When we approached Steelehouse about being a part of Animation Career Review's interview series, they immediately pointed us toward Eric Lee, their Lead Animator. And now I understand why. Animation is in Eric Lee's blood.
When Eric was in just the 7th grade he became a finalist in the Blockbuster World Game Championship, and that was just the beginning. Following his love of entertainment he joined the business after receiving his degree in Broadcast Design.
8 years ago Eric joined with Steelehouse and with his mulch-disciplined animation skills he now leads their animators and puppeteers—which I suppose makes him a master puppeteer...and one helluva animator.
Depending on the perspective you would prefer I would direct most of these questions towards our lead animator, Eric Lee, who is a master of many animation disciplines and has been with us from the beginning. Should you want to compliment that with a Producer's perspective I would be happy to answer any questions as well.
Steelehouse focuses primarily on short-form animation, including music videos, commercials, webisodes, etc., as well as internal IP development for various animated properties. We go where the work is!
Steelehouse :) But seriously, animation is still in its infancy as an industry and I'm not sure I can pinpoint any area that doesn't have huge potential for continued growth. One aspect of animation in which I think there will be a continued demand and exploration is interactivity. Interactivity is starting to pry into all sorts of areas including TV, movies, comics, applications, and games of course, all which require extensive animation in order to be effective.
Animation is a blast to be involved in as it is an extremely creative art form with an ever increasing toolbox/palette. It is always exciting to watch your art/characters/emotions spring to life, and it can be a very rewarding experience. The worst part is that it is often a tedious and time-consuming process.
We produced a 9 episode web series for Hasbro's GI Joe on a very limited schedule/budget. It was a good opportunity to stretch our muscles on a larger project over a longer period of time than we are used to.
We are looking for people who are artists, first and foremost, and have the ability to execute projects with passion, precision and a good degree of efficiency. We look for people who can not only handle criticism, but interpret criticism in a way that will bring about creative solutions. We need people who are a master at their craft, yet can also serve in a number of related capacities as needs arise. We want people who can work well on a team, and are always learning.
We have recently taken many interns from Oklahoma State University. For animation, we are constantly impressed with the level of talent coming out of the online school Animation Mentor, and have even hired a couple from there.
Draw all the time! Specifically draw with motion in mind. Study pantomime actors and dance for strong posing. Animate whenever possible. If you are starved for inspiration/motivation, force yourself to get involved in 11secondclub.com.
The most challenging projects were often the most exciting. They were projects which we took on unsure of how we would eventually execute them. These were an opportunity to learn/grow. If I'm being completely honest, some of the most challenging work can also be very frustrating, like if the project involves clients who have a hard time communicating their needs. Learning to communicate the process and end results in terms others can understand is an important obstacle to overcome in animation.
I was mostly self-taught. I have a very motivated, DIY personality when it comes to art. Much of my education came from purchasing books on animation (and animation software) and just going through it. Nowadays, tutorial videos are all over YouTube, and places like DigitalTutors.com offer video training at very affordable prices. I was also fortunate to land several great internships during high school and college. One had me working on a direct-to-video children's 3D animated feature, and another had me helping out on a AAA video game title. My formal education was a Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design for Video. My education continues everyday as I tackle projects which challenge my knowledge and abilities.
We use Maya for 3D animation, Cinema 4D for 3D motion graphics, Zbrush for modeling, Flash for 2D animation, After Effects for compositing/effects/motion graphics, and Photoshop for everything in between. While I would recommend people to learn every piece of software, I believe a great place to start and focus is in the open-source arena. Great work is being done all the time on free, open-source software! Especially look into Blender (for 3D) and Gimp (2D graphics/animation). While software knowledge is good, what is more important to animation is the art/technique/execution of an idea by whatever tools are at your disposal.
It is always exciting when you get to work with a truly creative client. When we were approached by The David Crowder Band to animate a music video for their single, Forever, we were given an enormous amount of creative control. The main guidelines were that it be a Speed Racer style story about an army of militant squirrels doing battle with the band. Those sorts of projects are a blast to work on and get me excited about what our team can bring to the table.
The demand for animators is increasing daily. With more and more forms of media incorporating animation and interactivity, animation is being found everywhere. As a result, quality animators are in demand. On the other hand, animation-software and capabilities are becoming easier to come by, creating a larger number of people looking to get into the animation industry, so it is always important to learn principles/technique over software/tech in order to maintain an edge of quality over the competition.


Our Campaign for Los Angeles City Council District 13 is a grassroots, people powered campaign. Our platform upholds the Four Pillars of Justice: Social, Racial, Economic and Environmental.
We believe in bringing the power back to the people, of activating the voices of local residents to bring transformative justice to Los Angeles. We achieve this work when we band together, dedicating ourselves to a system which works of, by and for The People.
Learn more about the specific issues by clicking on one of the four pillars listed below.


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A Tribute To San Francisco's Amazing AM!
KFRC All-Time Roster (1966-1986)
KFRC Airchecks
KFRC Music Surveys
KFRC True Stories and Tall Tales
Tag: kfrc
"Your Duke" Dave Sholin
Posted by BossRadioDJ on January 21, 2016
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Dr. Don Rose
Posted by BossRadioDJ on January 5, 2016
As difficult as it may be to believe, Dr. Don Rose was not a licensed medical doctor.
"I studied medicine in Cairo," he explained to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1975, "I'm a chiropractor."
Get it? If not, read the quote again. Slowly.
With his constant barrage of double entendres, wacky sound effects and a cornball cast of characters that included a drunk, a dog and a leering cow, Dr. Don — born Donald Duane Rosenberg, a proud native son of North Platte, Neb., in the heart of corn country — would appear to have been a poor fit for the sophisticated San Francisco listener. Instead, he attracted a large and fiercely loyal morning audience unmatched since the days of the homegrown king of Bay Area radio, Don Sherwood.
Although he got his first taste of broadcasting at age 15 (reporting on his trip to the Boy Scout National Jamboree in Valley Forge, Penn., for KODY in North Platte), Dr. Don Rose began his professional radio career in 1955 at KWBE in tiny Beatrice, Neb., while majoring in accounting at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He moved to KLMN/Lincoln shortly thereafter, and then was hired by KOIL/Omaha, a job that appeared to be so promising that he quit school in the midst of his senior year. He was fired by the station four weeks later.
(Despite his short tenure at KOIL, it was here that a creatively thinking program director, Chick Crabtree, shortened "Rosenberg" to "Rose" and adapted the disc jockey's initials, D.R., to create his doctoral persona.)
His next job, at KTSA/San Antonio, also lasted only four weeks. Returning to Nebraska, he held an announcing position at KRNY/Kearney for about fifteen months before being pink-slipped again. His next employer, the Union Pacific Railroad, offered only manual labor — pounding spikes into the railbed — but he continued to pursue work in radio, and finally landed a job at KTUL/Tulsa.
His next stop in radio's minor leagues took him to historic KWMT/Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he first spiced up his corny one-liners with cowbells and other barnyard sounds. His stay in Fort Dodge wasn't lengthy, but it did bring him a wife, Kae, to whom he remained married for the next 45 years of his life.
From Iowa it was on to WEBC/Duluth, Minn., followed by his first taste of big-market success, as morning host at WQXI/Atlanta ("Quixie In Dixie"), his fame made ever-lasting by his inclusion as the 1967 entry in the popular series of "Cruisin'" LP records. Originally hired for the nine-to-noon slot, he was shifted to morning drive shortly after his arrival, and soon became the number one deejay in town.
Dr. Don moved on from Atlanta in 1968 to even greater acclaim as the morning star at WFIL/Philadelphia, once again hosting the top-rated morning show in town. In October 1972, he suffered a heart attack that kept him off the air until June 1973; the botched heart surgery that followed the attack would bring him continual pain through the rest of his life. Despite his poor health, he was named Disc Jockey of the Year for 1973 by Billboard.
While at the Billboard convention to receive his award, Dr. Don encountered RKO Radio programming chief Paul Drew. Within weeks, Rose had packed up his wife, kids and cowbell and headed for KFRC in San Francisco as the Big 610's new morning man in October 1973. He remained at the station until 1986 — through the end of its days as a Top 40 station and its transition to the nostalgic "Magic 61" in August of that year — building a large and devoted following that could hardly consider waking up any other way than with Dr. Donald D. Rose.
His departure from KFRC was followed by a short stint at KKIS/Concord-Walnut Creek beginning in 1987, where his son, Jay, was chief engineer. (For audio from Dr. Don's first day on KKIS, scroll to the bottom of this page.) After a failed attempt at buying the station, Dr. Don moved to mornings at K101/San Francisco; four months later, he suffered a heart attack while on the air. He never returned to broadcasting on a fulltime basis.
Continually beset by medical problems throughout the latter part of his life, Dr. Don required eleven surgeries to his knee as the result of his failed 1972 surgery; he ventured to the religious shrine at Lourdes in 1978 in search of a cure, and believed that his afflicted leg had begun to heal. However, he stumbled over a log while on a camping trip in 1984 and broke the leg, which led to its amputation.
Dr. Don had battled pneumonia for several months before he died on March 30, 2005, at his home in Concord. He was 70.
In recognition of his contributions to local radio, Dr. Don Rose was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the first class to be enshrined.
Dr. Don Rose On The Air:
Doctor Don's second show at The Big 610 (October 16, 1973; 8 minutes):
http://s321192829.onlinehome.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/KFRC_DDR_1973-10-16.mp3
This article was written by David F. Jackson, and was originally published on the Bay Area Radio Museum website.
Don Sainte-Johnn
Those were good times — even though we bitched from dusk to dawn, telling management the opposite was true. Of course, then, we did not know how good we really had it. Wasn't it William Bell who said you don't miss your water until your well runs dry?
The times? They were good, great, fantastic — at times — even orgasmic! We did not have iPods, MP3s, DVDs, DVRs, PVRs, PDAs, PCs, SatRad, online radio, cell phone radio, TiVo, Satellite TVs, 500+ channels, or other New Media marvels. KFRC was top banana! The head-on competition was great: KYA, KSOL, KSFX, K101, KDIA, KLOK, LIVE 105, KMEL (with the two humps).
The talent was of the Top Gun-variety, including, but not limited to Rick Shaw, Sue Hall, Chuck Buell, Bobby Ocean, Mucho Morales, Dr. Don Rose, Dave Sholin, John Mack Flanagan, Beverly Foxx, Jack Armstrong, Bill Lee, Big Tom Parker, Mark McKay and numerous others.
KFRC management would seek out the talent; they would — in the words of Bush 2 — hunt you down, offer the job to those who fit the mold, those who had kept their noses clean, those who had that "RKO Sound" (whatever that was), while most other stations would wait for the DJ to approach them for a job.
Also, there was bias towards hiring former program directors, talent that knew the inner-workings of the radio business, talent that often times did not require heavy maintenance; however, there were a few exceptions — those rebels who made the General Manager sweat bullets.
Most of us cut our teeth — doin' the PD thing — in small-to-medium markets. Personally, the PD bug bit me in St. Louis (KWK Radio) and San Diego (Rock 95), where I worked before coming in for the landing at The Big 6-10.
The pay was top-shelf dollars, with actual performance bonuses, phat talent fees and contracts to boot. The company took an affront to talent leaving, as was the case when I threatened to bail, after an L.A. station pursued me for the second time within a year. The company's top brass moved in to squelch that notion, bringing mo money, and I quickly came to my senses — that's right, green money is spoken here! BTW, while working (playing) at 6-10, we were given the company-preferred discount when purchasing General Tires (the station was owned by RKO-General). Wow!
Thought I'd never be able to admit it, however, the time does seem appropriate and the statute of limitations had surely been exhausted by now. I, Don Sainte-Johnn, once made an on-air "boo-boo" while working at RKO's KFRC in San Francisco! During the mid-70's — when the incomparable Doctor Don still ruled the airwaves — there was a Bay Area sponsor called Shirtique [Pronounced: (1) shirt-ah-Q, (2) shirt-teek]. The name isn't terribly important, but it is connective to the story.
The closing line for the spot was "get your shirt together!" — which proved to be nightmarish for me one late Saturday night and early Sunday morning at approximately 1:50-ish. After doing two shifts in the same day — an event that was unheard of at the time — I managed to give in to over-exhaustion and replace the "shirt" in the tag line with "sh*t." It was the most embarrassing moment in my career, up until that moment.
As fate would have it, I did have an ENGINEER-board operator who was America's #1 prankster, Sir Kent Hedberg, and who somehow managed to incidentally, and quite innocently, I should add, roll tape of the show as I announced to North America: "GET YOUR SH*T TOGETHER!" The tape has surfaced at many Christmas parties and proved to be a thorn in my side for years.
(Doctor: Now that I have done this on-the-couch thing, I feel much better.)
Don Sainte-Johnn was elected into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2010.
The Big 610 On Facebook
A Brief History Of KFRC Program Directors (1966-1986)
John Mack Flanagan
KFRC People
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Bob Corritore Found Friends On 'The Other Side Of The Tracks'
As one of the top blues harmonica players in the world, Chicago area native Bob Corritore travels the world playing the music he learned to love as a teenager growing up in Wilmette. Now living in Phoenix, Corritore also owns "The Rhythm Room," a club specializing in blues and roots music. Corritore also has a regular blues show on a Phoenix radio station, and is an enthusiastic blues ambassador and historian. On this edition of GLT's Talkin' Blues, Corritore talks to Jon Norton about hearing the blues as a teen.
He also talks about the valuable lessons he learned by visiting his favorite blues artists on Chicago's tough west and south sides. Corritore performs at the 2016 Blues Blast Music Awards September 23, where he's also nominated with his collaboration with Henry Gray for "Historical Or Vintage Album."
Click here to listen.


