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Archive for Mary Shelley
It's Vlad, Dad!
Posted in FILM with tags Antony Hopkins, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dr Polidori, Gary Oldman, keanu Reeves, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Mary shelley's Frankenstein, Michael Ballhaus, Sadie Frost, Sting, The Police, The Vampyre, Tia Maria, Varney the Vampire, Winona Ryder, Wojciech Kilar on February 10, 2018 by dcairns
Huzzah! We're back in the room with Uncle Francis Ford Coppola, director of BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, watching BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA with the director of it. Slip into something fuchsia and join Fiona and I (and Uncle Francis) on this adventure!
So, Mary Shelley was at that time not much older than seventeen
So, uh, eighteen?
We now get a garbled explanation of how Lord Byron inspired Mary Shelley to write "the articulate monster Frankenstein," a theory new to me but which does seem to enfold the classic error of naming the monster Frankenstein rather than the creator. And this man produced Francis Ford Coppola's Kenneth Branagh's MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN.
But Dr. Polidori who was probably in love with Lord Byron in a way that was unspeakable
HAHAHA but now Uncle Francis garbles Polidori's The Vampyre, conflating it with the unrelated penny dreadful VARNEY THE VAMPIRE.
a figure who, by his attractiveness, sucks the life, sucks the blood out of you, so he cast Byron in his mind as the vampire. So in a way both our famous monsters the monster Frankenstein and the vampire Dracula, are both inspired by Lord Byron.
No no no, none of that is true.
"Sadie looks like shit with red hair," says Fiona, who is more than usually follicle-obsessed right now. "OK, maybe not shit. But it doesn't suit her."
Thinking back on this movie, it wasn't terribly enjoyable experience for me.
Fancy dissolves on Absinthe pouring.
"That is such a Tia-Maria-commercial dissolve," remarks Fiona, scornfully. But in fact, the classic Tia Maria ads starring Iman relied mainly on hard cuts. I think it's Gordon's Gin she's think of. Or possibly Castrol GTX. At any rate, this is indeed the one bit of the film that really looks like an ad for something (we're about to get a bit that looks like a music video) — as more and more of our visual language is co-opted by salesmen, is it going to get harder for filmmakers dedicated to the quest for cinematic beauty to avoid this? Perhaps not… because Madison Avenue isn't watching Carl Dreyer, and great cinema is informed by substance and meaning and reality as well as photogenics. This sequence lapses into the language of ad-land precisely because it has no purpose other than to promote absinthe. Coppola's business-man head and wine-grower's sensibility are seeping in.
Roman did such beautiful effects work in it to weave the legendary and somewhat magical effects of the drink absinthe which was of course made illegal around this time or a little later, primarily because it was the first aperitif that was made out of something other than grapes
Uncle Francis, I believe, can be trusted on the subject of drink. So I'm grateful for this history lesson. (Fiona checks his various absinthe anecdotes on Wikipedia and he's confirmed correct.)
and really present Dracula as a romantic figure
"Let's just show him crying, that'll help," says Fiona.
"And sweating," I add.
I think this movie was thought of many different ways, but among the most enthusiastic people who seem to have enjoyed the film are women, it's the nature of the love story, I mean everyone at some point has been in love with someone who's bad for them. Certainly being in love with Dracula would fit that description [laughs].
Fiona points out that Uncle Francis DOES have a sense of humour and can laugh at himself. He doesn't need me.
Then we get another crack about Winona not being willing to push herself enough.
This is definitely an homage to Cocteau, but a lovely image, that he takes her tears and makes them into diamonds, every man would like to do that if he makes the woman he loves cry.
Maybe it could work as an excuse? "I swear, I was just trynna make diamonds come out of your eyes!"
Keanu is STILL a prisoner in Sitting-Down-Dracula Castle. But Coppola is finally talking about Wojciech Kilar's score. He originally wanted Witold Lutoslawski: "Young man, do you know how many hours it takes me to write one minute of music?"
The implication that at that level of handmade music it's incredibly time-consuming
To listen to or to compose? I think he lucked out with Kilar.
He wrote three or at the most four cues, a love theme, a kind of initial, very dramatic theme, and then a third theme.
Beautifully evoked there. I can almost hear them, especially the third one.
And that was all he gave me.
Coppola says they only had these three tracks and they had to mix them differently in order to not just have them repeat endlessly. Uncle Fran puts this down to classical music being so time-consuming and Kilar being of that world, but WK had already done film scores for Kieslowski… So I think maybe he was just taking the piss, defrauding Hollywood by doing the minimum work for a presumably generous fee. But he wrote GREAT themes.
(Later, I will realise that I was so fascinated by this disquisition that I missed the entirety of Keanu Harker's escape from Sitting-Down Dracula Castle.)
"Winona's got such adorable ears," says Fiona. A shame she won't push herself. She just falls back on her ears.
Funny how FFC is always full of praise for Sadie Frost's sexiness, but can't resist slapping Winona down for her (if anything, superior) performance.
She's sorta sexy with those cute little baby vampire teeth.
She puts me in mind of a young Celine Dione.
Discourse on Hopkins' aversion to long rehearsals, or any rehearsal at all. Coppola admits the value of spontaneity.
"This is like the video for Wrapped Around Your Finger." [by The Police] says Fiona, accurately.
"I never much liked the idea for 'Wrapped Around Your Finger.' No, I was kind of pissed off about that one. I've never been much of a fan of that song, actually. Sting got to shoot his part last in that video and made a meal of knocking all the candles out. Fuck him." – Andy Summers [The Police]
These sequence with the candles was really the brainchild of Michael Ballhaus, who was really a wonderful man, and trying very hard to get with what he understood ultimately was a kind of far-out style in which almost anything goes, and I think if I'm correct, he'd got the idea of a scene where there were just candles and what have you.
Poor Michael.
I don't want to dwell on Antony Hopkins' performance too much. I think his accent is good, he can do throwaway with it, which Keanu can't. But the note of music hall is not helpful to this picture.
You could say I encouraged him to be a bit over the top, but the whole movie is over the top, so what's over the top?
Antony Hopkins is.
You know, I'm even beginning to think of an era in which I make movies not only in which you tend to hold closer to your vest, right, which is to say you don't show anyone the script and you don't ask anyone's opinion but maybe even one day you don't even show the film to anyone. Maybe you just make it and you look at it and you say "okay" and then you put it in a closet drawer and you forget it.
Man's mad.
All you need to do that is a lot of money.
Yeah, right, so there's absolutely no downside because WHAAAAAAT
Nights at the Villa Deodati #4: Pull Every Remaining Lever
Posted in FILM with tags Brian Aldiss, Bridget Fonda, Carl Davis, Frankenstein, Frankenstein Unbound, FX Feeney, Jason Patric, John Hurt, Mary Shelley, Michael Hutchence, Myriam Cyr, Nick Brimble, Nick Dudman, Raul Julia, Roger Corman, The Asphyx, The Billion-Year Spree, The Phantom of the Opera, Von Richthofen and Brown on February 17, 2016 by dcairns
Whenever I have a favourite line in a movie, it always turns out not to be in the movie at all. The intertitle "Heat! Sudden, intense heat!" which I swear I read when PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Lon Chaney version) showed at Edinburgh Film Fest, with accompaniment by Carl Davis, does not appear in any copy of the film I've seen since. This is disappointing. I'm afraid to see THE ASPHYX again in case Robert Stephens doesn't actually utter the words "Was the smudge trying to warn Clive of danger?" which I have always regarded as the apogee of mankind's poetic achievement. Mind you, it would be pretty good if it turned out I was responsible for it myself.
And so to Roger Corman's FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND, in which John Hurt does not actually say, as my brain told me he did, "Pull all remaining levers!" Instead, Raul Julia says "Pull every remaining lever!" which I feel is not quite as good.
ROGER CORMAN'S F.U., as we must abbreviate it, is the mighty Roger Corman's last directorial outing to date — it apparently came about when a studio did some audience testing and found that a lot of people would go and see something called ROGER CORMAN'S FRANKENSTEIN. So they approached the Great Man and asked him if he would care to make a film with that title. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't," he replied, with his characteristic old-school graciousness. But then somehow Brian Aldiss's novel came into his possession and he saw a way to make things interesting, and so the film got made because of a title that tested well, and ended up with a different title.
(I wonder what other titles they tested? ROGER CORMAN'S FRANKENSTEIN seems really specific. Did they also tally the scores for GEORGE ROMERO'S MADAME BOVARY, PETER WEIR'S MABINOGION, HANS JURGEN SYBERBERG'S JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH?)
Aldiss, who also wrote the story that became the Spielberg-Kubrick A.I., seems to have intended his novel as a philosophical essay wrapped inside a sci-fi yarn, following on from his influential study of the genre, The Billion-Year Spree, in which he put forward a compelling case for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as the first true science fiction novel (as well as "the best book ever written by a teenager"). So, he folds Shelley's life into the world of her creations, which perhaps made more sense on the page than it does in the movie — without a continual narration, John Hurt's time-travelling scientist can't share with us whether or not he's puzzled by the fact that Frankenstein and his creature appear to be simultaneously characters in a novel and a real person (Raul Julia! Nick Brimble?). This makes Hurt a hard character to relate to — he has nobody really to talk to, although in fact his computerized car, who doesn't have a name but whom I will call Lady Knight Rider, might have made a handy outlet for exposition.
It's also kind of hard to relate to him as he's building a super-weapon, although he seems to be aiming for sympathy when he says he wanted to invent a weapon that wouldn't destroy the world. I'm not sure that proviso qualifies you for the Nobel Peace Prize, John.
Corman wrote the script with F.X. Feeney (should've hired a proper writer, not a critic — oh wait, that would rule me out) but seems curiously disengaged from the whole experience. His Damascene moment on VON RICHTHOFEN AND BROWN, nineteen years earlier, in which he realised with a shock that he would far rather go to the beach than go to the set and complete another day's filming, doesn't seem to have worn off. The actors seem left to their own devices (or maybe confused by unfocussed direction?) and the filming is perfectly competent but never shows any excitement. The score by Carl Davis — see how this piece is folding in on itself like a time vortex?) — flattens things out further. Davis is a great silent accompanist, but seems unable to capture the mood of a scene, or opts for the least dramatic possible mood. The score might sound quite powerful in isolation, but laid over the film it seems to nullify.
Nick Brimble is a really dreadful monster (on the wrong sense of the word "dreadful"), in a fairly dreadful makeup (those big extra thumbs! Did Frankenstein put his hands on the wrong wrists? The discs in his head!). His first line is "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!", a great piece of what I would call muffled exposition, in which a line sounds like it's inserted for the audience's benefit rather than something a character would say, but still doesn't tell us anything helpful. The talented Nick Dudman did the makeup, but I'd say he's tried to incorporate too many ideas. And half of them are very terrible ideas.
As for the Byron/Shelley menage, the movie doesn't bother with Dr Polidori or Claire Clairmont (though GOTHIC's C.C., Myriam Cyr, appears as a futuristic scientist), but gives us Jason Patric as Byron, Michael Hutchence as Shelley, and Bridget Fonda as Mary. Patric might have gotten away with his arch manner, but Hutchence has evidently decided that High Camp is the way forward for romantic poets, and assumes an unhelpful effete manner. These fops have nothing to do anyway, and neither in any real sense does Fonda, but she at least has a bit more screen time. She sounds rather American, as do half the bit players (the good ones — the Brits shipped in to the Italian locations are dreadful), but like the yanks in HAUNTED SUMMER she does have that zesty, unselfconscious quality that one admires in American acting.
VAGINA BOREALIS
At the one hour mark, a Bride is created, using technology borrowed from BACK TO THE FUTURE — Hurt hooks Lady Knight Rider, who has Delorean style slide-up doors, to a Special Apparatus and waits for lightning to strike a church tower. All it needs is a bit of Huey Lewis. Somehow Hurt blasts the whole building into the future using a laser (Lady Knight Rider turns out to have a built-in laser) and the characters start killing each other for no reason.
I would welcome a movie in which Raul Julia's Disco Frankenstein meets Frank Langella's Disco Dracula.
When I first saw this, there was a bit where Hurt expresses uncertainty about when this latest time warp has brought him, and I got very excited. Of course, I thought, they've been zapped into primordial times and the monster and his mate will become Adam and Eve, breeding and perhaps mating with neanderthals and thus father the human race! Frankenstein created us all! And himself! John Hurt: temporal ourobouros! FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND.
But no: it's a wintry apocalyptic future. Hurt and the monster have a big fight in a bunker full of lasers, the monster rips his own arm off and hits Hurt with it, Hurt sticks a pipe in him, and then lasers him to death. Then he gets a Fu Manchu-style post-mortem monologue in which he mysteriously claims to be unbound. Hurt heads off for a frozen futuristic city, suggestive of LOGAN'S RUN or QUINTET or, come to think of it, A.I. No epic philosophical issues are implied at all. No learning. No hugging.
I would like Roger Corman to make something else, because I don't really think his final F.U. is good enough. If he makes something else, I would like him to star in it himself, and just tell stories, in his wonderful purring voice, about his amazing career and the amazing people he's known. It can be a very, very long film, if he likes.
Nights at the Villa Deodati #2: Phantasmagoria
Posted in FILM with tags Crimes of Passion, Gabriel Byrne, Gothic, Haunted Summer, Julian Sands, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Myriam Cyr, Natasha Richardson, Percy Shelley, Philip Anglim, Stephen Volk, Thomas Dolby, Timothy Spall on February 13, 2016 by dcairns
I saw GOTHIC at the Cameo Cinema on its first release in 1986. I went alone. I watched alone — I don't remember another soul being there, though I suppose there must have been somebody else in the audience. If Messrs. Golan & Globus had witnessed that matinée, they might have thought twice about bankrolling Ivan Passer's HAUNTED SUMMER, which violated the law discovered by his fellow Czech filmmaker Milos Forman on VALMONT: "Never make a movie that somebody else has just made."
In HAUNTED SUMMER, screenwriter Lewis John Carlino "solved" the problem of the fact that nothing much is known to have actually happened during the summer when Mary Shelley hatched the idea for Frankenstein by writing a historically faithful script in which nothing much happens. In GOTHIC, Stephen Volk, a writer who has shown an admirable devotion to the fantastique throughout his distinguished career, tackles the same problem in a number of ways —
He folds into the story the characters' backstories, so that dramatic events from their pasts can inform the action. Byron's incestuous love for his sister and, crucially, the death of Mary's first baby, are introduced via dialogue, some of it a bit awkwardly expository, and then can be played out in the ensuing psychodrama. Whatever the merits of the execution, the idea is a masterstroke, creating a human drama behind the authorial act which is our prime reason for being here — it's unbelievable that the other movies on the subject neglect to do this.
He also incorporates glimpses of the characters' tragic futures, seen in psychedelic visions. This is also much more satisfying than HAUNTED SUMMER's wrap-up, where a flurry of tragic deaths is dispensed with in a few titles at the end, leaving the odd impression that we've been watching the wrong scenes from the protagonists' lives.
By plunging the audience into the drug-induced paranoia of a frenzied laudanum party, Volk concocts a supernatural plotline in which a kind of séance seemingly unleashes all manner of hellspawn. I don't think this is fully developed in narrative terms, perhaps because the barely-glimpsed monster is given short shrift compared to all the onscreen psychotronics, but it certainly gives rise to lots of good images.
Russell was returning to British cinema after an interesting American adventure which self-destructed with the barely-released CRIMES OF PASSION, from which the MPPAA cut around 40 mins ("They cut everything to do with art," observed Ken.) I now look rather affectionately upon this penultimate phase of his career — I still can't get on with the home video works that followed it, but I'll speak up on behalf of LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, SALOME'S LAST DANCE, and GOTHIC. Not so keen on THE RAINBOW, alas.
Russell was also giving interviews in which he extolled the virtues of the fast forward, saying he'd enjoyed RUMBLE FISH but that he'd watched it at double speed, which improved it. GOTHIC feels a bit like the script is on fast-forward, as if Russell couldn't wait to get to the leaches and severed heads, and couldn't be bothered allowing any of the characters to start breathing as human beings. A talented cast, plus Julian Sands, are left gasping for air with unformed lungs like poor Mary's premature baby. They are ~
The late, lamented Natasha Richardson. Her decision to give Mary a Scottish accent is surprising — Mary spent maybe a year and a half in Scotland, max. But alone among the cast she establishes a baseline of credibility — she doesn't get space to develop it, but she's always believable, even when required to disgorge implausible amounts of exposition.
Julian Sands. Sands is good in some stuff. Not here. His Percy Bysshe Shelley alternates between acting as if he's SHOUTING, while speaking at normal volume, and drawing the edges of his mouth as far back as possible, like a monkey in a wind tunnel, or a man attempting to eat a Wagon Wheel biscuit in one go. He's supposed to become hysterical, but he's already hysterical, and in the wrong sense of the word. Bysshe Bash Bosh.
Gabriel Byrne. Naturally Byronic, but unimpressive stripped to the waist, incipient moobs aquiver. Suffers a bit from having Every Famous Thing Byron Ever Said as dialogue. Next to Sands he sounds like a genius though.
Timothy Spall. Knows he's in a Ken Russell film, so is playing it like Murray Melvin in THE DEVILS, but an MM who has been mysteriously inflated with methane.
Myriam Cyr. The least-known one, and the most memorable, with her huge eyeballs. One of a harem of Russell lovelies who only made one indelible impression (Alita Naughton, Imogen Millais-Scott). Her sparse other credits include FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND and FRANKENSTEIN AND ME. The woman's clearly obsessed.
Every version of this story seems to feature one surprise unknown. In HAUNTED SUMMER it was Philip Anglim, whom we'd never seen before. At his first closeup, Fiona cruelly and hilariously remarked "No." She was already smitten with Stoltz as Shelley. Later she admitted Anglim was pretty damn good. The best of the Byronic batch, actually.
"You're not allowed to criticise the score," said Fiona, a Thomas Dolby fan from way back. After five minutes, she was criticising it, or at any rate saying "The score is a disaster." When the movie is prematurely hysterical, the score is a particular problem. Russell has lost his patience as a filmmaker, and patience is a form of courage — believing you can make the audience wait for something. So the movie isn't scary, despite throwing everything at us. It's frequently freaky, though.
The last act is where it all kicks in and starts working. Since the visual stuff works better than the talking headcases, it would be easy to give Russell all the credit, but he was careful to praise Volk's script for the fact that it served up delicious images, more valuable than words. So Russell's hectic tempo is responsible for some of the apparent writing flaws, and Volk's visceral writing deserves some of the credit for the film's feast of imagery. Mary Shelley in a timewarp, glimpsing the future, encapsulates the premise of FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND in five minutes better than that movie manages in its whole runtime.
My favourite images —
Ken recreates his beloved Busby Berkeley's Lullaby of Broadway sequence, only with a skull instead of Wini Shaw.
A bit of T & eye. Not frightening. But bizarre. (see top)
A simple closeup, utterly beautiful and more haunting than anything else we've seen.
To Russell, the cardinal sin was to bore, and on that basis, GOTHIC wins the Battle of the Byrons. But read on…


