfood.com


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A 25-year-old Oklahoma man climbed a Clear Channel radio tower to avoid being captured by security guards who spotted him in a restricted area. Not the brightest move, but he did evade his pursuers for six days.
The man rested on a small lattice in the tower and yelled at onlookers below. He rebuffed offers of food and water and pulled away when rescuers tried to coax him down. Wearing only a pair of shorts, he endured an amazing six days on the tower until an intense 90-degree heat on Tuesday drove him into the safety of a rescue bucket. The only thing that kept him alive was will power and one container of bottled water he drank on Friday.
Thankfully, the Oklahoma man came down when he did. Most people can survive up to eight weeks without food, but can't make it much longer than 5 days without water. He was likely on the edge of severe dehydration, a situation that could've ended with a tragic fall. [KOTV News 6]


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Monogram Carving Board, Walnut
- Only at Williams Sonoma
- Monogram
- Exclusive
- Vendor Shipped
Easy, hassle-free returns online and in-store for eligible items.Learn More
Earn 2x Rewards4 That's 10% back in rewards when you use your Williams Sonoma Credit Card at Williams Sonoma 12/14 - 12/21.Apply Now Learn More
- Summary
Personalized with one carved initial, our board makes a welcome gift for your favorite barbecue chef. Handsome enough to double as a serving platter, it's crafted in Vermont of solid walnut.
- Crafted from sustainably harvested Pacific Northwest walnut, durable enough to withstand daily use yet gentle on knife edges.
- Deep perimeter well collects flavorful juices.
- Integral handles make the board easy to lift and carry.
- Doubles as an impressive presentation piece for turkeys and roasts.
- Will be monogrammed with your choice of a single initial.
- Made by the venerable J.K. Adams Co. of Vermont, specialists in finely made wooden kitchenwares.
- Dimensions & More Info
- 20" x 14".
- 1" thick.
- 5 lb. 11 oz.
- Made in USA.
- Use & Care
- Board should be seasoned with a food-grade mineral oil before first use.
- To season the board properly, warm the mineral oil slightly and apply it in the direction of the wood grain using a clean, dry cloth. Allow the oil to soak in and repeat with another application. Allow the board to dry and wipe off any excess oil.
- Hand-wash with hot, soapy water. Dry thoroughly.
- Do not soak or submerge board in water.
- Occasionally rub with a food-safe mineral oil to keep wood from drying out.
- To sanitize, wash the board with a solution of one part vinegar to five parts water.
- Remove odors by rubbing the board with kosher or table salt and half a lemon. Let sit for 2 to 3 minutes then wipe clean with a damp cloth. Remove excess moisture with a clean paper towel and stand the board on end to air dry.
- Store in a dry area away from extreme temperatures.
- Shipping
Shipping Information
This item will be shipped directly from the manufacturer and is not eligible for rush shipping. Please allow one to two weeks for delivery.
Shipping Rates
The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping destination. View Shipping Options and Charges.
Return Policy
At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
If within 30 days, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required for all returns and exchanges. Returns with a gift receipt will be refunded in the form of a Merchandise Credit for the amount indicated on the gift receipt. Returns with original receipt will be refunded in the original form of payment, cash and check refunds over $100 will be issued as a company check (may take 14 business days from time of request).
For all cutlery returns (knife sets, single knives, cutting boards, knife sharpeners, and knife storage) please contact us at 888.922.4108 to initiate the return.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, custom upholstery, food, items shipped direct from the vendor, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. Final sale items ending in .97 or .99 cannot be returned.
For returns of items purchased from your Williams Sonoma Gift Registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later. View Full Returns Policy.
Rated 5 out of 5 by megh1030 from We love this cutting board! We registered for this cutting board when we got married 10 years ago. We love it! We use it for carving turkeys, chicken, beef tenderloin, etc. We even use it as an extra large cheese / charcuterie board when hosting friends. Highly recommend!Date published: 2017-10-08Rated 1 out of 5 by Prens from Defective product not backed by Williams Sonoma I was given a JK Adams cutting board as a gift, it split and Williams sonoma would not replace it. JK Adams is an excellent product, this clearly was defective. Very disappointed in Williams SonomaDate published: 2017-07-22


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Tagged: Mallinson
24th May 2018 – ROC Round 4 and A Little Blur Goes a Long Way
Reflex Open Competition Round 4 last meeting and congratulations to the award winners and I hope everyone took something away from the evening. Our judge was Roger Mallinson, the man to go to if you want to know about making audio visual presentations and a returnee to judge at Reflex and many thanks to him for his time and effort. As usual the winners will appear on the club website in due course.
"There is no special way a photograph should look" – Garry Winogrand.
Even a themed competition will tell you that and whereas there are things that work as a general rule, the tools of composition, and sharpness, as we have quoted before, is a "Bourgeoise concept" (maybe). It does rather make you wonder what club competitions are for.
Well the first two clues are in the name club competition. It is about members of the club, first and foremost. Members having a framework into which they can receive feedback. And it is about competition, that is to say a test of skill and ability against other like minded individuals. They coexist but, depending on our choices and personalities, one side will be more important than the other. Recognition is both a middle point and the backbone that connects the two extremes.
If no two pictures are the same how do we differentiate between two pictures on merit? The tools of composition give us a clue, more particularly how they are used and abused, but there is no one accepted system, though some sort of system is required to be consistent.
No two judges are the same and that is a good thing. All our judges are fellow photographers and have their own development route. OK we have all sat there and thought, on occasion, what are they on and where do I get some? when our carefully crafted images totally fail to convey their message. The fault does not lie with the viewer. It is still a good thing if that failure comes with an explanation. Better yet one that we can apply to the next similar situation.
If we don't fail, at least occasionally, and have an inkling of why we fail then we will not learn. It all comes back to that word "Because". There is no way a photograph should look. There are individual tastes and opinions and that will apply to any judge the same as to the rest of us.
Lets come back to that idea of sharpness and its evil twin blur as one example. Generally, when looking at a photograph, one of the first things that strike us is can we see it clearly. It is important because I, for one, can see blurry things just by taking my glasses off. Rather like a number of my fellow club members, I paid rather a lot of money specifically to do the opposite and see things in focus. Focus is a thing and having something sharp within our depth of focus is generally desirable.
If there was a single way of producing an acceptable image all images must either be all in or all out of focus. We would then be free to challenge this convention or rule in the pursuit of artistic interpretation. Hold on. Wait one. That's exacly what we do on occasion. It is one of the most popular nights we have for practicals on the calendar. It's called light-painting.
Blur can be creative when it is deliberate and controlled (or we can pass it off as that). We generally differentiate blur from focus as one is produced by movement and one by mechanical physics. Ultra wide and expensive prime lenses producing very limited acceptable focus and blury (often sold as dreamy) backgrounds are all the rage. Bokeh is a thing too and now deemed as a selling point in a lens. Figure to ground is an established art principle of grouping things together visually (visited recently in our tour around Gestalt theory) where the subject is seperated from but relational to the background (and or foreground).
