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Archive for doctor who
Posted in Americans watching British TV, British Shows on American TV, TV Criticism, TV History with tags doctor who, jenna-louise coleman, peter capaldi, sherlock, steven moffat, the adventures of tintin on September 20, 2015 by Tom Steward
Last night, new episodes of Doctor Who began airing in Britain and America. This is not a review of the season opener because I didn't watch it. I didn't watch it, because for the first time since the series re-launched in 2005, I won't be watching Doctor Who. I don't – like some fans – have an aversion to Peter Capaldi as The Doctor. In fact, I've said here before I think he's probably the best actor to have played the role. This also isn't the first time I've had serious issues with the direction that the showrunners have taken the series in, or some of the casting. And I'm not so naïve as to think that the 'classic' series – which I greatly prefer – wasn't at times just as unwatchable as the new series is today. So why am I boycotting it now? Well, it's for the same reasons that I don't eat at McDonalds or (knowingly) use Nestle products. There are just too many reasons not to.
'What do you mean you're not watching?'
The main reason, of course, is Steven Moffat. Still showrunner and head writer after six years – with his creative control increasing annually – Moffat's scripts and season arcs are incoherent, ramshackle rubbish and his dialogue is formed of soundbyte-friendly non-sentences. You can count the good ideas he's had during his time on Doctor Who on one hand, and yet they do the job of keeping him afloat while he peddles plagiarism of everything from Source Code to That Mitchell and Webb Sound inbetween lightbulb moments. That's before we get on to his politics. Moffat is incapable of writing strong women without sexualising them, sabotaging the progress made by breakthrough characters like transgender Timelady Missy with nymphomaniacal nonsense. His treatment of the material is invariably tasteless and perverted, encompassing romanticized suicides, desecration of dead Who actors like Nicholas Courtney, and treating time travel as some sort of incestuous gangbang! It was bad enough when this was in the name of change, now it's billed as a return to the classic formula.
Much as I would like to, I can't blame Moffat for all that's wrong politically with Doctor Who. The series has had two women writers since 2005, a record easily beaten during the classic era which is often held up for being unfair to women and stretching back to the tenure of showrunner Russell T Davies, who supposedly opened the show up for a female audience. That said, Moffat did do a Lorne Michaels when it came to the issue of hiring women as writers, claiming that the entire gender did not have the appetite (nor presumably the talent) to take on the job much as the Saturday Night Live did when confronted with the absence of women of colour on the late-night comedy institution. Missy is not enough of a concessionary flip-flop, and certainly not when she's this badly written. The Bechdel Test and various academic studies have singled out the sexism of Moffat's era, though Davies set the idea of women talking adoringly about The Doctor in motion.
If I'm being honest, it's actually the way that Moffat has tried to rectify the female companion's Adam's Rib relationship to The Doctor that has made Doctor Who so difficult for me to enjoy. Jenna-Louise Coleman's Clara has a domestic and work sphere independent from The Doctor and his TARDIS, albeit one that still centres around her romantic interest in another man. The upshot of this is that one of the most shoddily conceived – and irritatingly portrayed – lead characters in the series' history is at the heart of the concept in virtually every episode. There's nothing innovative about The Doctor being The Companion's sidekick, for that's the status William Hartnell had when Doctor Who began, and it is a good bit of Bechdel-proofing, but for Clara to get that privilege – and, crucially, not Amy, the previous companion – is a kick in the teeth. For the past couple of seasons, Moffat has been working back from Clara's original introduction as a mere plot device, and still can't make her sufficiently human.
A Missied opportunity!
It's no surprise that the creator of Sherlock and writer of The Adventures of Tintin re-boot can't organize a piss-up in a brewery when it comes to Doctor Who. Steven Moffat has inherited perfect pop fiction formula time after time, and always drops the ball. So when he finally goes – and providing Jenna makes good on her recent promise – I'll come back to the best concept on TV. Because we Whovians live to be disappointed.
Posted in American TV (General), American TV Shows, TV Dreams with tags doctor who, louie, mad men, the sopranos, twin peaks on June 12, 2015 by Tom Steward
Quite often, my dreams take the form of anticipating event television. If the finale of Mad Men had played out according to my subconscious, the series would have ended with an elderly Don Draper boarding a Concorde in a Madison Avenue version of the last scene from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I had a vision of the new season of Twin Peaks picking up from the season two cliffhanger, with Agent Dale Cooper suddenly exorcising Bob and then explaining to Sheriff Harry Truman how he deliberately trapped the serial killing spirit inside him to draw him out into the open and destroy him forever. If Showtime were hesitant about giving David Lynch a generous budget for making the season, I doubt they'd be willing to fork out for circa-1991 digital avatars of Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean. This is where dreams become necessary. Sometimes they're simply an improvement on what we eventually got in reality. My dream projection of the Season 8 premiere of Doctor Who was something akin to Peter Greenaway's film of The Tempest, with Peter Capaldi Toyah Wilcoxing it in full new romantic regalia. At least it was portentousness done well and not by Steven Moffat.
Have you ever had a dream with a midget?
Stranger still is when dreams you have had appear on television. Louie recently aired an episode in which the comedian is pursued in his dreams by a naked man with invisible eyes who charges at him from the darkness. I'm sure everyone will recognise the dream-like pacing and movement that Louis C.K. managed to cultivate in these sequences, and it's about the best simulation of a dream state I've seen since Jonathan Miller's Whistle and I'll Come to You. But Louie and I have the same Freddy Krueger as I'm frequently stalked by the same figure in exactly the same way night after night. It once became so vivid that I started screaming uncontrollably in bed. But the experience of seeing the inner-workings of my subconscious laid out onscreen was actually rather therapeutic. I laughed the laugh of recognition that usually accompanies my viewing of Louie but with greater hysteria and mania, as if repelling a demon. Louis C.K. and I are so evenly matched in looks, outlook and social reaction that I shouldn't really be surprised that we dream the same dreams. We want the same thing…lots of bad food to eat quickly! It's better than a support group.
Sometimes I think there is method to my madness. My dreams honed in on the one aspect of Twin Peaks that could not be done in a revival 25 years later, while acknowledging that whatever I dreamt was almost certain to be less weird than what will air in 2016. The finale of Justified consumed my thoughts perhaps more than any other show has or will, and yet it never intruded into my dreams. Perhaps it's because there was no anxiety or insecurity about how fulfilling it was going to be, whereas I couldn't say the same for Mad Men and Doctor Who. I don't want you to think that there's a TV set in my head (but wouldn't that be lovely?) and that my dreams are broken down into life and TV shows. Often the two merge. The other night I was in a car with Manny from Modern Family at the wheel, trying to stop an irresponsible relative (no-one specific) from letting him drive us to our death. Now a lot of the kids on my street look exactly like Manny so I don't know which part of my memory my subconscious was laundering at that particular moment.
There's a horse loose aboot this hoose!
I'm aware of the futility and irony of dreaming about shows that are already dreamy or fantastic. Neither Twin Peaks nor Doctor Who adhere to any real-world logic (though the latter is supposed to nod to it from time to time) and Mad Men was always going to end on a note of ambiguity rather than come to any definite conclusion. I've yet to see that endless passive flow of dreaming captured in a TV show, which is odd since endless passive flow is exactly what TV is. Even Louie's dream is a temporary psychological condition caused by guilt at abandoning a divorcee in need, rather than an ongoing haunting. The Sopranos came close with an episode-length dream sequence which drifted in and out of real-life and popular fiction, but the pat Freudianness of everything we saw made it somehow unappealing to watch. It's as easy as going to sleep.
In With The Who
Posted in Americans watching British TV, British Shows on American TV, TV Acting, TV History, Unsung Heroes with tags christopher eccleston, colin baker, doctor who, jenna-louise coleman, matt smith, peter capaldi, samuel anderson, steven moffat, the mindy project, william hartnell on October 1, 2014 by Tom Steward
Here we go again! In August, Peter Capaldi replaced Matt Smith in the iconic title role of the British family science-fiction series Doctor Who, a programme that's changed actors more times than a Mindy Project midseason re-tool. Capaldi is joint-oldest to play the part with the Sean Connery of Doctors William Hartnell. His age, along with his otherworldly physicality and fannish investment in the history of Doctor Who have led some to assume that Capaldi will resurrect some of the mystery, mastery and manipulation seen in the earliest incarnations of the character. While this is undoubtedly the case, it forgets that Matt Smith's performance – an actor nearly half Capaldi's age – was always pushing in that direction, even if the writing for him was not. Smith had managed to convince us that age was no obstacle to playing The Doctor. Now it seems the show is happy to pass The Eleventh Doctor off as some reckless young buck to help viewers come to term with an older Twelfth. It's double standards, and a very dangerous game!
Who Needs You?
Capaldi is probably the best actor to have played the role, and I don't say that lightly. Unlike Christopher Eccleston – another actor I admire greatly – he also seems a comfortable fit for the role. But essentially this is a repeat of what Doctor Who did in introducing Colin Baker as The Sixth Doctor; a more sinister, less personable variation on the character. Despite Baker's best (and loudest!) efforts, it was a sea change they were never really able to pull off. So is the show making the same mistakes as before? Short answer: No. Long answer: They're making different mistakes. This time, the writers have remembered to round out the edges of the character early on, rather than leave character development for a time that may never come. However, somebody needs to tell Steven Moffat that the moral ambiguity of a character is best represented in their actions not in constantly talking about how morally ambiguous they are. Hence, genre pieces like 'Robot of Sherwood' and 'Time Heist' have been this season's most successful episodes.
We're halfway through Capaldi's first season and it's hard not to notice the discrepancy between the quality of his performance and the material he's given. As the absurdist, Godot-like vignette between The Doctor and a Victorian tramp in debut 'Deep Breath' indicated, Capaldi's actorly flow offers new dramatic possibilities for the programme (and puts the show's use of Eccleston to shame!). But there's only so much even the finest actor can do when compelled to speak in Moffat-ese baby talk for the majority of episodes, although the head writer has shown some restraint in contracting his idiomatic 'thingy' to 'thing'. Moffat presents the biggest obstacle to Capaldi's success. Now micro-managing most of the season's scripts, in addition to several of his own sole pen, the same laziness and hackery that beset Smith's tenure is already starting to permeate Capaldi's after only five hours of television. While Capaldi is completely fresh, Moffat's schtick after five years as showrunner is tired, and tiresome; never more evident than in laborious, tenuous allusions to a familiarly mechanical-looking season arc.
Waiting for Who?
There's dead weight in the cast too. I sincerely hoped that the character and performance of companion Clara would improve once she was released from her status as story point in the ill-advised 'impossible girl' arc. But between the clipped, garbled diction of the dialogue and exponentially annoying inflections of actress Jenna-Louise Coleman (and the smugness…can't get over the smugness), she's a lost cause. I'm glad the writers haven't resorted to the bickering married couple dynamic that made The Doctor and Peri's TARDIS scenes so unwatchable, and I'm grateful for the buffer that teacher Danny Pink (a considered performance by Samuel Anderson) provides – yes, if there's one thing Moffat can write well it's awkward men! But as long as Clara's the main focus of Doctor Who, which she is more and more since the show revived the autonomy of The Doctor's companions, it'll always feel like there a little Moffat running around in the world of the programme. It also doesn't help Capaldi that the writers insist on keeping the spectre of Matt Smith around.
Doctor Who has always surrounded new Doctors with familiar elements of the series to cushion viewers in times of transition. Indeed, this season began with a Victorian-set adventure featuring the 'Paternoster Gang' who were regulars in Smith's era. But Moffat went so far as to have Smith in the episode (calling Clara from the past) and allusions to the actor in later episodes. As wonderful and apposite as these moments are – because they feature Smith – they're holding viewers back from really embracing Capaldi's Doctor. You begin to suspect that Moffat's vanity is partly behind this effort to build a dramatic whoniverse unified around his time as showrunner. Prior to his debut, I suspected that Capaldi, an Oscar-winning director no less, might excise a little more control over the show than befits his brief, as did auteur Orson Welles who liked to put scare quotes around the term 'actor'. I can see Capaldi's influence on the change in pace, the contraction of melodrama, and even the language…in that it sounds like language! Long may it contin-who.
Robin's Best
Posted in American TV (General), American TV Shows, BiogTV, TV Acting, Unsung Heroes with tags doctor who, homicide life on the street, louie, louis c.k., matt smith, mork & mindy, own, robin williams, the oprah winfrey show, the twilight zone on August 20, 2014 by Tom Steward
Since the untimely death of comic and actor Robin Williams last week, I've been looking back at his performances on television. I've been continually surprised and impressed at how as a sitcom actor, guest star and chat show guest he was able to take command of the medium, especially as Williams' talents were always thought best suited to the dynamic scope of cinema and unbridled spontaneity of the live stage. I was struck by how he accommodated his manic act and style to the contours of the small screen, used television to test his mettle as a character actor, and realised TV's capacity for intimacy to bring his audience closer to Williams the man. The passing of James Garner, Lauren Bacall and Robin Williams in the past weeks is worsened by the knowledge that all were unusually good at doing television and have been lost to more than art form.
Mork Who?
The significance of science-fiction sitcom Mork & Mindy to Williams' career seems to have been regarded by most obituaries I've encountered as simply his stepping stone to popular exposure. This assumption drastically underestimates how important the role of Mork was to Williams' development as an actor. In it, he learned to temper his aggressive bombardment of the audience with pathos thanks to the show's romantic core and fable quality, a balance that would come to define his movie persona (and one that when tipped would sink him artistically). The sitcom wasn't always the lightweight fantasy people perhaps remember, more Twilight Zone than Bewitched (if Williams' catchphrase humming of the anthology's theme tune wasn't enough to sway you). There was hard science-fiction in there, unsettling biological imagery, and hard-hitting issues like mental illness and addiction. Seen now, Mork & Mindy prepared Williams for darker material he later turned his hand to.
Williams' portrayal of Mork had an enduring impact on science-fiction television. Watching episodes of the series now, particularly when Mork is in his formal bow-tie and suspenders, I couldn't help but think of Matt Smith's incarnation of time-travelling extra-terrestrial The Doctor in Doctor Who. Common to both performances is the essential idea of a character who is not alien in appearance but in his social naivety, fashion missteps and absurd physicality. The success Williams achieved in depicting an otherworldly strangeness and difference without the aid of make-up, prosthetics or effects must have been a boon to anyone wanting to make science-fiction within a budget-dependent TV format. It took a concept as extreme as alien visitation to contain a freestyling comedian like Williams within a studio sitcom, but at its heart Mork & Mindy nailed that mix of the fantastical and the mundane that distinguishes all good and great science-fiction TV.
Williams was deep into his acting career before he started to take on purely dramatic parts, even though the ability to play emotion straight in his early movies was crucial to their appeal. However, years before his acclaimed deadpan turns in Good Will Hunting, Insomnia and One Hour Photo, Williams played a tourist whose wife is shot on the streets of Baltimore in an episode of complex cop show Homicide: Life on the Street. Williams' demonstrated ability to completely disappear into a character without a trace of his conspicuous comic persona left really opened the industry's eyes to his value as a serious actor. The gut-wrenching emotions experienced by his character were performed credibly, and without fuss, which undoubtedly marketed his ability to do strong emotion well. Thought something he and his directors did not always taken advantage of, it nonetheless signalled that he was a rounded actor of range.
Robin, Robin, Robin, Robiiiiiin!
I'm grateful to OWN for repeating full versions of interviews with Williams from the '80s and '90s on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Not only is it apparent that Williams' could transcend limitations of television space and time, no matter how cardboard the set and videographic the production values, it is also notable that when disarmed with Oprah's frank questions about his personal life (she was a different proposition as interviewer in those days!), he can exploit the potential for television to be a confessional medium to admit to a darker side to the always-joking persona he presented in public. Clearer than in any other medium, TV was privy to the qualities of Williams' personality that would eventually consume him. One of William's last TV appearances on Louis C.K.'s signature sitcom Louie cemented his legacy as a character actor, playing a fictional creation in a show full of comics playing themselves.
Dog Shows and Cat Boxes
Posted in American TV (General), American TV Shows, Reality TV, TV Criticism, TV History, Watching TV with tags doctor who, downton abbey, geoff mulgan, marriage boot camp, my cat from hell, peep show, the dog whisperer, the fall, the great british bake-off, the great british menu on April 22, 2014 by Tom Steward
I begin with a broadcasting history anecdote but bear with me. In Britain in the late '80s, a debate was held on what constituted quality television ahead of a broadcasting White Paper proposing the introduction of television outside public service regulation in the form of a satellite service to the UK. Unsurprisingly given what would go on to happen with Downton Abbey, business won over art and the agreed-upon definition of British quality television was pseudo-literary period drama with an easily exportable ideal of British national identity based on our imperial past. But during the debate, a definition of quality television offered by scholar Geoff Mulgan was 'usable stories', an idea consonant with broadcasting that television should tell its viewers something that could help them personally or collectively in their society. This understanding of quality in television has always stuck with me and it's come to mind recently as a way of defending several American TV programmes I've been watching that are otherwise badly made, poorly written and artlessly executed. But is that justification enough?
Dog Daytime TV
I'm a dog-owner and I used to be a cat-owner. Hence I've been watching a lot of Nat Geo Wild's The Dog Whisperer and Animal Planet's cartoon riposte My Cat from Hell. Both shows tackle the same premise but are – quite literally – very different animals. In each, pet-owners call in behavioural specialists or PWCs (Psychologists Without Credentials) for their animal, Cesar Millan for the dogs and (apparently on return from the 23rd Century) Jackson Galaxy for the cats. The pets in question are usually engaging in dysfunctional behaviour, although the sub-Scooby Doo twist is always that it's the owners who are really screwed up. Cesar controls the dogs by making them more obedient, calm and submissive and Jackson makes the cats easier to live with by compelling owners to hand over the entirety of their house to their new feline landlords. Different strokes for different pets. Both programmes are shoddily constructed, replete with ham-fisted set-ups, and full of duplication, laboriously eeking out a handful of choice moments into an hour of blink-and-you'll-never-miss-it television.
That said, there's more here that's relevant to my daily life than in all the shows I've ever feted as quality TV. And I'm not just speaking selfishly. I'm a better citizen because of these shows, and with the possible exception of The Wire there's not many 'quality' programmes you can say that about. My dog (by marriage) A is by no means a handful but nor is he entirely obedient, and sometimes he has to be because he's a big boy and a breed that ignorant people (and that's large sections of the public) mistakenly think of as a vicious dog and so there's less chance any harm will come to him if he's never out of our control. Thanks to The Dog Whisperer, I know that I can subdue A in any situation by calming myself first and that dogs need to respect as well as love you before they obey. Thanks to My Cat from Hell, I know that if I get a cat, I should just hand them the house keys.
Marriage Boot Camp is a truly awful TV show by anyone's reckoning. Everyone involved is a horrid caricature (self-made or portrayed) of their social type and their relationships ugly distortions of what marriage is really like. The format and its 'exercises' (we should say games) don't help anyone, and the whole debacle is thickly lacquered in anesthetized self-help dross. G and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary and we're both ecstatic about each other and the institution. So whereas once I would see Marriage Boot Camp as a simple lie perpetuated by a periodically lazy medium, I now see it as a cautionary fable of what happens when married couples become grotesque circus-mirrors of loving unions. It's the same old shit but my relationship to it has changed. Perversely, the show may even help our marriage, not because of the guidance it offers but because I now have a high-definition image in my mind of what a bad marriage looks like and I refuse to ever let myself resemble one single pixel of it.
Balls and Chains!
I never thought I was that concerned with the use-value of the TV shows I watched. Then I think how little British TV I now watch compared to when I lived in Britain. Sure, it's harder to get British programmes here and much easier just to go with the flow (50 television academics just telepathically high-fived!) but frankly it's very possible these days and the shows themselves are no less for me being here. It's only because they don't seem relevant to my life as it is now that I don't watch them as regularly. Most of the British shows I've lost in translation are the ones I used to sync myself to the national calendar. You can tell that from the titles: The Great British Menu, The Great British Bake-Off, Coronation Street. What remains is everything I watch for content and style (Doctor Who, The Fall, Peep Show) not because they speak to me in my immediate surroundings. I don't think I'll ever completely confuse useful programming with good TV, but it's tempting sometimes.


