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Doctor Who Series 4 to be released as Blu-ray steelbook
FeaturedSeries 4SteelbookDavid TennantCatherine TateDonna NobleTenth DoctorRussell T DaviesBlu-ray
Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series will be released on Blu-ray steelbook with new and exclusive artwork on Monday 27th May and is available for pre-orders on Amazon now.
Series Four marked the arrival of the award-winning actor Catherine Tate (The Catherine Tate Show) as the Doctor's new companion, Donna Noble.
The Doctor and Donna travel back to Pompeii on the eve of the infamous eruption where people are slowly turning to stone, investigate a series of grisly murders with the help of Agatha Christie, journey to the home world of the sinister Ood and come face to face with an old enemy of the Doctor.
Series Four sees the return of previous companions Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) plus an array of guests including Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley), Felicity Kendal (Inside No.9), Fenella Woolgar (Call the Midwife), Tim McInnerny (Game of Thrones), Phil Davis (Vera Drake), Tracey Childs (Broadchurch) and an early appearance of Peter Capaldi who will go on to play the Twelfth Doctor.
Bonus features exclusive to the release include Doctor Who Confidential, video diaries, commentaries, the Children In Need special Time Crash plus teasers, trailers and deleted scenes.
Swipe for more or tap to expand.
The 14 episodes are:
Voyage of The Damned
The Fires of Pompeii
Planet of the OOD
The Poison Sky
The Doctor's Daughter
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Silence of the Library
Forest of the Dead
The Stolen Earth
Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series will be released on Blu-ray steelbook, with new and exclusive artwork on Monday 27th May and is available for pre-orders on Amazon now.
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Taking the 'lip lacquer' phenomenon and modifying it for eyes, Stila's Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid Eye Shadows are set to be this year's beauty game-changer. Prepare to be spellbound by the oh-so-shiny, richly saturated colour pigment that takes glossy shimmer to dizzying new heights. It has the same show-stopping texture as your best-loved liquid lipstick, which stays dazzling for several hours after application. Available in a veritable jewel box palette of shades, it's your perfect party make up essential.
For eyes with serious sparkle, this blindingly stunning shadow pigment combines pearlescent and glitter particles to guarantee an instant head-turning look. The water-infused texture is super easy to apply, thanks to the applicator wand and dries to a shimmering finish that never dulls. Yet it also cares for the skin with conditioning glycerin, while triethanolamine forms a protective barrier between the skin and the glittery pigment, so it always feels comfortable to wear. Choose from an array of gemstone hues, from the twinkling ebony 'Molten Midnight'; show-stopping 'Gold Goddess' and beautiful bronze 'Smouldering Satin', to the shimmering silver 'Diamond Dust' and exquisite 'Rose Gold Retro'. There's a shade to suit every skin tone and occasion.
Apply one coat directly along the lash line and centre of the lid.
Wear alone or over eye shadow.
Water, Mica (Ci 77019), Aluminum Calcium Sodium Silicate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Squalane, Polysorbate 60, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Glycerin, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Silica. (+/-) Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Tin Oxide (CI 77861).
I really like the shade enchantress, peach with bright gold pearl. However, I find them so fiddly to apply. At first, I tried it with the applicator and looked way too shimmery. So then I tried a flat brush and went on ok, but have to work quickly as they dry fast. I then applied with my finger and noticed it cracked on my eyelids. Also, there is quite a lot of fallout, and so hard to remove! However, I will keep on trying as I love the shade, suits my eyelids perfectly!
I bought Gold Goddess - it is so pretty. It's chunkier than I imagined, but still an amazing product. No mess, no fuss, no need for glitter glue. Just apply and go! I think this is one of the easiest eye-glitter products to use. The colours are so beautiful. I'm going to buy Ballet Baby and Into the Blue next. All the colours look so gorgeous! These are perfect for the party season!
I already own Kitten Karma which I love so I decided to buy Enchantress, which I hoped would be similar to Coral Crush(Korea limited). It's described as Peach with Bright Gold Pearl, but there are so many green and fuchsia glitters, which make any kind of warmth disappear and makes it look cool toned & frosty. Also the glitters are super fine instead of different sized like in Kitten Karma. The staying-power is also much worse. I really don't recommend this shade.
The single most incredible eye product I've ever used. The pigment and texture is simply beautiful and wonderfully long wearing, used with primer I got a full days and nights wear with NO creasing. I now want to purchase every shade!
Sparkle the night (or day) away!
Rose Gold Retro was the choice of colour, however it really didn't disappoint. Very sparkly worn alone or over a finished eye make up. I do both for day and night and get many compliments. Easy to apply and no fallout. A little goes a long way. I need to try other shades as it's just a fab product.
I have the shade gold goddess. Looks absolutely stunning and is very easy to use. Definitely, recommend if you're in search of a good glitter for the eyes.
One of the most useful products in my arsenal. So versatile and you can put it on sheer as a topper or pack it on! A little goes a long way and it's sure to last a while. Highly recommend.
I love this product, I am by no means a makeup artist but this product is so easy to apply and has great pigmentation. I bought the diamond dust shade, which popped on my eyelids alongside other matte eyeshadows I had used within the crease of my eye. I wore this on a night out and it lasted all night with no fallout. If I had one small negative it would be that the eyeshadow is slightly sticky when first applied and does need a little while to dry. However, great product, which I would highly recommend.
5 Stars on my Eyelids!
Great pigmentation, Easy to use and What an effect! Nothing holds up next to this. It goes on like a dream and looks fantastic in photographs.
I have this in Rose Gold Retro which looks gorgeous. The pigment is great and it stays put all night. It can be messy to apply and dries very quickly, but that isn't a problem if you do your eyes before foundation to tidy up any stray glitter.
This took a couple of goes to get right. I don't want full on bling look so paint a line in centre of lid then blend out with shadow brush, gives a lovely shimmer that lasts.
Bought one for a try "Into The Blue". Soooo beautiful glitter. I will definitely order few more colors. Also, the packaging is stunning.
I absolutely love these metals, I have Kitten Karma and Smokey Storm and they both really bring out the blue in my (dirty blue) eyes. They go on wet and set over a couple of minutes, you can do a subtle swipe or pat the doe hoof applicator on your lid to build a really intense, solid glitter look (I let it dry a bit and then go in for a second layer). It's pure Studio 54! I've worn this on many a night out and it dissipates a little over time lightly glittering your cheek bones, but the eye look holds true through a night of dancing. Miraculous party staple!
So beautiful. I have kitten karma and whilst it's more cool toned then I thought it would be, its still such a beautiful, brightening shade. I love how you can apply this with the wand for a seriously intense pop of glitter, but you can also sheer it out if you just pop a bit on your finger and then rub it on another finger before applying. Also, you literally have to wait about 1 minute and this will dry and not transfer all day/night, even if you get a bit sweaty on the dance floor - even on my incredibly hooded eyes. Literally the only down side to this product is you will have glitter on your face the day after, but it's a small price to pay.
Item goes on clunky, nothing like in pictures, gritty and looks really bad. Would not recommend to anyone.
This product is insane. It looks so magical and makes me feel like a princess whenever I wear it. What you have to keep in mind though is not to touch it once it is on your eyes. I once rubbed my eyes on accident because I forgot that I had put it on and I had glitter all over my face. Also do all your other eyeshadow first because if your blending once it is dry the same thing happens. But that is to be expected and otherwise you get no fall out at all and it stays on your eyes for the whole day. Love it.
Another beauty to add to my collection, long lasting, no creasing (great for an ageing princess such as myself) and oh so sparkly.
