Artist Ania Bas led the second day of our literary inspired course in collaboration with Wimbledon Bookfest.
As always we began the afternoon with a warm up – for our minds, bodies and fingers.
First we made a drawing as Ania told a short story – we weren't allowed to take out pencil off the paper at all. A continuous line drawing!
First there was a forest, with a squirrel who went to the lake.
He crossed the lake to the animal cafe.
We listened hard for the details.
he had a green broccoli smoothie???!…..
We then tried drawing with both hands simultaneously.
Ania described the setting for a story – but as we were drawing with two hands, there was two of everything – creating a fantastical world!
With horses living on the top floor! Waving a sign saying welcome!
…and a forest on the roof?
We then spoke about the magazine we were creating and looked at some examples of the size and type of 'riso' print we would be using.
We will make an 8 page, A5 folded 'zine' printed on recycled paper in 2 colours – all these factors would influence the way we worked to produce content!
We recapped the decisions of the senior editors (those children attending both days of the course).
Yesterday they had decided on the title.
Materials were ready for us to start building a story.
We used a simple pop-up technique to start thinking about what makes a great story.
We cut out material from magazines to make a setting.
We brainstormed exciting elements from the plot of a story to fix on to the 3D elements.
All elements combined to create a mini 3D installation based on a great story.
After a break we brainstormed words associated with a great story.
Then made them into small posters to be reduced and incorporated into the zine.
While the senior editors had a team meeting to begin editing material others painted some story mountains using favourite stories for inspiration.
Some worked together in groups, while others chose to work on their own.
We look forward to seeing how all this work is included into our Zine – which will be ready in about a month. We have listened to children's opinions and gathered all the material which will be pulled together with a designer over the next few weeks and then circulated.
You can see the finished result by clicking the link below.


