text:
package lib

import (
	"database/sql"
	"github.com/op/go-logging"
	"golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt"
)

// Contains the current password hash.
type Admin struct {
	password []byte
}

// Init an Admin-struct.
// Creates an Admin user if there is none.
func (a *Admin) Init() {
	if !a.LoadPassword() {
		a.Add()
	}
}

// Validates the entered password.
// Returns true, if the password matched the stored hash and false, if not.
func (a *Admin) ValidatePassword(userInput string) bool {
	a.LoadPassword()
	err := bcrypt.CompareHashAndPassword(a.password, []byte(userInput))
	if err != nil {
		logging.MustGetLogger("").Warning("Invalid Password: ", err)
		return false
	}
	logging.MustGetLogger("").Info("Login successful.")
	return true
}

// Loads the current password hash into the Admin-struct.
// Returns true, if there was a password hash in the database or false, if not.
func (a *Admin) LoadPassword() bool {
	var value []byte
	err := db.QueryRow("SELECT value FROM settings WHERE name = 'password';").Scan(&value)
	switch {
	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
		logging.MustGetLogger("").Warning("No Admin-Password found.")
		return false
	case err != nil:
		logging.MustGetLogger("").Error("Error while checking for Admin-Password: ", err)
		return false
	default:
		a.password = value
	}

	logging.MustGetLogger("").Debug("Existing Admin-Password found.")
	return true
}

// Changes the current password to the given one.
// Returns an error (if there was one).
func (a *Admin) ChangePassword(userInput string) error {
	logging.MustGetLogger("").Debug("Changing Admin-Password...")

	clearPassword := []byte(userInput)
	passwordHash, err := bcrypt.GenerateFromPassword(clearPassword, 12)

	_, err = db.Exec("UPDATE settings SET value = ? WHERE name = 'password';", passwordHash)
	if err != nil {
		logging.MustGetLogger("").Error("Unable to update Admin-Password: ", err)
	}

	a.password = passwordHash
	return err
}

// Adds a new admin user to the database.
func (a *Admin) Add() {
	logging.MustGetLogger("").Info("Adding default Admin...")

	clearPassword := []byte("admin")
	passwordHash, err := bcrypt.GenerateFromPassword(clearPassword, 12)

	_, err = db.Exec("INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('password', ?);", passwordHash)
	if err != nil {
		logging.MustGetLogger("").Fatal("Unable to insert Admin-Password: ", err)
	}

	a.password = passwordHash
}


Volunteers are needed from our faith community, especially Friday evening when OSLC will be hosting the service. The New Life Drama team will also be joining OSLC for worship Sun., Aug. 5th. During the first 15 minutes or so of our worship service we will see skits conveying a Christian message and hear testimonies of these young men and women from the drama team.
Our Saviors Lutheran Church 9 a.m.
United Methodist Church 9 a.m.
The Christian Church in Exira 10 a.m.
Faith Evangelical Church 10:30 a.m.


During upcoming Confidence conference in Krakow, we will celebrate 15 years of SecuRing. On this occasion the we will share with you several NFC "research toolkits" hardware sets - that among other things allow to clone card UID and crack Mifare Classic. Come meet us at our booth and solve the NFC challenges to win one!
Also be sure to attend my introductory talk on NFC security "A 2018 practical guide to hacking RFID/NFC" track 1 Jun 4th 11:50am.
Update: slides are available to download here.


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text:
The Star Staff
How de Blasio backed himself into a corner on closing schools
By Eliza Shapiro
It was just hours before Mayor Bill de Blasio would reveal that New York City had reached a test positivity rate that would trigger the shutdown of the entire public school system, and he was coming under intense pressure to find a way to keep schools open.
A group of parents was furiously circulating a petition calling on the mayor to relent and promoted it with the hashtag #KeepNYCSchoolsOpen. Leading public health experts had loudly registered their skepticism of the city's plan to close schools before indoor dining.
Local lawmakers joined in, demanding that de Blasio reverse course.
But even as he put off announcing his decision for hours, de Blasio and his team were reaching out to union leaders and principals to let them know he would stand by his pledge to them to close schools when the city hit a 3% positivity rate. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo called to offer a strategy to keep the schools open at least for a few more days, the mayor rebuffed him.
By 3 p.m., de Blasio went before the cameras and made the decision official: Barely eight weeks after the system opened in an ambitious attempt to help the city rebound from the devastating impact of the pandemic, classrooms would once again be emptied.
An examination of de Blasio's decision shows that, for all the apparent last-minute suspense, it actually was all but preordained. A mayor who had long fashioned himself a champion of the city's educators — but who had lost the confidence of many teachers and principals over his halting effort to reopen the schools for the fall — felt he had no choice but to stand by a policy for closing schools that was among the strictest in the country.
The mayor had already pushed teachers by making New York the first big American city to reopen schools. So the mayor's team worried that reversing course would risk a revolt from city educators that might have doomed the prospect of any in-person learning for the rest of the school year. And de Blasio hoped that sticking with the 3% rule would prove to educators, and to the city's powerful teachers' union, that he was still in their corner.
"I think there is a real sense among educators that this administration is not able to meet this moment," said Paula White, the executive director of Educators For Excellence-New York, which represents thousands of city teachers. "What we are hearing consistently is just a complete lack of trust."
The entire reopening process, from the summer until now, has so damaged the city's links to educators that the president of the United Federation of Teachers recently told The New York Times he would work to alter the current system of mayoral control over city schools. And even the shutdown decision did not do much to restore the trust of many rank-and-file educators.
"I would not have been surprised if he had broken this promise, because I feel like most of the other ones were broken," said Rebecca Overbagh, an elementary schoolteacher in Manhattan.
Adding to the mayor's isolation is the fact that the school closures have also infuriated many parents whose children had returned to classrooms this fall and have been criticized by public health officials who said the decision was not sufficiently based in science.
In a news conference last week, the mayor acknowledged frustration from all corners of the city — including from educators.
"What we saw after September was a workforce that wanted to be in the schools," he said. "One of the interesting things I think has not been represented sufficiently in the public discourse is how intensely teachers felt the impact of being around kids again."
"They felt," he added, "it was their mission." Indeed, some teachers and principals have lamented that schools are closing so soon after they reopened.
De Blasio's decision to shut the schools dates back to July, when he was embroiled in a last-ditch attempt to gain political support from educators to reopen the schools. At the time, he proposed the 3% threshold to demonstrate his seriousness about keeping schools safe for teachers and students.
But teachers' and principals' exasperation with him had begun rising much earlier. In March, they questioned him when he hesitated to close schools even as the virus was spreading rapidly throughout the city.
Annie Tan, a special-education teacher in Brooklyn, said she won't soon forget being asked in early March to make sure her fifth grade students washed their hands frequently throughout the day — only to find that her school's bathrooms lacked soap. Tan said that was the first of many signs that teachers' concerns were not being adequately addressed.
The mayor "has been completely disrespectful of all parties," she said. "It would have gone a long way for him and the chancellor to apologize for what happened in March and take steps to restore things."
Even when schools were open this fall, many of those issues were not entirely resolved.
Communication was also a major point of friction. Educators said they were often not consulted about key aspects of the reopening plan and found out about crucial changes from the media, rather than from the city. The union representing the city's principals, which typically avoids controversy, held a unanimous vote of no confidence in de Blasio in September and called on the state to take over the reopening effort from the mayor altogether.
It was an astonishing turn of events for a mayor who has long said that education is his top priority, and who speaks frequently about what he considers his deep connection to the public school system, through his experience as a former city public school parent and local school board member.
In an August interview, de Blasio said he feels "solidarity with educators" and compared his track record on education to that of his predecessors, former mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.
"I celebrate our educators all the time, that was not true for almost 20 years in this city," the mayor said. "I don't think the foundational mutual respect and understanding has been lost, because it has been built over such a long amount of time," he added.
Though de Blasio's effort to reopen schools has at times faltered, the push set him apart from big-city mayors who have continued to delay reopening as opposition has mounted in their own communities. The mayor has described reopening schools for the city's mostly low-income students and their parents as a moral imperative.
The fallout of the mayor's decision last week is not limited to City Hall. Parents spent days pleading with Cuomo to overrule the mayor and keep the schools open, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Cuomo spent last Wednesday looking for ways to allow the city to use different metrics to continue in-person instruction.
And the UFT, which supported the 3% number and encouraged the mayor to stick with it — despite a consensus view that the schools were operating relatively safely — is now facing fresh scrutiny from parents.
Sensing the blowback, Michael Mulgrew, the union's president, has in recent days begun to say that he does not support citywide school shutdowns and would prefer a geographic approach.
But since that position was made public starting only the morning after de Blasio closed schools, the message appears to be a way for the union to negotiate in public about the next round of rules over school reopening, and perhaps to shield itself from further criticism.
Mulgrew has also sought to redirect anger about the messiness of the reopening effort from the union back to the mayor.
Now, the union leader, long skeptical of mayoral control, will fight to change that governance system in 2022, when its current extension expires in the State Legislature. De Blasio, who is term-limited, will leave office at the end of 2021. Mulgrew does not want to return to a school board, but will push for a version of mayoral control that gives educators more power.
Conflict between the city and labor unions is hardly new. But the fight over how to reopen schools has been driven to an unusual degree by the city's rank-and-file educators, rather than just their union leaders.
In interviews, some teachers who said they once welcomed de Blasio's approach to education expressed disappointment with his management of reopening.
"I was excited about him and I voted for him," said Alexis Neider, who teaches at the Neighborhood School, a public elementary school in the East Village. "Definitely, my views have changed. It's just failure after failure. The mismanagement of the schools in New York City during this pandemic, I don't even think I have a word for it, it's so grand, it's so epic."
Hours on hold, website crashes: vaccine sign-up exasperates New Yorkers
These New Yorkers are accused of taking part in the Capitol riot
Ex-governor of Michigan charged with neglect in Flint water crisis
© The San Juan Daily Star