I rebuild nearly all of it for 2016 summer.
Replaced my motormount with one of AlienDriveSystems.
All and all, superwelcome mods! Check the 2016 gallery up top for new pics.
Some videos of me in movement!!
Made the mount smaller and firmer.
Ordered ESC and programming card.
Should arrive in a couple of days.
Modding the wii nunchuk receiver onto a 'arduino pro mini' board with a 3.3V regulator combined.
Also adding a i2c breakout (for future addition?) and ~something for WS2812 output.
So, i've started a buildlog here to keep track of order etc.
Mounted the pulley today, and, as i suspected i need longer M5 bolts. About 70mm should do. So, need to grab some of those soon.


The Liberal government has quietly written off a $2.6-billion auto-sector loan that was cobbled together to save Chrysler during the 2009 global economic meltdown.
The write-off, among the largest ever for a taxpayer-funded bailout, is buried in a volume of the 2018 Public Accounts of Canada, tabled in Parliament on Friday.
The reference contains no explanation for the write-off, identifying neither the business that received the loan nor the sector of the economy.
But CBC News has confirmed the money was lent on March 30, 2009, to Chrysler LLC by the federal government – a non-performing loan that grew with interest over the following nine years. The loan was made by the Harper government, in co-operation with the Ontario government.
"After exhausting all potential avenues for recovery, a $1.125 billion US principle plus accrued interest write-off in respect of 'Old Chrysler' occurred in March," said John Babcock of Global Affairs Canada, the department responsible.
"This amount is reflected in the Public Accounts."
At the time of the 2009 auto-sector bailouts in Canada and the United States, Chrysler was split in two: an "Old Chrysler" that went into bankruptcy and a "New Chrysler" that became viable and remains in operation today. Now called Fiat Chrysler, the international firm reported net profits of $4.3 billion US for 2017.
Another 2009 loan, to the restructured Chrysler Corp., was repaid in 2011, when the company paid $1.7 billion in principle and interest to the governments of Canada and Ontario.
CBC News reported earlier this year, drawing on heavily censored documents obtained through the Access to Information Act, that the Liberal government had forgiven a large auto-sector loan.
Officials at the time refused to provide details, including the amount or the business that benefited, saying they were protecting "commercial confidentiality."
Friday's Public Accounts documents were similarly opaque about the write-off, referring only to the precise value, $2,595,974,536 in Canadian funds.
Canada's auditor general has previously cited a lack of transparency over the bailouts.
"We found it impossible to gain a complete picture of the assistance provided, the difference the assistance made to the viability of the companies, and the amounts recovered and lost," Michael Ferguson said in his fall 2014 report.
"There was no comprehensive reporting of the information to Parliament."
The now-defunct Chrysler loan was administered by Export Development Canada (EDC), which manages the Canada Account, a financial vehicle for making large loans and loan guarantees backed directly by the Government of Canada.
The Canada Account, for example, was used to finance Ottawa's multibillion-dollar purchase of Trans Mountain Pipeline on Aug. 31, 2018, from Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, in an effort to assure the construction of a pipeline expansion from Alberta to British Columbia.
EDC's Canada Account transactions currently show an outstanding loan to GM Corp. for more than $1 billion, originally made on April 29, 2009. The loan also appears to be attributed to a bankrupt version of the firm that was split off from a viable version of GM that year.
As part of GM's restructuring, the federal and Ontario governments also took multibillion-dollar equity stakes in the company. They sold the last of their GM shares in 2015.
A political scientist who has studied the auto-sector bailouts, Mark Milke, said in 2015 that the $13.7 billion that Ottawa delivered in 2009 eventually cost Canadian taxpayers about $3.7 billion in money that was never repaid.
Industry Canada itself warned in 2014 that "neither Canada nor the U.S. expected any of the loans to be recovered from 'Old Chrysler'." It was not clear why the non-performing loan remained on the Canada Account books for four more years.
Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the Chrysler write-off is yet another example of governments keeping citizens in the dark about how their tax dollars bail out corporations.
"While our organization opposes taxpayer bailouts of private businesses as a rule, I think even for those who take a less stringent view, this case highlights the importance of transparency in government expenditures," he said.
"In short, the bare minimum condition for taxpayer support should be transparency — for the amount given and the terms attached to it. If a business is not even willing to meet that basic requirement in order to receive what are in many cases billions of free taxpayer dollars, they shouldn't get it at all."
Word of the Chrysler write-off comes as the Liberal government has been bracing for possible U.S. tariffs against Canada's auto exports, threatened by the Trump administration.


Arran, Nick, Justin and Morgan for their hard work, talent, passion and commitment to the work.
My Uncle, John Townshend, who has been a profound influence all my life and never falters.
Gill Saunders for being a lovely Mum.


Mason Fine, a Cherokee tribal citizen from Oklahoma and starting quarterback for the University of North Texas Mean Green football team, had a memorable 2018-2019 season that has pushed his three-year career into near-legendary status in the school's football history annals.
Fine and his Mean Green teammates started the 2018-2108 college football season with a bang. And for the second year in a row, he was voted as the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.
Fine completed 40 of 50 passes for a career-high 444 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opening win over SMU. But for the third straight season, UNT and Fine went out with a whimper after suffering another bowl game loss.
This time they got pasted by Utah State in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque 52-13 (after Fine popped a hamstring in the first half) to finish the season with a 9-4 record.
Though his season broke records, Fine reflected with Indian Country Today.
"Looking back on it…we underachieved. We didn't win every game. There were a couple of games we dropped by being undisciplined," said Fine, who is from Peggs, OK and graduated from Locust Grove High in 2016.
"Most of our games came down to the fourth quarter. In three out of our four losses, we were up by double digits at halftime and we ended up losing by single digits.
"Those games went down to the wire and we weren't mentally tough. Looking back on the season there's a lot we left on the field," added Fine, who was on pace for another 4,000-yard passing season before pulling his hamstring in the first quarter of the New Mexico Bowl and having to sit out the rest of the game.
Now that the football season is over, Fine his setting his sights on his future.
The success of the last two Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, who both happen to be former quarterbacks at the University of Oklahoma, along with NFL Pro Bowlers Russell Wilson and Drew Brees, have proven to NFL teams that a quarterback under six-feet can have success the league. Fine is hoping a team will allow him to follow in their footsteps.
"It feels good because all your hard work is paying off. I just continue to keep my head down and just keep working because that's all I've known all my life is just keep working and hopefully things will roll in my favor. I'm lucky. I've been blessed and have something to show for it. Each season I go in with something to prove even though I may have accolades on my resume'.
Record holder in career pass completions (774) pass attempts (1,229) most 300-yard passing games (13).
Holds single-season UNT passing records for yardage (4,052) touchdown passes (31) completions (324) and attempts (511), all set during the 2017 season.