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Cultural Catchup
Tag Archives: Love Triangle
Cultural Interview: Awkward. Creator/Showrunner Lauren Iungerich [Part Two]
Awkward. has been successful with MTV's key market, drawing significant fan response for its relatable teen characters among young female demographics. It's a show that fits comfortably into expectations for a show in the age of social media, eminently hashtaggable, and it's become a key cornerstone in the channel's original programming efforts.
However, it would be wrong to reduce Awkward. to its hashtags. In a diverse first season, creator/showrunner Lauren Iungerich explored a wide range of storylines, balanced characters from different age groups, and successfully managed to keep a love triangle from becoming either a foregone conclusion or a waste of time.
In this second part of my conversation with Iungerich—you can find Part One here—we explore what worked in Awkward.'s first season, how that's changing in the second season, and a slight digression into the show's southern California setting.
Is there a story in Awkward.'s first season that you felt best captured the show you were trying to make? The moment where it all clicked for you?
LI: The moment in "Queen Bee-atches" with Sadie, where we really sort of humanize her, where we understand her powerlessness to her weight, was something I was really proud of. The moment in "Fateful" where Lacey gives her daughter that dress, that sort of recognition of acceptance of her kid, and realizing she had made a lot of mistakes. The journey of Lacey in the first season was about going through the five stages of grief, and that was her coming to that phase of acceptance, of realizing how much she loved her daughter, and how precious she was. In "My Super Bittersweet Sixteen" when Matty shows up at the back door on her birthday, on this terrible birthday, and wants to be more than her friend. That is such a romantic tenet. And Dead Stacy [in "Over My Dead Body"], being able to take something and not make a particular TV trope, to do something that hadn't been done before. That's a real tenet of our show: we try not to do anything that's super tropey.
Filed under Awkward.
Tagged as Interview, Lauren Iungerich, Love Triangle, MTV, Palos Verdes, Season 2, Setting, Team Jake, Team Matty, Television, TV
Season Finale: Parks and Recreation – "Freddy Spaghetti"
"Freddy Spaghetti"
When I write about the Thursday comedies, I have to write about them after I finish watching them all, as there's too many other Thursday programs recording on the common DVR which requires I watch them on a recording device-free television set. This is normally fine, but it seemed especially tough tonight, as every other show has to live up to the level of quality that Parks and Recreation has right now.
The best comedy finales are those which find elements of conflict within elements of stability, emphasizing the reasons that we love watching the show week-after-week and the reasons why it remains lively and eventful enough to keep from becoming too familiar. "Freddy Spaghetti" is the epitome of this type of finale, delivering plenty of evidence which captures the heart and soul of this show while introducing other elements that threaten that stability without necessarily overwhelming the positivity inherent to these characters.
It ends up leaving everything in a state of flux, with very little optimism about the future, and yet the show's characters still seem so positive about their present situation that you feel like they can rise above any potential challenges. It doesn't actually bring any of the season's storylines to a wholly positive conclusion, but it complicates things in such an infectious fashion that it loses none of its momentum, and heads into a (sadly too, too long) hiatus with the best season of comic television we saw this year in its back pocket.
And no seven month break is going to change that fact.
Filed under Parks and Recreation
Tagged as Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Analysis, Andy, Ann, April, Aziz Ansari, Benji Wyatt, Budget Cuts, Chris Traegar, Comedy, Concert, Episode 24, Finale, Freddy Spaghetti, Leslie Knope, Love Triangle, Lucy, Natalie Morales, NBC, Nick Offerman, Pawnee, Review, Ron Swanson, Season 2, Season Finale, Television, Tom, TV, Wendy
Season Finale: Community – "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
"Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
Last week felt like a finale, or at least how I had anticipated a Community finale to feel like. It felt like it solidified the group dynamics, offering evidence that the show has grown a great deal over the past season. It was a confident statement on which to head into a second season, emphasizing the dynamics that we've enjoyed thus far and would continue to enjoy into the future.
"Pascal's Triangle Revisited" also feels like a finale, but I'm not entirely convinced it felt like what I anticipated a Community finale to feel like, or even what I want a Community finale to feel like. Throwing the group dynamics out the window, and focusing a lot of its time on supporting characters who aren't part of the core group, the episode places the group's future in chaos and delivers a traditional "shake up the status quo" finale that doesn't feel like it reaches any of the series heights.
Instead, it feels like Dan Harmon and company have taken a small network note and delivered a slightly exaggerated, but never quite subverted, take on what you would traditionally expect from a sitcom finale. I don't necessarily think that the events which transpire are bad, and I had a few good laughs in the episode, but the show I love was purposefully placed into peril, and I don't really think that it resulted in a particularly great half-hour of comedy even if I respect the show for some of the choices it eventually made.
Tagged as Abed, Alison Brie, Analysis, Annie, Britta, Cliffhanger, Dan Harmon, Dean Pelton, Episode 24, Finale, Ian Duncan, Jeff, Joel McHale, John Michael Higgins, John Oliver, Ken Jeong, Lost, Love Triangle, NBC, Pascal's Triangle Revisited, Review, Season 1, Season Finale, Senor Chang, Slater, Television, Tranny Queen, Transfer, Troy, TV, Vaughan
Parks and Recreation – "Galentine's Day"
I wrote about Valentine's Day episodes on Wednesday night, and in the process I argued that I prefer shows which use the holiday to service their existing universe rather than forcing their universe to conform to the holiday. Accordingly, I was legitimately excited about how Parks was going to handle the holiday, because the show has a lot of characters in love, falling in love, or in a position where love is possible but perhaps not materializing as they might have wanted.
"Galentine's Day" manages to handle those relationships with a subtlety beyond most shows in their second season, building the episode around a romantic story which loses its romance once it enters reality, in the process shedding light on the state of the show's various relationships. And since, as noted, I'm more invested in these relationships than I had realized, it made for a great episode for a lot of different characters.
Tagged as Andy, Ann, April, Entertainment, Episode 16, Galentine's Day, John Larroquette, Justin, Justin Theroux, Leslie Knope, Love Triangle, Mark, Mouse-Rat, NBC, Relationships, Ron, Season 2, Television, Tom, TV, Valentine's Day
Flight of the Conchords – "Love is a Weapon of Choice"
"Love is a Weapon of Choice"
After last week was, without question, my favourite episode of Flight of the Conchords' second season, "Love is a Weapon of Choice" has a lot to live up to. Not only did last week's "Unnatural Love" give us two of the season's better songs, but it also delved into the wonderful Australia/New Zealand feud that has often underscored the series. It was vintage Conchords, directed by Michel Gondry, so expecting another episode to compare to it is probably unfair.
As a result, it is with tempered expectations that "Love is a Weapon of Choice" succeeds, if not overwhelmingly. Kristen Wiig proves that she fits well into this universe, something that we could have called based on her great work on Saturday Night Live, and while none of the three songs in the episode prove especially groundbreaking they fit into musical genres the show hasn't often delved into, and were connected well enough to the romantic hijinx of the episode that I'll forgive the lack of outright quality.
It's not one that we're going to remember, but it's at least one that get a few laughs, a few catchy lyrics, and a commendation for some cleverness.
Filed under Flight of the Conchords
Tagged as Anti-Aids, Benefit Concert, Brahbrah, Bret, Canine Epilepsy, Charlie, Comedy, Conchords, Dog Epilepsy, Entertainment, Episode 6, HBO, I'm in Love with a Sexy Lady, Jemaine, Kristen Wiig, Love is a Weapon of Choice, Love Triangle, Lyrics, Murray, Music, Pro-Aids, Review, Saturday Night Live, Season 2, Television
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Cultural Learnings · Television Reviews and Analysis

