text:
There are some lovely traditional Christmas songs; this is not one of those, but it's my favourite, the way Die Hard is now so many people's favourite Christmas film.
Author AshleyPosted on December 24, 2016 Categories UncategorizedTags Christmas, holidays, Kirsty MacColl, The Pogues1 Comment on Happy Holidays
And now, pie
I have yet to emerge from my post-election hideout from the real world, but I think the worst of the comfort food phase is over. Or should I say best? There were a lot of indulgences in there, among them: pie. Lots and lots of pie.
Yet I don't have much of a sweet tooth. (My tooth is very, very salty.) One of the reasons pie has always appealed to me is that you can moderate the sweetness and offset it–a fresh fruit filling, a buttery crust that verges on savory, a hint of almond in the cherries or whisky in the apples. But I also really love coconut cream pie so go figure.
The two rules of pie crust: mess with it as little as possible, and keep it as cold as possible. I happen to like mine made with all butter and no sugar, like this one from the NYT, but there are plenty out there that use shortening or sugar or egg (for a tart crust) and really, those are just lovely too. Make it all by hand or do 90% of it in a food processor. Roll it out between sheets of parchment, plastic wrap, or silpats for a process that's nearly as mess-free as buying one from a store. The flavor and texture rewards are so worth it.
My favorite from this most recent craze was a batch of sour cherry hand pies. The cherries were from my aunt's tree–from last year, in which it had produced a prodigal crop of the pale ruby gems–and had been frozen after processing. I thawed a quart of them, drained them, cooked them down with barely a cup of sugar and a cornstarch slurry made with lemon juice, and then let them cool. I stirred in a little almond extract just because.
Baked in individually-sized portions for the maximum crust-to-content ratio, they came out like every cherry pie I've ever wanted. Tart then sweet, ending with a fat roundness from that buttery, buttery crust, their only flaw was insufficient quantity. Okay, and some of them were falling apart because I am terrible at shaping hand pies (all the good ones were made by a lovely friend/kitchen goddess helping me). But still. Perfect.
Author MargaretPosted on December 13, 2016 December 12, 2016 Categories Baking, Food, UncategorizedTags butter, comfort food, crust, dessert, fruit, pie, sweet1 Comment on And now, pie
Friday Fave: Ballet
Like many small girls at the age of four or five, I went through a phase of wanting to be a ballerina when I grew up. This was preceded by having wanted to be one of those people who bags groceries and then a football player, so I'm sure my mother was relieved by this. Me being me, however, I was always determined to do it myself, without the need for actually learning what was involved in the art from someone who knew what he or she was doing. This resulted in a dislike of the ballet class I was duly enrolled in, and permanent damage to the big toes on both of my feet because I was certain that I could master pointe work if I just learned to balance. I retained a desire to possess one of those pink-and-white ballet boxes and a fondness for wearing leather-soled ballet slippers around the house, but soon after this I discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery, and Robin Hood, and moved on to even less practical daydreams of being an adult in times other than the one in which I lived.
I didn't pay much attention to ballet again until I was sixteen and happened to see a brief Vladimir Malakhov performance on television one Sunday, back when the A&E channel in the US actually showed Arts and Entertainment programming. I waited patiently for a repeat, or other performances; the only thing that I could find were recordings and screenings of the Nutcracker. Finding these interesting but not especially inspiring, I gave up and returned again to my books and music.
The Christmas before last I saw an ad that PBS was airing the film of Matthew Bourne's production of Sleeping Beauty. I noticed the costumes more than anything else–all sparkly and lace-trimmed goth aesthetic–and set it to record. I had other things on my mind at that time and didn't bother to watch it for a couple of months, but when I did, I was hooked. I did like the costumes and the twist on the classic story, introducing vampires and other new elements to an old fairy tale, but I loved watching the dancing. It isn't classical ballet by any means–lots of dancing barefoot, and I don't remember any pointe work–but this was my gateway drug. It was like discovering a new genre in fiction I'd never paid attention to before, learning the terminology, the different periods of dance, watching enough to distinguish between the styles of specific choreographers and dancers.
I have learned enough to have preferences, but I'm still an amateur, not a proper fangirl yet. I haven't found anything that bores me in the field–every production I've seen yields something interesting in terms of the techniques of the dancers, the way the movements tell a story, the costumes. I have acquired five different performances of Swan Lake, without meaning to specialize in a particular piece; the thing about relying on the handful of fairy-tale-inspired ballets that keep drawing audiences back generation after generation is the consequent need to reinvent and reinterpret the stories to keep them alive. There are classic versions with sumptuous sets and costumes, and there are stripped-down versions with modern choreography and, Matthew Bourne's production, most of the genders of the roles switched.
I recently read Jennifer Homan's Apollo's Angels (2011), in order to learn something of the history of the art. I do recommend it as a thorough introduction to the origins and different regional styles of the art through the centuries, but I disagree strongly with her assertion that the art is dying if not already dead. Choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon and Wayne McGregor are hammering out new ways to tell stories through dance, and dancers are again becoming prominent pop culture figures, drawing new audiences and more importantly inspiring new generations of dancers–Natalia Osipova and Sergei Polunin, Steven McRae, Carlos Acosta, and most of all Misty Copeland, are known to audiences beyond dedicated ballet aficionados, and are bringing ballet back to international prominence. There are companies such as the BalletBoyz, who created a dance to commemorate the centenary of World War I, and the collaboration between the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet to create a new version of Handel's Acis and Galatea, with the singers shadowed by dancers who illustrate the opera as it is sung.
There are so many amazing dancers that it would take too long to go into even a handful here–aside from those mentioned above, Eric Underwood, Zenaida Yanowsky, and Lauren Cuthbertson are always well worth watching. Vladimir Malakhov is still a prominent figure, more as a director and advisor these days than a performer, although his Caravaggio (2009) is as vital and enthralling a performance as anything done by younger dancers. My current favourite, though, is Edward Watson. There's something shallow in a lot of the emotion portrayed in a lot of the stories told in ballet, generally a necessary side effect when the aim of the art is making such strenuous and difficult movement look effortless. Watson has a particular gift for making the emotions his characters are possessed by feel real, especially the darker ones–grief, fear, desperation, and madness. His performance in Mayerling, as the hedonistic and unbalanced crown prince of Austria who is obsessed with his mother, abuses his wife, and eventually kills his teenage mistress before killing himself, is as compelling as it is disturbing; he is even more magnetic as Gregor Samsa in Arthur Pita's adaptation of The Metamorphosis.
Alongside the old standards of fairy tales, there are new works appearing every year based on literature, from Shakespeare to Lewis Carroll to Virginia Woolf. There are also works that follow Balanchine rather than MacMillan or Ashton in dispensing with a storyline altogether in favour of pure expression and form. Next time you're looking for something to watch online, give a ballet a try–it isn't all tutus and sugarplum fairies and Tchaikovsky. Now there are sets decorated by Swarovski, costumes by prominent fashion designers, music by Jack White. I'm entirely convinced there's something for everyone, if only everyone would give it enough of a chance.
Author AshleyPosted on December 9, 2016 Categories Culture, Friday Fave, Reviews, UncategorizedTags Balanchine, Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon, classical ballet, classical dance, contemporary ballet, dance, Edward Watson, Eric Underwood, Frederick Ashton, Kafka, Lauren Cuthbertson, Lewis Carroll, Misty Copeland, modern dance, Shakespeare, Steven McRae, Wayne McGregorLeave a comment on Friday Fave: Ballet
Friday Fave: Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Whenever you see a film made from a book, the standard response is "the book was better." This is usually true, to be fair; the problem is that it's such an automatic response these days I often wonder if the person telling me that has actually read the book. (These are usually strangers who are unaware that reading novels is about as vital as eating to me.) However, it isn't invariably true. There are some perfectly good films that have remarkably little to do with the book that supposedly inspired them (Easy A, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless) and some excellent films that alter the story they are based on in minor or sometimes drastic ways but turn out to be so good that I can't bring myself to care (The English Patient, The Princess Bride). And then there are films that are so, so much better than the book, such as Body of Lies (2008), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and most of all Last of the Mohicans (1992).
I've never understood why James Fenimore Cooper is still taught in schools–a book having been a bestseller during a certain period is not the same thing as it actually being a great novel. (Imagine Dan Brown or Stephanie Meyer being taught in high schools.) (Actually, don't. If that ever comes to pass, please don't tell me.) Cooper apparently felt no burning need to write or create stories, nor demonstrated any particular talent for it at an early age; he was reading a novel one day and decided it was no great challenge, so he sat down to write his own. His lack of any inherent genius for the form shows in the inconsistency of his characterizations and many other flaws. I tried to read The Last of the Mohicans when I was fourteen, found the female characters unbearable, and gave up. Later, the year I studied American Lit in high school, on the one day my English teacher devoted to Cooper and the other early American writers we would not cover (we read Hawthorne and several poets from the time instead), he explained that Cooper's novels contained a number of lovely descriptions of the long-vanished New England wilderness, but not much else worthwhile, and referred us to Mark Twain's essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses." (Very much worth reading, if you haven't already.)