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Tag Archives: Justice League
Video: Themes in comic book character design
Posted on January 14, 2020 by Ray
Presentation on the subject of how to use mythological themes and other archetype systems in character design. Covers the Jewish experience, Greek mythology, historical allegories, and more. Subjects include Superman, the Justice League, Spider-man, Jack Kirby's Marvel work, the X-Men, and also Japanese manga.
Posted in Vids | Tagged batman, character design, comic books, comics, DC, Jack Kirby, Jewish, Justice League, manga, marvel, mythology, Spider-man, Stan Lee, superheroes, Superman, themes, X-Men | 1 Reply
Requiem for a Comics Collection
Posted on July 28, 2018 by Ray
It's been a long while.
Once upon a time, as I've written about before, I liked to collect comic books. It's pretty much my favorite storytelling medium, that mix of visual and verbal with so much dynamic imagination, it's my first love and as much as I enjoy prose and film nothing will ever compare to flipping through a picture book…
Back in 2005, so long ago, I moved to California and left my collection in my dad's closet. Guess that was growing up.
After years of subscribing and going to the comics shop every Wednesday, and a lot of digging around at comic conventions and used bookstores, my collection was about 5,000 issues strong. It took up a lot of space.
Flash-forward to early 2008. Even before I moved abroad that year, I knew I had to get it together. I decided to take a month off my west coast life to stay in Cincinnati and sort out about half of my collection. Ebay became my full-time job. I was constantly working on the computer and going back and forth from the post office. I sold all my Marvel, manga, independents, and even more than a few toys. That amounted to half of my stuff. If I remember correctly, I made about a thousand US dollars.
And that was the compromise. I was a big DC fan at the time, and hoped my knowledge of continuity might actually help me as an author one day, so I kept all of those. Then, as we all know, I moved all the way to China. It was a heck of a year.
I admit I didn't have a good long-term plan. Some two dozen boxes stayed in my dad's closet, until he eventually retired and moved and issued an ultimatum that I needed to find another storage solution. Luckily, I have friends. One was kind enough to curate them for a year, but then he went through some drama and had to move. Another good friend took them up and they remained in his grandma's basement for another year or two. All while I lived thousands of miles away. I felt bad that these people went through so much trouble on my account, but what could I do other than say thanks and wire some gifts…
It has now been a full decade since I've left America, and it's time to get it together. Let's face facts and admit I'm not coming back any time soon. Owning two dozen heavy boxes of books simply isn't so compatible with the expat lifestyle.
Last month, I went on my big trip to the United States. For almost the entirety of July, Bronwen and I traveled throughout my troubled country. For the first half we mostly stayed in Southern California, exploring Los Angeles and Orange County by way of Long Beach as homebase. It was a rather good trip.
For the second half of the journey, we stayed in my adopted hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Not quite as much tourist action, but she seemed to enjoy it. A good introduction to middle America, right?
It was where I grew up, where I could drive around the various neighborhoods and indulge in nostalgia, and a good middle ground where my relatives from Indiana and Florida and old friends from east coast could all come together to meet me once again… And, of course, where my comics were.
The family and friends and sight-seeing where all important parts of the trip. But this post is about the comics.
Suffice to say, it was not easy juggling so much in such a short time. Not to mention the workout of dragging all those boxes from house to house. My apologies to anyone who felt left out as I sorted out all that stuff.
Sigh, organizing my first love #comics collection for one last hurrah… ❤ 😢
A post shared by Ray (@raelianautopsy) on Jul 13, 2018 at 5:33pm PDT
Anyway, my little sister had agreed to help me sell some on Ebay (my own Ebay account had long since deactivated in the ensuing decade). I didn't have time to organize the entire collection, but I did post a select few which I thought could get a good price.
There was the New Teen Titans, from the 1980s and up:
The complete 2000s JSA/Justice Society by Geoff Johns, including his first work Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. and Hawkman and more:
Sadly, the entire 1980s-1990s Justice League International by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis wasn't more popular for some reason, though that fun-loving run is among the best to me:
One thing I did discover about Ebay is that it's much easier to post graphic novels as books rather than organize hundreds of magazine issues. If you type in the ISBN, it not only gives you the stock photo but even suggests a price. Fine by me! I decided to sell the remaining dozen or so graphic novels that way, sold about half of them for five to ten dollars each, and it only took two trips to the post office.
Leaving a substantial percentage for my little sister's PayPal as a gift, because I try to be a decent brother.
Meanwhile, mailing out full runs box-by-box just wasn't feasible. So I decided to post a summary on both Craigslist, and that new Facebook Marketplace, pitching anyone to come by to my hotel and look through the entire lot and negotiate a price.
That wasn't not weird, is it?
https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/bks/d/dc-comics-mega-collection/6641380143.html
DC COMICS MEGA-COLLECTION FOR SALE, from the 80s and 90s and 2000s! Massive sets of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League International, Teen Titans, Legion – thousands of comics by such creators as Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and much more!
I am selling my entire comic collection consisting of several thousand which I have built up over many years. This is a great deal because I am moving and simply trying to pass them on quickly to a fan.
Please come by personally to check them out in Blue Ash, Cincinnati and then we can agree on an exact price. For example, if you want the entire set for a bulk purchase in the four-figures, that's possible. Or, more specifically, I can sell some of these various bundles of hundreds per set for a two- to three-figure sum each:
All comics are in very fine to near mint condition unless otherwise stated. Please message me for more details and the whole inventory…
-Superman 90s and 90s: reboot by John Byrne starting from issue #1, Death and Rebirth of Superman era by Dan Jurgens, featuring many extra Supergirl and Superboy issues and even some Shazam!
-Superman 2000s: featuring the Y2K and Our Worlds at War/Imperiex War crossover, many issues by Geoff Johns and also Birthright by Waid
-Batman: bundle particularly with lots of spinoff issues of Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey written by Chuck Dixon; plus even old Outsiders
-Wonder Woman: massive bundle starting from issue #1 with the George Perez post-Crisis reboot, as well as John Byrne's 90s run and Phil Jimenz in the 2000s and many more
-Complete 80s Justice League! This huge bundle features the entire run of the classic 80s Justice League International era by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMattis "Bawahaha" comedy era #1-60, plus many more with some Firestorm thrown in
-The New Teen Titans: huge bundle of the 80s Marv Wolfman and George Perez era of the Titans starting from #1 on to the Judas Contract with Slade/Deathstroke the Terminator, and lots of extras from latter decades…
-Geoff Johns MEGA bundle with complete Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. that started it all plus Teen Titans, and Flash Rebirth!
-Infinite Crisis 2005 crossover by Geoff Johns including Villains United and the Secret Six series by Gail Simone, Villains United
-Justice Society by Geoff Johns: The complete JSA by Geoff Johns, plus various Starman issues by James Robinson as well as Spectre and old 80s All-Star Squadron and Johns' Hawkman plus more
-90s Young Justice by Peter David, and others by the acclaimed writer
-52 by Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison: complete set plus spinoffs from of the epic 'real-time' comic from the 2000s of the year skip
-Grant Morrison bundle featuring the complete Seven Soldiers of Victory, All-Star Superman, Final Crisis, Batman and more from the mad genius DC writer
-Grant Morrison Vertigo bundle! Featuring complete runs of his hard-to-find brilliant miniseries such as the complete Flex Mentallo, We3, Sea Guy, Vimanarama, Joe the Barbarian, plus some Doom Patrol
-DC crossovers! Zero Hour, Invasion!, Millenium, Joker's Last Laugh, Identity Crisis, and Tons of DC crossovers from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s featuring all the iconic superheroes saving the universe
-Legion of Superheroes from the 80s – and even some 70s and 60s – and 2000s: massive bundle of Legion issues by with a couple of valuable Silver Age ones, many Paul Levitz classics both pre-Crisis and post-Crisis, and also the first issues of the Mark Waid 'threeboot' in the 2000s
-Complete Legion of Superheroes 90s reboot: every single one of the post-Zero Hour reboot by Mark Waid & more. Giant set of Legion and Legionnaires and Legion Lost and more spinoffs!
Posted in Comics | Tagged america, Cincinnati, collection, comic, comic collection, comics, comics collection, craigslist, DC, ebay, eulogy, Geoff Johns, grant morrison, JSA, Justice League, Justice League International, Justice Society, New Teen Titans, Superman, Teen Titans | 15 Replies
Grant Morrison, the Grand
Posted on March 30, 2015 by Ray
I was so young then…
In 2005 or 2006 I met comic book writer Grant Morrison at a music festival in Los Angeles. It was an odd event in Echo Park, with many experimental bands playing at various stages, and at the same they had a workshop on the occult. Sadly, most people weren't concerned about the workshop part.
I was ecstatic to hear that Grant Morrison would be there. He gave a fascinating interview. Seriously, you must youtube some videos of him immediately. Low-key event that it was, we got to chat personally for a few and he was nice enough to take a picture with me. I met his wife too.
I met him at Comic Con the following year as well, at events far more crowded, and he was still very nice. I won't inundate with more pictures, however, I'm not that much of a fanboy.
For more here's an particularly awesome video from 2000's DisinfoCon introducing the tenants of chaos magic and how to do a masturbation sigil:
Note he's Scottish.
And now my blog begins. Presenting the master of the Postmodern Superhero. The punk rock star of comics. My personal all-time favorite.
Goodreads Grant Morrison
First things first, comparisons with Alan Moore are inevitable. They are both absolutely brilliant. They are both magicians. They both deconstruct the nature of the superhero like no other.
Yet, one is a mess of hair and the other is bald. One seems to be a misanthropic old man, and the other apparently has lot of fun as a writer. One hates all things mainstream, and the other is just fine with utilizing corporate characters as tools to tell the important stories.
Unfortunately, if you're a Grant Morrison fan then you must be an Alan Moore fan as well but the reverse isn't necessarily true. There's a lot of overlap in themes, yet if you want to be an anti-mainstream purist you can skip Morrison. I think you would be missing out if you did that.
Anyhows, I am a great fan of both so what's wrong with that?
As for me, I personally first came across Grant Morrison in my teens (though the story gets more interesting in my twenties), because of the huge phenomena that was JLA in the 90s. I was marginally interested, being that I followed everything important that was DC at the time, and the first volume was okay. Superman with a mullet notwithstanding. When I got to the Rock of Ages graphic novel, I was astounded. Then the following arc about the 5th dimensional beings left me well and truly mindfucked.
To me, the peak was the One Million crossover about time travel to 853rd Century. Great high-concept science fiction.
Grant Morrison has since further written Superman in such titles as All-Star Superman, Action Comics, which you can see my opinion thereof by following that link .
One of the random things I was into seeking back in the day was Flex Mentallo, a strange Vertigo piece about a corny superhero. I found issue 3 at discount, and spent years hunting down the full story.
It had everything: deconstructionism, metafiction, with groundbreaking art by frequent Morrison collaborator Frank Quitely.
I contend that Flex Mentallo is superior to Watchmen. It takes a dissection of the superhero genre even further. And it's funnier, wittier, with treatises on childhood trauma and cosmic abduction, and contains the classic line "Fredric Wertham was fucking right!"
It was so hard to get all four issues. The problem was that Flex Mentallo was a satire of the 'hero of the beach' and with republication risked getting sued by those old strongman ads. DC wouldn't reprint a graphic novel for years. Back then, I bit the bullet and paid high prices on ebay and it was well worth it. Now, of course, there's a trade.
Let's go a bit more backwards, with Animal Man. The saga of Buddy Baker was one of Grant Morrison's first forays into DC during the 80s British Invasion. This obscure hero was given a modern reboot, that quickly went from an essay on animal rights to some weird routes onto the nature of fiction. Combining Wile E. Coyote with Native American mythology, by the end it went full on metafiction. Most haunting of all was when Animal Man broke the fourth wall and looked directly at the audience, shouting "I can see you!"
Concurrently, Doom Patrol was a very interesting take on outcast heroics. The patrol were always a bit odd, a tad off, and Grant Morrison knew how to play to the strengths of that. Robotman as eunich, transgendered street characters, and most of all were the villains based off art history. Brotherhood of Dada anyone?
Not to mention Flex Mentallo first appeared in Doom Patrol.
These were all well and very, very good. However, Grant Morrison's true opus came in the 90s with the Invisibles. By the time I got caught on, well after it was completed, I was generally getting into more esoteric subject matter. I was reading P.K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson. I was collecting Disinfo books. I was coming across these strange interviews with one Grant Morrison comic writer, on the subjects of chaos magic and higher consciousness. It was time to read more.
I ordered the entire set, and read on. Then I read them again, and a few more times at differing stages of my life. I'm about ready for a reread again.
The Invisibles is an epic take on Gnosticism and conspiracy theories, through the lens of an action comic, published by Vertigo. About a team of anarchists fighting the good fight against the forces of control in this world. It incorporated all kinds of references to psychedelic mythologies. All came to a head in that Singularity futuristic year of 2012.
It felt somewhat cathartic that my burgeoning spiritual path was overlapping with my love of comics and superheroes. I was doing it right all along. Much can truly be learned about human growth via the metaphor of the Superman. Thanks, Grant Morrison.
And, I may share that reading interviews on how Grant Morrison took LSD and other various chemicals for the sake spiritual experiences, that had an impact. Helped to encourage me with my own experiments utilizing psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine, legal or otherwise, rewiring some synapses within my nervous system in some arguably positive ways.
As always, reading books (and comics) can be such a bad influence!
Posted in Comics | Tagged 52, Action Comics, alan moore, Animal Man, batman, chaos magic, DC, disinfo, Doom Patrol, drugs, Flex Mentallo, Frank Quitely, Geoff Johns, grant morrison, JLA, Joe the Barbarian, Justice League, Kill Your Boyfriend, masturbation, metafiction, Mutliversity, P.K. Dick, postmodern, psilocybin, psychedelic, robert anton wilson, Sebastian O, Seven Soldiers, sigil, superheroes, Superman, The Filth, Vertigo, We3, X-Men | 16 Replies
Superman!
Prev: DC – 80s
Goodreads Shelf: Superman
If any one character deserves a really long solo post, it is Superman. That is, not just comic book/superhero characters. Any one character in all American fiction, period.
Most would agree that Superman is very important. However, he hasn't gotten the movies he deserves (at least since the late 70s). Hasn't been a top seller in ages. And everyone likes Batman better.
Don't get me wrong, I love love love Batman. But I always felt resentful that everyone thinks the caped crusader is so much cooler than Superman. I prefer the Man of Steel out of sheer spite.
Seriously, I am a sincere fan. I like escapism, science fiction, exploding planets, time travel, that's what comics are all about to me. It's funny Batman is more grounded in the real world, yet he's in the Justice League with aliens and mermen. I will admit one discrepancy: Superman needs Batman as part of his mythos but the other way around isn't necessary. Batman can be in both worlds. More on Batman later.
First of all, let's just admit that the superhero genre is supposed to be a bit corny. We're talking about muscle men in skintight outfits saving the world from super-villains; it's not meant to be gritty and realistic! That's me. I find the literary quality comes from taking 1950s children's stories and then somehow grounding them in plausible scenarios.