I ordered the rose gold retro and it's amazing. I wore it today while out shopping and I'm so impressed. I forgot to use eye shadow primer but you don't need it. It stayed all day. Not budged. It goes on so smooth and isn't sticky like other liquid eye shadows. It's weightless and so nice!!! Will be buying more!!!!
So easy to use and the colours are amazing.
This is a product I am really excited to use; it goes on very easily and smoothly - and quickly - and shimmers for the whole evening. I, too, will have to get some more colours.
One of the best glitter applications I ever came across. Evening glam in literally one easy swipe and it lasts too!
I bought Molten Midnight and Smouldering Satin recently after watching numerous YouTube tutorials and I wasn't disappointed. They look great on their own or over a smoky eye, essential for nights outs and holidays. I want them all!!
I finally managed to use this eye shadow in 'Smouldering Satin' on my weekend away and it was fantastic! I had so many compliments over it, it made me feel gorgeous! It's so sparkly but not 'trashy' or cheap looking! I heard rumours it cracked and flaked for some people but it didn't for me at all. Removing it was so much easier than I thought as its not hard sharp glitter, so it didn't irritate my eyes at all. I can't wait to go out again so I can use it!
These are some of the most beautiful eyeshadows I've ever seen. Can be comparable with loose glitters although they're more metallic and just stunning.
It's really great! Stays and does not crease.
This item comes with NO warning about how incredibly difficult it is to remove the product from your face. The glitter gets everywhere and is extremely uncomfortable. My eyes were red, swollen and sore from the amount of small glitter that managed to get in, yet the product does not warn you about the potential dangers. The formula does not blend very well and seems blotchy but most importantly- steer clear if you care for your eyes and vision. Disappointed sorely.
These actually satisfy my glitter needs, just adds that extra something to your eye look and is so easy to apply. The other reviews are right in saying a little goes a long way so these will last you a while. Great for all over the eye or as an accent to whatever eye shadow you're wearing, I sometimes even wear these in my inner corner.
This is gorgeous and leaves me feeling glamorous whenever I wear it. It is really easy to apply, I just slick a line across my lid, and it stays put until I remove it with my usual cleanser. No drama, no mess, no glitter weirdly appearing where I don't want it.
It is a very overrated and intense glitter that you know will not fall onto the and stay on whatever the weather.
Worth the hype and the price. It´s a pleasure to use it. Got so many compliments and request while wearing "Diamond Dust." The only problem is, that I am gonna need all of them now!
I bought the shade Sea Siren and it's perfect for a night out. Every time I used it I got lots of compliments on my makeup. I will definitely try more colours.
This is so so pretty, I wear this all over the lid for a quick makeup and it's perfect. Expensive but worth the price in my opinion.
I have this lipstick in Patina and Nudo and they are the best I've ever tried (and I tried a lot, believe me). Creamy, not drying, not too shimmery and looking flat on the lips. Will definitely buy more.
I have a smokey storm and have had so many compliments/friends borrowing. Goes on so easy and haven't found I've needed to build the colour up at all, really easy to apply even if you're all thumbs like me! Will be ordering more colours, bring back the festive season so I can wear them all at once, please.
These liquid shadows are super pigmented I bought the shade rose gold retro and it is gorgeous but the shadow took a little while longer to dry than expected. Also, I got quite a lot of fall out but it sailed away really easily. Overall I would recommend it.
Everyone was asking me what eyeshadow I was wearing - the colour is beautiful (I have sea siren) and it's long lasting. It can go quite clunky if you layer it, but that's being picky - as it doesn't even need much layering because it is so pigmented.
This is the easiest way I have ever tried to apply glitter. Just make sure you work fast as trying to blend edges when it's dried is impossible, you'll just crumble glitter everywhere.
Much easier than other products I've used for glamming up my lids, no mess or fuss.
This eyeshadow is everything; it is amazing pigmentation and shiny as hell. I would deffo recommend it big time. I LOVED it. It's a must have in every make up kit, I only wish the bottle were bigger other wise it's perfection.
I just received rose gold retro liquid eye shadow & Perla stay all day liquid lipstick. I'm over the moon with both over them. Amazing staying power and colours to die for. I've searched so many brands to get the correct lip colour and Perla it is - so happy! I'm buying more from the liquid eye shadow range now.
As gorgeous and glittery as the online reviews suggested. Struggling to stop myself from buying every other colour! Shipment time was also very reasonable.
These blend so nicely. They are SUPER easy to use when you want to achieve metallic glittery eyes, since they don't have fallout of regular metallic shade/glitter. Some shades are a bit different in consistency but it isn't too bothersome. 10/10 would recommend.
Wow, just loving the sparkle of this easy to apply and beautiful eyeshadow. I wore it last night and got lots of lovely comments on it, and was asked exactly what it was. Stayed on beautifully all night without creasing. In fact love it so much may have to indulge in another 1 or 4!!!
This product is absolutely amazing. I have it in the shade Smouldering Satin and on a night out the first time I wore it I got at least 15 compliments on it and everyone wanted to know what it was that looked so sparkly and beautiful on my eyes. Super easy to work with, I can not rave about them enough.
I was lucky enough to get these in New York before they launched in 'diamond dust' and a purple shade which I gave away as a present. They are PHENOMENAL! I was torn between these and Pat McGrath labs pigment and these ones honestly give a much more glittery effect! (Obv Pat's pigments can do more and are metallic etc., but over double the price) Stila have come up with a wonder product, no glue necessary and the colour and glitter pay off from these is UNREAL. Stocking up before they sell out - I suggest you do too, if you love a glitter eye or enjoy a glitter halo effect then you NEED these in your collection.


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What Makes Goodfellas So Compulsively Watchable?
Some films earn critical acclaim and you only want to watch them once. Goodfellas? We could watch it on loop...
By Brogan Morris | March 1, 2018 |
What is the most compulsively watchable film of all time? Not the greatest film – there are lists dedicated to solving that particular conundrum scattered all over the internet. Rather, the one film that begs you to return again and again, the one you can't help but see through to the end when you happen to bump into it on a late night channel surf. Citizen Kane, Vertigo, 8 ½: greats, undisputed classics long vaunted by critics, but not necessarily the kinds of movies with the irresistible pull of a truly, compulsively watchable movie.
What could be the best of these? Raiders Of The Lost Ark, with its peak-Spielberg action-adventure stylings? Airplane!, a riotous and unfailingly quotable comedy that spawned a thousand imitators? Could even one as recent as acid-tinged carmageddoner Mad Max: Fury Road, already considered one of the greatest action movies ever made, lay legitimate claim to being the finest example? These are films that, through some divine formula, can seemingly never cease to entertain: Friday night movies for the ages. What, possibly, could top such feats of filmic engineering?
Watch Goodfellas on Amazon
Consider Goodfellas. Martin Scorsese's crime saga, which is currently on re-release as part of the BFI's Scorsese season, turns 27 this year, but in cinematic terms it hasn't aged a day. What was breathlessly energetic and almost indecently engrossing back in 1990 is just as so now. From its opening scene, which simultaneously disarms the viewer with an act of violence – the film's grisliest – and draws us in with a perfectly timed collision of sound and image (a rapid track into Ray Liotta's shocked face that culminates in the ecstatic opening horns of Tony Bennett's "Rags To Riches"), Goodfellas is propulsive. This is not just a great, highly influential movie, but an endlessly watchable one as well.
In part that's down to the acting talent – Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, an Oscar-winning Joe Pesci, all doing their finest work, as well as Scorsese's muse Robert De Niro operating at full volume – and the way they're allowed to flourish in a loose, lightly improvisational environment. The actors jabber over one another and make scenes up on the fly, the most famous example being Pesci as sociopathic mafioso Tommy DeVito putting a visibly unnerved Liotta – playing our gangster 'hero', Henry Hill – on the spot with his notorious "Funny how?" diatribe. The style of performing gives Goodfellas a kinetic, unpredictable feel. You remain on edge, even if you've seen the film so many times you can quote it line for line, because the players perpetually seem to be too.
