text:
Deep in debt and corruption
News // Local
Jason Buch, San Antonio Express-News
Aug. 3, 2014 Updated: Aug. 4, 2014 11 a.m.
1of16This is the Plaza de Armas near Santiago Cathedral in Saltillo, Mexico. The state of Coahuila now is saddled with a $3 billion debt racked up under Gov. Humberto Moreira's leadership.Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
2of16Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila engineer students Mario Galindo, 19, left, and Abraham Fabian, 19, wait for the bus in Saltillo, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. The state is under an almost $3 billion debt incurred by the former administration of Governor Humberto Moreira.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
3of16People walk under an overpass in Saltillo, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. The overpass is one of several built by the former governor Humberto Moreira's administration that ran the state from 2005-2011. During the six year, the administration spent $4 billion in infrastructure, more per capita than any other state in the country. It ran up a debt of $3 billion that was kept secret until Moreira left office three years ago.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
4of16Former Gov. Humberto Moreira Show MoreShow Less
5of16Antonio Neira Lopez, 83, sells to a customer at his store in the Agua Nueva ejido south of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The state of Coahuila owes nearly $3 billion in debt, an amount that equals its yearly budget. Most blame the past government of Governor Humberto Moreira for the debt. It?•s been dubbed "megadeuda," by the Mexican press.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
6of16Factory worker Zenaido Guerrero, wife Jennifer Estefania, daughter Arlett and son Patricio de Jesus, spend some time in Saltillo's Alameda Zaragoza Park.Photos by Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
7of16Luis Arguello, 16, right, helps his grandfather, Miguel Arguello, 64, pack "cortadillo," in Bu–uelos, Coahuila, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The grass is harvested in the mountains surrounding the ejido and is used to make brooms. The town is located 20 miles south of Saltillo, Mexico. The state is under an almost $3 billion debt incurred by the former administration of Governor Humberto Moreira.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
8of16Arturo Mata, 70, carries his groceries on a burro in the ejido of Buñuelos, Mexico, which is about 20 miles south of the Coahuila state capital of Saltillo. The former communal farm now is a poor ranching community that lacks running water and sewers. Show MoreShow Less
9of16Children arrive from school in the ejido of Bu–uelos, Coahuila, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The ejido is south of Saltillo, Mexico. The state of Coahuila has a debt of almost $3 billion, an amount that is equal to its annual budget. Dubbed the "megadeuda," by the Mexican press, the blame is placed on the administration of the past governor Humberto Moreira.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
10of16Children arrive from school in the ejido of Bu–uelos, Coahuila, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The ejido is south of Saltillo, Mexico. The state of Coahuila has a debt of almost $3 billion, an amount that is equal to its annual budget. Dubbed the "megadeuda," by the Mexican press, the blame is placed on the administration of the past governor Humberto Moreira.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
11of16Jose Maria Gil, 56, paint the inside of a mission in ejido Bu–uelos, Coahuila south of Saltillo, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The state is under an almost $3 billion debt incurred by the former administration of Governor Humberto Moreira.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
12of16Miguel Parra Guerrero, 65, talks about life in the ejido of Agua Nueva, Coahuila south of Saltillo, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The agricultural area has been affected by the drought and now, the "megadeuda," the almost $3 billion debt incurred by the former administration of Governor Humberto Moreira. State subsidies used by rancher to purchase livestock have ceased. Other social services have also been eliminated.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
13of16Wild birds are kept in cages at a house in the ejido of Agua Nueva, Coahuila south of Saltillo, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The agricultural area has been affected by the drought and now, the "megadeuda," the almost $3 billion debt incurred by the former administration of Governor Humberto Moreira. State subsidies used by rancher to purchase livestock have ceased. Other social services have also been eliminated.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
14of16Josefina Mata Jimenez, 58, washes dishes at her house in the ejido of Bu–uelos, Coahuila south of Saltillo, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The administration of former Governor Humberto Moreira racked up close to $3 billion in debt and as a result, the state has cut back in social services. Moreira, whose administration billed itself as, ?'El Gobierno de la Gente,?" or people?•s government, implemented various program such as the ?'people?•s card,?" ?'people?•s uniforms,?" and ?'people?•s shoes?". The cards were like food stamps, given out monthly, with dollar amounts ranging from $15 to $50. It was the only benefit that made it to the ejido and Mata said, ?'We lost a lot of benefits from the card?".Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
15of16A truck in the ejido of Agua Nueva, Coahuila has a political decal endorsing the present Coahuila Governor Ruben Moreira, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. Moreira is the brother of the former governor, Humberto Moreira, who was in office from 2005-2011. After his departure from office, it was revealed to the public that the administration had incurred an almost $3 billion debt. The amount is equal to the state?•s annual budget.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
16of16Yolanda Rocamontes, 70, enrapturedly recalls the tenure of former governor Humberto Moreira, while speaking with media outside her house in the Colonia Centenario in Saltillo, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. During Moreira tenure, the state racked up nearly $3 billion in debt. She blames it on unscrupulous members of Moreira?•s administration. An ardent Institutional Revolutionary Party, (PRI), member, Rocamontes is the neighborhood ?'lideraza,?" or female party leader, whose job is to hand out government subsidies such as blankets and food. A larger part of her job is to get people to the polls on election day.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
SALTILLO, Mexico — In what was supposed to be one of his great triumphs in office, Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira took the stage in front of an adoring crowd four years ago in Torreón, a major city 150 miles west of this state capital.
The stadium was packed with supporters of the wildly popular public servant, and a host of governors from his Institutional Revolutionary Party, known by its Spanish acronym PRI, were present, including president-to-be Enrique Peña Nieto.
In a few months, Moreira would step down to run the national party, where he could achieve even more fame as the architect of the PRI's return to the presidency.
But on that November day, he was going to announce the latest advancement in his social welfare programs: the Tarjeta de Salud de la Gente, the People's Health Card.
In a piece of political theater, Moreira called on stage a newspaper hawker and handed him a card. The Tarjeta de Salud would provide shuttles to clinics and hospitals for people in rural areas, as well as neonatal care, preventive medicine, lab work, nutritional counseling and other health-related services, Moreira said.
Coahuila corruption and drug ties spread influence to San Antonio
"We will do this all for free, and it starts to work on Monday," he announced.
Today, there's no People's Health Card in Coahuila, a large state bordering South and West Texas. It's gone the way of many of Moreira's other initiatives, programs that were supposed to bring the state out of poverty. But critics described them as socialist-tinged handouts designed to buy votes.
Coahuila is saddled with $3 billion in debt racked up under Moreira's leadership, dubbed the megadeuda in the Mexican press. The current governor, Humberto Moreira's brother Rubén, has had to cut many of the social-welfare initiatives put in place during the previous administration.
Money was bled from state coffers through inflated contracts and straight-up theft, according to prosecutors on both sides of the border. One former state official is accused of acquiring $250 million in fraudulent loans using the state's credit.
U.S. officials have seized millions of dollars in South Texas real estate they say former state officials bought with kickbacks from government contractors in Coahuila. The man Moreira chose to head an all-powerful finance ministry is in a San Antonio jail awaiting trial on money laundering charges.
And Coahuila still is struggling to recover from a wave of lawlessness that swept the state during Moreira's administration.
When Peña Nieto won a landslide victory in summer 2012, returning the once-dominant PRI to power after a 12-year absence, Moreira wasn't at his side. The former party president had resigned that post months earlier.
Coahuila also faces the same deadly violence as other border states. The state government recently announced it turned over hundreds of bone fragments and other pieces of human remains to the federal government for DNA analysis. Many of them were burned beyond recognition and believed to be victims of drug cartels.
Moreira, whose lawyer said he couldn't comment for this report, titled his six-year term in office — cut short when he left in early 2011 to head the national PRI party — the Gobierno de la Gente, "the People's Government."
It was characterized not only by a massive public works campaign that built roads, bridges and drainage systems and racked up the debt, but also the "people's" programs, like the "People's Health Card."
For residents of this impoverished and drought-stricken state, promises of financial relief never were realized, and many of the programs that were implemented later evaporated, including the "People's Cards," a sort of food stamp program that predated the health card.
"What happened in Coahuila is a message for the rest of Mexico when rulers don't have checks," said Victor S. Peña, a public policy professor and expert on transparency and corruption at Sonora College in Mexico who's from Saltillo and has written about the megadeuda. "For a long time, you can believe that all is well, and when reality sets in, it's too late."
