Great chocolate taste, tiny in size.
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They're great for grazing or as miniature snack with coffee or tea. You can also rely on dark chocolate Crispearls™ to add an exciting finishing touch to your desserts or pastries. Just sprinkle on top of glazed cakes, entremets or desserts to add your elegant touch of pure indulgence.
Mixed into chocolate mousse, ice cream or bavarois, they add a crispy chocolate texture to your desserts and remain crunchy.
Tiny, shiny pearls in dark chocolate with a heart of crunchy, toasted biscuit.
Sprinkle on drinks and desserts as decoration. Mix into mousse, ice cream, etc. to texturise.
Chocolate indulgence and lovely crisp in one.


text:
Apr/May 2018
Rocket Men
Who's winning the private space race?
Ken Kalfus
The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos BY Christian Davenport. PublicAffairs. Hardcover, 320 pages. $28.
February's test launch of Elon Musk's new Falcon Heavy rocket was probably the most expensive and most glorious publicity stunt in the history of advertising: flame and smoke, and then videos of the space-suited mannequin in the cherry-red Tesla Roadster, David Bowie on the stereo, Hitchhiker's "DON'T PANIC!" on the dashboard screen. Behind this promotion was the promise that Musk's company SpaceX will soon be sending colonists to the planet Mars. But although the car is on a trajectory that will pass the orbit of Mars later this year, it won't get anywhere close to the Red Planet, and the Heavy, despite the prodigious thrust of its twenty-seven engines, couldn't send a vehicle loaded with astronauts and their supplies all the way there. The fourth planet is still a far place, beyond human visitation for some time, no matter how wealthy the humans happen to be.
As breathlessly reported by Christian Davenport in The Space Barons, Musk isn't the only billionaire entrepreneur burning through vast amounts of refined kerosene and liquid oxygen. Richard Branson has resumed testing his Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo after the 2014 accident that claimed the life of a test pilot. Paul Allen, one of the Microsoft founders, is developing the Stratolaunch, the biggest airplane in the world, to launch shuttles and satellites from an altitude of thirty thousand feet. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rockets have flown into suborbital space and, like the SpaceX rockets, they've returned to touch down near their launch sites, descending through clouds of smoke onto their tail fins, like a 1950s Hollywood conception of a rocket landing.
Davenport, a reporter at the Washington Post, celebrates the burgeoning private space industry, which now regularly launches payloads into orbit, but he devotes the bulk of his book to Musk and the Amazon founder, and their grander ambitions. Heeding the conventions mandated by this kind of narrative nonfiction, Davenport makes Bezos and Musk contrasting figures as he tries to create drama from their rivalry. "Obsessed with secrecy," he writes, Bezos "was as quiet and slow as Musk was loud and fast." Bezos is the "tortoise," Musk, the obvious frontrunner, the "hare," or the "pied piper, leading his merry band of rocketeers." The slogan of Bezos's own company, Blue Origin, is Gradatim Ferociter, "step by step, ferociously"—though not necessarily to the same place as Musk. Jeff "One-Click" Bezos, as Musk calls him derisively, has less interest in Mars than in floating celestial cities and factories. "My singular focus is people in space," Bezos says. "I want people in space."
The first of Bezos's people will be tourists flown by Blue Origin on ten-minute round-trips to the edge of the atmosphere, at an altitude of about sixty miles. Musk agrees there's a market for space tourism; boldly, or rashly, he has promised to fly two anonymous, deep-pocketed paying tourists around the moon in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The launch was envisioned for early this year, but it has been put off. Musk now says that once the Crew Dragon is operational he hopes to carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, CA, December 22, 2017. Kevin Gill/Wikicommons.
Space enthusiasts are counting on Musk, Bezos, and other businessmen to pick up the slack left by a NASA that has supposedly failed to provide leadership in human space flight. Davenport, who works on the Post's financial desk, emphasizes this story line, reporting that one NASA administrator, visiting the Blue Origin facility, was "stunned [at] how efficient private industry could be." Like Davenport, many Americans have come to accept the notion of corporate superiority as an article of faith. Accordingly, NASA is too cautious; NASA is too bureaucratic; NASA is wasteful; NASA has too many regulations. The initiative that sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s can be recaptured only by the new private space corporations, their brand identities revolving around the hard-driving personalities of their celebrated founders. The launch of the Tesla was not only a larky display of conspicuous consumption and brand-building for Musk's two engineering companies; it was an affirmation of entrepreneurial capitalism.
Forty-six years after the last Apollo landing, it's easy to be frustrated by the fact that astronauts haven't returned to the moon or flown any farther past it. It's especially easy to be impatient with NASA, which lost the capacity to launch its own astronauts after the final space shuttle flight, in 2011, since then relying on the Russians to get them to the space station orbiting Earth. NASA's been compiling and scrapping plans for new crewed space vehicles since the 1980s. Its Reagan-era promise to send astronauts to Mars by 2015 wasn't met, of course, and later deadlines for space travel set by George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush were blown past at warp speed. Barack Obama called for a Mars landing in the 2030s. President Trump recently demanded a new mission to the moon as an intermediate step, another precipitous shift in priorities and timelines.
NASA's apparent fecklessness has less to do with bureaucratic inefficiency than with the inability to maintain long-term commitments from one president to the next. Every administration is forced to learn on its own that a trip to Mars is several orders of magnitude more difficult than the Apollo missions. The entrepreneurs will soon learn that, too. It took the Apollo astronauts about three days to get to the moon. At its closest approach the fourth planet is at least 150 times farther. The shortest practical flight would last about seven months. The lunar program cost more than $100 billion in today's dollars. A Mars shot, which would require proportionately more supplies and proportionately more rocket power, would be much more expensive, probably by close to a trillion dollars, far out of any mere billionaire's reach.
Even the simplest crewed flight to Mars would require technology that doesn't exist, not in SpaceX's patents or in NASA's. Nor can we predict when this technology will ever exist, according to the definitive report on the prospects for a Mars mission, issued in 2014 by the National Research Council. The report, Pathways to Exploration, examined the intermediate measures NASA would need to take before mounting a Mars expedition. It identifies, among other challenges, one apparently adamantine impasse: There is no known way of keeping astronauts, or even Roadsters, safe from long-term exposure to interplanetary space radiation. The carbon-based components of the Tesla launched in February will disintegrate within a year, according to one organic chemist.
These expenses and these challenges can hardly be minimized by any single capitalist and his company, even if, as Musk says, "the radiation thing is not too big of a deal." We may deride NASA, but Davenport's risk-taking, visionary billionaires, almost two decades after starting their businesses, have yet to put a single man or woman into orbit, a feat NASA accomplished within four years of being established. The tourists who have so far reached space have, like their NASA co-passengers, bought their Soyuz seats from a Russian government agency.
The Falcon Heavy may eventually be capable of a touristic flight around the moon, but Musk's expedition to Mars would demand an even more powerful launch vehicle. Now under development at SpaceX, it's referred to in-house as the BFR, for "Big Fucking Rocket." When you own the company, you can be as irreverent as you like. When you have a net worth of $20 billion, you can invest in a very expensive preoccupation.
Musk's Mars obsession is driven by concern that terrestrial civilization may someday be destroyed. He and other would-be pioneers envision self-sustaining, million-resident cities on the planet's rocky, low-gravity, not-quite-temperate surface within the next forty to one hundred years. This is a refreshingly wide window, but still one unlikely to be passed through. According to Davenport, Musk now intends to deposit the first settlers on Mars by 2025. For this to happen, and for the passengers not to arrive dead, SpaceX would have to surmount the same daunting engineering challenges NASA faces, with considerably fewer resources.
The obvious and mistaken analogy invoked by science fiction and "the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos," as Davenport's overblown subtitle puts it, is the European settlement of the Americas, the model for space exploration since human travel beyond the atmosphere was conceived. But the analogy fails to convey the actual reality of space and the actual hostile conditions on other planets. When Columbus "discovered" America, millions of people had already been living there for thousands of years. Its land, rivers, and coastal waters teemed with good things to eat. America had breathable air.
Space enthusiasts speak of humanity being saved by interplanetary colonization, but it wouldn't be the whole of humanity going to Mars, of course, even if Musk charges no more than $200,000, the figure cited by Davenport for a ticket. The rest of us, and our children, will still have to face potential terrestrial catastrophe. Would we really care that other people (and their genetic material) were saved? Meanwhile, a Mars colony would demand Earth's resources for decades or centuries to come. A new kind of built-in inequality is likely to be the natural consequence of a space settlement program established by a Silicon Valley billionaire.
Human space flight may ultimately prove to be a twentieth-century technology—a heavy, rust-belt kind of industry—that is being superseded in the digital twenty-first. Robotic probes, like the Cassini orbiter that spent thirteen years whizzing among Saturn's rings and moons, and the New Horizons spacecraft that gave us our first up-close pictures of Pluto, are conducting the most valuable space exploration these days. Satellites and space probes need not be touched by the hands of astronauts. It's hard to think of anything that now requires men and women in space except for experiments to see how well they adapt to space.
With its gee-whiz hyperbole and its portentious declarative sentences ("This time he would punch back"), The Space Barons itself feels like a twentieth-century artifact, from an age of more predictable journalism.The book ends with a characteristically vapid sentence fragment that describes the Bezos-Musk competition: "A race past even their own imaginations, deep into the cosmos, to a point in the beyond where there was no finish line." But this kind of sentimentality isn't getting anyone to Mars. They'll instead need rockets, radiation protection, landing craft, self-sustaining life-support systems, and a compelling purpose. Human beings may someday set foot on the Red Planet, but the first of them probably haven't been born yet.
Ken Kalfus's most recent book is Coup de Foudre (Bloomsbury, 2015).
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Using GRASS GIS in Python standalone scripts I am trying to find a least cost path script for Python.
I came across r.drain from GRASS GIS.
Is it possible to use GRASS GIS in a Python standalone script?
If so where can I download the bindings?

