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ARGH! LiveJournal was down when I finished this last night. Had to wait until this morning to post. My apologies.
I am still in SPN-love overdrive.
*is bouncing*
Can I just say? I've never been happier to lose a bet in my life.
*tips pint to Amy Blair*
Last week I had a bit of an epiphany. I realized that by taking these rambles as seriously as I had been, I was leeching the enjoyment of the actual show from myself. I worried about how people would react to this phrase or that scene, about what people might say to the personal aspects of the review… it was, in a word, silly.
So, this week, I watched with enjoyment of a story well-told and expertly paced, with anticipation for the next move, and with complete appreciation for the unbygodbelievablly good-looking actors we get to watch every. Single. Week.
Good Lord.
With that? Let's ramble on…
Croatoan is back! The Colt is back! As a side note? Microsoft Word doesn't recognize "Croatoan." Wants to change it to "Croatian." I find that hilarious for no good reason.
I remember watching an interview with Kripke once upon a time where he stated that the show was, at its base, about family. And family can turn you inside out and backwards faster than you can blink. They are your last line of defense, your first enemy, your only friend. Family knows all your buttons and just the right order to push them. Family can curse you, save you, betray you, protect you, and if you're really lucky, love you completely without the necessity of complete understanding.
Ironically, this show—this show about the impossible or the unbelievable or the please don't be real—has taught me a big lesson about family. A lesson I, mistakenly, thought I already knew. Sometimes it feels good to be wrong.
I love—love—the journey we've taken in just four episodes. We spent a year watching our heroes be slowly torn asunder, and so far they've hit bottom, parted ways, and reunited and it's been a freakin' rush to watch.
*takes deep breath* I'm so bouncy right now it's ridiculous.
So, Dean pulls up to a hotel, Impala rumbling nicely, and there's a street preacher trying to prep souls for the Rapture. When he catches Dean's attention, he eyes him a bit too long and I instantly think "demon."
Do you think it's bad that everyone in the show that gives me a hinky vibe I'm all "DEMON! DEMON!" What have they done to me?
Anyway, Dean is in the motel—conveniently with a kitchenette—talking to Cas on a cell phone. These Enochian sigils sure make for some interesting angel/human conversations. Dean says that talking to an angel on a cell phone is, "Like watching a Hells Angel ride a moped."
"Not funny – says I'm almost out of minutes." Cas is panicking. It shouldn't be funny, but it totally is. Anyway, Cas says that if Dean is hell-bent (no pun intended) on killing Lucifer, that he needs to find the Colt. It's the way to go. *nods* Okay, sure. It is, after all, The Gun That Can Kill Anything.
Which… makes me wonder… who the hell was Samuel Colt anyway? If he made a gun that can kill LUCIFER?? Holy. Crap. Did he pull a Daniel Webster or something? Only with God? That's… interesting.
Dean thinks demons have melted gun by now. But Cas says no. And then? Did ya'll hear my squee? Dean was in KANSAS CITY!! *laughs* Can't believe I'm going to say this, but he should probably stop coming back to Kansas altogether since the last two times he's been plucked from the here and now and transported forwards and backwards in time.
Cas is like, "I'll be right there." And Dean has to remind him that he's human and he just drove 16 hours and needs to do stuff… like eat and sleep. And because I'm a geek, I hear "driving 16 hours" and Turn the Page pops into my head. "You don't feel much like riding… you just wish the day were through."
Dean tells Cas to give him at least four hours. Cas says he will just… wait here then. And there he stands. Right there. *giggle* Sorry, but poor Cas being Cas totally had me laughing.
Dean's cell buzzes. "Dammit, Cas, I need to sleep."
But it isn't Cas. It's Sam. And Dean's sleepy vocalization of his brother's name had me all mushy. I instantly wondered if this was the first time he'd heard from Sam since the picnic table. And how much time had passed. Days? Weeks? Dean gets a beer, sounding very matter of fact about the information that Sam is to be Lucifer's vessel. "Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in."
Sam's all, "That's it?"
Dean's numb to the earth-shattering revelations. Which, y'know, after a few of these, you'd really have to start simply accepting. I've learned that human beings can get used to almost anything.
Sam says he wants back in. He's sick of being a puppet. As a side note, he's driving. He's not at the bar, and for that I'm grateful. I didn't want him to stay put after Lucifer found him in his dreams. Dreams are close enough. Get movin', Sammy.
Dean's like, we're back to revenge? His face is carefully blank, unwilling to allow even the smallest trace of reaction slip under his words as he speaks. Sam says no, it's not revenge. It's redemption. Sam wants to prove it to Dean.
Dean looks pained. He closes his eyes and the small laugh lines around the edges deepen as he pulls his brows together. His lips tremble and he presses them together quickly just before he forces his next words out. "It doesn't matter, whatever we do. We should just pick a hemisphere and stay away from each other."
Dean says that they're not stronger when they're together, they're weaker. Whatever they have – love, family – they are always going to use it against them. I wanted to grab him, shake him, remind him of how desperately he'd wanted his family to stay together, how he'd said virtually the opposite words to his father four years ago.
And then it hit me. He'd said virtually the opposite words to his father. And John died. For Dean. And Sam died. And Dean sold his soul for Sam. And he went to Hell. And keeping his family together—the one thing he'd always wanted—was the one thing that brought his world—the world—crashing down around is ears.
I know you all will have so much more to say and with a lot more coherence, but at this hour with the episode still ringing in my ears, all I can think is that Dean is running scared from the one thing he always thought he wanted. And if that's not the devil at work, I don't know what is.
With his voice trembling, Dean says they're better off apart. That they have a better chance of dodging the bullets if they just go their own ways.
Looking as if he's about to cry, Sam pleads, "Dean don't do this."
Dean says goodbye and hangs up.
Next thing you know, the old alarm clock is cracked, broken, and Dean, dressed in that blue denim shirt that I love—2nd only to the gray T-shirt from Hookman—is waking. Only… he's been sleeping on bedsprings. In a destroyed, burned-out motel room. He gets up, looking around, completely confused, and peers out through the window at Kansas City circa 28 Days Later.
He walks out of the ruined hotel—weaponless—and starts to wander the streets. It's silent. Everything is burned, broken, destroyed. There is graffiti on the walls, cars overturned, and no people. None.
I'm waiting for a car alarm to scare me to death.
He hears breaking glass and see's a little girl crouching in the middle of the street. His voice gets soft and friendly as he's trying to get her to talk to him. She flips out, showing him her vacant-yet-insane-Zombie eyes and slashes at him with a piece of glass. He cries out and flinches as if she's cut his side. After he knocks her out, he looks at his side again.
Dear CW. Please unclench and allow realistic blood to grace our heroes—especially after battle. Thank you.
I'm sure it's the fanfic writer in me, or perhaps the sickness that got me into writing fanfiction in the first place, but is it too much to ask for some blood in the water? He's cut with glass and then we never see or hear anything of the wound again. He's cracked over the head and his pretty face is unmarked. In the premiere, the Vin Diesel Demon beat the ever-lovin' crap outta him and we saw nary a bruise or bloody lip.
Seriously! Okay. That's all. I'm done. Promise.
Just as he turns from his (apparently Buffy-like, fast-healing) wound, he sees "CROATOAN" spray-painted on a wall and utters a "Oh, crap" right along with me. I am loving how each little thread of the story we've been seeing for all this time is starting to reveal its significance. And… maybe I have an answer to something that has been bugging the crap out of me.
That "it had to be you, Sam, it always had to be you" line that I'm starting to hate? Perhaps its origins weren't as far back as we thought. Perhaps it came from Season 2. Thinking aloud here for a moment. Sam was just one of a crop of Special Kids who were all tested in one way or another. But Sam was exposed to the Croatoan virus and was unaffected. Maybe that's why it had to be him.
Then again… why wasn't he affected? Why was he a SUPER-Special Kid? Okay, so, yeah, it probably does go back further. And I can't think on it too much tonight. Talk amongst yourselves and get back to me.
Back in Bizarro Kansas City, a group of Croatoan-zombies come around the corner and Dean high-tails it through burned-out KC (which isn't such a leap of imagination for some parts of KC) and is trapped by a chain-linked fence. He looks really good running. I love what they decided to do with the color. 2009Dean in the denim blue really stands out from the grayed-out future people. His skin looks thicker, darker, more alive. He just beats life while everyone else looks like they are just waiting to die.
Anyway, some Army dudes come around the corner and start shooting up Zombies to the tune of "Do you Love Me." Baby never saw this kind of Dirty Dancing. Dean sneaks away under the cover of gunfire and runs into the night, slipping through another fence and seeing a sign marking it a "hot zone" as of August 1, 2014.
I was instantly reminded of Dark Angel's "Terminal City" boundary markers. Wonder if Jensen was as well. Thanks to agentspookey I saw some of the Vancouver panels and heard that they filmed this episode on the Watchmen set. Now that's cool.
Dean manages to find a car that still has four wheels and an engine and heads…away. Zach shows up in passenger seat and scares him to death. He's casually reading the paper. This angel's arrogance should be enough to banish him from the pearly gates. I mean, seriously. When Cas sent Dean to the past, he was almost apologetic about it, sorry for the pain that Dean would have to witness—knowing that he wouldn't be able to change anything.
But Zach? He's all, oh, you're so gonna learn your lesson. I am the great and powerful Zach! *Gaelic growls* He irritates me. Greatly.
So… Palin is president. Must be the apocalypse. It's crazy how sly the writers are about inserting their political slants into the different aspects of the show. And, Irish, I'm sorry, but I didn't see who wrote this one. If I had to guess—based on dialog—I'd say Jeremy Carver was their Republican and whoever wrote this? Democrat all the way.
Anyway, there are no more sports, no more right to assembly because of the Croatoan virus. "Bible freaks" are now working for angels. To sum up, Zach says Dean has to have 3 days in the future to convince him to say yes to Michael. "This is what happens to the world if you continue to say no."
And he's off like a prom dress. Hey, prom dresses seemed to be a theme.
Dean heads to Bobby's… but, there's no Bobby—just a tipped-over wheelchair with bloody bullet holes. A few months ago, I wrote a zine story called "Blue Collar Man." It was about Bobby, told mostly from his perspective. It was written before the end of Season 4 and included some speculations I have/had about Bobby's fate. With the talk of Sam's redemption and finding that empty wheelchair… I couldn't help but be reminded. Also? The condition of the house looked like Bobby's death hadn't been long before. So, he's still in a wheelchair five years later, huh? *is sad*
Dean heads to a super-secret fireplace stash place for John's journal. At least I'm assuming it was John's journal. It could have been Bobby's, but I'm pretty sure it was John's. Feel free to correct me. In it, toward the end, Dean finds pic of guys with guns (including Cas) at Camp Chitakwa. I think the insinuation that they've continued John's journal is fabulous. It's apparently a practice so ingrained Dean knew that Bobby would have kept it up. Nice touch.
Dean heads to the camp, see's the Impala—or what's left of her—through the fence. Can I just be very shallow for a moment and say that hearing him say the word baby turns me to jelly? "Baby, no!" "What have they done to you, baby?" Before he can get an answer, he's knocked out by… himself. Ouch.
And futureDean? Looks BAD. ASS. He holds his mouth with pursed lips like Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese. Very life has lost all meaning other than fighting, surviving, and the mission. It's disturbing and attractive at the same time.
2009Dean wakes up cuffed and suddenly it's Dean V Dean and OMG I pretty much went into ovary overdrive. 2014Dean eliminates all the supernatural stuff and reveals that, "You had every hidden lock pick box cutter, and switchblade that I carry…" 2009Dean tells him it's 'cause of Zach, which gets 2014Dea,n's attention. He wants to know where Zach is, but of course ourDean doesn't exactly know.
To prove he's him, ourDean tells futureDean about Rhonda Hurley when they were 19. She made him try on her pink satiny panties and… he kinda liked it. Touche! The smirk they shared? Good God, people. Jensen had to be exhausted after filming this episode. He knocked both performances out of the park.
I mean, we thought ourDean was jaded? Rough around the edges? Broken and twisted? So much darker and lost since Season 1? Dude, he didn't have anything on his future self. FutureDean was hollow. He used people as pawns in a deadly chess game, detached himself from humanity. His eyes were colder, his face tighter, his jaw harder.
The performance was down to the voices. It was like watching Christian Bale play both Bruce Wayne and Batman—unmasked—at the same time in the same room. FutureDean's voice was almost an octave deeper, gravely, like it had been damaged. His sentences were clipped, his words rough. He barked rather than actually spoke. The five years, the fighting, the destruction, the loss… it had changed him until the only thing that was really recognizable as Dean were his obvious good looks, his affect on women, and his ease with weapons.
Looking at ourDean, I almost saw innocence return. I saw him still believe—in the possibility of something. He held on to his cocky wit, his raised eyebrow sarcasm, his thank you Captain Obvious observations. He was… refreshing.
It was a phenomenal, applause-worthy, get-me-bouncy performance.
Where was I? Oh, right. Dean V Dean. 2009Dean asks about Sam and futureDean tells him that there was a big showdown in Detroit and Sam didn't make it. OurDean is shocked that he wasn't there when it happened… that he never went to go look for Sam… that they haven't talked in about 5 years. The fact that futureDean is so passive about this loss, about this rendering of souls visibly guts ourDean.
And this is when I started bouncing. Because, after all, it's about family. And I knew that hanging on for the ride was going to pay off in spades.
FutureDean has to run an errand and leaves ourDean cuffed.
"You don't trust yourself?" HA! Oh, my, what a field day Freud would have with Dean(s).