An attorney representing Moreira in a civil lawsuit told a San Antonio Express-News reporter that he wasn't authorized to speak, and the former governor's Mexico City law firm did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Moreira defended his record as governor in an interview with the Saltillo newspaper Vanguardia shortly after his son was assassinated in 2011 in the border city of Acuña.
"I developed security matters, what's more (Coahuila) was the state that decreased poverty the most," he said. "It is the state that generated the most jobs, there are 70,000 Coahuilenses who owe their jobs to the government I was head of."
Kickbacks, laundering
State and Mexican federal authorities have charged Coahuila's former treasurer, Hector Javier Villarreal, with fraud, alleging that he falsified government documents to make it look like he had approval to take out $250 million in loans on the state's credit.
As the head of Coahuila's finance ministry, Villarreal had unprecedented power, said Peña, the political analyst. Midway through his term, Moreira created a new government agency, the Service for Administrating Taxes of the State of Coahuila, known by its Spanish acronym SATEC.
As head of the new agency, Villarreal not only controlled state coffers, he oversaw areas of government that previously had nothing to do with the treasury, including a department that determined who in Coahuila's coal mining industry received contracts to sell coal to the federal government.
"SATEC was like a big monster," Peña said.
Villarreal also is charged in San Antonio with money laundering.
Bexar County prosecutors allege Villarreal used his position to solicit kickbacks in exchange for inflated and no-work contracts, including one to a coal mining company they say really was a drug cartel front.
State and federal prosecutors filed a series of lawsuits claiming that limited liability companies set up by members of Villarreal's family bought a condo on South Padre Island, most of a commercial block in Brownsville, a San Antonio house and commercial properties on the North Side with dirty money from the state of Coahuila.
Villarreal has pleaded not guilty.
"We assert that the properties were purchased with money from noncriminal sources and that the government has not shown at this point grounds sufficient for forfeiture, or conviction based on the purchase of those properties," Villarreal's Houston attorney Michael J. Wynne said.
Current state officials — including Moreira's brother Rubén, who was elected governor in 2011 — say they've balanced the budget through raising taxes and cutting services.
The People's Pharmacies, where all medicine cost about 10 pesos, less than a dollar, duplicated an existing program, said Jesus Ochoa Galindo, who until earlier this year served as Coahuila's treasury secretary and now is the secretary of education. As a result, the state has reduced the number of pharmacies from 180 to five, Ochoa said.
The state has made strides in paying off the debt, as well, Ochoa said.
Negotiations with lenders began before the current governor took office, giving the state a two-year grace period before it had to start debt payments, currently at about $2.7 billion. That almost matches the state's annual budget.
Coahuila spends about $182.7 million a year, about 6 percent of its budget, servicing the debt.
In Moreira's six year-year term, Coahuila spent about $4 billion on new infrastructure, which was more per capita than any other state in country, literature published by the state shows.
Coahuila Secretary of State Armando Luna Canales, a holdover from the previous administration, said the government's spending on public infrastructure and education was far outstripping its revenue. Still, Luna said, the state benefited from the investment.
"There was a financial cost," Luna said. "But it helped in other ways, in the quality of infrastructure, in education, and other ways. The competitiveness of the state. I definitely think you have to look at the whole picture."
The construction projects were "overpriced and of poor quality," said Jorge Rosales Saade, an official with the opposing National Action Party, known by its Spanish acronym PAN.
Contracts for design and engineering work went to those close to Moreira in a closed-bidding process, Rosales said.
Left high and dry
In Buñuelos, a rural community about 20 miles south of Saltillo on the main highway, residents say they were promised paved roads under Moreira.
Buñuelos is an ejido, a former communal farm that's now a poor ranching community about 6 miles off the highway on a dirt road. It lacks running water and sewer systems.
One of the few benefits that made their way down the rough country road were the Tarjetas de la Gente, said Josefina Mata Jimenez, whose family members were cutting grass and drying it to make brooms on a weekday afternoon.
"We lost a lot of benefits from the card," said Mata, 58. "Now there's no help."
The region has been spared much of the drug-related violence that has run rampant in areas of the state near the border with Texas, but people in the former communal farms are struggling to get by in the midst of a long drought.
A few miles north, in the ejido of Agua Nueva, residents said they still receive "People's Uniforms" and "People's Shoes" at the beginning of each school year, and the government paved streets and provided water lines.
José Isaías Parra Perez, 61, a semi-official community leader, said he once met Moreira when the governor came to visit Agua Nueva.
"At first, he was working out, but at the end, ..." Parra Perez trailed off and laughed.
Parra Perez grows corn and beans and said he owns 115 goats and 12 cattle, but said he and other ranchers barely can afford feed to keep their animals alive.
In 2011, Parra Perez said, local ranchers were expecting the state to contribute to an assistance fund that would provide them feed during the drought. The state would put in money, and the federal government would match it.
In August of that year, eight days before the deadline to make contributions, Parra Perez received word the state wouldn't be contributing.
He and his fellow ranchers scrambled to raise money to qualify for federal matching funds for the feed, Parra Perez said. He sold five goats to raise about $300 to buy feed and get an additional $300 worth from the federal government.
Agua Nueva had to raise a total of about $9,000 that year, according to documents Parra Perez had saved. Last year, only 20 of the area's 115 ranchers could raise enough money to qualify for the matching funds, he said.
Despite their complaints, many of the ejido's residents had PRI stickers on their cars and fliers on their doors. Miguel Parra, 65, a day laborer who raises a few goats to supplement his income, had a theory for why that's the case.
Local party leaders, known as lideresas, were given the authority to dispense state assistance in their neighborhoods, including the Tarjetas de la Gente.
"They ask you, 'Did you vote for the PRI?' and they'll dispense it," Parra said. "But if you vote for the PAN, they won't."
Carlos Orta Canales, the head of the PAN in Coahuila, said the " de la Gente" programs are rooted in socialism and come from close ties the former governor had with Cuba and Venezuela.
"All the programs in Cuba are 'Of the People,'" Orta said. Moreira "wanted programs 'Of the People,' but they weren't anything that got them out of poverty ... they were creating a totally dependant society."
Peña, the public policy professor, isn't so quick to dismiss social welfare efforts in a state with a high poverty rate.
Some programs, including the "Zero Marginalization" program that provided potable water and paving to poor regions, improved housing conditions and expanded educational opportunities, were very successful, he said.
However, "the social policy became a patronage policy," Peña said. "Instead of fighting poverty, patronage and a system of favoritism was encouraged."
Zealous supporters
That may be the case for some neighborhood leaders, said Yolanda Rocamontes Peña, 70, the grand dame of the Centenario neighborhood.
On a recent evening, she sat in the courtyard of a house towering over the others in the neighborhood while younger family members did homework.
Her neighbors, grateful for her negotiations with the state and federal government to secure them land and building supplies, pitched in to provide materials to help Rocamontes build her home, she said
The day before, Rocamontes said, she was handing out blankets to the area's needy. She took pictures, as always, to prove to state officials that she isn't keeping any of the benefits for herself.
"It just depends on who the leader is," Rocamontes said when asked about lideresas using state assistance to encourage party loyalty. "During elections, I know that my people vote for the PRI. At least you try to convince them" to vote PRI.
A big part of her job is getting out the vote on election day, Rocamontes said, and while she encourages everyone to vote PRI, she's not concerned that some might vote for another party.
Rocamontes is a staunch Moreira loyalist. A former city councilwoman, she has pictures of the ex-governor going back to when he ran a government adult education program.
It was there, she said, that he started winning hearts and minds by providing vocational classes and helping the poor launch new careers.
Unscrupulous members of Moreira's administration caused the mega debt that everyone's talking about, Rocamontes said. She and other lideresas remain zealous supporters of the former governor.
While the PAN and others have seized on the debt as a way to criticize the government, Luna, the Coahuila secretary of state, said it's done little to hurt the standing of a state that relies heavily on foreign investment in its manufacturing sector.
Fiat will be opening a plant in the city of Monclova soon, he said, to complement an existing auto manufacturing sector in Coahuila that includes Chrysler and General Motors.
Luna said his focus is on the drug violence that has raged unchecked through portions of the state. He said the state government is trying to find thousands of people believed kidnapped by the cartels.
Coahuila officials recently announced they found mass graves in the northern part of the state and are trying to identify the victims. Homicides have diminished by a third in recent years, Luna said.
"I think the finance issue isn't the problem," he said. "The issue of security caused problems for some time. Security issues have improved enormously, especially in the most high-profile crimes."
jbuch@express-news.net
Twitter: @jlbuch
Jason Buch
Reach Jason on
Jason Buch covers immigration and border affairs for the San Antonio Express-News. A 2007 graduate of Texas State University, Buch worked for two years at the Laredo Morning Times before coming to San Antonio. Buch first worked on the business desk at the Express-News, covering at various times real estate, the automotive industry, manufacturing, technology and telecom. In 2010 he joined the metro desk and took on his current beat.


