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Last year, DJ Daniel Hoodikoff raised $1,500 for BC Children's Hospital. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
Langley DJ's groovy Halloween party to raise money for BC Children's Hospital
His sister with rare disease was once a patient there
Tanmay Ahluwalia
Oct. 28, 2022 4:00 p.m.
Years ago, Langley resident Daniel Hoodikoff's younger sister was diagnosed with a rare disease. At that time, BC Children's Hospital "was a big help" to the family, 22-year-old Hoodikoff told Langley Advance Times.
His sister is now 19 years old and no more eligible for the services of the children's hospital. But, Hoodikoff, a DJ for more than seven years, said he has a special connection with the hospital and hasn't forgotten the staff.
Recognizing their efforts, he devised an idea to use his DJing skills to raise funds for the hospital on the occasion of Halloween.
His family has been setting up Halloween decorations in their yard for years, attracting dozens of people annually. This community support grew stronger when he brought his DJ setup outside the home and in the yard last year to raise money for the hospital. His fundraiser, Scares for Cares turned out to be successful, and "a large crowd" showed up.
A lot of people danced to his playlist, and he ended up raising $1,500.
Hoodikoff shared that the hospital staff was surprised and appreciated his efforts when he presented the cheque.
"I felt good, too," he added.
"[The hospital] checks a lot of people, I wanted to support them and give back to the community," he continued.
That inspired the local DJ to turn the Halloween celebrations into an annual fundraiser.
Returning this year, on Halloween night – Monday, Oct. 31 – Hoodikoff hopes to raise double the amount he raised last year. But "it doesn't have to stop there," he noted.
Hoodikoff will play from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. outside his place, located at 6964 197B St, Langley.
People can expect spooky decorations, including handmade tombstones, cowboys, witches, and much more. And, of course, there will be music and a lot of dancing involved.
"It takes a lot of time to decorate," he commented. "But, good part is that it brings the community together," he continued.
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The family has been setting up Halloween decorations in their yard for years, attracting dozens of people annually. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
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Ceilidhs return to Aldergrove Heritage Hall


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Never Let Me Go – One Of The Most Beautiful Novels Ever Written?
Posted on July 15, 2016 June 10, 2018 by Michael Holloway in fiction, novels
I read Never Let Me Go several years ago when I saw it in a bookshop and just decided to get it. I'd heard of it, it must have been around the time the film came out in 2010 so it was one of those books people were talking about. I was on my Masters back then, so I had to read what the others were talking about. To me, Never Let Me Go is one of the most beautiful novels ever written. The story is timeless as well as genreless and depicts perfectly the shortness of life and the tragedy of love.
Kazuo Ishiguro is a British-Japanese writer, born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moved to Surrey in 1960 so his father could begin research at the National Institute of Oceanography. Ishiguro then studied English and Philosophy at the University of Kent and an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
Never Let Me Go, his sixth novel, has been difficult to put in a set genre by critics. It's set in 1990s England with qualities of conceptual science fiction. The way this subverts the genre is how subtle the concepts are written, as the story pertains to the old fashioned English countryside (not dissimilar to Ishiguro's 1989 novel The Remains of the Day). It's speculative fiction, as it places the normal English setting in a world where people can live well over 100 years old due to advances in medical science. The three main characters – Kathy, Tommy and Ruth – grow up in a boarding school called Hailsham. All the children there are clones who will live short lives in order to donate their vital organs to normal humans. The subtlety in which this is done is so startlingly well done that the science fiction drops out of its own speculation and the rest of the focus is on the characters as a love story.
Carrey Mulligan as Kathy, Keira Knightly as Ruth, Andrew Garfield as Tommy
The fact that, from an early age, the children are indoctrinated at Hailsham, they will, of course, try to be free once they find out the truth. What makes it strange is, similar to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, they sort of know who and what they are, they just don't understand or cannot comprehend it. The story is narrated by Kathy who falls in love with Tommy from an early age. Her friend, Ruth, then manipulates him and as they grow older, Tommy and Ruth form a relationship, breaking Kathy's heart. The three of them leave Hailsham at 16 to a residential complex called The Cottages. Here they make contact with the rest of the world. I think that the idea that they'll soon die – that they know they'll soon die – and at a young age, depicts their own self-sacrifice for humanity to survive. For others to survive rather than themselves. That they passively allow this is not only a commendable quality but also frightening in its own way. But the whole time Kathy is in love with Tommy. And to still tragically fall in love while their lives are merely medical devices for other real people ('possibles' or 'originals' from the film) shows just how painful human life can be. Not being who you are, still feeling love, but having to die for them. If I imagine Tommy's organs going to the original Kathy – if he is a clone of himself and he must die to donate his organs, then this, to the woman he loves, must be the ultimate show of love through self-sacrifice.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I think, is one of the most interesting stories, had Hollywood not made out that it's just a mindless horror story. Frankenstein's Monster escapes after being created and flees to the mountains, being afraid of people who are afraid of him. He stays in an abandoned structure near a cottage and grows fond of the family living there. He quickly learns to read books and becomes intelligent. He sees his reflection in a pool and sees he is hideous. But he still approaches the family, befriending the father who is blind. The rest of the family see him and run away in terror. Frankenstein's Monster burns down the cottage in a fit of rage. He cannot understand his own existence and can't come to terms with being alive. Does he have a soul or not? Who is to dictate who has souls or not? This is why Never Let Me Go is so interesting, the fact that Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are merely clones of themselves, somewhere in the world are the real versions of themselves. Ruth, at one point, thinks she's found her 'possible' but it wasn't. This makes Ruth think maybe they're just clones of 'human trash.' Making them the lowest of the low. Their lives, to them, seem completely meaningless now. They are only to be used as medical devices. They shouldn't really feel love, but again, who is to dictate who has souls or not?
