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Book Review
Insanity, Institutions and Society, 1800-1914: a Social History of Madness in Comparative PerspectiveJoseph Melling and Bill Forsythe (eds)
London: Routledge, 1999, 328pp
Dr Anne BorsayUniversity of Wales, Lampeter
The social history of madness is a vibrant area of intellectual enquiry which in the past 20 years has generated an impressive series of monographs and essay collections. This volume is a scholarly addition to the literature. Although its origins lie in a seminar series and a conference, both held at the University of Exeter, the strong focus on institutions during the long nineteenth century provides a natural coherence which is sustained across the comparative perspective taking in British India and the Cape Colony as well as Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This coherence is consolidated by a substantial introduction and careful editing which has encouraged the contributors to engage with each other over points of similarity and difference. The result is a book which does justice to its 'main theme': deciphering 'the institutional politics of madness and the historical conditions under which asylums came to be defined as necessary to the welfare of the body politic itself.' (p.23)
The historiographical context for this brief is reviewed by Joseph Melling in the first chapter, paying particular attention to Michel Foucault and Andrew Scull. Whilst recognising the catalytic effect of Foucault's Madness and Civilisation (196 5), Melling rightly criticises his lack of historical specificity and the neglect of class, kinship and political movements in shaping responses to insanity and the dynamics of institutional life. In Museums of Madness (1979), conversely, Scull rooted the rise of the asylum in the industrialising economy, stressing the disruption of family and community networks and the function of bourgeois mad-doctors in policing deviance. Always controversial with psychiatrists, Scull's thesis has also been questioned by historians. Melling flags three key areas of contention and illustrates them from the chapters which follow: the chronology of modernisation, the role of state medicine in the bid for professional power, and the agency and identity of the actors involved in 'the making of the institutionalised lunatic' (p.13). This exercise serves as a useful cohesive device. However, it would be a mistake to see the volume only in terms of its shared ground. Being rich in local detail and related to wider issues, each chapter is worthy of standing alone and warrants reading in its own right.
After the introductory assessment of new research in the social history of madness, the book is divided into four principal parts addressing the English experience of county lunatic asylums, therapeutic regimes in the nineteenth century, the English model at the Celtic peripheries, and the colonial vision. In the final chapter, Andrew Scull rethinks the history of asylumdom. The first part, containing four chapters, opens with a discussion of the mixed economy of care between 1808 (when county justices were permitted but not obliged to build asylums) and 1845 (when they were required to do so). Leonard Smith argues that in the absence of universal provision, the early county asylums competed with public subscription hospitals and private madhouses both for paying and for Poor Law patients. The consequence, he says, was an evolving 'contract culture' (p.38) in which differential rates were thrashed out with particular parishes or counties and every effort was made to minimise costs. Peter Bartlett picks up on the pauper theme to argue on the basis of 'legal and administrative structures...[that] the county asylum...[was] a Poor Law institution, in which the role of specialist medical professionals has been overplayed.' (p.49) The 'imagery' associated with this characterisation was far from consistent; asylums were seen as catering for a social underclass and for respectable workers, whilst also being a challenge to the austere principle of 1834. Yet these contradictions enabled the institution to flourish because it was 'attractive to advocates and opponents of the New Poor Law, Whigs and Tories alike, and could easily be justified according to the evangelical, paternalistic and utilitarian ideologies' (p.52) which infused debates about Victorian social welfare.
A Whig/Tory alliance of local aristocrats was also active in establishing the Devon Pauper Lunatic Asylum in 1845, although the magistrates most supportive of the hospital and its first medical superintendent were of Tory persuasion. Their relationship with the Lunacy Commission is the concern of Bill Forsyth, Joseph Melling and Richard Adair. Disputing the weak and passive view of central regulation, they argue that the Commission 'interacted effectively and subtly with local interest groups to secure its desired policy outcomes' (p.69) from the limited powers and resources at its disposal. A major player in these negotiations was the Poor Law Board. Furthermore, Poor Law officials were closely involved in the management of pauper lunatics. As David W right shows in his study of the overlooked social process of discharge, it was the relieving officer who investigated the household situation when the medical superintendent and the Visiting Committee decided that a patient was fit for release. Contrary to the orthodoxy of permanent confinement, this was not an infrequent occurrence, for 'over one-half of those admitted to the Buckingham Asylum between 1853 and 1872 were discharged, the vast majority of them having stayed fewer than twelve months.' (p.1 06)
The second part of the volume includes two chapters on therapeutic regimes. Using case records from Bethlem, Akihito Suzuki identifies a significant mid-century shift in how mental disease was represented which undermines the assertion that 'institutional psychiatry silenced the voice of the mad'. Before Bethlem was reformed in 1852, a charitable narrative - constructed by relatives, friends or neighbours - understood madness in terms of traumatic events and experiences; after 1852 the diagnosis was framed by the medical superintendent from his own observation and in collaboration with the patient who became 'a legitimate storyteller' with the capacity to discredit lay readings of his or her behaviour (p.131). In assessing puerperal insanity, Hilary Marland also detects a change in the reporting conventions. Early in the century, 'cases were much more likely to be presented individually as narratives of fall, redemption and recovery.' As asylum admissions increased, however, the existence of a captive patient body allowed the emergence of a new form of medical knowledge in which the condition was broken down into 'typologies, causal factors and prognosis' (p.152).
The four chapters in Part Three turn to the fate of the 'English model' at the national peripheries of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Whilst appreciating the importance of the Welsh language and Nonconformity, Pamela Michael and David Hirst are keen to stress the other factors which affected the foundation and reception of the North Wales Asylum at Denbigh. The 'legitimisation' of institutional care for pauper lunatics is attributed both to 'a successful coalition between a modernising local elite and agents of central government' (p.175), and to the ability of that same elite to sell the asylum to impoverished rural communities which had previously sustained the insane among their kin with financial support from the Poor Law. Whereas Wales was covered b y English legislation, Scotland had its own system of voluntary poor relief revolving around the kirk, and there was no statutory duty to provide institutional places for the insane until 1857. The outcome was a more dominant role for the eight charitable asylums set up between 1782 and 1839.
Emphasising the centrality of the Dundee Royal Asylum for the civic, humanitarian image of the urban middle class, Lorraine Walsh argues for the period up to 1850 that their lay control eclipsed medical influence, encouraging remedial moral treatment which departed sharply from the 'palliative function' (p.188) of the older town hospitals. Like the other nineteenth-century charitable asylums north of the border, Dundee received patients from all social classes. The gradual appearance of state asylums, however, led to the expulsion of paupers. As Jonathan Andrews demonstrates, the Glasgow Royal Asylum and its physician-superintendent were intent upon 'raising the social tone' so that repugnant social mixing would neither deter paying clients from seeking admission nor impede their treatment. By 1897, every pauper had gone. This privatisation did not free the Asylum of long-term, chronic patients, many of them female and/or elderly. But, in addition, it had the effect of excluding Catholics, largely from the Irish immigrant community, in violation of the multi-denominationalism that before had been a source of pride.