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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Wormz Obituaries
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Frank Zappa died aged fifty-two from prostate cance r on 4th December 1993 at his home with his wife and children by his side. At a private ceremony the following day, his body was buried in a grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.. The grave is unmarked. On December 6th his family publicly announced that "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday".
Frank Zappa was born on December 21st 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. His mother, Rosemarie (nee Collimore) was of Italian (more specifically, her family was from Naples and Sicily) and French ancestry; his father, whose name was Anglicized to Francis Vincent Zappa, was an immigrant from Partinico, Sicily, with Greek and Arab ancestry. It is not clear whether Frank possessed other than Italian roots as all of his grandparents and great-grandparents were born in Italy.
Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American househ old where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents.. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940's, the family returned to Maryland. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas, gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This had a profound effect on Frank Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare and the defense industry occur throughout his work.
Frank Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Frank's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation.
Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel. Frank Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility. His health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health. They next moved to Monterey, California, where his father taught metallurgy at the Naval Postgraduate School. They soon moved to Claremont, California, then to El Cajon, before finally settling in San Diego.
Frank Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as the drummer. About the same time his parents bought a phonograph, which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. R&B singles were early purchases, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly the sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Frank Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One. The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation, produced by EMS Recordings, as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over a year, Frank Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers.
By 1956, the Zappa family had moved to Lancaster, a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base; Frank would later refer to Lancaster in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Frank Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son a long distance call to the composer as a 15th birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Frank spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called "Déserts". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Frank Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place, but Frank Zappa framed the letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life.
At Antelope Valley High School, Frank Zappa met Don Van Vliet (later: Captain Beefheart). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Frank Zappa started playing drums in a local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Frank Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. (In the 1970s/80s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums.) Frank Zappa considered soloing as the equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style.
Frank Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high-school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on the sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Frank Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education.
Frank Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into a small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles. After meeting Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College, they moved in together in Ontario, and were married December 28th 1960. Frank Zappa worked for a short period in advertising. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took a keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos.
Frank Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Frank Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films 'The World's Greatest Sinner' and 'Run Home Slow' were more financially rewarding. The former score was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Frank Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Frank may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes .
During the early 1960's, Frank Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their "Memories of El Monte" was recorded by the Penguins, although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga, which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only a handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Frank Zappa earned enough money to allow him to stage a concert of his orchestral music in 1963 and to broadcast and record it. He appeared on Steve Allen's syndicated late night show the same year, in which he played a bicycle as a musical instrument. Using a bow borrowed from the band's bass player, as well as drum sticks, he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his new found instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records for having "no commercial potential", a verdict Frank Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of 'Freak Out'!
In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, Frank moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working twelve hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation. This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Frank Zappa took over the studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound. It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Frank Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio, the Muthers, to support himself.
An article in the local press describing Frank Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted the local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $100 to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Frank Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Frank was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped the studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's 'The Daily Report' wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Frank Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Frank Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police only returned 30 out of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Frank Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before the studio was torn down in 1966.
In 1965, Ray Collins asked Frank Zappa to take over as guitarist in local R&B band the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Frank accepted, and soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer, even though he never considered himself a singer. He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, while they gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, and was notable as one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve division of MGM, which had built up a strong reputation for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves the 'Mothers of Invention' as 'Mother' was short for motherfucker.
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking 'Freak Out'! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde', was only the second rock double album ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product, 'Freak Out' immediately established Frank Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Frank Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Frank Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for the time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a surviving 1967 radio interview, Frank Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was in fact an unfinished piece. The track, as it appears on the album, was created to act as the backing track for a much more complex work, but MGM refused to approve the additional recording time Frank Zappa needed to complete it, so, much to his chagrin, it was issued in this unfinished form.
During the recording of Freak Out!, Frank Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Frank Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out!, Frank Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman. He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into the house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Frank's death.
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album 'Absolutely Free', which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Frank Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Frank Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Frank put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything." At the same time, Frank Zappa had recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, 'Lumpy Gravy', released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was pulled. Frank Zappa took the opportunity to radically restructure the contents, adding newly recorded, improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, the album was reissued by Verve in 1968. It is an incredibly ambitious musical project and a monument to John Cage which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques.
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Frank Zappa and his wife, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Frank's music. Everything was directed by Frank Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Frank Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Frank to pretend that it was a "gook baby".
Frank Zappa uniquely contributed to the avant-garde, anti-establishment music scene of the 1960s, sampling radio tape recordings and incorporating his own philosophical ideals to music and freedom of expression in his pieces. Bands such as AMM and Faust also contributed to the radio sampling techniques of the 1960s. Situated in New York, and only interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, 'We're Only in It for the Money' (released 1968). It was produced by Frank Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Frank Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. 'We're Only in It for the Money' featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. Frank sampled plundered surf music in We're only in It for the Money, as well as the Beatles' tape work from their song Tomorrow Never Knows. The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Frank met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Frank Zappa and Mothers albums.
Reflecting Frank Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, 'Cruising with Ruben & the Jets', was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Frank Zappa later noted that the album was conceived in the way Stravinsky's compositions were in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same to doo-wop in the fifties?" A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song.
During the late 1960s, Frank Zappa continued to develop the business sides of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre Records and Straight Records labels, distributed by Warner Bros. Records, as ventures to aid the funding of projects and to increase creative control. Frank Zappa produced the double album ;Trout Mask Replica; for Captain Beefheart, and releases by Alice Cooper, The Persuasions, Wild Man Fischer, and the GTOs, as well as Lenny Bruce's last live performance.
In 1967 and 1968, Frank Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees. The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series, "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Frank, dressed up as Mike Nesmith, interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Frank. After the interview, Frank Zappa destroys a car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie 'Head' where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Frank Zappa had respect for what the Monkees were doing, and offered Micky Dolenz a position in the Mothers. RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not allow Dolenz out of his contract.
In the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the Internationale Essener Songtage (de) at the Grugahalle in Essen, Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany (Beat-Club), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to one on Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Frank Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being a success with fans in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not faring well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but Frank Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical oriented music for the band's concerts, which confused audiences. Frank Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".
In 1969 there were nine band members and Frank Zappa was supporting the group himself from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Frank Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of sufficient effort. Many band members were bitter about Frank's decision, and some took it as a sign of Frank Zappa's concern for perfection at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Frank Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members played for Frank Zappa in years to come. Remaining recordings with the band from this period were collected on 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh' and 'Burnt Weeny Sandwich', both released in 1970.
After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa released the acclaimed solo album 'Hot Rats'. It features, for the first time on record, Frank Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, "Peaches en Regalia", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey, multi-instrumentalist and previous member of the Mothers of Invention, Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with a guest appearance by Captain Beefheart (providing vocals to the only non-instrumental track, "Willie the Pimp"). It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of the jazz-rock fusion genre.
In 1970 Frank Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta. They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Frank Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with the Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels. Although the concert was a success, Frank Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings.
Later in 1970, Frank Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers. It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan.
This version of the 'Mothers' debuted on Frank Zappa's next solo album 'Chunga's Revenge' which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels , featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London, UK.. Tensions between Frank Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film, a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Frank Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was cancelled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.
After '200 Motels', the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, 'Fillmore East' and 'Just Another Band from L.A'.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Frank Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on '200 Motels scenes', as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road.
On December 4th 1971 Frank Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released as part of Frank Zappa's 'Beat the Boots II' compilation. After losing $50,000 worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, audience member Trevor Howell pushed Frank Zappa off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Frank had been killed; he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.
This attack resulted in an extended period of wheelchair confinement, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Frank Zappa was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Frank Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain.
During 1971–72 Frank Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, 'Waka/Jawaka' and 'The Grand Wazoo', which were recorded during the forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to 'Hot Rats', in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Frank Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by a scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972.
Frank Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin).
By 1973 the Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. In their place, Frank Zappa and Cohen created DiscReet Records, also distributed by Warner Bros. Frank Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the chart single "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". Other albums from the period are 'Over-Nite Sensation' which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums 'Roxy & Elsewhere' and 'One Size Fits All' which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 , captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–75 band". Frank Zappa released 'Bongo Fury' in 1975 which featured live recordings from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period.
Frank Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in 1976. Frank Zappa sued Cohen for skimming more than he was allocated from DiscReet Records, as well as for signing acts of which Frank did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Frank Zappa in return, which froze the money Frank Zappa and Cohen had gained from an out-of-court settlement with MGM over the rights of the early Mothers of Invention recordings. It also prevented Frank Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Frank Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the rock-oriented 'Zoot Allures' directly to Warner Bros., thereby bypassing DiscReet.
In the mid-1970's Frank Zappa prepared material for Läther (pronounced "leather"), a four-LP project. Läther encapsulated all the aspects of Frank Zappa's musical styles—rock tunes, orchestral works, complex instrumentals, and Frank 's own trademark distortion-drenched guitar solos. Wary of a quadruple-LP, Warner Bros. Records refused to release it. Frank Zappa managed to get an agreement with Phonogram Inc., and test pressings were made targeted at a Halloween 1977 release, but Warner Bros. prevented the release by claiming rights over the material. Frank Zappa responded by appearing on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ, allowing them to broadcast Läther and encouraging listeners to make their own tape recordings. A lawsuit between Frank Zappa and Warner Bros. followed, during which no Frank Zappa material was released for more than a year. Eventually, Warner Bros. issued different versions of much of the Läther material in 1978 and 1979 as four individual albums (five full-length LPs) with limited promotion.
Although Frank Zappa eventually gained the rights to all his material created under the MGM and Warner Bros. contracts, the various lawsuits meant that for a period Frank Zappa's only income came from touring, which he therefore did extensively in 1975–77 with relatively small, mainly rock-oriented, bands. Drummer Terry Bozzio became a regular band member, Napoleon Murphy Brock stayed on for a while, and original Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada joined. Among other musicians were bassist Patrick O'Hearn, singer-guitarist Ray White and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. In December 1976, Frank Zappa appeared as a featured musical guest on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Frank's song "I'm the Slime" was performed with a voice-over by SNL booth announcer Don Pardo, who also introduced "Peaches En Regalia" on the same airing. In 1978, Frank Zappa served both as host and musical act on the show, and as an actor in various sketches. The performances included an impromptu musical collaboration with cast member John Belushi during the instrumental piece "The Purple Lagoon". Belushi appeared as his Samurai Futaba character playing the tenor sax with Frank Zappa conducting.
'Zappa in New York' featured a song about sex criminal Michael H. Kenyon, "The Illinois Enema Bandit", which featured Don Pardo providing the opening narrative in the song. Like many songs on the album, it contained numerous sexual references, leading to many critics objecting and being offended by the content. Frank Zappa dismissed the criticism by noting that he was a journalist reporting on life as he saw it. Predating his later fight against censorship, he remarked: "What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?" The remaining albums released by Warner Bros. Records without Frank Zappa's consent were Studio Tan in 1978 and Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites in 1979, which contained complex suites of instrumentally-based tunes recorded between 1973 and 1976, and whose release was overlooked in the midst of the legal problems.
Resolving the lawsuits successfully, Frank Zappa ended the 1970s "stronger than ever", by releasing two of his most successful albums in 1979: the best selling album of his career, 'Sheik Yerbouti', and ' Joe's Garage'.'