I can't think of any other instance where so poor a novel has been made into so compelling a film. I have a feeling that the film of The Last of the Mohicans is variously dismissed by critics and adored by some fans solely as a visually stunning romantic adventure (emphasis on the romance), due mostly if not entirely to the famous scene of Daniel Day-Lewis shouting at Madeline Stowe "No matter how long it takes, no matter how far–I will find you!" I've always found this to be decidedly unfair; there's a lot more to the film than Hawkeye and Cora's undying love, dramatic and gorgeous as it is. It is about the reasons that the American colonies rebelled against Britain, without being about the revolution itself; it also offers a wealth of detail about people lived in the 18th century, and particularly attitudes towards women during that time, again without being preachy or even intentionally feminist. I have no idea whether Cooper had any intention of earnestly mourning the loss of the indigenous American cultures that European settlers wiped out, but those who made the 1992 film evidently did. Alongside the love stories and the conflict between settlers and the military, the film dramatizes some of the more subtle methods used eradicating native cultures and populations. Most people know about the smallpox blankets, the Trail of Tears, and the massacre at Wounded Knee, but the damage done by alcoholism, the exploitation of native populations as servants and cat's-paws, the co-opting and whitewashing of indigenous traditions aren't common knowledge in the same way. The titular Last of the Mohicans at the end of the story is a man mourning his only son, and the end of his tribe with him, but the grief is simply personal; it is the loss of a culture. It feels wrong to me to say I like this, but in the same way I treasure Dark Hour of Noon and the film Wit, I find it valuable–it is beautifully done and important to revisit, even when it is hard to do so.
There are a thousand other things to like about the film. The sharp little glints of sarcasm in the dialogue, particularly those between Hawkeye and Cora; Jodhi May's excellent turn as Alice, making what could have been an insipid and useless character compelling and heartbreaking; Eric Schweig, just because; the soundtrack; the locations where the filming took place. Seriously, you could watch solely for the views of the Blue Ridge mountains and you wouldn't be wasting your time.
One of the more unusual, though certainly not unique, problems afflicting fans of the film is that when it was released on dvd, for some reason it was decided to release a different cut of the film. Then, when the blu-ray came out, a definitive director's cut was released (because apparently Michael Mann hadn't made up his mind when he did the first director's cut…). There are at least three (possibly four) versions of the film; the second, the first dvd version, cuts some of the best lines. (They did the same thing with the new Ghostbusters. It's quite maddening.) The differences between three of the versions are discussed in detail here, if anyone is interested; if you can get the original theatrical release, I recommend that one, at least to watch first. After that, the Definitive Director's Cut restores some of the missing lines, if not all. The first Director's Cut is still the film, still plenty to see and enjoy, but definitely the worst of the three.
Author AshleyPosted on December 2, 2016 December 2, 2016 Categories Films, Friday Fave, Reviews, UncategorizedTags Colonial America, Daniel Day Lewis, Eric Schweig, French and Indian War, Indigenous Americans, James Fenimore Cooper, Jared Harris, Jodhi May, Madeline Stowe, Russell Means, Steven Waddington, The Last of the Mohicans, Wes StudiLeave a comment on Friday Fave: Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Right Here, Right Now
I had plans for Tuesday night. I had a bottle of decent prosecco chilling in the fridge and a bottle of very nice single malt, a lovely gift from some friends, ready to celebrate. The day itself turned out stressful for other reasons, and by the time it was 5 pm I was extremely on edge and feeling unaccountably panicky. By 10 pm I was feeling quite sick. I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, and then on Wednesday morning I woke up to find myself a part of American Horror Story: Politics.
I believed the polls to the extent that the 25 to 35 percent chance of a Trump win bothered me; for those of you dismissing Nate Silver's calculations as inaccurate, at no point did he discount a substantial possibility of Trump winning, even if it was never more than 50 percent. What I couldn't believe as the vote came in was that so many women would tolerate a man such as Trump has shown himself to be–on camera, on the record, unfiltered–as president. I knew there were women who supported Trump, I saw them on television just like everyone else, I know a few personally, but I thought we had reached a stage as a country, as a culture, where a flat-out majority of women, regardless of race or ethnicity, had more respect for themselves than that. I have never been so bitterly disappointed to be wrong.
I don't blame the Democratic party. I don't think they've done a great job, I think Debbie Wasserman Schultz has done plenty of harm, but to believe that Bernie Sanders would have won where Hillary Clinton failed is to discount the common voiced again and again by conservative media and the conservatives I've spoken to personally that there is no daylight between socialist policies and Stalinism; that if we have universal, single-payer healthcare and repair our infrastructure and improve education, the next step is pogroms and gulags. You know, like they have in Denmark and the UK. It is also to discount the poisonous anti-Semitism that came out into the open during the months of Trump's campaign. Having Sanders as a candidate wouldn't have eliminated any of that.
I do blame the media, to an extent; I blame the thousands of hours given to obsession over emails that revealed very little more shocking than John Podesta's recipe for creamy risotto and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Huma Abedin having a weakness for creme brulee. Clinton had already faced Congress a number of times over what happened in Benghazi, and then over the server; none of the recent so-called "revelations" brought to light anything substantial that wasn't already known. Little time on television media platforms was given to covering each candidate's policy proposals and actual political experience, and how these things would impact our lives in a practical sense. They could have done so much better. The thing is that we don't force them to do better; we're abandoning print media ostensibly because the online versions are cheaper and more convenient, but we don't seem to be reading much of anything that delves deeply into facts. The problem isn't that CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc., are feeding us poison; the problem is that they've become the 'circus' part of bread and circuses, alongside reality TV. There are still voices on each of the cable political stations worth listening to–Shep Smith, Rachel Maddow, Christiane Amanpour, Sally Kohn, Joy Reid–but no one hour of news coverage or commentary per day is going to be sufficient to present a full picture. The television news media found that we preferred name calling, demonstrations of shock and outrage, and fuzzy human interest stories to confronting uncomfortable facts and searching for constructive ways to resolve problems, and by god have they given it to us. Enough of it to drown a democracy. So yes, they may be to blame, but so are we every time we discount a story of what's actually happening in favour of watching Bill O'Reilly or Chris Matthews spluttering in outrage over their offended sensibilities. It's all well and good to remember how nice it was to grow up as white boys in places where most women stayed home and minorities were barely visible (if present at all), and secure jobs that paid enough to support a family were available the day after you graduated high school, for those who didn't want to go to college. The constant indulgence in nostalgia for those experiences discounts everyone else whose opportunities were denied in order to make that life possible, and it doesn't do a damn thing in the way of confronting the fact that technology has moved on, demographics have changed, the pressures and dangers we face now are wildly different, and people are no longer content to be pushed aside and suppressed so that straight white men can continue to dictate the terms of everyone's existence. We don't live in that world any more, and this desperate pretense that we can somehow go back there is causing us very real harm.
I cried a lot on Tuesday night and most of the day on Wednesday. I've had a few breakdowns since then. I argued with friends who tried to tell me that it's not as bad as it looks, that Trump's supporters want at heart the same things that I want–safety and security, and the freedom to live in peace. I argued because I've been watching for months as his supporters have targeted journalists who spoke out against Trump with anti-semitic attacks, images of their faces, their children's faces, superimposed on images of gas chambers with Trump flicking the switch. Threats of rape, beatings, lynchings. Children being told by classmates that they're going to be deported once Trump wins. The LGBTQ community now has a vice president who believes that their respective sexualities can be tortured out of them, and the fear that their right to marry, so recently and so hard won, may be taken away from them. Trump has threatened to repeal libel laws so that he can sue those who criticize him, and on Wednesday implied that he would require all Muslims to register with the government (because that's never gone wrong before…). In my worst moments, I wonder about the prospect of violence and what could happen where I live, a predominately conservative neighbourhood in a predominately liberal city in what was, as of last Tuesday, an almost evenly divided state, if the voting reflects the state as a whole. The rest of the time I am worried mostly for my friends who are part of the LBGTQ community, who are immigrants or the children of immigrants, who are people of color. I am a heterosexual white woman; I'm not an obvious target to the people I fear, at least not yet. It is up to me, then, and the other women and men like me, to support those who are targets–to put ourselves between the people who are the targets of the bigotry Trump's campaign has enabled and those who seek to do them harm. I'd like to think it would be enough for this shielding will take the form of arguments, protests, votes, and petitions, but given the people Trump is appointing to his transition team–including Peter Thiel, a man who has publicly expressed admiration for Apartheid–I wonder how soon we're going to have to act as human shields.
By mid-Wednesday I started to feel better. Anxiety and grief take a very real physical toll on me; I find it hard to sleep, hard to concentrate, hard to sit still at times, and my body has a knack for producing physiological reactions to my emotions. I can't afford any of that right now. I started to play more energetic songs that I liked, even if I didn't feel like listening to them, and I started to map out what viable options are left to protect what I value in the face of a government that appears entirely committed to taking most of that away. I will renew my second passport, as that remains legal for now, but I have no intention of leaving at the moment. This is my home; moving our household overseas is not an appealing prospect for myself or my father, even if it remains an option. I believe that the arc of the moral universe does indeed bend toward justice, although I worry about how long it is going to be. I believe the rise of these nationalist governments is the death throes of a white, male-centered supremacy that sheer force of numbers is in the process of overwhelming; the question is how many people will it take with it before it dies out.
The media has now by and large taken the tone that as Trump is president-elect, we must accept and learn to work with him. I refuse to accept this in the sense of treating any of the policies he has threatened to impose on us as normal, as a simple conservative alternative to the progressive policies President Obama pursued. It drove my mother mad for years that the conservatives she knew refused to treat the president with the respect he was due as holder of the office because he was black, because he was liberal, because of his education; I am not willing to engage in similar hypocrisy. When Trump is inaugurated as President, I will be willing to call him such; I don't think it's of much use to dispute the legitimacy of the electoral college at this point, however little I like it. I will not engage in violent protest, and I will not condone or connive in others committing violent acts against Trump or his supporters. I will, however, continue to protest, in whatever ways I can. I will write letters. I will donate to causes supporting the rights that the GOP is threatening to take away from us. I will not stand silent if I witness someone being attacked for their faith or their sexuality or the color of their skin. If I can get to a protest or a march, I will participate, as I have done before. If any conservatives happen to be reading this (unlikely as that is)–to those who are mocking and insulting liberals for questioning whether they want to stay in the U.S., for wondering if our rights are going to be taken away, for fearing the worst is coming–if you're wondering what hypocrisy looks like, take a long look in the mirror. Conservatives have been whining for years about Obama was coming for their guns, which never happened, and there were plenty of conservative media figures who *promised* they would leave when Obama was elected but didn't. We've already witnessed reproductive rights being rolled back, by some of the same people Trump is bringing into his administration. We already have evidence that our fears our justified.