Dean calls himself a dick. Heh. Then digs a nail from the floor to pick the cuffs. Ouch. Guess futureDean took all of his paperclips, too. As he exits the room where he was held, he runs into Chuck (nice to see him around). Apparently Chuck isn't a prophet anymore or he would have probably seen this coming. Or not… if Zach's just messing with time. But, I suppose, if the angels have left, there's nothing "helping" Chuck to "see" anymore.
Dean is "jumped" by Reesa and hides behind Chuck because, apparently, he (or, rather futurehe) spent the night in Jane's cabin last night. As Reesa storms off, disgruntled about their apparently lost "connection," Dean grumbles that he's getting busted for stuff he hasn't even done yet, then goes to find Cas.
Who… is talking a group of laydeez through an orgy. I know it's completely irreverent, but I have to laugh. Stoned, scruffy, why-don't-we-get-drunk-and-screw Cas is adorably hilarious. And exactly what I was worried about with the whole "angel in a whorehouse" issue from last episode.
I wasn't being prudish with my worry. I wasn't attempting to sit in judgment of a "sin." I was simply worried about the loss of power an angel would experience the more human he became. And having one more human on their side, really, isn't going to make much of a difference in the long run. But! Having an angel on their side will! So, Cas needs to not fall. That's all I was trying to say.
'Cause fallen, human, mojo-less Cas is generally stoned and takes months to heal. Not good.
While ourDean is with a very giggly Cas, futureDean returns from mission and ends up killing one of his men (who was apparently infected) right in front of ourDean and a couple of his own men. OurDean is shocked by futurehis actions, while the other people are looking at the younger version of their "fearless leader" with pure WTF expressions.
Sounding very much like himself for a moment, futureDean says, "Dammit," then, "Me and him? Pretty messed up situation. When you need to know something you will know it."
Hello, John Winchester.
And we have ourselves an angry face off back inside of a cabin-type place. OurDean can't believe futureDean's actions and tries to call him on it, feeling, no doubt, that he was watching himself do things he'd never in a million years imagine himself doing. Not even after 40 years of torture and torturing in Hell. Not even after all he'd lost. OurDean would never have killed a man in cold blood (as he saw it).
"Pluggin' some Croat is commonplace. Trading words with my clone might've freaked 'em out a little."
FutureDean pours them a drink and shows him the Colt. He'd apparently been tracking it for five years—the demons kept moving it around. Okay, let's assume that's true, that the demons have it and are moving it around so that hunters can't find it. That would insinuate that it does have some significance—or perhaps that it can't be destroyed. Because why in the world would they keep The Gun That Can Kill Anything (if you're close enough) around?? I'll be watching for that explanation in the show (or elsewhere).
FutureDean says he's going to use the Colt to kill the devil tonight. And I love how he bites his lip right after he takes a sip of whiskey. Good Freakin' God.
Future Dean calls a meeting with ourDean, Cas, and Reesa and is called out on his womanly dalliances. Whoops. Turns out, also? FutureDean tortured a demon to get the intel on where Lucifer is. OurDean sarcastically mutters, "Classic" and Cas giggles, earning a stony glare from futureDean.
"What? I like past you."
Lucifer is holed up in the middle of a hot zone. Cas thinks it's reckless. Or insouciant. Either way, unwise. FutureDean is like, too damn bad, this is going down tonight. Everyone goes out to get "loaded and on the road by midnight." OurDean demands to know what's really going on—why he's going ('cause if he gets killed, it's lights out for futureDean) and future Dean lays it down for him.
Sam didn't die in Detroit. He said Yes. To Lucifer. OurDean looks utterly destroyed by this information.
FutureDean wants his past self to see it. To really see how bad it can get. That a ruined planet and millions dead or infected isn't really, truly bad. It's seeing the epitome of all evil wearing your brother. It's seeing Sam's face and not Sam's eyes. It's knowing you failed in your one job.
FutureDean BEGS ourDean to go back to his time and say yes to Michael. That he's tried but the angels all left and aren't listening anymore. Says if he could do it all over again he would. He looks desperate. Sounds desperate. And ourDean is affected by it. He swallows rapidly, tights his lips, says there has to be another way. His eyes hold a shell-shocked expression at the knowledge that while Sam may not have actually been killed, he's still dead and worse, he gave in. And Dean wasn't there to stop it. FutureDean says all of this would never be if Dean would only say yes.
But he knows Dean won't because that's not what they do.
"I was wrong." FutureDean's voice is infused with regret and sorrow and the desperation of someone who realizes that nothing they do or say is going to make a damn bit of difference.
*Gaelic dies from doubleDean angst overload*
As they're all heading out, Chuck gives 2009Dean a piece of advice—HOARD toilet paper. BWAH!!!! OMG, I hope they never get rid of Chuck. I love that nervous little guy.
In a car (or maybe a truck?) Cas and ourDean have a heart to heart about his being human and Cas says he used to belong to a much better club and is now powerless… Why not bury himself in women and decadence…
"That's just how I roll." Hmmm… So, I think the purpose of this little conversation was twofold: to show us how very, very, very much we want Cas to stay an angel, and to give Dean one more inkling that he could do so much more good with an angel inside of him than he could as just a lowly, little human. Like the first, hate the second, but both are useful in their own right.
As the group is walking down the street in the hotzone, I am struck once again by the utter bad assness of futureDean. Yowza. OurDean follows the group (still weaponless?? WTH, at least give him a pistol!) looking full of color and wary. As they crouch undercover before infiltrating the building, ourDean calls the other Dean over for a quick chat.
He wants to know why he's lying—that he knows his lying tells, he sees them in the mirror every day… ooo, ouch—and he finds out that futureDean is ready to sacrifice his friends and Cas to a meatgrinder so that they can go through the back and get the jump on LuciferSam. He knows it's a trap. But he doesn't care. The "greater good" has taken over all meaning and futureDean has lost his compass on what does and should truly matter. OurDean says he's not going to let him do it and futureDean clocks him, knocking him cold. Damn. Shoulda seen that one coming.
OurDean wakes in time to see firefight through windows of the brick building and goes around back to see futureDean on the ground, a white foot at his neck, and CRACK. FutureDean is dead.
Camera pans up, and it's Sam's face. He turns. "Oh, hello Dean."
LuciferSam is dressed like Boss Hogg. Seriously. Minus the ginormous white hat. He's all in white and the shoes? The shoes are dreadful. But, I digress. It is the devil after all. Can't expect him to have taste. Only… I seem to remember an episode of Smallville—back when I watched it… y'know, before they killed off Jason Teague in such a ridiculous manner and then went to Bizarro World—where Lex Lucifer saw himself as ruler of the world, standing on a bloody field of skulls, dressed all in white. I bet his shoes were dreadful, too.
Dean's is a study in horror, terror, disgust, regret, and sorrow as he stares at the thing inhabiting his brother's body. He opens his arms, telling Lucifer to just kill him.
LuciferSam is all, "Why would I want to kill you?" He gets all soft voice and reaches out to lay a gentle hand on Dean's shoulder (which Dean flinches away) then tells Dean it had to be your brother.
STOP SAYING THAT. Make them stop saying that without a viable reason. If it had to be Sam because of the Croatoan virus, I can accept that. But if it's more than that, they'd better tell us before it's all said and done or I'm going to be very put out.
LuciferSam starts to talk about why he was banished—that he loved God over everything and then God had to go and make us hairless apes and commanded the angels to love us and Lucy just couldn't do that. Serious Daddy issues here. The first time he told it? To Nick? I actual did have some sympathy for the devil. This time, I just felt sick. To hear the contempt in his voice—the utter disregard Lucifer has for humans—and then to be asked if the punishment fit the crime? Hell yeah!
Thing is, it's not any different for us. I was taught that God cannot abide sin. He simply cannot be around it, period, because he is perfect. Hell, therefore, is simply eternal separation from God. From all things good. If we sin without forgiveness, we go to Hell. And sinning includes breaking a commandment. Lucifer was commanded to love humans. To protect us. To guard us. And he broke it.
So, quit crying about it and accept your punishment or ask forgiveness. All this "I am so misunderstood" crap is just digging a deeper hole into the depths of Hell.
Dean listens to his brother's voice speaking the words of a snake, his chin trembling, his eyes pooling with tears. He has three-day scruff framing his jaw (NICE touch, that) and his whole body is taut. Having to watch Sam's face, hear Sam's voice—not even black, red, or yellow eyes to help the situation. LuciferSam actually looks like Sam. Like Sam did when he fought Dean in Levee. Like Sam did just before he stepped through the door, leaving Dean gasping and bleeding on the floor. And it had to break Dean's heart.
LuciferSam wraps up his "please understand me" story with a, "Look what 6 million of you have done to this thing and how many of you blame me for it."
And Dean doesn't buy it. "Stop with the sympathy for the devil crap." YAYZ!!! *Gaelic bounces on the couch* Dean's struggle with faith, with believing in something, with what was right and what was wrong… his walk in the gray after living in a world of black and white… it culminated in the moment he called the devil's bluff.
His voice shaking with disgust, rage, and tears, he spit out that, "You're the same thing only bigger – the same brand of cockroach I've been squashing my whole life. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego."
His eyes are luminous in the flash of lightening.
LuciferSam says he, "gets what the other angels see in him."
Dean bellows that he'd,"better kill me now or I swear I will find a way to kill you." His voice is shaking. His body is shaking. And a tear falls.
GUUUHHH. My heart is hammering just reliving this mentally to write my ramble. I needed to be psyched up by the show, and this episode—this moment—took me into overdrive. This moment was so freakin' pivotal and Dean owned it. He faced the Devil Himself—housed in his baby brother's body—and told him he was going to kill him.
Hey—he was right when he told the same thing to Azaezel. I'm just sayin'. This isn't our world. It's a world where vampires live, werewolves feed, spirits haunt, creatures we only read about it books are hunted and killed. It's a world where souls can be bartered and pulled free of Hell. It's a world where angels walk among us and demons can die. There's no doubt in my mind that it's a world where a human being can find a way to kill the devil.
LuciferSam twists Sam's lips into a sad smirk saying, "I know you won't say yes to Michael, and I know you won't stop, and I know you won't kill Sam, so you will always end up here. I win."
Dean tries to stop his jaw from shaking as his tears fall, hate for this thing laced through his words.
"You're wrong."
In a dizzying flash, the Devil leaves, Zach shows up, and Dean is zapped back to now. Dean is leaning weakly against the kitchenette sink back in good ol' Kansas City and Zach is very much in his personal space, his ego filling the room as he confidently glots that "you saw what happens, so now you HAVE TO say yes."
Dean steps around him, walking away, facing the camera. He looks like someone is digging a white-hot knife into his gut, but he says, "Nah."
Zach is seriously about to come unglued. "After all of this you haven't learned your lesson?"
Dean's like, "oh I have, just not the one you wanted to teach." GLEE!!! I wanted for Sam to walk through the door right then. I wanted Dean to punch Zach in the nose. I was literally clapping.
Zach gets rather worked up about he's going to have to teach the lesson again. "I got you now, boy!" And then… Dean poofs away. And Zach is left with a, "Son of a…" *giggle*
Cas to the rescue! "We had an appointment." I love love LOVE dead-panned Cas.
"Don't ever change." I think Dean wanted to hug him. Hell, I wanted to hug him. Dean pulls out his cell.
"What are you doing?"
"Something I should have done in the first place." YAYZ!!!
Dean is leaning against the (now intact, thank goodness) Impala on a dirt road behind a trail trestle, waiting—and I swear it's the same road where they last saw John before it all went to hell. When they gave him the Colt and watched him drive away—and Sam pulls up in an ugly ass yellow Caddy thing.
Sam gets out of the car and they do some nice camera work here, showing the reunion from both sides. Dean walks up to his brother—his brother… Sammy. Not some creature wearing Sam's skin. Not Sam Under The Influence. But Sammy. He pulls out Ruby's knife… or maybe we should call it The Knife That Can Kill Anything (if you can get close enough). Sam kinda inadvertently flinches back.
Dean hands it to him. "If you're serious and you want back in, hang on to this, I'm sure you're rusty."
Sam takes it, watching his brother. Waiting.
Dean closes his eyes briefly, then opens them and looks (up) at Sam. "I'm sorry. I'm… whatever I need to be, but I was wrong. The point is, maybe we are each other's Achilles heel—maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. We keep each other human."
Echoes of his own words to his father. Echoes of Sam's words to Dean. Echoes of realization that you can't run from your family—you can escape them for awhile, you can forget about them for a bit, you can even feel good for a time, but you always come back. Somehow, in some condition, you always come back.
With his heart seemingly in his throat, Sam says "thank you—really, thank you. I won't let you down."
"Oh, I know it – you are the 2nd best hunter on the planet." *LAUGH!*
Now… they make their own future. What was that line from Terminator II? "There is no future but what we make for ourselves." The difference between this angelic time machine adventure and the last is that everything Dean saw could be changed and nothing he saw was inevitable. The Devil was wrong. And is wrong. And has always been wrong.
The brothers are back where they're supposed to be. Trust still has to be rebuilt, doubt may fester and resurface, fear may permeate every move, but they are together.
The hug will come later.
Oh, c'mon. You know you wanted one as badly as I did.
Thanks for reading.
For those of you who read these that also read my fics and might be wondering where Wearing and Tearing is… I am working on it. The last few weeks have been hijacked by finding the right doctor for my daughter's fever condition and working (and re-working) a chapter of an original story for my writing class.
But the outline is done, the quotes are pulled, the music selected, and all I need is a little bit of time.


