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American stock futures are pointing to a lower start, and were pushed even lower after a report showed that retail sales fell in May. Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank said, "In reality, price action is likely to remain unpredictable as we move towards this weekend as position squaring will likely dominate ahead of the Greek election this Sunday." The focus is squarely back on Greece in the eurozone, as the latest election could make-or-break the repeated bailout attempts for the troubled country. Gold recovered from early losses after the retail sales report.
Since 2008, over $6 trillion has been printed as part of money-printing or quantitative easing programs by the central banks of the world. Further quantitative easing is on all of the "Big Four" (Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan) central banks' agendas in the near future. Many investors assume that further easing is sure to happen, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Gary Baker.
The central banks seem to know a way to offset the inflation created by money printing, however. According to the World Gold Council, Gold makes up more than 70% of the reserves of countries like the U.S.A., Germany, Italy, and France. Kazakhstan is the latest to significantly increase its holdings in the metal, and by the end of the year expects to have holdings up to 20%. The country has purchased 16.2 tons of Gold through April of this year, and expects that number to be 24.5 tons in the second half of the year.
At 9 a.m. (EDT), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:
- Gold – $1,622.50 – Up $8.70.
- Silver – $29.02 – Down $0.03.
- Platinum – $1,462.30 – Up $5.90.
- Palladium – $625.10 – Up $0.90.


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Join Roscoe Village Neighbors for the 16th Annual Spring Brunch at the Riverview Tavern on April 5, 2014. Please register here for the 9:30am seating. Brunch will be $40 per family and an additional $10 per adult if there are more than two adults in your party. Please also indicate whether you will need a high chair that day. There are a limited number of high chairs and we will contact you to let you know if you must bring your own booster seat. Finally, under "special requests" please note whether you would like to sit with friends or neighbors and we will do our best to accommodate seating arrangements!
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A fabrication? You think I pay any attention to what the media says on the matter? I make my own conclusions based upon what I see. Schneider has proven to be at least Luongo's equal in the here and now, and as Luongo regresses due to age and Schneider gets better as he plays more and reaches his prime, there's no question who the better long-term asset is to have.The_Pauser wrote:That's just garbage. A complete fabrication of our stupid media that some "fans" have latched on to due to a lack of knowledge about other goalies around the league.
Schneider is not a better goalie than Luongo.
I'll take the six extra years of elite level goaltending Schneider will provide over Luongo any day.
^ Jovocop, because we have nothing better to talk about! If Luongo has asked to be traded as alleged, the yes, this whole conversation is moot.


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Big Noyd & Trez - How We Do [In Spain]
Trez (from Queens NY) and NOYD of mobb deep do it big in spain
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Misenheimer, NC – The Pfeiffer women's basketball team held off the Cobras of Coker College long enough to pull out a 95-88 win on Saturday evening in Merner gymnasium. The Falcons earned their first back to back win of the season, beating out Queens University of Charlotte 79-78 on Thursday
evening. Pfeiffer improves to 6-17 overall and 6-12 in Conference Carolinas play. Coker falls to 9-14 overall with an 8-10 conference record.
In the first half, the Falcons and Cobras spent most of the time trading field goals along with the lead. Twenty minutes of play saw 10 lead changes and three ties. With 5:29 left to play in the half the Cobras found themselves up by nine points. Pfeiffer slowly chipped away at the lead with field goals and free throws. With :52 left to play, Jessica Walter (Knoxville, TN) sank a field goal to put Pfeiffer up by one going into the locker room, 32-31.
The second half became even more competitive with eight more lead changes and seven more ties. The back and forth play led to an 83-81 Pfeiffer
advantage with :27 left in regulation. Tension mounted as Pfeiffer failed to connect on free throws and was unable to secure the win. Everyone in the
gym held their breath as Jasmine Alston (Sumter, SC) went up for a jump shot with :10 left. Alston successfully tied the game and forced an overtime period.
Everyone in Merner gymnasium was on the edge of their seats hoping that the Falcons would be able to pull off the win. Despite Coker's Lotta Aaltonen
(Rauma, Finland) sinking a three-point shot to open up overtime, Pfeiffer took advantage of Cobra fouls and connected on free throws. Pfeiffer scored 12 points in overtime to take the win.
Devona Knight (Woodbridge, VA) led the Falcons with a double-double on the night. Knight had 22 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds. Carly Booth
(Advance, NC) and Nicole Maready (Advance, NC) each added 15 points. Shanee Purnell (Woodbrige, VA) and Jessica Walter added 13 and 11 points,
Coker's Henna Koponen (Vantaa, Finland) led all scorers with 29 points. She marked a double-double by pulling down 13 rebounds. Lotta Aaltonen added 18 points, while Jessica Hayes (Beaufort, SC) and Jasmine Alston (Sumter, SC) chipped in 17 and 13 points, respectively.
Pfeiffer shot 45.3 percent from the field, going 34-for-75, and 36.4 percent from three-point range (8-for-22). The Cobras sank 41.7 percent of
their field goals and 31.3 percent of their shots from the arc. The Falcons won the battle of the boards 54-43 and earned 20 points off 16 Coker turnovers.
Pfeiffer returns to action on Monday night against Barton. Tipoff is at 5:30 PM.


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HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Coker's men's tennis team lost their final match of the 2010 season on Sunday afternoon, falling to Limestone College 9-0. The loss drops the Cobras to 1-13 on the year and 1-8 in Conference Carolinas play.
The loss leaves the Cobras just one spot short of qualifying for the Conference Carolinas Championship next week in Sumter, S.C.
The Cobras best chance for victory came at No. 2 singles, where Evan Schreiner (Seneca, S.C.) took his match to three sets, after losing the first set 6-1, he bounced back with a 6-3 win in set two, but he lost the third set tiebreaker 10-4.
The Cobras will now prepare for new season and a new coach, as Coach Alvin Cheng leaves Coker to be a tennis club pro in Ohio.


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"RADIO DAY 2009? a.k.a. "MOURNING RADIO" - by Neal Bocian Before I begin let me commend Kathy Kiely, President of the Ad Club; Pierre Bouvard, President of Sales and Marketing for Arbitron; Mike Sheehan, CEO of Hill Holiday; Peter Smyth, Chairman and CEO of Greater Media; David Field, President and CEO of Entercom; Julie Kahn, Vice President of Entercom and everyone else involved behind the scenes, in putting together what could have been and should have been a fabulous … [Read more...]
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Mourning Boston Radio Stations – Neal Bocian
July 3, 2009 by sportsradioboston 5,458 Comments
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Easing back in to posting, after settling in to Providence.
photograph by Jennifer Hess
This is simply an Aviation variant, with St.-Germain in place of the creme de violette. We sipped this in front of the television while watching Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, part of TCM's Sinatrafest.


text: The Outfit Shade case for the iPhone 3G/S is a hardshell with a slider style design, the first thing you notice is the very eye catching finish that is a mix of two colors that form a gradient from top to bottom. The Outfit Shade has a very nice metallic color finish that is glossy and bright, the inside of the case has a soft touch coating that protects your iPhone when sliding into the case and that is a very nice feature that Griffin added to this case. The overall finish and quality of the Outfit Shade is very high, all the corners are rounded and not sharp with to the touch, though the camera cutout is not perfectly cut however is does not affect the cameras performance at all. Another thing i like about this case is that the top middle part is not covers and that gives you an easy access to your SIM card without having to remove the entire case off your phone. There is a lip on the front of the screen surface that lets you lay your iPhone on its screen without causing damage should you want to, and your chrome will stay protected. The case feels very good in the hand and adds some bulk but not much, i find it slightly bulkier then an Incase Slider. Overall the Outfit Shade gives a lot of drop and scratch protection with a very nice color variation. Outfit Shade is available in 4 metallic colors and all you get is the case by itself. Price $29.99. Unboxing vid. Pics:


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Can anyone assist me with the whereabouts of Jimmy Pickles Lane? I'm struggling to locate it...
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Dartmoor Lanes
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SANTA CLARA — The 49ers waived veteran kicker Billy Cundiff on Friday, less than three weeks after they signed him to compete with struggling kicker David Akers.
Cundiff and Akers competed against each other for a week or so before coach Jim Harbaugh opted to stick with Akers.
Cundiff was inactive for the 49ers 45-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers in an NFC Divisional Playoff game at Candlestick Park last Saturday night. Akers converted his lone field-goal attempt and all six of his extra-point attempts against the Packers.
Akers connected on 29 of 42 field-goal attempts during the regular season as he battled through the lingering effects of a double sports hernia he suffered during the 2011 season.
Akers flew to Philadelphia soon after the 49ers beat the Saints on Nov. 25 so that he could receive injections to deal with the inflammation in the affected area.
The 49ers did not fill the vacancy on their 53-man roster. It's conceivable that they will do between now and Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons.


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GOOD BAKED | Du Pain et des Idées, near Canal St. Martin Beatriz da Costa for The Wall Street Journal
THOUGH I HAVE zero medical training, I feel qualified to tinker with one of the most timeworn adages about health. Having lived in Paris for 27 years, I've concluded that a croissant a day keeps the doctor away. At the very least, it's the best way to start the day.
A croissant safari is also a delicious way to explore Paris—especially now. In a welcome rebuff to the many bakeries that use industrially made dough, a new generation of pastry chefs committed to top-quality ingredients and traditional methods is leading a renaissance of the emblematic indulgence. Sampling their wares will also not only get you out of bed early (croissants tend to be best in the morning, when they're freshly baked), but take you to parts of the French capital you probably wouldn't see otherwise. Some of today's best croissants are made in lovely neighborhoods where Parisians actually live, as opposed to the well-trod precincts around major museums and monuments.
