What stories will be told this year to young audiences across the country? And who will be telling them?
The majority of the Theatre for Young Audiences seasons have been announced by venues across the country, and TYA/USA has reviewed them all to bring you a preview of the national TYA offerings for 2018/2019.
Most Produced TYA Artist: Deborah Wicks La Puma is the most produced TYA artist of the upcoming season. As the composer of Elephant and Piggie's "We are in a Play!" (6 productions), Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience (2 productions), and Ella Enchanted the Musical (4 productions), along with the upcoming She Persisted: The Musical, Ms. La Puma's music will be heard by young people across the country this year in (at least) 13 different productions.
New Voices: Author Jason Reynolds will see two of his novels adapted for the TYA stage this season, with Ghost (adapted by Idris Goodwin) premiering at Nashville Children's Theatre and Long Way Down produced by Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences. This follows the immersive adaptation of All American Boys (Reynolds' collaboration with Brendan Kiely) devised by Off the Page in 2016/17.
New Collaboration Models: Chicago Children's Theatre will co-produce a new work for the very young, The World Inside Me, with New York City's Spellbound Theatre. This work was originally developed as part of The New Victory Theater's LabWorks Program, and will be presented as part of The New Victory's season in addition to a run at Miami Theater Center in 2018/19. This model of collaboration – between a large producing theater, a presenting theater, and a small-to-midsize independent company – is an inspiring model for new work development.
New Experiments: How can TYA theatres and adult regional theatres collaborate in new ways? Children's Theatre of Charlotte and Actor's Theatre of Charlotte created The Second Story Project, a unique commissioning model of two plays by the same playwright (in this case, Steven Dietz), written with an interwoven theme. Both plays are set in the same house on the same evening but take place on different levels. The Ghost of Splinter Cove has young people at the center of the story. Actor's Theatre of Charlotte's companion piece, The Great Beyond, takes place on the house's main floor from the point of view of the family's adults. Both plays are independent and stand on their own. However, audiences will gain a deeper understanding of the characters and storylines by experiencing both plays.
Seeing Double: The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis will get two totally different treatments this season – a new production at Chicago Children's Theatre adapted by Cheryl L. West; and a staged concert reading with live music, adapted by Christina Ham and produced by The Kennedy Center.
Telling New Stories to Our Youngest Audiences. The most consistently innovative sub-genre of our field, in terms of offering totally new narratives not based on previously existing books, is Theatre for the Very Young. Perhaps because the work tends to serve a much smaller audience in terms of capacity, or the audience itself does not yet read (and recognize known titles), TVY leads the way in offering new titles and experimentation in form.
Jonathan Shmidt Chapman is the Executive Director of TYA/USA. He is an artist, producer, writer, curator, and educator dedicated to the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. Throughout his career, Jonathan has been passionate about innovation, experimentation and advocacy in the TYA field. Most recently, Jonathan served as the first Producer of Family Programming at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, creating ways to re-imagine the Lincoln Center campus as an international arts destination for families. Jonathan is also the Co-Founder of New York's Trusty Sidekick Theater Company. He led the company through five years of growth and the creation of 12 original works, including the critically-acclaimed Up and Away (a multi-sensory, immersive experience for young people on the autism spectrum). Recent artistic credits include co-creator of The Cerulean Time Capsule for the Kennedy Center, and director of the world premiere of The Boy at the Edge of Everything (Finegan Kruckemeyer) at Seattle Children's Theatre. He has held artistic and education-focused roles at The New Victory Theater, True Colors Youth Theatre, and the Cloud Foundation. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at New York University, where he teaches coursework on Theatre for Young Audiences.
Thanks for this great info. I'd love to see a follow-up survey of opinions from TYA makers about these trends in our field as they are very relevant. Are most TYA artists and administrators okay with all of TYA being adapted from children's books, or do TYA artists think this is problematic and needs to change? Would TYA/USA consider creating a survey from the field for its members about this?


If you owe a debt and its canceled or forgiven, the canceled amount may be taxable "imputed tax". When we list and sell your property as a " short sale" the reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness rule applies.
Debt is reduced through short sale pre- foreclosure, qualifies for relief. Up to $2 million of forgiven debt eligible for exclusion $1M if filing separately. Anytime you sell for less than purchased price file a cancellation of debit avoid being taxed on money you did not get. It's essential to report on appropriate forms. Click here for Form 982 and bring it to your accountant.
Up to $2 million of forgiven debt is eligible for exclusion ($1 million if married filing separately). The lender is usually required to report the amount of the canceled debt is provided to by the lender on the IRS Form 1099-C.
Loss not from a residence? After the sale you will be taxed on the amount you lost unless you address the loss properly. Consult your accountant or tax attorney. IRS rules for "loss carry back/carry forward" apply.
A tax loss carry back is a provision that allows an individual or a business to use a net operating loss in one year to offset a profit in one or more previous years.
A tax loss carry forward works the same as a tax loss carry back, carrying the tax loss over to a future year of profit.
Losses used for these provisions must be net operating losses, not losses on investments.
Loss from other property and property owed by a businesses, not your residence, have the the lien holder provide the 1099C form. IRS rules for "loss carry back/carry forward" apply. Have your account file accordingly.