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"Job options are the same but post-graduates might get better preference," Kalyan says, speaking in Telugu and broken English.
"We didn't just fight for [mere] boundaries," he says. "We fought for neellu, nidhulu, niyaamakaalu (water, funds, and jobs)," Ellaiah says, quoting the slogan which animated the statehood agitation. Most of the recent notifications for government job vacancies have been for the post of a constable in the police department, not university jobs which many qualified candidates have been waiting for, he says.
"The government gives my mother ₹1,000. I do not want this. Give me a government job instead. I will take care of my mother," Ellaiah says.
"Students enrol themselves in public universities to get a subsidized stay while looking for jobs in Hyderabad," says Manne Krishank, a student leader who was involved in the Telangana statehood agitation and is now with the Congress party.
"It's the lack of skill and not the lack of opportunity which is the real problem," says a senior official in the Telangana government public service commission, who requested anonymity. Doctoral scholars and engineers are among those applying for even grade-III & IV posts, the official cited above said. He says that most of those who have acquired higher education are certified but are not necessarily better skilled.
"Is it true that there are a lot of people who are well-trained and not finding jobs, or is it that they have only paper qualifications?" asks Prof. Amit Basole, an economist at Azim Premji University.
While lack of skills may indeed be a concern, it is also true that aspirations rise along with higher education and the highly educated are increasingly choosing not to "settle" for just any available job. Private and public sector companies alike increasingly hire on contracts under terms which deny basic job security and social benefits.
"The going rate for a single question paper for the post of a police sub-inspector is ₹40 lakh," said a senior police official, adding that for a police constable, it is ₹6-7 lakh. Most of the aspirants had paid advances of around ₹1-3 lakh to get their hands on the test paper.
Meanwhile, young men like Kalyan Reddy work hard to get into a central university, which could further subsidize his masters studies and keep him a contender in India's chaotic job market. "After my masters, I will try to get a job related to my professional qualification. If not, I will try for a government job," he says.


Attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Attempting to communicate sexually with a child.
In a series of depraved messages, Harris stated that he wanted the child to move in with him, and in a perverse twist, he constantly referred to her as his daughter.
Harris, 47, of Givele Close, Yeovil, was found guilty of attempting to make a sexual communication with a child, and attempting to incite a girl between the age of 13-15 into sexual activity.
Harris spent the last three months on remand before admitting both charges.
The judge handed Harris a community order lasting two years, a 40 day rehabilitation course, and placed him of the sexual offenders register for five years.
He was also placed under a five year sexual harm prevention order and order to £285 in costs and victim surcharge.


What is the origin and meaning of the expression To Kick The Bucket??
The idiom to kick the bucket means to die and it is normally used in very informal contexts. You will never find a newspaper headline screaming Local M.P kicks the bucket. Similarly, it would be unwise to ask someone I understand your father kicked the bucket yesterday. How did it happen? The idiom should not be used with people who have suffered a recent loss in the family.
•	Sonata told me that our former Principal kicked the bucket last week.
•	Several people in their family kicked the bucket last year.
•	They expect him to kick the bucket next week.
People have come up with different theories as to how this expression came into being. One of them is the following. In the old days, when someone wanted to commit suicide or when people wanted to hang someone, they made use of a bucket - an article that was readily available in all houses. What they used to do was to tie a rope to a tree and under the rope they used to place an empty bucket. The bucket was then turned upside down and the man who was to be hanged was made to stand on it. The noose was slipped around the victim's neck and the bucket was then kicked away. Result? A slow and painful death.


November 11, 2015, my wife Vera and I took our 100% electric car across the state of Maryland as fast as we possibly could without breaking the speed limit. The goal was to see if we could do the drive in a time reasonably close to doing it in a gasoline car. Six hours is the normal benchmark.
I got the inspiration from watching "The Electric Road Trip," a PBS documentary made by Jonathan Slade and Novia Campbell. The husband and wife team filmed their 2012 trek across the state in a Nissan LEAF. Their goal was to demonstrate the viability of an EV for everyday use. If they could drive an all-electric car from Oakland in western Maryland all the way to Ocean City, then viewers may realize that an electric car could easily serve as their daily commuter.
Across Maryland in Six Hours or Six Days?
In the film, the couple stop at a store near the beginning of their trip and ask the shopkeeper if she has ever driven from there to Ocean City. The woman said, "Yes I have, it's normally a six-hour drive from one end of the state to the other." Novia laughed and said, "It's probably going to take us six days." Indeed, the couple took five days to reach the shore.
Three years ago, when they took their trip, Maryland was an EV charging infrastructure desert on the Eastern Shore and a wilderness west of Frederick. There were very few EV charging stations when venturing beyond the suburbs of Baltimore and DC. Often, the couple had to resort to "trickle charging" on a 120 volt outlet which slowed their pace and gave them time to explore and meet interesting people in the small towns where they stopped to charge.
Vera and I have taken similar slow charging trips in our THINK City EV and it really does allow plenty of time to smell the roses. That slow pace makes for a nice vacation road trip. But what if a family wants to spend their vacation lounging at the beach, not driving to it. Has the charging infrastructure and EV technology advanced enough to drive an EV from Deep Creek Lake to the OC Boardwalk in a reasonable amount of time?
There have been several advancements since the summer of 2012 to help bring forth a quicker electric journey across the state. The first is that Tesla started delivering their Model S with a range of over 250 miles on a charge. In January, 2014, Tesla opened a Supercharger station in Hagerstown, MD that can recharge the batteries on a Model S in under an hour. Another Supercharger opened in Salisbury last November. This summer, several Tesla "destination charging" stations popped up in western Maryland including at the Lake Pointe Inn in McHenry.
When the Holiday Inn Oceanfront in Ocean City switched on the power to their charging stations on November 3rd, the stage was finally set for a fast electric crossing. I figured the trip could be done with a Tesla 70D by charging up overnight at the Lake Pointe Inn, driving to Hagerstown for a quick boost and if the wind and temperature were right, go non-stop to Ocean City, bypassing the Salisbury Supercharger. I was ready and so was Vera.
The night of November 10th, Vera and I drove from our home in the DC-Baltimore area out to the Lake Pointe Inn. It rained most of the way out but the forecast was for partly sunny with a high in the upper 60's for the following day. Importantly, a steady breeze was forecast to blow from the W and NW for the entire day – a perfect tailwind. It would also be a federal holiday, Veterans Day, and I expected lighter than normal traffic.
We awoke to a fully charged car and headed to the historic Oakland train station, 14 miles away. This is where Jonathan and Novia began their trip. On our way into town, we were astonished to see a white Nissan LEAF coming the other way. I flashed the lights and waved. Electric cars are showing up everywhere, even in the "EV wilderness" of Garrett County, MD.
In Oakland I snapped a few photos and Vera took the driver's seat. At exactly 8:00 AM we rolled away from the train station heading directly to the Hagerstown Supercharger 115 miles away. I had plotted the route using EV Trip Planner and I carefully monitored the projected vs actual energy usage from my seat on the passenger side. Our car has the Tesla "Autopilot" feature which uses a combination of cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and data to adjust speed in response to traffic and automatically steer and change lanes on the highway.
We used the Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) practically the entire way to make sure that we stayed at or below the posted speed limit. The car's forward facing camera is able to read and recognize the speed limit signs and by pulling and holding the cruise control stalk for a few seconds, the TACC will set its cruising speed to match the speed limit and automatically slow down when it senses a slower vehicle ahead and accelerate when movement resumes.
We used a publicly displayed Glympse map so that people who were interested could track our progress. Glympse also displayed the current speed so others could verify that we were sticking to the speed limit. One viewer commented that we were going 70 MPH on I-68 and must be speeding. I reminded them that on October 1st, Maryland increased the posted speed limit on the Interstate in western Maryland from 65 to 70 MPH. So all was good.
The first 85 miles was on two lane highways. Once we merged onto Interstate 68, Vera engaged the Autosteer function to keep the car in the current lane. The Autopilot features are still in beta and Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled and to keep hands on the wheel at all times.
Traffic was light on I-68 so the Autopilot kept us moving along steadily at 70 MPH except when the posted speed was lower. We reached the Hagerstown exit at 9:59 AM. We arrived to find two of our EV friends had decided to come out to greet us. They had been tracking us on the Glympse map and figured out when we would arrive to charge.
Rick and Dave with Vera at our Hagerstown Supercharger stop.
Rick Rohn drove his LEAF from Martinsburg, WV and Dave Glotfelty, who also has a LEAF, drove from Pennsylvania bearing donuts and drinks. It was great to see them! Our visit was brief. After 42 minutes of charging, we had enough to make it to Ocean City, even if the tailwind quit. At 10:51, we were back on the highway with Autopilot engaged and Vera still holding the wheel.
After leaving Hagerstown with 215 miles of rated range and the wind literally at our back, I felt confident that we would make it to Salisbury with enough charge to keep going straight to Ocean City without stopping. Since we were trying to compare our total time from Oakland to OC vs a non-stop trip in a gas vehicle, we wanted to keep stops to a minimum. That included bathroom breaks. We were mindful of fluid consumption and it worked out well for the four-hour final leg.
Taking manual control of steering while passing through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge toll booth.
Traffic was relatively light as we passed south of Baltimore, onto Route 50 and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore. We maintained the legal speed even when the limit dropped to 45 or 35 MPH. We got passed a lot.
At 2:41 PM, we crossed the entrance to the Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot in Ocean City, exactly 6 hours and 41 minutes after leaving the train station in Oakland. If we were driving a gas car and didn't have to stop to refuel, to use the restroom or to eat, we would have theoretically arrived 52 minutes earlier. In reality, it's unlikely that people would drive a distance of 329 miles without stopping. Just a fast food stop and restroom break could easily add up to the same amount of time as our 42 minute Supercharging stop. And of course we eat and use the restroom while the car is charging.
Picking up some fresh Fisher's Popcorn after arriving at the OC Boardwalk.
Despite the title of this article, I don't really presume that there's a "record" for crossing Maryland. However, I do hope to draw attention to the need for more CHAdeMO and SAE Combo fast charging stations, especially in the western part of the state. Jonathan and Novia hoped that their documentary "would spark conversations about how transportation infrastructure needs to evolve in the 21st century." I hope that our demonstration contributes to that conversation.
The former Maryland Attorney General promised a statewide fast charger network when he announced the $1,000,000 EVIP grant program. Three chargers funded by the program are under construction on the Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, there are no plans for building fast chargers west of Hagerstown in the EVIP awards. That Nissan LEAF that we spotted out in western Maryland should be able to drive to Ocean City by using a well-spaced network of fast chargers. I hope the infrastructure to support that trip won't take another three years to develop.