text:
Dard-Disco-Zindagi! A Bollywood starter-kit for Netflix Canada subscribers
July 10, 2018 ~ Veronique
The title of this post means "Pain, Disco, Life" and was inspired by an item number from Om Shanti Om (Dard-E-Disco). Because you can't do Bollywood without doing inside jokes.
A few months ago I fell into a Hindi cinema hole so large I'm picking-up a new language. My oldest daughter (22) asked me for a curated list of Bollywood movies available on Netflix Canada to get started and I was all too happy to oblige. Netflix Canada's Bollywood selection varies, with movies going in and expiring out of its roster. It makes drawing a proper list somewhat tricky but I'm not one to shrink before a good challenge, especially when it involves watching a lot of movies.
Sarah (9) watching the end of the classic Hindi family drama "Khabi Kushi Khabie Gham" when Anjali (Kajol) receives the blessing of patriarch Yash (Amitabh Bachchan): "I'm gonna cry, I'm gonna cry… That's it, I'm crying!!"
Before we get into it, a little Bollywood 101 goes a long way in smoothing-out the culture shock. Hindi cinema has its own Gestalt, its own tropes and its own psychology, not to mention its own star system. The singularities of Hindi cinema can be jarring, endearing or puzzling, sometimes all three at the same time.
1. Bollywood is a place (or a language), not a genre.* (see update below this paragraph) The term "Bollywood" refers to either the movie industry based in Mumbai or the Hindi-language movie industry. The term Bollywood is often used by non-Indians to describe Masala — like the spice mix — movies, a particular genre of highly produced entertainment in which mega-stars lead a mash-up of action, romance, and musical comedy. But Bollywood also releases small independent films, films about serious topics and art-house type projects. Moreover, the Hindi-language movie industry represents about half of India's total movie output. Regional movie scenes such as the South Indian film industry include five more film cultures, as does Northern India with the Punjabi movie scene, and Western India with the Marathi movie industry. It goes on
* I was corrected on Twitter for writing that Bollywood was a place not a genre. Two different points were brought up: (1) The Marathi (a language) movie industry is also based in Mumbai, so Bollywood cannot be the movie industry based in Mumbai since that would include the Marathi movie industry; and (2) Bollywood is actually a genre, describing the mainstream Hindi movie industry. I'm posting this correction as an update to the original post rather than a full-on correction because opinions vary amongst observers and writers, and also because "mainstream" is not a genre. I read enough different takes on what exactely is Bollywood to know one thing: ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers. So here's the Wikipedia entry for the term "Bollywood" where it's described as "the Hindi film industry based in Mumbai" and a bunch of other things too. Do with it what you please and have fun!
Bollywood is a questionable term anyway. The term "Bollywood" conflates the words "Bombay" and "Hollywood" and suggests a comparison between the two film-making industries, placing "Hollywood" as the standard against which Hindi cinema is measured. The Hindi cinema industry stands on its own and doesn't need to be compared to Hollywood. In fact, it eclipses Hollywood both in terms of output and ticket sales. Bollywood Stars are also better-known in Asia, Russia (because of years of embargo on U.S. movies) and the Middle-East than Hollywood Stars, although American movie stars are better paid and tend to rank higher on "Best Paid Actors" list worldwide. In this post, I'll use the term Bollywood because it's more readily understood than "Hindi cinema" but as a rule I prefer using "Hindi cinema" to describe, well… Hindi cinema.
2. Bollywood actors are lip-syncing marvels. For all the singing and dancing in Indian movies, I don't know a lot of Indian actors who are genuine singing-dancing-and-acting "triple threats." Actors act and dance but the songs are lip-synced. Movie songs are performed by playback singers, a class of performers with its own cult following and its own credits. Hollywood loves to believe that performers do everything but Bollywood has no such qualms.
3. Bollywood is a dream world for movie geeks because it loves referencing itself. Once you start spotting the references to other movies you can't stop. All the biggest movies — and some smaller ones — feature cameo appearances (called "friendlies"). Sometimes, the biggest artists will make a 2-minute appearance as a side-character somewhere in the corner of a movie, sometimes they'll come and dance for a music number. Like self-reference, spotting the friendlies is one of the most entertaining parts of watching Hindi movies. In this video, Bollywood's Man of the Hour Ranbir Kapoor makes a 30 second appearance in the very last scene of Love per Square Foot. Just a little Easter egg for the fans:
4. Bollywood is a family business. In Indian cinema, nepotism is the name of the game. Several stars have questionable acting chops but the right family name and it's not uncommon to hear of an actor doing engineering school in America or Great Britain and returning to Mumbai to start his or her film career. They just step into it. Some notable exceptions are mega star Shah Rukh Khan and critics' darlings Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
5. In Bollywood, most movies have a romantic and coming-of-age story rolled into their primary genre. Since my favourite movies are coming of age stories and rom-coms, I fell madly deeply in love with Bollywood. Bollywood producers pride themselves in using little to no special effects, which makes their action movies an acquired taste. This list reflects my personal preferences and the fact that I haven't watched everything available on Netflix (yet). Actor Shah Rukh Khan's production company, Red Chiles Entertainment, made its catalogue available on Netflix which explains — beyond my own infatuation with the guy — why so many movies on my list have him in the lead. There are other actors in Bollywood. Or so I'm told.
Let's get started!!
Two rom coms:
Love per square foot (2018)
Love per Square Foot is the first Netflix original movie from India and the first Hindi movie that turned up on my suggested list. It features Vicky Kaushal *swoon* in the lead … and other people too. This movie does a good job of relating the crowded working class feel of Mumbai in a light-hearted way. As an intro to Hindi movies, Love per Square Foot introduces a few mainstays of Hindi cinema such as a train scene, a wedding, meddling relatives and the happy mishmash of religion and culture within the Indian lived experience.
Jab we met (2007)
Jab We Met was the second Hindi movie I saw on Netflix, before I understood how different Hindi cinema was from Hollywood tropes. I stopped watching after the first half-hour, just after hero Aditya runs into heroine Geet. In Hollywood, every scene following the meet-cute propels the story in the same direction and toward the same conclusion. I didn't think I could handle two more hours of Geet talking Aditya's ear off and him looking pissed. Big mistake. This movie introduced me to the conventional structure of Indian movies where a story and its sequel inhabit a 2.5 hour running time. Both lead actors were critically acclaimed but there is little argument that Kareena Kapoor's versatile performance made the film the classic it became. This movie hits all the squares of Bollywood bingo with a train scene, a road trip, a rain scene and the beginning of a wedding. The soundtrack by Pritam is still popular today. In the clip below, Jab We Met director Imtiaz Ali explains the "Hotel Decent" scene. This is the scene that turned the movie around for me, when I realized that there was more to the characters of Aditya and Geet than I first thought. The movie excerpts in the You Tube video are not subtitled but Imtiaz Ali explains them in English so you'll get the gist of it:
One thing India does really well is the plucky underdog story. Here are two sports movies that showcase the Indian competitive spirit in all its beauty (Lagaan) and questionable implications (Dangal):
Lagaan (2001)
Lagaan was one of only three Indian movies ever nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category. It was shot in the Kutch desert in a village created out of nothing for the purpose of the movie. Starring Aamir Khan (who also produced the movie with his then-wife ), it used over 2000 extras from neighbouring villages, many of whom had never seen a movie. The making-of Lagaan, Madness in the Desert (also available on Netflix Canada) will give you a new perspective on the labour of love involved in producing this stunning epic. The soundtrack by A.R. Rhaman is, in my opinion, one of the best soundtracks Bollywood has produced and it's available on Spotify. One thing I particularly enjoy about Hindi cinema is its ability to tell a story where circumstances are the villain, without having to add villainous characters and twisted plot lines to rub it in. In Lagaan, two worthy women fall in love with the same man and the cricket game is played — and won — fair and square.
Dangal (2016)
Also produced and lead by Aamir Khan, Dangal is a biopic about wresler-turned-father-turned-coach Mahavir Phogat. Worthy of note: the opening scene of the movie depicting younger Mahavir was filmed last. Aamir Khan gained weight to play older Mahavir then took three months to work-off the weight and re-buff to be his best-looking-self for the film's promotion. The soundtrack by Pritam kicks ass and is available on iTunes. Here is one of the songs from Dangal in which Mahavir works his daughters to exhaustion:
Bollywood loves referencing itself and nowhere is that celebrated like it is in movies about Bollywood. Here are two movies from Bollywood about Bollywood:
Billu (2009)
Billu is a comedy-drama featuring two of my favourite actors, my artsy side Irrfan Khan and my guilty pleasure Shah Rukh Khan. Irrfan Khan is the main character of the story and Shah Rukh plays himself in what amounts to an extended cameo. The three song numbers featured in Billu were choreographed by Farah Khan and act a subtle spoofs of Shah Rukh's typical roles. In each number, he is accompanied by one of the three biggest actresses in Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor, also making surprise appearances. I would love to see sequel of Billu with Shah Rukh and Irrfan hitting the road together.
Om Shanti Om (2007)
Om Shanti Om is a cult classic and a solid 3h of pure entertainment. Directed by Farah Khan and introducing Deepika Padukone in her debut role, it is a giant celebration of Bollywood deftly threading between self-reference, self-congratulation and self-deprecation. It's so full of Bollywood geekery that you have to re-watch it at regular intervals as you discover Hindi cinema to get the jokes you previously missed. A parody of the Filmfare Awards — India's main award show — has about 60 cameos from Bollywood royalty (see clip below).
A mainstay of Bollywood criticism is that it's all about entitled actors lip-syncing while gyrating around trees. Here are two movies showing that Bollywood can tackle tough topics without sacrificing lip-syncing, gyrating and Bollywood royalty:
Dil Se (1998)
I stopped watching the first 30 minutes of this movie three times before I finished it. It has been revealing itself to me ever since. One interesting thing about discovering a foreign movie scene is discovering a new culture through its cinematic tropes. Hindi romantic movies have a bit of a stalker trope that I found off-putting as a white Canadian. In the first half of Dil Se, Shah Rukh Khan's character Amar pursues a woman with an insistence that made me uncomfortable but I assumed it was a cultural idiosyncrasy rather than a plot point. I later realized that the arc of the two main characters ran in parallel: one pursuing love to the point of obsession and one pursuing revolutionary goals to the same irrational point. Meghna believes that violence can avenge the past, Amar believes that love can erase the past, both are wrong and both are pursuing their ideals with single-minded passion. The movie opens with Shah Rukh Khan dancing on top of a moving train in one of Hindi cinema's most iconic item number, Chaiyya Chaiyya. The lyrics of the song, written by Gulzar, preface the progression of Amar's love from curiosity to infatuation to love to obsession toward its dramatic conclusion. It's a tour-de-force that shows what a group of creative people at the top of their game can accomplish together.
Udta Punjab! (2016)
Udta Punjab! is a drama about the drug abuse crisis in the Indian state of Punjab. It pairs two established actors (Kareena Kapoor Khan and Shahid Kapoor) with two of the most promising up-and-coming actors in Bollywood (Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosangh, a Punjabi musician who made his film debut in Udta Punjab!). Udta Punjab! manages to break difficult and dramatic storylines with moments of pure levity. Shahid Kapoor gives a performance unlike any he's given before and Kareena Kapoor Khan shows (once again) that she is secure enough in her stardom to take understated roles and let lesser-known actors shine around her.
Two (three) excellent movies about modern India in its many shapes:
1. Swades (2004)
Swades is an uplifting drama from Ashutosh Gowarinker, the creative force behind Lagaan. It features Shah Rukh Khan in one of his most restrained (and celebrated) performances. Swades was inspired by the true life story of a non-resident Indian couple who returned to India to develop a pedal power generator providing electricity to remote, off-the-grid village schools. Like every movie I have recommended so far, it has an excellent soundtrack composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics by Javed Akhtar.
2. Dhobi Ghat (2011)