A: yes, see for example:

*

*GRASS and Python

*On scripting GRASS GIS: Building location-independent command line tools

*Python Scripts For GRASS GIS

*Using Python scripts that call GRASS modules or access GRASS layers from outside the GRASS.app with Mac OS X: a little summary

*How to access vector coordinates in GRASS GIS from python?

A: Yes, and there are more resources available now (besides the one listed by gene):

*

*Working with GRASS without starting it explicitly by manually setting some or all necessary variables and files

*grass.script.setup.init function which helps in setting up the required variables and files

*GRASS Batch jobs using GRASS_BATCH_JOB environment variable and GRASS executable

*exec interface example for direct calling of GRASS executable with module or script as a parameter (available in the development version only, future 7.1 release)

*List of GRASS environment variables
API for Python are part of GRASS itself, so you just have to install GRASS GIS but note that GRASS does not add its packages to the system Python nor messes with it in any way (to be on the safe side). Similarly the GRASS executable does not not have to be on PATH, although it typically is in Linux distributions.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Digitalization can affect all steps of the value chain of products: Primary activities like inbound logistics, production, distribution and marketing & sales can be digitalized as well as secondary activities like procurement and human resource management. For every of those areas the question is: What does digitalization exactly mean and how can firms benefit? We asked Professor Dr. Arnd Huchzermeier to provide a few case examples and to share his view on where the German industry stands in terms of digitalization.
Let me provide two interesting and current benchmarks. The first one is about digitalized manufacturing, the second one about customer retention.
In an online-offline world, every retailer faces high turnover in its customer base: the next shop is just one click away. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, companies can zoom in on their most loyal customers or customers that are about to defect. A lapsed customer is quite costly for firms to reactivate and may never come back. In retail, it is common practice to use relatively inexpensive give-aways for all of the company's customers, but this is rather an in-effective means of driving retailer loyalty. The response rates of such blind action, as one would have guessed, are close to zero. Consequently, we have helped a major German hypermarket retailer to identify their most valuable shoppers and target only those indicating a behavior typical of a churner for a series of valuable coupons.
Brown-field manufacturing plants are all exposed to high demands on product customization and product innovation. This is a direct consequence of a customer-focused and enabled value chain. For example, the Daimler plant in Bremen with an annual output of more than 430k vehicles will also produce the new e-vehicle EQ as of 2019. The fixed tact assembly lines needs to be adjusted to cope with higher work demands and high volatility in customer orders for that matter. Building a greenfield factory is not an option, when assembly systems can easily cost up to 1B € due to software installations. We found that it is possible to conceptually modify such lines to effectively cope with both types of requirements for enhanced worker flexibility.
In the Industrial Excellence Award, you get deep insights how companies deploy and execute their digital strategy. How is the German industry prepared to tackle this challenge?
No question, there are numerous excellent and leading-edge companies in Germany that are really pushing for highly automated and flexible production systems. This does often come with the opening of newly designed plants though which is not an option for, e.g., small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on this insight, we conducted interviews on company's shop floor and tested the subjective and objective strategy understanding of employees. "Subjective" in this context means that employees feel being "informed" about the operating unit's key objectives, whereas "objective" refers to being able to explain it in words and to identify key actions taken to achieve the goals. On the positive side, most employees feel that they understand their business unit's strategic objectives; on the negative side, the large majority cannot report on any existing action plan to achieve these objectives. Of course, the latter also strongly correlates with inaction regarding continuous improvement activities by many. This impediment to productivity through digital strategy deployment is highly regrettable; however, it can easily be fixed.
Professor Huchzermeier, you are teaching in our Digital at Scale Program. Will you cover some of this in the program?
Certainly. I am very eager to discuss these management issues with our participants.
What is the Digital at Scale Program?
WHU and McKinsey & Company offer the "Digital at Scale - Steering Your Business Into a Digital World Program" which is designed for managers and executives in digital roles or executives with roles in commercial, operations, or HR functions who want to transform their business unit/function. The 4-day program addresses why, how and in which areas companies should digitally transform.
The Executive Education Program will take place in April and May 2018.


Banks reported better than expected profits. U.S. banks seem likely to pass the "stress" test. Repayment of taxpayers funds by some institutions, at least, deemed imminent. Scrutiny suggests that the episode reflected Adlai Stevenson`s logic: "These are conclusions on which I base my facts. "Banks beat "well managed" low-ball expectations. In the last quarter of 2008, publicly traded banks lost $52 billion. Despite a return top profitability for some institutions, in the first quarter of 2009, banks are still expected to lose around $34 billion. For example, UBS and Morgan Stanley recorded losses.
The quality of earnings was questionable. Core businesses declined by 20-30%. Trading revenues, especially fixed income, rose sharply at most big banks reflecting high volumes of bond issuance, especially investment grade corporate issues and government guaranteed bank debt.
Corporate issuance was the result of the continued tightening in credit availability as banks reduced balance sheet. The issuance of government guaranteed bank debt provided underwriters with a "double subsidy" - the government guaranteed the debt but then allowed the banks to earn generous fees from underwriting government guaranteed debt.
High volatility generated strong trading revenues. Key factors were increased client flows and increases in bid-offer spreads (by up to 300% in some products).
High trading revenues also reflect principal position taking and trading. It will be interesting to see if trading revenues arer sustainable.
Questions remain about the impact of payments by AIG to major banks. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, it seems likely that these were collateral amounts due to the counter party or settlement of positions that were terminated. At a minimum, the banks benefited from a one-off increase in trading volume and also larger than normal bid-offer spreads on these closeouts reflecting the distressed condition of AIG.
The banks also benefited from revaluing their own debt where credit spread widened. The theory is that the bank could currently purchase the debt at a value lower than face values and retire them to recognise the gain.
Unfortunately, banks are not in position to realise this "paper" gain and ultimately if the debt is repaid at maturity then the "gain" disappears.
If you are confused then revaluation of issued debt worked differently at Morgan Stanley. The bank would have been profitable without a $1.5bn accounting charge caused by an increase in the price of its debt from lower credit spreads.
Earning were also helped by a series of one-off factors. Bank of America realised a large gain on the sale of its stake in China Construction Bank and also revalued some acquired assets as part of the closing of its Merrill Lynch acquisition.
Goldman Sach`s changed it balance date reporting results to the end of March rather than February. Given that its last financials were for the year to the end of November 2008, Goldmans separately reported a loss for December 2008. It is not clear how much Goldmans Sachs profit benefited from the change in the reporting dates.
Barclays Bank recently sold its iShares unit (a profitable unit which contributed around 50% of the earnings of BGI (Barclays Global Investors) to a private equity firm for $4.2 billion allowing the bank to book a gain of $2.2 billion that boosted capital ratios. CVC Capital only paid $1.05 billion with the rest ($3.1 billion) being borrowed from Barclays itself.
The loan was for 5 years and Barclays is required to keep the majority of the debt on balance sheet for at least five years.
In effect, the gain and capital increase is lower than the cash received (in effect, Barclays is treating part of its loan as profit and capital!). In addition, senior executives of Barclays received substantial gains from the sale under a compensation scheme where BGI employees received shares and options over (up to) 10.3 % of the division`s equity.
Effects of changes in mark-to-market accounting standards, which arguably reflected political and industry pressure, are also not clear. New guidance permits banks to exclude losses deemed "temporary" and also allows significant subjectivity in valuing positions. This may improve the financial position and overstate both earnings and capital. Some commentators believe that the changes could increase earnings by up to 10 to 15% and capital by up to 20%.
The market ignored continuing increases in bad debts and provisions. After all "that`s so yesterday!" Further losses are likely in consumer lending (e.g. mortgages, credit cards and auto loans), corporate and commercial lending.
In recent years, it has become an article of accepted faith that corporate debt levels have fallen. In aggregate, that is perfectly true. However, the debt has become concentrated in a number of sectors - commercial property, merger financing, private equity/ leveraged finance and infrastructure and resource financing.
The overall quality of debt has deteriorated significantly. In 2008, over 70% of all rated debt were non-investment grade ("junk"). This is an increase from less than 30% in 1980 and around 50% in 1990. The debt is also heavily reliant on collateral; the loans are secured against financial assets (shares and property). Reduced ability to service the debt and falling collateral values may prove problematic. For example, the recent distressed sale of the John Hancock Tower produced around 50% of the value paid a few years earlier.
In April 2009, the International Monetary Fund ("IMF") estimated that banks and other financial institutions face aggregate losses of $4.1 trillion, an increase from $2.2 trillion in January 2009 and $1.4 trillion in October 2009. Around $2.7 trillion of the losses are expected to be borne by banks.
The IMF estimated that in the United States banks had reported $510 billion in write-downs to date and face additional write downs of $550 billion.
Euro zone banks had reported $154 billion in write-downs face a further $750 billion in losses. British banks had written down $110 billion and face an additional $200 billion in write offs.
Banks may not be properly provisioned for these further write-downs. Recent accounting standards made it difficult for banks to dynamically provision whereby banks provided in low loss years for any eventual increase in loans losses when the economic cycle turns. Criticisms regarding income smoothing led to this practice being discontinued. Increasing bad debt will flow directly into bank earnings as credit losses increase as the real economy slows.
The stress tests do not provide comfort regarding the health of the banks. As Nouriel Roubini, Chairperson of RGE Monitor, has pointed out the likely macro-economic environment is likely to be significantly worse than the adverse scenarios used. The Federal Reserve hinted that banks even banks that passed the "stress test" would be required to hold extra capital.
This is puzzling as surely a bank is appropriately capitalised or it is not. Given that the test is the basis for setting solvency capital requirements, this is hardly reassuring or a guarantee that further taxpayer funded recapitilisation of the banking system is not going to be needed.
The proposal floated by some banks to return taxpayer capital misses an essential point. The banks did not offer to waive the government/ FDIC guarantees, which have allowed them to fund in the capital markets. The suspicion is that the proposal had more to do with avoiding close public scrutiny of compensation and hiring practices. Goldman`s compensation costs increased 18% in the first Quarter while employee numbers were down around 7% translating into a 27% increase in employee costs.
The reality is that the global economic system is de-leveraging and levels of debt must be reduced. As result, asset values are declining and sustainable growth levels have fallen significantly. In this environment, banks are likely to continue to suffer losses on assets (bad debts and further write offs) and earnings will remain sluggish (lower loan demand and lower levels of financial transactions). Higher funding costs and the need to raise capital compound the difficulties. For the banks currently: "On the liability side, some things aren`t right and on the asset side, nothing`s left."
Many major global bank shares are still, on average, trading at levels 70%-90% below their highs. Following the collapse of the "bubble" economy, Japanese banks staged a number of significant recoveries in share price before falling sharply necessitating government intervention to recapitalise and consolidate the banking system.
There seems to be a patent unwillingness to admit to and confront the problems facing the industry. Recognition of the problem is generally a prerequisite to working towards a solution.
Amusingly, Peter Hahn, a former managing director of CitiGroup and now a fellow at London`s Cass Business School was reported by Bloomberg as saying: "When you look at the income numbers that have been put out by banks recently they contain so much fudge and financial manipulation. You could say that the automobile industry has a clearer future at the moment."
Banks have gone from catastrophic to just awful. By most standards, that condition does not constitute a necessary and sufficient condition for a recovery in the global economy.


