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In which our Diva records the lighter backstage side of her last theatrical endeavor
Missing my Dracula peeps tonight. It really was one of those special casts. And how can you not miss people who say stuff like this...
Dracula Quote List
GreenMan Theatre Troupe, Fall 2008
You're like his pocket Vixens.
-- That's the only time I've ever been referred to as anyone's pocket anything.
The necks on her mark are gone!
Can I have both of them?
What'd you bring us from England, Daddy?
But you've mastered your fear. Jedi vampire.
You are for the ages.
-- He says that to all the girls.
I have experience stripping people that fast.
-- I heard that about you.
Be right with you, Sewie.
-- Soo-ee!
The complacent man!
I see. A gift from an ancient enemy.
-- *beat* Yes. It is.
Vampire domestic violence yay!
Don't worry. You're perfectly sane here.
So it is a cross in his pocket.
-- And he's not at all happy to see her.
Get used to that sofa, Jonathan.
I seen it with mine own toon eyes!
I am not... going to... keep talking.
You're probably gonna give him a creepy stare. And then you'll run away like a little bitch.
Stunt Lucy!
In the name of the Father.
-- *silence*
-- And of the Son.
-- *silence*
-- And of the Holy Ghost.
-- *beat* Oh, I'm sorry. *unholy shriek*
I just call it his bag of tricks. God knows what he's got in there. Van Helsing and his bong.
There's a clown loose in this room with a knife!
-- Disguised as a pen!
That is disturbing.
-- Jonathan "Hara-Kiri" Harker.
You ought to talk to Bluebeard about that locking-us-up thing. It never ends well.
Crash. Bang. Lighting effect.
Wow. You have read ALL of the Sparkle!Crack. I applaud you.
I don't do body fluids.
-- And yet you're in this show.
Every time I do this, I injure you.
I mean, he can just use his Jedi mind trick, and there goes the door.
NOOOOOOOO!! ... Sorry.
Maybe it's sort of crablike.
-- We're going to be everything in the animal kingdom by the time this show is done.
Have not his outbursts coincided with Miss Lucy's... whatever?
There we shall cut off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic.
-- How about driving a stake through her heart first?
-- THEN we will cut off her head and stuff her mouth with garlic.
-- There's no garlic.
-- Do you want some garlic bread?
The tools, Mr. Harker!
-- Power drill.
Now you can procure a ship, Seward.
-- I'll procure a ship and... be a sailor. Line.
I wear the pants in this relationship.
-- Which makes us the garter belt.
And you must be... Mmmmmmina. *squeak* I suck!
I have baby in my hair.
Let's take it from the Seward toss.
Go, Christina!
-- Now we know what this show is about.
-- Where's the riding crop?
So, Mina, we'll hook you up to nobody here. It's a magic transfusion.
He's just a wanton toddler with a violin.
I knew there would be a place for me in your kingdom, a holy *kak*.
It's like I'm catching you and throwing you, all with one hand.
-- Catch and release.
That can't be right. I haven't been to Budapest.
You've got a soup bowl there.
-- I do?
-- The big gold thing.
-- I thought it was a chamberpot.
With what power do you lure the living shit?
Is that what happens? You die, go to heaven, and become a Vixen?
Let's hope you're down in there, so I can go without going.
-- Go without going. Let's not pursue that thought too far.
I wanna bite you.
-- Please?
Can I have some crypt movers?
I'm having fang envy. Yours are bigger than mine.
No more projectile fang incidents!
You mean you don't have three hands?
-- I could do it with my foot. Then we'll see how coordinated I am.
-- It's like rubbing your tummy and patting your head.
-- And chewing gum.
Does she look naked to you?
-- Not naked enough.
There's going to be stuff in that rat. Try not to get it in your eyes.
It's as close to real blood as you can get and still be edible.
-- Real blood is edible.
What flavor are they?
-- Christ-flavored.
-- I can't believe it's not Christ.
And the Vixens give "baby wipes" a whole new meaning.
Can you try to stand steady while the cross is burning?
I feel like we're giving blood. Except I don't get a cookie, dammit!
I'm singing lullabies to the tortillas. That's really all I can do.
Welcome! I am pantsless! *evil laugh*
I give you full permission to do whatever you want. And I don't say that to many men.
I can store everything in here. It's the breast place for it.
There's a whole new meaning to "sucking chest wound."
-- It's more licking.
-- Slurping.
You let someone see your ass?
-- I let him touch it. I didn't let him see it.
You are weak now, but here is roofies.
She can slip me anything she wants.
Who am I kidding? I'm the most anti-deadpan guy I know.
-- Are you undeadpan?
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Dracula quote list
Posted by Unknown at 8:07 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: i r srs actrss, onstage in the burbs, quote list
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Elgin Opera Festival of Singers is back!
In which our Diva is once again singing for her supper
Every Sunday in December, 6-8 pm, Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin.
Come out and enjoy a great Italian meal and classics of opera, Broadway and the holiday season with artists of Elgin OPERA. No cover, but reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.
I'll be missing next Sunday, the 14th, but will be performing at the rest, as well as emceeing on the 21st.
Great food, great music... What more could you want?
Every Sunday in December, 6-8 pm, Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano 13 Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin.
Come out and enjoy a great Italian meal and classics of opera, Broadway and the holiday season with artists of Elgin OPERA. No cover, but reservations are recommended - call (847) 742-0263.
I'll be missing next Sunday, the 14th, but will be performing at the rest, as well as emceeing on the 21st.
Great food, great music... What more could you want?
Posted by Unknown at 12:47 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: onstage in the burbs, opera
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Random tidbits of Hollywood Midwest
In which our Diva's illustrious movie career moves a step up the ladder with Cyrus
In no particular order:
There's probably stuff I'm forgetting, but mostly I'm just happy to have felt so at home and felt like I did decent work. It just felt like the right place to be working. I learned so so much, but wasn't so green I didn't belong. It was perfect.
Dear Universe: More, please?
In no particular order:
- Patricia Belcher is down-to-earth, professional, and an all-around class act. I am now officially a fan, and am privileged to have spent a day on set eating stone cold hamburgers with her.
- I know "interior" does not necessarily preclude "freezing frickin' cold." I KNOW this. Next time I neglect to pack longjohns? Shoot me.
- SAG "ultra low budget" (which has a specific definition that determines requirements for pay levels, how many non-union actors you can employ, etc.) is still "way more resources than almost anything else I've ever been in." Which is just...so much less stressful a way to work, I can't even begin to tell you. For a zillion little completely practical reasons. I could totally get used to working in that sort of environment, lemme tell ya. I don't need some big wasteful blockbuster loaded with superstars with a zillion frivolous riders on their contracts. Just a nice professional set with a good day's work to do.
- Favorite moment: Brian Krause (who was directing second unit while I was there; he plays the title character in the present day) bounding into the talent trailer announcing "I just made a hamburger on camera!" Which was immensely cool because "usually they hand you the stuff already done, but I don't think I ever actually put food together on camera before. This is so going on my reel!" (I, of course, was thinking "Well, maybe if Piper hadn't been quite so possessive of her kitchen..." Because I pride myself on my professionalism, but I will never not be a geek on the inside.)
- Runner-up favorite moment: While getting my makeup done, listening to a conversation between an assistant director and the SFX makeup guy that started with "We need to kill someone with a pitchfork," and wended its way through "All the extras want to get killed." -- "Wouldn't you?" to "One guy wants to be decapitated" and everyone in the trailer cracking up. Yes, there are limits to the magic, folks, at least on location on the spur of the moment. Sad but true.
- I missed Lance Henriksen by about three hours, which makes me sad. My current wishlist involves some sort of premiere party where I will get to shake his hand and think "Dude, I am IN A MOVIE WITH LANCE HENRIKSEN." Because that's just not going to stop being cool anytime soon.
- Though of course the people I actually worked with are no less cool, cast and crew alike, and I would work with any of them again in a heartbeat under pretty much any circumstances. I wish it had been for more than one shooting day!
- Joel Castleberg is, like, the complete opposite of the Hollywood producer stereotype. He was right out there with us in the cold, always upbeat and personable and just plain nice.
- When I took my leave of the wrap party (which, judging by the pictures, I'm really sorry to have missed most of on account of having to drive back early the next day), the director, Mark Vadik, thanked me for "making my job easy." Considering the company I was in, I can't think of anything better for him to have said. If there's anything I want to get a reputation for, that's it: I do my job, do it well, and don't create bumps in the road to getting the day in the can. That's the thing that will get me hired again, and just incidentally the way I actually enjoy working all day. And his saying that helps me believe this wasn't just a fluke, and motivates me to keep putting myself out there for more and better.
There's probably stuff I'm forgetting, but mostly I'm just happy to have felt so at home and felt like I did decent work. It just felt like the right place to be working. I learned so so much, but wasn't so green I didn't belong. It was perfect.
Dear Universe: More, please?
Posted by Unknown at 8:20 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: cyrus, my illustrious movie career
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Requiem for a dreamer
In which our Diva remembers a friend gone too soon, and refuses to gnash her teeth
That double meaning of "Stable Girl" led to a ridiculous mental cartoon image I've had for years, of the whole giggling gaggle of us piled in an inverted human pyramid on her chair, careening through an unsuspecting crowd, possibly in the dealer's room at a con. (It's only the number of passengers that's ridiculous in that scenario. Just ask Perri.)
"And then Teal'c took off his shirt."
Penguins and Johnny Cash. La Femme Nikita and Britney Spears. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Facts of Life theme. Abby's eccentric body of fannish music videos certainly doesn't say everything about her by any means, but somehow it seems like the right place to start.
I'm not the first to say I don't remember for sure when I first met her in person, though I'm fairly sure it was before MediaWest*Con in '98, with her attitude-dripping Cordy impersonation in our Buffy skit for the masquerade, and the chorus of beep beep beeps warning bystanders every time she backed up her chair. If that was the first time, it didn't feel like it, as so often happened with Sunnydale Slayers or FORKNI-L folks. As Merlin Missy so eloquently reminds us in her newest column, the bonds in the fandom community are about far, far more than our shared love of a show or book series or movie.
I don't remember the name of the author or the book that introduced the notion of modern Western women forming "tribes," or which of the Horsechicks of the Apocalypse pointed it out as applying to us. My "tribe" is around the intersection of college friends, fandom, and acting, with the Horsechicks a solid chunk of it. When apocalyptic designations were being claimed (I'm still not sure how I got away with Madness all to myself!), Abby dubbed herself the Stable Girl. And for all that she was rightfully known for her wicked and wacky humor, occasionally leading to the nickname being altered to (Un)Stable Girl, she was about as stable as it got. That sense of perspective -- not that the "little things" never bothered her, or that she didn't gripe about them once in a while, but she knew how to keep them in their place. As an old Reader's Digest anecdote I dimly remember put it, she knew the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. (Check out the articles she and her mom wrote following the Apocalypse that descended upon Las Vegas to celebrate the 30th birthday everyone once assumed she'd never see.) And a problem had to be a real problem to qualify, and the inconveniences just weren't worth energy that was better spent elsewhere. We should all be so wise.
That double meaning of "Stable Girl" led to a ridiculous mental cartoon image I've had for years, of the whole giggling gaggle of us piled in an inverted human pyramid on her chair, careening through an unsuspecting crowd, possibly in the dealer's room at a con. (It's only the number of passengers that's ridiculous in that scenario. Just ask Perri.)
Like others, I see her now, standing tall, striding strong, dancing as she always dreamed. But I have to think she also has the fastest, most maneuverable, most badass hot-rod of a power chair EVER to play with sometimes. Just for fun. And an excuse to beep.
"And then Teal'c took off his shirt."
Posted by Unknown at 12:05 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: people who inspire
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*Prices are exclusive of tax and service charge