Fibre to home now available in Lichtenburg.
Our Mobile Data is powered by MTN's powerful network , with coverage that reaches most major cities, towns and almost 100% of our national roads.
Our Wireless Network is the basis from where we deliver all our services and will be explained in some detail below.


text:
More Magic Shadows, or, Going Ape For A New Monkey Movie
Happy New Year everyone! Yeah, I know, it seems like I'm a couple of weeks late, but actually, a New Year's salutation at this point in the month turns out to be convenient timing for me: we celebrate two New Years around this house. There is, of course, the typical Western New Year on January first, but since my wife is Chinese, we also celebrate Chinese New Year, which this time around comes on Jan 29th. So, whether you're a few weeks into trying to find an excuse to get out of your New Year's resolution to lose that extra Christmas weight (I've long since accepted I'm keeping my hippopotamic girth for good), or whether you're gearing up to flip through a stack of lai-si (red pockets) in a couple of days to find out how much money you've received from the relatives (and by extension, how much, if at all, they care about you in comparison with your cousin Johnny), Happy New Year all around.
I admit to being kinda lazy about getting this posting up in the weeks since Christmas, although I do have a good excuse. After spending a couple of months "in between projects" as they say, I've started a new gig and it's been the usual new-job chore of getting up to speed on the inside info and re-adapting the old biological clock to the rest of the world's 9 to 5 workday. In my former incarnation as a broadcaster, weird hours like evening and overnight shifts were the rule rather than the exception, and during my period of unemployment, I fell into what for me is a natural nocturnal rhythm where it wasn't a problem staying up writing until 4 in the morning (I've often seriously considered that there's gotta be a lot of validity to a theory I once came across in a short story by Robert Charles Wilson – or maybe it was Robert J. Sawyer, not sure without diving through a whole pile o' books – that there's a sort of "night watchman" gene at work in some people that makes them prone to staying up late, if not all night, in order to keep watch and make sure a jaguar doesn't go dragging off some unfortunate member of the tribe in the wee small hours).
Aside from that, I've had to make my way through the pile of DVD's my wife and others were kind enough to inundate me with at Christmas: the kick-ass "Firefly" movie "Serenity" (impressive job of getting that one to video so quickly), Babylon 5 season 2 (I seem to be collecting that series in reverse order), and that venerable old chestnut "The Day the Earth Stood Still", along with others.
Speaking of Christmas, one major omission on my part from the nostalgia posting a few weeks ago was that giant among TV traditions: "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Having acknowledged the masterpiece, I have hopefully redeemed myself.
On to the main point of this posting… time to don the mantle of Elwe Yost again and present another all-new take on Magic Shadows (again, apologies to TV Ontario for the copyright infringement).
I figure it's long past time to babble for a little bit about that giant that grappled with the cinemas this holiday season: Peter Jackson's "King Kong". At this point I can talk about the details until I'm blue in the face because anyone who wanted to see it already has.
Simply put, I loved it.
The special effects were, not surprisingly, amazing. Kong actually looked and moved like a real gorilla, you could almost feel the steam coming out of the jungle he lived in, the frigid art deco hardness of New York's winter concrete jungle where he died, and when the action started to pound, it was exactly the kind of mayhem that you want to see when you're paying the extortion rates the theatres are demanding for a ticket these days. I mean, who didn't think it was pretty cool to watch a 25-foot ape whip out the Kong Fu on a pack of tyrannosaurs?
The cave at the top of Skull Mountain was made a wonderful melancholy in Jackson's version with the bones of Kong's titanic forebears scattered around, giving us the uneasy feeling that he might be the last of his kind. A far better display than the original's corny plesiosaur popping its noggin out of the pond in the depths of the cavern (how the hell does a sea-going dinosaur get all the way up to the top of a mountain and into a cave to swim in circles in a rock bowl full of rainwater?).
What about the biplane battle on the Empire State Building at the end? Amazing to watch – especially Kong's leap into the air to knock down one of his attackers and then managing to grab onto the building for another go. And looking around the theatre, I noticed there were very few people who weren't at least a little choked when Kong finally succumbed. What a refreshing and brave move on Jackson's part to bring us in close to watch Kong desperately trying to maintain eye-contact with his beautiful blonde before he dies, instead of the clumsy longshot of a tumble that's in the classic version.
And let's give Jackson full credit for staying true to the original 1930's classic Kong, while having the guts and the skill to flush it out.
I had a debate about this with a buddy of mine a while ago… My friend (who hasn't seen the new version yet) is an older guy who, while he wasn't around for King Kong's original release during the Depression, did see the original re-released on the big screen as a kid back in the '50's. He argued that there's no need for a remake because the original was a fast-moving hour-and-a-half of action with tight writing and good special effects (for its day). He also went on to claim that it's a pretty well established law of art that remakes are never as good as the original.
I have a lot of trouble with these lines of thinking though.
Firstly, I agree that the original Kong is a work of art. It is well-paced and it gets the job done. That being said, that version of the film moves so quickly and focuses so much on the shock of the sight of those monsters cavorting around (something new to the audiences of the early black and white era) that there isn't a lot of character development in the human beings. In fact, they're about as one-dimensional as the celluloid they're printed on. By expanding the movie to three hours, Jackson has been able to add depth to his characters, to show us why they embark on their odyssey and why any of them actually care enough for the producer to sadly remark " 'Twas beauty killed the beast." over the great ape's mangled corpse. In taking a full hour to set the story up before the monster even makes an appearance (a-la "Jaws" as many have remarked), Jackson can set us up emotionally to sympathize with his overgrown monkey's plight by drawing comparisons with the lives of the hairless primates of New York. He opens the movie by hitting us over the head with this by showing the denizens of the zoo in their cages not a stone's throw away from a Depression shantytown in the park where the xylophone-ribbed homeless are crowded cheek-by-jowl in the filth. Not long after, we see our heroine put on display on the stage and tormented by her audience. She's as much shackled by her hunger looking through the steakhouse window at the dismissive producer as Kong is at the beginning of the final act after being battered, captured and put in manacles for the enjoyment of the Big Apple without so much as a banana.
I'd also point out that a new adaptation is worth-while for the simple necessity of changing the delivery of the dialogue. While it's enjoyable to watch the antiquated, rapid-fire hard-tone method of delivering lines popular in movies of the 30's and 40's, that manner of speech is no longer in use (if people ever actually spoke like that back then, and having had long conversations with elderly relatives who lived through that era, I have my doubts – it's likely that mobster-movie manner of speech was entirely fabricated by Hollywood and the radio plays of the time to artificially ramp-up the intensity of the production) and is totally alien to the younger audiences of today, to the point that it runs the risk of sounding hokey to the point of being utterly ridiculous. The movie needed to be remade just so the dialogue could be delivered in normal conversational tones.
As to whether any remake can ever be as good as the original (an argument that caught fire for a while back in the '90's when there was talk that perhaps there ought to be another attempt at "Casablanca"), I would argue that while many remakes ARE inferior, that DOESN'T mean that a remake, by definition, MUST be inferior. Without a doubt, the 1970's remake of King Kong was a complete waste of time. But let's take a look at some other movie remakes that DID work: what about Kurisawa's "The Seven Samurai"? Remade any number of times, and most of them good. "The Magnificent Seven" changed the environment, but it was the same story told with utter reverence and it worked, well, magnificently (we'll ignore the sequels to the western version, though). Admittedly, the SF attempt to remake it – "Battle Beyond the Stars" (with "The Magnificent Seven" 's Robert Vaughn reprising his role as the bounty hunter looking for a place to hide) did, without a doubt, suck ass. But the recent Chinese film "Seven Swords" (I don't believe for a minute that it was an original Chinese work, it stinks of "Samurai" remake) was immensely entertaining, even if all seven of the heroes do survive. And, if you need any further proof that remakes can work, I have one word for you: Shakespeare. The Bard's plays have been reinterpreted for performances on stage for centuries, and the trend has continued into the cinematic age (including some takes on Shakespeare by the afore-mentioned Kurisawa himself). It should also be noted that some of Shakespeare's plays themselves are, in fact, remakes of earlier works by other playwrites. There's nothing wrong with a remake, as long as it's done well. Peter Jackson's King Kong remake was done exceptionally well.
That being said, there are a number of critics out there who would still disagree with me. The reviewers at thetyee.ca took a special joy in burning this flick at the stake.
And I'll admit it's not without its flaws: while it was immensely entertaining to watch Kong's slugfest with the pack of T-Rex's, there was a small part of my mind that kept saying "Hey! Those tyranno teeth were designed to rip 300 pound gobbits of flesh outa the side of a triceratops. Why isn't monkeyboy there missing a hunk or two of meat from his arms where they keep biting him? Granted, the hair and the skin that's as thick as elephant hid probably offers some protection, but come on!" And while that doesn't make much sense, the rest of my mind that was enjoying the show just said "Shut up. Who'd believe in a 25 foot gorilla in modern times when the closest an primate ever got to being that big was giganticus in the forests of Asia millions of years ago which got about 12 feet tall and eventually died out. Much less an ape of that stature pummeling dinosaurs that have been dead for millions of years." The fight with those weird vampire bat things flapping around Skull Mountain would have looked a lot better if they'd just stuck with the pterodactyls from the original (and what was with using one of them as a hang-glider?). And yeah, Kong's little skating scene in Central Park has that part of the brain howling about how many tons he must weigh and how the ice would crack beneath his tubby butt. And then there's our damsel in distress climbing a ladder on the OUTSIDE of the Empire State building in the middle of winter wearing nothing but a cocktail dress and somehow not getting blown off the side of the tower by the crosswind or freezing to death during the half-hour ordeal.
But you know what? It's a story about a giant gorilla that fights dinosaurs and climbs skyscrapers and knocks biplanes out of the air. Cut the analytical crap and enjoy the flick for what it is – popcorn action (that is if you choose to ignore the good acting and writing) worth every penny you spend.
A movie that fell short of the value of the price of admission this past holiday season was "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe". There were times when the CG didn't seem as seamless as it should have, where Aslan didn't look quite like he was on the same layer of film as the children he was supposed to interact with (kind of like old special effects where the beast would be projected onto a movie screen behind the actors). And for a story that's bogged down with C.S. Lewis' clumsy hit-you-over-the-head religious allegory, the movie fired a lot of hits and misses: it was long on "sons of Adam" and "daughters of Eve" and short on the horror of the allusion to the crucifixion that Lewis makes when Aslan is taken to the sacrificial stone. The movie doesn't show the whipping, spitting upon, slashing, shaving and pounding that the lion endures before he's stabbed to death that Lewis goes to great lengths to inflict on children who read his book. It's as though the director and screenwriters wanted a sparkling glass of Lewis light: all the heavy-handed religion, half the gore.
But ultimately, the reason why I didn't like this "Narnia" movie was something I can't quite put my finger on. All I can say is that for the legion of monsters and myths present in all their photo-realistic glory, the film was missing… magic. Maybe it's because I'm not a kid. Or maybe it's because I read the Narnia books about 10 times when I was a kid. Or maybe it's because I'm still rather puzzled that they didn't start with the FIRST book in the series, "The Magician's Nephew". But I don't think so. Pity that a fantasy movie has no magic in its heart.
Speaking of magic, I notice it's fast approaching the witching hour, and long past time for me to hit the sack. Until next time, this has been another rip-off of "Magic Shadows".
More Magic Shadows, or, Going Ape For A New Monkey...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Brand New House for Sale in the Lifestyle Village – Very few left!
Idyllic 3 Bedroom house for Sale, be quick ! – Sorry I've Been Sold!
Brand New 4 Bedroom Home – Rented 'till Sept 2017, I've been snapped up Sorry!
Last chance – Vacant land R1.9 mil JUST SOLD !!


