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THE 'BURBS (Shout Factory Blu-ray Review)
USA/1989
Directed By: Joe Dante
Written By: Dana Olsen
Starring: Tom Hanks, Rick Ducommun, Bruce Dern
Color/101 Minutes/PG
Ah, the suburbs, the idyllic slice of Americana where you groom your lawn, grill your meats and suffer from an unwavering paranoia that your new neighbor is some sort of strange maniac. There's really very little as beautiful as getting your fellow neighbors together to spy on the new folks because who the hell are they to invade your cul-de-sac and not introduce themselves? And what are those weird sounds coming from their basement? And why do they only come out at night? You better find out... for the good of the neighborhood!
Tom Hanks stars as Ray Peterson, a typical middle class American taking a week's vacation from his job. All he wants to do is lounge around the house and perhaps get some projects done but his wife (Carrie Fisher) wants to take a trip to the lake with their son. Balking at the idea because of all the hassles and headaches of a long trip, Ray and his wacky conspiracy theorist neighbor Art (the late Rick Ducommun) and short fused veteran gun nut Rumsfeld (Bruce Dern) get caught up in a scheme involving their new neighbors, the Klopeks, who live in the rundown old house next to Ray and keep to themselves. They also have strange noises and smells coming from the home and Ray's son has seen them digging holes in the back yard late at night. Paranoia boils over quickly in the 'burbs and when old man Walter at the end of the street goes missing for a couple days the trio decide to get to the bottom of it when the Klopeks leave for the day.
THE BURBS is a dark comedy that ages like a fine wine. Even after well over a dozen viewings I'm still picking out subtle things to laugh at. There are big laughs in the writing and main jokes and they hold up perfectly well but there's so many small little jokes and so much humor to be found in facial expressions and body language that it lends itself to repeat viewings. The main trio has a fantastic dynamic and natural on screen chemistry. They're the perfect microchosm for weird, quirky neighborhood streets where you're sort of forced in to these relationships with people you might not really like but you tolerate for the sake of a peaceful existence and sometimes even buddy up for some weird adventure (like breaking into the new neighbors house and blowing it up). These three guys wouldn't normally be friends but their houses are next to each other and they have little tiny bits in common, (like wanting to break into the neighbors house and blow it up) so they join up for this wacky adventure that we're privy to enjoying. The audience of this film is basically a wider extension of Corey Feldman's character who plays a teen who is home alone and enjoying the circus taking place on his street, constantly inviting more friends over to watch it all go down. He's a great backdrop for the entire thing. And God bless Carrie Fisher in this movie, the late princess looks amazing and turns in a fantastic role of the sole voice of reason on the entire block. If this street was real I'd imagine she'd end up in a padded room before too long.
I think the strong writing is a rock solid foundation for the film to be built on but THE BURBS excels and becomes a classic comedy because the entire ensemble cast is on board with it and nobody feels that they're above the material. Our heroes and protectors of the street are made better by great counterparts and the Klopeks are just that. Starting off with the youngest, Courtney Gains plays a mostly silent weirdo to a T while his older relatives, Henry Gibson plays the head of the household, a doctor at the local university who performs various experiments in the house. He's the one you have to look out for, adding an unnerving creepiness that the family didn't exactly need to be unnerving and creepy. The gem of the bunch though is Brother Theodore playing Reuben Klopek ("About a 9 on the old tension scale there, Rube!"). Reuben is the doctor's brother, and is a grumpy, grouchy old man scowling at the world and being generally miserable toward everyone. I love his performance. Add in a couple garbage men (Dick Miller and Robert Picardo) for a hilarious scene that sends garbage flying all over the cul-de-sac and we've rounded out almost the entire cast and they're all fantastic.
Joe Dante uses some unexpected music cues throughout, including some Ennio Morricone western pieces that somehow fit perfectly, and even gives us some stylish directing with sweeping pans of the neighborhood in single takes that give a truly organic and realistic feel to the street. There's no fat to be trimmed in THE BURBS. The film is infinitely quotable and scene after scene replays in my head when I call up the memory. As it approaches its 30th anniversary it feels as fresh to me now as it did the first time I watched it in the mid-90s as it played on whatever TV station was airing it at the time and remains one of my favorite comedies of all time.
The Audio & Video
Shout Factory delivers THE BURBS to Blu-ray via a new 2K scan of the film's interpositive which looks good and is quite the upgrade over the previous Universal Blu-ray that used a dated master. The anamorphic widescreen transfer features colors that are mostly lush and vivid while remaining true to their real life nature. Detail is strong for the most part but at times becomes a bit softer and fine detail is lost. This is similar with the color in which the vivid nature fades a bit during grainer moments. This isn't the first special edition the film has received as Arrow Video released the film on Blu-ray in the UK back in 2014 with quite similar video results to my eye however their release was much grainier at times and didn't look quite as sharp throughout. Shout's disc may feature a bit of digital tinkering but it still features a natural look and one that is overall a more pleasing viewing experience to me.
This disc features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix that sounds as nice as it should. A nice five or seven channel surround mix would certainly be welcomed but this stereo mix is of the highest quality for what we're given. The audio is crips and clear with no noticeable distortions interfering with the dialogue or soundtrack.
Note: The screen grabs presented in this review do NOT represent the HD quality of the Blu-ray.
Special features are plentiful and far outweigh the nearly barebones Universal disc from a couple years ago.
Included in this release is an audio commentary track with writer Dana Olsen and it is moderated by Calum Waddell ensuring that the track is lively and on point. The "There Goes The Neighborhood: The Making Of The Burbs" documentary is the best part of the special features and includes interviews with many of the big names you want to hear from including director Joe Dante, and actors Corey Feldman and Courtney Gains. The original workprint of the film is a nice addition as well which features deleted, extended and alternate scenes. This is obviously a bit rough in presentation but I love seeing workprint versions and how they compare to the final cut. Finally an alternate ending, theatrical trailer which were both included in the old Universal release and a still gallery round out the extras.
THE BURBS is one of my all time favorite films and while this release from Shout Factory's Shout Select line isn't perfect it is my favorite release of the film on home video to date including Arrow's UK release. This is a must own release.
THE BURBS is available HERE
Posted by Celluloid Terror (Seth Poulin) at 12:04 PM No comments:
Labels: 80s, Cult Classic, dark comedy, Essential
THE MASTER: The Complete Series (Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Various
Written By: Various
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Timothy Van Patten, Sho Kosugi
Color/624 Minutes/Not Rated
Lee Van Cleef stars as John Peter McAllister, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War who would become the first Occidental ninja, eventually deciding to leave the life of the ninja behind to search for a daughter he previously did not know he had. This was seen was a betrayal by other ninjas including his former student Okasa (Sho Kosugi) who has sworn to kill his former master for his dishonor. McAllister escapes to a small town where he meets a young, headstrong man named Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten) who constantly finds himself in scuffles and fights, commonly leaving the local bar through the front window. McAllister and Keller team up with Keller's pet hamster Henry who hangs out on the dashboard of Keller's van for a road trip adventure to find McAllister's daughter all while he takes on Keller as his new student teaching him the art of the ninja and finding someone to help and plenty of trouble at each stop along the way.
Premiering on January 20, 1984 THE MASTER should have been a perfect fit for its time. The 80s was a decade that loved odd couple buddy mashups like Knight Rider, Magnum PI, and The A-Team and ninjas were never more popular than they were during the 1980s with films like The American Ninja franchise and Enter The Ninja and Return Of The Ninja which both starred Sho Kosugi. But by August of the same year and after only 13 episodes the series was canceled and sadly most of the big plot points that drove the whole show were left unresolved. It's a shame that we didn't get one big final showdown between McAllister and Okasa and McAllister never does meet his daughter and we don't even get to say goodbye to Henry! That's okay, there's still plenty to love in THE MASTER.
Whether our ninja duo is busy fighting a dangerous and corrupt trucking company, or helping save a small town cannery, rescuing hostages or protecting an orphanage there's always a lot of spin kicks, bar fights and ninja magic. Each epsiode is a hour long (more like 48 minutes with the commercials removed) cheese fest. The best scenes of the series are those in which Sho Kosugi is around and that usually means it is a fight scene with Lee Van Cleef's stand-in that provided the best fight choreography of the series. Even these scenes have that high quality cheese funk to them as if it wasn't noticeable enough on its own that it was a stand-in doing the fight scenes for Lee Van Cleef the rubbery, wrinkled bald cap slaps you in the face. I love it. There's also plenty of scenes where you can clearly see the stand-in actor's eyes and part of his face in the opening of the ninja hood and it's obviously not Lee Van Cleef. This is all part of the charm and that charm permeates the entire series. The writing is fairly standard for a series of this nature where there's a plot that drives the series but most of the time it's individual stories with each episode and only sporadically does that main thread that holds the whole thing together come in to play. But within these standard episodes is a genuine enjoyment and love for the whole thing, especially Lee Van Cleef who is most known for his work in the Spaghetti Western genre and the writers love putting in winks and nods to this as nearly half the episodes have something in them that references his days spent in the old west. From the episode where someone says he looks like Clint Eastwood to which Lee Van Cleef replies "Not quite." or in the episode "High Rollers" which ends in an old west movie set and LVC notes how at home he feels, I fell in love with each of these moments as they popped up through the series. It's a little thing that not everyone will notice but for fans of Van Cleef's work on those pictures it is a little bit of a love letter that I appreciate. Timothy Van Patten proves to be more than capable being the main character and doing most of the heavy lifting scene to scene. He's handsome and has a likable personality which instantly draws us to him.
THE MASTER is far from perfect and just like most television series that have passed their 30th birthday its seems are starting to show but with fun to be had in each and every episode and guest stars like Demi Moore, Clu Gulager and even Sho Kosugi's little ass kicker of a son Kane on top of the regular cast I can't help but love what THE MASTER has to offer.
Kino Lorber gives THE MASTER its worldwide Blu-ray debut via its Studio Classics line and it looks pretty damn great. The new full 1080p transfer retains the series' original 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio as it was originally broadcast on televisions in 1984. Clarity and crispness are steady throughout with intermittent moments of light speckling or scratches where the source material was a bit rougher. The vast majority of the time the presentation is gorgeous however with excellent detail evident in the silkiness of the ninja outfits and how plainly Lee Van Cleef's stunt double stands out with his rubbery bald cap. Colors are sharp and black levels are deep and inky. I didn't notice any issues with compression or blocking.
The audio features a 2.0 DTS-HDMA mix that isn't very dynamic but it's very pleasing to the ear with steady levels and a crisp mix. It gets the job done properly without being unnecessarily fancy. I had no problems with background noise or damage to the audio tracks.
Sadly there's no real special features on this release, only a collection of trailers for other Kino releases on disc 3. Interviews or audio commentary on select episodes with Timothy Van Patten or Sho Kosugi would have really made this release special.
Kino has preserved THE MASTER for past and future fans with this three disc set and while it may not be high art it is high entertainment. Ninja fans take note! Recommended.
THE MASTER is available HERE
Posted by Celluloid Terror (Seth Poulin) at 3:42 PM No comments:
Labels: 80s, Action, cheese, Disc Review, Kino, Ninja, TV
The Super Inframan Press Release - 88 Films
WHAM! BAM! IT'S THE SUPER INFRAMAN - NOW IN STOCK AND READY TO PUNCH ABOVE ITS WEIGHT AT 88 FILMS!
The UK's top label for Hong Kong cinema has outdone itself by bringing one of the key classics of kaiju craziness back to shelves for a British BluRay premiere!
With a street date of 23rd April, 88 Films is proud to announce that the Cantonese-language classic THE SUPER INFRAMAN (1975) is now IN STOCK at our online web shop and shipping almost a month early! Highlighting a brand new HD transfer and coming clad in our trademark slipcase that features the original Hong Kong poster artwork, this is a superhero epic that needs to be seen to be believed. Years before caped crusaders, airborne idols and indestructible uniform-clad animal-men became a blockbuster presence, the East Asian superstar actor Danny Lee (CITY ON FIRE/ THE UNTOLD STORY) punched and kicked his way to stardom as the headline attraction in this outrageously entertaining action packed masterpiece!