The existential crisis of the story is the realisation that their lives are so short. It's sad that they are sort of aware of what they are, but blissfully unaware of what this means. The notion of love implies a longer life because love is ignorant. The closer the three characters get to what is called 'completing' or dying, the more urgent it seems they must sort out their short lives. Ruth later admits she manipulated Tommy to be with her, as she selfishly didn't want to be alone, when it was Kathy and Tommy who had been in love all along. There were rumours in Hailsham of a deferral, which means a couple in love could defer completing for about three years, showing how precious life is. But to prove their love they have to show pieces of art. Kathy and Tommy discover this was just a rumour and there never was a deferral – there weren't art galleries to see into their souls, but to see if they had souls at all.
'None of you will do anything but live the life that has already been set out for you. You will become adults, but only briefly. You have to know who you are and what you are.'
Miss Emily (Never Let Me Go film)
There is a greater sadness in the novel that moves away from existentialism and focuses more on the relationships of the three characters. I'm drawn to Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and the coming of age, yet tortuous drama of Toru Watanabe. He had two friends, Kizuki and Naoko. After Kizuki commits suicide, Toru and Naoko have a short sexual relationship, then Naoko is admitted to an asylum. Toru then meets a girl called Midori and Toru isn't sure whether he loves her or not, but it takes for the suicide of Naoko for him to understand Midori is the most important person in his life. Tommy, in Never Let Me Go, is an idiot – although he was manipulated – for having a relationship with Ruth from a young age when he knew, as did Kathy, that he and Kathy were in love from the start. What is tragic is that it took so many years, when they're in their late 20s/early 30s to realise. Ruth 'completes' soon after she admits manipulating them. Her death finally pushes Kathy and Tommy together. However, now they have very little time together. The fact that their lives are so short, it emphasises that life itself is, in fact, short. Norwegian Wood ends with Midori asking 'Where are you now?' with Toru pondering the question. I think in the whole of Never Let Me Go, Kathy has been pondering the same question. Having met Tommy at a young age and grows up to see him in a relationship with her friend has broken her heart almost completely. That they can be with each other is good, but for such a short time seems pointless. But for the two of them, it was the most important thing to make such short lives complete.
The Myth of Sisyphus by French Philosopher, Albert Camus, examines man's futile search for meaning in a meaningless world. Does the realisation of this absurdity require suicide? The answer: 'No. It requires revolt.' If we imagine the Greek myth, Sisyphus, who had to push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down again, this represents our daily struggle in a seemingly meaningless life. However, Camus affirms Sisyphus as the absurd hero. Sisyphus is superior to his existence because he endures it, he doesn't moan or complain, he just gets on with it. The essay concludes with Camus stating: 'One must imagine that Sisyphus is happy.' I think in Norwegian Wood it took the suicide of his two friends and the absurdity of life for Toru to finally accept it and admit his love for Midori. And in Never Let Me Go, Kathy, mainly, accepts the absurdity of life and its seeming meaninglessness, and still strives for Tommy's love. The fact that her life is so short indicates even she is using hers to the full advantage than the rest of humanity living over 100 years old, as she is aware of what little time she has.
For me, Never Let Me Go is one of the most beautiful novels ever written for the shear fact that it created a terrifying existence that seems so possible. The frightening idea of being a clone is to not be who you are. To lose your sense of identity is to lose everything about yourself. Your life, your soul. This story is not only this frightening landscape, but conveys how these people would cope, building relationships and feeling different emotions, those little things that ultimately make us human. Kathy and Tommy, I think, managed to accept this existence the way Frankenstein's Monster could not and the way Sisyphus could. They had strived to find meaning in a meaningless existence.
Tagged books, fiction, Ishiguro, Kazuo Ishiguro, novels, writing
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N.Y. / Region|Once a Ghoul, Always a Ghoul
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N.Y. / Region
Once a Ghoul, Always a Ghoul
By COREY KILGANNON OCT. 19, 2012
CHILLER John Zacherle, 94, a former television horror-film host. Credit Julie Glassberg for The New York Times
FOR someone who became famous for looking dead, John Zacherle, 94, looks pretty darn good.