The double album 'Sheik Yerbouti' was the first release on Zappa Records, and contained the Grammy-nominated single "Dancin' Fool", which reached Number forty-five on the Billboard charts, and "Jewish Princess", which received attention when a Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), attempted to prevent the song from receiving radio airplay due to its alleged anti-Semitic lyrics. Frank Zappa vehemently denied any anti-Semitic sentiments, and dismissed the ADL as a "noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time." The album's commercial success was attributable in part to "Bobby Brown". Due to its explicit lyrics about a young man's encounter with a "dyke by the name of Freddie", the song did not get airplay in the U.S., but it topped the charts in several European countries where English is not the primary language. The triple LP Joe's Garage featured lead singer Ike Willis as the voice of the character "Joe" in a rock opera about the danger of political systems, the suppression of freedom of speech and music, inspired in part by the Islamic revolution that had made music illegal within its jurisdiction at the time, and about the "strange relationship Americans have with sex and sexual frankness". The album contains rock songs like "Catholic Girls" (a riposte to the controversies of "Jewish Princess"), "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up", and the title track, as well as extended live-recorded guitar improvisations combined with a studio backup band dominated by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta adopting the xenochrony process. The album contains one of Frank Zappa's most famous guitar "signature pieces", "Watermelon in Easter Hay".
On December 21st 1979, Frank Zappa's movie 'Baby Snakes' premiered in New York. The movie's tagline was "A movie about people who do stuff that is not normal". The two hour and forty minutes movie was based on footage from concerts in New York around Halloween 1977, with a band featuring keyboardist Tommy Mars and percussionist Ed Mann (who would both return on later tours) as well as guitarist Adrian Belew. It also contained several extraordinary sequences of clay animation by Bruce Bickford who had earlier provided animation sequences to Frank Zappa for a 1974 TV special. The movie did not do well in theatrical distribution, but won the Premier Grand Prix at the First International Music Festival in Paris in 1981.
Frank Zappa later expanded on his television appearances in a non-musical role. He was an actor or voice artist in episodes of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Miami Vice and The Ren & Stimpy Show. A voice part in The Simpsons never materialized, to creator Matt Groening's disappointment since Groening was a neighbor of Frank Zappa and a lifelong fan).
After spending much of 1980 on the road, Frank Zappa released 'Tinsel Town Rebellion' in 1981. It was the first release on his own Barking Pumpkin Records, and it contains songs taken from a 1979 tour, one studio track and material from the 1980 tours. The album is a mixture of complicated instrumentals and Frank Zappa's use of sprechstimme (speaking song or voice) — a compositional technique utilized by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. While some lyrics still raised controversy among critics, in the sense that some found them sexist, the political and sociological satire in songs like the title track and "The Blue Light" have been described as a "hilarious critique of the willingness of the American people to believe anything". The album is also notable for the presence of guitarist Steve Vai, who joined Frank Zappa's touring band in late 1980.
The same year the double album 'You Are What You Is' was released. Most of it was recorded in Frank Zappa's brand new Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK) studios, which were located at his house, thereby giving him complete freedom in his work. The album included one complex instrumental, "Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear", but focused mainly on rock songs with Frank Zappa's sardonic social commentary—satirical lyrics targeted at teenagers, the media, and religious and political hypocrisy. "Dumb All Over" is a tirade on religion, as is "Heavenly Bank Account", wherein Frank Zappa rails against TV evangelists such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their purported influence on the U.S. administration as well as their use of religion as a means of raising money. Songs like "Society Pages" and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" show Frank Zappa's dismay with the Reagan era and its "obscene pursuit of wealth and happiness".
In 1981, Frank Zappa also released three instrumental albums, 'Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar', 'Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar Some More', and 'The Return of the Son of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar', which were initially sold via mail order, but later released through the CBS label due to popular demand.'
The albums focus exclusively on Frank Zappa as a guitar soloist, and the tracks are predominantly live recordings from 1979 to 1980; they highlight Frank's improvisational skills. Another guitar-only album, 'Guitar', was released in 1988, and a third, 'Trance-Fusion', which Frank Zappa completed shortly before his death, was released in 2006.
In May 1982, Frank Zappa released 'Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch', which featured his biggest selling single ever, the Grammy Award-nominated song "Valley Girl", topping out at number thirty-two on the Billboard charts. In her improvised lyrics to the song, Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit satirized the patois of teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley, which popularized many "Valspeak" expressions such as "gag me with a spoon", "fer sure, fer sure", "grody to the max", and "barf out".
In 1983, two different projects were released, beginning with 'The Man from Utopia', a rock-oriented work. The album is eclectic, featuring the vocal-led "Dangerous Kitchen" and "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats", both continuations of the sprechstimme excursions on Tinseltown Rebellion. The second album, 'London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I', contained orchestral Frank Zappa compositions conducted by Kent Nagano and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A second record of these sessions, 'London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II' was released in 1987. The material was recorded under a tight schedule with Frank Zappa providing all funding, helped by the commercial success of "Valley Girl". Frank Zappa was not satisfied with the LSO recordings. One reason is "Strictly Genteel", which was recorded after the trumpet section had been out for drinks on a break: the track took forty edits to hide out-of-tune notes.
Conductor Nagano, who was pleased with the experience, noted that "in fairness to the orchestra, the music is humanly very, very difficult". Some reviews noted that the recordings were the best representation of Frank Zappa's orchestral work so far. In 1984 Frank Zappa teamed again with Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of A Zappa Affair with augmented orchestra, life-size puppets, and moving stage sets. Although critically acclaimed the work was a financial failure, and only performed twice. Frank Zappa was invited by conference organizer Thomas Wells to be the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers at the Ohio State University. It was there Frank Zappa delivered his famous "Bingo! There Goes Your Tenure" address, and had two of his orchestra pieces, "Dupree's Paradise" and "Naval Aviation in Art?" performed by the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.
For the remainder of his career, much of Frank Zappa's work was influenced by his use of the Synclavier as a compositional and performance tool. Even considering the complexity of the music he wrote, the Synclavier could realize anything he could dream up. The Synclavier could be programmed to play almost anything conceivable, to perfection: "With the Synclavier, any group of imaginary instruments can be invited to play the most difficult passages ... with one-millisecond accuracy—every time". Even though it essentially did away with the need for musicians, Frank Zappa viewed the Synclavier and real-life musicians as separate.
In 1984, he released four albums. Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger contains orchestral works commissioned and conducted by celebrated conductor, composer and pianist Pierre Boulez (who was listed as an influence on Freak Out!), and performed by his Ensemble InterContemporain. These were juxtaposed with premiere Synclavier pieces. Again, Frank Zappa was not satisfied with the performances of his orchestral works, regarding them as under-rehearsed, but in the album liner notes he respectfully thanks Boulez's demands for precision. The Synclavier pieces stood in contrast to the orchestral works, as the sounds were electronically generated and not, as became possible shortly thereafter, sampled.
The album 'Thing-Fish' was an ambitious three-record set in the style of a Broadway play dealing with a dystopian "what-if" scenario involving feminism, homosexuality, manufacturing and distribution of the AIDS virus, and a eugenics program conducted by the United States government. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new Synclavier music.
Around 1986, Frank Zappa undertook a comprehensive re-release program of his earlier vinyl recordings. He personally oversaw the remastering of all his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s albums for the new digital compact disc medium. Certain aspects of these re-issues were criticized by some fans as being unfaithful to the original recordings. Nearly twenty years before the advent of online music stores, Frank Zappa had proposed to replace "phonographic record merchandising" of music by "direct digital-to-digital transfer" through phone or cable TV with royalty payments and consumer billing automatically built into the accompanying software. The album 'Jazz from Hell', released in 1986, earned Frank Zappa his first Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Except for one live guitar solo ("St. Etienne"), the album exclusively featured compositions brought to life by the Synclavier. Although an instrumental album, containing no lyrics, Meyer Music Markets sold 'Jazz from Hell' featuring an "explicit lyrics" sticker—a warning label introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America in an agreement with the Parents Music Resource Center.
Frank Zappa's last tour in a rock and jazz band format took place in 1988 with a twelve-piece group which had a repertoire of over one hundred (mostly Zappa) compositions, but which split under acrimonious circumstances before the tour was completed. The tour was documented on the albums 'Broadway the Hard Way' (new material featuring songs with strong political emphasis); 'The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life' (Zappa "standards" and an eclectic collection of cover tunes, ranging from Maurice Ravel's Boléro to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven); and 'Make a Jazz Noise Here'. Parts are also found on 'You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, volumes 4 and 6'. Recordings from this tour also appear on the 2006 album 'Trance-Fusion'.
In 1990, Frank Zappa was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The disease had been developing unnoticed for ten years and was considered inoperable. After the diagnosis, Frank Zappa devoted most of his energy to modern orchestral and Synclavier works. Shortly before his death in 1993 he completed 'Civilization Phaze III', a major Synclavier work which he had begun in the 1980s.
In 1991, Frank Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival in 1992 (the others were John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alexander Knaifel). Frank Zappa was approached by the German chamber ensemble Ensemble Modern which was interested in playing his music for the event. Although ill, he invited them to Los Angeles for rehearsals of new compositions and new arrangements of older material. Frank Zappa also got along with the musicians, and the concerts in Germany and Austria were set up for later in the year. Frank Zappa also performed in 1991 in Prague, claiming that "was the first time that he had a reason to play his guitar in three years", and that that moment was just "the beginning of a new country", and asked the public to "try to keep your country unique, do not change it into something el se".
In September 1992, the concerts went ahead as scheduled but Frank Zappa could only appear at two in Frankfurt due to illness. At the first concert, he conducted the opening "Overture", and the final "G-Spot Tornado" as well as the theatrical "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992" and "Welcome to the United States" (the remainder of the program was conducted by the ensemble's regular conductor Peter Rundel). Frank Zappa received a twenty-minute ovation. G-Spot Tornado was performed with Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier. It was his last professional public appearance as the cancer was spreading to such an extent that he was in too much pain to enjoy an event that he otherwise found "exhilarating" Recordings from the concerts appeared on 'The Yellow Shark', Frank Zappa's last release during his lifetime, and some material from studio rehearsals appeared on the posthumous 'Everything Is Healing Nicely' .
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Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Mark Batalla
Ten Years Ago: The Mummy Returns
Date: May 6, 2011Author: Marcus Gorman 2 Comments
This week, Mark Batalla of PixelDrip Gallery returns to take on the action-adventure blockbuster sequel to the blockbuster action-adventure remake of what was originally a fairly small horror film.
Logline: It's been ten years since Rick O'Connell and company faced the threat of the mummified body of Imhotep in Egypt. The reincarnated lover of Imhotep has established a cult to once again resurrect the mummy. They plan on finding the remains of the fabled Scorpion King and the Army of Anubis. Rick must find a way to prevent Imhotep from taking control of the legendary army and save his family from the clutches of the mummy cult.
I loved The Mummy. Once you got past the fact that the mummy, Imhotep, wasn't a lumbering zombie wrapped in cloth, it's a great adventure movie in the same vein as the pulp stories from the 1920s era. It wasn't Indiana Jones, but it was a straightforward enough film with well defined character archetypes and a villain with a dangerous mean streak.
Until The Mummy came along, Brendan Fraser was most well known for playing fish-out-of-water characters. His roles in Encino Man, George of the Jungle, and Blast from the Past were executed with incredibly charming efficacy. The Mummy franchise allowed him to stretch out a bit into the role of an action hero.
Much of the cast from the first movie returns with slight changes to their characters. Rachel Weisz as Evy is no longer a bumbling nerd. She and Rick now have a son named Alex who's clearly following in his parents' footsteps. Jonathan Carnahan once again serves as comic relief but he no longer acts like a simple stooge. Ardeth Bay and the Medjai are ready as ever to kick some undead ass. They treat Rick and his family with respect after the events of The Mummy.
It's easy to pick apart the anachronisms of the set design and costumes in The Mummy Returns, but they work well at placing the storyline in the 1930s London and Egypt. After all, this is a pulp adventure story, not historical drama. Even though you could clearly tell the actors were being filmed on sets, it fit with the style of many films by Universal Pictures. I wasn't surprised when they incorporated The Mummy franchise into the Universal Studios theme parks.
There are plenty of callbacks to the first film that serve as winks to the audience. At the same time, the sequel attempts to raise the stakes with the inclusion of the Scorpion King and his mythological army. In theory, this movie has everything going for it. I enjoyed watching it ten years ago but something happened since then.
Is it Better or Worse Than I Remember?
Definitely worse. The Mummy Returns came along at the perfect time for me to enjoy it. I was still interested in studying classic mythology, I was a big fan of WWE Attitude era Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and the scenes with Patricia Velasquez in a slinky chain outfit hit all the right spots in my imagination. Any flaws this movie had were quickly blasted away by the sensory overload as I watched it on opening weekend inside an IMAX theater.
The Mummy Returns feels very mediocre on repeated watches. A lot of that has to do with the way the main characters act during this potential end of the world crisis. Here are some of Rick's lines during the film:
"You know, a couple of years ago, this would have seemed really strange to me."
"Oh no, not these guys again."
"Oh, I hate these guys."
Rick: "Right. And if someone doesn't kill him, then he's gonna wipe out the world."
Evelyn: "How did you know?"
Rick: "I didn't, but that's always the story."
Alright, that last one was from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, but it still highlights what I hate about Rick's character in the sequels. He's just not fazed by all the crazy shit going on around him. I get that he should have his bad ass moments, but when he's either annoyed or nonchalant by the danger, then it's hard for me to care myself. It's not just limited to Rick. Evy and Jonathan also act like it's business like usual. Seriously? You experience ONE mummy plague and that somehow prepares you for the appearance of Anubis's humanoid jackal soldiers? I tolerate this type of behavior on Buffy the Vampire Slayer because those characters deal with the occult on a daily basis. TEN years have passed and the only thing that changed is the birth of Alex. There is no mention of any spectacular misadventures that befell the O'Connell family.
If it wasn't enough that the "witty" banter doesn't accurately gauge the danger, then it's also force-fed down the audience's throats. There are few quiet moments in this film and it feels like the writers were just trying too hard to top the character interactions in the first film. Those dynamics in The Mummy were great because the characters all felt like distinct individuals. They reacted in a way that was natural to their traits. The Mummy Returns keeps throwing one liners and quips at the same rate as Family Guy does with its joke tangents.
And of course, I can't forget little, obnoxious Alex. Child characters in summer films ride a fine line between precocious scamp and obnoxious brat. I feel that Alex tends to lean towards the latter. Freddie Boath, the actor that plays Alex, doesn't emote very well so it's hard to connect with him.
They really should have quit while they were still ahead with the first Mummy movie. Then again, with two sequels, a spin-off, and a prequel to that spin-off, the franchise is on the fast track to reboot city.
Free-Floating Thoughts:
Stephen Sommers directed the first two Mummy movies. I guess that explains Brendan Fraser's quick appearance in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Casting The Rock and Patricia Velasquez as Middle Eastern characters? *sigh* At least the casting agency didn't go down the whitewashing route like in The Last Airbender and Prince of Persia.
On the other hand, Oded Fehr is awesome in any role that he plays. They should have made a spin-off based around his Ardeth Bay character and the Medjai instead of the Scorpion King.
We find out that Rick is a descendant of the Medjai. That helps explain how he was able to defeat Imhotep in the first movie. A little unnecessary, but it works.
Speaking of which, Evy is revealed to be the reincarnation of Nefertiti. Well, I suppose that explains her new-found combat prowess with a sword and gun in this movie. And it also explains why Imhotep is so fixated on her.
Alright, I can only suspend my disbelief for so long. Surviving a giant wave of water crashing down on your dirigible? It's possible. The appearance of human/jackal hybrids? Makes sense within the context of Egyptian mythology. Managing to outrun the sunlight for several miles as the characters sprint towards the Scorpion King's pyramid? Give me a break!
Seeing Evy die didn't provoke much of a reaction from me. Aside from the fact that the movie is PG-13, it's really hard to feel like the characters are in any credible danger when there's so much reincarnation and resurrection going on throughout the films.
The Scorpion King's monster form is a hideous mess of CGI. The head barely resembles The Rock and its movements are so stilted.
The Mummy Returns is the very last time I would enjoy a movie with Brendan Fraser in it. That being said, I did enjoy his appearances as Ben Sullivan on Scrubs.
BLARGH!
Brendan FraserG.I. Joe: The Rise Of CobraJohn HannahPatricia VelasquezPixelDrip GalleryRachel WeiszScorpion KingStephen SommersThe MummyThe Mummy ReturnsThe Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon EmperorThe Rock
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2 thoughts on "Ten Years Ago: The Mummy Returns"
Jadarius says:
love this movie:)
I miss those days wish I have time machine
AJ Burgin
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Glenn Bristol
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Hyacinth Lee
Ivan Vukovic
Jacob Farley
Jason Megatron Burrows
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Sin de la Rosa
Stephen Ruiz