subset: commoncrawl


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Residential Fencing
Having a fence for your residential property has many advantages. Putting a residential fencing physical barrier around your property will generally discourage trespassers from unlawfully entering your property. It will serve as a reminder to neighbors where your property line ends. It can also keep things that you don't want to leave from escaping, like children or animals. It also can be aesthetically pleasing.
Call us today for a FREE estimate at


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Visual and intellectual boundary-breaker, Tim Girvin has begun blogging his brilliance in a series of essays which pierce like bright rays from a distant star, shining through the disparate galaxies of fragrance, film, fashion, architecture, TV, branding, identity, and thought as it is thunk. Girvin is more than a designer, he's a serendipitous genetic experiment let loose upon the world. Best known as a brand, identity and typography master (Apple, Amex, Bloomingdale's, Bravehart, Urban Decay, Wolfgang Puck, Yves Saint Laurent, WIRED, The Matrix, and more), Girvin goes where no simply sane design mind has gone before. And he collects fine Japanese bamboo baskets, too.
See his latest blog post, Resort Design Development | Brand, Patterning, Identity, Placemaking | John Lautner, Visions & Las Brisas, MX. Now there's an essay title for you. Delicious food for thought. Find it at Tim's place, blog, personal site, agency.


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When Mike Berglund started throwing his annual Stripper-Palooza mini-festival over a half-decade ago, it wasn't called Stripper-Palooza. If fact, it wasn't about strippers at all -- it was about getting friends together to share a meal and support local bands. But after a conversation at his local watering hole between friends -- some of whom were former exotic dancers -- the name Stripper-Palooza was born, and a pole-dance contest was added to this yearly summer party.
Going down this Saturday, August 24 at Casselman's, the big bash includes a poker run, pig roast, bike show, pole-dance contest and live music from eight local and national bands. And Berglund is donating a portion of this year's proceeds to friend and former Stripper-Palooza performer Jackie, who is battling cervical cancer.
See also: - Make way for the new and improved Shotgun Willie's - Photos: Meet the 2013 Colorado Burlesque Festival headliners - Goodbye, little sister, and farewell, totally '80s-era Shotgun Willie's
"The news was devastating," says Berglund of his friend's diagnosis. "We have a little picnic to get ready for the party and everyone who helps comes over. It was then that Jackie told me -- she said that she had kept it to herself for six months because she was embarrassed. As a dad and a boss, when I get sick, I hide it. It's embarrassing because I feel like it's a sign of weakness, so I could relate.
"But we're turning a bad thing into a good thing," adds Berglund, who will donate $5 from each ticket sold directly to the mother of two.
But then, Berglund says that Stripper-Palooza has always been about getting friends together. That, and supporting local music. With an eight-band lineup that includes local and national acts like the World Famous Johnsons, Atomic Punks, Rat Salad and Throw Logic, the party promoter says the pole-dancing contest came in handy as a way to break up the monotony of lag-time between band's set changes.
Berglund stresses that though the event is called Stripper-Palooza, the exotic dancing aspect is just a small part of the all-day party.
"I just wanted it to be a pig roast and a showcase for local bands, but what I didn't realize at the time is that if you use 'stripper' and 'palooza' in a sentence, it will get some attention," Berglund jokes. "It's not always positive attention, but you tell people, look, it's just tongue-in-cheek. It's not like we're doing anything raunchy."
Along with the pole-dancing contest that carries a $1,000 first prize, there will be a bike show and the pig roast; the fun starts at 2 p.m. at Casselman's. But the action actually gets under way at 8 a.m. with "Jackie's Ride for Recovery," an early-morning poker run that takes off from the Full House bar, and then participating motorcyclists stop at five more locations along Broadway, picking up a playing card at each one; the best hand at the end wins a prize.
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No matter how tasteful, Stripper-Palooza is still 21 and up. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 the day of the event and can be purchased through the Casselman's website. "Jackie's Ride for Recovery" is a $35 entrance fee with a $20 fee for additional riders -- and that price includes all Stripper-Palooza events at Casselman's as well. For more information or to sign up for the poker run, visit the "Jackie's Ride for Recovery" Facebook page. For more information and a full line-up of bands at the sixth annual Stripper-Palooza, visit the event's Facebook page.
Follow @WestwordCulture


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A variety of mortgage loan programs are available for applicants based on income, credit history, and other financial factors. The key to successfully applying for any home loan program is getting familiar with the prerequisites. Once you are sure you qualify for the financial program in question, you can begin a successful application process.
The VA loan is specifically designed for qualified veterans. In addition to service in the military, applicants must meet credit standards, certain income requirements, and fill out a certificate of eligibility for the loan money. This certificate will verify that candidates meet the minimum active duty requirements during their service terms. These steps are crucial to beginning the application process for a VA loan.
Getting approved for a VA loan can drastically change the landscape for many aspiring homeowners. These financial plans can be used to buy a home, build a home, buy and remodel a home, or make energy efficiency improvements. Your loan purpose (whatever the granted money will be used for) has to fit into the parameters of these credible projects.
Once you have all these boxes checked, you can really begin compiling the paperwork and get the ball rolling on your application. When presenting your credit and financial information, you should be able to demonstrate your income is enough to cover the expenses of owning a home and make regular payments. It's also best if your debt history is indicative of someone responsible and accountable.
For more information contact our friendly team at Midland Mortgage to learn how to make mortgage loan programs work for you.