As a well-known host of horror movies during the early days of television, Mr. Zacherle must have gotten something right in the ghoulish experiments he conducted in his sepulchral laboratory. He is slim and spry and virtually wrinkle-free, and he lives on his own.
"The only difference is, back then I had to dress like an old man — now I don't have to dress up," said Mr. Zacherle, who became known among New York-area television audiences simply as Zacherley — the added "y" helped pronunciation — the host of "Shock Theater," "Chiller Theater" and other revival horror-movie programming.
A half-century later, Mr. Zacherle lives in near-obscurity on West 96th Street in Manhattan, where he spends his days watching television and taking calls from old friends and fans.
He still makes occasional appearances at horror conventions, especially around Halloween. And this week, Mr. Zacherle will once again break out his long black frock coat, his Victorian jeweled ascot and his ghoulish makeup and appear at the Chiller Theater Toy, Model and Film Expo at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel in New Jersey.
"Let's face it — I'm nostalgia," he said, noting that many of his teenage fans are now old themselves.
Mr. Zacherle's zany antics provided lead-ins and segues to commercials accompanying the horror movies. Coupled with a sound-effects man, Mr. Zacherle would spoof the film being shown and interact with his supposed sidekicks off-screen. "The studio couldn't afford to hire more actors," he said.
Mr. Zacherle's real-life lair for the past 50 years has been a fourth-floor, rent-controlled, one-bedroom apartment — $285 a month — that is awash in souvenirs from his long, strange show-business career. The place has a seemingly endless supply of old monster movie magazines with him on the covers, and statues and illustrations of Zacherley, many of them sent by fans.
Mr. Zacherle in the 1950s. Credit Louis Nemeth
He presides over it all in a tall-backed chair that seems a perfect throne for horror-film royalty. His only visible ailment is the arthritis that has gnarled his fingers. "Too bad I didn't have them back then," he said, jokingly.
Mr. Zacherle, a lifelong bachelor, has outlived his four siblings and has no relatives nearby. He lives on his modest savings and a pension, but he is hardly morose. He is still Zacherley, always kidding and concocting mischief. On a recent weekday, the phone rang during "Judge Judy." It was Channel 13, doing fund-raising.
"Sorry, I can't understand what you're saying," he said with a wink and hung up.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Zacherle served as a quartermaster in the Army during World War II, after which he began pursuing acting and radio work in Philadelphia. In an early live daytime Western called "Action in the Afternoon," he played an undertaker in a long black coat, which appealed to producers of "Shock Theater" on the local Channel 10. They hired him in 1957 to wear the same coat and play a spooky character called Roland, who did corny gags while hosting the films.
With his arched eyebrows, his pointy teeth and a deep, sinister laugh, Mr. Zacherle was a natural.
After a year, he moved to New York City and was hired in similar roles at several stations during the next decade. His horror shtick resonated with monster mania, and Dick Clark named him the "Cool Ghoul."
Mr. Zacherle recorded horror-themed rock songs, including "Dinner With Drac," which became a minor hit, and a version of the song "Monster Mash."
In the mid-1960s, he was hired to host, still as Zacherley, an afternoon teenage dance show called "Disc-O-Teen" that was broadcast for three years. The show — think "American Bandstand," Transylvania-style — attracted bands like the Lovin' Spoonful, the Young Rascals and even the Doors.
"Jim Morrison looked at our weird set and mumbled, 'This is the damnedest TV show I've ever seen,' " recalled Mr. Zacherle, who hobnobbed with rock legends and became a regular at concerts at the Fillmore East. He became a rock D.J. on stations like WNEW and WPLJ before finally retiring in the early 1980s.
On his desk on Thursday were CDs of Led Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with a photograph of Mr. Zacherle and Ringo Starr. On his windowsill was a statuette of Jerry Garcia.
"I had a lot of fun with him," he said, and returned to watching "Judge Judy."
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Tag: darkness
Forever Robin To Me
In movies, personal, poetry
(photo via)
Many people will remember where they were when they heard the awful news about the passing of Robin Williams. I had just returned from walking my dog; she enjoys trotting through the grass and being pet by the small children we inevitably run into; I enjoy the moody, orange streaks of a summer sunset and the cool early-evening breezes. We both return to the house refreshed and happy. But my calm, content mood went straight south when I opened my computer to see the update about Robin.