The very first Hong Kong superhero opus, THE SUPER INFRAMAN also drew on the kaiju (direct translation: 'strange beasts') boom that had proved so popular in Japan thanks to the ongoing ULTRAMAN and GOJIRA/ GODZILLA franchises. However, by the mid-1970s even the 'King of the Monsters' was starting to look a little long in the tooth and, as a result, it was up to the director Shan Hau, whose other classic credits include SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU (1977) and BLOODY PARROT (1981), to attempt to cross cultures with this Chinese variant. The proof, of course, is in the prize - and THE SUPER INFRAMAN was a smash hit across the Asian continent - bridging language boundaries and national identity as viewers grooved to the loud colours, lavish costumes and otherworldly creations. Featuring creature feature fisticuffs, with Lee pitched against a number of monstrous creations, and foxy femme fatales - this is pure glam rock mixed with chock-a-block adventure and intrigue.
Cleverly mixing sci-fi and shocks together - THE SUPER INFRAMAN became one of the most celebrated Shaw Brothers productions of its era. Inspiring a cult following that has lasted until this day, this genius 1975 jaunt of good vs. evil in mysterious lands has been one of the most demanded titles from followers of the 88 Asia line. As such, we are proud to present THE SUPER INFRAMAN in this dazzling release - that comes with options of the original Cantonese audio track, with English subtitles, or - for that true 'grindhouse' experience - the Anglicised dub where not a single word matches a single mouth motion! Also included in this release is a behind-the-scenes image gallery and a booklet by Dr. Calum Waddell looking back at the history of the kaiju trend!
Comet TV and Charge! March Giveaway & Lineup
I Can Carry Nearly 80 Gigs of Data In My Head!
-Johnny Mnemonic
March is here and like you might have read in our earlier email, we're super excited to share with you the newest COMET TV schedule and Giveaway as well as a new network, CHARGE!
CHARGE! is an action network showing the most "kickin'" and "punchin'" films ever created.
This month COMET TV has the best of the worst marathon, with the best of the worst movies ever created.
Over on CHARGE!, there's the Kickboxer marathon with all five Kickboxer films.
And we want to give you the opportunity to have an awesome March of your own! The COMET TV and CHARGE! March Prize Pack is perfect for binging some classic films and TV Shows!
The Comet TV and Charge! March Pack has:
1 - Limited Edition Johnny Mnemonic COMET TV T-shirt: One of the best of the worst films ever. Can you carry Nearly 80 Gigs Of Data In Your Head… It depends on if I have my morning coffee! This shirt is exclusive and only 130 are in existence.
1 - Kickboxer Exclusive Charge! Clamshell Box: Talk about retro goodness! This Bloodsport exclusive clamshell box features exclusive throwback artwork and will immediately take you back to the days of waiting in line for new release movies at the video store!
1- Kickboxer "Kickin' It" Viewing Kit: When you're working up a sweat either by saving the world or sitting on the couch, this viewing kit will aid you, in your quest. It has an official Kickboxer elastic headband as well as some popcorn and stickers.
2 - Exclusive COMET TV Film Cards: The best thing to celebrate the cult classic films arriving on COMET TV this month! A limited edition set only available here!
2 - Exclusive CHARGE! Film Cards: Get in the mood to check out CHARGE! with this card set showcasing some of the awesome movies showing on CHARGE! this month!
Email me at Celluloidterror@yahoo.com with your full name and address and tell me your favorite movie playing on Comet or Charge this month!
Winners addresses must be submitted by April 7.
Giveaway open to the US
About COMET TV - March 2018
CometTV.com
"BEST WORST MOVIES" in March
We're rolling out the red carpet for some of the best worst movies on planet Earth. They're so bad… they're awesome. Catch films like …
Creature (1985)
Gargoyles (1972)
Jaws of Satan (1982)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Monster Dog (1984)
Reptilicus (1962)
The Milpitas Monster (1976)
Vicious Lips (1986)
Cyberpunk might be all the rage right now, but Johnny Mnemonic was doing it before it was cool. Keanu Reeves stars as a data courier who traffics top secret information via an implant in his brain. Sounds cool, right? Not when that data ends up acting like a virus that could kill you dead if you don't get the passwords in time.
Thursday, March 15 at 4/3C
Wednesday, March 28 at 6/5C
FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIES
Friday Primetime Movie 8/7C
Saturday Encore Presentation 8/7C
King Cobra (March 9)
Monkey Shines (March 16)
Code 46 (March 23)
High Spirits (March 30)
Monday-Friday at 2/1C & 10/9C
Unlock the secrets of the ninth chevron with the boldest show in the Stargate franchise's illustrious history. SGU features stunning visuals, a complex storyline, and all the gate-hopping action you could possibly need. So, what are you waiting for? Board the Destiny and join COMET for the adventure.
watchCHARGE.com
CHARGE! punches it's way into our lives with an awesome Kickboxer marathon!
All five films will be shown Monday-Friday, March 26-30 at 6/5C - including the original Van Damme movie that started it all!
The roundhouse kicks begin March 26 at 6/5C
Saturday, March 10 at 10/9C
Monday, March 26 at 6/5C
Kickboxer 2: The Road Back
Saturday, March 10 at MIDNIGHT/11C
Tuesday, March 27 at 6/5C
Kickboxer 3: The Art of War
Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor
The Redemption: Kickboxer 5
Friday, March 30 at 6/5C
Revisit a classic. The British ultra suave spy series The Avengers is sleuthing it's way onto CHARGE! with back to back episodes Monday through Friday at 1:30/12:30C.
Ranked by TV Guide as one of the top 20 cult TV series of all time, The Avengers is a spy-fi delight!
Weekdays at 1:30/12:30C
STAR TIME (Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Alexander Cassini
Written By: Alexander Cassini
Starring: Michael St. Gerard, John P. Ryan, Maureen Teefy
Color/84 Minutes/
"This is the fourteenth murder..."
"Fourteen? Fifteen! Fiveteen! Can you believe this, Henry?"
"Amateurs."
Henry is a delusional young man with a fragile mind. He finds comfort in his favorite television programs, even telling his social worker about the time he spends with his favorite program, "The Robertson Family" each week. When "The Robertson Family" is canceled he becomes suicidal and is approached by a mysterious agent named Sam Bones (John P. Ryan from It's Alive and Class Of 1999) who promises Henry the same fame and notoriety that his favorite television actors have if he kills certain people. After donning a baby face mask for personality Henry agrees and goes on a killing spree until Sam instructs Henry to kill his social worker.
STAR TIME received some love and recognition from the festival circuit before hitting VHS and fading into obscurity in 1992. Having never heard of the film before the announcement of this release I was curious to see what it was all about but was a blank slate going in. It didn't take long to realize that STAR TIME wasn't going to be a straight forward serial killer film like the plot synopsis hinted that it could be. Writer/Director Alexander Cassini is far more concerned with creating a character piece about a psychologically damaged man morbidly obsessed with television to the point that instead of taking his own life when the television program that he feels is the only thing he's holding for is canceled he is persuaded by a mysterious man claiming to be a talent agent to go on a killing spree and live in infamy forever with his handiwork gracing the TV screen each time he kills. Henry is slow to take to the idea, failing on his first attempt and attributing it to having nerves on opening night. Quickly Henry has racked up over a dozen killings and Sam is loving his work to the point where he scoffs when the nightly news incorrectly reports on the number of killings so far.
Henry is a lost soul, fully under Sam's rule until he visits his old social worker that he had sent a video tape to stating that he had killed himself after his favorite show got the ax. Wendy, played lovingly and with a sense of helpless despair by Maureen Teefy, is the voice of reason and reality to Henry, believing Sam is nothing but an imaginary friend and a creation of a broken mind. Sam calls for Henry to kill Wendy which sends Henry into a frenzy to protect his true friend until he finally gets his fifteen minutes of fame and scream his name into the lens of the television camera for all to hear.
STAR TIME would not be a success without great performances and our main trio all turn in excellent ones. Michael St. Gerard does quite the 180 from his role of the heartthrob Link Larkin in John Water's Hairspray from a few years prior, convincingly and tragically portraying the broken Henry. St. Gerard doesn't have a long list of credits but this could definitely be the performance of his career. It's easy to say that you have no empathy for a killer but your heart absolutely breaks for Henry. John P. Ryan is no stranger to any film fan, I bet you've seen one of his movies even if you don't know him by name and he turns in a strange, at times diabolically comedic and altogether devious performance as the devil on Henry's shoulder. Cassini makes the movie something special with his style behind the camera however. STAR TIME is a prime example of a director making his debut feature film and showing no fear taking chances. Cassini's experimental side comes through time after time with interesting camera movements, angles and set pieces. The room full of nude women on TV monitors seducing Henry is instantly burned into my memory and I would not be surprised if the creators of Rocko's Modern Life had seen this film before making the episode in which Heffer becomes obsessed with TV which features a scene strikingly similar to the one here.
Cassini succeeds more often than not in the chances he takes and I never asked myself why he would make that artistic decision. The film's commentary isn't hidden or shadowed, it is quite obviously dealing with the obsession of fame and TV on a fragile mind and even over a quarter century later this is still something we deal with daily as violent media of all forms is blamed and brought in to question with each new murder. I hate to think that STAR TIME'S relevance is here to stay even if it deserves to stick around because it's a good film.
STAR TIME can be considered a horror film and without much work at all it could have been a bloody slasher film but I think that cheapens and fails the film. It is a psychological horror film, it is a comment on the price and worth of fame, after all once you scream your name into the camera who cares after the screen goes black? Who will remember Henry Pinkle when the channel goes off the air and the color bars pop up. Despite that STAR TIME probably has an entertaining slasher film in it and even with it being set around several bloody set pieces in the second half of the film, STAR TIME is more than just another exercise in blood and guts.
A bit more than an obscurity, STAR TIME is a title I had never heard of before this release was announced by Vinegar Syndrome and it certainly deserved to be rescued and shown some respect. Vinegar Syndrome has restored the film from its original 35mm negative and delivered the original director's cut on to home video for the first time and it looks magnificent from top to bottom. Detail levels are exceptional, particularly in closeups such as character faces and clothing and texture. Just take a look at Sam Bones' green sequin suit and you could count each sequin and see the perfect detail of each one. The color palette is vivid and natural and black levels are deep without any compression or blocking issues. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track sounds pristine. The track appropriately mixes the dialogue and score in a crystal clear presentation. There's no crackling or hissing or other distortions and no background noise to speak of.
-Audio commentary track from director Alexander Cassini
-"Shooting Star Time" - An interview with cinematographer Fernando Arguelles clocking in at over 30 minutes. This is a great background into the production of the movie.
-"The Great Performance" - A short film by Alexander Cassini
-Theatrical Trailer
-Reversible Artwork
STAR TIME won't find a fan base with everyone. Its somewhat avant garde approach definitely limits who will find this film enjoyable more so than if it had gone for the more straight forward horror film approach that it hints at but in that case it wouldn't be nearly as memorable and wouldn't be the same viewing experience. Vinegar Syndrome has beautifully restored the film and surrounded it with some worthwhile bonus features that I think experimental film fans will appreciate.
STAR TIME is available HERE
Posted by Celluloid Terror (Seth Poulin) at 12:36 AM No comments:
Labels: art house, Disc Review, Horror, Vinegar Syndrome
THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT (2018)
Directed By: Johannes Roberts
Written By: Bryan Bertino, Ben Katai
Starring: Bailee Madison, Christina Hendricks, Emma Bellomy
The Strangers hit theaters in 2008 and found great success at the box office despite mixed reviews. I found the movie to be a tense and altogether unnerving home invasion film. The trio of killers, two female and one male each wearing a different mask, were relentless but patient, and certainly cold and calculating. They seemed to take as much joy in the process as they did the kill. When asked by one of their victims why they were doing this they offered a simple response; "Because you were home." It offered no insight or sense of reasoning and made for a chilling scene. A decade later the film holds up, aided by its score that sets the atmosphere which is a backbone for the film.
Now a decade later a sequel has been released. THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT features a similar plot as the trio of killers stalk a family who plan to spend some time with relatives before dropping their daughter off at a boarding school. The secluded park is mysteriously empty and it doesn't take long for the masked killers to begin preying on the family but find resistance from the teenage brother and sister who fight for their survival with every ounce of strength they have.
THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT sounds like a very similar sequel on paper, and in many ways it is but instead of focusing on tension and building suspense this sequel takes a more is more approach and turns the film into an almost straight forward slasher film, complete with final girl. The tone of the film has shifted from stalking and atmosphere to bigger and louder like literally driving a truck into the trailer's living room. I wouldn't say The Strangers was a smart film, certainly effective but it isn't smarter than your average home invasion film but it's successor certainly is dumber. And bloodier. There's no shortage of blood in the original film but there's no holding back here, even giving us a couple of gorier shots but it's not enough for the film to fall back on to become a full blown slasher. The film still wants to be a tension based home invasion horror film and keeps its roots in that area but it desperately wants to fit in with the best slasher films of the 80s. There's plenty of 80s nostalgia thrown shamelessly at the audience and two of the moments during the climax and end of the film are embarrassingly cliched ripoffs from Christine and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Groan inducing describes it pretty well.
There's two sides to every coin though and some of that 80s nostalgia simply works at least in a single scene vaccum. Blasting Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" while a boy fights for his life alongside and in a pool while the music fades in and out as the boy goes underwater and comes up for each breath and the entire scene is drenched in the rainbow of light from neon palm trees. Maybe it's my fondness for the song but I believe this scene oozes style and is fucking brilliantly done. In fact there's plenty of moments that the movie shows a visual flare that I really dig, to the point where as the closing credits rolled I thought "If I was making a slasher film I'd want the cinematographer of this film to shoot it for me." and after looking up Ryan Samul's other credits I'm not totally surprised as he's shot some good looking horror films over the last 15 years including Stake Land and Mulberry Street. And I have to give a mention to Bailee Madison who stars as the troubled daughter Kinsey, the lead that the film revolves around. While the acting in the movie is all decent and more than competent, I think Madison proves she can play the final girl pretty well and I wouldn't mind seeing her in more horror films.
THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT is confused, not knowing what it wanted to be. It's too into being a nostalgia act for slashers to successfully reproduce what worked about the original but it isn't even a good slasher when you get down to it. I didn't totally hate it, I loved how it looked and the music choices, I really loved one scene, but it's a mess and I'm not totally surprised as I haven't yet found a film from director Johannes Roberts that I am a fan of. I can't say my expectations weren't met as I didn't have any but I was at least a bit hopeful that it would be a surprise hit to me like its predecessor. Alas THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT is at best a harmless cliche and at worst a shitty nostalgia act. I've seen some reviews absolutely tearing it apart and I don't think it's that bad, not even close but it definitely isn't good.
But damn, do I love that pool scene.
Labels: Home Invasion, Horror, Sequel, Slasher
Agusti Villarong's MOON CHILD Pre-Order Up At Cult Epics
Cult Epics presents Agusti Villaronga's MOON CHILD (El Nino de la Luna) featuring an unreleased score by DEAD CAN DANCE on Blu-ray/DVD on April 24, 2018
Website MOON CHILD Exclusive: THE MOON Tarot Card featuring Lisa Gerrard (Limited edition of 500 with Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Details and Pre-order here: www.cultepics.com
Inspired by famed occultist Aleister Crowley's 1923 novel of the same name, Agusti Villaronga's film centers around the extraordinary 12-year-old David (Enrique Saldana), who has been adopted by a treacherous scientific cult where extraordinary mental powers are common. He begins an archetypal journey across two continents with Georgina (Lisa Gerrard) to find his destiny as Child of the Moon.
Coming on the heels of Villaronga's unforgettable 1986 film, In a Glass Cage, Moon Child is a mystical fantasy film for adults, available for the first time in the United States on Blu-ray & DVD. Presented in a new High Definition transfer and boasting an unreleased soundtrack by the darkwave band Dead Can Dance, Moon Child is a thoroughly unique gift to cinema and music fans alike.
New HD Transfer (from original 35mm film)
Interview with Agusti Villaronga (2018)
Lobby Cards photo gallery
Original Theatrical Trailers
Isolated Score by Dead Can Dance (50 mins)
EATEN ALIVE (Severin Films Blu-ray Release)
Italy/1980
Directed By: Umberto Lenzi
Written By: Umberto Lenzi
Starring: Robert Kerman, Janet Agren, Ivan Rassimov
Color/93 Minutes/Not Rated
Sheila (Janet Agren- City Of The Living Dead) is looking for her sister who went missing in the jungles of south east Asia. She joins up with a rough around the edges guide named Mark (Robert Kerman- Cannibal Holocaust) and they venture deep into the jungle to find her sister Diana. They encounter deadly animals, local cannibal tribes and a religious cult controlled by Jonas (Ivan Rassimov- Spasmo, The Man From Deep River) who leads a physically and sexually charged assault on his followers for any transgression. Sheila and Mark use the aid of Mowara, a follower tired of Jonas' ways in an attempt to rescue Sheila and try to get escape the dangers of Jonas and the cannibal tribesman.
Umberto Lenzi started the Italian cannibal genre with 1972's The Man From Deep River which starred Ivan Rassimov and Me Me Lai who both appear in important roles in this film. While the genre wasn't immediately popularized despite that film's large financial success there was plenty more to come from both the genre and Lenzi and EATEN ALIVE aka Mangiati Vivi! combines the much criticized genre with real life tragedy as EATEN ALIVE could be simply summarized as the Jonestown Massacre meets Cannibal Holocaust. Ivan Rassimov shines as he so often did as the film's lead antagonist, a religious fanatic named Jonas building a devout legion of followers deep in the jungle. It was less than two years after the Reverend Jim Jones lead over 900 followers to drink Cyanide laced Kool-Aid in Guyana in a mass suicide that Umberto Lenzi turned used that cult as a basis for his second cannibal film. Even 40 years later the Jonestown incident lives in infamy and images immediately come to mind when you hear it mentioned which gives a lasting deranged quality to the Jonas character. Rassimov's hardened look instills fear and will make your blood run cold as he decapitates natives, rapes with a snake blood covered phallic icon (let's be honest, it's a giant dildo covered in snake blood) and rules with an iron fist. Ivan Rassimov proves again that he's among the finest Italian actors and one of the timeless bad guy actors of all time.
Janet Agren and Robert Kerman are also solid together with Agren portraying the desperate woman who is in over her head with the terrors presented by the jungle and Kerman as the rough and ready guide who will do whatever it takes to get paid. No review would be complete without a mention to Me Me Lai, the dark and beautiful actress who gained fame in her three cannibal film appearances and is subjected to some of the nastiest stuff EATEN ALIVE has to offer. Her babyface and doe eyes make her the perfect damsel in distress or at least the softer lover surrounded by primitive rituals and natural horrors.
Umberto Lenzi may not have enjoyed making these jungle films but he was quite good at it. Here he creates a world of cult worship that feels quite a bit bigger than it really was with just a few huts and extras that included people from the crew. He's a good director and at times masterful and I think there's touches of that here, getting realistic and believable performances out of the natives who played the cannibals and the special effects work of which there's quite a bit. There's also the touchy subject of animal cruelty in these films and there's no way around it, it happened and it's there. It's something you're either going to have to deal with or not watch the movie. I'm not a fan of editing movies to remove such content so while it isn't pleasant to watch it certainly does add to the horrific nature of the films.
EATEN ALIVE isn't the masterpiece that Cannibal Holocaust is and it doesn't have quite the same splatter and gross out factor that Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox does but it is a well put together film (better than Ferox) with a true villain who you can unabashedly hate and a group of protagonists you can cheer for. Those are two things not all cannibal films have as it was common to blur the lines of who the real monsters were in this cycle of films. EATEN ALIVE is a highly entertaining and sometimes shocking piece of exploitation horror that should enjoy a new wave of fans from this new Blu-ray release.
Severin Films gives EATEN ALIVE its high definition debut with this Blu-ray release. While the picture quality does fluctuate it is a nice transfer overall. At its best the image is warm, clean and has great detail especially in closeups and textures like hair or fabrics. At its worst the picture is a bit soft and suffers from some damage from the source material such as scratches and speckling. These imperfections can add to the charm of such a grindhouse era exploitation film depending on your viewpoint for me I can take it or leave it as long as the good outweighs the bad which it certainly does. The blood reds pop and the rest of the color palette echoes the rest of the picture quality at times the lush jungle greens are breathtaking and others they are a tad washed out in comparison. The black levels tend to be deep and free of compression issues for the most part.
The audio is delivered in three dub tracks which is standard for Italian films of this era, all presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono mixes. I chose the English track which is how I've viewed the film in the past and the quality is good. The dialogue comes through crisp and clear while the memorable soundtrack that may seem untamed at times compliments it nicely and comes through with force when needed. I didn't experience any noticeable distortion or background noise to this track.
-"Welcome To The Jungle": An interview with Umberto Lenzi - Lenzi recounts his time spent working on this film and in the cannibal genre as a whole. It clocks in at over 16 minutes and provides some insightful information along with his heavily opinionated views on the films and their legacy.
-"Me Me Lai Bites Back"- Clocking in at over 80 minutes long this feature length documentary of the queen of the Italian cannibal films examines the three films she co-starred in along with the rest of her film career and subsequent hiding from her past until her daughter put some pictures online and Calum Waddel tracks her down and brings her back into the exploitation film limelight. This documentary is insightful, funny, and a blast to watch from a fan's perspective. It's worth the price of the Blu-ray on its own.
-"The Sect Of Purification": An interview with production designer Antonello Geleng - Another substantial interview but this time we get to see an entirely different side of things as Antonello Geleng who was fresh off of working on Lucio Fulci's City Of The Living Dead goes through the process of designing the sets, locations and wardrobes. It's a welcomed change that provides a different look at the film and new anecdotes than those you'd typically here from the director.
-2013 Q & A with Umberto Lenzi From The UK Festival Of Fantastic Films - More time spent with Lenzi and there is quite a bit that differs from the sit down interview feature including some good stories involving actors he worked on different films with and stories about their dislike for each other. This is soaked in more of that signature Lenzi attitude.
-Archival interview with Ivan Rassimov and Robert Kerman - The footage may be a bit dated but the more we can pack into the release the better and it's almost mandatory that the late Ivan Rassimov be featured on the supplements so it is a great thing to have these clips.
Cannibal film fans will be doing themselves the biggest disservice if they pass up on these sleazy slice of jungle gold that looks and sounds leaps and bounds better than it ever has on home video. A bountiful selection of extras rival the main course and make for a tasty feast.
EATEN ALIVE is available HERE
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Two Foreign Professors Awarded CAS Visiting Professor in IOB
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November 10, certificate awarding ceremony of "CAS Visiting Professor" was held in the Institute of Botany, CAS (IOB). Professor Jinyun FANG, Director General of the Institute awarded the certificates of "CAS Visiting Professor" to Professor Robert A. Spicer from the Open University of UK and Professor Ian Max Møller from the Arahus University of Denmark respectively. Professor Song GE, deputy director of the Institute chaired the ceremony.
On behalf of the Institute, Fang extended congratulations to the professors for their joining the "CAS Visiting Professorship program" this year. Fang also gave a brief introduction on IOB, and wish them to achieve more progress during their stay in IOB. After the ceremony, Professor Spicer and Professor Møller gave presentations titled "Understanding Vegetation and Climate Change in China: Developing a New Palaeoclimate Proxy for Asia" and "Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) turnover and protein oxidation in plants" respectively.
Robert A. Spicer, currently a professor at the Open University, UK, is an international famous scientist on paleobotany. He has been engaged in research on paleobotany, paleoclimate and paleoenvironment for several decades. To date Professor Spicer has published over 100 books, papers and articles including three in Nature and two in Science. Professor Ian Max Møller, is head of Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His research mainly focused on plant mitochondria and plant proteomics. He has published 158 papers on international journals, and these publications have been cited a total of more than 3500 times (Web of Science, March 2009).
"CAS Visiting Professorship Program" was launched in 2009 with the aim of enhancing the science & technology innovation capacity of CAS institutes. This Program is for international scientists either currently or previously working in well-known universities, research institutes or multi-national corporations, who wish to develop an effective long-term collaborative relationship with the CAS. We invite accomplished researchers from overseas to participate in research of CAS, with the hope of strengthening the cooperation and exchange between CAS institutes and international research institutions and universities.
Institute of Botany, CAS Add: No.20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing 100093, China
京ICP备16067583号-24 Tel: +86 10 6283 6215 Fax: +86 10 6259 0833 E-mail: Int_Office@ibcas.ac.cn