The film's craft, addictive like a drug, similarly keeps us alert. Goodfellas is the product of an unparalleled filmmaker and editor team (editor Thelma Schoonmaker is at least as important to Scorsese's filmography as De Niro) taking all the technique they ever learned and applying it to one feature. There's voiceover, flashbacks, handheld and POV shots, freeze frames, slo-mo, and some still unbeatable tracking shots, while the film closes with Liotta talking directly to the audience and Pesci firing into camera with a pistol, replicating a shot from 1903's The Great Train Robbery. It's a history of cinematic technique in one picture – and it's all set to what might be the greatest assemblage of non-score music in any movie.
If you had to label it, Goodfellas is most definitely a crime flick, arguably a black comedy (every actor is wickedly funny, but anyone who's ever disputed De Niro's comic chops in particular should watch him again here, parroting mob speak and flying into apocalyptic rages at the drop of a hat), and at a not-unreasonable stretch a musical. In the background, singalong-able pop and rock hits play constantly. They serve a dual purpose: 1) setting the tone and pace of the film, and 2) denoting the period any one scene is taking place in without Scorsese ever having to signpost it. From the buoyant '50s, through the bubblegum '60s, and into the punkish '70s, there's nothing but a wall-to-wall mash of tunes.
It could almost be exhausting. In less than two-and-a-half hours, we fly through three decades of a life of organized crime. Yet the film is edited with such a feel for rhythm, Schoonmaker always careful with the ebb and flow of the story, that it never induces feelings of fatigue. Thanks to Scorsese, none of the flashy direction ever feels indulgent or hollow, either. Goodfellas inspired plenty of directors to attempt to replicate its fast-paced pop style, but all too many failed to realise that the film is never just surface, is never art for art's sake. Ultimately, Goodfellas rewards repeated watches because there's real substance woven into its style. Here, the style has a purpose.
Scorsese's movies tend to be designed in such a way that they reflect the experience of the protagonist. Taxi Driver has a woozy, nocturnal daydream feel, mirroring Travis Bickle's insomnia and increasing disconnect from reality, while Scorsese's latest, Silence, is slow, minimal and unsettlingly quiet, demonstrating both the purity of Father Rodriguez and the sense of discomfort he feels in closed 17th-century Japan. The more high-energy films of Scorsese's that are made in what casual fans might consider his signature style, like The Wolf Of Wall Street, Casino, and Goodfellas, perform the same function. They are extravagant, darkly comic and whiplash fast, not simply because that's entertaining, but because such a style conveys the rush felt by a protagonist living a glitzy, morality-free existence.
Goodfellas is where this style originated for Scorsese, and Henry Hill is one of Scorsese's archetypal amoral heroes – a man with a voracious appetite for life, out to enjoy whatever he can get while others are screwed over (or beaten, or killed) in the process. Even as the film descends into hell in its last act, Scorsese – accompanying the cocaine-fuelled, adrenaline-pumped Hill every step of the way – directs with such verve that the film remains irresistible. Such is the skill of Scorsese, he allows us to judge such an unpleasant character while we at the same time get high on the thrill ride that is his life right to the bitter end.
Tags: GoodfellasMartin Scorsese
Brogan Morris
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Home Music Music Features
October 10, 2018 4:17PM ET
Song You Need to Know: Lady Gaga, 'Why Did You Do That?'
In making Ally's pop career realistic, Gaga gets back to what made her a star in the first place
Brittany Spanos
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Lady Gaga in "A Star Is Born," 2018
Neal Preston
To Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's credit, the most controversial, critiqued element of A Star Is Born is a simple plot point. After Gaga's Ally spends the first half of the film falling in love with Cooper's turbulent, alcoholic rock star Jackson Maine and playing her songs around the country with him on his tour, she gets her own deal. A famous manager named Rez (Rafi Gavron) decides to take her on as his client and puts her in a studio for the first time. With Rez's guidance, Ally ends up moving away from Jackson's sound towards that of a full-fledged radio pop star. Her hair is orange, she's backed by two female dancers and is seen in make-up and designer dresses for the first time. This isn't the Ally we met, but it's the Ally that makes it on her own and without the aid of a famous, albeit now less so, husband.
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This portion of the film has been interpreted in many ways. On one hand, Jackson is more supportive of Ally's career than previous incarnations of A Star Is Born male leads. He helps her record her first song, the catchy piano-pop love song "Look What I Found" and encourages her to stick around and finish recording her album instead of coming to Memphis with him. However, watching her perform "Why Did You Do That?" on an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live drives him to drink after a brief period of semi-sobriety.
A bit dramatic, right? Of course, the moment Ally dives into the song is meant to be jarring on many levels. It's the first time we meet the full-fledged pop star. It's the point where she feels furthest from the modest Ally both the audience and Jackson met at the beginning. While she rebuffed the idea of using dancers on stage, for this she has several that she grinds against and spins around on stage with. No piano in sight for the girl who found it hard in her first studio session to perform without playing one as she sang. Plus the lyrics are an extreme level of over-the-top. "Why'd you come around me with an ass like that?" she inquires, a line meant to catch you off guard.
This moment, and a few others during Jackson's worst drunken stupors, seem to present an argument against pop, which inherently feels like an argument against Lady Gaga herself, one of the biggest advocates for the delectably catchy dance-pop Ally embodies. When the song gets a Grammy nomination, a blackout drunk Jackson is not only confused but angry at Ally for letting go of the person he thought she was happiest being. Ally herself, however, mostly struggles with the presentation but seems genuinely pleased with the music she makes and performs.
In movies and television, there have been numerous "bad" pop songs written but very few written by actual pop stars. That makes an element of listening to "Why Did You Do That?" so intoxicating: here's Gaga trying to make a fictionally Grammy-worthy song that someone like Jackson will hate and it's actually pretty great. It's her "sell-out bop" as fans on Twitter have called it. It's peak The Fame-era Gaga: a vampy flirt with a penchant for a hook you won't forget for years. This is no different than "Just Dance," "Poker Face" or "Love Game." She actually makes a strong case that not only is Ally an overnight success in the movie, but she's actually made it seem plausible that the orange-haired Ally would succeed right now, on the actual charts and on today's radio.
Gaga hasn't had a straight-up dance-pop hit that sounds like "Why Did You Do That?" in a while: as proven by ASIB, she's gotten pretty incredible at banging out a power ballad in more recent years. But in true Gaga fashion (or maybe even irony), it took her embodying someone else completely to get back to the root of one of her greatest skills: an inventive, forward-thinking pop artiste.
In This Article: Bradley Cooper,	Lady Gaga,	Song You Need to Know


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Gambia: Breaking News: Alieu Momar Njie Is The New IEC Chairman; As Carayol Retires!
Gambia's dictator Yahya Jammeh has hired Alieu Momar Njie, as the new Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with immediate effect, the Freedom Newspaper can confirm. Mr. Njie replaces Mustapha Carayol, who has been sent on retirement by the Kanilai jester. Carayol has been heading the IEC since 2006.
Mr. Alieu Momar Njie was onetime the IEC Commissioner in the Upper River Region. He has confirmed receiving his appointment letter. Mr. Njie is expected to commence duties as the IEC Chairman today Monday.
Mr. Njie had a rough past with the Jammeh administration. He was detained in the past, following allegations of financial embezzlement. He served as Gambia's Scout Commissioner for years, before the regime filed trumped up charges against him. He was later released and set free.