And it is "Robin" to me, it's been "Robin" for a long time. I had the pleasure of spontaneously running into the man not once but twice when he was filming in Toronto almost a decade ago. There's a strange intimacy that happens with some actors; Robin struck me as a quiet, thoughtful person, not even half the manic personality he was onstage, but more of a deeply sensitive, feeling artist, the cute, funny boy in school who used humor as a defense mechanism. Being funny was a way of expressing the tremendous energy and imagination he carried around inside him, continually incubating new ideas while keeping watch over his latest batch of squawking hatchlings. He was tremendously playful, and tremendously feeling, and, to me at least, he was somehow always in need of a hug. Within much of his wide and varied work lay a deep sense of vulnerability, which was deeply touching, even as it was occasionally hard to watch. Perhaps that's why there was a odd sense of the familiar when we met, an immediate understanding that allowed each of us to come away from those impromptu chats gently beaming. I didn't expect or ask anything of him, and he seemed relieved I wasn't starstruck or asking him to be "zany." It was just good to be around a very talented, very real human being. I often wonder if he had a radar to pick out us sensitive souls who appreciated his playfulness and understood its humanistic, deeply vulnerable origins.
Like so many, I grew up watching Robin, on television, and then in movies. His turn as the teacher in Dead Poets Society came at a vital moment when, as a frustrated high school student, I realized there were many different styles of teaching, and the one I was being exposed to in my own English class at the time was definitely lacking. (Thankfully, I got my own version of Mr. Keating a year later.) Many times since I find myself wishing he'd done a series of poetry readings —live, online, for radio; he had a depth of feeling for words, language and music, and used them to full (sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad) effect whenever he performed. His solo voice was just as powerful and memorable as his rubbery physicality. Oh, that he had read the poetry of Shelley into a microphone, or done a live performance of Ginsberg's work. A million magical worlds lived in him and were given voice through his performances, worlds we were entranced, seduced, beguiled by. He allowed us to remember wonder, and to find our own.
Robin understood "funny" but he was keenly aware of what can lie underneath. Mrs. Doubtfire was uproariously funny (and still is, to my mind), but, like his character in The Birdcage, there's an intense hurt shot through the performance, one you can keenly sense in those sad blue eyes, and it's made repeated viewings of both movies difficult to endure. Funny! Sad! Funny! Sad! His mix of humor and drama, of light and dark, feels authentically human, and continued to be expressed in a variety of roles, with the darkness (particularly in One Hour Photo) providing a vital counterpoint to the more life-affirming material (Good Will Hunting, Patch Adams) that won him mainstream awards and accolades.
Robin's movies have, in so many ways, been markers for moments in so many lives, the "I remember whens" over the last 48 hours collected and offered like sacrifices on the alter of a disease we can name but can't quite approach. Since Monday night, I've debated with myself about posting anything on his passing, not only because I've had my own intense experiences of depression, but because I don't want to equate them with his suffering. Do I have a right to analyze, compare, or contrast? No, and neither does anyone else. Robin's depression was his own; his suicide is also his own. Impossible to condone, difficult to understand, his decision does bring into stark relief the deep, dark room many depressives (I count myself among them) move in and out of, with frustrating, sometimes exhausting regularity.
As such, it seemed important to me on a personal level not to jump on the journo-pageview-train and spew out something half-assed, half-baked, schmaltzy, trite, narcissistic, didactic, high-handed, or grief-splaining. The rush to reaction, to "thinkpiece" a tragedy, for clicks and shares and comments, makes me recoil at the perceived ethics (and unfortunate financial realities) of my chosen world. How do I bridge the need to report as a journalist with the need to think, feel, grieve, and contemplate as a human? I'm truly not sure it's possible in today's high-speed world. In many ways I'm still not sure why I'm writing this now. But having lost many people I love to depression, and having nearly succumbed myself, it seems right that perhaps shouting to the darkness will inspire something greater than words and links from the armchair-activists I've seen across social media lately. Something like acceptance, and compassion in action. As Robin himself wrote in a reddit AMA last year, "Anytime compassion can be contagious, it's a good thing." That, to me, is a contagion worth spreading, acting on, shouting about. We need it.
It's probably selfish of me to want more from Robin in terms of work — movie performances, television appearances, those taped poetry sessions — and yet I keep wishing for them. As someone wrote on my Facebook wall Monday night, "I thought and hoped this was a terrible hoax." Robin's light reminded at least this sensitive soul I wasn't alone, that vulnerability is nothing to be ashamed of, that playfulness matters. Keeping these elements intact against a world filled with ugliness is difficult, sometimes painful, but I want to believe it isn't impossible. It can't be. Carpe diem, shazbot, good morning Vietnam… O Captain, my Captain. The rest is silence. Thank you, dearheart. x
Something Old
In art, personal
Orpheus & Eurydice, Auguste Rodin, 1893.
The first Friday of every month sees many New York City museums waiving admission fees.
Keen on seeing the newly opened Kandinsky exhibit at the Neue Galerie (a spot I have some history with), I rushed to catch the uptown train, amidst a sticky, stinky, mid-autumn heat wave. Several stops later, with sore feet and aching shoulders, I exited, and found myself nearly running along 86th Street; it was getting onto 6:30pm and I knew the lines might be fierce. Worst fears were confirmed with three-plus blocks of eager, sweaty faces and shuffling sneakers.