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1 star, 70s, Drama
Quadrophenia – 1.5 stars
Me and my boy are scheduled to see The Who playing Quadrophenia from beginning to end next week, so we prepared by watching Franc Roddam's directorial debut, a story of a miserable 1960s London "Mod" (Phil Daniels) eternally at war with his parents, his job, the girl he fancies, rival "Rockers" and all that bourgeois b.s.
Daniels is a punk, through and through, and increasingly, it appears he is mentally disturbed. He either laughs goofily or snarls, and at no point do we feel empathy for his not particularly difficult plight. He has a job, a super cool Vespa, a gang of friends who are pleasant and tepid, and a fondness for readily available pills. His life is also soundtracked to The Who, fer crissakes (poorly, though – it's clear the director didn't know how to fit the music into the film and with the exception of the final scene, the musical contribution of band is distracting rather than evocative).
There are some charms to the movie. It was filmed on location in London and Brighton and the final scene (where Daniels either kills himself or he doesn't) is a pretty impressive (though overlong) helicopter shot of a precarious ride along the Brighton cliffs.
If you look close, you'll also see a boatload of very young Brit actors who went on to solid careers, including Tim Spall, Ray Winstone, and Phillip Davis. It's a shame one of them didn't get the lead, because Daniels appears to have been chosen solely for his likeness to Pete Townsend.
Sting is also featured.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Triple Spooky Scoop Reviews: Suspiria, Us, and Jason X
Posted on December 12, 2019	by mygeekblasphemy
It's the end of an era, folks! Okay, fine, it's just the end of our first annual Horror Bingo–which, yes, should have been finished well over a month ago, but life! Holidays! Disney Plus! The point is, I got it done by Christmas, and that's just gonna have to be good enough.
More importantly . . .
That's right, I WON! Honestly, this was a lot of fun, and I'm already looking forward to Round 2 next year. Before I get into conclusions, though, we have three more movies to discuss: our final two Horror Bingo films and, of course, our reward movie: Jason X.
First Watch or Rewatch: First Watch
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Amazon
Spoilers: Absolutely
Grade: Strawberry
Well. That was a movie.
I was hopeful for this one. I do really enjoy the original film. (Gore! Maggots! Technicolor!) But also, I was kinda excited to see a different take on Ballet Witch Academy cause there are a lot of ways to go with that concept. (Not gonna lie, folks: if Ballet Witch Academy was a show on CW, I'd watch the hell out of it.) Add in Tilda Swinton and a score by Thom Yorke, and I was fucking sold. And credit where credit's due: I do really enjoy that score. Listening to it now, as a matter of fact, and let me tell you: "The Hooks" is a particularly disturbing song when you're listening to it by yourself at midnight. Also, the Susie/Olga dance scene is nothing short of horrific: grotesque, intense, and masterfully shot. There are certain plot developments I like, too, at least conceptually: the reveal that Susie is Mother Suspiriorum, for instance, is certainly intriguing. And that whole line about how the witches won't suffer any retaliation for their votes? HA! I didn't buy that bit of bullshit for one second, so the violent payoff at the end works well for me.
Overall, though, I just really didn't enjoy this movie. I didn't like the opening scene at all, like, Chloe Grace Moretz seems to be going for Crazy, Oh So Crazy, and it feels both atonal AF and, yeah, just kinda ick. At 2 1/2 hours, I think the film is far too long. I'm not saying you can't have long horror films, but I am saying they're hard to do well. (It: Chapter Two also failed at this.) We spend way more time on the psychiatrist than I think is warranted, and I don't love that he's played by Tilda Swinton; the performance is fine (I mean, it's Tilda Swinton), but I find the choice itself unnecessarily distracting. I like the idea of Susie's twist, but not the build or execution of it, and I don't think the film does a very good job developing her and Madam Blanc's relationship, either. Sure, they stare at each other a lot, and I suspect I'm supposed to get mad lesbian chemistry or maybe, IDK, incestuous mother/daughter vibes? Mostly, though, I feel like Suspiria relies way too heavily on its artsy mood and funky editing in an attempt to overcompensate for a lackluster script. I'm not particularly convinced the political backstory is working in the film's favor, either. There were a few moments of interesting horror here, but primarily, I found myself bored, frustrated, or both.
Spoilers: All of them. Watch the film first, please.
Grade: Chocolate
Oh, this is difficult. There's an awful lot I do like about this movie. The acting is great. Lupita Nyong'o is fantastic, Winston Duke is hilarious (he plays Such A Dad), and I really enjoyed Shahadi Wright Joseph quite a bit, too. I'd forgotten Elisabeth Moss was in this movie, and though it's a small role, my God, if she doesn't make the most out of it. There are so many wonderful scenes and moments here: the death of Pluto, basically everything that happens at the Tyler's house, Adelaide and Red's final fight/dance, etc. The soundtrack is phenomenal (I've now switched over to "Anthem," naturally), and I liked a lot of the humor. I'm a huge sucker for family dynamics in horror, and I was definitely invested in these characters as we watched the film.
But I have criticisms, too, and unfortunately, they're not minor ones. Like, when Red gives her monologue near the end of the movie about how the Tethered were kept underground as part of a government experiment and how she banded them together and such, it felt . . . messy. Interesting, certainly, but messy, like there's enough story and metaphor in these five minutes alone to make a whole other movie, but instead of really doing something with it, it's just sorta . . . thrown out there, slapdash as hell. I can't quite decide if we're given too much information here or not nearly enough, but either way, I think the writing is a bit weak in the third act. Still, I was willing to forgive it because, messy or not, Us is weird and fascinating, and I was having a pretty fun time watching it. And then we get Adelaide's Big Reveal, and I just . . .
Look. We were roughly five minutes into this movie before I thought, "Oh, shit, maybe this is an evil changeling story! Maybe Adelaide isn't traumatized; she's just not Adelaide." And you know, there is evidence to support that, particularly whenever Adelaide kills one of the Tethered. But the more Red talked, the more I realized I wouldn't buy that twist anymore. Part of that's dialogue: would she really have a whole speech about the humans Above, specifically calling them "your people," without ever mentioning they were once her people, that the sky was once her sky? Would she say "we're humans too, you know" to someone who, of course, does know? Would she use intentionally ambiguous (and slightly more awkward) phrasing like "how you could've taken me with you" instead of "you could've come with me" or "we could've both lived Above?"
But it's not just dialogue. It's also that the logic and mechanics of this place feel murky as hell: Little Adelaide starts behaving like a shadow while trapped Below, but . . . I don't really know how or why: she isn't mindless like the others, after all. So much here feels vague and inconsistent, and while horror doesn't always have to be logical or explained in full to be successful, that doesn't fly so well when you need to support a Big Twist. And it doesn't help that I just don't think this particular Big Twist adds much to the story, emotionally or thematically; mostly, it just strikes me as an unnecessary cheat, and considering Cheat Unreliable Narrators are one of my biggest storytelling pet peeves? It's a really unfortunate note to end this otherwise very enjoyable film on.
First Watch or Rewatch: Rewatch
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other: Personal Collection DVD
Spoilers: Very much so
Grade: Vanilla
Oh, Jason X. This gloriously silly movie. This loving parody of its own franchise. You can come at me with your "Michael Myers is the best masked killer" until you're blue in the face, but has Michael Myers ever been cryogenically frozen for 400 years? Has he ever cut off a dude's arm purely by falling over? Was he resurrected and reconstructed into Uber Michael by futuristic nano ants? Yeah, I rest my case.
Jason X knows exactly what kind of movie it is. The puns are over the top, the kills are as violent as they are ridiculous, the fashion is hilarious (sometimes even intentionally!), and and everyone just seems like they're having a really good time. The whole movie is a string of meta in-jokes punctuated by absurd violence. (See: the gratuitous nudity holograms and the nod to everyone's favorite sleeping bag death from Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood.) Hell, the whole plot structure is basically one giant homage to Aliens. Also, holy shit, David Cronenberg has a cameo in this! I don't think I even realized that the first time I watched this movie.
I will say it's a little disappointing that a) both black characters on the ship die, and b) they die sacrificing themselves for white people, which is certainly a shitty trope prevalent in horror. That being said, if you're gonna go out in a heroic blaze of glory, you've gotta do it like Peter Mensah, whose character impossibly zooms in from out of nowhere, tackles Jason in space, and steers their bodies towards Earth 2, where they continue to fight even as they burn up in the atmosphere. It is exceptional. It is a thing of beauty.
THE GREAT HORROR BINGO WRAP-UP:
Of the horror films I'd never seen before, my favorites were probably Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Babadook, It Follows, and The Wailing. Meanwhile, my least favorites were Suspiria (2018), Ghost Story, Insidious, and The Witch.
Of the horror films I have seen before, I think The Legend of Hell House remains my favorite, whereas my appreciation for Hostel has considerably dipped.
Movies I'm most disappointed we didn't get to on this go-around: Deep Red, Overlord, and Phantasm.
Movies I'll probably add to next year's Horror Bingo, if I don't watch them before then: Tigers Are Not Afraid, Happy Death Day, and Hausu.
Posted in BABY REVIEWS, Triple Scoop Review	| Tagged Awesome Villain Alert, Ballet, CGI Fail, Costumes are AMAZING, Cryonics!, Dancing, Elisabeth Moss, Explosives? Yeah You'll be Manually Detonating Those By the End of the Movie., FRIDAY THE 13TH, Guilty Pleasures, Horror, Horror Comedies, Horror in Space!, I Love Me A Good Cameo., I Love My Meta, Invasion Movie, Jimmy Noooo!, Jordan Peele, Lupita Nyong'o!, Miscast Much?, More Women Than Men? Surely Not., Nanotech, Not Every Movie Needs To Be Over 2 Hours, Not My Favorite Character!, Originals Vs Remakes, REVENGE!, Score/Soundtrack Made of WIn, Siblings Unite!, Sloooow. So Sloooow., The Future's So Bright We Gotta Wear . . . The Most Hideous Clothing Imaginable, There's Another You And It's EVIL, This Ending Sucks, This is All My Fault. Thus I Must Die., TILDA, Wait - The Majority of the Main Cast Isn't White?, Winston Duke!, Witches!, You'll Have to Go Through Me . . . Oh You Totally Did.	| Leave a comment