Gambians are going to the polls on December, 1st to elect a new President. The opposition have decried about the lack of level playing field ahead of the December polls.
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Liverpool is a city of 'firsts', the first animal welfare society, the forerunner of the RSPCA began in Liverpool in 1809. The very first charity to prevent cruelty to children was set up by Thomas Agnew in Liverpool in 1883, and in 1884 Liverpool had the first woman ever to practice as a Doctor and open a surgery. In that same year Mrs Mary Mason of Wavertree saw a need for a new moving business in the city and started ' John Mason Movers'. Mary's husband John was a carter a time honoured profession in Liverpool. Carters and their horses were used to move goods to and from Liverpool docks and businesses. At their peak more than 20,000 horses worked on the streets of Liverpool, more than in any other city outside London. Mary had helped her husband with his business, so was no stranger to the task of moving goods. So it was that the business began at number 89 High Street Wavertree.
In 1887 Mary's son John joined the business which at the time was mainly involved in coal deliveries, the 17 year old saw the potential for the company to expand into a general carrying firm. He Offered to 'carry anything, anywhere', including laundry from wealthy merchants in Wavertree and Woolton. Even though in those early days he only had a pony and cart, the young John Masons entrepreneurial skills were to see him sign a contract that would see the company through its next 68 years.
In 1897, John married Mary Hannah Baker who assisted her husband with clerical work, a role that by this point in the company's history, would have been essential. Early clients of John Mason long distance removals in the 1900 included companies such as the Anglo American Oil Company (Esso), Cheshire Lines Railway Company and the English Margarine Works. The company also carried much of the carved stonework for Morrison Ltd, the firm given the contract to build Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
In 1904 distances of 50 miles or more were classed as 'long distance journeys' and were carried out by rail, but By 1914, the company offered coal retailing, general haulage and household removals. John and Mary's eldest son, Leslie, joined the business in 1916 and In 1917 the business moved to 127, High Street, Wavertree gaining more space for both warehousing and stabling for the firm's horses.
In 1921 the company bought its first motor vehicle, an Albion. Albion Automotive were a company based in Scotstoun, Glasgow, they were later to become part of the Leyland Company.
Progress was to continue and in 1926 John Mason purchased the first lift vans for rail use and overseas agents were appointed to look after the firm's interests abroad.
In 1938 John and Mary's second son, Stanley, joined the business although his training was interrupted in 1941 when like many other young men he was called up to serve in the Merchant Navy for the duration of the war. During the Second World War, removals were reduced but government contracts kept the company going despite manpower shortage and petrol rationing.
John Mason also played his part in raising the public's moral, during the war, his company moved the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's instruments around the country, enabling it to continue to give regular performances. Mason's driver, Bill Clarke, was never late for a concert despite having to contend with the hazards of black outs and bombing. No mean feat when you consider the damage the Luftwaffe were doing in the U.K and in particular in Liverpool.
During the intense bombing, John Mason's company did vital work evacuating schools, institutions, and other organisations. Each evening, Mason's vehicles reported for duty at Civil Defence and Fire posts throughout the city, ready to assist the local authority in a time of great need.
After the war, many parts of Liverpool, particularly those close to the docks had been devastated by the bombing. John Masons Company assisted with the rebuilding of the city after the blitz. The Mason brothers (Stanley and Leslie) were able to grow and develop the business whilst undertaking large office removals for the Inland Revenue, Ministry of Food and other Ministerial offices. In 1948 the company became an Ltd company John Mason (Wavertree) Ltd and a daily removal service from Liverpool to London was started. And the company acquired a depot in London to facilitate distribution in the London area. In 1951 the company became a founder member of FIDI, Established in 1950 FIDI is the Fédération Internationale des Déménageurs Internationaux (International Federation of International Movers). To this day it is the largest global alliance of independent quality international removal companies.
B Dugley & Sons Ltd, Removers of Bebington on the Wirral peninsula. By 1962 the continued growth of the company resulted in the purchase of a 36,000 sq. ft warehouse in Kirkby a new town just outside Liverpool that was fast developing as both a community and industrial area, in the process the company would have provided much needed employment. The growth of the business saw it move into into the antique shipping business which required large consolidation and storage facilities. By 1967 a further 2,000 sq. ft warehousing space was acquired bringing the company's total Merseyside facilities to 72,000 sq.ft.
In 1965 Stanley Mason was elected President of the Overseas Division, but 1971 was to get off to a sad start for the family when Leslie Mason died. Stanley's wife, Jean, joined her husband as a director; they were joined in 1972 by their eldest son Paul. Under their leadership the company continued its expansion and in 1974 joined Eurovan, an organisation of independent mainly privately owned worldwide removal companies and went on to record a record volume of antique shipping. So much so that in 1982 John Mason won 'Eurovans' biggest booker award.
Stanley Mason died in 1983 Paul Mason joined the company as Director and in 1989 all the company's Liverpool business moved to Wilson Road, John Mason International Movers currently undertakes over 8,000 removals each year across the world, not bad for a business that began with a mum her son and a pony and cart. Yet another success story that shows the skill and tenacity of Liverpool folk.
John Mason International have kindly allowed me to use photographs from their Collection, John Mills, the Wirral based photographers were commissioned to take the photographs on behalf of the company, many previously unpublished, which appear in the following Gallery.
The Worlds Largest Grand Piano being transferred from the Grafton Rooms on West Derby Road, Liverpool to the Star Ballroom in Wallasey, on behalf of Rushworth and Dreaper Ltd.
European co-operation with an Austrian firm, household removal Vienna to Liverpool 1965.
(Right) A note made on the back of the photograph by John Mills Photography.
The new organ being delivered to the Anglican Cathedral c1955 on behalf of Henry Willis & Sons Ltd, Organ Builders.
Office removal into the Corn Exchange building through the Drury Lane entrance at the rear.
Trade co-operation between John Mason Colemans Ltd and Pickfords, here we see their vehicles parked in Brunswick Street ready to move ICI from the Cunard Building.
Moving ICI, Imperial Chemical Industries from the Cunard Building, to their new premises in Runcorn.
The Cunard Building was the HQ of the General Chemicals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd in the 1940s, to about the early 1960s.
This photograph shows one of the Pickford removal vans outside the building.
In 1969 we see the Royal Mail stagecoach on board a John Mason low loader, bound for the warehouse to be packed for shipment to Texas.
This vehicle was on contract to the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and was used to transport instruments from city to city.
Furniture from Canada was delivered to the resident Canadian Trade Commissioner in Woolton Road, Liverpool in 1969.
Unloading goods from West Africa , from the Aureol at the docks.
Leyland Comet – 1961/62. After many years of service – became a breakdown vehicle. Now in the transport museum (December 1991).
The 1923 Removers Association yearbook featuring a list of other Liverpool removal companies from the time (click to enlarge).
Empire Cedric John Mason's first Ro - Ro vessel, at sea.


There is something slightly wrong with the apparently impeccable Philadelphia Story. The film works so well for everyone – director, actors, audiences – that the flaw must be very slight, and perhaps even an advantage, a wrinkle that enhances the smoothness of the rest. But it's there and it's this. The heroine is bright, rich, funny, classy, but a little censorious – she can't forgive her father's philandering or her first husband's drinking. The storyline is set up to show us and her that, deep down and in the end, she is just as human as the rest of us, flesh not bronze, as the movie's imagery has it, a person not a goddess. 'You have everything it takes to make a lovely woman,' her erring father says, 'except the one essential – an understanding heart.' The understanding heart sounds a bit like the double standard in sexual affairs, but this is 1940. The heroine gets drunk and flings herself into the arms of a visiting reporter, a man who admires her in spite of her wealth and manners, not because of them. She may even have slept with him, for all she can remember, and her prospective second husband believes she has. The reporter says not, because there are rules about taking advantage of girls who have had too much champagne. He's not a toff but he is a gent. It's not clear what the first husband thinks has happened, only that he is delighted with the heroine's lapse from sobriety and the mere chance that she may have lapsed from virtue, since they are what will bring her back to him in the end.