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About U & I Rise
U & I Rise
U&I-RISE is an education and training company that uses African-Centered Philosophy to solve American problems. We use basic relationship fundamentals to connect people in ways that improve production and culture at school, at work and in the community.
U&I-RISE is a Limited-Liability Corporation whose purpose is to foster individual, family and community empowerment. U&I-RISE is an acronym that stands for Unapparencies and Intra-Racial Insight/Sensitivity Education. Many people have heard of, and even participated in, inter-racial sensitivity training, which seeks to increase respect between races and cultures. U&I-RISE is INTRA-racial sensitivity, which seeks to increase respect among Black / African-American people for Black / African-American people by making us more aware of the conditioned prejudices we have toward – and more sensitive to and embracing of – ourselves. In layman's terms, this is known as self-love and self-respect, which is the foundation of empowerment.
U&I-RISE's foundational course, that bears the same name, helps organizations made up of, and employers of, and/or serves majority Black / African-American people to accomplish and exceed organizational goals by uncovering hidden generational obstacles that make it difficult for us to work for and/or cooperate with one another.
Tapping Our Parental Power (TOPP), another U&I-RISE foundational course, focuses on parenting, mainly of pre-K thru 8th grade children. TOPP workshop participants complete exercises and discuss specific topics in order to create parenting plans tailored to the unique needs of their household in the company, and with the support of, other parents who are doing the same thing for their families. The TOPP curriculum, simply put, sets a day, time and place for parents to gather in order to approach parenting in a more thoughtful and effective manner.
TOPP began with the writing and self-publishing of "Tapping Our Parental Power (In a Nutshell)," a quick, easy-read that details the one thing parents can do to dramatically increase parental effectiveness, improve their parent-child relationship and create a solid foundation for their child(ren)'s academic success. The workshop curriculum was written from the questions that were asked during book readings, so was created organically by a parent with the help of other parents.
TOPP workshops have been facilitated for parents at Walnut Grove Elementary, Airport Elementary, Central Elementary, Cool Valley Elementary, Cross Keys Elementary, Ferguson Middle, McCluer High – all part of Ferguson-Florissant School District; the 3 elementary Confluence Academy charter schools; and St. Louis Public Schools' Froebel Elementary and Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Preparatory Academy @ Cole. TOPP exercises are part of Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Preparatory Academy Cole's New Parent Orientation; the completion of which is a requirement for any new parent enrolling their child at that school.
Bolanle Ambonisye (Bo Lahn Lay Ahm Bo Nees Yay) is the CEO, Lead Facilitator of U&I-RISE workshops. Bolanle created the curriculum based on over 10 years as an African-Centered Educator and over 30 years of parenting.
Bolanle is a parent of 4. She also enjoys African dance, which she also teaches.


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For extreme scrap quilters. See Etsy.com/Shop/KarenGriskaQuilts for fun quilt patterns.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Candy Quilt
8 comments:
- Beth in MN said...
Just joined your site. Love, Love scrap quilts.
- January 3, 2015 at 2:04 PM
- Terri said...
Congrats to Beth, I signed on a long time ago. But I do want to send some good vibes your way. That quilt is amazing, and reminds me of an I Spy quilt. There is lots to see and such joyous color! Thanks for sharing it.
- January 3, 2015 at 2:12 PM
- Cool95rocks said...
I love your quilt its so colorful and beautiful. <3
- January 3, 2015 at 3:52 PM
- Dinah said...
I love string quilts and this one is a beauty! The colors are fabulous!
- January 3, 2015 at 4:27 PM
- KittyAnn said...
Yummy! Love your candy quilt! The pops of bright yellow and the black border set off all the other colors.
- January 3, 2015 at 11:04 PM
- JustCallMeElle said...
Have you gone to jigsawplanet.com? That candy photo would make a great puzzle.
I love reading your blog and look forward to it.
- January 4, 2015 at 8:55 AM
- daisylover said...
I love that Candy quilt! I just found your blog and I am in love!
- January 4, 2015 at 11:24 AM
- JaneGardner said...
Love your Candy fabric
- January 5, 2015 at 11:17 AM


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RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Disarming Donner by Charlie Cochet
Author Name: Charlie Cochet
Book Name: Disarming Donner
Series: North Pole City Tales #5
Page/Word Count: 68 pages, 20K words
Categories: Fairy Tales, Holiday, MM Romance
Release Date: December 21, 2016
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Buy Links:
As a beloved Rein Dear and Christmas elf for Mayor Kringle, Donner prides himself on his flawless reputation, good sense, and wise decisions. Donner never does anything until he's thought it through properly. He's certainly not one to get flustered, infuriated, or fall prey to romantic nonsense. At least not until the most unlikely of elves begins chipping away at Donner's defenses.
Calder is a Dockalfar—a dark elf. He's wicked, untrustworthy, and armed with lethal magic. At least that's what everyone thinks. It's easy for them to believe the worst and mistrust him before they've even spoken to him, but Calder is out to prove that he's more than his Dockalfar blood, especially to a certain Rein Dear who has caught his eye. But it will take more than sweet words for Donner to admit what's in his heart.
4✨s – As a Dark Elf, Calder is used to being mistrusted and while he wishes it were different, he can't pretend that others of his kind have only perpetrated this reputation. Still, he wants to prove that he isn't like that. Residing in Jack Frost's castle to help Cupid learn to control his powers, he becomes interested in Donner—a beloved Rein Dear with a reputation that is above reproach. Donner certainly isn't one to fall for a Dark Elf—that just isn't what someone as calm, rational, and logical as he would do.
Calder's need to prove he's not like his brethren was heartbreaking and you can't help but root for him. Watching oh-so respectable Donner come to the realization that he had wrongly judged another and seeing that new-found respect give way to like and lust then love was just a sweet holiday treat. Having other's come to see Calder for himself and not his kind's reputation, was perfect. It's a short read that combines enemies to lovers with learning to accept (and embrace) another's differences in a quick holiday love story that will leave you asking yourself how you missed the first four books?
Or is that just me? Yes, I read this first and wasn't lost in the other characters so much as intrigued enough to buy the first four. Whether you want to jump in here like I did, or go back to start at the beginning, you won't be disappointed in the North Pole City Tales series.
Author Bio:
Bringing you stories with heroes, humor, and heart.
Charlie Cochet is an author by day and artist by night. Always quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, no star is out of reach when following her passion. From adventurous agents and sexy shifters, to society gentlemen and hardboiled detectives, there's bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!
Currently residing in Central Florida, Charlie is at the beck and call of a rascally Doxiepoo bent on world domination. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found reading, drawing, or watching movies. She runs on coffee, thrives on music, and loves to hear from readers.
Where to find the author:


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< Back
Senor Froggy Mexican Restaurant & Spa-Ghet-Ti The Pasta Place
- Address: 235-450 Lansdowne Street, Kamloops, BC V2C1Y3
- Phone: 1-250-554-2055
The staff are amazing and the food is great. For both Mexican food and pasta, they make everything that they can fresh, including the hot sauce, salsas and even their chips. Great value without needing to spend a lot. You can also purchase BC Wildlife Park passes here at discounted prices.


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What are your thoughts on the Rimmel Lasting Finish Skin Perfecting Foundation?
Rimmel's Lasting Finish Skin Perfecting Foundation
What are your thoughts on the Rimmel Lasting Finish Skin Perfecting Foundation?
3 comments
I love this foundation I have been using it since Christmas but I have the white lid on which is a medium coverage instead of the full coverage which i prefer as it is more lightweight and reduces any build up of product in my t-zone thought you might like to know, might be worth a try? Great post xoReplyDelete
Drugstore foundations can be really good quality, to be honest I think foundation is always such a hit and miss product that investing in a high end one when you're not sure it's going to work for your skin isn't the smartest thing to do! So you're right, there are a lot of good dupes in Boots!ReplyDelete
Rimmel seem to have great foundations, I always hear good things about them. This one sounds great and comfortable on the skin, which is also a nice thing to look for in foundations when you're wearing for hours straight! :)
Julia x
Last post: A High Neck OOTD | http://juliaspeaksbeauty.blogspot.fr/2016/03/ootd-high-neck.html
I would never wear makeup for 25+ hours either - that's insane! Definitely want to try this out one day - love foundations that come with a pump.ReplyDelete
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[Visual Studio Extension Of The Day] PHP Language Support
This extension provides basic editing features for the PHP scripting language. Current editing features include:
- Syntax highlighting, including support for HTML code outside PHP tags and within documentation comments
- Outlining support for quickly collapsing classes and functions
- Dropdown bars listing classes and functions within the current document
This extension has a relatively small feature set, but it's quite fast and usable. It was created as part of an experiment to provide editor features for multiple languages within a single document (PHP, HTML, and formatted documentation comments).
Download it from Visual Studio Extension Manager


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I recently bought some dried figs and have been snacking on them. When I came across this smoothie recipe, it sounded like it would make a great sweet treat!
This smoothie was adapted from here:
- 4 figs (I used dried)
- 1 banana, frozen
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp maca powder (Can be omitted)
- 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Vega) (Can be omitted)
- dash of cinnamon
- dash of sea salt
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
If you don't have vanilla protein powder, you can just use 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
If you don't have maca powder, you can just omit this ingredient.
If you don't have a high-speed blender, I recommend soaking the dates in warm water for about an hour first.
You can also add a handful of spinach or other greens and turn this into a green smoothie for some extra nutrition.
This smoothie would be great for breakfast since the protein will keep you full and all the other ingredients will give you plenty of energy!
Sorry, no picture yet! When I added the spinach, it wasn't the prettiest looking, though it was still tasty! Next time I'll take a picture before I add the spinach.


