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Any list of canonical rock films inevitably unfolds in a neat, predictable, and very un-rock fashion. You must have Gimme Shelter and The Last Waltz at the top. Stop Making Sense, Don't Look Back, and Woodstock likely trail closely behind. Then there's Purple Rain (because nobody cares about the non-performance scenes), The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (because the '80s Sunset Strip metal scene will never not be funny and/or tragic), and Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (because acknowledging the last two decades of pop culture is a good idea).
In the parking lot outside of the rock-film canon, where it stands in a sweat-stained Rush 2112 crop-top and cut-off jean shorts, is 1979's Over the Edge. There are no actual rock stars in Over the Edge, nor is there a scene where the Hells Angels stab Robbie Robertson with one of Chris Holmes's busted vodka bottles so that Phife Dawg can stop feeling sorry for himself. What Over the Edge does have is juvenile delinquents who shoot BB guns at cop cars, down enough booze to satisfy Metallica's mid-'80s tour rider, and listen to lots and lots of Cheap Trick. (It also boasts a remarkable display of naturalistic brooding by a 14-year-old Matt Dillon, who plays a sort-of hybrid of Dee Dee Ramone and Tom Joad.) Over the Edge represents a period in our nation's history when sticking "Surrender" in the soundtrack of your movie was intended to suggest danger and rebellion, not radio-staple reassurance. It signifies what rock music once stood for in American culture: youth, and the rush of backseat sex and basement drug abuse that's supposed to go along with it.
The songs on Celebration Rock, the new album by Vancouver indie duo Japandroids, take place in the same world Over the Edge inhabits. Singer-guitarist Brian King also likes to stay out all night, every night, and drink past the point of oblivion to where misbehavior starts to feel revolutionary. His lyrics are written in sharp lines separating stark, broadly rendered contrasts: darkness and light, good and evil, young and old. He sings about hitchhiking to hell and back, loving "with a legendary fire," and mooning over "wild and free" girls. Every emotion urgently bounding out of Celebration Rock stems from a life-and-death struggle against boredom, virginity, and the slow crush of time. And how exactly do King and drummer David Prowse convey this musically? They play raise-your-hands, point-to-the-heavens, scream-whoa-oh-oh with your bro-oh-ohs rock and roll. What Jack Black treats as a joke these guys preach as gospel.
Let me state for the record: I love Celebration Rock. I love it so much that I'm skeptical about the precision with which it pushes my buttons. Japandroids are taking a mighty lunge at the pantheon of great rock records here. Celebration Rock addresses the teenage wasteland with the bombastic mix of fury and empathy that derives from Who's Next. It traffics in the same streetwise rock-patter drivel (ahem, "when the plunder of the poets, thunder of a punk's guitar / beat life to my body sulking drunk at the back of a bar") originating from Born to Run. It has the drunkard's sentimentality of the Replacements' Let It Be, and the tour-weary determinism of Appetite for Destruction. It's a beefy, pop-conscious punk record in the mold of Nevermind, and it's destined to become, like White Blood Cells, an important battle in the never-ending war to end bass playing as we know it.
My skepticism is partly rooted in surprise. I first encountered Japandroids via the song "Wet Hair," an endearingly clumsy splatter of vacuum-zoom guitar and nursery-rhyme lyrics about how Japandroids must get to France to French-kiss some French girls. "Wet Hair" appears on Japandroids' full-length 2009 debut, Post-Nothing, which the band intended as its final release after two EPs came and went without making an impact outside of Canada. But against all odds Post-Nothing caught on with tastemakers, and Japandroids spent the next two years on the road instead of breaking up.
When I saw Japandroids in 2010 playing on a tiny stage behind an art gallery in Austin during South by Southwest, I was sucked into the vortex of their ping-pong energy and gleefully limited musicianship. But I can't say I thought I was witnessing greatness. They seemed like a better-than-average indie band that might squeeze out another record that wasn't as good as Post-Nothing and then reappear in 2022 as part of the third wave of '10s rock reunion tours, perhaps in a package with Cold War Kids and Avi Buffalo.
And now along comes Celebration Rock, and it's like Japandroids went down to the crossroads and came back offering up The Bends as the follow-up to Pablo Honey. Sessions for Celebration Rock were reportedly difficult and plagued by writer's block, which pushed the official gap since Post-Nothing to a near-disastrous three years. But King and Prowse have clearly done their rock homework in that time, evidenced by interviews dotted by trenchant comments about how the mythologies of the Replacements and Guns N' Roses are two sides of the same whole. (Even before Tommy Stinson made it literally the case.)
But if Japandroids know their stuff as well as they seem to, they must be aware of a reality even non-rock junkies can plainly see: Rock music and youth culture haven't been linked since grunge's twilight. Where Matt Dillon once stayed out late on school nights, taunting the pigs and playing air guitar to Kiss's Alive!, he now appears as a guest star on ABC's hump-day bedrock, Modern Family. Modern-day rock no longer conjures visions of kids running loose in the streets; it suggests a time when that used to be true, in the collective imagination anyway. By association, Celebration Rock gives lip service to the kids while actually observing adolescence from a distant, less celebratory time. It's a survey of a world that no longer exists.
"Remember when we had them all on the run / and the night that we saw the midnight sun," King sings in "Younger Us," a terrific single from 2010 that's been recast as the centerpiece song on Celebration Rock. "Remember saying things like we'll sleep when we're dead / and thinking this feeling was never going to end / remember that night you were already in bed / said fuck it, and got up to drink with me instead." Do I remember? How can I forget? This is exactly the kind of shit that I revert to talking about whenever I run into someone from high school.
Celebration Rock's first song, "The Nights of Wine and Roses," is a call to arms in the tradition of "Thunder Road" or "I Will Dare," a drinking song about having a good time until real life finally presents a better option. But Springsteen and Westerberg were dreaming of exciting futures from the vantage point of their mid-20s when they wrote their respective songs. They were looking ahead, not back. King and Prowse are both 29, and "we down our drinks in a funnel of friends / and we burn our blends right down to the ends" hardly sounds like the perspective of two dudes facing down 30. That's around the time that you realize that this feeling is going to end, because it probably already has.
Some of the best "big" rock records of recent years similarly dwell in the ghost world of rock's wild and youthful past. In Arcade Fire's 2010 concept album The Suburbs, rock and its many subgenres provide a set of costumes and attitudes that divide youth culture into different cliques. In Fucked Up's 2011 rock opera David Comes to Life, the early days of late-'70s English punk serves as the backdrop for a transformative love story. Two of 2012's best rock albums, Cloud Nothings' Attack on Memory and Screaming Females' Ugly, are sonically sludgy postcards from 1992, the last time rock bands were a go-to cultural signifier of disgruntled teenagerdom. Perhaps this is what rock music does for us now. It doesn't kick off parties anymore. It tells us the party is over.
I don't wanna worry about dying / I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls," King and Prowse yelp in one of my favorite Japandroids songs, "Young Hearts Spark Fire," from Post-Nothing. For The Beach Boys — who this week released That's Why God Made the Radio, their first new album of original material in 20 years — this sentiment exemplifies a more pressing reality. In a recent Newsweek profile about the group's 50th-anniversary reunion tour, we spy a ramshackle Beach Boys rehearsal where nobody knows the new single nor can hit the notes nor figure out which clicker works the DVR. This business is finally interrupted by news of Dick Clark's passing. Brian Wilson — the most important, most talented, and most broken of all the surviving Beach Boys — unsurprisingly takes the news the hardest. "We're 70 fucking years old," he says. "I'll be 70 in June. I'm worried about being 70."
The ghost world is a fine place to visit, but you don't want to live there. But don't tell that to The Beach Boys, who have been residents longer than most. And on Radio, there are plenty of calls to "be back again / where the good times never end." The title track is straight out of The Beach Boys' Jesse and the Rippers period, but it's pretty catchy so long as you ignore the lyrics. (They call rock and roll "the soundtrack for falling in love," like a Time Life commercial.) Elsewhere, there are copious references to the beach, surfin', and "pretty babies." Also, Kevin Love's elderly uncle asks whether it's "time we went steady again?" The Beach Boys don't wanna worry about dying. They just wanna worry about sunshine girls. Only problem is, all you can think is that they're 70 fucking years old.
That's Why God Made the Radio is actually better than it ought to be considering (based on that Newsweek story) nobody seemed terribly invested in making it. (Brian Wilson is also still insane. Actual quote from the Newsweek story: "Wilson woke up with a black eye that he couldn't remember receiving, then got his shoelaces caught in an escalator and 'fell flat on his face.'" The man who wrote "God Only Knows," ladies and gentlemen!) The saddest, prettiest parts of Radio recall the commercially barren Beach Men period of the early '70s, when bad drugs, bad strokes of luck, and bad vibes (they rolled with Charlie Manson, after all) resulted in some exquisitely beautiful bummer summer albums. "We live then die / and dream about our yesterday," Wilson sings in "Summer's Gone," the last part of a lovely trilogy of forlorn, sunsets-as-a-metaphor-for-death songs that close the record. (It was co-written by Jon Bon Jovi, now generously helping others go out in a blaze of glory.)
Celebration Rock also ends on a low, relatively subdued note, turning down the lights and squeezing in tight for one last, long dance at the prom to "Continuous Thunder." As the guitars flail in slow motion and the drums pound out an elegiac march, Japandroids amp up the melodrama: Two lovers embrace in "the cold, pissing rain," and the music communicates a mix of excited nerves and pained ecstacy. The feeling won't last — it didn't last — but as long as the guitar plays, it lingers for a few stolen moments.


