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PC market: Is the glass half full or half empty?
by Peter Krass on 10/17/2016
Blog Category:
How's the health of the PC market? Lately, that depends on who you ask.
If you ask research and advisory firm Gartner, the situation is quite grave.
"The PC is not a high-priority device for the majority of consumers, so they do not feel the need to upgrade their PCs as often as they used to," said Gartner research analyst Mikako Kitagawa last week. "Some may never decide to upgrade to a PC again."
Never upgrade a PC again? That's serious.
This gloomy forecast was due, in part, to Gartner's discovery that global PC sales have declined every quarter for the last 2 years. That, Gartner says, is longest decline in the PC industry's entire history.
In this year's third quarter, worldwide PC shipments declined by 5.7 percent compared with the year-earlier quarter, according to Gartner. Still, that meant shipments of 68.9 million units, not a small number. In the U.S. alone, PC shipments were essentially flat, declining by just 0.3 percent, Gartner says.
This was mainly attributable to weak back-to-school demand and ongoing low demand in the consumer market, especially in emerging nations, Gartner explains. In those countries, unlike the U.S., many consumers have never owned a PC and perhaps never will.
Gartner also finds the market consolidating, with just 6 vendors commanding nearly 80 percent of all unit shipments in Q3: Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, Apple and Acer.
IDC: The glass is half full
Yet looking at the same business, market watcher IDC last week had a very different take. The headline on its press release told the whole story: "PC Competitors Position for Share and Growth."
Growth? Yes. Essentially, IDC's position is that while the PC market is indeed declining, it's still doing better than expected. PC shipments fell by 3.9 percent in Q3, IDC believes, for shipments of nearly 68 million units. That was about 3 percent better than IDC had earlier forecast. And for the U.S. alone, IDC says, PC sales actually grew by 1.7 percent, reaching 17.5 million units.
"We are very pleased to see some improvement in the market," said Loren Loverde, a VP in IDC's PC tracking group. "Improvements are accumulating, and set the stage for a stronger market going forward."
So wait: Gartner says 68.9 million units shipped in Q3, a decline of 5.7 percent, but IDC says it was 68 million and a decline of 3.9 percent? Why the difference? Mainly, because Gartner and IDC define the PC market differently:
> Gartner defines the PC market as including desktops, notebooks and what it calls "ultramobile premiums" such as Microsoft's Surface 2-in-1 devices. Gartner does not include in this category either Chromebooks or Apple iPad tablets.
> IDC, meanwhile, defines the PC market as including desktops, portables, ultraslim notebooks, and (unlike Gartner) both Chromebooks and workstations. IDC does not include in this product category either handhelds or 2-in-1 devices.
Regardless of those differences, both Gartner and IDC agree that a small number of hardware suppliers now have a dominant, possibly unassailable lock on the global PC market. These suppliers are now building up inventories that include new devices running Windows 10 and Intel's 7th gen "Kaby Lake" Core processors. Here's hoping the holiday season is a strong one.
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Read more about PC market: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Peter Krass's blog
Lenovo adds cloud-based version of anywhere, any-device solution
Earlier this week, Lenovo introduced a service that could have big implications for your clients.
The new service, called Unified Workspace Cloud, is a hosted and cloud-based version of Lenovo's Unified Workspace, an on-premises workspace solution.
Unified Workspace is actually based on webNetwork, a service Lenovo gained in 2012 with its acquisition of Stoneware Inc. Unified Workspace lets users work from pretty much anywhere and pretty much any device via a single-sign-on, customizable browser-based UI to files, applications and data.
The older on-premises version of Lenovo Unified Workspace has gained some 3 million users at 600 public- and private-sector organizations, according to Lenovo. The new cloud-based version, the company adds, is aimed at organizations with IT departments too small, IT infrastructures too limited, and IT expertise too lacking to run the solution themselves. Instead, the idea is, they can partner with Lenovo.
Lenovo Unified Workspace Cloud can be accessed from just about any device, regardless of its operating system. Users do not need to go through a virtual private network (VPN). Nor do they need to install a desktop agent.
Lenovo Unified Workspace acts as a remote-access proxy to data centers.
Once logged in, users of Lenovo Unified Workspace can gain access to web-based applications, legacy Windows applications, both virtual and remote desktop infrastructures, file shares and cloud-based storage.
'Break the Status Quo'
What's the big deal? Well, as Sal Patalano of Lenovo Software said, "Unified Workspace Cloud helps businesses and IT organizations break the status quo."
He adds: "What users can and can't do with their apps, devices and data is no longer the focus. Empowering users to work seamlessly, in a manner consistent with how they 'choose" to work, from the location and device of their choice, is no longer a luxury – it's table stakes!"
He's in good company. Lenovo cites a Gartner prediction of nearly 21 billion connected devices being used worldwide by 2020. And a Forbes survey that found 91 percent of employees believe they're more productive when working remotely.
Sound interesting for your clients? They'll need to license Unified Workspace, and Lenovo currently offers 3 options: Named License, with an account for each user; Concurrent License, with gives access to simultaneous users; and Education License, which covers teachers and students in schools.
Lenovo hasn't released pricing for its Unified Workspace Cloud. It looks like prospective users will have to ask Lenovo for a price quote. Still, this is a fascinating offering, one that offers a glimpse of how many IT departments will function tomorrow, if not sooner.
See this related content:
Lenovo, HP roll out computing, thin-client devices
Lenovo partner spotlight
Read more about Lenovo adds cloud-based version of anywhere, any-device solution
For a new market opportunity, think about drones
With the PC business in decline now for the last 2 years (according to this new Gartner report), you may be wondering, where's the growth? One answer is drones.
The global market for drones is expected to hit $12 billion in 2021, up from about $8 billion last year, predicts a recent report from BI Intelligence. Much of that will come from governments, specifically defense. But in the consumer market, shipments will quadruple over the next five years, BI Intelligence forecasts, thanks to competition on prices and new technologies that make drones easier to fly for beginners.
Another emerging market is drones for business. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s June update on what it calls "unmanned aircraft systems," business uses for drones include crop monitoring and inspection, power-line inspection, aerial photography and aiding rescue operations.
Intel Jumps In
Intel may not be the first name you associate with drones, but in fact the company has been pretty busy in this space:
> Earlier this year Intel showcased a consumer drone, the Yuneec Typhoon H with Intel RealSense technology. This drone retails for just under $1,900.
> Last month, Intel received a waiver from the FAA authorizing the company to fly as many as thousands of drones.
> And yesterday, Intel announced its first commercial drone system, the Falcon 8+. The Falcon is called a system because it includes not only a drone vehicle, but also a controller, the Intel Cockpit, and a "smart battery" power supply, the Intel Powerpack. The target market, Intel says, includes drone service providers (yes, that's a thing) and other industries in North America.
Intel's new Falcon 8+ drone and its Cockpit ground controller are designed for commercial use.
As you might expect from the chipmaker, Intel also offers drone components for developers:
The Intel Aero Compute Board is a $400 developer kit that packs a quad-core Intel Atom processor, storage, communications and I/O on a single card.
The Intel Aero Ready-to-Fly Drone is a development platform that includes a quadcopter drone, Intel Aero Compute Board, Intel RealSense technology and the Linux OS. It's set to ship by year's end, and prices haven't yet been announced.
The Intel Aero Vision Accessory Kit, retailing for about $150, offers three cameras for drones: RealSense, 8 megapixel and VGA. The cameras attach directly to the Intel Aero Compute Board, and cables are included.
So if you're looking for a new market — especially one that's marked for fast growth — you might look into drones.
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Read more about For a new market opportunity, think about drones
IT spending, staffing will be flat next year: Spiceworks survey
IT budgets are stagnant. Cloud and hosted services are hot. Laptop spending will approach that of desktops. And artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), 3-D printing and the Internet of Things (IoT) are getting real.
These are among the findings of the 2016 survey on IT budgets and technology trends recently released by Spiceworks, an Austin, Texas-based professional network for IT professionals. The report is based on Spiceworks' survey of nearly 900 IT pros, as well as social data from conversations on its own network.
For solution providers, the survey findings can help you focus your sales and marketing efforts on the areas that IT pros — your clients — believe are of highest importance and priority.
Here are the survey's high points:
> IT budgets will barely budge in 2017. The average budget among respondents was $293,093 this year, and for next year, $294,081, a difference of less than $1K. In the U.K., budgets are actually trending downward, with respondents there expecting to see 2017 budgets down by 5 percent. This chart, courtesy of Spiceworks, shows the expected breakdown of overall spending by IT category:
> IT staffing is mostly flat, too. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they expect no change in the size of the IT staff in 2017. Another 30 percent expect the IT staff next year to increase, and just 4 percent expect their IT staff to decrease.
> In the hardware spend, laptops will get nearly as much budget next year as desktops. Respondents say desktop spending will fall from 21 percent of the total hardware budget this year to 18 percent in 2017. That will bring it just 2 points higher than laptop spending, which is expected at 16 percent of the hardware budget next year.
> Software spending will be flat next year. And the highest priority projects will include virtualization (accounting for 15% of the software budget), productivity (13%), operating systems (13%) and CRM/ERP (10%).
> Cloud spending in 2017 will go mainly to email hosting (19% of the hosted/cloud budget), online backup/recovery (14%), web hosting (11%) and productivity solutions (9%).
> What spurs buyers to buy new products? Mainly, equipment at the end of its useful life, cited by 70 percent of respondents. Other drivers include business growth (cited by 63%), upgrades/refresh cycles (59%) and project need (58%). (Multiple replies were permitted.)
> The most important IT initiatives for 2017 are security, networking and storage, as shown by the following chart, courtesy of Spiceworks:
> AI, VR, 3-D printers and IoT were increasingly hot topics of conversation among IT pros. Spiceworks tracked the number of mentions in its social network between January and August of this year, and all four were trending sharply upward.
Actual adoption of these advanced technologies, while not quite as robust, is nonetheless real, Spiceworks finds. IoT adoption was cited by 13 percent of respondents, with another 10 percent planning to use IoT in the future. 3-D printing is used by 7 percent, and planned by 5 percent. VR is used by 4 percent and planned by 3 percent. And AI is used by just 2 percent and planned by 3 percent.
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Read more about IT spending, staffing will be flat next year: Spiceworks survey
The New Business Case for AI
With the latest artificial intelligence (AI) applications and technologies, business will be transformed.
The term "AI" may conjure images of killer robots and Star Trek food replicators. For real-life businesses — including your clients — AI promises to be far more mundane. Yet AI should still be highly effective.
Consider the potential value of tireless machines analyzing thousands of data streams, day and night. Many SMBs collect huge amounts of data from their customer interactions, online sales, social-media streams and marketing efforts. But few have the resources to decode it. As a result, the potential of that real-time feedback too often goes unrealized.
AI can change all that. With the help of AI, your customers can dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of their analytics systems.
Intel's AI Future
When it comes to AI, Intel is digging in deep. The company recently made two acquisitions to bolster its AI prowess: Nervana Systems and Movidius. With these buys, Intel has dramatically expanded its portfolio of machine-learning and deep-learning software. The results are something we'll all be able to experience firsthand.
Take Intel's RealSense technology. It enables self-aware cameras that "understand" their position in the physical world. Devices equipped with this technology — ranging from rugged tablets to aerial drones — are capable of navigation, depth sensing, making complex decisions and offering solutions. And all without direct human input.
Intel RealSense integrates human-like senses into devices.
That brings us to the age of self-driving cars. Major players including Tesla, Google and Uber are racing into this market. The mass adoption of autonomous vehicles — not just cars, but also trucks, trains, boats and planes — should bring an amazing array of opportunities. Traffic lights and road signs will never be the same!
Everywhere Intelligence
But AI isn't just something for the future. It's in your pocket now. AI drives the facial-recognition software in your digital photo album. It also informs the talk-to-text app that turns your voice messages into emails.
The potential of AI appears unlimited. Your customers will be able to capitalize on it by deploying devices like Real Sense-enabled cellphones and PCs equipped with Intel's Xeon Phi processor.
In the very near future, SMBs will also be able to use AI to increase their own operational efficiency. AI can help lower the cost of functions including customer service, sales and data analysis.
AI technology is close — much closer than your clients might know. How will you help them implement it?
New tools for smart buildings
Digital signage: creating new revenue streams with IoT
Why tomorrow's computing devices may be controlled by speech
Read more about The New Business Case for AI
New tools for the 'smart buildings' Internet of Things
You know about the Internet of Things, but did you know those "things" could be in an office or apartment building?
"Smart buildings" is a new and growing segment of the IoT market. Most of the action involves what are known as building management systems (BMS) or building automation systems (BAS).
There's a big need, because buildings use — and often waste — huge amounts of energy. The U.S. Green Building Council, a trade group, says that buildings consume 70 percent of the electricity load in the U.S. and account for nearly 40 percent of all carbon-dioxide emissions.
To help, Intel yesterday introduced its Building Management Platform. The platform connects disparate building equipment and devices that use a variety of protocols, then sends their data to cloud-based services and applications for business intelligence, analytics, dashboard and other applications.
Intel says use cases for its new BMP include:
> Monitoring and analyzing building energy usage
> Remote monitoring of assets, such as space utilization and equipment usage
> Gaining insights into disparate building systems used to optimize operations
Smart, energy-efficient buildings are the goal of Intel's new IoT management platform.
Key features of the new Intel BMP platform include:
>Easy access to building data and devices, thanks to the integration of CANDI Power Tools. These let users manage secure data flows to and from third-party applications and services. They also include built-in discovery tools and a drag-and-drop interface to help installers quickly find and provision devices.
> Over-the-air updates to remotely provision, manage and maintain device drivers, security fixes and application software.
> Cybersecurity protection with McAfee Embedded Control. This lets only signed software run on the gateway during the boot sequence, prevents unauthorized software from running, encrypts data transfers to the cloud, and accesses the gateway remotely when addressing new security threats.
> Flexibility and choice for ecosystem solutions. An out-of-the-box, Linux-based software appliance reduces development time by eliminating the need to work with low-level software components.
So if you're looking to get started in the IoT marketplace, consider smart buildings. The market is big, growing and important. And new tools make it more attractive than ever.
Explore the new Intel Building Management Platform:
> Download the BMP product brief (PDF)
> Read an IoT@Intel blog post, Addressing IoT for Smart Buildings
> View the BMP overview
IoT roundup: Asia-Pacific growth, SAP investment, self-driving car survey
With IoT moving from concept to reality, what's in it for you? (A lot!)
Read more about New tools for the 'smart buildings' Internet of Things
Wondering how to get started with the Internet of Things? It's a big opportunity — maybe too big. To narrow it down, many solution providers are focusing on a fast-growing segment of the IoT market: digital signage.
To help solution providers understand and enter this market, our sister site IoT Solution Provider held a live social chat yesterday with two executives from Ingram Micro: Alex Khalil, business development executive; and Eric Kenyon, senior channel account executive.
As IoT Solution Provider editor Patricia Schnaidt pointed out in a recent blog post, digital signage isn't only for big retailers anymore. Acquisition costs have dropped, and turnkey bundles have emerged. As a result, Patricia writes, "solution providers targeting SMBs can pitch affordability and simplicity as key selling points."
Digital signage: the market opportunity
Here are some of the high points from yesterday's IoT Solution Provider social chat with Alex Khalil and Eric Kenyon of Ingram Micro:
> Definition: Digital signage is a way to display the right message, at the right time, to the right audience. Displays can be interactive, too.
> Market size: Digital signage was a $35 billion business in North America during 2015. It's projected to hit $42 billion in North America in 2017. That translates into some 27 million digital-signage devices being shipped this year.
> Related revenue opportunities: Solution providers can offer digital-signage services that include site surveys, system design, content creation, installation, programming and break/fix. Margins for these services are typically in the range of 25 to 40 percent.
> Vertical market opportunities: Solution providers should find demand for digital-signage services in verticals including retail, bars and restaurants, education, healthcare, sports arenas, transportation and houses of worship.
> Applications: What can digital signage be used for? Top uses include advertising, wayfinding kiosks, check-in, touch/gesture walls, interactive tables and shelf media.
How to get started? Start by knowing the specific markets, their language and hot buttons; you'll need that to sell effectively. Then get ready to educate your clients, as they may not really understand the technology. Next, prepare your sales message to hit your clients' hot buttons, answering their question, "What's in it for me?"
Finally, prepare to explain to your clients the digital-signage return on investment (ROI). Talking tech isn't enough. Clients also want to hear how digital signage will help them save or make money.
Explore digital signage:
> View the Digital Signage Solutions social chat presentation deck.
> View the Digital Signage Solutions social chat transcript.
> Listen to a recording of the full 30-minute Digital Signage Solutions social chat.
And also see:
Why tomorrow's computing devices will be controlled by speech
Read more about Digital signage: creating new revenue streams with IoT
Yes, if Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and now Google have their way.
You (and your clients) will talk to a wide range and variety of computing devices. These devices, in turn, will use voice recognition, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to listen and respond.
Apple and Microsoft are already out there with their Siri and Cortana voice-activated assistants. These are good early efforts, but many users them both somewhat limited and a bit clumsy to use.
More successful has been Amazon's Echo, a 9.3-inch-tall intelligent speaker that uses the company's Alexa voice service. It currently retails for about $180.
Last month, Amazon upped the ante by introducing a smaller (1.3 inches tall) version. Called the Echo Dot, it retails for just under $50 yet features seven far-field mics. Amazon says that means Alexa on the Echo Dot can hear the user even in a noisy, music-filled room. Requests can include not only the user's choice of music, but general questions and requests such as "Find me an Italian restaurant" or "What's on my calendar today?"
Google is Listening
Now Google has raised the voice-recognition bar. Yesterday the company introduced several products, including a new smartphone, the Pixel, and a home-automation system, Google Home. Both use Google Assistant, the company's voice-activated AI system.
Google's new Pixel is the first phone to use the voice-activated Assistant.
Google says Assistant lets users have a "natural conversation" with their Pixel phones. The user switches on Assistant either with a voice command ("Okay Google") or by touching the phone's Home button. Then they can ask (and get answers to) requests and questions such as "How long will it take me to get to work this morning?" and "What's on my agenda for next Wednesday?"
Google also offers a "smart messaging app" called Google Allo. It lets users get help from Google Assistant while chatting with other people, either one-to-one or in a group. For example, imagine that you and a friend are using Allo to chat about dinner plans. You both agree on pizza. Now you can activate Assistant with a text command and ask it to recommend a pizza restaurant that's both good and nearby.
In a recent blog post, Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, calls this "the beginning of this journey" to AI.
"In the next 10 years," Pichai adds in his blog, "we will shift to a world that is AI-first, a world where computing becomes universally available — be it at home, at work, in the car, or on the go — and interacting with all these surfaces becomes much more natural and intuitive, and above all, more intelligent."
Assuming Pichai is right, your clients will soon be clamoring for voice-controlled computing devices. Do you hear them yet?
Coming soon: The end of the password
Intel RealSense — a 3-D system that's really catching on
Your clients should like these new curved and VR-ready screens
Read more about Will tomorrow's computing devices be controlled by speech?
The early days of the cloud are over. Now comes the time for greater savvy and refinement.
A new report from IT nonprofit association CompTIA finds that more than 90 percent of companies are already using some form of cloud computing. As a result, the report says, they're ready for a "refined understanding and a rebalancing of self-assessment around cloud activity."
The new Trends in Cloud Computing report, released late last week, is based on CompTIA's online survey, conducted this past July, of 500 business and IT executives. The authors say the margin of error is +/- 4.5 percent.
Among the CompTIA report's key findings:
> One third (33%) of respondents describe their use of cloud computing as being in full production, down from 42 percent in 2014. A slightly larger group (38%) describe their use of the cloud as noncritical. About one in five (21%) say they're still experimenting. Only 8 percent say the cloud has transformed their IT.
> Private clouds dominate. Nearly half (46%) of respondents said they've installed private clouds. Over a quarter (28%) said they have public clouds. And about the same number (26%) have hybrid cloud installations.
> Software as a Service (SaaS) is the most common cloud platform, cited by nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents. It was followed by Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), cited by 42 percent. Platform as a Service (PaaS), is used by a third (33%).
> Top benefits of the cloud, says respondents, are cost reduction, reducing capital expenses, reducing operational complexity, and modernization of legacy IT.
> The most common applications for the cloud are: email (cited by 51% of respondents), web presence (46%), business productivity (45%) and collaboration (39%). But as the following table, courtesy of CompTIA, their usage has changed — in some cases, dramatically — over the last two years:
Don't be discouraged. It may seem the cloud is losing steam. But the reality, says Seth Robinson, a tech analyst with CompTIA, is that "the cloud market is undergoing refinement as users gain greater appreciation and understanding of what cloud computing entails."
In other words, your clients are getting smarter about the cloud. And smarter clients? Those are good clients.
Why your data-center clients are rushing to the cloud
Public-sector IT moving to the cloud: survey
Miss our live chat on data-center modernization? Here's your summary
Read more about Cloud users 'rebalancing,' finds CompTIA survey
Searching 'Amy Schumer' may be hazardous to your client's computer health
Browsing celebrity websites is a harmless if time-wasting activity, right?
Wrong. A new report finds clients who search celebrity websites may be exposing themselves to dangerous malware. Cybercriminals use celebrity searches as a way to plant traps, infect computers and steal personal information.
The report, published this week by McAfee and Intel Security, explains that cybercriminals create phony sites that appear on the search results pages next to legitimate sites. When your client looks for a top celebrity on Google or other search engines, the results may include links to not only legitimate sites, but also trap sites filled with nasty malware.
To see how bad the problem is, McAfee used its WebAdvisor — software that scans sites to rate them with green, yellow or red signals — and browsed the internet for celebrity sites. With cable-cutters in mind, McAfee also did searches pairing the names of popular celebs with words including "torrent" and "HD download."
Based on these tests, McAfee compiled what it calls its list of the "most dangerous celebrities." The rankings indicate which celebs generated the most dangerous search results. Courtesy of Intel Security and McAfee, here's the new top 10 list:
Those percentages indicate your client's likelihood of clicking on a malware trap when they search for a particular celeb. For instance, search "Amy Schumer" and you have a 16 percent chance of clicking on a baddie.
Other search phrases are even worse. Search "Amy Schumer torrent," McAfee says, and you'll get a 33 percent chance of connecting to a malicious website. That's a one-in-three chance — not good!
Amy Schumer: #1 dangerous celeb online.
What to do? The McAfee report offers several suggestions, which you may want to pass along to your clients:
> Watch media only from its original source. For example, if you want to watch "The Daily Show" online, get it from the official Comedy Central site. An acceptable Plan B would be a trusted site like Hulu or YouTube.
> Avoid file downloads. McAfee says searches including the word "torrent" (for popular P2P file-sharing sites) were the most dangerous. Cybercrooks can embed malware in authentic files, so a file that seems safe may actually be infected.
> Protect your personal information. If a celebrity site asks for a password, credit-card number, home address or Social Security number, don't give it. Such information should be shared only with well-known, trusted sites.
> Use security protection for browsing. These software tools scan webpages for malware and potential threats, then give users a warning before they click too far. Naturally, McAfee recommends its WebAdvisor, and it's even offering a safe and free download here.
Help your clients stay safe online. If they must waste time browsing celebrity sites, make sure they're at least being careful.
Read more about Searching 'Amy Schumer' may be hazardous to your client's computer health


With Jesse Lingard suffering an unfortunate knock, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put his faith in a proven performer at the highest level to enter the fold and make a difference.
He was, however, to see Sanchez make little impact during a second half showing which saw Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappe find the target for PSG and Paul Pogba see red for United.
Neville hopes Sanchez can find some kind of form by then, with the former Red Devils defender telling Radio 5 Live: "There was a 20-minute period in the second half and United didn't touch the ball and Alexis Sanchez definitely didn't.
"He's not the Alexis Sanchez we fell in love with at Arsenal. He needs a 10 or 15-game run in the team without being brought off to build his form.
"Sanchez's form has dipped so much that at the moment you look at subs to come on and make an impact, he's not the one.
"I don't think he's gone, I think he might have to re-adapt his game. I think it's confidence. He needs some love and he's the one Ole has to work on.
United, who will definitely be without the suspended Pogba for a return date in Paris, are due at Parc des Princes on March 6.
"I don't think Manchester United have any chance in Paris," added Neville.
"PSG have too much European nous, too much class.
"Even though we didn't see Mbappe at his absolute best, he was still devastating."
Prior to facing PSG, United have an FA Cup meeting with Chelsea to take in, along with Premier League outings against Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Southampton.
They are also due to visit Arsenal four days after trying to rescue their continental quest against the Ligue 1 champions.


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Perry Tries To Ride Back Into Iowans' Hearts Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the GOP presidential race with great fanfare and immediately became a front-runner. But his candidacy quickly deflated. Now, Perry is trying to mount a comeback in Iowa, appealing to social conservatives with provocative ads and embarking on a bus tour of the state.
Explore the latest NPR coverage of GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry.
< Perry Tries To Ride Back Into Iowans' Hearts
December 15, 20114:43 PM ET
Perry Tries To Ride Back Into Iowans' Hearts
LYNN NEARY, HOST:
Sheriff Arpaio has endorsed a Republican presidential candidate. Rick Perry is his choice, but the Texas governor is playing catch-up now, trying to reclaim a place in the top tier of the Republican field.
Perry's campaign is betting that a barnstorming bus tour of Iowa could make the difference before the caucuses on January 3rd. Here's Ben Philpott of member station KUT.
BEN PHILPOTT, BYLINE: The bus tour may be the physical start of Perry's final comeback attempt, but it really began on December 6th. That's when the Perry campaign released a controversial ad that questioned whether gays should serve in the military.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
PHILPOTT: The ad sparked controversy and outrage in some quarters. It also raised Perry's profile in Iowa and got his flagging campaign back into the general conversation. Even his poll numbers bumped back up into double digits.
Now, the bus tour hopes to capitalize on that momentum: 14 days with more than 40 stops scheduled so far, each day expected to look a little like the first, which began yesterday with a short speech to about 75 people in Council Bluffs.
: I hope some of you are taking a second look, saying, you know what? This guy does, in fact, lay out the plan to get this country back working.
PHILPOTT: Then it was on to Harlan, where he spent about an hour walking the town square. To a couple with a German last name, he recalled his childhood German neighbors. To an Iowa State fan, he talked about the late football player Cris Love, who had grown up outside out Austin.
: I started paying attention to Iowa State when he was the number two quarterback behind Seneca Wallace.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah, yeah.
: And just a great kid. I mean, just a great Christian kid.
PHILPOTT: The day ended with another stump speech before close to 200 people at a restaurant in Denison, Iowa. There, he pushed the idea of restoring values in the White House and took a swipe at current frontrunners: former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
: And we've got a choice this election. You don't have to settle for a Washington insider. You don't have to settle for a Wall Streeter. You can have an outsider who has the courage and the conviction and will put into place the hard truths that this country needs to have.
PHILPOTT: The Texas governor has a reputation as a great retail politician and the campaign hopes these face-to-face events will change some minds. It seemed to work on Denison resident Charles Pollack(ph).
CHARLES POLLACK: I was going with Newt Gingrich and I'm going to go with him. He's down to earth. I feel he's got my back.
PHILPOTT: Not everyone was easily swayed. Perry took no questions at his first stop, something some Iowans consider a big no-no. Some during his walk around Harlan wanted more than the three to five minutes Perry gave to people. But in a year where Iowa voters and Republicans nationwide have yet to land on a favorite candidate, Curt Lawson(ph) of Arthur, Iowa, thinks he's found one.
CURT LAWSON: He is the most electable conservative of the bunch. You know, there's a few in there that aren't really very conservative and I think that's what I'm looking for.
PHILPOTT: Perry was off the bus today preparing for tonight's debate in Sioux City. He'll hope to avoid the kind of errors that made this second chance bus tour a campaign necessity.
For NPR News, I'm Ben Philpott in Sioux City, Iowa.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Tim Thompson (MA TESOL) was an educator in Korea from 1996 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2016. He is now the head consultant at Archer English Consulting.
Tim regularly conducts training workshops for English teachers and has worked with EPIK, GEPIK, CIFLE, GIFLE, GETI, DETI, TaLK, the Daejeon MOE, the Sejong MOE, UCC Daegu, Seoul National University, Ewha Women's University, Dongseo University, Soonchunhyang University, Sungshin Women's University, and KOTESOL.
He is an accomplished presentation skills trainer and initiated the graduate-level presentation skills course at KAIST. He has taught presentation skills workshops at the Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding, Hyundai Heavy Industries, the IBS-CAPP lab, LOGODI, KNSO, EPIS, KRICT, KONICOF, KASI, and ETRI.
You can purchase Tim's book "Teachers' Toolbox: Presentation-Based Activities here.
Tim has presented at international conferences in Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Russia, the UAE, Egypt, Taiwan, Turkey, and Spain and conducted workshops at Bahcesehir University and Yildiz Technical University in November 2016, Complutense University of Madrid in February 2017, the University of Granada in November 2017, Istanbul University and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev in March 2018, and Medipol University, Ozyegin University, Bosphorus University, and the University of Belgrade in March 2019. He has served as a conference MC for events in Bangkok, Osaka, Songdo, Da Nang, and hosted an event for Statistics Korea in Seoul in October 2017.
Tim edits correspondence, promotional materials, technical documents, and website pages for government offices and ministries around Korea. He is the proofreader for an academic journal based in Moscow, a top university in Korea, and an international organization based in Seoul.
Tim was a visiting professor at KAIST in Daejeon for eight years where he has taught students from all over the world. Click here to see the courses he designed and taught.
He has been certified as an IELTS and BULATS examiner and designed the outgoing exchange student testing system used at KAIST. His volunteer activities included serving as program chair for the 2014 KOTESOL-KAFLE International conference. Tim also redesigned and served as editor-in-chief of The English Connection magazine and was the national coordinator of KOTESOL Teacher Trainers.
Tim conceptualized and wrote the children's book series The Blagonwight Twins. You can listen to Tim on the first four seasons of the official KAIST podcast, Around the Carillon (now called the KAIST Podcast) and the TEAK podcast, which is still featured on the KAIST website.


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text:
Northeastern University's Fashion & Culture Magazine
Are Your Fashion Choices Impacting Your Health?
Calling For Diversity After Insensitive Fashion Decisions
Week in Review: The Avenue's Favorite Looks
The Future of Chanel: Post-Lagerfeld
I Tried Making Sense of Guinea Pig Journalism & You Won't Believe What Happened
By Olivia Mastrosimone
Photography by Calem Robertson
odeled by Anna Rychlik, Bridget McDonald, and Alaina Robie
This article has been adapted for the web from our Unity/Uniformity Issue.
"I Dressed Like Meghan Markle For 5 Days & Honestly I'm Still Exhausted."
"I Dressed Like Every Kardashian Jenner for the Week."
"I'm 23 and Dressed as Royal Baby Prince George for a Week."
The list goes on—literally. There are pages of this stuff. We're talking more than 18 Google Os worth of people trying to look like other people and writing about it. It's confusing, it's entertaining and it's absolutely taking over the internet.
The idea of "guinea pig journalism," as coined by Amelia Diamond of Man Repeller, is one unique to 2010s fashion and digital media. It all follows the same basic concept: someone decides, for no real reason, to dress like a public figure, character or decade for a week, chronicles their journey with photos or videos and then writes about how it fundamentally changed them as a person or something. You have your classic, "I Dressed Like Kim Kardashian for a Week" articles on just about every lifestyle publication on the internet, but it goes much deeper. What about the trend where YouTube personalities make videos about dressing like other YouTube personalities? Or the more abstract articles, like Refinery29's "I Dressed Like a Divorcée In A Rom-Com For A Week?" There's even a Vice article about dressing like Keanu Reeves that somehow manages to make a compelling statement about value and self-expression. Oh, the nuance!
We could categorize guinea pig journalism as a harmless fluff fad, and just brush it off our content-logged shoulders. Cosmopolitan probably won't be winning a Pulitzer Prize for "I Dressed like North West for a Week and This is What Happened," but let's think for a moment about the purpose these articles serve – outside of being guilty pleasure material.
If you can get on board with the dramatics, there is a dark side to all of this content. The more articles of this type you read, the stronger tendency there is to develop a destructive "if that celebrity can do it, why can't I?" mentality. Pop culture views an extreme divide between celebrity culture and real people, and focusing on the details of how a celebrity dresses and lives their life for an article exemplifies this unattainable reality. In short, reading an article about a normal woman who fails miserably at trying to look like celebrities who have a fullon "glam squad" at their disposal is probably not the best for our psyches. It's not that they're shooting too high, just at the wrong target.
No matter how high you think your horse is, you can admit that these articles – if anything – are fun. They're downsized reality TV without the champagne-throwing antics. They're the articles you read while waiting for a train or spiraling down a content binge at 3 a.m. Besides being entertaining, they have the ability to make us feel good about ourselves, considering the most common thread is that dressing like any celebrity is excruciating. You'll think to yourself, "being Kim K seems pretty terrible, I mean, I can be seen in public in my pajamas and no one will care! I'm so lucky I don't have to always look presentable!" and go about the rest of your day with a newfound sense of pride in your day-to-day appearance. If these articles teach us anything, it's that flawlessness is a farce, and being real is easiest.
The next time you come across one of these pieces, which shouldn't be too long from now, think about how it's affecting you. Treat it as entertainment, not a suggestion. You don't have to stop reading about women being Kim K's guinea pig. Keep watching that video about dressing like a Real Housewife of New York. Enjoy content responsibly, and be happy knowing you can leave the house in whatever state of pajama-wearing you like. Focus on yourself and don't strive for unrealistic ideals, unless those ideals are Keanu Reeves barefoot wearing a red trucker hat.
← Don't Treat Me Like One Of Your French GirlsWeek In Review: The Avenue's Favorite Looks →
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Are you interested in going behind the scenes and experiencing the festival in a different way? Join our team and help make Leicester Comedy Festival memorable. There are loads of opportunities for people to volunteer and gain valuable experience at one of the largest festivals of its kind in Europe.
We are especially looking for people who are interested in developing their skills in stage management and event management. We are also seeking people who want to join our street team and help with our social media campaigns.


text:
El pecholuna de doble collar (Melanopareia bitorquata) es una especie –o la subespecie Melanopareia torquata bitorquata, dependiendo de la clasificación considerada– de ave paseriforme perteneciente al género Melanopareia, que es el único que integra la familia Melanopareiidae. Es nativa del centro de América del Sur.

Distribución y hábitat
Se distribuye en el este de Bolivia, en el este del departamento de Santa Cruz y adyacencias de Brasil, en el suroeste del estado de Mato Grosso.

Esta especie es considerada poco común en sus hábitats naturales: las sabanas arbustivas y pastos del Cerrado.

Sistemática

Descripción original
La especie M. bitorquata fue descrita por primera vez por los naturalistaa franceses Alcide d'Orbigny & Frédéric de Lafresnaye en 1837 bajo el nombre científico Synallaxis bitorquatus; su localidad tipo es: «Chiquitos, Bolivia».

Etimología
El nombre genérico femenino «Melanopareia» se compone de las palabras del griego «melas, melanos»: negro, y «parēion»: mejilla; significando «con la mejilla negra»; y el nombre de la especie «bitorquata», proviene del moderno latín «bitorquatus», que significa «de doble collar».

Taxonomía
La presente especie es tratada como una subespecie del pecholuna brasileño (Melanopareia torquata), pero la clasificación del Congreso Ornitológico Internacional (IOC) la considera una especie separada con base en características del plumaje presentadas por Lopes & Gonzaga (2016). Sin embargo esto no es todavía reconocido por otras clasificaciones. Es monotípica.

Las principales diferencias apuntadas por Lopes & Gonzaga (2016) para justificar la separación son: las partes inferiores de color pardo vivo (descrito como ocre profundo por Ridgely & Tudor (2009); partes superiores más oliváceas; una mancha interescapular blanca mayor y sin plumas grises en la base; y, lo más distintivo, un collar nucal doble compuesto de una banda ancha color canela rufo marginada por una banda estrecha de plumas negras con una barra central blanca. Diferentemente de las dos subespecies de M. torquata cuyo plumaje varía clinalmente, no se conocen especímenes intermediarios con la presente en la región de parapatría en el oeste de Mato Grosso.

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 Videos, fotos y sonidos de Melanopareia torquata bitorquata en The Internet Bird Collection.
 Sonidos y mapa de distribución de Melanopareia bitorquata en xeno-canto.
 Fotos y sonidos de  meia-lua-de-coleira-dupla Melanopareia bitorquata en Wikiaves.

bitorquata
Aves de América del Sur
Animales descritos en 1837
Taxones descritos por Alcide d'Orbigny
Taxones descritos por Frédéric de Lafresnaye

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Hadassa Raquel Peixoto Jácome
CV Lattes
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações (Brasil). Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) (Institutional affiliation for the last research proposal)
PhD student of the Postgraduate course in Space Geophysics at Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE, Brazil, sponsored by CAPES. Master degree in Space Geophysics by INPE (2020), sponsored by FAPESP and CAPES. Graduated in Geophysics by University Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN, Brazil (2017), with exchange experience in Geology major at Portland State University - PSU, USA, by the Science without Borders Program (CAPES). Interest in planetary magnetospheres. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)
Jupiter is a powerful source of Decametric radio (DAM) emission, whose origin is associated to electron precipitation by Cyclotron-Maser Instability (CMI). It has been known for decades that the location of the satellite Io affects Jupiter's DAM emissions, which is explained by the Io-Jupiter electromagnetic interaction. The flow of Jupiter's magnetospheric plasma carrying magnetic field …
Statistical study of possible Europa control of Jupiter decametric radio emissions, BP.MS
Jupiter is a powerful source of Decametric radio (DAM) waves, whose origin is associatedto electron precipitation by Cyclotron-Maser Instability (CMI). It has been known for decades thatthe location of the satellite Io affects Jupiter's DAM emissions, which is explained by the Io-Jupiterelectromagnetic interaction. The flow of Jupiter's magnetospheric plasma carrying magnetic fieldonto th…
Statistical study of possible Europa control of the decametric radio emissions of Jupiter, BE.EP.MS
1 / 1 Completed scholarships in Brazil
2 / 2 All Scholarships
Ezequiel Echer
Geosciences Physical Sciences and Mathematics


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A highlight of my trip on the Passing Cloud was two visits to this UNESCO World Heritage Site called SGang Gwaay located on the south west side of Gwaii Haanas.
Wow, just wow Ehpem. What a STUNNING photograph. This location is on our definite "must visit" list one day, and photographs like this show exactly why. Amazing work, my friend, I really really enjoyed this one.
Hey Toad – so glad you like this shot. The light was pretty much perfect for a short part of our visit. I sure hope you can get there some day!
and recognized for the priceless treasure they are.
Thank you Sherry. It is terrific that they are being protected and cherished. This site is the focal point of pretty much every visitor's trip to Gwaii Haanas, but as tomorrow's post, and other future posts, will show there are other places like this in the area, though not as well preserved.


Given a choice between an MFA program and TKZ blog, I'll show up here every morning, and not just cuz the tuition is cheaper!
Right here is where I experienced a slow but critical epiphany about villains, thanks to posts by P.J. Parrish, Jordan Dane, James Scott Bell, and former KZer Joe Moore (still miss ya, Joe!).
For years, my mystery novels won contests and attention from agents and editors…and rave rejections. Despite study, hard work, and persistence, my books remained unpublished. A key element was missing. But what?
Several years ago I started following TKZ about the same time I began a new novel titled Instrument of the Devil.
My previous books had been traditional whodunits told from first person or close third person points of view, completely inside the head of the main character. That meant a continuous struggle between what she could know (not much) vs. what was needed to solve the mystery. In addition, the plot required red herrings and false suspects thrown in, all without giving away the villain's identity.
I wrote mysteries like I read mysteries, from a state of ignorance, constantly trying to figure out what was going on.
I had a general idea of the bad guy's motive, but never paid much that attention to the schemes and machinations happening offstage. All action took place onstage because the first or close third POV required the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions be filtered through the protagonist only. My focus stayed stuck on the hero.
The bad guy hid in the shadows behind the curtain until the big reveal at the end. Unfortunately he'd been hiding from the writer too!
Finally, thanks to the wise folks at TKZ, I recognized the big fat blind spot in my books.
In crime fiction, the antagonist drives the plot. Unless a crime has been committed, or is about to be committed, there's nothing for the protagonist to do. The antagonist acts, the protagonist re-acts.
I'd been following the wrong character around all these years!
My realization probably seems like a big DUH to many crime authors. But I'm sharing it in hopes of helping others like myself who overlooked the obvious.
It's fun to think like a villain! When I started writing from the bad guy's POV, a whole new world opened up—a world without conscience, constraints, or inhibitions.
Actor Tom Hiddleston says, "Every villain is a hero in his own mind." Most actors would prefer to sink their fangs into the role of a great villain than play the good guy.
The baddies in my earlier books had been flat and dull because I'd never gotten inside their heads. Finally, the missing element became clear and…my book won a publishing contract!
Why is the villain willing to steal, cheat, and kill? What rationalizations justify the harm done to others?
A sociopath comes up with perfectly logical justifications and excuses for abhorrent actions.
Irresistible influences like greed, power, and lust can seduce an ordinary person over to the dark side.
Misguided righteousness can lead to horrendous consequences.
A law-abiding citizen may be forced into a corner where he commits acts he would never do under normal circumstances.
If an author roots around in the antagonist's brain for a while, background, reasons, and rationalizations for antisocial behavior bubble up. Armed with such knowledge, it becomes impossible to write a two-dimensional character. Jim Bell offers a great technique—try to imagine the villain delivering the closing argument to the jury that will determine his fate.
Do you show the villain's POV in the story or not? That choice is contingent on subgenre.
In a whodunit mystery, the identity of the villain is typically a surprise at the end. Therefore, that POV is generally not shown to the reader, although some authors include passages from the villain's POV without revealing the identity.
Suspense and thriller novels often are written from multiple POVs, including the villain's. When the reader knows early on who the bad guy is, the question is no longer whodunit, but rather will s/he get away with it?
The author can choose to show the antagonist's POV or keep it hidden. But either way, you need to be aware of it because that's what's driving the story forward.
Even if you never show the villain's POV, try writing scenes inside his/her head. You don't need to include them in the book, but the act of writing them gives you a firmer grasp on that character's deep desires and how those desires screw up other people's lives. Once you really understand what the antagonist is striving for, that provides a solid framework from which the story hangs.
If you're in a corner and your hero doesn't know what to do next, check in with the villain. While the hero is slogging through steps A, B, and C to solve the crime, the bad guy is offstage setting up roadblocks D, E, and F to keep from being caught.
What can he do to make the protagonist's life miserable?
Does she need to commit another crime to cover the first?
How can she elude capture?
The best answers can be found inside the bad guy's head.
What is your villain doing right now?
Do you prefer to show the antagonist's POV or keep it hidden?
P.S. A BIG THANK YOU to everyone at TKZ for helping me to raise my writing from rave rejections to publication.
Debbie Burke's thriller Instrument of the Devil is now available on Amazon for pre-order and goes on sale October 10.
My villain is now dead, but while he was alive, I knew his every move; I knew how he treated his wife, when he wrote poetry, what his plans were, how he hid his vileness from the public, what shampoo he used, yadda, yadda, yadda.
But here's a problem in my WIP: the character who appears to be the villain has a change of heart–she becomes less villainous at about the 3/4 point of the story, at least with respect to the protagonist and her goal, i.e., she's no longer a threat to the protagonist, and in fact joins forces with her to save the protagonist's son.
Oops! A protagonist without a defined antagonist. The group that the supposed antagonist belongs to is amorphous and secret. So far I have no other individual within that group who could become the real antagonist and take over the role near the end of the novel.
I've thought of making the protagonist's romantic interest the real villain, but I don't feel comfortable with that. I'd rather that someone in the antagonist's group become the real villain, and I can do that, but, again, I don't feel entirely comfortable with that.
But here's my question, if you feel disposed to comment: Do I absolutely need a named and developed character to be the real antagonist, OR is it possible to leave it as any one of many members of the group, since the group has noble objectives but illegal and murderous strategies? In that kind of group, the potential for some of its members to go off the rails and become fanatics is definitely a huge risk.
Wow, you ask a tough question that's above my pay grade. Maybe some of TKZ's wiser minds will comment. Claiming the caveat of limited knowledge, I'll try to answer.
I checked out your website for a bit more context. Your theme is vigilantes, a provocative slippery slope. Armed with righteous indignation, anyone is capable of anything, including murder.
I like the idea of the presumed villain shifting sides three-quarters of the way into the story to work with the protagonist toward a common goal. Sort of like the movie version of "The Fugitive" where Lt. Gerard changes from trying apprehend Richard Kimble to helping him.
It sounds like your best option for a "replacement" villain is an ally who goes off the rails. Perhaps that person could veer from their mutual goal of pursuing vengeance to one of self-protection, trying not to get caught. She might turn on the protagonist b/c she no longer trusts their pact of secrecy and fears her righteous cause (punishing child molesters) could be compromised by something the protagonist says/does. Their common enemy, child molesters, is overshadowed by her need to elude detection so she can continue her campaign of vengeance.
On rewrite, you may find a character in the group who jumps out as a viable turncoat. Then you can salt in clues to foreshadow the future betrayal.
Thanks for a great challenging question!
Reading about your dilemma, the first thing that came to my mind was something I wrote about yesterday — the power of misdirection in crime fiction. You say your antagonist APPEARS to be the villain but then comes around to become an ally for your heroine. That's a terrific plot twist. Maybe you can exploit this idea so the reader believes this person is the villain but then is surprised to find she is really on the side of good. The problem for you, however, then becomes going back and creating a credible REAL villain who later is revealed as such. It would involve hard rewriting but might work so the "second" villain is woven in organically and doesn't suddenly appear at book's end (the Long Lost Uncle From Australia deus ex machina). I had this happen to me in an early book — the person I thought was the bad guy turned out to be merely a red herring, so I had to go back to square one and set him up as a "false antagonist" and also create a second character hiding in plain sight who was the actual villain. Not easy…but the payoff was great once I nailed it down.
What book was that? I should buy it to see what you did because I think that's exactly what I need to do.
And the fringe benefit for me is that through what this new character does, I'll be able to say something I've long thought about this type of conspiracy, i.e., that if the conspiracy gets too big, you lose control over its members, and one of them can go haywire.
You both are wonderful. It's amazing to me how helpful throwing a question out there can help. I'm not in a critique group right now because I live in the boonies, but these ideas are the kinds of ideas that can come out of a brainstorming session with a critique group.
I'd be lost w/o my critique group. Five brains are better than one.
Thanks so much for giving me food for thought. It seems as though I need to add another character and introduce her in the first part of the story. It's relatively easy to do, except that I have to develop her character first, and then figure out how to reveal her, i.e., foreshadow how she will behave later on in the story–without entering her head because I only want two POVs in this story.
Congratulations on getting publishing, Debbie. A 3rd party has invested & believed in you. Good luck with your book.
Villains are great fun. Thanks for the shout out on the TKZ posts. I just finished a short story where the hero & villain are both motivated by revenge over the same reason. Anti-heroes paired against a formidable foe make it challenging (& fun) to straddle the line of the law.
Thanks, Jordan! You've helped me a lot and I truly appreciate it.
Yes, I love stories with unlikely pairings of hero and villain. They're full of interesting conflict that keep readers turning pages.
I LOVE that line. That's an insight into both writing and present-day politics.
Thanks, Mike. Villains feel totally justified in their acts, no matter how many lives are destroyed.
My villain is dead, killed by the very same fighting skills my protagonist showed in the very first scene of the story–except she didn't kill the first guy.
I understood when I chose the first person POV, there there would be some problems. But then I realized there was a solution, at least for me. It came to me when my character–a highly-decorated U.S. Marine military police officer–came home to help find her missing godbrother. Her hometown had grown substantially because of a huge pocket of natural gas was discovered in her part of petroleum-rich Oklahoma. She also found that the tiny little police department she had known had grown substantially. She was confronted by a corrupt police officer who physically violated her. Using her fighting skills, she turned the table on the dastard, spun, caught his back in an elbow move and slammed his face into the side of her car, knocking him out.
She knew she was in deep trouble now for assaulting a police officer. When other members of the police department showed up after she herself had called the dispatcher, she was handcuffed, set on a curb, and glowered at and threatened by other members of the police department.
Of course, it helped that the chief of police was her horseman.
What is a horseman, you ask? Ah, that's what you'll have to pay Amazon or your local bookstore when the publisher releases it, to find out.
Sounds like an interesting book, Jim, but you don't mention the title???
Raymond Chandler and John D. MacDonald hooked me on first person POV, which is why most of my earlier books were written that way. But obviously it takes skill and workarounds like you mention to pull it off in a way that doesn't feel like a cheat to the reader.
I've always loved villains; I find them much more fascinating than the protagonist. In fact, I spend mor time imagining my "bad" guy's life than my "good" gut's life(although the guy never stays a "true" villain).
UsuallyI don't root for the villain to win. Lately, though, I've been reading books where the goog guy is just as bad if not worst than the villain. The protagonist is either too self-obsessed, too power-hungry, or feels that the world owes them for something. This, I find, is unacceptable. It's one thing to be an antihero, but many books today have protagonists who never acknowledge the fact that what they're doing is wrong.
Also, there are things you can't do to a bad guy: murder his family, torture, or hate him for no reason. I read this MG school story recently where the main character breaks up with her boyfriend, and the guy starts going out with another girl, and the MC hates the girl's gut for no conceivable reason. Not only that, the other girl makes the first move to reconciliation.
Good points, AZAli. I think we're fascinated by villains b/c they step over the line that most of us won't cross. We get vicarious enjoyment of seeing someone else do what we only fantasize about.
I agree with you on unlikeable protagonists. Gone Girl comes to mind. I hated all the characters. However that didn't stop me from finishing the book. But I'm not in a hurry to read similar stories.
Your example of the MG story illustrates that an antagonist doesn't have to be a villain, just someone who stands in the way of the protagonist's quest.
Great. I think I've been doing this somewhat implicitly, nudged by some of the KBZ posts you mention. But it's very good to spell it out explicitly–hit us over the head with the 2×4.
I particularly like you short typography of the different kinds of motivations/situations that can drive the villain. Story will be different depending on whether the guy's a sociopath or some poor guy driven to desperation by a uncaring world.
Thanks, Eric. A 2X4 is the best tool to get my attention.
Nothing is more powerful than real-life testimony. Thanks for posting your lessons, Debbie. One book that helped me understand how to handle villains was Mike Connelly's "The Poet." I was writing a first-person stand alone and was stymied because I had no means to explore the villain's psyche, motivations, backstory, etc. I found in "The Poet" the answer — I alternated POVs between my protag and the antag, using first person for the good guy and third for the bad guy. Took me a while to master this but this book (The Killing Song) remains one of my faves because it was wonderful to so fully explore the villain's side of things.
If anyone here hasn't read The Poet, I really recommend it. Not only hugely entertaining but a great book to analyze for POV.
Thank you, Kris. Downloading The Poet to my Kindle. Connelly teaches great lessons.
I've been stuck on my WIP for almost a month. (I have written five short stories). Something was wrong with the plot of the book. Your column inspired me to look at the antagonist. Problem solved. I know where the story needs to go. Thank you so much. I'm off the re-outline the rest of the book.
I am printing you column and putting it in my binder of things to read when I'm stuck.
Thank you, Brian! Glad this helped. When I finally learned this trick, getting out of box canyons became much easier.
Way cool that you "stuck it out," kept pushing to improve–and now you're got an agent and a publisher!!!! These stories inspire. Also, thank you for sharing your insights about creating a strong villain.
Thank you, Rick. It's been a long journey, but worth it. Novelist Dennis Foley says you can't fail at writing unless you give up. Never give up.
What lovely comments, Debbie. Thanks from all of us at TKZ.
Congrats on the book! Great cover. Wishing you much success.
Thank you, Jim! You generous TKZ folks who give freely of your knowledge and experience will never know how many writers you've touched with your wisdom.
I learned this recently, too. So you're not alone, Debbie. My current difficulty is going into the killer's head while also hiding his identity. I don't want anyone to realize too soon that he is a family member.
You've given yourself a daunting challenge. Beta readers can help you determine if you've pulled it off successfully. Good luck!
Great post! 30,000 words into a first draft I realised I needed to change from first person to third, so at that point went back and re-wrote before continuing past the 30,000 word mark. 30,000 words into the second draft I knew it had that middle sag – and realised that the villain didn't do anything (on or off the page) until the third act. Once I realised that and started asking myself "what is the villain doing now?" great plot ideas flowed and the middle is now totally different. What a learning process!
I am so happy for your success – it sounds like it's well deserved!
Thanks so much, Linda. I've also spent many hours in that dreaded saggy middle. Jim Bell's Plot and Structure has some great hints how to overcome it.
More and more I appreciate the action offstage is as important, if not more important, than what the reader sees on the page.
Thank you, Penny. The comments from others were full of great suggestions.


Cape Breton is one of the true gems of Nova Scotia. We had visited with Jen and Stew last summer (read here) and we were excited to take Mum and Dad to share in it's beauty too. It's about a 4 hour drive from Halifax and with car packed to the brim and a kayak on top we took off for a long weekend. This was the first of many road trips together and we had the energy and excitement that comes with that. Some singing and question from my 'get to know your spouse' book gave us amble entertainment for the drive up and we arrived in Baddeck to our little cottage on the lake with time to spare to enjoy the afternoon.
We headed into the sweet little town of Baddeck and luckily Mum and Dad were able to get some last minute spots on the resident sailboat The Amoeba. Levi was straight into the water with his Kayak while the Amoeba took off and Mum and Dad came back with tales of their somewhat rocky but beautiful journey around the lake.
The next day we made the journey to the east side of Cape Breton to go to Louisbourg and visit the Fort there. Funnily enough the Tall Ships that we had visited on the Halifax waterfront just the weekend before had made their way to Louisbourg and were on display again. We stopped in and had a walk around the little pier before making our way to the Fort. It really is a very cool place to visit, it's a reconstruction, as the initial site was destroyed, but they go to great lengths to replicate the feel of the time when the French and English fought for power and land. The highlights for me were eating stone baked bread and watching the noon march and canon, seeing lace being handmade and reading about the history. It was a great place to meander in and out of tiny buildings and see how the people of the time lived. We all shared some soup and bakery treats and sat and watched as actors dressed in the garb of the time passed down the street. Once we had finished at the Fort we drove around to the Louisbourg lighthouse which is a very picturesque place with the wind and rough sea lapping it's shore. Lighthouses featured everywhere we went in Mum and Dad's time in Nova Scotia and their charm and individuality really are quintessential of the Maritimes.
The next day was rainy and overcast so we decided to explore the Alexander Graham Bell Museum perched up on the hill overlooking Baddeck. Mum and Dad visited in the 150 year of Canada where all of these great sites were free to enter so we too advantage of that where ever we could. I was so happy to have so much time at the museum. It is truly the best small museum I have ever gone to and I was absolutely inspired by Bell who lived so many lives in the one given him. His work with the deaf and his desire to live rurally to spare his family the confines of being in society were inspirational, not to mention his most known work as a inventor. It was a truly lovely experience to see pictures and read about his life. That night Levi and I also managed to get in for a sail on the Amoeba which was wonderful. I loved seeing Alexander Graham Bells home on the edge of the peninsular and speaking to the crew about their experiences sailing. Levi is always happiest on the water and we loved doing that together. We stole away another hour and ate some really good pizza which all made a really lovely date - thanks Mum and Dad!
For our last day in Cape Breton we went on a Puffin Boat Tour. We had done one last time we were here and loved it so much we wanted to go again. You not only see puffins but lots of bald eagles, other birds and so many seals! They are my favourite. The kids particularly loved the tour and we had a great day on the water together.
Cape Breton is most famous for it's beautiful fall colours but I am a big fan of the experiences we have had there in summer. The ocean, flowers and sky are full of life and colour and it really is a preserved beauty of Nova Scotia.


The officer is still on the village's payroll until the investigation concludes.
VILLAGE OF SUMMIT - The village board accepted a resignation agreement with Summit Police Officer Todd Borchardt at a special meeting Aug. 30.
The resignation emanated from an internal ongoing investigation involving Borchardt, according to Police Chief Michael Hartert.
Borchardt was hired as a part-time officer in July 2011 and became full-time in May 2012.
Hartert said Borchardt is still on the village's payroll until the investigation concludes. Hartert expects the investigation to wrap up by the first week of October, but would not comment on when the investigation began. He also declined to comment on the reasons behind the investigation.


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Ron Radosh
Brit Hume's Strange and Heartless Prescription for Health Care
By Ron Radosh Jul 23, 2017 4:39 PM ET
Update (July 25): Apologies to Brit Hume. Ken Kurson emailed me that what I quoted from Politicer may be a hoax, and that possibly Hume did not make the comments I attributed to him. I checked. First, that site was quoting from this site. I first cited The Daily Caller, which posted this,I found that portions were true. Here is the discussion as it appeared on Fox News, from another website. Watch the video.
So some of it was right. My mistake, unless politicot.com (not politico.com) got it from portions edited out, is that there are additional statements I used that WERE NOT in the video. So, it appears that may indeed have been made up; that they added paragraphs to what Hume actually said.
The strange thing is that they extrapolate from Hume's own words. Secondly, most of the comments on PJ Media defend what Hume supposedly said, and only a few criticize them. So if it was satire, it was indeed satire that worked, since obviously, many self-proclaimed conservatives think there is nothing wrong with what Hume supposedly said.
So far, I cannot find any corrections or statement from Hume itself on whether or not he said what politicot.com stated. At any rate, the major paragraph I highlighted and said was from Hume may indeed have been made up. So again, I apologize for posting that. It sounds like a logical conclusion from his earlier statements on the video, exaggerated to some length, however.
Hopefully, some site or Fox News will clarify whether or not Hume said this in an extended discussion that was edited out of what was broadcast. If that paragraph was never said by Hume, they should make that clear also.
For years now, conservative policy wonks have been working on sound alternatives to ObamaCare. Just look up the writings of James Capretta, Avik Roy, and others. They have expended a great deal of time and energy on formulating market-based plans that would give sound health protection to the people of our country.
As Henry Olsen informs us in his important new book, The Working-Class Republican, Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism, Reagan
…would have wanted to ensure that people would not lose coverage that they had received as a result of Obamacare's exchanges and the Medicaid expansion. His consistent belief was that it was OK for government to pay for needed medical care for those who could not afford it makes that plain. The details as to who should be covered, how much the government should pay, and what level of care they would be guaranteed would be up for discussion, but I can't imagine that Reagan would be more concerned about money than about life.
Olsen points out that Reagan himself said: "As one conservative let me say any person in the United States who requires medical attention and cannot provide for himself should have it provided for him."
Now, Brit Hume of Fox News has come along with quite a different standard for who should receive health insurance and who should not. Evidently, Mr. Hume is not satisfied with what seems to be the single most popular part of Obamacare — the provision that one cannot be denied insurance for a previously existing condition.
Mr. Hume's position, as related in The Daily Caller and Politicer, is that "coverage for pre-existing conditions defeats the whole idea of insurance." Hume makes the comparison with auto insurance, which one purchases to guarantee against risks and is not bought after one is in a crash. If a person was able to do that after hitting another car, and then had everything covered, it would be the equivalent of the pre-existing rule in Obamacare. Hume fails to note that getting auto insurance is mandatory in most states and something the current Republican plans want to eliminate in health insurance.
Brit Hume Saw Sen. Feinstein Lunching With Kislyak
As Hume sees it, Obamacare's preexisting provision hurts the country at large by causing larger deficits. It is also a plan "designed to help the poorest and sickest" and to make health care available to everyone. For Hume, these goals violate the ethical values embedded in the Constitution:
Spend your life working hard, playing hard and not burdening others with your problems. Make yourself capable of anything and all shall be given to you. That means that every American's basic responsibility is to take care of themselves first, which is to say, make sure they don't get sick and fall into the care of others. If that happens, you've pretty much lost the right to call yourself an American, as cruel as that sounds.
This is an amazing statement. Does Hume really believe that a person won't fall ill if he or she lives up to these standards? I know someone who got lung cancer and never ever smoked a cigarette. Others have suddenly found that they have developed a condition, let us say a serious cancer, that needs expensive treatment. One person might be on the verge of moving to a new job, which includes a promotion and higher income. Should that individual be deprived of taking the better job because, in Hume's view, he should no longer be able to get health insurance? Does that person, as Hume argues, lose the right to call himself or herself an American simply because he is now sick?
Hume concludes that "giving free health insurance to sick people and those with pre-existing conditions pretty much defeats the core ethic principle of this great country," which is to "carry your own weight and take care of yourself." Certainly, the health industry should focus on working with people to get them to engage in healthy activities and to take care of themselves so that they minimize their chances of becoming ill. The author of the famous South Beach Diet, Dr. Arthur Agatston, writes that the first time he sees a new patient, he tells him that the best line of defense to prevent a heart attack is to change his bad eating habits. He does not tell the patient that he can't see him because he hasn't done that yet — and therefore shouldn't have health insurance. Agatston's whole emphasis at his own practice is on preventive care. But even those who follow his program might for other reasons develop a heart condition. Should they not be allowed to have health insurance when suddenly they are not in perfect health?
Yet Hume says that if you are "poor and get sick, it's your own fault." Read those words again. This is the kind of social Darwinism that liberals and leftists always accuse conservatives of believing. He says, "Nobody made you sick out of nowhere….you did that to yourself by not taking care of your health." Under that standard, the coal miner who got black lung disease from working in the mines, but could find a different and better job in town as a car salesman, has to forfeit health insurance and the ability to pay for treatment if he changes jobs. Is it really the former miner's fault? Hume's rule is: "Sorry– but you no longer can get health insurance. You had a job that made you sick. Tough luck." It must be great to be Brit Hume and believe you have so much control.
Hume's heartless and ill-thought-out comments are almost a parody of what many people think conservatives believe (e.g., they don't care for people, only the rich deserve health care and health insurance, and if the poor or middle-class person can't pay for treatment on her own, she deserves her fate).
Next Christmas, I suggest an Ebenezer Scrooge award for Brit Hume.
Obamacare Survives Thanks to Republican Moral Narcissism
Ronald Radosh is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at The Hudson Institute, and a Prof. Emeritus of History at the City University of New York. He is the author or co-author of 14 books.
Read more by Ron Radosh


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Q: table view not getting refreshed on opening app When the app is open or in background, I am using notification in appdelegate to update the message box table and then it is working.
Appdelegate (in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions and didReceiveRemoteNotification):
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().postNotificationName("changeMessageBox", object: nil)

MessageViewController:
in viewdidload:
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: #selector  (MessagesViewController.reloadtable), name: "changeMessageBox", object: nil)

func reloadtable()
{
    clearArrays()
    if (PFUser.currentUser()!["firebaseUID"] !== nil)
    {

        self.updateResultArray(PFUser.currentUser()!["firebaseUID"] as! String)

        resultsTable.reloadData()

    }
}

and data is refreshed in the message box.
But when the app is closed and i recieve a chat, the message box ( the window with messages from all the people not the individual chat) does not get updated.
I have to open the app, go to message box ,then back to main page and go back to message box again only then the table view gets refreshed.
Do you guys know what am i missing?

A: Try below code for post notification,
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_BACKGROUND, 0), { () -> Void in

       NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().postNotificationName("changeMessageBox", object: nil)

})

I was having same issue and resolved like this. Hope this will help you.