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David Blyth's "Ghost Bride" is a paranormal thriller that takes on struggles of the generational and cultural dichotomy. The film stars Yoson An, Rebekah Palmer, Fiona Feng, Ian Mune, Geeling Ng, Catheryn Wu and Charles Chan. "Ghost Bride" follows young Chinese immigrant Jason Chen who becomes entangled with two women, a New Zealand beauty and the Chinese bride he is promised to. Held between the modern and the living, two worlds collide-living and the dead.
David Blyth directed New Zealand's first ever horror film, "Death Warmed Up". which followed up his indie success of controversial, social commentary "Angel Mine". Since then he has built a cult following with his documentaries and feature films, not just in his native New Zealand but worldwide. "Ghost Bride" is his latest film which is due out November 4th. Check out the interview with David Blyth about the film and read my review of "Ghost Bride" before the film's upcoming release.
A Southern Life: Having reviewed "Ghost Bride", let me say "what a film"! Where did the you get the idea?
David Blyth: I was surfing the Internet one night and found a Asian paranormal website that detailed the ceremony and circumstances around a Ghost Bride wedding. There were images of paper and cardboard effigies of the young couple being burnt releasing their spirits to the other side. Plus images of the double coffin to house the physical remains of the dead couple's bodies. I was intrigued by this ancient 2000 year old ceremony largely suppressed in mainland China but still practiced.
A Southern Life: Do you believe in the paranormal yourself or are you a skeptic?
David Blyth: I have not had any personal revelations in the paranormal department but I am fascinated by the many manifestations of consciousness.
A Southern Life: Given the success of Asian paranormal horror in the west with films like "The Grudge", were you influenced by these films at all?
David Blyth: Certainly I'm a fan of Asian Horror Cinema, but I wanted to explore cultural projections and how there's a subconscious dimension, looking at the compulsions behind the actions of the characters.
A Southern Life: How hard was it to pitch this film's story to the financiers? What excited them about the project?
David Blyth: I pitched them the Chinese Ghost Bride concept of being able to be married after you are dead for eternity, as opposed to the Western concept of marriage where you have to be alive to marry and it's all over when you die. So a predestined Chinese supernatural marriage gets in the way of new immigrant Jason Chen's love for kiwi girl Skye and the mayhem that ensures when Jason marries Skye.
A Southern Life: The location chosen for "Ghost Bride" was picturesque, where did you film?
David Blyth: At the township of Gulf Harbour and beaches on the Whangapaora Peninsular above Auckland city, where I also happen to live.
A Southern Life: New Zealand has been getting pretty busy, film-production wise. Is that a help or a hindrance to the indie film-making community there?
David Blyth: There is a lot of International stuff going on here at the moment. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sequel has just completed production and several US features are being shot here this year, with the Avatar sequels on the way.
These productions are great for the NZ film industry as they help up-skill the local industry, giving both actors and crew opportunities to work in the International arena.
Three of the actors from Ghost Bride got roles in the Crouching Tiger sequel.
A Southern Life: Did you happen to do a Hitchcock and discreet cameo in "Ghost Bride" ?
David Blyth: No , but an interesting footnote, Geeling Ching who plays Madam Yin the matchmaker in Ghost Bride happens to be the "China Girl" of David Bowie's song and video "China Girl".
A Southern Life: Horror films seem to be taking more of a supernatural "don't-show-everything" approach in recent years, do you think that's the way to go?
David Blyth: Story is most important and certain stories lend themselves to a more leave it to the imagination type of scenario, rather than the visceral in your face revelation. Both work so depending on the story and approach I'm open to working with both.


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The 40 Percent Myth?
If you've been following the recent debate over the president's proposal to require universal background checks for gun transactions, you're familiar with the "40 percent" statistic. Proponents assert that up to 40 percent of gun sales do not involve a federally licensed dealer and therefore are exempt from the current federal requirement for a background check of buyers. Opponents have been attacking this statistic, saying it's far too high.
We've been following this give-and-take with some interest because our research is the original source of that 40 percent statistic. Our views on the subject may come as a surprise. First, we don't know the current percentage — nor does anyone else. Second, if the president's opponents are right and the true figure turns out to be less than 40 percent, that would actually strengthen the case for a universal-background-check requirement.
Currently, federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) are required to dial into a database to ensure that the would-be buyer is not a felon or otherwise barred from owning a firearm. But in all but a handful of states, private transfers operate on the honor system: Sellers can't knowingly transfer a gun to someone prohibited from owning one, but they don't have to ask the buyer if he's in that category — let alone look into the matter. So long as the buyer is not wearing a "Riker's Island alumnus" hat, the seller is free to complete the deal.
A universal background check is a good idea only if it can pass a cost-benefit test. The benefits in this case are measured in lives saved from prevented homicides and suicides. The costs are the potential fees and inconvenience to buyers who would have to arrange a background check by a licensed dealer before buying a gun from a non-licensed seller.
The primary goal of President Obama's proposed requirement for universal background checks is to make it more difficult for criminals to obtain guns. So the key figure for assessing the potential benefits of the president's proposal is the proportion of gun transactions involving criminals that occur in the secondary gun market. Several surveys of prisoners suggest that 80 percent or more of them acquired guns from some non-FFL source: casual transfers from family and friends, or through theft or underground brokers and dealers. That 80 percent figure is not controversial, and it is what's relevant to estimating the potential benefits of universal checks.
A universal-background-check requirement would by no means eradicate gun crime, but it would reduce it because some dangerous people — those disqualified from gun ownership — would find it more difficult to obtain a gun quickly when they wanted one. That's why background checks are overwhelmingly supported by law-abiding gun owners — Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that 82 percent of gun owners support requiring a criminal-background check for all gun sales. The benefits of this law could be counted in terms of lives saved in street crime, domestic violence, and suicides
The reason we'd like to know the overall size of the secondary market is to estimate the costs of the universal background check, since these transactions would now have to be conducted with the help of an FFL. In 1996, we estimated that 30 to 40 percent of all gun transactions in 1993–94 occurred in the secondary market. We based that estimate on a detailed national survey of gun ownership that has not been replicated since then, and a lot has changed over the last 20 years. We can speculate about trends in the scope of the secondary market; no one knows for sure.
If opponents of a universal-background-check law are right that 40 percent is too high, and that a smaller number of gun transactions occur in the secondary market each year, then the costs of implementing the universal background check are lower. Ironically they have helped make a stronger case for the new law. It would be cheaper if it only affected, say, 20 percent of the transactions, than if it affected 40 percent of them.
So does a universal background check pass the cost-benefit test? We think the answer is likely to be yes. Given the enormous costs that gun violence imposes on society, we estimate that a universal-background-check policy would generate benefits in excess of the implementation costs — easily — if the new policy reduced gun homicides by as little as 1 percent. Considered this way, a universal-background-check requirement seems like a promising policy, regardless of whether the true share of gun transactions that occur in the secondary market is 40 percent or 20 percent.
Philip J. Cook is the ITT / Sanford Professor of Public Policy at Duke University. Jens Ludwig is McCormick Foundation Professor at the University of Chicago and director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. Both are elected members of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science. This commentary was first published in the National Review Online.


