text:
package org.apache.pulsar.broker.stats.metrics;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Map.Entry;
import org.apache.bookkeeper.mledger.ManagedLedgerMXBean;
import org.apache.bookkeeper.mledger.impl.ManagedLedgerFactoryImpl;
import org.apache.bookkeeper.mledger.impl.ManagedLedgerImpl;
import org.apache.pulsar.broker.PulsarService;
import org.apache.pulsar.common.stats.Metrics;

public class ManagedLedgerMetrics extends AbstractMetrics {

    private List<Metrics> metricsCollection;
    private Map<Metrics, List<ManagedLedgerImpl>> ledgersByDimensionMap;
    // temp map to prepare aggregation metrics
    private Map<String, Double> tempAggregatedMetricsMap;
    private static final Buckets
            BRK_ML_ADDENTRYLATENCYBUCKETS = new Buckets("brk_ml_AddEntryLatencyBuckets",
            ENTRY_LATENCY_BUCKETS_MS);
    private static final Buckets BRK_ML_LEDGERADDENTRYLATENCYBUCKETS = new Buckets(
            "brk_ml_LedgerAddEntryLatencyBuckets", ENTRY_LATENCY_BUCKETS_MS);
    private static final Buckets BRK_ML_LEDGERSWITCHLATENCYBUCKETS = new Buckets(
            "brk_ml_LedgerSwitchLatencyBuckets", ENTRY_LATENCY_BUCKETS_MS);

    private static final Buckets
            BRK_ML_ENTRYSIZEBUCKETS = new Buckets("brk_ml_EntrySizeBuckets", ENTRY_SIZE_BUCKETS_BYTES);

    private int statsPeriodSeconds;

    public ManagedLedgerMetrics(PulsarService pulsar) {
        super(pulsar);
        this.metricsCollection = new ArrayList<>();
        this.ledgersByDimensionMap = new HashMap<>();
        this.tempAggregatedMetricsMap = new HashMap<>();
        this.statsPeriodSeconds = ((ManagedLedgerFactoryImpl) pulsar.getManagedLedgerFactory())
                .getConfig().getStatsPeriodSeconds();
    }

    @Override
    public synchronized List<Metrics> generate() {

        // get the current snapshot of ledgers by NS dimension
        return aggregate(groupLedgersByDimension());

    }

    /**
     * Aggregation by namespace (not thread-safe).
     *
     * @param ledgersByDimension
     * @return
     */
    private List<Metrics> aggregate(Map<Metrics, List<ManagedLedgerImpl>> ledgersByDimension) {

        metricsCollection.clear();

        for (Entry<Metrics, List<ManagedLedgerImpl>> e : ledgersByDimension.entrySet()) {
            Metrics metrics = e.getKey();
            List<ManagedLedgerImpl> ledgers = e.getValue();

            // prepare aggregation map
            tempAggregatedMetricsMap.clear();

            // generate the collections by each metrics and then apply the aggregation

            for (ManagedLedgerImpl ledger : ledgers) {
                ManagedLedgerMXBean lStats = ledger.getStats();

                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_AddEntryBytesRate",
                        lStats.getAddEntryBytesRate());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_AddEntryWithReplicasBytesRate",
                        lStats.getAddEntryWithReplicasBytesRate());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_AddEntryErrors",
                        (double) lStats.getAddEntryErrors());

                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_AddEntryMessagesRate",
                        lStats.getAddEntryMessagesRate());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_AddEntrySucceed",
                        (double) lStats.getAddEntrySucceed());

                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_NumberOfMessagesInBacklog",
                        (double) lStats.getNumberOfMessagesInBacklog());

                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_ReadEntriesBytesRate",
                        lStats.getReadEntriesBytesRate());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_ReadEntriesErrors",
                        (double) lStats.getReadEntriesErrors());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_ReadEntriesRate",
                        lStats.getReadEntriesRate());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_ReadEntriesSucceeded",
                        (double) lStats.getReadEntriesSucceeded());
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_StoredMessagesSize",
                        (double) lStats.getStoredMessagesSize());

                // handle bucket entries initialization here
                BRK_ML_ADDENTRYLATENCYBUCKETS.populateBucketEntries(tempAggregatedMetricsMap,
                        lStats.getAddEntryLatencyBuckets(),
                        statsPeriodSeconds);
                BRK_ML_LEDGERADDENTRYLATENCYBUCKETS.populateBucketEntries(tempAggregatedMetricsMap,
                        lStats.getLedgerAddEntryLatencyBuckets(),
                        statsPeriodSeconds);
                BRK_ML_LEDGERSWITCHLATENCYBUCKETS.populateBucketEntries(tempAggregatedMetricsMap,
                        lStats.getLedgerSwitchLatencyBuckets(),
                        statsPeriodSeconds);
                BRK_ML_ENTRYSIZEBUCKETS.populateBucketEntries(tempAggregatedMetricsMap,
                        lStats.getEntrySizeBuckets(),
                        statsPeriodSeconds);
                populateAggregationMapWithSum(tempAggregatedMetricsMap, "brk_ml_MarkDeleteRate",
                        lStats.getMarkDeleteRate());
            }

            // SUM up collections of each metrics

            for (Entry<String, Double> ma : tempAggregatedMetricsMap.entrySet()) {

                metrics.put(ma.getKey(), ma.getValue());
            }

            metricsCollection.add(metrics);
        }

        return metricsCollection;
    }

    /**
     * Build a map of dimensions key to list of topic stats (not thread-safe).
     * <p>
     *
     * @return
     */
    private Map<Metrics, List<ManagedLedgerImpl>> groupLedgersByDimension() {

        ledgersByDimensionMap.clear();

        // get the current topics statistics from StatsBrokerFilter
        // Map : topic-name->dest-stat

        for (Entry<String, ManagedLedgerImpl> e : getManagedLedgers().entrySet()) {

            String ledgerName = e.getKey();
            ManagedLedgerImpl ledger = e.getValue();

            // we want to aggregate by NS dimension

            String namespace = parseNamespaceFromLedgerName(ledgerName);

