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Callaway Serves Up Speed in Their XR Driver
Chris Wadwick
A new year arrives with yet another advancement in club head technology for Callaway drivers that promises to give you the elusive added distance you have been seeking. The Callaway XR driver has pushed the limits of aerodynamics and face technology to a whole new level, surpassing what was already a highly successful XHot and X2 Hot generation that has served the golfing public for the past two years. This year's slogan is "built for outrageous speed," and the R&D team at Callaway has certainly accomplished its goal with the XR. And, who doesn't like more speed? As I have gotten older, I certainly can't swing it as hard as I used to, so finding a stick that puts the punch back in my swing makes complete sense.
The inspiration behind the Callaway XR driver comes from the automotive industry, but more specifically the racing side, and the "R" portion of the product line name reflects that newly adopted philosophy. These elements can be seen all the way up from the club face to the shape and graphics of the club head and finally to the technology used in the debut of the stock shaft offering, the Project X LZ.
Typically, the driver is the one club in your bag that can suffer the most from energy loss as air moves across the crown of the club head, specifically as the club reaches the bottom of your swing arc before impact. As a response to this, Callaway has created a new crown design called Speed Step that is designed to keep air flow closer to the head, thereby reducing the amount of drag against your downswing and maintaining speed throughout the full swing. In conjunction with the Speed Step crown pattern, the head shape is more aerodynamic than ever before. Callaway has adopted a more aggressive downward sloping crown in order to maximize the air efficiency distribution as the club head approaches the ball.
Also new for this year is a brand new face technology called R-Moto. It's thinner and lighter than the previous Hyper Speed Face in the X-2 Hot and as a direct result, is more flexible and produces higher ball speeds, especially for amateurs who don't hit the center of the clubface the majority of the time. The lighter face also helped Callaway maneuver weight away from the face and towards the perimeter of the club for more stability on off-center hits, increasing that ever-popular term MOI (moment of inertia), and lowering the club's center of gravity to produce lower spin rates and more distance.
The final piece of the puzzle for the new Callaway XR driver is the Project X LZ shaft. The shaft's graphics flow perfectly with the overall design of the club and reinforce the racing speed inspired theme. This new shaft from Project X launched last year to rave reviews from tour players and amateurs alike, and Callaway used those positive reinforcements to make the XR woods the first line of clubs to offer the LZ as its stock shaft offering. The LZ stands for loading zone, known as the middle portion of the shaft about half way between the grip and hosel. This loading zone in the LZ shaft is a slightly more flexible section that transfers more energy through your downswing and works perfectly in combination with the R-Moto Face and Speed Step crown to produce optimal energy transfer to impact.
Callaway has two standard offerings like most years, the normal XR and an XR Pro. The Callaway XR driver is an all-titanium 460cc clubhead that will be targeted to the largest majority of golfers, from single digit players to your once-a-week higher handicappers. It is the more forgiving of the two club heads. The XR driver will have a mid-50 gram LZ shaft with a mid to mid-high kick point in light, regular, and stiff offerings with standard loft choices of 9, 10.5, 12, and 13.5 degrees. The ladies Callaway XR driver will feature a 47-gram LZ low-kick shaft and standard loft choices of 10.5, 12, and 13.5 degrees.
In comparison, the Callaway XR Pro driver will have a 440cc clubhead and a Forged Composite crown to lower the center of gravity by more than 50% and lower spin rates, around 400 rpm's compared to last year's X2 Hot Pro driver. The XR Pro driver is designed with the better player in mind, but these new technologies give this driver a forgiveness advantage over previous Pro model drivers by Callaway. The XR Pro driver will have a slightly heavier gram weight (mid 60's) and higher kick point LZ shaft, available in 5.5 Regular, 6.0 Stiff, and 6.5 X-stiff flexes with either a 9 or 10.5 degree standard head.
Both clubs will have Callaway's patented Opti-Fit adjustable hosel that offers eight different loft and lie settings so you can find your best combination of launch and ball flight pattern.
Do you have technical questions about the Callaway XR Driver, or any other clubs? Contact our PGA Professionals today!
Now that you've learned all about the Callaway XR Driver, check out the difference between the Callaway Big Bertha V-Series, Alpha 815, & Double Black Diamond Drivers.
Chris Wadwick has been a Class "A" member of the PGA of America since 2011. He is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Business Administration. He brings a deep understanding of the inner workings of the golf business, especially club fittings, product knowledge, and visual merchandising, working for Dick's Sporting Goods for over 7 years and Occoneechee Golf Club for more than three years, prior to that. When he is not in the office, you can always find him at a nearby golf course, attending games at his alma mater, or spending time with his wife and four dogs.
Callaway Driver Comparison: XR vs XR Pro
Callaway Driver Comparison: Big Bertha vs. X2 Hot
Callaway's New XR Fairway Woods Have Been Rebuilt to Defy the Limits of Speed, Distance, and Forgiveness
Callaway Driver Comparison: X2 Hot vs X2 Hot Pro
What It Takes to Hit a Perfect Fade
How To Control Your Game From The Tee


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Jasper Byrne's NEW GAME+ footage appears, includes semi-nude barbarian with a giant club
By Tom Sykes 2013-02-07T15:00:36.37Z
NEW GAME+ wasn't dead , it was only resting its pulse, and now the first footage of Lone Survivor developer Jasper Byrne's Zelda/Demon's Souls-inspired action RPG has emerged from the colourless fog, to show off the game's four-player Vs mode. Record by Jasper's brother Nick, and filmed at the London Indies night (hence the shakycam), the video shows three players battling it out as the Knight, Ranger and Barbarian classes. As with Demon's Souls, there's a hell of a lot of rolling involved, in a game that's come a long way since it was legally declared dead back in November.
Some of the things not shown in this video include the demo's four-player co-op mode, or the more exploration-focused single-player campaign. Still, this is only our first glimpse of NEW GAME+ in action, and what is on display suggests a game with robust combat, distinct character classes, and - best of all - shrub deformation. I can't wait.
Jasper Byrne
Superflat Games

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


9 out of 10 based on 615 ratings. 1,940 user reviews.
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After a years-long touring hiatus, singer and songwriter Beyoncé has announced her newest "Renaissance" world tour culminating in the Big Easy. Queen Bey is making...
Livingston Parish chase led to wreck that killed two people on LA-16
2 months 1 week 2 days ago Tuesday, November 22 2022 Nov 22, 2022 November 22, 2022 5:55 PM November 22, 2022 in News
By: WBRZ Staff
DENHAM SPRINGS - Two people died Monday afternoon after a crash that stemmed from a police chase by Livingston Parish sheriff's deputies.
The sheriff's office said deputies were chasing a driver, 27-year-old Benjamin Fontenot, along LA-16 who had outstanding felony warrants.
Officials said Fontenot's truck hit another car along LA-16 near Sims Road. Two passengers in the truck, 25-year-old Cullen Pitre and 27-year-old Logan McDonald, died at the scene.
Fontenot and the occupants of the other vehicle were taken to a hospital.
Upon his release from the hospital, Fontenot will be booked with two counts of negligent homicide, two counts of negligent injuring, one count of aggravated flight, one count of resisting arrest, one count of theft of a vehicle, possession of schedule II, schedule I and legend drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, no tail lamp for license plate, driving under a suspension and not wearing a seat belt.
The Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office revealed the deadly crash was the result of a pursuit three hours after the wreck and after WBRZ first began asking for information about a chase ending in a wreck.
At first, the sheriff's office only suggested in a post on social media that the wreck killed two people and avoided providing information that it happened during a pursuit. Throughout the afternoon Monday, Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office spokesperson Lori Steele ignored repeated attempts from WBRZ to obtain information about the chase.
Steele, through Sheriff Jason Ard, has overseen policy changes designed to cloud transparency at the department.
The crash days before Thanksgiving comes a month after a Livingston Parish deputy was issued a ticket for a deadly crash months earlier. In July, Christinia Estave was killed when Cory Winburn, the deputy, rear-ended Estave's vehicle on Range Avenue.
The sheriff's office spent weeks attempting to limit the WBRZ Investigative Unit from reporting on the crash.
Winburn was indicted by a grand jury and ticketed for careless operation amid WBRZ reports showing questions surrounding the July crash and the subsequent investigation.
Beyonce announces world tour with performances in...
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EBR expected to submit new stormwater master...


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Demanding to Be Heard
Advocates for Afghanistan's women are pushing to ensure that women's freedoms are protected under a post-Taliban government.
Fariba Nawa
As diplomats at the United Nations continue to lay out plans for a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, advocates for the country's women are increasingly worried that the rights and freedoms of women will once again be left off the negotiating table.
"Of course, we're angry," says Khorshid Noori, head of the Afghan Women's Network, a coalition of relief agencies based in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. "Anyone would feel angry if they were forgotten, especially in that we have … endured the suffering throughout so many years."
Spurred on by the rapid military gains made by anti-Taliban forces, diplomatic efforts to produce a framework for a transitional government are gaining momentum. Appearing recently before a hastily-called meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the UN's envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, outlined plans for a political transition in the country. Representatives from the US, Russia and the six nations bordering Afghanistan had earlier approved a draft statement calling for the formation of a coalition government to replace the Taliban.