Now Available At The Dark: "You Were Once Wild Here"
Posted on December 2, 2019	by mygeekblasphemy
Friends, enemies, wayward strangers stumbling over this blog: I am delighted to announce I have a new story out today. "You Were Once Wild Here" is now available to read at The Dark!
If you are perhaps already familiar with my extensive 2019 oeuvre–it's two stories, including this one–you might notice some similarities in my recent work: 2nd-person POV, for one; also, ace teenage protagonists. I'm extremely fond of both stories; this one, however, is much more noir in both plot and tone. If you happen to like psychic dreams, werewolves, cheerleaders, dysfunctional family dynamics, witchcraft, and murder, this might be something you'd enjoy. Official Radiohead pairing: "We Suck Young Blood."
Posted in WRITING	| Tagged Detectives, Noir, Short Stories, Werewolves, Writing	| 3 Comments
Thanksgiving is a weird holiday, a stressful mix of good food, family dysfunction, and bullshit historical narratives. (Football and parades, too, if that's your jam. FWIW, today also happens to be my birthday, and as you read this, I may very well be eating birthday cake instead of pumpkin pie. The sacrilege of it all.) Now when it comes to holiday movies, Thanksgiving obviously isn't big business, not like Christmas. Still, there are a few films that might work well for annual viewings. You're Next. Addams Family Values. Ready or Not, maybe. And . . . okay, that might be all I got.
. . . or all I had, anyway. Until now.
Comrades, collaborators, potential enemies: may I present to you Knives Out.
Triple Scoop Reviews: Robin Hood, The Sword and the Stone, and Spider-Man: Far From Home
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other – Disney Plus
Spoilers: Not really. Besides, come on. It's Robin Hood.
I grew up on two Robin Hoods: Prince of Thieves and Men in Tights. Disney's Robin Hood, though? Not so much. But now that we have Disney Plus, Mek and I decided a viewing was in order, if for no other reason than to investigate the root cause of everyone's sexual attraction to foxes. (I have to admit, I predictably remain mystified on that front.)
As far as the movie itself goes, it's . . . there? I can't really say I enjoyed it, but I was certainly bemused by it. Sir Hiss is my favorite character, or maybe I just felt the most sorry for him. (The name, of course, is amazing; it would work nearly as well for a cat. Clearly, I need more cats: Sir Hiss and Ser Pounce would obviously go well together.) I find Sir Hiss particularly interesting because a) he doesn't seem to have an equivalent character in any other Robin Hood story I'm familiar with, b) he wears fashionable hats, and c) after explaining how he hypnotized King Richard into leaving for the Crusades, Sir Hiss's hypnosis powers never come back! Writers, seriously. Did no one teach you about Chekhov's Hypnotic Powers? (Dedicated MGB readers: yes, I've made this joke before and fully intend to make it again. In fact, Chekhov is gonna be a whole damn tag now.)
I was also fond of Lady Kluck because to my very great surprise, she kind of kicks ass. Sadly, once she's done kicking the shit out of Prince John's guards, she mostly drops out of the movie. (As does Maid Marian, oddly enough.) Prince John himself is . . . ah . . . well, it's certainly an interpretation. The constant thumb-sucking weirded me out, and generally, I found him more aggravating than funny, although he does actually have two of the best lines in the whole movie: "release the royal fingers!" and "I sentence you to sudden, instant, and even immediate death." Alas, the rest of the film? Meh.
The Sword and the Stone (1963)
Spoilers: I mean, I guess? There isn't really that much to spoil.
Continuing the Nostalgia Train–well, Mekaela's Nostalgia Train, anyway, because she apparently watched a lot of old Disney movies before I was born or while I was doing other important things, like napping–we have The Sword in the Stone. I'm not sure how I would've felt about it as a child, but as an adult, well. It's kind of a hot mess. Like, there are a few genuinely funny moments, sure. Honestly, I think I enjoyed this one more than Robin Hood, despite the fact that Robin Hood at least has something resembling a plot. This movie . . . yeah. There's no plot to be had: it's just Arthur turning into various animals and being chased around by other animals. That's it. That's the movie.
Of course, these scenes are supposed to be lessons. And that could actually be pretty cool, except a) Arthur never really learns anything (except that knowledge is power, I guess), and b) he never uses what little he does learn during the course of this movie. Like, I thought maybe he'd figure out how to trick Sir Ector and Ser Kay into taking him to London? But nope, Arthur's just a last minute replacement because Sir Kay's squire got sick. Then I thought, okay, Arthur must do something semi-crafty to find our titular sword, like, maybe he's forbidden from trying to lift it? Instead, Arthur just stumbles across said sword when he forgets Sir Kay's blade and needs a hasty replacement weapon. In short, Arthur proves he deserves to be the King of England by being the worst fucking squire of all time.
It's also hilarious that three different actors voice Arthur, and at least one of those voices is really bad. OTOH, I generally liked Merlin and Archimedes well enough. Merlin is a delightfully irresponsible and terrible teacher, and I can't lie: I kinda wanna cosplay Bermuda Merlin now. So, the film isn't wholly without merit; it just has serious narrative problems, and also, how the fuck could they just leave Girl Squirrel crying like that? This is some bullshit. Justice for Girl Squirrel!
Spoilers: Not really
Moving on from Classic Disney to Present Disney (We Own Everything, Including Your Souls), we have the latest Spider-Man film. I didn't see Far From Home in theater, partly because Mek didn't want to, partly because I've really been feeling the Marvel burnout this year. Still, I did enjoy this one. I continue to really like Tom Holland as Spider-Man, and not just because he hurts so pretty; that kid's been great since Civil War, and obviously won my heart forever with "Umbrella." Which, yeah, you've already seen 76 times, but I just linked the video, so now you have to watch it for the 77th time. Those are the rules.
This is a decent follow-up to Endgame, a solid balance of humor and action and Feels. I'm happy that the film spent at least a little time addressing the consequences of the Blip, though I can't in good conscience say that "blip" with a straight face. We're not . . . we're not really going to keep calling it that, are we? (We should never, ever stop saying "the Peter Tingle," though, because that shit's hilarious.) I'll admit, what I want more than anything is a character drama and/or missing person detective story that takes place in a post-Endgame world, but obviously, that's something I'll never get.
The supporting cast is also great: Jake Gyllenhaal appears to be having a blast in this movie, I absolutely adore Zendaya as MJ, and Martin Starr and J.B. Smoove are pretty great as the class chaperones. Other than that, I'm honestly not sure how much else I have to say. If comparing to other Spider-Man movies . . . I think I liked Homecoming more, and I know I liked Into the Spider-Verse more. But I also didn't have any major problems with it, either. If comparing to everything else in the MCU . . . fuck that shit, there's been like 700 of these movies, and I have things to do. In general, I'd say it's somewhere upper-middle for me? Not one of the more ambitious or groundbreaking of the Marvel films (yes, I would qualify some as such), but also fairly charming, entertaining throughout, and overall pretty solid.
Posted in BABY REVIEWS, Triple Scoop Review	| Tagged Arthurian Shit, Awesome Villain Alert, Badass Motherfucker Samuel L. Jackson, Chekhov Forgot His Gun, Comic Book Movies, DISNEY, Editing Fail, Folktales and Legends, Good Sequels, High School, Historical Figures, I Love Me A Good Cameo., I Watch Old Movies So I Can Pretend I'm Cultured., I've Been There!, J.K. Simmons, Jake Gyllenhaal, MARVEL, Originals Vs Remakes, Poignant Hallucinations, Public Monument? Lets Destroy It., Rich People Suck, Robin Hood, Scene Stealers, So Did This Once Have a Plot Or . . ., Spider-Man, superheroes, Teen Movie!, Tom Holland Is My Favorite Spider-Man, Villain Fail, Witches!, ZENDAYA	| Leave a comment
2019: Award Eligible Work and Recommended Short Stories
It's that time of the year again: Award Nomination Season is upon us.
My own list of award-eligible works could not accurately be described as a list so much as a solitary bullet point. Nevertheless, I'm very proud of that particular bullet point:
"Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future" – Nightmare (October 2019)
Can you call your own story heartwarming? Is that a writer faux pas? Because, honestly, that's how I like to think of it: a heartwarming sequel to a slasher movie. If you like stories that feature deconstructed horror tropes, found families, ace protagonists, violence, humor, and Feels, well, please consider making my day and checking it out.
ETA: Apparently, I was incorrect before; I have two bullet points. My story "You Were Once Wild Here" in The Dark will also be eligible!
"You Were Once Wild Here" – The Dark (December 2019)
I'm pretty fond of this one, too. It's, IDK. Brick meets Teen Wolf? Read if you like neo-noir, werewolves, ace-lesbian protagonists, second-person POV, weird magic, and psychic dreams.
Moving on: I am, as always, forever behind on my short story reading. Nevertheless, here are some of my favorites from 2019, in no particular order:
1. "We Are Here To Be Held" – Eugenia Triantafyllou (Strange Horizons)
This story is weird and gorgeous and I love it. Complicated maternal relationships and how the way you're raised feeds into how you raise your children. What you learn, what you forgive, what you stand firm against. A lovely story with a perfect conclusion.
The first time your mother swallows you whole you don't really see it coming.
2. "Away With the Wolves" – Sarah Gailey (Uncanny)
This is a lovely story about chronic pain and learning to let go of unearned guilt, about putting your needs, health, and happiness above what society unjustly demands. Bonus joy for shapeshifters and positive female friendships.
I'm still me when I'm a wolf, even if I'm missing some of the things that other people think of when they think of me. Even if I'm missing one of the biggest things I think of when I think of me.
3. "As The Last I May Know" – S.L. Huang (Tor)