text:
Q: Zoom text of webview in xamarin forms I have used Xamarin android for zoomIn text using the following method:
    button4.Click += zoomIn;
    private void zoomIn(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        web_view.Settings.TextZoom = (web_view.Settings.TextZoom + 10);
    }

But now I am using xamarin forms, but this method is not helping me. How can I do so?

A: If you want to use the method of native WebView for android, you can

*

*Create your own WebView in portable lib to register such property for zoom in/out.

*Create a custom renderer for your WebView in Android peoject.
For example:
create your own WebView:
public class MyWebView:WebView
{

        public int ZoomInLevel
    {
        get { return (int)GetValue(ZoomInLevelProperty); }
        set { SetValue(ZoomInLevelProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly BindableProperty ZoomInLevelProperty =
        BindableProperty.Create(
            propertyName: "ZoomInLevel",
            returnType: typeof(int),
            declaringType:typeof(MyWebView),
            defaultValue:3,
            propertyChanged: OnZoomInLevelPropertyChanged);

    private static void OnZoomInLevelPropertyChanged(BindableObject bindable, object oldValue, object newValue)
    {
    }

}

Use this control:
<ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
             xmlns:local="clr-namespace:YOUR-PROJECT-NAMESPACE"
             x:Class="FormsIssue.Page1">
    <StackLayout>
        <local:MyWebView x:Name="webView" Source="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/41328371/zoom-text-of-webview-in-xamarin-forms"
                 HeightRequest="600" WidthRequest="400"/>

        <Button Text="Zoom" Clicked="Button_Clicked"/>
    </StackLayout>
</ContentPage>

in your android project custom your renderer like this:
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(MyWebView), typeof(MyWebViewRenderer))]
namespace FormsIssue.Droid
{
    public class MyWebViewRenderer:WebViewRenderer
    {
        protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<WebView> e)
        {
            base.OnElementChanged(e);
            if (e.OldElement != null || Element == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            var element = Element as MyWebView;
            Control.Settings.TextZoom = element.ZoomInLevel;
        }

        protected override void OnElementPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (Control != null)
            {
                Control.Settings.BuiltInZoomControls = true;

                //to show the default zoom controls, if you want to use your own button, set this property to false.
                Control.Settings.DisplayZoomControls = true;
            }

            var element = Element as MyWebView;
            Control.Settings.TextZoom = element.ZoomInLevel;

            base.OnElementPropertyChanged(sender, e);
        }
    }
}

Finally in your button click event, you can change this property like this:
private void Button_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    webView.ZoomInLevel = 100;
}

Update:
I've modified my code, so every time when a ZoomIn button is clicked, the WebView will be zoomed in, and so when a ZoomOut button is clicked:
private void ZoomIn_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    webView.ZoomInLevel += 10;
}

private void ZoomOut_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    webView.ZoomOutLevel -= 10;
}

MyWebView:
public class MyWebView : WebView
{
    public int ZoomInLevel
    {
        get { return (int)GetValue(ZoomInLevelProperty); }
        set { SetValue(ZoomInLevelProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly BindableProperty ZoomInLevelProperty =
        BindableProperty.Create(
            propertyName: "ZoomInLevel",
            returnType: typeof(int),
            declaringType: typeof(MyWebView),
            defaultValue: 3,
            propertyChanged: OnZoomLevelPropertyChanged);

    public int ZoomOutLevel
    {
        get { return (int)GetValue(ZoomOutLevelProperty); }
        set { SetValue(ZoomOutLevelProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly BindableProperty ZoomOutLevelProperty =
        BindableProperty.Create(
            propertyName: "ZoomOutLevel",
            returnType: typeof(int),
            declaringType: typeof(MyWebView),
            defaultValue: 3,
            propertyChanged: OnZoomLevelPropertyChanged);

    private static void OnZoomLevelPropertyChanged(BindableObject bindable, object oldValue, object newValue)
    {
    }
}

Custom renderer:
[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(MyWebView), typeof(MyWebViewRenderer))]
namespace FormsIssue.Droid
{
    public class MyWebViewRenderer : WebViewRenderer
    {
        protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<WebView> e)
        {
            base.OnElementChanged(e);
            if (e.OldElement != null || Element == null)
            {
                return;
            }

            //Initial zoom
            var element = Element as MyWebView;
            element.ZoomInLevel = element.ZoomOutLevel = Control.Settings.TextZoom;
        }

        protected override void OnElementPropertyChanged(object sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (Control != null)
            {
                Control.Settings.BuiltInZoomControls = true;

                //to show the default zoom controls, if you want to use your own button, set this property to false.
                Control.Settings.DisplayZoomControls = true;
            }

            var element = Element as MyWebView;
            //ZoomIn
            if (e.PropertyName == "ZoomInLevel")
                element.ZoomOutLevel = Control.Settings.TextZoom = element.ZoomInLevel;
            //ZoomOut
            else if (e.PropertyName == "ZoomOutLevel")
                element.ZoomInLevel = Control.Settings.TextZoom = element.ZoomOutLevel;

            base.OnElementPropertyChanged(sender, e);
        }
    }
}


Greetings from Taiwan. I'm here on a trade mission as a guest of ROC. Taiwan buys most of IBM Essex's chips, making Taiwan Vermont's second largest trading partner, next to Canada.
The Vermont Chamber has an office here, but it's good to fly the flag and meet with the manufacturers. They like meeting elected officials. Other Vermonters have been here in the past, e. g., Welch, Nease, Kevin Mullin.
The government and business leaders here are convinced that China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC) and India will rule the economy in about 20 to 25 years. The USA will rank behind.
We have a week of meetings with trade, economic development, manufacturers and foreign affairs ministry.
But why is Vince the Prince there, you ask?
Well, he is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Development. And after 27 years in the Vermont State Senate, that's right 27 years, this Vermont-style Republican knows a little bit about cutting a deal.
And with Vermont Democrats lacking a Grade 1 horse for the November 2008 Vermont Gubernatorial Derby, no less a political player than Democratic State Sen. Peter Shumlin [blue shirt] has suggested Vince as an "Independent" candidate that Democrats could get behind in race against three-term Republican Incumbent Gov. Jim Douglas.
Hope Vince keeps us posted, eh?