Click to view slideshow
The first thing I learned about one of the most quintessentially French of foods, by the way, was that they weren't originally French at all. Austrian-born Marie Antoinette is said to have introduced thekipferl, a crescent-shaped Viennese pastry, in the 18th century after she arrived to marry King Louis XVI. Another story attributes the croissant's French debut to Austrian baker August Zang, who opened a shop in Paris in the 1830s. What is certain is that local bakers refined the pastry by making it with a yeast-leavened dough that's layered and folded several times with chilled butter, a process known as laminating. This labor-intensive routine is what gives the croissant its flaky quality, and part of what made the pastry so popular.
My own croissant connoisseurship began under the tutelage of Maria, the Spanish concierge in the elegant Seventh Arrondissement building where I lived when I moved to Paris in 1986. I was an unlikely tenant; everyone else in the building was in bed by 9 p.m., and many of my genteel neighbors walked with canes. Every morning, Maria tied a black scarf over her head, went to early mass, then bought a morning baguette and croissants for my landlord, a retired British diplomat, and his French wife.
"'It takes 48 hours to make good croissant dough,' he said."
"'It takes 48 hours to make good croissant dough,' he said."
One morning Maria surprised me in my pajamas when she knocked on the door with my mail (she usually slid it under the doormat). When I peered around the heavy oak door, she handed me the post and a white paper bag. "Feliz cumpleaños, Señor," she said with a slight bow. Since she knew it was my birthday, I guessed she'd been paying keen attention to my mail, but any uneasiness vanished when I tucked into the best croissant I'd eaten in my life, a lightly buttery pastry turban with a crust that flaked apart in golden, rectangular crumbs and hid a delicate, cottony interior. That afternoon, when I stopped by to thank her with a bunch of rust-colored chrysanthemums, she crossed herself before taking the bouquet—unbeknownst to me, in France the flowers are seen as appropriate only for cemeteries—but we became friendly. I asked her where to find the best pastries in the neighborhood; that night I found a tidy hand-written treatise pushed under my door.
Maria bought her croissants at La Maison Pradier during the winter and Gosselin in summer, because, she explained, the latter's fours (ovens) were newer and therefore hotter when it was humid, which meant better crusting. Her favorite shop, though, was Gérard Mulot in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, often the destination of her midday walk.
"You should know from the smell that a croissant was made with good unsalted butter, but it should not be the dominant taste," she wrote. "They should be a nice golden color, but not too dark, which means they've cooked too long and could be dry."
Croissants from Blé Sucré Beatriz da Costa for the Wall Street Journal
I became an eager student of croissants. The key to spectacular examples is the dough, bien sur. "It takes 48 hours to make good croissant dough," said Fabrice Le Bourdat of Blé Sucré bakery in the 12th Arrondisement. "First you make the dough and let it rest for a day chilled. The following day you add the butter and do thefeuilletage [laminating]. Then you spread and stretch it, roll it again, and let it rest so that it rises slowly. It's a very time-consuming process involving a lot of manual labor, and this is why so many Paris bakeries now buy their croissant dough ready-made."
Many, but not all. I recently embarked on a week-long tour des fours with a baker friend who was visiting from abroad. On our expedition, I learned how important the raw ingredients—butter, flour, milk, sugar and yeast—are to a great croissant. The new generation of bakers painstakingly sources minimally processed, often organic, components for dough. (Mr. Le Bourdat, for example, said he uses organic yeast, because "it contains no extraneous chemical agents and produces a slower fermentation, which allows the flavors to develop more fully.") I was also reminded of why Paris is the only city where I don't mind hearing the alarm clock go off.
A fresh crop of bakeries serves up flaky delights—and other very tasty baked goods
Tousled 30-something baker Gontran Cherrier came to Montmartre, the storiedquartier the locals often call "Le Village," in 2010, and it's easy to see why he quickly found a following. Mr. Cherrier's croissant is a soft scroll of pale-yellow, butter-scented pastry tissues that are a pleasure to pluck apart. Another delectable choice at this simple, white-tiled bakery is his miso-seasoned rye bread, which makes flavorful bookends for sandwiches when lightly toasted. 22 rue Caulaincourt and other locations, gontrancherrierboulanger.com
A sure sign of the new affluence of the Ninth Arrondissement, the central Paris district also known as "La Nouvelle Athènes" for its neoclassical early 19th-century architecture, is that it's attracting craftsmen like Sébastien Gaudard. He opened La Pâtisserie des Martyrs, which has a handsome Belle Époque-style décor with marble counters, glass lanterns and a check tiled floor, on its main market street at the end of 2011. It's since become a neighborhood institution. Mr. Gaudard's croissants have a gossamer glaze of sugar that brightens the taste of the butter in the pastry. When pieces are torn off, the fluffy interior remains fused to the crunchy outer layers, a sign of a transcendently good croissant. Mr. Gaudard's are the ones that end up on my own breakfast table most often.22 rue des Martyrs, sebastiengaudard.fr
Not far from Canal St. Martin, the old industrial waterway that's become the aquatic spine of one of the hippest neighborhoods in eastern Paris, is baker Christophe Vasseur's Du Pain et des Idées. (Its magnificent painted glass ceiling from 1875, cast iron bread racks and gilded details bespeak his former career as fashion executive.) Since Mr. Vasseur relaunched the bakery in 2002, it's acquired a cult following for its bread—try the thick-crusted pain des amis—and fluffy, crispy-tailed croissants. For a perfect breakfast, pick up a couple and head over to Ten Belles, the coffee shop on the other side of the canal. And don't leave without one of Mr. Vasseur's apple tartlettes—a fine fan of sliced apple spread atop a smear of deeply reduced apple compote on a disk of crunchy pastry. They're what the French would call une tuerie (absolutely fantastic). 34 rue Yves Toudic,dupainetdesidees.com
La Pâtisserie Cyril Lignac Beatriz da Costa for The Wall Street Journal
As a main host of culinary programming for France's M6 television channel, Cyril Lignac is one of the country's best-known food television personalities. He also runs a cooking school and several restaurants in Paris. In 2011, he and former Fauchon pastry chef Benoît Couvrand opened the pretty but edgy La Pâtisserie. Its facade is painted oxblood red and the marble-faced counters are lighted by a forest of spotlights. Stopping by on a recent winter morning, I wondered if the croissants would live up to Mr. Lignac's somewhat hyped reputation, but the downy golden crescent I tucked into did him and Mr. Couvrand proud indeed; it just might be the lightest croissant in town. There are also seasonal offerings, like the éclair à la figue de Solliès, or fig-filled éclair, a riff on another great French classic. 24 rue Paul Bert (and 2 rue de Chaillot),lapatisseriecyrillignac.com
It was vexing to find a line at Fabrice Le Bourdat's Blé Sucré for its 7 a.m. opening, but once we withdrew to the adjacent Square Trousseau for our tasting, I realized that the wait had been worthwhile. My still-warm croissant had an alluringly brittle, shell-like crust, but it was the interior that was so good—fluffy but elastic, it tore apart in fine layers and was redolent of high-quality butter. My pal insisted I try one of her madeleines, which had delivered what she described as a "perfect Proustian moment." But I was still trying to figure out why Mr. Le Bourdat's croissant was so good, and then I got it: What the waking palate needs is a little salt, and that's exactly what this pastry almost imperceptibly delivered. Mr. Le Bourdat's shop is rightly vaunted as one of the best—maybe even the best—of the new breed of Paris bakeries. 7 rue Antoine Vollon, blesucre.fr
Corrections & Amplifications Sébastien Gaudard Pâtisserie des Martyrs is a bakery in Paris. An earlier version of this article called it La Pâtisserie des Martyrs.


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Download Find Me Full MovieDownload Find Me HD with duration 87 Min and broadcast on 2014-09-01 with MPAA rating is 2.
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- Companies of movie : Petri Entertainment,
- Countries of movie : United States of America,
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- Durationof movie : 87 Min
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Conservative General Assembly lawmakers have argued that an overhaul of the state's tax code that streamlines and simplifies the tax structure would be more effective
A bill proposed by two local lawmakers Wednesday to eliminate the refundable portion of North Carolina's film tax credit would effectively gut the state's film and television industry, film leaders say.
Under state law, film production companies can claim a 25 percent tax credit – up to $20 million – on productions spending more than $250,000 in qualifying expenses. If passed, House bill 994 would eliminate that credit and, instead, waive any tax liability the company accrues over the next five years up to an equivalent amount.
Because only companies based in North Carolina pay the taxes that would be waived, only a fraction of the films that do business in the state would reap any benefit under the law, according to Wilmington Regional Film Commission Director Johnny Griffin.
"There's no requirement under North Carolina law that you have to form a North Carolina corporation to do business in the state," Griffin said. "Since they're not selling a product or making an income off a product, the majority of the film companies have no tax liability in North Carolina. They're what I refer to as a tax generator. No, they're not cutting a check to the state for corporate taxes, but they're paying a bunch of people wages and paying sales tax on all the goods they buy. Their economic activity creates tax revenue."
The proposed legislation also would make film-incentive credits non-refundable retroactively to Jan. 1, impacting productions filming right now – including the CBS series "Under the Dome" – and those slated to shoot here, like the feature film "Tammy," which kicks off May 6 in Wilmington.
Local Republican Reps. Rick Catlin and Chris Millis, who sponsored the bill drafted by Rep. Paul Luebke, a Durham Democrat, say it would bring accountability to state government.
Catlin, a leader of the GOP freshman class in the House, said he was surprised when he learned about how the incentive works this week.
"I was not aware of the way it worked before," he said. "I went down to bill drafting and got the details and was very surprised that these incentives were so much different than other incentives. If we're writing tax credits that aren't used, this bill would allow them to be carried over and they would get them as they earn them. That's what this bill does."
Catlin said it was "no secret" that he is against incentives of any kind.
He and other conservative General Assembly lawmakers have argued that an overhaul of the state's tax code that simplifies the tax structure would be more effective than the current targeted incentives for specific industries, such as film.