Breathtaking. A story about war and propaganda and putting a human face on weapons of mass destruction, literally. What's wonderful about this one is that it doesn't condemn or glorify; it's not so much about what decision is made but how it's made. It's not whether the ends justify the means. It's that choosing to go through with those ends should never, ever be easy.
She didn't know how, after so many people had read what was in her heart, she could feel so much like she had no voice.
4. "Where Gods Dance" – Ben Serna-Grey (Apex)
A swift gut punch of a story. Full of grief and dark wonders. A story about the inability to recreate what you've lost.
If he screamed, I never did hear it. They all spoke so softly. Abiram was his name. Marked but unburied.
5. "A Catalog of Storms" – Fran Wilde (Uncanny)
Oh, this is just lovely. Fascinating magic, strong family dynamics, and elegant prose throughout. A fantastic read.
While Mumma and I are gone, the Mayor comes by our house and puts a ribbon on our door. We get extra milk every Tuesday.
That doesn't make things better, in the end. Milk isn't a sister.
6. "This Is How" – Marie Brennan (Strange Horizons)
I am . . . I don't want to say that I dislike redemption stories, exactly, but I can be a bit wary of them. Redemption, I think, can easily be handled poorly, even irresponsibly. Forgiveness, too. But this is a dark and beautiful fantasy about repentance and mercy and transformation, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
A cat may let her prey run for a time before she catches it again, but not a valravn. He keeps what he kills, and will not let the man's soul go.
7. "The Answer That You Are Seeking" – Jenny Rae Rappaport (Lightspeed)
This one hit me. Maybe because there was a school shooting the day before I read it, or because I live in one of the cities listed in this article, or because there have literally been more mass shootings than days of the year here in America. It hit me because the prose is concise and striking. It hit me because the desperation is real.
It's the lollipops that break you.
8. "How The Trick Is Done" – A.C. Wise (Uncanny)
I mean, look, I've been an A.C. Wise fangirl for years. I love pretty much all of her work, and this story–with ghosts and resurrections and stage magicians and rabbit funerals and murder–is just a wonderful read, about people learning to let go of their toxic relationships, about learning to define themselves in new ways.
"I'm a Resurrectionist." Angie's mouth twists on the words, but she can't think of a better way to explain. "Death and I have an understanding."
9. "The Tailor And The Beast" – Aysha U. Farah (Uncanny)
A queer Beauty and the Beast where it's the father who offers to trade places with his imprisoned daughter? I mean, yes, please. Lovely and sweet and romantic AF.
A beast dwelt in the castle on the hill.
There was nothing so very strange or unusual in this circumstance; recently it had been tremendously in fashion. A witch couldn't really hope to make her debut in society without imprisoning at least one troublesome young man behind stone walls.
10. "The House Wins In The End" – L Chan (The Dark)
L Chan writes fantastic ghost stories. This is just fact. His hauntings are creepy and unusual, and they linger in your mind long after reading. This one is full of memory and trauma and the long, lonely struggle of learning to put your ghosts to rest. A wonderful read.
This is not a haunted house story. This is what happens after.
Happy reading, everyone! If anyone has any other short story recommendations of their own, I'd love to hear them in the comments.
Posted in LISTS, WRITING	| Tagged Fairy Tales, Ghosts, Short Stories, Werewolves, Writing	| 1 Comment
Triple Spooky Scoop Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Hostel, and The Legend of Hell House
Posted on November 6, 2019	by mygeekblasphemy
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Hulu
Spoilers: Absolutely, and not just for this film. I will also heartlessly spoil Alien, Aliens, Scream, AND Halloween
I enjoyed this. I wish I could judge it against the 1956 film, but unfortunately, I haven't watched that movie since I was 16 (studying McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare in US History, natch), and while I liked it at the time, I remember very little about the film now. Still, this 1978 remake is a lot of fun, and hey, look at all these people in it! Jeff Goldblum as a spiteful and atypically charmless writer! Leonard Nimoy as the evil psychiatrist version of Spock! (I'm specifically thinking of "This Side of Paradise.") Robert Duvall as some rando priest on the swings! (It's an uncredited cameo.) And, of course, Donald Sutherland as our fluffy-haired love interest turned doomed protagonist. I can't believe I've finally seen the movie for this GIF! (You might think said GIF would've been a spoiler, but since I almost always see it in a "no, God, not YOU" context, I didn't realize what was going to happen until right before it did.)
Also? Veronica Cartwright is the actual final girl here! Sure, things aren't looking great for her right now, but nevertheless, Nancy is a side character–the second female lead, even–who makes it further than anyone else in the film, and I am fascinated by that. Try to think of other horror movies where that even happens. It'd be like Halloween where Annie makes it instead of Laurie. Or Tatum outliving Sidney in Scream, or Vasquez surviving Aliens when Ripley does not. (Or hell, Veronica Cartwright herself in Alien.) It's pretty much just not a thing, is my point. Besides, Nancy's really clever: she's the one who figures out how to evade detection, successfully continues doing so when Elizabeth cannot, and hey, she likes to read! I'm extremely excited to add Nancy to my list of Interesting Final Girls.
There are, admittedly, a few moments that are pretty hard to take seriously, like the mutant dog or how it initially looks like Earth is being invaded by space sperm. On the other hand, the scene where Donald Sutherland takes an axe to his own half-formed pod face is pretty great, and the moment when Elizabeth crumples apart is surprisingly sad. It's always great when a horror movie can hit you with surprise Feels, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers successfully does this for me.
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Other – Personal Collection DVD
Spoilers: Definitely
I first watched Hostel (and reviewed it*) way back in 2010, and at the time, I really enjoyed the movie. But I also hadn't seen it in several years, and had a sneaking suspicion that I'd feel differently about it now. My suspicions proved accurate.
Even now, I still don't hate Hostel. But things have changed in the past decade, and one of those things is my tolerance for watching assholes be assholes for any elongated period of time. We're with these dudes for about 40 minutes before we really get what we came for, and while it does make sense to have a lengthy first act when the bulk of your horror is gory, torture-based violence . . . like, who wants to sit through 40 minutes of these little shitheads running around, being jerks, and seeing a truly improbable number of tits? (Jesus God, the ludicrous amount of tits in this movie.) It seems like there are two ways to fix this: either make these characters a lot more likable, or have Oli and Josh go missing much earlier in the film, putting the focus on Paxton as Amateur Detective rather than Paxton, Infuriating Dick.
Other problems I have with Hostel: a) Paxton's backstory, not because of the backstory itself but because of just how lazily it's dumped into the script, like, this is a teachable moment on How Not To Handle Exposition, b) how Josh, our only gay** and non-villainous character, dies, and c) Kana's suicide, because come on, what the actual fuck. If she'd decided to kill herself months or even days after the fact, okay, that's one thing, but to have her jump in front of a train here, just five minutes after escaping, because half her face is fucked up? Thanks, I hate it. Honestly, I hated this ten years ago, too, but when I read that the actress thought it was plausible, I tried giving it the benefit of the doubt. No more. This is total bullshit. Absolutely cannot deal.
All that being said, there are still things I like about this movie. For instance, that Achilles tendon shot remains fucking iconic. I think it's interesting that Paxton is the only person you actually see murder anyone on screen. (Well, except for the Bubblegum Sociopath Street Gang, of course. I still kinda adore these random violent little children.) I actually like a lot about Paxton, if not Paxton himself: his ability to speak German, his revenge scene, his general ingenuity when it comes to survival. (Not to mention, Jay Hernandez's performance; he's pretty great in this.) Again, this is fascinating trope subversion because Paxton seems like the kind of asshole who gets killed off halfway through, when instead that's Josh, our shy, asthmatic Nice Guy. Josh is such an obvious Final Boy that I really enjoy his surprise death–or would, anyway, if it weren't for the Bury Your Gays thing.
*As always, the older the post, the more horrified I am by it. I do stand by some of my opinions in this review (I'm not linking to it; you can find it if you really want to), but I've also grown as both a writer and a feminist, and some of this review is just hideously painful to reread. It's particularly jarring, too, because I mention some things about myself that just blatantly aren't true . . . only I hadn't realized that yet. Ah, the slow, frustrating process of self-discovery.
**Josh's sexuality is not directly stated, but it is heavily implied.
Spoilers: Yup
I enjoyed The Legend of Hell House when I watched it on a whim last year, but I think I might've enjoyed it even more on the second go-round. The things that bothered me then still bother me now, unfortunately: like, the (apparently toned down) erotic hauntings are total bullshit. The only reason Ann is even here is so that someone can get possessed by a horny ghost. (You'll notice it's always the women who are getting "sex-possessed" in these movies.) The character literally does nothing plot relevant, not once, and considering this story really only has four characters? Come on. Florence, at least, is extremely plot-relevant, but she also decides to have sex with Daniel the Friendly Ghost in order to free his spirit, or something–only to find out that Daniel never actually existed; instead, Florence gets raped and possessed by Evil Belasco's Ghost.
So, yeah. That's . . . that's a lot. But there is genuinely a lot to enjoy, too: the premise is basically my dream story, like, a scientist, a psychic, and a traumatized sole survivor–who's also psychic–are hired to uncover the mysteries of the spooky haunted house? People, I'm in love. I also really like how this movie deals with physical mediums versus mental mediums and how our skeptical scientist does believe in psychic energy and scientific exorcisms; he just doesn't believe in actual ghosts. I enjoy all of the trances and hauntings that aren't based in shitty erotica, like, there's some decent atmosphere in this movie. Young Michael Gough as Evil Preserved Corpse is perfectly creepy. And the mystery of "Who Is Actually Haunting Us?" is pretty fun throughout, although I will say that I'd like the "multiple ghosts" theory better if the mediums came across a fake ghost besides Daniel. (Say, Evil Belasco was impersonating someone Ben knew from the last expedition.) Also, while I quite like that it was Belasco All Along, the big reveal about his homicidal Napoleon Complex is, I think, pretty underwhelming. Although credit where credit's due: the clues leading up to this in Ben's backstory are pretty expertly handled.