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Buy Photo For the crew of the 37-year-old submarine USS Bremerton, the past week was filled with a bittersweet series of lasts as the fleet's oldest active duty submarine made its way to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for retirement.
During the next few years, sailors and shipyard crews will work together to inactivate the submarine's nuclear reactor, remove all of the gear inside the vessel and break apart its remains for scrap metal.
When the submarine departed its former homeport of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on April 20, the boat's original klaxon rang out for the last time to signify the submarine's final dive as it headed to the Pacific Northwest.
The klaxon is affectionately named "Annie," after the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Henry M. Jackson, who represented Washington state and was a staunch advocate for the military in Congress. Jackson's wife, Helen, was the boat's sponsor when it was launched in July 1978 and was commissioned on March 28, 1981. Buy Photo Breanna Squires embraces her husband, Harley, while 8-month-old daughter Olivia looks on after Harley disembarked the USS Bremerton at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on Friday. The submarine made its final journey from Pearl Harbor to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. (Photo: Meegan M. Reid / Kitsap Sun) When the submarine prepared to surface on the other end of the journey, USS Bremerton's Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Travis Zettle, turned over the power to grant permission to surface to the sub's first commanding officer, retired Capt. Thomas Anderson, who joined the boat in Pearl Harbor to ride along for its final underway.
"It's just been wonderful to be back," Anderson said. "It has brought back all sorts of memories. Although much of the boat has changed, a lot of it, the important things, have remained the same. It feels like it did in 1981."
"One of the things that amazes me is that it's the oldest submarine in the fleet, and despite that, it's in really, really good shape," Anderson said. "I'd attribute that to the hard work, dedication and spirit of the sailors and commanding officers who have worked hard to keep this ship in top shape."
For both of the Bremerton's first and last commanding officers, moving through the underway sequence one last time was a somber, but well-deserved inevitability for the vessel that deployed 17 times during its service life.
"You know it's going to happen. In the beginning, you don't know when it's going to happen, but all ships go to their final resting place," Anderson said. "But, looking at what the ship has accomplished, the number of deployments, what it's done over the years, it really makes you feel good."