Glass plaques are becoming an increasingly popular gift. We offer a vast array of very classy plaques to express your thoughts and feelings.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
We may not always value what you strive to do each day; We may not listen to your words or care what you might say; One day, we'll know that all you gave can take us very far; You opened up our minds to learn and made us who we are.
A teacher takes a hand, opens the mind and touches the heart.
Our family is a circle of strength and love. With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love. Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger.
Within these walls, we share our love and strive to do Thy will; at times we falter in our steps but You are with us still; Your guiding light has shown the way and given us so much; God, bless our home and keep us strong; we need Your healing touch.
A mother is a savior, a special friend as well, someone you can talk to, someone you can tell, she listens to your problems, never lets you down, soothes you with her smile through your ups and downs, one thing is certain in my mind I am sure, you are the best mother of all, and I love you more and more.
You're always there to help no matter what life brings; to laugh with me, to be proud of me, and share all the happy things. But even more importantly you're there when plans go wrong; to help me work things out when disappointments come along. And so I want to thank you, Mom, and tell you lovingly; you are the best thing life has given to me!
You care for us when we are ill, You always make us smile; You always have a cheerful word, That makes the day worth while; You're never very far away, We hold each memory near; Wherever we may go in life, We love you, Mother dear.
I know that everyone thinks, their mother is the best; Well let me just inform them all, that I'm the one who's blessed; There's no other mom like you, of that I am quite sure; For no matter what the pain, you always have the cure.
A friend knows the song in your heart and can sing it back when you have forgotten the words.
Her arms are always open wide, to welcome you with love; Her smile is brighter than the stars, that sparkle high above; She listens without judgment, she takes the time to share; God, bless this dear Grandma, and hold her in your care.
You're such a special daughter, You mean the world to me; The day you first lay in my arms, You made my life complete; I will always love you, For forever and a day; you're the meaning in my life, And precious you will stay.
The will of God will never lead you where the will of God cannot keep you.