The Parallel Cinema movement in India presents an alternative to the mainstream movies associated with Bollywood. It usually delves in sociopolitical issues and rejects the song-and-dance numbers many associate with Hindi cinema. Dhobi Ghat is a mesmerizing dive into the interconnected lives of four characters. It starred Aamir Khan who had to fight the director — his wife Kiran Rao — to get the part. Rao was concerned that Aamir's popularity would prevent the shooting team from filming Mumbai in its natural state, since crowds would surely follow Aamir everywhere he went. Aamir's part was shot almost entirely from inside a flat in an older locality of Mumbai, where he moved incognito in the middle of the night and didn't leave for 3 weeks. The movie opened at the Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim.
3. Masaan (2015)
I had to add a third one to this list after seeing it. This is not a singing-and-dancing Bollywood but it manages to wrap a hopeful ending into a difficult narrative. Set in present-day Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Masaan is an exploration of gender and class under a strict moral code and an unforgiving caste system. It was Vicky Kaushal's breakthrough performance. Visually, the film does a superb job of conveying the bustling — and often conflicting — interaction of ancient culture and modern life in a city considered the spiritual capital of India.
India has yet to win an Oscar for the best Foreign Film. Here are two Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (neither were nominated):
Paheli (2005)
Paheli is a charming romantic fantasy starring Rani Mukherji, one of Bollywood's finest actresses, alongside Shah Rukh Khan playing a double role. Double roles are, if not a mainstay of Bollywood, at least one of its idiosyncrasies. Most of the time, each role will have a distinct physical or environmental component to carry the audience along. In Paheli, both roles are physically identical and played in locales that are at least similar so the differentiation between Kishan-the-ghost and Kishan-the-merchant's-son relies entirely on Shah Rukh Khan's acting. Sometimes, the mischievousness of the ghost and the insecurity of the man are held in a look or a smile, but I was never confused as to which character Shah Rukh was playing at any given time, except at the very end. A fine performance and a visual feast of colour. If you dig the Shah Rukh/Rani jodi (pairing), their 2003 romance Chalte Chalte is also available on Netflix Canada.
Taare Zameen Par (2007)
Taare Zameen Par is a drama exploring the challenges and imagination of an 8 year-old boy who suffers from an unidentified learning disability. Believed to be in turns careless, recalcitrant and mentally handicapped by the adults in his life, he is sent to boarding school where he meets a teacher who can see his potential. The Star-Director of the movie, Aamir Khan, doesn't appear until the end of the first half of the movie, casting the child as the gravitational force of the story. Unlike Dangal, in which the adult's perspective is leading the story with little consideration given directly to its affect on the children, Taare Zameer Par is about how the adults' perspective and assumptions affect the child. There is not too much music and dancing in that one but we'll survive.
Liar's Dice (2013)
Ok, I'm adding this bonus to the Academy Award Category because there's only three of these on Netflix and it seems a little disingenuous to pick only two, especially when the third one is excellent (but maybe not the best introduction to Hindi Cinema, unless you are a movie-lover). Liar's Dice is a quiet road drama exploring the cost of human migration to cities and the exploitation of migrant labourers. It features Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a versatile Indian actor who is consistently excellent. He won a Filmfare Award for his supporting role in The Lunchbox, also on Netflix Canada (a quiet romantic drama about the budding friendship between two lonely people brought together by a rare mistake in the Mumbai lunchbox delivery system.) Nawazuddin Siddiqui also stars in the first Netflix Original series from India released worldwide on the platform, Sacred Games.
Two epic historical dramas:
Asoka (2001)
Asoka is a dramatized chronicle of the early life of Emperor Ashoka the Great who ruled most of the Indian sub-continent in the 3rd century BC. Emperor Ashoka is credited with the spread of Bhuddism following his conversion. The movie depicts the star-crossed — and fictional — romance between Prince Ashoka and Princess Kaurwaki, which leads him to destructive madness and repentance. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles and was critically acclaimed despite a lukewarm box office reception. Like Dil Se, this movie fully exploits the range of Shah Rukh Khan's talent, first portraying him as the carefree romantic hero, then transforming him into the vengeful Chandashoka (evil Ashoka). Asoka was filmed using minimal special effects by Santosh Sivan, the man behind the lens for Dil Se's Chaiyya Chaiyya, which was filmed atop a moving train with no special effects or post-production tricks.
Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
Mughal-E-Azam is believed to be the highest grossing Hindi movie of all time when adjusted for inflation. It is certainly considered one of Bollywood's finest. Everything about Mughal-E-Azam was extravagant for the times: the music — the budget for a single song sequence exceeded that of entire movies; the design — some sets took 6 weeks to put together; the photography — each sequence was filmed three times, once in Hindi/Urdu, once in Tamil and once in English; it was shot over 500 days — a normal schedule being between 60 and 125 days; production was delayed by the rioting surrounding India's partition and independence in 1947; the two lead actors — who had been dating for 9 years — separated during the shoot. It goes on. But beyond the challenges it faced, this movie is worth seeing for its exploration of romantic love defeating religion, political hierarchy, social class, family and duty. A colorized re-mastered version was released in 2004 but Netflix Canada is still showing the black-and-white version except for a 30 minute interval of colour in the middle. This YouTube video is from the re-mastered release. Madhubala (the actress) and Lata Mageshkar (the voice) are hypnotizing.
Indian cinema is more than Bollywood. Segmented by language, the Hindi-language film industry is known as Bollywood. That said, the Indian regional movie industry is also thriving. Here are two Indian movies from the regional movie industry:
Baahubali – The Beginning and The Conclusion (Telugu) (2015)
Baahubali is an epic action film shot in Telugu that became a box-office phenomenon, breaking every box office record in India and becoming the third highest grossing Indian film of all time worldwide. Netflix Canada has an Hindi-dubbed version with English subtitles and a Tamil-dubbed version with English subs available. I found that the Tamil version sounded and looked less dubbed than the Hindi version, maybe because Tamil is closer to Telugu than Hindi? I have no idea. The first movie has two distinct halves. In the first half, lead actor and hunk to end all hunks Prabhas plays young Mahendra Baahubali, a curious young man rescued as an infant by a family of villagers, who falls in love with a girl. He is playful and carefree. In the second half, he plays Mahendra's biological father Amarendra, a virtuous and beloved warrior-prince defending his kingdom against an attacking army of blood-thirsty savages. Prabhas is in his element as the latter. I found his turn as Mahendra to be a little over the top silly but didn't realize why until he transformed into Amarendra. Prabhas has the physicality, the presence and the charisma of a king, not a starry-eyed villager.
Sairat (Marathi) (2016)
Ok, this is the last movie I saw before writing this list and honestly I'm still processing it. Sairat, man, what can I write about this movie? Sairat's Wikipedia page describes it as a "musical romantic drama", which I guess it is in part, but it's not really. In its first half, it's the story of two college students from different castes who fall in love. Typical Bollywood? No, in fact, Sairat upends all the Bollywood cliches by having the plucky rich girl very much in charge of the relationship. The second half of the movie is an unflinching exploration of the fallout from that forbidden relationship. I read Marathi cinema described as "low on cash and high on art" and it's an apt description of what makes Sairat stand out. It was filmed on location in rural Maharashtra on a shoestring budget of 4 crore rupees (about $500,000 US). It eventually grossed 1.10 billion rupees at the box office ($16 million US) and was remade in Punjabi and Kannada in 2017. Two young people with no acting backgrounds were cast in the lead roles. They grabbed me, put me through the wringer and haven't let go yet. A much-awaited Hindi remake titled Dhadak will be released this Summer. I'm not sure how a mainstream Bollywood production company like Dharma Production will pull-off the doomed love story, the gritty crowded world where there is no justice, only good luck and bad luck, where modern amenities share space with feudal mentalities and violence. Sairat's filmmaker Nagraj Majule described his movie as "a reaction to Bollywood" so it's anyone guess whether Bollywood will honour that spirit or counter it. In the meantime, here is a video of the song Zingaat from Sairat. You can also find the remade Hindi version with Janhvi Kapoor and Isshan Khatter on YouTube, where it is surely trending. Watching both video will give you a sense of the difference between both movies at a glance.
Other movies I really enjoyed:
Piku
Hum Aapke Hain Koun
Dear Zindagi
Main Hoon Na
Secret Superstar
Lust Stories
Lucknow Central
At this point you're probably wondering "Véronique, when does a mother of 9 children find time to watch so many movies?" and to this I will reply "Whenever" but usually while other people are sleeping. I function better on 5-6h of sleep: more and I get insomnia, less and I get migraines (so basically if I sleep more than 6h I get insomnia, which leads to sleeping fewer hours, which lead to migraines. I know it sounds like fun.) That said, the evening hours are not very productive because I'm not very focused. So I watch movies. Someday I hope to stop watching movies and start writing one. But for now, this is the stage my life will allow.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Pictured: Adjusting the levels of the artwork. What fun!
This is the ninth post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment offers an account of all the computer related stuff I do once the artwork has been inked. I'll try my best to avoid technical jargon, but to explain this in a totally layperson-friendly manner would make this entry way too long, so I'll occasionally use the technical terms (with wikipedia links for those that actually want to know more about some of the technical stuff) and hope that the accompanying pictures make what I'm talking about at least somewhat clear. Note: all artwork shown is from the work in progress, Tonoharu: Part Two.
I do all the computer stuff using programs from Adobe Creative Suite 2. First off I open Photoshop, and scan the piece of artwork in at a resolution of 1200 dpi (dots per inch), in grayscale mode. I then reduce the image size down to 40% of its original size.
That done, I zoom in. It's still possible to faintly see the pencil lines at this point, so I adjust the levels until it appears as pure black and pure white.
Above: Before adjusting the levels. Below: After adjusting them. I then change the image mode from grayscale to bitmap (i.e., from an image mode that has shades of gray to one that only has pure black or pure white), save it as a TIFF image file, and then close down Photoshop.
Then I open up Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based graphics program (as opposed to Photoshop, which is a raster-based graphics program). It's in Illustrator that I add all the background colors and the text. I start off by importing the TIFF image file. I then create a new layer, and put the image file on the topmost layer and lock it, so I don't accidentally select it again. Then it's just a matter of adding the second color (the light blue color found in the book) to the bottom-most layer, using the pen and shape tools.
The reason the second color is showing up as yellow instead of the light blue that's found in the book is because it's easier for the book printer that way. The yellow I use in the computer file is the "Y" channel from the CMYK color model. Designating it as a standard CMYK color as opposed to a spot color makes it less prone to hiccups when the printer is converting the files into printing plates. Sorry, that's a lot of jargon, again… oh well.
The greenish color is 100% yellow and 20% black, which appears as the grayish blue color in the final book. Once I've added all the yellow and green, I finish off with the white accent "color" (it's actually just ends up being the color of the paper in the book).
Above: Adding white. Below: How the colors look without the drawing on top of them.
Once all that's done, I unlock the layer with the image file on it, and combine the image file and background colors by using a clipping mask. Then on top of all of that, I add in the words, and adjust the word balloons and tails.
Above: Messing around with the word balloons. Below: The end product.
Once that's done, I save the Illustrator file, and export that into Adobe InDesign, which is a page layout program. It's there that I finally see how all the panels work together.
The red arrow shows the panel I was working on. The yellow boxes are placeholders for panels that haven't been drawn yet.
And that's pretty much it. I only have to do all that about 400 times, and I have a book.
Well, almost. I actually do some final edits to it before I consider the work to be truly and totally complete. And next week I'm finally bring the Creating Tonoharu series of posts to a close with an entry about that. Stay tuned!
Very cool! I had no idea there was such an extensive computer design process after the actual inking.