A: Receiving Notification while app in closed or in suspended state will trigger
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forRemoteNotification:completionHandler:

Try to post notification in this method. i guess it will update your view.
Additionally Refer this document if you have query with Notifiacation
http://samwize.com/2015/08/07/how-to-handle-remote-notification-with-background-mode-enabled/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Who's leading the race for NBA Rookie of the Year?
Posted by Staff (02/03/2020 @ 3:47 pm)
Basketball is a hugely popular global sport with fans across the world, and new laws in many US states have legalized sports betting, making betting on NBA finals or individual games possible. Although there are fabulous leagues to follow in Europe, America's NBA is still the spiritual home of the sport. This top-class competition sees the best players and best teams battle it out each year in a bid to emerge triumphant from the NBA Finals in June. Naturally, there are millions of NBA fans in America itself who not only like to follow their team but also to bet on them.
The 2019/20 season has been a great one so far with plenty of action, drama and point scoring. The Bucks and Lakers in particular have stood out this year and seem in with a shout of making the finals. While it is the huge star names who grab much attention in terms of players, looking out for the best young talent making their way in the game is also fun.
But who has really stood out in the NBA this year and looks set to be in with a shout for Rookie of the Year?
Kendrick Nunn
A player in the Eastern Conference who is having a great year so far is Kendrick Nunn. He has scooped both the October/November and December 'Rookie of the Month' award in the conference – no mean feat. Playing for Miami Heat, Nunn has emerged out of nowhere this year. A 33 point performance against the Spurs in mid-January 2020 showed his ability as does his 16.2 point average from 44 games so far. The only negative is a recent Achilles injury which has kept him out for a few games. If he can shake that off and get back on form he will be in with a shout.
Many basketball experts are already confidently picking Ja Morant as the most likely to win Rookie of the Year. This powerful and athletic point guard plays for the Memphis Grizzlies and has lit up the game this season. Morant is the real engine of the Grizzlies and his pace has allowed them to rack up over 20 wins. He won the Rookie of the Month award in his conference for both October/November and December to add to his standing. Many are saying that it is him or Nunn who will get it – if Morant can stay fit and in form, he could just have the edge. With figures such as a points average of 17.5 and a 7.1 assists average, he has all the talent to do it.
Oh, what a story it would be if this player smashed the rest of this NBA season to be crowned Rookie of the Year. Big things were expected of him before the campaign kicked off but knee surgery in October meant he missed pretty much the first half of it for his team the Pelicans. Williamson is now back and made his full NBA debut recently – scoring 17 points and showing everyone why people were so excited about him. He has since gone on to play more and continue in fine form with an average of 18 points from his first four games. But has injury given him too much to do in order to catch people like Morant? One thing is for sure – if he does take home Rookie of the Year it will be one of the most outrageous achievements anyone has ever completed in the NBA.
Brandon Clarke
Whoever is in charge of recruiting young players in Memphis needs a raise as this is another top Rookie who is lighting it up for the Grizzlies. While, for many, he is not in the same stratosphere as Morant, he has enough in his locker to be in with a shout for this award. Although not a top 10 draft pick, Clarke has proven to be a very effective weapon to come off the bench for his side. His awesome shooting range and superb offensive skills are of particular note. If he can get more game time then he might show enough to be in with a real chance.
It will be a thrilling race to the trophy
Winning the Rookie of the Year award is a big honor for players as is receiving the famed Eddie Gottlieb trophy as a reward. While others could come through to challenge in the remaining games of this NBA season, the above seem the most likely to be leading the charge. Who will win in the end is hard to say but it will make for even more intrigue in the NBA.
Posted in: NBA, Odds
Tags: sports betting
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The Visual Logger is a powerful debugging tool that creates and records visual representations of the gameplay state, and provides the ability to review this data in the Editor. Developers can see debug output live during a play session, or review it in the Editor after the session is over, making it much easier to resolve gameplay bugs that are hard to track down based only on user reports or game footage. The ability to record information for later review is especially important when working with rare or difficult-to-reproduce bugs. For example, an unexpected AI behavior may be caused by a game state variable that changes for a single frame can be studied after the fact by recording the data and scrubbing through the frames around the moment when the bug happened.
To activate the Visual Logger, use the menu in Windows > Developer Tools > Visual Logger. In Unreal Engine versions prior to 4.7, enter the console command "VisLog". If you are in the Editor, the Visual Logger viewport will also open.
Using the Visual Logger during a session of the Epic Games sample, StrategyGame. The purple line indicates the AI's path, and the red location marker shows the selected point in the timeline.
In the Editor, the Visual Logger viewport provides the ability to review Visual Logger output from pre-recorded sessions, enabling developers to review a bug after the fact.
The Visual Logger viewport in the Editor.
The viewport contains a list of all Actors that logged any visualization data, a detailed snapshot of the status of the Actor selected in the Actor list, a text window for displaying debug message output, and a time bar to enable scrubbing through the recorded data.
The highlighted area in the following image shows the list of Actors that have logged information to the Visual Logger during the recorded session. There is also a search bar to help users find a specific Actor's log information quickly.
The Actor list and its search bar.
Any data that an Actor collects with the UE_VLOG macro will appear in the highlighted area of the following image. The Visual Logger will display data coming from the Actor selected in the Actor list, at the time indicated by the timeline scrubber. Data that the Visual Logger captures as part of the snapshot can be categorized and customized in your game's code, and you can expand or collapse these categories.
Making multiple visual logging calls in the same frame and from the same Actor will overwrite the previously-captured data.
The Actor snapshot area with custom categories expanded.
The Visual Logger's text window shows log messages from the current frame, broken up into categories. Multiple log messages recorded in the same category and the same frame will show up as a list.
The text window area where debug messages appear.
The timeline view features a bar that advances (or rewinds) the logger to any point in time you choose. In the image below, the scrubber is at the 23.53 second mark, and the Actor list has "StrategyAIController_1" selected. By scrubbing the time bar, you can view the selected Actor's status and the text window at different times in the recorded log data.
Actor Snapshots: These will appear in the Actor snapshot area, and should update once per frame while the actor exists.
Log Messages: All text that you log with the Visual Logger will appear in the text window. Text appears on a single-frame basis.
Debug Shapes: You can draw a variety of shapes into the game world. These shapes can last for multiple frames, and have many adjustable parameters, such as size and color.
The following sample code was part of a GDC demo that added Visual Logging to a customized version of the First-Person Shooter template's Character class called AGDCCharacter. This code adds a single entry under the "GDC Sample" category. The entry is labeled "Projectile Class" and contains the type of projectile that the Character spawns when firing.
This function will run automatically on the first call to the Visual Logger. Add any information that you want to see in the Actor Snapshot View into this function.
Visual Logger with the Actor Snapshot of an AGDCCharacter.
You can log to the Text Window with the UE_VLOG macro. The Text Window displays information on a per-frame bases, so only text logged in the current frame will show up as you scrub through the recorded data. You can log text from anywhere, and the UE_VLOG macro will cleanly remove itself from compilation in builds that don't support the Visual Logging system, so it is safe to use without checking the ENABLE_VISUAL_LOG macro. The macro takes parameters indicating the Actor associated with the text, the log category and verbosity level (used for filtering the display), and the text itself.
// Collect our aim rotation.
// MuzzleOffset is in camera space, so transform it to world space before offsetting from the character location to find the final muzzle position.
// Spawn the projectile into the world at the muzzle's location.
// Log this event with the Visual Logger.
Visual Logger showing debug text from our AGDCCharacter.
If you want to send a duplicate message to the standard log, you can use the UE_VLOG_UELOG macro instead of calling UE_VLOG followed by UE_LOG with the same data.
The ability to log shape information in the game world is a powerful feature because it helps you visualize what is going on. The following image shows some of the different types of shapes that the Visual Logger supports.
Path information, cylinder, cone, capsule, and box shapes.
The following macros provide support for logging shapes. Each macro requires an Actor that owns the shape, a log category and verbosity level, several shape-defining parameters (depending on the shape), and the text that will accompany the shape. The following table provides information about the available shapes and the unique parameters each shape requires.
UE_VLOG_SEGMENT - A one-pixel-thick line segment.
UE_VLOG_SEGMENT_THICK - A line segment with thickness.
UE_VLOG_BOX - An axis-aligned box.
UE_VLOG_OBOX - A rotated box.
UE_VLOG_MESH - A 3D Mesh.
UE_VLOG_CONVEXPOLY - A 2D convex-hull polygon.
UE_VLOG_ARROW - A line segment with an arrowhead.


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Movie Trailers, Movies
Elysium – trailer
Sony's TriStar Pictures has debuted the first trailer for District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp's new sci-fi thriller, Elysium.
Sony's TriStar Pictures has debuted the first trailer for District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp's new sci-fi thriller, Elysium. Opening August 9th, the movie stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, William Fichtner and Wagner Moura.
In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.
Alice Braga Diego Luna Elysium Jodie Foster Matt Damon Neill Blomkamp Sharlto Copley TriStar Pictures Wagner Moura William Fichtner
Previous The Hangover Part III – trailer
Next R.I.P. Roger Ebert
Bill & Ted Face the Music – official trailer
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter star in the first official trailer for Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War set to arrive in May 2020
The World's Greatest Super Heroes square off once-and-for-all against the despotic Darkseid – with the fate of all humanity hanging in the balance.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife – trailer
Everything happens for a reason. Watch the new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, in theaters next summer.