Not being keen to deal with the suffocating effects of the oppressive humidity (bugs! sticky armpits! ruined hairdo! oh yes… asthma!), I decided I'd keep on the Fifth Avenue path, and take another look at the Balthus exhibit on at the Met (review forthcoming). The cool air of the Met was a beautiful respite from the heat, and Balthus' beautifully geometric paintings were a sight for my over-computer-monitored eyes.
Notes duly taken, I sauntered, enjoying the dusky quiet, and just …looked, a pleasure I rarely allow myself in the cultural realm anymore; it feels like a luxury, dawdling amongst artful things. And yet, as Guardian editor (and part-time classical pianist) Alan Rusbridger writes in his recent memoir, there is "a mundane need to have moments off the hamster wheel of editing [… an] instinct to wall off a small part of my life for creative expression, for 'culture.' "
Serious, capital-J journalism -and its study for me, right now, at NYU -has been eating up every available ounce of creative/mental/emotional/intellectual energy the last five weeks or so. I'm beginning to resent something so central to my being – my arts passion -being ripped away from me, and the chorus of quiet, snarling voices of doubt uttering some uncomfortable phrases: no one's interested in culture; the arts isn't real news; you're wasting your time; no one cares.
Reliquary Arm of St. Valentine, 14th century,
Swiss.
And yet, Friday night's visit to the Met reminded me of the fallacy of those statements, but underscored my determination to find new ways of sharing my passion, and blending that with my writing. Some of you seem to like it. (Thank you to those readers who've followed me through the years.) My artsy walkabout allowed me to stare, in the face, two truths: I need to keep writing, in my own way, about culture. There's a certain sort of longing I'm experiencing, between past and present and future, between what I want and what's in front of me, to try to take this passion somewhere else, somewhere higher and more powerful and… to be remembered, appreciated, loved in grand and intimate ways, probe, create, fail, and always, always stay authentic to who and what I am.
"Saudade" is a Portuguese word which, roughly translated, means "longing" or "nostalgic longing." I first heard it used at a lecture in Dublin given by singer/writer Nick Cave. He defined it thusly:
We all experience within us what the Portuguese call "saudade", an inexplicable longing, an unnamed and enigmatic yearning of the soul, and it is this feeling that lives in the realms of imagination and inspiration, and is the breeding ground for the sad song, for the love song. Saudade is the desire to be transported from darkness into light, to be touched by the hand of that which is not of this world. The love song is the light of God, deep down, blasting up though our wounds.
Whether or not you believe in God doesn't matter in order to understand saudade, or to appreciate its power in a writer's (or creator's) life. The idea (and experience) of longing is a very, very old thing, one expeirenced in the biblical cry, "why hast thou forsaken me?"; it also colors the entirety of Psalms, in fact, and is glimpsed in the hieroglyphic scenes of ancient Pharoahs raising their hands in praise of the sun. In the act of worship (surely a consummate act of love joined with faith), or musing on the nature of the divine, or amidst faulting that which we love and want to be joined with, we express our nostalgic longing for something beyond ourselves, and yet, deeply of ourselves.
Like the German "sehnsucht," saudade has deep, earthy roots, and divine, heavenly aspirations. The calm and cool of the museum, its lack of usual noisy visitors, the enveloping darkness and the shadows cast by the strategic, subtle lights, all created the contemplative environment I so craved, one where I wondered at the role of this oldest of emotional experiences, and its role in creation: of life, ideas, even… hey, new, artistic ways of telling and sharing stories.
Cleopatra, William Wetmore Story, 1869.
Saudade sits at the heart of the art I love most: it is a longing for something beyond itself. That "thing" -historically expressed as an old man with a beard, a round disk, elements of the earth – doesn't have to be specifically religious. Lately I've wondered at the line between the earthly and the divine, and how it finds expression: marble, ivory, ink, oil, bronze, walnut, granite, graphite, silver, glass. Then there's sound (singing, music, the plucking of strings, the beating of drums) and of course, bytes and pixels. We engage these things out of a certain love. Don't we?
What is longing? Why do humans engage in it? There are no concrete answers, but again, I think such a feeling has to do with trying to scratch at the transcendent – something beyond us, past us, past our comprehension, and yet of us, with a certain familiarity and perhaps, a certain chemistry. Maybe it's canvas, a slab of marble, maybe it's the act of creating itself, maybe it's God's face, a lover's face, our newborn's face, the sunrise… the sunset. The cycles of life, death, sex, regeneration. We long for this kind of connection – to divine things, human things, beauty and pain wrapped together. Some of the best love songs capture this with a swoon-worthy precision (listen to anything by the aforementioned Mr. Cave or Leonard Cohen); other works of art -whether they be religious or secular -also distill this "saudade" into a grand, and yet deeply intimate, experience that whispers secrets of that most bewildering of trinities: love, lust, longing.