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Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
I Got Another Clue!
Drazen dropped by for a visit one day late last year and brought me this amazing book. I will be eternally grateful to him! This baby's chock-full of incredible art and info on a vast selection of classic cartoonist/illustrators. For instance, its got a two page step-by-step by one of my favourite artists: John Ruge.
I fell in love with this guy's work the first time I saw it. He did this great illustration back in 1954 for Adventure magazine...
I think it was the fact that Ruge's style reminded me a bit of the ligne claire school of European cartooning that made me sit up and take notice... I was determined to find more work by Ruge. This proved to be a frustrating endeavour. For some time the only other piece I could locate was a tiny spot in Coronet magazine... At the time I didn't have much in the way of Collier's magazines in my collection. Once I added some issues of that publication to the TI vaults, my Ruge archive began to expand. Ruge had a regular gig drawing a silent four panel strip called "Clancy", about the hijinx of a mischievious Irish Setter, for several years in Collier's.This strip, although nice, was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was Ruge's human figure work that I wanted to see more of - and his more illustrative style I really loved.
Well Ruge also supplied Collier's with a steady stream of single panel gag cartoons, including quite a bit of exceptional cheesecake!
And he wasn't only working for Collier's... I've found a few of his single panel pieces in The Post as well.
More of his "straight" illustration work, mentioned in the tidbits of biographical info in the Complete Guide to Cartooning, still eludes me - as does a comprehensive bio - but I am indebted to Drazen for providing this first clue to the career of John Ruge with his fabulous gift - thanks D!
You can see these images at full size in my John Ruge Flickr set.
7 comments:
Great post, thanks for sharing. Love Ruge's stuff.ReplyDelete
Hey Draz where's my book ;)
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
okay, now you do need to stop because my shopping list has just gone over my budget for the upcoming birthday....!ReplyDelete
Seriously, thanks for sharing the info on these, without seeing them it's hard sometimes to know if they're worth tracking down.
The comic for collier's reminds me a classic spanish illustrator named Coll, which is one of my favourites.ReplyDelete
So the european ligne-claire influence may be true.
Yo can see some ultra-low resolution images of the work of Josep Coll here:
Thanks for that, stereotopffer! And as if the emphasize the point, don't you think the piece with the rocket in the bottle from my second post looks like it came straight out of a Tintin comic?ReplyDelete
It makes me wonder if Ruge was casting his gaze across the Atlantic!
This is why I love old Art "how to books". They are a contained universe of information, from the most basic, to the complex; and the best are the inspirational quality of the artists...ReplyDelete
I got today in the mail a copy of the Byrnes's "Complete Guide..." It's all your fault, Leif!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By Kelli B. Grant
If you sell it, will they come? Third-place carrier Sprint certainly hopes so. The Wall Street Journal reports that the carrier will join AT&T and Verizon in offering the much-anticipated iPhone 5 when it launches this fall.
The news is clearly a win for Sprint: analysts are already talking about the potential for bumper fourth-quarter sales. It's a great opportunity for the carrier, which has lagged behind Verizon and AT&T, to grab back some of its former customers who left to get the iPhone elsewhere, says Todd Day, an industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan. "Ultimately, it gives them a level playing field," he says. (Sprint declined to comment on reports that it is getting the iPhone.)
But will iPhone owners – current and future — benefit? Sprint customers will, if they want an iPhone without the hassle of switching carriers. For everyone else, the benefits are a little less certain.
From a price perspective, "it almost doesn't matter which carrier you have," says Alex Goldfayn, a consumer electronics expert who hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "The Technology Tailor Minute." Apple sets strict pricing controls that will keep handset prices the same at all three, and competition will prompt the carriers into near-identical plan pricing to avoid waves of defecting customers.
Right now, owning an AT&T iPhone costs $84.99 per month — $5 less than Verizon's monthly rate — for 450 minutes, 2GB of data and unlimited text messages. Sprint currently offers 450 minutes and unlimited data and messaging for $69.99, but that's likely to change once the iPhone launches, Goldfayn says: iPhone users tend to use a lot of data (think streaming video via Netflix or Hulu), so it's not in the interest of the carrier to keep data pricing low. Verizon phased out its unlimited data plan within months of introducing the iPhone. A Sprint spokesman says the carrier will continue offering its unlimited plans, but will "monitor our plans as they relate to the marketplace."
Where you live could be the bigger iPhone factor."Some carriers are better than others in specific metropolitan areas or regions," Day says, "and everyone has an opinion." Texas customers tend to be Sprint loyalists, for example, while the Northeast loves Verizon (and loves to hate AT&T). Testing call quality before you switch can be a tricky business, but it's doable. Sites like BillShrink.com gauge signal strength for the various carriers in your zip code, and carriers also offer at least two weeks for a penalty-free cancellation of new service. Keep in mind, too, that an influx of iPhone users has slowed speeds — if your Sprint connection isn't great now, there's the chance that it could be even slower come the fall.
Update, 2:30pm: This story has been updated to include a comment from Sprint.