text:
By CROSBY STILLS NASH YOUNG
For Marker Broadcasting, hereinafter referred to as "the Station"
75-153 Merle Drive, Suite G, Palm Desert, CA 92211
1. Contests are open to all persons except full or part-time employees of the Station and their immediate families (spouses, children, parents, brothers, sisters or significant others). In the event of a co-sponsor merchant, employees of such merchant are not eligible to win.
2. No purchase of any kind is ever necessary to win any contest.
3. All selection of and distribution to winners is the final decision of the Station.
4. The Station reserves the right to substitute an alternate prize of equal or greater value.
5. All winners must claim their prize at the Station offices, 75-153 Merle Drive, Suite G, Palm Desert, CA, 9AM – 5PM Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, within ten business days of winning, or they forfeit their right to the prize. "Cash" prizes will be paid by check from the Station. Winners are required to show valid picture identification and may also be required to furnish driver license number and social security number.
6. By accepting a prize, the winner grants the station the right to publicize and/or broadcast the winner's name, character likeness, voice, residence city and the fact that they won the prize, including the circumstances, without any compensation to the winner.
7. Winners are not eligible to win again until fourteen (14) calendar days have passed. Limit one winner per household.
8. Winner is responsible for any federal, state or local taxes which may become due as the result of winning a prize.
9. If travel is required to use the prize, the winner is responsible transportation to and from such site unless otherwise stated in specific contest rules.
10. The Station is not responsible for lost or broken phone connections.
11. Other rules may apply to a specific contest. All contest rules are available at the Station during normal business hours, or by sending the Station a request with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Nonstop Classic Rock with Q102.3
LEARNING TO FLY
By PINK FLOYD
ROLL WITH THE CHANGES
By REO SPEEDWAGON
By DAVID ESSEX
YOU CANT ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
By ROLLING STONES
Currently being updated.
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Up to date weather for Palm Desert
Q102.3 Classic ROCK


text:
NO NEED TO GET STABBY –
"THE SIMPSONS" RETURNING TO DVD TOMORROW!
After 10 Years, Television's Longest Running Scripted Primetime Series Returns on DVD December 5 Featuring "Fat Tony" Collectible Packaging
"The Simpsons" Season 18 DVD Will Also Include All-New Season 18 Bonus Episode "22 For 30" Featuring Fat Tony
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment proudly presents the return of America's favorite animated family on DVD when "THE SIMPSONS" – SEASON 18 arrives on December 5. Featuring Springfield's lovable legitimate businessman, this long-awaited season features commentary on each of the 22 episodes and never-before-seen deleted scenes along with the bonus episode "22 For 30" from Season 28 that includes a memorable scene with Fat Tony.
"THE SIMPSONS" – SEASON 18 was a historic one; the last before The Simpsons Movie, the season-finale 400th episode, "You Kent Always Get What You Want", "24 Minutes" with guest star Kiefer Sutherland, Treehouse of Horror XVII with the sepia-tone classic "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid" and much much more. Guest stars include Michael Imperioli, The White Stripes, Tom Wolfe and Natalie Portman and classic episodes include the Emmy-nominated "The Haw-Hawed Couple" and WGA winner "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II."
Don't delay, buy today!
4-Disc Set Contains The Complete Eighteenth Season With All 22 Episodes
Welcome Back, Loyal Fans!
Audio Commentary On All Episodes With Writers, Actors and Directors
Deleted Scenes With Commentary
Multi-Angle Animation Showcase
Special Language Feature
A Conversation With Fat Tony
ABOUT THE SIMPSONS
THE SIMPSONS is a Gracie Films Production in association with 20th Century Fox Television.
James L. Brooks, Matt Groening and Al Jean are the executive producers. The Gracie Films Worldwide Brand develops and produces the licensed content for the series. Visit THE SIMPSONS website at simpsonsworld.com. "Like" the series on Facebook at facebook.com/TheSimpsons. Follow Homer Simpson @HomerJSimpson on twitter, join the conversation using #thesimpsons and follow The Simpsons on Instagram @TheSimpsonsFox.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognized global industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film. TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions as well as all third party distribution partners on DVD, Blu-ray™, 4K Ultra HD, Digital HD, and VOD (video-on-demand). Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets and digital stores throughout the world.