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Мортко́вское се́льское поселе́ние — муниципальное образование в Пучежском районе Ивановской области Российской Федерации.

Административный центр — село Мортки.

История
Образовано 25 февраля 2005 года Законом Ивановской области «О городском и сельских поселениях в Пучежском муниципальном районе».

Географические данные
 Общая площадь: 175,85 км²
 Расположение: южная часть Пучежского района
 Граничит:
 на севере — с Илья-Высоковским сельским поселением
 на востоке — омывается водами Горьковского водохранилища и граничит с Сокольским районом Нижегородской области
 на юге — с городским округом город Чкаловск Нижегородской области
 на западе — с Симаковским сельским поселением Верхнеландеховского района

Население

Состав сельского поселения

Примечания

Муниципальные образования Пучежского района
Сельские поселения Ивановской области

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Lois Jean Holloway, 81, of Fort Wayne, passed away on Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice. The Pittsburgh native received a Nursing Degree in her hometown from Columbia Hospital. She worked as a Enterostomal Therapist for Lutheran Hospital. Lois was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was a member of Avalon Missionary Church.
Surviving are her husband of 59 years, Thomas; daughters, Diane Freygang of Fort Wayne, Deb Orozco and Beth Love of Indianapolis; son, Marc of Fort Wayne; 9 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and brother, Karl Shingler of Yorktown, Virginia. Lois was preceded in death by her parents, Vinton and Florence Shingler and sister, Dorothy Blashford.
Funeral service is Monday, April 16, 2018 at Avalon Missionary Church (1212 Lower Huntington Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46819) at 11:00 am with visitation one hour prior. Visitation will also be at Klaehn, Fahl, and Melton Funeral Home (6424 Winchester Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46819) on Sunday, April 15, 2018 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Burial will be at Greenlawn Memorial Park.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org) or Avalon Missionary Church.
Lois leaves behind to cherish her memory nine grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and many friends.
We loved having Lois in our small group. She loved my dimples and she would always give me a kiss on the cheek. We will miss her.
Karl and Cora Shingler, Megan and Deb Orozco, Tom and Lois Holloway 2016.
Happy Wedding Ana and Zach Meyer. Tony and Deb Orozco, Tom and Lois Holloway.


ENGELBRECHT, Derek. Growth and development of Croaking Cisticola Cisticola natalensis nestlings. Biodiversity Observations, [S.l.], p. 1 - 5, dec. 2016. ISSN 2219-0341. Available at: <https://journals.uct.ac.za/index.php/BO/article/view/391>. Date accessed: 25 apr. 2019.


That the upcoming Hyundai Venue compact SUV might be huge on options has already been documented. Nevertheless, an space the place Hyundai needs to utterly leapfrog rivals is in-car connectivity. The carmaker has launched particulars of the Venue's connectivity options which might be a part of Hyundai's world Blue Hyperlink expertise. The 'Good Linked SUV', as Hyundai calls it, will get 33 connectivity options, of which 10 have been developed particularly for India. The system will use an embedded Vodafone Concept SIM card and also will embody cloud-based companies. Blue Hyperlink is way extra complete than Hyundai India's present Auto Hyperlink expertise that gives information on automobile well being and driving behaviour.
Security options on Hyundai Blue Hyperlink embody Auto Crash Notification (much like Ford's Emergency Help System) that may mechanically notify emergency companies (with GPS coordinates) within the case of a collision. Additional, a button on the Hyundai's inside rear-view mirror can be pressed to set off an SOS message, summon roadside help or ship a panic notification to registered relations or pals. Blue Hyperlink additionally permits for distant monitoring of the automobile's safety. Within the occasion the automobile is stolen, the proprietor might be notified mechanically and may have the choice to remotely immobilise the automobile. Customers may observe their Venue always by way of GPS and may arrange the system to obtain alerts when the automobile exceeds a sure velocity and even leaves a pre-set space (by way of geo-fencing). These options are certain to be of curiosity for homeowners trying to preserve a detailed watch on their chauffeurs and even kids's use of the automobile.
Hyundai says it has partnered with a world mapping agency for real-time site visitors updates and reside automobile monitoring. A 'Discover my automobile' choice will even lead you to your automobile; useful when you've forgotten the place you've parked. It should even be doable to feed a vacation spot to the automobile direct out of your cellphone or remotely from a name centre. Just a few comfort capabilities have additionally been bundled in. House owners can remotely change their automobile on and likewise begin the local weather management system by way of an app – a sensible approach to pre-cool (or pre-warm) your automobile in India's excessive climate.
And what guarantees to make the entire system that essential bit extra user-friendly is an AI-based voice recognition software program that Hyundai claims will perceive Indian accents. Hyundai has said it can roll out the Blue Hyperlink expertise on different fashions in India quickly.
The Hyundai Venue might be revealed on April 17, 2019, and it'll go on sale in Might. Given the options and expertise on provide, the Venue is unlikely to come back low-cost. Anticipate pricing at par with the Mahindra XUV300 and Ford EcoSport.
Click here for Hyundai car prices, reviews, images, videos and more.


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Review No. 147 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection - PS4 (16+)
Strong characters
Stunning graphics, detail and animation
Great set pieces
Intriguing story...
Great use of parkour, especially in the latter two games...
Nice gunplay
Throwing grenades back mechanic adds a touch more strategy... (Uncharted 3)
Brilliant voice acting
Great value for money (the collection)
...That sometimes feels too quick or too long
Jet-ski levels (Uncharted 1)
...Although the objects used can be quite samey (Uncharted 1)
...Until you throw a grenade at a wall (Uncharted 3)
Sometimes feels like there's little point to any of this
Some large difficulty spikes
Detailed environments but lack of climbable objects (Uncharted 2/3)
Boss fights (Uncharted 1/2)
The villains don't get quite the attention of the heroes
Release Dates:
Europe/Australia/New Zealand: October 7th, 2015
North America/UK: October 9th, 2015
Different for each game but detailed in-game
I managed to miss Uncharted when it was first released, way back in 2007, probably due to not owning a PS3 at the time. To be honest, I hadn't really heard of Naughty Dog until I'd played The Last of Us but then I was hooked, and after seeing the excellent reviews of Uncharted 4, decided it was time to dive in. However, I couldn't start on the fourth game, not as an avid KH fan, which drilled into me the importance of playing games in chronological order.
So, I had to wait until the Christmas of 2018 to finally start Uncharted. By February, all three games were complete. Due to the short timespan I completed the games in, I have decided to review all three together so as to not confuse parts of one with parts of the other.
It's not often that I start with graphics in a review, not even with film, however, there is something special about Uncharted's. It looks like a blockbuster basically, with incredibly detailed environments and animation, realistic damage effects and stunning vistas and environments. Given that the first game was released over 10 years ago, they are still great even by today's standard - the facial animation even surpasses most triple-A titles of last year (looking at you Just Cause 4). Of course, this is helped by the fact that I'm playing on a PS4, but even without the extra processing power and shine, these are some nice-looking games (especially the latter two, when the PS3's notoriously difficult systems were under control).
Drake? Drake!? Draaaake! Whoops, wrong series... Anyway...
Characters take a slightly higher position than story in the Uncharted games. This isn't really a problem, such is the strength of the characters, and you'll want to just spend time with them and their own personal character arcs. Take the eponymous Nathan Drake for example. You'll laugh with him, get frustrated by his actions, get saddened by his past, and slowly, over the course of the three games, feel a connection, much like you do with the heroes of films. The villains don't get quite the attention as the heroes do, however, with them coming off more like stereotypes.
This easy stereotyping and slight focus carry on into the story as well, with breezy narratives, plot conveniences and technical jargon to hide the simplicity of the story. Again, this is by no means a bad thing - we have complex RPGs and indie titles to deal with complex themes, but if you go into this series expecting a story full of twists and moral grey areas then you may be left disappointed. Leave that more to The Last of Us and just enjoy the ride.
The characters are helped immensely by some of the best voice-acting I've seen in gaming. None of the stilted tones of Horizon: Zero Dawn or one voice actor voicing 20 Skyrim characters (yes, I know they are both RPG's and as such have their own challenges). No, sir. Instead, we get voice and mo-cap work that could rival actors in live-action films (an in some cases, surpass them). Drake, Sully. Elena and Harry especially are almost real people by the end of the games.
Gunplay is pretty solid overall, taking inspiration from other third-person, cover-based shooters. Each game adds systems and ideas to the gunplay, with 3 even allowing you to throw grenades back and grab hold of enemies. The guns as a whole feel good to use, with my preferred types being a pistol and an assault rifle to allow for wide areas of attack but the game doesn't really punish you for using any weapon set-up. Just make sure to keep an eye on your ammo, especially in higher difficulties.
Parkour is a staple of the series as well, and much like gunplay, is developed with each iteration. You can perform incredible feats of acrobatics with Drake, throwing him pretty much anywhere and he'll stick, be it on the side of a moving train or hanging off a clock tower. One problem with it, which I felt odd in a linear game, was that I was often stuck as to what I could and couldn't jump at. Most of the time the game did a good job of pointing me in the right direction, but there were times, especially in the later games when the environments became more crowded and the parkour points more natural, where I happened to jump, thinking I was going the right way, only to be met with a greyed-out screen and Elena shouting 'Nate! No!'.
The puzzles as well were a mixed bag sometimes. A few I found quite rewarding, especially when you were met with a large room and parkour - you felt like the only one able to solve them. Other times though, I was either surprised at how easy the puzzle was and wondered why the previous explorers couldn't work them out or they were really difficult and obscure, and I had to spend a good deal of time before succumbing to the hint button.
Ah, boss battles. What an odd beast you are. Some games are made around you, cramming every new idea they have into the belly of said beast. Others use you as an afterthought when the enemy you are chasing has grown too powerful to allow for anything else. This is the case for the Uncharted series, with boss battles in the first two games serving as the climaxes of their respective stories, succeeding in one thing. Slowly the games down. A lot. This is especially the case with Uncharted 2, where the final battle took me a good 30-40 mins (in a 10-12-hour game, this is a long time). Yes, I was playing on hard mode, but still, it was such a change of pace, I thought I needed to mention it here.
Any of my misgivings about the games were quickly erased, however, when a set piece arrived. Be it the multiple trains in Uncharted 2 (running and hanging), the mansion on fire in 3 or the jet-ski levels in 1 (...), the set pieces in this series are some of the best. Naughty Dog really did some ingenious things with the environments and programming to make them as stellar as they are, and if you can play them without much knowledge going in, I think that's the best way.
Conclusion: a superb collection of titles that harken back to a time of fun and adventure, which has been sorely missed from games of this generation. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Indiana Jones, parkour or quick wit.
P.S. yes, I didn't like the jet-ski levels that much either. The idea of using vehicles or animals in an Uncharted game was great (as shown by the horse-back riding in 3) but making it so you couldn't move or shoot at the same time? An... Odd design choice to say the least.
Labels: Game Review, In-Depth Review, PS4, Satamer
Review No. 147 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collect...
Video Game Character of the Month - March 2019 - L...