            Metrics metrics = createMetricsByDimension(namespace);

            populateDimensionMap(ledgersByDimensionMap, metrics, ledger);
        }

        return ledgersByDimensionMap;
    }
}


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Streets of Israel
Spotlighting the personalities behind Israel's street signs
Taking a trip to Israel?
One of the first surprises for an American tourist traveling in Israel is what the streets are called. Jewish names are everywhere: Trumpeldor, Jabotinsky, Ben Yehuda. To someone brought up with Main Street, Elm Street, Smith Street, these are a revelation and a delight, as indicative of a Jewish nation as are the mezuzot on the doorposts of shops. Names imply a people and a history, and in Israel, history is everywhere. Even an ordinary street sign is a signpost to the past.
But who are the people behind the names? Next time you visit Israel, you'll know....
Monthly Archives for March 2014
10 Things You Need to Know About…Emile Zola
Journalist, author, man of conscience
1. Emile Edouard Charles Antoine Zola was born in April 1840 in Paris. He was a French writer, an exemplar of the naturalist school, but this blog will concentrate on the reason why an Israeli street is named for this non-Jew who never set foot in Palestine.
2. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer, one of the army's General Staff, was a Jew. When French intelligence discovered evidence of military secrets being smuggled to the Germans, Dreyfus was accused, court-martialed, convicted of treason, and sentenced to life-long penal servitude on Devil's Island in French Guiana. At the court-martial, Dreyfus was not permitted to examine the evidence against him. A handwriting expert testified that the very lack of resemblance between Dreyfus' handwriting and the document in question was evidence that he had written it.
3. Dreyfus was publicly humiliated, his insignia torn off and his sword broken in half; he was marched around the parade grounds as the crowd spat at him and cried out "Jew" and "Judas." Herzl, a young newspaperman at the time, was present, and the experience crystallized his conviction that Jews had no secure home in all of Europe.
4. When evidence emerged that the real culprit was another officer, Ferdinand Esterhazy, a military cover-up ensued. The issue was raised in the French Senate, but the government refused to consider new evidence in the case. Esterhazy was tried, but acquitted.
5. Enter Zola. On January 13, 1898, the morning after Esterhazy was acquitted, Zola, who was editor of the newspaper Aurore, risked his career and his freedom by publishing "J'Accuse…!" in bold letters on the front page. In an open letter to the French president Faure, he accused the top levels of the French army of obstruction of justice and anti-Semitism. The letter named names and offered evidence of Dreyfus' innocence. It accused the handwriting experts of submitting false reports. It accused the courts-martial of violating the law and committing judicial crime. It accused Esterhazy of espionage. Zola wrote, "[Dreyfus] is the victim of…the 'dirty Jew' obsession that is the scourge of our time."
6. Zola's intention was to be prosecuted for libel so that new evidence could be brought and made public. His letter was to prove the turning point in the case; because of his stature among the intelligentsia, his stand was enormously influential, both in France and abroad. Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on February 7, 1898, convicted on February 23, and removed from the Legion of Honor.
7. To avoid imprisonment, Zola fled to England, arriving in July of 1898 with only the clothing on his back. A year later, he was offered a pardon – as opposed to exoneration – which he accepted, saying, "The truth is on the march and nothing shall stop it."
8. Nothing did. In 1899, Dreyfus was returned to France, retried, found guilty and pardoned. Then in 1906, Dreyfus was exonerated by the French Supreme Court. The guilty verdict was annulled; Dreyfus was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor as "a soldier who has endured an unparallelled martyrdom."
9. Zola did not live to see this happy conclusion. He died in September 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a blocked chimney. Thousands attended his funeral, at which he was eulogized by Anatole France as not just a great man, but "a moment in the human conscience." Suspicion remains to this day that the blocked chimney was deliberate, a murder by an anti-Dreyfusard.
10. For an excellent article summing up the ins and outs of the case, see Adam Gopnik's "Trial of the Century: Revisiting the Dreyfus Affair," published in The New Yorker of September 28, 2009. It should also be noted that in 1998, on the hundredth anniversary of Zola's statement, France's Roman Catholic daily, La Croix, apologized for its anti-Semitic articles during the Dreyfus Affair.
In Tel Aviv, you'll find Emile Zola Street just west of Dizengoff and south of Ben Gurion.
March 26, 2014 by Marilyn Oser	Categories: Jewish history, Uncategorized	| Tags: Anti-Semitism, Dreyfus Affair, French history, Herzl | Leave a comment
12 Things You Need to Know About…Moshe Dayan
Israeli warrior and politician
1. Moshe Dayan was a military leader who played key roles in four wars–and then worked effectively for peace. He was a sabra, born May 1915, the second child born on the first kibbutz to be established in Palestine, Kibbutz Degania Alef, near the shores of Lake Kinneret. His parents were immigrants from Ukraine. They moved to Nahalal, the first moshav, when Dayan was young; he attended agricultural school there.
2. His career as a warrior began in 1929, when he joined the newly formed Haganah at age fourteen to help guard Jewish settlements. During 1936-9, he was with the special police force in the Jezreel Valley and Galilee. In 1938, he joined the Palestine Supernumerary Police, serving under Orde Wingate in the Special Night Squad operations [see my post of March 12]. In October 1939 he was imprisoned in Acre along with other Haganah members, serving a ten-year sentence; all of them were released in 1941 after intervention by Chaim Weizmann. He then served in a small Australian-Palmach-Arab reconnaissance task force, infiltrating Vichy French Lebanon in preparation for an Allied invasion. It was there, in 1941, that he was shot by a sniper who had caught the glint from the binoculars he was using; he lost his eye and extraocular muscles.
3. Following the war, he made his way quickly up the ladder, appointed to the Haganah general staff in 1947 to work on Arab affairs, including espionage and distribution of abandoned Arab property. In 1948, commanding the Jordan Valley sector, he stopped the Syrian advance. He was first commander of the 89th Battalion, appointed June 1948, and in July of that year became Military Commander of the Jewish-controlled areas of Jerusalem. He was a controversial figure, narrowly escaping court-martial a number of times for disobeying orders. Nonetheless, by October 1949 he was promoted to Major-General and made head of the Southern Command, replacing Yigal Allon [see my post of March 12], much to the dismay of the officers, many of whom resigned. To curb Palestinian infiltration of the borders, he instituted harsh policies, including strafing, raids, mines, and "collective punishment," against the Arabs by harassing nearby villages and bedouin camps. He considered this policy effective, though not justified or moral. The Arabs were hostile, and he considered terrorism as a stage of war, a way of gaining time while they built up their military strength.