Levodopa (INN) or L-DOPA (3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine) is an intermediate in dopamine biosynthesis. In clinical use, levodopa is administered in the management of Parkinson's disease. It is also used as a component in marine adhesives used by pelagic life. Levodopa has a chemical formula of C9H11NO4 and a molecular weight of 197.19 g/mol.
Levodopa is used as a prodrug to increase dopamine levels for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, since it is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, whereas dopamine itself cannot. Once levodopa has entered the central nervous system (CNS), it is metabolized to dopamine by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase. Pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6) is a required cofactor for this decarboxylation, and may be administered along with levodopa, usually as pyridoxine.
However, conversion to dopamine also occurs in the peripheral tissues, i.e. outside the brain. This causes adverse effects and decreases the available dopamine to the CNS, so it is standard practice to co-administer a peripheral DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor—carbidopa or benserazide—and often a catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) inhibitor. In contrast, co-administration of pyridoxine without a decarboxylase inhibitor accelerates the extracerebral decarboxylation to such an extent that it cancels out the effects of levodopa administration, a circumstance which historically caused great confusion.
In work that earned him a Nobel Prize in 2000, Swedish scientist Arvid Carlsson first showed in the 1950s that administering levodopa to animals with Parkinsonian symptoms would cause a reduction of the symptoms. The neurologist Oliver Sacks describes this treatment in human patients with encephalitis lethargica in his book Awakenings, upon which the movie Awakenings is based.
Herbal supplements containing standardized dosages of L-DOPA are available without a prescription. These supplements have recently increased in both availability and popularity in the United States and on the Internet. The most common plant source of L-DOPA marketed in this manner is a tropical legume, Mucuna pruriens, also known as "Velvet Bean" and by a number of other common names.
Two of the most popular brands of Mucuna pruriens are "DopaBean," marketed by Solaray, and "Mucuna," marketed by Physician Formulas, Inc. These preparations claim to contain standardized dosages of L-DOPA in enteric-coated capsules. The dosage claimed is usually about 50 mg per capsule, and the recommended dose is two capsules per day. A third product, "L-Dopa," marketed by Unique Nutrition, claims a higher effective dose of 250 mg. American Nutrition also carries a Mucuna pruriens standardized to 40% L-DOPA under its NutraceuticsRx label.
Some of the claims made for the use of these supplements may have validity, whereas many do not. Among the most common claims are that the supplements will increase libido and aid in body-building (presumably by increasing human growth hormone in both cases). The long-term consequences of the use of these supplements by healthy individuals remains to be seen.
Both levodopa and its precursor amino acid L-tyrosine are precursors to the biological pigment melanin. The enzyme tyrosinase catalyzes the oxidation of L-dopa to the reactive intermediate dopaquinone, which reacts further, eventually leading to melanin oligomers.
Hyland K, Clayton PT (1992). "Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency: diagnostic methodology". Clin Chem. 38 (12): 2405-10. PMID 1281049.
Waite, J. Herbert, et al. (2005). "Mussel Adhesion: Finding the Tricks Worth Mimicking". J Adhesion 81: 1-21.
Messersmith, Phillip B., et al. (2006). "Rapid Gel Formation and Adhesion in Photocurable and Biodegradable Block Copolymers with High DOPA Content". Macromolecules 39: 1740-1748.


Want in on the 2019 details?
Keep up to date on what's happening and be the first to learn about Westerner Days 2019!
Thank you Central Alberta for making our largest summer celebration one to remember with over 93,000 people that buckled up to go check out 2018 Westerner Days Fair & Exhibition!
The 2018 Westerner Days Fair & Exposition saw a total of 93,543 guests enjoy the food, activities, shopping and entertainment! Each night saw thousands of fans meet-up to watch twelve fantastic TD Main Stage performers, enjoyed four nights of fireworks, and experienced the thrilling Red Deer Motors Pony Chuckwagon Championships. Red Deer stayed mostly sunny for our visitors during the week, and on Saturday, July 21 we welcomed more than 20,000 people into Westerner Park.
Westerner Days Fair & Exposition would like to give our sincere thanks to all sponsors, media, volunteers and staff who have helped us make this year's event a success. This year, we had over 20 off-site events all over Red Deer, which saw thousands of people enjoying pancake breakfasts and charity BBQs.
We are excited for what next year has in store as our staff and volunteers plan for Central Alberta's largest summer celebration! See you in 2019 from July 17-21 at Westerner Days Fair & Exposition!
In addition to our committees and event volunteers, we had several local charities that were on-site volunteering at the Saputo Kids Corral.
For more information, please visit www.immigrant-centre.ca.
For more information, please visit shalomcounselling.com.
For more information, please visit www.hockeyalberta.ca/hockey-alberta-foundation.
For more information, please visit pipercreekoptimist.com.


text:
The New 7 Wonders of The World and The Seven Ancient Wonders of The World
Geschreven op 1-8-2010 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Agenda, Natuur
19 January 2011: The third phase of the New7Wonders of Nature is now underway, and you can vote on your choice of seven natural wonders from the selection of 28 Official Finalist Candidates.
The Official New7Wonders of Nature campaign started in 2007, immediately after the successful campaign to elect the man-made Official New 7 Wonders of the World, in which more than 100 million votes were cast and which took democracy to a new global level. From over 440 participants representing over 220 countries – more countries than participate in the Olympic Games – and through a national qualification and race to become one of the Top 77, as well as the Panel of Experts recommendation of the list of 28 Official Finalist Candidates, the Official New7Wonders of Nature is now in its third and final phase in which the wonders themselves will be chosen by an estimated 1 billion votes. The Official Declaration of the New7Wonders of Nature will be on 11.11.11.
1 August 2010: The Official New 7 Wonders of the World, as announced at the Official Declaration Ceremony on 07.07.07. More than 100 million votes were cast worldwide. The New 7 Wonders are all equal – there is no rank among the list. The Seven New Wonders are: The Great Wall of China – Petra – Chichén Itzá – The Statue of Christ Redeemer – The Colosseum – Machu Picchu – The Taj Mahal
7 Wonders were chosen because the original list of Ancient Wonders, drawn up more than 2,000 years ago, contained 7 and because 7 has been shown time and time again to be the number of things that the average person can remember.
The commonly known Seven Ancient Wonders of the World were all man-made monuments, selected by Philon of Byzantium in 200 B.C. Today, only the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt remain. His selection of wonders was essentially a travel guide for fellow Athenians, and the stunning sites were all located around the Mediterranean basin, the then-known world.
The Seven Ancient Wonders are: The Colossus of Rhodes – The Hanging Gardens of Babylon – The Lighthouse of Alexandria – The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus –The Pyramids of Egypt – The Statue of Zeus –The Temple of Artemis
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A song for the New7Wonders of Nature: Wonder of Nature by Steven James
Wonder of Nature" is a song by Steven James for the New7Wonders of Nature, a worldwide voting campaign that highlights and celebrates the beauty of our planet.


I went past the foundry yesterday to drop off the peg and kicker mold masters. Should be just a few weeks before they are on there way!!! Here are some pics of the foundry, I think their shop is so rad! Tons of insane old tooling.
pumped...one step closer at some new pegs!
can't wait to get my hands on a set!!!!


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The manual outreach is performed in 4 phases to verify that every discovered citation inconsistency is cleaned up and the correct information in place.
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No citation cleanup project is complete without a final round of inspection. We thoroughly double-check every updated submission to ensure the changes were successfully updated on the site.
When it comes to the data aggregators, especially any that were verified, often times manual corrections are impossible to make. And if an edit is suggested it may or may not stick. Until now.
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text:
Shoot First
Author: Stuart Woods
Series: A Stone Barrington Novel #45
Narrator: Tony Roberts
In the latest nonstop adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington must defend a woman whose business--and life--are under threat.
Stone Barrington is enjoying a round of golf in Key West when the game is violently interrupted--and it seems as if the target of the disturbance may have been one of his playing companions, the brilliant businesswoman behind a software startup on the cutting edge of technology. Soon, it becomes clear that this incident is only the first thrust in a deadly scheme to push the beautiful young woman out of the way and put her company's valuable secrets up for grabs.
From the sun-soaked Florida shores to an idyllic English country retreat, Stone embarks on a quest to protect his lovely new companion while searching for the mastermind behind the plot against her. But he may find that her enemy is far more resourceful--and dangerous--than he could have anticipated.
The dazzling new novel in the #1 New York Times–bestselling series from the grand master of adventure.It is called zero point energy, and it really exists—a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and thus all but unlimited. ...
The Oregon crew must work without their usual resources when a rogue hacker empties their bank account in this action-packed installment from the #1 New York Times–bestselling grand master of adventure. When a bank heist durin...
The American novelist hailing from Georgia, Stuart Woods, had a long and lustrous career in competition sailing. The interest, maybe obsession, with sailing began after he had spent time in London, then Ireland to write a novel about an old family story which he had heard as a child. He began putting together a crew for sailing competition shortly after he moved to Ireland.
It was in conjunction with a certain race, the MORCRA Azores Race and the OSTAR, Woods met with publishers to trade writing a book about his sailing experiences in return for sponsorship of the races. Golden Harp was launched in 1975, followed by Golden, Golden Apple, Golden Shamrock, Golden Delicious, and Harp.
Wood's novel, Blue Water. Green Skipper was published in 1977. His next book took a different turn and was based on his extensive travels around England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It was entitled, A Romantic's Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland. He then followed those two non-fiction books with several series of novels featuring recurring casts of characters and also with characters and their love interests, and frequent use of the New York restaurant Elaine's as a meeting place. Woods has published a memoir, a travel book, and forty-four novels in a thirty-seven year career.
A Stone Barrington Novel Bundle
Get 5% off your total order by adding 3 or more audiobooks from A Stone Barrington Novel
A Stone Barrington Novel #45
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A Stone Barrington Novel
L.A. Dead
A Stone Barrington Novel #6
{"id":"2072845","ean":"9780525494393","abr":"Unabridged","title":"Shoot First","subtitle":"","author":"Stuart Woods","rating_average":"4.02","narrator":"Tony Roberts","series_id":"3997","ubr_id":"2072845","abr_id":"0","ubr_price":"17.50","abr_price":"0.00","ubr_memprice":"11.38","abr_memprice":"0.00","ubr_narrator":"Tony Roberts","abr_narrator":"","ubr_length":"Unabridged: 7 hr","abr_length":"Abridged: "}