I like corny heroes. Captain America is my favorite Marvel superhero of all, and Cyclops is my favorite X-Men.
On Superman… Shall I start at beginning? In 1938 Jerry Seigel Joe Shuster created ushered in the superhero genre, a true American creation as valid as jazz, punk rock, and pop art. The metaphor is obvious in retrospect, the last son of the planet Krypton disguises himself as mild-mannered Clark Kent: He is the proverbial Jewish immigrant.
The Golden Age was the beginning. The Silver Age was totally weird and psychedelic. We're all familiar with the films. Pre-Crisis Superman is classic, but he was a bit stiff. Too perfect, with only kryptonite as a weakness, he more than anyone needed a reboot.
Before the Crisis, noted genius Alan Moore and iconic artist Curt Swan produced Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow as this iteration's last hurrah. Nostalgic yet serious at the same time, and nobody could write it like Moore. Goodbye, Kal-El.
"An imaginary story. Aren't they all…?"
Then the Crisis happened. The previous "didn't count", or something. So came Marvel star John Byrne to do Superman his way. It wasn't bad, but I preferred Byrne on team books like Fantastic Four. At least Clark Kent was three-dimensional. At least Lex Luthor was more formidable. New villains were introduced, but mostly it was just the start until the 90s Superman was to be fully fleshed out.
Dan Jurgens was in charge by then. Louise Simonson of X-Men fame was a good writer as well. Lex Luthor was cloned and recloned — kryptonite poisoning you see — Kirby-esque Cadmus Labs was made integral, Maggie Sawyer of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, and Clark even revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane when he proposed. A lot was added to the backstory.
Things were looking up. Yet, with all that competition from Marvel with those big crossovers, DC had to do something drastic to get noticed. They wanted an event. Hence came Doomsday, and the pivotal Death of Superman event.
Doomsday was a kickass villain. About damn time Superman faced more physical threats. Still, Doomsday had a rather simplistic motivation. He was mysterious and we later learned more, but the real point of the death was to introduce the Resurrection of Superman.
Superboy, the new clone. The Eradicator, a Kryptonian intelligence. Steel, a new DC hero of Justice League merit. And the badass looking Cyborg, whom of course turned out to be the villain. Then Superman came back to life, albeit with a mullet, and it was an epically great story unlike any other. We all have the fondest memories.
Over in the other side of the DC universe in the mid-90s, much was stalling. Meanwhile, the great Grant Morrison proposed that DC simply utilize the best they have and make the Justice League the premier team they were in the Silver Age. After doing away with the endless spinoff aspects, Mr. Morrison put in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martain Manhunter and made it as awesome as possible. Unfortunately, it all started during the mullet era.
Grant Morrison's take on Superman, as well as Mark Waid's, was crucial to how the character evolved in the 90s and 2000s. DC purposely wanted to downplay the more omnipotent aspects to Superman, make him just another decent hero with various states of dramatic conflict fighting average villains. But the critically-acclaimed writers wabted a classic Superman, embracing what makes him "super" instead of toning him down. JLA (Justice League of America) worked, it was DC's top seller for years, the only title that legitimately competed with Marvel. Was a more cosmic take on Superman valid after all?
Perhaps. And then they changed his powers and him electric, a controversial move. Still lambasted today, though I kinda liked it. Whenever there are great changes to the status quo we all know it's temporary, so why not have fun for the time being? Least he got a haircut.
Finally, in the 2000s it was decided that Superman should be more pure. Enough of the gimmicks. Grant Morrison and Mark Waid unfortunately didn't get to lead the way, but writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness did their best.
I didn't like Jeph Loeb's writing, but McGuinness was spectacular. I say the cartoony-look worked well. Joe Kelly writing Action Comics was most brilliant of all. I miss that era. It all climaxed in the Our Worlds at War crossover, where Superman and the JLA fought a Galactus-type new space nemesis, Imperiex.
On villains, yes some are too lame. Toyman, the Prankster. Mxyzptlk ok. Lex Luthor, of course, is great but has always suffered from being a normal human up against the power of a Superman — intellect or no.
Metallo is cool. Parasite is decent. But overall, Superman's old school villains haven't been the best. Especially when compared to the classic rogue's galleries of Batman, Spider-Man, and the Flash.
As said, I believe Lex's rebirth in the 80s as a sleazy businessmen was a great improvement. In the 2000s, it went one step further. President Lex.
(Which "coincidentally" corresponded to the W. Bush years. Life imitates art or art imitates life? Seriously, I'm asking.)
Posted in Comics | Tagged Action Comics, alan moore, animated, batman, Braniac, Dan Jurgens, DC, Death of Superman, Doomsday, Ed McGuinness, grant morrison, Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, JLA, John Byrne, Justice League, Legion, Legion of Super-heroes, Lex, Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, Mark Waid, mullet, origin, Peter David, reboots, Supergirl, Superman | 17 Replies
DC Comics – 1980s
Previous: DC Comics – 90s
I think we can all agree that the 80s was among the top decades ever. In the world of comics (at least, American mainstream superhero comics), it was the decade the medium finally matured into a respectable art form for adults.
I definitely grew up on Marvel, but in my later teens I chose to focus on DC, and from my early and mid-twenties I spent untold hours scouring for back issues to fill in the historical gaps.
The truth is, Marvel was revolutionary in the 1960s but DC — that stuffy old company famous for square-faced Superman and Adam West-era Batman — did catch up. Green Arrow/Green Lantern by Dennis O'Neil in the 70s comes to mind. By the 80s, there were plenty of literary books.
As for Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, it says a lot those seminal tomes were published by DC. But you'll have to wait until my inevitable Alan Moore and Batman-themed posts for more on those. Same bat-time, same bat-channel!
Allow me to skip ahead in the timeline of the DC Universe, whereas the centerpiece would definitely be 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths. The mega-crossover revitalized the entire multiverse, with a cosmic menace requiring the heroes of all the different earths and time periods and planets, and an ending that took all the realities and put them into one big universe. RIP Supergirl and Barry Allen Flash…
Written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez, it was a masterpiece.
Speaking of which, to go a bit further back on that creative team: Wolfman and Perez tother first came to prominence with the New Teen Titans. We forget now, but for a time they were the rivals to Marvel's X-Men. That successful.
Sidekicks Robin, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl were joined by newcomers Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven. Changeling/Beast Boy too. You may know the cartoon.
Cyborg was futuristic-transhumanist science fiction, Starfire was space opera, and Raven was supernatural horror. All the neccesary genres for superhero adventures. Add that to character development and the occasional soap opera storylines, and the formula made for solid great comics. Too bad the Titans have never been able to live up to that pre-Crisis era since.
Pre-Crisis DC, that was back when there were all those numbered Earths. The Golden Age 1940s continuity was called Earth 2, with the Justice Society and the original Action Comes #1 Superman. Writer Roy Thomas, who might be the most knowledgeable man in all the field, wrote about the WWII-ea in All-Star Squadron. It was followed up Infinity, Inc., which wasn't as good but interestingly showcased the sons and daughters of the Justice Society in modern times. I do like my superheroes generational, a sense of history.
Then Crisis happened. All those Earths were now one. History was rebooted. Earths 1 and 2 had the same timeline all along. It's confusing, I know.
The first post-Crisis crossover to introduce this new streamlined universe was Legends, helmed by Marvel's popular writer-artist John Byrne and John Ostrander. It pitted DC characters against Jack Kirby's Fourth World, which the ultimate epic villain of Darkseid.
Then, the Suicide Squad grew out of Legends. This ragtag team of supervillains employed by the government was, in a word, awesome. Very cool, very badass. Who knew corny DC villains could be written with such edge? Captain Boomerang, Deadshot. And a lot of the characters died in these suicide missions, some of them not even coming back to life. And who doesn't love Amanda Waller?
Apparently there will be a movie of the squad soon enough.
Most important of all, the new Justice League evolved out of Legends. It was the latest incarnation, the Justice Leauge International, most often referred to as the "Bwahaha! era.
Believe it or not, it was a comedy comic. Cowritten by esteemed writer J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, it kind of showed what it was like to hang out as a superhero in the off time of saving the world. It had Guy Gardner as Green Lantern, who was refreshingly a dick for a superhero, Martian Manhunter as elder statesmen, best buds Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, girlfriends Fire and Ice, and of course Batman being super cool Batman.
I tracked down every single one of those issues. I still have the full run to this day, including Justice Leauge Europe. They did fight supervillains like Desparo and had crossovers with the extremely serious Suicide Squad, but mostly it was a return to comics being fun. Unfortunately, after Giffen and DeMatteis left the League became convoluted through the 90s until Grant Morrison revitalized the franchise with back-to-the-basics JLA. But that is a post for another day.
Posted in Comics | Tagged 1980s, 80s, batman, comics, crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC, DC vs Marvel, George Perez, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkworld, Invasion!, J.M. DeMatteis, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, John Ostrander, Justice League, Justice League International, Keith Giffen, Kirby, Legends, Lex, Lex Luthor, Man of Steel, Marv Wolfman, Mike Grell, New Teen Titans, reboot, Suicide Squad, Superman, Teen Titans, Tim Truman, Wonder Woman | 24 Replies
*Not* Dating – America (Canada), Hong Kong
Posted on September 4, 2014 by Ray
I like to think that my life is just a collection of in-between stuff that doesn't count, while the times that I travel are when I am truly alive.
Or is that my real life is simply peppered with the travel episodes, which are more like fill-ins that don't count towards the greater narrative arc?
In any case, after some unimpressive hookups, I was ready. So ready. Travel.
Ok it's not the best picture of me in a suit, but just imagine…
America (plus Canada)
My biannual trip back home. Every other year, that's plenty for me. And, my best friend was getting married!
I was the best man. It was a big deal.
I seem to always travel for weddings these days. That's cool; it' beats funerals.
So, I flew to Seattle. My first time in the Pacific Northwest. Over the next few weeks, I would travel to Portland and Vancouver as well (being my first time in Canada). As well as stopping by my hometown Cincinnati, of course. It was right at the cusp of 2012 and 2013, and it was damn cold. I saw winter snow again after years on end in the tropics, and I'm not quite used to it. For the most part, like the last time I went back to the real world West, it wasn't that big a deal reacclimating.
Seattle seemed surprisingly average. I expected it to be more liberal and crazy. I don't mean grungey stoners everywhere, but a few more rock show flyers and headshops would have been nice. Mostly it was average white people and average suburban settings, the kind the world imagines from American television.
My best friend picked me up and I proceeded to stay at his place in Tacoma. We went out to bars there, bars in Seattle, as I met his lovely fiancé and social group as we traveled around Pike Place Market, home of the world's first Starbucks, and further lame tourism.
Starbucks, bleh
We celebrated New Year's watching fireworks explode atop the Space Needle among the office workers. 2012 had come and went and the world did not explode as much as I'd hope. Sure the world is always evolving, however slowly, yet cosmic paradigm-shifting Singularities may be asking for too much.
Going to my hometown to see my family was uneventful. I took a week out to fly to Cincinnati, Ohio to see my mom and dad and sister and brother and several old friends. Ate food. Saw live music. Went to more bars. Some of which in Northern Kentucky which is still greater Cincinnati. The old friends who stayed in Cincinnati tended be the kind of people who just never leave home…
Remember Gwen? It was nice to see her again. She drove me around and invited me to her house and we caught up. Hung out with her growing son… And then met her new boyfriend. I sure didn't have the confident swagger I had back in 2010. But good for her. Since then she isn't the most active Facebook user to keep in touch with, but I have heard that she moved to the West Coast and I support her for that.
When traveling back home, it's all about the people you meet. Still, when traveling back home, for me, a lot of it involves bookstores. To be more specific, a lot of it involves reading comics at booksstores. One of my favorite things to do in America is to simply go to Barnes & Nobles and sit down and catch up on graphic novels.
Naruto, One Piece, 20th Century Boys, and more manga. Transformers, the classic sort. I started to get into Judge Dredd. Fables, for Vertigo fix. Justice League & Aquaman by Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder's Batman, Wolverine & the X-Men as authored by Jason Aaron. The indie masterpiece Habibi by Craig Thompson was a favored read.
Then I flew back. The wedding was underway. My friend immediately took me to Canon Beach, Oregon. Famed for that scene in the Goonies. A beautifully scenic beach town, though too bad it wasn't the summer. We took residence in the hotel and rehearsed and set everything up, met some familiar faces and many more new ones. It was weird to see his family in Oregon, his mom and sister who were mere background when I was a teenager and we played video games in his house. It's weird to meet your friend's parents when you are an adult. I never know whether to call them by their first name or not.
Goonies forever, remember?
It was good as weddings go. I can totally rock a suit, it's a shame I wear a tie so seldom. There was the big party. Dancing. Photos along the shore. High-pressure afterparty. Staring at the stars at night. I made a brief speech, as my duties pertained. Now, according to movies, weddings were supposed to be a good place to meet girls. Let us just say it didn't work out that way at all for me. I was not at all at the time of my so-called game. I'm not complaining, simply taking note.
And that was about it for Canon Beach. There was another old friend in town for the wedding, a great ol' companion who followed me to Southern California and the place ended up suiting him more than it did me. He's still there, living the good life.
While in Oregon, me and old friend decided more travel is always a good idea and went out to explore Portland. There was the proper super-liberal town I was waiting to see. Vegan donuts and graffiti and homeless people. I really loved Powell's Books! Funny thing about Portland, it has the highest per capita of strip clubs of any city in America. Strip clubs where couples go and girls enjoy having a drink and it's like a normalized bar-restaurant. With naked lady dancers. Contrast that with the gay bars there; while everywhere else I've lived has gay bars full of hip straight people, in Portland the gay bars are for real gays only. That's the core of what I made of the city: strip clubs full of women patrons and gay bars with men only, and I found that odd.
Moreover, don't you love the show Portlandia?
Literally Portlandia
An interesting anecdote crossed my path. At a certain strip club, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a face that I swore I recognized from the news. It was MCAFFEY, the antivirus entrepreneur who was accused of drug-crazed murder in Belize and had recently escaped back to the United States. I was so starstruck, and I freaked out. It's one thing to see a random B-list celebrity on the street in Los Angeles, it's another thing to see someone fromthe news in real life. My friend made fun of me for shrieking and making such a big deal about it. I didn't go up and ask for a selfie together, and that may have been a bad idea considering he had probably recently killed a man. Or he would've hacked my phone or something.
McAfee really was in Portland in January of 2013. Look it up.
Posted in Dating in China | Tagged 20th Century Boys, america, Aquaman, bars, batman, canada, chinatown, Cincinnati, cold, couchsurfing, Dredd, Fables, gay bars, Geoff Johns, Goonies, Habibi, hong kong, impotence, Jason Aaron, Justice League, Kentucky, manga, McAfee, naruto, New Year, NSA, ohio, one piece, Oregon, Portland, Portlandia, Seattle, starbucks, strip clubs, Tacoma, transformers, Travel, Vancouver, wedding, winter, X-Men | 11 Replies