text:
THE WIZ 1978
Conversation between Motown head honcho Berry Gordy and Universal Studios in regard to the already eight-months-into-preproduction film adaptation of The Wiz:
Gordy -"I just got awakened by a call from Diana (Ross) who wants to play Dorothy in 'The Wiz'! She had a dream that she played the part and the film was one of the biggest smash hits of all time!" "The Wiz Scrapbook" by Richard J. Anobile
And thus began one of the most divisively controversial casting decisions since Jack Warner threw Julie Andrews over for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
Looks like Diana Ross has the answer to the question:
"Whose turn is it to be the big screen's next Dorothy Gale?"
The Wiz is based on the 1975 Broadway musical that is itself a very '70s, funkified, all African-American reimagining of Frank L. Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. The story of the little Kansas farmgirl who gets whisked away by a tornado and learns the value of home and family through the help of characters she meets in the mythical land of Oz, is a tale as well-known and beloved as Alice in Wonderland. The Wiz, which hews closely to Baum's book (silver slippers, not ruby) was created at the height of the '70s Black Pride revolution in fashion, music, film, and art. The Broadway production (then billed as The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz") was an attempt on the part of Charlie Smalls (music) and William F. Brown (book) to create a modern children's fantasy familiar enough to encourage crossover appeal, yet reflective of contemporary black culture. The score is full of songs influenced by funk, soul, and gospel, and the book is peppered with comic dialog derived from '70s slang idioms. Thanks to the creative contributions of director/costume designer Geoffrey Holder and the powerhouse vocals of 17-year-old Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, The Wiz proved a great success and went on to win seven Tony Awards that year, including Best Musical.
Diana Ross as Dorothy
Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow
Lena Horne as Glinda
Richard Pryor as The Wiz
Nipsey Russell as The Tin Man
Ted Ross as The Cowardly Lion
Mabel King as Evillene
Theresa Merritt as Aunt Em
When it was learned that Motown and Universal Studios were to collaborate on a film version of The Wiz, speculative casting buzz centered around Stephanie Mills reprising her Broadway role, and Motown Golden Girl Diana Ross being cast as the glamorous Glinda the Good. Of course, all that changed with Diana's fateful dream and the subsequent early-morning call to Berry Gordy.
Disregarding the very real possibility that Miss Ross' dream could just as well have been a nightmare, the powers that be behind The Wiz—a film that stood the chance of being one of the most expensive musicals ever made—abandoned plans to conduct a nationwide talent hunt for an unknown Dorothy and went with what then must have seemed a smart business move: casting an internationally famous, Oscar-nominated singer/actress with marquee value and mainstream appeal—wrong for the part, but willing—instead of a talented, age-appropriate unknown. Thus, swayed by variables ranging from the capricious (Diana wanted it, dammit!) to the practical (Ross' participation most assuredly contributed to the acquisition of other notables, like pal Michael Jackson and Lady Sings The Blues co-star, Richard Pryor), The Wiz was launched with considerable fanfare and star-power, but also amid a flurry of boxoffice-crippling negative publicity.
Although I find short hair and no-makeup to be one of my favorite looks for Diana Ross, empty
theaters across the country indicated fans preferred their Ross glammed out and Mahogany-ized.
The mounting of a large-scale film adaptation of The Wiz was already a sizable professional gamble (not only was the public touchy about anyone challenging the memory of a film as beloved as The Wizard of Oz, but there had not yet been any kind of boxoffice precedent for such a big-budget film with an entirely African-American cast), a gamble not entirely helped by the almost unanimously unpopular announcement that the, shall we say, "mature" Diana Ross would be playing Dorothy; a character whose age is unspecified in Baum's books (a fact Ross was quick to point out at every opportunity), but whom even the most imaginative of readers were unlikely to have envisioned as a fully-grown woman.
One wonders how things might have turned out for The Wiz and indeed, Diana Ross' feature film career (it came to an abrupt halt with The Wiz) had Ross campaigned for the role of Glinda. As it now stood, the head-scratching incongruity of her casting and all the changes it precipitated (Dorothy was now a 24-year-old Harlem school teacher with a doozy of a social anxiety disorder, living in a brownstone with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry) fueled the public's already strong perception of Ross as an ego-driven diva. A negative advance buzz that overshadowing everything else about the film in its initial stages. It was virtually all anyone could talk about when the subject of The Wiz was brought up. The news set off a veritable tornado of outraged cries of ruinous miscasting the likes of which we wouldn't hear again until 1990 when perennial daddy's darling Sofia Coppola plodded through the waters of casting nepotism and single-handedly sunk The Godfather Part III.
The casting of 33-year-old Diana Ross proved an insurmountable hurdle for many viewers, blinding them to The Wiz's many delightfully witty design concepts. Here, Dorthy and pals dance atop charmingly bulbous Oz Taxicabs in front of a surreal rendering of the Cowardly Lion's home, The New York Public Library. The cabs, in satiric commentary on an all-too-familiar urban reality, are always off-duty when the black characters try to hail them. The Yellow Brick Road traffic signals flash "Ease" or "Don't Ease" for pedestrians.
When Diana Ross was brought into The Wiz the film's original director, John Badham (Saturday Night Fever), took a powder. Scrambling for a replacement, the studio settled on Sidney Lumet (known in the industry as Mr. Finish-it-on-time-and-under-budget) in spite of his inexperience with the musical genre. It's a perverse Hollywood tradition that an industry famously averse to risk-taking ONLY seems to take chances when it comes placing directors unfamiliar with a genre at the helm of multi-million-dollar productions (cue: John Huston and 1982s Annie)
Then-screenwriter Joel Schumacher (Sparkle, Car Wash), later hack-director (Batman and Robin), jettisoned the entire Kansas-to-Oz elements of the play and, at Lumet's suggestion, fashioned the film into an urban fantasy with an Oz resembling a surreal, fever-dream vision of New York. Schumacher, who, like Diana Ross, was a proponent of EST (Erhard Standard Training - the self-help teachings of Werner Erhard which were popular at the time), also inserted tons of Me-Generation proselytizing into the script and supplanted The Wiz's simple themes of "There's no place like home" with a great deal of the "You'll find it within yourself" navel-gazing of the '70s Human Potential Movement.
The Yellow Brick Road leading to the Emerald City
Tony Walton's Oscar nominated production design and costume concepts are the real stars of The Wiz
The relative haste with which The Wiz was fashioned perhaps explains why a film of this magnitude contains so many errors of editing, dubbing, and "We don't have time for a retake!" awkwardness. As with many films, it was given a release date before even a foot of film was shot. Slated as a summer 1978 release, the date was later moved to the fall due to issues of weather, union strikes and Ross burning her retinas staring into the white beams of The Wiz's eyes. Critics were quick to call attention to shots of a buckled yellow brick road, sweat stains under Miss Ross' almost perpetually upraised arms, poor lip-syncing by the Cowardly Lion, and surprisingly cheesy-looking special effects for a film that cost a whopping $24 million (Dorothy's mannequin-stiff entrance into Munchkin land and Glinda the Good's graceless"floating" were popular targets). However, almost unanimous praise was afforded the brilliant production design and costumes by Tony Walton (Mary Poppins, The Boy Friend).
Dorothy Learns the Value of Friendship
In another of the film's witty, New York design concepts, the Yellow Brick Road leads to a subway entrance where a sign directs passengers to "Get Down"
I first saw the theatrical production of The Wiz in 1976 when the touring company of the Broadway show played in San Francisco. Renee Harris was taking over for Stephanie Mills and I remember it being a spectacular production. Among the first in my experience to have that hyper-amplified sound so common in Broadway musicals today. My single strongest memory of the show is the fabulous staging of the tornado whisking Dorothy and her farmhouse away to Oz: The tornado itself was embodied by a beautiful, leggy dancer sporting a scarf headdress that billowed behind her, far beyond the wings of the stage. She danced seductively around the farmhouse, ultimately (and provocatively) straddling its roof. As the house began to rotate on a turntable, the ever-elongating scarf wound itself around and around the entire structure until it completely enfolded the house in the fabric. It was mind-blowing!
In the movie version of The Wiz, Glinda the Good is something of a supernatural life-coach. Here she creates the tornado that will blow the house-bound Dorothy out of Harlem into a vision of New York unlike anything I'd ever seen.
By the time the film version was released in October of 1978, I was living in Los Angeles and any initial trepidation I may have had about Diana Ross' casting had long been absorbed by all the exciting hype surrounding the film. Michael Jackson's film debut! Quincy Jones arranging the music! Lena Horne returning to the screen for the first time in almost ten years! From Richard Pryor landing the role of The Wiz, to the behind-the-scenes talents of Tony Walton and Albert Whitlock (the latter, visual effects artist for The Birds, Earthquake, Day of the Locust); it seemed as though all the top talents in Hollywood were working on this musical. Once the colorful billboards and posters began appearing around town (tagline: The Wiz! the Stars! The Music! Wow!) and the Ross/Jackson duet single of "Ease on Down The Road" was in heavy rotation on the radio...well, I was gone. Everything surrounding the promotion of the film looked so fantastic that I convinced myself the final film was going to be something so stupendous, it would make us all eat our words at ever doubting the wisdom of casting superstar Diana Ross.
If there was any single image that sold me on the film version of The Wiz, it was this. An Oz comprised of multiple Chrysler buildings with a Coney Island roller coaster in the distance. Outrageously clever! I figured any film with this kind of imagination couldn't be all bad.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the one way to get both the best experience of a movie yet at the same time the least reliable impression of how that film will perform at the boxoffice, is to see it on opening night. The Wiz opened at the famed Cinerama Dome theater in Hollywood. The Dome itself was bathed in yellow light, as were the decorative fountains out front. The only thing missing was a literal Yellow Brick Road. Lines stretched around the parking lot and the sold-out opening night audience was primed for an "experience." And that's what they got. The crowd ate the film up. Laughter drowned out dialog, special effects and sets drew gasps of approval, and the conclusion of every number was met with rounds of applause.
The audience was especially responsive to Diana Ross' vocal performance (which, no matter what one thinks of her acting, is pretty phenomenal here). Seriously, Ross was never known as a belter or even considered particularly soulful...not in the Aretha Franklin vein, anyway...yet in The Wiz she displayed a versatility and range that had audience members literally screaming! By the time her soul-searing rendition of "Home" ended, some members of the audience were acting as though they were at a live concert. It was all very heady and a major goosebump experience for me, especially the dancing. Ah! Such dancing! Were The Wiz edited down exclusively to its dance sequences, that alone would be enough for me. Needless to say I was absolutely thrilled by The Wiz and was positive that the film was going to be a big, big hit. Of course I was dead wrong.
The cast of The Wiz reacts to early reviews
The newspaper critics savaged virtually everything about The Wiz, all uniting in agreement over Diana Ross' adult Dorothy being a severe liability no amount of movie magic could surmount. The public even chimed in, complaining of the film being too dark (if cinematographer Gordon Willis ever shot a musical, it would look like The Wiz), too scary, too preachy, or just too somber in tone. Grease (a film I absolutely abhorred, by the way) emerged the big musical blockbuster of 1978, and The Wiz, much like the misguided reworking of the film's title character, pretty much slumped away in ignominious defeat.
I like Diana Ross a great deal. Indeed, I get teased a lot by my partner due to my baseless belief that she can't be as bad as her diva reputation attests, because she has such kind-looking eyes (I also think Faye Dunaway has kind eyes...so maybe my partner has a point). I find Diana Ross very likable in The Wiz but I'm the first to say that she really needed to turn it down a notch. Her idea of conveying Dorothy's shyness is to approach the role as though she were portraying Laura in The Glass Menagerie...with all of the attendant ponderousness. She's far too high-strung and neurotic from the start. By the time she reaches Oz you almost expect her head to fly off, she's so unwound.
No one can say Diana Ross didn't throw herself into the role
The rousing production number Brand New Day is one of my favorites...for any number of reasons.
That being said, I think Ross is rather appealingly game throughout the film, throwing herself into the strenuous dancing and singing in a way I can't help but admire. She's in the finest voice she's ever been, and while I get a little worn down by her personality towards the end (she's a tad harsh on Richard Pryor), I have to say her grown-up Dorothy has never bothered me as much as it has others. A friend of mine once made the astute observation that when The Wiz came out, the concept of a grown-up unable to leave home was such an anomaly, with audiences balking at what they considered to be the obvious contrivance of her character. Today, with what we know about social anxiety and the phenomenon of "Boomerang Kids" who stay under their parents' roof well into adulthood; The Wiz seems almost ahead of its time.