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Yacht News Back
Baglietto launches 55 metre motor yacht Severin's
The newly Severin's, which features six cabins and a spacious sundeck, was designed by Francesco Paszkowski and Margherita Casprini.
Severin's launched
55 metre Severin's is the biggest yacht built by the Italian shipyard since 2012.
8 July 2019 by Caroline White & Olivia Michel
BOAT International attended the spectacular launch of Baglietto's 55 metre yacht Severin's on Saturday July 6, in La Spezia, Italy. The displacement motor yacht from the yard's T-Line range was designed inside and out by Francesco Paszkowski and Margherita Casprini and is the largest yacht to splash since the Gavio Group bought the 165-year-old Ligurian yard in 2012.
"I am very proud to see our shipyard has grown and I am excited for what the future holds," said Michele Gavino, CEO of Baglietto, from a podium alongside the owners. "From all of us at Baglietto, it is a pleasure to see how many of you are here to welcome the launch of our new 55 metre T-Line displacement yacht Severin's."
The yacht was sold to her European owner in 2017, with Edmiston representing the buyer, and has been designed with chartering in mind.
She can sleep up to 10 guests in six cabins, including a spacious master suite and two guest cabins are situated on the main deck. The upper deck features a multi-purpose room which can function as guest cabin, playroom or massage area. Additional features include an indoor lounge with a gaming table and, outside, a ten-guest al fresco dining table, bar and relaxation area aft. The sundeck, which boasts a swimming pool and bar, completes the design of Severin's upper decks.
On the lower deck, a further two guest cabins can be found, as well as the crew's quarters, which include six ensuite cabins and a crew mess near the galley. Tender and toys are stored in Severin's are stored in the foredeck, allowing more space for the dedicated beach club
Standout design features on board include a panoramic, marble-finished lift which transports guests between the yacht's three decks, as well as the extensive beach club amenities, such as a gym, spa, steam shower and bar. Powered by two Caterpillar engines 3516C DITA, she has a cruising speed of 12 knots and can reach a top speed of 17 knots.
Gavino added, "Severin's represents not only our present but our past and our future also here surrounding us. Caroly, 23.66m was launched by Baglietto in July 1948, today she is a training ship for the Italian Navy. Nina J, a fast yacht delivery in 2006, is ready to leave for the summer season after an amazing refit. Superyacht Only One, which was launched in 2015, and Silver Fox, which was launched last year are also here with us. They are all based on the same naval platform as the 48m you see here in the yard."
Gavino also read out a statement from Giovanni Toti, President of the Ligurian region: "Today marks another milestone in the path taken with great commitment in 2012 when the Gavio family took over the company. Severin's is the biggest yacht ever built since then. This is not only an important goal we have reached, but also motivation to grow further and better in the future."
Baglietto introduces new line of yachts
Fantastic Mr Fox: Inside the family friendly Baglietto 48 metre T-line Silver Fox
Baglietto unveils 43 metre "sportfisherman" explorer
EVO 55 OPEN
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Eduardo our waiter did a great job.
The service was excellent. The food was great. The ambiance is amazing, looking out at the beautiful Baltimore Inner Harbor.
It was following Sunday brunch, so I didn't expect so much noise. I also expected that people would not necessarily be in formal wear, but certainly not dressed for the beach. The food and service were good, though.
Great food and a great environment! Our server was fantastic and very responsive. It was a bit noisy, but wasn't overwhelming. We will be returning!
Views can't be beat. Pricey meal but worth it. We all enjoyed our meals although portions we're on the small side. Cocktails were delicious.
April 6th was my birthday dinner and everything that could go wrong went wrong. Kitchen messed up half the orders, server was overwhelmed, mangers had zero clue what was going on and didn't immediately know how to help. Some items were comped but I think they whole check should have been because the women that paid should not have.
Overpriced for the quality of the food. Also beware they cook with oil that is also used to cook walnuts. Very dangerous for people that have allergies. It isn't written anywhere and I found out by accident when I ordered calamari and said " there are no nuts right?" Very scary When I told the managers he was very nice and agreed that it should be written somewhere.
We had a superb lunch at The Rusty Scupper! Mari who was our server was absolutely wonderful! She was extremely knowledgeable regarding the appetizers, Entrees and desserts! She attended to our every need. Her casual yet very professional demeanor was quite refreshing.
We eat at least twice at this restaurant on our monthly trips to Baltimore. The service is second to none, and normally the food is too. However, this time was disappointing. The crab legs portion was half the size of normal.
Celebrated son's birthday at the Rusty Scupper - the service and food was excellent and the view outstanding.
The Chilean Sea bass with crab special was an excellent dish along with the Grilled salmon which was cooked perfectly and with wonderful favors. Enjoyed the table view of the harbor with plenty of room between tables. The service was very prompt and responsive to our needs. An excellent dining experience all around.
For the price I expected better service. $110 steak over cooked and not offered any concession. The waitress gave incorrect info and was not knowledgeable. She said she had been sick and made excuses for the misinfo instead of just getting the manager right away. I expect more professional service at this price point. The view was beautiful and the food quality was great.
The ONLY reason anyone should go to the Rusty Scupper is for the Jumbo crab cakes. All of the other food was well below average, and the service was horrible. The wait staff made us feel rushed and cleared a drink glass with 2 inches of gin and tonic left, without asking if we were done.
Excellent food! Great atmosphere! A little pricey!
Had a great experience and server was excellent!
Visiting from out of town. This was definitely one of our most memorable experiences and dinners from the trip! Beautiful view with great service and ambience!
The overall rating is okay because of the location and service. The food itself is not worth the money. I ordered the lobster pot pie which was on their signature dishes section. From what I received, I would have assumed this was a first try at a new recipe by a new chef. The presentation was poor, the pan was half-empty, the lobster was chewy, the inside was watery, and there was little in the way of vegetable filler. It was a complete waste of money and something that should not remain on the menu. It is probably the worst dish I've had at any restaurant in Baltimore. Hopefully there was a drastic problem in the kitchen that night to explain the poor cooking. What's worse is that after dinner the server mentioned there had been some complaints about the dish by other tables. So maybe they should stop serving it. And the real courtesy would be if they had removed it from the bill. No one should be paying for that dish.
We were looked after and entertained by the waiter. He was great.
Awesome service, AMAZING salmon, beautiful view and piano in the background. Perfect place for our dinner for 6.
It was a date day! My husband and I were first timers! We absolutely enjoyed the experience!


There are many ways to champion health.
HCA's community support, delivered through the grassroots efforts of our employees, The HCA Foundation and HCA corporate sponsorships, helps sustain childhood and youth development programs, scholarships, community-based health clinics and the operating budgets of countless not-for-profit organizations across the country. In 2016, HCA made $23.2 million in cash donations to charitable organizations.
Our model of giving – led by the leadership, service and financial support of our employees in their communities – reflects our view that a strategic outlay of talent, resources and time yields stronger communities. This model also fosters our culture of inclusion and teamwork, strengthens our cultural competence, and cultivates goodwill within the diverse communities we serve.
Together, through care, leadership and support, we can be true change agents in our communities. In 2015, our employees pledged approximately $8.3 million to community agencies and volunteered more than 36,000 hours.
Learn more about how HCA employees are giving back to their communities through The HCA Foundation.
Learn more about HCA corporate sponsorship of activities that further our mission and vision.
"I knew pretty early on that I wanted to help others…"
We are proud that HCA employees are making a difference in the world beyond their work in our facilities. Meet some of our award winners who are changing lives and communities every day.
HCA is working to protect our environment by greening hospital practices. Our comprehensive program of environmental sustainability promotes energy and water conservation, green building construction, recycling and environmentally conscious purchasing.
HCA's 2018 Sustainability Plan includes the collective impact all hospitals made in 2017 along with plans for the upcoming year.