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video – Dinesh D'Souza on the Islamic Terrorism in Paris
Islamic ideology driving terrorists to kill, Egypt's president tells clerics
Redacted from an article by:
Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
January 13, 2015
The ruler of Egypt is alone among major world leaders in his willingness to go before an audience of senior Muslim clerics and tell them that parts of Islamic ideology are indeed driving terrorists to kill worldwide.
Just days before al Qaeda-linked terrorists unleashed a wave of murder in Paris, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi gave a blunt talk that some observers hope will be the beginning of a campaign within Islam to reform its preachings and exile its extremists.
Mr. el-Sissi's message is at odds with President Obama's view that Islam the religion has nothing to do with Muslim extremists.
On Dec. 28, Mr. el-Sissi, a former chief of the armed forces who ousted the elected Islamist president in 2013, went to Cairo's Al-Azhar University, a leading intellectual center of Sunni Muslim thought. He stood before clerics and scholars and asserted that years of Islamic writings and sermons had created an ideology that justifies waves of violence. Now, he said, the imams have a duty to stop it.
"You must emerge from it and look from outside, in order to get closer to a truly enlightened ideology," he said in a speech televised to the Egyptian people. "You must oppose it with resolve. Let me say it again: We need to revolutionize our religion."
Analysts cannot recall any other world leader taking such a bold public step since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al Qaeda, which, like other organizations that want to unleash violence around the world, bases its doctrine on Sunni Muslim ideology.
When the smoke had cleared in Paris, French President Francois Hollande in effect broke with Mr. el-Sissi's Dec. 28 message. He told citizens, "Those who carried out these attacks, the terrorists, the madmen, these fanatics have nothing to do with the Muslim religion."
(The poor French – led by another Obama)
At the same university and same audience makeup in 2009, Mr. Obama said, "Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism. It is an important part of promoting peace."
When the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, killed American Peter Kassig by beheading, Mr. Obama chose to refer to him by his Muslim name, apparently believing he freely became a Muslim after the violent group took him captive.
"ISIL's actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith, which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own," the president said.
Some analysts say Egypt's Mr. el-Sissi, while not a model for democratic rule, should be applauded for his willingness to officially link parts of his religion's ideology to violence.
U.S. political conservatives point out that there are clerics who preach violence. There are mosques used to raise terrorist money, recruit fighters and plan attacks. All are components of Islam, fringe or otherwise, they say.
"Western leaders often appear to be the great apologists for Islam," said Soeren Kern, an analyst with the Gatestone Institute who writes on the "Islamization of France." "How many times have I heard recently that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam, or Islam is a religion of peace, or that jihadists are not true Muslims. Until the West gets over the political correctness, Islam is going to run roughshod over Western values of democracy and free speech."
One frequent criticism from U.S. conservatives is that there is still no sustained public campaign by moderate Muslim leaders to condemn and root out extremists – 14 years after al Qaeda's attacks on America.
"Sissi said something profound and, I think, correct," said Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's top policy official under President George W. Bush. "The great question is whether he'll be heeded.
Mr. el-Sissi's pointed speech has received much more attention in the American conservative press than it has in the main liberal media, which are sensitive to charges of "Islamophobia."
"We must take a long, hard look at the situation we are in," Mr. el-Sissi said, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute. "It is inconceivable that the ideology we sanctify should make our entire nation a source of concern, danger, killing, and destruction all over the world. It is inconceivable that this ideology – I am referring not to 'religion,' but to 'ideology' – the body of ideas and texts that we have sanctified in the course of centuries, to the point that challenging them has become very difficult."
At one point, he spoke directly to Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand sheik of Al-Azhar University and its revered mosque.
"Honorable Imam," he said, "you bear responsibility before Allah. The world in its entirety awaits your words, because the Islamic nation is being torn apart, destroyed, and is heading to perdition. We ourselves are bringing it to perdition."
Zuhdi Jasser is a Syrian-American internist and nuclear cardiologist who has emerged in the U.S. as a major voice for countering Islamic extremism.
What Dr. Jasser said Muslim leaders are needed to declare a separation between mosque and state, in the place of Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. "When I hear a Muslim leader say that, then I will take a second look that they're real about it," he said. "But until then, what's happening is these radicals are coming back to bite these oligarchs in the rear end."
Mr. Obama's June 2009 appearance at Egypt's Al-Azhar University was part of his travels to majority Muslim nations. In Cairo, he portrayed Muslims as victims of colonialism, then the Cold War, then modern Western societies.
He compared women's struggles in the male-dominated Muslim culture to a lack of rights today for American women. He said, "The struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world."
He praised Islam's history.
"And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality," he said. "And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. So let there be no doubt. Islam is a part of America."
The president did urge the clerics to shun violence.
"The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer," he said. "Among some Muslims, there's a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of somebody else's faith."
In 2013, Mr. Obama appeared at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington to outline his strategy for combating terrorists.
He said he wanted Congress to repeal the law that in 2001 authorized war against al Qaeda and allied groups.
"Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue," he said. "But this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands."
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From poetry to stories, our Multicultural Arts Exchange theater performances celebrate cultures from all over the world. Whether you're experiencing the telling of ancient tales, or enjoying a contemporary performance, it's an inspiring experience for the entire family every time.
Located in different venues all throughout the local Philadelphia, PA region, experience culture through theater performed by professionals from across the globe. Multicultural Arts Exchange theater performances cover a vast array of different cultural stories, each celebrating the cultures represented in the local community as well as those abroad. Always affordable, bring your family to experience the world without ever straying far from home.
Russian storytelling goes back generations, and Multicultural Arts Exchange Russian theater performances tell these traditional tales as well as new ones in affordable presentations located in various local Philadelphia, PA venues. Each performance is suitable for the entire family, allowing everyone in the area to experience the cultures represented both here and across the world.
Thousands of years of Jewish stories are told through professional and riveting performances with Multicultural Arts Exchange theater presentations. Each show is affordable and family friendly, allowing those of all ages the enjoyment and inspiration this facet of Jewish culture has to offer. Located in various venues around the Philadelphia, PA region, these cultural experiences have never been more accessible.
This photo is from The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's 2018 production of 'Fiddler On The Roof In Yiddish'. The photo was taken by Victor Nechay @ Properpix.
Experience thousands of years of Asian storytelling from just a few minutes from your Philadelphia, PAhome with Multicultural Arts Exchange Asian culture theater performances. Each carried out by professional acting troupes from around the globe, these affordable presentations provide families in the area with an entirely new way to experience Asian culture close to home.
The enthralling stories of Latin culture are told through professional acting troupes during our Multicultural Arts Exchange Latin theater presentations. Every affordable and family-friendly Latin culture theater performance is suitable for the entire family to enjoy, and they're held in various Philadelphia, PA venues across the region to provide an authentic Latin storytelling experience close to home.


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The perfect way to tie any room and living space décor together is through accessories. Compliment your curtains with our coordinating cushions and tie backs to help create a clashing point or a harmonizing finish.
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There are exactly two ways to look at this:
- It used to be all you could get was a double soy latte. Now, the horrors of a double breast smooch mocha cappuccino have been put to rest as brave enforcers of the law have finally arrested individuals serving more than just coffee.
- The law enforcement for city of Everett, Washington, used taxpayer dollars to fund a two-month-long sting operation of a bikini barista coffee house.
We'll let you all be the judge.