The Legend of Hell House doesn't always get a ton of love (at least, not when compared to other classic haunted house movies) and clearly there are things I'd like to change. But I honestly do think it's a pretty neat take on the sub-genre and well worth a watch if you haven't seen it before.
Posted in BABY REVIEWS, Triple Scoop Review	| Tagged Asthma in Film, Chainsaws!, Evil Aliens, Ghosts, Gore!, I Watch Old Movies So I Can Pretend I'm Cultured., I'm Only Here To Be Your Love Interest, I'm Queer. And Dead., I'm Sexy Now That I'm Evil, I've Been There!, Invasion Movie, It Was ME All Along!, It's Donald Sutherland, Jay Hernandez, NIMOY, Protagonist I Hate You, REVENGE!, Roddy McDowall, San Francisco!, So Pretty Much Everyone Is A Dick, Someone's Been Possessed!, Surprising Feels, That's Some Dead Tribble Foreshadow, The Final Girl, The Jeff Goldblum, The Totally Necessary Boob Shot, There's Another You And It's EVIL, Torture Porn, Veronica Cartwright, Why Don't I Slip You Into Something More "Comfortable"	| Leave a comment
Triple Spooky Scoop Review: Leprechaun, The Witch, and The Cell
Spoilers: Yeah, but come on
Horror Bingo was briefly put on hold last week during the great Sonoma County Evacuation, but that doesn't mean horror wasn't achieved! Mekaela, Lindsey, and I ended up nostalgia-watching Leprechaun, and boy, is it just as bad as I remember.
I mean, okay, some of the comedy is obviously intentional. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean that the intentional comedy is actually funny. Honestly, it's hard to know where to begin with this one. The terrible prologue. The ridiculous storyline. The overall poor acting. The "slow friend" as comedic device. The Leprechaun's makeup. The fact that our painting crew is apparently painting the house fire engine red and bright blue, like, what the fuck even is that? Tori's weird shorts, which even in the 90's were a choice. Also: the truly tragic fact that Warwick Davis does not succeed in murdering our heroes because they're all pretty awful; the only one I even halfway like is Alex, the precocious child, and honestly, that might just be because I remember the actor from Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. I would happily have pushed Jennifer Aniston's character down a well, and her love interest, too. Oh, that whole "feminism" exchange is so, so painful.
Although credit where credit's due: death by pogo stick is always genuinely hilarious. More pogo stick deaths, please!
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, or Other: Netflix
Well, My Geek Blasphemy is about to earn its name today: The Witch is one of the biggest horror movies of the decade, and unfortunately, I didn't much like it.
I do like parts of it. It's very well-shot, of course. The scene with the ravens is, ah, effectively memorable. (Poor Kate Dickie. Between this and Game of Thrones, I can't imagine how many breastfeeding jokes she must get every day.) The performances by Anna Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Harvey Scrimshaw, and Kate Dickie are all very strong, and I kind of enjoy this movie's whole "if Shakespeare wrote Puritan-horror" vibe–although I did have to concede defeat about twenty minutes in and put on subtitles because between the accents and the colonial American vernacular, I realized I was only catching maybe one word out of ten. I also genuinely enjoy this story's pace. There aren't a lot of negative reviews for The Witch, but the few complaints I did find were mostly about the film being slow and dull. Those were definitely not problems I had with the movie.
So, what didn't I like? Honestly, I'm having trouble articulating that. Certain scenes are easy enough to point to: Caleb's whole religious ecstasy–heavy emphasis on the ecstasy–sorta icks me out, and, like, not the good kind of ick? You know, maybe, let's not with kids? But I have larger thematic problems, too. Like, I have never said this before, ever, but I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed The Witch more if it was just a psychological horror film. If, say, Caleb came back from the woods all weird and dying, and we never knew exactly what happened to him out there, only that it sent the family into paranoid self-destruction . . . those were the moments I genuinely liked. That's where I think the horror is most successful. And to be fair, I don't hate all of the supernatural elements: Black Phillip was cool, also those ravens, and I did like the shot of the levitating witches–although they're naked because of course they are. (See also: the witch who seduces Caleb with her extremely prominent and wicked breasts.) Which, I get it: the witches here are presented like they would've been in the 1600's. Research, historical accuracy, blah blah, woof woof.
The problem is you're telling this historical New England folktale in 2019, when I'm well-aware of what happened to the actual women accused of witchcraft in this era, and while I think you can tell a story about evil Satanic witches from the 1600's, I'm not totally convinced you should. (I didn't love how The Conjuring handled this, either, BTW.) At the very least, I don't think this is the way to do it: surely, there must be a way to discuss/delve into/update these Puritanical fears without also embracing such awful misogynistic stereotypes. And I do think this movie embraces those stereotypes; since watching this film, I've come across at least three different articles praising the subversive feminism of The Witch, and if that was your takeaway, okay, I'm not trying to rip that from you. But personally, I came away with the exact opposite reaction, and ultimately, I think that's because this is a "driven to evil" story that I just don't buy.
There are ways Thomasin's turn to Satan could've worked for me. For instance, I might've bought it if her motivation had been wholly pragmatic, the desperation to survive in this awful, barren landscape on her own. I might've bought it if she'd gone mad with vengeance and grief, if she'd needed the Devil to find and punish the twins who she'd come to blame for all of this. And sure, you can argue those are subtextual motivating factors, but they're also pointedly not what Satan actually offers; instead, he pitches pretty dresses and the chance to live deliciously. (To be fair, wouldst thou like to live deliciously is a damn good line.) Because, you know. Thomasin mentioned missing stained glass windows that one time, and that's how you get women: through materialism.
Likewise, I've seen it argued that Thomasin is making a baller power move here, that she and all those other floating, orgiastic witches in the woods are finally embracing their sexuality. But to me, all they're really doing is validating the belief that without God, without men, women are both easily manipulated and spiritually vulnerable. They can be won over by shiny things, and they will grind up babies for beauty and power, and if they're not vigorously protected from their baser instincts, they will lose themselves to their instinctual sexual mania, becoming wanton creatures capable of luring innocent boys to their deaths. Seriously. There are lots of ways to symbolically depict "embracing your sexuality," but I can't help but feel that a girl stripping down for a goat and joining a bunch of other writhing naked women ritualistically chanting their devotion to some eternal dude is, well, a very dude fantasy to have.
Ultimately, The Witch condemns religious paranoia while also making the argument for its justification, and that just doesn't really sit right with me, thematically or morally.
The Cell has a lot of problems; I know this. Some actors were spectacularly miscast, like, Marianne Jean-Baptiste is a great scene stealer and Vincent D'Onofrio with his proto-Anton Chigurh haircut is dead-on, but Vince Vaughn as our FBI profiler dude? Honey, no. Jennifer Lopez wouldn't have been my top choice for our psychologist heroine, either, but honestly, she's not bad in the role; it's how they use her that's ridiculous, like, that scene where she's in a shirt and panties and so ludicrously, so obviously posed next to the refrigerator? Ugh. Come on, dudes. Also, I can't imagine this film's depiction of schizophrenia is any more accurate or less offensive than most horror movies. And I just can't get over this ending where Jennifer Lopez locks everyone out of the system, brings permanently comatose serial killer D'Onofrio into her mind, ends up mercy killing him–and then? Not only doesn't she get arrested, not only does she keep her job, she somehow gets permission to bring the comatose child into her brain after she just murdered someone during that procedure!
Regardless, I have a lot of nostalgia for this movie; it kind of blew my mind when I was 15, and while the special effects have aged predictably poorly after 20 years, I still love a lot of the cinematography, fashion, and design. This shot for instance–maybe begin at the 2.17 mark–is still absolutely gorgeous. (Watch this whole clip if you'd like a lesson/reminder on the aesthetics of early 2000's horror because this NSFW scene is strongly reminiscent of 2002's Thir13en Ghosts.) All the art history inspiration is really cool, too: the creepy women in the sand, the fucked up horse, all the H.R. Giger shit. I like that Anne Marie, our current victim, figures out how to survive long enough to be saved by the FBI. And I'm just a sucker for this basic premise, like, it's basically Inception meets Silence of the Lambs, and I am all about that. I'd have watched more standalone sequels in a heartbeat. Shit, I'd probably still watch those sequels, or maybe an updated remake, or, ooh, what about a whole TV show? (Okay, I think that's basically what Reverie was, but despite the awesome presence of Sarah Shahi, that show didn't even make it a full season. We can do better.) So, yeah, this one has serious flaws, but I still kinda treasure its surreal what-the-fuckery.
Posted in BABY REVIEWS, BLASPHEMIES, Triple Scoop Review	| Tagged Art History, Bad Horror, Bechdel Fail, Cinematography FTW, Costumes are AMAZING, Family Dysfunction, Gore!, Guilty Pleasures, Horror, Horror Comedies, Intestines!, Literal Deal With the Devil, Maniacal Laughter, Miscast Much?, Mythology, Not Exactly Girl Power, Oh the Simple Life, Oscar Winners and Nominees, Protagonist I Hate You, Satanists!, Scene Stealers, Siblings Unite!, The "Hilarious" Intellectual Disabled Character, The One Girl, The Pet is Doomed., The Totally Necessary Boob Shot, The WIll to Kill, This Ending Sucks, Villain Fail, Witches!, Wow Your Love Interest Is A Dick, WTF Ending	| 11 Comments