"Most incentives are based on tax credits. If you owe $1 million in taxes, then a credit could take them off," Catlin said. "This actually allows them to earn more tax credits than they use and then writes them a check for the difference. Ultimately, I'm not sure that continuing incentives is the thing to do, but in the meanwhile, this will put it in line with the others."
State Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, has said he'll fight to keep the program intact.
"With a nonrefundable credit, if the credit exceeds your tax liability, you can only carry forward the credit to be applied to future taxes. You do not get the difference given to you in cash, it can only be applied to future taxes," he said in an email statement Thursday. "Only two of N.C.'s tax credits are refundable – the film credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Regardless of what it does, I do not support this proposed legislation."
It's too early to tell which committee will take up the bill first, Millis said Thursday, but film workers from across the state aren't waiting to see what path it takes.
Dozens of actors, casting directors, camera operators and others employed in the industry sprang into action on social media sites Thursday to spread the word about a rally planned for downtown Wilmington this weekend they say will demonstrate local support for the film business and the continuation of the state's film incentives.
City and county lawmakers drafted resolutions this month publicizing their support of the local TV and film production industry. Wilmington's City Council passed its resolution on Tuesday night, while the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on a similar proclamation Monday.
Cape Fear area legislators on both sides of the aisle also have been vocal in attributing the state's success in landing multiple TV and film productions, including "Iron Man 3," to the film tax credits.
State Reps. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover, and Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, are co-chairing a newly created film caucus they hope will drum up new supporters for the tax credits among their legislative colleagues.
"I can't imagine what would possess a legislator, particularly one from this region, to break from the rest of their delegation and support a job-killing bill," Hamilton said Thursday. "Ideology and extremism do not benefit the citizens or businesses of our state."
She and others, including Goolsby and Davis, are working to counter claims that the film industry created fewer jobs than have been reported by the state Department of Commerce's Film Office.
A memo that surfaced last week in the General Assembly says the film credit created 290 to 350 fewer jobs than would have been created through an across-the-board tax reduction of the same magnitude. It credits the film industry with attracting 55 to 70 new jobs to North Carolina in 2011.
Those estimates and Catlin's proposal have local film crews on edge.
Will Cooper, 24, a Wilmington native who works as a camera assistant, said the bill's introduction created "a frenzy" in the film community on Thursday.
"Since the news spread about the bill earlier this afternoon, I've received scores of email messages and seen dozens of Facebook statuses regarding the bill," he wrote in an email. "Nearly all of us who work in the local film business feel that our livelihoods are being threatened."
Griffin agreed, adding that the incentive is the "number one" factor used to attract productions.
"Just the other day, a producer came to me and said, 'We're coupon shoppers. If you don't have a coupon, we don't even look at you,'" he said. "A non-refundable or non-transferable film credit is essentially worthless to our clients. If this is approved, we will see no interest in doing business here."
Cassie Foss: 343-2365
On Twitter: @WilmOnFilm


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Udayan Sinha, Altera Corp.
Robert Anderson, MathWorks
Learn how you can target algorithms written in MATLAB to Intel FPGAs using HDL Coder. In this webinar, see how this workflow supports each phase of the FPGA design process including:
We also show how design teams can use a language-based FPGA design flow as well as how to integrate this workflow into Model-Based Design.
About the Presenters:
Robert Anderson is a Principal Application Engineer for signal processing and communications at MathWorks, with a focus on FPGA implementation. Robert has over 25 years of experience in hardware design and implementation. He earned his MS. in electrical and computer engineering from Northwestern University.
Udayan Sinha is a Product Marketing Engineer focusing on digital signal processing solutions at Altera. He holds a BSEE from the University of California, Davis.
Recorded: 30 Apr 2013


text:
NASHVILLE, Tenn.– Lipscomb Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson announced on Saturday that Nashville native Casey Alexander has been hired as the 18th head coach of the Lipscomb University men's basketball program.
"Casey has been part of successful programs wherever he has been," said Hutcheson. "But, what I'm most impressed with is his understanding of the spirit, character and mission of Lipscomb University. He shares our values and is a proven player and coach. Casey has observed the Lipscomb program for a long time, and he understands in his bones who we are."
Bringing 18 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience in the Atlantic Sun Conference to the storied Bison program, Alexander takes over the reins of the Lipscomb program after a two-year stint at Stetson University, where he led the Hatters to a third-place finish in the A-Sun standings. Stetson's 11-7 finish in league play marked only the second time in the last decade that the Hatters finished third or higher in the conference standings.
"I'm very grateful to Lipscomb for giving me the opportunity to lead this great program," said Alexander. "I appreciate their belief in me. Lipscomb University is a perfect fit for my family and me. We couldn't be more excited about this opportunity. The philosophy of the Lipscomb program is a great alignment with what we stand for."
Prior to taking his first head coaching role at Stetson, Alexander spent 16 years on the bench with Belmont head coach Rick Byrd.
"Casey played and coached for me and I can say that he is as competitive as any player I've ever coached," said Rick Byrd, head coach of the Belmont University men's basketball team. "He is a great leader. He was born to coach and is an outstanding teacher of the game. I'm thrilled for him and I am confident he will be a great addition to the Lipscomb program."
During that span, the Bruins captured four Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Championships, made four trips to the NCAA Tournament and one NIT appearance.
While still at Belmont, Alexander was named the "No. 5 'Mid-Major' Assistant Coach" by national college basketball Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports.
"Belmont will always be an important part of my life," Alexander said. "I value that experience and the people who are there. The things that I love about that part of my life are what attract me to Lipscomb. It's what allows me to jump in with both feet and to be ready to go."
Alexander is highly regarded as a well-respected member of the basketball coaching fraternity.
"I'm so happy for Casey," said Brad Stevens, Butler University men's head basketball coach. "He's a great person and basketball coach, and will do a fantastic job at Lipscomb."
Stan Van Gundy, former Orlando Magic head coach, said Alexander is the "kind of coach every parent would like their son to play for.
"Casey is a great fit for Lipscomb," he said. "He has been around success and knows what it takes to win games. He is one of the finest teachers of the game that I have been privileged to watch. He sets high standards for himself and his players and is very demanding yet remains calm in all situations. His players will not only succeed and become better players, he will be the role model that they need to achieve great things in their lives after basketball."
Alexander has a unique understanding of Lipscomb's institutional mission.
"Casey clearly understands the mission of the university," said Scott McDowell, vice president for student development and dean of campus life at Lipscomb. "He has the desire to continue to raise the bar for the basketball program spiritually and to help make that mission come to life in the athletic realm of campus life. His teams are known to be disciplined and hard-working, and I believe he will continue to recruit players who want to be a part of the mission and culture of Lipscomb University."
Connecting with Lipscomb's current players is a top priority, Alexander said.
"Our players are clearly the priority," he said. "They are so important, and we need them. I want to make sure they are on board and ready to work hard. I also want to reach out to former players and coaches to welcome them back and to let them know they are a key component to helping take this program where we went it to go."
Alexander said that a trademark of his coaching philosophy is recruiting "players who are committed to playing hard and playing as a team. We work hard to find the right players and coaches on the front end. When you get this type of player, you can accomplish great things."
This past season at Stetson, the Hatters ranked among the nation's best in sharing the ball this as Alexander's squad ranked eighth nationally averaging 16.2 assists per game. Stetson also ranked second in the A-Sun in scoring averaging 70.3 points per game finishing just behind the high-octane Florida Gulf Coast offense in the scoring race. The Hatters also ranked second in the conference in field goal percentage (.456), three point field goal percentage (.329) and free throw percentage (.705),
Under Alexander's tutelage, Stetson's Adam Pegg earned 2013 Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his play on the court and his work in the classroom. The center was also named All-Atlantic Sun Conference first-team after finishing as the only player in the league to finish in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.
Before putting on the suit and tie on the sidelines, Alexander was a standout player for Belmont ('92-95) leading the Bruins to a 119-25 record during his playing career. He established himself among the career leaders in a number of categories and was inducted into the Belmont Hall of Fame in 2005.
A three-sport standout in high school, Alexander helped lead Brentwood Academy to a pair of state titles.
Alexander and his wife, the former Sunni Dixon, have three children, Allie, 14; Reed, 11; and Mason, 8.


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프로모션 강원랜드 카지노 복장_제안 룰렛 주소_룰렛공식Sunday, January 9th, 2005
"?ggmacka med Kalles Kaviar" and a cup of green tea
I love Sunday mornings, and Saturday mornings as well. Normally I don't have time to eat breakfast so I make a basic cheese sandwich that I eat at work. On weekends I can sleep forever and afterwards I can eat a late breakfast, preferably my favourite one: ?ggmacka med Kalles Kaviar, which is a sandwich with sliced boiled eggs and a Swedish caviar called Kalles Kaviar. Kaviar is a classic sandwich paste made from cod roe and Kalle is the blond boy who is on the tube – his father was the managing director at the time of the product's launch in 1954. In Sweden Kalles Kaviar is a product that probably can be found in all refrigerators.


text:
2003.11.30a – Obviously it's unfair to pick on Details ("for men"). In truth, it was merely a ripe plum for the picking, Danny Peres having claimed "Details is a magazine for men – all men," including the inverts. They're rather botching the job, but at least they're trying.
What about Esquire?
I've read it for ages, in part because I remain a fan of Roger Black's overcomplex, super-tight hodgepodge-esque magazine design. But interestingly, Roger Black, as I tediously remind people, is one of the very few out gay-male homosexualist graphic designers on the planet. And with Chip Kidd, he's also the most famous. Roger Black is nowhere to be seen on the current Esquire masthead. The graphic sensibility is nonetheless clearly his, no matter how much design director John Korpics tweaks it.
So why pick on Esquire? Because it's the most consent-manufacturingly heterosexualist men's magazine there is. Not even Maxim tries so very hard to paper over its queer instincts. It's the goddamned pinups, the centrefolds, the "Women We Love" features, and a "Ten Things You Don't Know About Women" column invariably illustrated by a grinning starlet in an overtight top, that has added up to so many unknown facts that straight men really must be from Mars. It's girls-girls-girls as far as the eye can see.