text:
Connor Brighton
Mafia: Definitive Edition Will Allow Players to Control How Strict Cops Are
Does There Seem to Be a Problem Officer?
Most open-world games that take place in a real-world environment like GTA or Saints Row all implement some sort of police mechanic that will try to keep the player inline the best they can. However, in a game like GTA, the cops can be quite lenient. It will only take the most egregious crimes to have the cops called on you. The same cannot be said about law enforcement in Mafia. The cops that are in Mafia are some of the most diligent and Orwellian police agencies in gaming. They will even pull you over for speeding. With Mafia: Definitive Edition is just around the corner many fans were wondering if this feature was still going to be present in the game all these years later.
A spokesperson at Hanger 13 addressed these concerns today. They stated that while the police are still going to be just as strict as before, the player will now have the option of controlling just how intense they can be by using a slider. For instance, one side of the slider will unleash the Stasi while the other will present players with a much less combative and laid back group of officers.
At first glance, it appears that this will be a great addition to the new look Mafia. Customizing game features to your liking is one of the most important and underappreciated aspects of games. This should allow both the hardcore and casual crowds to enjoy the game how they like. The zeal of the police is not the only thing that is getting a workover. The combat, graphics, and much more are all getting touched up in order to seamlessly assimilate into modern gaming.
Mafia: Definitive Edition launches on August 28th.
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text:
Homosexydelicus TPP16
August 1, 2014 Podcastbiology, ecofeminism, ecology, evolution, masculinity, patriarchy, psytranceTantrapunk
This is episode is a spoken word recording of an essay I wrote that deals with creation and evolution, masculine and feminine energy, and the fate of humanity.
The Divine Goddess Created Our Species to be Homo Sexydelicus
January 12, 2014 Essaysevolution, feminism, patriarchy, rape, sexualityTantrapunk
In hyperspace all of my intellectual understandings of the feminine divine gush out of my normally linguistically confined cortex and flood my body as I dance naked to psytrance music at a thunderous volume.
All that tantric theory comes alive and I become the sacred dance of Shiva and Shakti. The god/goddess energies flow through my delicate fleshy human frame and it feels like every cell is writhing in orgasmic ecstasy.
Without entheogenic amplifiers that plug me into the transcendent currents of the earth and the cosmos, the visual fantasies I daydream about are fleeting abstract projections. But with them, the pineal juices flow and the third eye conducts an orchestra of orgiastic imagery not on the typical 2d screen of the minds eye, or even 3d, it's multidimensional.
When I conjure up images of female beauty, I don't just see frames of the center folds that the patriarchal culture has tried to sell me that flatten my experience and make me a consumer of an objectified product. I don't have a thin and shallow lust for the culturally conditioned standard of beauty. I actually become the feminine divine. I shape shift into a curvy breasted being made of milk and honey.
I'm somewhat androgynous, about 25% gay, but not particularly fem, I just like the way it feels to engender the sacred union internally, which is the prerequisite to be achieved before hoping to create sacred union with a partner. It's a fractal phenomenon, self-similar at all scales. Learn to balance the feminine and masculine within, then build outward with one or more others. The potential to consciously perform the balancing act of energies is what allows us humans to grace the predator/prey landscape of life on earth with magical divine co-creativity.
At one point of extreme trance dancing, I realized that having rented the Carmen Electra strip-tease workout video wasn't just out of some giggly horny impulse. I actually like to dance that way, it feels great, it kills the toxic destructive male ego to stir up the feminine divine within. Without the need to be macho and constantly hold back the natural drive to be peacefully sensual, a man can know true freedom. Sacred sensual erotic dance is for everyone. In essense, it says to the divine feminine what Terence Mckenna said to the Mushroom as it came on to him, "Take me I'm yours, take me I'm yours."
I think about how much psychic energy gets expended everyday in the world just to maintain homophobic masculine identities. What a tiring waste. In the movie Eyes Wide Shut, there's a poignant scene where Tom Cruise is walking down the street at night kind of taking a weird dream-like tour of bizarre manifestations of human sexuality. At one point a mob of frat jocks walk by and verbally attack him in a frenzy of explicit homophobic hate speech. I see this a lot, because there is no healthy acceptable outlet for men to experience their femininity and explore their innate curiosities, they're constantly frustrated and obsessed with verbalizing and visualizing aggressive homosexual acts with each other. They're constantly accusing each other of wanting to engage in what they say is unthinkable, yet there they are thinking about it all the time.
Back to my own trip, I grew into liberated politics as a punk runaway that would go into the local all ages queer nightclub in Portland to avoid the curfew and be safe inside the strobe–lit, techno pounded walls until sun-up. There I was exposed to a vast array of genders and sexualities, all entraining to the beat, dancing and expressing a kaleidoscopic rainbow of divine masculine and feminine beauty. It was sexydelic and I loved it.
It was many years later as an anthropology student that I discovered the existence of the little known primate species called Bonobos. They're pigmy chimps that make love not war. They resolve conflict and maintain peace and egalitarian social bonds by having non-reproductive intercourse across sexes, constantly. They're also an extremely rare example of primate matriarchy. Through elaborate circles of sisterhood, they keep the male ego in check and never let the males believe that they can dominate. Males are meticulously trained to remain humble and respectful. It's as if the females know instinctively that the male ego is a dangerous volatile force that has to be carefully managed to ensure the absence of violence and domination.
As obscure as they are in the primate world and in the collective consciousness of our culture, they just happen to be the most genetically similar to us of all the other primates.
We didn't directly evolve from them, however it stands to reason that we evolved along similar paths. If you buy into the obsolete orthodox Darwinian evolutionary religion, you'd have to believe that Bonobos and humans arrived at their/our unique extra-reproductive sexual instincts by some errant genetic defect for which nature hasn't had a reason to squeeze out of the gene pool. But I this is monkey shit. To help bury the idea that life forms are purely the result of purposeless random mutation, I like to reference an analogy I heard on a Tony Robbins tape once that went something like: to believe that there's no intelligent creator of life is like believing that the Webster's dictionary is the result of a random explosion at a print factory.
Entheogens provide the experiential percept, rather than the belief-based precept, that there is a divine force of creation, or many perhaps. Who/what/where-ever they/it/she/he is/are doesn't matter to me as much as the fact that some form of organizing consciousness is actually pulling us forward into an ever more complex biological being that can experience ever more depth and texture of sensuality.
We've lost all of the defensive and offensive biological weapons and shields. We don't have fangs, claws, spikes, venom, talons, etc. We don't have an exoskeleton, we don't have a shell, we can't run very fast, we can't see behind us, we can't smell our enemies, or sense their vibrations, we can't see all that well, we can barely even defend ourselves against the cold.
If we're not here to fight or flee, what "f" word does that leave?
We are the naked ape. Why? Because somehow a few genes failed to switch on somewhere back down the evolutionary ladder, that's definitely part of it, but not the whole story. There is always a dynamic dance going on between environment and consciousness, but in the case of humans, there is so much more going on. The rate of drastic change that led to our neo-cortex, our nervous system, our linguistic apparatus, simply does not compute within the temporal/mathematical framework of random mutation according to evolutionary theory. Our DNA was definitely a designer piece, somehow injected into the primate world.
Every culture on Earth is an attempt to explain this mystery. For most of human history, cultures embraced the mystery and approached it in a state of love and reverence, not fear and violence. One of my tantra teachers describes a rough dichotomy in human culture. He says that prior to a few thousand years ago, all human cultures were inherently tantric, they lived in a sensuous way, enjoying life through the body and connecting to the divine through it. Then as the patriarchal dominator culture emerged out of domestication and civilization, a new relationship to the body began to colonize to globe: asceticism, the denial of the body as divine, the living in the head, in the ego. As the male ego's obsession with control lost its balance with femininity and nature, the body and all of its magical wonders became just a vehicle for reproduction and war to accumulate ever greater amounts of artificial power and wealth. Study eco-feminism to get the most complete story you can find on this shift, suffice it to say here that this tragic twist of fate has betrayed our nature, our biology, and our designer's dream to make sweet love to all of us through our peaceful, bare, defenseless, goddess worshipping bodies.
Terence Mckenna wrote and spoke at length about how the shift from partnership to dominator cultures was also rooted in the loss of connection to sacred plant medicines which help to regulate and diminish the male ego. He also points out that with the systematic eradication of the shamanic meme, a pharmacological shift happened as well. We didn't just lose the ethnobotanical leash on the male ego, the leash became a whip that aggravated it with the rise of alcohol, which has inflamed the male ego.
Where there are plants there is peace, where alcohol is poured there is war.
There are so many aspects of the true fall of man to explore. I just wanted to name a few.
The main point of this writing is not to focus too much on the causal chain of historic and prehistoric events, but rather to look at the end result.
The naked ape that was designed for peace and love is now dominated by an insidious reversion to the alpha male syndrome. This is not human nature, we haven't always been at war, the primitive are not the savage, our hominid ancestors didn't club women and drag them into caves by the hair.
We evolved beyond patriarchal primate behavior long ago, and developed co-operative, psychedelic, loving, ecstatic proliferating goddess worshipping cultures that had managed to live sustainably as gatherer/hunters in virtually every different type of terrestrial environment. In short, through the mechanisms of peace, love, and plants we were able to cooperatively adapt to diverse environments without the need to conquer and colonize. It was not our nature to become conquerors and colonizers as a species, but sadly the potential to revert to a dominator mode has always been latent in our DNA.
Now we're horribly off course and have wasted so much imagination, creativity, ingenuity, and innovation not to further our connection to each other, the earth, and the stars as we had for so long, but to create an epigenetic de-evolutionary descent into battle mode.
This is not to say that there was never any violence or weapons or warriors, but in shamanic warrior cultures there were limits to the destructive urge, there were still councils of elders that regulated the individual and collective male egos. There was still a tantric paradigm. People still had spiritual connections to the land, to each other, and to their bodies so warfare was not just a game of kings to whom young men were just chess pawns, it was dare I say, sacred violence?
Anyway, it dawned on me one time as I got into my divine feminine psytrance dance, that we were evolved to be beautiful and vulnerable so that we can experience more in life than a constant game of cat and mouse between predator and prey. As I was dancing and feeling so infinitely sensual there alone in the dark, with amplified senses and perception I could see into other dimensions. I became aware of the looming presence of predatory hyper-beings who were rushing toward me like alien insectoid sea creatures. They could sense my shell-lessness, my sweet squishiness and they were intent on devouring me. I felt truly helpless, but as in all altered states, you have to get a grip and seal the fear valve quickly before you fall into a dark abyss or get dragged into one kicking and screaming. You have to morpho-generate pretty pictures of unicorns and rainbows and you'll instantly evoke the goddess and she'll be there to protect you and ward off all the evil spirits that would do you harm. It's as if in hyperspace, you're not seeing things that aren't normally there, rather you're seeing things that are always there. The hyper-beings that feast on and metabolize human psycho-kinetic energies come in many forms and can only be seen with certain psycho-microscopic lenses as Timothy Leary might say…
In the interdimensional ecology of hyperspace, some beings perceive and treat us the way western society perceives and treats livestock, some beings conduct painful experiments on us the way vivisectors do to lab animals, some of them are intrigued by us and welcome us as lost travelers and act as guides into other realms. Many of them love us and want to share our bodies and experience ecstasy with and through us. But to all of them, we must surrender and let go of the shadow self. A mind full of negative thoughts and emotions is like blood in shark infested waters, while a mind full of love is a like a seeping maple tree in a forest full of deer. The mystery of enlightenment is solved by becoming lighter and stripping away the scar tissue, the toxic residue, the thought viruses, the ego, the resentment, the hatred, the guilt, the shame, the fear and be nursed like a baby in the luminous ethereal omnipresent arms of the eternal/infinite feminine divine.
Coming back to "reality" it was very clear to me that to be naked apes is very dangerous. We had to take really good care of each other to survive for 200,000 years or more. We had become very close in our tribal relationships and relationships with plants, prey species, etc.. We are so fragile, so interdependent. We're so incapable of surviving alone, we'd be dead in days or weeks without the constant love and care of the tribe. We're as defenseless as worms, but in trading in our shells and claws, we received the gift of the most prolonged intense pleasure potential of any other form of life on earth. And we were given the gifts of our unique highly complex brains, and our hands, our linguistic apparatus, etc. We are here to love and create, not hate and destroy. It's as if the scared male ego wants to use our creative capacity to turn everything into a claw or a shell. Either hide from his true loving nature, or beat it out of someone else.
Imagine what we'd have accomplished by now had we stayed Gaian minded, egalitarian, tantric, goddess worshiping. Imagine if all of the grand wonders of civilization were done in the name of the goddess. What would our largest structures and statues be shaped like? What depths of innerspace would we have explored? How many people would be in a "nuclear family"? How many sharp, toxic, and otherwise lethal objects and substances would there be to teach every child to fear? What would be the number one cause of death? What would high tech computers be made of, and what would they be used for? Would we fly with fighter jets or with levitation? Would we swim in nuclear submarines or as mermaids?
I subscribe to Terence Mckenna's time wave theory which states that the universe is an engine of novelty that over ever shorter epochs of time produces ever more complex integrated biological and cultural forms and systems with peaks and valleys of novelty fractally positioned throughout. So there is a fundamental law of nature which is, in a dirty word, progress. As an anarcho-primitivist I always fought the idea of progress as an enemy but now I see that it's not that simple because to me it's perhaps one of the only undeniable laws of nature. So you can't stop progress…but you can stop patriarchy.
Patriarchy and it's perversion and diversion of primate evolution is what has thwarted Gaia's project to advance our species from the warlord chimps to Homo Sexydelicus, the naked entheogen seeking biological sex machines that we were each born to be, when we are born to be wild.