Melt white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave (careful not to burn). On wax paper, form heart shapes with candy canes and spoon white chocolate inside the heart. Sprinkle with some crushed candy canes. Allow to set for 15 minutes. Gently lift hearts off the the wax paper and serve. Enjoy.
**inspired by Pillsbury Holiday Cookbook.
That really is adorable. And it uses white chocolate (yahoo). Wonderful that three generations got to enjoy the making of these hearts!
These are so cute!!! Very creative and neat dish Ramona.
SO amazingly clever! You never cease to surprise me!
Congrautlations on being the chef of the week :) You totally deserve it! And these candy cane hearts look so cute! I bet it was so much fun making these with your daughter and mother. Happy Holidays!
Cute! I think this will be a good project for the weekend with the kids.
These are so cute Ramona! I love this idea as a quick last minute gift too. :) Happy holidays!
Wow.......the hearts look soooo cute......perfectly done.
This is so cute. These would make such delicious gifts.
I really love this idea! So cute!
Wonderful idea, Ramona! So cute!


In this action-packed thriller sequel to "Envy," foreign exchange student Olivia Grant is stabbed to death after a party--and the prime suspect is her best friend. As twins Hayley and Taylor Ryan get pulled into the aftermath of this Amanda Knox-like crime, they realize nothing is what it seems. Could it be betrayal of the ultimate kind?"Betrayal" features real-life crime-solving techniques, heart-stopping suspense, plenty of red herrings, hard-hitting ethical questions, and information about the Amanda Knox case that inspired the novel. As the crime unravels, so does the twins' past and they must face off against a family member who may unexpectedly have carried out the worst betrayal of all.
Gregg Olsen is a "New York Times" bestselling and award-winning author whose books have sold over one million copies. Olsen's books have been translated into multiple languages, and he has been interviewed on various TV programs. For more info, see: greggolsen.com.


PennyHill Park Hotel and The Spa is a chilling example of what could happen all over the country if the Government lets people extend their properties without needing planning permission.
What a hotchpotch. A 19th-century manor house is in here somewhere, but from the front it's entirely obscured by some of the ugliest extensions, conversions and new buildings imaginable.
Mind you, there are no neighbours to offend, given that this Surrey sprawl sits in 120 acres of woodland a few miles off the M3 in Bagshot.
The England rugby union team stays here (there's a full-size pitch in the grounds, eight swimming pools and a gym so large that the whole squad can be on the treadmills at the same time) before matches and it's a popular venue for 'thinking out of the box' kind of corporate get-togethers, where you play golf in the morning and stare at flip charts in the afternoon while pining for three pints of strong lager.
This is more of a resort than a hotel. It's Center Parcs meets Chessington World of Adventures with some Disneyland architecture thrown in.
Our room is in the converted stable block. The man escorting us there says he's never seen the room — Japonica — because he's only been here five weeks.
He is about to be disappointed, but not quite as much as us. The curtains are closed for good reason, blocking the view of a dark bank and some store rooms with piles of pillows stacked on shelves.
'We booked quite late,' I tell him. 'What do you mean by late?' he says. Then he rings reception and tells us we are booked into the brasserie, not the Latymer.
So we shuffle off to the Brasserie, only to be told that our table is for 9pm and it's only 8.50pm, so, 'Please take a seat in the lounge and we will call you.' 'There seems to be a lot of rules around here,' I say.
demands that my wife opts for a salad starter and we have no deserts but still manage to spend £111, including one bottle of wine.
My wife wakes in the night after hearing people coming and going from the store room. We report this to reception in the morning and £50 is knocked off our bill. Before leaving we go round to the back of the building and sit on the terrace.
It's another world here — leafy, stately, quiet the sort of world civil engineer James Hodges had in mind when he built the original house in 1849.
just along as they avoid Japonica in the stable wing.