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Vikings 37, Packers 34: Buh-bye
Rivals will meet again this Saturday night
MINNEAPOLIS — As Blair Walsh's game-winning 29-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired, you could almost hear legendary baseball announcer Jack Buck. More than 20 years ago, as Kirby Puckett's dramatic, 11th-inning, game-winning home run cleared the Metrodome wall in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, the late, great Buck uttered one of sport's all-time greatest calls.
And we'll see you … tomorrow night!
Well, not quite. The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings won't see each other tomorrow night – it'll be Saturday night, in a rematch of Sunday's knock-down, drag-out 37-34 Vikings victory in the regular-season finale for both teams, in the very same building where Buck made his signature call. And come to think of it, at some level, Buck's other classic – I don't believe what I just saw, after Kirk Gibson's heroic home run in the 1988 World Series – probably applies as well.
Because by virtue of the Vikings' victory, the Packers will host their NFC North rivals in a Wild Card playoff showdown at Lambeau Field six days from now. And if Sunday's was any indication, it should be a classic.
"You seen Mike Tyson? It's one of those. You get knocked down, you have to get right back up. They had the last punch, and they knocked us out," said Packers tight end Jermichael Finley, a swollen-shut left eye adding to the effect of his words.
"They played big-time football. I didn't expect it; that last drive. But they're a playoff team, and we have to get ready for them. They're not a pushover at all."
At 11-5, the NFC North-champion Packers are the No. 3 seed in the NFC. A victory would have secured the No. 2 seed and first-round bye that instead went to the San Francisco 49ers (12-4-1). At 10-6, the upstart Vikings are the No. 6 seed; a loss would have sent them home for the postseason and allowed the Chicago Bears (10-6) into the dance.
Hence, Saturday night fever at Lambeau Field, kicking off at 7 p.m. CST.
"Tough, tough loss today," said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, whose team had its 13-game winning streak (including playoffs) against division opponents snapped and missed out on sweeping the division for the second straight year. "(But) the playoffs are upon us. That's basically the message to the football team. We have the opportunity to play the Vikings again back at Lambeau, so that's where we're shifting our mindset.
"We had an opportunity here to take care of business and have the bye week and that opportunity is passed. The playoffs have started for us now. It's official. We got a taste of the environment, what it's going to be like on the road. Playoff football's different. It is every year. Today's opportunity is something we can apply to this upcoming week."
Asked if he liked the idea of facing the Vikings again so quickly, McCarthy replied: "Absolutely. We'll play anybody in the playoffs. I think it'll be a great contest. It's an opponent we're very familiar with. They're familiar with us. Everybody has confidence going into the playoffs. Most importantly, we'll be at home. So we're excited to play these guys."
They can't be excited about playing Adrian Peterson, however. Needing 208 yards to break Eric Dickerson's 28-year-old single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards set in 1984, Peterson came up 8 yards short of Dickerson's mark, finishing with 34 carries for 199 yards and a touchdown. (He also caught a 2-yard TD pass.) Coupled with his 210-yard effort on Dec. 2 at Lambeau Field, Peterson gained 409 of his 2,097 yards on the season against Green Bay.
"It's a bittersweet feeling inside. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard that I was nine yards short (of breaking the record) was, 'It is what it is. It wasn't meant to happen,'" Peterson said. "Not to say it doesn't hurt, because it does, (but) ultimately, we came in here tonight and accomplished the ultimate goal of getting a win and taking our team to the playoffs.
"I never knew (the yardage). I wasn't worried about it. I wasn't focused on it. I went out and played my game and accomplished what we wanted to. We're in now. We're in the playoffs. We get to fight another week."
As brilliant as Peterson was, though – and he was phenomenal – the Packers lost because they couldn't handle second-year quarterback Christian Ponder. In the teams' first meeting, Ponder completed 12 of 25 passes for 119 yards with one touchdown and two backbreaking interceptions for a passer rating of 41.9 in a loss that dropped Minnesota to 6-6 on the season. Sunday, he was brilliant and mistake-free, completing 16 of 28 passes for 234 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 120.2 rating.
"Any offense will tell you that when you can open up the running game, it really opens the passing game up for the quarterback," Packers inside linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "He did a good job of hitting some guys downfield."
And Ponder did that repeatedly. After the Vikings built leads of 13-0 and 20-7 while Green Bay went three-and-out on its first two offensive possessions, the Packers got a 51-yard Mason Crosby field goal as the half expired to reach the break only down 10. When Rodgers directed a 12-play, 42-yard drive to open the third quarter and capped it with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, it was game on.
"It took us a little while to adjust to the crowd noise and get going. That usually happens up here," McCarthy said. "This is a tough place to play, no doubt. We anticipate this being the loudest environment of the year. They pumped it in here pretty good today. It was very loud. I thought once we got going, and the mechanics of the no huddle were in order, I thought Aaron played very well."
Said Rodgers: "This is a tough place to play. They have some great sports fans who were loud and got into it. You have to absorb the first surge from the crowd and from their team and we did that. We got some points at the end of the first half, scored on the first possession of the second half. It just really came down to turnovers. We didn't create any and we had one turnover that turned into seven points for them. If you look at the final margin, you see a three-point loss and that's the difference."
After Jennings' touchdown, the Packers defense forced a punt, but on a third-and-7 play from midfield, Rodgers didn't see Vikings defensive end Brian Robison coming from behind and fumbled, with Jared Allen recovering. While their drive the other direction was momentarily detoured by what was initially ruled a Peterson fumble but reversed on replay review, Peterson's 28-yard run and a third-down holding call on Jerron McMillian on a third-and-goal incompletion to Kyle Rudolph set up Peterson's 2-yard TD catch to make it 27-17.
But things were just getting interesting.
Rodgers answered with a 73-yard strike to Jordy Nelson down the middle of the field, and that set up what would turn out to be an 8-yard James Jones' TD catch. Of course, it only became that after initially being ruled a fumble that was recovered by the Vikings – and the replay being initiated before referee Mike Carey's crew realized McCarthy had thrown his red challenge flag. According to Carey, had McCarthy's flag come out before the replay official had begun his review, it would have wiped out the review.
Instead, Nelson picked up the flag, the call went the Packers' way – not because of Nelson's stealthiness – and when Crosby drilled a 40-yarder with 12:25 left in regulation, it was 27-27.
But on the very next play, Minnesota's Jarius Wright sprinted past Packers cornerback Sam Shields to reel in a 65-yard pass from Ponder, stealing the momentum back. After a penalty, the Vikings faced third-and-goal from the Green Bay 12-yard line, but when fullback Toby Gerhart was stopped short of the first down, the Vikings got an automatic first down on a 5-yard illegal use of hands penalty on Green Bay cornerback Tramon Williams for hitting Jerome Simpson. On third-and-goal from the 3, safety M.D. Jennings couldn't knock down Ponder's TD pass to Mike Jenkins for a 34-27 lead.
"He was just pushing off the whole damn time. The referees just act like they don't see anything," Williams said of the call. "You've got to bring some fight sometimes and this is the time of year you can bring it out, but you've got to be more composed.
"We've got to find a better way to get them into situations to where they need try to make those plays and force plays. Obviously, they've got a great back in the backfield and they're going to try to feed him as much as possible, but we definitely have to step up and make some plays."
And in the final 7:54, although the offense did, the defense did not. Rodgers and the offense got the Packers back to even with an 11-play, 78-yard drive on which the Packers converted a fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 43 (with a 7-yard catch by Jarrett Boykin) and a third-and-4 from the Minnesota 44 (with a 14-yard catch by Jennings). After Nelson's 2-yard TD catch, the Packers had 2:57 to get a stop, get the ball back and secure the first-round bye.
Instead, after the 2-minute warning, the Vikings had third-and-11 at their own 27 – and converted it when Casey Hayward, Shields and Morgan Burnett lost track of Jenkins on the left sideline for a 25-yard gain. Five plays and a 26-yard run by Peterson later, Walsh trotted out and coolly nailed the 29-yarder – twice, after McCarthy tried to ice him with a timeout – to set up next Saturday night's rematch.
"As players, we wanted that 2 seed. We wanted that bye," left guard T.J. Lang said. "But you have to move on very fast from that. You can't dwell on that, you can't let that carry over into this week of preparation. You have let it go. You still realize we're division champs, we've still got a home game next week, and we know they're a tough opponent. You don't really have time to dwell on the losing. You have to make some adjustments and get ready to prepare for them."
Listen to Jason Wilde every weekday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on "Green & Gold Today" on 540 ESPN, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jasonjwilde.