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text:
New Americans Library Project
an initiative of the American Library Association
The White Paper
Part 1: Summary of Research Findings
Part 2: Recommendations to Libraries
Programming Ideas
Libraries have long had a reputation for supporting healthy communities by providing a range of programs, services, and reference and educational materials. Service to new American populations is an important part of this work, and recently the American Library Association (ALA) has taken decisive steps towards supporting immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers arriving in the US. The ALA Bill of Rights states that a person's "right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views."1
Over 43 million immigrants live in the US, making up about 13% of the nation's population.2 New Americans commonly rely on local libraries for a wide range of services — and have done so for decades. At libraries, new Americans learn about local culture, find assistance in job seeking, learn about financial systems in their new country, seek support in obtaining citizenship, learn English, and more. Indeed, "outreach to immigrants through public libraries dates back at least to the World War I era"3. According to ALA's American Libraries magazine, "service to immigrant populations is an increasingly important part of the library's mission, as refugees or displaced persons are relocated in the United States and Europe, sometimes in places reluctant to have them."4
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) notes that new Americans find in public libraries "a trusted environment, resources, and community connections that can ease the way to full participation in American society."5 Libraries offer a place where dominant communities and those who traditionally have less social or political power can meet on more or less equal footing — and in these encounters different cultures can refashion the library to fit their needs. With libraries, new Americans have the opportunity to both learn about American culture and systems, and at the same time inform the established community about their own cultures.6
Developing services for new Americans gives libraries an opening for collaboration with local organizations that have a common vision for education, civic discourse, safety, and health and wellness. Through these partnerships, libraries across the country are expanding new American programming and building patrons' confidence in using local resources in their new communities.
Project Welcome
Project Welcome is one of ALA's larger efforts, with its Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services working in partnership with the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the IMLS. Project Welcome assesses current resources in libraries, ensuring "that all are welcomed by and in libraries."7 Through a summit involving 70 members of the library community, Project Welcome developed a guide, titled Project Welcome Guide: Public Libraries Serving Immigrants, to ensure that libraries across the nation possess the resources to best serve refugees and asylum seekers in the US throughout their resettlement and integration.
ALA's New Americans Library Project
In 2018, with support from The JPB Foundation, the ALA Public Programs Office convened an exploration of public library programs and services that support new American populations. The New Americans Library Project explored the landscape of literature and resources about library services for new Americans, studied how libraries can more effectively serve new Americans, and made recommendations about this topic for the library field.
As the research partner, New Knowledge Organization Ltd. conducted a landscape review of current library practices and offerings across a wide variety of geographic regions, community types, and partnership models. With input from ALA and project advisors, researchers collected information about dozens of library public programs in the US and abroad, as well as information from research and other perspectives that might benefit this initiative.
Following this review, researchers conducted site visits at six public libraries in five cities, where they spoke with new American patrons, as well as library and community partner organization staff. The five cities represented a wide range of characteristics and demographics, including rural, suburban, and urban areas across different regions in the US, with diverse immigrant populations, cultures, and languages.
Finally, project advisors convened at a workshop to identify the key topics contained in this white paper and make recommendations to the library field.
This White Paper
This white paper provides a synthesis of the project to help library professionals understand opportunities for libraries' work with new Americans. The paper includes two parts. First, an overview of research and findings summarizes the most salient themes uncovered in the landscape review and site visits. Second, we offer a list of actionable recommendations for libraries.
1. Michael Dowling, "Project Welcome." American Libraries Magazine. Accessed: August 15 2018. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2017/09/22/project-welcome-refugees/.
2. Gustavo Lopez & Jynnah Radford, "Facts on U.S. Immigrants, 2015: Statistical portrait of the foreign-born population in the United States." Accessed: August 15 2018. Pew Research Center. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2017/05/03/facts-on-u-s-immigrants-current-data/.
3. Susan K. Burke, "Use of Public Libraries by Immigrants." Reference and User Services Quarterly, 48(2), 164–74.
4. George M. Eberhart, "Immigrants and the Library." American Libraries Magazine. Accessed Aug 2018. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/immigrants-and-the-library/
5. The statistics on new Americans cited here come from sources that define the term differently and, in many cases, leave the definition implicit. As such, we present these statistics for general breadth and depth but are unable to comment on the comparability of statistics from different sources. Institute of Museum and Library Services, "Serving New Americans." Accessed: August 15 2018. https://www.imls.gov/issues/national-initiatives/serving-new-americans.
6. James K. Elmborg, "Libraries as the Space Between Us: Recognizing and Valuing the Third Space." Reference and User Service Quarterly, American Library Association 5, no. 4 (2011): 339-50.
7. Dowling, "Project Welcome."
Next Section →
Who Are New Americans?
How Do Public Libraries Serve New Americans
How Do New Americans Experience Libraries?
Why a Community-Centered Approach Is the Best Strategy
Moving Forward: The Two-way Street of Cultural Exchange
Assess community needs
Foster partnerships with community organizations
Offer professional development opportunities for staff and volunteers
Include new Americans in decision-making and implementation
Use terms that resonate with your specific community
Develop multilingual resources
Foster connections between new Americans and existing residents
Create more intergenerational programming
Build sustainable services
Kate Flinner, Rebecca Joy Norlander, Kathryn Nock, Joanna Laursen Brucker, & Melanie Welch. Library Programs & New Americans: A White Paper. NewKnowledge Publication #NPO.074.518.03. Chicago: American Library Association & New Knowledge Organization Ltd., 2019.
© 2023 American Library Association | Corpopress Child by W.J. Levay


Portable Rifle Rack perfect for any type of rifle. Folds quickly for storage or transporting it to your favorite shooting range.
Check out our portable rifle stand from AHP Outdoors. This awesome stand will hold as many rifles as you can fit on it. It is perfect for taking out to the range at your local sportsman's club, back, yard, or your buddy's back yard. You don't have to worry about leaning your pride and joy against a tree, or watching the slow-motion fall as it slides down the side of your truck (you know we have all done it).
This portable rack folds quickly with the push of one button, and it literally sets up in a second. You can tuck it behind the seat in your truck, throw it in the back seat of your car, and since it is made from heavy duty reinforced UV resistant plastic and not metal, it is much easier on those fancy leather seats. If your rookie buddy drops your rifle on the stand it is much less likely to hurt your wood stocks than a metal or wire framed rack.
Our Anti-Slip pads will keep your stock and barrel where you put it. This portable rifle rack will work great for your shorter AR-15's, Air Rifles, Cricket's 10-22's , or longer Muzzle Loaders, or Shot Guns.
We are so sure this is the best sand on the market that we offer a lifetime warranty!
Nice rifle rack. This is the first one I have seen with an anti slip pad to keep the rifles in place. It worked great and I was impressed with the how easy it folds up. It worked great in our rough field too where we shoot clays. I have a dozen questions before I bought it too and the customer service was incredible. Nice job guys!
Outstanding rifle stand!! Held a variety of different length guns today, both on the flat area we were shooting on and in the back where there was a substantial elevation grade to the ground. All it needs now is some sort of strap to make it easier to carry.
I'm very happy with this stand, been looking a long time for the right one, and this is it!