text:
Best & Cheap Umbraco 7 Hosting Provider That Are Reliable and Fast
Who is the Best and Cheap Umbraco 7 Hosting Provider? If you are looking for a .NET-powered content management system that's powerful enough for large and complex websites, but available for free, then you are in luck. Umbraco 7 just… Continue Reading


text:
Items where Author / Artist / Editor is "Vaze, Prachant"
|See full list of headings
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Number of items: 1.
Vickers, Ian and Vaze, Prachant and Corr, Leah and Kasparova, Eva and Lyon, Fergus (2009) SMEs in a low carbon economy: final report for BERR enterprise directorate. Project Report. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills., London.


text:
Book Your PP TourPlease Note
- All tour bookings require a non-refundable deposit with the balance due around 6 weeks prior to departure.
- You must read our Booking Conditions before making your booking as they contain important information regarding your booking. By sending us a booking you are agreeing to our Booking Conditions.
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- Please note that your booking is not guaranteed until you receive a Booking Confirmation from PP Travel.


text:
Winter Journal
Paul Auster
Henry Holt: 230 pp., $26
The most evocative passage in Paul Auster's "Winter Journal" comes early in the book. "Yes, you drink too much and you smoke too much, you have lost teeth without bothering to replace them, your diet does not conform to the precepts of contemporary nutritional wisdom," Auster admits, referring to himself in the second person, as he does throughout this fragmentary memoir, "but if you shun most vegetables it is simply because you do not like them, and you find it difficult, if not impossible, to eat what you do not like."
He knows it's just good fortune that "until now, no X-ray has revealed any damage to your lungs, no blood test has revealed any devastation to your liver, and so you forge on with your vile habits, knowing full well that they will ultimately do you grave harm."
For a reader of a certain age, perhaps a male reader of a certain age, there's a sharp shudder of recognition at the admission of minor vices, of neglect and breakdown, of the slow ravages of the body over time. As someone who shares many of these predilections, I find myself rendered nearly breathless by Auster's willingness to tell.
This quiet honesty, this offhand sense of revelation, has marked much of Auster's recent writing, especially the novels "The Brooklyn Follies" or "Sunset Park." It's as if, as he's gotten older, he's moved away from the self-reflective narratives ("The New York Trilogy," "The Music of Chance") by which he earned his reputation — as a novelist, primarily; as if he has become less interested in structural invention than in our relationships with each other and with ourselves.
And yet, as "Winter Journal" progresses, that brief passage begins to look like a signpost on the road not taken, a marker of all that this memoir is not. Why? Because Auster cannot quite maintain his focus, falling instead into a pattern of meandering recollections about his life, from childhood until the present, that are by turns moving and self-indulgent but never coalesce behind a larger point of view.
His impulse here — to write, in quasi-journal form, the saga of his aging — is a good one, and he seeks to deepen it by weaving in the story of his mother, an unhappily married woman whose resilience ("the sumptuously decked out charmer," he recalls her, "who dazzled the world in public") devolves into a "metastatic flowering" of anxiety. (She died in 2002.)
This is not exactly untrammeled territory for Auster; 30 years ago, he began his career with "The Invention of Solitude," a memoir inspired by the death of his father, a difficult, distant man whom, the author suggests, he never really knew.
"The Invention of Solitude" was a terrific debut: a relentless examination of not just a father-son relationship (or more to the point, nonrelationship) but also the nature of identity, family, heritage and memory. It moved outward, into a realm that borders on the mythic, as Auster used his father's life as a fulcrum through which to move backward and forward in time.
"Winter Journal" has similar intentions: "Perhaps it is just as well," Auster writes, "to put aside your stories for now and try to examine what it has felt like to live inside this body from the first day you can remember being alive until this one."
The key phrase is "this body," for Auster's main purpose is to create "[a] catalogue of sensory data. What one might call a phenomenology of breathing" (p. 1) — in other words, an evocation of the self. In the face of that, his mother becomes almost an afterthought; it's his own mortality that's on his mind.
Don't get me wrong: I'm sympathetic. None of us is getting any younger, after all. But for all that "Winter Journal" aspires to be an epistemology of the body, it too often falls into disconnected litanies: of childhood memories playing baseball, say, or all the places Auster has lived.
What he's trying to do is to re-create identity, his identity, as an expression of the physical, to trace how he's been shaped by the world. In "City of Glass" (the first book of the "New York Trilogy"), a detective follows as a subject literally writes himself onto the streets of Manhattan, his wanderings taking the shape of letters, like some sort of runic code. Yet with "Winter Journal," Auster doesn't reach that level of engagement or evoke in any real sense how these surfaces have influenced the way he thinks and feels.
Part of the trouble is the book's alinear structure, which keeps us from grabbing onto any particular narrative thread. But even more problematic is the inherent distance of Auster's writing — or rather, his interiority. Even when evoking his loved ones (his mother; his son and daughter; his wife, the writer Siri Hustvedt, portrayed here with the nuance-free gloss of a secular saint), he re-creates them as shadows, not quite real in some essential aspect.
Again, this comes back to the idea of "Winter Journal" as a catalog of sensations, radiating outward from the frail container of his body. Early in the book, he details the scars on his face as a way of exploring how he got them. Later, he recounts the panic he felt returning to the corner of Brooklyn's Prospect Park where he scattered his mother's ashes; "That was nearly nine years ago," he explains, matter-of-factly. "You have not tried to go back to those woods since."
More often, though, Auster's writing is gauzy, sentimental even, as when he describes his mother hitting a home run in a backyard baseball game. "You can still see your mother running around the bases in her den mother's uniform," he writes, "and coming in to the plate with her home run — out of breath, smiling, soaking up the cheers from the boys. Of all the memories you have retained of her from your childhood, this is the one that comes back to you most often."
What that image offers is another signal moment — not the big reveal Auster is after, but something more conventionally reassuring: memory as commonplace.
This is the challenge of memoir, to take experience and strip it of our expectations, so reader and writer can see anew. It's what Auster did in "The Invention of Solitude," pulling apart the family stories to get at the conflicts underneath. There, he treated memory as a challenge, a roadblock, a burden with which we have to reckon.
Auster gets there on occasion in "Winter Journal," most notably in that riff on his (minor) vices, the compromises he has made with himself. I like that guy, I'm interested in that guy, and I wish that we'd seen more of him; there'd be a lot for us to talk about.