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Spring in the United States is warmest on record, NOAA says
Temperatures were 5.2 degrees above last century's long-term average, the agency says
Climate scientist says long-term trend matches global climate change predictions
Separately, scientists warn of global tipping point
It's hot out there. But this time, it's more than idle watercooler talk, according to weather scientists.
At the same time the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center has released a report noting that this spring in the United States has been the warmest since record-keeping began in 1895, a group of scientists has published a paper in the journal Nature warning that the planet is approaching a critical tipping point because of climate and other factors.
Rampant population growth and changes to the environment caused by humans, including the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of nearly 43% of the planet's land to farms or cities, threaten to cause an abrupt and unpredictable shift in the global ecosystem, 22 scientists from five countries said in their paper.
In its report issued Thursday, the climate data center said the average U.S. temperature between March and May was 57.1 degrees, 5.2 degrees above the long-term average from 1901 to 2000.
While May was only the second-warmest on record, it was still in the top third for monthly average temperatures, marking 12 consecutive months with temperatures in that range, said Jake Crouch, a NOAA climate scientist.
"For that to happen 12 times in a row in a random circumstance is one in 540,000," he said.
Globally, NOAA reported in May that the average temperature in April was 1.17 degrees warmer than the average from the past century, making it the fifth-warmest April since at least 1880.
It was the 326th consecutive month that global temperatures exceeded the 20th-century average, NOAA said.
The warm spring weather in the United States was partially the result of the waning La Niña, a pattern of below-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific that tends to help direct the high-level jet stream and influence weather patterns nationwide.
But it was also partially the result of long-term climate change, Crouch said.
"The pattern we've been in for the last 12 months is exactly what we would expect in climate change," he said.
The notion of long-term climate change – particularly as caused by humans – is politically controversial but generally accepted as fact by most scientists.
The Nature article, also published Thursday, said that such shifts in weather patterns and human-induced changes could have sudden and unpredictable effects on the global ecosystem, including the collapse of food supplies and other problems.
It warned that "widespread social unrest, economic instability and loss of human life could result."
The paper calls for improvements in efforts to detect critical changes in the ecosystem, as well as reduced global population growth and energy use and other measures.
A shift in the biosphere is possible by 2100 if nothing is done to better predict changes and act upon them, said Anthony D. Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley and lead author on the Nature article.
"If we do nothing, I personally think we hit this tipping point," Barnosky said Friday. "It means the world will be very different, losing biodiversity and (affecting where) species live in particular places."
The scientists are concerned that the biosphere has seen dramatic changes since the last Ice Age, factoring in the climate and a huge increase in global population. The current population of 7 billion is expected to increase to 9 billion within three decades.
"People have become a geological force in their own right, and we are changing the planet in ways every bit as dramatic as major geological events," Barnosky said. "We are becoming much more dominant organisms in Earth by our sheer numbers and the way we use natural resources."
Barnosky said the NOAA report buttresses his group's findings on global temperatures. The mean temperature by 2070, perhaps earlier, will be higher than it has been since the human species evolved, according to the Nature article.
When it comes to policy, Barnosky suggests that countries look at new and clean energy technologies as the world's petroleum supply draws down. Also crucial are food production and distribution, with an eye toward not letting the percentage of land disturbance worldwide – currently 43% – surpass 50%. The loss of rain forests, he said, is a reminder of the loss of biodiversity as humans try to meet their needs.
Nations are at a crossroads "where if we recognize these major ways we are changing the planet and actively guide how we are making those changes, we can move our biosphere in directions we want it to," Barnosky said.
"I see people are clever and resourceful when they realized there is a major global problem," he said. "My fear is that we keep our heads in the sand and we don't recognize these things going around us until it is too late."


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The FTC just announced a settlement with Google, which the commission had been investigating for illegal, anti-competitive behavior. And it's mostly good news for everyone except Google: less patent warfare, less search engine bullying.
But Google's still off the hook in one very important way: the feds are dropping their investigation.
There are two major thrusts of the settlement: patents, and search scraping.
With regards to patents, the FTC has blocked Google from using its patents (namely those it acquired from Motorola) to attack competitors. Instead of entering an intellectual property war against, say, Apple, Google will have to license out some of these patents to willing buyers—and some "standard-essential" patents that are so fundamental that they're necessary to the existence of things like smartphones and tablets, will be available to rivals for free.
Less legal pissing. This is good.
The FTC also smacked Google hard over its behavior on the web: although the feds say Google is allowed to put its own stuff (i.e., Google Local) above competitors, it's barred from scraping the content of rivals to beef up its own services without permission. What's this mean? Google can't rip Yelp reviews and pass them off as their own when you search for a new restaurant to check out. Rival companies can opt out of being scraped by Google, and Google can't threaten to demote their search results—an action FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz says amounted to "extortion."
This is a major kick in the stomach to Google, who purchased Motorola Mobility pretty much only for its patent arsenal, which it could've weaponized against smartphone rivals. Google sure won't be happy about this after buying Motorola for $12.5 billion in 2011. That investment isn't so sweet right now. But the settlement is also good for smaller companies on the Internet, who now don't have to worry being penalized by the de facto Official Search Engine of The Internet by daring to compete with it. Google will have to buy Yelp if it wants to chomp up all of its reviews, as it did with Yelp—or just make more good content for Google users on its own.
But the worst case scenario didn't arrive for Google. This is the end of the FTC's probe, meaning there won't be any actual consequences inflicted upon it. No penalties for the way it uses its search algorithms to champion its own wares. This is one not-so-subtle victory for Google: the FTC is unanimously closing its investigation into allegations of anti-competitive search bias by Google (that is to say, prioritizing its own products when you search for something). Although Google can't demote its rivals, it can still promote its own services—YouTube, Gmail, Maps, etc.—to the extent that it's already doing it. Or maybe it'll take it even further now that the feds are off of its back. In short, Google is free to Google-fy itself without the threat of a Microsoft-style anti-trust case, to beat its own chest, even more than it already has. And why wouldn't it?
You can read the settlement terms in their entirety here. [FTC]