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Unitary Patent (UP)
The unitary patent is the first piece of the EU patent package. It will be established by two Regulations which entered into force on 20 January 2013 and which will be applicable from the date of the entry into force of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court. The UP will be obtainable via a conventional European patent application at the EPO, which at grant will offer the option to gain a 'European patent with unitary effect' covering certain EU states, in addition to the present EP bundle of national validations. Find out more.
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The European Union has worked for several years on the establishment of a common patent court which will be created on the basis of an international treaty. The UPC Agreement – which is the second piece of the EU patent package – was signed on 19 February 2013 and will enter into force four months after 13 states (including France, Germany and the United Kingdom) have completed the ratification process.
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Category: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
book review – Cop Killer – Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
"There seemed to be no one within the police administration capable of grasping the simple truth that violence breeds violence and that, in fact, it was the police who had struck the first blow."
The reason why the crime books penned by husband and wife team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo are so enjoyable is because they are not just about crime and detection.
This is a book that takes you back into the 1960s and 1970s Sweden a country that suffers from suicides, gun crime and has a police force that lacks popularity. Part of the problem with the police is of course the involvement of guns and the response from the criminals who have become increasingly violent.
The book starts with just such an example with a petty bank robber who has killed a woman during a robbery because he had taken a gun along to the crime. But quickly the action shifts towards the countryside as Beck is sent to solve the dissapearance and then confirmed murder of a local woman.
In the one horse town Beck finds a different Sweden where the police are part of the community and crime has not taken over society. But even in that location there is a chance for Beck readers to become acquainted with the killer from the first book in the series and the murderer from the third. These figures are there perhaps to confuse and distract as much as to show a dedication by Sjowall and Wahloo to dig back into the rich world they have created.
If there is a dominant theme in the book, which has already emerged in the The Locked Room, it is the amount of time Beck has to spend fighting his superiors and dealing with politics. Crime solving by numbers means that innocent people are going to be sent to prison and Beck and his colleagues are resorting to using their basic police skills to outwit their superiors as well as protect the public.
This book, the ninth in a ten book series, is a return to the form of the first book in the series and by the end you are gladly immersed with the characters that you have come to care about, sympathise with and want the best for.
Onwards to the end which will be a mixed experience as reading these crime books has been great.
Written by Quicke Leave a comment Posted in book review, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Thoughts at the half way point of Cop Killer
one of the tricks that you must be allowed to play after you have reached the ninth book in a series is to reintroduce some of the characters from the earlier books.
So the killer from the first Martin Beck book reappears here and is in the frame for another sex murder. But neither Beck or his friend Kollberg can believe that the man is innocent and against a backdrop of political pressure the two men delay putting an innocent man behind bars.
Sjowall and Wahloo are able to set the action away from Stockholm in the countryside where a murder makes big news providing a contrast with which to make points about the decline of life in 1970s Sweden.
The police are despised and the criminals are getting more trigger happy making it increasingly difficult for those that disagree with the questions of the police being armed.
A review follows soon…
Written by Quicke Leave a comment Posted in Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
book review – The Locked Room – Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
'Don't you ever read detective stories?'
'No'
'I read tons of them. Anything. And forget most of it as soon as I've finished. But that's a classic. A room locked on the inside…'
By the eight book in a series of ten you start to fear that perhaps the initial high standards might have started to wear off. There is that worry that the characters that seemed so fresh at the start are by now hitting the boundaries of the descriptions their authors have written for them.
Those fears are totally understandable but utterly irrelevant with The Locked Room. Far from dipping in terms of quality Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo open the shoulders here and display a confidence about their world and their ability to deliver solid characters as well as well written plots. Martin Beck, the man who after all lends his name to the series, plays second fiddle here.
But what is fresh about the Locked Room is the injection of humour with some passages being almost Tom Sharpe like in the way the police descend into farce trying to catch bank robbers. The chief of police who leads an anti-vietnam march straight into a crowd of football hooligans is just one of the images that lingers.
At the heart are the parallel stories of the bank robbery that opens the book and the discovery of a dead man in a locked room who had suffered a shot to the stomach.
Police incompetence riddles both cases with Beck often expressing exasperation with his colleagues more than with the challenges of tracking down smart criminals. It is the ability to bring in the social and political background that makes the books from Sjowall and Wahloo so different because you are given an insight into a Sweden in the early 1970s, a society that dislikes the police and has political leanings towards the left. The witness who deliberately invents a get-away car does so to hinder the police and aid those he sees as fighting against society.
The other great skill in the Beck series is the way that along with the hard graft of policeman and women like Beck out there on the streets there is the way that luck plays a crucial role. They never overplay it and on the tightrope of keeping the reader believing you are always kept on the right side of falling into disbelief.
Onwards to the last couple in the series.
Written by Quicke 4 Comments Posted in book review, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Thoughts at the half way point of The Locked Room
There is a great deal more humour in this book than some of the others in the Martin Beck series and there is incredible confidence being shown by the authors.
It's hard to imagine anyone effectively sidelining the main character for half of the story as the action focuses elsewhere but this is what they do with Beck who as a result cuts an even lonelier figure.
In a tale dominated by bank robberies and blundering officials Beck concentrates his mind on working out just who killed the man in the locked room.
Review on completion soon…
Murder at the Savoy – post II
Although this book might not have the pace of some of the earlier Beck books you have to admire the confidence that the authors have in opening up the cast of characters. Some people would rely on the main detective and a sidekick, think Morse, but here there are a handful of police officers that are fleshed out enough to be able to carry the story on their own.
If anything in this book Beck takes a background role as the foot work is done by others and the breakthrough comes collectively. This is one of those stories that is perhaps on the cusp of not only finishing the series with the last four books but feels like that because it is describing a country on the edge of change.
The constant references to the heat are not just there to paint the scene but also provide an indication of a growing friction created by change. The forces of conservatism are being attacked by the youthful led demands for change in the 60s.
The fact a thriller can convey such socio and political information without interrupting or spoiling the main story is testament to the writing ability of Sjowall and Wahloo. This leaves you wanting to crack on with the seventh book in the series.
A review will follow soon…
Murder at the Savoy – post I
Every reader has a guilty pleasure, a book that although it isn't Tolstoy fills them with joy, and in my case the genre best able to deliver that quick hit of intense reading pleasure is the thriller.
Being slightly more specific about it the police procedurals, following the case through the lens of the police activity, when done well can be gripping. Two of the masters are husband and wife team Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo and with their creation of Martin Beck they take you onto the streets of Sweden in the 1960s and into police stations in Stockholm and Malmo.
The crime tends to take place early on and then the rest of the book is spent following Beck and his colleagues as they try to fathom the often unfathomable and bring the case to a conclusion.
This is no different with a prominent business man shot in a hotel, the Savoy dining room, by a gun man who then jumps out of an open window into the hot summer night and disappears.
From that starting point, with no clear witness statements the police have to start the hunt for a killer.
book review – The Fire Engine that Disappeared
Some of these books are better than others but I am unashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoy the Martin Beck thrillers from Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
Between them the husband and wife team manage to weave together a story that often seems to be in two halves with the crime and the misunderstanding around it taking up the first chunk before they pin it down in the second.
Interestingly the main character Martin Beck doesn't feature a great deal in this book as the other detectives step into the spotlight and help crack a crime that at first seems to be suicide and then a crime where it will be almost impossible to find the killer.
What keeps it going of course is the determination and dedication of a handful of detectives who refuse to give in even when the odds of them getting a resolution to the crime seem to be remote.
Along with the police Sweden itself plays a role along with the weather as the cold streets of Swedish cities and docks add to the mood and the feeling of despondency.
As part of the story there is a development in Beck's family life with the breakdown of his marriage more obvious and his daughter opting to move out and make life at home even more unbearable. But he is largely in the shadows and that is a brave move. It would be hard to imagine an Inspector Morse story where the spotlight fell wholly on Lewis and others in the department solved the crime.
But that is the difference that Sjowall and Wahloo bring along with a determination to introduce political themes of the day, in this case the rumblings of discontent against the 60s love culture and drugs.
Although it is hardly going to be put on the library shelf in the category of great literature this is a real joy to read and there are moments when reading should provide this sort of experience.