When a gunman killed 28 people in Sandy Hook Elementary School six years ago, Willie Johnson believed that gun safety laws would soon be reformed.
As the state legislature prepares to convene, local clergy and the Metropolitan Organization on Sunday held a gun control vigil at Trinity United Methodist Church. Those present spoke passionately about gun safety policies.
"Despite the fact that we're supposed to be a first-world country, a civilized nation, a nation of laws, we continue to see the scourge of gun violence in the United States," said Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo.
In January, Acevedo will become president of Major Cities Chiefs, a group of the police chiefs from the largest cities in the United States and Canada, and said he would use the position to argue for implementing a universal background check and closing what's known as the gun show loophole, which allows private individuals to sell and trade arms without background checks.
"We are going to be a lot more vocal," Acevedo said.
While organizations such as Major Cities Chiefs are gearing up to advocate for change on a federal level, the Mayor's Commission on Gun Violence has researched safety policies that the city, county and state can implement.
One of the members of the commission, Abbie Kamin, pointed to the gun show loophole as an issue that could be acted upon locally. "That's something the city can do immediately," she said.
As the roughly three dozen present remembered the tragedy, many expressed frustration at what they perceived as a lack of progress. Wasiq Javed, a freshman at the University of Houston, is also on the Mayor's Commission on Gun Violence and spoke about the impact Sandy Hook had on him as a 12-year-old.
David Lyon, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel, read an opinion piece he wrote for the Houston Chronicle in January of 2013. After every mass shooting in the years since, he has referred to the article and says he could still write it word for word. He eventually published a version for his congregation with blanks instead of the words "Sandy Hook" so that members could fill in the name of the latest disaster.
"Our purpose here is to stop filling in the blanks and change the narrative," Lyon said.
For the Ed Jones, the pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, the urgency of the vigil that he had been planning for months had been underscored by personal tragedy that very week.
A family member, 17-year-old Drew Conley, had been shot and killed the Monday before.
"He should've played football in the playoffs Friday night," Jones said, of Conley, a Fort Bend Marshall defensive back.