text:
Q: MusicBrainz Picard: How to fill only certain tags, sort into least albums, and "disallow" multi-artist albums Here is what I want:

*

*Fill only: Genre, Date (As the original release), and Album

*Sort into the least amount of albums

*Don't use albums with multiple/various artists

The artist and title tags are already filled, so I really don't need audio fingerprints or anything like that - just fetch the info, sort, fill. My music collection is not as big as others, but it is a daunting task to do one by one.
If this question has been asked and answered, I'm sorry. My Google fu isn't very good :-p
P.S.: I would prefer the date to be formatted like "m/d/yyyy" instead of "yyyy-mm-dd"

A: Picard should fill in missing tags, but I am not sure if you can explicitly set which fields to save.
I am currently using this file naming scheme:

$if2(%grouping%,%genre%)/$if($eq(%albumartist%,Various Artists),%artist%,%albumartist%)/$if(%originaldate%,$left(%originaldate%,4)) $if($gt(%totaldiscs%,1),%discnumber%-,)$if($ne(%albumartist%,),$num(%tracknumber%,2) ,)%title%

To explain:

*

*the first path created looks at grouping tag. If it is empty, genre will be used.

*the second path will albumartist that is "Various Artists" and use artist instead. Otherwise, use albumartist

*Third path is original release date of song (year only) plus the default disc number, track number, and song title.

This thread may help for your specific Picard date formatting.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Opera Kiel presents Verdi`s late masterpiece in a conclusive and unusual concept…Nightmare-like images and insane visions, reality and fantasies…psychological interpretation…psychodellically gleaming flowers…surrealistic costumes…A long, respectful silence between the orchestra´s last tone and the enthusiastic applause of the audience are proof for a more than successful production."
"In her perfectly original interpretation Inga Levant shows how far a production can go without violating the piece.
(…) Ovations from an enthusiastic premiere´s audience."


text:
#include "sd_errorReport.h"
#include "sd_misc.h"
#include "os_heap.h"
#include "os_report.h"

sd_errorReport
sd_errorReportNew (
    c_ulong       errorNumber,
    const c_char *message,
    const c_char *location)
{
    sd_errorReport report;
    report = os_malloc(C_SIZEOF(sd_errorReport));
    report->errorNumber = errorNumber;
    report->message     = sd_stringDup(message);
    report->location    = sd_stringDup(location);
    return report;
}

void
sd_errorReportFree (
    sd_errorReport report)
{
    if ( report ) {
        if ( report->message ) {
            os_free(report->message);
        }

