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Best Dishes of 2014 - Part 3
We're in the home stretch. Here is Part 3 of my favorite dishes of the past year. This last set includes several more welcome additions to the Miami dining universe: N by Naoe, Oolite, L'Echon Brasserie, Mignonette, Proof, Seagrape, plus dishes from chefs Diego Oka, Danny Grant and Brad Kilgore. There's also a few items from visits to the Northeast (Toronto, Boston, Maine and Quebec) and a couple great meals in Chicago a couple months ago. In case you missed it: Part 1 and Part 2. You can also see all the pictures in this Best Dishes of 2014 flickr set.
Bento Box – N by Naoe (Brickell Key, Miami) (read my thoughts and see all my pictures from N by Naoe)
A few minutes after you're seated, a three-tiered bento box is brought to your table. It's unpacked to reveal six compartments, each stocked with several different items – similar in style and quality to the elaborate bento that starts a meal at Naoe.
So what's inside? This day: a battera roll of madai (sea bream) and pickled kombu with fried canistel (a/k/a eggfruit); tender braised pork jowl with mustard and miso, with boniato, white asparagus and local green beans; house-made jackfruit seed tofu topped with Hokkaido uni, with junsai (a/k/a water shield, a sort of slippery aquatic plant); a bit of Maine lobster with avocado and pea shoots; grilled black-bellied rosefish (a local deepwater fish in the scorpionfish family) with key lime; the same fish in a different preparation, simmered, with roasted eggplant and okra; sashimi of snowy grouper with komochi kombu (herring roe that have been laid on seaweed) and delightfully sticky aori ika (big fin squid) pressed with nori. Also, in typical Japanese fashion, a rice bowl (studded with bamboo shoots), pickles (eggplant and kombu), and soup (corn miso with slivers of daikon radish and leek).
Snapper Crudo – Oolite (Miami Beach) (see all my pictures from Oolite)
I was crushed when Kris Wessel closed his beloved Red Light a few years ago. He wrote a beautiful menu for Florida Cookery in the James Hotel, but didn't stay long in the kitchen. Then this summer he resurfaced at Oolite, a new spot off Lincoln Road with a pronounced focus on healthy eating. There are still some old Red Light classics – Wessel's fantastic New Orleans style BBQ shrimp, and his smoked, guanabana glazed ribs – and some great new things too.
One of my favorites in the latter category is Oolite's snapper crudo: lean, sweet pinkish-white slivers of local fish, bathed in ginger-infused citrus juices, and garnished with floral, sweet lychees or rambutans and chewy green pumpkin seeds.
Raie a la Grenoblaise, Cervelles de Veau Meuniere – L'Echon Brasserie (Miami Beach) (read my thoughts and see all my pictures from L'Echon)
You can go old-school [at L'Echon]: there are seafood platters, pâté de campagne, steak tartare, moules and frites. Or you can find things more unconventional: hamachi crudo with black garlic soy, crushed tomatoes and olives, pan-roasted veal brains with brown butter and blue crab tartar sauce, a tartine topped with foie gras and nutella. There's also plenty in between, like this skate wing a la grenobloise, prepared with brown butter, capers, slivered grapes, and dried cranberries over a celeriac puree.
Tags: eat this, further afield, local flavor, smorgasbord, the best jerry
Picking up where we left off in our Best Dishes of 2014 – Part 1, here are the next twenty. The end of Part 1 coincided with the last days of our two week, twentieth anniversary trip to Japan. Part 2 here starts in Los Angeles, where I took Frod Jr. during his spring break for a quick college tour. I've never spent much time in LA and never particularly wanted to – I've always envisioned it as embodying some of Miami's worst features, on steroids. But I'll say this: there's some good eating there.
This set also includes a few great new additions to the Miami restaurant landscape – BlackBrick, Zak the Baker and Niu Kitchen – and some outstanding one-off dishes from the increasingly deep pool of local talent, including Jeremiah Bullfrog, Timon Balloo, Brad Kilgore, Conor Hanlon and Giorgio Rapicavoli.
Jeremiah and I happened to be in NYC at the same time in June, and lucked into a last-minute seating at Atera – which was one of the best meals I had all year.
(You can see all the dishes in my Best Dishes of 2014 flickr set).
Chicken Gizzards with Beets and Endive, Agnolotti Alla Vaccinara – Bestia (Los Angeles) (see all my pictures from Bestia)
There are some combinations that sound so absurd that they have to either be fantastic or complete train wrecks. Needless to say, when I see them on a menu I'm drawn to them. The pan-roasted chicken gizzards with roasted beets, Belgian endive and capra sarda cheese at Bestia is a perfect example. There's nothing about this that makes sense, and yet it works beautifully, a compelling combination of assertive, often bitter flavors and substantial textures that I thorougly enjoyed.
The agnolotti at Bestia was not quite as far out there, but still was another bold – and delicious – dish: glossy pillows of pasta filled with silky braised oxtail, dyed the color of dark chocolate with cacao mixed into the pasta, and napped with a lush butter sauce speckled with pine nuts and currants.
Country Ham, Hushpuppies and Honey Butter – Son of a Gun (Los Angeles) (see all my pictures from Son of a Gun)
Son of a Gun is the seafood-focused second restaurant of Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, who opened their first restaurant, Animal, to much acclaim in 2008 (South Florida connection: they went to culinary school in Fort Lauderdale and worked for Michelle Bernstein at the Strand before heading out to LA). We ate a lot of good things at lunch there – hamachi crudo with tart apples and crunchy sprouts topped with a kalbi vinaigrette, their brilliant little lobster roll – but the surprise hit was a platter of salty-sweet Broadbent country ham served with a pile of hot, crispy hushpuppies and a swath of creamy honey butter. Wrap a slice of ham around a hushpuppy; swipe through the honey butter; and smile.
Sixty dishes? Really?
Well, it's been a really good year. 2014 started with a snowed-in fairy tale of a weekend in New York City. In February, Mrs. F and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary with a two-week trip to Japan that was every bit as thrilling as I had hoped, and then some. The next month, college visits for Frod Jr. over spring break provided a good excuse to visit Los Angeles for the first time in ages. Then the summer included a quick return to New York as well as visits to Toronto, Boston, Maine and Quebec. A brief Chicago jaunt in October served up a couple of my best meals of the year.
In between all of that, my hometown Miami has had a great year too. Several new restaurants have quickly become favorites, a new generation of young talent is starting to emerge, and established chefs have added to their repertoires. This may have been as good a year for Miami's food scene as there has been in the five years since I started writing this blog.
These dishes are presented in the order I ate them (this first batch is pretty Japan-intensive); you can see a full set of pictures in my Best Dishes of 2014 flickr set.
Whole-Roasted Chicken for Two – The NoMad (New York) (see all my pictures from NoMad)
We arrived in New York just after New Years Day as a massive snowstorm was overtaking the city. Safely ensconced in the NoMad Hotel, we scurried around the corner for oysters and a carta di musica at the John Dory before settling in for drinks at the NoMad bar and then dinner at Daniel Humm's restaurant. The NoMad chicken is famous, and justifiably so: it is among the best birds I've ever eaten. The gorgeously burnished skin holds a layer of foie gras, brioche and truffle stuffing which perfumes the tender breast meat. The legs are made into a rich ragout with morels, a soft egg, and a tangy hollandaise. We awoke the next morning to an eery silence: not a single car on Broadway, all the streets still blanketed with snow. I can't imagine a better way to start the new year.
Ikura – 15 East (New York) (see my pictures from 15 East)
As a sort of warm-up for our upcoming Japan trip, we spent one of our nights in New York at 15 East for an omakase sushi fest with Chef Masato Shimitzu. It may not get the same attention as the astronomically priced Masa or fashionable upstarts like Sushi Nakazawa, but it was one of the best sushi experiences we've had outside of Japan. All the fish was excellent, but the standout was the ikura, glistening like jewels, enhanced but not overwhelmed by a dashi, soy and mirin cure.
Egg Salad and Mojama on Matzo; Mussels Escabeche – Estela (New York) (see all my pictures from Estela)
For the past year, everyone in New York has been going nuts over Estela. From the outside, it was hard to tell exactly why. The dishes drawing raves sounded, and often looked, so plain. But having paid a visit, I now understand that Chef Ignacio Mattos likes to deliberately conceal the restaurant's charms. Descriptions are minimalist; his plating style is often almost aggressively unphotogenic (to say nothing of the dim, candlelit dining room). And yet his food is unique and delicious, in a trend-less way that is a welcome respite from the cookie-cutter approach you see in many restaurants around the country these days. We especially liked his rich, creamy egg salad served over crisp matzo garnished with a generous shaving of dried, salt-cured tuna; and the mussels escabeche served with a garden of herbs and vegetables over olive-oil drenched toast.
Pastrami Tartare – Josh's Deli (Surfside) (read my thoughts and see all my pictures from dinner at Josh's)
I unabashedly love what Joshua Marcus is doing at Josh's Deli. He cures his own corned beef, smokes his own salmon, bakes his own bagels; but despite the anachronistic focus on all house-made everything, this is not just a nostalgia trip. Classics share space with esoterica like "Jewban" sandwiches and zucchini latkes topped with tzatziki and salmon roe. On and off this past year he's rolled out a dinner menu that was very much in the same spirit. The best thing I had was this pastrami tartare, topped with a raw quail egg, bound with an oyster caesar dressing, and presented with a crisp bagel chip for scooping.
The primary focus here at FFT has always been restaurant dining – but sporadically I've indulged in missives inspired by my CSA subscription with Little River Cooperative, and even the occasional backyard planter box tomato. This October, we plunged in a bit deeper. As part of a landscaping project at the house, we installed a raised vegetable bed in the backyard, and also filled in a defunct little kidney-shaped "pond" with soil and planted it with greens and herbs.[1]
I make no claim to having a green thumb; indeed, if I don't kill a plant within a month I feel like I've accomplished something. But despite my very limited experience, this little garden has been a source of a disproportionate amount of joy the past few months.
We started at the beginning of October with this:
Today, it looks like this:
(You can see all my garden pictures in this flickr set.)
I've been giving something of a weekly play-by-play on Twitter and Instagram, but if you've not been following along there, here's a rough recap of the past few months for Farmer Frod.