text:
Dec. 15 – Animaniacs – "A Christmas Plotz"
Original air date December 6, 1993
It's rare when you encounter a cartoon series that has back-to-back episodes dedicated to Christmas, but that happened with the first season of Animaniacs. If you're not familiar with the show, Animaniacs is essentially the spiritual successor to Tiny Toon Adventures as another Steven Spielberg presented cartoon series. It, even more so than Tiny Toons, draws inspiration from the golden era of cartoons when guys like Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng were making audiences laugh at the movie theater. The series is a cartoon variety show with the main characters consisting of the fictional Warner brothers and Warner sister: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. It paired them up with many other newcomers like Slappy Squirrel, The Goodfeathers, and perhaps most famously the duo of Pinky and the Brain.
Animaniacs premiered on the Fox Kids network in the fall of 1993 and anchored Fox's weekday afternoon lineup. Perhaps that's why the producers and writers felt like they had room for multiple Christmas episodes. They aired back-to-back with a week of reruns in between with this one airing on December 6, 1993 and they were the last new episodes of the show to debut in 1993. Reruns took the Warners and Co. the rest of the way with new episodes premiering in 1994. Like a lot of Fox programs, the initial season was a direct to syndication order of 65 episodes with supplemental seasons tacked on. The show ran until 1998, finishing up on Kids' WB after 99 episodes, and was followed by a direct-to-video movie, Wakko's Wish, which is coincidentally a Christmas affair. It seems odd that the show wasn't given one additional episode to get it to 100, an achievement it certainly deserved, but maybe that's why Wakko's Wish exists.
Want to make an episode feel special? Just dress-up the opening credits a bit.
Animaniacs mixes a lot of slapstick humor with satire of celebrity culture. There's numerous musical segments, honestly more than I remembered when I went back and watched it, and lots of micro segments which many fans probably recall fondly. I'm speaking of the Good Idea/Bad Idea stuff or that little kid who likes to talk about some other person named Randy. It also poked fun at broadcast standards via the Wheel of Morality and is also quite notable for slipping a few risqué jokes past the censors (Finger Prince?). It wasn't a cheap show and often featured some of the best animation and musical numbers on television. It feels like a show that couldn't exist today because of this, but Hulu is reportedly bringing the show back in 2020. It remains to be seen what the show will look and sound like, but most of the original cast is back onboard and it's hard to imagine Amblin Entertainment allowing the show to look worse than it did 20 years ago.
What's better than dressing up the opening title sequence? Adding an homage to the old CBS Special Presentation bumper! Gets me every time.
The very first segment of the first Christmas themed episode is the one we're looking at today: A Christmas Plotz. Plotz refers to the name of the fictional CEO of the Warner Bros. Company Thaddeus Plotz (Frank Welker). He is ostensibly the one responsible for ordering the Warners be locked away in their tower, as detailed during the show's infectious opening. He's a miserable old miser, so you can probably see where this is going. Can Animaniacs do a worthwhile parody of A Christmas Carol, or is this yet another forgettable retread? Let's find out.
Warner Studios all ready for Christmas.
The episode begins with the fake news reel explaining the origins of the Warner Bros. Yakko (Rob Paulsen), Wakko (Jess Harnell) and their sister Dot (Tress MacNeille) were classic cartoon characters deemed too zany and crazy to exist. Their cartoons were blacklisted and they were sealed away, along with the Warners themselves, in the studio's water tower. This news reel begins many episodes of the show, but this time it's presented with snowflakes falling all around. These snowflakes carry over into the opening title sequence and I do love when shows dress-up their opening credits for Christmas! The Steven Spielberg cartoons were frequent contributors to such.
Thaddeus Plotz is a man in need of some Christmas spirit.
When that business concludes, we begin the show. It's Christmas time at the Warner Studios lot and some carolers are cheerily singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." In his office, Thaddeus Plotz is not enjoying the festive singing. He opens his window to scream at them and fling fruit cake as well. It seems his subordinates all give him fruit cake at this time of year, even though he hates it (doesn't everybody?). As he returns to his desk, his security guard Ralph (Welker) enters the office. Plotz instructs him not to sit down as this won't take long, but Ralph interrupts him by going into a little prepared speech. It seems he expects this meeting to end with him receiving his Christmas bonus, and he thanks Mr. Plotz for letting him work there and presents him with yet another fruit cake. Ralph is the classic dumb guy cartoon archetype. He frequently starts sentences with "Ahh," or "Duhh," and adds random plurals onto certain words thus making him immediately sympathetic, which is important for what follows.
This image makes me feel genuinely crushed.
When Ralph finishes his little speech and presents Plotz with the fruit cake the old man is able to put on a happy face briefly despite his disgust. He then holds up a line graph which apparently details rising costs directly tied to the damage caused by the Warners. It's Ralph's job to keep them in line, and he's failed miserably. Plotz fires him on the spot, then wishes him a sincere-sounding Merry Christmas. As Ralph's eyes well-up with tears, he slumps his shoulders and walks out.
This one features a Slappy cameo, but sadly she's the only one.
That night, Plotz is still busy in his office with budgetary matters. He's recording a voice memo in which he mentions that in order to cut costs employees will soon be expected to provide their own toilet paper. As he finishes up, an apparition appears before him. It's Slappy Squirrel (Sherri Stoner) in the Jacob Marley role. She's mostly transparent and blueish with chains draped over her and isn't particularly happy to be there. When a frightened Plotz demands to know why she's here, she pulls out a notebook and reads her lines about him being visited by three ghosts. When he asks why, she tells him she doesn't know as she lost the rest of the script. She then marches out of there grumbling about how she's doing this for scale and remarks that she needs a new agent.
Bring on the ghosts! First up is Wakko as the Ghost of Christmas Past.
With Slappy gone, Plotz thinks he hallucinated her due to working too hard. He drinks some water and then the phone on his desk begins to ring. He answers it and a spectral Wakko pops out of the receiver. He's mostly blue save for his red nose and hat. He's also dressed in a manner similar to the classic interpretation of Tiny Tim and immediately goes into a little musical number about taking a trip back to the past to see how Plotz got here. He sets up a little movie theater for the two and finishes his song with a kiss. The reel-to-reel projector is fired up as Wakko enjoys some popcorn and we're taken to our first scene of the past.
This is a pretty on-brand way for Wakko to present the past to Plotz.
It's the birth of Thaddeus Plotz! His mother (Nancy Linari) is resting comfortably and seems quite content with her new babe, but then the doctor brings her the bill and little Thaddeus jumps up in anger. He's still ticked about the whole spanking of the bum thing by the doc and informs him that he'll be hearing from his lawyers. We're then shown a five-year-old Plotz as he confronts a mall Santa surrounded by said attorneys to make his annual demands of St. Nick. He expects many gifts, including a horse, and Santa seems bewildered. The Plotz of the present then informs us he was gifted a pony that year and he still seems ticked off by it. Plotz demands this farce end, but Wakko then shows him another vision of the past, one he promises is the worst. This time he's an adult and seated behind his current desk. He's telling an old man (Maurice LaMarche) his services are no longer needed, despite him begging to be allowed to keep his job. That old man was his dad, and Plotz still sees nothing wrong with usurping the company from his old man as he allowed him to keep his medical benefits.
You just knew they would utilize the present pun. Dot even feels the need to draw attention to it by pointing it out.
Wakko and his accessories then vanish as Plotz returns to his desk once again questioning if what he just saw was real or not. He sits down at his desk and blames his vision on bad cocktail weenies (because that food was considered inherently funny in the 90s, like cheese) when he notices a large present on his desk. He thinks it's going to be another fruitcake, but a spectral Dot pops out dressed in old-timey clothes and demands to know who he's calling a fruitcake. She also points out the pun of her being the Ghost of Christmas Present and popping out of a present. She too has a little song to sing, and as she kicks away the nameplate on Plotz's desk we can see his own name was misspelled on it (Thadius), though I don't think that's a joke just an animation goof.
Well, at least they're happy.
Dot takes Plotz to a trailer park, and I bet you can guess who lives here. It's the home of the recently fired Ralph who is seated in an easy chair trying to calm his son (Paulsen) who is irate with Plotz for firing his dad. He assures the boy that everything will be okay. The pair are summoned to dinner and we get to meet Mrs. Ralph who inexplicably looks and sounds exactly like her husband. Their kid seems well-adjusted and perfectly fine though, so he apparently hasn't been ravaged by his incestuous origin. Mrs. Ralph is serving what they can afford for Christmas dinner: Turkey Jell-O. It looks pretty terrible, but Ralph is excited to eat it while little Ralph Jr. is decidedly not happy about this current situation. He claims to the camera he's adopted, and we believe him, and vows to get even with Mr. Plotz some day.
And Yakko makes three.
Plotz is a bit unnerved by Ralph Jr's hatred of him and wants out. He soon finds himself back in his office. He's apparently accepted the reality of this evening as he's now concerned about the arrival of the third ghost. The clock striking midnight and a thunderstorm brewing outside seem to spook him as he tries to call for security, forgetting momentarily that Ralph was security. He then tries to leave, but finds the door locked. Turning around, he screams when he sees the third ghost. A being resembling the Grim Reaper approaches, sickle and all. It pins him to the door and says his name in a deep, hollow, voice as it extends a boney finger towards Plotz's throat.
Yakko's song and dance number is certainly elaborate, but is it funny? Eh…
Yakko then emerges from the robes to announce he's the Ghost of Christmas Future. He ditches the spooky stuff and sports a tuxedo as he goes into an elaborate song and dance routine announcing his arrival and intentions. It's complete with female dancers (voiced by Carol Lombard, Kimberly Fligsten, Brianne Lepon, and Sara Ford) which Yakko hits on mercilessly while Plotz is dragged around and forced to keep pace. Yakko slips in insults here and there while Plotz drops his fear for a minute to just get angry and annoyed. The presence of the women allow Yakko to work in his "Hello, nurse" catchphrase, and the whole thing ends with Yakko tossing Plotz off of the magical stairs that appeared to land in an armchair. I do not know if this song is a direct parody of anything, but Yakko does go into a brief Groucho bit for a moment.
I wonder who that guy could be?
With both Yakko and Plotz seated comfortably, Plotz looks around and realizes they're still in his office. Only now it's not his office. Yakko directs Plotz's attention to the new man in charge, an angry guy with a huge, bald, head. He's yelling about Urkel looking ridiculous with his pants pulled up so high at his age as he's on the phone with someone. He slams it down and returns to his work and Yakko points out to Plotz that this man is actually Ralph Jr. all grown up. It seems he did get his revenge on Plotz, as we soon find out his fate. Unlike Scrooge, Plotz is still alive in this future, but he has suffered a fate worse than death. He's been made the new Ralph and tasked with keeping the Warners in line. He looks mostly the same, only he has an unkempt mane of gray hair and his eyes are a bit sunken looking.
Old man Plotz is forced to try and keep pace with the Warners. It's actually pretty impressive a man of his age can do this much.
Plotz is horrified by the sight, and it only gets worse. The Warners then show up to taunt him, and as he chases after them with a net Ralph Jr. emerges from his window to call down to him. He admonishes him for not catching them, and when Plotz informs Ralph that they're too fast, he unceremoniously fires the old man punctuating it with a cheerful "Merry Christmas," just as he did to his father years ago. The future Plotz walks away disheartened, while present Plotz begins to pout and cry.
The ghosts may be done, but the Warners still have a role to play.
Plotz soon realizes he's back in his office. It's Christmas morning, and now he has his chance for atonement. He kisses his desk when he realizes where he is and races over to the window. He goes into the usual routine as he calls out to some kids asking what day it is. It's the Warners in their holiday threads, only now they're not blue ghosts. They tell him it's Christmas Day, and Dot remarks to the camera how he's not too bright. Plotz then throws down a sack of money and tells them to go buy the biggest fruit cake they can find and deliver it to Ralph's house. He even tells them to keep the change. Wakko declares that they're rich and the trio grab the money and run.
Plotz never really atones for his mistake, he just tries to cover it up.
At Ralph's trailer, the whole place is bouncing up and down with Christmas cheer. The family is singing around their 8″ tall tree when a knock at the door disturbs their celebration. Ralph Jr. answers it to find it's Plotz armed with a stack of presents. He barges in and demands to know why he's hearing that Ralph left the studio. A confused Ralph points out that he fired him, but Plotz corrects him by saying he inspires him! He then charms Mrs. Ralph, before turning his attention to Ralph Jr. He begs the boy not to take over the studio, and then tries to bribe him with a pony. The kid demands a horse instead and Plotz makes an expression that basically says, "I deserved that."
Grovel, you swine!
Another knock at the door gets Plotz's attention and he opens it to find the Warners. They tell him they brought the fruit cake and an excited Plotz races outside wanting to know where it is. They tell him they got the biggest they could find, and they weren't kidding. A helicopter delivers a massive fruit cake, and drops the two-story monstrosity right on top of Plotz. His feet stick out from under it and all we can hear is unintelligible ranting. The Warners jump on top armed with spoons and assure him they can have him out by Easter. Wakko then wishes us all a merry Christmas as the sound of Christmas bells take us out of the segment.
A fitting punishment for a lifetime of dickish behavior.
And that's it for "A Christmas Plotz." It's followed by a musical number based on The Little Drummer Boy in which the Warners assume the role of the drummer and lead us through a fairly straight interpretation of the tale. It's not particularly memorable, but if you like your Christmas with a side of Jesus then it's probably right up your alley.
The Warners get the last word, per usual.
"A Christmas Plotz" is pretty entertaining, as most cartoons starring the Warners tend to be. It's a bit disappointing that a show as creative as Animaniacs went in this direction though as it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It's a pretty faithful adaptation of the old story truncated to 12 minutes or so and punctuated with jokes. The jokes are fairly easy, but still humorous. It's still fair to question whether or not we ever needed Animaniacs to go this route. An original Christmas story would have been preferable, but obviously more work. I suppose I'm glad the Warners were thrust into the ghost role as opposed to that of the Cratchits. Maybe another holiday parody would have worked better? The slapstick nature of Home Alone would have lent itself well to the show, or maybe just have the Warners run wild through Santa's workshop? A Christmas Carol parody is the lowest rung on the holiday special ladder, and I just can't help but feel that this show is better than this. At least this show looks great as this particular episode was entirely animated by the renowned TMS Entertainment. Episodes of this show really don't come any better in terms of looks than what you'll see here.
Thankfully, if you want to spend the holidays with the cast of Animaniacs you have other options. There's the episode that follows this which is less cohesive, but pretty fun. There's also a Christmas cartoon starring Slappy featured in the penultimate episode of the show that's fodder for a future countdown. And there's also the previously mentioned Wakko's Wish if you want to spend an even longer amount of time with the gang at Christmas. That feature has the added appeal of making use of the full ensemble so it's a bit like a celebration or grand finale for the show. If you're really into the show though, you'll probably just want to watch all of them. And if so, don't forget the excellent Pinky and the Brain holiday special!
This cartoon is fine, but the episode that follows makes better use of the entire cast making it my preferred Christmas episode of the two.
If you do indeed wish to invest some of your Christmas viewing time into Animaniacs then it's pretty easy to do so. The entire show is available to purchase on physical media or through digital means. By far, the easiest way though is via Hulu which has the entire series plus the movie on it. It also has other Spielberg cartoons so you can really indulge in some 90s animation and basically all of them feature a Christmas special or two. There's certainly room for Animaniacs at Christmas time, so hopefully you find an episode that works for you.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 15th, 2019 at 1:31 am	and tagged with a christmas carol, amblin, animaniacs, christmas, fox kids, frank welker, hulu, jess harnell, kids wb, rob paulsen, steven spielberg, tms, tress macneille, warner bros and posted in christmas, Television.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
« Dec. 14 – Heathcliff – "North Pole Cat"
Dec. 16 – George of the Jungle – "Jungle Bells" »


Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is adamant that Italy's economy will recover this year.
"I'm not at all worried ... Even the most naive analysts know that at this moment there is a trade war going on between the United States and China.
But is Germany really to blame? We know that the eurozone's largest economy did contract in July-September, and more recent data has been disappointing too. However, German Q4 GDP data hasn't been released yet.
Also France, which is vulnerable to the same forces, actually grew by 0.3% in the last quarter - despite the disruption from the Yellow Vest protests. Germany's slowdown hasn't helped, but Italy's problems go deeper.
Italy's slide into recession leaves a "black mark" on its populist government's early track record, says Oxford Economics.
In Italy, recent data show that its economy fell into recession in the second half of last year. The first estimate of Italy GDP published today showed a drop in GDP of 0.2% in Q4 − a touch worse than our estimate. Italy's national statistical office has not yet published the GDP components, but it stated that net trade provided a positive contribution to growth, while domestic demand was negative.
We expect Italy's consumer demand to have remain subdued and investment to have dropped for the second consecutive quarter during Q4, due to lower business confidence, higher uncertainty and lower supply of credit.
The government's narrative that the problems are mainly from abroad is at odds with some of the data since net trade was positive for the second consecutive quarter while Spanish and France GDP numbers were more solid in Q4 (respectively at +0.7% and +0.3%).
Moreover, the gap between Italian GDP growth and that of the rest of the Eurozone has been widening again, reinforcing our view that idiosyncratic factors (such as negative market reactions, uncertainty and falling confidence) have played a big part.
Looking forward, the moderation in domestic financial market stress and the stabilisation in some indicators, such as employment, should set the stage for a stabilisation in Italian GDP in Q1 2019, but the risks remain clearly on the downside. The recession could drag on into the first half of 2019, particularly if confidence continues to disappoint.
Given the worse than expected GDP number in Q4, we will very likely revise down our Italy forecasts (currently at an already weak 0.3%).
019 will very likely be remembered as a year of no growth in Italy − not a great track-record for the first year of the populist government.
Italy's stock market has not taken the recession well.
The FTSE MIB index of top Italian companies has dropped by 0.7%, or 133 points to 19,638, making it the worst-performing major European index today.
Italy's problem isn't simply that it's suffered three recessions in a decade - although that's bad enough.
It has also struggled to post significant growth in the upturns between the downturns - meaning it has steadily lagged behind eurozone neighbours.
That stagnation eventually led to the election of its current populist government - who argued passionately that the only route out of the mess was to tax less, and spend more.
That Keynesian approach, through, doesn't square with the eurozone's fiscal targets, especially as Italy has to service a huge national debt of €2.3 trillion.
"The latest Italian GDP numbers may come as no surprise to investors, but it does highlight the challenges that still lie ahead for the country and the coalition government.
The slowdown in the country's major trading partners are partly to blame. However, the standoff between the government and the European authorities over the budget in the summer of 2018 has exacerbated the country's weaknesses.
One of the leaders of Italy's coalition partners has blamed his predecessors, and European austerity, for the country's economic mess.
Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio, head of Movement Five Star, says the recession is proof that Europe's budget rules should be relaxed - to allow Italy to stimulate its economy back to growth.
He's clearly still unhappy that Rome's attempts to run a deficit of 2.4% of GDP this year were blocked by the EU.
Di Maio said the previous centre-left government - ousted this spring - was to blame for the recession.
If you're just tuning in, here's Associated Press's take on Italy's fall back into recession.
The Italian economy slipped into recession in the final three months of the year, weighing on the wider eurozone's growth, official figures showed Thursday.
The Italian statistics agency said that Italy, the third-largest economy in the 19-country eurozone, contracted by a quarterly rate of 0.2% in the fourth quarter.
Following a 0.1% drop in GDP in the previous three-month period, that means Italy is in a technical recession, defined as two straight quarters of economic contraction.
The Italian economy has been hobbled by a lack of confidence and waning business activity following the new populist government's spat with the European Union's executive Commission over its budget plans.
The recession in Italy has weighed on the wider eurozone, which grew by only 0.2% in the final three months of 2018, the same as in the previous quarter.
As a result, EU statistics agency Eurostat said that the eurozone expanded by 1.8% in 2018 overall. That's a weak figure after the bloc had started the year predicting only a modest slowdown from 2017's 2.3% rate.
The eurozone has also been hobbled by an unexpected slowdown in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, which suffered an unexpected contraction in the third quarter largely due to changes in emissions standards that snarled auto sales. And uncertainty over Britain's exit from the EU has weighed on sentiment.


Expedia released a survey this week about the most annoying things other drivers do. And texting took the top spot for the third year in a row.
Now here are the five most annoying things PASSENGERS do . . .
1. Backseat driving. 61% of people in the survey said it's the most annoying thing you can do when you're a passenger.
2. Being a bad navigator, 11%. But don't we all just use GPS now?
3. Hogging the radio, 9%. Especially if you're listening to OUR show, and they try to change the station.
4. Falling asleep, 6%. Especially if you're on a long road trip, because you've got no one to talk to.
5. Taking your shoes off, 5%. And it's even worse if you put your feet up on the dashboard . . . and then fall ASLEEP.


text:
Q: Redirect Loop on new WP MultiSite install on AWS Elastic Beanstalk Set up WordPress 4.5.2 on Elastic Beanstalk following this guide:
http://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/deploying-wordpress-with-aws-elastic-beanstalk.pdf
All points of the walkthrough were followed exactly- with the following exceptions...

*

*The MySQL database was set up directly through RDS using ElastiCache rather than through the Eliastic Beanstalk interface. (No issues on database connectivity)

*I am using a development domain name rather than the CloudFront domain. (No issues resolving to any page on the site prior to activating multisite)
NOTE: Domain is registered with GoDaddy (updated with custom NS info). Hosted Zone is set up in Amazon Route53. A Record for domain (no www.) is pointed to the CloudFront endpoint. One CNAME record points www. to just domain (no www.).
WordPress Address and Site Address (in WP General Settings) are both pointed to http://mydevsitename.com
The only active Plugins on the site are W3TotalCache (for CDN through CloudFront - Origin Push) and WP SEO by Yoast (Current versions of both). Theme is 2016 - no modifications.
Enable WP multisite was in my wp-config.php file.
Enabled subfolder multisite network through Tools / Network.
Grabbed the code to change .htaccess and wp-config.php
Here is the .htaccess code generated...
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

Made change to .htaccess using the .htaccess editor in the WP SEO by Yoast plugin to avoid having to deploy a new EBS application. Verified changes by downloading the .htaccess from the active EC2 instance.  (Site still accessible from front end after changes made.)
Here are the wp-config changes generated...
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'mydevsitename.com');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);