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The Pier Hotel, down by the dark water of the little harbor of Portree, capital of the Isle of Skye, is a plain-looking place. But inside its one-room bar, the atmosphere is anything but plain. The place is jammed, and the pints and whisky glasses have been doing their work. A couple of women sip lagers on stools at the bar and one forlorn man clutches a tall glass of Coca-Cola (how long will he stay on the wagon?), but otherwise the thronged male bonhomie is rising to a deafening pitch. I have to shout my order at the barmaid. Even then, I'm not sure whether she hears or just reads my lips.
The one thing that could dim the din arrives: a ceilidh band. Accordion and bass strike up in the corner, and for five minutes the place gets a little quieter, either out of curiosity or respect. Then the clapping and whooping start, and gradually the talk lifts back to the level necessary to be heard over the music: even louder than before. The Scots may be the hardest-working people in the Western Hemisphere—their passion and industry having given us the television, penicillin, and Long John Silver—but they are among the hardest partyers, too.
On the other hand, their Calvinist heritage also knows how to dampen a party. Just outside the completely packed little pub is the lovely harbor, with a flotilla of brightly colored fishing and lobster boats stirring peacefully at their moorings. You'd think the denizens of the pub might spill outside a little. But the Highland Council has posted a notice "prohibiting the drinking of beverages outside these premises."
"Why?" I shout at the barmaid, pointing to the sign.
"Because they're boring buggers," she shouts back.
Some merrymakers fearlessly skip outside a little later, dancing to a reel, glasses in hand (inside there's hardly a square inch to turn around in, let alone dance). But they're soon filing back in scratching their heads: midges. If you want to be outdoors in Scotland on a calm summer evening, you have to be a smoker. As each person squeezes past, he gives me a couple of light pats on the shoulder to warn me that he's coming. They're not just work-loving, fun-loving people, these islanders, they're friendly, too—soft with Gaelic and Catholicism, halfway to Ireland.
When I go out, with the peaty aftertaste of a Talisker (Skye's own single malt) lingering on the tongue—and the music and babble gentle on the ear now—the sky is still pale but the harbor water is black. Beyond the little fleet of boats, a heavy headland blooms on the water, and the small white houses shine all around the bay. In the middle hovers an island on which a saint once lived as a hermit. The peace of the Hebrides is legendary. It's no surprise that these were the islands where the early Christian saints of northern Europe found a natural home. Meanwhile, to the east, the long island of Raasay recedes into the smoky distance, its hills so jagged that it can only be dragon land. I've been here barely a week and already the rest of the world has evaporated.
There's a magic to all islands: each one its own principality, with its hidden treasures and secrets and the sea, the perfect indifferent isolator, all around. But the Inner Hebrides—Islay, Jura, Mull, Iona, Rum, Muck, Eigg, Skye—beloved of hermits and visionaries, misfits and writers, are a special case. They lie (or rather stand, for most contain vertiginous lumps of mountain) on the far northwest shore of Europe, last stop before Ultima Thule (the legendary last land in the western ocean of classical times). Here, Christianity first entrenched itself in northern Europe with the arrival of Saint Columba on Iona in a.d. 563; a millennium and a half later, in 1948, on the lonely northern shore of Jura, with the nearest shop a ten-mile ride away in an open boat, George Orwell wrote 1984. Cormac of the Sea, Beccan of Rum, Donan of Eigg—many of the early Celtic saints contemplated God here in rugged isolation, and ended martyred by Vikings.
No islands are without sea, of course, and the sea here is fascinating because of the constant presence of looming land. Islands, headlands, peninsulas, rocks—even on a dismal day they tower in shades of gray and khaki over the slate-green water, forming a kind of abstract sculpture that dwarfs humanity and creating innumerable channels and sounds which force the tides into seething races—eerie mirror-flat swellings in the heart of them, and sometimes ferocious white rapids. One of these, the Corryvreckan, in the Sound of Jura, whips itself into a lethal whirlpool during the full moon.
The islands can seem rugged and harsh, and most are treeless (landlords used to grant timber rights to islanders so they could travel to the mainland once a year for a boatload of wood). Atlantic gales blow with three thousand miles' momentum. West-facing cliffs have reverse waterfalls—streams blown upward as if from lawn sprinklers. Wrecks abound, like the Spanish galleon driven here by storms from the 1588 Armada, said to reside beneath the clay seabed of Mull's Tobermory Harbour, with thirty million gold ducats still on board. Warmth comes only from the bogs—peat that's been cut, dried, and hauled to the crofter's hearth—and from the sheep, which provide wool for the celebrated tweed and which also inadvertently caused the brutal Clearances of the 1760s through the 1850s, when landlords, many of them English, had thousands of islanders deported to make room for flocks on their land. (Most of the unfortunates went to America and Canada, becoming much more fortunate: Britain's loss, North America's gain.) The chief consolations have always been the church and the "water of life"—uisquebaugh, or whisky—a drink that like no other seems to rise from the land which made it, rich with local barley, smoky with the peat fires that malted it.
But there's another side to the islands. On a good day, they are as beautiful as anywhere on earth. Even on a bad one (of which there are, alas, many), there will be breaks in the weather when rainbows abound and golden sides of brooding mountain are suddenly revealed. The beauty is not just visible but something you feel. The interfusing of land and sea, hill and loch, creates an incomparable softness and induces a strange inner silence, a contemplativeness. Here, as an old island doctor once told me, "Time passes so softly that a man wakes up one morning to find himself old and still thinking himself but a strapping lad."
Over the years, I've come to the Inner Hebrides many times: to Islay, with its seven distilleries producing the peatiest single-malts around; to Skye, with its stunning Cuillin Mountains; and to the Small Isles—Eigg, Rum, and Muck, victims of many a Victorian traveler's pun. Today, they are still as empty and bare as ever. You can drive right across an island and see only a handful of little crofts. There's nothing to distract from the bare facts of creation. But I haven't come in a few years, and this time I decide to visit a couple of old favorites, Skye and Rum, as well as two islands I've never been to before, Mull and the holy island of Iona, making a little pilgrimage through these isles of contemplation.
My bathroom in Kinloch Castle, on Rum, has a giant iron tub with a kind of cubicle at one end, containing a web of old pipes, and a big handle with different settings marked in blue enamel: SITZ, PLUNGE, WAVE. I jerk the lever to wave, and a gush of brown water surges out of a slit. I instinctively get out of its way, and it shoots clear across the room.
The hydrotherapy device, over a hundred years old now, is just one of the features Sir George Bullough, a textile magnate from northern England who owned Rum, installed in his made-to-order castle. Completed in 1901 at a cost of a million pounds ($200 million today), Kinloch Castle has centrally heated kennels for hunting dogs, a heated pool for turtles (so the house parties could have fresh turtle soup), and air-conditioning in the billiard room (to remove cigar smoke). Sir George wanted his builders to look Scottish, and paid them an extra shilling a day if they wore a kilt. They obliged until midge season began. Then he had to give them an extra tuppence for tobacco ("midge money").
Today the castle is a mausoleum to Edwardian extravagance, and you can stay in it for just sixty dollars a night. My fellow guests are all bird-watchers. Rum is not much more than a lump of gaunt mountains some eight miles across, populated by deer and some of the last golden eagles in Britain. There's a couple from Surrey who are still wearing the anoraks in which they braced against the rain earlier today, and an elderly Glaswegian couple, and we all feel just a bit awkward as we stand around the baronial hall downstairs at six-thirty, drinks in hand, like some odd house party. Above us hang the heads of slaughtered beasts, mostly stags, and one enormous eagle, its dark wings spread, that looks like it could be molting. In fact, the whole place has a faint feel of molting about it. It has hardly changed since it was built, or since the Bullough family parted with their forebear's folie de grandeur in 1957, handing it over to the Nature Conservancy Council. In my bedroom, Sir George's dusty riding boots still stand by the fireplace.
As I leave on the ferry the next morning, the neighboring island of Eigg glides by looking like some strange headless iguana, with the black basalt stump, the Sgurr, at one end. The Sheerwater's skipper, indefatigable, inseparable from his yellow wellies, is proud of the onboard bar built into his vessel's narrow prow, and I stand him a Glenfiddich in his wheelhouse as he "gives it the handle," showing me how speedy his craft is. In exchange, he tells me some of the darker patches of Eigg's history.
"Ay, Saint Donan and all his monks were slaughtered on the order of a murderous queen. And fully four hundred MacLeods were slaughtered in Massacre Cave. The MacDonalds smoked them all to death. But you're okay," he says with a chuckle, raising his glass. "The islanders are no so bad now. Long as you stay on the right side of them."
One recent owner got on the wrong side. He fell into a dire feud with the islanders, and one night his vintage Rolls-Royce mysteriously went up in flames. Then in 1997 the islanders managed to buy Eigg themselves—the first island buyout in Scottish history. Which perhaps marks the beginning of the end of a long history of quasi-feudal landlords in Scotland. (Even as late as the eighteenth century, lairds still had theoretical "first night" rights to brides.)
The holiest of the Hebrides is surely Iona, home of Saint Columba, or Columcille ("Dove of the Church"), and seat of northern Christendom for a thousand years. Just three miles long and comparatively undramatic, lying off the end of Mull, Iona is perhaps the most famous isle—which has always put me off coming. It gets half a million tourists a year, and you don't travel to the Hebrides for crowds. I prefer to find my own atmospheric places anyway, and up here it's not hard. Samuel Johnson came in 1773 on his tour of the Hebrides, in the company of his incomparable chronicler James Boswell, and declared: "That man is little to be envied…whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona!" Somehow, that didn't make me want to come either.
But the curious thing about Iona's magic is that it works on you whether you want it to or not. I haven't been in the abbey twenty minutes when a calm comes over me. The abbey seems flooded with more light than is natural. When you look down its stone nave, there's a white marble altar at the end and behind that a silver cross, then a big, clear window, a grassy slope running down to the shore, the half-mile-wide channel, and finally the whole of Mull's long promontory reaching like a causeway forty miles back to Scotland. It's as if Iona stands on its own, but a ramp extends to it from the heart of the mainland. The little island feels at once isolated and remote, and also at the center of the known world.
Columba, the northern church father, arrived in a.d. 563 with twelve disciples, set up a monastery, and commenced converting Dalriada, as western Scotland was known. Like all good missionaries, he went for the jugular: Convert the kings and the rest must follow. For nearly a thousand years, the kings—and later the lords—of the isles were buried on Iona. The abbey was destroyed by Henry the Terrible (a.k.a. the Eighth) during the Reformation, when he had his soldiers "dissolve" all monasteries, but Iona never lost its stature as a holy site, and the abbey's restoration about a hundred years ago has preserved its modesty and grace. There are various shrines and pilgrimage points around Iona, and I decide one afternoon to make for St. Columba's Bay, the saint's first landfall.
"Och, nae noo," the woman at my little hotel says. Not now: It's too late in the day.
But the island is tiny, I protest.
"You'll see what I mean once you're out," she says, thrusting a map at me. "There's bogs to here." She touches her waist.
She's right. After stumbling into innumerable black pools hidden in the tall grass, and climbing endless crags and knolls to try to guess my way through the marshes, I find myself part running, part falling down a scree slope, bounding over turf and boulders into a shingle cove. As the sea comes in, the pebbles at the bottom thunder and roll like cans of paint on a floor. The whole bay seethes like milk coming to a boil. At the foot of the cliffs, black rocks detonate with explosions of foam. The wind is roaring in my ears, and the brilliant low sun and the churning snowstorm of the sea are blinding.
When I manage to scramble and heave myself out of the deep bay, the moon is out already like a blurry eye, opening through the mist at the edge of a cloud, and the land is entering that luminous phase just before dark. It's almost night when I cross the machair (the turf) at the Bay of the Back of the Ocean and pass the Hill of Angels, where Columba communed with the Heavenly Host—before a sneaky monk spied on him and the seraphim fled into the sky. As I come within sight of the island's diminutive village once again, a fishing boat is speeding down the Sound of Iona, its prow pushing a cushion of glowing white froth.
Mull is a big island, maybe twenty miles across, but its whole population is barely three thousand. The west side, with one little lane snaking its lonely way along the coast, is all but empty. Johnson and Boswell came down here and were taken with the little island of Ulva, just off the western shore, which had been owned by the family of their host there, one McQuarrie, for nine hundred years—although Dr. Johnson didn't have to dress on a wet clay floor in the morning (the broken windows had let in the rain). Today the Ulva channel is bright blue in a patch of sunshine. The island itself rises in zigguratlike steps of turf, and one of the hazy Treshnish Islands is just discernible like a dream in the distance.
Farther along, a bloated creek thunders into a pool, where the peat froth on the surface casts a reptile skin of shadow on submerged boulders. Then it thrashes through the turf to the very edge of Mull, where it funnels out in a horse tail of surging, clay-red water, falling a hundred feet to the dark sea.
Farther still, the view opens up to the Ross of Mull, the island's long promontory. Before it, the silver sea is ruffled fur and seems to move glacially, with the wind coaxing it along. Big cannon-puff clouds travel like buses above the channel. A great mist of precipitative Hebridean sunlight is everywhere today, with the triangles and semicircles of land rising into it like dark, insubstantial suggestions. This is an Ice Age landscape, unchanged since the glaciers left. Dark cliffs are touched here and there with reverse waterfalls—streams blow upward like lawn sprinklers. You can see why hermits loved it here: Mountains are good, islands are good, mountains on islands are best.
Tobermory, Mull's capital, an iconic Hebridean fishing harbor of brightly painted houses, is especially pretty in the morning, when the sun has just appeared over the dark lump of Ardnamurchan to the east. Not a single vessel has stirred except the gleaming new Lord of the Glens, which is at the dock, ready for its first crossing. A fisherman, a bald man with a ginger beard, is mending a lobster creel and nods as I pass.
"You're up early," he comments. "The ferry's no till eight."
It's true: It's barely six, but I felt like an early walk.
"If it weren't for an appointment with a crustacean, I'd still be abed," he tells me.
There's a whiff of yeast in the air from the distillery at the end of the bay, where they make Tobermory whisky.
He sniffs and nods that way. "Have a dram of that tonight, you might sleep longer."
The remains of a storm that blew in last night stand in a battered rampart along the eastern sky, inflamed by the early sun. The water of the harbor is glassy, except here and there where wind ghosts ruffle it. Meanwhile, the little town thunders with swollen creeks crashing down channels between the houses in plumes of peat-tinged froth.
The island ferry timetables are a bit of a Rubik's cube. But after a ferry, a drive, and another ferry—both the small landing craft of the CalMac fleet—I manage to get myself to Skye.
It was Flora MacDonald who brought Bonnie Prince Charlie "over the sea to Skye" in 1745, disguised as a maid named Betty Burke. All the English forces were looking for him, and he hid in caves and barns on the island until a French ship whisked him to safety in Paris and Rome (where he died in 1778), while Flora became a social celebrity in London. Skye was put on the map forever: "Speed, bonnie boat."
It's the biggest of the Inner Hebrides, with about nine thousand inhabitants, and its capital, Portree, has a main street full of shops. The island has a mainland feel. You drive through different landscapes—open moors, narrow glens, farmland, woods, craggy mountains. It also has three of the finest restaurants in Britain (the Hebrides have Europe's best seafood, and a big recent change is that it no longer all disappears to Spain in refrigerated trucks). There was much debate about the building of the Skye Bridge over to it from the mainland in the 1990s. Although Skye has the twenty-one highest hills in the islands, some purists say that this isn't true anymore, since it's no longer an island. Those hills, the Cuillins, are the first thing you see when driving from the south: a cluster of huge bald cones, their gray tops fanning down in runnels of green, like buns that have had icing dolloped on top.
One morning, after too much Talisker in the Pier Hotel the night before, I decide that a bracing swim is what I need to clear my head. I drive north out of Portree, then park and follow a little path to the very edge of the land, where it opens up in the hidden Bearreraig Bay, enclosed by five-hundred-foot cliffs, with a fringe of gray shingle around its slate water.
It's a long way down, and I'm getting hot when I finally reach the shore. A little set of waves comes in, rolling up flinty and vigorous—seemingly out of nowhere—and spilling white over a few feet of pebbles, which turn from pale gray to black after the water roars back. I whip off my clothes, pick my way across smooth stones, and swim a few breathless, stunned strokes through the ruddy water. I spend the rest of the morning with a numbness in my skin and the rich, salty-sweet taste of the sea on my lips.
But for that swim, I'd never have seen the idyllic wisp of a waterfall coming down a black cliff behind the beach, or the low arc of a rainbow glimmering over the sea. Nor would I have glimpsed the Old Man of Storr, which I had tried to see earlier. It's a tremendous rock, some two hundred feet tall, rising out of the spine of Skye's northern mountains, variously described as a spike, a tower, and a pinnacle, although there's no mistaking what it really is. It had been hidden all morning, but the mists lifted after my swim, unveiling the rock in all its tremendous girth.
What is the proper symbol of these isles? St. Columba's dove? The Celtic cross, seeming to embrace as it does Scots Calvinism as well as some softer kind of religion? Or perhaps that Old Man of black basalt, undaunted by the weather, unconcerned about outsiders, enduring through the multitudinous changes in the world beyond the islands? Never mind what Saint Columba would think of the priapic Old Man, he'd still recognize these isles as if he were here only yesterday.