Brahimi's plan calls for the UN to convene a meeting of Afghan representatives to negotiate "the process of political transition" and to convene a Provisional Council "drawn from all ethnic and regional communities." While Brahimi did not directly call for women to be included on the council, he did note that the "credibility and legitimacy of the Provisional Council would be enhanced, if particular attention were to be given to the participation of individuals and groups, including women, who have not been engaged in armed conflict."
Even if Brahimi's recommendations are supported by diplomats at the UN, it remains unclear whether the emerging power brokers in Afghanistan, particularly the leaders of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, will follow suit. Afghan women's rights activists say they are not going to wait quietly as the diplomatic process unfolds.
"The players in Afghanistan, including the US and United Nations, all talk about women's rights but when it comes to action, there is nothing," says Zieba Shorish, a Washington-based Afghan exile and veteran women's rights activist.
The cofounder and executive director of the Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan, Shorish had been helping to organize a December meeting of Afghan women's rights leaders, which she hopes will result in a unified message which all Afghan women's groups can support.
"We've got to push on this issue," says Shorish. "We need to be involved. We need to have our rights fully restored."
The last time women had any significant say in Afghan affairs was when they were included in a 1963 constitutional drafting committee. That committee was convened by Mohammed Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan, who has emerged as a possible figurehead around whom a multiethnic coalition government could be formed.
The Afghan constitution, enacted in 1964 but disregarded during the past 22 years of war, guarantees equality for men and women under the law. The Taliban regime, which seized Kabul in 1996, has ignored that constitution completely. Its laws are made by Islamic clerics. Under Taliban law, women have been forced to wear the burqa, a full-body veil which covers the face in a thick mesh, have been all but barred from working outside the home, and barred from attending state schools.
As they have seized territory across northern Afghanistan, Northern Alliance officials have announced that women would no longer be forced to live under such severe limitations. Women, they announced, are free to return to work and girls would be allowed to attend schools once more. Still, it remains unclear whether the Alliance will actively protect and ensure women's freedoms.
Given that most women's groups have little if any political clout, their political concerns may be largely ignored by foreign diplomats and Afghan politicians alike. Some moderate female activists, however, could find themselves thrust into the negotiations — particularly as the UN searches for Afghans untainted by the nation's bloody conflict.
If women are given a role in a transitional government, one of the likeliest candidates is Fatana Gailani, director of the moderate Afghanistan Women's Council. A member of a politically powerful Afghan family — she is the daughter-in-law of Sayed Salman Gailani, an advisor to Zahir Shah — Fatana Gailani says she does not expect deeper issues of women's rights and social change to be addressed until after a stable government is in place.
"Let the men get along first, then we will get involved," she says. "Until our country has been rescued, the women's issue is a non-issue."
Supporters of the deposed king have proposed the formation of a broad-based council, known as a loya jirga, to choose members of a post-Taliban government. Advisors to Zahir Shah say they plan to include women in the 120-member loya jirga, but are still searching for representatives.
Leading women's activists, however, are unimpressed by the promises. They have reason. Led by Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, the politically powerful clan's patriarch, some 1,200 men representing Afghanistan's diverse ethnicities, religious sects and political factions convened for a peace and unity conference in Peshawar three weeks ago. No women were invited.
With little coordination among the various women's activists, the emergence of a unified, broad-based women's movement appears unlikely. While united in their concern about the future of women's freedoms in Afghanistan and their frustration over their exclusion from the ongoing negotiations, Afghan women's groups are deeply divided on numerous other issues.
There remain deep disagreements between those activists pursuing a radical transformation of Afghanistan's male-dominated society and those wanting protection of women's freedoms without significant changes in traditional gender roles.


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We're finally back from our USA trip of a lifetime and it's a bit, sad but also very exciting as we are getting ready to release our little food trailer in to the world!
Back in our cafe days, myself and Georgia were baking focaccia everyday to go with our homemade soup and the people loved it. This particular recipe is made using fresh yeast which you should be able to pick up from your local bakery and herbs picked from the garden...if you don't have the herbs, maybe wander round your local park as I recently heard that you can pick away as long as the Queen doesn't own it!
Add flour, water, oil, salt, yeast ( keep yeast and salt to separate sides of the bowl) & honey to the bowl of your stand mixer ( if no mixer, then a standard metal bowl).
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place (airing cupboard? ) to prove until double in size like 45mins.
Pre heat the oven to 200*C.
After the prove, knock the air out of the dough by pushing your fists into the dough. Recover and put back in your proving location for 45 mins.
After the prove, remove from the bowl and place into your oiled tin. Knock out the air again using your fingertips, push the dough out to spread to all corners of the tray.
Sprinkle on the herbs, garlic and drizzle the extra oil to gloss the top. Add the pinch of salt.
Push your fingertips about 3/4 of the way into the dough all over so you are making little pockets. Leave the dough for another 20 mins, no need to cover just somewhere warm.
Whack it in the oven and after 10 mins turn the temp down to 180*C and leave in the oven for another 15 mins or until baked through (tap the bottom of the dough and you want a hollow sound meaning its baked through).
When its out remove from the tin and place on a wire rack.
Eat straight away but we recommend opening all your windows and doors to let the glorious smell of fresh bread, spread through the neighbourhood and let the people know that ...you are baking bread from scratch.


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Items where Author is "Long, JA"
Long, JA (2017) Cycling pianos, BMX dancing and poetic swimming: sport and the arts belong together. The Conversation.
Pereira, A and Long, JA (2015) The Social Dynamics of Space Constructions and Leisure Lifestyles. In: Landscapes of Leisure: Space, Place and Identities. Palgrave. ISBN 9781137428523
Long, JA and Dashper, K and Fletcher, T and Ormerod, N (2015) Understanding participation and non-participation in sport amongst Black and minority ethnic groups in Wales. Project Report. Report to Sport Wales from the Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Cardiff.
Long, JA (2013) Opera Man and the Meeting of 'Tastes'. In: Fields of Vision: The Arts in Sport. Leisure Studies Association, 73 - 84. ISBN UNSPECIFIED
Ingle, L and Rivett, M and Long, JA (2011) Evaluation of Cycling for Health Innovative Pilot Projects - Final Report. Project Report. Government Regional Office East Midlands.
Strange, I and Long, JA (2010) Cultural Policy in Leeds. The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Review, 19 (2). 26 - 27.
Avramidis, S and McKenna, J and Long, JA and Butterly, R and Llewellyn, DJ (2010) Application for the 4W Model of Drowning for Prevention, Rescue and Treatment, Research and Education.
Ingle, L and Rivett, M and Long, JA (2010) Cycling and Health Innovative Pilot Projects (Executive summary). Project Report. Cycling England (led by the Directorate of Public Health, East Midlands and the Carnegie Research Insitute).
Long, JA and Welch, M and Bramham, P and Butterfield, J and Hylton, K and Lloyd, E (2002) Count Me In: The Dimensions of social inclusion through Culture, Media & Sport (Executive Summary). Project Report. Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
Long, JA and Nesti, M and Carrington, B and Gilson, N (1997) Crossing the Boundary: a study of the nature and extent of racism in local league cricket. UNSPECIFIED. Leeds Metropolitan University.
Welch, M and Butterly, R and Callicot, R and Long, JA and Oxley, D and Smears, E (1996) OLYMPIC TEAM SPORTS: Study for the British Olympic Association. Project Report. Carnegie National Sports Development Centre, Leeds Metropolitan University.
Parry, J and Long, JA (1990) Immaculate Conceptions. In: Leisure, Labour and Lifestyles; International comparisons, Vol 2: Work Leisure and Lifestyles. Leisure Studies Association, Eastbourne, 1 - 17. ISBN 0-906337-40-2


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Saturday Revue February 27th: I, Mummy
IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!
Come And See The Amazing Mummified Girl!
Roll Up, Roll Up Ladies And Gents!
An insidious plot, a far flung future, an imperiled Empire, a ghastly secret of the ancient world and a malodorous murder. All this and more is inquired into by Miss Jane Webb, a young mortally inconvenienced lady of good breeding, with the assistance of her dear chickadee and her most obstreperous ghost. Dear readers, I invite you to enjoy this most delicious treat with me.
The creation of Andy Purviance, 'I, Mummy' can be found here.
I, Mummy captures the art and emotional tenor in both its writing and artistic style, harking back to the days of Beno and Dandy, The Slopers, and the original Popeye cartoons and Jules Verne novels that our great-grandparents read as children.
At the center of this story is Miss Jane Webb, a thirteen year old tear-away from a family of privilege and standing in Crater City. It's the 22nd century, the Queen is on her throne, all's right with the world, and Jane is sick of school. The story begins innocently enough, but soon involves ancient Egyptian cursed trinkets, terrible powers, and anarchist plots. Oh my, and me without my smelling salts!
In these pages, you get a glimpse of what earlier ages thought the future would be, with personal zeppelins scudding through the sky, gilt and brass contraptions serving every whim and science at the service of polite society. The style makes you want to say things like 'gadzooks!' and watch Hugo while sipping tea once you've finished reading it.
A very accomplished and attractive piece, I must say!