text:
New LinkedIn and Humu products show surge in people analytics
For someone like me who has been involved in the space for over five years, last week was the strongest signal yet that we reached a tipping point with people analytics.
Amidst much fanfare, LinkedIn made a series of announcements immediately before and during its flagship Talent Connect show. As well as confirming the acquisition of Glint, LinkedIn also announced the launch of a series of data driven products including its own Talent Hub ATS the long awaited Talent Insights.
Last week also marked the emergence from stealth mode of former Google Chief People Officer Laszlo Bock's new start-up Humu, with the launch of its long anticipated Nudge Engine and the promise to blend 'science, machine learning, and a little love'.
This article will focus on the new product offerings from LinkedIn and Humu, but before that it's worth highlighting recent research that substantiates the growth of people analytics and explains why LinkedIn in particular is investing so much into this space.
THE RISE OF ANALYTICS IN HR
During the course of 2018, LinkedIn has published three regional versions of its research study into the growth of people analytics, The Rise of Analytics in HR. All three reports – for APAC, North America and EMEA – confirm that the number of HR professionals on LinkedIn who cite analytics as a skill is rising significantly (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: The increase in HR professionals with analytics skills in their LinkedIn profiles is rising globally (Source: David Green, created from data in LinkedIn's The Rise of Analytics in HR research)
Each report also provides a fascinating insight into the countries (or cities in the case of the North American report) and sectors that are leading the charge, as well as the top use cases for people analytics (see Figure 2 below for example from the North American report).
Figure 2: Top cities and use cases for HR Analytics in North America (Source: LinkedIn, The Rise of Analytics in HR)
One of the reasons why this research is so fascinating is that the insights were derived from the LinkedIn profiles of people analytics professionals. This may explain the low ranking for 'Retention' as a use case (the same also applied in the EMEA research). I'd like to think that this was an indicator of the growing maturity of people analytics, and that companies have moved on from the common initial use case of predicting attrition but suspect that it can more likely be attributed to the lack of 'glamour' associated with the topic of retention.
69% of companies with 10,000+ employees now has a people analytics team
The key finding in LinkedIn's research of the rise of analytics within HR echoes those found in other recent studies from the likes of the CIPD, Corporate Research Forum, Visier and Bersin by Deloitte. My recent 'Research Special' of Data Driven HR collated some of the best research, but two findings that illustrate the growth in people analytics and the business reason for doing so are:
69% of large organisations (those with over 10,000 employees) now have a people analytics team (Source: Madhura Chakrabarti, Bersin by Deloitte)
Advanced organisations with a high level of people analytics process maturity financially outperform their peers on profit margins (56% higher) and return on assets (22% higher) (Source: Lexy Martin, Visier)
THE SCOPE OF PEOPLE ANALYTICS IS BROADENING AND DEEPENING
The continued rise in adoption of the use of data in HR and the shift of analytics from the periphery to the core of HR strategy is also evidenced in the broadening and deepening of the work people analytics teams are undertaking.
This was all too evident at the People Analytics & Future of Work conference (PAFOW), I had the pleasure of co-chairing with Al Adamsen in Philadelphia at the beginning of October.
I'm currently writing an article on the key learnings from PAFOW, but it's worth providing a few examples of the work being undertaken by people analytics teams as presented at the show:
Arun Chidambaram (Pfizer) and Marilyn Becker (Western Digital) both outlined how they are using organisational network analysis to respectively gain insights to improve business outcomes and the integration of three companies following a merger within their organisations (For more on ONA including several case studies, please read my The Role of ONA in People Analytics primer)
Ian O'Keefe and Chris Flynn (JP Morgan Chase) described how his team had built a machine learning tool to support screening and predict first year retention at the bank.
Similarly, Brydie Lear (ING) described how her team created a matching algorithm that has supported the redeployment of over 5,000 people at the bank.
Charlotte Nagy and Wes Barlow (USAA) presented a tool they had built to understand the latent factors of employee experience that combines survey results with behaviours.
Patrick Coolen (ABN AMRO) described a case study where insights from a people analytics project helped support an organisational restructure and training program to boost customer growth in the bank's retail business.
LINKEDIN ENTERS THE FRAY
As Josh Bersin writes in his typically superb analysis, LinkedIn is now unquestionably a powerhouse in the talent solutions market, with offerings covering recruiting, learning, engagement and performance management. When you factor in parent company Microsoft, the combination of LinkedIn and Microsoft will have the more traditional HR technology giants quaking in their boots.
The acquisition of Glint
The acquisition of Glint is a masterstroke. The employee engagement market has shifted significantly away from traditional consulting led survey providers to technology enabled tools that have analytics at their heart. Along with the likes of Culture Amp and Peakon, Glint has been one of the vendors leading the way – and their growth has been remarkable.
What makes the Glint acquisition so shrewd is that it will enable LinkedIn to combine Glint's internal view of what drives engagement within companies with LinkedIn's unique data set on the wider workforce. This acquisition offers the potential for LinkedIn to use the insights gleaned from Glint's engagement and performance management tools to personalise feedback to managers and also LinkedIn learning programs.
The arrival of Talent Insights
I'm really excited about the introduction of Talent Insights, which I see as a unique and powerful tool to support recruiting, workforce planning and site location strategy.
I've seen at first-hand the excitement that Talent Insights has generated with HR and recruitment leaders having been fortunate to speak at the Talent Intelligence Experience events in Paris and Sydney over the summer.
LinkedIn used these events in part to demonstrate the power of Talent Insights by using examples from pilot customers like Atlassian (see Case Study in Figure 3 below) to show how the product can provide accurate views of labour market trends and answer complex questions in minutes.
Figure 3: Atlassian Talent Insights Case Study
Eric Owski's article here provides more detail, but the power of Talent Insights to provide answers to questions such as - Where is the best location for us to open a new office or base a new team? Which companies am I losing talent to? Which competitors should I target to hire new talent from? – is a good reason why the recruiting leaders I spoke to in Sydney and Paris couldn't wait to get their hands on the product.
Figure 4 – Example of Competitive Intelligence report on Talent Insights (Source: LinkedIn)
HUMU NUDGES ITSELF INTO THE MIX
If the swell of new products from LinkedIn wasn't enough, Humu finally emerged out of stealth mode after an incubation period that reminded me of the wait for the second Stone Roses album.
From the detail provided by Laszlo Bock confirming the launch, just like The Second Coming, Humu's Nudge Engine appears to have been well worth the wait.
As the name implies, the Nudge Engine is a behavioural science product that draws on the work of the likes of Professor Richard Thaler, with the premise being that micro-interventions or 'nudges' have a significant and long-term effect on human behaviour and decision-making.
In his article, Laszlo describes how the Nudge Engine is designed to deploy thousands of customised nudges throughout the organisation to empower every employee, manager, team and leader as a change agent. He goes on to explain how that over time the engine learns about the timing, messaging and motivational techniques that ultimately inspire individual employees to take action. Humu's mission is to make work better, for everyone and through this product, Humu believes its customers will be able to make the small incremental steps required to build happier, more capable and more successful organisations from the inside out and bottom up.
There has been a lot of excitement about Humu, partly because of Laszlo and fellow co-founders and ex-Googlers Wayne Crosby and Jessie Wisdom's involvement, but also because of the scale of what they are attempting to achieve. If people analytics has one aim, surely it should be to build better organisations that make work better for employees at the same time as achieving improved business performance.
THE FUTURE OF PEOPLE ANALYTICS LOOKS BRIGHT
The launch of products like LinkedIn Talent Insights and Humu's Nudge Engine are good for the field. The potential of people analytics is enormous, and the burgeoning vendor space coupled with the ambition of people analytics leaders I regularly meet with augers well for the future.
Are we 'there' yet? No, people analytics teams are still striving to grow their impact, create more value and improve focus (which inspired Jonathan Ferrar and me to create the Nine Dimensions for Excellence in People Analytics model). Critically, many organisations still face challenges around improving the data literacy of the wider HR function, and certainly the debate around ethics and data privacy is set to top the agenda for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, there can be little doubt now that the practice of people analytics is here to stay, and the promise of a data driven HR function no longer resembles a pipe dream.
The Rise of Analytics in HR - The Era of Talent Intelligence is Here, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, North America (June 2018), APAC (March 2018), EMEA (September 2018)
High-Impact People Analytics study, Bersin by Deloitte (November 2017)
The Age of People Analytics: Survey on Characteristics, Value Achieved, and Leading Practices of Advanced Organizations, Lexy Martin (Visier, July 2018)
LinkedIn Announces… A Lot! Josh Bersin, see here
LinkedIn + Glint: Helping Talent Leaders Build Winning Teams, Daniel Shapero – see here
LinkedIn Talent Insights Gives You the Real-Time, Accurate Talent Data You Need, Eric Owski – see here
The Humu Nudge Engine is Making Work Better—Here's How, Laszlo Bock - see here
Nine Dimensions for Excellence in People Analytics, Jonathan Ferrar – see here
As mentioned in the article, I spoke at and attended LinkedIn's Talent Intelligence Experience shows in Paris and Sydney earlier this year. I'd like to thank Carole Zibi, Ryan Batty and the team in EMEA as well as Sarah Husbands, Jason Laufer and the team in Sydney for looking after me. Both shows were amazing.
Thanks also to Eric Owski, Sarah O'Brien, Kate Hastings and team for letting me have an early view of Talent Insights, and also Laura Collins for getting me involved with the EMEA version of The Rise of Analytics in HR.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn on 18th October 2018: New LinkedIn and Humu products show surge in people analytics
Tagged: People Analytics, Employee Experience, HR, HR Analytics, LinkedIn, Humu
Newer PostUNLEASH 18 Amsterdam: What a show!
Older PostAnnouncing...


It's time for our first Give Away of 2019 and what a classy act we are kicking off with – the LAMY Aion!
To take part in the February Give Away, you must be resident in the UK and answer the following questions. The answers to these questions can be found here on the United Inkdom metablog for the pen, the LAMY website area for the pen or in the reviews provided by the United Inkdom reviewers.
And although not a prerequisite of taking part in the LAMY Aion Give Away, if you wanted to sign up to receive email notifications of updates on the United Inkdom blog, that would be a super-wonderful thing to do that we reviewers would greatly appreciate!
We have one pen to give away and the competition will close on the Spring Equinox (20th March). The winner will be selected at random and notified by email.
How many nib options are there for the LAMY Aion?
What colours does the LAMY Aion come in?
Does it have a screw cap or a pop-off cap?
Although LAMY is a German brand, what nationality is the Aion's designer?
Is the UK RRP over or under £50?
What is LAMY's magazine called?
Many thanks to our friends at LAMY for providing us with the pen to review and generously allowing us to offer it as a giveaway!
It's time for us to announce another give-away here at the United Inkdom Citadel!
Today it's the Scrikss pen that's up for grabs – procured in person by our very own Scribble from a trip to Nuremberg's Insights-X trade fair at the end of last year. This is the Noble 35 that we're offering up here, and it's rather lovely to use!
As usual, all the answers are found on the blogs of the United Inkdom bloggers or on the Scrikss website.
If you are based in the UK and as fountain-pen-mad as the rest of us at United Inkdom, why don't you take part?
1) How long is the warranty on a Scrikss pen?
2) What is the finish of the Noble 35 pen that we're giving away?
3) Which country are Scrikss based?
4) What year was Scrikss founded?
5) Our pen is from the 'Noble' range of fountain pens. How many ranges of fountain pens do Scrikss have in total?
Send your answers to unitedinkdomprizes@gmail.com The closing date for this give-away will be 21 July. Good luck everybody!