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Hailed by many critics as one of the most brilliant and versatile actors of his generation, Robert Downey Jr. chalked up a formidable onscreen track record that quickly launched the young thesp into the stratosphere. Although, for a time, Downey's stormy offscreen life and personal problems threatened to challenge his public image, he quickly bounced back and overcame these setbacks, with a continued array of impressive roles on the big and small screens that never sacrificed his audience appeal or affability.
The son of underground filmmaker Robert Downey, Downey Jr. was born in New York City on April 4, 1965. He made his first onscreen appearance at the age of five, as a puppy in his father's film Pound (1970). Between 1972 and 1990, he made cameo appearances in five more of his father's films. The actor's first significant role, in 1983's Baby, It's You, largely ended up on the cutting-room floor; it wasn't until two years later that he began landing more substantial parts, first as a one-season cast member on Saturday Night Live and then in the comedy Weird Science. In 1987, he landed plum roles in two films that capitalized on the Brat Pack phenomenon, James Toback's The Pick-Up Artist, (opposite Molly Ringwald), and Less Than Zero, for which he won acclaim playing cocaine addict Julian Wells.
Through it all, Downey cultivated an enviable instinct for role (and script) selection. His turns in Emile Ardolino's classy reincarnation fantasy Chances Are (1989), Michael Hoffman's Soapdish (1992), Robert Altman's Short Cuts (as the Iago-like Hollywood makeup artist Bill Bush), and Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1995) wowed viewers around the world, and often, on those rare occasions when Downey did choose substandard material, such as the lead in Richard Attenborough's deeply flawed Chaplin (1992), or an Australian media parasite in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), his performance redeemed it. In fact, critics deemed Downey's portrayal as one of the only worthwhile elements in the Chaplin biopic, and it earned the thesp a Best Actor Oscar nomination, as well as Golden Globe and British Academy Award noms.
Around this time, Downey's personal life took a turn for the worse. In June 1996, the LAPD arrested the actor (who had already spent time in three rehabilitation facilities between 1987 and 1996) on counts including drug use, driving under the influence, possession of a concealed weapon, and possession of illegal substances, a development which struck many as ironic, given his star-making performance years prior in Less than Zero. A month after this arrest, police found Downey Jr. unconscious on a neighbor's lawn, under the influence of a controlled substance, and authorities again incarcerated him, taking him -- this time -- to a rehab center. A third arrest soon followed, as did another stint in rehab. His stay in rehab didn't last long, as he walked out, thereby violating the conditions of his bail. More arrests and complications followed -- in fact, the actor had to be released from rehab to make James Toback's Two Girls and a Guy -- but he still landed a few screen appearances and won praise for his work in Mike Figgis' One Night Stand (1997) and Altman's otherwise-disappointing Gingerbread Man (1998). In addition, he starred in one of his father's films, the offbeat Hugo Pool (1997). In 1999, he had three films out in theaters: Friends and Lovers, Bowfinger, and In Dreams. He delivered a particularly chilling performance in the latter, as longhaired psychopathic child murderer Vivian Thompson, that arguably ranked with his finest work. But Downey's problems caught up with him again that same year, when he was re-arrested and sentenced to 12 months in a state penitentiary.
These complications led to the actor's removal from the cast of the summer 2001 Julia Roberts/Billy Crystal comedy America's Sweethearts and his removal from a stage production of longtime friend Mel Gibson's Hamlet, although a memorably manic performance in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys made it to the screen in 2000. Downey's decision -- after release -- to pursue television work, with a recurring role on Ally McBeal, marked a brief comeback (he won a 2001 Best TV Series Supporting Actor Golden Globe for the performance). Nevertheless, series creator David E. Kelley and the show's other producers sacked Downey permanently when two additional arrests followed. During this period, Downey also allegedly dated series star Calista Flockhart.
In 2002, a Riverside, CA, judge dismissed all counts against Downey. In time, the former addict counseled other celebrity addicts and became something of a spokesperson for rehabilitation. He starred as a hallucination-prone novelist in The Singing Detective in 2003, and while the film didn't achieve mainstream success, critics praised Downey for his interpretation of the role, alongside Oscar winners Adrien Brody and Mel Gibson. The same could be said for Gothika (2003), the psychological thriller that placed him opposite Hollywood heavyweight Halle Berry. In 2004, Downey appeared in Steven Soderbergh's portion of the film Eros.
Downey achieved success throughout 2005 with appearances in George Clooney's critically lauded Good Night, and Good Luck -- as one of Ed Murrow's underlings -- and he paired up with Val Kilmer in Shane Black's directorial debut Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. He continued balancing more mainstream fare, such as Disney's Shaggy Dog remake, with challenging films such as Richard Linklater's rotoscoped adaptation A Scanner Darkly. That same year, Downey wrapped production on Hanson's Lucky You, the story of a card shark (Eric Bana) who faces off against his father (Robert Duvall) at the legendary World Series of Poker, while simultaneously attempting to woo a beautiful singer (Drew Barrymore).
Downey continued to show his versatility by joining the casts of Zodiac, David Fincher's highly-touted film about the Zodiac Killer, and the Diane Arbus biopic Fur, with Nicole Kidman. A supporting role in Jon Poll's 2007 directorial debut Charlie Bartlett followed. The biggest was yet to come, however, as 2007 found Downey taking on the roles that would make him an even bigger star than he'd been in his youth, as he took on the leading role of sarcastic billionaire and part-time super hero Tony Stark in the big screen adaptation of the comic book Iron Man, as well as self-important actor Kirk Lazarus in the comedy Tropic Thunder. Both films turned out to be not just blockbuster successes at the box office, but breakaway hits with critics as well, and in addition to major praise, the actor also walked away from 2008 with an Oscar nomination for his performance in Tropic Thunder.
After Iron Man premiered, Marvel studios decided to move forward with a film empire, and Downey's Tony Stark became the anchor of the series, starring in his own Iron Man trilogy and appearing in many other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like the Avengers (2012) and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron (2014). Downey still found time to appear in side projects, like The Judge (2014), which he also produced.