I downloaded  the web folder from the staging environment (folder /var/app/current/) locally. I added this code to wp-config.php. Zipped it up and deployed it as a new application in Elastic Beanstalk. This creates a redirect loop on the front end of the site.
I am still able to navigate through WP Admin areas without any issues - 100% functionality. (Uploading media, installing plugins, adding new sites to the network, etc.) ZERO functionality on the front end because of the redirect loop.
This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A: Finally figured out a resolution to this issue. Thought I would share in case anyone else runs into the same problem...
The issue was caused because of when the WordPress installation was converted to multisite.
Even though this was a fresh install, the WP install should be switched over to multisite BEFORE setting up W3 Total Cache. I'm assuming that the cache files and configurations for a single site can create redirect loops when WP is switched to multisite.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
A look behind the scenes at entertainment
On & Beyond
Lexi Ulmer: Writing and singing from the heart
Songwriter Lexi Ulmer could be the next big thing in female pop music
If you watched the MTV Music Awards on Aug. 25, or have turned on a radio in the past couple of years, you know there's an ever-growing popular trend in contemporary music—female singer/songwriters telling it like it is to their former boyfriends in ways totally relatable to scores of other young women. Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat have made millions of fans, and millions of dollars, doing just that.
Add another name to the list—that of 18-year-old Californian Lexi Ulmer. Like Taylor and Colbie, she sings on her self-titled debut EP about love found and lost, dreams hoped for but never realized, bonds broken. She hasn't made a fortune doing it—at least not yet. But again, don't be surprised if she someday joins that list as well—and shows up to collect an MTV Moonman or two of her own.
And ironically, she says she's never been in love.
"I've always been fascinated with it (being in love), though," she said during a telephone interview from Southern California, where she was busy packing before heading off to her first year of college. "I've written songs since I was about 10, but it all truly began when I was a freshman in high school and had a crush on a senior football star. I started writing songs about trivial things…like his girlfriend. It progressed from there."
Her CD features seven songs she penned prior to recording the album last fall. Her opening song, titled appropriately "I'll Start With This," sets the tone for a great musical romp through many emotions. "Get Over It" sends a message to an ex to move on, "Think of Me" warns a former beau that he'll be sorry he let her go, and "The Day I Met You" seems to serve as a launch site for someone meeting that person they fall instantly in love with. The comparisons of her music with that of Swift and Caillat are both flattering and accurate.
Recording the album was a dream come true for Lexi.
"It was the most amazing experience putting it together," she said. "I got to work in a studio over three months with some fantastic musicians and a great producer." She sells the CD on iTunes as well as her website (lexiulmer.com), where fans can connect to everything going on in her life.
But music isn't her only focus. She starts classes this fall at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where she's planning to major in public relations with an emphasis in music marketing. She is a young woman very much in control of her life, and her future.
"I loved Flagstaff from the first moment I visited it," she recalled. "I'm from Lake Arrowhead, and the entire NAU campus is bigger than the town I live in! Plus, it's in the mountains and surrounded by trees—just like here."
Writing and singing "are the most amazing forms of therapy in the world," she said. "That's exactly how I deal with my emotions. I started writing songs to fit the story of how I am feeling at that moment." She spends much of her time online, contacting record labels and looking for representation, as well as scheduling performances at small venues or corporate events. Her goal is to get that first recording contract and take the next big step professionally. She knows things take time, and she seems to have the patience necessary to endure.
Oh, and as for that "never been in love thing," guys—beware. She's in no hurry for that, either.
"I meet people and become easily infatuated, but never long term," she said. "I'm too independent—don't want to have to compromise anything."
That would seem a pretty good formula for success, something very likely close-at-hand for Lexi Ulmer.
–Tom Haraldsen
'Austenland' cast, crew discuss bringing the romantic comedy to theaters
The first time Stephanie Meyer read the novel "Austenland," she said it was "adorable. The best tribute to obsessed Austen freaks (like me) that I've ever read." That was in 2007, when author Shannon Hale's novel was first published by Bloomsbury. Little did either of them know that four years later, they'd be collaborating on a screenplay, along with writer/director Jerusha Hess, to bring that novel to film.
Actress Keri Russell and writer/director Jerusha Hess at the "Austenland" premiere during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival
"Austenland" opens today in a nationwide limited release. It delighted audiences at this year's Sundance Film Festival in January, and enjoyed a true Hollywood-style premiere in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. For Meyer, best known as the author of the "Twilight" series, being a co-producer of the film was a delight—almost as much as reading her good friend Hale's book for the first time.
We caught up with these three ladies, and the talented cast of "'Austenland," at the Festival, in a closed bar that served, as many closed Park City businesses do during Sundance, as a press venue. It was the second time that Hess has been part of a SFF premiere. Along with her husband, Jared, they premiered the hit "Napoleon Dynamite" at Sundance in 2004.
"This time was much different," Hess said of her directorial debut. "There was a lot less pressure than before with 'Napoleon.' It's still very professional, but less stressful for all of us."
She was introduced to Hale's book through a friend, "and I read it that very night. Shannon and Stephanie were friends, and then I became involved and we worked on the screenplay for about a year."
"Austenland" is the story of Jane Hayes, played wonderfully by actress Keri Russell, a single New York woman who has an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Darby from the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice." She soon learns of an opportunity to visit a getaway-destination themed on the Jane Austen classic—a sort of Fantasy Island for women wishing to live out their dreams of meeting the proud and proper gentlemen of Austen's story.
"Jane's (Hayes) obsession with Mr. Darby is over-the-top," Russell told me. "Her bedroom décor is all about Mr. Darby and Jane Austen. She really thinks that visiting the resort will somehow propel her fantasy into reality."
The "Austenland" cast at Sundance
What she soon discovers after arriving at the England countryside resort is that other Austen-crazed women have similar dreams. The resort's owner, Mrs. Wattlesbrook (magnificent Jane Seymour), quickly puts Russell's character in her place, telling her she had not booked the "deluxe" package and thus housing her in a less-than-luxurious room. From there, the fun begins, as Russell meets fellow guests with the "given" titles Miss Elizabeth Charming (scene-stealing actress Jennifer Coolidge) and Lady Amelia Heartwright (funny and neurotic British actress Georgia King). Soon, they are introduced to the gallant men of Austenland—actors JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, James Callis and Ricky Whittle. All of the cast members were present at Sundance for the press interviews, though Coolidge missed the film's premiere due to her role on CBS' "Two Broke Girls."
Jerusha Hess and actress Jane Seymour
"Working with these ladies was delightful," Seymour told me. "I know that Jerusha was directing for the first time, but this seemed like one of the most relaxed and professional sets I've ever been part of."
"I had a ball doing this," Coolidge said during our interview. "I loved the way my character evolved as we went along. One of the best experiences I've had as an actress—working with these guys."
"I think they were all surprised that three chicks could put this together," Hess said in a Q & A after the film's premiere at Eccles Theatre in Park City. "And not just three chicks—but three Mormon chicks."
She said the film was shot at a time when Russell was "quite pregnant" with her daughter Willa. In fact, she was eight months pregnant when the film wrapped.
"When she was riding her horse in the film, we had to make sure to have someone ride right alongside of her, to protect her," Hess said. "Some careful editing to be sure!"
"This was such a marvelous collaborative experience for us," Feild said. "Everything about the production was top notch—from the costumes to the art direction." And Whittle added that "being here at Sundance with the film just makes this experience even sweeter. Although I wish it was a bit warmer outside!"
Ironically, Hess was in Ogden a couple of nights after the film's SFF premiere when she got the word that Sony Worldwide had bought the rights (Sony Pictures Classic is releasing it).
"During our Q & A, some kid came up and told me he'd read on Twitter that the film had been acquired," she said. "Everyone in the cast and crew began texting each other—we were all thrilled."
Jared Hess makes a cameo appearance in the film himself, but this was Jerusha's film from start to finish. Though she's currently taking a break to stay home with the couple's children while Jared is directing a film with Jim Carrey and Owen Wilson, "I'm not done as a director! I loved working with the actors, the costumes and makeup and the artists. This came about organically in a way for all of us, but it's definitely in my blood now. I might never let Jared direct again!"
"Austenland" is rated PG-13 and will likely be opened to a wider audience after its initial premiere week. That's typical of how Sony releases independent films it acquires at Sundance and other film festivals. If you like comedy, romance, and Jane Austen, you'll love "Austenland."
Director David Rodriguez's "Last I Heard" to open HollyShorts Film Festival
Director David Rodriguez. Photo by Diana Ragland
It's a real tribute to a director/screenwriter when he finds his feature-length film invited to open a festival dedicated to short films. That honor has been bestowed on talented filmmaker David Rodriguez, whose dramedy "Last I Heard" will be the opening night presentation at the 9th annual HollyShorts Film Festival on Thursday night (August 15). The eight-day festival will include more than 300 short films in competition, with the opening night presentation solely Rodriguez's.
"Last I Heard" follows a Mafia capo (Paul Sorvino) after his release from federal prison for health reasons, where he served 20 years. As he reconnects with his daughter (Renee Props) and tries to develop a relationship with his neighbor (Michael Rapaport), he realizes life has changed markedly in his Queens neighborhood during the time he was in the joint. Chazz Palminteri, Andrea Nittoli and Lev Gorn round out the all-star cast.
"It's nice to be the first feature film to open HollyShorts," Rodriguez said during a telephone interview for ON and BEYOND from Los Angeles. "It's certainly an honor to open any festival, let alone a festival here in town. There's such a wide variety of films to choose from." Festival co-founder and director Daniel Sol said in a release that, "We couldn't be happier to have such a talented filmmaker and superb cast be the first feature to open HollyShorts." And Theo Dumont, also co-founder and director of the festival, added that Rodriguez' film "is a prime example of how HollyShorts stands apart. We strive to create fun and imaginative platforms for our filmmakers to network and advance their careers."
Director David Rodriguez, center, with actors Chazz Palminteri and Paul Sorvino on the set of "Last I Heard." Photo by Kelsey Bennett
Though he grew up in the Bronx, Rodriguez did not spend much time in inner New York City. His parents moved to Long Island, and eventually enrolled him in the New York Military Academy. There, he met a long-time friend who did live in Queens, and thus, "I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood, getting to know a lot of guys like Paul's character. Everybody says you should write what you know—or what you're most compelled by. What I felt I should do to really break out as a filmmaker was to write and direct something in that arena that I indisputably knew. I know this world and these characters better than most people. I'm also a great listener, as writers should be."
He had no trouble assembling his talented cast for the 18-day shoot, one with limited rehearsals and limited budgets. As he has done with his other films such as "Push" and "The Blue Wall," Rodriguez strived for "a human story, not a blockbuster. The business has catered to a very small fraction of what moviegoers want to see, in my opinion. They want those human connections."
It's a frustration for many filmmakers—striving for real storytelling in an industry where many of those scripts aren't green lit by financiers. He hopes to see that change, and to be part of it. Independent films like "Last I Heard," which Rodriguez is looking for a distributor to help open it wide, are the best way to accomplish that goal of pure storytelling without relying on lots of explosions and CG.
"It still boils down to the script, on how good it is," he said. "I'd like to see us get back to the roots of filmmaking, like what it was in the 70s and 80s. I hope the studios start to become more indie-friendly. They need to understand the dynamics of making an independent film—how everyone gets in the trenches and rolls up their sleeves. At the end of the day, this is our job as directors. It's not a royal title where you sit there and people just bring you things. Actors work their butts off to memorize their lines and get their parts right. We need to do the same as directors, like a general contractor who's also a carpenter when needs be."
He's particularly pleased with "Last I Heard," and the amazing performances by his cast and the work of his crew.
"It was a very collaborative environment," he said. "There was so much emotion and so much work and focus, and very little room for error. At the end of the day, we were able to produce something we are all proud of. I think that will resonate with our audiences when they see the film."
That starts Thursday night, and hopefully, soon in a theater near you.
Ariel Marx: Music to filmmakers' ears
John O'Hurley is singing the standards in Utah
Radha Mitchell: Keeping us in suspense—as usual
Lauren Ashley Carter: The 'Darling' of Indie Horror
Matt Damon: Clean water for all is his mission