Carnival Legend sailed from Sydney on Tuesday, April 3 for her yearly northern hemisphere summer season in Alaska, prior to dry dock refurbishment taking place in May.
Carnival Cruise Line is investing A$65 million in Funship 2.0 upgrades which will offer vacationers a variety of new dining and entertainment venues onboard. The refit will take place in Portland Oregon.
Cruise enthusiasts hoping to be among the very first to sail on the renovated cruise ship can book the 18-day return cruise onboard Carnival Legend from Honolulu to Sydney, departing September 24, 2018.
The 19-day transpacific voyage will sail through French Polynesia, with ports of call including Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora. The ship will then cross the international dateline prior to sailing back to Sydney.
The Australian summer season of Carnival Legend will start on October 13, 2018.


text:
El Torneig de Nova York 2018, també conegut com a New York Open 2018, és una competició tennística disputada sobre pista dura interior que pertany a les sèries 250 de l'ATP. L'edició inaugural del torneig es va disputar entre el 12 i el 18 de febrer del 2018 al Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum de Uniondale, Nova York, Estats Units. És la primera edició disputada a Nova York després d'haver-se traslladat des de Memphis.

Quadre individual masculí

Caps de sèrie

Quadre

Quadre dobles masculins

Caps de sèrie

Quadre

Referències

Enllaços externs
 Web oficial

ATP World Tour 2018

Competicions tennístiques estatunidenques
Esport a Nova York

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Comment on Pleasing God by pleasing devotees by meghana.
The primary quality of a guru is he connects all to God and himself is absorbed in service to transcendence. Thank you very much.
Radhanath Swami has trained his students to provide spiritual nourishment to children that will leave deep positive impression in their tender hearts.


The world's largest social network Facebook has launched a new service of Gifts sending, which will allow users to send real gifts to real people in real life.
Now the social network have a great opportunitybecome a really direct competitor to the largest online retailers such as Amazon.com and eBay. According to the analysts, the new service will allow Facebook to increase its annual revenues at least by $ 872 million. And it is a truly good forecast.
At last for now, the Gifts service will be available for the U.S. residents only. Just because it is a pilot project, Facebook want to test of there will the demand on the service. Facebook's sending gifts partners are about 100 companies, including such giants as a coffee house chain Starbucks, Magnolia Bakery and confectionery florist 1-800-Flowers.com. Now users have an opportunity to send your friends t-shirts, cakes and stuffed animals, and many other "present" things.
A user whom the gift is intended to will have toprovide a shipping address only. In addition, the person will be able to change the present if he or she wants to.
Let's recall that in early August this year the Facebook social network was beginning to test the service of making real postcards from users' photos. Using the postcard service the user could select any of the published photos, to addsome personal message and send it to a friend to whom the photoarrives in a paper form by mail. However, the attempt has failed.
After a disastrous IPO thattook place on 18 May, the social network has been sharply criticized by investors who claimed that Facebook cannot find any effective sources of income other than advertising on the site.The capitalization of the social network after the initial placement of the share has collapsed by almost 50%.
Let's hope the new Facebook service will be made at a high level, it will bring the profit and will become an international one.
This post is written by Katherine Merzlova, a copywriter from Intellectsoft. I like to read and write about mobile-related things. Besides, I work with one of the great teams working with iOS development. If you'd like to guest post for US check out our Write for Us page for details about how YOU can share your knowledge with our online community.


Chord tones are first choice when it comes to writing your chord melody – or playing one by ear! But melodies also uses the notes in between the chord tones.
This page describes how the Musicarta's Pyramids Variations home-study course shows you how a chord melody is put together from chord tones and in-between notes.
You'll be making up your own chord melodies in no time...!
Here's the Lesson Three Pyramids performance with its simple chord-tone melody.
Beneath the graphic in the Pyramids Variations pdf document, you'll find the reference numbers for the audio file and MIDI files in your study download.
You can play the mp3 audio clip on any media player, but when you play the MIDI file on the MidiPiano virtual keyboard (included in the download), you'll see-and-hear this.
MidiPiano has slow-down, repeat and zoom controls - you'll can't help 'getting it'. Lots of Musicarta learning material has MIDI support.
The Pyramids Variations shows you how to play a chord accompaniment and a melody at the same time, then how to make the melody more interesting with those in-between 'non-chord tones' ( - you'll even be talking like a musician!).
It's the basis of popular keyboard style, all gathered together in one package.
But in Lesson Four, you've already expanded your chord accompaniment to the impressive four-chord version. When you add your developed chord melody on top, your performance sounds like this.
And you can apply the techniques you learn in the Pyramids Variations to any chord sequence and melody - any song, in fact.
Please continue to explore the Pyramids Variations by clicking through to Sample Lesson Six. You'll see how the Pyramids version you already know gets expanded into the 32-bar song form a huge number of popular songs and jazz standards are built on. Use the links in the series navigation box in the right hand column, or link up to the Pyramids Variations home page for details of the download contents and study methods.


ETC! ETC! gravitates his aural attention onto anything that moves the room. First attracted to Electro House for the big bass and floor-shattering fast-paced BPM, ETC!ETC! started to shift his focus to moombahton in early 2011 and started making an impact on the scene almost immediately. As of late, ETC!ETC! has achieved Rockstar status, producing some of the heaviest, most intense trap songs ever created.
From sell out shows to viral releases, Meaux Green's presence in dance music has turned him into one of the most coveted players in Trap, Bass, House, and more, and he works endlessly to secure a sound unlike anyone else. Using his hip-hop background as inspiration, while fusing in today's modern dance music sounds, the Miami native has found himself as one the leaders in the industry today. Building a name through multiple residencies and one off shows, he has become one of the fiercest DJs playing versatile, well-rounded sets, and he has quickly become a crowd favorite.
Don't miss this opportunity to catch ETC! ETC! and Meaux Green at this exclusive Atlanta performance! Tickets for this event will sell out! Get yours now! Initial release tickets are available starting at just $15!
ETC! ETC! and Meaux Green Live in Atlanta!


This talisman features Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love. It was said that she rose from the sea on a clamshell fully formed and infinitely beautiful.
Sterling silver or bronze talisman on a sterling silver cable chain with a Pyrrha branded quality tag.
Talisman measures approx. 1/2" x 3/4".


text:
Ассоциа́ция кла́стеров, технопа́рков и ОЭЗ Росси́и — ведущая общественно-деловая организация страны, объединяющая объекты технологической и промышленной инфраструктуры, управляющие компании особых экономических зон, промышленных кластеров и технопарков.

История создания
Ассоциация организаций содействия развитию кластеров и технопарков России создана в 2011 году как некоммерческое партнёрство «Ассоциация технопарков в сфере высоких технологий», и по замыслу тогдашнего министра связи и массовых коммуникаций Игоря Щеголева, должна была выполнять функции, схожие с СРО, которая после окончания государственной программы развития технопарков займётся координацией развития созданных технопарков.

Основателями организации выступили: Уральский университетский комплекс, Технопарк новосибирского Академгородка, Инновационный центр «Жигулевская долина», ИТ-парк «Анкудиновка», Технопарк Санкт-Петербурга, Кузбасский технопарк, Технопарк «Саров», Технопарк «Мордовия» и ряд других.

С конца 2013 года Ассоциация формулирует кластерные инициативы для развития промышленности. С принятием Федерального закона от 31 декабря 2014 г. N 488-ФЗ «О промышленной политике в Российской Федерации», который ввел понятия промышленные технопарки и промышленные кластеры, в июле 2015 «Ассоциация технопарков в сфере высоких технологий» преобразована в некоммерческую организацию «Ассоциация организаций содействия развитию кластеров и технопарков».

С мая 2018 года включена в реестр выданных разрешений Министерством юстиции Российской Федерации, на использование в наименовании некоммерческой организации официального наименования «Российская Федерация» или «Россия».

Объединяет 90 организаций из 44 субъектов Российской Федерации, в том числе управляющие компании технопарков, нанотехнологических центров и Особых экономических зон, центры кластерного развития, специализированные организации промышленных кластеров. Представляет интересы свыше 2600 организаций — резидентов технопарков и участников кластеров, на предприятиях которых работает свыше 180 тыс. человек, а совокупный объём выпускаемой продукции составляет свыше 710 млрд рублей (0,77% ВВП России).