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NUJ repeats calls for conscience clause as journalists' ethics discussed in parliament
24 February 2015
The culture, media and sport parliamentary select committee continue to review what progress has been made in implementing Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations for independent regulation of the press. Ipso representatives will be witnesses at the committee hearing and are expected to come under pressure to investigate the Daily Telegraph's ethical framework.
The union continues to campaign for a conscience clause for all journalists. This was suggested to Leveson during the inquiry and he supported the NUJ's proposals on a conscience clause as part of his report, as did the prime minister David Cameron. At the moment there is no specific clause in the editors' code of practice that deals with this issue.
The executive summary of the Leveson report states:
"…I was struck by the evidence of journalists who felt that they might be put under pressure to do things that were unethical or against the code. I therefore suggest that the new independent self-regulatory body should establish a whistle-blowing hotline and encourage its members to ensure that journalists' contracts include a conscience clause protecting them if they refuse."
The union wants to see any new ethical guidelines introduced at the Telegraph newspaper in relation to advertising and journalistic ethics to be meaningful and include a conscience clause for journalists. Journalists need to be protected and enabled to do the job they came into the industry to do without fear or favour, regardless of ownership.
The NUJ's code of conduct says journalists should "resist threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information" and "does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed".
Laura Davison, NUJ national organiser, said:
"The NUJ has been campaigning for years for a conscience clause in contracts of employment. Journalists need to be supported and encouraged to stand up for journalistic ethics and they need contractual protection against being dismissed if they do so.
"Journalists should have the right to refuse assignments that contravene their ethical code; no journalists should be disciplined or suffer detriment to their careers for asserting their right to act ethically."


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We inform you that our customers can now enjoy a new website with more information and online services. We offer our clients a new online booking service through our website. You can book securely, we encrypt your data.
You can also consult information about the area where our hotel is located.
Interesting information for travel or to travel.
We hope that this new website will be of your liking and will provide you with all the information you need about our hostel, and our city.
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Five year Civil War theater project begins at City LitBy Kelly Kleiman
Five year Civil War theater project begins at City LitBy Kelly Kleiman
City Lit Theater has just announced a fascinating project--a five-year commemoration of the Civil War, leading up to the 150th anniversary of the war's end in 2015.
Yes, I know the war didn't end in 2015, you misplaced-modifier hawks. In fact, the Civil War didn't end at all: what do you think those Tea Party people are on about? That's what makes the City Lit project so gripping: that its exploration of the themes of the Civil War are necessarily conversations about the nation--or nations--we live in today.
The series starts on April 8 with a little-known play from 1918, The Copperhead, about an Illinois man whose sympathies lie with the Confederacy. (It seems appropriate that the play comes from the end of another war that seemed to end but actually didn't.) Kathy Scambiatterra, artistic director of The Artistic Home, will direct at City Lit's space in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 West Bryn Mawr.
Then annually through 2015 City Lit will produce a show connected to the Civil War, each of them a world premiere. There's a piece featuring the war's music; a play by the fine actress-playwright Maureen Gallagher about the woman disguised as a man who earned an Army pension for her service during the war; a play about slaves who escaped to Chicago, by City Lit's Associate Director (and another fine actress-playwright) Kristine Thatcher; and finally, an adaptation by City Lit Artistic Director Terry McCabe of "Confederates in the Attic," a nonfiction book about the influence of the war and images of the Confederacy in the contemporary South.
TimeLine Theatre has already shown Chicago how exciting it can be to produce theater rooted in stories from history, whether familiar or brand-new. Now City Lit goes it one better, drilling down into a single period for the whole range of stories it contains.
Sounds amazing--I can't wait.


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Early one morning in February 2018, an undocumented immigrant named Ana was told to report to a government office within the shelter where she was being housed. A month earlier, she had fled to the United States from Guatemala with her 2-year-old son after gang members threatened to kill her. Because she was 17, immigration officials placed her and her son in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which sent them to a shelter in New York. On this day—her 18th birthday—the staff instructed her to go to the office at 5 a.m. without her son. When she arrived, two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were waiting. They arrested Ana and transferred her to New Jersey's Bergen County Jail. She was not allowed to say goodbye to her son.
What ICE did to Ana wasn't just cruel. It was illegal. Under a federal law, the agency is required to place immigrants like Ana—undocumented minors who turn 18 in federal custody—in the "least restrictive setting available." But under Donald Trump, ICE has ignored this rule, ripping immigrants out of shelters on their 18th birthdays and locking them in detention facilities with adults. Despite a raft of lawsuits challenging its actions, ICE continues to assert broad authority to imprison these teenagers. Its refusal to comply with the law is a powerful argument against calls to reform ICE instead of abolishing it.
In 2013, Congress enacted an amendment to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) that should clearly protect immigrants like Ana from unnecessary incarceration. The statute was designed to safeguard unaccompanied immigrant children who turn 18 in ORR custody. Under the law, ICE must "consider placement in the least restrictive setting available" so long as these teenagers are not a risk to themselves or the community, or a flight risk. These individuals "shall be eligible to participate in alternative to detention programs," such as placement "with an individual or an organizational sponsor, or in a supervised group home."