        if ( report->location ) {
            os_free(report->location);
        }

        os_free(report);
    }
}

void
sd_errorReportFlush (
    sd_errorReport report)
{
    if ( report ) {
        if ( report->message ) {
            if ( report->location ) {
                OS_REPORT(OS_ERROR, "sd_errorReportFlush", 0,
                            "%s at %s", report->message, report->location);
            } else {
                OS_REPORT(OS_ERROR, "sd_errorReportFlush", 0,
                            "%s", report->message);
            }
        } else {
            OS_REPORT(OS_ERROR, "sd_errorReportFlush", 0,
                      "Invalid parameter: report->message == NULL");
        }
    } else {
        OS_REPORT(OS_ERROR, "sd_errorReportFlush", 0,
                  "Invalid parameter: report == NULL");
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Tag Archives: Legal drama
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell, Dan Gilroy, Denzel Washington, Drama, Justice, Law firm, Legal drama, Review
D: Dan Gilroy / 122m
Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong, Sam Gilroy, Tony Plana, DeRon Horton, Amari Cheatom
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (Washington) is the smarter half of a two-partner legal firm, the backroom brains of the outfit, and gladly so because he's not comfortable in the courtroom. He's something of a savant, and follows the rule of Law to the letter, even if everyone else around him doesn't. When his partner suffers a heart attack, Roman is thrust into the spotlight, but his court appearances don't go so well. It's something of a mixed blessing then, when his firm is wound down and he has to find a new job. But Roman doesn't have the social skills to keep himself from upsetting or annoying others, and it's only when one of his partner's ex-students (and very successful lawyer heading up his own firm) George Pierce (Farrell) gives him a job that Roman begins to find another place in the world for himself. Given cases to oversee, Roman does his best, but when he ruins a potentially good deal for one of his clients – one that could have prevented a tragedy – a combination of Roman's guilt and his loathing for the system he works within, leads him to make a decision that will have far-reaching consequences.
A movie that feels like its central character was written with Washington in mind, Roman J. Israel, Esq. does feature yet another notable performance from the man himself, but anyone rushing to see this should be forewarned: while Washington is as impressive as ever, and commands the screen whenever he's in a scene (which is pretty much all of them), the story that flits around him looking to settle into a comfortable groove, never quite achieves its aims and ambitions, leaving the movie looking and sounding important but upon closer inspection, lacking the shrewdness to make it work overall. Gilroy is a talented writer, but he juggles too many ideas and too many storylines with too little attention to detail. Whether Israel is battling against his own sense of justice, finding possible romance with NACP volunteer Maya (Ejogo), or antagonising the other lawyers in Pierce's firm, Gilroy never quite succeeds in making it all gel. The various storylines weave in and around each other without ever really connecting, and though Washington is a great choice to unite them all, in the end he's unable to lift the material out of its self-imposed doldrums.
There's a lot of talk about justice for all and changing the US judicial system for the better, but it's a hard sell when Gilroy has Israel abandon his principles because something he does leads to something horrible happening. It's less a loss of faith and more a chance to inject some much needed drama into a movie that up until then has ambled along quite smoothly but without much purpose. It also lends credence to the idea that Gilroy doesn't entirely know what to do with Roman, and his character arc suffers accordingly, with his loss of faith setting up a volte face that feels awkward and unconvincing. The same can be said for Pierce, a character who is hugely understanding and supportive of Roman one minute, and then hugely critical and despairing of him the next. Farrell plays him with a lot of charm and surprising sincerity, but has no way of anchoring the character or fleshing it out. Spare a thought for Ejogo, though, saddled with perhaps the worst of all female roles, that of the woman whose sole job it is to tell the lead male character how wonderful and inspiring he is at almost every turn. #HollywoodStillSoSexist anyone?
Rating: 5/10 – dull in stretches, and lacking dramatic focus, it's unsurprising to learn that Roman J. Israel, Esq. was trimmed by twelve minutes following its Toronto International Film Festival premiere; Washington is the movie's MVP, but without him it would be a long, slow trudge to the end, and a largely unrewarding one at that.
Misconduct (2016)
Al Pacino, Alice Eve, Anthony Hopkins, Blackmail, Crime, Drama, Fraud, Josh Duhamel, Lawsuits, Legal drama, Malin Akerman, Manhunt, Murder, Review, Shintaro Shimasawa, Thriller
D: Shintaro Shimasawa / 106m
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Alice Eve, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Malin Akerman, Byung-hun Lee, Julia Stiles, Glen Powell, Marcus Lyle Brown
Released as a Lionsgate Premiere (rough translation: not good enough to be shown in cinemas), Misconduct is an early contender for Worst Movie of 2016. It's ostensibly a thriller but veers off in so many different directions in an effort to be interesting that in the end it's just a jumbled mess. There's not even the germ of a good idea here, the script by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason resorting to cliché after cliché and line after line of awful dialogue in its efforts to appear somehow less than the sum of its parts (or the parts of its sum even).
It's a movie where everybody is up to no good. Sadly, the audience knows this right from the start, so any "revelations" or twists and turns have the effect of inducing a headache rather than any surprises. The storyline tries to be convoluted in an attempt to mystify anyone unfortunate enough to watch Misconduct, and the basic plot – Hopkins' pharmaceutical CO is accused of deliberately falsifying bad test results – struggles even to be relevant within the movie's own structure. Once a badly attached blackmail plot is added to the mix, it gives the movie carte blanche to be as stupid as it wants, a move it takes full advantage of.
As well as the blackmail plot – instigated by Hopkins' unbalanced girlfriend (played by Akerman) and involving Duhamel's ambitious attorney – Misconduct features a dire attempt at adding depth to two of the characters' lives, Duhamel and his moody, depressed wife Eve, by having them recovering from the loss of a child during pregnancy. Why this subplot is even present is a mystery the movie never answers, along with the presence of Lee as a corporate-sponsored assassin who for some inexplicable reason is dying from some unstated disease (again you have to ask yourself why any of this has been included).
There's more, but as the movie continues piling absurdity on top of absurdity, the unlucky viewer will find themselves wondering if this is intended more as a parody than a thriller, and will be laughing accordingly, but if it is then no one informed the cast, who struggle through scene after scene with resolutely straight faces and a grim determination to get through it all and reach the end with a degree of integrity still intact. Duhamel is a capable actor, but here he's as wooden as a fence post and spends most of his screen time looking petulant, or as if there's a bad smell under his nose (there is, and it's coming from the script). Matching him for petulance, and using staring off into space a lot as a character trait, Eve gives probably the worst performance of her career so far, as she tries to distance herself from everyone and everything connected with the movie.
Akerman is a poor femme fatale, her attempt to seduce Duhamel having all the allure of a drunken one-night stand with someone you hope doesn't give you their number the next morning. As mentioned above, Lee is the assassin who's close to death, and he sleepwalks through his role making supposedly "deep" comments and trying to appear above it all by refusing to acknowledge that this is one acting gig his agent should be apologising for profusely. And then there's Stiles, an actress who really should be given better roles than the one she has here, a Kidnap and Response expert who gets to shout at Hopkins a lot and look suitably badass (and that's basically it).
You get the picture: Misconduct has its fair share of bad performances to match its bad script and wayward direction – Shimasawa, making his first feature, gives an approximation of what a director should be doing – but then there's Hopkins and Pacino, two Oscar winners now content (like De Niro) to throw away their talent and make terrible movie after terrible movie. Hopkins has the larger amount of screen time, but phones in his performance, and falls back on the kind of aloof, manipulative, all-knowing characterisation he's played way too often in recent years. When you've got Hopkins in a movie and he's playing a powerful businessman you just know in advance that he's not going to be putting much effort in, and that's exactly the case here. Amazingly though, Pacino is worse, his law firm boss coming across as a pale imitation of his role in The Devil's Advocate (1997). He's also upstaged by his own hair, which in one scene, looks like the worst comb-back in history. Why either of them took on their roles is the one abiding mystery the movie cannot solve.
From starting out as a legal thriller – you get the idea the movie might just be about bringing Hopkins' fraudulent CO to justice, and the hunt for the evidence to prove his negligence – it soon descends into a welter of murder and violence and betrayal on all sides, as the script decides it needs to be more punchy than in its earlier scenes. It leads to one of the movie's more absurd scenes where Duhamel, having gouged his stomach escaping from the police, buys some glue in a convenience store and uses it to close his wound. And of course, he then runs around as if it had never happened. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
There is an attempt at providing a central murder mystery to keep the audience intrigued, but regular viewers of this kind of movie will spot the culprit from a mile off. But this is in keeping with the movie's inability to come up with anything new or unpredictable, and again, regular viewers of this kind of star-happy dross will have resigned themselves to the movie's inevitable outcome(s) long before they reach the end. The makers probably didn't intend the title Misconduct to be so relevant to its own content and execution, but in one respect they can be applauded: they made sure the movie certainly lived up to it.
Rating: 3/10 – with only its standard, by-the-numbers production effort propping it up in the ratings stakes, Misconduct is a woeful, massively disappointing movie that falls down each and every time it tries to be interesting; with awful dialogue and some truly atrocious performances, it's a movie that defies explanation as to its existence, and ranks as one of the worst "corporate/legal thrillers" in recent memory.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We all want to look and feel better, and it seems that we want to do this with as little effort as possible. With Perfect Garcinia, weight loss just got a little easier.
There are no medicinal ingredients in this weight loss supplement. As an all-natural product, you can embrace a newer, slimmer you. What Perfect Garcinia does is it acts as a fat burner and an appetite suppressant; this is a result of the hydroxycitric acid, or HCA, in the product that helps to melt away stubborn adipose or fatty tissue. You can now reduce your cholesterol, improve body metabolism, as well as increase your overall well-being, all at once!
Garcinia has functioned as an appetite suppressant in many countries for years. It is derived from a fruit that has not only helped in appetite suppression, but it has also boosted moods as well. HCA, one of the chief natural ingredients in garcinia, can therefore be seen as an all-natural way to help those who might be struggling with depression. After all, how many people who have had depression have gained weight at the same time? Garcinia can help with that, thanks to its all-natural benefits. By now, you've realized that you can achieve your health goals in a simpler manner than you ever thought.
It is believed that the substance improves serotonin levels in the brain, which may lead to signals being sent to the body that it is full and therefore satiated. This can help prevent situations where people are eating as a result of overwhelming emotional upset or other issues. While it may be marketed as the "ultimate" diet pill, what becomes clear is that garcinia, a dietary aid that is usually taken in pill form, relates to so much more than diet issues. With its clear benefits to mood, it is no wonder that there are bottles of the stuff flying off the shelves.
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It's clinically proven formula means that users can enjoy freedom from any questionable side effects that many other fat burning products may cause, such as jitters or increased anxiety. In fact, Perfect Garcinia is free of all side effects, and has the added benefit of potentially reducing cortisol levels in your body that could be the result of stress. Cortisol raises blood sugar levels, which in turn can promote weight gain. This, in turn, can lead people to feel sluggish and lazy, which also lead to fat deposits, which may have an impact on a person's overall outlook.
Because Perfect Garcinia can improve serotonin levels, the user's mood will definitely improve, and improved serotonin levels means that insomnia can ease off. With improved sleep comes improved mood. Improved sleep also means that those looking to burn fat can supplement their intake of Perfect Garcinia with regular exercise, as their energy levels will have improved between the improved sleep and their intake of this incredible all-natural supplement.
Where Can I Buy Perfect Garcinia?
from the manufacturers' official websites. In this case, your first step should start with Google or other popular search engines. Genuine Perfect Garcinia suppliers will definitely give you a chance of coming back by offering sufficient time for you to try a free sample product. It is only after testing the product and seeing how it works that you can decide to order and pay for it.
Perfect Garcinia is not only available on various supplier websites, but can be obtained from a number of popular online retailers like Amazon. In order for you to get any of your Garcinia products from Amazon, it is important for you to watch out for its availability, service terms then go ahead and add to cart by completing the provided customer purchase form. Considering that there are no third parties involved here, you can always rely on this kind of purchases.
How Long Should One Wait To See Remarkable Results with Perfect Garcinia?
According to proven studies, individuals using Perfect Garcinia supplements will tend to achieve results in different ways. This is attributed to the diverse programs and circumstances in each individual. However, customers should start realizing results within one week after using the weight loss supplement.
For those trying on the Perfect Garcinia product to cleanse their colons, results are likely to be visible even earlier. This is due to the immediate detoxifying effects on your system once you start using the product. To others, visible results may be delayed depending on their bodies' inability to respond quickly to drugs. But if used appropriately one should be able to achieve remarkable and reasonable results within a short time.
Does the Perfect Garcinia come with a Money-back guarantee?
The answer is a big YES! Try Perfect Garcinia out for 30 days. You'll feel healthier, both physically and mentally within 30 days. And if you don't see any positive changes, just let us know. We'll refund your full purchase price, no questions asked.
Where can I get Coupons for Perfect Garcinia?
Always lookout for coupons offered by Perfect Garcinia manufactures. You do not have to look elsewhere for these special deals as they are always available for free on the manufacturers' official website. Claim your offer to start enjoying all the benefits that come with these great offer coupons. To get started, you will be required to give your details by filling the customer portal form and using the provided information, the supplier will then send you the coupon.
Besides, the Perfect Garcinia special offer coupons can also be obtained from other sites that work in conjunction with the manufacturer to ensure the Perfect Garcinia products reach customers across the globe. Resellers like Amazon, for instance, work closely with manufacturers of this product to make available the special coupons top customers. However, you can learn more of these special coupons by visiting the manufacturer's website, social media networks like Google plus and Facebook and the retailers website. So keep watching for these special offers!
This supplement might go a long way towards helping users achieve their fitness goals sooner than they realize and achieve a whole new lifestyle. Perfect Garcinia helps users lose weight, feel mentally healthier and ready to achieve new challenges, and feel more intelligent as well. Because of the fog of laziness that many experience when they have increased fat on their bodies, the brain feels as though it has slowed down as well, which leads to a sense of feeling slow witted. Perfect Garcinia allows users to feel brighter and more active, so what could be better?


text:
Girl Online by Zoe Sugg
With Girl Online presents the author a beautifully written book. Zoe Sugg shows all the problems and defiance teenagers and young adults have to face in their daily life. In a refreshing and sometimes ironic and a bit sarcastic way, the protagonist Penny lets the reader be a part of her world. With a fresh and funny undertone, the reader can dive deep into the life, dreams, and hopes of a young girl. In a refreshing and sometimes ironic and a bit sarcastic way, the protagonist Penny lets the reader be a part of her world.
Girl Online*
by Zoe Sugg
Girl Online #1
Publisher Atria Keywords on November 25, 2014
Genre Children 12+
Source cbj
I have this dream that, secretly, all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending we´re something we´re not. That would be awesome. But until that day, I´m going to keep it real on this blog and keep it unreal in "real" life.
Penny lives a normal life. Well at least, for a teenager. All her thoughts, her feelings and how she sees the world she puts on her blog. And that goes very well until the moment when she falls in love for the first time and starts to blog about it. She doesn´t use any real names, but she has classmates who are jealous and envy her. And so one day Penny sees herself right in the middle of a huge shit storm and has no other choice but to close her blog. But the nightmare isn´t over yet …
It feels like sitting with her in her room, and she tells you all that, that matters to her. A big part of all is her friend next door: Elliot. He is an incredible young man, who is unconditionally open, honest and his way of style is unique. He reminded me very much of Nolan from the Hit-Series Revenge. Elliot is a nice guy, but he can be very bitchy and aggressive if someone he loves isn´t treated right. He helps Penny to see things from another perspective and is always there for her. In fact, the Porter-Family is his real family – his family by heart.
But what I liked most about Girl Online is, that the story is not only a sweet girl thing but also full of rage, embarrassment, anger, hope and a lot of growing self-confidence.
Ok, I have to admit, that I´m no teenager anymore. But all the sorrows, fears, problems and worries of a teenager haven't changed. Only the way how pictures, events, and news get out into the world that´s changed. Today Smartphones, the Internet, blogs, YouTube and Twitter rule the world – a world that can be as dangerous and frightening as the real world. Zoe Sugg writes with wonderful words, respect and dignity about a video that goes viral and how her protagonist deals with the consequences.
Penny is a beautiful girl, with hair every girl dreams of – except for Penny. Zoe Sugg lets her protagonist go through a lot of ups and downs but also shows that Penny can, no matter what happens, count on her family. What I found very impressive, Penny is not a flashy teenager. She likes to look behind things, to get to know what lies deep down. Okay, she isn´t perfect, needs sometimes a bit time to see how her schoolmates really are (I think here most of Megan and Ollie – both of them played a very mean and selfish game with Penny) but the moment, she gets the clue, the moment she starts trusting nobody but herself and her instincts, she reacts and gets the things straight.
The author shows all that and a lot more in very convincing characters, loving and caring parents, parents who refuse to accept who their son is and all that makes this novel great delight. But I also have to say, that you can´t expect here a novel that goes far beyond things. This book was obviously written only to entertain but not to make the reader very sad or unhappy, though you as a reader feel the emotions that flow inside of Penny.
Zoe Sugg shows with a great sense of humor, how complicated and fearful the life of teenagers can be; the great magic of Christmas and a lot more in wonderful characters, a well-written story and that nothing can compare with the love and loyalty of a caring family. Girl Online is a novel that could easily describe your own life. And it is very touching and very emotional.
*I read the German edition published by cbj on February 23, 2015
Zoe Sugg
Zoe Sugg is a vlogger from Brighton, UK. Her beauty, fashion and lifestyle vlogs have gained her millions of YouTube subscribers, with even more viewing the vlogs every month. She won the 2011 Cosmopolitan Blog Award for Best Established Beauty Blog and went on to win the Best Beauty Vlogger award the following year. Zoe has also twice received the Best British Vlogger award at the 2013 and 2014 Radio 1 Teen Awards and the 2014 and 2015 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice award for UK's Favorite Vlogger, and she was named Web Star for Fashion and Beauty at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards.
on 1/22/2016
Atria Keywords, cbj, Children 12+, Girl Online, Girl Online Series, Review, sliderpost, Zoe Sugg


text:
New Victory Arts Break — Honoring & Celebrating Juneteenth
New Victory Arts Break! Guided by New Victory Teaching Artists, Arts Break is a curriculum designed for the millions of families stuck at home to incorporate the performing arts into their learning. Show or no show, the New Victory Theater is committed to bringing the performing arts to the widest possible audience, and inspiring you to make art, and make memories, together.
Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19th, commemorates the day when, in 1865, the final emancipation order was read aloud in Texas, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, African Americans have built traditions to observe this historic day: to celebrate, people gather to sing, dance and eat together.
This week, New Victory turns to the arts to celebrate Juneteenth together as a way to educate, communicate and activate ourselves towards equality, liberation and justice. Throughout, we investigate the power of words and their ability to unite people in a common cause. As well as looking to the past, this Arts Break features three new works from Idris Goodwin's Free Play: Open Source Scripts Toward an Antiracist Tomorrow, made available to the public through Theatre for Young Audiences USA (TYA/USA), the national advocacy organization for the field of theater for family audiences. Idris' plays are written to offer insights about the Black experience in America and spark conversations about race across multiple generations.
"Profile/Part II, The Thirties: Johnny Hudgins Comes On" by Romare Bearden (1981)
"Badu" by Massogona Sylla (2012)
"You Are My Sunshine" by Wangechi Mutu (2015)
"Black Feminist Breathing: Wholehearted for June Jordan" by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (2014)
Tuesday: Sing and Write
30 – 60 minutes, Ages 7 – 15
Wednesday: Design and Rhyme
Thursday: Listen and Express
Friday: Celebrate and Act
Related ItemsemancipationfamiliesIdris GoodwinJuneteenthkidsNewNew Victory Arts BreakNew Victory Theater
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The Iconic Cabaret Club Café Carlyle Is Reopening With Isaac Mizrahi, Hamilton Leithauser, Mario Cantone, John Pizzarelli and Steve Tyrell
Odd Man Out is Back
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A Special Pride Month Celebration of The Life of Terrence McNally!


text:
module Shell
  module Commands
    class Create < Command
      def help
        return <<-EOF
Create table; pass table name, a dictionary of specifications per
column family, and optionally a dictionary of table configuration.
Dictionaries are described below in the GENERAL NOTES section.
Examples:

  hbase> create 't1', {NAME => 'f1', VERSIONS => 5}
  hbase> create 't1', {NAME => 'f1'}, {NAME => 'f2'}, {NAME => 'f3'}
  hbase> # The above in shorthand would be the following:
  hbase> create 't1', 'f1', 'f2', 'f3'
  hbase> create 't1', {NAME => 'f1', VERSIONS => 1, TTL => 2592000, BLOCKCACHE => true}
  hbase> create 't1', 'f1', {SPLITS => ['10', '20', '30', '40']}
  hbase> create 't1', 'f1', {SPLITS_FILE => 'splits.txt'}
  hbase> # Optionally pre-split the table into NUMREGIONS, using
  hbase> # SPLITALGO ("HexStringSplit", "UniformSplit" or classname)
  hbase> create 't1', 'f1', {NUMREGIONS => 15, SPLITALGO => 'HexStringSplit'}
EOF
      end

      def command(table, *args)
        format_simple_command do
          admin.create(table, *args)
        end
      end
    end
  end
end


For, if drunk he came home, she would beat him to bed.
And he'd sigh to be rid of all scolding old dames.
Was the thing on his heart that most heavily weighed.
"I'll pluck up my courage; I guess she's in bed.
If she a'nt, 'tis no matter, I'm sure. Who's afraid?"
In he went, and his wife, sure enough, was in bed!
"Oh!" says he, "it's just as I thought. Who's afraid?"
His wife seemed to sleep, for she never e'en stirred!
For my dear, scolding wife is asleep! Who's afraid?"
The pail, and the tumblers—she'd emptied the whole!
At length, in a corner, a vessel he found!
Says he, "Here's something to drink, I'll be bound!"
And drank it all off in one long, hearty sup!
It tasted so queerly; and what could it be?
He wondered. It neither was water nor tea!
"Oh! it must be the poison for rats, I declare!"
I fear it was poison the bowl did contain.
Oh dear! yes, it was poison; I now feel the pain!"
"And what made you dry, sir?" the wife sharply cried.
For just see, you brute, you have drunk all my starch!"


• Despite a global slowdown, India's economy is expected to grow 7% to 7.5% for the year ending in March, just above the 6.9% rate recorded the year before he took office.
• Foreign direct investment from October 2014 through June 2015 increased 40% compared with the same period a year earlier, thanks to his "Make in India" program, which eliminated or reduced restrictions on foreign investment in many manufacturing sectors.
• Foreign exchange reserves now top $350 billion, India's highest level ever.
"A lot of confidence and hope continues to be built around India," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Monday, as he outlined a $288 billion spending program for the fiscal year ending March 2017.
Nevertheless, long-awaited moves to loosen restrictions on land acquisition and a tax overhaul sought by corporations to boost business have yet to materialize. That's because opposition parties that control the upper house have blocked his boldest policies, thwarting the strong majority his party holds in the lower house of parliament. Eliminating the red tape also has proved daunting. India jumped 12 places on the World Bank's ease of doing business index during Modi's first year in office — from 142 to 130 — but many complex regulations and paperwork requirements have not been reduced.
Corporate leaders also note that a lack of skilled workers in India prevent Modi's "Make in India" program from becoming reality. "Some low scale manufacturing may move to India. But if you want to build Brand India, you have to first build global Indian brands," Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra group, which makes cars, farm equipment and other products, told India Today newspaper. Other business leaders praise Modi's accomplishments in a country where making any major change in how things are done is exceedingly difficult. Binod Agarwal, CEO of a small auto-parts manufacturer, New Engineering Works, cites an increase in government services available online, and says his company has seen a 30% to 40% increase in sales since 2014. Government "has become more efficient and more transparent, and less dependent on government officials," Agarwal said.