But come on, people. Even straight guys spend time with each other. And the rest of the pictorial spreads in Esquire? Guys in suits. In fact, guys in barely-updated suits. (Look at "By Invitation Only: A Special Promotion for Esquire Readers," p. 140. One woman plus 19 guys in suits, or, as the copy calls them, "suites." Many of the guys are hockey players.)
It's a magazine for successful-too-early young businessmen with too much money on their hands – like the hockey players in the "special promotion"; what reader wouldn't want to play in the NHL? But those readers also have too many unsettling sexual fantasies vying for conscious attention. These Freudian skirmishes never resolve, just as Esquire never resolves its twin voyeuristic desires to look at pinups and centrefolds and also successful-too-early guys in suits.
And the suits? Esquire is all about tiny upgrades to "classic" fashion tropes that won't rock the Establishment boat. Slightly newer suits with slightly brighter shirts and certainly bolder ties, but no Alexander McQueen or Cory Doctorow–style techno-fetish gear. There is but a single way to dress, just as there is only one kind of body to look at, except inasmuch as there's another kind available when it is useful to illustrate the single way to dress.
Esquire, through its overcompensation, spends too much time in its closet, alongside a lot of tweed, bespoke wool, and a passel of really sharp silk ties.
I have to wonder what life is like for the gay staff at Esquire. I know an evolutionary role of ours is to enhance the fuckability of chicks, but assuaging "straight" guys is another thing entirely.
So: Just how gay is a "Man at His Best"? December 2003 issue:
Must be open to the waist to be enumerated.
Wow, a magazine devoted to wardrobe and grooming suddenly decides all that shit is gay, teaching you how to be the uncouth slob you must have been trying to change from. Why else buy the magazine in the first place?
Real men can't spell EXFOLIATE.
James Oliver Cury, a metrosexualist name right there, writes:
You never though it could happen to you. You started out with a single pomade, and now you've become softer than that kale-scented man lotion you rub under your eyes three times a day. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Actually, there is. So if you're interested in salvaging even an iota of your fast-fading masculinity, use the chart below to convert the frilly potions crowding your medicine cabinet into no-nonsense toiletries.
(Edited selections) Metro Hetero Face-cleansing glycerine bar Irish Spring ("For extra toughness, slice the bar with a big knife like they do in the commercials") All-over hydrating shampoo Head & Shoulders 2 in 1 Ultra-shine sculpting putty Royal Crown Hair Dressing Nourishing cream Lubriderm Alcohol-free refreshing sticks Speed Stick Luxurious shaving butter Barbasol shaving cream Soothing shaving balm with eucalyptus extract Skin Bracer ("After-shave... should reek like napalm and sting like hell") Sunless tanning lotion A hard day's work in the sun ("Get off your ass, you pasty-faced wuss!")
Evidently real men buy Procter & Gamble. Personally, I swear by Dandruff Control Pert Plus. Surprise, James Oliver.
An illustrated piece on movie blurbs – they seem eerily plausible – includes this pairing of blurb and retort:
- "A rare romantic comedy that works for men as well as women"
– Jim O'Brien, Cleveland's News Channel 3, on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
- As long as the men are gay.
Girls and fags watching the same movies. A worst-case scenario for straight guys, I guess. But that selfsame formula, abetted by an unending sequence of untruths about gay life, has made Queer as Folk's backers rich.
Inverts have little use for vasectomies, unless we have extracurricular affairs with the girlies.
Heterosexualist writer James McManus writes an exceedingly vulgar article entitled "Pearl Jam" about his odyssey toward a vasectomy. The style is intended to be frank and unapologetic. It is merely embarrassing, and contains this clunker: "ature clearly intends a vas deferens between a man and a woman."
I am just trying to assemble a mental image here. Do you pull it out and rub it between you? Or do you manœuvre your pudendum so that, when viewed from left to right, the order of presentation is MAN–VAS DEFERENS–WOMAN?
Or is the intent to say "Nature clearly intends the vas deferens as a conduit between a man's spermatozoa and their only natural destination, a woman"? With none of this "damming" of a vas deferens that vasectomies do?
Single men and invert men have relatively well-functioning vas deferens. If we're somehow putting those to waste, I'd hate to hear what McManus has to say about all those eggs, taken from each woman's unrefillable supply, that expire every month. He's almost Vatican in his construction of a sole intended use for the reproductive apparatus.
Why do I think he's so judgemental? Well, I can be myself, so it does take one to know one. But still (and no doubt further in the intended but unachieved frank-and-unapologetic vein), it is outright shocking that McManus outs a relative as being seriously ill. And he does a lot of talking about his second wife's health, too. Quite possibly he has permission, but does it particularly matter when the entire theme of the article is McManus's sperm count? Are there tawdrier imaginable contexts in which to out your relatives' poor health?
The article is repeatedly off and inappropriate in a surprising constellation of ways. We're supposed to have editors to avoid this sort of thing.
Further, the allegedly-qualified sex columnist Stacey Grenrock Woods – photographed, "Ten Things You Don't Know"–style, in tight tank top with laced-up bust – answers a question related to testicle size and "potency" with a host of McManus-esque vulgarisms. She volleys another zinger at the light-in-the-vas-deferens set: "ou can expect a very gradual decrease in size that comes with age. This is due to testosterone loss and often accompanies an increase in what's called 'having brunch.' " Of course, straight guys have brunch all the time, where, inevitably, they eat quiche.
We know what these two writers are trying to say. All they end up is trying.
Adrienne Miller's intro to a short story from Colum McCann fluffs McCann's novel Dancer, "the brilliantly-fictionalized story of the life of the incorrigible Russian ballet genius Rudolf Nureyev." Fluffing comes to an abrupt halt with the following proviso: "nd even if your interest in ballet is somewhat, well, limited, it won't be after you've read this amazing novel."
Straight guys aren't gonna buy that. A middlebrow critic's making a genteel bullshit case for the solidity of some upper-middle-class artistic confection or other is the province of Esquire film reviewer Tom Carson, whose attempts to persuade us that stinkers like Company Man are unacknowledged "gems" always strikes me as overpolite cocktail-party chitchat, where the listener adopts a forced smile and pretends to go along.
A "parody" Democratic Candidate Application Form by Doug Lansky lists the following options. Choose one.
- Political issues
- Homosexuality
- No gay weddings; no gays in the military.
- I'm not personally afflicted with gayness, but I don't mind contributions from those who are, or even shaking hands with them.
- I'm fine with gays portraying style consultants.
This is the goods. This shows some knowledge and wryness. And of course it's on the psychologically-appropriate last page. You can hint at the truth – as you're walking out the door. ¶
2003.11.30b – Amusingly, both Details and Esquire this month list their Statements of Ownership, Management, and Circulation. Esquire's is bigger, boys: 871,200 vs. 577,522. But the gay magazine for straight readers is almost as big a schmoozer as the gay magazine for closeted readers, with 19,171 free copies of Details vs. 19,735 of Esquire. I guess homosexualism does need promoting.
(Mincing down memory lane: Is anyone out there old enough to remember when these U.S. Postal Service–mandated circulation reports actually carried the home addresses of magazine directors and publishers' original signatures? Both are now simply fudged.) ¶
2003.11.28a – Big Danny Peres seems to be butching things up a little down at Fairchild (aren't fair children more apt to be queer?) as Details ("for men") produces its least-gay issue since I began these readings of magazine's pink-coloured entrails.
However, "least gay" does not mean "most straight."
December 2003 issue:
Tom Cruise, for heaven's sake, appearing all filthy and long-haired (manly, yes) behind the giant hed TOM CRUISE SETS THINGS STRAIGHT.
Does he? Why would he need to?
Jeff Gordimer's piece, obviously written on the basis of a single heavily-stage-managed interview, p. 125:
For years, both before and after his 10-year marriage to Nicole Kidman disintegrated toward the beginning of 2001, Cruise has been forced to swat away gnatlike whisperings that he's gay – something that he describes as an irritating media-perpetuated fiction.... "And finally we were in London one day and this guy wrote this outrageous thing, and I'm not going to repeat it, it's not worth repeating," he says. The Express, a British tabloid, had suggested that his marriage was a sham; Cruise wrote the paper a letter demanding an apology. "And they basically wrote me a letter back telling me to go stick it," he says, "I remember that morning I sat there at the table, and I looked at Nic, and I went, 'That's it. That's it. The line is now drawn....' " a gay-porn star who was quoted as saying that he and Cruise had had a fling (and later would up strenuously denying the whole thing), and... a man, known in legal documents as Michael Davis, who sent news releases to the media claiming that he had something salacious on videotape. (No such tape ever surfaced.) "...It's like, this stuff comes in? Bert? Just sue. Just do it. Sue sue sue. Do it. Go. Go. Go. Go. I'm busy. I've got my kids, I've got my company." [...]
Cruise says the questions about whether he's gay should finally fade away. "Am I? No. Of course I'm not. If I was, how am I going to win the lawsuits? If it's the truth, it's the truth. Who cares? If it's true, it's true, but it's not."
This could be an object lesson in learning to ask the right question. Obviously Tom Cruise isn't gay. But will someone someday get around to asking "Are you bisexual?" or "Have you ever had sex with a man?"
Remember, if it's true, it's true.
Nonetheless, I loved him as Lestat.
Oh, and Jeff? Nice one with the turned phrase "wheelchair-bound and howling at the prison of immobility in Born on the Fourth of July." I saw that movie and quite plainly remember Tom Cruise getting around no problem in his wheelchair, which had no straps or garters that "bound" him to it.
Obviously, to the writer of this story, being crippled is worse than being queer. The latter has to be repudiated; the former is simply a given.
Must be open to the waist to be enumerated.
Both are improbably, inexplicably, earth-shatteringly low scores. Has someone figured out that straight guys prefer tits to pecs?