Things will get better. In two years we have a chance at taking back either the House or the Senate, if not both; in four years, if Medicare is privatized, Roe v. Wade overturned, the ACA repealed, gay marriage once again prohibited, journalists are silenced, if we're in a trade war with China and NAFTA is repealed, all of which Trump and/or other Republican leaders have promised in the last months and weeks, I hope that the combination of those of us who are angry enough now and those who will have buyer's remorse over voting for Trump will make a Democratic victory a certainty. The party does need work, but we have a number of strong candidates rising through the ranks. The problem is it will not get better in time for the women who are going to die or be left severely ill from botched abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned. For the people who are going to die all over the world as a result of accelerating climate change, from worsening economic inequality and the other financial consequences of lowering the U.S.' tax rates across the board, from losing their health insurance, from any wars that Trump escalates or instigates. For the people who are going to die of their injuries after attacks by people who now believe that anyone they look down on is now fair game, as happened to a Saudi Arabian college student a couple of days ago.
This is the song that kept running through my mind on Tuesday morning, and I was so looking forward to posting it again and again, any excuse I could find, on Wednesday, instead of being unable to shake the lyrics of "This is not America". This is the first political song I understood in political terms, being old enough to have a grasp, if not a full understanding, of the events that inspired it. I played it again and again back in 2008 following Barack Obama's election, and I hope that I will get to irritate all and sundry with it the day after election day 2020, along with a clip of Daveed Diggs shouting "We Won We Won We Won We Won." Because we will. I hope we will all be there to witness it.
Author AshleyPosted on November 12, 2016 Categories Culture, Feminism, Politics, UncategorizedTags 2016 election, Barack Obama, David Bowie, Donald Trump, freedom of speech, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Huma Abedin, Jesus Jones, John Podesta, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence, Peter Thiel, politics, protest, reproductive rights, resistanceLeave a comment on Right Here, Right Now
Friday Fave: Whiskey
I haven't met many varieties of alcohol I didn't like, but whiskey is my favourite. It will get you plastered, certainly, if that's what you're looking for, but drinking it solely to get drunk is really quite a waste; it is best when savoured slowly, and well worth the time and patience to learn the distinct qualities of the different brands and types, be it American, Canadian, Scottish, Irish, or Japanese, single malt or blended, rye, Kentucky bourbon, etc. (If you want to know what decent whiskey tastes like, avoid the aberration that is Fireball at all costs.)
It still has a reputation for being a man's drink, which is a pity; happily, this seems to be changing. (There is an organization dedicated to introducing more women to whiskey in its many forms, and cocktails made therefrom, called Women Who Whiskey. If you're interested and over 21, do join up.) If you've ever watched Mad Men, you'll know what an old fashioned is, but there are many, many more whiskey cocktails to enjoy. It also makes a good digestif and is awesome in Irish coffee, although I strongly recommend not trying this if you have anything you need to focus on in the following hour or two, and workplaces generally frown on the practice. With good reason. I personally believe that it's demented to spend more than two or three hundred dollars on anything meant to be eaten or drunk, unless doing so for charity, but when it comes to whiskey I do at least understand the pricing given the aging process, the rarity of older whiskeys, and the fabulous decanters used for some of them. Happily a good quality bottle of scotch can be had for $40 or so.
So if you haven't tried a good whiskey before (and you're old enough to do so and not driving afterwards–seriously, I can get tipsy on a couple of mouthfuls on an empty stomach, and I drink often enough to have a moderate tolerance), make this your week to ask a trusted bartender or knowledgeable friend to recommend you one. My current personal favourites that are commonly available are Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Maker's Mark, Knob Creek, and Redbreast; everyone has their own. On Tuesday evening we might all need one.
Author AshleyPosted on November 4, 2016 Categories Friday Fave, UncategorizedTags alcohol, cocktails, digestif, drinking, Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Highland Park, irish coffee, Jamesons, Kentucky bourbon, Mad Men, old fashioned, Redbreast, rye, sazerac, scotch, single malt, whiskey2 Comments on Friday Fave: Whiskey
The Real America
My parents always referred to themselves as expatriates. They were both born in London, England, but met by chance in Atlanta, GA. Neither had planned on staying in the U.S., but that's what they ended up doing, I assume because they had good jobs and were uninclined to cope with the financial upheaval of moving back–they were happy with their jobs, and a few years later Britain was grappling with the energy crisis (if there's anything my mother hated, it was being cold). Eventually they had me, and bought a house, and here we stayed.
I read somewhere recently that people who take up residence in a new country refer to themselves as expatriates when they look down on the country they've come to, whereas self-described immigrants look up to and admire their new home. I never thought much about my parents' preference for the word "expatriate" over "immigrant". I doubt they considered it in any conscious sense–it has a ring to it, and evokes British colonialism in a way that they remained faintly (or very, in my father's case) nostalgic for and makes me distinctly uncomfortable. My mother considered applying for citizenship at one time and studied for the exam, but never went through with it, because time or, later, physical energy was always lacking; my father has never wanted to. When I was growing up we listened to Garrison Keillor and watched every minute of Ken Burns' The Civil War many times over, we celebrated Thanksgiving without fail and looked forward to the Boston Pops concert every July 4th, but the most important tastes and traditions in my household growing up were the ones they brought with them from England. Whenever my mother heard certain Americanisms creeping into my speech, she would correct me constantly until I stopped doing it, from saying "ben" instead of "been" when I was eight to interspersing every sentence with three or four 'likes' when I was fifteen. (Oddly, she never objected to me saying "Y'all".)
I was born in Atlanta, and so the appellation "expatriate" has never applied to me. I never thought of myself as an immigrant either, or the child of immigrants, until I recently, but I always knew myself to be foreign, "not from around here" despite my birth. People recognized my accent as not local, but, unless one of my parents was with me, could rarely tell where it was from–some asked if I was Canadian, but most people assumed I was from up north. Until I corrected them, that is, as I've always been insufferably proud of my heritage. For a long time I wished I had been born in London like my parents, that I was fully English; but I did, after all, grow up here. I may be able to change my accent at will, but I can't entirely eradicate either part of the blend, no matter how much I concentrate, and I no longer wish to. I am American as much as I am English.
I know what it is to be subject to xenophobia, albeit such experiences have been rare for me. I remember occasions growing up when my mother would be pointedly ignored by staff when we were out shopping. When I moved to Scotland I encountered a regular, if not universal, assumption that because I was American I wasn't as prepared for university as everyone else, and that St Andrews lowered its standards in accepting students from the U.S. because we paid more in tuition. When I visited Japan, there was one occasion when I was standing in a queue to pay for food and the person behind me insisted on pushing the edge of the tray she was holding into my back, no matter how many times I stepped from one side or the other to get out of her way. These incidents were few and far between and by no means characteristic of the reception I've found wherever I've traveled, but few though they are I found them maddening, infuriating, sometimes to the point that they kept me up at night. I can't imagine the frustration of having to live with such behavior on a daily and weekly basis; I'm not surprised that persistent racism has been linked to PTSD and other psychological disorders in PoC.
I started to think more carefully about the question of immigration and personal identity when I returned to the U.S. at the end of 2006 and endured the 2007 presidential election. I started hearing frequent references to the "real America"–a specific segment of the U.S. population distinguished by a particular income bracket and living in the land-locked parts of the U.S., or at least that's what I thought the phrase meant the first few times I heard it. Its meaning seemed to morph and grow the more Sarah Palin and other politicians and media figures used it, and like a lot of such catchphrases, it was used more exclude than to include. The real America wasn't the liberal strongholds in California and the east coast; the real America wasn't respected universities and research institutions; the real America wasn't communities where a significant percentage of the population spoke English as a second language, or had dual nationality, or retained any sort of multi-ethnic character. It didn't include me (liberal elitist, apparently), or many of my friends (not white or not Christian or, like me, liberal elitist). Palin lost the election for McCain, but the idea persisted, under different names, taking on additional implications. Mitt Romney's dismissal of the "47%" who would vote for President Obama in the 2012 election revived the idea, giving it different parameters–which bore little resemblance to his technical definition of this group as those who don't pay income tax, as most of the states with the highest populations of non-payers are reliably red states, not blue ones. Now we have Trump, and the "real" America–the Americans who want to "make America great again"–is predominately white, Christian, and heterosexual. Where does that leave us, the "not real" Americans, who still comprise a majority even as the race grows a little tighter?