The Great and Powerful Oz
If my blog has any objective at all (which it doesn't, but I'm trying to make a point) it's to promote my firm contention that "good" movies are not always the ones we most enjoy, and that a film's boxoffice success or failure has absolutely no bearing on its actual quality or value as entertainment. For example: Variety's list of the 100 highest-grossing films of all time reads very much like an "avoid at all cost" inventory of my least favorite movies. Whereas the films that bottom out in the "flop" category (Day of the Locust, 3 Women, Two for the Road) are among those that have meant the most to me.
The great Quincy Jones makes a cameo as one of the fashion-conscious citizens of The Emerald City
The Wiz is in many ways a mess. There is little time devoted to character; it seems over-infatuated with scale over emotion; some script choices are seriously ill-advised (by this point, the cinematic de-fanging of irreverent comic Richard Pryor had come to border on the tragic); it doesn't seem quite fair to the legendary Lena Horne to have Diana Ross have first crack at her only song; and finally, it's much too long.
But I swear, there is something about The Wiz that has the power to lighten my heart every time I watch it. It's certainly full of spectacle and eye-popping visuals, it has moments when it's lighthearted and fun, and there is no lack of energy and style in the thrilling musical numbers. Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross provide refreshing contrast to Diana Ross' twitchy over-emoting (which reminds me of Joan Crawford's exhaustive earnestness), but even that is mitigated by her peerless singing, which is the finest part of her performance. Her rendition of "Home" forgives all transgressions.
The Emerald City sequence, filmed in the Plaza of the World Trade Center Towers
I've always loved the show's score, and Quincy Jones' arrangements are very good. But in the end I always come back to Tony Walton's designs for the look of The Wiz as being one of the most enduring pleasures of the film for me. I keep noticing new details in the costuming and sets each tme I revisit it. The Wiz's whimsical take on a grungy New York City may not be to everyone's liking, but it is the single most cohesive thematic thread in a film that at times feels as though it were created by a hydra. Envisioning and constructing a complete fantasy world on film can't be easy, but Walton's contributions (he was Oscar nominated for his efforts) meet and even exceed the potential The Wiz had for being one of the great musicals of the 70s.
The New York State Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair was transformed into Graffiti City for Dorothy's arrival in Munchkin Land
The Emerald City
In a world where three Transformers films and three Twilight films rank among the highest-grossing movies of all time, you'll never convince me that audiences avoid films simply because they're "bad" or even "inept." Many factors play into why a movie flops, some of them having nothing to do with what's happening up there on the screen, others having to do with our culture. Hollywood doesn't have the most stellar record when it comes to highlighting and showcasing black talent, and American movie audiences STILL have a long way to go toward accepting films with African-Americans in principal roles. The Wiz isn't perfect, but there's no doubt in my mind that large segments of the populace were never going to give it a chance from the getgo, and Hollywood allowed its boxoffice performance to excuse its already rigid practice of rarely greenlighting motion pictures with black protagonists or afrocentric themes.
Escapism Politicized
Hollywood films are predominately about the white experience. Unless politicized or shunted to the background, the depiction of black life on the big screen is still all too rare.
In a strange way, The Wiz is one of those movies I think many people wanted to like, but the film kept thwarting the viewer's good will. Diana Ross' Dorothy is a tough nut to crack. Ross' one-note performance never engages our hearts. Then there is the matter of her "journey" in Oz. We're given endless spectacle in lieu of character identification and sometimes it's hard to find reasons to care what happens to her. The script, which relies on the impressive makeup effects to provide most of the character distinctions for the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man, doesn't always make a lot of sense...even for a fantasy. For example: I thought it a grievous mistake to have Dorothy actually "resolve" to kill Evillene as The Wiz requested. Killing the witch by mistake in an effort to acquire her broom is one thing; having her make a conscious decision (however reluctantly) to murder Evilene (even if she IS a baddie) feels somehow wrong.
Dorothy is just a little too happy for a woman who's just committed involuntary manslaughter
When I think of The Wiz and how much pleasure I derive from it in spite of it's flaws, I think of my friend, a big fan of Grease, who will call my attention to how much he loves that film in spite of its cast of middle-aged teenagers; icky message of "conform or be unpopular," and the score's anachronistically '70s-sounding, disco-era musical arrangements.
Just like Dorothy discovers that her imperfect home is nevertheless a place that makes her happy, it's good to remember that if a movie brings you joy, it doesn't have to be perfect. It only has to have something that makes you respond to it. That's personal, that's private, and it has nothing to do whether the movie is deemed a hit or a flop by Variety.
Although The Wiz is only 34 years-old as of this writing, Diana Ross is the only major cast member still living.
According to the book Footprints on Broadway by David W. Shaffer, dancer Gregg Burge (he played Richie in the film version of A Chorus Line, was featured on TV's The Electric Company, and co-choreographer of Michael Jackson's Bad video) appears as Michael Jackson's dance double in certain scenes in The Wiz and had to sign a release promising not to seek credit.
Diana Ross' self-produced album Diana Ross Sings Songs From The Wiz was intended for release in 1979 but shelved when the film performed so poorly. The album was finally released in 2015.
Posted by Ken Anderson at 11:53 PM 37 comments:
Labels: 70's, Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Musicals, Sidney Lumet, Tony Walton
THE GRASSHOPPER 1970
I first saw The Grasshopper in 1979 at Filmex, the now-defunct Los Angeles Film Festival, at a special screening titled "Underrated American Films" (an event that also introduced me to Robert Altman's masterpiece, 3 Women, and hosted, if memory serves, by Roger Ebert). Seeing The Grasshopper in a packed theater of film enthusiasts was the best possible way to see a film that, when initially released, was sold as an exploitation flick. I'd been wanting to see this flawed little late-60s gem since I first laid eyes on the film's soundtrack album back in 1970.
Then just 13-years-old, I was drawn to the photo on this bi-fold LP jacket which offered, on the front, an image of star Jacqueline Bisset locked in a passionate embrace with co-star Christopher Stone. On the back, however, was this racy "reveal" of their tryst location being a shower stall and Mr. Stone marvelously, teasingly, naked. I'm sure fans of Ms. Bisset were disappointed (she would more than make up for the oversight in 1977 when her wet t-shirt poster from The Deep became one of the year's top sellers), but as for me; I was just thrilled that such an unexpected glimpse of naked male flesh (and it's really little more than a glimpse) had been made available to me in surroundings as wholesomely irreproachable as the local record store. Looking at the album cover today after so many years (below), I'm not the least bit surprised to find that it still packs a visual punch as a seductively potent erotic image. Tame, to be sure, by today's standards, but in those pre-internet days, we oversexed adolescents had to take our thrills where we found them.
This image is as evocative of my memories of the early '70s as that image from Midnight Cowboy of John Voight and Dustin Hoffman huddled in an alleyway. So enamored was I of this photo that I owned the soundtrack for over a year before I even bothered listening to it. As luck would have it, the songs by Brooklyn Bridge, Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), and Bobby Russell (Mr.Vicki Lawrence for a time) are all pretty good. I now have the album on my ipod.
I tend not to be overly fond of coming-of-age-films. Most I find to be interminably male-centric wish-fulfillment fantasies prone to leaning heavily on the callowness of youth as an excuse for indulging in a lot of puerile sexism and misogyny. On the other hand, female coming-of-age films, while rarer and seldom very well-known, are more to my taste (my absolute faves being 1961s A Taste of Honey and 1985s Smooth Talk). The female perspective is so infrequently explored in films in general, so any film attempting to offer insight into the inner lives of girls maturing into young womanhood is to me a much-welcome change. I especially appreciate when these films portray their heroines as active participants in their fates and steer clear of the clichéd, woman-as-victim trap. Films in which women learn the ropes by being mistreated by a series of men always come across as the efforts of male writers who really don't know much about women.
The '60s-era Las Vegas setting of The Grasshopper is one of my favorite things about the film
In attempting to dramatize the aimlessness of late-'60s youth while satirizing the swinging, anything for kicks attitude prevalent at the time, The Grasshopper at times feels like the crasser, less artful American cousin of John Schlesinger's Darling. But despite the film's unsure footing (TV sitcom director Jerry Paris—best known as the neighbor on The Dick Van Dyke Show—has no real aptitude for drama) The Grasshopper does succeed in capturing the essence of a particular type of American woman at a particular point in time in our culture. Of course, the "American" woman I speak of in this case is the very British Jacqueline Bisset, serviceably, if unconvincingly, identified as Canadian for the film. (Ironic, given that the heroine of the little-known novel upon which this film is freely adapted—The Passing of Evil, by Seance on a Wet Afternoon author Mark McShane—s British, the story taking place in London.)
The late '60s and early '70s offered dozens of American movies dramatizing the heroically romanticized plight of the misunderstood heterosexual white male as he struggled to find his identity in a society in flux and shifting beneath his feet. African-American females are perhaps still waiting for their own definitive coming-of-age-film (a good place to start: Ossie Davis' woefully overlooked 1972 film, Black Girl, or Kasi Lemmons' brilliant Eve's Bayou), but for women in general, The Grasshopper provides a well-observed, adult portrait of a kind of spiritual restlessness usually only afforded movie males.
Jacqueline Bisset as Christine Adams
Jim Brown as Tommy Marcott
Joseph Cotten as Richard Morgan
Christopher Stone (in his film debut) as Jay Rigney
Corbett Monica (yes, THE Corbett Monica, Ed Sullivan fans) as Danny Raymond
Ed Flanders as Jack Benton
The Grasshopper was promoted with the tagline: "The story of a beautiful girl's lifetime between the ages of 19 and 22." And lest one assume the "beautiful" adjective was inserted solely for the purpose of a little sex-bait ad copy; rest assured, The Grasshopper's Christine is one in a long line of movie heroines whose destinies are shaped as much by their provocative beauty as by their flaws of character. When Valley of the Dolls' Neely O'Hara bitchily comments on how Anne Welles got through life on a pass because of her "Damned classy looks," she is speaking of girls like Bisset's Christine. Girls whose looks open up so many doors for them that not until those looks begin to fade does it begin to dawn that those doors largely led nowhere.
As the film begins, 19-year-old Christine Adams (Bisset) has dropped out of high school in Kingman, British Columbia, left a note for her parents, and slipped away in the wee small hours of the morning in her beat-up convertible. Her destination: Los Angeles, where she has plans to shack up with Eddie (Tim O'Kelly) her high-school sweetheart. Her youthful optimism unfazed even when her car breaks down en route, idealistic hitchhiker Christine informs a friendly pick-up, "It's very simple what I want to be; totally happy, totally different, and totally in love!" Of course, as soon as she says this, we all know she doesn't have a chance in hell of being any of them.
You're Gonna Make It After All
In this age of "Boomerang Kids," the most startling thing about The Grasshopper is the idea of a teenager, with no money or prospects, actually looking forward to leaving home and starting out life on her own.
What is Christine over the course of the next three years? In no particular order: a bank teller; a mistress; a would-be actress, schoolteacher, flight attendant; real estate saleswoman; a Vegas showgirl; a high-class call girl; a discontented housewife; a sugar mama; a widow; a kept woman; and a prostitute. Only on occasion is she ever practical, introspective, or more than fleetingly satisfied. As you must have gleaned by now, the grasshopper of the title is Christine. The human embodiment of America's "instant happiness" culture. In the land of plenty, happiness, like freedom, is a birthright; something one is entitled to whether or not it's earned, appreciated, or deserved. If you don't find it in your own back yard, America's a big place with lots of back yards. All you need is a suitcase, a little resourcefulness, and who knows? Maybe happiness can be found in the one thing you haven't tried yet.
Impetuous Christine falls for down-to-earth former quarterback Tommy Marcott
Christine: Tommy, sometimes I envy you.
Tommy: Why?
Christine: You don't always have to be doing something. With me it's sort of a disease. I guess it's because no matter what I'm doing or how much fun I'm having, somewhere way back in my head I'm thinking somebody somewhere else is having more fun than I am.