text: Danone Finds Yogurt's All Greek as Oikos Chases Chobani August 28, 2013 11:00 PM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Bloomberg Email The world's largest yogurt maker aims to take back the dairy aisle with its Dannon Oikos brand. Julie Cruz Chobani Inc. got Americans hooked on Greek yogurt. Now Danone wants to slip the stuff into products from dips to dessert in a bid to unseat the market leader. After being blindsided by the upstart -- Chobani became the biggest U.S. seller of Greek yogurt two years after releasing its first product -- the world's largest yogurt maker aims to take back the dairy aisle with its Dannon Oikos brand. With pictures of an ancient building on every package and following a Super Bowl ad starring Greek-American actor John Stamos to boost its Hellenic bonafides, Oikos grew 165 percent in the year through May, according to researcher Mintel. Though Chobani's sales rose more than 20 percent, Mintel estimates, it has lost share for 18 straight four-week periods, investment research firm Sanford C. Bernstein says. Winning in the $7.6 billion American yogurt market means winning in Greek: The product will account for more than half of all U.S. yogurt sales within six months, Bernstein estimates. To get ahead, Danone is selling dips in flavors such as cucumber dill and French onion, and is running a trial of Oikos frozen yogurt to extend the brand. "It's a two-horse race," said Joe Pawlak, vice president at food-industry researcher Technomic Inc. in Chicago. "Chobani is the leader and Danone has the marketing muscle." The turnaround has investors taking a new look at Danone, which just a year ago issued a profit warning amid European woes. The stock is on track for its best annual performance since 2006, and it trades at a premium to larger rivals Unilever and Nestle SA, whose sales growth it outpaced in the first half. Dark Chocolate Danone shares slipped 1.9 percent to 57.41 euros in Paris today. The stock has risen 15 percent this year, valuing the company at 36.2 billion euros ($48.5 billion). "What has happened in the U.S. is an indication of Danone's perseverance," said Jon Cox, head of European consumer equities at Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich, who rates the shares buy. After missing the beginning of the Greek yogurt trend, "they've shown that when they see the problem, they move very quickly." Danone's troubles started in 2007 when Chobani mixed fruit and other goodies into Greek yogurt. It has since won over customers by offering flavors like coffee with dark chocolate and fig with orange zest. Greek yogurt's high protein content makes it more filling and it contains little or no fat -- though it can cost about twice what regular yogurt does. Men's Magazines Despite that price differential, by 2011 Chobani had 15 percent of the overall yogurt market, according to researcher Euromonitor International, and almost half of sales of the Greek variety, Bernstein says. Danone's share of the yogurt market dropped from 40 percent in 2010 to 35 percent a year later, Euromonitor estimates. Enter Sergio Fuster, who became Dannon's chief marketing officer in June, 2011. By September, the company had relaunched Dannon Greek as Oikos and shifted ad money from other brands to support the push. Danone also introduced supermarket samplings and promotions and advertised in men's magazines because its high protein content appeals to men, Danone says. "We were not playing in Greek when the whole Greek phenomenon happened," Fuster said by phone. After what he called "substantial" capital investment in equipment required to make Greek yogurt, Danone introduced Oikos. "That's when the success started," said Fuster, 38. Nike Greek Chobani's share of the Greek yogurt market has since fallen from almost half to 39 percent, while Danone's has jumped from 18 percent to 29 percent, according to Bernstein. Since Chobani is almost synonymous with Greek yogurt in the U.S., moving the Oikos brand into new product categories makes sense, according to Bill Chidley, senior vice president of Interbrand Design Forum. "Chobani is the Nike of the Greek yogurt category, so they are likely get a major share of the trial when shoppers trade up to Greek," Chidley said. Danone's new dips might help Oikos "drive interest in their core brand back in the dairy case." Chobani, by contrast, doesn't plan any immediate move beyond its main product line. "The success that we've found in yogurt, we feel it transfers to other categories," said spokeswoman Nicki Briggs. "But right now our major focus is on yogurt." That means winning back customers by cutting prices. Bernstein estimates that 43 percent of Chobani's sales this year were made at a discount, versus a third for Danone. Price is the most important factor, ahead of flavor, when purchasing Greek yogurt, according to Mintel. Coffee Connection A Dannon Oikos 5.3-ounce cup of Greek yogurt with fruit is $1.39 at online grocer FreshDirect. A Chobani 6-oz. cup is $1.79, though FreshDirect offers a special on three Chobani cups for $4.80, or $1.60 apiece. A six-oz. cup of Dannon lowfat fruit yogurt is $0.89. "Danone's investment in Greek yogurt is a threat for Chobani because it is taking market share," said Gauthier Boche, a lecturer at Celsa, the information and communication sciences department of Paris Sorbonne university. "But at the same time, it's helping the whole category grow." Danone is also trying to expand the category by finding new venues to sell its yogurt. Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop operator, will offer Greek yogurt branded "Evolution Fresh, Inspired by Dannon" in its cafes next year and in food retailers in 2015. Starbucks started selling Evolution Fresh's cold-pressed juice and new Evolution Harvest snacks at Whole Foods Market Inc., it said today. "Yogurt has the healthy halo that everyone is looking for these days," said Mintel researcher John Frank. "The competition for Greek yogurt right now is fruits and vegetables. And it's more fun than eating vegetables." Back to news


text:
Traditional media companies are
increasing their share of online advertising budgets
at the expense of big internet players such as Yahoo! and Google, according to research by New York-based private equity firm
Veronis Suhler Stevenson
The company says conventional US media outlets, which secured just 16% of the online spending pie in 2000, are now in a position to capitalise on a surge in broadband video advertising, music and game downloads and mobile marketing services.
It predicts web and mobile advertising will increase by 26% to $25.6bn by the end of this year, with traditional media companies accounting for 45%.
"If one word could describe the media business in 2006 it would be fragmentation," said James Rutherfurd, executive vice president and managing director at VSS.
"Never have there been so many media options available to advertisers and consumers, a trend that has both excited and frustrated brand marketers as media buying decisions have become more complicated by a market veering toward new media. But traditional media companies have responded by investing in multiple media platforms to reach this increasingly fragmented audience."
The research suggests 'old media' firms, which have generally struggled to keep up with user trends on the web, are placing a greater priority on digital services – and that spending is paying off.
According to VSS, internet and mobile spending associated with traditional media properties is the fastest growing part of the web industry.
The question for the newspaper groups, as reported by analyst group Outsell recently, is also whether web advertising will make up for declining paid circulation revenue and lost earnings from print ads.


text:
Some might have called it inevitable but the emergence of e-books and digital comics has been a slow grind of "Are you serious?" and "Real readers want to feel an actual book (or comic) in their hand."
This is increasingly not the case. Though there are many purists out there, the truth is by giving e-readers and the recently launched iPad's library more verisimilitude, we are finally staring at a possible future; the apotheosis of the digital reading age.
When Marvel comics first launched its digital comics line on www.marvel.com I tried it for a few weeks but ultimately the reading experience (on my laptop), just wasn't the same. The concept was sound – taking entire catalogues of popular characters and making them available at a significant reduction in price – but still, the comfort level was low. And despite some of the zoom and interactive features, it didn't feel at all like a comic book.
Now Marvel has released an App specifically for the iPad as well as the iBook App, which in theory should give Sony and Amazon (the leading e-book companies) not only a run for its money, but if Apple has its way, a decline in sales.
From what I've seen with both Apps, it's a vast improvement over reading comics on the PC, and the iPad's iBook App has the general "feel" of turning a page.
Still, whether backlit or mimicking a book, there simply is no substitute for printed books and comics. There is, however, another way of looking at this: Why must one supplant or be at odds with the other?
Having a catalogue of 300 books at my disposal on an iPad or Kindle is great in theory. But am I liable to sample or read 300 books while I'm traveling? Probably not.
Do I love the idea of having access to hundreds of songs on my iPod? Sure, but that's different. Songs are typically bit-sized nuggets that we randomize and customize, often according to our moods. I can blaze through 28 of my favorite songs a lot faster than 28 of my favorite books.
There will be situations where cramming a book into your carry-on will be a much smarter choice than taking an iPad or reading content on an iPhone or iTouch. No, print is not dead, but it is evolving.
The iPad looks like a device that belongs to the year 2010. Let's face it: 2010 doesn't look much different from the year 2000, but the iPad carries with it the visual aesthetic of the future.
Print as a whole is redefining its role to the consumer, and as more comic shops and local bookstores close, a new delivery system needs to be in place. Digital might be one of the answers.
iTunes revitalized the single by offering consumers the choice of paying $.99 for a single song. Marvel has done something similar, providing the latest (and classic) comics for roughly $1.99 (currently most Marvel titles are $3.99 if you buy them at the comic shop). There are over 500 Marvel titles available, packing quite a wallop for the comics fan.
Dan Buckley, publisher and CEO of Marvel publishing, called the App for iPad, an "unparalleled digital comic experience."
"The iPad is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic," Buckley said. "This new world of digital comics distribution provides us great opportunities to reach new readers, allow consumers to sample our diverse stories and characters, and we believe it will drive these new fans into the App Store and local comic shops each week to find even more."
But this recent iPad launch has gotten me excited about the evolution of how we read and disseminate information. Words and pictures were bound to be digitized.
What's next?
How about a DC Comics App?
That, I can't wait for.
As Harvey Pekar has said, "Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures."
At best, 2010 will be the year of changing graphics and animating words.


text:
I have a confession to make.
I'm a planner.
I have a hard time doing things on the spur of the moment. I like to weigh the pros and cons, look at all the angles, find my way through a decision by taking the time to really consider it. I like having everything planned out in advance.
But somehow, last week I ended up buying a last-minute plane ticket to an event I wasn't even thinking about the day before.
In the space of about 24 hours, I went from "Oh, doesn't that sound like fun, wish I could..." to "Well, why the hell not?"
So by this time next week, I'll be finishing packing for a two-day trip to California to watch a pilot for a new TV show being filmed. I don't know if the show will get picked up by the network; I don't know if the script even includes the actor I'm hoping to see perform. I do know that I'll meet friends from all across the US who are going to be there for the same reason, and I know we'll have a fantastic time whatever happens.
I don't see this becoming a habit; I'm too invested in planning things out to throw caution to the wind like this on a regular basis. But once in a while?
All I can say is, "why the hell not?"


text:
8:00 pm
America In Primetime "The Crusader" This episode delves into the increasingly grey area between right and wrong as television heroes confront internal demons while seeking their own forms of justice. Interviews include Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H"); Steven Bochco and David Milch ("NYPD Blues"); Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files"); and David Shore and Hugh Laurie ("House").G
9:00 pm
Moyers & Company "The One-Percent Court" Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government - decisions they make shape our democracy's fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush V. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a "one-percent Court" -- dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests. This week on Moyers & Company (check local listings), The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel and Jamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. D
10:00 pm
Linkasia NULL
10:30 pm
11:00 pm
McLaughlin Group "Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)" Mitt Romney's Coronation; The Romney-Ryan Ticket. D
11:30 pm
Need to Know SCOTT SIMON ANCHORS. Need to Know's Hannah Yi travels to Pakistan to investigate the impact U.S. drone attacks are having on citizens in targeted areas. D