I fit the definition of the so-called "anchor baby". My parents were never citizens, and when they arrived in the U.S. they had high-school educations. However, no one ever accused them of being under-achieving or lazy. They had high-paying jobs that could, after all, have gone to U.S. citizens, but no one ever accused them of "stealing American jobs". No one ever hissed or shouted at us to go back where we came from. This is what white privilege is; in a crowd I am accepted, whereas people who can't–or have no desire to–conceal their accent or the color of their skin or their hair are not. People of color, from various backgrounds and heritages, are every day told to go back where they came from, that their parents must have been engaged in illegal activities to earn a living, that they don't belong here, even when in many cases they were born here, as I was, or come from families who have been American citizens for generations, centuries. Now there is talk of rescinding birthright citizenship, which would make me and everyone else whose parents came and remained here legally, never breaking any laws or avoiding any taxes, no longer Americans in fact as as well as in the minds of Trump's supporters. I find this monstrous, coming as it does from the mouths of politicians and members of the public who constantly criticize the President, democrats, and liberals alike for not understanding or respecting the Constitution.
The backlash against Barack Obama snowballed, as calls grew for immigration reform, as gay people were granted the right to marry, as our arts and culture began to better represent the country's demographic reality. Now the backlash has gained not just a local habitation but a name: the alt-right. The people comprising this group are not by definition Trump supporters, nor do I imagine that all Trump supporters would define themselves as alt-right, but there is a significant and frankly quite frightening overlap between the two. The past few months have brought a barrage of defensive pundits, Trump supporters, and Trump surrogates–not to mention a broad variety of thinkpieces from left and right alike–insisting that Trump's popularity is rooted in the economic grievances of working-class Americans. If I hear one more such tirade I think I'll scream. I know that the ramifications of the Great Recession and economic policy over the last several decades has fueled a great deal of this bitterness. What I would like some of the people writing these thinkpieces and arguing this point in the media to acknowledge is that while financial strain may have been the spark, the tinder and now the fuel is a strong desire to return to the America before Obergefell v. Hodges, before Roe v. Wade, before the Civil Rights Act. I do not hear Trump supporters on television discussing the complexity of U.S. tax law and how it has given major corporations and manufacturers incentives to move jobs overseas, where they can pay their workers less, or admitting the damage that trickle-down economics has done. They do not discuss how Donald and Ivanka Trump have taken advantage of the cheap labour available overseas to increase their own profits from their clothing and fashion lines. Instead they talk about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, complain about NAFTA as though it Bill Clinton was responsible for it (he wasn't–it was George H. W. Bush who signed the treaty), and suggest instigating a trade war with China. There is a lot of heated discussion about severely reducing or stopping immigration (from some countries) and doing more to deport those who have arrived in this country illegally, but I've yet to hear Trump or any of his surrogates present a practical policy proposal to do this. Many of Trump's suggestions over the past few months have been just as irrational and ridiculous as the idea of having open borders, but any time this point is made in the media it is dismissed as 'liberal bias' rather than a reflection of a decent grasp of policy, law, and economics.
Trump and his son Eric have many times retweeted and reposted comments and slurs against Hillary Clinton and a variety of other targets that originated from white supremacist and neo-Nazi accounts. Trump, despite crowing about how 'the blacks' love him, last week noticed a black supporter of his in the audience at a rally, called him a thug, and had him removed. The man hadn't said anything; the color of his skin was enough to identify him as an enemy. There's a bumper sticker of a figure representing the confederate flag delivering a roundhouse kick to another figure representing the pride flag, the image of which is making the rounds on the Internet. Anti-Semitic harassment of journalists and anyone who doesn't support Trump have surged, particularly online. Kurt Eichenwald found himself the subject of a barrage of attacks and harassment when he began reporting on the many questionable aspects of Trump's personal, financial, and business history, including one email that included a flashing image capable of inducing an epileptic seizure (Eichenwald has been very open about his struggle with the disorder). A politician who considered running against Trump decided against it after receiving images of his adopted daughter superimposed on pictures of gas chambers and other violent scenarios. Children are being harassed at school, and some schools have cancelled classes for the day of the election. These attacks aren't manifestations of the desire for greater economic equality; they are the product of racial and ethnic hatred, a belief that being white, Christian, and heterosexual makes a person superior to any one with a differing skin color, creed, or sexuality.
I'm tired of hearing how American was founded as a Christian nation, and thus everyone should say "Merry Christmas" to all and sundry during the holiday season, school children should be required to recite Christian prayers, and the Ten Commandments should be posted on the wall in courtrooms. The founding fathers also lived in a world where it was taken for granted that only white men had the right to vote, where it was legal to enslave other people based on the color of their skin, and Native Americans were often as not ignored or massacred if they got in the way of what the U.S. government decided to do on American land. The America that exists today would be unrecognizable to the Founding Fathers–we have cars and smartphones and medical practices that would be tantamount to miracles to someone from the 18th century; women vote, being gay is no longer a crime or a form of madness, and slavery is illegal. (I guess the "ignoring Native Americans" part hasn't changed much.) Quite frankly, I find the idea that people are nostalgic for a time when women were second-class citizens and people of color barely citizens at all rather nauseating. Every nation, every culture has committed wrongs that it must come to terms with, accept responsibility for; reverting to the conditions that gave rise to those wrongs is not going to make anything better. The United States is not the same place it was in 1775–not geographically, not demographically, not technologically, not environmentally. What this country has always done right is the struggle to fully manifest the words of the Declaration of Independence: that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are self-evident and inalienable. The alt-right is the latest manifestation of the idea that these rights are not self-evident and inalienable, but can be denied based on one's skin color, sexual orientation, religion, gender, and apparently, in some minds, the birthplace of one's parents. If that is the Real America, if Trump wins the election next Tuesday, I am alarmed to think of what might happen to the millions of Americans who don't fit into that mould, me and most of those I hold dear among them.
Author AshleyPosted on November 2, 2016 December 7, 2016 Categories Culture, Politics, UncategorizedTags Barack Obama, citizen, culture, Donald Trump, expatriate, immigrant, immigration, Native American, politics, racism, Sarah Palin, U.S. electionLeave a comment on The Real America
Make Halloween Weird Again
What is Halloween, anyway? It's long been one of my favorite holidays, and it exercises a stronger hold on the American cultural imagination than any other. Yet it bears little resemblance to what it once was. It's been sexed up and tamed down until it feels almost entirely divorced from its roots. A Frankenstein's monster, if you will, that instead of barging off into the wilderness has gone for a well-lit stroll down cultivated garden lanes.
Iceland, where they keep it weird.
Dia de los Muertos celebrations are closer in many ways to the original European All Hallows Eve than our current trick or treating. Halloween is rooted in Samhain ("sah-win", meaning "summer's end"), which marked the end of the pagan year. The Celts of the British Isles believed it was the day spirits were closest to our world–just as the people of Mexico have long believed that this is when spirits not only come close to our world, but come back specifically to be reunited with their loved ones. There remains a pervasive sense of otherworldliness about Day of the Dead celebrations, whereas Halloween has become all too worldly.
flickr/Bart Heird
It didn't start that way. Catholics, back in the 800s A.D., tried to turn the pagan Samhain into All Saints Day and held a vigil the night before. Called All Hallows Eve, this is what became our Halloween. It got a bit smushed up with another Christian holiday (All Souls Day) as well as old Roman days of the dead, and the roots of the modern holiday–costumes, trick or treating, bobbing for apples–grew out of a variety of traditions that immigrants brought to the New World.
Halloween proceeded to spend much of the 20th century evolving into a secular holiday, and the 21st devolving into commercial-dom. And yet there's still some kernel of the original intent: using treats to placate mischievous children is not far off from using them to placate spirits, and Halloween still serves as a marker between the season of plenty and the season of wither. Half-bare branches and the scuttle of dry leaves in the gutter are as much a part of the holiday as jack o'lanterns and candy bars.
Costumes today may not be intended to confuse demons, but the trend towards satire does convey a sense of cultural exorcism. And then we have aspirational costumes–superheroes, royalty, pop stars–which seem uniquely and almost touchingly American. They suggest a world where everyone is encouraged to dream big and rewarded when they do.
Our Halloween may not be spooky. It's no solemn reminder, as it once was, of the thin veil that separates us from eternity. It is a glittering daylight heartthrob vampire, not the monster you run from in darkness. Still, it's a time to celebrate strangeness, to get a peek at what scares or amuses those around you, and to look at lots of extremely adorable small children.
I would like to see a return to honoring this liminal time. This Halloween, take a moment to think about our year sliding towards darkness. Watch a scary movie and feel how close you are to panic at any moment. Wear a mask to the grocery store to understand the mask you wear every day. Wear a "vote for Trump" button. Make Halloween weird* again.
*Suggesting something supernatural; unearthly.
'Sounds emitted from the bushes: weird uncanny sounds made by unknown animals, for all sorts of things lived in forests.'
Synonyms: uncanny, eerie, unnatural, supernatural, unearthly, otherworldly, ghostly, mysterious, strange, abnormal, unusual
Halloween costumes: they don't make 'em like they used to.
Author MargaretPosted on October 31, 2016 Categories Culture, Essays, UncategorizedTags America, culture, halloween, holidaysLeave a comment on Make Halloween Weird Again
Now Playing: Brandi Carlile, 'Before It Breaks'
Margaret got me hooked on Brandi Carlile. During one of my visits to Boston she played songs from Carlile's first couple of albums over and over again; all I could think was how much she sounded like a female version of Ryan Adams, and while I wasn't hooked, I was definitely piqued; when I got home I started looking up music videos, and realized that I'd seen "The Story" before. To be entirely honest I was hooked when I read that she had a tattoo of the Auryn from The Neverending Story on each arm; I figured that no matter what she sounds like, she's a girl after my own heart.
I really fell in love with the music when she released her third album, Give Up the Ghost, which remains my favourite of hers. "Before It Breaks" is the loveliest of the songs therewith; there's no music video for it, but this is an excellent performance, imperfect audio notwithstanding.
Author AshleyPosted on October 26, 2016 Categories Music, UncategorizedTags Brandi Carlile, Give Up the Ghost, Phil Hanseroth, The Neverending Story, The Story, Tim HanserothLeave a comment on Now Playing: Brandi Carlile, 'Before It Breaks'