The snag is that the heroine can't be just as human as the rest of us, because she is Katharine Hepburn. A goddess can be fragile, frightened and subdued, and Hepburn is. But not for long, and she certainly can't be just another frail mortal. What's more, the heroine can't turn out to be merely human if she's working on the case herself, as she diligently is. Stung by the accusation that she's made of bronze, she's out to prove she's not. So the story doesn't show she's not a goddess, only that the goddess doesn't like to be thought inhuman.
All movie stars bring their own stories with them, scraps and tilts of narrative which often play interestingly against the ostensible plot of an individual film. But the interaction is particularly intense in the case of the great female stars, such as Hepburn, Garbo and Dietrich. It's as if the movies themselves, or the stock of available forms of story closure, the myth machine, wanted these women to conform at last, whatever licence they seem to have been given, and the women won't do it. Or rather, they conform enough to preserve the peace and the plot, but also hint at a zone of independence which can't be absorbed by the conventions. Of course, the nature of this independence is different in each case. With Garbo it's a certain blankness, something even more elusive than secrets or privacy; with Dietrich it's an elegant contempt for whatever mush surrounds her, even when she's supposed to be falling for the mush; and with Hepburn . . . Well, this is what Scott Berg's vivid and subtle memoir is all about.
It won't be fine, of course (and she isn't really terrifying); but the style is right, and it speaks the language of her independence. Neither Garbo's blankness nor Dietrich's contempt, Hepburn's slightly brittle cheer refuses the stories that seek to enclose her, and refuses them in the name of an unfooled enjoyment of her own luck and gifts and dedication to hard work. In her movies she makes even settling down look like an uncertain adventure, and the wedding at the end of The Philadelphia Story is both an ending and an opening, a sort of charade which has nothing to do with the implied placidity of the lovely woman and her understanding heart. Of course there are Hepburn films where she plays less against the grain, and she herself changed quite a bit over the years. Howard Hawks's Bringing up Baby manages to endorse Hepburn's independence of spirit as a kind of choreographed craziness, a speed of mind which takes all accidents as invitations to entertainment. 'Don't listen to her,' Cary Grant says at one point. 'She's making all this up out of old motion pictures.' She is, but out of the wildest mix of pictures: gangster movies, westerns, and the very screwball genre she is in. But she doesn't let on how thoroughly she's making it up. There's a revealing tale in Barbara Leaming's persuasive biography of Hepburn (reviewed in the LRB, 6 July 1995) about the shooting of this film. Hepburn kept trying to indicate that she thought the antics of her character were funny, 'that she knew it was all a lark'. Hawks got a veteran comic to show her how to do the scenes deadpan – that is, he copied her mannerisms, but dropped the self-awareness. Hepburn saw the point immediately, and said to Hawks: 'Howard, hire that guy and keep him around here for several weeks because I need him.' Her dizziness, in other words, had to look like real dizziness if it was to turn into something else. Only look like it, because a deadpan is not really dead, and this is a rather complicated proposition. The goddess as sheer goddess is not all that interesting, and there is nothing worse than a goddess condescendingly pretending to be human. So the goddess has to play human in such a way that we almost but don't quite believe it, as we almost but don't quite forget her divine status. In Adam's Rib, similarly, Hepburn's energy and wit run in parallel with the film's plot and politics, although there is a quirky, uppity moment right in the middle of the happy ending when Hepburn pretends not to understand what 'vive la différence' means. There is a brilliant commentary on this scene (and much else) in Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness, and somewhere among these thoughts about the goddess playing human is an answer to one of Cavell's worries. 'I sometimes feel Katharine Hepburn to lack a certain humour about herself,' he writes, 'to count the till a little too often.' What Cavell has spotted is a tension between being witty and being dizzy, and the tension is precisely what makes up Hepburn's movie character at its best. Sometimes she needs to hide her knowingness, as she does in Bringing up Baby; and sometimes to use it, as she does in Adam's Rib. She is never going to be entirely free of it, or entirely successful if she can't shed some of it, give herself a break from her own superiority. But there are all kinds of ways of getting the tension to work.
Berg has an astute remark about the failure of the film version of The Madwoman of Chaillot: 'It was difficult for an audience – to say nothing of the star herself – to accept Katharine Hepburn as somebody who had truly lost her mind. She ultimately came across as more eccentric than mad.' And if we look back at the earlier film Holiday, also with Cary Grant, where Hepburn is supposed to be an eccentric rich girl, we can take this line of thought a little further. She doesn't really come across as eccentric there any more than she later came across as mad. Just as stylish, determined, and impatient with fools and bores. Bossy, as she might say, but not serious. The movie can't contain her, but would be far worse off without her. Her screen presence is a reminder – and much of her life seems to have been the same – that she knew what she was talking about when she said we can hope there is always something better than what we currently have.


Kicking off the spring season, the annual Easter Egg Hunt in beautiful Oxford Park in honor of The Bunny's big day is a classic event that will entertain the whole family. Also not to be missed is Oxford Day, an extravaganza dating back to 1994. Every resident, organization, and business in town works together to throw a full-day party. Fun events for visitors of all ages include a parade complete with bands, eco-friendly floats, gawk-worthy cars and trucks, and a bagpiper; programs at the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, featuring hands-on marine science activities and exhibits; a Flower Basket Competition, with entries on display on doors, fences, posts, porches, and more; a 328th birthday celebration for the Oxford Bellevue Ferry; a 10K run and 5K fun walk; The Dog Show and Dog Walk; music galore; and fabulous fresh food offered all around town.
Memorial Day weekend in Oxford revolves around the Fine Arts Fair, which draws as many as 2,000 art lovers from near and far to experience the juried exhibit sponsored by the Oxford Community Center. (Housed in an abandoned school building saved from the wrecking ball by a group of public-spirited citizens, the Oxford Community Center contributes in myriad ways to the social, cultural, and civic life of Oxford.) The fair has grown over the years to enjoy a reputation for quality works of art, fabulous volunteers, and legendary strawberry shortcake.
May also marks the opening of the summer performance season for the famous Tred Avon Players (TAP). TAP presents four or five productions – from musicals to comedies to mysteries -- at the Oxford Community Center every year to great acclaim. Coming in May 2011: "Social Security," written by Andrew Bergman and directed by Patrick Fee, which tells the comedic tale of a married New York couple fending off meddling family members.
June brings hoots and hijinks as intrepid sailors launch onto the chilly Tred Avon River ... in boats made strictly of cardboard! (There's even a set of construction rules, including a requirement that the boats be biodegradable.) Benefitting Special Olympics Maryland, the Cardboard Boat Races anchor a day full of feasting and frivolity.
There are fireworks on the Fourth of July, of course, on the waterfront near the Tred Avon Yacht Club. Oxford Park is the place to be to watch the pyrotechnics, devour a picnic, and enjoy the breeze off the river. Earlier in the day the Parks and Recreation Department sponsors an Independence Day Bike Parade for the wee ones. It's quite the heart-warming sight: the little cyclists gather at the ferry dock and proceed down Morris Street, bikes adorned with holiday trimmings, to Oxford Park, where they have a patriotic sing-along and play a variety of games.