The raised bed started with a couple tomato plants, some herbs (mint, basil, sage, lavender, oregano), a couple broccoli plants, and was seeded with radishes and carrots. A couple weeks later I supplemented these with a few more tomatoes (Sungold, Black Krim, Purple Russian, Homestead, and Gold Medal) a zucchini plant (romanesco costata, to be precise), a Tuscan kale, a couple shishito peppers, and a jalapeño, all bought from Little River, The other bed also started with some herbs (chocolate mint, opal basil, a couple different parsleys, tarragon, thyme), a few Swiss chard plants, and was seeded with lettuces, kale and mustard greens.
To give you a good idea of just how much of a novice I am: when these little seedlings started sprouting up a few days later, I called my landscaper in a panic, having no clue whether they were vegetables or weeds.
The radishes and greens came in incredibly quickly, and in a month some were ready to harvest.
Tags: CSA, eat your vegetables, frod can cook, green thumb, local flavor
Cobaya Diego at La Mar
It was big news when Gaston Acurio – Peru's most famous and celebrated chef – decided to open a restaurant in Miami. But Acurio has literally dozens of restaurants around the world; he's clearly not cooking in all of them at the same time. At Miami's La Mar, the executive chef responsibilities fall to Diego Oka. In an Edible South Florida piece last year, I recounted Diego's introduction to Acurio as a nervous 16 year old peeking around the corner of a supermarket aisle. He was invited to visit Acurio's restaurant the next day, and pretty much never left. After working with Acurio in Peru, he opened La Mar Cebicheria Peruana in San Francisco with him, then came to Miami to open our own version of La Mar.
Perhaps unlike many other U.S. cities (including San Francisco), Peruvian cuisine is nothing new here. In fact, South Florida already had over 200 Peruvian restaurants when I last counted, as La Mar was opening. But there are few, if any, places, that show the same creativity and attention to ingredients as are on display at La Mar. We got a preview of what Diego could do when he went off-menu at our Cobayapalooza dinner in July, and were eager to see more.
Last week a small group of guinea pigs assembled on the patio behind La Mar in the Mandarin Oriental, overlooking the lights of downtown Brickell across a sliver of Biscayne Bay. After some Pisco Sours to set the mood, Diego served up seven courses that were simultaneously creative and grounded in Peruvian flavors.[1]
(You can see all my pictures in this Cobaya Diego flickr set – apologies for the wonky artificial lighting, but the dark outdoor setting left me with no choice).
The menu started with a tiradito – a dish reflective of the mingling of local and Japanese food traditions that leads many to call Peruvian food the original "fusion cuisine" (indeed, el jefe Gaston Acurio recently published a book called "500 Years of Fusion"). Typically prepared with sashimi-style slices of raw fish that are then bathed in a ceviche-style citrus and chile bath, Diego's version here used slices of raw scallop, tongues of uni and brilliant orange salmon roe, all napped with a creamy rocoto chile leche de tigre.
Another modern iteration of a traditional Peruvian dish followed: a potato causa made with luridly hued purple potatoes, paired with blocks of seared tuna, a green mango chalaca sauce and crispy sweet potato strings.
Tags: Brickell, Cobaya, eat this, offal, Peruvian, seafood, underground dinner
P.I.G. (Pork Is Good) #5
Almost exactly five years ago was one of the first times I broke out a camera for a food event. The occasion was the inaugural "P.I.G." (for "Pork Is Good") party put on by Chef Jeremiah Bullfrog. A couple dozen folks showed up at the Harvey W. Seed American Legion Hall, Jeremiah served up some chicharrones, some smoked pork butt bao buns, a whole pig rolled porchetta style and cooked in a caja china out back, and a bevy of beverages, and everyone was greasy and happy.
Jeremiah's done it every year since, and every year it's grown. Last year, P.I.G. #4 was more of a collective effort, with several other local chefs chipping in on this ode to all things porcine. A couple weekends ago, P.I.G. #5 saw many of the same faces and some new ones too: Kyle Foster (formerly the sous chef at the late, lamented Talula), Conor Hanlon and Josh Gripper (The Dutch), James Strine (Café Boulud), Brad Kilgore (soon-to-open Alter, until recently at J&G Grill), Todd Erickson (Haven and HuaHua's Taqueria), Jamie DeRosa (Tongue & Cheek), Michael Pirolo (Macchialina), William Crandall (Azul), Giorgio Rapicavoli (Eating House), Brian Mullins (Ms. Cheezious), Steve Santana (Taquiza), Kris Wessel (Oolite), and Giselle Pinto (Sugar Yummy Mama).
This is genuinely one of the most fun food events of the year for me. The venue, in and behind Wynwood's Brisky Gallery, was great. The crowd was relaxed and friendly. The chefs and their crews even seem to be having a good time. And the food – which at many events like this, to be honest, is often disappointing – was pretty excellent. I didn't manage to try everything, but here are some highlights:
(You can see all my pictures in this P.I.G. #5 flickr set).
Man, do I miss Kyle. In the last couple years before Talula closed, he was often the mastermind of some great offal-centric appetizers and charcuterie items on the menu. He moved along to Denver and is doing just fine without me: he's now the sous at a place called Colt & Gray, is still doing the offal and cured meats routine, and recently got engaged (his fiancée came down to Miami with him to work the event). His charcuterie game is still very strong, and he brought a bunch of it: pork heart salami, finnochiona, jambon persille, ciccioli, and another salami he called the "Forest Moon of Endor," among others.
Tags: eat this, festivus, local flavor, pop-up, Wynwood
Alinea - Chicago
The idea of dinner as spectacle is hardly a new one. In the Satyricon, Petronius recounts the (fictional) dinner of Trimalchio, featuring such delicacies as pea hen eggs filled with tiny songbirds, a hare with wings affixed to it to look like a pegasus, and a whole wild boar with baskets of dates hanging from its tusks, surrounded by pastry piglets and stuffed with live thrushes – preceded by a presentation of hunting-themed tapestries and a pack of hunting dogs traipsing through the dining room to set the mood.
Fast forward a couple thousand years, and recently Jeremiah Tower – one of the titans of the 1980's dining universe, who is returning to the business on a mission to resuscitate the Tavern on the Green – spoke with Andrew Friedman about the theater of dining at TOTG:
Friedman: When you say outrageous, what do you mean, for people who weren't there back in the day?
Tower: Oh, I mean, my God. Oversized chandeliers and didn't he put live animals at one point for some party? It reminded me of the Ritz, a nouveau riche version of the Ritz, where in the old days, a grand Duke wanted a winter scene so they flooded the basement and froze it and draped everything in ice. It was that kind of theater.
Friedman: What do you remember about the food at the old Tavern?
Tower: You know, I honestly don't remember anything. I've been looking at old menus from the 1950s but I don't think I ever looked at the plate. I was too busy looking at the decor and the action.
So in a sense, what Alinea is doing is nothing new. But few contemporary restaurants I've visited have the same dedication to the theater of dinner.
My first meal at Alinea was a long time ago, within a couple years of its opening. They were the heady days of foams and spheres and fluid gels – back when what is now inaptly named "modernist cuisine" went by the equally inapt "molecular gastronomy." On that first visit, we had bacon swinging on trapezes, bites perched on bobbing "antennae," and dishes nestled on pillows emitting flower-perfumed air. But perhaps the most striking oddity of it all was the somber, ramrod-stiff waitstaff. There was a huge disconnect between the playfulness coming out of Grant Achatz's kitchen and the solemnity of those who served it, as if the food wouldn't be taken seriously enough if they actually cracked a smile.
Achatz no longer needs to be concerned with being taken seriously: Alinea now has three Michelin stars, a No. 9 position on San Pellegrino's 50 Best Restaurants list, and multiple James Beard awards to vouch for that. And everyone's smiling.[1]
(You can see all my pictures in this Alinea - October 2014 flickr set.)
I'd not been back to Alinea until last month,[2] when the opportunity for a return visit fortuitously arose. The gap afforded an interesting time-lapse view of the restaurant's maturation. Many things that were still just in the concept stage at the time of my initial visit – reincorporating classical old-school dishes and table-side service, the now-famous dessert on the table – are now firmly entrenched in the repertoire.[3] Dishes that were once emblematic of Alinea's cutting edge creativity – like the "hot potato cold potato" pictured above – are now signature dishes, evoking more nostalgia than awe (for a repeat visitor anyway).
There is also plenty that's new, and plenty that's still awe-inspiring. But what was most notable to me, given my peculiar perspective, is how the front of the house at Alinea has caught up with the back. This is now a fully realized experience where the food and the spectacle of its presentation are on equal footing. As to whether or not that's a good thing – I'll try to address after the recap of my recent visit.
It's hard to imagine a more traditional way to commence a meal than with caviar and champagne. It's hard to come up with a better one either. The accompaniments to the caviar here are customary ones, but of course transformed: a brioche foam, an egg yolk emulsion, a transparent gelée flavored with onion and capers. The osetra caviar itself was excellent, as was the Pierre Moncuit champagne.
Then the show really starts. Servers arrive wielding blocks of ice that are 1/25 size replicas of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic,[4] strewn with a sort of reinvented seafood platter: a sphere of oyster liquor and mignonette sauce nestled in the oyster's shell; strips of chewy clam glazed with unagi sauce, served ishiyaki style on a hot rock; a sort of deconstructed miso soup with kombu and crumbles of miso and bonito; a sort of reconstructed tomato of fresh tuna; a shooter of Asian pear and yuzu juices dug right into the block of ice, with a fat glass straw planted in it (which, awkwardly, was too long to use without actually standing up at the table); and a cylindrical sea urchin cake, infused with vanilla, wrapped in nori, and topped with lemon zest and coarse salt, poised right between savory and sweet.
Tags: Chicago, deep thoughts, eat this, further afield, goes around ... comes around, modern gastronomy
L2O - Chicago
I was looking forward to writing about my meal at L2O in Chicago last month. I didn't realize it was going to be a eulogy.
L2O first vaulted to prominence in 2008, when the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises group lured chef Laurent Gras from San Francisco to open a high-end, seafood-focused restaurant in Chicago. In 2010, L2O earned three Michelin stars; that same month, Gras left. The next year, Matthew Kirkley took over as chef de cuisine and eventually was elevated to executive chef. Many quietly said that the restaurant under Kirkley was every bit as good – if not better – than under Gras' reign.