Insanity also became entangled with religion and race in Ireland itself where, under yet another legislative framework, asylums were the responsibility of the Lord Lieutenant rather than the Poor Law but closely associated with criminality due to the Dangerous Lunatics Act of 1838. At the Ballinasloe Asylum in County Galway researched by Oonagh Walsh, the Board of Governors who implemented Dublin's decrees were all Protestant members of the middle and upper classes, yet over ninety per cent of the institution's population was Catholic. Moreover, by the imperialistic 1890's, the symptoms of these patients were being filtered through racial theories, as the asylum physician increasingly endorsed the belief that 'insanity literally inscribed itself upon the body of the sufferer, and that the face and head, in particular, could be read as a text of abnormality, or excess, or mania.' (p.235)
The discourses which pronounced the Irish unfit for political independence were still more potent in the empire: the subject of the two chapters in Part Four. Writing of early-nineteenth-century British India, Waltraud Ernst maintains that asylums were one of a series of institutions which symbolised the assumed superiority of British colonisation and its civilising mission. 'Things Indian, including the environment, were frequently pathologised as being implicated in mental breakdown.' And this 'rationale...served to distract attention from the inequities and inequalities of the colonial regime and from insanitary and psychologically destructive features within the European expatriate community.' (p.263) Indian doctors and patients, however, resisted t he imposition of British asylum-based psychiatry to give colonial medicine indigenous qualities. The growing acceptance of segregation as the 'progressive' solution to South Africa's urban and industrial problems produced a very different local context for the Valkenberg Mental Asylum in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though its conditions were to deteriorate due to overcrowding and staffing difficulties, Valkenberg was closed to black patients for whom inferior facilities were available. This racial policy, designed to remove the stigma of mental illness for the white population, was based on universal standards which ignored cultural variations and stripped black people of their identity. For Shula Marks, however, this universalism ' constrained the more blatant attempts at discrimination'. The flaw was 'its precise application as an instrument of power in a colonial situation.' (p.285)
The reviewing process begins in the book itself with Andrew Scull's concluding chapter of reflections. Although a narrow chronological spread is initially implied and several areas of omission (medical therapeutics and the work of clinical-historians, psychiatry's claims to professional expertise, the perspective of patients and their families) are listed, Scull retreats from these criticisms in acknowledging that 'a comprehensive overview of the enormous territory the history of psychiatry has now be come would necessarily have courted the danger of superficiality' (p.296). More serious is his worry that the 'macro-social concerns' that inspired his own 'grand synthesis' are at risk of being lost in 'micro-researches' which fail to tie 'the history of madness to broader changes in English society's political, economic and social structures, and...[to] the intellectual and cultural horizons of its people.' (pp.297-9)
The resurgence of empiricism in a field so indebted to the sociological insights of both Scull and Foucault is testimony to the strength of realism in British historiography. Few now concur with Lord Acton that 'the true historian takes the individual for his centre' and '[i]f he treats of mobs, or armies, or bodies of men, he invests this multitude with a kind of personality of its own.' None the less, the conservative reaction to the collapse of the post-war consensus has led to caution in applying the theoretical ideas of the discredited 1960s and 1970s. Thus in this volume the party allegiances and political behaviour of the men who governed asylums are meticulously traced, and the participation of the urban middling sort is singled out as pivotal to the Scottish institutions. But there is no sustained discussion of how involvement in the care of the insane impacted upon class development. The power of the poor is similarly handled, negotiation over admission and discharge being construed as evidence of genuine autonomy. Yet how much room for manoeuvre patients and their families really had is contestable, given the economic and professional parameters that fenced in their actions.
The relationship between agency and structure, individual and society, which energises the empirical unpicking of Foucault and Scull, is irrelevant to the postmodernist critiques which have penetrated history during the 1990s. Rejecting the rationality of the Enlightenment, postmodernism insists that historians deal only in images or representations because their sources offer no direct access to the past. Though the moral relativism inherent in this approach has provoked robust attack, even its staunchest opponents concede that the more imaginative use of a wider range of historical materials has been encouraged, with the interrogation of texts for their linguistic properties as well as their provenance. This collection gives the language of psychiatry relatively little consideration. As Joseph Melling comments in his introductory chapter, 'Most authors replicate the contemporary usage of terms such as insanity, madness and lunacy without attempting an authoritative discussion of the nosologies... which earlier authors have provided.' Instead, the essays sought 'to locate these terms within the context of the legal and practical transactions which secured the passage of the lunatic from community to asylum and back again.' (p.19) The fluid definitions o f insanity, and the way in which the classification of patients slid between madness and idiocy, undercuts any distinction between language and practice. Furthermore, the emphasis placed on the 'institutional process' in forming the 'lunatic's identity' ( p.23) denies the individual the chance to influence his or her sense of self through interacting, positively or negatively, with the asylum environment.
The unbalanced identity of the patient is partly a product of relying on traditional documentary material. One complementary mechanism for the retrieval of the inmate is the writing of mad men and women, dissected by Allan Ingram for the eighteenth century. Others include the architecture and geography of asylums, interpreted for the Victorian period by Thomas Markus and Chris Philo. Mark Jackson has looked for the 'victim' in the photography of mental deficiency, while Diana Gittins' oral history of t he twentieth-century Severalls Hospital in Essex has yielded compelling narratives from both patients and staff. Of course, 'history from below' has no monopoly of wisdom and must be tempered with finely-grained analysis of the 'official' records at which this volume excels. But when imprisonment for personality disorder without criminal offence is on the political agenda, it is essential not to forget the abuses that accompanied earlier policies of confinement. Searching out the mad themselves is perhaps the best historical reminder.
September 1999


text:
Iceland and other far-northern countries are becoming increasingly popular sites to build data centers. These countries offer cool climates, political stability and low energy costs -- all attractive features to data center operators. At same time, increased network connectivity and the rise of cloud computing means that physical proximity is less of an issue for some customers and classes of workload.
I recently visited Verne Global's newest data center in Iceland. This slideshow explores some of the factors behind the rise of the cold-climate data center and takes a peek inside the new construction.
Global Reach
The world is a very big place, especially when it comes to data. Connectivity extends almost everywhere and traffic is on the rise. The image above, provided by VeriSign, shows how complex connectivity has become worldwide. However, increased connectivity also means more location choices. As it stands now, a data center can serve a global business from almost anywhere in the world.
Global Reach
Offshoring of data center operations is quickly becoming a viable option. When I visited Iceland, officials there explained how the nation has invested in fiber connectivity to both Europe and North America, creating high-speed, low-latency links to data centers located on the island. Iceland has an abundance of low-cost electricity, generated by carbon-neutral technologies, including geothermal and hydroelectric power.
Rise Of The Green Data Center
As companies pay more attention to carbon output for both legislative requirements and public perception, data center location is affected by not only the cost of electricity, but how the electricity is generated and the environmental factors that impact heating and cooling of the data center. The above image, provided by Intel, shows how emissions impact operational costs and why the "green data center" movement is gaining steam.
Modular Design
Verne Global's data center is located at a disused NATO command center in Keflavik and draws its electricity from a nearby geothermal power plant. What's more, the data center uses Iceland's cold air to keep temperatures down. Verne Global claims that it is the world's first "zero carbon" data center.
The data center uses a modular design to simplify reconfiguration, expansion and support. With "modules," data center elements can be quickly replaced or relocated.
Hot and Cold Aisles
Although photography was limited, I snapped a few authorized photos of Verne Global's Icelandic data center, which incorporates hot and cold aisles. The aisles feature individually locked server/infrastructure cabinets. IG55 systems (a mix of nitrogen and argon) protect against fire, while active cooling controls keeps a consistent temperature.
BMW's Carbon Emission Reduction Plan
BMW, a customer of the new data center, has moved some high-performance compute (HPC) resources to the new data center. The company has chosen to use Colt data center modules (pictured above) to speed deployment and simplify installation. BMW hopes to cut annual carbon emissions by 3,570 metrics tons, and reduce the cost of its HPC operations by as much as 82%.
Natural Gas Backup
Although geothermal power proves to be reliable, I did spot some massive backup generators powered by natural gas, which Verne Global said are designed to provide emergency operations power for business continuity.
Physical Security
I found that access security measures made getting into Verne Global's data center a chore. Verne Global has been able to leverage some of the remnants of the base's Cold War-era security techniques to prevent physical intrusions. Physical security should always be a primary consideration for data centers. The above image shows one of the first phases of physical security, a vehicle trap. The idea is that unauthorized vehicles cannot access the site and are blocked by physical barriers.
The Man Trap
Vehicle barriers are only one part of the security equation. Shown above is a security element called a "man trap." Here, individuals must pass through two doors to access the data center hallway. The second door only functions if the first door is locked, and entry to the first door is controlled by key cards, guards and other security technologies. Unauthorized users can be locked in the vestibule until law enforcement or security personnel arrive.
- 10/18/2013
- Frank Ohlhorst
- Slideshow
- Connect Directly
Inside Iceland's Newest Data Center
We welcome your comments on this topic on our social media channels, or [contact us directly] with questions about the site.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
CAIRO — As Saudi Arabia tightens the screws on its weak southern
Despite crushing air power by the Saudi-led coalition seeking to reinstall the country's exiled president, which has reduced much of the north to rubble, Yemen's Shiite rebels, with the political backing of Iran, still hold large swaths of territory, including the capital, Sanaa.
And while the U.S.-supported coalition's recent tightening of a blockade to include aid shipments might be intended to starve the rebels into submission, they remain dug in to difficult, mountainous and urban terrain.
Unlike other regional conflicts in Syria or Libya, no side is winning, and peace talks are nonexistent. With both sides deeply committed to victory, face-saving exits are elusive, especially with the Saudi-Iranian rivalry heating up. The war, which has killed more than 10,000 civilians and pushed millions of Yemenis to the brink of famine, appears unlikely to end any time soon.
A look at the impasse:
On much of the ground and especially in the north, the battle-hardened Shiite rebels known as Houthis hold the upper hand. They control most state institutions and fortifications, are well-armed, and are backed by the remnants of a powerful army built up by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Infrastructure, such as health care, water and electricity however, are failing.
Opposing them are a jumble of forces ostensibly loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and a collection of tribes under nominal tutelage of Saudi Arabia and its main coalition partner, the United Arab Emirates.
These forces control most of the south, including the port city of Aden, Yemen's second largest and the official seat of Hadi's government, but a place where weak security, local factional power struggles and repeated attacks have kept him away for most of the year.