'I, Mummy' does a great job of capturing both the flavors and the cultural tone of pre-World War culture and giving it a lovely steampunk spin. It's even managed to capture the clean, direct storytelling style so popular in the storytelling of Jules Verne and his contemporaries or the better modern steampunk writers like Gail Carriger, without losing characterization and storytelling craft. The characters aren't shockingly in-depth, but they're nicely well rounded, and the story's writing fits well the outlook of the sixteen-year-old protagonist who's just realizing that life has more complexities than she'd ever realized.
The story is well paced, never slowing down but never making you feel like it's rushing to the next big 'event'. One of its greatest accomplishments is in adding details to nearly every panel that paint this strange world without making us deal with world-building overload. This is done with deft use of frame and perspective, illustrated nicely in the strip below.
Almost Myazaki in style, 'Mummy' allows us to see this world as a whole rather than a tight circle focused on the main character, and I admired that quite a lot.
But I have to admit, for me the star of this show is the perfect capturing of the feeling that this page was just pulled out of a 1910 comic for our enjoyment. I'd love to know what combination of artistic medium,
filters and textures the artist used to so perfectly emulate a style not seen for years, but they've done a great job of it. That vintage print job underlines and emphasizes all the other stylistic elements beautifully, allowing this comic to truly feel like it walked out of another age. The research the author obviously put into what the Victorians thought the future would be definitely didn't hurt either.
Put all that together, and you get a story that romps along like your favorite tales of adventure from childhood.
Stylistically, the art is on the way to being really great, and by most recent strip I could see my few issues self-correcting. The overall art is good, though there's still some room for improvement on facial expressions and backdrops, which occasionally hint at being afterthoughts.It strikes you oddly as naive and well done at the same time, and while that's charming, it also sometimes weakens the work a little. But aside from the occasional stance or facial expression that needed some work, I had little to complain of.
The one thing that did consistently get on my nerves was the author's attempt to write in a lexicon that isn't naturally theirs. Most of the time it enhances the style, but occasionally there's the distinct feeling that the author just went looking for grandiloquent words to use, and it gets a little overdone. I found myself getting irritated by the end of the comic because it came off as false, especially when used by younger characters.The story is pretty enough without needing to wear so much gaudy ornamentation.
'I, Mummy' is a light, sweet read that will make you grin and dream of vanished days. I recommend it whole-heartdly.
Posted by otterchild at 2:21 PM 2 comments :
Labels: comics , entertainment , review , webcomics
Sunday Revue February 22nd: Oi! Tales of Bardic Fury
Heads Up Laddies!
Here's A Performance You Won't Want To Miss!
Let it be known far and wide that I HAVE FINALLY FOUND A HISTORICAL COMIC THAT GOT IT RIGHT!!!
How did they do it, I hear you gasp? Well gather round, and I'll tell you the secret....
The creation of Daniel De Sosa, OI! can be found here
So, how do you tell a powerful, well made historical story?
First, do amazing research. Know your craft. In this case, Bronze-Age Ireland, Age of Tara.
Then make it your own with wit, humor, amazing understanding of interpersonal relations. Mix in deep, realistic pathos. Add in strong, realistic social dynamics, issues, and politics. Oh, and then throw a protagonist or two into the mix.
Then draw their story with clarity, charm, snarky wit and stunning creativity to set the mood.
And viola, instant perfect historical comic!
This story centers around the lives of a small Bronze Age village on Ireland's northernmost tip, where the nights are long and the stories are longer. There's a new bard in town, but if he thinks it's going to be all feasting and bedding the local lovelies, he's in for a BIG surprise.
A perfect performance!
When I begin to tell you about Oi, it's hard to tell you what I love best. So let me begin with this: I'm half Irish by birth. I speak the Irish language and have been hearing the tales of Lugh, the Tuatha De Dannan, the Selkie, the Salmon of Wisdom and the Age of Tara since I was old enough to listen. I then graduated to reading them myself and telling them to my younger cousins. That should mean I love anything remotely historical or based in Irish mythos, right?
WRONG. In fact, I generally avoid historical stories in order to avert the need to cover my face with one hand and mutter everything from 'do you seriously think that's how it was pronounced?!' to 'Oh are you #@$#! KIDDING me?!' Generally, people writing 'historicals' get things wrong, and what they don't get wrong they do badly.
NOT THIS TIME!
Now, that's not to say that De Sosa is a slave to historical accuracy. In fact, he's done a truly wonderful thing instead; he's subtly and deftly overlaid the culture of Erin Og with another. Guess which other culture awarded musicians the highest honors, treated them almost as gods and paid them handsomely for their services?
You got it! The world of ROCK AND ROLL!!!
The jokes are subtle, gracefully inserted, which is part of what makes them perfect. While still maintaining period dress, De Sosa has managed to give his characters the look of 60's, 70's and 80's stars. One character's tunic and hose are subtly altered to give a 60's peacing out look, and Bryan the Bard wears a torqe that looks like headphones if you squint. It's perfection. And nothing makes me laugh harder than a rock'n'roll joke I wasn't expecting thrown into the middle of a hurling game or an ancient tale. For me there was also a special treat in seeing so much Irish slang and language used so adeptly.
Oi's use of situational humor is also gorgeously well crafted.
But gimmicks aside, this story has a wonderful grasp of interpersonal relations, human pathos and motivation. Several intense, emotionally real storylines interweave in these panels, and each one of them has a surprisingly poignant urgency. De Sosa has managed to create emotional and social issues that are perfectly true to their age and still relevant to us. The art catches your eye, but it's the story that keeps you coming back.
And speaking of the art!
Oi's art is a gorgeously crafted stylistic treat, mixing well-drawn characters with a rich palette of azures interspersed with gorgeously illustrated legends and tales. There's just a hint of clumsiness to the anatomy in some areas and and the linework of occasional panels, but overall it's barely discernible, and gets less and less so the further into the comic you go. The artist's learning curve was a pleasure to see.
Redolent of Erin Og (old Ireland) and kin to the gorgeous art in the movies Song of The Sea and the Secret of Kells, the art in Oi is multileveled and graceful. There's a deft, witty deployment of color, background pattern and texture, as well as a wonderful use of true and faux knotwork (cough celtic knots and designs that kind of look like Celtic knots, sorry my inner professor got out there, don't worry he's back in his office now) to emphasize the comic's atmosphere. That sense of ruggedness is further accentuated by the choice of a heavy, gritty watercolor-paper look to backgrounds Truly lovely stuff!
As a last note, this story has some of the best use of exposition I've ever seen in a comic. It manages to convey entire convoluted legends without EVER making you feel like there's too much text on a page.
I have only three comments on work that needs doing:
One, a little more focus on the drawing of anatomy and poses that involve foreshortening.
Two, the artist needs to slow down. By the end of the story I could tell which panels had been rushed. I know that's a harsh thing to say, I draw a comic myself and boy don't I know the time crunch. But it's hurting the work, making a great piece look clumsy in areas.
Three, a little more site work might be nice when there's time; there are several buttons a little out of place. But all in all, it's nothing that's not easily fixed.
A must read. To you, De Sosa, caed mil maith agat! Agus ERIN GO BRAGH!
Saturday Revue February 21: Random Things For Random Beings
Aaaaand now for something completely..... RANDOM!
Whether you need celestial guidance from a cat or underwater phone chats, a good laugh or the apocalypse, Random Things For Random Beings has got you covered.
The creation of Van Husk I, Random Things For Random Beings can be found here
A three way cross between a slice of life, an adventure and the Sunday Funnies, Random Things For Random Beings makes a niche all its own.
The piece loosely revolves around Sophie Fisher, bike messenger and queen of the color blue. Complementing her short-tempered snark is the stunned choir boy Christian and the lovable strongman Otto. Together, they make a quirky, off the wall and oddly endearing dynamic that pulls the humor out of those awkward and odd moments in life.
Not quite on the mark, but close!
There's much to love about Random Things. For one thing, there's Sophie.
Smart, cute and sassy, she's the most dynamic character in the crew.
The art style is reminiscent of Sunday Funnies classics like Foxtrot, Bound and Gagged, Argyle Sweater and Zits, and at moments it pulls off the same amusingly awkward poker-faced humor of Bound and Gagged or Rhymes With Orange. At its best, the art pulls off the clean tightness in art style, color play and line work of The Far Side and Zits. The characters are wonderfully exaggerated and there's just the right balance of skill and simplification in the drawing style.
The humor is also reminiscent of the best pokerfaced comics, and I'd actually like to see more of a focus on that deadpan situational humor that shows through now and again; it's done cleverly and with a fresh take. The jokes make you blink for a moment and then burst out laughing.
Unfortunately, Random Things can't decide whether it's a longform story or a gag-a-day comic, and both story and artform suffer for it. As a reader, it's extremely jarring to be thrust constantly in and out of a storyline without warning. There is a nifty feature in the archive that lets you read either the story or the gags, but from the standpoint of a daily reader it'd be irritating to me. The constant change in subject left me feeling like I never really got into the material. Yes, it is called Random Things, but I'd actually like to see it become MORE random rather than trying and failing to do two types of comic at once. It doesn't gel, and it leaves the reader feeling a little alienated and bewildered.