Bellini's Norma, which I had the pleasure of seeing recently at the Metropolitan Opera, offers a heartbreaking portrait of just that trinity, with generous dollops of transcendent belcanto splendor. There's something about the title character that seeks something beyond herself, her distant lover, the friendship of her handmaiden, the power of her tribe; it's only when she is burned (with her beloved, no less) that she will come to be joined in a kind of union with divinity. Even as she faces disgrace and punishment, there is a discernible quality of saudade -in the libretto as well as the music -that lifts the opera out of the tawdry and into the realm of awe-inspiring beauty. There's something divine about not only the story but the music, in and of itself. It scratches at a divinity it channels, pouring out its longing for a sort of union that is expressed physically in the love between the two main characters at the opera's end.
Diptych with Scenes of the life of Christ, Carved in Germany, 14th century
The opera whispered the questions; Friday night's museum walkabout said them right out loud, confronting me with some uncomfortable feelings. Not only did I need to be reminded of my passion for arts and culture, but to underline the role of saudade in my life and work. There's something magical about visiting dark places you're familiar with; you know what's around every corner, but you're not quite sure how it'll present itself without the safe filter of daylight. Darkened corners provide opportunities for dalliances, an empty tomb brings thoughts of permanency, changeability, communion with divinity and the folly of desiring such a thing. Beautiful sculpted faces remind one of a lover both human and divine. Night whispers its sad, beautiful song of saudade through such moments, and such intimacy with art, old and new, solid and not. It colors everything, personal and professional. Living with saudade feels like the right position for the artist -and the journalist -living, sometimes battling, inside of me. Experiencing the feeling of intense longing – for God, for blessings, for perfection, for failure, for permanence, for change, for flesh, for spirit, for love… for creation itself.


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Pilot shortage forces CP Air to pause service in January
Carlsbad Community Community Featured News
by staff December 28, 2018 January 2, 2019 2 170
CARLSBAD — California Pacific Airlines announced on Dec. 28 it will temporarily suspend service out of McClellan-Palomar Airport in January due to a nationwide shortage of pilots, according to a recent press release.
Company officials stated the airline will use the monthlong hiatus to complete pilot training in order to resume operations out of Carlsbad.
"All air carriers are feeling the impact of the shortage in some fashion," Chief Operating Officer Fernando Pineda said in a statement. "We have been fighting this new reality and managed to reduce the impact on our customers until recently. Steps have been identified and activated to address the shortage and restore the pilot levels at California Pacific."
Currently, California Pacific, which is based at McClellan-Palomar Airport, services San Jose, Reno, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The company also announced plans to expand to Sacramento and Denver.
California Pacific's contracted operations from Denver to South Dakota will not be affected and "there is full intent to resume flights from Carlsbad as soon as pilot levels are adequate to support the daily scheduled flights," according to the release.
As for customers, those who have already purchased tickets will automatically receive a refund. For additional questions, customers may call 855-505-9394.
Founder and CEO Ted Vallas, 97, said that he is hopeful that service can be restored in "as little as two weeks," but much depends on the pilot shortage. Vallas also said that the company had recently ordered three additional airplanes.
Last year, Vallas and his investors purchased Aerodynamics, Inc., a certified FAA 121 Air Carrier that operates a fleet of 50-seat regional jets throughout the U.S.
California Pacific took to the skies on Nov. 1 with initial service offerings were to San Jose and Reno, followed by the addition of Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Airline executives have championed competitive prices, noting the easy access to and from the airport compared to San Diego International Airport.
California Pacific AirlinesShare0
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J A B December 30, 2018 at 3:40 pm
LOL. What a bunch of B.S.! This airline is done. I'm glad old Ted could start another airline before his number is up, but he's done a poor job of it. With such a limited schedule it would not take many pilots to staff. And besides what happened to the pilots they had? Apparently they no longer have them which speaks volumes. The whole thing has been a s*&t show from the start.
John Fenyes December 31, 2018 at 5:18 pm
This comment is for JAB.
Sir you obviously do not know the airline business or perhaps any business
There is definitely a shortage of airline pilots. So you understand all of the airlines have the same issues CPA has. The large carriers can and did offer a huge bonus to pilots to get them to fly for them. Your comments would sound ignorant if you were talking about a baseball team asking what happened to ball players who went to another team for more money. Me Vallas has no fear and has put his money where his mouth is. Obviously you were never offer another job for more money. Based on your ignorant post I understand why.


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Youtube Trends
The Top Ecommerce Companies Of 2020
by Vivek Kumar · January 11, 2021
It feels like yesterday when the idea of online shopping struck internet users all around the world. Since that time, the ecommerce industry has blossomed to24 million online stores out of which, only 650,000 stores are generating sales of more than $1000 annually.
If not anything, the statistic reflects how slim are the chances of success if you decide to launch an ecommerce store. While the industry is booming and growing at a fast pace, it accounted for only 11% of total retail sales in 2016.
Out of this 11% sales, there are a few companies who are taking up the major market share. These are the top ecommerce companies that are generating billions of dollars through online sales. This article will take you through the top 10 ecommerce companies in the world.