Across the gutter from a rather chiaroscuro photo of Tom Cruise's muscular crossed forearms – pros will be aware that the act of crossing your arms makes forearms, even mine, look bigger – sits a full-page advertisement for the long-delayed HBO adaptation of Angels in America.
When I saw it on Broadway, street traffic was audible through the nearby wall and the midwestern housewives to my left reacted to the play's onslaught with mumblings of "It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience." (The last time I'd heard that was the train pulling into Montreal, with some old American who'd led an unhappy life marveling at the neon sign on the Farine Five Roses building, three words she did not quite understand.)
What I didn't get was why Angels in America was so popular. I could get over the writerly touches like the improbable character name of Prior Walter, but what I couldn't get over was how much of the play was simply old hat to a queer audience. Oh, but that's the secret: It's all completely out of the blue to straight people. They're always the last to know.
Angels in America the pièce de théâtre was subhedded "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," which phrase is notably absent from the print campaign. Perhaps it's a bit superfluous when TV shows now have "queer" in their titles. Perhaps that also means Angels in America le film is a bit superfluous.
It really is a monthly feature now. "Gay or Magician?" is, however, the weakest instalment yet.
"One hides in closets ; the other comes out of them. From the Las Vegas stage to the South Beach sands, one thing is for real: The gay man and the gallant magician deal from the same deck of cards. Blow out the hair. Pluck up the collar. Bedazzle something. Because there's no business like show business." Good way to end your dek with a cliché there, writer-with-supremely-butch-name-of–Whitney McNally.
- Shoulder pads
- Creates the mirage of added height . And how else to protect the neck from catty animals?
- Blazer
- Underneath the handcuffs, codpieces, and sequins, a sensible jacket is the only way to go.
Mickey Rapkin writes a featurette on Dominic West. Who?
This is, after all, a guy who, as a teenager, spent a night in a Mexican jail for crashing a local Club Med. He also trekked the 450-mile Camino de Santiago across northern Spain and did Design for Living on Broadway a few years back just to spend time with his mates in New York. (The four-month Manhattan holiday did come at a cost, namely having to make out with Alan Cumming eight times a week.)
That must surely leave lingering doubts, though, which Rapkin must immediately erase:
And after an exhausting shoot for The Wire, he'd rather sit on a beach with his five-year-old daughter than .
Actually, no, not this month. We'll get to Details's house nigger shortly. He always merits his own section.
Anyway, "Suicide by Stripper" by Scott Omelianuk gives helpful tips on sabotaging your hetero relationship through an Affleck-style lap dance.
Come on, who are you going to believe: The talent who
wonan Oscar for Good Will Hunting or the chick whose greatest accomplishment is putting her legs behind her head for $10 tips? Don't answer that. The key word here is plausible: Recall that all Eddie Murphy had to do to survive his tranny transgression was insist he was only giving the waddaya-call-it a ride home.
What do you call "it"? Well, what did Omelianuk call "it"? "Tranny," I seem to recall. Does he consider trannies human?
This month, Augusten Burroughs leaps from acting as pre-approved queer mouthpiece for the prejudices of well-groomed straight guys to writing like a gay correspondent at a straight sex magazine. Like a ghostwriter for 1970s-era Penthouse Forum, in other words.
I am aware that queer people are now the official sex advisors of straight people (Savage, Sasha, inter alia), but to give credible sex advice requires you to divest yourself of ulterior motives, like tricking your straight friends into uttering phrases that titillate you.
Burroughs's piece, with the screamingly-novel headline "Talk Dirty to Me," also carries the subhed "The secret to an improved sex life lies in using your mouth – but not for what you're thinking." What would I be thinking? Details' Uncle (or is it Auntie) Tom taunts his heterosexualist friend, rather as David Sedaris surreptitiously did in his youth.
"Well, one day, just out of the blue, my wife opens up the drawer on the bedside table and she pulls out this thing."
I know exactly what he means, but I want to hear him say the word out loud. "What thing?" I ask innocently.
"You know. A dildo. The kind that strap on."
The rest is simply embarrassing, uniting terms like Amish, Mormon, stick your finger up my, and your mother, whore within four short paragraphs.
Clearly, Details-approved heterosexualism is in crisis. But if strap-on dildos aren't enough to spice up your heterosexualist love life, there's always porn. Another devastatingly original service piece here from Details ("for men"). It's unbylined, but it reads like Burroughs.
"And then this other guy walked onscreen and got into bed and he sticks his finger up the guy's ass? And all of a sudden Michael starts shouting 'Oh, my God!' and then he comes.... I mean, we'd been watching for like 20 minutes, but as soon as the video turned gay, Michael got so aroused that he came. He's gay, isn't he?" [...]
"No," I said firmly.... Who knows what Michael was looking at. Her tits jiggling, her hair whipping around, his dick ramming her. Every straight guy gets off once in a while watching some pornbabe get plowed by a stud.
And what is he looking at when that happens? The jiggling, the whipping, the ramming?
Do I feel another cliché coming on? How about "sexuality is fluid"?
Human sexuality is a broad spectrum, not a study in black and white....
I'd told Elizabeth I didn't think her husband was gay because of the porn incident. But I'd neglected to mention that I did think he was gay because only a homo would live with white shag carpeting in a mid-century-modern Hollywood Hills home.
Gay or Eurotrash?
Details is so cutting-edge, the only rock star it can think to interview is Iggy Pop. What about someone from, say, the Dandy Warhols?
Pete Wells:
- Interviewers always ask if you slept with Bowie, if you slept with Jagger. And you didn't...
- No, darling.
- But did those rumours float around because there was a lot of bisexuality in rock at the time?
- There was, and continues to be, a pansexuality in rock and roll. And it works in all sorts of mysterious ways that currently would cause embarrassment in American frat-boy circles. If there's a guy who most of the guys in America think, "Yeah, he's cool! His band's pretty cool!" it actually means they think he's foxy! His look, and the way he moves, and the sound of his band make them feel really sexy. Also, marijuana makes people think in sensual ways, so even people who aren't gay will begin to dress with more care... and start to think, "Gee, isn't my hair lovely?" It was more like that rather than the nitty-gritty of man-on-man sexuality.
Bart Blasengame carries out an elaborate act of bearding as he pretends to write a photo-heavy feature on male cheerleaders. In fact, the entire story, from its teaser on p. 121 to the section break on p. 147 – both of which read "Give me an f! Give me an a! Give me a... !" – is an excuse to posit that guys who lead cheers are guys who are queer. (Do they use strap-ons, or do they at least watch porn?)
Some are queer, certainly. One writes his own screamingly neurotic Weblog. But, you know, the numbers, not to mention the sociology, just aren't there. We've got too many guy cheerleaders for them all to be gay (27 men and 72 women, in the article's case history). They're too well-built, they read as too straight, and they spend much too much time around homophobic football teams (well, stereotypically homophobic: Like most kids today, the younger players likely don't give a shit anymore) to really be queer.
But let's watch Blasengame pick at the scab, as Barts like to do.
...stigma. When it comes to pro sports, big boys don't do cartwheels unless they're a little light in their Nikes.
"The Ravens have male cheerleaders," Ryp11 writes on a Ravens message board, "because all of their male fans are fags."
That's a lot of fags.
"I've heard the gay thing before," says Kashan Fields, a fourth-year member of the Titans' yell squad. "It's never said to your face, of course, but it still comes up. They think being a cheerleader makes you weak in some way. But you know, they couldn't do what we do." [...]
The infusion of beefcake was also meant to cultivate the female fan base, which makes up 38% of the NFL's 120 million television viewers. "The reaction from the ladies," Simijoski said, "was 'Why aren't the male cheerleaders less covered?' " [...]
"One of the male-dominated rock stations here used to razz our guys on the air," Simijoski says, "But after a while even they had to admit that our guys were the smart ones. They're around 42 women in a locker room? They're getting more than anyone."
They have unisex dressing rooms now?
Anyway, we have a new book out with photos along the lines of those accompanying Blasengame's piece. I think cheerleaders look nothing short of fabulous in still photographs, and no male athletes short of amateur wrestlers look more solid. Statuesque, even. Literally so, given the poses.
As with the banister Magenta slides down in Rocky Horror, it's the girl cheerleaders who are lucky.
Unbylined interview with Mekhi Phifer concludes thus:
- When was the last time you...
- had unclean thoughts?
- Like being in the middle of a Madonna and Britney Spears make-out session? I'm not the Pope; it's all clean to me.
What if it were Eminem and Ixuxsxtxixn Limbertake, Mekhi?
Is it "all" still clean then? ¶
Previously: November ¶ October ¶ September
2003.11.28b – The December Details table:
|No ¶
2003.11.28c – Ich kannot Deutsch, but that doesn't mean ich kannot be translated into Deutsch.
Thanks to Andreas K. Bittner for translation and Tomas Caspers for HTMLification.
Best translator's note in the whole shebang? "Anmerkung des Übersetzers: Im Original heißt es etwas deftiger: habits of half-arsed hypothesizing." ¶
2003.11.28d – "Pseuds Corporate," Private Eye, 14–27 November 2003, p. 25:
The analysis of the Staff Perceptions indicated that a broadly-supported staff aspiration was for greater clarity and consistency in communication at Mayfield.
As one part of moving this agenda on, the Senior Leadershp Team produced a briefing paper in respect of outgoing correspondence. I picked another strand in briefing when I outlined how we might move toward greater clarity and consistency in respect of incoming school correspondence while minimizing workload for colleagues but still securing our sought-after "vertical" and "lateral" communication and consultation [continues]
2003.11.28e – I visited my Chinese-Jamaican dermatologistrix. Her Jamaicanness always shocks the hell out of the FOB Chinese who show up expecting her to speak their language, only to hear Caribbean English. She diagnosed me with the following:
The rosacea is so subtle I never noticed it and still can't unless I poke and prod. The nonspecific spot is nestled within a rosaceal patch. Along with the angioma on my forehead (reminiscent of an Indian bindi) and the proliferating liver spots, I am turning into a pizza.