text:
Reality+: A Conversation with David Chalmers
5:00–6:00pm PST
RVSP here
We are honored to welcome the celebrated philosopher David Chalmers (NYU) for a virtual conversation about the philosophical implications of virtual and augmented reality, in honor of his soon-to-be-released book Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy.
The conversation itself will take place in the metaverse, with Dr. Chalmers and host Dr. Cassi Vieten (Director of Research and Development, Clarke Center) convening in virtual reality. The conversation will be livestreamed to Zoom for our wider audience.
Virtual reality is genuine reality; that's the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of "technophilosophy," David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already.
Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there's an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What's the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers' mind-bending analysis.
Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.
About David Chalmers
David Chalmers is University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science and codirector of the Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness at New York University. He is the author of The Conscious Mind, The Character of Consciousness, and Constructing the World. He has given the John Locke Lectures and has been awarded the Jean Nicod Prize. He is known for formulating the "hard problem" of consciousness, which inspired Tom Stoppard's play The Hard Problem, and for the idea of the "extended mind," which says that the tools we use can become parts of our minds.
Contact us at info@imagination.ucsd.edu.
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© Copyright 2022 by The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination


text:
Q: Django REST framwork mongoengine ValueError: The source SON object needs to be of type 'dict' I'm working a project, and use Django REST framework and mongo engine, and I'm confused a question two days, and the detail see below:
class Jvv(EmbeddedDocument):
    unit = fields.StringField()
    unitValue = fields.IntField()