The art as yet still has the tentative quality of an artist learning the craft; sometimes it's really great, and then there are the bad days when it's obvious that the creator had to use a scanner and needs to keep up the work perfecting their style. It's getting there though!
Something fun to read in your pj's on Saturday morning.
And For Our Second Act, preeeeeesenting,
A Love Story With A Twist...Or Should We Say, A Kink?
Two people meet through their hobbies, fall in love, move in together, get married. A nice old fashioned love story.
Heh heh heh wellllllllll......if the hobby is bondage games, and if the two people are girls, and if....nope. This is a NEW fashioned love story. And it's a tickler.
The creation of Stjepan Sejic, Sunstone can be found here and bought here
This story revolves around two women, Ally and Lisa, and how they fall in love. They get into it, like we readers do (be honest, come on) for the sex, but we all stay in for the love. And trust me, the love story is worth it.
Before I tell you this, let me tell you a small personal detail. When I was six years old, I was bitten several times by a black widow and badly poisoned. The pain was bad enough, but what I remember most vividly is the feeling of the poison spreading, enervating my muscles until I was unable to move. I was utterly helpless; couldn't even scream. At one point, I could barely breathe, and had to be intevated. I'll never forget lying there in the hospital, pain coming and going, a machine breathing for me, my body trapped, absolutely unable to move. Around me the world moved and acted on me, and I had no power over it whatsoever. I'll never forget that terror. To this day, I cannot STAND feeling trapped or weak. Even an enclosing corridor or someone backing me into the corner of the elevator all unawares will send a momentary flash of panic through me. My fiancee' once backed me up against a wall during an early date while kissing me, and I nearly ran. So the idea of sex games....never really appealed. I remember real helplessness too well. I wish I didn't.
So with that in mind, you'll understand the significance when I say that Sunstone made me understand the attraction of bondage play. The character of Lisa, a subordinate, explains it so beautifully when she speaks of relinquishing control and thought to someone you trust in order to stop thinking and simply feel the moment. Sejic's writing and his characters make this sexual hobby not only understandable, but real and emotionally satisfying. And he does it by writing real people and a real romance. And when I say real, I mean REAL. For example, let me show you the first in-person meeting the girls had.
Now THAT is a real world, and a real, honest relationship. No crazy setups, no otherworldly power of attraction on the part of one or the other, no forced interaction. No drugs or mind control, as the writer states it. Just two real people who share a passion, and connect to each other through it.
An almost perfect score for Sunstone. And it definitely wasn't the story that got it dinged!
Sooooo you can probably tell already that I thoroughly enjoy Sunstone from the intro. And I'll say honestly that the more mature scenes were a definite draw. Sex sells, and I'm as hot blooded as the next young thing.
But anyone who's ever watched Animal Planet or bad porn can tell you that sex, by itself, is really not all that exciting at all but a lizard-brain level of our reactions. As a friend once put it, 'you can have a boner and still be bored.'
The real fascination of this story is the skill with which it takes a mysterious, ominous lifestyle that at once attracts and repels the mainstream and makes it into a simple passion, a hobby, one facet of the lives of people with lives; careers, other hobbies, intelligent minds and normal, well adjusted personalities. It takes something that, in our prudish American and European minds, is dark and twisted, and shows us that it's just another way to enjoy yourself. And then it asks us, why not? What's your problem, exactly?
The characters in this story are the perfect people to get yourself to ask that question too. Lisa is quick, wry, witty, and a wonderfully playful personality.
And Ally is the clever coding chick who's into video games, likes to read obsessively, wears glasses and is always thinking about something, which is sometimes an issue.
The side characters are just as well rounded, as full of life, wit and personality as the main characters, and between them they make one of the most honest love stories I've ever read. The process of letting someone close enough to you to become a friend and a lover is terrifying, complicated, messy, and uncomfortable, even when it's worth it. Sunstone doesn't flinch from exploring every facet of that, including the awkward and uncomfortable moments. There's the deeply emotional things this couple deals with in learning that they love eachother; insecurity, fear, old scars, new jealousies and doubts, including self doubt.And then there's the very human awkwardness of having to tell your girlfriend that your sexy weekend's shot because you just got your period. In Sunstone, all these situations are explored with equal wit, candor, wonderful snark, and compassion.
There is this in the story
But there's also this
And that's what makes Sunstone a great love story.
And then of course, you may have noticed THE ART!!!!! The piece gracefully dances between styles, and it never ceases to be gorgeous, skillful, and well-done. The body language is extremely strong, the anatomy IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, and you never question the artist's skill. SUNSTONE IS GORGEOUS. It's made these characters live for me, and it's made me actually consider some things I'd rarely even considered, and then only with horror, as things of beauty and...well, arousal. Enough said.
So what's there to razz?
The typos. OH YE GODS BRIGHT AND DARK, THE TYPOS! Stjepan, PLEASE, please learn to proof read your work, I'm begging you. Work THIS GOOD does not deserve to be marred by stupid, irritatingly blatant typos that would have taken two seconds and the stroke of the space bar or the changing of one letter to fix. Sunstone would be ABSOLUTE PERFECTION but for the glaring typos on every other page. Also, occasional spelling mistakes distracted and annoyed me. A proofreader might be in order. But to give you your just deserts, they'll have to sit in a cold bath while working!
Someday I'll have to buy the print books, because my one other complaint is the irritation of trying to click through Deviantart's wonky system to read each page where it's hosted. It really makes me miss more traditional webcomic sites, but I understand that Deviantart is the best site for something of this nature....still, as a comic host, it has a lot of drawbacks, and it distracts slightly from a story that otherwise flows seamlessly.
Sunstone lives up to its name: it is a gem. Please read it. And then go burn a copy of 50 Shades Of Gray in its honor.
Labels: comics , entertainment , review , romance , Valentines' Day , webcomics
Valentines Day Double Feature Revue: Harlequin Valentine
Annnnnnd Now, For Your Viewing Pleasure!
A Valentines' Day Double Feature!
For Our First Act, We Present to You:
Harlequin Valentine!!!
"It's Perfect, Magnificent, Marvelous and Magical.
It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?
Who could be cold upon Valentine's Day?"
-Neil Gamian, Harlequin Valentine
What happens when you give your heart to another? What happens when you give your heart away?
In the surreal tale of Harlequin Valentine, that question is answered, rather literally in fact.
A surreal, dreamy dance through city streets on a cold February holiday, Harlequin Valentine is a tale for the dreamers, the wistful ones, and the people who see through tawdry decorations to savor the message of St. Valentine in all its strange and lovely moods.
In these pages you'll meet Harlequin, who has pinned his heart to the door of his Columbine Valentine of the day. He is truly the spirit of infatuation; by turns syrupy sweet, capricious, cruel, careless and kind as the mood takes him. He is the lusty fascination that sweeps you off your feet, and the melancholy mood that engulfs you when you sit at home alone on Valentines' Day. He's infatuation; its joys and its pains, all in one package.
But this time he's set his heart at the feet of a woman named Missy, and she may just be more than he expected.
Written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by John Bolton, the book can be found through Amazon or here at TFAW comics.
Take a bow, Harlequin. With one or two faults, your performance was most excellent.
Told in lyrical prose and with surreal, half-photographic art that captures odd poses and altered states of consciousness, the short story Harlequin Valentine is an updated retelling of the commedia dell'arte tale of Harlequin and Columbine, which the authors discuss in their 'notes' in the back of the book. For once, the authors' notes are as fascinating as the actual story, and their deep, cynical and oddly moving riff on the original tale really hit a sweet spot with me. Between the art and the writing, I was transported into a waking dream where love is a dancing, cavorting animal leaving chaos in his wake.
In this world, dead men speak on their autopsy tables, girls can be transformed by being wrapped in ribbon, and the right woman can change the world. I won't tell you the ending, for that would break the spell and spoil the magic, but I will tell you that it's a must read.
This is not a long book. At 32 pages, it's shorter than some single issue comics I've read. But packed into it is a heady and somewhat disturbing exploration of this saint's day. Gaiman and Bolton remind us that love isn't always kind. In fact, they murmur in your ear, quite often it's cruel, caring nothing or who it harms. Despite his light-hearted cavorting and syrup-sweet pining for the 'Columbine' he's chosen in honor of the day, you realize very quickly that Harlequin, spirit of Valentines', is as self-centered as a gyroscope. He isn't in love with MISSY, his professed beloved; rather he's in love with the idea of BEING IN LOVE. The way in which this story explores the ideas we hold on falling in love and pokes holes in them are fascinating. The story at once discomforted me and pulled me in deeper page by page by its weird and wonderful juxtaposition of real and false in both the writing and the art.
So, I'm a young woman in my twenties....and I had to hold this book up and squint in order to read the text. Admittedly the font is a lovely thing, but someone along the line should have mentioned that it should be lovely and LEGIBLE. Most of the time the art is gorgeous, but at certain points its mixed media approach is more jarring than interesting, and distracts from the story. But hey, what performer doesn't have a missed step somewhere in his routine?
The perfect read when you need an antidote to overdone 'romance genre' stories.