On Friday, the Arkansas parole board voted 3-1 in favor of clemency for a woman convicted of murder and kidnapping in 1977. Governor Mike Beebe (D) is being asked to commute Twyanna Faye Martin's life sentence and make her eligible for parole. The request, however, is opposed by a prosecutor and a sheriff. A report notes Beebe will consider the recommendation after a "30-day public comment period."
Martin was 19 years old at the time of the offense and was convicted along with three others. Today, she declares that she has sought forgiveness from the family of the victim, but adds that she got "too much time" for a crime she did not commit. In 2000, Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) announced that he intended to grant Martin clemency, saying he had the support of the victim's family. But some family members said they were not consulted. After the "public comment period," Huckabee took no action. In October 2006, the board recommended clemency, but Huckabee completed his term two months later and left office. See complete story here and here.


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Call for Demonstrations
Call for Grants/Awards
Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Industry (AI4Industry)
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How to reach Guimarães
PAAMS Conference 2023
AIR Institute will award the best Demonstration with 1.000€
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PAAMS » Submission
Authors should consult Springer's authors' guidelines and use their proceedings templates, either for LaTeX or for Word, for the preparation of their papers. Springer encourages authors to include their ORCIDs in their papers. In addition, the corresponding author of each paper, acting on behalf of all of the authors of that paper, must complete and sign a Consent-to-Publish form. The corresponding author signing the copyright form should match the corresponding author marked on the paper. Once the files have been sent to Springer, changes relating to the authorship of the papers cannot be made.
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All proposed papers must be submitted in electronic form (PDF format) using the PAAMS conference management system.
PAAMS welcomes the submission of papers and gives preference to the topics listed under the call. All submitted papers will undergo a thorough review process; each paper will be refereed by at least three experts in the field based on relevance, originality, significance, quality and clarity.
The papers must consist of original, relevant and previously unpublished sound research results related to any of the topics of the conference.
Accepted papers will be included in PAAMS Proceedings, published by Springer.
At least one of the authors will be required to register and attend the symposium to present the paper in order to include the paper in the conference proceedings. All accepted papers will be published by Springer Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence.
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Authors of selected papers from PAAMS will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to special issue in different journals.
Authors of selected papers from PAAMS and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a Special Issue "Frontiers of Agents and Multiagent Systems" published in MDPI Sensors Journal (ISSN: 1424-8220, JCR (2021): 3.847 (Q2))
Authors of selected papers from PAAMS and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a Special Issue "Edge Computing in IoT Networks Based on Artificial Intelligence" published in MDPI Sensors Journal (ISSN: 1424-8220, JCR (2021): 3.847 (Q2))
Authors of selected papers from PAAMS and Co-located Events will be invited to submit an extended and improved version to a Special Issue "Advanced Architectures for Hybrid Edge Analytics Models on Adaptive Smart Areas" published in MDPI Electronics Journal (ISSN: 2079-9292, JCR (2021): 2.690 (Q3))
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Q: Python write to csv file from Dict See excel file SS The data looks as in image in csv file

*

*This is what I have written till now to analyze reviews from IMDB.
First it fetches the reviews from imdb website (top 250 movies).

*Then fetches the movie links, reviews links, extracts text from the reviews and stores it in a dictionary data format with movie_name: movie review format.