Creative blur is an accepted technique. That is it is deliberate and measured in its application to a suitable subject. The idea of photo-dynamism is over a century old and is linked to a wider art movement known as Italian Futurism, though photography was initially rejected by the Futurists for being static.
It has several variants we might use. First up we have the deliberate de-focusing effect. Bokeh originated from this in Japan and became a form all of its own but was always an incidental to taking photographs with points of light in the background. Defocusing works best in colour, with large blocks of identifiable shapes such as flowers, people, painted walls etc. It also works well when shooting against a bright background. Where to stop defocusing is a personal call, again there is no fixed point, but it's fun to do.
Next up we have panning. We talked last week about taking panoramas, basically a linked series of photographs of something from a fixed point that usually extends beyond the horizontal field of focus of our lenses regardless of there orientation. This uses the same movement idea but within the same period of exposure. By necessity this involves longer shutter speeds but doesn't have to be on a tripod,.though a pair of steady hands is useful. Keeping the focus and speed in synch on the subject is one option, but the other is to slowly follow the subject through keeping it identifiable but blurred.
Thirdly we have the deliberate shake of the camera during the exposure, up and down or left to right. This doesn't have to be violent to give an effect but it is best if slightly exaggerated. A fourth variation is to rotate the camera during the exposure around a fixed point.
A fifth variant is known as zoom blur sometimes known as zoom burst and is pretty much as it says on the tin. Whilst the camera shutter is open we zoom in or zoom out (obviously we need a zoom lens).
So five variations that we can try and combine into a little project and maybe use to generate entries in the next round of ROC.


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Let's take the old phone companies and slam dunk them straight into the ash heap of history. Leading the way is FON, a company that aims to become the largest hotspot network in the world by the end of this year. The idea is to install the FON software on your WiFi router, place your antenna next to the window and then share your bandwidth with the rest of the world. Suddenly, you're a FONero! This status gives you the right to use the bandwidth of any of your FON comrades.
Now FON has gotten a bit of a turbocharge from global P2P phone pioneer Skype, another company that knows a little about putting a wrench in the works of the fat-ass telcos of the world. Skype has plunked down an unspecified amount of money as an investment in this new FON company, which has exponentially multiplied from zero users to more than 3,000 in just 90 days. Is it a revolution driven by the power of community? We can only hope. Viva la revoluci n!


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Producer-actor Griffin Dunne has made the big leap into the realm of directing with his first feature, "Addicted to Love," starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick as two people jilted by their significant others.
Sam (Broderick), an astronomer, has been pining over the loss of his girlfriend, Linda (Kelley Preston), since she left him to go find herself in the Big Apple. Much to Sam's distress, she also found something else - a handsome, charming Frenchman named Anton.
Maggie (Ryan) was dumped by Anton, much earlier, after she helped him acquire his precious work visa. Maggie is out for blood.
Sam and Maggie form an unlikely alliance, based in a deserted, house across the street from their mutual targets. The pair stalk their prey with a mix of old and new technology - an old-fashioned camera obscura provides their visual needs, while high tech bugging gear provides the audio. With their eyes and ears in place, Sam and Maggie settle down to their individual missions - for Sam to get Linda back, while Maggie simply wants to vaporize her ex.
"Addicted to Love" represents Griffin Dunne's very successful first foray as director. And, he does a damn good job of it! Dunne takes his years of experience in producing and acting and puts them to good use as he guides his cast through familiar romantic-comedy territory to its logical, and predictable, ending. It's what happens along this journey that is the charm and strength of the film.
With Ryan and Broderick as the key players in the film, Dunne has two seasoned professionals who have a terrific sense of comic timing. They also have the physical attractiveness, and mutual attraction, to make their romance convincing,
Ryan, as Maggie, comes out on top of heap as a street smart, resourceful woman who is out for revenge and the ruination of Anton. She is, obviously, in command of the situation, any situation, and is the activist to Sam's passive observer. I've grown to like Meg Ryan over the past couple of years. She is a capable and competent actor. Her comedic experience ("When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle") comes to the fore here. Her comedic timing and delivery help maintain the overall pace of the film.
Broderick, as second-banana Sam, plays the subordinate role to Maggie, always following her lead. Sam has been in an intellectual ivory tower for so long, that a strong personality, be it Maggie or his nemesis, Anton, will dominate him, making Sam always a follower. Matthew Broderick, a real pro actor, plays Sam with gusto. He is the innocent of the bunch, taking more than his share of lumps because of his naivete . He and Ryan have a real chemistry that compliments, nicely, the romantic comedy tone of "Addicted To Love."
The minimal supporting cast of Tcheky Karyo and Kelley Preston suit the story nicely. Karyo, who made his first splash as the enigmatic "Bob" in Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita," is terrific as the arrogant, cocky Frenchman. He has a wonderful speech where, at one point, he equates being French in the US to Superman. On Krypton, Superman is only a man. On Earth, he is, suddenly, Superman! In France, a Frenchman is only a Frenchman. Here, in the US, with his accent and Continental manner, Anton is, to all intent and purpose, a Superman! This is a funny bit of philosophy that rings very, very true.
Kelley Preston, while attractive and graceful in the role of Linda, is little more than the object of desire for Sam. You see her, quite literally through most of the film, as a flat image projected on the wall to be watched and admired by Sam. Not much she, or anyone, could do to flesh out the role. Though Laura disagrees with me, I note more than a passing resemblance between Preston and Ryan.
The screenplay, by Robert Gordon, is, as I said, totally predictable as to the outcome of the story. It's the originality of getting to that outcome that makes "Addicted to Love" interesting to watch. The use of the camera obscura as the voyeuristic device is different and fresh. It's a low-tech device used with a high-tech flair.
The story also does a loving job building up the relationship between Sam and Maggie. You know they'll be together in the end, but you hope they'll get together, too.
Technically - photography, editing, etc. - are solid. The imaginative and original use of the camera obscura, coupled with an interesting use of sound (with all the bugging equipment), make for an original look at the stalker's art of observation.
"Addicted to Love" is an intelligent, smart romantic comedy, with a dark edge, that should give moviegoers a good alternative to the eye candy we'll be facing for the next couple of months. It's more appealing, intellectually, than its main competitor, the dino pic, and will offer a good alternative viewing, especially for a date night.
I give "Addicted to Love" a B
"Addicted to Love" is a quirky, originally spun telling of a time-old story, where lovers continue to pursue others when it's clear that they're meant for each other.
Actor/producer Griffin Dunne makes a fine directorial debut, clearly influenced by the great American filmmaker Martin Scorcese's dark comedy "After Hours," which Dunne starred in.
The always-likeable Matthew Broderick stars as Sam, who's madly in love with his childhood sweetheart Linda (Kelly Preston) in a rural small town. He's an astronomer who points the observatory's telescope at the school's playground every noon to view his love. His world is thrown into turmoil when Linda, clearly itching to see more of the world, takes a job in New York City, ostensibly for one month. As he frantically prepares for her return, he's dealt a blow when Linda's father reads him a Dear John letter in an amusing scene. Sam immediately travels to the big city only to discover that Linda is living with a handsome French restauranteur, Anton (Tcheky Karyo of "La Femme Nikita"). Conveniently, there's a vacant building next door to their apartment, so Sam moves in and sets up a camera obscura, an ancient technology that allows him to project the interior of Linda and Anton's apartment onto the wall of his.