Monthly Matinee: The Art of Making Love....Stories ;)
Roll up, Roll Up Folks! Come See The Matinee!
This month: The Art Of Making Love (wink) Stories
Aah the month of February. Valentines' Day season. Cards, flowers, chocolates, romance. How....nice.
So why do so many of us detest it?
Simple: Valentines' day, like any badly crafted romance, is forced. People are going through the motions not because they necessarily feel the emotions they're showing, but because they have to. And we can tell the difference. False emotion leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
So if it's true in life, why not in art?
It's a special challenge to tell the story of a romance in the pictures and dialogue of a comic or graphic novel. Internal dialogue is less common and weaknesses show up quickly on the sparse frame of a comic. But we comic connoisseurs and creators also get a special set of gifts; we get to play with body language, expression, the movements of hands and eyes and shoulders, in a way that prose authors would kill for. Comic authors get to quite literally follow the precept 'show, don't tell'.
The trick is showing it in the right way. So, how is that done?
There's no magic formula for a good romantic story, but there are a few signs of a good romance.
There's More To Characters Than Plot Points
In good stories, the characters are people too. They live, they breathe, they feed the cat and have hobbies. There is NOTHING worse in comic storytelling than the Damsel Objective Syndrome. Characters afflicted with Damsel Objective Syndrome have no real personality. They are simply there to be won when the hero has become impressive/strong/confident enough, rescued from tall towers, villains and calamities.
Unfortunately, this is especially prevalent in comics and comic-derived works. Want to show that the superhero's life is getting better? Have him get the girl he's lusted after from afar. Never mind who the girl is, he got her, that's the point.
And that's not romance. That's lazy writing.
That's not to say that winning somebody isn't important, but it needs to be done well. There needs to be something more to the attraction than adolescent mooning. A lot of great romances start that way, but very, very few continue in that way for very long. Good writers show us WHY this person is worth loving beyond their physical attraction. Are they clever? Are they witty? Are they tough guys/gals with a heart of gold? Good writers give us a reason to fall in love with the protagonist. Even better, they give us TWO protagonists, not one protagonist and one love interest.
Here's a good example of the contrast:
GOOD / BAD
Hawkeye and Black Widow are two soldiers in a dark war, two people with a LOT of history. They banter, talk, commiserate, yell at each other and support one another. They're fine apart, but they're even better together.
Thor, on the other hand, gives a very clear sense that 'oh, I should probably have a love interest in here somewhere, shouldn't I? To complete, you know, my heroism' His love interest is so forgettable that I had to look up her name. That's not a satisfying romance. That's just an excuse to rescue somebody. I'm not impressed.
There's More to Chemistry Than Lust
This is a failing particularly strong in the YA area, but it's universal enough to make me mention it here. Thinking a guy is cute and that you'd like to kiss him isn't love, it's atavistic hormonal reactions. Good writers know the difference between having the hots and falling in love.
This is best examplified in the gorgeous comic Habibi, where pretty much every stage of falling in love is shown as the story progresses. At the beginning of the story, the characters are very young. As the story progresses, the young man wants to have sex mostly because he's a teenager.
But as the story progresses and the characters themselves become more complex, he falls truly in love with his beloved, connected to her by shared suffering and shared experiences.
That love abides. Lust does not. Good writers step beyond infatuation and into love.
There's More To Challenges Than Angst
To put this another way, give your characters something to DO while falling in love. Love is fascinating, frightening and bewildering, when you're feeling it. But it's a little like running a marathon. From the outside, it's not too interesting to watch. Good writers have to give us a reason to care.
Some writers duck this by throwing people into dangerous situations and having their protagonists agonize about it. "GASP, my beloved is in danger, I MUST RESCUE!"
Everybody writes those scenes, and once in a while they're a lot of fun. But that kind of love is easy. You're not challenged to love a person. You're just rescuing 'the beloved.' Emotionally, that's easy. And it also gets ridiculous really fast. The situations that this kind of writer create in order for characters to 'prove their love' can wring so false that you can't help but groan, even when you like the story itself.
It's also emotionally easy to obsess about your feelings for another person, and you see a lot of this in certain genres.
HANA-KUN TO KOISURU WATASHI
But really, that's not love. They aren't thinking about the other person as A PERSON. Only as an objective.
Good writing avoids both these pitfalls by giving their characters real, solid challenges to overcome. Now, real challenges can be internal, and in fact some of the best romance challenges are; overcoming personal history, parents who aren't supporting the character's life choices or insecurity are all valid challenges in the right writer's hands. The trick is to make them real. Challenges should be more than excuses for the characters to 'prove their love'.
There's More To Love Than Romance
And finally, love should DO something for the characters and the plot. The romance should change them as people. The best romances make the characters grow into stronger people. Having a good partner allows them the confidence to overcome a weakness.
Three great examples show up in the comics Girls With Slingshots, Questionable Content, and Tripping Over You. In each case, the characters are well rounded people before they ever find a love interest, but that love interest allows them to strengthen a weak aspect of their characters; to stop being self conscious,
Get past family problems, or realize what you truly want in life.
Love isn't about desperate passion. It's about knowing someone loves you, feeling the deep contentment of being truly sure of something in your life, and of feeling truly safe. That internal security can give a character a strength that allows them to do amazing things. That is the real strength of love.
Labels: comics , entertainment , review , romance , Valentines' Day , webcomics , writing
Sunday Revue February 8th: The Shadows Over Innsmouth
Ladies and Gentlemen! We Cordially Invite You!
Join us for Afternoon Tea and some Light Vivisection at
The Shadows Over Innsmouth
Ahhh. A light brunch. A cup of tea. Oh, and a quick game of Disembowel your Prey! Jolly good!
If the creators of Downton Abbey and Call of Cthulu were ever shoved in a room together and told to write, they'd probably come out with something like (but less amusing than) The Shadows Over Innsmouth. In this small town where things are not quite as usual, you get a sense that all the REAL people are the monsters.
The creation of Seth Witfoth, The Shadows Over Innsmouth can be found lurking here
Our main character of interest is Jaunt. He's a dandy of impeccable and charming manners. He's a Dapper Dan. He's also a Dimensional Shambler who will walk through worlds and, if he's vexed, gut the offender with his bare talons.
There's a very strong sense of Britain-reminiscent black humor in this strip, mixed with a little noir humor; a sense that the clever investigative humans who keep snooping around are more entertainment for the monsters than anything. In fact, the way the 'people' and the 'monsters' are portrayed makes you start to question who the real 'people' are. There's regular Lovecraft mentions and references; one character even says 'I ain't grown gills yet'. You also get a strong sense of plots unfolding, of things moving unseen under the surface of events. Machinations, manipulations, plots and intrigues are seen just out of the corner of your eye, and that brings a thrill up your spine...and a grin to your lips.
The Shadows Over Innsmouth earns itself a very respectable 7; well done, chap, but you may want to work on your stroke, wot wot?
This isn't just another monster movie, folks. Here the monsters have very real motivations: boredom, the need to feel purposeful, wanting a drink and a card game with the blokes...and wanting to be safe. These guys come across as people, and that's a good mark in my book.
In addition to clever dialogue, there's quite a lot of clever design in Shadows. This comic uses a mechanism I particularly enjoy of, when a character of a new species is introduced, a sidebar with a book illustration of said species is shown.
There on the page is the fearsome beast, and there you see the rather woebegone Jack. I enjoy the way the mechanism makes you subtly question your assumptions on the subject of men and monsters. What really makes a monster? Fangs and claws, or behavior?
In fact, subtle wit and well-paced plot are probably this comic's strongest points. The characters are clever, wryly cynical and really charming (even when they're up to no good). The hints of dark plots unfolding like weeds lends a nice spice to the storytelling brew.
The art shows real promise, and shows a nice grasp of pose and very adept deployment of action and splash panels. A slightly marine color palette and deft use of a grunge texture throughout add just the right touch of 'vintage'. What exposition is used only serves to emphasize the feel of a movie or novel of the 1920's, and politely steps aside when it isn't needed.
The story is much like a perfect English Tea; simple, graceful and nicely timed.
While I admire Shadows' work at making us take a deeper look at monsters, it needs to look a little closer at its human characters. They're not nearly as nicely drawn as the creatures, and the difference is somewhat jarring. While the creatures in the story are nicely drawn and well-rounded, the human characters are drawn in a style that makes them look flattened and washed out, especially around the face. The bodies and proportions show a good grasp of anatomy, but the faces need some work, especially in their expressions, which come across rather stiff and boxy. Women characters in particular aren't quite right around the face. The creator mentions in his notes that this is something they're working on, and to give them their due I did notice and admire the steady improvement on human expression from the first page to the last.
The line work is occasionally a bit pixillated and shows some need for improvement, but that too is improving as the comic goes on. Practice makes perfect! I'll be interested to keep reading this and watch it steadily improve.
All around a jolly good read, especially on a dark and stormy night.
Labels: entertainment , review , webcomics
Saturday Revue February 7th: Consolers
Consolers: the Gaming Buff's Comic
Ladies and gentlemen, new to the stage, a budding talent!
Last week set the bar rather high with two truly stupendous acts, but here at the Strip Show, every talent gets their time in the spotlight. So without further ado, I present to you,
Consolers!