And all these "cosmetic" spots? Well, I can have them frozen and/or "lasered" off, at up to $200 a pop, with no guarantee it won't leave a scar.
But the kicker?
Everyone, but everyone asks me if I'm Lebanese, "Arab," Portuguese, Greek, Italian, "Middle Eastern," or "Mediterranean." Apparently they look at me and decide I am "dark." (Well, can I also be tall and handsome, then? All three at once?)
But my Chinese-Jamaican dermatologistrix, in explaining it is not all that unexpected I should have rosacea, declared "You're very fair." "I am?" I asked, shocked. "Yes. If I had to type you, I'd say you were Type I or II." It's hard to find an explanation of those "types" online, but Fitzpatrick skin types I and II are the very fairest skin colours. Think Boris Becker or Daniel Alfredsson. I am clearly not a Type I (no freckles), but I can buy the expert assessment that I'm a Type II.
This is like finding out I've been aboriginal all along or something. Why was this not obvious before? I guess if you're dark- and abundantly-haired, people project. ¶
2003.11.25 – I don't exactly know what relaxation is. When my eyes get tired from staring at screens all day, I have to prompt myself to do something different. I go to the gym or take a nap. Oddly, I never read.
Tonight I rediscovered the burqa look that was so popular with Raoul. Three pillows, Vellux® blanket, Adidas® polypro sweater, matte-black toque, Ritter Sport®, water in Nalgene®, and two of seven remote controls on the bearskin rug, whose dander, as if on cue, triggered four straight sneezes (1×1×1×1 sneezes). Bearskin is the new black and toque is the new burqa when it's cold out (and in) and it's time to watch one's eBay score of the U.S. Miramax pressing of Hard Core Logo, with morally- if not entirely-correct Captions, Inc. captions. None of this Canadian shite. (Two flat-out errors and a lot of fudging of song lyrics. Fudged captions: "You don't know shit from good chocolate, babies.")
It's essentially the real-life story of Hugh Dillon, a drug addict who fucks guys. The last time I saw him was at Nataraj on Bloor Street. It was the first luncheon of the WAI f2f. The door opened, for some reason I looked its way, and I spotted Hugh Dillon, who smiled at me as though I had completely brightened his day. A beautiful smile. I did my usual thing with celebrities and didn't stare. I should have. Now that he's off heroin, he needs bottoming. Joe Dick.
I watched the film. I saw it in the Beach several years ago. An unpleasant time, cold, damp. (Tonight it was only cold.) "Turn it up!" a couple of guys in the theatre had hollered.
I watched the film. It's very solid. I've also read Hard Core Roadshow by that punk Baker and Hard Core Logo the comic book. Not the book book yet. That could be the next step, actually.
I watched the film and I "identified."
He jots in his notebook, he can put a sentence together, he's got a full head of hair. I am John Oxenberger.
And best of all, the title Hard Core Logo is weirdly magical. 4×4×4 letters, 1×1×2 syllables. Turner makes it look easy.
The book is the next step. Definitely. ¶
2003.11.23 – B.W. Honeycutt, one of the few known invert graphic designers, was asleep at the wheel Ten Years Ago in Spy. You wouldn't believe the errors of small capitals and the neutral apostrophes.
And also: What does hoity-toity arriviste doorstopper Avenue have in common with Spy? Hint: It rhymes with "advertorial." ¶
2003.11.21a – After having gotten captioning right ten years ago in separate products, Apple finally upgraded DVD Player under Panther to display closed captions. Except it doesn't work. ¶
- joeclark
- I work redheads and accessibility into everything I do.
- esteemed-colleague
- ha
- nice to know you're so consistent, dear
- joeclark
- Two-track-minded, shurely?!
- esteemed-colleague
- we'll always have death, taxes, England, and Joe Clark talking about accessibility and redheads
- joeclark
- to look forward to in our dotage.
- esteemed-colleague
- in the Shady Acres Rest Home for Superannuated Online Personalities, yes ¶
2003.11.21b – John d'Addario (no relation):
It's our job to go out there to the Internet and find what we think is interesting and get it all into one place, so people reading us won't have to spend four hours a day finding good porn sites.
Now, who was it who broke this scoop originally? ¶
2003.11.16 – An 8500 and a G4 with, respectively, three and four monitors. Douglas McNutt (no relation):
The G4 is running Jaguar, which I use for development and Web-surfing with Safari.
All important work, E-mail, finances, billing are done on the 8500 where Microbesoft Excel is allowed to run in OS 9.1. The G4 is MS-free, but it does run a bunch of Linux stuff. The picture doesn't show my Intel Linux machine which doesn't have its sole monitor turned on. I telnet to that from the G4.
Oh, yeah. Kit transferred the photos from her Wintel box using FTP into a Mac SE/30 MacOS 7.5.3, which is still my file server for all machines. The Linux box keeps my stock portfolio up to date there too. [...]
The monitors are a paper-saver. I find I can run a CAD program on one for designing electronic circuitry while I display a datasheet for a part as a PDF file on another. I still have room to keep DigiKey's Web page open on a third to check pricing of parts I want to use. And AOL Instant Messenger is running up above along with a window into the SE/30 so I can see when stuff arrives.
And by the way, three of the ones you see are monochrome. That's all one needs for C code and E-mail.
Try that on your commodity Windows box, commoner. ¶
2003.11.14 – To coincide with the publication of my newest contribution to A List Apart, "How to Save Web Accessibility from Itself," it's time to air some grievances, developed over four long years, concerning the Web Accessibility Initiative.
It sounds great on paper. But WAI is a patient that is sick and needs tending.
Since I have been the most conspicuous chronicler of WAI's errors over the last four years, I have standing to criticize. How WAI handles these criticisms will itself be a testimony to its willingness to improve.
So: What is wrong with WAI?
I immediately exempt my pal (he's on my Friendster list) and esteemed colleague MC May Techno Dance Remix from the following criticism. Kynn Bartlett's not so bad on this specific count, either. At least they both run Weblogs.
Nonetheless, WAI's most-frequent contributors never seem to actually surf the Web. They do not understand the real Web as it really exists and is really used by real people. I don't know what WAI does with itself every day, but reading the Web isn't it – except perhaps for W3C position papers, whose appearance they seem to want every site on earth to mimic.
Let's do a comparison of bookmarks. I have 1,954 bookmarks in Mozilla and 127 in Lynx; my old Girl Power iMac has 599 bookmarks in Internet Explorer. Some small number are duplicates, but most are not; a great many (probably the majority) are bookmarked for later reuse or for preservation and are not actively re-visited. Hence, these 2,680 bookmarks must be seen as indicative of my browsing habits rather than a precise measurement.
But 2,680 bookmarks are pretty darned indicative.
Also, like Anil Dash, I maintain a very large history file in all capable browsers. I maxed out Explorer's and have Mozilla's set to 31 days.
Hence I definitely get around the Web. The majority of WAI contributors apparently do not. I have seen next to no evidence at all that WAI's core contributors spend any amount of time at all looking at Web sites – outside of the disability, accessibility, or W3C demimondes, at least. They don't even read the leading sites on standards compliance.
On the various mailing lists, WAI contributors talk vaguely about Web practice X or Web-developer habit Y, but rarely manage to provide actual examples of the phenomenon they're discussing.
The WAI politburo, quite simply, is underinformed and behind the times. They don't know the ways in which compliant sites comply and noncompliant sites fail. As a result, WAI contributors go off half-cocked when they criticize Web-development practices.
That's why I wrote the piece for A List Apart in the first place: There aren't enough people working on WCAG who have definable expertise. You can't even get correct HTML out of them a lot of the time, and I constantly have to remind WAI of what the W3C's own various specs actually say.
The result? Well-meaning but half-arsed non-experts post messages on topics about which they know either nothing or not enough about.
WAI has a politburo – contributors who are on the inside rung and whose every word is taken at face value. Inevitably, this group all have day jobs that let them noodle endlessly on their favoured side topics and malapropisms.
For the rest of the universe, well, there are strata or classes of WAI contributor. Apart from drawing a WAI paycheque, the highest echelon is the W3C "Participant in Good Standing" or PiGS. (See the requirements.)
Did you know the W3C also has a mechanism to revoke your good standing? In fact, to reverse it?
When the Chair and the Team Contact agree, the Chair may declare that a participant is no longer in Good Standing (henceforth called "Bad Standing")... in any of the following circumstances:
- the individual has missed more than one of the last three distributed meetings
- the individual has missed more than one of the last three face-to-face meetings
- the individual has not provided deliverables in a timely fashion twice in sequence
- the individual has not followed the conflict-of-interest policy by disclosing information to the rest of the group
[...] The above criteria may be relaxed if the Chair and Team Contact agree that doing so will not set back the Working Group.
In essence, the W3C has a mechanism for banning its own participants. Or shunning, you might say.
But if you're not deemed in either good or bad standing, where do you sit? In purgatory. You become one of the "Other Contributors to the WCAG," as I am.
This isn't merely an issue of unequal treatment and wounded pride. Participants in Good Standing (PiGS) are automatically entitled to attend face-to-face ("f2f") meetings. Everyone else may attend. (In practice, that means everyone else may attend with no pre-negotiation, but I need special dispensation, as we'll see.)
Any member of the WAI politburo may advance even the most self-contradictory or unworkable proposition for WCAG, and it will immediately be accepted at face value and discussed with a tone of "Good idea! Let's tweak a few details and rush it right through!"
How do they get away with it? They're the WAI politburo. They aren't suspect. Whatever they suggest is correct by definition.
If WAI makes a mistake and you think you've finally managed to set them straight, WAI will just turn around and reiterate the same mistake.
The canonical example here is one WAI contributor's insistence that every single issue of colour discrimination in Web accessibility must be machine-testable. (Some accessibility requirements can be machine-checked, but others cannot be. For some reason, the idea that colour might be in the latter category never occurred to this politburo member.)