The Grasshopper, in its sometimes over-earnest efforts to be now, relevant, and say something pertinent about the times we live(d) in, is a marvelous panorama of everything that was happening in America in the late '60s. So many controversial topics are covered and touched upon in the film's scant 98-minute running time, Jacqueline Bisset seems at times like a tour guide through a new Disneyland attraction called Sixtiesland. We have rock bands, groupies, free-love, homosexuality, lesbianism, interracial marriage, nudity, drugs, prostitution, pedophilia, and physical abuse. It all sounds pretty incendiary, but to the film's credit it does manage to present a great many of the hot-button social issues of the day in a refreshingly matter-of-fact manner, reserving sensationalism for things like scenes of unexpected violence.
Atypical for its time, gay couple Timmy (John David Wilder) and Buck (Roger Garrett) are presented sympathetically and as just another couple in Christine's circle of friends.
In the '70s, Jacqueline Bisset and Raquel Welch were the two (dubiously) reluctant sex-symbols most vocal over never being taken seriously as actresses. Raquel Welch had a point; she was pretty much offered one crap supporting role after another. Bisset on the other hand, was handed in succession, The Grasshopper and The Mephisto Waltz; two films which were, while by no means a Doctor Zhivago or Rosemary's Baby, nevertheless substantial and challenging star-vehicles requiring more of Bisset than to merely look good in a bathing suit.
Bisset is at her relaxed best in the brief scenes she shares with the always-welcome Joseph Cotten
Because I like Jacqueline Bisset so much, I wish I could say that she made the most of these opportunities, but as an actress, Bisset is something like a hot-air balloon; as the story around her heats up, she seems to get lighter. A vibrant screen presence with a stunning, if not particularly expressive face, Bisset is fine in scenes requiring wide-eyed optimism or vague restlessness; but she's a bit out of her depth when events take a more dramatic turn. And then again, perhaps it's really sitcom-trained Jerry Paris who is really the one most out of his depth, as he's rarely able to depict the dramatic elements of the story in ways more substantial than that of a sub-par '70s movie-of-the-week.
We're Gonna Make Our Dreams Come True
The Grasshopper was co-written and produced by TV's Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley). Here Garry casts baby sister Penny Marshall (Lavern herself, left, holding the ruler, pictured with Eris Sandy) as a member of the "Plaster Casters": groupies who make plaster casts of the genitals of rock stars.
Showgirls: 1970. In his autobiography Wake Me When It's Funny, producer Garry Marshall writes that the original leaping pattern for The Grasshopper was considerably more global (London, New York, Hollywood) but for budgetary reasons Las Vegas became the dominant location. I can't say I mind one bit. The shots of a long-gone Vegas Strip and the behind-the-scenes glimpses into those old-fashioned Vegas reviews are fabulously nostalgic.
The grasshopper perched first one place, then another...wherever she happened to land. And then she moved on.
(Ad copy from the film's poster)
While there's no denying that The Grasshopper could have benefited from at least one female voice involved in its creation (the product of at least three male collaborators, the film suffers a bit from a sense that there are a few too many over-the-age-of-30 male voices weighing in on what it's like to be a 19-year-old girl), I'm personally grateful for even this imperfect portrait of a complex female character in the male-dominated '70s cinema landscape. And, since women who seek to define themselves exclusively by the men in their lives are far from being an extinct species, there exists a contemporary relevance to the film which transcends its appealingly dated trappings.
The Grasshopper is definitely worth checking out, for while not as deep as it aspires to be, it's nonetheless a compelling look at the cost of a life lived without attachments.
Oh, and lest we forget that glorious backside which sparked my interest in the first place...
Posted by Ken Anderson at 5:43 AM 23 comments:
Labels: 60's, Jacqueline Bisset, Joseph Cotten
THE FAN 1981
If theater geeks and Glee habitués ever longed for their own 80s slasher film, then The Fan fits the Playbill, so to speak. This unappetizingly violent, yet oh-so delectable blend of backstage musical, slasher-thriller, and woman-in-peril melodrama (to borrow a line from one of the Louis St. Louis [Grease 2] showtunes crooned over the course of the film), "Got no love" when released in the spring of 1981, but is deserving of rediscovery.
And the audience LOVES me! And I love them! And they love me for lovin' them and I love them for lovin' me. And we love each other! And that's 'cause none of us got enough love in our childhoods. And that's showbiz...kid!
(This Fred Ebb lyric pretty much encapsulates the psychological backstory of The Fan)
No low-budget gore-fest populated by a cast of nondescript teens stalked by a masked phantom, The Fan was A-List all the way. It had then-hot-as-a-firecracker producer Robert Stigwood (Grease); a sizable budget; great Manhattan locations and a distinguished cast of New York actors; and pedigreed Broadway composers (Marvin Hamlisch and Tim Rice contributed two songs).
It also had and up-and-coming creative team comprised of TV commercial/music video director Edward Bianchi (making his feature film debut), and choreographer Arlene Philips (Can't StopThe Music, Annie). The production was conceived as a stylish, Hitchcockian thriller along the lines of Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill (1980).
Lauren Bacall as Sally Ross
Michael Biehn as Douglas Breen
James Garner as Jake Berman
Maureen Stapleton as Belle Goldman
Hector Elizondo as Inspector Raphael Andrews
Unfortunately, somewhere along the path from screenplay to movie-house, The Fan transmutated into something which simultaneously confounded and confused. Star Bacall claimed the final film turned out to be bloodier and a great deal more graphic than the initial screenplay indicated, thereby turning off her audience base. Meanwhile, the typical youth-based demographic for slasher films like Halloween and Friday the 13th had a hard time relating to The Fan's largely middle-aged cast and theater world setting.
Of course, what proved most grievously detrimental to The Fan's ultimate public reception was the December 1980 shooting death of John Lennon by an obsessed fan (The Fan, having wrapped that summer, was already in post-production). This tragedy was followed by the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in March of 1981 by a fan obsessed with actress Jodie Foster. This happened just two months before The Fan's May 1981 release date. Further compounding the whole reality vs. fiction creep-out factor of all this was the fact that Bacall, portraying a Broadway star opening in a new musical, was at the time indeed opening on Broadway in the musical, Woman of the Year (March, 1981). As if that wasn't already too much too-close-for comfort coincidence, Bacall happened also to be a resident of The Dakota apartments, the very site of Lennon's fatal shooting (and the birthplace of the Antichrist in Rosemary's Baby; but let's not confuse fantasy with reality any more than we have to at this point).
The Fan makes use of a great many terrific Manhattan locations. Here, the famed Shubert Theater serves as the site of Sally Ross's opening night in Never Say Never, the fictional musical that provides so much of The Fan's camptastic eye candy
Depending on how cynical one was, the general atmosphere at the time couldn't have been better or worse for the release of a film about a star drawing the homicidal attentions of an obsessed fan. Paramount, perhaps to its discredit, chose not to postpone the release of The Fan and instead instead distributed theatrical trailers featuring a disclaimer stating that in no way was The Fan inspired by the tragic death of John Lennon. An act which actually served to to remind people of the Lennon tragedy under the guise of distancing itself from it. Whether seen as sensitive or in poor taste, in the end it didn't really matter.
This starkly simplistic (aka: cheap) graphic looks more appropriate to an Italian gaillo cheapie
Torpedoed by probably one of the worst posters in recent memory and mixed to pan reviews, The Fan continued on its inexorably jinxed, undeserved course to obscurity.
Alienating the very audience that might most be interested in seeing a film offering up healthy doses of musical theater, showtunes, tight male bodies in various states of undress, and Lauren Bacall in full Margo Channing mode; The Fan drew the ire of many Gay Rights groups with its self-loathing, not-so-latent homosexual stalker. After the release of Windows in 1980 - a film about a lesbian psychopath, and Cruising in 1981 - about a gay psychopath, nobody was really waiting with bated breath for another film which portrayed gays as slice-'em-dice-'em psychos
Celebrity and fan obsession is a compellingly intriguing topic for a thriller. The whole codependent, love/hate, need/resent, fear/envy aspect of the "relationship" between the famous and the adoring public is ripe fodder for film treatment. The connection between celebrity and fan is a "relationship," by design and necessity, doomed forever to be one-sided: the fan feels an intimate kinship with someone who doesn't know they exist. Perhaps because of this imaginary, essentially hungry, connection, it's no surprise then how quickly fawning fandom can change to bilious hate if the fan's attentions are even marginally rebuffed.
I'm reminded of a scene in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (a marvelously dark black comedy about fan obsession that would make a great double-bill with The Fan) in which talk-show host Jerry Lewis is walking down the street. When asked by a fan at a public phone to say a few words to her friend on the line, he politely demurs, claiming that he's running late. At this point, the seconds-ago adoring fan flips to bile-spewing enemy, shouting "You should only get cancer! I hope you get cancer!" Yikes!
But such is the mercurial, frighteningly delicate line between love and hate that is fandom and celebrity obsession. Had The Fan set its sights on examining this already terrifying dynamic in the form of a strict psychological thriller, it had the potential for providing an insightful, genuinely chilling look at our increasingly celebrity-obsessed culture. In going the slasher/stalker route, The Fan cheapens and sensationalizes the material, making the events appear more remote and unlikely than in reality they are.
Anyone who has ever attended a celebrity autograph convention or looked at the crowds outside of a movie premiere knows how Day of the Locust-like and unnerving celebrity-worship feels. There are so many things The Fan does right (depicting the many ways in which the famous are vulnerable to the public, conveying how the promise held forth by fame-culture fuels a never-to-be-satiated hunger in fans) but in not trusting the inherent, subtle creepiness of the material as is, misses a terrific opportunity to scare us with a bracing look at ourselves.
The Celebrity Conundrum
Nothing angers a worshipper of celebrity more than listening to the famous gripe about how much they hate all the attention that comes with celebrity
What brings me back to The Fan time and time again are its many sequences depicting the behind-the-scenes creation of the fictional Broadway musical Never Say Never, which is to be star Sally Ross' singing and dancing debut. What with its use of recognized Broadway dancers, NY locations, and knowing attention to procedural detail; the feel is very authentic, very 80s, and very stylishly evoked. I find these scenes a bit camp to be sure (what with all those legwarmers and Arlene Philips' trademark Hot Gossip choreography), but I have to say all of it contributes to giving us a refreshingly novel backdrop for a suspense thriller. Silly as they may be, they are also terrifically fun. Of course it doesn't hurt that I saw this film during my early days as a dancer, or that in 1983, when I took my first trip to New York, I studied dance at Jo Jo's, the studio featured in the film.
That's Kurt Johnson providing literal backup to Lauren Bacall as she sings " A Remarkable Woman," one of two Marvin Hamlisch/Tim Rice compositions introduced in the film
All The Boys Love Sally
Broadway dancer Justin Ross (l.) appeared in the film version of A Chorus Line, and dancer Reed Jones (r.) originated the role of Skimbleshanks in the original Broadway production of Cats
If you're going to make a film about the kind of classic Hollywood star capable of inciting the flames of obsessive fandom, you can't do much better than all-around class-act, Lauren Bacall. Her gravitas as a full-fledged movie star from the golden era gives The Fan a shot of instant legitimacy every time she appears. In one of the largest roles of her career, Bacall is really very good at portraying a character not very far removed from what the public perceives her to be. She is so good in fact, that I kept wishing the film would just allow for the basic character drama of this ageing star grappling with loneliness, self-doubt, and vulnerability, play itself out minus all the genre machinations.
The charmingly lived-in romance of James Garner and Lauren Bacall is a welcome change from the usual blank-faced couplings of callow youths typically found in slasher films
The '80s come vividly alive in the film's Broadway musical sequences, which are sort of Solid Gold meets Can't Stop The Music. I don't care if I enjoy these sequences for all the wrong reasons, they're a hoot and absolutely fantastic!
A Remarkable Woman
More Like Hot Flash, Baby, Tonight
I saw The Fan the night it opened at Mann's Chinese Theater in L.A., and I swear, the entire audience did a collective spit-take when Ms. Bacall launched into this hilariously inappropriate disco-ditty.
I've never considered The Fan to be as bad a film as its reputation has led people to believe. Its screenplay is clichéd to be sure (the stage doorman is actually named "Pop") and the violence needlessly gruesome for such a visually distinguished and stylish film (Bianchi's music video background is in full, glossy evidence); but with a provocative theme and talented cast, The Fan has quite a bit going for it even with its flaws. One might have wished for a little more finesse in the areas of motivation and character, but I seriously have a soft spot in my heart for this movie...mostly centered around the Broadway setting, the images of a still gritty and grimy New York, and reminders of my early years in dance. Who was it that said, "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be"?
Labels: 80's, Arlene Phillips, James Garner, Lauren Bacall, Maureen Stapleton, Musicals
THE RITZ 1976