Soon Sam's space is invaded by Maggie (Meg Ryan, looking punked out with a ragamuffin, black roots haircut and dark, smudgy eye makeup), a tough, motorcycle riding cookie who seeks revenge against her former fiance Anton in a big way. She breaks into the lovenest across the street to wire it for sound and voila, Sam and Maggie can now view the new lovers a la Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Maggie's viciousness in taking down Anton (she manages to arrange for him to lose everything, to the point where he's alone, broke and in a full body cast with a nasty rash) skirts perilously close to making the film an uncomfortable experience for the audience, but Ryan gives such a fine comic performance with the tasty lines which have been written for her and is so nicely balanced against Sam's naive sweetness that Dunne manages to make the whole thing work. Maggie's schemes are so outrageously original that one must laugh in spite of oneself. Karyo's selfish and egoistical Anton is so genuinely confused and humbled that one believes him when he declares his true love for his lost Linda. Kelly Preston is the only member of the foursome who comes across a bit blandly.
The art direction and cinematography work well together, especially in scenes in the vacant building. The film has a magical moment when Sam whitewashes the wall he's projecting Linda onto, bringing her into radiant sharpness. The scene where Sam suddenly realizes that Maggie loves him, based on his watching an episode of Lassie no less, is an inspiration that concludes the film on a truly high note.
is the screen adaptation by Terrence McNally of his Broadway hit about eight gay friends who spend their holiday weekends at the beautiful rural Victorian home of famed choreographer/dancer Gregory and his partner Bobby. The original Broadway director, Joe Mantello, makes his screen directorial debut with his original Broadway cast, with the exception of 'Seinfeld's' Jason Alexander, who takes on Nathan Lane's role of Buzz.
"Love! Valour! Compassion!" is a small, affecting, ensemble film about relationships and death - think of it as "The Boys in the Band" crossed with "The Big Chill." Stephen Bogardus is Gregory, the calming, nurturing Earth Mother type who's hiding the fact that his efforts to choreograph a new dance piece is coming to naught. Gregory is enamored of his lover, Bobby (Justin Kirk), a blind man who's hyper-sensitive to everything around him. Perry (Stephen Spinella) and Arthur (John Benjamin Hickey) are the long-term couple who are still working to overcome some deep differences as they celebrate their 14th anniversary together. John Jekyll (John Glover, who won a Tony for the role on Broadway) is an arch English composer who none of the group much cares for. Jekyll introduces two new members to the tight-knit group - a new lover Ramon (Randy Becker), a narcissistic young dancer, and later, his more effeminate twin brother James (also played by Glover) who's dying from Aids. Jason Alexander is Buzz, an HIV positive, show tune loving, single man who the group always hopes will appear with a partner, but who always arrives alone.
The film is divided into three acts. On Memorial Day, the group is introduced and the dynamics are established. Ramon shamelessly pursues his host's lover Bobby. Bobby is torn between love and hot sex. John and Perry have an antagonistic relationship, based, presumedly, on a prior love affair gone bad. The prickly Perry lashes out, causing a rift with his good-hearted partner Arthur, while John retreats from the group. Buzz provides most of the comic relief, declaring his single, small room the 'Patty Hearst Memorial Closet.'
When the July 4th weekend rolls around, John arrives with his brother from England, James, who has a penchant for wearing bonnets and flowing caftans. James quickly becomes a group favorite because of his sweet nature and the group quickly dubs them 'James the fair and John the foul.' John also surprises (and somewhat dismays) the group by bringing the immoral, exhibitionist Ramon along again. (Be advised that "Love! Valour! Compassion!" features quite a bit of male frontal nudity.) The central segment is the most combustible. Gregory learns of Bobby's dalliance with Ramon and is devastated. Buzz runs around the volleyball court in only an apron and heels serving martinis, delighting some and disgusting others. Buzz and James begin a heartfelt relationship that's doomed to end too soon.
Labor Day weekend is the final act and we've really come to know and care about these characters. John has become increasingly bitter and tortured, knowing that he's disliked while the group has taken his saintly brother into their bosom. Glover has an amazing scene where he comes to terms with his dying brother - this actor plays both parts with a wide disparity of emotion that's wrenching. Later, Jason Alexander has a tour de force scene with his oldest friend in the group, Perry, where he rages out against the unfairness of a death that will leave him to face the same fate alone. Gregory has all his friends (except Perry, who refuses to participate) practice a number from Swan Lake that they will stage for an Aids benefit, complete with feathered headdresses and tutus, where we learn of each character's eventual fate via their own voice overs.
The film manages to avoid appearing stage-bound, even though all the settings are economically kept within the grounds of Gregory's home. It's also well paced as its two hour run time zips by. The cast is excellent (with Glover, Spinella, Hickey and Alexander being the standouts). While the concept has been worked many times before, with both hetero and gay protagonists, it mostly works again here. My only question was why only Gregory seemed to show compassion to the obviously tortured character of John - the audience seems to learn more about this man's inner conflicts beneath his grating exterior than his friends ever do.
did not see this film.
In his second foray into courtroom comedy, director Jonathan Lynn ("My Cousin Vinnie") tackles changing identities and life crisis in "Trial and Error," starring Michael Richards and Jeff Daniels, as an out of work actor and hot-shot attorney on the brink of marriage, respectively.
Michael Richards is Richard Rietti, an unemployed actor with time on his hands and scheduled to be the best man to his best boyhood friend, Charlie Tuttle (Daniels).
Charlie lives a life diametrically opposite of Richard. He is a man who has done all the right things - excellent prep school, undergraduate degree from Yale (with a law degree from there, too), upcoming partnership in his future father-in-law's prestigious law firm, pending marriage to a wealthy young woman. A man who has it all.
On the eve, literally, of his marriage, Charlie is ordered, by dad-in-law-to-be, to go to a remote desert town in Nevada (missing his bachelor party) to represent a family member, Benny Gibbs (Rip Torn). Benny is charged with fraud in a scam selling "engraved copper portraits of Abraham Lincoln" (AKA, pennies) for $17.99 each to unsuspecting fraud victims. Because of the unexpected trip, Charlie is also going to miss his own bachelor party, being planned by friend Richard.
Richard, undeterred by the inconvenience, conjures up a bachelor party for Charlie in the remote town, getting the groom-to-be drunk as a skunk, then in a barroom brawl, requiring medical attention.
The next day, Charlie, doped up on pain-killers, is in no condition to represent anyone, in court or anywhere. Richard, always the actor, decides to pose as the unconscious attorney and do the walk-on line, "Your honor, my client requests a continuance." Unexpectedly, the judge refuses the request and things go completely awry.
"Trial and Error" is a mixed bag of a film telling two diverse stories - Richards, as actor Richard Rietti, taking on the role as lawyer, finds himself dealing with the moral and legal problems created by posing as an officer of the court. Daniels' Charlie Tuttle, a man who has it all, is fast realizing that 'all' is not what he wants. He really wants freedom - the freedom to figure out what it is he really wants.