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The Invisible Primary - Invisible No Longer
The volume of coverage is one thing. But in politics, not all coverage is equal, even if they spell your name right. What was the tone of the coverage each candidate received?
While Hillary Clinton may have gotten the most press, she did not get the most favorable. That distinction, among major candidates, went to Barack Obama.
On the other end of the ledger, Republican John McCain, the once possible GOP front runner, generated by a wide margin the most negative coverage of any serious contender.
Interestingly, the two front runners in national polls in each party received nearly identical coverage when it came to overall tone.
To evaluate tone, the study examined every assertion that offered some assessment of a candidate's chances at winning or their potential effectiveness in office if they were elected and tallied them by story. For a story to be considered positive or negative, two thirds of all the assertions had to be explicitly positive or negative in tone or the story would be considered balanced.
It is important to note that the largest percentage of stories (39%) were balanced or neutral in tone. Another 32% were positive. And 30% were negative.
Those numbers are almost identical to those found in the 2004 PEJ study surrounding the fall debates, in which 37% of the stories carried a neutral tone while 38% were negative and 26% were positive.
How did individual candidates fare?
Tone of Coverage for Top Candidates
Percent of All Stories
Positive Neutral Negative Numberof Stories
Democratic Candidates
Hillary Clinton 26.9 35.4 37.8 294
Barack Obama 46.7 37.5 15.8 240
John Edwards 31.0 33.8 35.2 71
Republican Candidates
Rudy Giuliani 27.8 35.2 37.0 162
John McCain 12.4 39.7 47.9 121
Mitt Romney 34.1 35.2 30.7 88
If the press tries to treat the leaders in a race with greater skepticism—or feels a responsibility to scrub those contenders harder—there is some evidence to support that here. The two front runners in national polls both received somewhat more negative coverage than positive. For Hillary Clinton, 27% of the stories were clearly positive, 38% were negative and 35% were balanced or neutral. For Rudy Giuliani, 28% were positive, 37% negative, and 35% neutral.
And if there is any sense that the press likes candidates who make a race more competitive, the data from the early months of the campaign offer support for that view, too. In this case, this candidate was Obama, the freshman Senator from Illinois. Obama enjoyed the best run of coverage in the early campaign, though the trajectory over time was gradually downward. Taken together, nearly half (47%) of all stories focused on Obama were positive. That is roughly three times the percentage that were negative (16%) and exceeds the 38% of stories that were neutral in tone.
Only one other candidate did nearly so well–then Republican demi-candidate Fred Thompson. Like Obama, he offered the possibility of a wild card figure whose entry might reshuffle the dynamics of the race in new ways. In all, 46% about Thompson carried a clearly positive tone, while more than half (51%) were neutral. Almost none, just 4%, was negative. That stands out as the most pronounced gap (13-to-one) of positive to negative stories of any major candidate. One obvious question is how that might have changed now that he has declared himself as one of the pack.
One argument about press coverage is that it tends to reinforce and therefore magnify any phenomenon it observes. A candidate on a downward spiral may find that pattern harder to change if caught in the media klieg lights. While the coverage of John McCain was not as intense as others, it did stand out for its negative cast. From January through May, close to half (48%) of the stories about McCain were clearly negative in tone—the highest of any major candidate. That was four times the stories with a clearly positive tone (12%). Four-in-ten were neutral. Even Fox News, which treated all the other major Republican candidates to more positive than negative coverage, made an exception of McCain. On Fox, McCain the stories examined were 20% positive, 45% neutral and 35% negative. In the first phase of the campaign, in other words, McCain tended to be the mirror image of Obama.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, had the more evenly balanced and positive coverage than either McCain or Giuliani—34% of stories were positive, 35% were neutral and 31% were negative. John Edwards' coverage was also pretty evenly split among the three categories.
Tone of Coveragefor 3rd Tier Candidates
Positive Neutral Negative Number of Stories
3rd Tier Democrats 25.6% 46.2 28.2 78
3rd Tier Republicans* 38.9% 48.9 12.2 90
*includes Fred Thompson
After these seven—the top five and the two candidates in the middle–the remaining candidates taken as a group tended to get treated more tenderly.
The only candidates in this group to receive decidedly more negative coverage than positive were Joe Biden (46% negative vs. 10% positive and 44% neutral) and Tom Tancredo, who was the subject of just seven stories, none of them was clearly positive in tone.
Tone for Democrats vs. Republicans
Taking all the presidential hopefuls together, the press overall has been more positive about Democratic candidates and more negative about Republicans. In the stories mainly about one of the Democratic candidates, the largest percentage was neutral (39%), but more than a third of stories (35%) were positive, while slightly more than a quarter (26%) carried a clearly negative tone.
For Republicans, the numbers were basically reversed. Again the same number as for Democrats (39%) were neutral, but more than a third (35%) were negative vs. 26% positive.
In other words, not only did the Republicans receive less coverage overall, the attention they did get tended to be more negative than that of Democrats. And in some specific media genres, the difference is particularly striking.
Why is this? Does it suggest some not-so-subtle enthusiasm by a liberal press for Democratic candidates? Those critics who see a continuing liberal preference in the media may cite this as evidence of that presumption.
There are, however, other explanations.
The most notable is the fact that, if the coverage of Obama and McCain are eliminated, the distinction in tone of coverage between the two parties' candidates disappears.
Another factor influencing the tone of coverage for Republican candidates could be the perceived weaknesses in the chances for nomination or election by each of the leading Republican candidates. While Giuliani, for example, has shown strength in opinion polls, many observers inside and outside the Republican Party consider his chances complicated by opposition from religious conservatives. Likewise, McCain was known to have displeased many in his own party for his bi-partisan sponsorship of campaign finance reform and immigration reform. And Mitt Romney's relative inexperience on the national stage and switch on the abortion issue made observers skeptical of his credibility.
Third, the tone of the coverage may also mirror the fact that Republican voters in polls express greater dissatisfaction with their candidate pool than do Democrats.[1]
All that said, the discrepancy in tone between the parties is a factor to be watched as the race continues.
[1]The Pew Research Center for People and the Press "Clinton Seen as 'Tough' and 'Smart' — Giuliani as 'Energetic':Voter Impressions of Leading Candidates," September 2007.The survey found that 64% of Democratic voters' impression of Democratic candidates was excellent/good, while 49% of Republican voters' impression of Republican candidates was excellent/good.
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Report Materials
Complete Report PDF
The Early Start, the Public and the Press
Election Topics
The Competition for Exposure
The Media Sectors
Topline--Data Tables
PublicationsAug 20, 2007
Campaign for President Takes Center Stage in Coverage
Pew Research CenterNov 23, 2020
Americans Paid Close Attention as Election Returns Came In
Pew Research CenterOct 19, 2020
Americans Plan To Follow Election Returns Closely; Biden Supporters More Confident Their News Sources Will Make Right Call
Pew Research CenterSep 28, 2020
Many Americans Get News on YouTube, Where News Organizations and Independent Producers Thrive Side by Side
Political Divides, Conspiracy Theories and Divergent News Sources Heading Into 2020 Election
News Content Analysis
News Interest