text:
Matt watkins hockey
2020-01-23 01:43 Watkins was the Midget AAA offensive player of the year in his home province and also the top scorer. The sniper moved on to the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL and continued his strong offensive production with 74 points in 60 games. He also played in the BCHL AllStar game. 5th round (160th overall), 2005
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Matt Watkins (born November 22, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who is currently playing for the Portland Pirates in the American Hockey League (AHL). He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the 5th round (160th overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Watkins signed a matt watkins hockey
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I'm raising money for my best friend, Fred, who is fighting stage four cancer. He is strong, he is brave, and he is focused, but this is a fight that could level anyone, especially with the complexities of insurance and treatments. It can make fighting for your life just one of the things on your daily list.
It is also an expensive process. Between deductibles, out-of-network expenses, and specialized treatments only done in out-of-state hospitals, it can add up very quickly. No one should have to worry about these things while dealing with health issues, but then no one ever accused our health-care system of being perfect. What this situation has become though, is an opportunity for me to help a friend who would normally reject charity of any kind. Since everyone needs a hand now and then, I am doing what I can to help him through this difficult process.
If you are only able to read this and send him good wishes, they will be greatly appreciated. If you could possibly share this campaign, I would owe you one.
This generous donation is from Joseph J. Slater Jr.
Stay strong Fred. Your friends are with you.
Fred you are an awesome guy. Love you man, and keep on fighting.