Neither the Saudis nor the UAE appear to have forces capable of taking over the whole country. An earlier drive northward ended up in tragedy for the coalition, with over 100 Emirati soldiers killed in combat so far.
After all the fighting, to say Yemen lacks leaders with broad consensus is an understatement.
The Houthis, a long-neglected Shiite offshoot in the north, consider themselves revolutionaries fighting corruption. But their enigmatic leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, appears only rarely, and his appeal has little reach beyond the bounds of sectarianism.
Likewise, his erstwhile ally Saleh, who once mastered the country with a deft tribal balancing act until he was deposed in a 2011 Arab Spring uprising, now has little comprehensive appeal, although some yearn for the pre-war days when he ruled. The two have reportedly fallen out, with news occasionally surfacing that the Houthis have put Saleh under house arrest.
Hadi, meanwhile, has fared no better as a potential leader of a post-war Yemen. Now in exile in Riyadh, the Saudis have prevented him from travelling to Aden since February, saying it's not safe. As his influence waned, the UAE built up its own force in the area, training and financing militias loyal to it.
The UAE's rising clout in the south, where it has backed alternate local leaders, has led to friction with Hadi and further undermined his rule.
And while not at odds with the Saudis, the UAE prefers supporting ultraconservative Salafi groups as a bulwark against Islamist organizations it loathes, like the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Saudis have given a pass in Yemen.
Riyadh has also historically been more tolerant of more hard-core Sunni-inspired fighters, blurring the lines regarding who the coalition should consider friend or foe in southern Yemen. Al-Qaida and Islamic State group affiliates operate there, sometimes striking targets in Aden and other southern cities.
The same goes for the lawless east, a vast desert with little state control and occasional U.S. drone strikes on militants. While minor, the differences highlight potential pitfalls in efforts to unify the south, let alone the larger country with its diverse tribal mosaic.
While the Saudi-led coalition's air power and naval blockade cannot bring victory on its own, it has made a large-scale Iranian intervention nearly impossible.
Tehran, while ideologically close to the Houthis and happy to give them political and diplomatic backing, denies supplying them with weapons. Small arms shipments on fishing boats are occasionally intercepted en route to Yemen, and both the U.S. Navy and coalition forces accuse the Iranians of gun-running.
No one can say for sure which is ultimately true, but the blockade has largely held and prevented quantities of game-changing weapons from entering the country.
Saleh built up an impressive weapons stockpile over the years that included missiles, and those fired into Saudi Arabia earlier in the week may indeed have been locally manufactured, as the Houthis contend, despite U.S. and Saudi allegations to the contrary.
While the Houthis and Iran briefly operated direct flights between their capitals at the beginning of the war, no such route exists today, making any potential Iranian resupply efforts extremely difficult. Tiny sailboats may be able to smuggle small parts like guidance systems via costal routes, however.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press correspondent Brian Rohan has reported from the Middle East since 2011.
Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/brian_rohan
Brian Rohan, The Associated Press


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From one photography collector to another: a venue for thoughtful discussion of vintage and contemporary photography via reviews of recent museum exhibitions, gallery shows, photography auctions, photo books, art fairs and other items of interest to photography collectors large and small.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Auction Results: Photographies, L'Imaginaire du Nu, June 28, 2011 @Yann Le Mouel
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer's premium):
Total Lots: 248
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 275350€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 358650€
Total Lots Sold: 76
Total Lots Bought In: 172
Buy In %: 69.35%
Total Sale Proceeds: 129552€
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 241
Low Sold: 72
Low Bought In: 169
Buy In %: 70.12%
Total Low Estimate: 284650€
Total Low Sold: 77952€
Mid Total Lots: 7
Mid Sold: 3
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 42.86%
Total Mid Estimate: 74000€
Total Mid Sold: 51600€
High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA
The top lot by High estimate was lot 129, Peter Lindbergh, Milla Jovovitch, NYC, Italian Vogue, 1996, at 15000-20000€; it was also the top outcome of the sale at 20400€.
93.42% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
Yann Le Mouel
22, Rue Chauchat
75009 Paris
8 comments:
- Joe Baio said...
By focusing only on the results you are missing a wonderful opportunity to teach budding collectors. This was a lovely and intriguing auction, rich with interesting, fresh works and real opportunities for those of us who don't have an "Irving Penn budget". (Let everyone on Fifth Avenue overpay for every Cuzco Boys print he made over the last 50 years. So long as they stay away from what I want I'm HAPPY.)
Here are some things your routine reports are missing. First, the German and French auction houses routinely bring material to the market that otherwise would remain buried or trash-piled. Second, the works are frequently both wonderful in the hands and on the walls and are quite reasonable priced. Third, the work is clearly not the same old same old we see in the US and UK auctions conducted by the biggees. Fourth, the condition reports that are fully available to buyers are generally very accurate. Fifth, from my perspective the houses run a clean auction: I frequently win at amounts less than my full bid. And finally, shipping costs -- unlike those imposed by the big-time houses -- are reasonable. You can frequently use your own FedEx account and the house will pack for free. Try to get Sotheby's, Christie's or Phillips to do that for you with foreign buys. Sometimes the shipping exceeds the hammer at those places.
In this case, I was the successful bidder on thirteen lots covering 25 individual pieces at less than 600 Euros a a lot. And wait until you see them mounted and framed!
Like so many others, you continue to focus on the record breakers and the "failed sales" and the lots that sold for double or more of the estimates. "Who paid the most! Who paid the most!" Here you are just like everyone else, and frankly, who cares about this crap? Let the over-payors continue to lead the way down.
You could focus instead on the true gems that are available at bargain prices based on quality of image and the estimates provided in catalogues. Or you could identify post-sales pictures that were incredible, and yet are still available.
On second thought, don't do that. Some diamonds and pearls might get away from me if people learned about what really goes on in these fabulous, non-glamorous auctions that offer photographs from more than the same 25 artists (and the same 2 to 5 images by each artist) that we must view over and over and over again in the NY and UK monster auction houses. Now that I've had a chance to reflect, please keep reporting exactly as you have been about these houses. There's nothing there for the titans of industry and the masters of the photographic universe.
Thanks, and please excuse the typos.
Joe Baio
- July 21, 2011 at 1:03 AM
- Joe Baio said...
Meant to write Loring. Sorry about that.
- July 27, 2011 at 12:07 AM
- Tony Dorazio said...
I look to Loring's blog as just one source of information, albeit a great source of information.
I don't think that he has ever represented his information as being comprehensive to the point of covering everything in photography.
He does not deserve your wind-bagging about how "in" you are and how much more you know about the "real" going-ons in the world of photography. Sounds like you have a big chip on your shoulder. Maybe you should get a better job so you can afford some of the work he describes here.
Loring, get well soon.
Tony Dorazio
- July 29, 2011 at 10:23 AM
- Joe Baio said...
Glad you have such fierce protectors. (Not that you need any.) You always said you were looking for more passionate exchanges. Glad to do my part.
Tony (if I may call you that), I hardly view myself as either "in" or knowledgeable about the "real" goings-on of pretty much anything. But a "wind-bag"? Absolutely!
As for a better job, I will try to get one that will teach me how to write with more apparent irony and tongue-in-cheek-edness for Loring's more literal readers.
And Loring, get better, for crying out loud.
- July 29, 2011 at 8:40 PM
- atuh said...
Joe, Loring does not owe you a thing :-) He can write what he pleases because this happens to be his blog. I personally thank him for making stuff available to me that I'd not get otherwise ( at least without a crazy amount of time on Google ).
And of course he does not need any vociferous 'protectors'. So he does not see things the way you do? Well, sucks, now get over the heart burn and move on.
- July 31, 2011 at 9:15 AM
- Joe Baio said...
I'm confused. I thought your blog was designed to be "a venue for thoughtful discussion" of photography "and other items of sometime interest to photography collectors large and small." I did not realize that "thoughtful discussion" means "unvarnished praise, total agreement and no alternative suggestions.' Isn't one of the major points of your blog for people to express different opinions on subjects of common interest, or should we all see things exactly as you do? (That is a rhetorical question as you well know.) And just so you are not confused -- and I know you are not -- you certainly can write what you please, and please don't stop. Good point, atuh!
Good to see that we all agree that you don't need any "protectors", vociferous or otherwise. Nope, I'm the one who needs protecting around here. I knew I should have written anonymously, because then nobody would know I'm a dog.
By the way, Tony and atuh (funny name), before you work yourselves up into a new lather, read Loring's most recent posting, where he correctly calls me a friend. We're on the same team guys. Lighten up. Let's try to keep the discourse about photography, auctions, galleries, artists and the ideas that this blog presents and hopes to provoke.
Joe Baio (because it's too late to be anonymous)
- July 31, 2011 at 1:37 PM
- Joe Baio said...