The other afternoon we picked Tom up from school and made an impromptu stop at Aliso Beach to play in the park and run on the sand. A few months ago the idea of taking all three on my own to a park would have been an impossible thought. But this jump from one to two is monumental. We spent hours going down the slides, digging in the sand, building bridges, and running after Thomas. I am watching our children grow right before me. The anticipation for each of them to continue thriving and become their own person. Witnessing their personalities strengthen and seeing so much of our family in them. It's a dream.
And in that same thought, I can't believe it's been two years. Have we done enough with them? Did I spend too much time looking forward to their independence and development that I missed important infant moments? As a parent, for me, these questions are constant and often unanswered.
The contrast of raising Thomas and Henry and Ella is so varied. We took Tom everywhere, did anything. While with the twins we have spent a lot of time in the comfort of home. Two different experiences, doing the best we can by our children. I feel confident that they feel loved, that life is a beautiful, crazy thing for them, and they know they are our most important. Our everything.
While all three of them are no longer babies, they are the most wonderful little humans. My greatest honor is being their mother. I trust that no matter what they will continue to flourish and we will do the best we can by them.
Run free my loves. I'll be right behind you. Always.


text:
Self-Driving Car Companies Face Choice Between Active and Passive Sensors
Jun 14, 2018 | Automotive, Components, News
Self-driving cars are close to becoming a reality. When this happens, the sensors they use will be particularly important. Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:FRSX) (TASE:FRSX) (FRSX Profile) is developing a sensor system that uses multiple visual light and infrared cameras in stereoscopic technology to interpret its surroundings. Google's parent company Alphabet, Inc.(NASDAQ:GOOG) is installing a wide range of sensors in its cars, combining their different inputs to create a fuller picture. Ford (NYSE:F) is focusing on other aspects of the future of driving, with its app-controlled Chariot commuting system. General Motors (NYSE:GM) is about to enter mass production of a car that uses LIDAR to test its surroundings. Meanwhile Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), the business most famous for work in this area, is using pattern recognition to help its cars interpret the input from their sensors.
The Variety of Sensors
Autonomous vehicles – more often referred to as self-driving cars and trucks – are close to becoming a regular feature of the world's streets. Several companies, automotive insiders, and tech innovators like Valeo and Bosch are working on the technology needed to make them a reality. From complex driving software to steering equipment, an industry is growing in the cars of the future.
Among the most important features of these cars are the sensors they use to read the world around them. These fall into two groups – passive and active. Active sensors project energy into the world and then use the reflections they get back to understand what's there. Passive sensors using energy that's already in the world, particularly light or heat. There are a variety of sensors of each type being tested, and a variety of different technologies that could come out on top. But the most important distinction may be whether the sensors we get are active or passive.
A Focus on Sensors
Specialist companies have started to emerge in this field, focusing entirely on car sensor technology. One of these is Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: FRSX) (TASE: FRSX).
Founded in 2015, Foresight is committed to designing, developing, and commercializing a range of sensor systems and associate technologies for use in autonomous vehicles. This includes stereo and quad camera systems and the software that will allow a car to interpret the signals from those cameras. These can be used to help avoid accidents between cars and will eventually allow self-driving cars to see and act on objects in their surrounding environment.
The company has already drawn attention with its advanced technology. It has acquired leading investors from the local automotive industry and reached a market cap of $100 million as of January 2018. It was featured in CNBC's article on "What Driving Will Look Like in 2028." Resources to continue its ambitious research and development program was assured by the recent announcement of a merger agreement with Tamda Ltd. (http://nnw.fm/b7nNy).
Foresight's leading product is the QuadSight system. This drew positive press attention when it was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.
One of the distinctive features of the QuadSight system is that it doesn't rely on pattern recognition to identify when there is an obstacle in its way. Any object can be detected, regardless of its material, color or shape. This gives the system an advantage over competitors whose sensors have to be programmed or trained to identify specific hazards.
The Power of Passive Sensors
QuadSightis based on passive rather than active sensors. Its cameras don't project any sort of energy into the world, but instead absorb the light that's already available, some of it invisible to the human eye. Passive sensors have two major benefits over active sensors.
One of the most serious problems with active sensors is interference. As a growing number of autonomous vehicles hit the streets, the number of sensors increases. As long as they use active sensors, this means an increase is the amount of energy being put out into the world by these sensors. As a result, they can end up interfering with each other, and this problem is only going to grow while people uses active sensors. This could lead to objects with low radar cross sections going undetected.
Although active sensors are certified according to safety regulations (FCC / FDA / IEC etc.) and are thus safe, it is important to keep in mind that each device is certified as a separate unit. At this stage, it is too early to measure the effects of energy exposure emitted by hundreds of vehicles and road infrastructure on road users. Active sensors (especially radars) might pose a health hazard.
QuadSight's sensors don't project any sort of energy. As such, they are unaffected by the interference problem and don't contribute to it. This makes QuadSight a more reliable option than many others available.
"At Foresight, we believe that a car's vision system should be nothing less than perfect," said Haim Siboni, CEO of Foresight. "Vision is the foundation of passenger safety, and vision perfection under all weather and lighting conditions is clearly the breakthrough that vehicle makers need to build consumer confidence in order to accelerate autonomous vehicle adoption."
As the potential of driverless cars grows, a number of companies are making advances in the sector.
Google's parent company Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is exploring the potential of automated vehicles through its subsidiary Waymo. It is experimenting with a wide range of sensors on its vehicles, including active sensors such as sonar, lasers, lidar, and radar, and stereo cameras on the passive side. One of the distinct features of Waymo's cars is the way that these different sensors are used together, each contributing something different to the car's understanding of the world around it.
Ford (NYSE: F) is approaching the future of driving from a different angle. Its acquisition of Chariot has put it in the business of providing transport to busy commuters, who can book rides in Chariot vehicles. An app lets its users book a ride with Chariot and propose new routes for the vehicles. Such apps could eventually be used to provide access to driverless transport, with vehicles following pre-programmed routes to pick up travelers without cars of their own.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) has announced that it will begin mass production of its first autonomous vehicle next year. The design of the Cruise AV was acquired by the company in 2016 when it absorbed startup Cruise Automation. The car will have a dedicated production line of its own at a facility at Orion Township, integrating LIDAR sensors produced at its Brownstone plant. When a powerhouse like GM starts mass production of self-driving cars, it's a sure sign that these vehicles will soon be a major feature of our streets.
The company most recognized for its work in self-driving cars is Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). Like other companies, it is using a range of different sensors, including visible light cameras. The information is processed using pattern recognition software, which looks for familiar shapes and colors to identify hazards. Though it has suffered some setbacks due to accidents, Tesla is still leading the way in both developing and publicizing the potential of self-driving vehicles.
Self-driving cars will soon be an important part of the transport landscape. As that happens, different types of sensors will hit the streets, giving people a chance to see which work best.
For more information on Foresight Autonomous Holdings, visit Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: FRSX) (TASE: FRSX)
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Family Beach & Pool Essentials - Lynzy & Co.
This post is sponsored by Speedo. Thank you so much for supporting the brands that I truly love!
Summer has arrived and what better way to celebrate than talking about our favorite family beach and pool essentials?! Now that our oldest has overcome her fear of the water (keep reading for more on that), it's been so fun to hang out at the beach and our friend's pool more often! She is able to go in by herself and has allowed our 2 year old to gain confidence in the water alone as well! I have yet to test the waters at the beach with all three by myself but I plan on doing it soon so I will put together another post once I do that with any tips I come up with. Although, I have to say that it's probably going to be a crap shoot 😉 There are a few items that I have found along the way that have saved our sanity so I decided to put them all together in today's post, I hope you find them helpful to you! Feel free to comment below with your must haves as well!
You can scoop up my swimsuit here on sale!
Speedo Swimsuits // When I tell you that these swimsuits featured in today's post are amazing, I am NOT lying to ya! The second I put on both of these swimsuits, I instantly fell in love with the design, the comfort and the easy access for nursing (especially the zip front suit)! I also love the children's suit with the zip front because it makes going to the bathroom SO much easier for her. You know how ridiculously crazy it is to peel a wet suit off your body just to go to the bathroom, right? This makes it so much easier! Their suits also have a UPF of 50+! Speedo also offers this amazing "Learn to Swim" suit that is perfect for our 2 year old and it's even approved by the coast guard. I actually used to wear Speedo all the time when I was a competitive swimmer (something you might not know about me!) and cannot believe how far they have come with their designs! These two suits are adorable on and the perfect swimsuit for any mom who wants to get in the water with their little ones!
Swim Bar // This was actually suggested by the swim trainer that we used for both girls! It's a great way for kids to learn how to swim on their own and allows them to learn to kick easily! Our oldest daughter loves it!
Beach Tent // I have spent many hours at the beach struggling with previous beach tents and this one is by far the easiest and LIGHTEST! Only 2.5 lbs and easy up and down. It's the only option for a mama struggling at the beach with all her kiddos!
Pop Up Activity Center // This is GREAT for the beach to entertain the little ones (4+ months – 1 year or so), it allows you to be hands free with your other kids and it's also amazing to bring to other places besides the beach. It's very compact and folds nicely. One of you actually suggested it to me awhile back and it's awesome!
Sunscreen // You all know that I swear by Beautycounter's spray sunscreen. I have been using it on my kids daily and it's awesome for protection and goes on so easy. I love that it sprays on white so you can see everywhere you apply it and it's easy to rub in too! My 4 year old can easily put it all on herself!
Goggles // One of the reasons why some kids can be afraid of the water is because they hate when the water goes in their eyes! Get a fun pair of goggles like these from Speedo and they'll love putting them on! Our kids even love wearing them around the house! Ha!
Striped One Piece Suit Available HERE on sale!
Up until last summer, our oldest daughter was terrified of the water. We brought her to swim lessons until she was 2 but then there was a gap of about a year where she didn't do much swimming and I think it was the lessened exposure that did it. Thank goodness for our friends down the street who have an amazing underground pool and our daughter LIVED in the pool last summer. All we did was let her go in at her own pace and eventually she yearned to keep up with her friends that were swimming all around her! She is now able to go in without a float and she usually uses this since she is not quite 100% independent yet!
Rolling Cart // The easiest way to get all that STUFF from the car to your spot on the beach! Thankfully we do not have a far walk from the parking lot to the beach in our town but it's still a struggle with all the kids in tow! This cart is what I also bring along for all my flea market/antique fair shopping!
Let me know if you have any must haves for the beach or pool below!


text:
Q: Return rows with different specific data for the same column or return 0 rows using POSTGRESQL I am in college learning SQL vis Postgresql.
This is my first post here so if I'm not posting correctly, let me know.
I have a question that has me stumped.
A bank setup with multiple users having multiple accounts at multiple branches in multiple cities.
The question wants to find any users that have at least 1 account at every branch in a specific city.
There are 3 branches in Brooklyn. I need to find all user ID's that have at least one account in each branch.
If they do not have at least 1 account in each branch, it should not return anything for that user.
I don't know how to return multiple rows with different results from the same column and REQUIRE the specific branch names be present or return nothing at all.
(userID = a on one row, b on another row, c on anther row or do not return userID at all.)
I do not want the entire answer, I just need to know what function I can use to do this and maybe some general guidance on what to do.
I can provide the table information if needed.
Thank you.