    class Meta:
        db_table = 'imagerecognition'

class ImageRecognition(Document):
    imageUrl = fields.StringField(default='', max_length=100)
    createTime = fields.DateTimeField(default=datetime.now())
    ddPercent = fields.FloatField(required=False, default='')
    jvv = fields.ListField(fields.EmbeddedDocumentField(Jvv))

    def __str__(self):
        return self.imageUrl

    class Meta:
        db_table = 'imagerecognition'

then the serializer.p document is :
class JvvSerializer(mongoserializers.EmbeddedDocumentSerializer):
    class Meta:
       model = Jvv
       fields = '__all__'

class ImageUrlSerializer(mongoserializers.DocumentSerializer):
    jvv = JvvSerializer(many=True)

    class Meta:
        model = ImageRecognition
        fields = ('imageUrl', 'createTime', 'ddPercent', 'jvv')

and the views.py content is below:
class ImageUrlSave(views.APIView):
    def get(self,  request, *args, **kwargs):
        imgs = ImageRecognition.objects(imageUrl='白菜')
        serializer = ImageUrlSerializer(imgs, many=True)
        ImageRecognition(imageUrl='土豆', ddPercent=8.22, jvv={'unit':'m', 'unitValue':12}).save()
        data = serializer.data
        return Response({
            'msg': 'SUCCESS',
            'code_status': 1000,
            'result': data
        })

the question is the mongodatabases have been completed, I want to take some data from it, but when I runserver, it shows
    raise ValueError("The source SON object needs to be of type 'dict'")
    ValueError: The source SON object needs to be of type 'dict', how can I handle this problem, and I am Looking forward to get answer. Thank you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Пиклорам — хлорпроизводное пиколиновой кислоты системный гербицид из группы пиридинов, используется для контроля древесных растений. Он также эффективен против широкого спектра широколиственных сорняков, хотя большинство трав устойчивы к его действию.

Пиклорам можно распылять на листву, вводить в виде инъекций, наносить на порезы растений, или поместить у основания растения, где он может просачиваться к корням. Поглощённый листвой, стеблем или корнями, пиклорам распространяется по всему растению.

История
Пиклорам первоначально был разработан около 1964 года компанией Dow Chemical в военных целях (в качестве дефолианта и, следовательно, в качестве химического оружия для уничтожения растительности). Во время войны во Вьетнаме он входил в состав химического оружия Агент Уайт — смеси 2,4-дихлорфеноксиуксусная кислоты (2,4-D) и пиклорама (имеется в продаже как Tordon 101). Агент Уайт применялся, что бы усилить действия Агента Оранж, который был ранее создан британскими военными во время войны в Малайе. Большое количество этих гербицидов было разбрызгано американскими ВВС в местных леса (см. Операция «Ranch Hand»).

Свойства
Горючий порошок от белого до охряного цвета, слабо растворяется в воде (430 мг / л при 25 ° С). При температуре 190 ° С начинает распадаться на хлористый водород, оксиды азота, окись и двуокись углерода. По разным данным, вещество может сохранятся в почве от двух до трёх лет.

Использование
Пиклорам представляет собой селективный гербицид с системными свойствами, легко поглощается корнями и листьями. Эффекты аналогичны ауксинам (например, индол-3-уксусной кислоте). Воздействуя на РНК и биосинтез белка, он нарушает гормональный баланс растения  и может вызвать проблемы в делении и удлинении клеток. Типичные симптомы: искажения и спайки стеблей и листьев, деформации придаточных корней.

Безопасность
Пиклорам умеренно токсичен для глаз и лишь слегка токсичен при попадании на кожу. Нет задокументированных случаев отравления человека пиклорамом, поэтому симптомы острого отравления сложно охарактеризовать.

Пиклорам является наиболее стойким из своей семьи гербицидов. Он не адгезируется почвой и может вымываться в грунтовые воды, где его часто обнаруживают. Разлагается в почве и воде главным образом благодаря действию микроорганизмов. В гидробионтах накапливается слабо.

Садоводам, которые используют навоз в качестве удобрения, следует убедиться, что исходные животные не паслись на пастбище, обработанном пиклорамом, так как препарат сохраняет отравляющую способность даже в навозе.

В отношении профессионального воздействия, в Управление по охране труда установило допустимый предел воздействия в 15 мг/м3 общей экспозиции и 5 мг/м3 при респираторной экспозиции для восьмичасовой рабочей смены.