Now comes news that the restaurant will be closing at the end of the year. On one hand, it's a big surprise: L2O is one of the city's – and country's – most highly regarded restaurants, even if it doesn't seem to draw the same quantum of attention as the venues of Chicago royalty like Grant Achatz, Rick Bayless, and Paul Kahan. On the other hand, L2O always seemed an odd fit with LEYE, which is better known (to me, anyway) for crowd-pleaser type places like Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba and Shaw's Crab House. LEYE's founder, Rich Melman, seemed to confirm as much:
"(L2O) had never been a money maker for us," Melman says. "As with all restaurants, it's all about volume. I don't want to do four-star restaurants anymore, at least for the foreseeable future. Three partners came out of L2O and it was successful in that way."
Surprise or not, L2O's imminent closing is a disappointment: this was one of the most pleasing, satisfying meals I've had all year. It's a shame it will be my only chance to experience it.
(You can see all my pictures in this L2O flickr set.)
The tasting menu[1] starts with a series of snacks. The first is a sort of ode to Chesapeake Bay (Chef Kirkley is a Baltimore native): a few precariously balanced wafers with the puffy texture of Chinese shrimp chips, but the intense, pronounced flavors of crab and Old Bay seasoning. Next, a mussel "tart," the mollusks' flavor infused into a quivering mousse brightened with parsley and citrus, nestled in a crispy shell. Then, a puffy pomme souflée, ingeniously filled with a creamy salt cod brandade, and dusted with coffee and bergamot for a pleasingly bitter counterpoint.
Maybe it was brought into sharper focus by comparison to the theatrical pyrotechnics of Alinea, where I'd eaten the night before, but there's an austerity and minimalism to Kirkley's style that I really appreciated. Most courses featured only a few primary ingredients, the flavors of which were honed, concentrated, and often reiterated within the dish. Indeed, the composition of many plates was similar: a fish or seafood item as the primary focus, sometimes a bit of animal fat to provide richness and extend flavors, often a sauce extracted from the primary ingredients, an accent note of herb or citrus.
That pattern was set in this first course, a pink ball of langoustine[2] tartare, enriched with lardo and brightened with pickled lemon and English pea. This was followed by a Kusshi oyster, nestled in its shell under a bed of green apple and vermouth creams, and presented like some nautical bric-a-brac from Shell City. Pinkish orange ocean trout was lightly cured, presented in silky, supple ribbons complemented by the delicate but intense flavors of Chartreuse, citrus confit and airy little gougere-like poufs dusted with fines herbes.
Tags: Chicago, deep thoughts, eat this, further afield, modern gastronomy, seafood
Elements: Scott Anderson Dinner at The Dutch
Much as I might wish for it, I don't get to spend my days traversing the country from restaurant to restaurant. We're fortunate to travel often and usually eat very well when we do, but even so, there are places I'm unlikely to ever visit. Princeton, New Jersey would fall into that category.[1] And as a result, I figured I would never eat at Elements, Chef Scott Anderson's restaurant which opened in Princeton about five years ago (and is currently closed while moving to a new location).
This was cause for regret, because I'd read and heard many very good things about it. A couple guys whose opinions I value raved about their meals there. Despite being somewhat off the grid, it was highly regarded enough to make Opinionated About Dining's list of the top twenty restaurants in the U.S. So I was pretty excited when I learned, through Chef Jeremiah Bullfrog, that Scott was interested in doing a dinner here in Miami.
We sent up some Cobaya flares for other folks who might be interested, and Chef Conor Hanlon of The Dutch graciously agreed to participate and play host. Together, Scott, Jeremiah, Conor and Josh Gripper, The Dutch's pastry chef, put together a pretty extraordinary ten-course dinner.
(You can see all my pictures in this Chef Scott Anderson (Elements) at the Dutch flickr set. Apologies for the weird sepia-toned hue to these pictures; the food-unfriendly yellow lights on The Dutch's terrace are the only downside of putting on events there).
A few canapes to start: a pink beet macaron with an herbed chevre filling, a nice repurposing of a traditional combination; a crispy chicharron topped with a Thai-inspired green papaya and apple salad; and an airy – kind of fishy – scallop chip topped with pungent kimchee and trout roe. I'm assuming each chef did one of these, but they didn't tell us who (I'll guess Conor for the macaron, Jeremiah for the papaya salad, and Scott for the scallop chip).
Sometimes simple is bold. Particularly in this kind of dinner format, where the natural tendency is to show off, restraint isn't easily exercised. But that's what Jeremiah displayed, letting the main ingredient – some really lush, buttery baja yellowtail (a/k/a hiramasa or goldstriped amberjack) – stand out in his first dish. Meaty cubes and a couple silky ribbons of the raw fish were paired with a verdant fava bean purée, a few green leaves (tart sorrel, grassy tatsoi?), some slivers of shallot and a thin round of peppery black radish for some bite.
Conor followed with something also aquatic and equally elegant: cured ora king salmon, a richly fatty but clean-flavored salmon sustainably farmed off the coast of New Zealand, served with slivered radishes, puddles of deep, funky black garlic hollandaise, and hillocks of nutty crispy quinoa. The composition brought to mind a more sophisticated iteration of the combination of lox and a pumpernickel bagel that is so deeply resonant among my people.
I'm not sure how much communication there was between the chefs about their dishes, but it was interesting that Scott's first course also seemed to be a continuation of the same theme. A plump, sweet scallop (brought in live) was just barely cooked through, topped with a relish of Brazilian starfish pepper and shallots that tasted both spicy and fruity (reminiscent of habanero but with less capsicum heat), plus buttery avocado oil, a couple nasturtium leaves and a bright marigold blossom. These were assertive flavors to match with the somewhat delicate seafood, but I loved how they came together.
Tags: eat this, invasive exotic species, Miami Beach, modern gastronomy, pop-up
elements - Scott Anderson Dinner at The Dutch 10.20.14
I've been teasing it on Twitter and to the Cobaya - Gourmet Guinea Pigs mailing list, now it's official: October 20, 2014, 7pm, Chef Scott Anderson of Elements restaurant will be doing a nine-course dinner with chefs Conor Hanlon of The Dutch (which will also be graciously hosting the dinner) and Jeremiah Bullfrog of the gastroPod.
Anderson's restaurant is one of those places I've always wanted to visit but didn't ever see the opportunity – I'm not often passing through Princeton, New Jersey. Now, instead, he's coming here. To get some idea of why I'm excited, I'd encourage you to read these write-ups from a couple folks whose opinions I hold in high regard: ChuckEats and DocSconz. And they're not alone: despite not being on everyone's radar screen, Elements was included in Opinionated About Dining's Top 20 US Restaurants list.
The dinner will be $206 per person, inclusive of tax and tip. A pairing option will be available for purchase at the restaurant. To get seats, click on the "Add to Cart" button below (you can change the number of seats once you're on the PayPal page). The number of spots is very limited, so I'd encourage you to move quickly:
Elements Dinner at The Dutch
$206pp
Tags: eat this, invasive exotic species, Miami Beach, pop-up
elements - Scott Anderson Dinner at The Dutch 10.2...


text:
The Week's Best
The Week's Best: Stories You May Have Missed
Photo: Andriy Dubchak (RFE/RL)
We know that rferl.org isn't the only website you read, and it's possible that you may have missed some of our most interesting journalism from the past week. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days. Share this story on social media using the buttons on this page if you liked what you read.
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After spending part of his childhood in forced labor and refugee camps, John Miszuk emigrated to Canada and started his remarkable journey to the NHL. By Violetta Savchits, Max Lauretski, and Stuart Greer
'This Channel Is Currently Unavailable'
Three Pakistani TV news channels were abruptly taken off the air, the latest in a series of moves by authorities against the free press in Pakistan. By Frud Bezhan and Daud Khattak
A Rock Star Takes The Political Stage In Ukraine
He can fill stadiums, but can he lead a party into parliament? By Christopher Miller
Sunken Soviet Sub Leaks Radiation. What Are The Risks?
A Radioactive Wreck Deep Under The Sea
Norwegian scientists say a sunken Soviet nuclear sub in the Barents Sea is leaking radiation. But what threat does it pose to human or marine life? By Stuart Greer
Inside Pakistan's 'Hazara Town' Ghetto
High walls and gun-toting guards are now needed to protect this religious minority. By RFE/RL and Reuters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


All people today that are homeowners are surely always trying to make sure that their house is always the best that it can be. Everyone that wants this should see to it that every single room in their house is always as good as it can possibly be at all times as well. People should give proper care and attention to every single room in their house, even the kitchen of their house. Everyone should have a look at their kitchen, because they might find that it is no longer any good and it needs to be remodeled. When you get kitchen remodeling services, you will find that there are a lot of benefits that you can enjoy. People who have never tried anything like this before will definitely be curious as to what exactly the advantages of getting kitchen remodeling services are exactly. Today, we are going to have a short look at a few of the many benefits that you can enjoy when you go and get kitchen remodeling services.
Everyone that goes on ahead and gets kitchen remodeling services will find that their kitchen will be extremely well remodeled when they do so. People that try to remodel their kitchen on their own will find that this is actually a job that is very hard to get done properly. And by the time people are finished doing their kitchen remodeling, they will find that their kitchen doesn't look good as they had hoped it would. That is why if you want your kitchen to be very good indeed, you should hire the professionals to do this job for you. People that go and get kitchen remodeling services will find that when they are finished, their kitchen is going to look absolutely spectacular in its new look!
When you get kitchen remodeling services, you can also enjoy the fact that you will save so much time and energy when you do this. Even if you do know how to remodel your kitchen, it is still better to hire the professionals to do this for you. People should know that when it comes to kitchen remodeling, this is a task that really requires a load of time and energy to get done. And just about everyone nowadays has a very busy lifestyle, their schedules are always full pack and they always have something to do all the time. Everyone that wants to do their own kitchen remodeling will find that it is very hard to do this, and not only that, but they will also find that just finding the time and energy required is already going to be hard.


text:
Doctor D-mat
So, I wrote a PhD, and guess what? It was on matter transmitters. I found out the day I left for England that it had been accepted. Here's the intro, which goes some way towards outlining why I think d-mat is so cool. Warning: it's pretty dry! I have added a lolcat chaser, but even that may not be sufficient to make the medicine go down. If there's interest nonetheless, I may post some more. (The tl;dr version is that d-mat has a long and fascinating history unfairly overlooked because of TV.)
Note: I don't seem to be able to indent on this site so block quotes are in italics.