Are you a true gamer? Not just a player but one who follows every release with avid eyes and knows all the dirty little corporate secrets, the feuds, infighting and industry arguments that make Game of Thrones look tame? Then you might want to take a look at Consolers.
In this comic, the greats of videogame creation are each represented as young avatars, with all their corporate intrigues and infight competition portrayed as highschool-esque shenanigans. Here you can see Nintendo, portrayed as a cheerful tomboy.
The creation of Silke "Zanreo" Erland, Consolers can be found here.
There's a certain charm to this idea, and the style is somewhat of a cross between Manga and political cartoons, amusing if you know games. It's quite a catchy concept if you need to get a gaming gentile like me interested in a very industry specific subject. The strip shows a lot of promise, if it can overcome several rather off-putting writing flaws.
Consolers racks up 4 points out of 10. It's got good points, and room for improvement.
I love the idea of taking the strange, technical and overly complicated world of game design, the game industry in general in fact, and re-imagining it in the form of interpersonal interactions. If Consolers had gone just a little further in that direction, it would have been a really great comic.
The style is a nice minimalist one, and with a little practice it'll be charming. As a budding artist, Zanero is on the right track. And her imaging of each game company is amusing in its own right; Nintendo as a cheerful, wisecracking tomboy who dabbles in everything, Sony as a beatnik slacker, and Microsoft as an uptight know-it-all who talks a game much bigger than he plays. That aspect made me grin.
Unfortunately, Consolers seems to expect a lot from its audience in the way of prior knowledge of the intricacies of the gaming world. It does supplement this with author notes quite well, but if I have to read the author notes of every page in order to get the jokes, I feel the author hasn't managed to do their job.
But what's that I hear you say? You'd get the jokes if you were a gamer? Ah, but my friends, this isn't about the subject matter, it's about the delivery. I repeat, this isn't about the media involved. I'm not an expert in Lebanese politics, but many of their cartoonists can make me smirk at the ridiculous situation politics happening in Lebanon with a few well placed images and words. I know little about the Higgs-Bosun particle, but the redoubtable XKCD strip can still make me laugh about it. If this comic is to gain a wider audience, it needs to follow in the footsteps of comics such as XKCD and Nasereden Hodja, and make these inside jokes more accessible to a wider audience. This may sound lazy, but as a reader, I really don't want to have to read up on your subject to get the jokes. If an occasional comic makes me say 'huh, I should google that' all well and good, you've challenged me and made me think. But I shouldn't as a reader spend the whole time with a sense of slightly annoyed bafflement.
If the caricatures become more concrete and less like vehicles for the joke, I'll be happier. Conversely, if this comic picks up the cleaner, sharper style of a short-panel political cartoon, it'll be great. As it stands, it's got some work to do.
There's also some work to be done on the art. There are moments where it shines, and its cute, slightly cynical wit makes you smile, enhanced by the minimalist anime style.
But sometimes it misses the mark and simply comes off as sloppy. Some serious study of a site like Posemaniacs and a book on drawing anatomy (in anime style or otherwise) would be really helpful here. The facial expressions are quite nice, but the bodies are blocky, somewhat out of proportion, and drawn in very stiff poses. Basically, the art needs work.
Don't get me wrong, though. The style the comic reaches for is a good one, and hints of that are beginning to show. With a bit more practice, Consolers may just grasp the style it reaches for. But for now, it's not a bad beginning.
If you're a gamer, you'll get a few laughs. The rest of us will probably be scratching our heads. But I look forward to seeing what this starting point becomes if the creator keeps at it and keeps improving their style, working on their anatomy and trying to get all their readers in on the joke.
Sunday Revue February 22nd: Oi! Tales of Bardic Fu...
Saturday Revue February 21: Random Things For Rand...
Valentines Day Double Feature Revue: Harlequin Val...
Monthly Matinee: The Art of Making Love....Stories...
Sunday Revue February 8th: The Shadows Over Innsmo...
Sunday Revue February 1: Kamikaze


Further to a thread that I started on the 996 & 997 forums here is confirmation of the details received from CAT Driver Training.
Basically there are two potential dates available, either the Saturday 14th April or Sunday 15th April 2012. Given the numbers who have already said they are interested in doing this event there is the potential that both of these dates will be used. There is a maximum of 6 drivers per day, so a potential 12 in total.
Please copy and paste as appropriate. Thanks for the interest so far, this has been something that I had been considering for some time.
Good luck Chris, have fun.
Up for this, thanks for posting it up.
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:54 pm Post subject: Im in..
Would totally love to be at the event, but shall be stuck at work on Saturday. Attending on Sunday is my only option, but all the slots have been taken. So, should someone pull-out of their Sunday slot, please give me first refusal! Thanks.
P.S. Before somebody flames me, yes I know that I have left an identical post on the parallel thread on the 997-subforum.
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:40 am Post subject: Re: Im in..
Can I also be added to the reserves list for the Sunday?
As the Sun looks to be booked up and I get paid next week, what/how do I need to pay?
Whether it was the correct way I followed the Link to CAT, rang them and paid over the phone.
Thanks for everyone who has already signed up.. and hat's off to Steve who was the first to pay..
For those already on the list payment can be made by phoning Jo @ CAT directly on 01234 757 633. Once paid if you could change the status on the list that would be great.
Any problems or questions either post or PM me.


text:
RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE IN UKRAINE
Anne Applebaum: 'We need to remove Russian money and influence from all of our political systems'
The American historian and journalist explains five keys to understanding Russia's attack on Ukraine and the dangers it may lead to
American historian Anne Applebaum in her home in Poland.Mateusz Skwarczek (Agencja Gazeta)
01 Mar 2022 - 03:13 UTC
Among the books written by American historian and journalist Anne Applebaum is Red Famine, a monumental study of the policies of Joseph Stalin that caused the deaths of more than three million people due to famine in Ukraine between 1931 and 1933. She has also published an essay on fledgling autocracies, titled The Twilight of Democracy. A resident of Poland and an analyst for The Atlantic magazine, Applebaum has spoken to EL PAÍS via email to offer five key factors to understanding Putin's attack on Ukraine.
1. Why is this happening?
Putin has invaded Ukraine because Ukraine's determination to become a democracy is a genuine challenge to Putin's nostalgic, imperial political project: the creation of an autocratic kleptocracy, in which he is all-powerful, within something approximating the old Soviet empire. Ukraine undermines this project just by existing as an independent state. By striving for something better, for freedom and prosperity, Ukraine became a dangerous rival. Ukraine's "revolution of dignity" in 2014 – when a corrupt, lawless president fled the country – was exactly the kind of revolution Putin himself fears. He knows that if Ukraine were to succeed in its decades-long push for democracy and European integration, then Russians might ask: Why not us?
Anne Applebaum: "Tenemos que sacar fuera de nuestros sistemas políticos el dinero y la influencia rusa"
2. Why has our diplomacy failed?
We imagine that Putin is a leader like our leaders, who wants the best for his countrymen. But he is not. Putin's goal is not a flourishing, peaceful, prosperous Russia, but a Russia where he remains in charge. He doesn't care if Russians are poor, he only cares that they are docile. He doesn't care about sanctions, because they don't threaten his position, power or personal fortunes. More importantly, his past experience with Western sanctions made him skeptical.
3. Are sanctions useless?
Despite all of our talk, no one has ever seriously tried to end, rather than simply limit, Russian money laundering in the West, or Russian political or financial influence in the West. No one has taken seriously the idea that Germans should now make themselves independent of Russian gas, or that France should ban political parties that accept Russian money, or that the United Kingdom and the United States should stop Russian oligarchs from buying property in London or Miami. No one has suggested that the proper response to Putin's information war on our political system would be an information war on his.
4. How far can this go?
This is not just an assault on Ukraine. This is an assault on the post-war order, the agreement that, in Europe at least, borders are not changed by force. Putin did this before, in 2014, but we mistakenly believed that his ambitions were limited. Now we see that his ambitions are unlimited. They may well extend to Poland, to the Baltic States or even to Germany. A few years ago, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the Munich Security Conference that German reunification was "illegal." Everyone laughed. I don't think he was joking. Putin remembers when the Soviet Union had an enormous presence in East Germany – he was part of it himself. He may be nostalgic for that time, just as he is nostalgic for the rest of the Soviet empire.
5. What should the West do now?
Now is the time for Europe and the US to completely rethink our strategy towards Russia. We need to remove Russian money and influence from all of our political systems, to sanction all of the oligarchs around Putin, to confiscate their Western property and to prevent them from doing business in our countries ever again. Germany and others must end their dependence on Russian gas. There can be no return to "normal" trade with Russia as long as the occupation of Ukraine continues.
We need to rethink the location of troops in NATO, to take far more seriously the defense of the eastern states as well as Germany, and to prepare the public for more military spending and for the possibility of a Russian attack.
We need new and different strategic thinking about Russia. How shall we reach ordinary Russians? How can we support the Russian opposition and Russian media? Where else, inside or outside Russia, can we put pressure on Putin and his cronies? How do we make him react to us and not vice versa?