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Edgewater-Paisano és una concentració de població designada pel cens dels Estats Units a l'estat de Texas. Segons el cens del 2000 tenia una població de 182 habitants.

Demografia
Segons el cens del 2000, Edgewater-Paisano tenia 182 habitants, 60 habitatges, i 46 famílies. La densitat de població era de 251 habitants per km².

Dels 60 habitatges en un 38,3% hi vivien nens de menys de 18 anys, en un 58,3% hi vivien parelles casades, en un 16,7% dones solteres, i en un 21,7% no eren unitats familiars. En el 20% dels habitatges hi vivien persones soles l'11,7% de les quals corresponia a persones de 65 anys o més que vivien soles. El nombre mitjà de persones vivint en cada habitatge era de 3,03 i el nombre mitjà de persones que vivien en cada família era de 3,51.

Per edats la població es repartia de la següent manera: un 33,5% tenia menys de 18 anys, un 7,7% entre 18 i 24, un 24,2% entre 25 i 44, un 24,7% de 45 a 60 i un 9,9% 65 anys o més.

L'edat mediana era de 31 anys. Per cada 100 dones de 18 o més anys hi havia 108,6 homes.

La renda mediana per habitatge era de 26.111 $ i la renda mediana per família de 26.667 $. Els homes tenien una renda mediana de 16.607 $ mentre que les dones 17.083 $. La renda per capita de la població era de 9.080 $. Aproximadament el 41,3% de les famílies i el 40,4% de la població estaven per davall del llindar de pobresa.

Poblacions més properes
El següent diagrama mostra les poblacions més properes.