A:
I don't want the complete answer

Good and better to learn.
So I explain here how to do , just let me know what's not clear.
I need to find all user ID's that have at least one account in each branch.
We construst the sql in 3 times :
sql1 : per City the name of branches
sql2 :  per ID & City the name of branches
sql3 : ID from sql1 & sql2 whith same branches
Go ahead and ask when you need.
On clue is to be able to have one field with all the branches in order to be able to test it easily.
See the logic in comment and other answer to get the final solution.


text:
Extension of teleworking for Belgian, French and German cross-border workers in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic
As previously detailed, inter alia, in our newsflash dated 19 March 2020 (as updated), the Luxembourg Government has once again found an agreement on the "exceptional measures" put in place with the Belgian, French and German Governments regarding the taxation of cross-border commuters normally working in Luxembourg and now teleworking from their homes.
As a result, as of 14 March 2020, any days of presence of a cross-border worker at his home, in particular to carry out teleworking, are not to be taken into account for the calculation of the 24-day (Belgium) or 29-day (France) period. The measures applying to French and Belgian cross-border workers were applicable until 31 August 2020. Since then, four renewals of agreements have been signed with Belgium and France. The last ones, signed respectively on 11 and 15 June 2021, provide for an extension of these exceptional measures until 30 September 2021. The measure applying to German cross-border workers is applicable as of 11 March 2020 and lasted until 30 April 2020, at which point an automatic monthly renewal took place, which will continue unless Germany or Luxembourg terminates the agreement.
As a reminder, the agreements signed with Belgium, France and Germany to maintain the exceptional arrangement not to take into account teleworking days linked to the COVID-19 pandemic for the determination of the social security legislation applicable to cross-border workers remain applicable until 31 December 2021 (publication dated 15 January 2021).


text:
Q: Postgres: Optimize Query I have a situation where I need to show a list of subjects to which a learning material or a test has been published to.
The query below works but it takes about ~8s. Is there a better way I can optimize this query?
Thank you.
SELECT sj.*, sj.id AS id FROM subjects sj
WHERE (
    (SELECT COUNT(lmc.id) FROM learning_materials_codes lmc
    INNER JOIN students s ON lmc.student_id = s.id
    INNER JOIN learning_materials lm ON lmc.learning_material_id = lm.id
    WHERE lmc.student_id = 1 AND sj.id = ANY(lm.subject_ids)) > 0
        OR
    (SELECT COUNT(tc.id) FROM test_codes tc
    INNER JOIN students s ON tc.student_id = s.id
    INNER JOIN tests t ON tc.test_id = t.id
    WHERE tc.student_id = 1 AND t.subject_id = sj.id) > 0
)
AND sj.school_id = 1

Table structure below

subjects
~~~~~~~~~~~
id
name
school_id
...

students
~~~~~~~~~~
id
f_name
l_name
school_id
...

tests
~~~~~~~~~
id
title
subject_id
...

test_codes
~~~~~~~~~~
test_id
student_id
code
...

learning_materials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
id
title
subject_ids []
...

learning_material_codes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
learning_material_id
student_id
code
...

Note:
Each time a learning material or a test is published an access code is generated for students and that data is kept in learning_material_codes or test_codes table

A: I would rewrite the query to
SELECT sj.*
FROM subjects sj
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
              FROM learning_materials_codes lmc
                 INNER JOIN students s ON lmc.student_id = s.id
                 INNER JOIN learning_materials lm ON lmc.learning_material_id = lm.id
              WHERE lmc.student_id = 1
                AND sj.id = ANY(lm.subject_ids)
                AND lmc.id IS NOT NULL)
AND sj.school_id = 1
UNION
SELECT sj.*
FROM subjects sj
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
              FROM test_codes tc
                 INNER JOIN students s ON tc.student_id = s.id
                 INNER JOIN tests t ON tc.test_id = t.id
              WHERE tc.student_id = 1
                AND t.subject_id = sj.id
                AND tc.id IS NOT NULL)
AND sj.school_id = 1;

That way, PostgreSQL can use a semi-join and may be faster. If you don't mind duplicate result rows, use UNION ALL instead of UNION for better performance.
More performance may be gained with appropriate indexes, but it requires EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS, VERBOSE, SETTINGS) output to assess that.


Laidback and glamorous, Los Angeles is a supermodel city on the very edge of California's coastline ideal for a luxury family holiday. Of course, there's the 25 miles of beaches, lush mountain ranges, fantastic food, museums galore and an average of 329 days of sun a year. But, splice all that good stuff alongside plush hotels, the likes of Disneyland, LA Zoo and The California Science centre and it's easy to see why families are instantly won over by so-called "La La Land." If you have time to really stay and play we highly recommend hiring a car after exploring LA's offerings and driving north along the Pacific Coast Highway, by far one of the world's greatest drives.
This waterfront Santa Monica gem overlooks the ferris wheel, the beach and miles of ocean.
A boutique home from home with a fabulous rooftop pool and exceptional service.
You'll find stylish digs and sea breezes at Oceana Beach Club Hotel in Santa Monica.
Mr. C Beverly Hills boasts venetian-style hospitality in the Hollywood hills.
With children's spa treatments, private poolside cabanas and two culinary hotspots, the Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills ticks all the boxes for a family-friendly luxury LA stay.
Hollywood 1950's glamour collides with family-friendly delights at LA classic, the Hotel Bel-Air, home of the infamous Swan Lake.
The Beverly Hills Hotel is a pink palace with a resort vibe.
439 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills.
The Farm Beverly Hills is a delightful and friendly restaurant so shabby chic in decor and relaxed in ambience one wonders if they've been transported miles from the high end retail boutiques that surround this gorgeous eatery near Rodeo Drive. Literally a stone's throw from ever designer label store on the infamous shopping strip, this wonderful and very family-friendly restaurant serves innovative American cuisine and lots of classics too with a charming and well thought out kids' menu. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.
It makes perfect sense that this LA staple, Hugo's, is a firm favorite of Gwyneth Paltrow and her brood. Healthy, vegetarian and gluten-free options are in abundance and all delicious. Plus you can relax; the easygoing vibe insures no grumpy stares when your toddler starts making airplanes with her tofu burger. Plus, the kid's menu really is impressive, containing sure-fire hits like burgers and fries vying against flavorful grilled chicken breasts, buttery potato mash and chunky carrots.
This bustling café, Huckleberry Cafe, is run by talented husband and wife team Zoe Nathan and Josh Loe, and it rarely has an empty seat. Cracking good breads and pastries (Nathan earned her baking chops at infamous San Fran-based Tartine) are dished up alongside wholesome bowls such as Lentil Ragu with Poached Eggs, Swiss Chard and Feta. Blackboard menus, pale wood cabinets and jaunty red iron chairs complete the chic farmhouse vibe. It's a great spot regardless of the time of day, but the Thursday night three-course family dinners are a real highlight (kids under 13 eat for half price and under 5's for free).
The creation of a mother, daughter, best friend team, the 1950's surf-inspired parlor, Beachy Cream, has built up a cult following. Of course the ever-changing 12 flavors of ice cream on offer are always of the small batch, 100% organic variety (as are the topping and cones). But it's the plump ice-cream sandwiches – bearing names like Strawberry Surfer Girl and Key Lime Cowabunga – that really steal the show.
Neapolitan-style pizzas, served blisteringly hot from 800-degree ovens, provide a roaring trade at this West Hollywood newcomer. Little diners will adore lining up to bespoke their pie with toppings like Ricotta, Peppadews and Bacon Marmalade, not to mention the DIY soda fountain, which can concoct no less than 300 different type of fizz.
First up there are the neighborhoods that offer the ideal setting to just soak up the Cali vibe: get a taste of old LA on Olvera Street which always feels as though it's midway through carnival; Santa Monica's family-friendly beach is heaven for a bucket and spade day; Venice Beach's Ocean Front Walk is a great spot to observe everything from skateboard tricks to dogs in tutus.
Families get in free to The Getty where they can play "The Getty Art Detective" and do brilliant self-guided audio tours made specifically for families.
For pure unadulterated fun you cant go wrong with Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags California Universal Studios Hollywood.
Giggles 'n' Hugs could fall under our "where to eat" section but it's more than just a family-friendly restaurant. Started by parents of a picky eater, this fabulous eatery which sits on the westside of the Century City Shopping Centre with a menu which can be ordered in adult or child-size portions. Veggies can be pureed for babies, those who only eat Mac and cheese needn't know theirs has cauliflower and squash slipped into the sauce, and there is a huge play area. It has a play dough centre, arts and crafts, make-up and dress-up areas, a train table, play houses and a play kitchen, and a Wii for older kids. They also organise special family nights that include fun extras like balloon artists, karaoke and dancing.
We recommend getting to LA zoo early in the day as the temperatures soar by lunchtime and it involves a lot of walking. But it's fabulous. The animals are given plenty of free reign to roam, and there is a delightful children's zoo where little ones can brush goats,hold rabbits and toddle amongst some lovely exhibits. It is open every day except Christmas form 10am – pm but animals start to be put away at 4pm.
Places that'll occupy entire days are in abundance. The California Science Center and The Natural History Museum sit side by side and both manage to entertain whilst (whisper it!) teaching little ones reams. There are lots of free exhibits throughout both and endless temporary shows that pass through.
There's also the excellent Winnick Family Children's Zoo with pop up bubbles for spying prairie dogs, a petting area and overnight stays.
The Aquarium of the Pacific is a fabulous way for children to explore the world's largest ocean just along California's own Long Beach. There are more than 12,500 animals to meet on-site and kids can even touch a shark lagoon. There are often new temporary exhibitions on show and a fantastic behind-the-scenes tour.
Designed to help children get on a pony from even the toddler stage, The Griffith Park Pony and Wagon Rides on Crystal Springs Drive near Los Feliz Boulevard is fabulous. It is located right next to a lovely picnic area in Griffith Park and a sort of merry-go-round contraption keeps ponies going in a small circle so younger children won't get any frights.
Page Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits are a fantastic option for kids who adore fossils and history. Rancho La Brea, which is located in the heart of LA on Wilshire Boulevard, is one of the world's most famous fossil localities, with one of the largest assemblages of extinct Ice Age plants and animals. Visitors can learn all about how LA would have been between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago and, through windows in the museum, children will delight in seeing the bones cleaned and repaired.
Dial 911 for emergencies. Children's Hospital Los Angeles has a reputation as one of the top child-dedicated hospitals in the entire US. (001 323-660-2450. Other highly rated options are UCLA Medical Center (001 310 825 9111) and Cedars-Sinai (001 310 423 3277).
Summer is the heaven-sent time to head LA-way. Temperatures average 80's in the day and 70's during the night and blue-sky days are the norm. The shoulder seasons – March to April and October to November can be a pretty good bet too (especially if you do better in less hot climes) but it can be showery in the spring and blustery in the fall (thanks to the Santa Ana winds).


I have been putting off choosing my wedding processional for a long time, I think because I can't have my dream of a trumpet player and tympani player. The fiance thinks this is a needless expense, and when you think about it, he has a point. We'd be shelling out probably several hundred pounds just to have someone play a grand total of ten minutes of music. Not exactly worth it, especially when we decided to go for the expensive option for our honeymoon and get one of those villas on stilts over the water. We'll probably enjoy that much more.
I actually really like church organs, and if we were getting married in NYC the organist at my church is a fabulous musician and would probably be very helpful in selecting music. The organist at the tiny English church where I'm getting married only does "Here Comes the Bride" and "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba," apparently. And presumably Mendelssohn to exit.
I don't mind Mendelssohn. It's pretty good for weddings, and appropriately dramatic. But I hate that Wagner march. It's always sounded like a dirge to me. My future mother-in-law likes the tradition of it, but I just can't do it. In all my vague girlish wedding plans, I knew one thing for certain–I would not be having Wagner's Bridal Chorus. I think that's part of my problem with it–not only do I not really like the tune, but there's nothing about it that says 'me,' it just says 'woman in white marching down aisle.' And music has always been an intensely personal expression for me. This is the same reason I have nixed Pachelbel's Canon, which I truly love, because it's always in weddings.
What's more, the type of music I really revel in is perfect for weddings. I am a huge sucker for movie soundtracks, and all their dramatic swells. I always have been. I do like other kinds of music, but more often than not, that's what I'm listening to on my iPod. Most of the time this is slightly embarrassing. When people ask who your favorite musician is, I feel like a popular music star is the appropriate answer if you don't want to get weird looks. Certainly this was true back in 8th grade when I was liking Rod Stewart (early 90's easy listening Rod Stewart) and everyone else was listening to Snow and Kris Kross and Wrexx n Effect (Check baby check baby 1234…I am ashamed to have listened to that song).
I have developed a taste for popular music of all genres, and when we sat down with the DJ to pick songs for the wedding I was happily calling out Rhianna and Lady Gaga and Jay-Z. (Which is the better New York song–"New York, New York," or "Empire State of Mind"? Discuss.) But I still have a deep and abiding love for Howard Shore, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and this is where I get to let that fly.
The song I really want to march in to is the theme to Jurassic Park. Specifically track 7 on the CD, "Welcome to Jurassic Park." I got the soundtrack for my birthday when I turned 15 from a girl who turned out to be one of my best friends and bridesmaids, and I used to lie in bed listening to that music and daydreaming about the future, about the fabulous lives we were all going to lead. It's all very epic. In case you've forgotten, it goes like this.
There is of course a bevy of classical music to choose from. I've always loved Appalachian Spring by Copeland. And there's the Prince of Denmark's march, which is not only very bridey, but also makes me think of a favorite Prince of Denmark of mine, although Wikipedia says that it's not actually about Hamlet. Wikipedia also tells me that it was used at Charles and Diana's wedding, and let's face it–nothing is cheesier than an American getting married in England trying to imitate a royal wedding. Even unwittingly.
The other problem with choosing classical music on a recording is that the feeling is lost. Classical music is really stirring, but more when it's performed live, and the swell of the music fills your ears. So this brings me back to the Entrance of the Queen of Sheba, which, upon listening, is actually a pretty cool piece.
So the conundrum is this–do I put my most personal choices on display and let people comment on the dinosaur music and the fact that I made them listen to a bit of Les Miserables before my entrance? Or do I go with the live music, which is a beautiful, but safe choice?


As S.C. lawmakers plan to push a massive borrowing bill next year, they likely won't publicly talk about the fat reserves that some state agencies have accumulated – including their own chambers.
State agencies collectively carried over about $484.5 million in general funds into the fiscal year that started July 1, according to S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom's year-end report on the 2017-18 fiscal year.
That is roughly the amount of a taxpayer-backed bond bill that died in the Legislature last year, about half of which was designated for higher education projects. Lawmakers reportedly next year plan to introduce another bill to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars – which would fall on taxpayers to repay – for repairs at colleges and universities and other state-owned buildings.
As of June 30, the state had a total general-fund balance of nearly $1.2 billion, including the approximately $484.5 million carried over by state agencies, according to Eckstrom's report.
The report, released last month, shows that the 124-member House of Representatives and 46-member Senate collectively held more than $30 million in reserves for the chambers' internal operations to start this fiscal year.
The House had a $25 million surplus in general funds as of July 1 – nearly $2.9 million more than its $22.2 million base budget for 2017-18, according to the report. The Senate carried over $6.1 million into this fiscal year, which represented 43 percent of its nearly $14.3 million base budget last fiscal year.
House Clerk Charles Reid and Senate Clerk Jeff Gossett did not respond to written messages this week from The Nerve about those surpluses.
The Nerve's review of Eckstrom's report found that 11 state agencies and a group categorized as "Legislative Support Agencies" each had, as of July 1, a general fund surplus representing at least 25 percent of its appropriated base budget for 2017-18.
The state Department of Commerce, for example, had $49.1 million in reserves – $4.2 million more than its $44.9 million base general-fund budget last fiscal year, according to the report.
Lawmakers allow state agencies generally to carry forward up to 10 percent of their general fund appropriations. A separate state budget proviso, which must be renewed every year, allows the House and Senate chambers to carry over all unspent funds into the following fiscal year; other state agencies through provisos can have reserves of more than 10 percent for specified purposes.
Under the S.C. Constitution, the state has two main "rainy day" funds – the General Reserve Fund and Capital Reserve Fund – which stood at $363.5 million and $145.4 million, respectively, as of June 30, according to Eckstrom's year-end report. The Nerve has previously reported that lawmakers in recent years have raided the Capital Reserve Fund annually for their favorite projects.
The "rainy day" funds, agency carryover amounts and about $194 million in "unreserved/undesignated" general funds as of June 30 made up the total general-fund balance of nearly $1.2 billion, according the report.
More than 30 agencies each carried over at least $1 million in general funds into this fiscal year, the report shows. Eight agencies each had an additional $20 million or more in general fund reserves as of July 1.
The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the state's Medicaid program, had the biggest general-fund surplus – $106.5 million – of any agency as of July 1, the report shows.
In dealing with agency reserves, lawmakers have not seriously addressed whether any unspent money should be returned to taxpayers.
The Nerve on Tuesday asked five state agencies – the Adjutant General's Office and departments of Commerce; Health and Human Services; Parks, Recreation and Tourism; and Transportation – how they planned to use their respective surpluses. Only PRT and the Adjutant General's Office responded.
The Nerve's review of Eckstrom's year-end report found that the department's surplus as of July 1 represented 67 percent of its base general-fund budget for 2017-18. The agency had a $30 million surplus at the start of last fiscal year, comptroller general records show.
The Adjutant General's Office had $48.5 million in general fund reserves as of July 1, which was nearly seven times its base general-fund budget for 2017-18 – the largest surplus percentage among state agencies, The Nerve's review found. At the start of last fiscal year, it had a $59.5 million surplus, comptroller general records show.


Kamalinee Mukherjee (born 4 March 1980) is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali and Kannada language films.
Mukherjee was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. While her father is a marine engineer, her mother is a jewellery designer. She is the eldest of the three siblings in the family. Owing to her "love for being on the stage" since childhood, she acted in all sorts of amateur and professional stageplays while in school and college. Incidentally, she always portrayed masculine characters in these plays. Besides theater, she developed a love for reading spiritual works, painting and writing poetry. Besides writing poetry, she also underwent several years of training in Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance form.
Taglines: A film of phobia, vigor, delirium and love in the metro of Kolkata.


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