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AWI peer mentors were recognized at the Massachusetts State House for "…leadership in preventing self-injury and suicide in the Commonwealth". They then made a brief video describing how they experienced improving wellness; please click on this sentence to view clip.
It is natural for teens to talk with each other more often than with adults. iGROW helps teen mentors develop insight and language to be most helpful on topics of mental health and wellness. Please email email@example.com to participate.
Practical Activities
iGROW is a community based, universal preventive intervention program. The program teaches how to balance the weight of life's worries with the relief of skills and knowledge through practical activities that build resilience.
One example of a practical activity addresses risk factors associated with mental illness including:
- poor problem solving skills
- inability to generate alternative solutions
- elevated levels of stress
- poor coping skills
All ages can learn how to frame problems, create more options and become better problem solvers by practicing the activity called PIP Problems-Ideas-Plans. PIP can be learned and practiced in less than an hour.
Several activity examples are in the Break Free From Depression curriculum and documentary from Boston Children's Hospital (www.breakfreefromdepression.com). It is listed in the national Best Practices Registry. Training is available, where iGROW teens learn how to co-facilitate the curriculum with peers and younger students after introducing its content at a parent session.
Additional resources include an overview brochure, wallet referral card, and tip sheets:
- iGROW booklet
- iGROW wallet card for referral
- IGROW tip sheet – Challenging Negative Self-talk with Six Questions
- iGROW tip sheet – Grief and loss
- iGROW tip sheet – Procrastination
- iGROW tip sheet – Successful communication
- iGROW tip sheet – Sleep
- iGROW tip sheet – Nutrition
Congregations/Community Groups
The Surgeon General identifies protective factors for individuals as:
- Coping and problem solving skills
- Reasons for living
- Moral objections to suicide
It is natural for youth leaders and clergy to address these themes with youth groups. To download a manual reflecting how congregations implemented iGROW in their community, please click on the following link iGROW Manual. Four years of iGROW experiences and activities are summarized in the manual and we hope every congregation will consider implementing elements with their youth. You will see that the WELLNESS ACTIVITIES section integrates the Boston Children's Hospital depression prevention curriculum.


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Last weekend we went to Emporia to visit Brian's mom and see the Strong City Rodeo.
I don't really remember going to any rodeos as a kid, so this was a fun, new experience. Brian and his family went several times as a kid, but hadn't been in many, many years.
We went on the last night of the rodeo, which I guess is not the best night to go to because most of the "good guys" have already competed and moved on to the next city in the circuit, but it was still a lot of fun. I was expecting more of a "fair" type setting, but it was really all about the rodeo with just a few concession stands next to the outdoor arena.
We saw bronco riding,
calf roping,
steer wrangling, barrel racing, and bull riding.
There was also a rodeo clown that put on a few acts of his own in between events to keep the crowd entertained.
My favorite event of the night was the bull riding. It was fun to see the clowns taunt the bulls so the crowd could see some action. Those people are insane!
It is a fun family event, and when the rodeo comes to the American Royal this year, we may just have to get tickets! Yee haw!
More pics here.


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This blog entry was entered by Thomas Hilton, the previous blog host. We honor his memory by carrying on what he created here.
Thomas Eric Hilton
Since the team's inception in 2002, die-hard fans and casual fans alike have all wanted to see our Texans improve and be competitive. Let's be honest. No matter how devoted of a fan you are to the organization, it's no fun watching your team lose on Sundays, is it? Trust me. There's no need to try and prove that one person is a greater fan of the Texans than another. Everyone just approaches their support differently.
Some fans are always optimistic and gutsy enough to say the team will go undefeated at the start of each training camp. Other fans tend to take the approach of being cautiously optimistic, but still cautious nonetheless. Some fans see no weaknesses on this team, while other fans can still give the Texans 100% support, while pointing out the areas that need improvement.
No matter which side you are on, every fan is a fan. No body can say one person is less of a fan than another. Everyone just tends to see the team and their progress in different perspectives. It's not right or wrong – it's just different.
One aspect of the team's progress and inclining success will be respect and recognition that comes from the outside media markets and the national networks, including the NFL itself. As players like Amobi Okoye, Mario Williams, and DeMeco Ryans make the defense more stellar and dominant, players like Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Andre Davis, Owen Daniels, Jacoby Jones and Steve Slaton will boost the Texans image on offense.
With those improvements and greater competitivness on Sundays, will come more national recognition like appearing on Monday Night Football and other time slots other than noon or 3:00PM on Sundays. When readers have asked me about the Texans getting a Monday Night Football slot, I have always said they didn't have to be a playoff team, they just needed to be "marketable" for the NFL to put our Texans in prime-time television slots.
Texans fans, we are finally getting there and starting to get the national respect our team deserves. As Texans fans, I know we don't necessarily care what the national markets think, but as a fan, it does feel good and make things more exciting for our team to be recognized, don't you think?
In a recent interview, one NFL executive stated that the Texans were "becoming one of the most exciting teams to watch and keep their eyes on in the league". Sure, we may have not made the playoffs yet and there may still be some holes to fill and depth to add, but just step back and look at the talent on this team and there's no denying that something special is being formulated with this organization.
From the coaching staff to the players, I can't be the only one who feels that something great is about to happen with this team. Even networks like ESPN and media sources like the SportingNews and ProFootball Weekly have recently printed articles claiming the Texans are on the cusp of being a playoff team.
I remember last season when the Texans were playing at the Cleveland Browns, during the post-game show, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher stated that the Texans were a team that is about to be really good for many, many years to come. Howie Long stated on another show that the Texans were one of the most exciting young teams in the NFL and that the rest of the league had better step up and start to take notice.
I know, it's been a long, difficult road for us Texans fans. It's been even a harder road for fellow bloggers, writers, columnists and others that cover the team in the media. Losing is never fun. I feel those days are about to be over. Texans fans, I believe our ship has finally arrived and it's time to start having fun again.
(UPDATE: Saturday June 7) – ProFootball Weekly.com reported in a recent interview with Texans CB Fred Bennett that Bennett has been in close contact with injured fellow CB Dunta Robinson. Bennett stated, "He looks good. He's backpedaling. He's running around." Robinson is expected to miss the beginning six games of the season. Robinson is currently on the team's PUP list, which requires players to not be eligible to return until week 7. Bennett told ProFootball Weekly that the veteran is being sure "not to rush" back into the lineup before he is ready.
(UPDATE: Monday June 9) – The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Texans released QB Quinn Gray and OL Jordan Black. Gray looked promising, but didn't show up to offseason workouts in great physical shape and struggled adjusting to coach Gary Kubiak's system. The Raiders could make a strong push to sign him. Black served as Houston's fourth tackle in 2007.
(UPDATE: Tuesday June 10) – The Houston Chronicle and the Texans are reporting that the Texans did not clear OL Charles Spencer to practice at OTAs Monday. GM Rick Smith does not sound upbeat about Spencer's chances of playing this season. Spencer may be headed for injured reserve or the PUP list.
(UPDATE: Wed. June 11) – The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Texans DE Tim Bulman has reportedly been the team's second-best outside pass rusher this off-season. A former defensive tackle on the Cardinals practice squad, Bulman has lost weight and moved to nickel rusher. As it stands now, Bulman would play end in passing situations opposite Mario Williams.


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Here are some examples of work done at home this week, whilst families have been isolated. Check out our "Home Learning" tab on the menu bar. Send in the piece of work that you are most proud of. Keep up the learning - keep your brain in the game!
Updates regarding COVID-19 can be found here
I feel privileged to have the responsibility for the education and care of the children at John Wycliffe Primary School. We are a happy, inclusive school, where an enthusiastic and talented staff work very hard to meet the individual needs of the children, using a range of strategies to support their learning effectively.
At John Wycliffe, we are passionate about teaching and learning and believe in educating the whole child, both academically and pastorally . We celebrate success in a variety of ways, including :
- Character Muscle Awards - children are selected for demonstrating the Character Muscle of the week;
- ARKs - Acts of Random Kindness;
- Phone-home Friday - one child is chosen each week for having an outstanding attitude to school life; and,
- John Wycliffe Citizenship Award - by contributing to life at JWPS in a wide variety of ways.
We believe that learning should be relevant, fun, practical and memorable, therefore we provide learning experiences that meet the needs of all our children, giving them skills which develop their independence in preparation for life beyond the classroom in such a rich, diverse society.
We expect high standards of behaviour, mutual respect and attitude to learning from all our pupils and ask parents to support us through the home school agreement, signed upon joining the school, which illustrates how the school and parents can work together.
There may be a time when you need to raise a concern about your child in school, whether about learning, friendships or to inform us of external circumstance. Please speak, in the first instance, to your child's class teacher, who will arrange a suitable time to meet with you and endeavour to meet your needs.
We pride ourselves in having a good relationship with parents and carers, as we recognise that it is through this partnership that we can best support each and every child; children learn best when they feel safe and happy.
We hope John Wycliffe Primary School enjoys a long and successful working relationship with you and your child.
Mrs V Njoroge (Headteacher)
Contact us:
John Wycliffe Primary School
Moorbarns Lane
Telephone: 01455 553135
Fax: 01455 550470
Enquiries should be directed to:
Ms Lawson, Mrs Hurford or Mrs Askham.
On the 1st of June 2017, John Wycliffe Primary School converted to academy status and joined Inspiring Primaries Academy Trust - IPAT. If you would like to contact, find out more about the Inspiring Primaries Academy Trust or you represent a school who is interested in becoming part of the trust, then visit the website: