text:
The Wicked Stage
Some Strange Music Drags Me In
Robby in New Orleans: a large spirit and a sense of wonder.
In the summer of 2002, I was heading into what would be, in retrospect, a really rough patch of my life. My mom had died suddenly the previous fall, and also that year I'd broken up my longtime band, Millhouse, though not before recording what would be my first solo record, i hope it's me. A year later both my job as editor of Back Stage West and my first marriage at the time would fall apart. Into the breach came an old friend from film school, Susan Lambert, and an idea I resisted like hell at first: a staging of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night set in Depression-era Appalachia, for which I would put together a live band and write/supervise a score. Thank the gods Susan persisted with me; and indeed I later found out that she had been similarly coaxed over her initial skepticism by the piece's conceiver/adaptor, the large-spirited, childlike-in-wonder Robert L. Williams.
I'm not sure if I first met Robby on the Disney lot in Burbank, but I do remember that because both he and Susan worked for the Mouse, our initial rehearsals took place in one corner of the Disney commissary after hours, from which we cleared out tables and chairs and did our hillbilly Shakespeare thing. The cast, like many an L.A. theater cast, was an extraordinary mix of diverse talents of all levels and backgrounds, though there was a strong contingent of folks acquainted with Robby and/or Susan from their respective theater backgrounds in the South (Robbie, a Gulfport, Miss. native, had worked all over the South, including at Alabama Shakes and Southern Rep).
Robby, in addition to writing the adaptation, played a boisterous but sweet Sir Toby Belch, and his boyfriend Sean Galuszka would play Feste as a flinty, soulful, guitar-toting hobo. Susan and in particular Robby also clued me in to a number of the traditional songs we'd use in the show: We fitted a few of the classics, "Come Away Death" and "O Mistress Mine," to existing blues or folk templates, but otherwise interpolated period songs where appropriate: The show opened with a veritable hootenanny by the little bluegrass/old-time band I'd assembled, into which the Duke, in our rendition a coal mining foreman played by Gerald Hopkins, wandered with his opening lines about the food of love; the drinking song that awakens Malvolio's ire was Uncle Dave Macon's irresistible "Old Plank Road"; and our closer, replacing the "wind and the rain" number, was the Carter family classic "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"
I still have some of the CDs Robby eagerly pressed on me for my research: the Harry Smith collection, The Music of Kentucky, and a number of special mixes he made. I'd gone through something of folk phase in high school, but this was a whole 'nother level of steeping in Americana, and its bittersweet grit has never quite worn off. I can hold my own when our little church band goes Southern, for instance, and I've introduced my share of the old, weird America into our services, mostly courtesy of this amazing compilation; and without this string-picking precedent, I doubt very much that I'd have had the skill set or the affinity for another folk-infused musical adaptation, The Devil and Tom Walker, I later did here in New York.
When An Appalachian Twelfth Night opened near the end of the year, it got great reviews--I'd almost forgotten how good until I recently revisited them. Folks really got what we were trying to do--that underneath the play's usual sport and romance, we'd infused a dusty, melancholy, sepia twang. We owe that all to Robby, whose passion for the project inspired Susan and Sean, and in turn me and the whole company. And I especially owe Robby the personal debt of providing me, via this great, quixotic project, an island of joyful and deeply satisfying creative work amid of the shoals of my own gathering troubles--a period I can truly say that was among my happiest as a musician and an artist, and, since those two things mean a lot to me, as a human being.
I recall all this now because of the crushing news, just received yesterday, that Robby died after a week in the hospital following a terrible car accident (he's the 50-year-old West Hollywood man in this harrowing story). I regret that I didn't get to know him well outside that show and a few subsequent gatherings; we never collaborated again, though I've jammed a few times with Sean since, and I'm working on a record of Shakespeare-inspired tunes for kids with Susan.
But Robby and I were in touch occasionally, and just months ago he expressed the wish that there might be some sort of Appalachian Twelfth Night reunion the next time I came back to L.A. Now, in the wake of his hospitalization and passing, Facebook is hosting a kind of virtual reunion, not only of that show's company but of people from all the walks of the wide-ranging life Robby lived. This is hardly the reunion he intended, of course, but it's a reminder of how many lives he touched, and changed, with his humor, his passion, and his love. He certainly touched and changed mine, and I will think of him every time I pick up my Martin and start idly picking "Wildwood Flower" or "The Cuckoo."
Below I've embedded a recording from the cast album I put together, with Robby's boyfriend Sean leading the show's closer, a classic about community mourning and resurrection. But before that, I I'll quote a few lines of Shakespeare's play that weren't said onstage in our Twelfth Night. For Robby:
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut the gate,
But when I came, alas! to wive,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
But when I came unto my beds,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
A great while ago the world begun,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
UPDATE: Robby's official obit.
Posted by Rob Weinert-Kendt at 3:10 PM 0 comments
It's great to see Michael Feingold writing about theater again (kudos to TheaterMania for snapping him up), and with his own self-directed topics. And I love that he starts up his new column with a thread he began in the Voice three years ago, which posited that were are in a "hidden Golden Age" of New York theater; or as he rephrases it here, "A happy subject that has left me more than a little troubled." Essentially, though you wouldn't know it if you caught him in a bad mood or a high dudgeon about a specific play, Feingold is surprisingly sanguine about the quality of work, both in writing and production, at New York's nonprofit theaters, and he feels lonely beating this drum:
Unquestionably, we are lucky. The troubling point is that we don't seem to realize how lucky we are. If anyone other than me has been writing articles full of praise for the batch of exciting new American plays that our nonprofits spawned this year, I haven't come across them.
Well, I'd argue that he wasn't entirely alone, but that's not my main argument with where Feingold then takes his thoughts. Essentially, he goes on to defend two well-reviewed Playwrights Horizons productions of the past season, Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan and Annie Baker's The Flick, from the reactions of some audiences and critics who, he feels, didn't appreciate the work, or the challenges they presented, with the kind of open, contemplative spirit he feels they deserved.
A fair enough topic, but it feels like small ball. Where I thought Feingold was taking his column was to double down on that lonely-voice-of-optimism angle: Not only will you seldom catch any of Feingold's critical colleagues saying things like, "There were a lot of good plays this season," largely because they very seldom zoom out to look at a whole season's worth of work except in the obligatory year's-end lists or the endless Tony speculation b.s. Instead, you will most often hear critics and miscellaneous theater observers lamenting the state of playwriting today, the trouble new voices have in gaining a foothold, the irrelevance of theater to the larger culture, etc.
I can't deny that there are grains of truth in all these familiar complaints, and I hardly think it's the business of critics to continually pat theatermakers on the back for doing great work. But I guess one reason that the constant calls for revolution and remaking the broken American theater (like this one, say), and the constant laments about how good new plays aren't getting produced, don't resonate with me is because I fundamentally agree with Feingold: I'm a reasonably happy theatergoer and theater observer as long as theaters are producing new work by living playwrights like Baker and Herzog and Sam Hunter and Lynn Nottage and Ayad Akhtar and Lisa D'Amour and Jackie Sibblies Drury and Stephen Gurgis and Stephen Karam and Tarrell MCraney and Lisa Kron and Itamar Moses and Sheila Callaghan and Lydia Diamond and Laura Eason and Robbie Baitz and Melissa Gibson and Yussef el Guindi and Chuck Mee and Liz Duffy Adams and Young Jean Lee and Chris Durang and Robert Schenkkan and David Ives and Bill Cain and Tracy Letts and Rebecca Gilman and Taylor Mac and Culture Clash and Nathan Jackson and Stew and Sarah Ruhl and Qui Nguyen and Dominique Morisseau and Rajiv Joseph and Regina Taylor and Mac Rogers and Gina Gionfriddo and Bruce Norris and Quiara Alegria Hudes and Laura Marks and Mike Daisey and Kirsten Greenidge and David Henry Hwang and Luis Alfaro and Dave Malloy and Jordan Harrison and Kate Fodor and Sean Graney and Katori Hall and Tanya Saracho and Nicky Silver...Do I need to go on? I could. And you probably have a list of your own.
My bottom line: If we don't live in a fertile and exciting time for new American playwriting, what would such a time look like?
Posted by Rob Weinert-Kendt at 12:25 PM 7 comments
Disney, Old Vs. New
It's easy to forget that there are different generations of Disney films, and hence Disney fans. As I was born at the end of the '60s, it was the films Uncle Walt made in that decade, and that his studio churned out for a few years after his death in 1966, that loom largest for me: Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, The Aristocats, 101 Dalmations, and of course The Jungle Book. I also got a healthy dose of the studio's classics from the '30s, '40s, and '50s, of course, all in re-release in actual theaters (they were not very freely or ever shown on TV, if I recall correctly) and dutifully followed its late '70s efforts (Pete's Dragon, anyone?).
For millennials and younger, of course, it's the second wave of Disney animated musicals, starting with The Little Mermaid and cresting with The Lion King, that loom largest, which is one reason that post-1990 catalogue is what Disney Theatrical Group has seemed most intent on turning into stage musicals (Aladdin will be flying its carpet to Broadway sometime next year), and the older stuff not so much, apart from Mary Poppins, which was already a fully realized live-action musical on film. (The Pixar films are arguably an even bigger deal for many millennials and after, and in fact there is a Toy Story musical with tunes by Groovelily, out roaming the high seas on Disney Cruise Lines, that may one day make it to land).
So that's one reason that Mary Zimmerman's new adaptation of The Jungle Book at the Goodman and Huntington Theatres is such a big deal. There are a host of other reasons, too, most of which I hope I covered in my new feature for the New York Times.
But in my reporting for that piece I was fascinated to learn that the Disney folks, while they're excited by and open to the possibilities of these older "properties," don't quite view them with the reverence or sanctimony you might expect.
"We can love it, but I defy you to sit here and tell me the story [of The Jungle Book]," said Tom Schumacher, head of Disney Theatricals, when I interviewed him. "They're all these vignetted stories that, in this picaresque way, become the story of Mowgli, and because of that, kids bond with it. The movie has a very clever trick, by the way: They say the character's names all the time: 'Where are you going, Baloo?' 'Come with me, Mowgli.' Which is good, because who could remember them?"
When I mentioned that the two Disney films that loomed largest in my childhood, largely thanks to LP records with songs and dialogue excerpts (this is how we endlessly replayed our movie experiences before we had VCRs, let alone Netflix), were Robin Hood and Jungle Book, Tom said bluntly, "Robin Hood is not a good movie." When I began to stammer in protest, Tom helpfully offered, "I have nostalgia for 'Quick Draw McGraw,' but it's not good animation." (Fair enough, though what I chiefly love about Robin Hood is Roger Miller's laconic score; Tom challenged me to sing some of it, and I haltingly obliged with a little "Oo-De-Lally.")
The good news, though, is that in the age of on-demand video, Tom said, "The kids don't know what order they came out in, unless they're technically savvy about animation." I can vouch for that, having a four-year-old who toggles happily between Cinderella and The Princess and the Frog. And here Tom couldn't resist one last dig at my childhood favorite; viewed in this freshly leveled landscape of old mixed with new, he said, "Your beloved Robin Hood looks like crap."
And I guess Roger Miller already has a Broadway musical.
Related: A sidebar on other Disney adaptations that may be in the theatrical pipeline.
Posted by Rob Weinert-Kendt at 11:40 AM 2 comments
Twin Powers, Activate
It's been a few years in the making, and it's still not ready to roll out just yet, but with a few other songwriters I've been putting together O Baby Mine, an album of Shakespeare-inspired tunes for kids--some with text directly from the Bard, some commenting on his work, and some, like the one above, inspired by his plots. I share it now because the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park's fine new Comedy of Errors opens tonight. Enjoy!
Insert obligatory apology for light posting here. The slowdown has been mainly due to my being out of town to report a big story on the Goodman Theatre's new Jungle Book. You may have heard about the show last week when a controversy over director/adapator Mary Zimmerman's alleged cultural insensitivity exploded on the Internet, a few days after I'd returned from reporting in Chicago (the post most worth reading is the kerfuffle's civil, and hopefully definitive, denouement). In the hours I spent with her, as well as watching rehearsals and talking to songwriter Richard M. Sherman, music director Doug Peck, performer Andre De Shields, and others, the issues of both Rudyard Kipling's colonialism and the Disney film's perceived racism definitely came up, and not trivially. I would argue that it's not the main thing worth talking about with this relatively lighthearted family musical, but it's not negligible, either, and I was convinced from my interviews that Zimmerman and the entire company had given these issues considerable thought and care.
So maybe that's why, when I read her explaining her approach to these issues, I immediately understood the context of her comments, particularly the most infamous one: In trying to debunk the common perception that the Disney film's singing orangutan, voiced by an Italian jazz singer, is somehow a racist caricature, she said, "It's something I think where the racism is in the eye of the beholder." If you lop off the words "It's something I think where the," as even usually circumspect Thomas Cott sloppily did, then you do indeed have an inflammatory and sweepingly dismissive statement--just not one the Mary Zimmerman happened to say or mean. Even her comment about the British imperial period in India ("No one is sitting around moping about the raj"), while it certainly sounds flippant and dismissive, I understood to mean--in the context of a show in which Zimmerman, her designers, and music director Doug Peck are paying tribute to the story's Indian setting in a fascinating, and to my ears and eyes, joyous way--that Indian culture is not ultimately confined to or defined by its interactions with the West.
In any case, I'm glad that Jamil Khoury, whose initial anti-Mary Zimmerman post reads more like a full-career slam than a "conversation starter," was gracious enough to let her explain herself at length on the same site. My story will be out this week, and you can read more then.
In the meantime, the Tonys happened and proved the StageGrade critics' poll wrong on some big categories. I caught the best-play winner Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and liked it enough that I'm going back this week, not least to ponder why I liked it so much (it seems upon reflection to be a flimsy, self-congratulatory, even reactionary little sitcom, but it also happens to have been the most fun I've had at a big Broadway "boulevard" comedy since, well, ever). Speaking of comedies, Shakespeare in the Park's new Comedy of Errors is also strong and supply done, with Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson playing the piece's absurd, confounded comic mechanics blessedly straight. They do something that is all too seldom achieved with Shakespeare, and most particularly his comedies: They make it funny on its own terms, without the sort of mugging, winking, or interpolated shtick that nervous directors and actors typically graft onto the action to make Shakespeare seem funny.
I was less taken with The Nance, which I had hoped from the reviews would be a solid, old-fashioned comedy/drama. Well, it's old-fashioned, at least, leading to an experience that's not unlike catching a third-string feature on AMC late at night. Nathan Lane is, no surprise, extraordinary, and there's a great, wrenching scene in Act Two that's all the better because it's the kind of obligatory confrontation--between Lane's older, closeted gay man and a young lover poignantly unable to make claims on, let alone name their relationship--that the whole play's been building to, and which we approach with dread, fearing that Douglas Carter Beane is not going to handle it in anything like an original fashion (given the alternately hamhanded and muddled way he handles a lot of the rest of the show). Instead, the scene is searching, emotionally honest, painful in the best way, and on the strength of that--not to mention Jack O'Brien's sparkling direction--I'd say The Nance is worth a look.
While in Chicago, I caught Othello: The Remix, by the Q Brothers of Bombitty of Errors fame. Though I never caught that hit, I was duly impressed with this all-rapped four-man (plus DJ) update of the Shakespeare play (performed at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, no less). In fact, with its mix of geeky wordplay and free-flowing, spot-on presentational style, it may be the best piece of hip-hop theater I've seen. (Guess I should at check out Venice here in town for a point of comparison.)
Finally, I found Caucasian Chalk Circle at Classic Stage Company a dispiriting slog, not least because of Duncan Sheik's somnabulent songs. (It might also have been that the play itself didn't register very strongly; it strikes me that the best versions of this play I've seen have been major overhauls/updates, including Lynn Manning's The Central Ave. Chalk Circle and Chuck Mee's The Berlin Circle, the latter of which deals with the thorny post-communist question head-on, and brilliantly so.) I was surprised, then, to see that CSC has doubled down on the Sheik/Brecht alliance, announcing that they'll do A Man's a Man next season with music by the Spring Awakening tunesmith. I know that Sheik has it in him to make music that's spikier and punchier than the contemplative pastels of his Circle score; may I suggest that he give a spin to Dave Van Ronk and Frankie Armstrong's extraordinary record of Brecht songs, Let No One Deceive You? A version of the song "A Man's a Man" is included but not embeddable here, so I'll close this catch-up post with this shattering rendition of a Brecht/Weill classic.
Quote for the Day
At the end of an illuminating interview about her new adaptation of The Jungle Book for the Goodman Theater, Mary Zimmerman gives a snappish but, I think, profound answer to a commonplace interview question:
What do you hope the audience in general takes away from the musical?That's a capitalist question. I feel like it's enough for shows to be experiences. There is no object that you take. I hope what audiences have at the end is a sense of the incredible wonderment of being a child. Children have one foot in reality and one foot somewhere else.
StageGrade Tony Poll 2013
Cross-posted at StageGrade.
We're sensing a trend with our StageGrade Tony Poll: Critical dissatisfaction with shows themselves, coupled with huge love for the performers and directors of the self-same shows. In the new-play category this year, for example, while we sensed affection for the odds-on winner, Chris Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, critics largely term it a weak season for plays—even as they declare most of the performance and direction categories of the very same plays "unusually strong."
As with last year, this means that most of the real competitive action is in the performance categories, while the big-ticket production awards are all but faits accomplis. One big exception to this rough rule (as with last year, actually) might be in the hotly contested new-musical category: Where last year critics were dead even on whether Once or Newsies would get the nod (Once pulled it out), this year there's a comparable if smaller Kinky Boots insurgency to counter the seeming inevitability of the puckish import Matilda. And while last year's musical revival category was surprisingly competitive—most critics predicted and wished for a win for Follies, but the award instead went to Diane Paulus' Porgy and Bess—this year all bow before the march of Paulus' newest revival, the almighty Pippin.
The categories to watch, based on previous experience, are Lead Actor in a Play, with Lucky Guy's Tom Hanks all but assured the former (but critics said the same thing last year about Philip Seymour Hoffman's sad-sack Salesman, and One Man, Two Guvnors' James Corden waltzed away with the statue); the Lead Actress in a Play category, in which Cicely Tyson's beatific The Trip to Bountiful is similarly overwhelmingly favored (but critics last year were similarly sure that The Lyons's Linda Lavin or End of the Rainbow's Tracie Bennett would win, and Venus in Fur's Nina Arianda pulled an upset). Likewise, the Play Direction category, with a lot of strong contenders, looks like it's up for grabs; Lucky Guy's George C. Wolfe is only very narrowly favored to pick up the award over Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'s Pam MacKinnon, but there are plenty of votes for Vanya and Sonia's Nicholas Martin, as well.
In short, the Tonys this year won't be without their drama, and that's what we all tune in for, isn't it? Without further ado, here's how our critics think the Tonys will play out on Sunday, June 9—and how they wish they would play out. This year's participating critics, our biggest group yet, include David Barbour (Lighting & Sound America), Aaron Botwick (Scribicide), Ben Brantley (The New York Times), David Cote (Time Out New York), Michael Dale (Broadwayworld.com), Suzy Evans (Backstage), Adam Feldman (Time Out New York), David Finkle (Huffington Post), David Gordon (TheaterMania), Jesse Green (New York), Erik Haagensen (Backstage), Charles Isherwood (The New York Times), Jonathan Mandell (New York Theater), Peter Marks (The Washington Post), David Rooney (The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times), Frank Scheck (New York Post), David Sheward (ArtsinNY.com, Theaterlife.com), Raven Snook (Time Out New York), Michael Sommers (New Jersey Newsroom), Marilyn Stasio (Variety), Doug Strassler (New York Press), and Linda Winer (Newsday).
BEST PLAY
Nominees: The Assembled Parties (Richard Greenberg), Lucky Guy (Nora Ephron), The Testament of Mary (Colm Toibin), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Christopher Durang)
Will Win: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Should Win: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Chris Durang should make room on his shelf for his first Tony, most critics agree—and most think deservedly so. There are a few votes in the "should win" column for Greenberg's genteel Assembled Parties, but most agree with David Rooney, who writes that while "it's a toss-up for me between Vanya and Assembled Parties," he finds "the elegance with which Durang applies his trademark absurdist humor to issues that plague many of us in reflective middle age" gives his play the advantage. A number of critics who are less sold on the play think Durang will win because of the weakness of the rest of the field.
Nominees: Bring It On, A Christmas Story, Kinky Boots, Matilda
Will Win: Matilda
Should Win: Matilda
The Kinky Boots/Matilda showdown may be overblown: Critics think the RSC's Dahl adaptation both will and should win by a margin of 2-to-1. Still, that doesn't stop them from dishing about the shows' respective prospects. Says David Finkle: "If Matilda doesn't win, the loss can be attributed to the inexplicable backlash. Apparently, some detractors think it's too cruel and/or too English." Maybe, but summing up the critical backlash, Doug Strassler says, "Plenty of hype has shrouded the fact that Matilda is a loud, unfocused mess of a show." Less harsh is Raven Snook, who gives Boots the edge because "it shouldn't be as good as it is...It's done with genuine feeling, humor, nuance and really catchy songs." A few critics, including Jonathan Mandell and David Barbour, even offer that they'd prefer to see A Christmas Story win. Pish-posh, say many of their colleagues, with Peter Marks pithily calling Matilda "the winner by a country mile, the country being Britain," and David Rooney opining, ""In terms of Matilda's inventive stagecraft there's no contest." Marilyn Stasio goes so far as to label the "campaign against Matilda" a "disgrace to the industry," adding, "Why the hell wasn't Hands on a Hardbody nominated?"
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Nominees: A Christmas Story (Joseph Robinette), Kinky Boots (Harvey Fierstein), Matilda (Dennis Kelly), Cinderella (Douglas Carter Beane)
There's a flicker of critical love for Robinette's holiday adaptation, but this is considered a lock for Matilda's Dennis Kelly. Says Erik Haagensen: "Neophyte book writer Kelly's inventive, tonally adept adaptation of Roald Dahl's story is the best thing about Matilda, while none of the competition comes close." Giving the likely win a political spin, David Barbour says, "This may be the voters' place to honor Matilda without going all the way to a Best Musical nod." Jonathan Mandell, summing up a general feeling that this is a weak category, snarks, "Each year, the Tony nominating committee seems to select for this category at least a couple of musicals in which the worst thing about them is their book. This year is no exception."
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS)
Nominees: A Christmas Story (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), Hands on a Hardbody (Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green), Kinky Boots (Cyndi Lauper), Matilda (Tim Minchin)
Will Win: Kinky Boots
Should Win: Kinky Boots
Critics may have deplored this year's musical books, but they largely liked the scores—which is reflected in the fact that while nearly all think that "hometown girl" Lauper, as David Barbour calls her, will take home the trophy, Boots' lead in the "should win" column is a lot weaker. Minchin's "genuinely subversive talent" (David Rooney) gets some love, as does Pasek & Paul's score, which Suzy Evans hails as "the most original, while remaining the most story-driven." But the lion's share of plaudits go to pop princess Lauper for writing a "surprisingly good" score (Peter Marks), one in which "the musical styles were varied and the lyrics illuminated the characters' inner lives" (Raven Snook). Raves Doug Strassler, "I found myself sad every time a number ended in Kinky Boots, which I haven't been able to say in my last few years of musical attendance." Marilyn Stasio, meanwhile, wishes Hardbody had been given a better shake, while Erik Haagensen thinks Pasek & Paul's score for the Off-Broadway Dogfight trumps all the nominees here.
BEST REVIVAL (PLAY):
Nominees: Golden Boy, Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Will Win: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Should Win: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Golden Boy
Most critics think Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has this sewn up, and most are fine with that, but David Rooney sums up the critical ambivalence when he says, "The [Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?] revival was a revelation above all for Tracy Letts' ferocious take on George. But Bartlett Sher's masterful touch with dated material made the Odets revival a greater challenge." That led Mandell to offer "an almost-philosophical" quandary: "Does a production deserve more credit for making the most of an outdated or otherwise inferior script or are we duty-bound to honor the best script? The production of the creaky Golden Boy was wonderful; there is much as well to recommend The Trip to Bountiful with its 'non-traditional' high-quality cast. But the 50-year-old Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? holds up wonderfully." Still, counters Peter Marks, "How many times can Salesman and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? win?"
BEST REVIVAL (MUSICAL):
Nominees: Annie, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Pippin, Cinderella
Will Win: Pippin
Should Win: Pippin
Take this one to the bank, say critics: Diane Paulus' circus-y take on this Stephen Schwartz quasi-classic was, as Doug Strassler puts it, "the musical event of the season." Even those who find the musical subpar agree with Erik Haagensen that Paulus' production "has found its heart, spectacularly demonstrating why it has been such a popular show for more than 40 years." There is scattered love for the shuttered Drood, and Aaron Botwick makes a quixotic case that the much-ridiculed Jekyll & Hyde belonged on this list ("Audiences are oddly unwilling to enjoy camp on Broadway," he muses), but as Peter Marks succinctly puts it: Shows that aren't Pippin "have a better chance of winning the next Mega Millions."
BEST PERFORMANCE, LEADING ACTOR, PLAY
Nominees: Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy; Nathan Lane, The Nance; Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Tom Sturridge, Orphans
Will Win: Tom Hanks
Should Win: Tracy Letts
The critical near-unanimity here is striking: Almost all the critics think the statue will go to "Hollywood royalty" Hanks, not least because he's "charmed the entire Broadway community" (Frank Scheck), and also because, as David Sheward puts it, "The majority of Tony voters (producers) want to see more big-name movie stars on Broadway, and a Tony for Hanks will encourage that trend." But almost all of the critics wish the Tony would go to Letts, in his Main Stem debut as a "bizarrely playful and bitter George" (Jonathan Mandell). There are a few votes for Lane's versatile turn in The Nance; as Raven Snook writes, he "got to flex all of his talented muscles—high and low-brow, drama and comedy, even singing and hoofing." Doug Strassler wishes that Douglas Hodge (Cyrano de Bergerac) and Seth Numrich (Golden Boy) were on this list. But the award for counterintuiveness must go to David Barbour, who offers, "You heard it here first; Tom Hanks will go away empty-handed. Not his fault really, but the part isn't that interesting. This is going to come down to a horse race between Pierce and Lane." That sounds a little nutso to us, but still, this race may be more of a toss-up than the near-unanimity suggests: When critics find all the actors deserving, as they do here, so might Tony voters.
BEST PERFORMANCE, LEADING ACTRESS, PLAY
Nominees: Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place; Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Holland Taylor, Ann; Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Will Win: Cicely Tyson
Should Win: Laurie Metcalf
This one is even more competitive than Lead Actor, at least in critics' "should win" category. Many echo David Barbour, who says, "This is the toughest category, because all of the ladies are deserving." Indeed, many think there were other performances that should have been nominated, as well: Ben Brantley, for one, thinks Assembled Parties's Jessica Hecht, I'll Eat You Last's Bette Midler, and Testament of Mary's Fiona Shaw also belong on the list. Still, all but one of our voting critics think the statue will go to 88-year-old Tyson for her "luminous, richly idiosyncratic take on Carrie Watts" in Bountiful (Erik Haagensen), though a few grumble that it's a "maudlin vote" (Marilyn Stasio) given for sentimental reasons to a "lively old dame" (Barbour again). Many hail Metcalf's challenging turn as a brain scientist with a brian tumor: As Raven Snook put it, "I could use the cliché that it was a master class in acting except you never felt like she was acting." Agreed Doug Strasser: "Metcalf dug deeper than anyone in a show that sadly ran too short." But getting almost as much love, in addition to Tyson, is Neilsen for her "brilliant comic turn" (Barbour) in Vanya and Sonia.
BEST PERFORMANCE, LEADING ACTOR, MUSICAL
Nominees: Bertie Carvel, Matilda; Santino Fontana, Cinderella; Rob McClure, Chaplin; Billy Porter, Kinky Boots; Stark Stands, Kinky Boots
Will Win: Bertie Carvel
Should Win: Bertie Carvel
Many see this as another Matilda/Kinky Boots proxy battle. Though the huge majority say they favor Bertie Carvel's menacing drag turn as Miss Trunchbull, most gripe that he's in the wrong category—that Trunchbull is a supporting role. Still, many agree with David Rooney, who calls Carvel's turn "one of the most astonishingly full-bodied theatrical creations in recent memory." And while Porter's turn as Boots' drag queen gets a fair amount of critical love—Raven Snook calls his Lola "a beautiful and original creation," while Jonathan Mandell says he "does a wonderful job with a hackneyed character"—several critics take this opportunity to recall McClure's resourceful take on Chaplin. Doug Strassler raves that McClure "carried Chaplin in an astonishing amalgam of physical, musical, and emotional specificity that bore new insight into an icon." Agrees David Barbour: "McClure's uncanny replication of Chaplin's technique might have won if the show was still running."
BEST PERFORMANCE, LEADING ACTRESS, MUSICAL
Nominees: Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Carolee Carmello, Scandalous; Valisia LeKae, Motown, the Musical; Patina Miller, Pippin; Laura Osnes, Cinderella
Will Win: Patina Miller
Should Win: Laura Osnes
Many agree with Jonathan Mandell's assessment that "this is a difficult category, not just because the talent is so plentiful, but because the shows are so beneath them." There are a lot of passionate defenses of Carmello's turn in Kathie Lee Gifford's misbegotten religious bio-musical, and a few who feel Valisia LaKae's roof-raising performance in Motown should get some Tony love, but most feel that Osnes deserves the nod for, as Raven Snook puts it, "[creating] a Cinderella little girls can look up to without their moms rolling their eyes." Still, most critics agree that Patina Miller will take home the trophy for her slick Leading Player in the popular Pippin, and some think this is as it should be: as Frank Scheck says, "Anyone who can erase memories of Ben Vereen's indelible original turn deserves the award."
BEST PERFORMANCE, FEATURED ACTOR, PLAY
Nominees: Danny Burstein, Golden Boy; Richard Kind, The Big Knife; Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy; Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy
Will Win: Richard Kind
Should Win: Richard Kind
Another over-qualified field, with the edge going to Kind, best known for his comic roles, who surprised critics with what Aaron Botwick calls "a terrifying performance" in Odets' Hollywood morality tale. Another Odets revival, Golden Boy, split critical votes, with some favoring Tony Shalhoub, as a reticent immigrant patriarch ("heart-rending," says David Sheward), and some Danny Burstein, as a taciturn trainer. And a number of critics would give their vote to Vance, as a cantankerous editor; says Raven Snook, "Vance was hands-down the best thing in Lucky Guy (sorry, Tom)." A few, like Barbour, wish that Magnussen's "original and bizarrely funny" performance might take the win, and both Ben Brantley and Charles Isherwood wish that Madison Dirks' virile turn as Nick in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was on this list. Most are happy with Kind, though; as Jonathan Mandell observes, "Those who've been able to catch the 1955 movie of The Big Knife, with Rod Steiger's absurdly over-the-top portrayal of the thug-like movie studio head, can even more appreciate Kind's performance, which is modulated and credible before it becomes explosive; he seems to inhabit the role." Next he may inhabit the role of Tony winner.
BEST PERFORMANCE, FEATURED ACTRESS, PLAY
Nominees: Carrie Coon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Judith Ivey, The Heiress; Judith Light, The Assembled Parties; Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
Will Win: Judith Light
Should Win: Judith Light
Though Light took home the same award last year for Other Desert Cities, as David Finkle says, "Here's a recent winner who's just too good in this meaty part not to prevail." Most critics agree; writes David Rooney, "Light's spiky yet infinitely compassionate performance...was the perfect complement to Jessica Hecht's luminous work." (Observes Raven Snook: "So funny that the ultimate sitcom WASP in the '80s is now the go-to Jewish character actress.") But don't mistake this lovefest for a lock: Critics' "should win" votes are more divided than they look, with a fair number plumping for "up-and-coming star" Rashad (Peter Marks), still others for Coon's flailing Honey in Woolf, and others for Ivey's interfering Heiress aunt. It was, in short, a good year for acting in plays, if all these split votes are to be believed.
BEST PERFORMANCE, FEATURED ACTOR, MUSICAL
Nominees: Charl Brown, Motown, the Musical; Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody; Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Gabriel Ebert, Matilda; Terrence Mann, Pippin
Will Win: Terrence Mann
Should Win: Gabriel Ebert
Critics think Terrence Mann's Charlemagne will take home the crown because, as David Sheward explains, he's a Broadway veteran (Cats, the original Les Miz, Beauty and the Beast) without a Tony on his shelf—a dangerous competitor in any year. Besides, says Raven Snook: "I was impressed that Mann learned how to unicycle." There a few "should win" votes for Chase's turn in Drood and Brown's in Motown, but most critics are swept away by Ebert's crass, lanky dad in Matilda, not least because of its contrast with a previous role: "Never in a million years," writes David Rooney, "would I have recognized the plaid-suited anti-intellectual crook in Matilda as the troubled twentysomething from 4000 Miles."
BEST PERFORMANCE, FEATURED ACTRESS, MUSICAL
Nominees: Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots; Victoria Clark, Cinderella; Andrea Martin, Pippin; Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody; Lauren Ward, Matilda
Will Win: Andrea Martin
Should Win: Andrea Martin"This is what they call a lock, folks," says Raven Snook. Indeed, though there's a smattering of support for Kinky Boots's charming Ashford, Martin is hailed for a showstopping number that David Rooney calls "probably the most delightful five minutes of stage time of any production currently on Broadway." Quips David Sheward: "Lesson #1: If you're over 60, learn a trapeze act and the Tony is yours." Adds Erik Haagensen: "It's not just the acrobatics; it's also Martin's rich humanity that puts her over the top." Bottom line, says Barbour: "The other ladies may as well stay at home."
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Nominees: Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy; George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy
Will Win: George C. Wolfe
Should Win: Pam MacKinnon
It's Wolfe vs. Woolf in this category: Lucky Guy's helmer gets the will-win nod—in a very close vote—for, as David Rooney puts it, "giving dynamic life to an unfinished play with way more tell than show." But MacKinnon gets the should-win vote for taking "a great play we've all seen multiple times and [making] it feel fresh," says Raven Snook. But both Sher and Martin have their partisans, too, with Barbour noting of Martin that he is "undervalued because he is such an assured director of comedy." Few would dispute Jesse Green's verdict that, like the above play-performance races, this is "another unusually strong category."
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Nominees: Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots; Diane Paulus, Pippin; Matthew Warchus, Matilda
Will Win: Diane Paulus
Should Win: Diane PaulusCritics give their due to Paulus' achievement here, even if many seem to chafe at it. Giving the most full-throated defense of Paulus' vision is Raven Snook, who writes, "The circus conceit could have felt forced or flat if done wrong. But Paulus did it right. She integrated the tricks beautifully so that the actors were part of the action, even when they were kind of faking it. And yet she still managed to coax vibrant performances from them." Sure, but many critics say they prefer Warchus' work on Matilda; as Peter Marks snappily puts it, "Matilda is an achievement, Pippin a mere spectacle." And Jesse Green quips, "Perhaps the category should be 'Best Distraction from a Musical.' " David Barbour tries to put Paulus' work in perspective: "Let's face it–Pippin was not a likely or easy prospect for revival. (A London staging last year got some of the worst reviews I've ever seen.) It's not a great musical, but Paulus found a way to make it work for audiences in 2013; that's not a small achievement." That, plus Paulus not taking the directing trophy for her otherwise Tony-bedecked productions of Hair and Porgy and Bess, make her the favorite.
Nominees Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On; Peter Darling, Matilda; Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots; Chet Walker, Pippin
Will Win: Chet Walker
Should Win: Peter DarlingCritics agree that Walker, a dancer from the original Bob Fosse company of Pippin who partly recreated some of Fosse's work for the revival, will take home the win, but most fault the nominating committee for not including Gypsy Snider, the show's acrobatics/circus choreographer, alongside him. Many favor Darling's Matilda dances, and think they may even pull an upset; David Finkle calls Darling's work "awe-inspiring," and Frank Scheck points out that "it isn't easy to make kids look like great dancers." Some critics would cast their vote for Mitchell's Boots work, while still others credit Blankenbuehler for "the most original dance sequences all year." Hmm, that sounds like a more competitive race than it may appear. Which, if we're lucky, just might sum up the 2013 Tonys.
This Is Not Our Youth Anymore
I was just kvetching to someone yesterday about how Kenneth Lonergan's 1996 watershed This Is Our Youth is almost never revived (a subject I covered at more length for Isaac last year), and today she sent me this postcard:
Of course I'll be out of town, wouldn't you know?
God, Tonys, and the Jungle
Apologies for light posting lately, but I hope I can compensate with a few tidbits. I recently had the pleasure of looking back over the theater season with Kerry Weber, culture editor at America magazine, for their weekly podcast. I think I rambled on a bit, but I do feel like things get interesting in re: The Testament of Mary (roughly at the 12-minute mark). America is a Jesuit-run magazine, and one thing I recall fondly about going to a Jesuit high school was that it really was animated by a spirit of inquiry; I felt that anything was open for discussion, even God and spirituality should the subjects come up, and not for mere obeisance in an anodyne or dutifully orthodox way; these were up for debate in a robust, thoroughgoing way. When we read Cat's Cradle or Grendel, to give just two examples that come to mind, I felt like we were able to give those books' challenges to religion and heroism full due because we could talk about religion at all, and a full spectrum of views, including that of the unapologetically faithful, were represented. A number of my classmates there were atheists, and not a few were Jews; and I'm sure I'm overrating or idealizing what felt to me at the time like a bracing free flow of ideas, but that's exactly how it felt. As I wrote in my piece about Mary, it raised in me a confident faith that essentially said: God's got this, so how is a little doubt and argument going to hurt? I feel that same spirit of inquiry, of being open to the world in all its challenges and complexity, at America, and it's gratifying to continue that thread of my life, and to write about theater there with spirituality as a given, a lens--and as a theme that can be broached and fully engaged, but must never be merely genuflected to.
Another strong thread, at least in more recent years, has been StageGrade, the review-reviewing site I founded with Isaac Butler years ago. Isaac is no longer involved and in fact Davenport Theatrical now owns it, but that hasn't slowed its momentum. Each year we survey critics for their Tony predictions, and this year's survey has the highest number of critics participating, with some surprising and unsurprisingly readable results here. An excerpt:
Finally, blogging will be light in the coming week because I'm headed to cover Mary Zimmerman and Goodman Theater's take on a touchstone work of my childhood, seen at the top.
Trust in me; there will be more to report.
Posted by Rob Weinert-Kendt at 9:03 AM 0 comments
Fresh Dirt
From this space, four years ago today, I hailed Rocco Landesman's ascent to the helm of the NEA with an anecdote from playwright Oliver Mayer, who used to work in Rocco's office and described it as a colorful place. Over to Oliver:
Jujamcyn Theatres was the bastard child of Broadway. We did M Butterfly, and that changed everything. We did Carrie the Musical, and oh, it was bad. They were so much fun to be with, because Rocco is an inveterate gambler—horses, particularly, and he would have his bookies come in. There was a guy who came in called Mr. Dirt.
Funny thing: If you Google "mr. dirt rocco landesman," you get this:
Posted by mr dirt on May 20, 2001 at 11:18:20:
congratulations Rocco Landesman long time
Ragozin-only user,for your nearly one million
and a quarter score on 5/5/o1.Looks like
"The Producers" isn't your only goldmine!
Looks like bookies can be e-bookies, too.
Rob Weinert-Kendt
is Editor-in-Chief of American Theatre magazine. He has written features and criticism for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Newsday, Village Voice, Time Out NY, The Guardian, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among others. He was the founding editor of Back Stage West.
Throwback Thursday: Rupert Everett & Richard E. Grant Dish and Declaim
photo by Gary Leonard As I mentioned last week , going through old copies of Back Stage West , the actor's trade I ran from 1993 to 2003...
Putting the "God" in Godot
How much does it matter how you say "Godot"? With Beckett, no detail is too small. As I've noted in this space before , the excellent 2000 ...
Throwback Thursday: Mrs. C and Mrs. G
photo by Gary Leonard I happened to have recently been going through old copies of Back Stage West , the actor's trade I ran from 1993 ...
A stylish photo for a stylin' duo. My last L.A.-based feature for the Times, at least for a while, is here.
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The Devil and Tom Walker


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Złotnica – mało wybitne wzniesienie w zachodniej grani Babiej Góry w Beskidzie Żywieckim. Znajduje się pomiędzy przełęczą Brona a Kościółkami. Przecięte jest wielkim rowem grzbietowy zwanym Izdebczyskami. Rów ten powstał w wyniku obrywu. Tak więc Zlotnica ma dwa grzbiety, pomiędzy którymi znajdują się Izdebczyska.

Partie szczytowe Złotnicy porasta kosodrzewina oraz karłowaty las świerkowy znajdujący się tutaj na górnej granicy swojego zasięgu pionowego. Orograficznie lewym grzbietem Złotnicy prowadzą 3 znakowane szlaki turystyczne oraz nieznakowana ścieżka edukacyjna "Babia Góra bez granic". W prawym grzbiecie, na północnych stokach Złotnicy znajduje się Biwak Zapałowicza i wypływa z nich Marków Potok.

Szlaki turystyczne
   Żywieckie Rozstaje – Mała Babia Góra – przełęcz Brona – Kościółki – Lodowa Przełęcz – Pośredni Grzbiet – Diablak
  przełęcz Krowiarki – Sokolica – Diablak – Kościółki – przełęcz Brona – Markowe Szczawiny

Przypisy

Babia Góra

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Core & shell office open space for rent panoramic view, parking + 120sqm terrace. ---------------------------- Core & shell bureau open space à louer avec une vue panoramique, parking + 120m2 terrasse. ---------------------------- مكتب جديد مساحة مفتوحة للأيجار مع منظر بانوراما، موقف + 120م.م. تراس.
Core & shell office open space for rent panoramic view, parking + 120sqm terrace.


Upon arriving at the Lighthouse Court Hotel, we found the grounds of the property to be immaculate. The staff was extremely pleasant and went out of their way to to accommodate us. The room was clean and the amenities were excellent. The location is central to almost anything you could ever want to do or explore in Key West. My wife and I are planning to return to Key West and we would definitely stay at the Lighthouse Court Hotel. For the price and services, this has to be the best value in Key West.


Entrance Hall and Shaped Inner Hall, Drawing Room with vaulted ceiling and full-height glazed window to front elevation, Kitchen/Dining Room, Utility Room, Study/Bedroom 4, Master Bedroom Suite with En-suite Shower Room and Fitted Wardrobes, 2 further Bedrooms, well- appointed Bath/Shower Room. Car Port and Garage.
Marnhull is one of the largest villages in England and has a thriving community life with a primary school, three churches, an inn and doctors'surgery and dispensary. There are numerous clubs and societies which are based in the village and the nearby town of Sturminster Newton also boasts an active Community Centre providing a range of cultural and educational facilities. Marnhull is celebrated in Thomas Hardy�s Tess of the D�Urbevilles as Marlot and the views from Barns Brow will leave you in no doubt as to why the Blackmore Vale was so close to his heart.
Communication: There is a mainline train service to London Waterloo and the West Country approximately 6 miles away in Gillingham. London can be reached by car via the A303/M3 link. There are also good road links to the larger conurbations of Poole, Bournemouth and the Jurassic coastline. The county towns of Sherborne, Blandford, Shaftesbury and Gillingham are within easy driving distance.
Surrounded by glorious countryside, walking and riding are high on the agenda for some, whilst there are golf courses at Sherborne, Tollard Royal and Blandford. Numerous clubs and societies are available within the village and surrounding area with all tastes being catered for.
This impressive Barn conversion has Marnhull stone elevations under a slate roof. The conversion was carried out to exacting standards in 2008 by a local builder for his own occupation and enjoys full Buildmark Insurance Cover with 17 months still remaining. The Drawing Room affords glorious views over the landscaped gardens to the front and the surrounding countryside. It has a vaulted ceiling, with exposed oak beam-work, floor-to-ceiling glazed panelling to the front elevation and a wood-burning stove, with Marnhull stone inset and flagstone hearth. All external windows are of hardwood construction and quality fittings have been used in the Family Bath and Shower Room and En-suite Shower Room to the Master Bedroom Suite. The impressive Kitchen/Breakfast/Dining Room is well fitted and here again enjoys a vaulted ceiling, together with an extensive range of hand-made units. There is ample storage throughout the property, with Coat Cupboard in the Inner Hall, Airing Cupboard and Storage Cupboard: the Loft Space is also boarded out for storage. Outside, there is an extensive gravelled driveway, a large Carport and Garage. The gardens have been landscaped, with those to the front of the property affording glorious views of the surrounding countryside. To the rear of the property is a Courtyard Garden that has been well planted and to one end has a neat Terraced Area, accessed from the Dining Area of the Kitchen � perfect for enjoying a quiet moment at the end of the day or for alfresco dining.
The original barn was part of a working farmyard and the farmhouse and other more modern farm buildings still remain.
Stunning, Stylish and Immaculately presented 4 Bedroom Detached Single Storey Barn Conversion located in a sought after village and offering far reaching rural views.
Drawing Room with vaulted ceiling, woodburning stove and doors to terrace and garden.
Vespoke fitted Kitchen with range style cooker and integrated appliances. Utility Room.
Dining Area with doors to the Terrace and Rear Garden.
Master Bedroom with Ensuite Shower Room and Fitted Wardrobes.
Guest Bedroom with Fitted Wardrobe and 2 further Bedrooms one of which is currently used as a Study.
Well appointed Family Bath and Shower Room.
Over sized Garage, Car Port and Separate good sized steel Storage Shed.
The whole set in Gardens and Grounds of approximately 0.26 acres. THIS IS A MUST VIEW PROPERTY.


Edo Period (1615-1868) Woodblock print from The Fifty-Three Pairs for the Tokaido Road. Woman Fishing a Cray Fish in Kanagawa by Toyokuni.
Edo Period (1615-1868) Woodblock print from The Fifty-Three Pairs for the Tokaido Road. a Woman in Arai by Toyokuni.
Edo Period (1615-1868) Woodblock print from The Fifty-Three Pairs for the Tokaido Road. Two Samurai and a Woman in Hodogaya by Kuniyoshi.
Edo Period (1615-1868) Woodblock print from The Fifty-Three Pairs for the Tokaido Road. Woman and Man w/ Stone in Fujisawa by Kuniyoshi.


Rooms arrangement living also ideas decorating small layout plans piano. of awesome room corner ideas decorate small table and home layout plans planner online decorating living corners trends images in rooms.
Decorating corners in living rooms home layout planner plans with fabulous design interior designs wall decorations corner decor room space fireplace decoration trends ideas stunning collection online exquisite shelves white finish wood pictures wonderful.


Here is a copy of the factory service manual used for rebuilding our automatic transmissions.
This manual covers the F3A21, F4A21, F4A22, F4A23, F4A33 (FWD 4G63 Turbo Auto), W4A32 (non-turbo AWD Auto), W4A33 (AWD 4G63 Turbo Auto).
This manual includes illustrated teardown and assembly instructions for the transmissions, along with valve body servicing, and transfer case teardown and assembly instructions (Pg. 279-292).
292 pages - 12MB -- use the link below to access.


Bexley South Post Office, post office, listed under "Post Offices" category, is located at 648 Forest Rd Bexley South NSW, 2207, Australia and can be reached by 0295873749 phone number. Bexley South Post Office has currently 0 reviews.
Browse all Post Offices in Bexley South NSW.


The following checklist is designed to help you file for your Social Security benefits. Please be aware that these guidelines can and do change and are not substitute to speaking directly with a Social Security representative.
VA provides an American flag to drape the casket of a veteran and to a person entitled to retired military pay. After the funeral service, the flag may be given to the next of kin or a close associate. VA also will issue a flag on behalf of a service member who was missing in action and later presumed dead. Flags are issued at VA regional offices, national cemeteries, and post offices. Contact one of our Mothe Funeral Directors for more information on obtaining a flag for a funeral service at 504-366-4343.


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IT News Dubai – Telecom and IT Solutions
Ransomware Attack Worldwide
vdsdubai 4 years ago No Comments
Ransomware Attack World Wide
Regarding Security Advisers, a worldwide ransomware harm is slowing, but it has recently hit thousands of computer systems in several hundred countries.But it has already hit thousands of personal computers in more than one hundred countries.ON, MAY 12, the Kaspersky Lab company listed about 45,000 ransomware attacks in 74 countries worldwide, with the major variety of targets.
Kaspersky Lab reported the attack was carried out by using ransomware dubbed WannaCry, which infected computers within a work by cyber attackers to extort money.
There have been no new WannaCry ransomware attacks up to now. However the risk still remains, the United Kingdom National Crime Agency said Monday.Since Friday, 200,000 personal computers across 150 countries were hit by the ransomware cyber attacks, according to the European Union-Firm for POLICE Cooperation (Europol).
Malicious software, called WannaCry, infected, among other institutions and organizations, the UK public health system NHS, the German state rail company Deutsche Bahn, the Russian Interior Ministry and banks.
The virus blocked computers with messages flashing on the screen demanding money to eliminate the restriction.
How to avoid Ended Up in a Bad Situation
The 'WannaCry' ransomware attack could have been prevented. Here's what businesses need to find out
The attack exposed major shortcomings in the approach of governments as well as businesses about the world to cyber security. And it shows just how limited our existing method of cyber security is when confronted with the widespread option of software exploits and the increasing prevalence of malicious actors online.
Britain's National Health Service was stricken hard because the cash-strapped hospital system didn't upgrade to the most recent variants of the windows operating system and using outdated system Microsoft long ago stopped supporting.
The malware's spread was slowed Friday partly because Microsoft took the rare step of offering a crisis patch to the old Windows XP systems and partly because a 22-year-old cybersecurity researcher who calls himself MalwareTech learned and activated what has been a "kill switch" buried in the malware code. Companies can't depend on these types of trends to constrain another attack.
Like so a lot of the malicious activity on the internet, the attack took benefit of known vulnerabilities.
Just what exactly can businesses do right now?
First, every business should examine what it does to safeguard against phishing disorders (i.e., e-mails from criminals with malware fastened, where clicking presents the hazard to the system). Caution and educating employees about these threats is actually a good notion – but a more effective tactic is to perform a "red team" type test by mailing fake phishing e-mails out to employees and experiencing how many people fall for them. Companies may then follow-up with better training after they've adequately diagnosed the scope of this vulnerability.
Second, as the WannaCry strike plainly shows, it's crucial for businesses to ensure they are indeed constantly updating their software and installing appropriate security patches. That does mean keeping current with the latest operating systems; in many cases, a patch might only use the most current system, leaving more old ones in circumstances of ever-worsening security limbo (as has been the circumstance with OR WINDOWS 7).
And the ransomware attack carries another important, related lesson: The patch that Microsoft had pushed out in March didn't have a huge red sign next to it having said that "URGENT Patch Needed To Prevent Against Devastating Ransomware Attack." The upgrade was offered silently without further explanation. Whatever the reason for this the actual fact remains that you may not know until it is too overdue whether a revised is a critical cyber security solution or whether it just provides some new feature or fixes an obscure insect in the program.
Every business (whether in the technology sector or not) should think about what its worst-case cyber event would appear to be and how that event would be handled. What corporate governance constructions would activate – and are there ways to raise problems directly to the CEO? Does the legal office have the right type of relationship with the IT people so the attorneys can understand what's happening? Companies should also consider – in advance – what their policy should be for notifying law enforcement. And, in the event of a ransomware episode, they should consider if they would heed the FBI's advice not to pay in every condition or would be prepared to use some other methodology if their business depended on it.
Planning for these scenarios and putting safety precautions in place may sound expensive and onerous. But as days gone by weekend shows, the price tag on not finding your way through them can be far higher. If you are in Dubai, you can contact one of the several IT Companies in Dubai. They will Help you secure your Data.
How To Stay Protected- Conclusion
Make sure Windows is updated with the latest security patches
Don't click on random links in your inbox or social media
Be wary of visiting sites with bad reputation
Confirm any strange message from friends before opening
Look out for phishing emails or websites that fake major brands (i.e. PayePal instead of Paypal)
Use an IT Support Company to Check Your Network Security
Office Network Security Tips
vdsdubai May 24, 2017
Microsoft Supports Open Source
Why You need a Firewall for office in Dubai
vdsdubai April 10, 2018
vdsdubai
Type of PBX/ PABX Systems in Dubai
Benefits of Avaya Call Center Solution
CCTV Security Systems in Dubai
IT News Dubai - Telecom and IT Solutions Copyright © 2021. All Rights Reserved@ VDS

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All Students living in Cornwall (except Duchy College Stoke Climsland students) must apply to Cornwall Council.
The Duchy College Stoke Climsland and Bicton College Bus Application Forms for 2019/20 will be available from 1st June 2019.
If your Household Income was below £31,000 for the 2017/2018 tax year, funding for the full cost of a bus pass is available.
Please make a separate application for funding, here.
Cornwall Council may accept applications for travel on their contract buses. Please call 0330 123 2523 and ask for Student Services.
If your Household Income was below £31,000 for the 2017/2018 tax year, funding towards travel may be available.
FIRST Monthly Tickets. Available from FIRST.
If your Household Income was below £31,000 for the 2017/2018 tax year, funding for the full cost of monthly tickets may be available.
If your Household Income was below £31,000 for the 2017/2018 tax year, a travel allowance of 20p per mile may be available.
*Please note this information is subject to review and change and dependent upon local government authority policy changes. We will endeavour to keep this information as up-to-date as possible. If you have any queries about specific details, please do get in touch.


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Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Farmer?
It's a bright afternoon in April. The Seattle sun is strong for once, unusually strong for this time of year. The birds swoop, the waves sparkle, and the scents waft from the food trucks outside my office. It's a glorious thing.
Except I'm at my desk. Yes, I just got back from walking a few blocks to get my tacos. But that only served as a tease, a glimpse of the summery season outside. Now I have to scarf these down and head to a meeting. As I proceed to do that, I can't help but daydream about a different life.
Now, I have a great job, full of benefits and just enough stress to be exciting. We not only work and think together here at Allrecipes, we eat and drink together as well. It's everything you want from an office job, if an office job is what you want.
But if you're like me, no matter how good the job, you've spent plenty of time at your desk, on a quick lunch, or commuting thinking about living at the beach. Or remotely in the mountains. Or on a farm. Am I right? We imagine the business we've started from home renting jet skis to tourists or guiding city folk down a river.
But for most of us, the farm holds a certain appeal. Even someone who's never been to one hears about "the farm" every day. "From farm to table," "fresh from the farm," and "organic farming" are terms we hear in ads and see on our food labels. And it sounds nice. We picture sun, fields, and fresh air combined with physical work that's soothing and satisfying.
OpeningShot-Oxbow_resized
I had the chance to spend a day at Oxbow Farm recently, and it was the serene scene we picture—at least, on the surface. I know now that's a testament to how well Oxbow does their business; keeping things green environmentally and financially is far from serene.
Watch the video to take a two-minute escape to Oxbow Farm with me, and read on for more on the journey of sustainable produce the from farm to your plate.
Oxbow Farm is about 45 mins east of Seattle, nestled in the flatlands of the lower Snoqualmie Valley and surrounded by other farms and forest. As I arrive, a tall guy wearing shorts and his hair in a bun greets me at my car door, offering a steaming cup of tea. Behind us, a woman pedals a bike down a dirt road, a Sharpie dropping out of her back pocket. She rings a bell on the handlebars and calls to two young girls in tall rubber boots working in a field; they smile and wave back. Ahh, I think; this is what it's like. It's just what we picture—dirty boots and bikes, birds, bees, and big smiles. True, it's only 7 a.m., but I'm on an alliterative roll.
Soon I'm introduced to Sarah Dublin, the farm's assistant manager. She takes us through the processing and packing stations in the barn, and outside past a kid's greenhouse and play area where summer camps and classes take place. Talk about a field trip!
FarmerSarah-Oxbow_resized
We continue on to a much larger greenhouse, where several people are tending to a large native plant nursery. Here, Oxbow is studying many aspects of native plant production, in partnership with the University of Idaho Center for Forest Nursery and Seedling Research. These education programs and the research partnership are both key pieces of the farm's business strategy.
As we continue our saunter toward another, more distant greenhouse, Sarah tells us how she became a farmer. When her two kids were young, she took an internship on Vashon Island. After a summer spent planting, weeding, and harvesting, she knew this was what she wanted to do.
Nowadays, she wakes around 4 a.m. at her home in Beacon Hill, just southeast of downtown Seattle. She gets the kids off to school, then drives 45 minutes east to Carnation, always trying to arrive before the field crew at 7 a.m. What?! Sarah and her family don't live nearby in a cute craftsman with their own garden and chickens out back, as I'd pictured a "farmer" living. She lives in an urban neighborhood, and after leaving the farm around 6 p.m., has a long drive home again every day. Who knew? She says confidently the long days are worth it to her to make this lifestyle possible.
Hours later, we're walking backwards down a rutted dirt road, our camera guy balancing gear on his shoulder as I steer him away from tripping hazards. We're interviewing Oxbow's farm manager, Adam McCurdy, and he sounds like a professional podcaster. He speaks eloquently about the holistic approach Oxbow takes to financial and environmental sustainability.
Farmer Adam
The 25-acre production farm "is the backbone of our organization" says Adam. "We grow certified organic vegetables…through methods that respect and nurture the health of the surrounding ecosystem." Oxbow employees and volunteers all help with ongoing restoration work around the fields and riverbeds, planting natives and removing invasive species. By doing this, a natural food chain within the animal world is maintained, and pests are taken care of naturally, eliminating the need for pesticides. As we're talking, tractors and trucks go rattle by, raking across the ground and delivering huge piles of compost to the fields.
TractorShot-Oxbow_resized
Though this is an idyllic scene, I'm exhausted—and it's only 2 p.m. I think about the farmers and field crew making little more than minimum wage who still have a full afternoon ahead of planting strawberries and picking snap peas one-by-one. The perfect weather we've had today doesn't escape me; I imagine the days when the sun is threatening to scorch the strawberries and the unexpected rain makes the fields a barely passable muddy mess.
It's been a satisfying day, but I'm looking forward to dinner and drinks around 6 p.m., not dusting off my Carhartts and starting a long drive home. I realize with a jolt that the proverbial saying rings clearer than ever to me today: The grass is always greener on the other side.
Oxbow produce is available to the public at local farmer's markets and restaurants, but better yet through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program (greater Seattle area only; find one near you on the US Department of Agriculture website). Joining a CSA gives you the opportunity to partner with a local farm, and that matters. It's also the best way for most of us to access organic produce, connect with the community, and keep dreaming at our desks.
Try these recipes, ideal for fresh, organic produce, inspired by Oxbow Farm:
Sugar Snap Pickled Peas
Spring Strawberry Soup
Garlic Scape Goat Cheese Dip
Read more about organic, locally grown produce in our farmers market guide, and visit Oxbow Farm's profile on Allrecipes.
It Matters Where Our Food Comes From. Here's Why
The 7 Weirdest Things to Love at the Farmers Market
How to Host a Super-Fresh Farmers Market Brunch


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Taoiseach defends private pension levy
Updated / Wednesday, 11 May 2011 23:06
Enda Kenny - Initiative will begin to bring confidence
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has defended the introduction of a private pension levy to pay for the Government's jobs initiative, saying it was a modest proposal.
Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Kenny said yesterday's announcement will not solve all our unemployment problems but will begin to bring confidence to the economy.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin criticised the levy being put on private pensions saying it is not credible to say that the removal of €1.8bn over four years will not have a negative impact.
Mr Martin said a similar move was made in Britain and had a disastrous impact.
He had also called on the Government to publish all documentation associated with yesterday's jobs' plans.
Mr Kenny said there was no secrecy surrounding the initiative.
Sinn Féin Gerry leader asked 'where are the jobs?' and said a more meaningful stimulus for job creation was needed.
Costs associated with the pensions industry is a matter that should be investigated, Mr Kenny said.
He said the charges imposed by fund managers could be reduced in line with levels in the UK and said he would refer the matter to the Minister for Finance.
He was responding to the Independent TD Shane Ross who said the pensions' industry was a goldmine and a gravy train for a large number of people who should be taxed.
Howlin defends jobs initiative
Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin defended the Government's jobs creation programme.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he described the package as focused and significant.
Mr Howlin said that the pension levy would be neither increased nor prolonged. He said tourism would benefit from the initiative.
He also said the ESRI's suggestion to cut spending and increase tax to eliminate the budget deficit by 2014 would be unsuitable.
Pension fund levy to pay for jobs initiative


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Ownership used the extra time to overhaul the lobby of West Mall 7, updating the interior with an entirely new ceiling, a fresh coat of paint and updated concessions, co-owner Todd Frager said Wednesday.
"We just decided to do some more updates," Frager said.
But the work isn't finished. West Mall 7 will open to customers with a new slate of feature films, but crews will continue to update the space, specifically installing all new carpeting.
"People are going to see some changes," Frager said. "And then they're going to continue to see some changes for a month."
Concession stand updates will inlcude new signage and lighting, but customers will still be able to find the same selection of snacks and beverages, Frager said.
West Mall leadership has no immediate plans to change the theater's pricing as a result of the repairs and remodeling.
"We always address our pricing like once a year, but this isn't changing anything now," he said.
There will be a "special event" in March once all construction is done, according to a post on the theater's Facebook page.
The lobby area received a fresh coat of paint and new lighting. Digital signs will be added soon, as well.
Movies showing Friday include:


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Library Trends 62 (1) Summer 2013: Community Informatics in China
Library Trends
Library Trends 62 (1) Summer 2013: Community Informatics in China. Edited by Kate Williams
The focus of this issue is on theory, method, and policy. Theory means useful ideas that explain causality, that explain why or how something happens. Method means research techniques to gather and analyze data that affirms or revises theory. Policy means practical proposals that are based on solid theory and method, proposals that governments and others can implement to foster information-age, digitally savvy communities that work better for the people who live in them. The articles in this issue are a sample of the latest work in, and relating to, community informatics, with particular emphasis on current challenges for local communities in China.
Library Trends (ISSN 0024-2594) is an essential tool for librarians and educators alike. Each issue thoroughly explores a current topic of interest in professional librarianship and includes practical applications, thorough analyses, and literature reviews. The journal is published quarterly for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science by The Johns Hopkins University Press. For subscription information, call 800-548-1784 (410-516-6987 outside the U.S. and Canada), email jlorder [at] jhupress.jhu.edu, or visit www.press.jhu.edu/journals.
Social Capital, Digital Inequality, and a "Glocal" Community Informatics Project in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Gansu Province
Yan, Hui; Zhou, Wenjie; Han, Shenglong (Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013)
This article examines a "glocal" community informatics project that is transforming villages in Western China. Funded and initiated by the U.S.-based Evergreen Education Foundation (EEF)—an organization that makes public ...
A Tale of Two Counties: How Two School Libraries in Rural Western China Serve Local Needs
Wei, Zhipeng; Jiang, Guodong; Niu, Tuowen; Zou, Tim; Dong, Elaine (Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013)
This report presents a case study of school library programs in two rural counties in Western China. Since 2002, the libraries of Tianzhu and Tongwei high schools have undertaken a series of outreach initiatives to ...
The Flow of Information as Empowerment and the Changing Social Networking Landscape in Rural China
Cheng, Chung-Tai (Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013)
The article explores the ways in which Chinese villagers adapt cell phone technology to their needs and desires in the context of rural urbanization. The first part of the article uses an example from two villages in ...
The Role of Information Technology in Academic Libraries' Resource Sharing in Western China
Ruan, Lian; Zhu, Qiang (Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013)
This essay examines the work of China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS), an academic library community that has established resource sharing in a network environment. More specifically, it examines CALIS's ...
Private Libraries in China: Their Diversity, Informatization, and Role as Public Spaces
Wang, Zizhou; Yin, Peili; Hanhua, Wu (Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013)
Private libraries in China—most of which were created by bottom-up processes, not top-down government mandates—offer a diversity of services to a range of constituencies. They offer individuals space for reading and ...


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Abe's vow to close gender gap forgotten as only 169 women stand in Japan polls
Dearth of female candidates mirrors prime minister's empty 'womenomics' pledge to put more women in office, say critics
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Thu 11 Dec 2014 12.27 EST Last modified on Wed 29 Nov 2017 22.21 EST
A woman passes election posters in Tokyo, with the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, bottom right. Only 12% of his party's candidates are women. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
After spending months promoting his campaign to raise the profile of women in the upper reaches of public and corporate life, Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, might have used this weekend's election to demonstrate that "womenomics" is finally laying siege to the patriarchal fortress of the country's politics.
Instead, Japan's gender gap has barely merited a mention in campaign speeches. And voters hoping to back a female candidate will struggle to find any in their constituency: of the 1,093 people running for office, only 169 – or 15% of the total – are women.
Two months ago, Abe was winning international praise for appointing a record-equalling five women in a cabinet reshuffle. But he will lead his Liberal Democratic party (LDP) into this Sunday's election with only 42 women, or under 12%, among the 352 candidates.
The Japanese Communist party has the highest ratio of female candidates, with 79 out of 315, followed by the main opposition Democratic party of Japan, with 29 among 189 people running for lower-house seats.
"This just goes to show that what Abe says and what he does are two different things," said Noriko Hama, an economics professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto. "Women who want to go into politics find it difficult to get nominated because they have to penetrate a particularly thick wall [of male chauvinism]."
Hama, who describes the dearth of women candidates as "shameful and damaging" to Japan's international credibility, was similarly scathing about womenomics – Abe's mission to fill 30% of senior public and private positions with women by the end of the decade.
"Womenomics isn't really about improving the overall position of women in Japanese society, but about mobilising an under-used resource for Abe's growth agenda," she said. "There's no genuine concern about the gender gap."
The project hasn't been without high-profile successes. This year Chie Shimpo became the first woman since the end of the second world war to head the banking arm of Nomura Holdings, Japan's biggest investment banking and brokerage group, and Hideko Kunii became the first woman to join the 13-member board of directors at Honda.
Abe says he wants to raise the number of women in the workforce and reduce the pay gap – women on average earn 70% of a man's salary for the same work (the figure is about 85% in Britain). He has also promised to create 400,000 new nursery school places within five years to encourage more women to go back to work. Currently, 70% of women leave permanent employment after having children. Many settle for work in the low-pay, part-time economy that has flourished in post-bubble Japan.
Campaigners accuse him of paying lip service to female empowerment. "The real issue is discrimination throughout the workforce, especially wage disparities, not how to promote a few women at the top so that they can be as successful as men," said Yuki Kusano, of the Japan Women's and Human Rights Network.
Japan performs poorly in international gender equality comparisons. In the World Economic Forum's 2013 global gender gap index, it ranked 105th out of 136 countries. At 63%, Japan's female participation rate in the labour force, compared with 85% for men, is one of the lowest among the 34 leading economies of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
In his rush to go to the polls to secure a fresh mandate for his economic policy, Abe appears to have put female empowerment to one side: the dissolution of parliament meant MPs had to abandon a bill mandating big companies to set numerical targets for the employment and promotion of women.
Japan's centre-left Democratic party planned to introduce quotas for female candidates ahead of the next general election, which was not scheduled until 2016. The election has come too early for all-female candidate lists.
It was not long ago that Hillary Clinton publicly praised Abe for appointing five women to his cabinet, although two quickly resigned over alleged funding and campaigning irregularities.
Clinton told him: "I'm very impressed with the comprehensive approach you are taking, not only providing more services like child care and home care positions that will enable more women to go into the workforce, but also leading by example – increasing the number of women in your cabinet and your party. All of that is important because it sends the right signal."
Yet Abe has barely dented Japan's male-dominated corporate and political cultures during his first two years in office. By the last count, there were 39 women in Japan's powerful lower house of parliament, or 8% of the 480 seats in the National Diet, putting it in 129th place in a global survey of 189 countries by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
And just as Abe uses public forums to push his vision of a Japan "in which women can shine", his LDP colleagues offer reminders of the party's regressive tendencies.
At the weekend, the gaffe-prone finance minister, Taro Aso, said: "Many people have created the image that the elderly are the main cause [of growing social welfare costs in Japan's aging society," he said. "But the problem is [people] who refuse to give birth."
To Kusano, Aso's outburst was all too predictable. "Womenomics is nothing more than a performance," she said. "The image Japan is trying to project to the outside world bears no relation to reality. The women who live here know that it is all a lie."
• The headline and second paragraph of this article were amended on Thursday 11 December 2014 to give the correct number of women standing in the Japanese election.
Shinzō Abe
Women in the boardroom
Shinzo Abe sets sights on Japan's pacifist constitution after election win
Prime minister angers China by restating his party's goal of removing provisions that limit military to self-defence role
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe tightens grip on power with election victory
Liberal Democratic party has won comfortable majority in general election – albeit on low turnout
Ten things Japanese people are worrying about before the snap election
We asked our readers to tell us the mood in Japan before Sunday's snap election called by prime minister Shinzo Abe
What's the mood in Japan ahead of the election?
Shinzo Abe has called a snap election for 12th December. Live in Japan? Planning to vote? Let us know your thoughts and tell us the mood in the country
Shinzo Abe dissolves Japan's lower house of parliament in advance of poll
The Guardian view on Shinzo Abe's re-election: it paid off, but it was no ringing endorsement
Abe defends Japan's secrets law that could jail whistleblowers for 10 years
Japan calls snap election


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The Married Couple Making the World's Finest Sex Dolls
People shaking up their fields, old dogs doing new tricks, and those who like to bring the ruckus.
1. The Sinthetics factory
SourceSavannah Fortis
Because you're never too old to play with dolls.
By Eric Czuleger
The Daily Dose JUL 17 2017
Entering the 9,000-square-foot warehouse, I'm greeted by a collection of silicone bodies suspended from the ceiling by chains. It could easily be the setting for a horror movie — except that the dolls' creators, Matt Krivicke and his wife, Bronwen Keller, are artists who treat them like anatomically perfect canvasses to be painted and then enjoyed (passionately) by their clients. Airbrushing nipples and hair-punching eyebrows is just another day at the office for the husband-and-wife team.
"People said we should make her a MILF, but honestly, I couldn't think of anything more boring," says Krivicke, 46, as he hands me the head of a silicone mannequin made to resemble a middle-aged woman. I may be standing in an East L.A. warehouse surrounded by disembodied breasts, but I'm mesmerized by the hand-painted laugh lines framing her mouth, and her glass eyes, which are indistinguishable from the real thing. "She looks back at you, doesn't she?" he asks, knowing the answer.
Matt Krivicke and Bronwen Keller, artists and founders of Sinthetics
Source Savannah Fortis
"We started writing a story around her, and now all of the mannequins are a part of it. They're more than toys to us," Krivicke says, with an arm slung around the shoulder of a male mannequin. "The minute it stops being interesting and challenging, I'm out of the business," he insists, leaning in to examine the stubble on the mannequin's chin.
Sinthetics, which Krivicke and Keller started on Valentine's Day 2011, is the world's top-of-the-line artisanal sex doll manufacturer because the founders' goal is to create not only a sex doll but an object of affection. "Anyone can go on a website and buy a $200 piece of latex that will 'satisfy' them," says longtime friend and virtual reality experience developer Greg Edwards. "Sinthetics makes art that can affect their customers emotionally."
Much like a sex surrogate, 'love dolls' give the customer a feeling of privacy, safety and security.
Hudsy Hawn, educator at Stockroom University
The process starts with a conversation between Keller and a potential client. The 42-year-old neon redhead moved to the States from her native South Africa to pursue art school. Since then, she's worked as an interior designer and a textbook editor — and now as a curator of love dolls. She met Krivicke in 2005 at a Burning Man party. Back then, he was a commercial sculptor specializing in toys and Halloween masks. They kissed at midnight and have been a couple ever since.
"The most interesting thing to me is the psychology," she says. "[We're] trying to find something [the client] can have an actual connection with." From that conversation, she develops a profile of the perfect companion for their client. Then, Krivicke, together with two other artists, will spend four to eight months molding, designing and hand-painting the mannequin to the customer's exact specifications — from eye color and facial expression to the size of, well, everything. The dolls can be male, female or transgender, and they can be modified to look like vampires, angels or aliens.
There was a time not long ago when sex-toy manufacturers operated under the radar — their products considered too taboo to be mainstream. But in 2016, the industry passed the $15 billion point, according to adult-entertainment industry news source Xbiz, with Forbes projecting it'll hit $50 billion by 2020. Sinthetics has been in the business of making clients' fantasies come true for years, but in the face of a booming market, their $6,400 starting price tag often sends customers shopping elsewhere. More players means lower price points, and small manufacturers like Sinthetics are finding it hard to stay competitive against overseas operations selling dolls for hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars. "The only way we can compete is by making a better product," Keller says.
Inside the Sinthetics factory
Sinthetics may peddle fantasy fulfillment, but logistically, making the most lifelike sex doll is anything but. Krivicke and Keller live in an apartment above the warehouse, and they are chronically understaffed due to the difficulty of finding qualified painters — which means working around the clock to stay on top of the 16 dolls in production at any given time. Lately, however, they've found market share in an unexpected place.
"The trans community is keeping us alive right now," Krivicke says, gesturing to a wall of penises behind me. While the business is predicated on full dolls, the various body parts are made to be interchangeable or used separately. When Sinthetics entered the market, a client in the trans community saw a penis Krivicke had created and asked that one be specially crafted to work with their body. Not only did the piece have the feel of the real thing, but Sinthetics customized it to the client's specifications, even matching the proper skin tone.
A Sinthetics doll in the making
"They said they felt whole for the first time while wearing our piece," Krivicke says. He and Keller agree that their relationship with their clients is what separates them from bigger manufacturers like RealDoll and Mechadoll. It's also what keeps them in the business.
Keller mentions a disabled customer who purchased a doll for company after it became impossible to leave the house. This is more common than not, according to Hudsy Hawn, who runs adult education at Stockroom University. "Much like a sex surrogate, 'love dolls' give the customer a feeling of privacy, safety and security," she says. And as technology has made the world more solitary for many, love dolls can offer more than sex.
Krivicke and Keller say they plan to continue creating the highest-quality product for their clients while challenging themselves artistically, betting that, as new competitors enter the field, there will always be customers who love their work. "You have to find beauty in imperfection," Krivicke says as he takes the mannequin head back from me.
Eric Czuleger, OZY AuthorContact Eric Czuleger
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More from Provocateurs


text:
Gregory Prechel received his composition and orchestration training at California State University Long Beach, and also studied privately with Hollywood composer/orchestrator Albert Harris and award-winning TV/film composer Alf Clausen. He began his musical career as a trumpeter, going on to become a freelance composer, arranger, and orchestrator in the Los Angeles area.
He has composed, conducted, arranged, and/or orchestrated for several television shows including "The Simpsons," "NBA All Star Game," "Futurama," "King Of The Hill," and "American Idol." Gregory is currently composer and music director for a new children's series, "Mack & Moxy," that is premiering on PBS this fall (2016).
His compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have appeared in many feature films including Disney's "Air Bud" and "Air Buddies" franchises, Miramax's "Scary Movie" franchise, "Chestnut: Hero of Central Park," Disney's "Lion king 1.5," and "Mickey's Philharmagic." He has composed unique original score for documentaries, including the film "Monganga" (set in the Congo), using authentic African instruments with symphonic orchestra.
Mr. Prechel has also composed, arranged and/or orchestrated many years for Walt Disney Company Theme Parks, working on numerous films, DVD's, shows, and parades, including arrangements for Christina Aguilera and LeAnn Rimes.
He also has been commissioned to compose, arrange, and/or orchestrate over one hundred orchestral works for symphony orchestra. These works are being performed regularly by major symphonies throughout the United States and internationally, including the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Houston Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and many others.
Premiering early in 2009, The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, under the music direction of Randall Craig Fleischer, commissioned Mr. Prechel to compose a "classical series" original twenty-five minute multi-movement work entitled "Impressions at the Butler Institute of American Art," inspired by the permanent collection at the Butler Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2010, Gregory was again commissioned to compose a twenty-five minute multi-movement work, this time for the Anchorage SymphonyOrchestra.


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Consumer Durables and Information Technology
Panasonic targets $2 billion revenue from smartphone by 2018
Panasonic is targeting almost $2 billion (Rs 13,200 crore) in revenue from smartphones by 2018 as it makes a comeback in the business globally.
Writankar Mukherjee
KOLKATA: Panasonic is targeting almost $2 billion (Rs 13,200 crore) in revenue from smartphones by 2018 as it makes a comeback in the business globally, with India as the key sales driver.
The Japanese electronics maker's optimism stems from the initial success it tasted in the country and the recent decision to make India its base for expanding business in south Asia and India, Middle East and Africa, Panasonic India MD Manish Sharma said.
The company expects local sales to increase more than three-fold by 2018 and account for about half its smartphone revenue target. It plans to start assembling smartphones in India through contract manufacturing in three-four months and later expand into full-fledged manufacturing, Sharma said.
Panasonic wants to emulate rival Samsung Electronics, which had more than 70% of its business in India from mobile phones. Panasonic India's smartphone business was Rs 1,800 crore, while the television and home appliances segment was the largest at Rs 4,000 crore in 2014-15. Annual revenue grew 20 per cent. "The mobile phone market is three times that of consumer electronics and will be the main growth-driver for Panasonic in India and other emerging markets," said Sharma.
"Panasonic's smartphone range will be expanded, will be feature driven and around 15 per cent lower-priced than topline competitive brands." Panasonic had exited the smartphone business globally three years ago as part of a strategy to turn around the company. It continued to sell feature phones in Japan and some industrycustomised handsets for professional users and subsequently, entered the Indian smartphone market in 2013 to accelerate growth.
The company recently launched smartphones in Sri Lanka and Nepal and will enter Dubai, Iran and Saudi Arabia next week and South Africa next month.
In India, Panasonic has garnered a 3 per cent-value share of the smartphone market and is targeting to treble it by next year-end to be among the top four brands.
Indian market
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