This diversity in stories both works and doesn't. On one hand, this lends complexity to the plot - a complexity that is refreshing in the usual Hollywood fare. But, it also adds an element of confusion as the story jump back and forth between Richard getting himself (and Charlie) mired more and more deeply in his illegal deception and Charlie coming to terms that his terrific life is not so terrific - as a matter of fact, it sucks. If anything, the story, by wife/husband writing team Sara and Gregory Bernstein, tries too hard, covering a lot of territory in its 90+ minutes, sometimes handling this a bit hurriedly. This is a minor tradeoff for an intelligent story.
The screenplay does a good job of covering the bases of potential implausibility in the setup, moving the action away from home to a place where no-one knows who's Charlie or who's Richard. There isn't a lot of time wasted trying to be clever by forcing the identity switch on home turf.
Richards and Daniels do yeoman's work with the inherent physical humor you'd expect from the film. There is a decent quotient of good slapstick humor (sometimes reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote) with pratfalls galore and some degree of personal harm.
Michael Richards isn't given a role that's much of a stretch beyond his Kosmos Kramer character. He's pleasant enough, but doesn't give us anything new or different.
Jeff Daniels does the physical humor well. And, he gets to kiss Charlize Theron. How hard a job is this?
I like Charlize Theron as Billie. She's wholesome and a rebel at the same time and give more than just a supporting role. Her charisma, charm and natural air push her character, Billie, to more than just a supporting role. My only question is: why doesn't Charlie run away with Billie within 30 seconds of meeting her?
Jessica Steen, as the prosecuting attorney, holds her own well opposite Richards. She makes me believe that she is a dedicated law enforcement official, fighting for justice, and that she finds Richard attractive.
Alexandra Wentworth, in what would ordinarily be a throw away role as the fiancee, Tiffany, comes across, convincingly, as the wealthy, well groomed, spoiled, but not too pretty or intelligent, socialite. It's a small role, but she leaves her mark on it.
Austin Pendleton lends his own brand of manic flexibility as presiding Judge Paul Z. Graff.
Rip Torn, as the object of the court's desire, starts slow, ends strong. He's a true pro.
Jonathan Lynn isn't going to get the attention that he did with "My Cousin Vinnie," although I like "Trial and Error" better. He can take credit for presenting us with a film that is a full cut above what we expect to come out of Hollywood.
I give "Trial and Error" an enthusiastic B.
did not see this film.
The highest grossing film of all time, "Jurassic Park," just had to have a sequel, so director Steven Spielberg brings us to Site B, a second island where cloned dinosaurs have been allowed to flourish unrestrained, a fact conveniently overlooked in the first film. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has turned environmentalist and arranges to send a small crew to document the natural wonder in order to gain support for cordoning off the island as a Jurassic habitat. His nephew who now runs Ingen (Arliss Howard) has other ideas, sending in a huge group, including big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postelthwaite), to capture a selection of the beasts for a San Diego zoo environment which had previously been built but abandoned by his uncle.
Director Steven Spielberg has never gone through the motions so ploddingly as he does in this follow-up to his shallow, but far more entertaining, "Jurassic Park." While the special effects outdo the first effort by leaps and bounds (there are more dinosaurs roaming more freely and interacting with humans than before) and the final San Diego sequence shows Spielberg firmly planting tongue in cheek, the large part of the film is a pale retread.
Jeff Goldblum returns as Ian Malcolm, a scientist whose reputation has been ruined by telling his tale of his first dinosaur adventure to a disbelieving public. Hammond ropes him into returning when he informs Malcolm that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) is already on the island. The rest of the 'good guy' crew is made up of photographer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn of "Swingers"), a field equipment systems specialist Eddie (Richard Schiff "City Hall") and Malcolm's stowaway daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester "Harriet the Spy").
When Ian, Nick and Eddie first run across some herbivorous dinosaurs while searching for Sarah, Nick and Eddie are awed. Goldblum's Ian sums up the film when he pronounces that 'first there's oohing and ahhing, then there's running and screaming.' Sarah's out to prove that dinosaurs were nurturers and ventures too close - she pats baby dinos (which look maybe a bit too cute) and ventures to save a baby T Rex with a broken leg, incurring the wrath of mom and dad in a scene that plays like a repeat of the 'jeep in the tree' scene of the original. We also get warmed over repeats of the 'bad guy taken down by cute dinosaurs scene' and the raptor hunt scene, although the raptors appear to be a lot more easily foiled the second time around (one even gets taken out by a preteen gymnastics move!).
Of course the dinosaurs manage to destroy both groups vehicles and means of communication until they must join forces to survive, only to find that the 'bad guy' group has succeeded, tranquilizing an adult T Rex to be shipped back to San Diego. This last sequence does manage to bring some much needed levity to the proceedings in a clear homage to "Godzilla." Spielberg also merrily thumbs his nose at the disaster flick 'the dog gets saved' cliche.
The cast is largely forgettable, although Goldblum brings his trademark deadpan humor and Pete Postelthwaite amazingly manages to create a somewhat complex character out of sheer willpower. Although I'm sure it was meant as a politically correct gesture, the casting of a black actress to play Goldblum's daughter called attention to itself more than anything else.
"The Lost World" is pretty ho-hum stuff for all its great effects. While "Jurassic Park" was really little more than an amusement ride, I've watched it again - it at least had a truly thrilling T Rex chase and the unbearably suspenseful raptor-in-the-kitchen scene. I've seen "The Lost World" and doubt I'll bother again.
They're big, they're brash, they're bellicose and they're back! The dinosaurs, and a couple of the human characters, of "Jurassic Park" have returned in the $80-million sequel, "The Lost World: Jurassic Park."
Spielberg and company have put together the requisite thrills and spills from the original "Jurassic Park", but failed to provide anything new by way of story. "The Lost World" is a true remake, taking each of the action sequences from the first film and, one by one, recreating them with exacting detail. Which makes "Lost World" a prime example of super high-tech boredom.
I am also surprised at the derivative nature of the film. "The Road Warrior," "Hatari!" and "Cliffhanger" are some of the films copied, in part, in "Lost World." With a name like Spielberg up front, this film should be the one that's copier, not the copier.
On the plus side of things, the last 20 minutes of the film is a witty sendup to the father of all monster movies, "Godzilla." This tacked on bit actually ended up being the best and funniest part of the film. Spielberg pokes fun at himself and Hollywood in this part. I expected this to be the weakest aspect of the film. Instead, it's the strongest.
As expected, there is a bevy of character actors doing their bit to flesh things out. Jeff Goldblum leads the pack in his reprise of the Ian Malcolm character, being joined by Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite and Richard Attenborough. Postlethwaite, as white hunter Roland Tembo, of all the cast, comes off best. He's the only one who shows any emotion or character development. (Well, Julianne Moore does some emoting when the T-Rex is only this far away. The rest of the cast are, as Postlethwaite's Great White Hunter describes, "a movable feast."