"The 'Murdering Twinmaker': Putting Into Context an Overlooked Icon of Science Fiction"
Science fiction (SF) can be characterized by its frequent employment of conventions unique to the genre, ranging from relatively mundane props such as rayguns and sonic screwdrivers to
the great cosmic technologies that embody the science of sf: interstellar spaceships, time machines, ftl drive, navigable wormholes, evolution instigators, teleportation, artificial wisdom, material immortality. (Csicsery-Ronay 120)
Sitting at a critical juncture of technoscientific innovation and mainstream culture, SF is fundamentally concerned with introducing new concepts to the value-bearing stories and metaphors of social life. It "rationalizes highly romantic and fantastic stories by means of scientific ideas" and "places abstract information about technology and science in the service of figuration and narrative" (Csicsery-Ronay 115). This double service has the long-term effect of giving the exotic increased eminence in the public mind until what seems—and might actually be—impossible becomes paradoxically concrete in the social imagination (131). These conventions—the props, tropes and icons of SF—thus occupy a liminal space between the real and unreal, providing a set of familiar symbolic codes while at the same time demonstrating an enduring concern "with the dialectic of known and unknown" that ensures their continuance (Wolfe 16):
The recognizable 'props' of the genre such as mutations, alien being, spaceships, cities, robots, the wasteland . . . , it may seem, should have been done to death long ago; there is not one among them that we cannot find already well-developed in science fiction prior to 1940. Why, then, do such images exert such a powerful and continuing hold on the science-fiction imagination (and indeed on the popular imagination general, which has begun to turn more and more to science fiction images . . .)? Is it that the genre is indeed so narrow in scope that it must return over and over to the same images? Is it that science-fiction writers, constrained for so long by the formula-minded audiences and editors of a genre that began as pulp fiction, simply cannot free themselves from a standard repertoire of conventional images? . . . I would argue that such images as these transcend popular literature notions of conventions and stereotypes. They are in fact . . . representative of the fundamental beliefs and values that the genre explores. (Wolfe 16-18)
These "beliefs and values" and the conventions that engage with them ultimately have their genesis in the nineteenth century's commitment to the Enlightenment. Investment in science, integrity of the individual, secularization and the pursuit of change clearly fuel proto-SF narratives, which combine and transform literary forms until the notion that "science fiction" exists as a genre in its own right appears early in the twentieth century (Rose 10). Subsequent evolution of the genre's form and practice led to wild mutation and combination of tropes at its fringes, while other tropes actually came true, thereby robbing them of some of their symbolic effectiveness (Hollinger 244; Wolfe 28). No element of the genre emerged from the twentieth century unexamined. Those tropes that endure possess qualities that make them capable of engagement on numerous fronts
The trope of the matter transmitter, "a device that can dematerialize a thing—even a living body—into a pattern of information that it transmits as a beam and rematerializes at another location", has laboured under many guises and names since its first recognizably science fictional appearance, "teleportation", "transmatting" and "transporting" among them (Livingston 79). In my fiction I refer to this trope predominantly as "d-mat", a term I will employ here alongside "matter transmission" except when quoting from primary texts. The "instantaneous or near-instantaneous transfer of matter from one point in space to another, usually without concern for intervening barriers" is often described as a "facilitating device . . . a way of magically whisking the lead characters out of tight situations [or into them]—a resource which [authors] sometimes overuse as a means of moving the plot along" (Langford 800; Stableford 123). Thanks to Star Trek's imagined transporter, "Beam me up, Scotty" has become "a ubiquitous tag or cliché" (Bendle 54; see also Lengeman).
Studies that examine the technological influences on or philosophical implications of such instantaneous transportation tend to focus on time travel (for instance Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction (Paul J. Nahin) or Generations: The Time Machine in Theory and Practice (Judith Burnett)). Moreover, what limited body of critical scholarship that is directly concerned with matter transmission is overwhelmingly focused on iconic examples in film studies, for example, or falls outside of literary and cultural theory into the fields of cognitive philosophy and particle physics. Only a very limited number of scholars have examined the trope in its original context, leaving a puzzling gap in the literature and something of a barrier to further scholarship—a tyranny of disinterest rather than a tyranny of distance, which is ironic given the trope's conquest of the latter.
Gary K. Wolfe analyses the use of barriers such as distance in twentieth century literature as not only a narrative device, "but as a recurring image of alienation and isolation":
Unlike other genres of modern literature that internalize the barrier . . . the constrictions of [science fiction's] ancestral pulp narrative style have demanded that what inner conflicts exist must be portrayed in easily accessible images and actions. (30)
When the barrier is distance—passive, invisible, to be conquered time and again in SF—the matter transmitter is the simplest way to breach it, something Wolfe goes on to discuss only in the briefest possible terms, ignoring the trope's many other functions:
Related to the image of the barrier is the image of the 'portal' or doorway, which is itself an opening in the hidden barriers that separate us from unknown worlds. (33)
Wolfe is more generous to another prop of the genre, the force field, which "may originally have evolved simply as science fiction's version of the perfect defensive weapon, [but] has over the years accrued added meanings, until it is an almost an ideal image of the barrier that separates the known from the unknown (33)." Such barriers are undoubtedly meaningful, but breaching them is no less a meaningful act than erecting one in the first place, and the tropes that enable authors to do so are equally worthy of examination.
Although he overlooks the matter transmitter, Wolfe convincingly argues that some of SF's familiar tropes might seem simple in conception but are rich in application and consistently reward deeper analysis. Three factors, he says, give particular tropes iconic status within the context of science fiction:
(1) the icon connotes opposition between the known and the unknown, and thus serves as a structural pivot for the work of which it is a part; (2) the icon represents not a mimetic, but what has been called "subjunctive" reality, portraying hypothetical environments and beings rather than imitations of real ones . . . and (3) the meaning of icons involves psychological and cultural levels as well as fictive and aesthetic ones, so that the emotional power of a particular icon does not derive exclusively from the aesthetic structure of which it is part. (17)
In this exegesis I will track the trope of matter transmission from its inception to the present day, examining its use in four key areas—society, the self, space and the body—and considering several reasons for the trope's critical neglect. I will argue that the matter transmitter qualifies for iconic status by the criteria outlined above, that it therefore warrants further critical analysis, and that it will remain a vital germ of ideation for contemporary writers, including myself, for the foreseeable future.
Bendle, Mervyn F. "Teleportation, Cyborgs and the Posthuman Ideology". Social Semiotics, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2002): 45-62. Print.
Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., Istvan. The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2008. Print.
Hollinger, Veronica. "Science Fiction and Postmodernism". A Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. David Seed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. Print.
Langford, David. "Teleportation". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: themes works and wonders. Ed. Gary Westfahl. Westport: Greenwood, 2005. Print.
Lengeman, Bill. "The History of Matter Transmission." The Internet Review of Science Fiction. <http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10633>. Web. 15 June 2013.
Livingston, Ira. Between Science and Literature: an introduction to autopoetics. Champaign: Illinois UP, 2006. Print.
Rose, Mark. Alien Encounters: anatomy of science fiction. Cambridge, Mass : Harvard UP, 1981. Print.
Stableford, Brian M. Space, time, and infinity: essays on fantastic literature. Rockbury: Wildside, 2007. Print.
Wolfe, Gary. The Known and the Unknown: the iconography of science fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State UP, 1979. Print.
Tags: d-mat, PhD, rants
Posted in Twinmaker


Everything that surrounds my meeting with him has the color of shame.
December, 1947. I was fourteen, steeped in vehement admirations and impatience for the reality to which I would travel once released from that long prison sentence, my childhood.
Susan Sontag (1933–2004) was the author of numerous works of nonfiction, including the groundbreaking collection of essays, Against Interpretation (FSG, 1966), and of four novels, including In America (FSG, 2000), which won the National Book Award.
Benjamin Taylor is the author of his family memoir, The Hue and Cry at Our House, as well as Proust: The Search in the Yale Jewish Lives series; Naples Declared, a travel memoir; and the award-winning novels, Tales Out of School and The Book of Getting Even. He edited Saul Bellow: Letters and There Is Simply Too Much to Think About, Bellow's collected nonfiction. Taylor is a past fellow and current trustee of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.


text:
Bilan provisoire
Arthur Goldhammer
Share the post "Bilan provisoire"
Last night Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation. Did he save his skin? My first reaction was negative, based more on a visceral response to his presentation–poor–than on the substance of his concessions. Macron likes to project confidence and can do it fairly well. Contrition is not part of his natural repertoire. When he tries it, it seems affected.
Nevertheless, he apologized and accepted blame for his "hurtful language." On top of that, he made real concessions. The increase in the minimum wage (SMIC) is slightly illusory. He didn't increase the SMIC, which would have required employers to pay, but rather offered state funds to pay 100 euros a month more to workers earning the SMIC of 1200 euros. An actual increase in the SMIC would have put the same amount in the pockets of smicards, but it also would have had further knock-on effects, since the wages of many workers are indexed to the SMIC. The government couldn't have absorbed the massive cost of such a move, and Macron did not want to force it on employers. Indeed, there are sound economic reasons for not doing so, since French wages, unlike US wages, have kept up with productivity growth. Macron also suspended a tax increase on retiree income and called upon firms to offer year-end bonuses.
These concessions were significant, and they may mollify the Gilets Jaunes. Some have already indicated that they see no reason to march again in Paris next Saturday. Others smell weakness and want to press their advantage. Meanwhile, lycée students, also sensing opportunity, took once again to the streets. And Philippe Martinez, leader of the CGT, said flatly that the concessions were not enough.
Is this the famous "convergence des luttes" that Mélenchon has been urging and expecting since last May? It's too early to tell. My hunch is that Macron may well have slipped out of the noose around his neck despite his unconvincing delivery. He put real money in people's pockets, avoided any complex technocratic jiggery-pokery, and nevertheless gave up nothing essential from the core of his reform.
He will, however, now have to face Brussels, since the French deficit will pass the fatal 3% mark. Indeed, it may go as high as 3.5, a full point above the (optimistically) projected Italian deficit of 2.4. Yes, I am well aware that Italy position is structurally quite different from France's, but most citizens aren't, and you can bet that Matteo Salvini will make much of "discrimination" by Brussels. This means that the last hope that Macron can lead a European reform effort has been dashed.