text:
Klang (Maleisië), een stad in de Maleisische deelstaat Selangor
Klang (district), een district in de Maleisische deelstaat Selangor
Klang (Frankrijk), een gemeente in Frankrijk
Klang (groep), een Belgische popgroep uit de jaren tachtig

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It has been incredibly hot since last week. Apparently there was a power outage that lasted for over an hour last night. I woke up all sticky and gross about 10 minutes before it came back on, trying to figure out why it was so damn hot.
Keeping some of the office lights off in the interest of being good citizens. Tired, stressed. That is all.
I had a dream that someone read my high school journal and I didn't know who but they'd written something across the back so I knew it had happened.
I think I have some terrible, pathological need to control everything and when I can't I just kind of languish and/or panic.
My face is peeling for no apparent reason. So dry. So irritating.


text:
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London-Osteo Osteopath
London Osteo is a collaboration of highly skilled and experienced independent therapists who have worked together for many years across a variety of clinics, drawing from each other's skills and specialisms and cross referring to each other where necessary to ensure the best care and…
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MahaDevi, Roberta Sumar Yoga Centre
Yoga for the Special Child, is a unique therapeutic yoga method that has changed the lives of countless children with special needs around the world. The program was pioneered by Sonia Sumar who had a daughter with Special Needs herself. Sonia designed this method in…
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Mary's Youth Club works with young people offering For 10 - 19-year-olds we offer an open youth club with opportunities to share, grow, learn and enjoy. Programmes run Monday to Thursday, with most activity taking place on-site and satellite sessions delivered with our partners. Young adults aged…
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Oasis Health and Beauty Clinic
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Southwood Smith Centre
Rehabilitation day centre for people with mental health problems. MondayDrop-in 9:30 - 3:30 Open for socialising, playing pool and board games Free internet access Discussion group 11:00 - 12:00 Gardening group (at Culpepper Gardens) 1:30 - 3:30 Centre closes 3:30 Tuesday Jewellery making 10:30 - 12:30…
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Being active can help older people stay healthy and independent. The NHS website has information about the benefits of being healthy and activities to try. Age UK Islington Age UK Islington provides information and support to people aged over 55 in the borough. This includes activities taking…
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St James' Church
A modern catholic parish within the Church of England. The hall was built in 1995, and is an attractive and welcoming space with modern heating and lighting. The hall is used by a series of regular users providing many activities for children including music, ballet and…
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This Girl Can Yoga
Every Monday 5-6pm
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Every Friday 10:30am-11:30am
Female only Yoga session for Women 55 and over. A more gentle version of the mindful group exercise. Suitable for beginners.
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University of the Third Age in London
Our U3A consists of a group of men and women who are no longer in full time employment and meet together to study a wide range of subjects. We are not a university in the modern sense of a body which awards degrees, but in…
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Whittington Park Community Association
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We run various activities for all age groups. For the over 60s we run a daily lunch club as well as nail painting, gentle exercise classes, Tango lessons, a sewing club, bingo and art class. We also run Yoga classes, capoeira, ball room dancing and…
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Love, as Jesus taught it, is a radical choice to put aside what I want so I can take care of what you need. Hate is the opposite: taking care of what I want instead of ministering to what you need. Thus, the default attitude of the world – take care of number 1, in effect is hate.
The interesting thing, is that John says people hate because they have been blinded by "the darkness." The darkness, in John's words, is the attitude of people in the world who have not received the Holy Spirit. They live in the darkness and are blinded by it.
This is a tough teaching. Tough, but true. How is it with you?
This entry was posted in 1 John, Holy Spirit, The Good News of Jesus and tagged First Epistle of John, God, Hate, HolySpirit, Jesus, John, love, Selfishness on November 6, 2013 by tombeaman.