4. In May 1952, after attending a British Army Officer school, he was appointed Operational Commander of the Northern Command; seven months later, Head of Operations (G) Branch, the second-most senior position on the General Staff. A year later, he became Chief of Staff. He reorganized the army, strengthening combat units, revamping mobilization plans, starting a military academy for officers, and emphasizing air force capability. Over the next several years he approved a number of cross-border operations in which civilians were killed. Having carried out operations to instigate an attack by Egypt, in 1956, during the Suez Crisis, he commanded the Israeli forces fighting in the Sinai. He retired from the IDF in 1958.
5. The following year, 1959, he joined the Mapai party and was elected to the Knesset for the first time. He served as Minister of Agriculture from 1959-64. In 1965, with those loyal to Ben-Gurion [see my post of 10/9/13] he formed the Rafi (Alliance of Israel's Workers) party. He served as Defense Minister (1967-74) and later Foreign Minister (1977-79).
6. During the Six-Day War (1967), he oversaw the capture of East Jerusalem. He was hawkish and did not want to return the occupied territories. A popular hero at that time, he was blamed in 1973 for the ill-preparedness of the IDF at the start of the Yom Kippur War – and for his negative view of Israel's chance of success following the losses of the first two days.
7. His work as a peacemaker began as early as 1948-9, when he was involved in negotiations with Jordan for a cease-fire in Jerusalem and an armistice; at the same time, though, he urged Ben-Gurion to use the army to open the road to Jerusalem and gain access to the Kotel and Mt. Scopus. As Foreign Minister, he began talks with Egypt in May 1977. The negotiations continued for eighteen months, until finally the Camp
David accords were agreed upon and signed, and the peace agreement with Egypt was a reality. At the end of his life, he advocated unilateral disengagement from the occupied territories.
8. Ariel Sharon said of him,"He would wake up with a hundred ideas….Ninety-five were dangerous; three more had to be rejected; the remaining two, however, were brilliant."
9. Ambassador Gideon Rafael said of him, "Rocking the boat is his favorite tactic, not to overturn it, but to sway it sufficiently for the helmsman to lose his grip or for some of its unwanted passengers to fall overboard."
10. His published works include: Diary of the Sinai Campaign, Living With the Bible: A Warrior's Relationship with the Land of his Forebears, Story of My Life, and "Breakthrough: A Personal Account of the Egypt-Israel Negotiations.
11. Suffering from cancer, he died of a massive heart attack in October 1981 in Tel Aviv. He was buried in Nahalal cemetery.
12. In 2005, Dayan was voted seventy-third on the list of greatest Israelis of all time.
In the Tel Aviv area, you'll find Moshe Dayyan Street east of, and parallel to, the Ayalon River, and south of Derech HaShalom.
March 19, 2014 by Marilyn Oser	Categories: Israel, Jewish history	| 2 Comments
12 Things You Need to Know About…Yigal Allon
Israeli warrior and labor Zionist
1. His father had made aliyah in 1890, and he was born Yigal Pelkowitz (or Palcovitch) at Kfar Tavor in the lower Galilee in October 1918. Shortly after graduating from Kadoorie Agricultural High School in 1937, he became one of the founders of Kibbutz Ginosar, also in Galilee.
2. During the Arab revolt of 1936-9, he commanded a field unit of the Haganah and then a mobil patrol. He was part of a hand-picked unit that included Moshe Dayan, working alongside the British in the counter-insurgent Special Night Squads under Captain Orde Wingate, who taught and favored ruthless tactics.
3. World War II broke out. In 1941, Allon became one of the founding members of the Palmach, the elite strike force of the Haganah. In 1941-2, he was a scout with the British forces against the Vichy French in Syria and Lebanon. In 1945, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Palmach. In 1947, he approved an attack on the village of al Khisar in which homes were destroyed and civilians killed.
4. In June 1948, following the establishment of the State of Israel, he commanded the troops ordered to shell the vessel Altalena in Ben-Gurion's confrontation with the Irgun.
5. That same year, in the Israeli War of Independence, Allon led several operations on all three fronts – the Galilee, the Center and the Negev – driving out the invading Arab armies and capturing many prisoners of war. He retired from active service in 1950.
6. He studied at the Hebrew University and at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, reading philosophy and history. He became prominent in the Ahdut HaAvodah (Labor Unity) party and in 1955 was elected for the first time to the Knesset. He was to serve until his death twenty-five years later.
7. He held many prominent portfolios in the cabinets of David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir. From 1961-7 he served as Minister of Labor; from 1967-9, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Immigrant Absorption; interim Prime Minister, briefly, in February-March, 1969; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Culture, 1969-74; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1974-77.
8. He was the architect of the Allon Plan, a proposal to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank by negotiated partition of the territories between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, plus a Druze state on the Golan Heights. The plan was presented to the cabinet in July 1967, at the end of the Six-Day War. It was not accepted by Jordan's King Hussein.
9. In 1974, he served as a member of the Israeli delegation to the separation-of-forces agreements signed with Egypt and Syria.
10. He was Chairman of the World Labor Zionist movement from 1978-80.
11. He authored Shield of David, 1970, an account of the development of Israel's defense forces; and My Father's House, 1975, an autobiography. (He is listed, as well, as the author of The Making of Israel's Army, 1970, but I believe this to be the British edition of Shield of David.)
12. He died unexpectedly of heart failure in February 1980. His funeral was attended by tens of thousands of mourners. President Yitzhak Navon said in his eulogy that Allon dedicated himself to three matters: Israel's quest for a just, secure peace with its neighbors; strengthening ties with diaspora Jewry; and finding new paths for Israeli youth. He was buried on the shore of Lake Kinneret in the cemetery of Kibbutz Ginosar, where there is a museum named in his memory.
In Tel Aviv, you'll find Yigal Allon Street just east of the Ayalon River, running north-south in the vicinity of Derech HaShalom. In Safed you'll find the Yigal Allon Cultural Center, named in his memory.
March 12, 2014 by Marilyn Oser	Categories: Israel, Jewish history	| Tags: Haganah, IDF, Jewish autobiography, Knesset, Palmach, sabra, Zionism | Leave a comment
13 Things You Need to Know About… Baruch Spinoza
Rationalist philosopher
1. He was born Benedito de Espinosa in Amsterdam in November 1632. The son of a successful merchant, he was raised in the Portuguese Sephardic community. He had a traditional Jewish upbringing, but his education was cut short at the age of seventeen, when his elder brother died and he went to work in the family business importing dried fruit.
2. He went on learning. He spoke Portuguese, Hebrew, Spanish and Dutch, and at age twenty began the study of Latin with a freethinking former Jesuit, Franciscus van den Enden, who probably introduced him to modern philosophy. Spinoza evidently taught himself medieval Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah and modern science. In 1654, when his father died, he began teaching at Van den Enden's school and changed his name to Benedictus de Spinoza. He became friends with dissident Christians who rejected the authority of established churches.