What is more, Macron's retreat shows that there is more margin for maneuver than he has admitted. It shows that determined resistance can get results. It also shows that this is indeed a top-down government, in which the president can make major moves by fiat, without the slightest demurrer from the parliament, where the LREM majority exemplifies the famous parlement godillot, which follows orders as swiftly as a well-drilled regiment. Will deputies of either the majority or opposition now find their voices and begin to convey more effectively the wishes of their constituents?
The GJ protests have proven, if proof were needed, that there is a democratic deficit in France. Macron promised yesterday to work more closely with mayors, but the mayors are almost as dispersed and atomized as the citizens to whom they are close. They cannot act as the corps intermédiaires that Tocqueville insisted no democracy can do with out. Macron's problem is that he needs forces capable of informing as well as checking him, but he has yet to prove whether he is capable of working with people who do not agree with him. This will be his next test.
Photo Credit: Jeso Carneiro, Emmanuel Macron, presidente da França, via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Tags: Presidency, Gilets jaunes
Tim Smyth says:
On the EU/Brussels front it seems as if Macron has them over a barrel. Some of the usual suspects in Germany and the Netherlands will be unhappy but they are boxed in politically by AKK's election(and UK's absolutely shambolic Brexit tactics). In fact you almost have to wonder if Macron waited to announce this policy shift until AKK was elected over the weekend.
Second a lot of the usual suspects in Germany and the Netherlands like Die Welt are not just criticizing Macron this morning but also AKK's economic record running Saarland in fact calling Saarland an "honorary" member of Southern Europe. I joked after AKK was elected the usual ordoliberal suspects in Germany would probably be ruing the day Saarland was returned by France to Germany sovereignty in the 1950s(AKK lives about 10 minutes from the French border).
Geof says:
"…and nevertheless gave up nothing essential from the core of his reform." I thought the unspoken theme of his platform was that the French were coddled too much. If so, he certainly caved. Politically, he is a dead-man walking. His only hope is for even bigger blunders by his opponents. If you count them as Wauquiez and Mélenchon, at least he has the odds on his side.
The issue is Macron sees his opponents not as Wauquiez and Melenchon but Theresa May and the Brexiteers which are very good opponents to have. Macron's issue as I see it is not so much that he is President of the rich but he sees his enemies again as May and the Brexiteers something the average person in France is not paying much attention to. Even better for Macron at least some people in Trumpworld are starting to see him as the numero uno enemy in Europe as recently implied by Trump's Ambassador to the EU.
A lot of people in this blog won't want to hear this but Macron even 1% approval rating can steamroll over Jeremy Corbyn and the British "Lexiteers" which is what the main political story of 2019 will be about.
Robinson says:
Two thoughts i) the question to which nobody has an answer is: will the GJs be satisfied by these concessions? If the protests start diminishing, Macron has hit his mark.
ii) Macron's efforts to lead a European reform effort have been vetoed by Germany, with deniability provided the aid of the Dutch and their "league."
Germany will tut-tut and use these concessions of Macron's as an excuse for further Euro austerity, but this is nonsense: they weren't going to give him anything anyway. German intransigence remains the great obstacle to European reform (Not Salvini- whatever his very great defects one can hardly blame the Italians for wanting to stimulate their economy after ten years of shrinking GDP!). The only thing that stands a chance of making the Germans see reason is a more assertive France
Regarding EM's "affected" manner Angelique Chrisafis is right-on in the Guardian: one doesn't eat humble pie from a gilded antique table. I don't see how this man will ever NOT be the President of the Rich, nor does he seem to want to be anything else. Policy is a different question. He may have successfully divided the GJ with a more than token offering–or his obnoxious personality may offset that initiative. He has surely lost, as you suggest, the major claim to assume leadership in the EU, and in next spring's elections. But he will no doubt retain power in France, and who knows? Maybe his unbending neoliberal reformism will bear fruit. But will that be enough to placate a deeply distressed society (the 80% ! who felt an immediate sympathy with the GJ)?


The Garmin Forerunner 10 is a GPS running watch that tracks your distance, speed/pace and calories. It also identifies your personal records and provides motivation along the way.
The Forerunner 10 tracks distance, pace and calories. You can start running with the press of a button and it will identify personal records. The Virtual Pacer™ compares current pace to target and you can plan, review and share runs at Garmin Connect™.
Forerunner 10 is so easy to use; start it with a single press of a button then, as you run, you can see your time and distance clearly displayed on 1 screen and calories and pace on another. You can also customise the settings to show pace and distance on the same screen.
As you run, Forerunner 10 automatically alerts you when you complete each mile, giving you a beep and a screen that flashes your time for that mile. When you complete your run and save it, you'll see a summary of how you did, including your total time, distance, average pace and calories. The watch even lets you know when you achieve a personal record, such as your fastest mile or longest run to date.
The Forerunner 10 also has a couple of simple training features. Virtual Pacer™ compares your current running pace to your target. It also has a run/walk feature that's helpful if you're just starting out or your running plan includes walk breaks.
From a physical perspective, the watch is Garmin's lightest, most comfortable watch yet and is available in multiple colours. The black/red and orange/black models have a slightly larger watch face and wider wristband. All models can be worn as a regular watch, so your running partner is always on hand. For typical use (with GPS on 30 minutes per day), the battery life is 10 days. If used continuously with GPS, the battery life is 5 hours.


Could that long-awaited debut artist album from Samantha Jade be just a few short months away from release? If rumours are to be believed, yes.
New music from the former 'X Factor' winner has been a bit light on the ground throughout the year, but she's gifted us a delicious new pop nugget just in time for the silly season.
The mid-tempo tune is pure pop saccharine, with super-sweet vocals and a pastel-perfect studio-based video clip (below) that sees Ms Jade pouting, purring, flirting with the camera and even busting some choreography to keep the purists happy.
She's got the look, she's got the sound, she's got the moves. Now all Sammi Jade needs is for the public to reciprocate and give her a big, fat hit.
It's still languishing in the 30's in iTunes. She can't seem to get traction with her singles since Firestarter.
I doubt we will see the album at this stage, especially after the underperformance of Dami Im's LP of originals.


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Russia searches for lost citizen in Iraq
The Russian foreign ministry has called for an investigation into the disappearance of a Russian construction worker, Pyotr Makaikin, in Iraq. His relatives said he was lost after a dispute with his Iraqi business partners.
The wife of Pyotr Makaikin, has accused his business partners in Iraq of holding him to a $US 150,000 ransom after his company broke the terms of a building contract.
"They said either you pay or you never see your husband again. I'm terrified about what may have happened, especially because Pyotr was very ill and suffered a heart attack before," said Svetlana Makaikina.
The 44-year-old construction worker left Moscow for his fourth business trip to Iraq in the autumn 2006. He was the only one who dared to go to there, while other construction workers considered the trip too dangerous.
Mr Makaikin last called his family from the Iraqi town of Suleymaniya on January 8. The Iraqi town of Suleymaniya is in the centre of Kurdish territory, which is partly controlled by U.S. troops.
While the whereabouts of Mr Makaikin remain unknown, his relatives are desperately seeking help. They hope that this situation can still be resolved by means of diplomacy.
In addition, analysts suggested Russia could use its previous connections with the Kurdish community to obtain information about Pyotr Makaikin.


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January 31, 2018 Arts & Entertainment » Art Beat of Savannah
Bridget Conn's search for identity
'All Hexed Up' up now at Starland Café
"All Hexed Up" remains at Starland Café through Feb. 20. The opening reception takes place Feb. 2 from 6-9 p.m.
'All She Knew.'
HOW MUCH of our identity is formed by our family?
Bridget Conn sought to answer that question through her work in "All Hexed Up."
Conn, a photography professor at Georgia Southern's Armstrong campus, grew up with a tenuous grasp on her family.
"I didn't know my dad's side of the family at all," she recalls. "Nobody talked about stories, so my connection to my family was really cut off. I started realizing in my early twenties that I had a lot of different experiences than other people."
The main tradition Conn clung to was her family's morning tea.
"Every morning, we drank tea," she says. "I remember my grandmother making me tea in the morning and I could hear the clink of the spoon and the cup. It was just something that I felt some sense of identity with."
Conn saved each tea bag she used in the morning to create works like "Quiet." After discarding the grinds and unfolding the paper, she went into Photoshop and gridded off a photograph, printing part of the image onto each individual tea bag.
"After that, it's a lot of painting," she notes. "They come out looking like a blob—all the color in there, every little bit, I painted by hand."
The bird in "Quiet," a cedar waxwing, also holds metaphoric value.
"It's my favorite bird," Conn enthuses. "When I was getting into learning about the environment, I also got into birding. I wanted to see one for years and I never did. Finally I was in Asheville and I put it all together that they stay high up in the trees. They had been there all along. When I heard their calls, I was like, 'Oh, I've known this for years! What if I had just paid attention?'"
Since Conn's closest tie to her family was through her mother's side, she felt affinity to the women of her family.
"Even though I couldn't identify who those women were by name, maybe I could have some sort of relationship to the idea of what women of those past generations were, like their roles in society," Conn explains. "Then I was introduced more to this idea of third-wave feminism that you could go back and embrace these activities that were deemed women's work and had such a negative connotation."
'Quiet.'
Specifically, Conn discovered the familial link through cooking.
"There's a powerful knowledge in that, 'oh, I baked this from scratch.' I just kind of grew that sense of identity out of that," she says.
In "All She Knew," Conn uses spices and cutouts from a recipe card along with a found photograph she discovered in grad school. The negatives dated back to the early 20th century, and Conn latched on.
"Working through all those issues of identity, I didn't have photos like that of my own family, so I adopted these negatives, in a sense," she says.
This body of work came to a close because Conn's search for identity also closed when she met her father's side of the family.
"I had met [my father] a couple times when I was younger, but it was the bigger family on my dad's side that reached out to me," she explained.
"It took several years, but I hit a stopping point with this work. I felt I didn't need to work through it anymore. It was terrifying! But the work I'm doing now is all experimental dark room [photography] stuff. The work in this show spans from 2003 to 2015. It's a good long continuum of it all."
Tags: Art Beat of Savannah, Starland Cafe, Bridget Conn, Armstrong Campus, Georgia Southern
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The Sloperian: A New Fanzine About Old Comics
The style of British comics has changed many times over the years. The type that we grew up with were the picture strip weeklies which were heavy on comic strip pages and light on non-strip pages, while today many British children's comics are light on comic strip pages and heavy on non-strip pages be they quiz, info or pin-up pages.