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Luggage/Backpacks
Trikes/Outfits
Feher unveils world's first air-conditioned helmet
Mark Hinchliffe·
Gear/accessoriesHelmets
· 25th August, 2018 ·4 Comments·2 min read
American inventor and avid rider Steve Feher has launched the world's first air-conditioned helmet that is claimed to decrease temperatures by 10-15º Fahrenheit (6-8ºC).
The ACH-1 helmet is so far only available in the USA for $US599 (about $A820). However, it is also ECE approved so it will soon be available in other markets.
"We are working on channel partners in other countries as I type," a company spokesperson replied to our email inquiry.
"Australia is a market we are pretty familiar with and agree it is an ideal market. We hope it will be available soon.
"Pricing and timing of availability will be announced in the coming months.
"Since Australia now allows ECE instead of requiring QAS, it does make it easier."
AC helmets
There have been air-conditioner units for motorcycles and riders over the years that are big and expensive, but the most important part of a rider to cool is their head.
A cool head is not only a comfort feature but a safety feature.
There have been other air-conditioned helmets, but they are bulky and only used in the military.
So, to be absolutely accurate, the Feher ACH-1 is "the world's first self-contained air-conditioned motorcycle helmet available to the public".
Indian company AptEner Mechatronics has invented a snap-on air-conditioning unit called BluSnap, but it's an evaporative cooler which may not work well in humid climates.
BluSnap AC
Instead, the Feher ACH-1 has a real air-conditioner that uses a thermoelectric pump to dehumidify and cool the air. That means no fogging up, although the injection-moulded, quick-release visor does have an anti-fog coating.
Cool air is circulated around your head via a fan that blows the air through Feher's patented Tubular Spacer Fabric. It's like a honeycomb helmet liner. There are no standard air vents.
If you are looking new bluetooth motorcycle helmet, check this comparoid's guide site for more details.
Feher patents invention
Steve Feher
Feher invented and patented the technology in the humid conditions of Hawaii.
It has been used to cool the seats in Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Lexus and GM cars.
He says the cool air in the ACH-1 does not give the rider an ice-cream headache.
While the AC unit at the back of the fibreglass helmet is a bit bulky, the helmet still only weighs 1.4kg.
Helmet plugs into an external battery
That's because there is no heavy battery inside. Instead, there is a plug which you attach to a cable that runs to your bike's battery.
It has a quick disconnect cord with a switch to turn the AC unit on and off.
You can also plug it into 12V sockets or portable battery packs with an adapter. A 3000mAh battery should power the helmet for around two hours, 6000mAh for four hours and 12000mAh six hours.
The helmet comes in sizes S (53-54cm) to 2XL (63-64cm) in gun metal, pearl white, gloss black, matte black and silver with a one-year warranty.
ACH-1air-conditioningFeherHelmetMotorcycle helmetmotorcycles
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Mark Hinchliffe
Freelance writer for various national magazines and websites, plus founder of MotorbikeWriter.com. I started MotorbikeWriter to bring the world all the daily motorcycle news, views, reviews and lifestyle happenings.
David Hickey says:
24th November, 2019 at 10:40 am
Hi I'm a motorcycle postman in Sydney Australia and with the increasing temperature year after year due to global warming it's getting to dangerous levels in a job like mine in Summer. I hope you can convince Australia post of the benefits just tell them how much money they will save from less stoppages
Márcio D'Ávila e Silva says:
30th August, 2018 at 5:49 pm
Here in Brasil, we need a helmet like this. To Import is to expensive for us. I expect that it became comercial for Brasil soon.
Ken Watson says:
28th August, 2018 at 11:15 am
My helmet is already airconditioned. I only use open face helmets.
Stu says:
29th September, 2018 at 9:45 pm
That doesn't work in some climates (the middle East, for example) and it's better to keep the hot air from getting to your skin in the first place. I ride summer months here with my visor shut and my jacket zipped up.
Plus, I like my chin and teeth.
Now, I like the idea of this but it needs to be modular so it can be put in to any helmet. Built in solutions like this and Bluetooth are an instant blocker for me.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Hearing loss is a serious health problem in the U.S. and around the world. According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, roughly 20% (48 million) Americans have some degree of hearing loss. Hearing loss can have a multitude of causes including, but not limited to, loud noise exposure (occupational and recreational), age, ear infections, genetic disorders, head trauma, certain medications, and certain diseases such as meningitis and mumps. At the Hearing Center, our audiologists are qualified to diagnose, treat, and manage your hearing loss with the utmost care and compassion.
Our Audiologists will spend time with you performing the necessary tests required to diagnose your hearing loss. These tests can include conventional audiometry, tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), and auditory brainstem response (ABR).They are trained to recognize when medical intervention is necessary and will additionally assist you with non-medical interventions.
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Contact us today to set up an appointment where the audiologist will take a custom impression of your ear and order your necessary hearing protection.


What can you expect, Deathwing, she is Gallente..
This is a matter of Imperial concern, and as such it affects the known universe, but being Imperial buisness your voiced opinions matter not. It is just utopic nonsense anyhow.
Concentrate on your bad blood with the Caldari, you meddling dreamer of a tart, or treat us to something with a sense of logic.
At least not this contentless drivel.
You remind me of one Lyria Lightbringer, curse her betrayal of Amarr, and her constant moronic blabberings.
If the Kor-Azor family make a bid for the throne, I will be supporting them. I am a Minmatar that operates in Kor-Azor space. I move peacefully, profitably and along side both Amarrians and Ni-Kunni.
The Sarum family must not take the throne. If they do it will be a step back for amarr and eve. Besides, if sarum get the throne, Ill probably be thrown out along with all my fellow minmatar.
So heres a message to the Minmatar Clans - support the Kor-Azor family, we cant afford to let Sarum gain power.
Minmatar clans have no say in the matter of Amarr succession. Sorry to disrupt your happy illusion, but sometimes pain is good.
Dont think that I am under any illusions about Amarr. I am a freed slave. Ive seen Amarrian hospitality first hand. I just hope for a peaceful solution. If I am persecuted in Amarr, my first port of call will be one of the militant minmatar corps and I suspect it will be the same for many of my brethren.
So go ahead, feed the fire that will burn you.
I merely stated the inability of Minmatar clans to affect the Amarr succession.
Now go away and spew your agressive ramblings elsewhere. Us you can not touch.
I merely wished to make the point that the succession of the House of Sarum to the throne would merely serve to polarise our attitudes - Amarr and Minmatar. An extremist Amarrian government would provoke a similar response from the Minmatar. If you heard the words currently being spoken in Heimatar, you would be worrying. Your foolish attitude will only give the Sword of Matar more followers.
Very well, tis the last time I shall humour you and spoon feed you a dose of reality.
At this time Amarr looks to its own, staking a course towards the future. What the Minmatar say, think or even do, is of no concern.
Why you insist on voicing your support for one of the heirs, and denouncing another, is beyond me. You hold no weight in the matter at hand!
Let those who seek to harm the Empire gather, and start their March of Fools. It matters not in the face of imperial strength.
You speak, we do not care.
Ah yes, the blessed social traditions of the Amarrian Tyranny.
I wonder, Vandaal, if you are familiar with the rites of succession?
The title of emperor is not hereditary in Amarr and the way I see it there are 5 contenders who all want the same prize. Is the prize not so great that the families would go to war to claim it. Should this happen then Minmatar support will go to the reformer. Thus, we will not be standing in the face of imperial power, but changing the face of it.
Change is coming to Amarr and it comes from Matar.
i smell the sent of war in the air. though i do not belive it will be between the ammar and minmatar like i had thought originaly. but a ammar civil war. five powerfull heirs striving for one throne. could get messy.
to the ammar i again send my deepest sympathys.
to the rest of the universe i say lock 'n load things might get nasty.