Rather than showcasing their success stories and revenue, the purpose is to take inspiration from these ecommerce giants. Without much ado, let's check out the top ecommerce companies of 2020.
Top Ecommerce Companies
Jingdong
Amazon doesn't need any introduction. In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded the company (the wealthiest man in the world) as a marketplace for books. From this humble beginning, Amazon has now become the highest revenue generating ecommerce company and arguably the world's largest online conglomerate.
In 2017, Amazon generated $177.9 billion in net sales, and this is not just from selling books. Amazon has now grown into a full-fledged online store with a range of products including electronics, clothing, software, pet supplies, and of course, books.
Amazon employes a whopping 566,000 personnel which is a lot more than Google and it's direct competitor, eBay. This clearly reflects the size of this online store's operations.
The company had incorporated a "growth at all cost" strategy which was to focus on top-line growth while letting go bottom line profits. Amazon saw a new level of leadership in its core retail business which escalated the company's growth and made it one of the top 10 ecommerce companies in the world.
The thing about Amazon is that it didn't become stationary once it achieved massive growth as an online retail business. The company started to branch out and introduced new services to further improve its business.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the second most profit making business for Amazon after its online store. It provides web hosting servers to website owners.
Amazon is also highly data-driven. The company extracts crucial data and analyzes it deeply to come up with newer, better products and services. According to research by Quartz, Amazon secretly launched 91 brands to sell on its marketplace.
With an annual revenue worth billions of dollars, hundreds and thousands of employees, and a filthy rich owner, Amazon is arguably the world's largest ecommerce company which is why it leads to this particular list.
When it comes to top ecommerce companies, we simply cannot forget Ali Baba. Founded in 1999, this ecommerce giant originated from China.
Jack Ma started Alibaba to make it the biggest online wholesale marketplace. It not only caters to consumers, but also to retailers. Think of a product and chances are that Alibaba has multiple vendors offering that product in multiple versions. This is true for almost every product under the sun.
With headquarters in San Jose, California, eBay is one of the top ecommerce companies in the world. Founded in 1995, the company was one of the first successful dot-com-bubble survivors that revolutionized online shopping. That is why its logo has a red-blue-green-yellow combination.
The ecommerce platform provides a marketplace for C2C and B2C transactions. People can join and post their products for sale, for other people to see. eBay has a range of product categories which cover almost everything.
Jingdong is a must in any list of the top ecommerce companies. It operates out of Beijing, and given the rapid growth, many top ecommerce stores (including Alibaba) consider it a worthy rival. It started out in 1998, and in 2004 began online trading operations – almost six years later.
Although JD is not that big as compared to Ali Baba's portfolio, it had more revenue in 2017 than Ali Baba's ($15B more!). JD also has significantly more employees than Ali Baba. (JD has 137,000 and Ali Baba has around 65,000)
Zappos is an online shoe store that is extremely popular for its customer service. They are one of the top ecommerce companies with the best customer support in the world. The purpose of this company was to "WOW" its customers with exceptional customer service without any conditions.
Tony Hsieh founded Zappos in 1999. After getting no external funds and investments, he ended up investing $500,000 from his own pockets to launch the online store. He had only one objective in mind, to develop an online shoe store with the best customer service.
Previously known as Buy.com, the ecommerce marketplace got rebranded after Rakuten.com bought it. It is one of the top ecommerce companies and the biggest ecommerce website in Japan. It is also known as the "Amazon of Japan"
Let me give you a hint about the size of this huge ecommerce website – 90% of internet users in Japan have registered an account on Rakuten. It hosts 40,000 businesses and has purchased numerous foreign assets, and has converted them into (overseas) Rakuten branches.
Rakuten is also the official sponsor of an NBA franchise, Golden State Warriors and a Spanish Football Club FC Barcelona.
Rakuten is now challenging the biggest streaming service, Netflix, after its purchase of Wauaki.tv, a Spanish streaming service. In 2016, it also bought BitNet, a Bitcoin payment processor.
Rakuten is one of the world's largest ecommerce company with its global transactions climbing upto 12.9 trillion Yen. It employees more than 10,000 employees and operates in 24 countries.
Home Depot is the largest home improvement retail chain, and one of the top ecommerce companies in the world today. With 2,200 physical stores in three countries, 40,000 employees and around $90 billion in annual revenue, Home Depot is a massive force in the retail industry.
Founded in Atlanta, GA, Home Depot has expanded its operations to Canada where they have more than 200 stores across all the 10 provinces. They have also spread their operations to Mexico where they have more than 100 stores.
To expand into Canada, Home Depot acquired three large entities:
Aikenhead's Hardware in 1994
Apex Supply in 1999
Hughes Supply in 2006
The interesting fact about Home Depot is that most of its online customers operate on a click and mortar model. That is, these customers order their home improvement products online and collect them from the physical store.
Home Depot deals in product categories including, rugs, bathroom vanities, hardwood flooring, light bulbs, washers and more.