While weekly humour comics always had a lot of comic strip pages, in the days before original Eagle appeared in 1950, boys weekly adventure comics were light on comic strip pages and heavy on text story pages and were known as "the story papers".
Yet for most comics fans the story paper era is an all but forgotten mystery, dating as it does from the time when their grandparents were young, while the intervening years, as well as wartime paper recycling, have left few copies of the titles available for collectors to find.
Information on them is equally hard to find and much of it comes from the older comics fanzines such as Alan Clark's Golden Fun which ran on and off for 19 issues between 1974 and 1989. Alan also wrote various comics reference books published in the 1980s and 1990s.
So it came as something of a surprise that now, over twenty years after the last issue of Golden Fun appeared, Alan is back with a new comics fanzine entitled The Sloperian which concentrates on those early days of British comics.
Taking its title from the first recurring British comics character, Ally Sloper, The Sloperian is an A4, mainly black and white, highly illustrated 44 page fanzine. Issue 1 has articles on Ally Sloper artist WG Baxter, early 20th century humour artist Harry O'Neill, humour artist and scripter AT "Charlie" Pease, DC Thomson adventure writer Gilbert Dalton, Black Bob artist Jack Prout, and Illustrated Chips' various tramp characters. In its style and content issue 1 of The Sloperian is effectively issue 20 of Golden Fun and, like Golden Fun, it will be published occasionally.
At the moment, The Sloperian is only available from Alan Clark via eBay and the cost is £5 including UK postage. Hopefully it will soon have a website or a blog that we can point you to but, until then, if this eBay link is outdated by the time you use it just try searching for 'Sloperian' on the sales site - we doubt that much else other than this fanzine will appear for that search.
Posted by Jeremy Briggs at 12:30 pm No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Alan Clark, Fanzines, Golden Fun, Sloperian
Immediate Media grabs Rastamouse for new magazine
Rastamouse
© The Rastamouse Company Ltd
Immediate Media, the publishers of Doctor Who Adventures and more, is to launch Rastamouse magazine, a lively children's title aimed at pre-schoolers, based on the popular CBeebies TV programme and books of the same name.
Following a deal with rights-owner DHX Media, pre-school smash favourite Rastamouse and his crime-busting mouse reggae band, The Easy Crew, will feature in a new four-weekly magazine for the UK, aimed at pre-school boys and girls from the age of four years upwards.
The first issue will go on sale in early summer.
Based on the successful books by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza, Rastamouse is a Cbeebies preschool hit features stories showing how people can get on and solve problems through understanding, love and respect. Rastamouse's ethos is to "make a bad ting good" to teach right from wrong, and help wrong-doers redeem themselves from their mistakes.
Mackinnon & Saunders, whose credits include Pingu and Bob the Builder, made the puppets for this fun-filled and already classic series. Working closely with director Derek Mogford, the team adapted the designs from Webster and De Souza's books into functional three dimensional puppets.
Reflecting the slightly 'tongue in cheek' humour that runs through the programme, Rastamouse magazine will also have a strong appeal to an older audience and parents.
Publishers Immediate Media say the new title is the only pre-school magazine that encourages children to investigate and solve a mystery and will encourage them to learn about respect, understanding and to foster self-confidence, through learning important detective skills whilst helping Rastamouse to solve a mystery.
With stories, reward charts, stickers and incentives to make a bad 'ting good, the magazine will contain activities for children to cut out and make. The editorial will be relaxed, chilled and very positive, helping children to feel they are part of the crime-fighting, mystery-solving team.
"Rastamouse magazine is a very exciting addition to our pre-school magazine portfolio," says Pauline Cooke, Pre-school Publisher at Immediate Media. "It's a really original programme, from its storylines to its look and feel. We've thoroughly enjoyed creating this magazine and we're sure it will add something different to the market, that children will love."
"Rastamouse's unique brand of charm continues to attract new fans and partners to the property," adds Angeles Blanco, Director of Licensing at DHX Media. "The launch of Immediate Media Co's standalone Rastamouse title will complement the products in the market and bring more Mouseland mysteries and an extra helping of Easy Crew entertainment and activities to fans of the country's foremost skate-boarding musical mouse."
• Rastamouse magazine will be priced at £2.50 and will be available at all major retailers and independents around the UK this summer.
• Rastamouse official web site: www.rastamouse.com
• Immediate Media: www.immediatemedia.co.uk
Labels: CBeebies, DHX Media, Immediate Media, New Launches, Pre-School titles, Rastamouse
All change for look and feel of Commando comic
With news on the latest issues of DC Thomson's war comic Commando comes news of a another change to its format - this time, not just in its branding, but actual look and feel.
For the first time in the title's 51-year history, a significant change has been made to its final appearance with a change to thicker, whiter paper for its story pages and increased to the weight and rigidity of the cover for better quality and durability. (Readers will recall explorers snapped reading Commando in recent related posts, so it's probably going to be well received by them!)
"This has resulted in a thicker weightier Commando which we feel (and initial feedback reinforces) better suits a product of Commando's quality" says editor Calum Laird.
"We hope that our fans will like the change. They can let us know what they think through our Facebook page."
Commando No 4491: Hero In A Heli
Story: Steve Taylor Art: Keith Page Cover: Keith Page
The second in Commando's mini-series of Falklands tales 30 years on.
It takes nerve and skill to hold a bucking, weaving Sea King in position over a casualty while one of your crewmates is winched down to try to pluck him to safety. Lieutenant Jamie Price had both these qualities which helped make his crew one of the best in the business.
Yet his brother Owen, a Sea Harrier pilot, ranked him only as a glorified bus driver, never missing a chance to sneer.
He never dreamt that he'd have to trust his life to that bus driver in the hostile skies over the Falklands Islands.
Commando No 4492: The Blood Feud
Story: Mac MacDonald Art: Vila Cover: Ian Kennedy
So how did it come to pass that Warrant Officer Greg Blake was about to take on a menacing German Zeppelin during the First World War, armed with only a Martini-Henry rifle?
It's a thrilling tale - one which stretches back to the Boer War, and tells of a bitter blood feud that spanned a generation…
Commando No 4493: Glider Pilot
Originally Commando No 32 (April 1962)
Story: Eric Hebden Art: Bonato Cover: Ken Barr
Like great birds of prey the gliders swoop into enemy territory, defying the might of the Luftwaffe and the savage assault of the flak batteries.
Once on the ground their bellies open to spill out bands of fighting men who strike terror into German hearts - the famous airborne Commandos. They give no mercy - and ask none, these men who have been taught to kill…
Spoiler alert! "In 1962, when this gold nugget was first unearthed, the plot device of the trainee who couldn't quite cut it was new to Commando," says editor Calum Laird, of this reprint isssue . "We've used it many times since, because it's still an excellent premise for a story. Eric Hebden makes fine use of it here.
"The inside art by Bonato has a clean, clear line to help the story-telling. He's sparing in his backgrounds, keeping the emphasis where it should be, on the characters who are taking the fight to the enemy on his own ground.
"You can't fault Ken Barr's cover composition or execution for drama and colour - no wonder the original title was so small, no-one wanted to cover any of it up."
Commando No 4494 - Don't Give Up!
Originally Commando No 2105 (April 1987)
Story: R.A. Montague Art: Cecil Rigby Cover: Ian Kennedy
As a Japanese dive-bomber roared in to destroy their trucks, a group of British soldiers scattered for cover. Every man knew they now faced a long trek through the Burmese jungle, trying desperately to stay ahead of the enemy advance.
It wouldn't be easy, buy they must never give up.
"Commando stories are fictional, of course. However, our tales do not shy away from the grimness of war, while still providing solid action yarns," says Deputy Editor Scott Montgomery.
"As a young Commando reader - many years ago - I always found jungle stories to be especially hard-hitting. I could just imagine being immersed in that all-encompassing, claustrophobic atmosphere, where the enemy could strike out of nowhere at any time…
This story reflects all of the above, as a motley crew of heroes - including one man who, in reality, isn't particularly heroic - strive against the odds to blow up a bridge while all the time ensuring that they "Don't Give Up!"
• The Draw Your Weapons exhibition featuring art from Commando continues at the National Army Museum in London closes in a couple of days, on 30th April 2012. For the latest information visit: www.nam.ac.uk/exhibitions/special-displays/draw-your-weapons-art-commando-comics
• Official Commando web site: http://www.commandocomics.com
• Commando Official Facebook page
• Click here for subscription information or write to: D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd, The Subscribers Department, Commando Library, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL or Freephone (UK only) 0800 318846
• Commando is also available for iPad and iPhone. The apps are free to download through the Apple iTunes App Store and a digital subscription is priced at £4.99 per month, compared to a £99 annual print subscription. For those not sure there are four free issues to download prior to making a purchase.
• Commando Comics iPhone App on iTunes
• Commando Comics iPad App on iTunes
Posted by John Freeman at 6:30 pm 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Bonato, Cecil Rigby, Commando, Eric Hebden, Ian Kennedy, Keith Page Cover: Keith Page, Ken Barr, Mac Macdonald, R.A. Montague, Steve Taylor, Vila, War Comics
Win Avengers Assemble merchandise
Marvel licensee Colantotte are giving UK comic fans the chance to win six of their limited edition Neo Legend wristbands, as featured in the new Avengers Assemble film.
Colantotte created the exclusive limited edition MagTitan Neo Legend bracelet as worn by Tony Stark (Iron Man) played by Robert Downey Jr. in Marvel's Avengers Assemble movie, which opens in the UK today (26th April 2012).
The wristband, which you have the chance to win over on Facebook, is top secret gear Marvel's heroes used to maintain their edge while fighting off arch rivals on a new interactive website, introduces the Earth's mightiest heroes.
In Avengers Assemble, as with the comic that inspired it, iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow join forces when an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security. Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.
Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and is directed by Joss Whedon.
The Colantotte/Marvel's Avengers Assemble microsite enables fans old and new to meet the entire superhero team and learn about each of their unique powers through their in-depth profiles. It includes exclusive interactive comics, andthe chance to follow all the Marvel's Avengers Assemble content from across the web via the Super Social Link List.
Colantotte's MagTitan Neo Legend bracelet combines a polished pure titanium core with an embellished, sleek, carbon fibre design, to deliver a stylised element of comfort and functionality. This striking bracelet epitomises the essence of fashion and craftsmanship which makes it the ideal accessory for casual, business, and superhero attire alike.