3. After lengthy reflection, he concluded that the scriptures were not authored by Moses and that many prevailing dogmas of Judaism were wrong. In July 1656, at the age of twenty-three, he was exiled from the Jewish community by a cherem for his "evil ideas and acts," his "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds." Scholars believe he was teaching the ideas that he would soon publish – denying the immortality of the soul; rejecting the notion of a providential god; and claiming that the Law was not given by God.
4. His response to this censure was, "This does not force me to do anything I would not have done of my own accord, had I not been afraid of a scandal." Attacked on the steps of the synagogue by a knife-wielding assailant, he wore his torn cloak for years afterward as a kind of badge of honor.
5. At about the same time, the importing business turned sour; he turned it over to his younger brother and devoted himself to optics and philosophy. He worked as a lens grinder, a profession that brought him into contact with prominent scientists and mathematicians involving him in optical investigations and the design of microscopes and telescopes. He lived simply, turning down rewards, honors, teaching positions and an inheritance. Though he associated with Christians, he never converted to Christianity.
6. Only two of his works were published in his lifetime: Descartes' 'Principles of Philosophy' and Theologico-Political Treatise. The latter was written in defense of secular and constitutional government, in opposition to the Prince of Orange. It was published anonymously in Hamburg in 1670, but he was quickly identified. One of the prince's supporters described the tractate as "forged in Hell by a renegade Jew and the Devil." Spinoza kept writing, but stopped publishing. His other works include A Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being, Treatise on the Improvement of Understanding and his great work, Ethics, which is dense and mathematical. His books were listed on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books.
7. Is it any wonder that he wore a signet ring engraved with a rose and the Latin word "caute" (cautiously)?
"Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand." – Spinoza
8. His ideas laid the groundwork for the Enlightenment, modern biblical criticism and modern concepts of the self. In brief, he held that everything that exists is one substance, that God and Nature are two names for this same fundamental substance; that God exists, but is abstract and impersonal, having infinite attributes, some of which are not present in our world; that mind and body, too, are not separate (as Descartes held) but aspects of the same infinite substance; that the reality we experience comes from God, but being the ultimate and only substance, God cannot be prevailed upon by prayer or ritual to change anything.
9. It follows from this that everything that happens, happens of necessity, nothing by chance; that reality is perfection, and that our perception otherwise is because of our inadequate understanding – good and evil are relative and seen with regard to our limited human circumstances. The best human response to the world is to come to understand it better, the highest virtue being knowledge of God/Nature/Universe.
10. Spinoza identified three types of knowledge – opinion, reason and intuition. Intuition, he said, provides the greatest satisfaction; the more conscious we are of ourselves and Nature, the more blessed we are. This line of thought, of course, leads directly to modern psychology.
11. Spinoza's work appears to have influenced the life, thought and work of many prominent thinkers, including George Eliot (who translated his Ethics into English), Goethe, Maugham, Albert Einstein, Borges and I.B. Singer. Hegel wrote, "You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all."
12. He died in February 1677 of lung disease, age forty-four, and is buried in the Hague in a Christian cemetery.
13. For more quotations by and about him, see en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza. For more about his philosophy, go to this article by Steven Nadler at http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/why-spinoza-was-excommunicated. A 2008 play, "New Jerusalem" by David Ives is based on the cherem issued against Spinoza.
In Tel Aviv, Spinoza Street runs north-south between Frischmann and Ben Gurion.
March 5, 2014 by Marilyn Oser	Categories: Jewish history, Philosophy	| Tags: existence of God, rationalism, Spinoza | 3 Comments
Marilyn Oser lives in New York's Hudson Valley and on Long Island. The author of several works of fiction and nonfiction, her writing won her the University of Michigan's coveted Avery Hopwood Award. Read her novels NOVEMBER TO JULY, EVEN YOU and
RIVKA'S WAR. Visit her at www.marilynoser.com.
Announcing…Even You
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Meet Our Inspiration
The resilience of the people we serve is our inspiration to push through barriers to create a world where no life is limited by genetic disease. These are just some of the individuals who drive us to do more.
"People with conditions like ours talk of trying to build a visual scrapbook, placing our visual memories in our brain."
Becoming an accomplished Impressionist-style painter is not the most obvious choice for someone who is facing a deteriorating eye condition, but that has been Eric Hartman's calling for the past 15 years.
A business executive turned artist, Eric was living on Cape Cod in the early 2000s when he began to train in the style of Monet and Degas in 19th-century France. He has been at it ever since. Eric's art has taken him places near and far – from months-long plein-air immersions in the French countryside, to afternoons with his easel in City Park, in his native New Orleans. Even though his sight has continued to diminish, his zeal to experience and capture the landscapes around him has only grown.
"People with conditions like ours talk of trying to build a visual scrapbook, placing our visual memories in our brain," Eric said. "The more I have done my art, the more visual I have become. My sense of color, of composition, of shadows have fine-tuned my eye."
While art has given Eric a deeper connection to the world around him, the work that Eric has done through the Choroideremia Research Foundation (CRF) has done the same for thousands of people throughout the world with choroideremia.
CRF emerged in the late 1990s to become a leading provider of patient support services for its almost 600 members in 12 countries. CRF has also become a catalyst for scientific research, investing millions of dollars to support academic researchers focused on the condition.
While the organization's research agenda is aimed at accelerating potential breakthroughs to preserve or restore sight, it is equally focused on meeting the needs of people living with a condition that can be deeply isolating. Growing up in New Orleans in the 1960s and 70s, Eric, himself, did not meet another person with choroideremia until he was 40 years old, in 1998. When he did, it was an overwhelming experience.
"Suddenly, the struggles I faced on a daily basis were relatable – walking into half-opened doors, losing my place in darkened rooms. I met others who were comrades in arms, and we began learning from each other. It was such a relief that there are people for me to talk with."
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European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) offer a window of opportunity to secure funding for or affect the impacts of large-scale actions on factors contributing to health inequalities. The HE2020 project supported the innovative approach of using ESIF for health gain and social innovation. In order to get more insight into the use of European Structural and Investment Funds for health equity, a survey has been developed for identifying predisposing factors and barriers. We would be very grateful if you could fill in the questionnaire. It is very short, contains only 10 questions, and should take no more than 5-10 minutes to fill in. The survey responses are anonymous and secure.