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Leaks are springing, and word is out that a new mystery home video game console called Ouya is in development. This is a real thing.
Ouya is a $99 box running on the Android platform, with a focus on free gaming, according to details spotted in a listing on a site for tech start-ups spotted by the tech reporters at The Verge. The most tantalizing detail that they report is that: "Even the underlying hardware is 'built to be hacked'—every customer who buys a retail box will get a dev kit in the bargain, the site claims."
The look of the console is being designed by Yves Béhar, who crafted the look of the One Laptop Per Child computer. The project is also backed by ex-IGN exec Julie Uhrman, former Xbox gaming honcho Ed Fries, and some other top tech folks.
Sources close to the project tell me there are even more surprises to what is an altogether out-of-left field new entrant into the home video game console wars.
We've got Xbox, PlayStation and Wii. Have we got room for something like Ouya in our living rooms?
I'll have more on this very unusual project in the coming days.
Ouya: a $99 hackable Android game console designed by Yves Behar [The Verge]


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M Social is a small but mighty collection of lifestyle hotels that offer travellers a fresh, fun and distinctively unique experience. For unforgettable stays that are packed with personality.Learn more
Singapore's first fully loft inspired hotel. Designed by Italian Style Maestro and architect, Piero Lissoni, Studio M Hotel offers contemporary living spaces in which to work, rest and play.Learn more


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Deadline Dates
Deadlines are midnight Eastern Time (EST)
January 8, 2014 Extended January 15, 2014: Minisymposium proposals
February 11, 2014: Abstracts for contributed and minisymposium speakers
How to Participate
SIAM requests that individuals limit themselves to giving one talk. (This does not apply to invited plenary speakers.) The Chair of the organizing committee may make exceptions to this request.
You are invited to contribute a presentation for this conference in one of the following formats.
A minisymposium consists of four or five 25-minute presentations, with an additional five minutes for discussion after each presentation. Prospective minisymposium organizers are asked to submit a proposal consisting of a title, a description (not to exceed 100 words), and a list of speakers and titles of their presentations using the Conference Management System available at: http://meetings.siam.org/start.cfm?CONFCODE=dm14.
It is recommended that a minisymposium organizer makes the first presentation. Each minisymposium speaker should submit a 75-word abstract. The organizing committee will referee minisymposium proposals. The number of minisymposia may be limited to retain an acceptable level of parallelism in the conference sessions.
To ensure balance, SIAM prefers that a single individual not be the organizer of more than one minisymposium. In addition, SIAM discourages minisymposia in which most of the speakers or co-authors come from the same institution.
Be certain to visit http://www.siam.org/meetings/guidelines/mini_guide.php to review Guidelines for Preparing a Minisymposium Proposal.
Deadline for submission of minisymposium proposals:
January 8, 2014 Extended January 15, 2014
Deadline for submission of minisymposium speaker abstracts: February 11, 2014
Contributed Presentations in Lecture or Poster Format
IContributed presentations in lecture or poster format are invited in all areas consistent with the conference themes. A lecture format involves a 15-minute oral presentation with an additional 5 minutes for discussion. A poster format involves the use of non-electronic visual aids for mounting on a 4' x 6' or 4' x 8' poster board. A poster session is two hours long. Each contributor, either for a lecture or a poster, must submit a title and a brief abstract not to exceed 75 words. Please submit contributed presentations in lecture or poster format using the Conference Management System available at: http://meetings.siam.org/start.cfm?CONFCODE=dm14.
Deadline for submission of contributed abstracts: February 11, 2014
Acceptance Notification
Acceptance notification was sent by email on Friday, March 7, 2014.


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Private tours are arranged by Proffesional tour guide who speaks your language ,fatsaluently flexible tours with no hassle. Since our hotel is in walking distance to the Historical side of İstanbul, walking tour starts at 09.00/10.00 am depends on you. You will decide what to see and what to do. We only offer our suggestions but the final itinerary will always depend on your preferences. So, for instance, if you would like to spend 4 hours in Hagia Sophia or walk along the Bosphorus for half a day or if you would like to have lunch at your preferred restaurant, you will just do it. No part of your tours will be dictated by anyone and you will simply experience Istanbul as you please. Our job will be only to offer you our suggestions.
No waiting at lines; Professional licenced guides in Istanbul have priority to purchase tickets at most sites so you will avoid big lines where you will see lots of tourists waiting to enter a site.
Knowledgeable and Friendly Guides; Your guide will be someone who has proved to be excellent in his/her job. When we hire a guide, he/she is chosen among several thousand guides and, based on the feedback we receive from our guests, we keep hiring only the best ones that continuously receive perfect feedbacks. Therefore, our guides are knowledgeable, polite, friendly and fluent in their languages.
Reservation; just you need to send an e-mail to email@example.com ,Depends of Museum's open dates, we will arrange in your vacation period.
one of the world's most exotic, romantic, and intoxicating cities and a travel-shopper's paradise. Straddling both Europe and Asia at the fabled Bosphorus Straits, which link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea, this beautiful, energetic, and throbbing city over 14 million people hosts nearly 10 million visitors each year who often begin and end their Turkey adventure in this fascinating place. It is a city that begs to be discovered on foot or by boat, tram, subway, or car. Through many narrow winding streets, colorful bazaars, grand mosques, spiraling minarets, and well preserved palaces, museums to fine shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels, Istanbul has it all- a virtual gold mine of delights that can easily occupy a busy week of shopping, dining, sightseeing, cruising and entertainment. The city constantly unfolds with a never-ending stream of surprises. Many visitors to this city have only one complaint –they did not plan enough to fully enjoy Istanbul's many treasures and pleasures. Well, you can always come back! And many soon do.
This is Istanbul's prime tourist destination, the historic district of Sultanahmet. It includes the Grand Bazaar, Egyptian Bazaar, Arasta Bazaar, mosques, places, churches, museums and adjacent streets jam-packed with shops offering a dazzling array of carpets, jewelry, leather goods, copperware, and handicrafts. You can easily spend 3 days shopping and sightseeing in this richly rewarding area of fascinating sights, sounds, people, and products.
This is the European section of Istanbul with its many trendy shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels, bars, discos, and nightclubs. Much of this area's shopping, dining, and entertainment activities are centered along Istiklal Street in Beyoglu. Here you will find numerous antique shops, bookstores, and music shops along with trendy boutiques, and the main Vakko department store. A charming tram runs up and down this main pedestrian walkway to make covering the area especially convenient, and pleasant. Functioning as a central business district, this whole area is full of wonderful surprises as you explore its many meandering side streets. This section of the city is especially popular with the young people.


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1. 78th Street Play Street
Queens, N.Y. / Jackson Heights Green Alliance
This project addresses a critical need for more open space in Jackson Heights, Queens, which ranks second-to-last in available park space per resident of all the neighborhoods of New York City. The Jackson Heights Green Alliance (JHGA) has worked with the Department of Transportation over several years to close a oneblock stretch of 78th Street off to cars in order to create a play space. At first, the street was closed only on odd weekends; then it was for whole summers. Now the city has agreed to close the block permanently. Overcoming neighbors' and business' fear of losing parking spaces, JHGA succeeded with an incremental approach that convinced residents that having more open space was worth the trade-offs.
Click the "Next" button to turn to the page to see the next Spontaneous Intervention.


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Justin Bieber Performs 'Boyfriend' Live for the First Time Ever on 'The Voice' Finale
Justin Bieber marked the live performance debut of his brand new smash single 'Boyfriend' on the season finale of 'The Voice' this evening, May 8. The Biebs taking the stage was just as anticipated as the announcement of the winner.
Bieber hit that stage right before the Season 2 winner was announced. Wearing gold kicks, a jacket with gold grommets and a mouthpiece mic, he bounded down the steps and was surrounded by a troupe of female dancers. He looked irritated briefly and shot one of the dancers a dirty look for a hot sec. We're not sure what that was about, but we noticed!
The teen was bumping and grinding, Michael Jackson-style, and we almost couldn't handle our little Biebs being all grown up. We're like mama birds, pushing our baby out of the nest in the real world.
Even when Bieber was surrounded by several dancers, he was still the superstar of the show, and all eyes were fixated on him.
It was no accident that the camera panned to Christina Aguilera, who was watching intently and grooving in her big red chair while Bieber did his thing. She reacted coolly to him earlier this season, so seeing her overtaken by the power of the Biebs and 'Boyfriend' was refreshing. You can't fight it, girl. So just give in.
The Biebs' performance was full of swag, swag, swag, Well done, Biebs. Well done.
Watch Justin Bieber Perform 'Boyfriend' on 'The Voice'


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Put down the rake, and back away from the leaves.
Dry, dead leaves may be unsightly to your neighbors, but they are great wildlife habitat for a slew of creatures, according to David Mizejewski, a Naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation.
In the past, the NWF has reminded people that there are benefits to letting leaves decompose naturally.
Here are a few reasons why it makes sense to put your rake away.
Leaving your leaves could save you money:
"Leaves are nature's natural mulch and fertilizer," Mizejewski said. "When you rake all the leaves away, you are removing that natural benefit to your garden and lawns – then people turn around and spend money to buy mulch."
If you feel like you have to clean up your yard, Mizejewski said people can use their leaves like they would mulch, and move them to a garden bed or area that is more aesthetically pleasing.
Wildlife depends on your leaves:
Butterflies and songbirds alike depend on leaf litter, according to Mizejewski.
"Over winter months, a lot of butterflies and moths as pupa or caterpillar are in the leaf litter, and when you rake it up you are removing the whole population of butterflies you would otherwise see in your yard," he said.
Without the insects in the leaf litter, you also risk driving away birds that might have come to your yard looking for food to feed their offspring int he spring.
Leaves and yard waste take up a lot of space in landfills:
Food scraps and yard waste make up 20 to 30% of what we throw away, according to the EPA. So, letting your leaves decompose isn't just a time-saver for you, but it's also environmentally friendly, Mizejewski.


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Many History of Art majors and minors spend their summers working as interns at museums and galleries, as well as any number of businesses less directly connected to the discipline of art history. Students who make proper arrangements in advance with a History of Art advisor may receive up to two credit hours in conjunction with their internships by enrolling in HISTART 299 ("Experiential Study"). These credits are graded "credit/no credit" on student transcripts, and they may not be used to satisfy academic requirements for either the concentration or the minor.
Note: All arrangements for enrollment in HISTART 299 must be made through a History of Art advisor before students begin their internships.
Intended Audience:
Intended for students to wish to receive credit for an internship or other experiential work under the direction of a member of the faculty.


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Comprehensive Guidance Plan
Guidance Curriculum
The guidance curriculum is designed to systematically provide lessons to students that facilitate growth, development, and transferable skills in the areas of educational, career, personal, and social development. Guidance lesson topics will include:
- Healthy Coping Skills and Mental Health
- Healthy Relationships
- Bullying
- Cyber-Bullying
- Social Media Safety
- Healthy Life Choices
Individual Planning
The purpose of individual planning is to guide all students as they plan, monitor, and manage their individual educational, career, personal, and social development.
Responsive Services
The purpose of responsive services is to intervene on behalf of students whose immediate personal concerns or circumstances put their continued educational, career, personal, and social development at risk. These services include responding to crisis, individual counseling, group counseling, and parent conferences.
System Support
The purpose of system support is to identify and coordinate resources and activities on campus and in the community that indirectly benefit students.


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Had to go for X-rays of the two broken fingers today, and got to read some back issues of Western Standard. (One of the three brought up Ralph Klein's "long goodbye", referring to his "upcoming" leadership review, to give you an idea of how old they were). I don't subscribe to WS, and always forgot my login I received for free reading online, so I hadn't got a chance to read them. The first (unimportant bit) of the article can be found on, of all things, the CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) website. The full text can only be found by logging into Western Standard's website, but if you do, you can read the column here: "If You Can't Join 'Em, Beat 'Em".
Steyn wrote about his past, to mention that he was at one point the boyfriend of a girl "so hot that, when she curled up on the Persian carpet, I worried it would combust", the sort of thing that only a man in
love lust might exort (usually just before climbing onto her and making the rug at the very least a serious source of friction). But he went on to talk about how she was a "moderate Muslim":
She was a residually observant Muslim, in the way that there are many Anglicans who go to church at Christmas and Easter and would still wish their children to be Christened and eventually married in church. Which makes her much more of a "moderate Muslim" than, say, Dr. Wafa Sultan, the Syrian-American psychiatrist from Los Angeles who, at great personal risk, took on some A-list Sunni scholar live on Al Jazeera the other week. Dr. Sultan was on splendid form, booting every one of Professor Jihad's points into touch, scoffing at the rationale behind the many Muslim "grievances," pointing out the backwardness and misery and oppression that attend the advance of Islam. But political debate isn't Wimbledon: it's possible to win every point and still lose the match.The match in question being lost when she described herself as a "secular human being", and then was told "If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran". Prof. Sultan could only reply that her personal life was her own business.
Steyn's point was that:
Dr. Sultan, Miss Manji, Salman Rushdie and many others are hobbled in the broader struggle because they confirm what many Muslims suspect--that a "moderate" Muslim is by definition an ex-Muslim. To choose western values is to lose your God.He goes onto note that Americans wearing gloves to protect the "clean" Koran for the benefit of Guatanamo prisoners simply reinforces the belief. He doesn't make a direct point in the article, but I see a connection between his observation with former Muslim seclarists and another article of his on Stephen Harper using "God Bless Canada" in speeches.
I look on religion like gun ownership. Jurisdictions such as Vermont and New Hampshire with a high rate of firearms possession also have a low crime rate. You don't have to own a gun, and there are plenty of sissy arms-are-for-hugging granola-crunchers who don't. But they benefit from the fact that their crazy stump-toothed neighbors do. If you want to burgle a home in northern New England, you'd have to be awfully certain it was the one-in-a-hundred we-are-the-world pantywaist's pad and not some plaid-clad gun nut who'll blow your head off before you lay a hand on his 70-dollar TV. That's the way it is with religion. A hyper-rationalist can dismiss the whole God thing as a lot of applesauce, but his hyper-rationalism is a lot more vulnerable in a society without a strong Judeo-Christian culture.As I've said before on Third Edge of the Sword, only directly criticizing Islam as the dirty pseudo-religion of Satan's prophet Mohammed going against the word of the one true Lord and his Son Jesus Christ is likely to gain any headway. These people don't want to hear about your faggot-loving nationalized daycares, and the sooner people in the west start framing everything as "the true religion of Jesus Christ" versus "the false religion of Satan's puppet Mohammed" the better the chances that at the very least Muslim might lose a few converts to the greater cause. Until then, we're offering something nobody over there is interested in.
Now contrast with Andrew Sullivan's recent article in Time magazine. His column When Seeing Is Not Believing is "Andrew Sullivan on the rise of fundamentalism and why embracing spiritual doubt is the key to defusing the tension between East and West". So basically this is the precise opposite argument. One realizes quickly that one or the other must be false. (Quick skip ahead to the end, "Catholic" Sullivan is shocked that the Pope is taking on some sort of papal authority).
How, after all, can you engage in a rational dialogue with a man like Ahmadinejad, who believes that Armageddon is near and that it is his duty to accelerate it? How can Israel negotiate with people who are certain their instructions come from heaven and so decree that Israel must not exist in Muslim lands? Equally, of course, how can one negotiate with fundamentalist Jews who claim that the West Bank is theirs forever by biblical mandate? Or with Fundamentalist Christians who believe that Israel's expansion is a biblical necessity rather than a strategic judgment?The problem is that Sullivan's request, much like the demands of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, would only be conceivable adopted by one side. In both cases, doing so would mean the inevitable capitulation of that one side. Islam, as a tool of Satan, will not be letting up on the "fundamentalism", nor will its citizens have a chance to reject it. Not so in the West: if we give up the assertion that our side is right, that Jesus Christ is our personal saviour and the only path to the One True God, we will in its place be putting the secular vacuum which is so vilified in the Middle East. Muslims might say unkind things about the Pope, or Christians, or Christianity, but at the end of the day they are scared. The Muslim racial memory is that of The Hammer at the Battle of Tours, of The Hammer (again) at the Battle of the River Berre, and both the Siege and the Battle of Vienna.
There is, however, a way out. And it will come from the only place it can come from--the minds and souls of people of faith. It will come from the much derided moderate Muslims, tolerant Jews and humble Christians. The alternative to the secular-fundamentalist death spiral is something called spiritual humility and sincere religious doubt. Fundamentalism is not the only valid form of faith, and to say it is, is the great lie of our time.
The 16th century writer Michel de Montaigne lived in a world of religious war, just as we do. And he understood, as we must, that complete religious certainty is, in fact, the real blasphemy.You go say that in Syria, Mr. Sullivan. And after they murder you for being an uranist, let us know how effective a combat tactic that really is.