Two soldiers, William and Ethan, are assigned to guard a bridge, which connects the West and East sides of the Great Kingdom. Each soldier is ordered to stand at an end of the bridge to make sure no criminals cross. On one side of the bridge stands William, watching over the West side of the kingdom, and making sure no shady characters try to cross the bridge. Ethan stands on the other side of the bridge, facing the East side of the kingdom with his rifle at the ready in case any criminals try to pass across. "Any criminals today?" William asks. Ethan rolls his eyes. "What do you think?" he asks. "You roll your eyes too much," William says. How could William tell that Ethan was rolling his eyes?
William is on the east side of the bridge, facing the West side of the kingdom, while Ethan is on the west side of the bridge, facing the East side of the kingdom. So William and Ethan are facing each other, and can see each other's faces.
What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?
Four people come to an old bridge in the middle of the night. The bridge is rickety and can only support 2 people at a time. The people have one flashlight, which needs to be held by any group crossing the bridge because of how dark it is. Each person can cross the bridge at a different rate: one person takes 1 minute, one person takes 2 minutes, one takes 5 minutes, and the one person takes 10 minutes. If two people are crossing the bridge together, it will take both of them the time that it takes the slower person to cross. Unfortunately, there are only 17 minutes worth of batteries left in the flashlight. How can the four travellers cross the bridge before time runs out?
Why did the pilot sit on her alarm clock?