What we do may be small, but it has a certain character of permanence and to have produced anything of the slightest permanent interest, whether it be a copy of verses or a geometrical theorem, is to have done something utterly beyond the powers of the vast majority of men.
From Inaugural Lecture, Oxford (1920). Recalled in A Mathematician's Apology (1940, 1967), 76.


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Letter: Telecommunicators working in this crisis are to be celebrated
Derek Bergsten
Apr 13, 2020 at 5:41 PM Apr 13, 2020 at 5:41 PM
This year, and at this time, we are all striving to cope with the latest effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — none more so than those on the frontlines. But there is one group, among the doctors, nurses, firefighters and police whose job it is to keep us safe, that is seldom mentioned. They are the public safety telecommunicators who are the first line of defense and communication during a disaster and their role has never been more critical than during this COVID-19 pandemic. Celebrating them and the service they perform has never been more fitting than during this year's National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12-18.
The Winnebago County 911 Emergency Telephone System Board would like to take this opportunity to commend our telecommunicators for their dedication to the wellbeing and safety of this community and their fellow workers during this very trying time. None of us is immune to this "attack" on our health and safety, but while many are staying home and/or teleworking to get what little protection they can from this virus, our telecommunicators are going to work every day. They are continuing to ensure that the calls for help are answered and that the responders have the information they need to respond appropriately.
Whether it is in the city or in Winnebago County, the telecommunicators are the first people to interact with the public. They are the ones who provide the reassurance to those in trouble that help is on the way. While keeping the caller on the line until help arrives, they work with the caller to initiate CPR or provide whatever other immediate instruction that will calm the situation and keep everyone as safe as possible until help can get there. They are truly the first first responders in a long line of defense.
We are making every effort to keep our 911 telecommunicators safe and secure to ensure that they can continue to help our shared communities weather the pandemic attacking our health, safety and peace of mind. They are true professionals dedicated to helping the citizens of Winnebago County.
It is our wish that all of us will come around on the other side of this disaster healthy and stronger than we were before. And we want to express our appreciation to one of the many groups of professionals who are working to help us do so — our 911 personnel. All of us in the public safety community appreciate their commitment to their profession and the citizens we serve.
Winnebago County ETSB members: board Chairman Derek Bergsten, Barb Berman, Don Carlson, Gary Caruana, Joel Hallstrom, Chuck Lynde, Rob Martin, Don Shoevlin, Todd Stockburger and Adam Truman.
— Derek Bergsten, fire chief, Rockford Fire Department


Welcome to the chicken feathers message board! Please take some time to browse the message board selections and feel free to post as you like.
There will be boards that require a password to view, you may post on these boards by request only.
Have fun and we hope to see you often.
I found it. Hope we can have fun with this one. Looks good.
kb......i finaly made it! gave me some problems getting in, but i am here..thanks for the invite!
hello is there anybody in there? just nod if you can hear me!


What is the abbreviation for At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport?
A: What does PA87 stand for?
PA87 stands for "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport".
A: How to abbreviate "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport"?
"At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport" can be abbreviated as PA87.
A: What is the meaning of PA87 abbreviation?
The meaning of PA87 abbreviation is "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport".
A: What is PA87 abbreviation?
One of the definitions of PA87 is "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport".
A: What does PA87 mean?
PA87 as abbreviation means "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport".
A: What is shorthand of At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport?
The most common shorthand of "At&t Solid State Tech Center Heliport" is PA87.


text:
SEESAW is built around community. And communities love events. That's why you can expect to see a growing programme of events created by, with and for our members and beyond.
Stress Workshop
Join us for an afternoon of self-inquiry where you'll gain insight into your relationship with stress and how to regulate your stress response through mindset, movement & rest.
Physiologically, stress responses are interwoven with our emotions, immune function, thoughts, breath and movements - so it's important to understand our unique body responses in order to self-regulate. During this workshop, we will explore a range of accessible & creative techniques to help you build resilience to stress…
Fun, inclusive exercise
Gentle yoga practices
Realistic self-care
All bodies welcome!
Refreshments included
Limited yoga mats available - please bring your own if you have one
Lead by...
Dr Jessicarr Moorhouse - Movement as Medicine
Jess is an NHS doctor, currently working in psychiatry and working towards being a GP. She is also a qualified personal trainer and the founder of the inclusive outdoor exercise community TRIBE.MCR.
Jess has both personal and professional experience of the ways stress can affect our mind and body and how we can start to manage this through exercise, in any form.
Emily Brinnand - Mindset
Emily is a Personal Development Coach and NLP Practitioner, working with people to improve their lives, wellbeing and mental health. After almost a decade working in media as a commercials producer, Emily re-trained as a coach to help others deal with the stresses and challenges of modern life.
Emily now coaches people to manage their stress, improve their relationships and gain a deeper understanding of themselves, so they can make positive changes.
Eirian Collinge of Cariad Yoga - Rest & Relaxation
Having been signed off work with a burnout in her previous career, Eirian's journey with Yoga & Meditation has taught her how to build resilience through compassion and deal with life's challenges in a wonderfully creative way.
With over six years of experience teaching yoga in the workplace, Eirian is passionate about helping others find the balance between work, rest and play and is currently studying to become a Yoga Therapist specialising in stress, burnout & sleep.
Sunday 16th Jan 2pm - 5.30pm
The Sealed Garden
PINK is delighted to present The Sealed Garden, a new large-scale installation by Manchester based artist Harry Stevenson Miller. Made up of 82 hand painted panels constructed into a fence and Aedicula*, a fountain (designed and fabricated by the artist) and a marble relief of the Madonna and Child by Ernest Cole (b. 1890-1979); this new installation emerges as a hortus conclusus**, an enclosed garden welcoming a celebration of architectural space within the unoccupied floors of 86 Princess Street.
The Sealed Garden is an imaginative amalgamation of many descriptions of the same place. Akin to a mise-en-scène, the enclosed garden, with a fountain in its centre is a familiar setting. Many artists, poets and sages have visited its grounds and tended its flowers. It has been a recurring poetic image for millennia, appearing in a wide range of cultures, yet always in a similar form; manifesting as a shared experience for humanity. This installation draws on varied structures and settings described by Verlaine, Rainer Maria Rilke, Shakespeare, Longus (in Daphnis and Chloe), Virgil's Eclogues and the Bible; unfolding a new ephemeral space that will contribute to this rich poetic history.
11th December - 10th January, Thursday - Sunday 3-7pm
Performance Two
Part of an ongoing curatorial project exploring the translation of performance to documentation to reenactment, 'Performance Two' is a reiteration by Rowland Hill of an original improvisation by dance artist Rachel Krische performed at the Holden Gallery in October 2021. Created solely based upon witness statements from audience members present at the original performance, the work is a translational collaboration between audience and artist. Contemplating a form of documentation which is audience led rather than image based, 'Performance Two' encourages a reconsideration of traditional archival methods through the retelling of ephemeral experience.
3rd December, 7pm
Monday Motivation High Energy Dance
Join Fiona Ledgard - a creative as well as a PT - for this high energy dance workout with views from the rooftop across the Manchester skyline. Featuring Zumba moves and a brilliant Latin American soundtrack, this weekly rooftop event promises to be something special.
Mondays, 5.45-6.00pm
Breathe with Rachel
Rachel Ann Crookes brings her Conscious Connected Breathwork to SEESAW on Wednesday evenings. Breathe with Rachel is an active breathing process that differs from most traditional meditation and mindfulness practices. This work is deeply experiential and may involve intense physical, energetic, and emotional release.
Book your tickets and read more below.
Every Wednesday, 5.45-6.45pm
Ten Years to Save the World
'Ten Years to Save the World' is one of the creative commissions supported by the British Council exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology. The project and the exhibition has an urgent message: we have ten years to make the big changes required to save our planet, it's as simple as that.
The work, by ten leading comic artists, five in the Philippines and five in the UK, is an incredible showcase for the diversity and power of comics. Crucially, the work has been informed and shaped by young people from both countries, who took part in online discussions to develop the brief for the artists.
A collaboration between The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Komiket in the Philippines and climate change communications specialists Creative Concern.
1 – 12 Nov, Mon - Fri 9am – 5pm
A Family Affair by Tomas Gittins
SEESAW is delighted to present A Family Affair by Poortraits, a Manchester based artist living and working in Macclesfield.
Exhibiting in the SEESAW cafe bar, it showcases a series of works brought together by their similarity, through the togetherness of the style and the different colour combinations used.
Specialising in spray work with a street art style, Poortraits uses an abstract style that allows him to let go of emotions directly through the medium of art, portraying his own poor traits through obscure faces.
23 Sept - 31 Oct 2021
86 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6NG
© 2022 SeeSaw