I'm confused. I thought your blog was a pipeline from "one photography collector to another: a venue for thoughtful discussion of vintage and contemporary photography" and "other items of sometime interest to photography collectors large and small". I didn't realize that "thoughtful discussion" meant unwavering praise for your fine writing or seeing things only the way that you see them. Live and learn. At least atuh has set me straight about how you can write what you please because this is your blog. Amazing the things you can learn online!
I initially thought to write anonymously but decided against it. Dumb move. While you don't need protection, Loring, I apparently do. Tony and atuh, please note that in his July 28 posting Loring accurately identifies me as his friend. In other words, we're on the same team, guys.
Anyway, let's try to stick to the subjects that our generous host has identified, and let's have a thoughtful discussion -- "from one collector to another" -- about photography and our diverse experiences with this amazing medium. Who knows, we might all learn something.
Joe Baio
- August 1, 2011 at 10:03 PM
- atuh said...
Joe I respect your right to have your own views, but your first post seemed to veer very close to accusations of being elitist.
Quote: "Like so many others, you continue to focus on the record breakers and the "failed sales" and the lots that sold for double or more of the estimates. "Who paid the most! Who paid the most!" Here you are just like everyone else, and frankly, who cares about this crap? Let the over-payors continue to lead the way down."
And about being privy to ignored gems, collecting is personal and subjective. What are gems to you might not be gems to another. For example I'd rather buy a Goldin print than Ansel Adam's 'moonrise over Hernandez'. So by focusing on statistics, Loring covers a very accurate area that is useful to a broader audience, than say for instance if he were to focus on just his personal likes.
Honestly I am unable to afford a master's print at the moment because of financial reasons. But Loring's posts serve to educate me enough to develop my own palette for collecting when I am able to afford them.
Of course I may have been presumptuous in thinking that Loring was being accused of being elitist. If so, blame it on my subjectivity and I duly apologize :-)But cheers to the invitation to thoughtful discussions!
- August 2, 2011 at 4:57 AM


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Robert Ludlum's The Moscow Vector
Publisher's Summary
As Devin begins to analyze the information, a series of highly placed figures in the U.S. government become ill with a mysterious illness that bears a close resemblance to the disease described in Petrenko's notes. The disease is the perfect assassination tool: a bioweapon that, using each target's DNA, is undetectable, unstoppable, and incurable. With few clues and little time, Jon Smith must find the mysterious figure who stands at the center of this nefarious plot.
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- 07-08-2005
Good story
I've listened to all the other Covert One Novels. I found the story fast paced and enjoyable. The new narrator took a while to get used to. Erik Bergmann did a good job on the character voices, although the voice of Klein was so different from the prior readings that I never got used to the new Klein. Quite a good story - for Covert One fans.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful
- Ron
- 30-08-2005
Moscow Vector
I bought this book from Audible during the 50% off sale at the same time I bougt THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE. I feel that I got a real bargain. Ludlams's book is sweeping in its range and includes a tremendous amount of detail about Russia and other former Soviet contries. I'm not normally a fan of spy books, but this book made it very real and quite frightening. Staneks's THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE was also excellent and simply amazed me with its twists and turns, and its amazing story centered around a very real financial crisis. Enjoyment wise, you can't miss with these two books.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful
- Steve-C
- 06-09-2005
Good Story
I found this story to be fast paced and very enjoyable. I really do like Paul Michael as a reader (think he's the best), but the new narrator - Erik Bergmann did a fine job. I like any of the Jon Smith Covert One stories and this one folded in quite well with other Ludlum books. This book brings us in to the world of Russian leaders with an agenda to take over the old Soviet Union countries and unite them once again. Then there's the billionaire that plans to make a buck trying to poison the people throughout the world that would reveal the Russian leader's plans. This story, as in others, includes a nasty bad-guy that seems to be a good match for Smith and a new woman cohort named Devin. Randy Russel is also back as a CIA member trying to determine what's going on while operating from the side. At least until she teams up with Smith near the end of the story. Too bad Peter Howell couldn't be added in to the story since I enjoy his role in other stories by Ludlum. My favorite Ludlum stories are The Janson Directive and The Paris Option. Moscow Vector isn't quite as good as these two, but still a very good book on its own.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
- Marius
- 16-03-2007
The Thaw War
More enjoyable airport ear-candy, well-read by Erik Bergmann in the approved "tough guy" fashion. Fiendish Russians, Serbians and renegade Germans are opposed by idealistic Americans. Unique high tech poison (now where have I heard of that recently?), corrupt oligarchs, spies galore – if not quite the cold war, perhaps it can be dubbed the "thaw war". Remember kids – it didn't really happen! Or did it?
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- Mike From Mesa
- 18-02-2013
Pedestrian and predicatable
The plot sounds like this ought to be an interesting book. A DNA based biological weapon used to remove those most likely to be able to effectively oppose a coming military action. A ticking clock, an unstoppable weapon and an effective evil organization. So why does this book just feel old and tired?
I have read other books in this series and bought this one quite some time ago. Apparently I forgot to listen to it because, looking for something to read I came across this in my library, still unread.
I did plow through it but it took some doing. The characters are stale, the plot predicable, the "impossible" happens with all too much frequency and the end the mix is a dull and not too interesting read. OK if you have nothing better, but Audible has enough books to easily find something much better. Escapism is fine in its place, but you have to have some ability to believe what you are reading. They lost me when the bullet-ridden car plunged down the steep cliff and nothing bad happened to the driver. I am sorry if it sounds like I am giving away part of the plot but, by the time you get to this, you know that the driver will survive. Too many "certain deaths" have already come and gone with every one still healthy and functioning.
On the positive side the narrator did an excellent job and his Irish accent almost made listening to the book worth my time. Almost.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
- Raymond
- 08-10-2007
The Moscow Vector
Way to much detail....book just drags. I have listened to over 200 books and this is one of the few books I've listened to that I continue to skip forward to get past all of the non-essential rambling. I am about 1/4 done and dont know if I want to continue listening.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
- Gil F.
- 02-02-2007
Try something else
The only thing similar to a real Robert Ludlum novel is the use of the author's name. The book has a Ludlum-like plot, but it reads like it was assigned to a seventh grade English class to complete the prose. It's poorly written.
I have listened to hundreds of books and this is the worst because of the narrative and the narrators. The narrators try their best to make the book come to life but the lousy narrative fights them with every line.
If you want a great spy novel, try the recent ones by Vince Flynn. These are great audio books with an exciting plot line and excellent narrator.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Lawrence
- 22-12-2012
It was almost like Patrick Larkin got tired.
In my opinion the story started out as usual. Real good. I wasn't to fond of the narrator but I kind of got used to him. It was almost like he had never read the previous titles and didn't quite know how the characters fit in. Then all of a sudden the story kind of ended. It didn't taper down with excitement to the end, it just kind of quit. I'm hoping the next book in the series is more like the earlier ones.
- Alton A. Ivory
- 29-01-2006
Just not good anymore.
this series just isn't good anymore. I believe it is this writer. I just don't think that he does Ludlum's work justice. The Plots are thin and the pace weak and slow. I just can't recommend this book to anyone. Don't waste your money or credits
- Paul
- 09-01-2006
Nice... Almost pure Ludlum
The Moscow Vector is a good read considering that other writers are finishing some of his works.
It is 'almost' pure Ludlum but lacks some of his suspense.
- David Creamer
- 29-03-2016
another great listen, the narrator has that edge to his voice that addition the story line that the author had created
- Lawrence
- 31-01-2015
Started well but went downhill.
With several hours to go I just wanted to give up. Several of the characters I wanted to get shot as they just annoyed me. Unfortunately they didn't die and I had to tolerate them.


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Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times: UCLA's Rick Neuheisel, on the recent Seattle Times' series that detailed several players on his 2000 Washington team had run afoul of the law: "I am not going to run and hide."
Jonathan Kealing, Lawrence Journal-World: Boondoggle City: The Orange Bowl travel cost for Kansas, which took more than 500 people to south Florida, is about $2 million.
Howard Richman, Kansas City Star: The NCAA closed an investigation into Kansas State's football program without any findings.
Andrew Logue, Des Moines Register: Sedrick Johnson, who signed letters of intent with Iowa State and Texas A&M, is likely headed to Iowa State.
Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: Although momentum for a plus-one system continues to build, the Big Ten and Pacific 10 remain adamantly opposed.
Keith Claverie, Daily Reveille: Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, suspended once again by Louisiana State's Les Miles, is too talented of a player to be released. Besides, if Miles was going to kick Perrilloux off the team for good, it would have happened by now. Thanks to UWire.
John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: In the last six weeks, eight Tennessee players have either been arrested or disciplined for breaking team rules. Now it's time for Phil Fulmer to be replaced as Volunteer coach.