As everyone expects, the special effects used in "The Lost World" are superlative. The melding of computer imaging with live action is flawless, bringing to life the myriad collection of dinos in a wonderfully realistic way. This has, by far, the most incredible F/X - rate as excellent the animatronic, digital, and live action effects - put on the big screen, to date, from the compey attack on bad guy Dieter (Peter Stormare) to the T-Rex and raptor attacks. Kudos to Industrial Light & Magic for giving us real movie magic. Too bad the makers didn't see fit to provide a real story to take advantage of this magic.
"The Lost World" is like painting by numbers - you get something that looks pretty good, but there's no creativity in getting there. It is, unfortunately, typical of Hollywood today to provide the look but leave out the substance. The only intelligence in "The Lost World" is technical. I'm extremely disappointed that tech stuff is all that matters in Hollywood. F/X should be a tool used in making a film, not the reason for the film.
I give "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" a tepid C+. F/X and Godzilla help to raise it that high.
From Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer who brought us such blockbusters as "The Rock," "Top Gun," and "Crimson Tide," comes "Con Air", the summer's next big action-thriller, following Spielberg's "Jurassic Park 2." Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage, leading an all star cast, is Cameron Poe, a former Army Ranger unjustly convicted of manslaughter. After serving eight years in maximum security, Poe is on his way home, on parole, and hitches a ride on a plane carrying the very worst the federal prison system has to offer.
The routine flight, monitored by US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack), takes a dramatic and unanticipated turn as one of the inmates, criminal mastermind Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), leads a bold and bloody escape and takes over the plane, aptly named "The Jailbird."
Poe, hiding his free status from the convicts, is the monkeywrench in the works as he and Larkin join forces to thwart Cyrus' plans of escape.
"Con Air" almost, just almost, pulls it of as an original concept action thriller, reminiscent, for 85% of the film, of the best of the genre, equaling other originals such as "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon."
Boston-born screenwriter Scott Rosenberg has scripted a very tight story, establishing the "murder" committed by Cameron Poe as an unfortunate circumstance - right off, we know he's a good guy. Poe, we are shown (succinctly, beneath the credits), was simply defending himself and his newly pregnant wife, Tricia (Monica Potter), from drunken rednecks. The explanation of how an innocent man can go to prison is done well. We are shown how Poe does all he can to keep a sense of normalcy to his life in expectation of meeting his never-met daughter. And all this under the opening credits. Some Hollywood films don't tell this much of a story in two hours.
Once the setup is done, things take off, so to speak, as the cast of convict characters are, one by one, introduced to us. And, this is the most bad ass collection of nasty people imaginable. Led by Malkovich as Cyrus the Virus, the criminal cast includes Ving Rhames as black militant bomber Diamond Dog, Steve Buscemi as serial killer Garland Greene, M.C. Gainey as convict-pilot Swamp Thing and a host of others. The experience and talent of the supporting cast definitely raises the level of "Con Air."
Nic Cage is becoming one of Hollywood's mainstay leading action figures. He is physical enough to do the necessary stunt work, plus can deliver witty lines with the best of them. I just hope he'll continue with efforts like "Leaving Las Vegas," instead of just going for the bucks. He makes a convincing hero as Poe, giving the character depth and motivation. He's pretty buff, too.
John Cusack, as US Marshal Vince Larkin, is a good foil to Cage's Poe. Cusack is a smart actor and uses his time on screen quite well. He and Poe have a lot in common, so Larkin can get inside Poe's head as they combine their significant skills and abilities to stop the baddies.
John Malkovich, though typecast lately as the perennial bad guy, shows us just how bad a bad guy he can really be as Cyrus. His droll and relaxed, though commanding, delivery is perfect for the character. He is a worthy foe.
Supporting cast is an embarrassment of wealth. Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney, Mykelti Williamson, Rachel Ticotin, M.C. Gainey and the rest of this fine cast provide "Con Air" a rich collection of secondary characters, fleshing the background out beautifully.
Why is "Con Air" terrific for only 85% of its run time? Answer: Hollywooditis.
Bruckheimer and company feel it is necessary to have a slam-bam, flashy, explosion-laden, extravaganza of a finale that destroys half of Las Vegas. The stupidities and inconsistencies that occur during the first ending are compounded when the makers see fit to add another ending to the first. Any sense of reality is completely dropped with Cyrus withstanding incredible punishment before meeting his maker. The end feels like it was tacked on by someone other than the people who created the first 85% of the film.
"Con Air" could have been great if they had kept the ending simple and consistent with the tone and feel of the rest of the movie. A convincing final confrontation between Poe and The Virus is all that is necessary to make it great. The Hollywood ending hurts the film's integrity, diminishing what could easily have become a classic of the genre.
Tech credits are top notch, with the spectacle of the Las Vegas' famous strip becoming a disaster zone done to the max.
What could have been an A movie, I can only give a B+. If the end(s) equaled the rest of the film, "Con Air" would have been another "Die Hard."
"Con Air" was approaching the level of that pinnacle of action films, "Die Hard," for 85% of its running time until it had to come crashing down with not only a ludicrously overblown climax but also the Hollywood cliched second ending. Still and all, "Con Air" is a wild ride supported by a great cast and a refreshingly sardonic script by Newton native, Scott Rosenberg ("Beautiful Girls").
The film neatly provides its hero's back story during the opening credits, where we learn that Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) was a decorated Army Ranger who killed a man in self defense while defending his pregnant wife's honor and was subsequently jailed for eight years. Just when it's time for Poe to return home the penal system decides to try out a new maximum security airplane to move the worst assortment of criminals to another prison. Cyrus 'the virus' Grissom (John Malkovich) and Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames "Pulp Fiction") quickly (and a little too conveniently) escape their constraints and take over the plane. They even pull off a quick stop to take on three more prisoners, including their replacement pilot and a notorious serial killer (Steve Buscemi). Poe stays on board and plays along with while plotting against the murderous crew because his friend Baby-O (Mykelti Williamson of "Forrest Gump") is in desperate need of insulin.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, U.S. Marshal Larkin (John Cusack) uncovers Grissom's plot and begins to track the men while attempting to control the manic behavior of D.E.A. agent Malloy (Colm Meany). Larkin becomes fixated by Poe as a possible ally.
After its opening sequence, "Con Air" is loud, fast, in-your-face and funny. The dialog snaps and the actors act. A very buff Cage is simply great as the noble Alabaman trying to get to his family and meet his eight year old daughter for the first time on her birthday. When another con rifles through Poe's belongings, discovering the stuffed rabbit Poe's bringing to daughter Casey, Cage's "Put the bunny back in the box" line was delivered with such authority as to negate its innate idiocy. The previously underappreciated Cage is proving himself an able action hero.
The still underappreciated John Cusack also makes the most of Larkin, the dogged marshal who'll go any distance, including driving a plow through flaming wreckage and hails of bullets, in pursuit of his ends. Cusack and Cage are a delightfully edgy team.