Europe, finally, needs a foreign policy. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs failed miserably in his dealings with Russia, but that also represents a failure of European capitals to support him. Unless Europe can speak with one voice, Europe will be divided and weakened further by this crisis.
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Thematic information
Vietnam border, seas, islands
Overseas Vietnamese
XIII National Congress of Communist Party of Vietnam
Thursday, January 21, 2021 - 22:40:11
13th National Party Congress
37th ASEAN Summit
UNSC Non-Permanent Membership
ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020
East Sea
Vietnam needs to boost inclusive climate policies
Vietnam needs to implement policies of climate change mitigation in an inclusive and comprehensive way. Of that, mitigation actions might benefit the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people, experts have said.
VNA Friday, October 06, 2017 09:50
Netherlands readies to support HCM City's climate change adaptation
Wednesday, October 04, 2017 11:05
Int'l partners vow support for climate-resilient projects in Mekong De
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 19:58
Germany urged to aid Mekong Delta in climate change adaptation
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 17:57
Mekong Delta looks towards sustainable, climate-resilient development
Citizens in Hanoi wear masks to avoid exposure to air pollution (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam needs to implement policies of climate change mitigation in an inclusive and comprehensive way. Of that, mitigation actions might benefit the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people, experts have said.
The statement was made at a conference on solutions to limit global warming held between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and non-governmental organisations on October 5.
Nguyen Van Huy, a representative of the ministry's Department of Climate Change, said that Vietnam's development towards becoming an industrialised country has increased impacts on the climate, especially greenhouse emissions.
In 2013, emissions were 3.5 times higher than in 1991, and are forecast to triple by 2030 compared to 2010.
Thus, the country has set up and implemented climate change mitigation policies to gradually shift the domestic economy towards a low-emission growth path.
Huy said the Vietnamese Government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent, to 25 per cent with domestic resources only or with international finance as part of efforts to limit global warming to below 2 or 1.5 degrees Celcius.
Currently, authorised agencies are focusing on the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions in many fields.
Huy said experience and lessons shared at the conference would help the country succeed in achieving its target.
Julia Balanowski, an independent consultant, said that Vietnam seemed to pay too little attention to mitigation actions that might benefit the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people.
She said that 70 per cent of the world's population still lived in poverty, and many in rural areas faced a high number of blackouts and shortages of clean water and adequate sanitation.
Living on the edge of poverty, these people had very low per-capita emissions, which was much less than those in industrialised countries. However, they were the most affected in terms of development disadvantages and low resilience to the impacts of climate change.
She cited that in many cases, subsidies for energy projects or reforestation take land away from agriculture, seriously affecting incomes and agricultural production of local people. In some other cases, local residents were displaced to serve such projects.
Balanowski said that politicians and citizens needed to understand the links between mitigation actions and the welfare of the poor and most vulnerable in Vietnam. This would be essential for the sustainability of any mitigation actions.
Vu Minh Hai, chairwoman of the NGO Climate Change Working Group, said that Vietnam needed a portfolio of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
She explained that there were differences and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation. For example, some adaptation measures could increase emissions such as the construction of sea dykes, which degraded mangroves or reduced carbon sinks.
Meanwhile, mitigation actions could reduce adaptive capacity. For example, a project of investing in renewable energy or large scale reforestation would lead to displacement of populations and threaten local food production.
Hai said industrialised countries needed to uphold their ecological debt towards countries such as Vietnam, and vulnerable groups should have the opportunity to pursue mitigation as an option.
At the conference, experts suggested that Vietnam should consider fairness and equity in climate change mitigation activities such as developing a set of poverty-focused measures and starting common dialogues about sustainable development for all involved.
Policies in climate change mitigation, adaptation and development strategies needed to be discussed and planned in conjunction with each other to ensure inclusiveness.
The country also needed to improve government resourcing to build institutional capacity, create supporting schemes for the poor to implement green agricultural technology or biotechnology.-VNA
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Home » DSM-5 Changes in Diagnostic Criteria for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)1: What are the Implications?
DSM-5 Changes in Diagnostic Criteria for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)1: What are the Implications?
In May 2012, we brought to your attention that the American Psychological Association was revising the Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which included greatly changing the section on specific learning disabilities. Months later, after numerous petitions, countless discussions, various position statements, and many meetings, the DSM-5 was released. The changes were significant, but perhaps not as bad as predicted. Dr. Rosemary Tannock, a member of the DSM-5 work group, explains just what those changes mean.
By Rosemary Tannock, Ph.D.2
Q: What is SLD according to DSM-5?
A: DSM-5 considers SLD to be a type of Neurodevelopmental Disorder3 that impedes the ability to learn or use specific academic skills (e.g., reading, writing, or arithmetic), which are the foundation for other academic learning. The learning difficulties are 'unexpected' in that other aspects of development seem to be fine. Early signs of learning difficulties may appear in the preschool years (e.g., difficulty learning names of letters or counting objects), but they can only be diagnosed reliably after starting formal education. SLD is understood to be a cross-cultural and chronic condition that typically persists into adulthood, albeit with cultural differences and developmental changes in the way the learning difficulties manifest. For example, in English-speaking countries, children struggle to learn the correspondence between letters and sounds in order to decode single words accurately, whereas adults may have mastered basic decoding skills but read slowly and with effort. By contrast, in countries with a non-alphabetic language or in which the correspondence between speech sounds of one's language and the letters used to represent those sounds is much simpler than in English, children with SLD (e.g., dyslexia) master letter-sound correspondence quickly, and both children and adults with SLD struggle with reading fluency.
SLD is a clinical diagnosis that is not necessarily synonymous with 'learning disabilities' as identified within the education system: that is, not all children with learning disabilities/difficulties identified by the school system would meet a DSM-5 clinical diagnosis of SLD. By contrast, those with a DSM-5 diagnosis of SLD would be expected to meet the educational definition.
Q. What changes were made to SLD in DSM-5?
A. The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for SLD reflect two major changes, each of which necessitated other changes: 1) one overarching category of SLD with 'specifiers' to characterize the specific manifestations of learning difficulties at the time of assessment in three major academic domains, namely reading, writing, mathematics (e.g., SLD Withimpairment in reading4: and 2) elimination of the IQ-achievement discrepancy requirement and its replacement with four criteria (A – D), all of which must be met.
Criterion A refers to the key characteristics of SLD (at least one of six symptoms of learning difficulties that have persisted for at least 6 months despite the provision of extra help or targeted instruction). Criterion B refers to measurement of those characteristics (the affected academic skills are substantially and quantifiably below those expected for age5 and cause impairment in academic, occupational, or everyday activities, as confirmed by individually administered standardized achievement measures and comprehensive clinical assessment). Criterion C refers to age at onset of problems (during the school-age years, although may not fully manifest until young adulthood in some individuals), and Criterion D specifies which disorders (Intellectual Disabilities, uncorrected auditory or visual acuity problems, other mental or neurological disorders) or adverse conditions (psychosocial adversity, lack of proficiency in the language of instruction, inadequate instruction) must be ruled out before a diagnosis of SLD can be confirmed.
Q. What are the implications of the DSM-5 changes to SLD?
A. These changes are likely to have some impact on daily clinical practice, clinical research, the educational system, professional organizations and advocacy groups for LD, as well as on individuals with LD, their families, and perceptions of LD in the community.
One substantial practice shift is necessitated by the change from subtypes of LD (Reading Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, Written Expression Disorder) to one overarching category. For clinicians and researchers, the change will require comprehensive assessment of academic skills and may reduce the challenges associated with defining the subtype of LD (e.g., when test scores vary across academic domains or tests, with some falling just below clinical threshold). Instead, specifiers may be used to more precisely characterize the range of problems present at the time of assessment. The identification of a single overarching category of LD is consistent with many educational systems in which LD is delineated as an eligible category for special education, other services, and specific funding. This change may help reduce the confusion of parents and educators when 'additional' LDs are identified in later school years, and help them better understand the developmental changes in manifestation of SLD, which are in part triggered by the increasing learning demands of the curriculum (e.g., early struggles to read single words are often followed by difficulties learning math facts, spelling problems, and difficulties understanding what is read, including mathematical word problems). However, this change also may require retraining of clinicians, school psychologists, and educators to identify and understand this conceptualization of LD and how to design learning pathways for each student with LD, who will have divergent and changing manifestations of their learning difficulties. Hopefully, this change might lead to better alignment of practice between clinical and educational communities. Will this change have a negative impact on individuals with a diagnosis of dyslexia or dyscalculia (who often refer to themselves as 'dyslexic' or 'dyscalculic') or on dedicated professional organizations or advocacy groups (e.g., International Dyslexia Association)? It should not, since these terms may be used to specify the nature of their SLD, according to individual preference. Moreover, the requirement to use specifiers to characterize the range of academic skills affected by dyslexia, might increase awareness that 'dyslexia' typically encompasses far more difficulties than those related to decoding and spelling words.