text:
The Warwick Connie Mack team hasn't always had its full roster at every game, and its lineup seems like it's a revolving door, but there has been one constant all season long.
Warwick beat Diamond Baseball Academy 6-0 on Monday night to improve to 5-1 overall, which is good for a share of first place along with Cranston.
And Warwick has done it with a lot of unknowns. The majority of its team is comprised of players from Providence, and those players split their time between Connie Mack and other summer ball teams.
That's made for quite a bit of uncertainty come game time, but Warwick has found a way thus far. Its only loss came in a 3-2 nailbiter to Cranston last Monday.
"I don't mind if I don't have my full team, but it's tough when you only have nine guys," Warwick manager Barry Lama said. "Tonight was 11, and it was good. The talent is there, and they seem to have good chemistry."
It was on display on Monday, as Warwick got some big hits and worked its way out of jams in all seven innings to get the win.
Warwick pitcher Michael Evans kept Diamond off the board for the first three innings, as he got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the second and a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third.
Diamond pitcher and Toll Gate alum Kevin Sanda matched Evans, though, as he held Warwick scoreless through the first three innings as well.
But in the fourth, it all came together. Diego Campos pitched a scoreless inning for Warwick in the top half of the frame, and then in the bottom, Warwick's first three batters reached on two walks and a single to load the bases with nobody out for Edward Suero.
Suero fell behind 1-and-2, but after battling back to a full count, he hit a long drive to left field that hit just shy of the wall, clearing the bases for a three-run triple.
"Edward hit that ball a long way," Lama said. "I don't know what the distance is here, but that would have gone out at most parks."
Two pitches later, Suero came home on a wild pitch, giving Warwick a 4-0 lead.
"It seems like the last two games, runs came in bunches," Lama said. "When we do hit, we're getting them in bunches and scoring runs."
Campos continued to pitch for Warwick, and he got out of a two-on, nobody out jam in the fifth by getting a pop-up from Sam Aikins and a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Barry Colbertt.
In the sixth, Campos worked around a one-out single by Tyler Schemick to strike out the side and keep Diamond without a run, and then he delivered the knockout blow at the plate.
With two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, Campos rocketed a double to center field off Colbertt, who started the inning, scoring both runners for the 6-0 lead. He nearly had a triple, but he slipped on the basepaths and had to retreat to second.
"As long as he doesn't have to run the bases, he's very good at everything else," Lama joked of Campos.
Warwick brought on Tim Warner to pitch the final inning, and he retired the first two men on groundouts before Diamond loaded the bases on a hit, an error and a walk.
But Warner settled down, striking out Toll Gate's Evan Stamps looking to end the game and finish the job.
Warner was the third Warwick pitcher on the day, as he, Campos and Evans combined on a five-hit shutout.
"Because they're playing in those other leagues, it's tough to get six or seven innings out of a kid," Lama said. "But I would say out of the 17 guys, 12 or 13 of them have pitching experience. Which is a good thing."
The team also won without arguably its best player, catcher Jonathan Salcedo, which was another good sign.
"Jonathan wasn't here, so we proved we could win without him," Lama said. "As long as we get a good mix of them here, and they play the way they're playing now, I'm happy."
Warwick's next game is on Saturday, when it travels to play Providence at 10 a.m.


text:
Vintage Fan Tassel Embellished Hollow Out Tassel Drop Earrings
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text:
Here ye, here ye! I'm finally saying goodbye to blogger and my inability to reply to comments! From now on, you can find me over at www.sewliberated.typepad.com. (Yes, the blog has a new name, too! Read more about it here.) Please, please, please ... change your blog feeds/readers to my new address ... I would hate to see you go, especially now that I will have the chance to reply to all of your thoughtful comments through the wonder that is Typepad.
So stop by, say hi, peruse my new "about and FAQ's" page, and read my review of Amanda's new book, The Creative Family. The only sad thing about my move is that most of my previous comments have been wiped out. I'm working to fix the issue, and will be slowly going through the blog and redirecting certain links, so please excuse any goofy links or formatting as I work through the kinks.
Thanks for reading!


text: |Bring your portfolio to life. If you are a model that would like to spice up their portfolio, I can bring your ideas to life. I have worked with new and very experienced models. My prices are very reasonable. Send me a note and we will talk. I am from the Hudson Valley area of New York.


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Animals that lack backbones are known as invertebrates. Over 98% of species on Earth are invertebrates that rely on other strategies than a backbone for support such as hydrostatic pressure, exoskeletons, shells, and in some, even glass spicules. Some invertebrate phyla have only one species, while others like Arthropoda include more than 83% of all described animal species with over a million species. The most common marine invertebrates are sponges, cnidarians, marine worms, lophophorates, mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms and the hemichordates.
There are between 9,000 and 15,000 species of sponges classified under the Phylum Porifera. Sponges are relatively simple animals that originated with the first animal life in the Precambrian times.
The anatomy of a typical sponge is organized so that flagella inside the sponge pull water into small holes (ostia) in the body and expel waste through larger holes (oscula). Sponge species have a variety of body plans that provide structure, including support by organic fibers (Class Demospongiae - 90% of sponge species), calcareous spicules (Class Calcarea ~400 species), and siliceous spicules (Class Hexactinellida) or combinations of these.
The body plan of a sponge has adapted to filter small food particles from the passing water allowing them to reside in most habitats, including polar shelves and submarine caverns that often contain very few nutrients.
Sponge, HondurasLike other animals, sponges were found to also grow extremely slowly in cold waters such as those of the Antarctic. Age estimates based on growth rates of one glass sponge (Scolymastra joubini) in the Ross Sea were between 15,000 and 23,000 years, which means that specimen appears to be the longest-lived animal on earth yet recorded. Sponges are often studied by scientists to find clues about the first life forms on Earth with more than one cell.
Sponges are hermaphroditic and are able to reproduce both sexually and asexually. Most sponges usually reproduce by sexual reproduction, where sperm cells (spermatocytes) develop from choanocytes (collar cells) and eggs develop from oocytes. When environmental conditions are favorable, spermatocytes are ejected in out-going currents and the eggs, once fertilized inside the sponge in some sponges, develop into flagellated larva that swim about as plankton until they find a suitable place to settle and grow into adults. Asexual reproduction occurs when favorable environmental conditions deteriorate and includes both regeneration (regenerating from fragments), budding (groups of cells differentiate into small sponges that are then released externally or expelled through the central canal (oscula)), or the formation of gemmules ("survival pods" of unspecialized cells that remain dormant until conditions improve and then either form completely new sponges or re-colonize the skeletons of their parents).
Sponges are eaten by chitons, snails, nudibranchs, turtles, fish, and insects. They provide a home to sea anemones, polychaetes, octopuses, copepods, zoanthids, shrimps, brittle stars, amphipods, barnacles, and fish. There are numerous symbiotic relationships between animals and sponges.
Sponges that are composed of organic fibers (demosponges) have been used by humans for thousands of years for cleaning and other purposes. Sponge diving has declined significantly due to overfishing and most sponges these days are now synthetic.
The Phylum Cnidaria ( ("Ny-DARE-eeya") consists of about 10,000 species of "simple" animals found only in marine habitats and includes Class Anthozoa (corals and sea anemones), Class Hydrozoa (hydrozoans), Subphylum Medusozoa: Class Cubozoa (box jellyfish), Class Scyphozoa (jellyfish), and Class Staurozoa which contains Order Stauromedusae (stalked jellyfish). Phylum Cnidaria may also contain Family Polypodiidae and Family Tetraplatidae. Species in cnidaria have special stinging cells called cnidocytes (see figure). Cnidarians evolved during the Precambrian era and are some of the earliest multicellualr life forms known.
Most cnidarians have a very basic body plan which includes a digestive cavity with one opening. This opening functions as both the mouth and anus for the organism. The only true organs in cnidarians are the gonads. Most cnidarians are symmetrical, an observation referred to as "radial symmetry." Cnidarians also have an ectoderm (tissue that covers the outer body surfaces) and an endoderm (inner layer of cells forming the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, and inner organs). The ectoderm is connected to the endoderm by a gel-like substance known as the mesoglea. Cnidarians use a nerve net and very basic receptors for impulses to move. Oxygen is taken in directly from the water through the tissues.
Organisms in cnidaria capture and kill their prey using cnidocysts, or stinging cells, around their mouth which send out stinging barbs which immobilize their prey and help protect against predators. Once prey is captured the tentacles move it into the central gastrovascular cavity where it is digested. Waste is then expelled back through the mouth.
The four classes of cnidarians are the Anthozoa, the Hydrozoa, the Scyphozoa, and the Cubozoa. Anemones, corals, and sea fans are in class Anthozoa, which was the first to diverge throughout evolution. Portuguese man-o-wars and obelia are examples of animals in Hydrozoa, jellyfish are in class Scyphozoa, and box jellies are in class Cubozoa.
Cnidarian species have a variety of life-cycles. Some alternate between being free-swimming medusae and asexual polyps depending on their environment. In some groups like Anthozoa, organisms never make it to the free-swimming medusae stage, but instead live their whole lives as a non-moving polyp. Organisms in the groups Scyphozoa and Cubozoa spend most of their lives in the medusal stage. Medusae can measure anywhere from a few millimeters to 30 meters long including the tentacles. Some, like the Siphonophores, are individuals but can live in colonies and appear as one organism.
Marine worms can be placed into more than ten different phyla and come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Marine worms are often confused with other animals with thin and long bodies. Most marine worms are grouped into the Annelids, a group that includes the Polychaetes (bristle worms), Oligochaetes, Hirudinae, and the Eunice aphroditois. Polychaetes are most often found near the shoreline and swim or crawl using a pair of legs found on each segment of their body. The Oligochaetes, which include earthworms, are mainly found on land and the subclass Hirudinae include leeches that usually live in freshwater environments. Some marine worm species, such as the bearded fire worm, can deliver a nasty burning sting to humans when handled.
The body structure of an annelid consists of a front end with a prostomium, also referred to as a significantly defined head. Most annelids have two pairs of eyes, three antennae, a pharynx or proboscis used to eat food and tentacle-like cirri for probing the surrounding area. An example of the biodiversity of worm species is the Sipunculid also known as the peanut worm. This worm digs itself into a hole underneath rocks, eats organic material, has no segments and looks like a peanut when it pulls its proboscis into itself.
In general, marine worms live underneath rocks near the edge of the ocean, in algae, or anywhere there is mud or sand. Species of marine worms can be ringed, segmented, or flat and include tube-digging worms, burrow-dwelling worms, ribbon worms, and peanut worms.
Some common annelids include the tube-making Galeoloaria, the stinging fireworm, the short scale worm, and the huge Eunice aphroditois. Tube worms actually make a tube with a hard shell and retreat into the shell when threatened. The Christmas tree worm has many brightly colored feather-like tentacles shaped somewhat like a Christmas tree that is used to filter food from the water.