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Engaging Students as Volunteers and Voters
By Paul Loeb, Maureen F. Curley and Sherry Morreale
Article appeared in Inside Higher Ed, October 9, 2008
What would it take for the overwhelming majority of eligible U.S. college students to register, vote, and get actively involved in the November elections — and in subsequent elections? For years, educators have bemoaned the political detachment of students — the separation of so many from public issues that profoundly affect their lives. Too often, students have said their actions didn't matter, or argued that the electoral sphere is so inevitably corrupt that it makes no sense to participate.
This election feels different, though. Young voters and volunteers are surging into the campaigns in numbers we haven't seen in decades. They're interested and concerned, and they want to make a difference. The question is whether we'll give them the tools they need to participate fully in a watershed election, as volunteers and voters. That means helping them register to vote, giving them opportunities to learn and exchange ideas about the issues, encouraging them to volunteer with one or more campaigns or with nonpartisan voter mobilization drives, and helping ensure that they turn out at the polls.
Young voters have been becoming more interested in electoral politics for a while. Between 2000 and 2004, turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds jumped 11 points, from 36 percent to 47 percent, and among the larger pool of 18- to 29-year olds, it rose from 40 percent to 49 percent. In 2006, youth turnout rose by another 3 percent, more than any other segment of the electorate, and young voters made the key difference in half the Senate seats that changed hands.
This election promises to involve our students far more, with even greater potential impact. When citizens start voting and volunteering at a young age, these habits tend to stick. So if we build on their newfound passion and concern, we could set them on a path of civic engagement for the rest of their lives. This includes finding policy solutions to the issues they address through their volunteer work — which means, among other things, voting for candidates whose positions on these issues they approve.
A variety of organizations are working to support college student involvement in the election on a nonpartisan basis. Campus Compact — a nonprofit higher education association that supports all forms of civic engagement on campus — has established a nonpartisan initiative to boost voter registration and education among college students. As part of this effort, the organization has created a comprehensive website that brings together key resources, tools, and models from around the country, www.compact.org/vote. Another key site, www.YourVoteYourVoice.org, offers additional resources. And the student PIRGs have created a superb online registration tool, available at www.studentvote.org, which colleges can customize and post on their own Web sites.
Registration is the first challenge, of course, although in most states the cut-offs just hit. Students often don't realize they need to register until the peak of the fall campaign season, when in most states it's too late. And when they can't vote, we have to work harder to get them participating in other ways, like volunteering or talking about election issues with others.
For future rounds, we can remedy this situation most easily by registering students to vote when they register for fall classes or as part of orientation. Springfield College in Massachusetts registered students as they moved into the dorms and has set a goal of registering all eligible students on campus. Ohio's John Carroll University has created a designated election Web page, set up locations to register students throughout campus, organized debate-watch parties, and established an election-related discussion series covering issues such as the importance of youth voting and civic engagement, the economy, abortion, immigration, and social justice.
If your state's registration deadline has yet to hit, or if you have same-day registration, many more options are still open. Faculty can hand out registration forms in their classes. Student groups can set up tables at high-traffic areas like the student union. A residential campus could invite student government and student organizations to register people in the dorms — the University of California Santa Barbara used this approach and registered 2,400 voters in a single night. Financial aid offices can distribute registration information in conjunction with student loan and work-study disbursements. Our technology departments can pass the word through voice mails, text messages, and e-mail reminders — something they can also do in terms of providing information on absentee ballot deadlines and getting students out to vote on election day. The more we can recruit both students and faculty to register students in whatever creative ways they can, the more likely we'll engage the vast bulk of our college students.
However many students we've helped register, our challenge now is to help them think critically about the choices they'll now be eligible to make. Given major issues that affect students — from global climate change to the Iraq war, from the financial bailout and an uncertain economy to the escalating costs of higher education — students need to understand where the candidates stand so they can decide who best reflects their own beliefs. Campuses can encourage professors to weave election-related themes into their courses throughout the fall, by scheduling discussions and debates (including on local races and initiatives) both in larger campus venues and within classes, and by working to get all students to recognize how profoundly this election could impact their individual and common futures. We need to do everything we can so that every student in our classes and on our campuses feels welcomed and feels their political beliefs are respected. That may even mean bending over backwards to encourage the voices of students whose views we disagree with. But so long as we do that, and make sure the materials we present do justice to the realities, we have a responsibility to use our classrooms to explore the difficult issues of our time.
We can do even more than helping students vote and vote thoughtfully. We can also encourage them to volunteer with the national or local candidates they choose to support, whatever their party affiliations, and with nonprofit civic groups that seek to involve the community. In 2004, for instance, two small leadership classes, at Ohio's Baldwin-Wallace College, registered 700 eligible inmates in the Cleveland jails. This year, the professor is assigning her students to volunteer in the local McCain or Obama campaigns, in local or state races, or in nonprofit registration efforts — and then to write a paper analyzing their experiences. North Carolina Central University is encouraging students to help with major off-campus registration drives in the adjacent communities. Given sufficient institutional support, these kinds of efforts can make a tremendous difference.
How many of our students would volunteer, for instance, if we distributed information on the local McCain and Obama campaigns, or gave out the Web sites, or found ways for them to get involved even if they live in states where the outcomes of the presidential or senatorial races are pretty certain. We could, for instance, encourage them to participate in the voter calling programs that both of the national campaigns are running, where people in states without close national races use their extra cell minutes to call those in states where every vote can matter. So long as we make clear that who the students choose to volunteer with is their choice, not ours, we can encourage all this while still remaining meticulously nonpartisan.
Imagine if we worked through our service-learning networks to get a significant percentage of our students knocking on doors, making phone calls, having conversations that offer their fellow citizens an opportunity to engage with critical issues beyond 30-second attack ads and 1-minute TV sound bites. Once students begin to volunteer in these election-related efforts, they are far more likely to keep doing so throughout their lives. It's also a way to amplify the impact of their voices, as they reach out to others, both on campus and off.
Campuses can integrate these kinds of activities into existing service-learning and civic engagement programs. After the students go out and work with the campaigns of their choice, they could then return to their classrooms, reflect on what they learned, and share their experiences with their peers, including students volunteering for opposing candidates. These kinds of involvement could also connect them with role models of engaged community members. There's nothing like working side-by-side with an 83-year-old volunteer to teach a 21-year-old about keeping on for the long haul.
If we promote these efforts enough, they can shift the electoral landscape. Several elections ago, a Wesleyan University student registered 300 voters on her 3,000-person campus, and educated them on the candidates' respective stands on the environment and access to education. The lawmaker she supported ended up winning by 27 votes. This young woman almost didn't act "because I didn't think of myself as a political person." But the issues impelled her to risk. Had she not gotten involved, the district would have elected a different representative. Whatever we think of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, we can learn from the approach of the college he founded, Liberty University, to offer buses to take students to the polls and even cancel classes on the day of the election.
Once we register our students, we can encourage them to vote through voting pledges, e-mail, text messages, posters and fliers, student-to-student phone banks, and coordinating transportation to off-campus voting sites. In some states, colleges also need to let students know what they need to do to satisfy restrictive ID laws and provide them with whatever will meet the requirements — for instance, through a university ID or a zero-balance utility bill for students living in the dorms. We also need a parallel process to help students who will vote absentee (www.longdistancevoter.org offers lots of the necessary tools). And, one way or another, we need to give them a sense that their votes could make the difference.
Considering the impact of this election on the future our students will inherit, we owe it to them to do everything we can to encourage them to participate, while respecting the wide variety of political views and experiences on campus. Given recent trends, they're likely to respond, if we offer them the relevant opportunities. Again, we wouldn't be prescribing the support of any particular candidates. The students would make those choices on their own. But we'd be giving them a powerful opportunity to make their voices matter, and possibly take the first steps toward becoming engaged citizens for the rest of their lives. If we believe that civic education and engagement are part of our mission, this seems a powerful historic moment to rise to that challenge.
Paul Loeb is the founder of the national nonpartisan Campus Election Engagement Project. His civic engagement books, like Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While, have over three hundred thousand copies in print. Maureen F. Curley is president of Campus Compact, a national higher education association dedicated to educating students for social responsibility. Sherry Morreale is director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
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Today through the word of God the Church presents to us in the Mass a great Canticle of Mercy. She praises God who removes guilt, pardons sin, delights in clemency and has compassion on us. In the Gospel parable we encounter the Father who tells us that we must greatly rejoice over the conversion of one of our own. This fully reveals that the Lord is kind and merciful.