A second practice shift is indicated by the abandonment of the IQ-Achievement discrepancy criterion, as well as the omission of cognitive processing deficits in the diagnostic criteria. The discrepancy model has served as the fundamental conceptualization of LD for decades, despite robust evidence that it is conceptually and statistically flawed. Thus, although intellectual assessment has been the core of psychological assessment for LD for decades, it will no longer be required for a DSM-5 diagnosis of SLD, except when Intellectual Disabilities are suspected. Similarly, in DSM-5, there is no requirement for lengthy and costly neuropsychological assessment of cognitive processing skills for a diagnosis of SLD: such assessment might inform intervention plans but is not required for diagnosis. This means that psychologists may be able to shift from 'assessment for diagnosis' to 'assessment for intervention' and have more time to provide psychoeducation and consultation with parents and teachers. For the education system, the elimination of the IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion might mean they are able to provide special education services to children with SLD and lower IQ (e.g., IQ score above 70 ± 5), but who do not have an Intellectual Disability. These children show a similar response to intervention as do children with SLD and higher IQ scores.
A third and related shift will be needed by the new criteria (particularly Criteria A and B), which call for evidence of symptom persistence and the use of a wider array of data that may be used to confirm and quantify low academic achievement. By contrast to DSM-IV, psychometric data alone are insufficient for a DSM-5 diagnosis of SLD. A much closer collaboration is required between educators, clinicians, and parents, to provide access to formal and informal school records, academic portfolios, instructional history, as well as information from psychoeducational and clinical assessments. Closer and ongoing collaboration between clinicians, educators, parents, and the individual with SLD might lead to less confusion and frustration while navigating both worlds (educational, clinical) and better outcomes.
1DSM-5 is an internationally used medical manual and so uses the term 'disorder': 'Learning Disabilities' is an educational term that is also used by Psychologists.
2Dr. Tannock was a member of the DSM-5 Work Group for ADHD and externalizing Disorders and cross-appointed to the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Work Group to assist with the revision of Specific Learning Disorders
3Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders include Intellectual Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, as well as Communication Disorders and Motor Disorders.
4Based upon formal testing, the clinician could further specify which aspects of reading are impaired (e.g., word reading accuracy, reading rate or fluency, reading comprehension) to guide intervention.
5Any cut-off scores are somewhat arbitrary because academic skills are measured on a continuum; clinicians are advised in the DSM-5 text to use clinical judgment but standardized scores below the 16th percentile might indicate SLD, and scores below 7th percentile would be most consistent with SLD.
Rosemary Tannock, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. Previously, she held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Special Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in the University of Toronto. From 2007-2013, she was a member of the DSM-5 Work Group on ADHD and Externalizing Disorders and liaison-consultant to the Neurodevelopment Disabilities Work Group for Specific Learning Disabilities. Currently, she is an appointed member of the Steering Committee for the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for ADHD.
Copyright © 2014 International Dyslexia Association (IDA). We encourage sharing of Examiner articles.
If portions are cited, please make appropriate reference. Articles may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale. Permission to republish this article is available from info@interdys.org.


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KELLY CLARKSON SET TO RELEASE GREATEST HITS – CHAPTER 1 ON NOVEMBER 19TH
Todd 'ToddStar' Jolicoeur | 4 October 2012	| Reply
(New York, New York) – Global superstar Kelly Clarkson is set to release Greatest Hits – Chapter 1 on November 19th. This greatest hits compilation will feature three new tracks from Clarkson as well as a compilation of some of her greatest hits to date.
Kelly's new single, "Catch My Breath" is set to impact radio and will be available for sale at all digital providers on October 16th. "Catch My Breath" is co-written by Clarkson, Jason Halbert and Eric Olson.
Earlier this morning, Kelly posted a note to her fans on her Official Website expressing what this album and new single means to her. She states, "It's been a decade now since I won American Idol. Sometimes it feels longer because although it has been exciting that was a lot of pressure to have as a 19 year old girl. To own a company, lead an organization as a business woman, and be able to create music I'm proud of has been tough but inspiring for me. To celebrate the strength and longevity that my fans, friends, and family have supported me with I wrote this song "Catch my Breath" with one of my best friends that has seen me through everything. This song represents who I've been, what I've felt, and where I'm headed as not only an artist but as a 30 year old that is now smart enough to know that it's time to stop, catch my breath, and be proud of not only what has been accomplished but of all the people that have helped me become the woman I am today. The song will be part of my first ever greatest hits coming in November. Thank you everyone that has been a part of my career and life. Here's to another decade of passion and fun! I hope you like the song…its coming next week!"
Since bursting onto the music scene 10 years ago, Kelly Clarkson has released 5 studio albums (Thankful, Breakaway, My December, All I Ever Wanted, Stronger), sold over 20 million albums worldwide, 10 million albums in the US and has had 10 singles in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. She is the recipient of 2 Grammy Awards, 4 American Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, 2 Academy of Country Music Awards, 1 Country Music Association Award and 12 Billboard Music Awards. Clarkson's most recent effort Stronger debuted at #2 on both the Billboard Top 200 and Digital Albums Chart. The album is certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A. and produced the smash singles, "Mr. Know It All" and "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" which marks Kelly's 9th and 10th Top 10 hit. "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) was #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart for two consecutives weeks (3 weeks total) marking her 3rd #1 on the Hot 100 chart after 2002's "A Moment Like This" and 2009's "My Life Would Suck Without You." Kelly was recently a mentor on ABC's Duets as well as a guest mentor for Team Blake on NBC's The Voice. Kelly was recently nominated for a 2012 CMA Award for Female Vocalist of the Year.
www.kellyclarkson.com
@kelly_clarkson
https://www.facebook.com/kellyclarkson
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Trust and integrity are core values for Active Business Services Inc. These values are integral in how we operate to achieve long term value for our shareholders, employees and business partners. They are also central to our approach to customer service and employee engagement.


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Alasan Rusia Melibatkan Diri dalam Konflik Bersenjata di Suriah Tahun 2011 – 2015
Arum, Kusumastuti (2017) Alasan Rusia Melibatkan Diri dalam Konflik Bersenjata di Suriah Tahun 2011 – 2015. Undergraduate thesis, Faculty of Social and Political Science.
Abstract Arab Spring which was happened in 2011 had ceated nationwide protest movement of the Syrian people to throw the regime of the President Bashar Al Assad. The conflict that was, at first,only protest then turned into armed conflict where the government, opposition and terrorism groups such as ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra involved. The number of the deaths caused by the conflict were then called by the UN as crime against humanity. The UN initiated Geneve Peace Talks as an agenda to hold a political transition transition towards Bashar Al Assad's regime. The efforts was rejected by Russia Federation. In 2013, the U.S. and its alliance deployed its miltary forces in Syria to suport opposition group while in 2015 Russia then responded to the U.S. action by deploying its military troops in order to support the regime of Bashar Al Assad. This research is aimed to explain the motives of why Russia involved in the Syrian armed conflict. The research used qualitative method and Offensive Realism Theory by John J. Mearsheimer. The result of this research is that the involvement of Russia was meant to exercise its geopolitical influence in the Middle East and to repress the expansion of U.S. influence in Syria.
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Black Gunman Arrested for Fatal Shooting of White Man and Attempted Murder of his Mother
Daily Stormer December 14, 2014
My Foxal
Michael Devin Dempsey was shot and killed in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Bessemer police have arrested the suspect accused of fatally shooting a 19-year-old man at a convenience store parking lot on Saturday.
On Monday, police charged Markey Jerail Evans, 33, with capital murder in the death of Michael Devin Howell, 19.
Police say Howell was shot in the parking lot of the Y Food Mart at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Owen Avenue around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Authorities took Evans into custody shortly after the shooting.
Howell was sitting in the passenger seat of a car when he was shot, according to police. Howell's mother was also in the car but was not injured by a second bullet.
Markey Jerail Evans has previous criminal convictions for burglary, receiving stolen property and breaking and entering a vehicle.
Howell was taken to UAB West and pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.
Evans is also charged with attempted murder of Howell's mother.
Evans is being held on no bond for the capital murder charge. His attempted murder charge carries a $60,000 bond.
Bessemer police say Evans is being transferred to the Jefferson County Jail.
Dempsey was convicted last year of drug possession.
Bessemer Markey Jerail Evans Michael Devin Howell US White Victims of Black Crimes	2014-12-14
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Film,
Video and
Applications Open
Bronx Documentary Center, BDC Films.
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Production grants for specific projects of up to $30,000 for early career film, digital production and video directors based in New York City.
The next application cycle will open in early 2023.
Missy Whiteman, The Coyote Way: Going Back Home.
Minnesota Film, Video, and Digital Production Grant
Production grants for specific projects of up to $30,000 for early career film, digital production and video directors based in Minnesota.
Alison Guessou, directing the cast and crew of the short film Happily Married After.
Minnesota Film, Video, and Digital Artist Development Grant
Self-designed artist development grants of up to $7,000 for early career film, digital production and video directors based in Minnesota.


Legislation has been passed that entitles all adults – irrespective of age, condition, socio-economic position or marital status – to free personal care. Starting in April 2019, plans are well underway to help stakeholders get ready for this change. Yvette Burgess, Director of the Housing Support Enabling Unit, highlights what SFHA members need to know.
In September 2017, the First Minister announced that Free Personal Care would be extended to all adults. Currently free personal care is only available to those aged 65 and over who are found eligible by their local authorities to receive personal care.