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Lupita Nyong'o won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress last night, for her powerful role in 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen! Go Lupita! But lately I've been feeling a little fatigued by the "Oh-my-god-Lupita-Nyong'o-is-so-beautiful-I-can't-DEAL-WITH-IT!"
The current fad-like coverage of the Kenyan actress, overshadows the more interesting things about her background, the stuff that doesn't get reported. True, I assumed she was a nobody until this slave narrative film, but a quick skim of Wikipedia reveals the stuff that the media isn't all that interested in.
Black and white people, alike, are enamored with Nyong'o for what I believe, are different reasons. Blacks are proud that Nyong'o crushed it in her portrayal of Patsey and I'm personally excited that we've got another black woman winning major acting awards. Whites seems to be most preoccupied with Nyong'o's exotic look and I think that's something we, as a society, probably need to address.
For those who didn't know it, Lupita Nyong'o was born in Mexico City and hails from an affluent family of artists, doctors and scholars. She attended Hampshire College, here in the states, and graduated with a degree in film and theater studies. She's also a Yale graduate and a polyglot, fluent in several languages.
I was pretty excited to know that Nyong'o actually wrote, directed and produced a documentary, in 2009, called In My Genes, where she investigates the how Africans with albinism experiences life in a predominately black Kenya. I was stoked to know this because all I've seen of Lupita Nyong'o, is how beautiful she is on every red carpet she walks. Which is wonderful because Nyong'o is indeed quite beautiful! But she's also extremely talented in other, more important ways.
I'm also weirded out by the onslaught of white people who are just plain gob-smacked by her exquisiteness. I've received an enormous amount of trending Facebook articles from various fashion sources that seem almost amazed by how beautiful Lupita is. It irks me that people don't find it ironic how Nyong'o has preformed one of the most gut-wrenching representations of an enslaved black woman. Her character, Patsey, shows the reality of an enslaved body; this body is allowed to be ogled, worked to death, beaten, and raped. This body does not belong to Patsey and for some reason, it feels as though Nyong'o's body doesn't belong to her either.
Not too much has changed in regards to the black female body. Society still turns a blind eye to the raped black female body, but leers at the black female body on display. Whether it be in a Miley Cyrus music video, on the cover of King Magazine, or on a red carpet, black female bodies are still objects to be commodified. Designers have fallen all over themselves to drape their designs on Nyong'o's black body. When commentators talk about her many red carpet looks, I find myself wondering: "Are they talking about how lovely the dress is, being held up by a black mannequin? Or are they talking about Lupita's fascinating dark body and face?"
Admittedly, my cynicism can be dangerous. Instead of taking white people at their word, I'm being suspicious of their motives. Whites could genuinely find Nyong'o so gorgeous that they don't know what to do with themselves: "I CAN'T!" They might find her beautiful without even consciously understanding their exotic motivations: "She's just so. . . noble!" For all I know, they might not be trying to be provinganything when they loudly insist how stunning she is. This is 2014, why can't I just be happy that another black woman has won an Academy Award? Young black girls of all shades are finally able to see themselves on screen! That, in itself, is really exciting!
Ugh, but then there's that nagging feeling, the one built upon institutionalized racism and colonialism. The feeling that tells me that Lupita Nyong'o will end up just like the rest of them:
- Viola Davis, who white people thought was a national treasure because she played the help with such a noble, quiet strength.
- Quvenzhané Wallis, who was actually in 12 Years a Slave, but didn't receive much press. For her role as Hushpuppy, in Beasts of the Southern Wild, she was nominated for a Best Leading Actress Oscar. During Oscars night, she was called the C-word by The Onion in a jokey tweet.
- Gabourey Sidibe, who played Precious, another "hard to watch" film. The white criticism was mixed and decidedly trite. But almost all of it had to do with her obesity.
- Halle Berry, the only black female to win the Best Leading Actress award. Ever. Had to preform the most cringe-worthy, upsetting sex scene with Billy Bob Thornton to be recognized by the Academy.
All of this is to say, Hopefully, one day, a black actress will win an Academy Award based on a performance that's not based on the oppression of black women. Cate Blanchett won the award for Best Leading Actress last night. In the Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine, she plays a New York socialite, whose life falls apart, forcing her to live with her sister in San Francisco. I'm sure she did an excellent job, she's a great actress! But did she have to prove anything or teach black people a valuable lesson in history or humanity to get her award? Was she involved in a "teachable moment?"
Just as Blanchett is classically beautiful in, I don't know. . . a kind of timeless way, I'm still hoping for the next great black actress to be beautiful in the same way. Not in an exotic, noble, new-car smelling way.
~ This post was written by Charish Halliburton, who writes regularly at the blog Black Feminists. This piece was originally posted at Motley News.


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Friday, July 26, 2013
Down the River: Geotripper Goes Geo-Rafting
Of course, there is no communicating with the outside world, so Geotripper will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks. If you are new to this blog, this is a great chance to catch up on some of the past Geotripper series on the Colorado Plateau, the Sierra Nevada, and other wonderful parts of the world. They're listed below...
See you all in a few weeks! With pictures, I hope, assuming I don't drop the camera in the river!
The Other California: what to see when you've seen all the really famous places in the Golden State (in progress).
Vagabonding Across the 39th Parallel: A journey through the geological wonderland in central Nevada, Utah and Colorado in 2011.
A Convergence of Wonders, a compilation of posts on our journey through the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rocky Mountains in 2011.
The Abandoned Lands, a compilation of posts on our journey around the margins of the Colorado Plateau in 2012.
Time Beyond Imagining: A "Brief" History of the Colorado Plateau - this was an extended exploration of the geology of one of the great geological showplaces on planet Earth
Under the Volcano and Into the Abyss: Yosemite National Park - Exploring a few of the lesser known corners of Yosemite Valley, from below and from above
The Airliner Chronicles: My First Blog Series - Seeing geology from the perspective of seven miles above.
4 comments:
- Gaelyn said...
Have an awesome time and hang on to that camera.
- July 27, 2013 at 6:20 PM
I am certainly looking forward to posts on this trip. I've been keeping up (and reading older posts) with this blog for a couple of years now and really enjoy it. I hope you have a wonderful time. This trip has been a lifetime dream of mine as well. Hopefully I can make it come true someday. I am so happy for you that you are able to do so.
-Tom (Fresno area geologist)
- July 29, 2013 at 1:59 PM
- Bruce B said...
Gerry- I put the video I took of you in Lava Falls at http://youtu.be/9hM55A-GbBo . Feel free to share it and let me know if you'd like the original file. I'm glad you were all OK and trust the rest of your trip was uneventful! -Bruce Burger, Seattle.
- August 12, 2013 at 2:22 AM
- Garry Hayes said...
Bruce, thank you so much! I would love the file, if you could send it to email@example.com. It was fascinating to watch and see how the reality of the flip compared to my memory of it at river level.
- August 14, 2013 at 5:47 PM