Mike Casazza, Charleston Daily Mail: West Virginia running back Noel Devine and running back and receiver Jock Sanders were allegedly involved in a weekend incident outside a nightclub in Morgantown. Police are investigating.
Mitch Vingle, Charleston Gazette: Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese says, "Right now there's not a lot of support to add a ninth team" to the league.
Christopher Walsh, Tuscaloosa News: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition to hear an appeal in the defamation lawsuit filed by two former Alabama assistant coaches against the NCAA and recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper.
David Wasson, Tuscaloosa News: Alabama defensive lineman Jeremy Elder is facing two counts of first-degree robbery.
Barry Jackson, Miami Herald: Although quarterback will command lots of attention, plenty of other position battles are looming when Miami begins spring practice next week.
Wendell Barnhouse, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Heisman winner Tim Tebow says there is no lack of motivation for himself or his Florida teammates. "You want to prove people wrong, but I'm just worried about our team winning the Southeastern Conference championship. We didn't get that accomplished last year."
Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel: Athlete tutoring is not only a concern at Florida State. Schools across the country run the risks of tutors bending the rules to better athletes' grade-point averages.
Brad Gray, Daily Texan: Vince Young, back on the Texas' campus to finish work on his degree, has once headache: Parking tickets. Thanks again to UWire.
To bypass registration, go to Bug Me Not. Here is today's excellent mystery link.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Reporters' Notebooks
Posted by dawizofodds at 1:04 AM
2 comments:
- Paterno Lives! said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- Paterno Lives! said...
Dodd fails math:
Big 12 Comish:
"We'd be open to adjustments with some very strict parameters," Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said. "No players engaged in more than 14 games. No intrusion on finals (in December) or the next semester. No (impact on) the bowl structure or regular season."
quick math: season (12) + ccg (1) + first round (1) + championship (1) = 15.
Not sure how he can support both, but then again Dodd doesn't worry about facts very often.
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text: Korean Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Applying for 가족관계 Speak Korean Now! Korean Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Applying for 가족관계 Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message baedaebokJoined: 27 Feb 2007Location: Seoul, South Korea Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 7:45 am Post subject: Applying for 가족관계 is it possible for me to somehow order my family's 가족관계증명서 (family register) from overseas? Will the government send it overseas? My wife is Korean and I'm American so our 6-year-old son is dual citizen. I need this document but I'm living out of Korea and won't be visiting there until next summer. BDB Back to top Jake_KimJoined: 27 Aug 2005Location: Seoul Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:02 am Post subject: http://www.minwon.go.kr/main?a=AA020InfoCappViewApp&HighCtgCD=A01006014&CappBizCD=97400000004 Have her look into this. Back to top baedaebokJoined: 27 Feb 2007Location: Seoul, South Korea Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:34 am Post subject: Will this order a family register with all my family members Jake, Will this order a family register with all my family members? Can it be mailed to me overseas? Can I order an official English language version? BDB Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Forums:----------------FAQJob-related Discussion ForumGeneral Discussion ForumOff-Topic ForumTravel ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumBuy/Sell/Trade Forum You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe


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Back in the �80s when I was in local TV news, the trend was toward very short stories and �happy talk� between the anchors. At my station, we were forbidden to go more than 55 seconds on a story unless we had special permission, which the news director rarely granted.
Back in the �80s when I was in local TV news, the trend was toward very short stories and �happy talk� between the anchors. At my station, we were forbidden to go more than 55 seconds on a story unless we had special permission, which the news director rarely granted.
It also meant that the anchor team yucked it up between stories. They weren�t particularly happy about having to be happy, but that was how local TV news evolved. Before the happy talk years, news had been very serious and Walter Cronkite-ish. Cronkite and other news anchors simply told the story without elaboration or editorial. And if opinion was presented, then it was labeled as such, and usually appeared at the end of the broadcast with someone other than a news reporter delivering it because we weren�t supposed to be biased. In fact, even in television news back in my time, reporters simply reported, without embellishment or slant. Editorial slant was unprofessional. Period.
Now, TV news has network news and cable news. Network news has remained less tainted by opinion than cable news, but editorial creeps into those broadcasts more often than it should. I�ve said before that I believe local TV news does an overall better job of remaining neutral than the networks do. For me, the most egregious news out of there is offered up by cable.
Whether you are at the Fox or MSNBC end of the spectrum, the news no longer is simply a recitation of what�s happening in the world around us. It�s what�s happening in the world with a big helping of bias and that�s simply not cool. It�s not 24/7 news, it�s 24/7 editorial with whatever news they think serves their purpose. I hope the American public is smart enough to know the difference.
And much worse than the happy talk of yesteryear is how cable pundits hit their breaks with ridiculous comments that promote upcoming stories. Does any of this sound familiar? �And you won�t believe what happens next.� Or, �You�ll be amazed at what they said.� Or, �Just wait until you see what they do.� See what I mean?
Another annoying cable news habit is reading emails and Twitter postings from viewers. If I want to know what John in Tacoma thinks of Obamacare, I�ll ask him. I don�t need to spend valuable minutes of my life listening to over-groomed TV personalities read them to me.
But social media has been successful on one account: It�s making me long for the good old days of happy talk on the set. And that�s something I never thought would happen in a million years. #PleaseShutTheHeckUp.
Carole Moore welcomes email at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Customer Reviews
All reviews are from people who have redeemed deals with this merchant.
What You'll Get
After purchasing this deal, you will need to visit the website listed on your Groupon voucher to complete redemption.
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NuSTAR has a 10-meter rigid mast that separates the optics from the detector. Inspired by this, students will design, test, and build a lightweight mast 1 meter tall that can fully support the weight of a typical hardcover textbook (~2 kg). The... (View More) footprint of the mast must be no larger than 11" x 14". This activity is from the NuSTAR Educators Guide: X-Rays on Earth and from Space, which focuses on the science and engineering design of NASA's NuSTAR mission. The guide includes a standards matrix, assessment rubrics, instructor background materials, and student handouts. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
In this lesson, students will think about their experiences with hurricanes and severe storms, and then learn the basics of what causes hurricanes to form. Students will learn how hurricane prediction has progressed, and how satellite technology is... (View More) used to see inside storms to get improved data for enhancing computer-based mathematical models. To share what they've learned, students will create a news report (script or comic strip) to tell others about hurricanes and hurricane prediction. This lesson uses the 5E instructional model. TRMM is Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free
International Space Station LABS: Engineering Activity 2 Mass and Speed: Protecting Space Suits from Orbital Debris
Learners will investigate the relationship between mass, speed, velocity, and kinetic energy in order to select the best material to be used on a space suit. They will apply an engineering design test procedure to determine impact strength of... (View More) various materials. This is engineering activity 2 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide. (View Less)
This is an activity about using solar arrays to provide power to the space station. Learners will solve a scenario-based problem by calculating surface areas and determining the amount of power or electricity the solar arrays can create. This is... (View More) mathematics activity 1 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide. (View Less)


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Follow the draw live with CNN, from 1500 GMT.
(CNN) -- A grueling qualification campaign is over, and for 32 footballing nations the dreaming can begin.
On Friday those lucky enough to have qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will learn who they are to meet in the group stage at one of the biggest sporting showpieces on the planet.
The fixtures will be finalized -- this year by a more complicated process than previous events -- the participants will discover where their matches are to be played and they can start plotting a route to the final in Rio de Janeiro.
For the host nation, too, this is a chance to generate some positive news after months of headlines detailing delays in construction and public protests at spiraling costs.
The most recent, and tragic, tale to emerge concerned the death of two construction workers after a crane collapsed at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo -- due to host the World Cup's opening match.
Friday marks the start of a countdown to June 12 next year, when Brazil will begin a month-long festival of football, likely to captivate the world.
The draw will take place in the resort of Costa do Sauipe in Bahia on the northeast coast of Brazil.
In attendance will be representatives from each World Cup nation as well as FIFA's top brass, including president Sepp Blatter.
The ceremony will be broadcast live to 193 countries from 1 p.m. local time (1700 CET) with 1,300 guests alongside a bank of 2,000 reporters.
As ever, there will be entertainment, including turns from Brazilian singers Alexandre Pires and Vanessa da Mata as well as dance troupe Companhia de Danca Deborah Colker.
There has been some controversy already when the two actors scheduled to host the draw -- Lazaro Ramos and Camila Pitanga, who both have dark skin -- were replaced by another married celebrity couple, Fernanda Lima and Rodrigo Hilbert, who are blond and white.
What is it?
The World Cup draw determines which of the 32 nations will face each other in the group stages.
Teams will be drawn into eight groups of four, based on FIFA's seeding system and geographical separation, meaning that teams from the same qualification zone can't be drawn in the same group.