Flipkart is a Singaporean online retail store that operates from Bengaluru, India. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, founded it in 2007. After working for Amazon, the pair decided to launch their own online store.
Just like Amazon, Flipkart initially focused on being a successful online bookstore. After making its mark in the Indian market as an online bookstore, Flipkart made a number of acquisitions to expand its operations.
Flipkart acquired a book discovery service weReadand lulu.com in 2010. A year later it acquired Mime360.com and the digital content library of Bollywood portal Chakpak.
Its first major expansion was its DRM-free online music store Flyte. As promising as it sounded, the service failed due to fierce competition in the region.
Fast forward to May 2018, Flipkart got acquired by Walmart after it won the bidding war and bought the Indian ecommerce company for $15 billion. Walmart now owns 81% of the shares in the company.
The company earned $2.8 billion in revenue in 2017 and has 30,000 employees, and is slowly catching up .
If you are into fashion or aspiring to be a fashion designer, then Zalando is the place you need to be. Based in Berlin, Germany, Zalando, one of the top ecommerce companies in the world, focuses on selling fashion apparel throughout the world with a host of brands making their presence felt there.
In addition to just fashion accessories and trends, Zalando also offers gift cards, coupons, vouchers and online sales that help attract millions of users worldwide.
Based in Europe, Otto is not only one of the top ecommerce companies in the world but also rated to be one of the world's largest ecommerce companies. Not to mention one of the most successful. It is known for its innovation and the ability to constantly reinvent itself with time, keeping in pace with the latest and greatest technological trends in the world.
A trading company selling fashion, sports, electronics, and home equipment, Otto is one of the world's most visited platforms for buying almost anything you want, through an innovative and easy to use interface presented on its website. The process is simple and just like every other ecommerce company, but Otto takes things a bit further by being seamless.
Otto's technological background helps it innovate itself and brings customers onto its website for maximum engagement. With its splendid partnership with external brands that are most sought after, Otto is now known as one of one of the top ecommerce companies in the world.
This brings us to the end of our list of top ecommerce companies. You must have noticed that it includes ecommerce stores, brands and ecommerce platforms including Magento. All of these ecommerce companies have a huge influence on the online business landscape, thanks to their ever-expanding and increasing business portfolios.
If I have missed any of the top ecommerce company, feel free to mention in the comments section below.
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WATCH LIVE: Heavy police presence at Birmingham home related to search for 3-year-old
BIRMINGHAM — Several police units have converged on a home in Birmingham in relation to the search for Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney.
Authorities have set up a scene around the home on Jefferson Avenue where several citizens have gathered. There is no word if the child has been located inside the home or what officials are specifically investigating.
The girl known as "Cupcake" to her family was snatched away from a birthday party outside a housing project in Birmingham on Saturday night, police said. The search centered on a small apartment complex less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.
A man and a woman described as persons of interest were arrested and charged with crimes that police said were unrelated to the girl's disappearance. But police said they don't know where the child might be.
Officials have announced rewards totaling $6,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the child's disappearance. An amber alert seeking information about the girl was initially sent only to Alabama, but was later expanded to neighboring states
Please follow this story for more updates.
The Search for Cupcake:Alabama police question man in 3-year-old girl's kidnapping
The Search for Cupcake:Reward offered for Alabama toddler kidnapped from party


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It's the last week of the pop-up Pin-up bowling at Spinningfields. The bowling per se I am ok with but why do we have to have this tired and overused Americana 1950s theme?
What has it got to do with the UK, let alone the north west? If they wanted a 1950s bowling theme why not go for the skittles and UK icons of the 1950s rather than an American diner etc? A skittles and skiffle theme would be far more appropriate.* Maybe it's just me...
On the plus side I do like how much of it looks and the local DJs and involvement does try to give it a more localised flavour. See what you think at: http://www.visitmanchester.com/articles/video/pinup-bowling.aspx
Also on a plus, the 30 celebrity metal silhouette figures that were on display elsewhere in Spinningfields have been auctioned for the Wood Street Mission charity: http://www.theavenuemanchester.com/auctions
And a traditional looking oast house has appeared amongst all the 21st century glass and commerce of Spinningfields. More on that another time...
* Skiffle music was the 1950s equivalent of punk music, with the underlying motive being it was classless- i.e anyone could grab or make an instrument and do their thing. A washboard for percussion and a tea chest with a broom handle as a bass were commonplace. Check out the Dice boys and others at: http://www.manchesterbeat.com/groups/diceboys/diceboys.php
Skittles is basically 9 pin bowling, a European game which dates back to the 4th century, see: http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Skittles.htm
Great post. I love the links Chrissy.
angrystan 2 November 2011 at 19:48
It is probably no worse than Sherlock's Pub within a mini-mall in the Texas suburbs. You can get an ice cold Guiness and watch our football on umpteen screens.
I've never heard of skittles (except the candy here in the US)... thanks!