The MagTitan Neo Legend is approved as a medical device by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare and features a unique Alternating North-South Polarity Orientation (ANSPO) technology to create a larger magnetic field flow.
Colantotte International, Inc is Japan's leading manufacturer of medically certified devices, Arc Quest Co. Ltd. Colantotte & Trion:Z launched its award-winning range of products in 1997 and is now a leader in providing magnetic ionic gear to the global health and fitness arena, with a presence in over 60 countries worldwide.
Their products are worn by hundreds of professional athletes including those in Triathlon Sports, Cycling, Cricket, Football and Tennis.
"We founded Colantotte in 1997 with the goal of providing the highest quality products to help restore the negative impact today's lifestyle imposes," said Katsumi Komatsu, President, Colantotte International Inc.
"After 15 years of doing just that, we are grateful to have been selected by Marvel to be involved in this Hollywood movie. We appreciate the support of our customers over the years and we hope they enjoy seeing the MagTitan Neo Legend in Marvel's Avengers Assemble film and interacting with the Super Heroes on the website.
• To win a Neo Legend Wristband Competition, go to www.facebook.com/ILoveTrionZ, click on the competition app, then submit your details and you'll be rewarded with an exclusive 15% off all Colantotte and Trion:Z products, and have your name added to a prize draw to win one of six stunning Neo Legend wristbands, the same worn by Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) in the new Avengers movie.
• More information about the brands is available on http://www.colantotte.eu/ and http://www.trionz.co.uk
• Avengers Assemble URL and Facebook: http://uk.marvel.com/avengers-assemble / www.facebook.com/avengersuk
Labels: Avengers, Colantotte, Film News, Marvel Comics, Merchandise
Alan Grant pens War of 1812 for Renegade
Renegade Arts Entertainment has just announced another Alan Grant-scribed project - this time with a historical setting rather than, perhaps, the horror and futuristic themes he might be better known for.
Due for release in June, The Loxley's and the War of 1812 is written by Grant, who has written several projects for Renegade, with art from Claude St Aubin (R.E.B.E.L.S., Batman: Turning Point) and Lovern Kindzierski (Animal Man). This paperback features a 101-page story about a Canadian family caught up in the war, as well as a 53-page summary of the war and its implications for Canada and America, written by acclaimed Canadian military historian Mark Zuehlke, presented with maps and illustrations.
The story follows the Loxley's, a Canadian family living in the Niagara peninsula as they're torn apart by the American invasion of Canada in 1812, and the subsequent war that raged across both countries as British troops, Canadian militia, and First Nation warriors sought to thwart the expansionist plans of the American government. The story follows the characters through key historical events as they deal with the realities of war on their doorstep, the personal loss, setbacks and victories tied into the conflict.
In addition to the graphic novel, Renegade Arts Entertainment has also hired Oscar nominated screen writer Tab Murphy (Thundercats, Batman: Year One) to adapt the story into a school play, most recently performed at the Canada's Canmore Collegiate High School Theatre, as well as a movie screenplay.
Fans wanting more on The Loxley's and the War of 1812 can visit Renegade's website, www.1812timeline.com, which incorporates the fictional characters from the book, and takes you through the events leading up to, during and after the war.
• The Loxley's and the War of 1812 will be on sale in UK comic shops June, 2012 for $19.99 US and is available to order in the April 2012 edition of Diamond Previews (APR121209, ISBN: 978-1-908217-04-1). Retailers receive one FREE copy for every three ordered.
• For more information visit www.renegadeartsentertainment.com and www.facebook.com/LoxleysandtheWarof1812
Labels: Alan Grant, Claude St Aubin, Lovern Kindzierski, Renegade Arts Entertainment, The Loxley's and the War of 1812, War Comics
Forbidden Planet announces Free Comic Book Day plans
Want to discover comics and need a place to start? Then visit any branch of Forbidden Planet on 5th May - Free Comic Book Day.
Free Comic Book Day is perfect for fans and newcomers alike – if you love the idea of comics, these are titles to give you a great taste of what's waiting for you. You can join the comics revolution – discover comics for the first time or return to the fold to see what you've been missing.
Forbidden Planet - the comics chain that has stores in London, Bristol and elsewhere - have bags of comics to give away that will provide you with a perfect jumping-in point, and they will be giving away loads of fantastic and cool titles to give away throughout the day.
They've got goody bags for kids and for grown-ups; characters ranging from The Avengers to 2000AD, from DC's The New 52 and Star Wars to Mouse Guard and Transformers, from Buffy to Donald Duck - but get there early, as stocks are limited.
Please note that only comics marked as Free Comic Book Day titles are free of charge.
• To find your local Forbidden Planet, click here: http://forbiddenplanet.com/events/2012/05/05/discover-comics-free-comic-book-day/?affid=downthetubesfp
Posted by John Freeman at 12:18 pm No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Forbidden Planet, Forbidden Planet London, Free Comic Book Day
Comic costume call for Kendal Calling Music Festival
Image via Happy Slap Boutique
The massive music event Kendal Calling has just announced its the fancy dress theme for 2012 will be Fairy Tales and Comic Books, a magical all encompassing theme that will see the site transform on Saturday, with the entire congregation encouraged to get involved.
Tickets have been getting snapped up for this year's festival and a full to bursting line up has already been unveiled that includes Dizzee Rascal, James, Maximo Park, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, We Are Scientists, The View and many more.
For the third year, Kendal Calling reveal a fancy dress theme that has been a huge success in previous years with revellers showing incredible innovation and imagination in designing and donning costumes.
"Getting dressed up for a festival is all about becoming another version of you," a spokesperson explains. "An exaggerated, bold and colourful character. So this year we are transforming the Deer Park into another world with our theme Fairy Tales and Comic Books."
With the backdrop of the stunning Lake District, Kendal Calling expects to see everyone from the Pied Piper to Wolverine, Little Red Riding Hood to Catwoman, the Gingerbread to Tin Tin all partying together and this years theme will make the event even more of a surreal wonderland of fun and frolics than ever before.
The fun and frolics continues at Kendal Calling in the crazy world of the Happy Slap Boutique. This area will be like no other and is where anything goes, and is the home of electro swing and eclectic music. A haven to transform into creatures and characters, the Happy Slap face-painting boutique will get revelers ready to be immersed in magical worlds, dazzled by spectacular cabaret shows, wowed by our travelling circus and entertained in ways you never thought possible.
Happy Slap Boutique present a world of fairy tales and mischief full of secrets to explore and discover, keeping the entertainment going all weekend. Bump into Jack Sprat, a narcoleptic Sleeping Beauty or climb up Rapunzel's hair and witness their take on your classic fairy tales. Performers will be traveling around the festival doing walk-about performance where it's least expected with music, song, dance and ridiculousness.
As night falls, Happy Slap Boutique will transform into a plethora of circus, fire and glow performances alongside clowning, grotesque burlesque, world famous 'Rave Aerobics' and surprise acts that keep buzzing all night.
DJs Ocelus, Tom Excell, Dan The Hat, Wolfie Rassmatazz, Magic Lantern, Vinyl Rights Experience, Mikey J and very special guests will spin a genre defying mix of electro swing, jungle, Balkan, breakbeat, house & electro.
"The only music we can guarantee are upbeat party tunes," the organisers say. "Check out Happy Slap Radio for exclusive mixes."
The music and activities in the Kendal Calling meadow span 11 diverse stages and areas, situated in a close-knit site that means you're never far from your friends.
• Kendal Calling, Friday 27th – Sunday 29th July 2012, Lowther Deer Park, Hackthorpe, The Lake District. Adults £105, £50 11-15 year-olds, under 11's free. Tickets available at www.ticketline.co.uk.
• More info: www.kendalcalling.com
Labels: Comic Costumes, Events Music, Fairy Tales Events, Happy Slap Boutique, Kendal Calling
London's Birbeck college announces new comic courses
(With thanks to Norman Boyd): New certificate level comics courses are starting at Birkbeck, University of London from this autumn.
Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: Introduction
This module introduces you to a range of comics in a variety of forms and invites you to consider ways of understanding and evaluating them in their historical, cultural and generic contexts. We will trace a chronological trajectory from nineteenth-century newspaper strips, through the birth of the superhero, via the subversive iconography of the sixties undergrounds, onto the rise of the graphic novel and beyond. Focusing predominantly on Anglo-American comics, we will also consider the influence of other national traditions, principally francophone bande dessinée and Japanese manga. You will be encouraged to develop an understanding of comics in various forms and to situate them in their relevant contexts.
More info: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/ce2012/modules/ARMC141H4.html
Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: Approaches
This module closely examines the relevant contexts that have informed the development of comics. It is arranged thematically rather than chronologically, allowing you to focus on key areas and topics in comics, situating them historically and culturally while developing skills of formal analysis. You will explore themes including censorship and copyright, the growth of fan cultures, the importance of genres in comics history, non-fiction comics, and humour in comics. You will also consider the influence of key creators and international traditions. By adopting a thematic approach, you will be encouraged to develop an understanding and appreciation of comics and their various contexts.
Labels: Birbeck College, Comics, Comics Education
Comics documentary maker faces funding threat
The Invisible Artist from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo.
(with thanks to Andrew Luke): Northern Visions TV (NVTV), Greater Belfast's community TV station which backed the comics-related film The Invisible Artist last year, is under threat of closure because of controvrsial funding cuts.
Northern Visions is a non-profit organisation originally formed in 1986, originally serving as a training ground for Belfast's local journalists and technicians wanting to make in-roads to working for Channel 4. Sometime after they metamorphisised into a sort-of public access station, giving an air to community voices in Northern Ireland's capital as it left the Troubles behind it.
"Beneath all the gloss of the birthplace of the Titanic and the MTV awards, NVTV gave voice to real Belfast," feels viewer and comic creator Andrew Luke, who made The Invisible Artist documenatry with the support of the station. "And if you wanted to make a documentary, you'd get professional mentoring and assistance to write, film and edit. Post-production, the pieces were screened on local television and then made available for free on NVTV's spaces on Vimeo and Youtube."
Sadly, one of the stations's main funding bodies has decided it no longer qualifies for ther financial support.