John Malkovich manages to give a fresh performance as the sociopath Grissom. He's supremely intelligent, completely immoral and quite witty. Steve Buscemi is also wryly amusing as the Hannibal Lectorish Garland Greene. Unfortunately, the character really doesn't belong in the film and a side plot involving Greene and a little girl who's conveniently playing near an obsolete and isolated airstrip should have been dropped.
Overall I had a rousing time aboard "Con Air" and still rate it a B+ despite its lamentable silliness at the end.
Based on a true story, "Buddy" tells the tale of the extraordinary eccentric 1920's socialite Getrude Lintz (Rene Russo). Trudy lives with her physician husband Bill (Robbie Coltrane) on a large estate where she keeps a menagerie of animals including a kennel of championship Briard dogs, Rex rabbits, flocks of geese, horses, kittens and four chimpanzees whom she treats as her children. In raising the chimpanzees, Trudy's become quite an expert on ape behavior, but when she rescues a baby gorilla, Buddy, her patience and devotion to the animal defy all beliefs held at the time, making her a forerunner of such women as Dian Fosse and Jane Goodall.
Sophomore director and noted screenwriter Caroline Thompson clearly has a way with outsiders and animals, having written "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Addams Family" and directed "Black Beauty." "Buddy" is not only a wonderfully quirky children's film, but also a modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast."
The film features a marvelously off beat cast. Rene Russo ("Ransom," "Tin Cup") is charming as the independent Getrude and proves here that she's one of the few model-turned-actresses with the chops to carry a film's starring role. Robbie Coltrane ("Nuns on the Run, "Henry V," TV's "Cracker") is great as her patient husband, a role that could have been a throwaway in lesser hands - his warmth, support and humor lend a tremendous amount to the film. Alan Cumming ("Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," "Circle of Friends") is Trudy's assistant, clearly having fun keeping tabs on the quartet of precocious chimps. Irma P. Hall ("A Family Thing") is Emma, the Lintz' cook and housekeeper who carries out her duties while being both challenged by and exasperated by the strange denizens of the household. Paul Reubens (TV's "Pee Wee's Playhouse," "Batman Returns") has a brief role as a supercilious, supposed gorilla expert.
"Buddy" begins as Trudy does her morning routine - a vigorous exercise of animal and bird calls that wake up the entire estate! The film establishes the characters (the chimp Maggie is the mischievous one, etc.) before introducing the baby Buddy into the household, where he's nursed back from death and clearly becomes Trudy's favored child. As Buddy grows, he doesn't know his own strength, breaking chairs and easily getting out of his cage. A trip to the Chicago World's Fair results in Buddy's escape into the hysterical crowds, an event that forever scars his psyche. In a fit of rebellion, Buddy destroys the lower level of the Lintz estate and finally Trudy accepts that she must free whom she loves. In an odd way, the story has undercurrents of a love story - the trilling sounds Buddy makes are actually a gorilla's courtship call. In a beautiful scene, Trudy and Buddy sit on the edge of his bed watching the evening snow fall while holding hands. When Trudy and Bill go out for a social event, Buddy gets out of his cage and retires to the Lintz' bedroom where he finds Gertrude's red silk slip and dances with it.
The costume and art direction marvelously evoke the time period in a fantastical way - the chimps' rooms are decorated to suit their personalities. The film has a bright look and good pace, clocking in at just over 80 minutes, which is actually a bit of a problem. "Buddy" could have used a bit more fleshing out to give it some much needed depth. While I really enjoyed the film, it somehow felt too slight.
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The Tennessee Titans have fired Mike Munchak after three seasons as head coach and 31 years combined with this franchise as a player and coach.
The Titans confirmed the firing Saturday after holding meetings since they ended the season with a 7-9 record and a 16-10 win over Houston.
'The last week has been a difficult time trying to navigate through many issues to find the best resolution for this franchise moving forward,' general manager Ruston Webster said in a statement. 'Tough choices were presented to all sides and the end result was to part ways and move forward without Mike.'
The Titans scheduled a news conference for later Saturday to discuss the firing. Webster now has to oversee this franchise's first coaching search since Munchak was hired in February 2011 and only the second since this team left Houston in 1997.
Munchak flew to Texas on Friday morning to meet with team president and CEO Tommy Smith and Webster. They returned late in the afternoon, and Munchak eluded reporters by driving his truck through a different airport exit.
The coach had a season left on his contract and was 22-26 overall. He had been with this franchise since 1982 when the then-Houston Oilers made him a first-round draft pick, and he joined the coaching staff as an assistant the year after he retired.
The Titans made Munchak their 16th head coach when late owner Bud Adams promoted him after firing Jeff Fisher. But Munchak's first offseason was wiped out by the NFL lockout, and his second was chewed up when Adams ordered his front office to chase Peyton Manning.
Adams spent more than $100 million this past offseason to restock the Titans' roster and made it clear he wanted a playoff berth. That spending spree landed 13 new free agents, along with seven draft picks making the roster.
Bucs add to staff
After hiring Lovie Smith as their new head coach, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers filled two more key coaching positions over the weekend. The Bucs hired former California head coach Jeff Tedford as their offensive coordinator on Saturday and former Minnesota Vikings head coach Lezlie Frazier confirmed to the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he will accept the defensive coordinator position with Tampa Bay.
Frazier was fired Dec. 30 and worked as the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals and Vikings prior to becoming a head coach.
Jobs remaining
Along with Tennessee, the head coaching jobs in Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota are still open. Two former Super Bowl winning coaches, Tony Dungy and Brian Billick, both said they think the Lions job is the best opportunity available. Dungy maintained he had no interest in returning to the sidelines but Billick said if the Lions called, he'd listen.
The Vikings are reportedly interested in a number of NFL assistants currently coaching for playoff teams, with Denver assistants Adam Case (offensive coordinator) and Jack Del Rio (defensive coordinator) and Seattle assistants Darren Bevell (offensive coordinator) and Dan Quinn (defensive coordinator) among the frontrunners.
Cleveland was scheduled to interview New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on Saturday and the Browns also met with Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles Friday.


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Title: Cytogeneticist
Location: Arizona
Job Type: Fulltime / Permanent
Environment: Commercial, high volume medical genetics testing & research laboratory
Excellent salary and relocation assistance offered. This is an industry leader!
Keywords: cytogenetics, medical genetics, diagnostics, molecular genetics, clinical cytogenetics, oncology, cancer genetics
Reply to: email@example.com
Patrick International, Recruiters specializing in Molecular Medicine
Position Overview:
Our client is seeking an experienced Cytogeneticist, who must be certified ( or board eligible) by the American Board of Medical Genetics. Reporting to the Director of Genetics, the candidate will work with a battery of assay techniques pertaining to cancer genetics. The candidate will work closely with other pertinent laboratories, such as molecular genetics, cytometry, and assay development.
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Doctorate in Human Genetics or related field.
Postdoctoral Cytogenetics Laboratory experience
MANDATORY: ABMG Certified in Clinical Cytogenetics.
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Write, review and sign FISH and cytogenetic case reports and/or clinical trial studies. Assure completeness and correctness of all case reports.
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Contact clients with results as necessary. Explain results clearly and accurately. Conduct additional studies when appropriate.