There is an exception for European countries, given there are 13 participating in the tournament, but no more than two from the region can be drawn in the same group.
The winners of a particular group will face the runner-up of another when the tournament enters its final-16 stage -- the first of the knockout rounds.
The seedings
Eight teams in the draw are seeded -- seven are the highest placed teams from FIFA's rankings, the other is host Brazil.
The top seven when the seedings were announced in October comprised of defending champion Spain along with Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay and Switzerland.
The seedings are calculated on how a team has played over the past four years, with the most recent year given greatest importance. Teams earn ranking points for a win or a draw but nothing for a defeat.
The points vary with each game depending on who is playing and whether it is a friendly or qualifying match.
Uneven numbers
When there are eight unseeded European teams -- as in 2010 -- the draw works easily and smoothly, meaning FIFA can organize the nations into four pots of eight teams.
But because there are nine unseeded European teams in the 2014 World Cup, things become a little more complicated.
FIFA has decided to put these nine teams into one pot, and prior to the draw they will pull out one nation to go into pot two with five African nations and the two unseeded South American sides.
That country will be selected at random, despite France -- which qualified through the playoffs -- being the lowest ranked nation from the European qualifying phase.
This random element has not gone down well with some of the other countries in that part of the draw.
Pot X
As a starting point, Brazil will automatically be drawn into Group A due to its role as host.
Then the other seeded teams will be allocated their groups, which runs as far as Group H.
And then it gets rather complicated.
With one of the unseeded European teams now residing in pot two, there are now nations from three geographical zones in the same pot.
That increases the chances of three European teams ending up in the same group, a violation of FIFA's "geographical separation" principle.
As such, the governing body decided to create "Pot X" into which four of the seeded South American teams will be placed.
One is drawn out and then paired together in a group with the unseeded European team from pot two.
After that, the rest of the teams will be allocated to their groups -- with the only other issue residing with Chile and Ecuador, who can skip a group in order to avoid being drawn with seeded South American teams.
Group of Death
As ever with any high-profile soccer draw there is the potential for the much-touted "Group of Death."
Whichever unseeded European team is plucked out of pot four and put into pot two might be forgiven for watching the rest of the draw from behind their sofa.
That nation will be guaranteed to face one of the South American seeds from Pot X -- Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay.
Then they could face the United States from pot three and either Italy or Netherlands from pot four, making qualification for the last 16 much harder.


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MICHAEL GARLINGTON and ART BY JONNY
Presented by 111 MINNA GALLERY | Space: Entire venue | Open to the Public |
CONSTRUCTED REALITIES by MICHAEL GARLINGTON in the 2ND ST Gallery
JONNY'S, STAY CALM in the Zappa Gallery
With Special Guest Band EL RADIO FANTASTIQUE http://elradiofantastique.com/
Michael Garlington
The work of photographer Michael Garlington has been described as "David Lynch meets Leave it to Beaver."
Michael Garlington is an internationally renowned photographer, artist and sculptor who resides and works in his hometown of Petaluma, California. For inspiration and his love of discovery, exploration and the simple treasures of the unknown, Garlington has spent many of his creative years on the road. Roads traveled on, over and beyond in his beloved, Photo Car, a vehicular visual diary on wheels created fittingly on the exterior of his Volkswagan van. From this mobile portfolio, Michael chronicled what he saw as the underbelly of America melding with the common people of society, which he photographically documented as his own dream like fairy tales.
Recently while in Europe, he spent an entire year shooting and printing portraits with another Photo Car that he built in Germany. Michael's earliest introduction to photography came from his parents who operated a black and white photo lab in San Francisco. After many years of taking photographs, Michael learned to print in his parent's lab. With his inspiration and experience solidified, Michael expressed a longing to communicate the visions he felt were locked in his mind to people in the outside world. Through his understanding and utilization of portraiture, he feels that he's finally allowed the world to see his visions freely.
As he continued working, he refined his signature style while building and showcasing an impressive body of work comprised of portraiture, which then gave way to his sculptural practices in the creation of hand made frames, unique to each portrait, that serve as individual doorways into each photograph.
In his main promotional image for the exhibition at 111 Minna Gallery, "Play Boy Bunny On Balloon Horse" Garlington places a woman on a horse made entirely of balloons as if she's floating up to the sky, while the look in her eye harkens to a timeless longing that tantalizes the viewers imagination.
For his approaching exhibition at 111 Minna Gallery, Michael Garlington has created a site specific sculptural installation inspired by the gates of hell called, "The Gates of Minna." This twelve-foot archway made up of hundreds of plaster relics will fittingly be erected around the interior of the galleries iconic red entry door.
Michael Garlington is an acclaimed Northern California photographer and master printer. He began shooting his own images while working at Spindler Photography, a high-end lab in San Francisco that caters to the finest photographers working today. His work has been purchased by Yale, Dartmouth and countless private collectors.
CV – 2012 | Ego Project | Burning Man
2011 | Solo Show | Hammerfriar Gallery | Healdsburg CA
2010 | Solo Show – PHOTOHOUSE Installation | SF Camera Work | SF CA 2009 | Solo Show | Gallery 291 | SF CA
2008 | Solo Show | Kimball Jenkins | New Hampshire
2008 | Solo Show | POVevolving Gallery | LA CA 2007 | Photo Car Exhibit | 2006 | Photo Car Exhibit | LA CA
2006 | Solo Show | 111 Minna Gallery | SF CA
2005 | Published Book: Portraits From The Belly of the Whale
2005 | Photography Installation | LA CA
2004 | Photography Installation | NY NY
2003 | Solo Show | Stephen Cohen Gallery | LA CA
2002 | Photography Installation | NY NY
2001 | Solo Show| Barry Singer Gallery | Petaluma CA
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Stocks Fade at the Finish
U.S. stocks pulled back after two days of strong gains as investors reassessed the latest smoke signals from the fiscal negotiations in Washington.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 98.99 points, or 0.74%, to 13251.97, with bulk of those declines coming in the final 25 minutes of trading to finish at the day's low.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 10.98 points, or 0.76%, to 1435.81, on a day when all 10 of the index's sectors finished in negative territory. The Nasdaq Composite fared better, giving up 10.17 points, or 0.33%, to 3044.36.
The pullback comes one day after the Dow posted its first back-to-back triple-digit gains since July. Those gains were largely fueled by investor optimism that lawmakers in Washington were reaching a consensus on budget negotiations, ahead of a year-end deadline that would trigger a series of tax hikes and spending cuts.
On Wednesday, however, Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in a terse televised statement that the House would approve legislation on Thursday to keep income tax rates the same for all Americans earning less than $1 million a year, and would maintain the current estate tax rate at 35% charged only to estates worth $5 million or more. Mr. Boehner suggested the proposal, known as "Plan B," would be the last option for avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff at the end of the year.
Earlier, President Barack Obama had suggested he would veto such a deal. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., California) underscored the tension later in the afternoon, talking tough on the Republicans' latest remarks. The tough language had some investors rethinking the likelihood of a deal by Christmas, which President Obama has said he was seeking.
"I'm not sure a deal was ever in the bag. There were some in the market who had thought that, given the averse effects of not making a deal, there'd be a 'kumbaya moment' in Washington," says Jason Ware, market strategist at Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"We still think a deal is going to happen, but the timing of any deal is much more dubious at the moment," he added. "Both sides have really said that they don't think the other side is serious, and the clock is ticking."
Weighing most heavily on the downside Wednesday were telecommunications, health-care, consumer staple and utilities stocks--the four defensive sectors.
Alcoa AA -1.68% was one of the biggest Dow laggards, falling after Moody's Investors Service placed the aluminum company's debt rating on review for a downgrade, putting it in danger of falling into "junk" territory. Moody's cited concerns falling aluminum prices.
General Electric , Home Depot and American Express also fell.
Offsetting some of those declines were technology stocks, following strong earnings from Oracle . ORCL -1.33%
European markets were broadly higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% to its highest level since May 2011 amid strong German data and an upgrade of Greek debt by Standard & Poor's that pushed up Greek stocks.
Germany's Ifo institute's business confidence index rose to 102.4 in December from 101.4 in November, above expectations of 102.0. The sub-index for current conditions slipped slightly, but the one for business expectations increased. Germany's DAX stock index inched up 0.2% to its highest level since January 2008.
Asian markets were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 2.4% to its highest close since March. The index's biggest one-day leap since September 2011 was powered by strength in banking and exporter stocks. Australia's S&P ASX 200 gained 0.5% to a fresh 17-month high.
In U.S. economic headlines, new residential construction fell 3.0% in November from the previous month, following two months of strong gains, to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 861,000, just below expectations. The previous month's reading was also revised downward. New building permits, an indication of future construction, rose by 3.6% to an annualized level of 899,000 in November, above economists' estimates.