Органы управления Ассоциации
Высшим органом управления является Общее собрание членов Ассоциации. Постоянно действующим коллегиальным органом является Наблюдательный совет. Единоличным исполнительным органом управления Ассоциации является директор, избирающийся Общим собранием сроком на пять лет для руководства текущей деятельностью. В 2016 году на должность директора во второй раз был избран Шпиленко Андрей Викторович, кандидат экономических наук, офицер запаса (воинское звание полковник). Директор представляет интересы Ассоциации, также являясь членом подгруппы «Технологическое предпринимательство» по направлению «Малое и среднее предпринимательство» при Государственном совете РФ, Комитета по промышленной политике Российского союза промышленников и предпринимателей, Стратегического совета Минпромторга России по инвестициям в новые индустрии, Экспертного совета по импортозамещению при комитете Государственной Думы по экономической политике, промышленности, инновационному развитию и предпринимательству и ряд других.

Члены Ассоциации
Среди наиболее упоминаемых членов Ассоциации:
 Технопарк новосибирского Академгородка,
 ГБУ ТО «Западно-Сибирский инновационный центр»,
 АО «Технополис "Москва"»,
 «Технопарк "Сколково"»,
 «Технопарк "Калибр"»
 ОАО «Красцветмет»,
 ООО «Липецкмаш»
 Технопарк ГУП НПО «Мосгормаш»
 Технопарк «Жигулевская долина»
 АНО «СОПК "Композиты без границ"», входящую в корпорацию «Росатом»,
 ООО «Кластер электронных приборов, материалов и компонентов» — концерн «Энергомера», включающий предприятие АО «Монокристалл» — мирового лидера по производству синтетических сапфиров;
 АО «Особая экономическая зона технико-внедренческого типа "Дубна"», в 2017 году возглавившее рейтинг особых экономических зон России;
 АУ «Технопарк — Мордовия»;
 АО «Технопарк "Саров"»;
 ООО «Национальный аэрозольный кластер»;
ООО «УЦТТ» (Ульяновский наноцентр ULNANOTECH);
 ООО «НЦ «Техноспарк» (Нанотехнологический центр «ТехноСпарк»);
 АО «Инновационный медико-технологический центр (Медицинский Технопарк)»;
 АО «Технопарк Санкт-Петербурга»;
 OOO «Промышленный электротехнический кластер Псковской области»;
 Особая экономическая зона технико-внедренческого типа «Дубна» (АО «ОЭЗ ТВТ «Дубна»);
 АО «ОЭЗ ППТ «Моглино»;
 Особая экономическая зона промышленно-производственного типа «Ступино Квадрат»;
 Особая экономическая зона технико-внедренческого типа «Иннополис»;
 Особая экономическая зона промышленно-производственного «Алабуга»;
 Технопарк Morion Digital;
 Международный медицинский кластер.

Партнёры Ассоциации
 Министерство промышленности и торговли России,
 Минкомсвязи РФ,
 Правительство Красноярского края,
 Правительство Астраханской области,
 Правительство Республики Удмуртия,
 Администрация Псковской области,
 Фонд развития центра разработки и коммерциализации новых технологий «Сколково»,
 Фонд Развития Промышленности,
 АО Российская венчурная компания,
 АО Концерн «Созвездие»,
 Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики»,
 Фонд развития интернет инициатив;
 Администрация Кемеровской области;
 Администрация Омской области;
 Правительство Удмуртской области;
 Администрация Пензенской области;
 Правительство Республики Адыгея,
 Администрация Иркутской области;
 Администрация Новосибирской области;
 Администрация Рязанской области;
 Администрация Калужской области;
 Администрация Тамбовской области;
 Администрация Владимирской области;
 Администрация города федерального значения Севастополя,
 Правительство Чувашской Республики;
 Правительство Республики Марий Эл и другие

Профиль и проекты
Ассоциация выступает как аналитическая и методологическая организация при формировании промышленных кластеров, определяя наличия условий для их создания, и последующего включения в реестр Министерства промышленности и торговли России с целью субсидирования со стороны государства понесённых затрат по проекту для всех участников кластера. Промышленные кластеры, по видению экспертов Ассоциации и Минпромторга РФ, представляют собой производственные цепочки выпуска на территории России конечной промышленной продукции и позволяют определить на каждом технологическом переделе инвестиционные проекты строительства и модернизации предприятий, реализация которых сможет обеспечить локализацию выпуска недостающей продукции и выполнения технологических операций в России.

Наиболее успешным считается проект, когда в 2018 году Ассоциация с компанией UMATEX Group (входит в корпорацию Росатом) инициировали создание межрегионального промышленного кластера «Композиты без границ».

Взаимодействие с федеральными органами власти
При участии Ассоциации созданы Экспертные советы по импортозамещению, особым экономическим зонам, развитию промышленных кластеров и контрактного производства при Комитете Госдумы по экономической политике, промышленности, инновационному развитию и предпринимательству.

С Министерством экономического развития Российской Федерации, научным и профессиональным сообществом проводятся аналитические исследования и практические семинары по механизмам государственной поддержки промышленных кластеров и промышленных технопарков.

6 июня 2019 года Ассоциация развития кластеров и технопарков России подписала Соглашение о сотрудничестве с Министерством экономического развития России. В связи с чем АКИТ РФ обязалась подготавливать и направлять в Министерство предложения по созданию, развитию и поддержке технопарков для комплексного стратегического планирования и социально-экономического развития субъектов РФ; осуществлять мониторинг деятельности управляющих компаний и резидентов технопарков и предоставлять результаты Минэкономразвития; ежегодно составлять рейтинги в сферах технопарков и ОЭЗ России; участвовать в реализации образовательных программ повышения квалификации специалистов технопарков.

Ассоциация представлена в Стратегическом совете по инвестициям в новые индустрии Министерства промышленности и торговли Российской Федерации под председательством министра Дениса Мантурова. На июль 2018 года в реестре Минпромторга РФ — 32 региональных промышленных кластера.

Осуществляет поддержку системы ГИСИП, разработанной в рамках реализации Государственной программы «Развитие промышленности и повышение её конкурентоспособности».

Деловые миссии в субъектах Российской Федерации

Региональные деловые миссии, проводимые Ассоциацией совместно с Минпромторгом России и Минэкономразвития России, а также региональными органами исполнительной власти, выявляют инвестиционные ниши в производственных цепочках промышленных кластеров и показывают возможности потенциальным инвесторам. Всем предприятиям, входящим в состав кластера, предлагаются механизмы господдержки по субсидированию затрат от начальной стадии разработки до конечного выпуска продукции.

Ассоциацией подписывались соглашения о сотрудничестве по механизмам развития межрегиональных промышленных кластеров и привлечения прямых инвестиций в кластерные проекты регионов с главами и губернаторами следующих субъектов РФ.

Участие в подготовке федеральной законодательной и нормативной базы и рейтинговые исследования
Ассоциация является разработчиком ГОСТ Р 56425-2015 «Технопарки. Требования»; Правил функционирования системы добровольной сертификации технопарков; Проводила национальный рейтинг технопарков России; Рейтинг инвестиционной привлекательности особых экономических зон России; Рейтинга инновационных регионов России:

По словам генерального директора Ассоциации инновационных регионов России Ивана Федотова, рейтинг [инновационных регионов России] 2017 года – это реальный инструмент управления. Исследование учитывает, с одной стороны, условия развития высокотехнологичного бизнеса и доступность основных ресурсов, с другой — оценивает результаты развития высокотехнологичных компаний и их вклад в экономику региона. При этом результаты оценки условий и результатов не суммируются, что позволяет составить интегральную картину инвестиционных возможностей регионов и определения потенциальных точек несырьевого роста экономики. «Благодарим экспертов Ассоциации кластеров и технопарков за поддержку рейтинга и уверены в плодотворном продолжении нашего сотрудничества», - добавил он.

С группой депутатов — членами Комитета Госдумы по экономической политике, промышленности, инновационному развитию и предпринимательству (Денис Кравченко, Альфия Когогина, Александр Козловский) и представителями Минпромторга РФ готовились поправки для внесения изменений в Федеральный закон «О промышленной политике в Российской Федерации», которым закрепляется понятие «промышленный технопарк».

Международная деятельность
Ассоциация взаимодействует на уровне межправительственных комиссий, правительств стран, профильных ассоциаций и организаций инфраструктуры. Организует деловые миссии российских регионов в зарубежные страны (Германия, Франция, Австрия, Италия, КНР и др.).

 Член Международной ассоциации технопарков (IASP);
 Член Ассоциации зон высоких и новых технологий «Шелковый путь» (SRSPA)
Член Рабочей группы по развитию малого и среднего предпринимательства в Союзном государстве при Минэкономразвития РФ;
Член Рабочей группы по вопросам промышленной политики и промышленных субсидий Евразийской экономической комиссии.

Примечания

Ссылки
 Официальная страница Ассоциации в социальной сети Facebook
 Официальный канал YouTube

Некоммерческие организации России
Деловые организации
Экономика России
Лоббизм в России
Общественные организации по алфавиту