Примечания

Ароматические амины
Ауксиноподобные гербициды
Карбоновые кислоты
Хлорпиридины

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Get Started Now! Get Your Credit Repair Do It Yourself!!
Homeless women's shelter open in Waterloo | News
creditfreeze | January 13, 2020 | Credit Protection | No Comments
WATERLOO — It took longer than anticipated, but the first shelter in Seneca County for homeless women is open and accepting applications.
Officials at Community Action Programs Cayuga/Seneca — or CAP — have announced that a nine-bed shelter in the former St. Mary's convent at 23 Center St. has been completed to provide transitional housing for up to 24 months, offering holistic, personalized case management for women in need.
"The shelter addresses a critical need in Seneca County by expanding and enhancing services to homeless women," said Laurie Piccolo, CAP executive director. "The overall goal of the program is to provide supports that will enable participants to transition to safe, stable and affordable permanent housing."
The length of services will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Services can be provided for up to six months after a woman leaves to be on her own.
"We can effectively address the issues that have contributed to an individual's homelessness after they are stably housed," Piccolo said.
She said CAP staff and community partners working with them will provide a host of tailored services focused on building assets, skills and connections that will lead to self sufficiency. Services include case management, counseling, financial literacy, credit repair, employment skills training, job assistance and temporary financial assistance for related costs to attain stable housing.
The shelter is not staffed 24 hours a day and children are not permitted as residents. The facility will not be a safe house for victims of domestic violence. Women in that situation will be referred to Safe Harbors of the Finger Lakes for discreet, secret, emergency housing.
Most referrals to the homeless shelter will come from human services agencies, with most expected to come from the Seneca County Department of Human Services.
Work on the conversion began in September 2018 by Frank J. Marianacchi Construction of Bloomfield, the lowest of four bidders at $1,069,600. The interior was essentially gutted and rebuilt to include nine bedrooms and shared common areas of a kitchen, dining room and storage area. Exterior work included new windows, a new roof and water lines to serve a new fire suppression sprinkler system.
The shelter was made possible by funding support from Generations Bank, the village of Waterloo, the New York State Homeless Assistance Program and the state Department of Homes and Community Renewal.
For information about the shelter program and how to apply for admission, women can contact Jamil Elisofon at (315) 539-5647, ext. 326 or email her at [email protected].
The CAP agency, headquartered in Auburn, leased the former convent from St. Francis-St. Clare Parish until deciding to buy it from the parish and convert it to the homeless women's shelter. CAP moved its offices next door to the former St. Mary's rectory, leasing it from the parish.
CAP is a private, non-profit that was incorporated in 1965 through the federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to fight the war on poverty locally. It serves Cayuga and Seneca counties with a staff of 165 employees.
Source: on 2020-01-13 09:03:45
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260. Sufism and Me, and How I Swayed and Chanted, but Didn't Whirl
We sat in a circle in the large hall, some thirty of us, brought there by curiosity and following the gentle guidance of the American sheikha and her two assistants, dark-haired young women with a somewhat exotic Middle Eastern look. Then, still guided by this exotic trio, we began to sway from side to side, while they chanted something in another language that we took to mean "God is great," perhaps accompanied by a litany of divine names. Next, they rose, we rose, and without speaking a word they showed us a simple dance step that we then did, clumsily at first and then deftly, while they continued to chant. Then, always guided by our mentors, we began to move in a circle, hand in hand, repeatedly turning our head to the left and then to the right, while the three of them stood in the center of the circle, still chanting fervently. We were told that any of us, if so inclined, could join them in the center of the circle, but none of us, new to the ceremony, was so presumptuous.
So it went for I don't know how long; we were totally immersed in the moment, unaware of the passage of time. When at last the dance was ended, and we returned to the ordinary world of time and schedules and obligations, it was a dismaying comedown. Yet throughout the occasion I knew that, with the best intentions, we were play-acting, while the three of them were totally and passionately involved. They had shown us what true commitment was.
So ended, back in the mid-1990s, my first and only nibble at the feast of Sufism, my brief immersion in its flood of joy. Richard Pierce, the founder and guiding light of the Whole Foods Project, which back in that time of AIDS advocated a nutritional approach to health and healing, was in the habit of following his biweekly vegan meals at a church on West 73rd Street with a demonstration of some kind of alternative approach to mental and physical wellbeing. On this occasion he had invited Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi, the head of a Sufi order in TriBeCa in Lower Manhattan, to come and let us participate in a genuine Sufi act of worship. No, I didn't become a Sufi, but the experience taught me that there is more to Sufism than the whirling dervishes of legend; it was a memorable occasion and I still recall it vividly.
The 1990s in New York were still experiencing a kind of spillover from the New Age explorations of the 1960s and later, as people – some people – groped toward new forms of spiritual development and worship. Zen converts meditated; a friend of mine went deep into Transcendental Meditation; young Hare Krishnas, orange-robed with shaven heads, beat their drums and chanted in public; pseudo-ascetics fasted and hoped for visions; and I attended a wedding where a with-it Catholic priest deformalized the ceremony to the point of clapping his hands gently while a dancer pranced and whirled about, spraying incense in the air. At loose spiritual ends, we were all trying to hitchhike to paradise, and Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, was one of many vehicles that we hoped might get us there.
My own stab at paradise had come years before by means of peyote buttons imported – quite legally, back then – from the Rio Grande valley, nibbling whose bitter flesh, sweetened by me with fistfuls of raisins, had indeed induced visions whose Technicolor marvels had immersed me – for a while – in a state of quiet exaltation and joy. By the 1990s I had long since given peyote up, not because it was now illegal, but because the experience had a certain artificial quality and in time became repetitious. I wanted no more aching eyeballs and artificial paradises; I wanted to experience miracles in the "real" world (whatever that is), in the wonders of nature and the ecstasies of music and art and poetry. From then on it was no to cacti, yes to warblers and wilderness and slime molds, and to Van Gogh and Rimbaud and Richard Strauss.
But some of my friends took the Sufi route. One – I'll call him Ben – communed with Sheikha Fariha and her followers and acquired a Sufi name, and then felt drawn to another Sufi sheikh, a charismatic visitor from Illinois, who gave him a different Sufi name. This was one Sufi name – and teacher -- too many, for Ben sensed a certain rivalry between the two. Aware of an unspoken tension, he finally asked the sheikha what the problem was. She replied that the sheikh's luring away some of her students was an offense against adab, or "etiquette," the courtesy and respect that students owe to their sheikh, to each other, to other sheiks, and to everyone. "If I invite you as a guest into my home," she said, "I share my home and my meals with you, but not my spouse" – a rather perceptive and discreet response, in my opinion. The visiting sheikh had violated this principle, though his take was different: "The rose can't help it," he insisted, "if its scent draws the lovers."
Ben was so taken with this rose's scent that he, along with several friends, followed him to Illinois and joined his community. In Sufism Ben had found an intensely emotional, poetic, and musical path – mystical, as opposed to legalistic and doctrinal – that appealed to him immensely, and his relationship with the sheikh was close. In this Sufi community the sheikh had absolute authority. When one of his followers showed up in a shiny new truck that he was obviously proud of, the sheikh ordered him to exchange it with the decrepit old vehicle that another of his followers possessed. This surprised and angered the man with the truck, but he stifled his anger and obeyed. Then, after a month, having made his point about not being possessed by things, the sheikh had the two exchange vehicles again, so that the truck owner got back his shiny truck.
At first the sheikh encouraged a lively discussion, and even argument, about spiritual matters, but over the four years Ben communed with him the sheikh became more conservative and autocratic; the rose grew thorns. Tolerant initially regarding gay people, he later began ordering marriages between LGBTQ followers and heterosexuals, at which point Ben, disillusioned, left the community. Angry, the sheikh told Ben that Ben would die if he left. Ben still had friends in the community, and from them he learned that, after his departure, the sheikh told his followers that Ben was an example of the worst that can happen to a man. For all his holiness, the sheikh obviously nourished an untamed ego. But Ben's time there wasn't wasted; he told me later that he learned a great deal from that experience, and even more from separating himself from the sheikh.
As for Sheikha Fariha, Ben later asked her to preside over his same-sex wedding in Massachusetts, and she did, taking him, his partner, and their hundred guests into a deep spiritual appreciation of the moment. He hasn't seen her since but remembers her as a gentle, warm, humorous teacher who emphasizes love, compassion, and forgiveness.
I myself didn't become a Sufi, but I did become a devotee of a Sufi poet, Rumi. Reading him in translation, I'm sure I miss a lot, but much of the content still comes through, and I can see why, in a secular but spiritual-hungry age, he has become literary hot stuff and, that rarity in the U.S., a best-selling poet. Here is an excerpt from a volume that a friend gave me.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.
You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
Widening rings of being.
And another excerpt:
Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy
Absentminded. Someone sober
Will worry about things going badly.
Let the lover be.
There is much about love and lovers in Rumi, as well as wine and music and God. And who was he? A thirteenth-century sheikh, religious scholar, and Sufi mystic born in a part of Afghanistan that was then part of the Persian empire, but who lived most of his life in Konya in what today is Turkey, which means that, though he wrote mostly in Persian, he is claimed by Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey all three. The deciding event of his life came in 1244 when, at the age of 37 and a family man, he met Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish with whom he formed a passionate friendship in which they were drunk with God and drunk with each other. Was this relationship sexual as well? Opinion today is divided, but the tone of his poems celebrating Shams is certainly that of a lover. So jealous of Shams did Rumi's students become, that they may have murdered Shams, who in any event suddenly disappeared. Rumi searched in vain for Shams, then became convinced that Shams was writing his, Rumi's, poems and so lived on through Rumi.
Sufism exists in many forms and imposes certain obligations like prayer five times a day and fasting at Ramadan, but for Westerners seeking some kind of spiritual path it is just plain sexy. And Rumi has worked a similar miracle by making poetry – and worshipful poetry at that – enticingly sexy.
And today? A recent article in the New York Times makes it clear that Sufism is alive and well in New York. In a small apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a group of ten "beloveds" are greeted by their sheikh in an Arabic seasoned with a thick New York accent, and then join hands, form a circle, and for 30 minutes with eyes shut chant the 99 sacred names of Allah. Another Sufi order founded by a Senegalese sheikh meets in West Harlem, still another in a brownstone in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and a third in a church on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan.
And on West Broadway in TriBeCa, Sheikha Fariha in a flowing white gown receives visitors (minus their shoes) in a prayer hall with the Prophet Muhammad's name in Arabic calligraphy adorning the walls, prayer rugs on the floor, books scattered about, and Turkish tea and dates on a table. Her voice then drifts across the hall summoning the faithful to prayer, and her followers, wearing white caps very much like those of surgeons, begin a service of chanting, swaying, and prayer, with one member tapping lightly on a Persian drum; on occasion they even whirl. Tolerance and equality are emphasized; there is no dress code, and LGBT members are welcome. That this order's sheikh is a woman is highly unusual, but in liberal New York the rule of a charismatic sheikha attracts followers, especially women.
Yes, even in this time of Islamic terrorism and the resulting suspicion of Islam in America, many New Yorkers – described by some critics as "spiritual vagabonds" flitting from one tradition to another -- are drawn to this path on the fringe of mainstream Islam, pleased by its liberalism and convinced that true Islam abhors the terrorism committed by fanatics in its name.
My poems: For five acceptable poems, click here and scroll down. To avoid five terrible poems, don't click here. For my poem "The Other," inspired by the Orlando massacre, click here.
My books: No Place for Normal: New York / Stories from the Most Exciting City in the World, my selection of posts from this blog, has received these awards: the Tenth Annual National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Non-Fiction; first place in the Travel category of the 2015-2016 Reader Views Literary Awards; and Honorable Mention in the Culture category of the Eric Hoffer Book Awards for 2016. For the Reader Views review by Sheri Hoyte, go here. As always, the book is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
The Pleasuring of Men (Gival Press, 2011), my historical novel about a young male prostitute in the late 1860s in New York who falls in love with his most difficult client, is likewise available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Coming soon: Scavenging, an old New York tradition, and how I got a roach-infested bookcase and scads of other goodies. And after that, the Golden Age of Profanity and why I don't swear in Indiana.
263. The Golden Age of Profanity, and Do We Have ...
262. Halloween and Related Horrors
261. Scavenging in New York
260. Sufism and Me, and How I Swayed and Chanted,...
259. Who Don't Pay Taxes -- Again
258. The Languages of New York, with a Note on a ...
257. Donald Trump ... Again!
256. The Morgan Library, Where an American Banker...


SharePoint helps you and your team work better, faster, and smarter. Access the right people and information at the right time to make better decisions and get the job done. Plus, work comfortably and confidently in SharePoint with a familiar interface and direct connections to Microsoft Office.
MBS Application Services enable our clients to take advantage of the latest technologies through proven methodologies for migrating and upgrading complex application environments.