During the 1990s NVTV were funded by the Arts Council NI, and from 2007 by film and digital body, NI Screen. Last month NVTV and the Arts Council were informed NVTV no longer fit NI Screen's criteria. The Arts Council had delegated their lottery funding to NI Screen, essentially blocking the station out of the revenue stream. Without this funding, there is no access for paid staff or volunteers to a central location, editing suite, or the other production costs.
An emergency meet with the Arts Council last week for core funding ranked NVTV high with artistic Quality, Financial/Project Management, Preserve Frontline Services in the Arts, Key Components of Artform/Sector(non- duplication of Service/Provision) and in Innovation. However, the Arts Council disagreed with the Moderator's recommendation that NVTV is digital media and not the arts.
"No funding streams (exist) for any form of activity based around access to and participation in film, new media arts for communities," notes Marilyn Hyndman of NVTV. "The central question remains which is - where do the communities Northern Visions work with fit within the arts, film and digital media – community groups, young people, older people, ethnic minorities, interface groups, local heritage groups, women, people with disabilities, victims of the Troubles, disadvantaged communities?"
Andrew Luke tells us talks with the Arts Council are ongoing, for "without core funding NVTV will close, but in the meantime, he's urging fans of The Invisible Artist to join hundreds of others and drop a note to support the work of NVTV at http://www.northernvisions.org/index/commentsfromsupporters.html
"I realise many of you have seen my own film," he says, "which would not have happened without station staff who kept the project turning. While my disabilities played up, producer Carl Boyle took over the final production in the editing suite. You no doubt found it an educational and representative piece, so please just drop a line and tell them what it meant to you."
The campaign to reinstate funding is backed by North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds. "At a time when the Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure is advocating community based work in disadvantaged areas, it is a tragedy that an organisation of nearly 30 years standing, which has pioneered community digital media and community arts with hundreds of groups in socially disadvantaged areas or at risk of social exclusion should find that they too, are excluded," he said in a letter to Northern Ireland's First Minister. "I count on your leadership to preserve the only community digital media and arts resource of its kind in Northern Ireland."
Over 100 groups each year benefit from Northern Visions services within the voluntary and community sector, the arts, film, music, vulnerable minorities, older people, victims of the Troubles, people with disabilities and minority ethnic groups. Its volunteer scheme involves over 125 active citizens and its seems to me that this is a service which has promoted the comics form – and will surely do so again – and deserves support.
• Northern Visions TV web site
• If you doubt, or would like to see more on NVTV's impressive work, here's a proportionately tiny list of Andrew's recommendations:
• Giro's (20m version), (54m version)
Charting the tales of those who ran Belfast's infamous grass-roots community club during the punk and new wave scenes of the 1980s. Vibrant, engaging, refreshing, fascinating.
• Market Memories (60m)
Valuable narratives, rare interviews and footage across four generations of families and friends at the city's beloved central market, St. George's.
• Sailortown (13m)
Before the machines and the tourists, labourers worked the Belfast dock-side and build up a community. This film reflects on another near forgotten age; those who remember the stories tell them.
• Paint for Peace (40m)
Documenting the relationships of two A graffiti artists, one from the Protestant Falls Road and the other, from the Catholic Shankhill. This film examines their friendship and collaborations in one another's areas as well as at John Lennon Roundabout, Liverpool.
• SeaWorthy (22m)
Lough Neagh boat enthusiasts talk about their development of traditional methods of building and sailing their craft.
• The Invisible Artist (34m) An expertly informed history of contemporary Belfast comic book and cartooning culture, co-produced by Andrew Luke and NVTV
Labels: Andrew Luke, Arts Funding, NI Screen, Northern Visions TV, The Invisible Artist
It's that time of year again when our domain provider seeks to extract a fair chunk of change from my wallet for hosting the main DTT site (www.downtetubes.net).
Put together by volunteers to promote the British comic industy since 1999, we hope you enjoy our work (and thanks in particular to Jeremy Briggs for his major contribution to our ongoing editorial).
While we do generate some revenue through Amazon links and Google ads, if you feel able to make a donation to help keep us afloat in difficult times, we'd be very grateful.
You should be able to donate via the buttons below or donate via Paypal via johnfsfreemanATbtopenworld.com.
If you'd like to contribute to our site by writing news stories or features, please also drop me a line! There's a massive amount of goings on in the world of British comics and we know we miss some! If you're planning on going to attend a comic convention or signing, or would like to submit reviews, have a look back through our posts to see how we format them.
Publisher, DownTheTubes.net
Labels: Announcements, Support DownTheTubes
Transformers return, Marvel UK style!
Picking up the story 21 years later, IDW Publishing, in association with Hasbro, has released more information about Transformers: Regeneration One, an all-new monthly series continuing from the original Generation One Transformers comics originally published by Marvel UK.
IDW will kick off the event by offering fans a free Transformers: Regeneration One #80.5 for Free Comic Book Day, 5th May 2012, as a Gold Sponsorship comic - then continue with Transformers: Regeneration One #81 in July.
Writer Simon Furman and legendary Transformers artist Andrew Wildman (who will be signing at London's Orbital Comics on FCBD, see earlier story), are back to their original roots with all-new stories. Starting after 1991's Transformers #80 comic epic conclusion, the free issue picks up as Optimus Prime watches over a Cybertron that hasn't faced Megatron for decades. But that peace shudders to an end and dives headlong into July's new series.
"The original Transformers saga is back - with a vengeance!" enthuses Simon Furman. "'Epic' doesn't cover it!"
Transformers: Regeneration One #81 comic will feature many fan-favourite Generation One Transformers characters including Optmus Prime, Grimlock, Kup, Rod, Ultra Magnus and more.
Marvel UK's licensed Transformers was one its most successful news stand tiles, running new stories originated for the UK market that writer Simon Furman carefully dovetailed into the US comic stories also published into the title. These early stories have since been re-published as albums by Titan Books.
"It's always nice to complete unfinished business, even after 20 years," says Andrew Wildman. Artist Stephen Baskerville, the original inker on the classic issues, joins Wildman on interiors as inker, as Wildman also provides eye-catching covers.
"Transformers: Regeneration One comic is an important book to Transformers fans," IDW Senior Editor John Barber commented, "and expectations are high. Fortunately Simon, Andrew, and Stephen have only gotten better since the last issue!"
- Transformers: Regeneration One #80.5 (Free, 32 pages; full colour) will be available on May 5, 2012 as part of Free Comic Book Day. Transformers: Regeneration One #81 ($3.99, 32 pages; full colour) will be available in July 2012. Visit IDWPublishing.com to sign up for updates and learn more about the company and its top-selling books.
Posted by John Freeman at 8:52 am 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Andrew Wildman, Hasbro, IDW, Simon Furman, Stephen Baskerville, Transformers
▼ Apr 22 - Apr 29 (11)
Forbidden Planet announces Free Comic Book Day pla...
Comic costume call for Kendal Calling Music Festiv...
London's Birbeck college announces new comic cours...


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Home / Player Spotlight / Offensive Lineman Thomas Smith
Offensive Lineman Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith is a first-year offensive linemen with the Racine Raiders. The Pewaukee native has been clearing running lanes for backs and keeping quarterbacks upright since he was six years old. He started playing with the Milwaukee NCSL at that time. From there, he went to play in Brookfield for the Junior Lancers and then in high school for the Brookfield Central Lancers.
Smith started playing with the Racine Raiders just a few weeks ago, but he has already added depth to the Raiders offensive line. He's helped lead the way for a Raiders rushing attack that has rushed for 356 yards and five touchdowns. The passing game has also performed with quarterbacks throwing for 453 yards and four touchdowns. Raiders quarterbacks have been sacked just once through three league games.
Before a game, Smith says a prayer and reads the bible to help him get ready and stay focused. When he isn't playing football, Smith likes to play 2K with friends and spend time with his family and dog, Simba. He works with A Better Living Family Services as a Resident Assistant and is part owner of ABL Towing and Recovery Services.
Thank you, Thomas, for being a member of the Racine Raiders family and being a positive example both on and off the field. Best of luck to you this season and beyond.
← Previous Story Defensive Back Daquan Smith
Next Story → Linebacker Boyd Mackenzie


Umpiring Seminar: Please make sure to blockthis date and Time.
DLCL Umpiring seminar will be held on Saturday, February 10th 2018 from 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
A T-shirt will be provided along with access to material to all the participants.
Please use the following link for payment and registration.
Only Certified Umpires will be allowed to do umpiring in the DLCL games, hence we request you to use this opportunity to get yourselves certified.
New teams that have registered for Leather Ball (T20 and 30 overs) Spring season 2018, please ensure all your players attend this seminar and get certified. Players from DCL/DYCL teams are also welcome to register for this Seminar. Please forward this email to your teammates!!!.


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Akonnor loses his first game in charge of Ghana
9 October 2020 6:55pm
Ghana lost 3-0 to Mali in their first game under coach Charles Akonnor, who took over in January this year.
Akonnor had waited nine months for his first game and would be disappointed with the outcome of the match played on Friday in Antalya, Turkey.
The Black Stars failed to impress, with the Malians deservedly winning thanks to goals from El Bilal Toure, Hamari Traore and Amadou Haidara.
Mali started the game strongly and were rewarded with a goal just inside three minutes. Hamari Traore outpaced left-back Gideon Mensah and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Ati -Zigi.
Jordan Ayew was Ghana's bright spot in attack but his finishing was poor as the Black Stars failed to threaten Malian goalkeeper in the first half.
Mali were once again dominant in the second half. They came in with more energy and doubled their lead in the 49th minute.
Traore, who opened the scoring, turned provider this time. The captain attacked the right side and delivered a great cross which was headed home by Toure.
In the 75th minute, the Black Stars defenders switched off hoping for an offside call and Haidara made it count, slotting it past Zigi to make it 3-0.
There was no clear cut chance from the Black Stars as the referee blew whistle for the end of the game.
Black Stars will play Qatar in their second international friendly on Monday.
Today's frontpages: Friday, January 15, 2020
Fourth UN peacekeeper dies after Mali attack
Today's frontpages: Thursday, January 14, 2021
Majeed Ashimeru joins Belgium side Anderlecht on loan
ECOWAS urges Mali to prepare election roadmap
Today's frontpages: Wednesday, January 13, 2020
Dr Evans Ago Tetteh: Revamping of the railway sector in Ghana – The story so far
Ghana fail to qualify for U17 AFCON
Dennis Peprah: Ancient beliefs and tradition, the bane of reducing road crashes and fatalities