Referències

Concentracions de població designades pel cens de Texas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Ultimate Studio Home Theatre
Total Professional Concept
Main page News Links Files About
My name is Aleksey. I was born in the year 1986. I live in Moscow. I am IT engineer by profession. In my profession it is very common for people to combine hobby and business, but it's not my case. Besides that my interest in computer technology started in my early childhood the fact is that now this is the way of earning money and I don't feel passion about it. You would certainly agree with me that person should have an object of imagination. What is the common object of imagination besides material thing like cottages and apartments? Usually you hear - expensive cars, simple home electronics, traveling... Back in school I have chosen my object of imagination - theater with exquisite sound quality. Then I realized that I was audiophile sick but not in a "fetish" way that is 99% case with audiophiles.
At that time I listened to music through speakers where the sound quality was at the level of TV speakers. After that period a quality of speakers improved. I was shocked with a fact that in my favorite songs i have heard some details that i have never heard before. You will agree that when you like something you simply want the best quality of it. Then I started listening music trough headphones which type of sound quality was even better. And that was a last drop. Then I realized that, it was the thing I am passionately interested in! In that time I start interesting in movies, especially action movies. I start going to cinema, which I never liked before. How it was possible to watch the movie at the end of the century? Almost no one had DVD player, MP4 players had poor quality and you couldn't even find one and I didn't use internet. Buying pirate MP4 disks? It's no use. It was much better to watch a movie on a big screen with good sound quality that will stay in your memory for a long time. In action movies i always liked action, dynamics, destruction, explosion, shouting, shooting. I had great desire not only to see the movie but to feel and hear in maximum quality. Audiophilia is almost always connected to cinematography and action genre.
After that, miracle happened and gave me endless possibilities in search for the information regarding my hobby. That miracle was the internet. I found there a lot of material, articles, instructions, books and lots of other stuff. I never visited forums for audiophiles because of the twisted audiophiles, incapable of simplest logical and skeptic thinking. Anyway, audiophilia was considered as a psychic disorder, pure fetishism. From time to time I was buying audio magazines for which I thought that they were objective and that they will give me information related to my new audio system. But look can be deceiving! It all became quite clear. People who write that kind of magazines try to fool me showing me golden handlers, contacts, handmade devices, bi-wiring, cables pricing 1000 Euros, with marble pedestal and some expressions like laxity, roughness, sound penetration, sound box and other components but at the same tame same magazines never gave information like manufacturers chart of amplitude-frequency characteristics. After that I stopped interesting in audio topics for few years time but old interest awoke again when I got a copy of a Russian magazine called Russian Digital. At the October 2003, magazine Russian digital had an articles like "Secrets of a High-End acoustics" dedicated to active Genelec studio monitors. For me that was a shock, because of a thought that there is still hope for my hobby. I realized that studio equipment market was very specific and big. The first question that i asked myself was: How it would be to have a theatre with studio components and what type of components exists on the market? I start searching the Internet, consult other people, read articles etc. When I gathered all the information about all the manufacturers of professional audio technique and gained some experience listening to various components, I came to idea to create this site.
But, let me tell you about my current relation with sound technique and a strange conception of Ultimate Studio, which is primarily for cinema and that did not show up immediately on an empty site. Before that there were few conceptions which I considered ideal until then. Because of that we should return at the beginning of my story. Very soon I realized that i am not interested in music so much although I was listening classical music at the time but i lost that interest in music after only a year. But it was different situation with movies and I didn't lost interest for them especially if we take into account that at my home i didn't have any condition whatsoever and i had to watch movies at the cinema. Few years later when DVD films started showing I noticed that watching movies at home didn't bring even a smallest part of that explosive effect of sound and video reproduction which I've experienced at cinema. Back then i started to dream about mu home cinema with huge screen and hurricane sound. Therefore this system got a name Ultimate Studio Home Theatre and topic regarding sound reproduction can be seen only trough scope of high quality movie sound which is crucial follower of movies with special effects. But which type of equipment can satisfy this need? Home equipment, what else?! I read and listen so much about this equipment at the Hi-Fi saloons. Regarding video reproduction it was a clear situation, to buy quality DVD and a projector. If earlier picture quality depended of player and reproduction device because of the analog interface that is not relevant anymore, thanks to HDMI digital interface that reduced the player function to a simple transport. Situation was more complicated with the acoustics. Realistic and quality sound required 12" low frequency drivers and more. Sure, we could find a solution of the situation simply buying subwoofers which sound, including most expensive models, can be harmful for your ears because it produces inarticulate bass that makes you wanna cry. Surprisingly at the acoustic department for home use were no acoustic systems which were satisfactory to given criteria. Simply there were no speakers with high frequency drivers. If you wanted to hear some of the systems, middle to high range prices, you could just go to the first electronic equipment store or some specialized store. All that technique sounded practically the same, but very bad. One speaker had inarticulate bass, other had very sharp high tones, at third middle tones were not expressed or bulging. And there were no attributes described in numerous magazines that I never heard of.
But at the time I didn't stop buying magazines. From time to time, I bought a magazine where I paid attention to those, so called semi-professional acoustics, which was characterized as "thunder loud" with LF drivers, ideally suitable for action movies. There were several models of that type of acoustics: JBL, M&K, GKF, Cerwin-Vega. I had the opportunity to hear some of it and it was much better choice than middle-static, low caliber home acoustics. But I liked the cinema sound more, because I thought it has better quality. Then I decided to find out which type of technique is used in cinemas and that was my first experience with real professional technique. I found out many things regarding Dolby surround processors in cinemas, professional amplifiers and JBL horn acoustics. I found out also, what is an active crossover and then it crossed my mind, if the price of such equipment isn't much higher from the price of quality Hi-Fi equipment which was aggressively advertized trough magazines than, why not. For the first time I imagined at my home two-way system JBL 15" low frequency drivers with horn "to the ceiling", professional sound processor and huge amplifier. What happened next?
When I first saw magazine Russian Digital, I was telling you about it previously, the same moment I found the information on the internet that there are so many models of big LF drivers, first-class giant acoustics. That was it that was what I have been looking for! The same moment I wished to hear that miracle. First sounds of my favorite melodies were shocking to me, I thought, is it possible that two system drivers, price range 400-800 Euros, can sound so equal and clean?! Everything fits. All the instruments sound unique and flat almost as someone "ride" over them with grass cutter. That sounded so powerful and dynamic! I could never imagine that acoustics with plain home cone drivers can sound so dynamic! And how good sounded the cheap studio subwoofers?! No drumming, no "ear popping" or imbalance with other speakers. I have never been in a position to hear three-way system, except Dynaudio, but that was more than enough. Why listen to it if cheap two-way system speakers sound great. That was how I discovered the studio acoustics market and again changed the home theatre concept, as of now, there should be studio monitors. The fact that these speakers already have crossovers and amplifiers means, that this time all previous major techniques turns into a few active studio monitors, stereo DAC and DVD player. You get simple, complete, maximum quality and even more, if digital monitors are used. In that case DAC is not needed. You can put the digital coaxial cable from player and enjoy life. The price of such a concept is a bit different from simple cinema components, but system is far more mobile, simpler and has better quality.
That was my new impression of first class acoustics. First I was disappointed in home technique, than in semi-professional and cinema and at the end I finished with the studio monitors. It seemed like everything will end then. But in the year 2006, due to my interest, I decided to learn more about studio technique and home theatre concept with studio components. But on mu big surprise, I found out that no one is interested for that concept except minor group of people on professional forums for audiophiles. I realized that I have enough knowledge within this field and that I am capable of making website dedicated to different home theatre conceptions based on components: cinema, studio and semi-professional. This would tell middle-static audiophile about active crossovers, studio sound, etc. It was necessary to complete the search for different information regarding this topic and then purify the future content for this site and its main goal. But with the new knowledge I stepped away from the idea of buying manufactured monitors and the new concept of homemade monitor systems by PA principle took its place. On my surprise I discovered (after I heard some excellent three-way system speakers: Dynaudio, Genelec, ATC), that even those well-known monitors were nothing in particular and they all, within its class, sound almost identical. At that time I practically finished collecting the information about sound cone drivers, amplifiers and studio monitors. The rest was to find additional information on digital crossovers and studio amplifiers, among who was first-class equipment of Russian manufacturers. Then I suddenly found out the information at some forum, about studio monitors, formerly unknown brand Ray Audio (Kinoshita), who had a membrane of a rare metal, beryllium. Hearing the impressions of the professionals on the internet, those were the best quality studio monitors in the world. Shortly after that I found out the information on newest beryllium JBL Everest Acoustics and then a TAD, JMF and Neva Audio appeared. For me, it was a big surprise the fact, that, for example, world famous director Philip Newell as a real studio technique admits only systems stated above. That forced me to think over some things once again. The second and final factor that moved me forwards the next step in the evolution of the concept of split PA monitoring was the processor-corrector DEQX and thanks to the TAD and the DEQX, emerged the concept of Ultimate Studio, which is The Best of the Best. After that, JBL Everest was added also with Stage Accompany complete monitor systems. After listening to this phenomenal acoustic system, it all became clear to me that the site will be dedicated not only to the Split system of multisystem signal amplification, but also to the best audio components.
The basic idea of the site wasn't banal selection and purchase of ready-made equipment but materializing the thought of making the best cinemas of today and even more. To make a system that has no equal in the world, with the best professional studio components. Unfortunately, there are no such systems even on a market of studio components, although all the components necessary for it existed a long time ago and it had quite a price but not too high.
At the end let me explain the meaning of term Ultimate Studio. I partly wrote about it at the main page and some other paragraphs on the site. Purchasing components of this category does not meant that you will receive audio system of such category. That is not just shopping of first-class and expensive technique, because the price of 20-40 thousand Euros is not a serious obstacle. Limiting factor is specific construction of space for such a cinema, which is necessary in order to fully achieve the potential of such technique. You will agree that a major problem is how to store large cinema screens in the apartment as well as acoustic treatment of the room. Norms of implementing such technique in a large space requires struggle with resonance of the room than modern video formats. Yet in the year 2006 I could not think that first-class cinema has to be out of home conditions. At earlier stages DVD could be projected at the screen size of 2 m and that was in a best case. Such a cinema screen (movies) should be placed in the apartment. Heavy and large acoustic systems are not needed in this case, because the distance to the listener was the 2-3 m most. But the modern high-resolution video formats (Blue-ray, HD-DVD) allow us to watch the screen 4 m and more. So cinema fans now have the possibility of making their own cinemas, which are not much behind those commercial one, where they can achieve the same "effect of presence" and the phenomenal quality sound support. At the beginning of the 21st century I imagined that, but only a few years later it became reality, thanks to high-resolution video formats. I think that now it seems logical to use and exploit the Ultimate Studio acoustic in separate room because the screen greater than 2 m can hardly be placed in any apartment. Such a venture requires building from "zero point" in 99% of cases. And why in this case not to build a sound proof room that will allow maximum exploitation of the acoustic potential? At very beginning they show up, high-video resolution formats enabled the existence of Ultimate Studio, not just as a first class cinema but cinema way ABOVE home conditions.
Basics of studio sound reproduction
Sources of Sound signal
Acoustic treatment of the room
Ultimate Studio audio systems
Studio Monitors PA Class
Dynamic Heads
Digital Crossovers
Studio monitors today
Stage Accompany - That's How Music Should Sound!
JBL Everest - Better Now, Then Never
DEQX - Digital EQ and Xover
Acoustic treatment of the room (added)
Electric supply (added)
Making a loudspeaker boxes
Benefits of professional drivers
Ultimate Studio - First Steps
Gallery Pioneer-TAD and JBL Everest
Audiophilie and Vintage
Types and characteristics of sound acoustics
FAQ по бюджетным системам
Exhibition Russian Hi-End 2014

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Falling through the cracks will help you take back your health and thrive through every day, instead of surviving. Each week we'll give you tools and advice on how to get your health back. In our society a lot of people are feeling unwell, and their doctors aren't able to help them. Given bills of health, their lab tests are normal, but they are in excruciating pain and debilitating fatigue. This is Dr Risk's story, and she eventually had to help herself through a very long journey to the health she has now. Dr. Risk has dedicated her life to guiding those who have fallen through the cracks in our health care system to achieve wellness so they can live their lives, instead of just surviving. Tune in to Falling Through the Cracks, broadcasting live every Monday at 9 AM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel.
With 10 years of experience as a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Dr. Rebecca Risk operates Ananta Health in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Having chosen the Sanskrit word Ananta which means infinite or without limit, Dr. Risk partners with her patients to help them achieve infinite health. She applies TCM principles with a modern view, allowing her to care for her patients in a unique way, helping them overcome health obstacles and getting to the root of their chronic health problems. A graduate of the Alberta College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dr. Risk is trained in Chinese Herbology, Dietary Therapy, Acupuncture, BioMeridian Stress Testing and supplementation. Certified from the Academy of Natural Health Sciences in New Jersey as a Supplement Consultant, Dr. Risk provides her patients with customized vitamin and herbal therapies that support their nutritional needs for optimal health.


text:
Velušovce (in ungherese Velős) è un comune della Slovacchia facente parte del distretto di Topoľčany, nella regione di Nitra.