In the WCAG Working Group, I am the expert on colour vision even though I have, by my own admission, merely very good layperson's knowledge. More importantly, I have a stack of original research and a line on all the relevant researchers.
Even so, nothing I told WAI's mailing lists about colour discrimination was believed. Nothing. In fact, I was accused of "soliciting" for having linked to my free online book chapter. I had to wait until the Toronto f2f, where the politburo member used a lull in the conversation to try to bait me on the topic. I later presented the full and accurate facts, which came to be broadly accepted at the meeting.
Less than a week afterward, the WCAG Working Group reiterated one of its many untruths about colour.
If I give WAI countervailing facts, they ignore me. They act as though it's a figment of my imagination – even if I can prove it, which I usually can.
WAI is all about being nice to each other and supporting each other and never contradicting each other and certainly never rocking the boat. They all love each other and want above all to stay nice rather than doing better work. WAI privileges niceness over quality.
You can have both, if your team is nice and competent. We could use such a team.
In the interim, I get a lot of criticism for my "tone" on the mailing lists. If you read the entirety of my contributions, you will note a range of tone. But whenever WAI complains about my being just too terribly mean to them, it's because they've put forth some cockamamie idea or other and are permitting it to flourish rather than killing it in its cradle.
If I don't get in there and register opposition, the echo-chamber politburo will act as though it has consensus.
WAI's politburo cannot even see its own entrenched bias toward participants with expense accounts and day jobs.
Check the definitions of Good and Bad Standing. It's all about flying to meetings and talking on the phone for three hours a week.
Participation in a Working Group on an ongoing basis implies a serious commitment to the charter, including... attending most meetings of the Working Group....
A participant may be declared in Bad Standing in any of the following circumstances:
- the individual has missed more than one of the last three distributed meetings
- the individual has missed more than one of the last three face-to-face meetings
The only people who can afford this kind of thing are politburo members with day jobs or some other means of covering the costs of up to 150 hours of long-distance (even overseas) telephone time each year, to say nothing of airfare and accommodation for f2f meetings. In the accessibility field, those people are mostly academics.
Moreover, while WAI has its own IRC channel (
wai-wcag on
irc.w3.org:6665), you adamantly may not participate in the weekly teleconferences by free IRC. Try that and a WAI staffmember will type back "I'm not voicing your comments on IRC. If you want to participate in the teleconference, please call in."
In many respects, WAI members are outright anti-visual. Anything that remotely qualifies as a standards-compliant method of making a site look nice is something they oppose. They'll even mischaracterize such a method if it suits their anti-æsthetic biases.
I am sympathetic to the causes of this failing even as I am unforgiving of the result. Not everyone has taste, which can only sometimes be learned. But one thing that people with no taste, visual sophistication, or knowledge and experience of graphic design can certainly do is keep their opinions to themselves. They don't know enough to judge. I simply don't want to hear the politburo's feelings about the attractiveness of some site or other, because I know what they're really saying is "Attractive sites aren't accessible" or "A site that looks nice really isn't the sort of thing we want to encourage."
As I so very much love to quip, "Some Web designers think 'accessibility' means 'text-only site' and hate the idea, while some accessibility advocates think the same way and love the idea."
The concentric circles of the WAI cosmology can be used as a cudgel to exclude and discipline contributors whom the WAI politburo dislikes. They're much too wishy-washy and obsessed with peaceable coexistence to actually banish someone, even if the W3C regulations make it possible. To do that you'd already have to be PiGS, and the politburo would have kept you out of that cadre anyway. But that doesn't mean WAI isn't too good to give you a rough ride along the way.
The WAI politburo views me as a kind of unexploded atom bomb. In part it's because they are or claim to be aghast that I am so very stern and direct with them on the mailing lists. I certainly don't apologize for that, in part because I'm not always that way, as the record will show.
Interestingly enough, the week before the Toronto f2f (on 2003.09.05 13:39, my notes say), my telephone rang. On the other end was an important organizer of the Web Accessibility Initiative, who said the following:
"I just wanted to talk with you more about the meeting.... I just want us to agree that if you start to get abusive in the meeting, I'm going to ask you to stop, and if you continue to be abusive, I might have to ask you to leave."
Have you had the same conversation with the other attendees? "I don't think I have to have the same conversation with the other attendees," the organizer replied.
The organizer then gave me quite a shock by naming a giant of the accessibility field whom the organizer consulted and who told the organizer – in the organizer's words – "that it often is a good idea to have a conversation with you beforehand to set up what is expected." The organizer also talked to another WAI source about me, the details of which, the organizer said, "I don't think I have to share."
I told the organizer I wouldn't agree to abide by any rules that everyone didn't have to abide by, and that announcing the rules at the beginning of the meeting, without singling out any attendees, would be a fair and equitable approach.
The organizer agreed to that.
I explained my WAI maxim to the organizer: Treat me like a problem and that's what you'll get. Treat me like an expert with a personality and a sense of humour and you'll get expertise delivered with personality and humour.
We then had a perfectly nice conversation about the meeting topic (HTML techniques for WCAG), the agenda, multimedia, and a few related issues.
Now, what happened at the actual f2f? A mere six of us attended, and I was the only one who showed up with presentations – 4,300 words of them. It was tremendously enjoyable, if grueling. Luncheons were quite fun. I was far and away the funniest, most charming, best-informed, most technically adept, and of course best-dressed person there. It was a flat-out love-in. It was great. I would f2f these people again anytime!
There was, quite simply, nothing to have worried about. I may sometimes be a bitch in E-mail, but I'm a pussy in person. And in fact, the only admonition delivered to the meeting – really, it was obvious that no admonition was necessary – was as follows: "We'll try to have a good meeting and hear everybody's opinion." We did and we did.
Heck, I even took two of the attendees out to a MoPix Movie Night. Some bitch I must be.
Because accessibility is important and Web accessibility is very important even within that field. The source for nonpartisan, internationally-recognized Web-accessibility standards is the WAI WCAG. Some governments require that WAI standards be followed. Even some competing standards, such as U.S. Section 508 regulations, are essentially a rewritten WCAG.
And we're not talking about the guidelines as the result we're looking for. We want actual accessibility, that is, the guidelines put into practice. Improper, inadequate, or flat-out crappy guidelines will cause hardship for people with disabilities.
But if accessibility is the outcome of the guidelines, we need everyone with expertise to work on the guidelines. We also need the quality of the ideas presented to be accurately assessed – especially if that means calling improper, inadequate, or flat-out crappy guidelines improper, inadequate, or flat-out crappy. WAI has an obligation to act smarter – and to stop pretending that being nice is more important than doing good work.
My advice remains the same: Write better guidelines.
And my catchphrase also remains the same: We've upped our standards. Up yours.
Don't believe me?
Think I'm underplaying my own malfeasance in WAI?
Fact-check my arse. Read the mailing-list postings. (Search in each page for clark.) ¶
|WAI-IG (latest)
|WAI-GL (latest)
2003.11.10 23:43 – I was at Yonge & Eg coming out of the MoPix Movie Night (Love, Actually), and I told my lads it was just too convenient: I had to walk a couple of blocks north to the Capitol to see the John Tory campaign "party."
On the way up, a guy in power chair very ostentatiously takes all the time occupied by passing me and asks "You wouldn't by any chance know who won the mayoral election?" "Nope," I told him. A moment later and a block further, an unhappy man in an uninspired but adequate suit walked by. "A gloomy businessman," I thought. "That's a good sign." (It was more meta than that. I pre-logged. I thought " 'A gloomy businessman,' I thought. 'That's a good sign.' ") Then a gloomy Boomer.
Up at the joint, three cops stood around bored. (At dinner before the movie, four full horse trailers driven by police pickups and a van cascaded by – easily 17 horses. I wondered if they were preparing for a neo–Queen's Park riot.) Well-dressed patrons milled desultorily about, mostly smoking fags. "Good news or bad?" I asked whomever I could pigeonhole, noting a guy with a film camera backing very slowly out the door a few paces away.
"Bad," said the man. "40,000 votes," said a Boomer with a fag. "What's that in percentage terms?" "I dunno," said the first man as more people filed out. "Is it more than 7%? That was the spread on the weekend." "It was about 7%," said the fag-smoking Boomer. "It was in line with the polls."
"Now, if this were a real democracy like Australia," I said to the Boomer, getting up close, "voting would be compulsory." "Ahhh," he said, and a flash popped. Out walked John Tory, the epitome of downcast and defeated, saying "No, I can talk about that later" to nobody in particular. He held hands with his wife in a way that immediately imparted the bulwarking and shoring-up that couples give each other.
I was in the shooter's way, so I took my leave. I momentarily thought I should be a better journo and stick around, but Tory was already on the bus. I crossed the street and shortly a young woman in an excellent peppy ensemble carrying a very horizontal gift asked "Do you know who won the municipal election?" "Miller," I replied reportorially, and she stopped dead in a smile and a gasp.
At the next corner, the Tory bus, impotently plastered with 400 NEW POLICE OFFICERS and the like, cleared the green light. I waved bye-bye in the girliest manner I could.
Welcome to the state of Toronto, Mark Wickens. Will you finally be moving away now? I will personally pony up for your limo ride to the airport. ¶
2003.11.09a – Tall heterosexualist writer Ryan Bigge (no relation) wrote a feature article for the homosexualist rag Fab purporting to explore the linkage between veganism and S&M.
As if there were one.
My letter to the editor, published in the current emission of that organ:
I just love it when a gay magazine hires a straight carnivore to cover the alleged incompatibility of veganism and S&M. I would say he rather lacks standing. The entire article played vegans for a laugh. I mean, whatever could be wrong with eating meat? It's as natural as fucking the opposite sex!
Central to the vegan philosophy is a refusal to eat animals because doing so hurts them, a pain to which they cannot consent. (Bigge's source Eric Ward is quoted as saying almost as much.) Now, the last time I checked, humans of sound mind were indeed able to consent to pain. That effectively removes S&M from the entire issue of veganism, doesn't it?