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Jean E. Monchak
May 12, 1930 - March 5, 2020
Jean Elizabeth (Goss) Monchak, life-long resident of Lancaster County, PA. passed away on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at the age of 89. Jean was born on May 12, 1930. She attended East Donegal Township schools and was proud to be a member of the East Donegal Township High School girls' field hockey team who won the county championship in 1947. On June 25, 1949 she married John Andrew Monchak and they raised three daughters, Joan (married to Laird Lorenz), Cynthia (married to George Keyser), and Carol (married to Tom Dalkiewicz) and one son, John A. Monchak, Jr. Jean was active in her church and children's schools: she served as the Mothers' Club President, Holy Trinity School (present day Our Lady of the Angels) in Columbia, and taught physical education at St. Joseph Academy, also in Columbia. Jean had a deep affection for young children and shared her talents in nurturing them by becoming a foster parent to newborns until their adoptions were completed and by starting and running a very successful in-home childcare. Jean shared a love of nature with her husband and particularly enjoyed welcoming seasonal hummingbirds, hummers as she often called them, to her patio feeders. Jean was preceded in death by her parents Mildred Anna (Goss) Billett and Henry Daft, Sr.; her son, John Jr.; and all her siblings. She is survived by her husband John Sr., and their three daughters, six grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, and several cousins, nieces, and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, March 14, 2020 at the Mary Mother of the Church, 625 Union School Rd, Mount Joy, PA at 11 am. The family will greet visitors from 10 am to 11 am. Those wishing to celebrate Jean's life are welcome to attend. Interment will follow at St. Peter Catholic Cemetery, Elizabethtown. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Jean's name to Align Pregnancy Services, 462 Chestnut St., Columbia, PA.
Jean Elizabeth (Goss) Monchak, life-long resident of Lancaster County, PA. passed away on Thursday, March 5, 2020 at the age of 89. Jean was born on May 12, 1930. She attended East Donegal Township schools and was proud to be a member of the... View Obituary & Service Information
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While the spinal physicians at the Southeastern Spine Institute (SSI) take every measure before resorting to surgery for your back pain, sometimes it's the only treatment that will work. And when you have the option of choosing a good time to undergo a procedure, you may believe that winter's the best season to grab a little downtime.
In winter, the weather doesn't call you to go outdoors, or maybe it's just the best time to take advantage of a slowdown at work. Whatever your reason, winter actually is good time to visit the campus of SSI because of its proximity to Charleston, SC, and all the wonderful winter treats that fill the Holy City.
Mt. Pleasant, where the 3-acre SSI campus lies, is just minutes from downtown Charleston, SC. Since it's located in the coastal region of the state, the weather remains mild year-round. In fact, it's the summer months that often are considered the most uncomfortable because of the excessive humidity coming off the Atlantic.
Charleston, SC, does enjoy four seasons, however mild they may be. The temperature rarely dips below 50 degrees, and in January — typically the coldest month of the year — you'll experience temps in the high 50s during the day. So while you spend a few days recuperating from your back surgery, you and your travelling companions or caregivers likely won't be subject to harsh winter weather.
The ferry that leaves Waterfront Park in downtown Charleston continues all year long. The ride across the bay to Fort Sumter is brisk and refreshing. Hot cocoa is served onboard for the approximately 30-minute ride. Walk the grounds of the historic site on a tour that lasts about an hour.
Stroll through the historic district of Charleston, SC, to take in all the sights and sounds of the winter holidays. Many homes have been turned into museums and those that are occupied participate in decorating the town. A Holiday Walking Tour takes you through alleys and side roads where not even carriages can go.
The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, built in the 18th century; it was the center of trade in the port town. Underground in the dungeon, you'll see where some of the most notorious criminals of the times were held.
The endless shopping opportunities in Charleston; there's so much that you might need to pace yourself. Spread your shopping trips over a few days so you don't overdo it after your back surgery. From the high-end clothiers and boutiques on King Street to the many local vendors in the Charleston City Market, wintertime in Charleston offers you a lot to see and do.