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Q: How to get a cube having different textured image on each face of cube in glkit? I am developing a game in which i have to shake a dice to get number .I am using glkit to make a cube and texturing that cube by GLKBaseEffect. Well ! i want a cube having diffrent textured images on each faces so that it can simulates a dice. I want each faces of cube show different dice image like one face show number 1 another face show number two and so on..
I am pasting here my code .
- (void)setupGL {

[EAGLContext setCurrentContext:self.context];
glEnable(GL_CULL_FACE);

self.effect = [[GLKBaseEffect alloc] init];

NSDictionary * options = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                          [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES],
                          GLKTextureLoaderOriginBottomLeft,
                          nil];

NSError * error;
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"tile_floor" ofType:@"png"];
GLKTextureInfo * info = [GLKTextureLoader textureWithContentsOfFile:path options:options error:&error];
if (info == nil) {
    NSLog(@"Error loading file: %@", [error localizedDescription]);
}
self.effect.texture2d0.name = info.name;
self.effect.texture2d0.enabled = true;

// draw one texture per side

// New lines
glGenVertexArraysOES(1, &_vertexArray);
glBindVertexArrayOES(_vertexArray);

// Old stuff
glGenBuffers(1, &_vertexBuffer);
glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, _vertexBuffer);
glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(Vertices), Vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

glGenBuffers(1, &_indexBuffer);
glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, _indexBuffer);
glBufferData(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(Indices), Indices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