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Barren River Regional Cancer Center
Barren River Regional Cancer Center, located in Glasgow, KY, is a joint effort between The Medical Center and TJ Samson Community Hospital. The two have worked together to bring state-of-the-art cancer care to the residents of Glasgow and Barren County.
Dr. Craig Tyree, Radiation Oncologist, leads a team of knowledgable and experienced radiation therapists, oncology nurses, medical physicists and dosimetrists. To learn more about Barren River Regional Cancer Center, visit www.BarrenRiverRegionalCancerCenter.com.


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Many know Mickey Schaefer from her role as APEX Commission Chair, or from her stint as PCMA's president, or from her many other roles as a leader in the industry. She has long been a mover and shaker also in her role as Vice President, Administration, Meetings & Conventions, Membership and Strategic Planning & Marketing, with the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Well, in an e-mail today, she announced that she'll be leaving the AAFP at the end of January 2005 to move to Tucson and start her own business, which will focus on the meetings industry and associations. She stresses that she will continue her volumnous volunteer activities, including her work with APEX, and that she hopes to be able to give more details of her future plans by the time the PCMA conference in Honolulu rolls around.
While I can only imagine how hard it'll be to hang up her AAFP hat after such a long and happy relationship, I and all my colleagues here at The Meetings Group wish her bon voyage on her new life's journey.
To comment on this post, click on "comments" below. To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.


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marsgurl necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 58 diseños de 19 diseñadores freelance.
Sildon Image Consulting
I always wanted to do something in fashion so i decided to take the leap now. At the end of the day i want my clients to walk away feeling more confident not just look good.
I don't want to be targeting a specific group. I want to be catering to male and females and all age groups.
It may be that person who is going for that job interview, or that CEO who just wants to portray a better image for him and his company or just an individual who is just looking for a change.
I want to appeal to a very broad audience.
What i'm looking for in a web site is something very fresh, clean, simple, elegant and timeless. Nothing too crowded or overwhelming. So my preference would be white and black as colours.
I would like pictures as long as it portrays the fresh, clean, simple, elegant and timeless.
I definately don't want cheesy.
Nothing is set in stone so for example if you have a design that you think will look good in colour by all means lets take a look.
I do have a logo so the site has to fit my logo somewhere.
I have also attached a file, which is my logo and also what i have written up so far as my content.


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LaserPup is burning up the Internet. Joe of laserpup.com has created an interactive, Internet controlled and monitored pet toy, for his fluffy dog Skyler. Joe can log into an "iPhone friendly web app" that allows him to watch his dog from work, click a button to sound off a buzzer, and play with the dog using a laser pointer by clicking around his web interface. The system uses a couple of servos for x and y axis movement of the laser pointer and a few ioBridge widgets to make things work in the web app. Some dogs and cats love the laser pointer, chasing the light source all around – it's healthy, fun exercise for pets in moderation.
When we first heard of the project, we thought this has something to do with dogs doing epic battles with lasers (nice Star Trek and 'Skyborg' reference, btw), but this is a very practical project. On the laserpup.com you will find a video, instructions, screen captures, and all of the de-tails to make your own Internet controlled pet toy for dogs and cats (I have to believe they will love it too). Awesome project Joe and thanks for sharing LaserPup with all of us. This YouTube video, enhanced with some Daft Punk, says the rest.
Follow the project further at LaserPup.com, MAKE, Hack-a-Day, Oh Gizmo, Hacked Gadgets, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Well done Joe!


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GetREELed needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 110 designs submitted by 42 freelance designers.
This logo is for a new social network for aquarium enthusiasts.
I want the logo to represent inebriated passion for the hobby of keeping an aquarium. I want the logo to be able to stand alone. It will be primarily displayed on the website, but will also have stickers, t-shirts and hats eventually.
Other logos that have been developed are at http://www.getreeled.com and http://www.burntmarshmallows.com. This will give an insight into other online brands part of this start-up
- professional
- bold
- not too intricate or elaborate
- clip art
- corporate
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Iranians revel in sporting pride after years of isolation
Strong performances from Iran's volleyball and soccer teams have helped restore national pride following decades of isolation but the joy was tempered by a decision to bar women from attending one event in Tehran. "We shoMore…
US warns Iran of more isolation in nuclear row
The US warned Iran on Wednesday that it faces further international isolation if it fails to address UN nuclear watchdog concerns about its atomic activities. The European Union also used a board meeting of the U.N.'s InternatMore…
Flu: Bahrain schools to have isolation rooms
All schools in Bahrain were yesterday ordered to create isolation rooms and set up specialised teams to monitor pupils for a potential outbreak of swine flu. Children at all government and primary schools must have their temperature checkeMore…


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Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, is almost upon us. The US holiday dedicated to honor the brave men and women who served this country is spend relaxing with friends and family at a BBQ, by the pool or at the beach. However you choose to spend this fun holiday, here are our picks for the luxury swimwear fashion trends you can be rocking.
Besides being the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day is also the official start of wearing white again! A current trend that we absolutely love is to white out your entire wardrobe from head to toes. White out your designer swimwear with the Rich Girl Bikini in white. This all white bikini has the accent of gold hardware on the straps of the triangle top and hip ties of the bottoms. Keep the all white trend going with an all white cover up, or a white tank top and shorts. Rihanna is one star who in constantly seen rocking the all white trend, and we think she would look amazing wearing this bikini when she celebrates Memorial Day!
American Girl is the perfect luxury swimwear to celebrate Memorial Day weekend in. The cute navy blue chevron print top is decorated with a leather buckle hardware piece in the center bust. The gold rings give a glamorous pop to this already fun suit. The solid navy blue bottom brings out the blue in the top and has matching gold rings and rope ties. Wearing this suit will have you showing off your patriotic pride the entire weekend. Taylor Swift looks great wearing stripes and we think should look amazing wearing the American Girl bikini during her Memorial Weekend.
You can never go wrong by wearing red on Memorial Day. The Red Hot Bikini in Red is another suit perfect for showing off your American pride. The all red bikini has rhinestone hardware pieces on the neckties and the hip ties. Miranda Kerr looks flawless in red, and we think she would look great wearing Red Hot during her Memorial Day events. Be sure to add some red white and blue accessories to your outfit and you'll be all set for your Memorial Day BBQ! Any of these bikinis would be the perfect look for your Memorial weekend, and they would look great to wear for the rest of the summer!


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Moderator: Lupa
maro wrote:The problem, as I see it, is the squad, as under Sabreteeny, continues to be built not to win things but to make money.
RomaShield27 wrote:I think its very optimistic to expect a top 3 finish, David. Top 4 would be great (especially as there's now 4 CL spots). I honestly think its crazy that in football these days fans expect immediate results, an immediate impact, or at least a team to be playing like a team after only a short space of time. Building a team is not about how many players you can get in your squad to fill out the positions or about how much quality you can buy. A team is all about camaraderie and learning to work together as a unit, about the players having faith and confidence in each other and be willing to fight for it on the pitch, about the players understanding the manager and what he wants for them, and about the manager being able to control it all and implement his football philosophy while at the same time actually win and grind out results.
maro wrote:Messi vs Bruno Peres - one of the classic match-ups of all-time; certainly one for the ages. So long as we can nick an away goal in the first leg to give us something to take back to the Olimpico (even if it's only a 7-1, I mean, that away goal will be something to hold on to).
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Russell Means' Ashes Being Spread in Black Hills
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The ashes of Russell Means are being scattered in a private ceremony in western South Dakota's Black Hills, a day after the former American Indian Movement activist was remembered in a ceremony on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Hundreds of people gathered at the high school in Kyle to pay their respects. Means' ashes were brought from his ranch near Porcupine in a horseback procession that included a rider-less horse said to carry his spirit.
Oglala Sioux Tribe Vice President Tom Poor Bear said Means "gave us courage to stand up for what we believe in and to be proud of who you are."
Means died Monday at his ranch after battling cancer. He was 72. Three other ceremonies are planned next year to honor him.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Material may not be redistributed.


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Over time, we develop and collect memories. We cherish the things that have inspired us and proved their worth to us. A Porsche is no different. From conception, its goals were to deliver pure driving pleasure, impeccable quality and absolute engineering integrity. An Approved pre-owned Porsche delivers this dream precisely as it was intended.
The Porsche Approved commitment means that the pre-owned Porsche you are buying has been returned as close to its original condition as possible. We only ever fit Genuine Porsche parts and each vehicle is meticulously prepared by our expert Porsche trained technicians. You are buying a 100 % Porsche. Our provenance checks verify every car's history, while the Porsche Approved Warranty and Porsche Assistance provide complete peace of mind and absolute proof of quality.
Buying an Approved, pre-owned Porsche means that your dream will remain unbroken. In fact, we are so confident in our high standards that we put our name on it: Porsche Approved.
Porsche Approved guarantees:
You know to expect pure, unadulterated driving pleasure and engineering perfection from your Porsche, but do you know what colour you want it to be? To find the Porsche of your dreams that is as individual as you are.
The scope of cover of the Porsche Approved Warranty is at the same level as our new car warranty and ensures your complete peace of mind, mile after mile, year after year.
Porsche Assistance, the exclusive roadside assistance service that offers added security.
With attractive finance solutions, we can help you find the fastest way to owning your Porsche Approved Pre-owned vehicle.
Porsche Approved Brochure (PDF; 1.3 MB)


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A search warrant affidavit just released from the search of Michael Jackson's home says the Jackson family notified L.A. County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter that they found "tar heroin in a bag" in Jackson's bedroom. Chief Winter notified LAPD detectives of the found evidence.
The search also turned up two baggies of "marijuana."
Cops also found Benoquin in the master bathroom. Benoquin is a bleaching cream.
The affidavit also says surveillance cameras at Jackson's home captured Dr. Conrad Murray arriving at 1:00 AM the day Jackson died.
As for what else was found during the search -- an empty bottle of Lorazepam, an empty bottle of Diazepam, a baggy with the medical label with the name Dr. Conrad Murray, 2 cigarette packs, 1 cigarette paper, 4 pill bottles and 1 shaving case.
Detective Orlando Martinez wrote, "Conversations with family members lead me to believe that there may be additional medications and/or narcotics at the location as well as the necessity to confiscate these items for the safety of the minor children."
Story developing...