*In the last step, I am able to print the Movie_Name: Movie review on the console. But when I write to CSV file it gives either errors or writes just incorrect data to CSV file.

import urllib.request, urllib.parse, urllib.error
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import ssl
import csv
import requests
import re
import nltk
from nltk.corpus import stopwords
nltk.download('stopwords')
nltk.download('punkt')
from nltk.tokenize import word_tokenize

# Ignore SSL certificate errors
ctx = ssl.create_default_context()
ctx.check_hostname = False
ctx.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE

headers = {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_13_6) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.77 Safari/537.36'}

url = input('Enter - ')
while (True):
    try:
        page = requests.get(url, headers = headers)
        soup = BeautifulSoup(page.content, "html.parser")
        container = soup.find_all('td', class_ = 'titleColumn')
        break
    except:
        print("Please enter a valid url:")
        url = input('Enter - ')

def movies_list():
    movie_names = []
    movies = container[:100] #here we get the top 50 movies we want
    for movie in movies:
        name = movie.find('a').text
        movie_names.append(name)
    return movie_names
#print(movie_names)

def movie_links_list():
    movie_links = []
    movies = container[:100]
    for movie in movies:
        tag = movie.find('a')`enter code here`
        link = tag.get('href', None)
        movie_links.append(link)
    for i in range(len(movie_links)):
            movie_links[i] = 'https://www.imdb.com/'+ movie_links[i]
    return movie_links

def review_link_list(movie_links):
    review_links = []
    for movie_link in movie_links:
        title_pos = movie_link.find('title')
        nxt_slash = movie_link.find('/', title_pos)
        nxt2_slash = movie_link.find('/', nxt_slash+1)
        review_link = movie_link[:title_pos-1] + movie_link[title_pos:nxt2_slash+1] + "reviews?ref_=tt_urv"
        review_links.append(review_link)
    return review_links

def get_reviews(review_links):
    movie_names=movies_list()
    review_dict={}
    for i in range(len(review_links)):
        movie_name=movie_names[i]
        movie_reviews=[]
        review_page = requests.get(review_links[i], headers = headers)
        soup = BeautifulSoup(review_page.content, "html.parser")
        tag = soup.find_all('div', class_ = 'content') #find_all to return a list
        top_50= tag[:50]
        for j in top_50:
            try:
                review=j.select('div.show-more__control')[0].text
            except:
                continue
            movie_reviews.append(review)
        review_dict[movie_name]=movie_reviews
    return review_dict

file= "abc.csv"
with open(file ,'w') as csvfile:
    for i in range(len(movies)):
        csvwriter = csv.writer(csvfile)
        Name=movies[i]
        Review = reviews_dict[Name]
        try:
            csvwriter.writerow(Review)
        except:
            csvwriter.writerow("Review does not exist")

A: you need to open the file and write a list with the data
import csv
dict = {"mykey":10}

with open("mydata.csv", 'a') as file:
   writer = csv.writer(file)
   for key, value in dict.items():
     data = [key, value]
     writer.writerow(data)

in the csv file "mydata.csv" you will no get
mykey,10

When using the 'a' as an args in open you can append data to the file so not to over write old data

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Exton Volunteer Organizations: Volunteer in Exton, PA 19341, USA | VolunteerMatch
Find the best places to volunteer in Exton. Learn more about Exton volunteer organizations in cause areas like education, crisis support, homeless & housing, and more.
There are 97 organizations in the Exton area with volunteer opportunities waiting to be filled.
Organizations within 20.0 miles of Exton, PA 19341, USA in Women
Displaying 31 - 40 of 97
31. Gentiva Hospice
By volunteering for only a few hours or days a month, you can make a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. Volunteers can choose to work directly with our patients and... More >
Blue Bell, PA | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Community, Health & Medicine, Seniors, Veterans & Military Families, Women
32. Girl Scouts - Horizon Service Unit
The Girl Scouts of Horizon Service Unit includes girls who live within the Methacton School District or attend Visitation BVM School in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Girls in K-12 grade... More >
COLLEGEVILLE, PA | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Arts & Culture, Children & Youth, Community, Women
33. Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania
Girl Scouts is a national organization for girls with a current membership of 2.8 million girls and adults. Girls gain leadership knowledge and skills through experiences led by a group of... More >
Miquon, PA | ( 1 reviews)
34. Girls on the Run Delaware
Vision We envision a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams. Our Core Values Girls on the Run honors its core values. We strive... (39.75733,-75.54794) More >
Wilmington, DE | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Children & Youth, Community, Education & Literacy, Health & Medicine, Women
35. Girls on the Run of Chester County
Girls on the Run uses the power of running to help prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. Through interactive activities such as running, playing games, and discussing... (39.96198,-75.60542) More >
WEST CHESTER, PA | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Children & Youth, Community, Health & Medicine, Sports & Recreation, Women
36. Hannah's Heart and Love
Hannah's Heart and Love was formed by Heather and Jason Kimble after their baby, Hannah, was born still. Services Resources - Offering an extensive list of resources for all types of baby... More >
Thorndale, PA | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Children & Youth, Community, Crisis Support, Faith-Based, Women
Updated: 10/2/17 , Distance: 7.48 miles away
37. Heartland Hospice - Blue Bell, PA
Heartland Hospice provides care to people who have a life-limiting illness of 6 months or less. Services include a team approach to care provided by Registered Nurses, Physicians, Chaplains, Social... More >
Blue Bell, PA | ( 12 reviews)
Interest Areas: Crisis Support, Health & Medicine, Seniors, Veterans & Military Families, Women
Updated: 3/7/14
38. HOME AID FOR AFRICA
HomeAID for Africa is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that raises money through the creation and sale of finely crafted items made by our members, through fundraising events, and through... (39.96431,-75.60766) More >
Interest Areas: Arts & Culture, Children & Youth, Health & Medicine, International, Women
39. HPL 501C3 INSTITUTE
Chronic Pain can be debilitating. Although often unrelated to a medical condition, the persistent pain is perceived, real, persistent, and can be seen in the MRI. Pain can be visceral or deeply... More >
DOUGLASSVILLE, PA | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Community, Health & Medicine, People with Disabilities, Seniors, Women
40. ILEAP4 INC
iLEAP4 provides individuals with resources to heal and rebuild their lives. In addition, provides monthly awareness and prevention workshops and well as an annual conference. More >
Claymont, DE | ( No Reviews)
Interest Areas: Children & Youth, Community, Faith-Based, Homeless & Housing, Women
Updated: 1/4/20 , Distance: 18.46 miles away
<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >>