Is Homework Good Or Bad For Students - Homework is good... To a certain degree.
So, what should they be doing? Although these do each have their own benefits, having homework to do decreases the time spent in front of the TV and encourages them to use problem solving skills when they would possibly be not putting their time to good use. But is homework necessarily a good thing?
Assigning how to write a cover letter for teacher position "appeared to be a remedial strategy a consequence of not covering topics in class, exercises for students struggling, a way to supplement poor quality educational settingsand not an advancement strategy work designed to accelerate, improve or get students to excel ," LeTendre wrote in an email.
Read tips on how to stop homework fights: In addition, it's been easier for their children to participate in after-school activities. The researchers also found that spending too much time on homework meant that students were not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills.
The research is detailed in his new book, "Reforming Homework: However, homework only bolsters students' academic performance during their last three years of grade school. Sometimes Homework Is Bad So, homework is good because it can boost your grades, help you learn the material, and prepare you for tests. For kids in first grade, that means 10 minutes a night, while high school seniors could get two hours of work per night.
I have seen, and experienced such views. Video games, electronic devices, etc. The same is homework good or bad for students finding holds true across the globe, including in the U. In these cases, homework just means that pupils have to stay up later to finish it, which makes them tired for the next day at school.
If you fall behind, you could fail. His topic? Is homework good or bad for students they grow homework decreases bit by bit.
Past studies have also demonstrated this basic trend. If you don't have the time for the homework, you could hurt your grades even if you ace the tests and understand the subject.
And just what is the point of homework anyway? The Washington Post reported in that some parents have just instructed their younger children not to do their homework assignments. They also interviewed students about their views on homework.
For some classes, homework is an essential part of learning the subject matter. Practices, Learning and Policies" Palgrave Macmillan, More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.
Younger pupils can sometimes find that homework is too hard to handle, causing them to get stressed which, in turn, can discourage them from learning. Homework helps you learn beyond the scope of class. If they hadn't learnt in school, how can the opposing team say that its extra work? The research involved a series of interviews with students, teachers, and is homework good or bad for students, as well as a survey of a total of juniors from two private high schools.
Child image via Shutterstock Piling on the homework doesn't help kids do better in school. Is homework good or us news 10 tips for writing the college application essay for children? When is homework good or bad for students face the challenge, you learn how to get help, how to deal with frustration, and how to persevere. Here are the best reasons why homework is good, especially for sciences like chemistry.
Should we teach them instead, she wondered, that extra work on a project or assignment is simply not necessary? Homework can help boost self-esteem. Homework reinforces the concepts. If you don't do it, it could cost youno matter how well you do on exams.
Working as hard as adults A smaller New York Office curriculum vitae study published last year noted similar findings. Interestingly, high school student Amedee Husky essay wrote her own opinion piece about homework, which was published on the education-focused ASCD website and offered a balanced view on the topic.
Homework that is pointless busywork can lead to a negative impression of a subject not to mention a teacher. As we get older, research proposal on local government realise how much time management impacts us in our icse creative writing competition tasks.
It's often a significant part of your grade. Homework is a good opportunity to connect parents, classmates, and siblings with your education. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor. And inthe President of France called for a ban research proposal on local government homework in primary schools.
According to LeTendre, learning to play a is homework good or bad for students instrument office curriculum vitae participating in clubs and sports all seem beneficialbut there's no one answer that applies to everyone. Updated January 22, Homework isn't is homework good or bad for students for students to do or teachers to grade, so why do triple aim case study And they came back zscaler case study a number of good and bad points.
So why should homework happen to be banned? While some parents and teachers insist that it is an important way to reinforce what goes on during the school day, persistent questions are being raised about how much homework students should get and whether they need it at all.
Submit Homework helps students Homework, as tiring as it maybe, helps kids learn in school. They also faced pressure to take college-level classes and excel in activities outside of school. March 30, According to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University, data shows that in countries where more time is spent on homework, students score lower on a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA.
The researchers found that first and second graders received 28 and 29 minutes of homework per night. More than 80 percent of students reported having at least one stress-related symptom in the past month, and 44 percent said they had experienced three or more symptoms.
Homework can be tiring for pupils, especially if they already engage in extracurricular activities after school and have to complete their homework later on. Homework help the kids to learn at home.
We have all heard business plan for a bakery cafe kids chew gum, pass notes, and even sleep during class. This encourages them to develop good time management, a vital skill which will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
Experts continue to debate the benefits and drawbacks of homework. The researchers asked students whether they experienced physical symptoms of stress, such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.
There cover letter for logistics coordinator entry level noting bad in studying. If children sit through lessons all day and are then given a large amount of homework to complete in the evenings, this could result in them losing interest in school work altogether. That study, published in The Journal of Experimental Educationsuggested that any more than two hours of homework per night is counterproductive.
The better your support network, the more likely you are to succeed in class. You see concepts in a whole new light, so you'll know how equations work in general, not just how they work for a particular example. You need a break from a subject so you don't burn out or lose interest. In science classes, homework problems are critically important. It forces you to make time management decisions, sometimes putting you in a no-win situation.
The same correlation is also seen when comparing homework time and test performance at schools within countries. Example problems from teachers and textbooks show you how to do an my favourite type of music essay.
Share This: This new parental directive may be healthier for children, too. In the Stanford study, many students said that they often did homework they saw as "pointless" or "mindless.
Kids get tons of work and will have to study a lot. Parenting Love it or hate it, homework is a fact of school life. As clearly discussed before, it will most certainly help in the future grades.


text:
U n b r o k e n
prose poems
Two Poems by Julie Gard
Where's Putin?
He is shopping at a Moscow megamall disguised as a teenage model. He is haggling in the market in a headscarf. He is running shirtless on his treadmill, cursing Boris Nemtsov and every Chechnyan who didn't assassinate him. He is standing guard with a Kalashnikov outside of a Vladivostok night club. He is a British tourist on the Trans-Siberian, eating biscuits and reading Anna Karenina in the new Bartlett translation. He is riding a horse in his feverish dreams. From his sick room, he sees trucks lining up outside the Kremlin walls and imagines they're delivering 10,000 blocks of ice cream. He has turned into a bear, one whose entire hibernation is being filmed and watched by schoolchildren in Irkutsk. He is holed up in an underground monastery in Pskov, turning into an onion. He is passing out revolutionary leaflets disguised as a 19th-century peasant. He is paging through seed catalogs at the dacha. He is paging through scrapbooks of the Summer Olympics. He's in Switzerland burping his love child. He is busy being disappeared. He tells them to stop posting lame photos from last week. He tells them to stop overthrowing him. They tell him to shut up. But you're my goddamn inner circle, he says, fingering the dog-eared hit list that they let him keep in his pocket. So much polonium, so little time.
#MeToo, 1563
After Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
Skeleton knights and hatted frogs stand no chance against hausfraus in starched white headscarves. These dames bear swords like natural threshers, bring them down overhead like dancers. There's a rhythm to the pillage that is broken only for bread. When and what, pray tell, is mealtime at the gaping mouth of hell?
The nostril of hell wears a nose ring, the pupil of hell a cream tile. Hell's faces are round and beseeching. What's the use of a spoon poking out of an ass? Plenty if untarnished silver. Behold leaping and flailing, projectile organs and a blood-streaked, smoldering sky. All of evil breaks out of an egg.
Call women a problem and they'll show who the problem is. Close misplaced mouths, drown swimmers and drinkers, mute limb-eating fish and blanched calves. One holds her loot like a child, bundled and close. One presses a fallen man's breastbone, saving or holding him down.
And Meg, Margriet, bold tall Griet, bowls forth with her long-sword and a kitchen knife in her stocking, solid shoes and basket prepared. She is no sex symbol. Wants a new frying pan and justice, wants everything clean and fire does that. Meg is bored by a regular day, longs for night and its audible anguish.
Not pretty enough to harass, but that's never true. A trusting child, a drawbridge that no one thought to put up. Now she makes them scream what they can't take back. Of course, she is mad to the point of crazy. She's had enough and it isn't pretty.
Meg makes hell nervous, like nest-stealing cuckoos eye crows. I was born for this, her gait says. Dulle Griet is nothing but future. Her body is strong bones and air. She leans into what's coming, becomes it.
Julie Gard's prose poetry collection Home Studies (New Rivers Press) was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, and other publications include Scrap: On Louise Nevelson (Ravenna Press) and two chapbooks. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota and is Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Julie Gard
Check out our sister publication, Unlost Journal, founded because we love found poetry and feel it isn't being given nearly enough attention in the literary world.
© 2015 – 2023 U n b r o k e n | Contributing Authors.
Powered by WordPress | Themify Themes


text:
Q: Why does bootRun execute when running the build task? build.gradle
bootRun {
    println 'BOOTRUN'
}

Perhaps I'm being ignorant here. But when I run ./gradlew build, my log statement "BOOTRUN" shows up in the output. Am I misunderstanding something fundamental here?