The summer season is under full sail in Oxford in August, which features the Oxford Regatta, with its log canoe races, on the second weekend of the month, and the Oxford Heritage Regatta on the fourth weekend. Colorful canvas silhouetted against the brilliant blue sky ... the soothing sounds of the gently lapping river ... crab delicacies and homemade lemonade on hand ... all make for a classic summer weekend, Chesapeake-style.
Of course, no summertime visit to Oxford would be complete without a ride on the world-renowned Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, America's oldest privately owned ferry. All that's required to finish off a "ferry tale" visit? A hand-crafted, all-natural, gourmet ice cream cone from The Scottish Highland Creamery, of course.
The historic town of Oxford, Maryland, founded in 1683, is located in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Until the American Revolution, Oxford was an international shipping center, surrounded by tobacco plantations and home to a number of prominent national figures. Later it thrived on oyster harvesting and packing and other watermen's trades, even as tourism and leisure activities increased. It guards its peaceful personality, architectural integrity, and small-town virtues to this day, while warmly welcoming visitors from right next door and around the world. The Oxford Business Association welcomes inquiries by telephone (1-410-226-5122) and at its website (www.portofoxford.com); the Town of Oxford website has a calendar of events and additional information (www.oxfordmd.net); and the Talbot County Office of Tourism offers comprehensive information and trip planning services at its Easton office (1-410-770-8000) and on its website (www.tourtalbot.org).


Can a road-legal car be powered by the Sun alone? One company thinks so, and they're planning to unveil a scaled-down version of their proposal later this year.
Called "The Immortus," the two-person vehicle is the work of EVX Ventures, an electric vehicle technology startup based in Melbourne, Australia. The car is decked out in solar panels, covering up to eight square meters (86 square feet), and also has a lithium battery to store energy, between five and 10 kilowatt-hours. So light is the car though, 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) when empty and 700 kilograms (1,550 pounds) when fully laden, it is able to run on just solar power alone.
This is all possible thanks to the low mass-to-power ratio of the car. It is also extremely aerodynamic while still looking "compelling and stylish," EVX co-founder and CEO Barry Nguyen said to IFLScience. The car also doesn't use normal road tires, but rather tires specially designed for so-called "solar racers" – cars that are powered by the Sun.
Using a combination of battery and solar power, the car will apparently be capable of reaching up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour. On solar power alone, it can reach up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour.
And perhaps most interestingly, Nguyen said that the car would be able to run perpetually on just solar power, giving it an infinite range, in theory, so long as it didn't exceed 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour and the Sun was continuously shining. Still, that's pretty impressive. However, Nguyen stressed that the idea of the technology was to use solar cells in tandem with existing vehicles.
A working prototype could be built by late 2016. EVX Ventures.
EVX plans to unveil a one-quarter scaled version of their car at the SEMA Show 2015 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in November. A leading electric vehicle research and development group at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne is also involved in the project.
When it is eventually released, Nguyen said the car is expected to retail for about $370,000 (£240,000), and sales of more than 100 are not expected. The car will be road legal "under individually constructed vehicle regulations" in Australia and the U.S., according to Nguyen.
The team plans to test a full-scale version of the car by the end of 2016, providing they can raise enough money for a working prototype.


Alison and Peter W. Klein have exhibited their art collection in the museum designed by Folker Rockel since October 2007. The five story building, which is designed on ecologically sound principles, is built onto Peter W. Klein's former company building to form an aesthetically integrated unit. In the interior of the museum, elements of industrial architecture are incorporated. The large glass windows are unusual for an art museum. Even in the exhibition halls there are windows that give a view of the surrounding countryside. Contemporary art and agriculture are presented here next to each other as an exciting contrast.
The museum offers 1080 square yards (1000 square meters) of exhibition halls divided over four stories. Each level and the stairways are constructed openly to lend the structure movement and lightness. This open floor-plan also gives the observer the possibility to see the works of art from different perspectives.
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Have you stopped in to see my new space at PATTIE ANNE'S VINTAGE LAND?
Lot's of great goods to add to your decor.
Yearning for a pop of industrial?
Maybe a fab old chippy white two~piece cupboard with galvanized tin back?
or a funky garden table with a custom galvanized top?
Or a fantastic metal cubby?
Or just a little somethin' somethin'?
Shelley your space at Pattie Anne's is GORGEOUS! Why oh why do I have to live so far from you. I think I would redo my whole house with many of the things I saw in your photos. Just beautiful!!!
I was so excited to see you in RH homes. Forgive me if I already told you that I say you in it...I am a little scatter-brained lately.
OK. All you ladies (and gents) out there, spend a few hours in quaint and beautiful Mt. Dora, and feast your eyes on Shelley's awesome space, and the other goodies at Pattie Anne's Vintage Home. It is amazing.
I haven't seen your space yet but I've been to the store twice. It's absolutely inspiring!
I am going to get up to Mount Dora soon!! Your booth is great!!
I didn't know you had a space in a store...cool! Now, people can shop Sweet Pea Year Round!
Have a blessed rest of the week!
I'm always in the mood for a little sump'n sump'n!
Your space is beautiful. So many things I love. I just discovered your lovely blog and am following. Wish I lived close enough to visit Pattie Anne's.
Wow, I would snag those 2 white metal boxes, a Paris pillow and that button display so fast......!
So inspiring and I too love that first picture with the wire rack of shelf's.
it all looks so amazing.
Amazing!!! New follower and wish I was closer!! I "pinned" you and gave you credit. Thanks for letting us in on your life!!
I bet your space just stops people in their tracks- what a refreshing bright and light look. I'll take one of everything!
Antique dealer, junk lover, one of the "green" people before we even knew we were. Wife, mother of two sons, grandma to three little angels. Twice a year Mr. Sweet Pea and I make the long drive to Texas to do the Marburger Farms show. We love it and wish we lived closer. But then there are those three little angels... Never tire of looking for treasure and re-doing my home.
Country Living Fair Nashville And Marburger Farms Round Top all in the same month!
All photos on this blog are the property of Sweet Pea Home and may not be used without prior permission.
WHO DOESN'T LOVE A PORCH?


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Guest post by Ricky French·In Work· Tuesday, 13th June 2017
Working with Words: Ricky French
Ricky French is a Melbourne-based journalist who specialises in longform and creative non-fiction. He writes regularly for the Weekend Australian magazine, the Saturday Paper and North &South, and is a columnist for the Big Issue. We caught up with Ricky to talk cricket analogies and contradictory feedback.
What was the first piece of writing you had published?
Writer Ricky French
I was ten years old and it was a story about a hike I went on in New Zealand, where I grew up (so of course it was a tramp, not a hike). It was published in Wellington's Dominion newspaper and was quoted a couple of years later by a historian in a very authoritative-sounding book about the mountain range.
It might sound glib, but something like that is hugely important at that age, when you're defining who you are and what you're good at. It led to a compulsion to write about about tramping; something I still suffer from. Incidentally, I met that historian just last year. He was selling his books at a flea market in a small town in New Zealand.
My first published piece as an adult was a eulogy for Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens, published in the Melbourne music magazine Mess and Noise in 2006.
What's the best part of your job?
That moment when the structure of a story I've been working on suddenly falls into place in my head. It usually happens while walking around the block. If I'm lucky, the penny will drop before I get to the footy field a couple of streets away, but if it doesn't I just keep walking until it does. For me, if I know where my story starts and where it ends I can usually fill in the route pretty quickly, so often the first things I write in a new story are the first and last sentences.
What's the worst part of your job?