Note

Collegamenti esterni

Velusovce


It can be stressful to deal with having a bad credit score. It is much more frustrating when you're reminded of bad decisions you made in the past. Rebuilding a good credit score is an uphill climb, but the trail does exist. This article will help you design a plan adapted to your situation.
Getting money for a home loan can be difficult, particularly when your credit is less than perfect. If this is the case, try to get an FHA loan, which are loans backed by federal government. FHA loans are great for the individuals that do not have the financial capability to make down payments.
TIP! If you have a poor credit rating, it can be extremely difficult to obtain a mortgage loan for a home. In this situation, it is a good idea to try to obtain an FHA loan, because these loans are guaranteed by the federal government.
Creating a payment plan and sticking with it is just the first step to getting your credit on the road to repair. You must be willing to implement changes and stick with them. If you don't need something, don't buy it. Before making any purchase, determine if it is within your means and if it is indispensable. Don't buy the item unless you answer "yes" to both of these questions.
If you have credit that is not high enough for you to obtain a new credit line, sign up for a secured card. You are more likely to be approved for this type of card because, once funded, the banks feels secure that you will pay them back. If you utilize a credit card responsibly, it can aid in the repair of your credit rating.
A good credit report means you are more likely to get financing for a home. Making regular mortgage payments will also help your credit score. Owning a valuable asset like a house will improve your financial stability and make you appear more creditworthy. Having a good credit score is important if you need to take out a loan.
For a credit score boost, an installment account will help. Choose an installment account you can afford, since you will have to leave a certain amount of money on it at all times. You can improve your credit rating quicker using this type of account.
TIP! You can dispute inflated interest rates if you are being charged more than you should be. It is important to know the terms of your original agreement for the debt you incurred.
When looking to improve your credit, avoid companies claiming that they can remove negative information if the debt is true. Negative entries that are otherwise accurate will stay on your credit report for a minimum of seven years. You can, however, succeed at having incorrect information erased from your credit reports.
When trying to rehabilitate your credit, it is important to work with each credit card company you are indebted to. Talking to them will help keep you from drowning further in debt and making your credit worse. You can even ask for help, such as pushing back the due date of your monthly payments or reducing the interest rate.
Find out how the process will affect your credit rating before you agree to any debt settlement agreements. Some methods will be less damaging than others, and you need to research them all before signing an agreements with a creditor. Remember creditors want their money. They really don't care about your credit scores. That is up to you to protect.
TIP! Before consulting a credit counseling agency, be sure to check out their background and history. Some credit counselors offer real help while others have more dubious things in mind.
This advice can help you to turn your credit score around. Just keep in mind that credit improvement is an ongoing process that you need to stay involved in. You can rebuild your credit; don't spend your time worrying, spend it fixing your credit.


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For he who is honest is noble.
The loom is still the best receiver!
Whatever I spin, the same is mine.
The mind of man can accomplish whatever it resolves on.
All is gentle; nought Stirs rudely; but congenial with the night.
The world is a picnic to which every one takes his basket, to carry back whatever he can grasp.
The word whatever is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required. Because it is longer than 7 letters, you would have to play off an existing word or do it in several moves.
The word whatever is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required. Because it is longer than 7 letters, you would have to play off an existing word or do it in several moves.


In Chapter 5, "Community Institutions in Rural Society," we examine the associational life in rural communities by discussing the main political and civic institutions providing access to a variety of resources and public goods, representing local interests, enhancing and reproducing local identity, and creating opportunity in the civic sphere. This can be observed through the local government, education, and health care systems. Through these institutions, communities plan for the future, manage civic life, educate and socialize youth, and protect public health and safety. Formal institutions, such as these, can help to produce community identity and provide opportunities for civic interaction and participation. These institutions also help delineate boundaries. This chapter demonstrates that in the midst of macro-level forces and structural transformations that may undermine the autonomy of local places, local institutions are still a fundamentally important aspect of rural community. This chapter concludes by illuminating that cooperative agreements and regional approaches to development are the wave of the future.
1. What is meant by "community capacity"? What are the characteristics of communities with high community capacity? What factors might undermine or erode community capacity? What strategies might rural communities use to build community capacity?
2. What is the difference between "government" and "governance"? How has the role of both government and governance shifted within rural society?
3. When viewed as community institutions, how and why might schools play particularly important roles for the communities they serve?
4. Identify one of the challenges facing rural schools mentioned in this chapter (or another challenge you have seen) and discuss the implications for a rural community. How might this challenge have further impacts? How can another local institution, such as local government, work to eliminate this barrier?
5. Do you think rural people have adequate access to health care? If not, how would you improve it?
6. Rural schools tend to outperform their urban counterparts in the academic preparation of students. At the same time, rural students have lower college attendance rates. What are the factors that might explain both phenomena?
7. This chapter surfaces the idea of community boundaries. How might boundaries be helpful in rural communities? How might they be harmful? What would be an example of each?
8. This chapter identified three institutions found within rural spaces. What might be other influential institutions that were not mentioned? Discuss how they might impact rural communities.
1. Exploring Local Politics. What is on the public agenda in local government where you go to school/college? In order to examine this question, split the class into small groups. Ask each group to attend a local government public meeting. Each group will prepare a brief report indicating the main issues being considered by local government. What pros and cons were discussed with respect to this issue? Which members of the local government favor each position? What interests do they represent? If appropriate, the instructor might organize an in-class debate on the issues currently before local government.
2. Schools, Rural Outmigration, & Rural Development. Some observers have argued that rural schools may be participating in rural community decline if they educate young people who leave the community and never return. Rural education scholar Michael Corbett, for example, wrote an entire book about this dynamic entitled Learning to Leave (2007)*. What responsibilities should rural schools have for supporting the development and continued well-being of the communities they serve? Should educators and administrators be responsible for local community development outcomes, especially when held accountable by federal and state mandates for demonstrating student achievement? We often talk about the use of high-stakes testing to hold schools accountable for student achievement and learning. What should the accountability of rural schools be to the communities they serve? Draft a 2-page position brief that takes a particular position on these questions that would be suitable for presentation to your State's Education Department.
* Corbett, M. 2007. Learning to Leave: The Irony of Schooling in a Coastal Community. Fernwood, Black Point, NS.


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Young Frankenstein Live!: ABC Announces New Musical Event
by joshed 1/08/2020 11:10:00 AM 0 comments
According to Deadline, ABC in partnership with Mel Brooks has announced its newest live musical event titled Young Frankenstein Live! which will be based on the 2007 Broadway musical adaptation of Brooks' classic 1974 film of the same name. The announcement comes two months after the successful premiere of The Little Mermaid Live! which was the most-watched TV musical in any network.
RELATED: Exclusive: Paul Feig Talks Universal Monsters for Dark Army!
Produced by the show's creator Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein Live! is expected to premiere this fall. It will be featuring Brooks' music that he composed from the Broadway adaptation.
The 1974 comedy horror film was also co-written and directed by Brooks. Starring Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle, the film was a parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel which follows the story of Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the American grandson of Victor Frankenstein, who has inherited his famous mad scientist grandfather's castle in Transylvania.
RELATED: Director Greta Gerwig Developing Tap Dancing Musical
Brook's Young Frankenstein broadway musical was directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. It starred Tony Award-winning performers Roger Bart, Megan Mullally, Christopher Fitzgerald, Sutton Foster, and Andrea Martin. In 2008, it had earned three Tony nominations including Best Featured Actor and Actress.
The post Young Frankenstein Live!: ABC Announces New Musical Event appeared first on ComingSoon.net.