Grain or grain-free dog food? It's up to you. We offer no grain dog food made with quality grain-free ingredients like cassava root flour to serve as a source of carbohydrate for energy. Combined with our other high-quality ingredients, your dog's personalized, grain-free blend will always be 100% complete and balanced.
Tell us information about your dog's health needs, taste preferences, and more.
Based on what you've told us, we'll choose a nutritious food blend tailored for your dog.
Your dog's food arrives with everything personalized; from his feeding instructions and featured ingredients right down to the photo on the bag.
Does your dog prefer salmon over chicken? Grains or no grains? You tell us about the needs and preferences that make your dog unique, and we'll choose a personalized blend of purposeful, natural ingredients plus vitamins and minerals.
"She's a working dog, so she needs more protein to build her muscles."


On March 20 over 600 teachers, paraprofessionals, students, parents, and community members gathered in front of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building — home to the central office of Boston Public Schools — to demand a fair contract for the Boston Teachers Union. The BTU has been working without a contract since August 2018.
BTU rank-and-file members and volunteers asked attendees to sign the union's community support petition as they arrived and distributed signs, stickers and noisemakers throughout the crowd. Before speakers addressed the demonstration, participants marched around the Bolling Building chanting "What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!" and "Water we can drink is not too much to ask!" — referring to the alarmingly high levels of lead found in several Boston schools' drinking water.
Inspired by the teacher insurgencies taking the country by storm, BTU members have made it clear they are unwilling to accept the city's inadequate proposals. Although the struggle for a fair contract continues, last Wednesday's demonstration shows when teachers, students, parents and community members unite, they are ready to fight for the contract Boston deserves.
Support the BTU by signing the Community Support Petition.