Not appreciating enough what a great job it is. Self doubt. That horrible period of time between submitting a story and hearing back from your editor. The constant fear I'll be exposed as an untrained jackass.
Someone will love it and say I handled the topic sensitively, and then someone else will call me bottom-feeding scum.
What's been the most significant moment in your writing career so far?
Probably when the mother of dead boy whom I had written a story about in the Weekend Australian magazine wrote to the editor saying nice things about my story. I remember the intense pulse of emotion, like an electric shock in slow motion, flowing through my body when I read her words. For the first time I realised that things I wrote could actually bring comfort and happiness to people. That coin has two sides, of course, and it could have easily gone the other way. I think it was the first time I considered the old adage, 'with great power comes great responsibility.' I knew I didn't have great power, but just enough power for my words to matter greatly.
What's the best (or worst) advice you've received about writing?
I remember having a coffee with journalist Chris Johnston from the Age one day, and I was telling him how much I loved the freedom you get with long-form feature writing to be colourful or poetic or whimsical or funny or whatever it is you get a kick out of. Chris said that was all very well, but you still had to 'report the shit out of it'.
He meant that you still had to drop all the facts, tick off the basics, get the important details right. Chris is a news reporter but also a fantastic long-form writer. I was never interested in news reporting, but Chris helped show me the indelible bond between the two.
The second piece of great advice wasn't given to me, but it was a line from a book by New Zealand's best feature writer, Steve Braunias. He wrote, 'The best non-fiction reads like fiction'. It's so true, and I think it's something more writers and editors should embrace when writing and publishing creative non-fiction.
What's the most surprising thing you've ever heard or read about yourself?
I'm always interested when I get polar opposite feedback about a story I've written. Someone will love it and say I handled the topic sensitively, and then someone else will call me bottom-feeding scum. Sometimes I think of a line by folk singer Jeffrey Lewis, who sings, 'You get a good review and then you get a bad review, but don't get suckered either way cause none of them know you'. If you're honest with yourself and you have a reasonably level head, you're probably doing an okay job, so just keep doing it.
There's a big difference between wanting to be a writer and wanting to write.
If you weren't writing, what do you think you'd be doing instead?
It doesn't bear thinking about. I'd probably go back to forklift driving.
There's much debate on whether creative writing can be taught – what's your view?
I've never been inside a creative writing class, but I can't see it doing any harm. When I was a kid, I had this cricket coaching video I used to watch obsessively. It was Richie Benaud talking about what it took to be a good captain. He said, 'Captaincy is 10% skill and 90% luck. Don't even think about attempting it without that 10%.'
I think you need a certain amount of natural talent, and like cricket, it probably helps to start when you're young.
What's your advice for someone wanting to be a writer?
I think someone who 'wants to be a writer' but has never written anything will struggle to be a good writer. There's a big difference between wanting to be a writer and wanting to write. If you have a love of writing then you've probably already been doing it in some form. If you just love the idea of being a writer then I don't think it's a realistic career goal.
Do you buy your books online, in a physical bookshop, or both?
Both. I usually get book vouchers for my birthday, and find the decision-making challenge horrendous when faced with stacks and stacks of books. I can never relax in a book store. (Who wrote all these? Who published them? How? Why are there so many?) I'll buy online if I already know the book I'm after.
If you could go out to dinner with any fictional character, who would it be and why?
I've always loved adventures and adventure stories, so I think dinner with Tom Sawyer would be pretty cool. It wouldn't be a restaurant dinner, of course; more like frying sausages over a campfire. We'd cook up plans for a great expedition upstream, following creek beds and climbing waterfalls and traversing ridgelines in search of the ruins of a crashed aeroplane and the missing pilot. Then I'd write a stupid story about it.
What's the book [or other example of writing] that's had the most significant impact on your life or work – and why?
My uncle gave me a copy of Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent when I was a teenager and it was monumental in driving my passion to write. I would basically just rip off his style, his sentence structure, his way of using big, serious words to make infantile jokes. I wasn't writing for publication back then, but I would write 20-page letters to my cousin, then later I would write a 'travel book' about a trip around the South Island of New Zealand, which is now lost to the ages (no doubt for the best).
I still read everything Bryson writes, and consider him one of the masters, but it was the contagious joy and freedom of writing that exudes from the pages of The Lost Continent that still sticks with me. You can feel the smile of Bryson's face as he writes, born of complete confidence in his own ability to write and be funny. It's a place you always strive to go to, but I find it gets harder to travel there.
Ricky French is a Melbourne-based independent journalist who specialises in longform and creative non-fiction. He writes regularly for the Weekend Australian magazine, the Australian, the Saturday Paper, Outback, Wilderness, North &South and is a columnist for the Big Issue.
Working with Words: Silvia Kwon / Creativity
Working with Words: Elizabeth Flux / New & emerging writers
Working with Words: Helen Elliott / Books, reading & writing
Guest post by Helen Elliott
Working with Words: Susan Hurley / Books, reading & writing
Guest post by Susan Hurley
Working with Words: Margo Kingston / Non-Fiction
Working with Words: Ben Jenkins / Books, reading & writing
Guest post by Ben Jenkins


Engine, gear box, clutch There are 111 products.
Motorcycles: Jawa 559, 360 Panelka, 590, 361 Sport, 592, 362 Californian, 633 Bizon, 634, 638, 639, 640, ČZ 471, 472. Price per piece. Made in CZ. Material: aluminium. Surface finishing: without.


Charles Sturt University has selected Integration Platform as a service (iPaaS) provider Dell Boomi to integrate its operational systems. The move is part of the university's five year IT transformation designed to enhance student and staff experiences.
The cloud based iPaaS service links Charles Sturt University's existing and future bespoke platforms as well as traditional systems like CRM, HR finance, research student management data warehouse and identity management platforms, creating a central data repository.
"We developed our enterprise systems renewal program in order to speed up the delivery of new resources for our stakeholders," said Tim Mannes, Executive Director, Division of Information Technology, CSU.
The Dell Boomi linking mechanism is expected to help break down data and organisational silos to unlock business insights. For example linking systems will enable the university to more quickly identify students who may be struggling, allowing them to proactively engage the student and improve learning outcomes.
The decision to deploy Dell Boomi followed a market evaluation and several discussions with other Australian universities.
One of Dell Boomi's biggest appeals is its "low code" cloud based approach to data and platform integration. The process reduces the requirement of coding experts and on premise integration technology, expediting integration and transformation.
"The move to Boomi's iPaaS has given us a high-reliability environment for business continuity," said Shane Jeffries, Manager Integration, Division of Information Technology, CSU.
The competition in higher education IT is heating up, according to Michael Evans, Managing Director Asia-Pacific and Japan, Boomi.
"The higher education space is hotly-contested in Australia, with universities under constant pressure to differentiate themselves to existing and prospective students by demonstrating innovative services," Evans said.
Joseph Brookes is a writer for the Which-50 Digital Intelligence Unit, of which Dell Boomi is a corporate member. Our members provide their insights and expertise for the benefit of the Which-50 community. Membership fees apply.


CHICAGO—July 16, 2018—Researchers found the secret to getting college students to drink responsibly is convincing them it will quickly improve their health, relationships and grades. However, sustaining responsible drinking behavior takes a comprehensive set of supports, according to a new study in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
Surveyed students indicated that initiating a change to drink responsibly or abstain from drinking would first require them being convinced of the immediate advantages to health, relationships and grades. In addition, participants noted that confidence in their ability to change—either from a belief in themselves or a higher power—as well as a change in their physical environment, such as moving out of a fraternity house where drinking is prevalent, would be necessary for change.