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Privcap / Portfolio Operations / At Strattam, 3x Growth Led to Operating Partner Hire
by Danielle Fugazy
At Strattam, 3x Growth Led to Operating Partner Hire
With 30 years in the tech industry, Ray Villareal already had a lot of things that would lead to a PE firm to come knocking and take advantage of his experience. Then he led growth in a portfolio company in a single year as an advisor.
Ray Villareal, Strattam Capital
After an advisor to two of Strattam Capital's portfolio companies worked with them for a year, it made sense to bring him into the fold. His 30 years of experience in the tech space may have had something to do with the hire, as did his bringing 3x organic growth to one of the firm's portfolio companies.
Ray Villareal has an enviable resume that includes senior-level executive and advisor positions at several companies backed by venture capital, most recently as vice president of the Americas and general manager of global services at LifeSize, a division of Logitech.
"I hate to admit it but I have been in the tech space for 30 years," he says. Villareal has a wealth of experience around enterprise software and SaaS businesses, and says that in the tech space, things can vary greatly. "I have hit an $8B quota and a $1M quota—both are equally hard," says Villareal. His focus will be on bringing go-to-market solutions and execution improvement to Strattam's companies and brings operating and management experience in global sales, marketing, and other areas.
The Austin, Texas-based PE firm is investing in information technology businesses and in the midst of raising its first fund, which is expected to close with $350M. Bob Morse and fellow Oak Hill Capital Partners alum Adrian Polak launched Strattam in 2013.
Villareal has already been working closely with both of Strattam's portfolio companies, Doxim and Trax Technologies, and has already helped Doxim triple its bookings within a year by revising its compensation plans, simplifying its product focus, and implementing best practices. Additionally, Doxim's organic growth rate is 3x what it was prior to Villareal's involvement. Doxim sells electronic document management tools to financial firms.
Bob Morse, co-founder and CEO of Strattam says that Villareal has energized the firm.
"As a PE investor I know the steps that need to be taken, but having Ray, who can sit down with the head of sales, share war stories and talk him through the opportunities, is so important."
An advisor at Strattam Capital turned into an operating partner after leading growth in one of its portfolio companies in just one year.


Pastors (that is to say, bishops or elders) are supposed to rule. That proposition is hardly controversial, for the New Testament repeatedly depicts the office of pastor-bishop-elder as one of spiritual leadership (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:7, 17). The question is not whether pastors are supposed to rule. The question is how. That question cannot be answered by doing word studies for the different terms that are used of elder "rule." Those terms need denote nothing stronger than leadership. Instead, it must be answered by examining the New Testament to see how pastors actually do lead.
One observation stands out: never in the New Testament does one find pastors making decisions in behalf of congregations or enforcing decisions upon congregations without their consent. Indeed, Peter explicitly forbids elders from leading by fiat (1 Pet. 5:3). Whatever pastoral leadership means, it does not involve pastoral authority to force churches to act against their will.
Pastors lead in several ways. They lead by their example. They lead through their prayers for their people. They also lead in one other way. The factor that the New Testament most often associates with the pastor's leadership is his teaching ministry.
Sometimes the pastor's teaching is imaged as his feeding of the flock (1 Pet. 5:2). The image of food is one that is regularly applied to biblical truth in the New Testament. Peter mentions the pure milk of the word (probably a genitive of apposition—1 Pet. 2:2). Paul employs the contrast between milk and solid food to contrast the easier teachings of Scripture, which are understood during Christian infancy, with the more difficult teachings, understood only during maturity (1 Cor. 3:2). The writer to the Hebrews uses this same contrast (Heb. 5:12-14).
Elders' leadership is explicitly connected with their preaching and teaching (word and doctrine) in 1 Timothy 5:17. Indeed, laboring in preaching and teaching is the mark of an elder who rules well rather than simply ruling adequately. All elders handle the Word of God. All elders teach. But some are able to give themselves to the labor of preaching and teaching—these are the elders who rule well, and they deserve double honor.
The writer to the Hebrews commands his readers to remember those who lead them (Heb. 13:17). He immediately clarifies what kind of leadership these leaders exercise. They are the ones who "spoke the Word of God to you." The obedience of Hebrews 13:17 is rendered, not to the persons of these teachers, but to the genuinely biblical content that they teach.
In Ephesians 4:11, the apostle Paul lists individuals whom Christ gave as gifts to humanity, and especially to His church. Among these are some whom He gave as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. The fact that Paul does not repeat the word some (actually an article in the Greek text) between pastors and teachers indicates that he intends to subsume pastors under the category of teachers. In other words, everyone who is given as a pastor is by definition given as a teacher.
Throughout Acts and the epistles, pastor-bishop-elders are depicted primarily as teachers. More than that, passages that discuss pastoral leadership tie it directly to preaching and teaching. Didactic ministry is not the only way that a pastor leads, but it is the principal way.
Unfortunately, the notion of teaching has often become associated with an educational model that consists primarily in the impartation of information, as in the old quip that education is the process by means of which whatever is in the professor's notebook finds its way into the student's notebook without having passed through the head of either. Alternatively, it is thought of as a process in which a professor lays out a kind of buffet of intellectual options from which students may make their choices. Or it is envisioned as a Socratic method in which the professor asks questions that stimulate students in their own intellectual voyages of discovery. None of these is what the Bible means by teaching.
To be sure, biblical teaching does impart information. It does make learners aware of alternatives. It does encourage people to ask hard questions and to think carefully about the answers. But New Testament teaching is an aspect of discipleship (Matt. 28:19-20), and discipleship is not so much about education as it is about instruction. Granted, it includes furnishing the mind both with tools of thought and with something to think about. Yet it also shapes and directs the affections, leading to a proper inclination of the will. Furthermore, it includes the development of skills so that each Christian becomes able to perform those tasks that are essential to healthy discipleship and, in some cases, leadership.
With beams of heav'nly day.
The steps of him I love.
Nicely put. Now if we understand teaching to be much more than just pulpit exegesis, how else will a pastor-elder teach? What is required in a church community for this to happen? Which structures must be in place, which barriers must come down to truly create a family of Christians where the younger can learn from their elders within a close-knit community, rather than a formal Sunday worship setting?


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Lea Michele's Twitter Tribute To Cory Monteith Will Leave You In Tears
by Oliver McAteer
Lea Michele keeps breaking our hearts with powerful tributes to her love Cory Monteith.
Earlier this year she posted pictures of a tattoo she got in his honor, and Wednesday -- on the anniversary of his death -- she shared emotional words about the "Glee" star on Twitter.
She honored his life in the most beautiful way. It's a picture of Cory on a beach with the words,
"I know everyday you're watching over me, and smiling. Love and miss you Cory, everyday, but today a little more."
Her heart-wrenching tribute has been shared nearly 50,000 times.
Thousands of people including his former co-stars were honoring his life with the hashtag #3YearsWithoutCory on Wednesday.
Actors were sharing special moments from their time with Cory.
In April, Lea got a number 5 tattoo, which was Finn Hudson's football jersey number on "Glee."
She posted a picture on Instagram and wrote, "For my quarterback."
The couple dated for almost two years until Cory's death in 2013. He died of a drug overdose.
What Is TikTok's Mascara Trend? The Cryptic Videos, Explained
By Hannah Kerns
Miley & Liam's Body Language In That Viral Video Was Awkward


We're talking about OpenSolaris 2008.05 over on IRC, using the #os200805, from now until 2 p.m. Pacific Time. If you haven't got an IRC client, you can use freenode's Java applet, which worked great (until Danek kickbanned me). Enter a nickname, and then ask some questions.
Apparently the load from 60 000 users blew out the chat system, so we moved to IRC.


Carlos Beltran is headed to St. Louis after reportedly agreeing to a two-year deal with the Cardinals.After spending the past seven seasons on the East and West Coast, Carlos Beltran is headed back to the Midwest. Beltran agreed to a two-year deal with the world champion St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, according to sources. The six-time All-Star batted .300 and hit 22 home runs with 84 RBI last season with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants.
This will be Beltran's second stint with a team in the state of Missouri. He spent seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals winning Rookie of the Year in 1999.
While he's no longer a borderline MVP-candidate, Beltran's track record of productivity can be matched by few in the National League since 2005. Beltran ranks sixth in the NL among position players in Wins Above Replacement over that span.
Besides his offensive and defensive skills, Beltran has a history of excelling in the postseason. No player in MLB history with a minimum 75 plate appearances has a higher OPS in the postseason than Beltran's 1.302.
With Beltran joining the Cardinals, St. Louis now has the two best offensive switch-hitters in the majors from last year. Lance Berkman's OPS was .959 last season while Beltran's was .910.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics traded All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals for four prospects according to sources. The Nationals receive pitchers Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole, Tom Milone and catcher Derek Norris. Gonzalez had a career best in wins (16), ERA (3.12) and strikeouts (197) last season, but also led the league in walks (91).
Few pitchers have provided a greater value for the dollar than Gonzalez. Over the last two seasons, 13 pitchers have won at least 30 games. Of those, Gonzalez has been the most cost-effective option, earning $26,613 for every win since 2010.
Gonzalez is under team control through 2015, but he's about to get more expensive. MLBtraderumors.com projects a $4.2 million salary in 2012, the first of Gonzalez's four arbitration-eligible years.
With the acquisition of Gonzalez, the Nationals now have three pitchers (Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann) who will all be age 26 or younger in 2012. They join two other franchises (Braves, Diamondbacks) who have at least three starters – all of whom were 25 or younger in 2011 - who posted a cumulative ERA better than 4.00 since the start of the 2010 season.