Crude-oil futures rallied 1.8% to above $89.51 a barrel, while gold futures slipped 0.2% to about $1,666.50 an ounce. The dollar slipped against the euro and edged up against the yen. Treasurys gained, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note down to 1.8000%.
In other corporate news, General Motors GM -0.03% surged after the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday it would sell its holdings in the Detroit auto maker in the next 12 months to 15 months. GM will buy 200 million shares of its own common stock from the Treasury at $27.50 per share by year end, a 7.9% premium to the stock's Tuesday closing price. The remaining 300.1 million shares will be sold through "various means in an orderly fashion."
Herbalife tumbled after investor William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management LP said he has been betting against Herbalife, calling the company a "pyramid scheme." An Herbalife spokesman didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
HLF 0.43% Oracle shares advanced after the technology company reported quarterly earnings and revenue that were above analyst estimates, citing a strong performance by its software and engineered systems businesses.
Digital storage rivals Western Digital WDC -2.95% and Seagate Technology STX -2.16% were among the strongest S&P 500 components, benefiting from a ratings upgrade by Craig-Hallum Capital Group.
FedEx FDX -1.64% gained after the package-delivery giant reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that would have beaten estimates, if not for the effect of superstorm Sandy, and revenue that rose above forecasts. The company also affirmed its fiscal 2013 earnings outlook.
Knight Capital Group jumped after the company agreed to merge with Chicago trading firm Getco.
Smith & Wesson Holding bounced after President Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden would spearhead efforts to mold new gun and mental-health policies following last week's school shooting in Connecticut. The stock had tumbled 18% since Thursday's close, just before the shooting.
Navistar NAV 1.26% International skidded after the commercial-truck maker reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss amid a double-digit percentage drop in sales.
Johnson Controls JCI 0.28% rose after the maker of automotive batteries provided a fiscal 2013 earnings and revenue outlook that were above current analyst projections.
U.S.-listed shares of UBS AG UBS -1.43% slipped after the Swiss banking giant agreed to pay about $1.5 billion to settle accusations that it tried to manipulate benchmark interest rates.
Oncothyreon plummeted after the company said a Phase 3 trial of its lung cancer treatment didn't meet its primary endpoint of improvement of overall survival.
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House by the Cemetery, The (US - BD)
Gabe didn't read the fine print...and just mortgaged his life for this Blu-ray disc...
When the respected Dr. Peterson murders his mistress and commits suicide, Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco) is sent to New England to complete the good doctor's research. Norman brings his wife Lucy Boyle (Catriona MacColl) and son Bob (Giovanni Frezzi) along for a trip, and the family settles into Peterson's now empty homestead. Bob is warned time and time again to stay away by a mysterious little girl named Mae (Silvia Collatina) who no one else can see. They arrive at the creepy house, which is located next to a cemetery, and find the cellar mysteriously boarded up. It turns out there's a pseudo-zombie named Dr. Freudstein living behind that door. Soon horrible things begin to happen, and Freudstein starts killing visitors for their body parts.
Often grouped with City of the Living Dead and The Beyond as part of a loose 'zombie trilogy', House by the Cemetery is Lucio Fulci's final fantasy horror epic. I prefer to consider Zombie (aka: Zombi 2 and Zombie Flesh Eaters) the first part of the 'zombie trilogy', and The Beyond the last part, both because House by the Cemetery doesn't feature any 'zombies', but rather a self-made monster who kills humans for their organs (not because he wants to eat their flesh), and because of its lack of apocalyptic implications. The Beyond also, in many ways, represents the director at his apex. House by the Cemetery is the last 'important' film in Fulci's filmography ( New York Ripper is still impressive on many levels, but is not a properly good movie), but is also a measurable step down in quality from City of the Living Dead and The Beyond's technical achievements (the largely boring Black Cat, which was also made in 1981, isn't really a fantasy horror film, but a potboiler). Fulci brings to his best hallucinatory nonsense to the table, which works well for previous films, but for the most part it hinders House by the Cemetery's more traditional (even vaguely intellectual) narrative. Fulci also spends a little too much time emulating popular 1979/80 American horror films, specifically Stuart Rosenberg's Amityville Horror, Kubrick's The Shining and Sean Cunningham's Friday the 13th (though the Friday the 13th elements can be viewed as satirical), which feels like a creative back-step following the more personal artistry of City of the Living Dead and The Beyond.
The largely nonsensical and derivative script does feature a novel take on the mad scientist trope. Dr. Freudstein, as him name indicates, is based largely around Mary Shelley's proto-mad scientist Dr. Frankenstein, but rather than creating an external monster made up of re-animated body parts, Freudstein has turned himself into the monster. Clues to this twist (which isn't so much a twist since the character is kind of dumped suddenly on the audience at the end of the movie) are also found in the character's name, as the concept is indeed swimming in Freudian implications (implications which can also be found in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was another obvious influence on Fulci). It's easy to see what Fucli was trying to do with the character by setting him up as a boogey-man type, with a pseudo-scientific rather than supernatural explanation behind his murders, but the final reveal, though a striking image (I quite like the make-up design), is disappointing. It robs the character of his genius, and even his killing skills, as he basically embodies the same kind of threat Fulci's zombies do. He's slow moving, speechless, and apparently invincible. Of course, this is just a symptom of how silly the climax really is. Upon a first viewing it's easy to find yourself wrapped up in the grim violence, but immediate afterthought proves detrimental. Even in Fulci's low-logic universe it's hard to believe Freudstein was able to maintain shop in the basement. How could the family not suspect as such, especially following the murderous events that befall their new residence?
The story is somewhat cleverly split between the three family members, which could explain why some parts of the narrative are driven by pseudo-science and others by the supernatural. It's unfortunate that it's so easy to overlook this division, because it not only explains away a lot of the film's apparent lack of logic, it also shows real ambition on the part of Fucli, and his co-writers Elisa Briganti, Giorgio Mariuzzo and Dardano Sacchetti (I'm unclear on how the writing duties were divided). Lucy experiences the terror in psychological terms. She may or may not be mentally ill, and at the very least is driven to hysterics by the creepy phenomenon striking the house. Norman's terror is more based in science, or in this case pseudo-science. He discovers the truth behind the house, and has a logical explanation for everything. There's even a sense that he might be holding back important facts from Lucy in the way he reacts to some of her questions. It's also possible that Norman's doctor instincts have gotten the better of him, and that the drugs he's force-feeding Lucy are actually creating the hallucinations. Bob's side of the story is a more traditional ghost story. He sees and communicates with a dead girl who does everything she can to keep him away from the 'haunted' house. Being a child he also tends to roll with the punches, and his visions are generally ignored by the adults. Because the story comes to such an abrupt climax, and because Fulci heavily intimates that Bob's reality is the true reality, the speculative nature of this multi-point of view reading is dulled, giving way to the entirely sensible assumption that the film is a sloppy mess of balderdash.
House by the Cemetery is still a uniquely Fulci-esque motion picture experience, and that there is something magical about its violent, gothic, dread-dripping atmosphere. Viewers in the appropriate mindset – the kind of mindset usually required for enjoying any late '70s/early '80s Italian horror film – are in for an occasionally disturbing and well crafted 87 minutes of utter nonsense, spiked by memorable set-pieces. House by the Cemetery's imagery isn't as shocking or skin-crawlingly dread-caked as the Maestro's best horror films, but it might be his most haunting film, aside from maybe Beatrice Cenzi, which benefits from stronger characters and emotionally affecting melodrama (Catriona MacColl does a lot to bring humanity to the film, but she's surrounded by weak performances, and dreadful dubbing). Fulci has a firm grip on the dream-like atmosphere, and captures the appropriate sense of nightmare, where anything and everyone is vaguely threatening, even when narrative events appear to specify otherwise. There's even something to be said for the way characters fail to capably interact with each other, which vaguely follows the dream logic atmosphere. And ludicrous or not, the fact that Dr. Freudstein leaks the sound of weeping children is pretty damn chilling. Even the ambiguous final minutes are more effectively spooky than the nonsensical final seconds of City of the Living Dead (which fans now know are the result of an accident when developing the original negative), though it also kind of spits in the face of any viewer still hanging onto the tiniest thread of reason, which I understand can be quite frustrating.
Though I'd count the film's gore effects among the best in Giannetto De Rossi and Maurizio Trani's illustrious careers (they even stand up to the scrutiny of HD in some cases), I have to admit that Fulci's penchant for elongating violence to farcical lengths gets the better of him here. For whatever reason the slow creep works for City of the Living Dead's gut-barfing and head drilling, but the manner in which characters stand still long enough for Freudstein to slowly mangle them comes off as more goofy than suspenseful. The slow burn approach works well for scenes of unseen menace, and the sequence that sees Lucy and Morman desperately trying to flee from the basement is genuinely nerve wracking, but often the heavy gore scenes slow Fucli's pace (the bat scene and Mrs. Gittelson's death in particular), and are silly enough to pull even the most willing participate out of the film. The ultra-goopy climax more than fulfills the average gore-hound's expectations though, and is much more successfully executed too boot.