text:
How an Ordinary Case Becomes a Great Case
By Michael Dorf
My most recent Verdict column compares the cert denials in the same-sex marriage cases to the series of per curiam decisions issued by the SCOTUS after Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Court summarily affirmed the lower court decisions that invalidated segregated facilities in every possible context, even though Brown itself arguably applied only to public education. After some analysis, I conclude that the comparison shows that perhaps United States v. Windsor (the DOMA case) was not a mere half-step as most observers thought at the time, but was, in retrospect, a great case.
The foregoing formulation raises the question of what makes a great case great. I don't have a good answer to that question. Indeed, I recognize that it's not a very well-formed question. Any criteria for "greatness" will be mostly stipulative, even if what we mean by great is something like "very important." Important for whom? Measured how? Etc. Nonetheless, I think that, at least at the extremes, there would be widespread consensus about what cases are great and what cases are not so important. The point I want to make here is a generalization of the point I make in the column: The status of a cases as great may not be apparent when it is decided.
Marbury v. Madison is a leading example. Today, Marbury is the Ur-case of the constitutional law course, because it establishes the Supreme Court's power of judicial review of acts of Congress. But in its day, Marbury was important, if at all, chiefly for two other reasons: (1) It presented the question whether the Supreme Court could (or would) issue an order to the President (or Secretary of State), and if so, whether the Administration would comply; and (2) the drama in Marbury was connected to the much more important question of the power of Congress (in the Judiciary Act of 1802) to repeal a law creating federal judgeships. The Court's jurisdictional holding ducked question (1), and the Court's capitulation to Congress in Stuart v. Laird gave the Jeffersonian Republicans their victory. Accordingly, although the strong language in Marbury frustrated Jefferson, the resolution of the case was not seen as important. Only later, as the power of judicial review became more important, did Marbury retroactively take on the character of a great case.
More broadly, in the traditional common-law view, the greatness or lack of greatness of a case inevitably emerges over time. Lincoln had something like this phenomenon in mind when he said of Dred Scott v. Sandford, in his first Inaugural, "that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases." Lincoln made that point as part of a broader argument against judicial exclusivity in constitutional interpretation, but putting aside questions about the proper scope of "popular constitutionalism," Lincoln's views with respect to precedent were quite ordinary, reflecting the standard view of precedent in a common-law system: the scope of a precedent is not clear until subsequent cases follow it, extend it, fail to follow it, or change it.
The occasional tendency of modern case law towards rule-ness--such that, as Fred Schauer has observed, precedents are sometimes written and then read as if they were statutes--cuts against the traditional common-law view. It's worth noting here (if only to flag for what might be a follow-up post some day) that Justice Scalia's idea that the rule of law requires rules is in some considerable tension with traditional common-law practices (as Justice Scalia has himself sometimes noted, as in his criticial discussion of the common law in A Matter of Interpretation). My broader point is that, taking the long view, there's nothing especially new or unlawyerly about the SCOTUS treating a case (here Windsor) as establishing a much broader proposition than it was thought to establish at the time.
I'll close with one more example. In modern case law and in constitutional law casebooks, Yick Wo v. Hopkins is typically cited as establishing the proposition that a law that is administered in a manner that discriminates on the basis of race (or national origin) denies equal protection as applied. However, while there is some language in the case that gestures vaguely in that direction, it reads much more like what would today be called a procedural due process decision: the fundamental flaw on which the Court fixated was the arbitrary discretion conferred on government officials to permit (or refuse to permit) the operation of a laundry. That doesn't mean that modern courts and commentators are wrong to cite Yick Wo for the proposition that discriminatory application violates equal protection. The meaning of the case changed over time.
In short, it shouldn't be surprising that the meaning of Windsor appears to have changed since it was decided. What is surprising is how quickly that happened.
Posted by Michael C. Dorf at 7:00 AM
David Ricardo said...
Interesting commentary, and a nice response correcting those of us who thought that Windsor was too narrowly decided, that maybe Windsor was not what it seemed to be at the time.
With respect to whether or not a case is 'great' it might be helpful to divide cases into one of three categories.
1. Decisions which impact only the parties involved or a small number of similar parties. A large number of Supreme Court decisions fall into this category, such as tax cases and others which leave the vast majority of us unaffected and unaware of.
2. Decisions which impact not only the parties involved but a class of persons where that class is fairly large.
3. Decisions which not only affect the parties involved and not only affect a class of parties that is large in number but cases which are transformational as far as society is concerned.
Decisions that fall into category three could be called what Mr. Dorf describes as 'great cases'. As he says, Brown is certainly an excellent example. The decision didn't just end segregation in Topeka schools, it didn't just end legal segregation in schools nationwide, it resulted in the end (over time) of legal segregation and apartheid in America. Gideon could be called great because it didn't just result in a new trial for Gideon but in a transformation of the criminal justice system.
Griswold may be a case that is similar to Windsor. The impact of Griswold has been huge and far greater than it was probably imagined at the time of the decision. It is a great case. It was thought by many of us that Windsor fell into category two above which made it an important case but not a great one, the great case being the one that would end state bans on SSM. But Mr. Dorf has a strong and compelling argument that Windsor will be a category three case, a great one that does transform the nation.
Shag from Brookline said...
Regarding Marbury v. Madison, Constitutional Commentary a few years back had a 200 year retrospective of that decision. Jack Balkin and Sandy Levinson had an extensive article on the "facts" in Marbury most of which were not referenced in the decision as reported. If, for example, the reported "facts" had referenced the role of CJ Marshall as a cabinet officer who failed to take certain steps concerning delivery of commissions, might there have been a discussion of possible conflicts of interest on Marshall's part? Also, the case could have been disposed of by the Court without getting into the possibility of James Madison acting illegally in not delivering the commissions that Marshall had himself failed to do. Marbury was an early political decision by the Court, particularly in asserting its powers with the suggestion of judicial supremacy over the Executive and Congress in interpreting the Constitution.
the meaning of Windsor appears to have changed
I question the framing at least somewhat. At least, we need to be careful not to misunderstand.
Did "most observers" not think that -- whatever the immediate ruling -- that the ruling did not in all likelihood, if when somewhat a question, signal what Scalia said?
Yes, it was a "half-step" to the degree the matter at hand was a half-step. The issue wasn't SSM across the board. It was about federal non-recognition of where it already was in place.
It's not the courts' job when deciding A "case" or "controversy" to broadly decide the question. The USSC in Brown didn't have to say ALL types of race based discrimination were wrong & should not have.
That went far beyond what was at issue (likewise, where the right to SSM was more directly at issue, if the Court found they had no jurisdiction, it would be blatant activist dicta to decide the merits).
But, how a case decided can open up the possibility for more. This is where the "half-step" or "tipping point" comes in. In that sense, in hindsight (though I would argue a majority realized this at the time) Windsor etc. can become "great" cases.
That is, later courts build off the opening that the opinion provides. And, since Windsor rested on equal protection arguments that treated same sex couples as in a similar situation as other married couples, this didn't really take much "change."
More a sort of expansion on its shoulders. Windsor was seen by many as a landmark when it was decided. I think perhaps a better example might be Griswold, which was seen as a simple case dealing with an outlier anti-contraception law. Some saw the potential. But, its true greatness would come in time, including by expansive readings by lower courts.
Anyway, I think the general remarks sound including the complications of mixing a "common law" system with one in which the USSC is understood as important largely to in effect set "rules" esp. with its narrow docket.
After my earlier comment, I recalled that Sandy Levinson no longer teaches Marbury in his ConLaw course. With Googling, I I located Sandy's "Reply Why I Still Won't Teach Marbury (Except in a Seminar)" 63 Journal of Constitutional Law p.p. 588-603, Mar. 2004. This "Reply" was to Prof. Eric J. Segall, responding to an earlier article by Sandy on this subject. Sandy's "Reply" is very meaty, including on judicial supremacy and judicial review. Sandy refers to his " ... friend and colleague Jack Balkin, who wrote a 'dissent' appended to [Sandy's] original article explaining that is the very protean nature of Marbury, that it can be made to stand for practically anything one wants, that makes it worth teaching." FN. 5. Jack's "dissent " calls for an article on the various ways Marbury has been so used over the years by the Court (and lower courts) and Constitutional scholars.
Sam Rickless said...
I wonder whether Yick Wo is best read in a third way. (Perhaps you will tell me that the way I am about to suggest reduces to one of the other two ways you mention, but I would need to be convinced.) The two ways you mention are these:
1. A law that is administered in a manner that discriminates on the basis of race (or national origin) denies equal protection as applied.
2. Arbitrary discretion in the application of a law violates procedural due process.
But there is a third option:
3. A law that is facially neutral but administered unjustly denies equal protection as applied.
The nice thing about (3) is that, as a principle, it covers and explains both (1) and (2). Administration of a law that reveals hostility to members of a race or nationality purely on grounds of the race or nationality is unjust: this is because race and nationality are characteristics that bear no rational relation to desert with respect to benefits and burdens of social cooperation. But a law that leaves too much in the way of arbitrary discretion with respect to its implementation is also unjust. Justice requires government by laws, and not by human beings, as the decision emphasizes.
I don't see why we need to think that the meaning of the case gads changed over time. It's just that after Yick Wo, courts focused on (1) far more than on (3), perhaps for contingent reasons having to do with the fact that fewer laws leaving a great deal of discretion to its implementers were being passed.
Evin Terna said...
The impact of Griswold has been huge and far greater than it was probably imagined at the time of the decision. It is a great case. It was thought by many of us that Windsor fell into category two above which made it an important case but not a great one, the great case being the one that would end state bans on SSM. But Mr. Dorf has a strong and compelling argument that Windsor will be a category three case, a great one that does transform the nation. Buy FIFA Coins
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Evan Kirtses, dubbed by Cosmopolitan Magazine the hottest bachelor in Delaware in 2011, lives at upscale Residences at Justison Landing on the Wilmington Riverfront.
Until last month, he drove to 20 minutes to Whole Foods in Glen Mills, Pa., whenever he needed fresh vegetables. So did some of his neighbors.
Now, Kirtses walks a few blocks to Produce Express, his family's newest business at 340 South Market St.
While the Kirtseses don't want to compare it to the Swedesboro, N.J.-based Produce Junction chain, the store they opened on March 8 has a somewhat similar mission: Deliver fresh fruits and vegetables at low prices.
One difference: the market offers a large selection of gourmet Mediterranean foods, in addition to produce and flowers.
Another difference: The store features an attractive tasting station where foodie-staffers share samples and explain what's what in the fruit and cheese arena.
From frozen spinach pies to specialty oils, their Greek inventory is so large that they offered a freemium to members of the Greek community to woo them to their soft opening.
Kirtses, 34, vice president of P.K.'s Foods, the family's centerpiece business, orders all the produce for the new venture with the locavores in mind.
Fresh produce is trending up with $61 billion in annual sales nationally, according to the Arlington, Va.–based Food Marketing Institute, and a grocery basket with fresh produce averages nearly $30 more than one without it.
"They built the towers at the riverfront and now they're building more units, so we figured there will be more demand for fresh produce," said P.K.'s Founder Pete Kirtses, who began thinking about a fresh produce business seven years ago.
Their business niche is simple: They already deal directly with local farmers in the summer and California farmers in winter for their P.K.'s Foods business. They can buy for Produce Express, too, and cut out the middleman.
The family business has an added advantage compared to competitors: almost zero spoilage. If produce doesn't sell in a couple days, they replace it and rotate the days-old product back into their wholesale business.
Until Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware opened a 70,000-square-foot supermarket at 501 S. Walnut St. in 2008, the area immediately surrounding the riverfront had no walkable supermarkets.
Produce Express offers fenced parking practically in the shadow of the luxury River Tower, but the Kirtseses know their stretch of the waterfront can be a hard sell to consumers in search of kale and arugula.
The family also owns Celebrations, a catering company that shares the same lot as Produce Express.