text:
Mary Pride
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Heather Chapman
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By Karen Andreola
Printed in Practical Homeschooling #26, 1998.
''Snow!" One surprised child in flannel pajamas cries out. "Ma, it snowed last night!"
"Yes, look at all that white."
"Ma, would you let us play outside before school starts . . . please?"
"Yes, but for only one hour. A foot of snow isn't enough for public school to close in Maine. I don't want the neighbors to see you playing hooky for too long. I'll make oatmeal while you dress."
After all the adjusting of suspenders on snow pants, searching for "matching" pairs of mittens and wrapping ears up in scarves, Mother is able to sip some tea in peaceful solitude by the kitchen window. What does Mother do when she gets a few quiet moments to herself to think clearly and without interruption? She prays and plans. She wraps her fingers around the tea cup to warm them and then writes out her thoughts, hopes and wishes. In a few weeks it will be Christmas. She wants her children to celebrate the advent of God's Son and find joy in a few family traditions.
As the afternoon sun becomes sleepy and lowers itself in the sky and the house grows dim, she carries a heavy box out of attic storage. It is full of picture books that depict wintry scenes, big books which contain excerpts of Christmas chapters from classics like Little Women and Wind in the Willows, short stories such as The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen, and poems by Christina Rossetti, G. K. Chesterton, Eleanor Farjeon, and Clement C. Moore. In the box are also meditations for advent, carol singing books, some tin cookie cutters, and craft and recipe books. There are cassettes of Christmas music played on all kinds of instruments, some sung by people once popular. There are several cassette renditions of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, read by different narrators.
"We are not going to read or do all of these things this evening. You may choose one or two things from the box." Mother basks in the satisfying, comforting thought that she has taught all her children to read and now they all enjoy sitting down with a good story. The sounds of Mother making supper in the kitchen cannot be heard over Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" playing in the background while the children read. But a few whiffs of something simmering do invite one hungry child into the kitchen.
"What book is that in your hand?" asks Mother.
"It's the one you used read to me when I was little."
"Oh, yes, that's one of my favorites: Too Many Mittens by Florence and Louis Slobodkin."
Supper is eaten by the light of the new set of red candles.
"Mom, I wish we could have a fire in the fireplace."
"You know the landlord won't allow it."
The dinning room's fireplace has a cherry-wood mantlepiece that matches the built-in china cabinet. The architect of this Victorian house must have known that when the family sat down to supper the setting sun would light up the stained glass on the western wall as the fire would light up the room from the eastern wall. Mother optimistically asks, "The candle light is pretty though, isn't it?"
After all the dishes are washed, the two eldest children bring out their instruments. One child at the cello and one at the violin practice Christmas songs which will in two weeks' time be played for loved ones who, sadly, leave Christ out of Christmas.
"Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," "Bring a Torch," "Jeannette, Isabella," "Gloria in excelsis Deo," and "Coventry Carol" are among their list of favorites. Mother has spent years driving children to lessons, encouraging and gently correcting them. She considers this time to be a good investment. Now she is able to hear hearts and hands in harmony giving praise and melody to God. Mother prays that the songs the children chose will cause the family to ponder things divine.
During the following week, Mother brings home pounds of butter, sugar and flour for the children to make Great Grandmother's sugar cookie recipe. This is the only time of year she makes cookies. The child who most enjoys getting her hands messy stands in front doing the largest share of mixing and rolling. It doesn't matter if they over-handle the dough. If the gingerbread bells, trees, birds, and men bake harder, this simply means they won't crumble and break. "Let your brother make some, too. He likes putting the sprinkles on," reminds Mother as she keeps watch over a batch of cookies in the oven. Butter browns quickly and somebody has to stand guard. What wonderful cookies and what a horrible mess! One child sweeps, one mops, and one washes the bowls and spoons in the sink. Mother mustn't wear herself out during the holiday. It can happen too easily. She must reserve some energy for the inevitable holiday requests, like "Hey Ma, are we going to make Christmas cake again this year? You know, the one with all the chopped dried fruit?"
Not all the little gifts given at Christmas are homemade, but usually a few are. Christmas is a good time to perfect some needle skills. "Make your stitches consistently even," says Mother to her eldest daughter, who decides to make scented pot holders.
One daughter makes a knitted gingerbread boy to be stuffed with wool and cloves.
"Mom, why is there a hole here?"
"You dropped a stitch. Here, let me fix it for you."
Their younger brother takes some of the same spices to make a scented orange. He uses cloves like little thumb tacks making a design on the orange's thick skin. He remembers what to do from the year before. Later Mother shows the girls how to mend a red, slightly moth-eaten, woolen sweater that is to be worn on Christmas Eve.
Although the three Rs are carried on in these later days of December, Mother does allow for a little straying from the normal courses. "Mom, can we use the rest of our school time today to write to friends?"
"Well, all right, but keep in mind that school isn't out yet. We still have some lessons to accomplish before we put all our school books aside for the week."
An hour goes by and the children are still writing and drawing cards for their far-away friends. They are so absorbed in their task that they don't notice Mother privately collecting a list of all the words they have asked her to spell over the last hour. Aren't they in for a surprise!
Mother remembers a time in her childhood when she made paper snowflakes by folding a perfect square of white paper into triangles and snipping out swirls and shapes with sharp scissors. Whenever winter comes around, it seems only natural to show her children how to make paper snowflakes. The children's little hands like to cut snippets out of folded paper. They're happy with their crude "holey" shapes decorating the windows. Mother seems to like them, too. But the carpet fills with paper snippets so often that she would be seen, time and again, surveying the devastation and asking, "Hey, didn't I just vacuum this place?"
Not too many winters ago Mother obtained the Dover book, Easy-to-Make Decorative Paper Snowflakes. For $3.50 the children can now cut lacy, more intricate designs by following the patterns in this book. A visitor or two will often comment on their attractiveness as seen from outdoors.
Thus the family tradition of playing good music, singing, sewing, cooking, drawing, writing, reading, and cutting paper snowflakes is carried on from year to year. This article reflects the Christmas experiences of the Andreola family who now live in snowy Maine.
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Critical Thinking and Logic
Teach Your Children to Work
Give Yourself a "CLEP Scholarship"
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Can Homeschoolers Participate In Public School Programs?
Top Tips for Teaching Toddlers
Saxon Math: Facts vs. Rumors
The History of Public Education
How to Win the Geography Bee
How to "Bee" a Spelling Success
Myth of the Teenager
What Does My Preschooler Need to Know?
Combining Work and Homeschool
Montessori Math
Start a Nature Notebook
The Gift of a Mentor
Bears in the House
Why the Internet will Never Replace Books
Art Appreciation the Charlotte Mason Way
The Equal Sign - Symbol, Name, Meaning
The Benefits of Debate
Joyce Swann's Homeschool Tips
Getting Started in Homeschooling: The First Ten Steps
Who Needs the Prom?
Laptop Homeschool
What We Can Learn from the Homeschooled 2002 National Geography Bee Winners
The Charlotte Mason Approach to Poetry
Discover Your Child's Learning Style
Getting Organized Part 3
The Charlotte Mason Method
University Model Schools
Getting Organized Part 1 - Tips & Tricks
Columbus and the Flat Earth...
Advanced Math: Trig, PreCalc, and more!
Phonics the Montessori Way
AP Courses At Home
Shakespeare Camp
Narration Beats Tests
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Classical Education
Don't Give Up on Your Late Bloomers
Whole-Language Boondoggle
A Homeschooler Wins the Heisman
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Grants Available for IYA2009 Projects
18 March 2009
The IAU and UNESCO are please to announce a call for grants proposals for IYA2009 projects and activities. This call for proposals comes via the Developing Astronomy Globally cornerstone and is thus targeted at providing seed funding and basic support in order to stimulate astronomy activities in developing regions. Note that although this funding is aimed specifically at "developing countries", exceptions with appropriate motivation will be accepted - the main concern simply being who the beneficiaries would be. Proposals should also be in alignment with the IYA2009 goals and more specifically the Developing Astronomy Globally goals.
More information: http://www.developingastronomy.org/
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