Blue Underground's release of Zombie got most of the press of the two October 25th releases, but this first time Blu-ray release of House by the Cemetery has also been remastered from its original negative, and is presented in full 1080p, in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say this is the better of the two transfers. At the very least it's a huge step beyond the Anchor Bay and Blue Underground DVD releases (both of which represent the exact same transfer), and a gargantuan step beyond those dreadful budget releases, which are so dark Mrs. Gittelson's death is totally undecipherable (not to mention the lack of anamorphic enhancement). The advantage I see here is a more even handed approach to contrast levels, and an overall lack of crushed blacks. This may be due to ingrained expectations, as there are fewer previous DVD releases of House by the Cemetery, and thus fewer differentiations in darkness levels, but whatever the case I'm left satisfied that Fulci and cinematographer Sergio Salvati's intensions for the film are maintained here. The daylight scenes are still a little on the blown-out side, and some of the darker elements tend to blend into each other, but for the most part this transfer is consistent and clear. Detail levels are incredibly sharp, revealing minute textures and lines, along with complex colour mixes that were subtle enough to be flattened on the DVD releases. Once again, this clarity doesn't do the special effects any favours, but there are among make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi's best, so more often than not his artistry is given a proper chance to shine. I also hadn't noticed until this viewing that Freudstein's left hand is a little girl's hand. Some viewers will find the look a bit soft, but this does not contradict the soft focus look of many of the director's other films.
This transfer is warmer than any previous transfers, featuring more brown in the place of flatter blue palettes. I found this colour timing a little more natural overall, especially in skin tones, which may or may not be an improvement depending on your point of view. At the same time even cool hues are more vibrant, and both blue and green levels punctuate the overall palette with more richness. There is some minor bleeding along the sharpest white edges, especially title elements, but for the most part these richer, more vibrant hues cut sharply against each other. The problem here is the same that effects most of the studio's big ticket (comparatively speaking) HD releases – there's evidence of digital tampering. Again, I'm not quite well versed enough to define this issue, but what I'm seeing looks an awful lot like DNR enhancement, speckled with some kind of digital noise. There's speculation that this noise, which is most evident in still shots (especially in brighter gradations and harsh white edges), and relatively easy to overlook in motion, are the result of telecine scanning problems, rather than DNR. Occasionally the noise gives way to more obvious grain, especially in darker shots, and this looks more natural to me. Whatever the cause, this is an issue most viewers will happily overlook, but that will certainly bother the hardest of the hard core videophiles. Traditional film artefacts are minimal, including a couple of hairs in the gate, and minor white flecks.
Blue Underground's Blu-ray surround codecs have usually followed the lead set by the first generation Anchor Bay DVD releases. Most of their DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks are 5.1 or 7.1, but some are 2.0 or mono. Like their Cat O' Nine Tails release, this House by the Cemetery disc features an uncompressed DTS-HD MA version of the AB DVD's 2.0 surround track. It's unfortunate that this is the one among Fucli's strongest supernatural horror films that no one has even been able to separate in to 5.1 discreet channels, because the haunted house elements could've led to some cool, creepy stereo and surround effects. As it is, the majority of this track sits in the center ghost channel, with the stereo and rear work mostly pertaining to music, and musically generated sound effects. The track is plenty clean and clear, and doesn't distort very much even during the highest, sharpest volume levels (specifically that horrible screeching bat), but the dialogue bleeds out a bit, and is generally pretty quiet. For whatever reason Zombie, City of the Living Dead and The Beyond composer Fabio Frizzi did not work on House by the Cemetery, which makes Walter Rizzati's mixed electronic score something of a novelty in Fulci's horror canon. This score is more rock based than Frizzi's moody scores, setting it more in line with the kind of stuff Goblin did for Dario Argento. The uncompressed nature of the 2.0 English track certainly helps when Rizzati's keys and drums hit their most bombastic levels, but the lack of LFE enhancement is a bummer.
The Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is much flatter in terms of effects noise, but the vocal performances are a bit more consistent. Of course, the inclusion of both Italian and English tracks brings about a pretty hefty dilemma. Catriona MacColl's performance is an important element, and the actress dubs herself in English. Paolo Malco is obviously speaking English throughout most of the film, and is competently dubbed in English (by Frank von Kuegelgen, who also dubs Malco on The New York Ripper). Giovanni Frezza is the problem. In Italian he sounds fine, like a regular little boy, but in English he's been dubbed by what most fans assume is an adult woman, and the voice work is dreadful, and mixed too loudly on every release of the film I've ever seen. This means the English track is preferable on every point but one, and that one is very distracting…
Almost every extra outside of the advertising materials is new to this Blu-ray release, starting with a series of cast interviews. 'Meet the Boyles' (14:10, HD) features stars Catriona MacColl and Paolo Malco. MacColl (always so gracious in these things), who worked with Fulci on both City of the Living Dead and The Beyond recalls the role with relative fondness, mostly since it was different from the other two, and describes the manner her relationship grew with the director. Together the pair recalls working with each other, Fulci's attitude problems (which mostly didn't effect them), filming in New England, special effects, and the film's legacy. 'Children of the Night' (12:10, HD) features actors Giovanni Frezza and Silvia Collatina, who were the two children featured in the film. Both actors discuss their experiences as child actors on a horror film, bad English dubbing, doubling as Freudstein's hand, shooting around gore, Fulci's moods, and the film's legacy. 'Tales of Laura Gittleson' (8:50, HD) features actress Dagwar Lassander, who continues the tradition of being dumbfounded by the film's popularity in America (it's firmly established through these interviews that no one in Italy gives a shit), and also covers her film career (including Bava's Hatchet for the Honeymoon, and Fulci's The Black Cat), and working on the convention circuit. 'My Time with Terror' (9:10, HD) features actor Carlo de Mejo, who barely appears in House by the Cemetery, but who has a sizable role in City of the Living Dead, and who is the son of Alida Valli ( The Third Man, Suspiria, Inferno). De Mejo covers his long career, focusing mostly on his films with Fulci, including Manhattan Baby, Women's Prison Massacre, and The Other Hell.
The crew interviews start with 'A Haunted House Story' (14:00, HD), which features co-writers Dardano Sacchetti and Elisa Briganti, both of whom worked with Fulci on several occasions. Here they cover the story's inception, inspirations, themes, and Fulci's filmic practices. The final interview is the longest 'To Build a Better Death Trap' (22:00, HD), and features cinematographer Sergio Salvati, make-up effects artists Gino de Rossi and Maurizio Trani, and actor Giovanni de Nava (who played Freudstein under all the make-up). Subject matter includes the creepy setting, Fulci's technique, effects processes, the difficulties in designing Freudstein, and acting as Freudstein. The extras end with a deleted scene (1:00, HD) featuring no sound elements, two trailers, a TV spot, and a poster and still gallery.
House by the Cemetery is the beginning of Lucio Fulci's sharp downfall, but is still among his best films, and this HD revisit has slightly raised the film in my personal rankings. It's bizarre, and features huge gaps in quality, but it works more than it fails. This 1080p restoration looks pretty spectacular, and the DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack is adequate. The new extras aren't dramatically time consuming, but are surprisingly informative, and relatively entertaining. For the record, outside the Anchor Bay and Blue Underground DVD releases there have been some budget releases from Diamond and Brentwood, which are better looking than the full frame VHS versions, but they are missing footage, and two reels are edited out of order, making the already senseless picture even more senseless.
* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray and DVD releases and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer. Thanks to Troy at Andersonvision.com for the Blue Underground Blu-ray screen-caps.
Review by Gabriel Powers
stevepulaski Member Join Date: June 2009 Location: Niger Posts: 741
The one picture with the dead girl is officially my new wallpaper.
Gabe Powers Editor Join Date: September 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4,721
That is one of the under-utilized advantages to HD sized screen caps, I suppose.
Chris Gould Editor Join Date: May 2001 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 7,171
Some fairly ugly digital grain going on in those HD caps.
Gabe Powers Editor Join Date: September 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4,721
The prevailing theory (which you would know if you read the review CHRIS) is that they're using telecine scans on these releases, and that Arrow is doing the same thing.
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 25th October 2011
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.35:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Italian Mono
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Meet the Boyles, Children of the Night, Tales of Laura Gittleson, My Time with Terror, A Haunted House Story, To Build a Better Death Trap, Deleted Scene, Trailers, TV Spot, Poster and Still Gallery
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Carlo De Mejo, and Dagmar Lassander
Genre: Horror
Length: 87 minutes
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