Neograft is a machine that automates the FUE hair transplant process.
1) NeoGraft automated process uses a motorized punch that gently rotates around each individual graft (slowly rotates approximately 2 times) in a perfectly cylindrical shapes.
2) Rotation of the punch can be precisely adjusted to accommodate for different skin types.
3) NeoGraft uses a pressured suction to slide out the follicles smoothly and uniformly after the punch. This suction removes the use of pulling and twisting which might put the follicle at risk for damage.
4) The strength of the suction can be adjusted to accommodate different skin types and the various sizes of punches.
5) Because of the way that the grafts are extracted from the donor area, each graft is uniform making the implantation of the graft precisely the same size and cylindrical shape of the recipient site.
6) The benefits of the automated FUE hair transplantation method to the patient are the same as manual FUE hair transplants; minimal discomfort, no scalpel incision, no sutures, no linear scar, little to no risk of complications, quick recovery time, fewer activity limitations and a more natural looking result than traditional strip hair transplantation methods.
7) The benefits of the NeoGraft System are fast harvesting up to 400-600 grafts per hour with very consistent high quality grafts, and significantly improved reproducible outcomes.
During the FUE hair transplantation process, patients are comfortably listening to music or watching a movie. They are able to eat and drink, and use the restroom during the process.
A patient who had 1,100 grafts removed from the donor area. The picture to the right is six days after the hair transplant procedure. As shown, the scalp has healed very well.


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Digital communication & social action
Interrogating the complexities of digital communication for young people engaged in social action
Digital technologies are frequently deployed to connect communities, are often assumed to be particularly appropriate for young people to use, and attract significant investments of time and money. However, the degree to which they facilitate voice and recognition for young communicators is as yet poorly understood. This project fills this gap in knowledge by answering the following questions:
1. How do the complexities of digital technology facilitate or constrain narratives deployed by young people as interventions in their communities?
2. How do the complexities of digital technology affect young communicators' sense of voice and recognition, and of being able to make an effective intervention in their communities?
In an age of austerity, government policy has emphasized the role of the voluntary sector in improving social outcomes for various groups. The topic of 'Social Action' appeared in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement , including measures to encourage volunteering, charitable giving, active citizenship and making more space for third sector involvement in public services. Since the coalition has been in office, a range of measures has been introduced to deliver on these promises, including the 'Decade of Social Action', and the Centre for Social Action (see: Promoting Social Action and Centre for Social Action).
Encouraging social action among young people has been a particular focus, with the Prime Minister ordering a review of the quality and quantity of youth social action for 10-20 year-olds in 2012 (see In the Service of Others), a process which resulted in the 'Step up to Serve' campaign being set up in 2013.
Communication is fundamental to the engagement of young people in social action initiatives, and digital communication in particular, in the form of social media, websites, mobile technologies and apps, is commonly viewed as a cost-effective means both of enabling young people to communicate using tools they are familiar with, and of reaching large numbers of people in targeted communities.
Yet the promise of digital technology to facilitate participation in social action and transform communities may be difficult to realize in practice, not least because digital technologies require access to specialised hardware and software, particular forms of communication literacy and particular formats for delivery (see, e.g. Lance Bennett, 2008; Lundby, 2008). These conditions set parameters for who is able to communicate as well as what kinds of narratives can be constructed, including some individuals and messages but excluding others (Thumim, 2012; van Dijck, 2013). In this sense, digital technologies are contested communication tools, and using digital technologies to create stronger connections between community members is likely to be a more complex exercise than notions of cost-effectiveness or 'reach' suggest. The context in which digital technologies are used to communicate, including the social and cultural environment, the objectives of the communication, and the skills and abilities of people who use them, all shape fundamentally the impact they have within and between communities.
(Edwards, Case for Support)
McKenna, G. & Edwards, L., 'Giving Social Action a Voice: Final Report.' Working Papers of the Communities & Culture Network+ Vol.7, March 2016.
Edwards, L., 'Interrogating the complexities of digital communication for young people engaged in social action. Final Report.' Working Papers of the Communities & Culture Network+ Vol.6, Oct 2015
Key Participants
Dr Lee Edwards (PI) Lee Edwards is Associate Professor in Communication and Public Relations at the University of Leeds. She teaches and researches PR from a socio-cultural perspective. A critical scholar, her primary focus is on the operation of power through PR both within the occupational field and in wider society. As well as making theoretical contributions to the understanding of PR's effects on society, she has published empirical work on the exercise of power through PR as a cultural intermediary, on diversity in PR, and on the use of PR in third sector and corporate contexts. She is the author of Power, Diversity and Public Relations (Routledge, 2014); and of Understanding Copyright (with Dr Bethany Klein and Dr Giles Moss, Sage, 2015 forthcoming). She is editor, with Dr Caroline Hodges, of Public Relations, Society and Culture: Theoretical and Empirical Explorations (Routledge, 2011). Dr Edwards is the Secretary of the International Communication Association PR Division (2014-16). She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Relations Research and PR Inquiry, and is a reviewer for a wide range of other journals including Management Communication Quarterly; Consumption, Markets and Culture; Media, Culture and Society; and New Media and Society.


This is a great book to read – check it out – Plus it's on sale!!!!!!
This is a sale you don't want to miss! If you don' already have a copy, grab your's now!
Big sale running from April 1st to April 7th. Bookmark 'Yesterday Road' now and don't miss out.
This entry was posted on March 25, 2014 by Kevin Brennan in Publishing and tagged Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, marketing, self-publishing.


Voice search on mobiles like Siri, Cortana have become the best friends of today's generation. Typing is a pain, and voice search is so much cooler. Still majority of people are not using the voice search simply because the automated voice translation can be erroneous, but it is highly popular among teenagers. The percentage of people using it, is no less significant. And the more significant thing to notice is that- voice searches will soon replace the keyword targeting as used by many marketers today. With the advancing times, keywords have already lost their position, once they had in SEO plannings. Those who are still stuffing keywords, do not know that this is the reason why they are not getting success. Those who are focusing on providing their visitors quality content are truly getting the high rankings in the search engine results page.
There is a basic difference between conventional search on google and voice based search. The text search is short and broad sense. Like 'cleaning canvas shoes'. You will get results about- how to clean(info blogs) and what to clean with(e commerce sites). While in voice based search you ask 'how to clean canvas shoes' and the answer would be exactly how and not anything else.
While text searching, when we write something, google completes it based on the trend and our history of searches. Thus the result is somehow what we want. But in voice search we need to be specific about what we want. It would not complete the search for us. Yes, it tracks our activities and optimize the search for us, sometimes like while driving, leaving the office, it may give us correct traffic status. Or we can easily find the best restaurant near our current position, and book a reservation, but the text search is something else.
Voice searches are actually longer. Obviously, all the searches are in the question form. Thus the words per search is more than the text search. So only keywords that can be focused are long tail keywords.
Voice search is less like a query and more like a conversation. It is completely opposite to the keyword search where what we want, we type. It is more detailed and more targeted towards the problem. Voice searches now have more evolved and the accuracy of voice to search conversion has improved. The reason for popularity of this voice search is that it focuses on the intend or behavior of users and not the words spoken. It anticipates the needs of the users. When you opt for voice search, your activity is tracked and you get results which are more accurate answer to your query. Not to mention it is the best way to navigate hands free. And above all, you just have to ask and the result will be told to you. No hassle of using the correct word.
Since now, not many websites optimize themselves to rank better in the voice search results, a lot need to be changed in the coming years. Voice search is completely gonna change the way we search and the way we rank for organic search.
The search is going to be more like conversation, so the answers will also be direct and in the natural way.
The keywords will lose their importance, still if anyone want their site to optimize for keyword, they should target long tail keywords- that are pretty descriptive and exclusive.
The word search will be replaced by the intention search. As such will increase the need of image and video optimization.
The Web based traffic will decrease. Users are getting answers to their questions without visiting the websites. This may decrease the traffic to your website but it is all ok as far as people are getting information about your business.
Search results will favour local businesses, as the voice search is like solution 'on-the-go'. Small and local businesses will gain the most by optimizing for voice searches.
Now your old approach of developing content will not work. Your content may be relevant to voice search but it is not in the same format. We are not talking about the same keywords, but the style in which it is written. You can now adopt these style of content development.
Develop your content like answering a question. You may be providing an information. But present it in the form that it is a solution to a query like- 'how to fix a broken mug' or 'what is the reason behind the popularity of voice search'. Write about how, when, what, who, where, why.
Content should be based on current problems of your customers. It may not contain your targeted keyword, but should contain the information they want the most. The language of the content should be naturalistic same as user will use to search the content.
Be updated. It is very essential that your website, social media profile and google page is up to date and the content is easy to find. Thus voice based search engine can spot you more accurately and for correct reasons.
Start a discussion forum. Here people will discuss various problems; again, in the question answer from. Thus will increase your value in semantic search.
Voice search is really the future. Because of its ease and quick result, it is growing by the day. It is no more limited to the mobiles and has made a way to the computers. Now the voice search is not only for finding the best route while driving, or finding the best place to hangout near you, instead it has become an easy way to do the regular computer chores..yes Chores like 'Play the latest episode of The Flash' or 'Play my favourite song'. What are you favouring right now? And will you switch to the other in the coming years. As per seo company denver, voice search would play an important role in shaping the future of SEO.


Today we are introducing a new sample from Mirror Window, If you are a fan of classic theme then I am sure that you have heard of this studio. They have the main classic, simple yet Korean style theme which is loved by all the Korean couples. This end of year, they are launching another new sample after upgrading some of the backdrop settings and surprisingly it looks so refreshing and gorgeous!
For those who are having a hard time to select which studio to go for, we will recommend to go for those studio that are having classic theme such as Mirror and Window.
If you are interested to know more about the package, please do not hesitate to contact us for more! We do have current promotion as well for those couple who plan to book their photoshoot slot in the coming 2019! Kindly drop us mail to enquire for more!