Quickie question: If Doc Martens have been available in non-leather form only since the year 2000, how is it that my vegan Docs (black and cherry pairs) have been admired by the demimondaines at the Toolbox, the Eagle, and their ilk since 1998? Perhaps Dr. Martens has a nouvelle formulation. ¶
2003.11.09b – For inchoate reasons, I do not name my paramours on this site, except indirectly where necessary or if they are dead. (You may locate your own examples.)
I now begin to be concerned that one of them is dead.
I had something vaguely resembling a "relationship" with the photographer Raoul Josset for more than two years. He parted not at all amicably, but it didn't bother me particularly much. (He'd already left once before and it hadn't bothered me particularly much then, either.) Over a year later, though, his Web site fails to work and has been scooped up by a domain reseller; he has not been seen in the hood, at bars, or (according to sources) anywhere else; I have seen no published photos of his, and his name has disappeared from relevant mastheads; and his shoephone was answered by a shifty-sounding playa who claimed it was Raoul's phone even while children howled in the background. (The kind of playa who will go along with whatever you say in the hopes you give him enough rope to cheat you. Does Bell Mobility turn over its disused phone numbers quite that quickly?)
Possibilities, then, would seem to be:
Anyone with information – definitive or not – is asked to contact me. This is for real. And all I am indeed looking for is information: Nobody get their hopes up. ¶
2003.11.09c – I understand the utility of anonymous Weblogs. The most famous of all is Dear_Raed; Salam Pax even got his own book contract. (And he's not so anonymous after all, having been beautifully and enigmatically photographed.) A vaguely "professional" Weblog I follow whose author(ess) is not known by name is CodeBitch.
I do not understand the utility of seminominal Weblogs, in which the author:
South of Bloor (Jeremy what's-his-name – here's his Friendster profile) and Toddo (Friendster) are two such examples. I suspect, pace Oblomovka, these authors misunderstand the concept of public as it applies to Weblogs.
But these are heavily-indulged invert Webloggers – Jeremy because he is conventionally attractive, Todd because he claims to be ever more muscular ("32w, 15a, 43c") – so whatever they do is indeed indulged. (Seeming conventionally nice is another important quality that makes them beloved. One of them can actually write, too.) My prediction holds that this tiny Weblog posting will be excoriated from here to queendom come.
I'd be perfectly happy to be given a coherent, defensible philosophical argument justifying these authors' semisecrecy. Such an argument would have to definitively answer the question "Yeah, but whom do you think you're fooling?" ¶
2003.11.11 – Our dear friend Toddo (emphasis added) puts the barbell down long enough to write:
and I got dissed recently by an old bitter queen. wins though, because the diatribe resulted in two hits to his Weblog and none to mine. Bitter queens apparently draw as large an audience as PBS these days
...where Toddo works. Pot calling the kettle beige, dear?
Toddo needs to check his referrer logs a tad more carefully, and in any event, I don't control my visitors' link selections. But most of all, I deny being bitter or old, and meanwhile, Toddo's still in the closet, going so far as to pull down his Friendster page. Who's really doing better? ¶
Todd Mundt declares the following:
That's the last time I write a piece about something and then pass it on to my boyfriend. He doesn't read this website, nor should he.
Todd believes his boyfriend should not read his public Web site.
Does he believe anyone should? Does he understand the entire concept of public? You'd think he would, being a TV and radio star and operator of multiple Weblogs.
The closet is an irrational place, and Todd Mundt lives there. ¶
2003.11.09d – My esteemed colleague and I were watching the deplorable homosexualist trifle entitled Trick on television last week. We both work in visual fields (despite the fact that a component of one of my fields is blindness, merely one of my many delicious ironies) and we are both all too hideously aware of the truth of the stereotype that men are more readily visually aroused than wymmynz. It is true in our cases.
We are quite accustomed to summing up a fellow on sight, also to lavish repeated re-perusals of cherished photographs. (They don't even have to be actual porn!) The body at rest is a spectacle whose effect on the visual cortex and associated libido we understand.
We could not, absolutely could not understand what was happening while we watched perhaps-appropriately-underemployed Colombian-Hungarian-Romanian-American "thespian" John Paul Pitoc, who portrays a go-go boy in the trifle. (So help me, the last go-go boy I knew was a straight guy who's now a snowboard instructor!)
What killed us was the movement. Pitoc was about as aptly cast as a go-go dancer in Trick as John Malkvoich was in Being John Malkovich. Even with hideously inappropriate direction (anticipating Chicago's inability to depict the full body in motion), the whole package of face, body, and movement was like a singularity ripped out of the space–time continuum. I get those with the occasional redhead who walks by. The motion of walking does not contribute, though.
If Pitoc were less handsome (I like the complexion, the Dumbo ears, the nose, the whole megillah) but moved the same way, it wouldn't work. The body at rest or equivalent to it is still a component. But we could not understand why his looks plus his movement were knocking us dead.
And all this is true even with the dozens of dance films I have viewed. (I was a regular attendee at Moving Pictures, for example. I saw DV8 live twice.) It is a genre I understand. But I never saw anything like this before – in a trifle, no less.
My esteemed colleague watched the trifle with a chromosomal female.
- esteemed-colleague
- he speaks with his body rather than his face
- joeclark
- and the eyes and Dumbo ears.
- what is the magical thing about J.P. Pitoc? and how soon is he gonna lose it?
- esteemed-colleague
- his movement
- esteemed-colleague
- like you said, he can dance
- joeclark
- also that particular too-short T-shirt with the very wide neck.
- esteemed-colleague
- and how perfect he looked in briefs
- perhaps his awkward features make him more accessible
- joeclark
- I promise you we homosexualists react to appearances like that in an way nobody else does.
- esteemed-colleague
- [...] once you pick him apart, the magic goes
- joeclark
- no.
- I look at him and in every second see something new and rapturous.
- esteemed-colleague
- he oozes sex with an open posture.
- couldn't see the whole machine
- joeclark
- a perfect encapsulation. ¶
"How graceful your movements, how bitter your scorn. I've been a teenager since before you were born – and I'm younger than some. I've only begun."
2003.11.09e – How hard is it to find strings of LED Xmas lights in the sole morally-correct colour, all-blue?
Also: You can spend US$159 on an LED flashlight. Obviously I want to now! ¶
2003.11.05a – With the permission of Jeff Hutchins, I am hosting a transcript and a set of documents from the Caption Quality Initiative conference in September 2002. You can read about the conference and its history, and plow through the 50,000-word transcript recovered from the real-time captions of that day. ¶
2003.11.05b – Emma Jane had the capital idea to bring the Webstandards.TO kidz down to the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre at UofT (whom I indirectly work with, but not for) to enjoy a demonstration of their massive range of adaptive technology. I arrived moments late to find nine other people there – more than ever turned out to our regular monthly meetings.
The ATRC Workspace is quite pleasant as fluorescent-lit work environments go, with its distinctive tufted lamé wall treatment. We were ushered into the other room for an extensive presentation of Jaws 4.51 (running in demo mode for some reason), ZoomText (a screen magnifier), and Kurzweil 1000 and 3000, programs that scan print and read text aloud with highlighting. We looked at hardware and software keyboards, where the demonstration was not really extensive enough. Lots of questions and answers, and several people in the room had expertise. Toronto is an hotspot, it seems. We spent the last half-hour of our session tooling around, more or less dysfluently, on the various equipment.
But everyone – absolutely everyone, including those with expertise – learned a ton. In particular we learned just how difficult to use Jaws is, even given the fact we were rank amateurs. I knew this from experience and reputation, but now I really know it. I have bumped up the importance of buying a Windows laptop (actually, a desktop might be better, assuming it has an LCD with ClearType) to run the damned thing. Apple can and must do better.
What else happened?
MSN.ca, with, Jaws told us, 178 links and a single header.
We retired to Boulangerie de l'avenir for some extensive swearing and shop talk. I always wonder about that: I would prefer not to talk shop. The shop we are talking is based around a communications medium, namely E-mail. Shouldn't we use that to talk shop instead?
En tout cas, nobody from this group I formed called me a snob or told me everyone has a limited tolerance of me, and I suppose I should consider that an improvement. When Langstroþ, seated right next to me on the couch and unusually well-dressed for a presumptive heterosexualist, wandered back from the bar bearing nauseatingly aromatic chicken wings, it was time to be off.
On the subway, three people got into an argument, and after five uninterrupted minutes with no de-escalation in sight, I hit the passenger alarm. Two of the three got off, and we eventually resumed. I knew the Woman's Intuition was telling me to take the eetcarstray.
See you next month in Rosedale. ¶
2003.11.03a – When we last checked up on young Alex Dimitriades, the very-nicest-looking Australian actor, he had signed up for some escapade called Let's Get Skase. Let us indeed not.
I infiltrated dimitriadesism into my book, actually. Check the screenshot on page 308, also available onliné. Why, yes, that is the lovely and talented Alex Dimitriades talking into his cufflink. Or at least his evocative stubble and teeth.
(In an ultra-ironic twist, Marc accused me of including a screenshot from The Bourne Identity because Matt Damon was in it. Why, no, sir! It was for Franka Potente!)
At a three-for-$45 sale, one gave in and bought what is obviously the worst film with good intentions in recent Australian history, a "sci-fi" "thriller" unparsably entitled Subterano. (I consistently read it as Subterraneo.) Whilst watching it, I kept thinking two things:
Mofo looks great in a suit, even better in a postmodern pullover with a collar of Borg-calibre complexity. Gah.
And of course he was in Head On. He was Head On. It is a sacred text. I doubt I could bear to watch it again. Among other reasons, talking about the film was the icebreaker with the third man I ever loved. Only the third, in fact. ¶
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- Does it actually rain, or is it merely wet?
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- the atmosphere sort of drools ¶
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