Coordinates results with other concurrent studies.
Is familiar with all laboratory and company policies, and SOPs, and participates in proficiency tests and laboratory inspections.
Assist with continuing education of laboratory staff.
Prepare and submit data/reports for publication and/or presentations
Excellent communication skills, and a positive attitude are a MUST!


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Home is where the heart is!
Add a pop of color and style to your curb appeal with these cute and custom heart striped design house flags! The shape and quality material of the flag adds a stately elegance. This listing is for the house flag size, but they are also available in garden flag size and matching front door rugs. Both flag sizes fit most standard stands or poles. Poles are not included, but can easily obtained at your local home improvement store or big box retailer.
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Chechyna: What You Need to KnowNews Abroad
tags: Russia, Boston Marathon bombing, Chechnya, David R. Stone, Chechen Wars
Russian artillery bombarding a Chechen village in 2000, during the Second Chechen War. Credit: Wiki Commons.
Editor's Note: With the identification of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings -- Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, killed by police; and his brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19 -- as immigrants of Chechen origin, it's worth taking a look back at Chechnya's bloody history.
Walt Richmond, professor of Russian at Occidental College, wrote an article for HNN last month about the blood-soaked, possibly genocidal Russian conquest of the Caucasus region in the nineteenth century -- a campaign that included the conquest of what is now Chechnya. Norman Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor in Eastern European Studies at Stanford University, wrote about Soviet atrocities under Stalin -- including the deportation of the Chechen population from their ancestral homelands to Central Asia in 1944 -- for HNN in 2010, and Thomas R. Mockaitis, professor at DePaul University in Chicago, has written about Chechen suicide bombings in Moscow.
Here, David R. Stone, a professor of Russian history at Kansas State University, has written extensively on Soviet and Russian military history, explains what you need to know about recent Chechen history, in particular the two bloody wars fought between Russia and Chechen rebels in the 1990s.
* * * * *
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the chief causes was the power of local nationalists who resented rule from Moscow. But there were limits to what those nationalist sentiments could achieve. The end of Moscow's authority meant that power and sovereignty flowed to the Soviet Union's fifteen union republics, roughly analogous to American states. KGB veteran Nikolai Leonov once remarked that the Soviet Union was like a chocolate bar, already marked with lines that made it easy to break apart. Those fifteen pieces of the chocolate bar themselves had internal divisions, but Soviet ethnic groups which lacked their own union republic found that the breaking apart stopped short of independence for them. The Chechen people, well-equipped with historical grievances to drive their discontent, found themselves in the Russian Federation due to the accidents of history and map, but badly wanted out.
Under the leadership of President Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechnya worked from 1991 to 1994 to assert its independence from Boris Yeltsin's Russia. Both Chechen autonomy, and the breakdown of law and order that accompanied it, were more than Yeltsin's government could accept. When efforts at a political compromise failed, Russian troops invaded Chechnya in December 1994.
The horrors of that First Chechen War transformed the Chechen cause. It drove hundreds of thousands of Chechens out of Chechnya itself as refugees into other parts of the Caucasus: Ingushetia or Dagestan (where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended school). Others went further afield: the United States, Europe, or even Central Asia. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where the Tsarnaev brothers lived for several years, still have a substantial population of Chechens dating back to Joseph Stalin's deportation of the Chechen people from their historic homeland in 1944.
The First Chechen War had pernicious effects that lasted well beyond the uneasy 1996 settlement that gave Chechnya de facto autonomy. The traditional family and clan links that tied Chechen society together frayed and broke as a result of death and displacement. Chechen refugees within the Caucasus moved into environments that were less ethnically Chechen, but still largely Muslim. Ethnic and clan identity mattered less, and religious identity mattered more.
Islam in the North Caucasus had generally been tolerant in its practice and not especially strict, but the pressure of war made it increasingly fundamentalist. While refugees flowed out of Chechnya, foreign Islamist fighters flowed in to aid what they saw as a Muslim fight against infidel Russians. The result was that the Chechen resistance became increasingly internationalized and radicalized. The relative importance of Chechen independence shrank. Instead, jihad became a far more important element of the Chechen cause.
The Chechen leadership, facing a horrendous task of reconstruction after 1996, thus began to split. Relative moderates, capable of accepting some form of association with Russia, were increasingly at odds with radicals, inspired by the Wahhabi branch of Islam and eager to spread their struggle beyond Chechnya. On the more moderate side, Aslan Maskhadov, president of Chechnya from 1997, tried to find some form of working relationship with Moscow but found his efforts undermined by more violent elements in his own movement. As Chechnya descended into rampant lawlessness, the Saudi militant known as Khattab and the Chechen Shamil Basayev engineered an August 1999 invasion of Dagestan. They no longer aimed at Chechen independence but instead spreading their form of radical Islam to the rest of the North Caucasus. When combined with a series of controversial and still mysterious apartment bombings, the Dagestan invasion gave Boris Yeltsin and his newly-appointed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the grounds they needed to launch a Second Chechen War in October 1999.
This second war went far better for Russians than the first. Maskhadov made several abortive attempts to cut a deal with the Russians, but found himself dismissed by Moscow and increasingly ignored by his own compatriots before being killed by Russian special forces in March 2005. Basayev engineered more and more horrific terrorist attacks, including the seizure of a Moscow theater in October 2002 and the massacre of a school full of children in Beslan in September 2004. This ended whatever hope might have still existed of winning broad international support for the cause of full Chechen independence. The Russian government was then able to find Chechens willing to accept Russian hegemony in return for local autonomy. In 1999, Chechen religious authority Akhmad Kadyrov broke with the anti-Russian resistance movement, in part over its increasing religious radicalism, and began working with Russian authorities. After serving as chief administrator of Chechnya on Putin's behalf, he became Chechen president in October 2003. Though Kadyrov was assassinated the next year, his son Ramzan Kadyrov became Chechen president in turn in February 2007. Kadyrov has continued his father's policy of cooperating with Moscow and smashing any resistance to his own control with brutal efficiency.
The result has been the death of old Chechen nationalism. The current Chechen government accepts that leaving Russia may never be an option. The activist remnant of the Chechen movement has been left with little besides radical Islamism, a vision that goes far beyond a concrete local struggle for specific, attainable goals to see instead a worldwide struggle between good and evil.
Related Links
On Topic: Chechnya
- Thomas R. Mockaitis: A Brief History of Chechen Terrorism
- Norman M. Naimark: Russia, Stalin's Crimes, and Genocide
- Walt Richmond: Russia's Forgotten Caucasian Genocide
On Topic: Boston Marathon Bombing
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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Senior Allie Ariniello, playing her final home game on Senior's Night at UC Santa Barbara, scored her fifth goal of the season in the 80th minute, but it wasn't quite enough as visiting Cal Poly edged the Gauchos 2-1 in a renewal of the Blue-Green Rivalry on Friday night.
Elise Krieghoff, the nation's leading goal scorer, scored two quick ones in the second half to give the Mustangs (10-7 overall, 6-1 in the Big West) a 2-0 lead over the Gauchos (9-8-1 overall, 3-4 in the Big West).