The requirements for sustaining responsible drinking or abstinence leaned more heavily on actions than beliefs. Respondents said keeping a diary or utilizing an app that helped track drinking habits would help monitor their consumption. They also said adopting new habits like exercise or other positive behaviors would help them avoid heavy drinking in response to emotional triggers. Finally, those surveyed indicated that recruiting friends and family for emotional support would help ensure they maintain responsible drinking habits.
"Having identified these core supports, we can now design precision interventions that can be implemented by physicians, colleges, even parents," says Dr. Sharma. "Anyone can apply these principles to create a lasting positive change." His colleague and co-author on this study, Vinayak K. Nahar, MD, an assistant professor at Lincoln Memorial University, is designing such a precision intervention to be implemented by physicians.
Each group also expressed higher degrees of willingness to initiate change than to sustain those new behaviors. Men's willingness to sustain a behavioral change was 32 percent lower than their willingness to initiate responsible drinking. Women expressed a slightly smaller reduction of 27 percent.
Most striking, when compared to whites, who overall had a 33 percent reduction in willingness to sustain responsible drinking, non-whites had only a 7 percent reduction in willingness to sustain those habits.


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DERRICK Z. JACKSON
For bears, too much protection can backfire
By Derrick Z. Jackson Globe Columnist,October 5, 2014, 12:32 a.m.
It is impossible to think of Randy Cross as being cruel to bears.
In his office full of radio collars and photographs of him handling bears in winter dens, Maine's state bear biologist almost gets misty-eyed talking about his favorites. One in particular is a 31-year-old bear that had a cub about six years ago.
"It's like having an old dog. Her eyes are cloudy — she may even be close to blind," Cross said. "But what a lucky cub to have a mother like that, high up in social status, with all the knowledge she passes on about where to get certain kinds of food."
Cross has tagged some 3,300 black bears in the three decades he has spent studying them in Maine. "Nobody knows bears like Randy and his crew," said Jim Fahey, a game warden in Bangor. "He lives and breathes bears."
Nonetheless, Cross now finds himself in the center of controversy over a November referendum in the state that would outlaw bait, dogs, and traps in hunting the revered creature. Cross opposes the measure. That stance has national animal rights activists breathing down his neck, accusing him and state wildlife officials of condoning merciless forms of slaughter in the bear hunt.
In this case, however, such criticism is misplaced. Maine allows hunters to get a clean shot at bears by luring them into the open with stale pastries, chasing them up a tree with dogs, or trapping them with snares. Yet the state's bear population is still above 30,000 and is now threatening to spill out of the woods into urban areas. That creates unnecessary risks to both humans and bears.
Cross and his employer, Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, argue that, without these extra aids in hunting, this overpopulation would worsen. Hunters already struggle to find the secretive creatures in Maine's thick forests, Cross explains. Only three in 10 hunters actually shoot a bear.
"Fairness comes down to challenge," he adds. "I would debate with anyone that, with 70 percent of hunters being unsuccessful, that is challenge enough."
Maine's state bear biologist Randy Cross has been studying bears in the state for over three decades.Derrick Z. Jackson/globe staff
Bears are beautiful animals, and I've encountered them frequently over the years in national forests and parks as well as in the driveway of my Maine vacation home.
I've never shot a bear, and I am unlikely ever to do so. I also often find myself on the side of the national Humane Society, which is leading the effort for the ban. Last week, animal rights activists filed suit against the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, saying the agency is illegally using taxpayer money to oppose the referendum.
"When history looks back, we'll be ashamed of how we treated these creatures," said Wayne Pacelle, the society's president. "You put out thousands of pounds of bait at dumpsites in order to shoot a bear in the back. From an intuitive moral sense, that's disturbing."
But bears are species where too much protection can backfire, especially as exploding, roaming populations start to encroach into what humans consider to be "our" territory.
For Fahey, the game warden, the referendum is a public safety issue. In May he received three bear nuisance calls in one day, the most he had ever received. Then, on a Sunday in July, he had five complaints waiting for him at work. He told me, "All these people who want to ban hunting, what will they want me to do if we can't get a bear out of a dense neighborhood? Shoot it with kids around?"
Bear attacks on humans are rare, but not unheard of. A Rutgers University student was killed last month by a bear while hiking in New Jersey.
New Jersey is a state that banned bear hunting 30 years ago. That led to a massive rise in population, and state officials decided to reverse the ban. And still the numbers remain so high in northern New Jersey that the state wildlife spokesman Larry Ragonese recently told The New York Times it had "grown out of control."
Massachusetts is another example. In 1996, voters by a 2-to-1 margin chose to stop the use of hounds in bear hunts. At the time, the state secretary for environmental affairs and his colleagues warned the measure was "an unrealistic approach to addressing complex wildlife management issues in a highly urbanized state that will lead to significant conflicts between wildlife and people." Those officials said using dogs was a critical tool to stop bears from damaging cornfields, commercial beehives, and campgrounds.
Since 1990, the state's bear population has quadrupled to 4,000. Males in particular sometimes make dramatic searches for territory. Two years ago, a male bear was spotted on Cape Cod and was transported some 100 miles back to central Massachusetts. It reappeared two weeks later in the backyard of a Brookline home.
Wayne MacCallum, the director of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife takes no official position on the Maine referendum, but he suggested in as many words that animal rights advocates remain as unrealistic in Maine as they were in Massachusetts. "I think they are taking away management tools," MacCallum said. "They'll lose effective tools."
Pacelle stresses that the Humane Society is not against hunting bears in principle, just against what they see are inhumane methods. But just how far the group is willing to press is murky. When New Jersey came close to reinstituting the hunt in 2000, the society's mid-Atlantic regional office program coordinator told The New York Times, "We don't want a hunt, period. We don't want one black bear killed."
Those are fighting words to the guide services and lodges in Maine's north woods. Both depend on bear hunting for their livelihood.
At the end of a river-kayaking trip in late August, my wife, Michelle, and I pulled out at Chesuncook Village, a tiny hamlet at the top of the 18-mile-long lake bearing the same name. Until a new road was built a few years ago, the only way to get here in summer was by boat, floatplane, or hiking boots. Even with the road, it takes nearly two bumpy hours to get back to the nearest town of Greenville.
At the Chesuncook Lake House inn, as an outfitter was preparing several men for a weeklong bear hunt, something they consider a longstanding way of life, Lake House innkeeper David Surprenant, who moved up to the village with his wife Luisa from southeastern Massachusetts 15 years ago, referred to the referendum as "Carpetbagging 101." Surprenant and several outfitters said the referendum was being pushed by activists who refuse to understand that even way up in Maine, let alone Brookline, bear control is essential.
Surprenant has dealt with this issue up close. At a campground near the other end of lake that he runs, a nuisance bear had to be put down for prying open dumpsters and "terrorizing" campers.
"If this referendum goes through, it'll come back to bite them in the butt," Surprenant said. "They say it's not fair chase. But then don't cry about the bears eating their little Fluffy for breakfast out of their backyards."
Twenty-seven years ago, when I first met Cross, he told me that he originally thought shooting a bear over bait was deplorable. Time and his research, however, have changed his mind.
Cross worries whether overpopulation is a greater suffering. He said he'd rather have a healthy, mature bear hunted — up to 3,000 per year — to control the population than see them die of starvation because they run out of territory or see them euthanized because they become too used to dumpsters and bird feeders.
"Nothing makes me more sad than seeing bears that are bags of bones from lack of food or withering away in the woods after being hit by a car. I don't want these bears dying of a long painful death instead of quick death by bullet," Cross said. "I'm the one who has to look the bear in they eye. I have a pretty good idea of what is cruel."
Derrick Z. Jackson can be reached at jackson@globe.com.


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