// New lines (were previously in draw)
glEnableVertexAttribArray(GLKVertexAttribPosition);
glVertexAttribPointer(GLKVertexAttribPosition, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(Vertex), (const GLvoid *) offsetof(Vertex, Position));
glEnableVertexAttribArray(GLKVertexAttribColor);
glVertexAttribPointer(GLKVertexAttribColor, 4, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(Vertex), (const GLvoid *) offsetof(Vertex, Color));
glEnableVertexAttribArray(GLKVertexAttribTexCoord0);
glVertexAttribPointer(GLKVertexAttribTexCoord0, 2, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(Vertex), (const GLvoid *) offsetof(Vertex, TexCoord));

// New line
glBindVertexArrayOES(0);

}
and calling draw elements method from here in drawInRects
- (void)glkView:(GLKView *)view drawInRect:(CGRect)rect {

glClearColor(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
[self.effect prepareToDraw];
glBindVertexArrayOES(_vertexArray);
glDrawElements(GL_TRIANGLES, sizeof(Indices)/sizeof(Indices[0]), GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, 0);

}
Can anyone help me to achieve this.
Thanks in advance. . . .

A: GLKit has a limited number of textures allowed (2, I think), so you'll need what's called a texture-map.  Basically, you set up a texture like this:
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d ...
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d
a a a a a a a a b b b b b b b b c c c c c c c c d d d d d d d d

And then you set your texture coordinates for each vertex to point to the sub-portion of the texture that you want to use.
NOTE: Even if GLKit supported more textures, as many OpenGL implementations do, this method is MUCH faster than loading a gazillion textures and switching them all the time.  glBind() is a relatively slow operation.
Also note: Things are more efficient if your texture image sides are powers of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ...)  It's ok to have blank (unused) spots in your texture image.  I typically put a big red blotch in the unused part, so I can tell if it inadvertently shows up on anything.
So your dice-texture might be, say, 32px tall, and 512 (32*8) wide, but you only use the first 192 (32*6) of it and have a set of six 32x32 textures all in one image.

A: I do this by layering, or having more objects. So, a cube, and then two squares that are just barely on the skin of the cube. If the cube is 2 x 2 x 2, just make the picture vertex 2.01, and so it is like cake icing
So you are not texturing the cube, you are adding more objects. Here is a video example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh2Zc8kHFbU&list=UUu5WfUbKdhLCW9aPq3WZsNA
email me at StephenMWyatt2@gmail.com if you need the code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
SPRING (2015)
October 30, 2020 November 3, 2020 ~ jbg
Directed By: Aaron Moorehead & Justin Benson
Written By: Justin Benson
Cinematography By: Aaron Moorehead
Editor: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson & Michael Felker
Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Jeremy Gardner, Vanessa Bednar, Shane Brady
A young man in a personal tailspin flees the US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead claim they wrote the film as a counterpoint to Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles in that it is about a creature who actually enjoys its strange condition.
The film is a foreign romantic fantasy with supernatural elements. That depends more on the conversation to reveal character, elements, and story. rather than just visuals. So that you notice it's BEFORE SUNRISE influence early. While still having more genre elements.
It is more talkative then Action-oriented, Essentially a dark romantic fantasy
The film starts off dramatically. That makes you wonder where it is exactly going. Though it figures out a nice convenient way to get the main character overseas, we get to know all about him. So like him throughout we wonder about this mysterious femme fatale. Wondering his backstory would be too much mystery.
So the film introduced us to him early. To continuously stay on his side. Allowing us to be more in his shoes and probably knowing what he will do. Rather than continuously questioning his morals and character. Though disappointingly as what gets him to go. Is more of a threat, but never truly explored it come back to.
I am not going to lie. While the film is good what makes it memorable is the lead actress Nadia Hilker who while watching you believe a new big-screen goddess is being introduced.
The film works like the leading character. We get excited once the lead actress Nadia Hilker is on screen and after we are introduced to her. The anticipation until she appears on screen again becomes deafening.
Though after getting to know her. We realize that something is up. Not that the film doesn't heavily hint at it half the time. Yet we are still fascinated by her.
Like her nature of letting him in and then abandoning him physically and emotionally. Never truly explaining what she is so open to interpretation. She is so stunning that we fully understand his addiction to her and acceptance of her behavior continuously. Sometimes even wishing the film was more all about her and her character's way of life.
At first, it doesn't seem like it will, but the film ends up being full of energy and mystery. That starts more once he travels overseas. As he discovers her. Just as when he romances her. we both discover the town revealing both beauties.
Though it feels like a film more of youth than anything. Just as with any romantic love story. The film takes it's time to set up. Still rather quick allowing for real circumstances
Happy to see Lou Taylor up on the big screen in a lead. He always seems more like a character actor. Who is good looking in a thoroughly modern way. Finally getting a role that he is effective in and makes a mark. He feels real here.
Though it does seem like some effort at times. Go into making him seem cooler, sensitive, and tough to a degree. Though also pretty average in certain ways.
The filmmakers choose to use their locations strongly as we are constantly in picturesque beautiful locations. That makes the smaller scale story feel like that as we are thrown in what feels like epic waters.
The camerawork sometimes positions itself. So that we are right there but also a voyeur. Reminding us. Though we are close. We are watching a story.
The film has a few too many zooms and close-ups of scenery, landscapes, and coasts. In between scenes At times. That is the result of us by drones to film those segments. These shots when done more to impress and show off than anything. Maybe open up the story and land.
The special effects are impressive and are truly explored in one transformation scene, fully.
Even if not, up to a certain point the film seems like a look at love and modern relationships.
It's obvious on it's initial influences and thankfully gets more intriguing as it goes along. Like it really wants to separate itself from other indies. Yet feels a little gimmicky to please two masters or two different frames of thought. Yet later to tease the audience with an explanation gives a confusing technical/biological explanation that gorges it a certain context. Yet really only sets up an either/or end.
By the end, the film has a more twilight zone type set-up or seems headed for one. Even if those last moments are precious.
Posted in Uncategorized	2015Aaron MooreheadHorrorJeremy GardnerJustin BensonLou Taylor PucciNadia Hilker
Published by jbg
View all posts by jbg
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Divide ground beef and form into 4 burger patties. Season with salt and pepper and cook (grill, fry or broil) until desired doneness. During last minute of cooking top with sliced cheese.
Separate and split 4 Brooklyn Bred Bistro Buns and brush inside of buns with melted butter. Layer leaf lettuce and tomato slices on bottom bun and top with cooked burger and sliced red onion. Serve warm with your favorite condiments.