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Raheem Sterling reported likely to be fit to play Arsenal / Guardiola's 'boring' style at fault for Champions League failings
Raheem relief
The international break often leaves fans on their edge of their seat but for the wrong reasons. Hoping that the players they need for their club sides return unscathed can take priority.
Manchester City are struggling with both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus out as their senior striking options. Raheem Sterling deputised in City's central role with Riyad Mahrez also occupying the position in the South American pair's absence.
Sterling withdrew from the England international squad with a 'minor hamstring injury.'
It now looks though that City will welcome the English winger back into the fold after reports emerged Sterling will likely be fit for the weekend.
Pep Guardiola is in need of points having just picked up 4 from the opening 3 matches. The opening day win against Wolves was followed by a shock 5-2 home defeat to Leicester City and a 1-1 draw with Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have won against Fulham, West Ham and Sheffield United. Dropping points away at Anfield before knocking Liverpool out of the League Cup on penalties.
Boring Pep
In a very targeted outburst, former Bayern Munich boss Felix Magath claimed that Pep Guardiola's success at Barcelona was down to Messi.
"Messi won the titles, not Guardiola," said the former Fulham boss. "Without Messi, this system has never worked as successfully for Guardiola, otherwise he would have won the Champions League with Bayern or Manchester City long ago."
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 30: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City looks on prior to the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Manchester City at St. James Park on November 30, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Magath, who himself never won the Champions League, remarked, "In my opinion, Guardiola generally too often gets lost in trying to win a game in advance. That tactic often ends in wrong decisions, which prevent success."
Guardiola has just a single season remaining on his current contract. And whilst reports have suggested that Manchester City want to renew, European failure could make the decision-makers reconsider.
See also: England squad update: Sterling out/James in/Arrival of trio delayed following Chelsea star's surprise party
Chelsea's Ben Chilwell leaves England camp due to 'flare-up' of pre-existing injury
Raheem relief The international break often leaves fans on their edge of their seat but for the wrong reasons. Hoping that the players they need for their club sides return unscathed can take priority. Manchester City are struggling with both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus out as their senior striking options. Raheem Sterling deputised inFootball (soccer) greatest goals and highlights | 101 Great Goals – Feed
Partey reportedly rejected interest from Chelsea and Juventus / Ghanaian wears the red and white of Arsenal for the first time
Quartet of Championship clubs reportedly eyeing late swoop for Liverpool's Harry Wilson


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US Rethinking Peacekeeping Role in Africa
By Carla Babb
National Security Advisor John Bolton unveils the Trump Administration's Africa Strategy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Dec. 13, 2018.
PENTAGON - The United States is rethinking its role in U.N. peacekeeping missions across Africa, with White House National Security Adviser John Bolton and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis looking to place U.S. forces and resources elsewhere.
When Bolton outlined the administration's new Africa policy Thursday, he announced the U.S. would no longer support "unproductive, unsuccessful and unaccountable U.N. peacekeeping missions."
"We will not provide legitimacy to missions that give large payouts to countries sending poorly equipped soldiers who provide insufficient protection to vulnerable populations on the ground," he said in a speech at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based policy think tank.
US to Reorient Trade Deals, Aid to Africa
The United States is the U.N.'s top peacekeeping donor, providing nearly a third of its $6.7 billion budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Last year, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley led administration efforts to trim the overall peacekeeping budget, which the U.N. agreed to tighten by $500 million.
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis speaks during
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis speaks during the second day of the 14th Manama dialogue, Security Summit in Manama, Bahrain, Oct. 27, 2018.
Mattis asks for options
Pentagon leaders are of a similar mindset, with Mattis recently recommending the pullout of all U.S. peacekeepers from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, an official told VOA.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Mattis had asked for options on how to free up the troops for other missions.
The Pentagon has been re-evaluating its troop presence and operations in Africa since an ambush in Niger last year that killed four U.S. soldiers, four Nigerian troops and a Nigerian interpreter.
The U.S. has a very small presence in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), contributing less than two dozen troops to a force that includes more than 13,000 military personnel, mostly from Burkina Faso, Chad, Bangladesh and Senegal.
The mission has been labeled the most dangerous U.N. mission across the globe, with more than 100 peacekeepers killed in the last six years. Al-Qaida linked groups have been tied to over 200 attacks in G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger) since January 2017, primarily targeting MINUSMA forces while terrorizing civilians and destroying infrastructure, according to U.S. Africa Command.
FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2017 file photo, a U.S. Arm
FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2017 file photo, a U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Wright was one of four U.S. troops killed in an ambush by dozens of Islamic extremists in Niger.
'End of creative thinking'
Bolton on Thursday criticized the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers on the continent as the "end of creative thinking" to resolving conflicts.
He singled out the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSA), which has been deployed nearly three decades and has yet to conduct the referendum it was initially tasked with securing. Resources devoted to MINURSA could instead be used toward "economic betterment in the region," Bolton suggested.
He added that the U.S. was reviewing its assistance to South Sudan, where the U.N. has placed thousands of peacekeepers. There are "no regular U.S. armed forces" in this mission, an UNMISS official told VOA, but there are a small number of U.S. military advisers and staff officers.
According to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping data, of the more than 100,000 U.N. troops and police, the U.S. supplies only 51 personnel in U.N. missions.
Bolton said the review was to ensure U.S. aid is not prolonging the South Sudan civil war, now entering its sixth year.
"We will not provide loans or more American resources to a South Sudanese government led by the same morally bankrupt leaders," he said.
Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
National Security Adviser John Bolton says new Africa strategy will put American interests first
Mattis Cuts US Troop Numbers in Africa by 10 Percent
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is cutting hundreds of U.S. troops from Africa so he can use those resources for potential future conflicts with Russia and China. Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Cmdr. Candice Tresch told VOA the move will cut roughly 700 counterterrorism troops and their enablers from West Africa. That is about 10 percent of U.S. Africa Command's presence on the continent. "Operations in Libya, Somalia and Djibouti remain largely unchanged,…
Report: African Countries Struggle to Contain Terror Groups
Amid a decline in terror incidents worldwide in 2017, African countries struggled to prevent the expansion of terror groups in parts of the continent, according to a U.S. State Department report on terrorism."African countries expanded their efforts to develop regional counterterrorism solutions while they struggled to contain the expansion of terrorist groups, affiliates, and aspirants involved in attacks or other activities in 2017," according to the report, released last week…
By Ibrahim Ahmed
Carla Babb