Krieghoff, who now has 20 goals on the year, scored her first at 49:23 when she took a short pass from Sara Lancaster at the top right corner of the penalty box and launched a shot into the upper left corner of the goal over a leaping Beth Ritter.
The score became 2-0 at 52:18 as Krieghoff got past a charging Ritter about 25 yards out straight away and rolled a shot through a handful of Gaucho defenders into the center of the goal.
Krieghoff's second goal could easily have been her third. Midway through the first half, she blasted a shot from six yards out that a diving Ritter stonewalled.
Arieniello halved Cal Poly's lead at 79:57 when she bodied home a rebound of a shot by Madison Beckley from right in front of the goal. It was not only Ariniello's fifth goal of the season, but the fifth of her career. Still, UCSB would get no closer.
The Gauchos best opportunity to score in the first half came late when Morgan Idso picked-up a loose ball about 10 yards in front of the goal. Idso took a shot that sailed over goalkeeper Alyssa Giannetti, but also just over the crossbar.
In the second half, Beckley had a good look at a relatively open goal in the 74th minute but she slid a shot just wide to the left.
Santa Barbara actually outshot Cal Poly, 12-10 overall and 6-4 on goal, but the Mustangs' Giannetti had four saves and a defender cleared another ball off the goal line. Ritter had a pair of saves for the Gauchos.
The game was the final home appearance for five UCSB seniors. Ariniello, Taylor Gehring, Makenna Henry and Paige and Lindsay Gankema were playing their final games at Harder Stadium. All five seniors started, but Henry, who has been injured since early in the season, was immediately subbed out on the first opportunity.
The Gauchos will continue their quest to earn a Big West Tournament berth when they play their regular season finale on Sunday, Nov. 3 at UC Davis. The match against the Aggies will kickoff at 1:00 p.m.


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Open Kitchen by Williams Sonoma Hard-Anodized Nonstick Fry Pan Set, 9" & 11"
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Inspired by the open kitchens at our favorite restaurants, we created this high-quality and hard-working cookware to use every single day. Our lightweight fry pans combine the exceptional durability and heat conduction of anodized aluminum with the convenience of dishwasher-safe cleaning. For healthy, low-fat cooking and easy care, the pans have nonstick interiors. Use them for everything from frying up bacon and eggs for breakfast to searing burgers or chicken breasts for dinner.
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Rated 5 out of 5 by KKarras from Easy to clean and definitely non-stick I have had these for a few months now, replacing a 10+ year old set from another brand, which were probably missing half their coatings. These new ones make such a huge difference. I fix eggs quite a bit, and being able to slide them right out of the pan and on a plate without a spatula is awesome. They are easy to clean as well. As with any non-stick product, be careful what you use to stir/whisk with. My dad used a metal whisk once, which was a bummer, but overall it didn't scratch deeply and they still work as great as ever. I bought my mom a set as a gift since I loved these so much.Date published: 2017-02-10Rated 4 out of 5 by Nutsy from Good Quality but Not So Special as Non-Stick? I'm a little confused by these pans. They seem like really good quality pans, and the heat distribution seems good, but I'm not sure they are especially exceptional as non-stick. I have used the smaller pan twice to make scrambled eggs -- once with olive oil, and it was fine but no different than my "regular" non-stick pans, and once without oil or butter, which was not very good, with egg sticking to the pan until I scraped it off. I was hoping to use the larger pan to make frittatas but now I'm not so sure that's the best use for it... Maybe just sauces and sauteing? It seems unfortunate.Date published: 2016-08-27Rated 5 out of 5 by Chimera from My go-to pan. I must confess that I've not had these pans long but I'm quickly falling in love with this range. Truly non-stick, even heating and wonderfully oven safe. I choose these pans almost on a daily basis and like the previous reviewer, I wanted some lids. I chose the All Clad lids in 9" and 11" and they fit perfectly. I cannot comment on longevity, but this line is about value and everyday use which they certainly get. Delighted so far.Date published: 2014-04-21Rated 4 out of 5 by Bahamasnic from Great frying pans, need matching lids ! I have had these for a couple of months and just loved them. The heat transfer evenly , durable , easy to clean . The one problem is that they have. NO cover that are sold for them...and they do. to fit any of the other lids/ cover that I have . So WS , please make lids , preferably glass , that will fit this product .Date published: 2014-03-21Rated 5 out of 5 by TPFEIFFER from Cooking Delight I have been using these pans for a few months, and they are awesome! Nothing sticks, they still look brand new (no scratches or stains), and clean up is a breeze! Great quality.Date published: 2014-02-18
Item 86-4152658. Need to know if safe for use in an INDUCTION OVEN. Very urgent. Please reply asap. Gail Rulle, email address: firstname.lastname@example.com Gail, These fry pans are not induction compatible.Date published: 2018-11-26


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Witness the crazy comedy events in Nice at the venues near you to laugh till your belly hurts. You cannot miss the chance to witness the popular names of the comedy scene. There are improv workshops, comedy class and comedy shows in Nice too where you can try your hands out.
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The Association is composed of active, retired and recalled United States Magistrate Judges. Our purpose is to promote the efficient administration of justice, to protect the integrity, dignity and independence of the federal judiciary and to educate the public about the important role that magistrate judges play in criminal and civil cases that come into our federal court system.
While this site is designed primarily for our members, we realize the importance of educating the community about the federal courts and the importance of judicial independence in the efficient administration of justice in our courts. We also have a nationally respected Law Review with cutting edge articles written by judges, members of academia, and others. You may find these articles by clicking on the Federal Courts Law Review (FCLR) button below.
Our Association is strongly committed to promoting diversity among lawyers and judges. Many of our members participate in the Just the Beginning Foundation's Judicial Intern program which provides opportunities for diverse law students to acquire experience interning in the chambers of our members. Through our diversity committee, we host diversity panels twice a year which serve as an educational tool for young lawyers who have aspirations of one day becoming a federal judge.
If you are a guest visiting our site, we invite you to browse and learn more about us. If you are a member, please use this website to the fullest, as it is a tool that allows magistrate judges across the country to stay connected. And, if you have any suggestions for information or features you would like to see added to the website, please do not hesitate to contact me or our Association's Executive Director, Shari Bedker.
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A Guide to the Federal Magistrate Judge System
by Peter G. McCabe, Esq.
A White Paper Prepared at the Request of the Federal Bar Association (Updated October 2016)
Welcome to the Retired Judges Corner of the FMJA website. This corner is designed for you and all are welcome. Even if retirement is still a twinkle in your eye, you may find helpful tips to assist in career planning or just the fun of staying connected with old colleagues.
In districts spread across the country, approximately 40 magistrate judges serve on a part-time basis. The fact that they work as part-time judges raises some administrative issues different from those faced by full-time judges.
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In an effort to increase diversity among the federal judiciary, the Federal Magistrate Judge's Diversity Committee has formed sub-committees to prepare diversity panel presentations for FMJA Workshops in New Orleans, Louisiana, and San Diego, California. The New Orleans diversity panel presentation will consist of a ninety minute panel presentation and dialogue.
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