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Ackglass needed a new t-shirt design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 36 designs submitted by 20 freelance designers.
Nantucket Glass & Mirror
Island Glass & Mirror company looking for old school art work to catch peoples eye. Classy, cool , fun, not vulgar.
General public , contractors, as well as customers. Want something printed on a shirt that people would want to wear.
I have an idea that I'm trying to have come together. I'm looking for your classic voluptious 50's calender girl. Like the ones on the old calenders at gas stations. Want it to look hand drawn hand painted to look like the old calenders. Wearing a 50's biki and high heel shoes. Sitting on a chair or something, crossed legged looking into a mirror.
Please use the following caption in or around the image:
"Nantucket Glass & Mirror"
Try to come up with a girl that would be eventally reconized as the Nantucket Glass girl here on the island. Would like to feature her in different images to be printed on t-shirts. Maybe at the gym looking into a mirror lifting a dumb bells. Or maybe have her holding a fishing pole with a slogan when fishing for glass call NG&M.


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Items where Author / Artist / Editor is "Cox, Eleanor F."
|See full list of headings
Marciani, Luca and Faulks, Richard and Wickham, Martin and Bush, Debbie and Pick, Barbara and Wright, Jeff and Cox, Eleanor F. and Fillery-Travis, Annette and Gower, Penny A. and Spiller, Robin C. (2009) Effect of intragastric acid stability of fat emulsions on gastric emptying, plasma lipid profile and postpradial satiety. British Journal of Nutrition, 101 . pp. 919-928. ISSN 0007-1145
Marciani, Luca and Wickham, Martin and Singh, Gulzar and Bush, Debbie and Pick, Barbara and Cox, Eleanor F. and Fillery-Travis, Annette and Faulks, Richard and Spiller, Robin C. and Gowland, Penny (2007) Enhancement of intragastric acid stability of a fat emulsion meal delays gastric emptying and increases cholecystokinin release and gallbladder contraction. American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 292 . pp. 1607-1613. ISSN 0193-1857


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If you have trouble sleeping at night, you might want to take a look at your bedroom. While you may think that your interior design is perfectly suitable for drifting away to sleep, there may be flaws in your decor that are keeping you from getting some shut-eye. Here are a few tips on how to transform your bedroom from dreary to cozy.
1. Use the right window treatments.
You'll sleep better if you don't have to worry about light flooding into your bedroom from your windows. Ideally, you should be sleeping in a space with as little sunlight (or moonlight) as possible to encourage melatonin production.
Finding the right discount window treatments can make all the difference when it comes to getting a good night's rest. Look for opaque�blinds and shades to create a dark environment that caters to sleeping.
2. Invest in quality sheets.
SheKnows.com recommends spending a few extra bucks and buying sheets with a higher thread count to give yourself the softness you're looking for when you snuggle. Not only can the right sheets keep you warm and comfortable, but they can help you drift off to sleep quicker than you would with cheap linens.
On a similar note, consider looking for a cozy comforter as well to help you rest easily. Down comforters are perfect for those who enjoy plushness.
3. Look for enticing scents.
You may have heard of people spritzing a bit of lavender water on their pillows before bed to fall asleep easier, and this concept is one that's worth exercising throughout your bedroom. The Independent recommends bringing in incense or candles that have sweet scents to relax your mind and make you feel more comfortable in your living space. Lavender and chamomile are both great soothing scents to consider.
4. Eliminate distractions.
Many people find that they can't do without having a television in the bedroom, but this item can easily deter a good night's rest. It's best to eliminate anything that can cause a distraction - cell phone, computer, television - to focus on getting some sleep on a nightly basis.
You might think you're an insomniac, but the truth of the matter may be that your bedroom could use a little makeover. These tips can help you transform your room into a calm, welcoming haven that you look forward to spending time in regularly.


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Mrs. Goldwasser's husband of ten months, Ehud Goldwasser, is one of the two Israeli soldiers being held captive by Hezbollah. She traveled first to England, and now to the United States to bring attention to her husband's plight. Reuters describes her efforts here. Karnit Goldwasser has supported Israel's self-defense in Lebanon, while pleading for her husband's return.
Tomorrow morning, at 6:20 eastern time, Mrs. Goldwasser will be on Bill Bennett's radio show, which you can listen to on the radio or on the web (here and at many other sites).
UPDATE: Click "play" to hear Bill's interview with Mrs. Goldwasser:


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The St. Catharine College baseball team that went 1-3 in its opening weekend at the University of Mobile will play the home opener Friday against Holy Cross College.
The single nine-inning game will start at 2 p.m. at Edelen-Haydon Field. The Patriots will host the same Holy Cross team in a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon.
The homestand continues Sunday when Goshen College visits for a twin bill starting at 1 p.m.
The St. Catharine College men and women swept a Mid-South Conference basketball doubleheader Thursday night at UVA-Wise.
Lena Bramblett's women came away with an 84-73 win in the opener and J.T. Burton's men won the nightcap 85-62.
The Patriot women held a slim 36-34 lead at halftime, but pulled away after intermission for the 11-point victory. Nearly half the Patriots' points in the second half came at the foul line where they hit 21 of 26 free throws. They were 26-33 on charity tosses for the game.
In two of the most exciting games of the season, the St. Catharine College men and women used last- second heroics to pull out two wins Saturday at Pikeville College in Mid-South Conference basketball.
In the women's game, freshman guard Carol Ruiz-Lopez nailed a three-point goal with two seconds to play to give the Patriots a 70-69 win. Brandon Johnson then provided similar fireworks as he canned a trey with 14 seconds left and the Patriots held on for a 71-69 victory.
Four former St. Johns Country Day School (Fla.) student-athletes were recently inducted into the Orange Park, Fla. private school's athletic hall of fame.
The hall of fame was established four years ago "to honor athletes who have brought recognition to themselves and to St. Johns with their pursuit of excellence on the playing field and beyond," according to a news release.
Joe Cambron, class of 1986, son of Fabian Cambron of Springfield, was one of the 2010 inductees.
Washington County vs. Marion County
Score: 74-45 Marion County
When: Saturday, Feb. 12
Where: Washington County High School
Key players: MCHS - Deshawn Douglas, John Southall, Carlos Litsey WCHS - Will Purdom
Game highlights: The Commanders dug a first quarter hole they couldn't get out of on Saturday against Marion County.
A fixture of Washington County girls' basketball will stepping down soon.
Linda Hourigan, the team's long-time statistician, will be keeping the book for the Commanderettes for the last time at home on Friday.
For her, the journey has been a long one, filled with fouls, free throws and fourth quarters.
I knew Hourigan before I knew her. My wife's father, Freddie Leathers, used to coach the Marion County girls' basketball team. My wife was a manager for his teams.
Washington County vs. Caverna
Score: 48-45 Washington County
When: Saturday, Feb. 12
Where: Caverna High School
Key players: WCHS - Kenya Turner, Linda Libby, Shay Yocum, Kayla Edelen CHS - Ciara Waggoner, Madison Faulkner
Game highlights: The Commanderettes picked up a big road win and gained some momentum as they head into district tournament play.
Washington County led wire-to-wire in Horse Cave.
With the end of the regular season fast approaching, the Commanderettes look for more wins to put in the books.
Their quest to end the regular season on a positive note ends at home on Friday as they face East Jessamine (4-16).
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Washington County High School.
"I know they have a young team," Commanders head coach Bernard Smalley said.
With senior night on queue, Smalley knows it will be an emotional game.
The Bardstown Tigers are among a handful of contenders that looked poised to win the Fifth Region crown and punch their ticket to the state tournament.
First, however, they must go through Washington County.
The first two times around, the Tigers outscored the Commanders by an average of 98-54.
"We're going to have to control the tempo," Commanders head coach Russell Burkhead said. "They want to make it 94 feet, up and down the floor."
In Mid-South Conference basketball Saturday afternoon at St. Catharine College, the visiting Rio Grande Bears earned a split of the two games.
Rio Grande topped the Patriot women in the first game 77-62, but the St. Catharine men won over the Rio Grande men 72-67.
Copyright © 2019
The Springfield Sun is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Springfield, KY, and the surrounding area.


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Full of flavour! Our drinks have never tasted so good thanks to our selection of refreshingly tasty cocktails and mocktails. From special occasions to a little weekend treat, we have the perfect tipple to match.
classic cocktails
Aperol Spritz - £5.99
Bittersweet Aperol, topped with Prosecco, soda and a slice of orange – the perfect aperitif!
Gordon's Pink Spritz - £5.99
A double measure of Gordon's Pink gin combined with lemonade, sweet Italian fizz and fresh strawberries
The nation's favourite cocktail! Rum mixed with mint and lime and finished off with a dash of soda.
Choose from:
Passion Fruit
All our mojitos are £5.99
Fizz cocktails
Refreshing fruit purées perfectly paired with sweet Italian fizz
Peach Bellini
Rhubarb Fizz
Passion fruit Twist
Strawberry Blush
All our fizz cocktails are £4.99
Get together this Fizz Friday
2 for 1 on all fizz cocktails, all day every Friday
Strawberry & Cranberry Spritz - £2.29
Strawberry purée, cranberry juice and Schweppes Lemonade
Rhubarb & Apple Fizz - £2.49
Rhubarb purée apple juice & soda
Passion Fruit & Orange Sparkler - £2.49
Passion fruit purée, orange juice & soda
Elderflower Virgin Mojito - £2.49
Bottle Green Elderflower with apple juice and Schweppes Lemonade


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About dreaslist.com
DreasList.com is is an Adult Classified Ads Service Website. I have always like craigslist except for several things:
* You must click the ad to see pictures
* To many trash posting
* To much spam
* When you do post users get mad and decide they don't like your ad and mark it as spam so you are deleted even if you have meet all guidelines
* People post the exact same ad ten times to be at the top of the list.
What we hope to do is have a quality classifieds with real ads. We know we want have one million ads on this website and quite frankly we don't want that many. Just consider us your local classifieds to find local Adult Entertainment Services and get local people to your product or business.
The ads are 30 days so it gives you plenty of time to reap the benefits of that position. All ads are free.
Be sure to tell you friends and anyone that has Adult business or Adult service they want to advertise.
Thanks for stopping by!