text:
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Texas Jibs from AJ Austin on Vimeo.
everything in this is so right. first off, it's aj austin- dude is not only a character but one of those remaning on 700c with a RIGHT hand drive where he grinds on his RIGHT side (RAAAAADIIICALLLL). you also have john prolly going "woo" in the background which makes you kinda wanna go "woo" too. that bike switch was one of those things that on paper seems stupid, but in real life looks stupid-cool, that hop 30 seconds in was impressive, and nose mannys for days. very nice.
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text:
package httpserver

import (
	"bytes"
	"context"
	"errors"
	"fmt"
	"github.com/graniticio/granitic/v2/httpendpoint"
	"github.com/graniticio/granitic/v2/instance"
	"github.com/graniticio/granitic/v2/logging"
	"net/http"
	"regexp"
	"strconv"
	"time"
)

type logFormatPlaceHolder int

const (
	unsupported = iota
	remoteHost
	ctxValue
	clientID
	userID
	receivedTime
	requestLine
	statusCode
	bytesReturned
	bytesReturnedClf
	requestHeader
	percentSymbol
	method
	path
	query
	processTimeMicro
	processTime
)

type logLineTokenType int

const (
	textToken = iota
	placeholderToken
	placeholderWithVar
)

type logLineToken struct {
	tokenType       logLineTokenType
	placeholderType logFormatPlaceHolder
	content         string
	variable        string
}

func newTextLogLineElement(text string) *logLineToken {

	e := new(logLineToken)
	e.tokenType = textToken
	e.content = text

	return e
}

func newPlaceholderLineElement(phType logFormatPlaceHolder) *logLineToken {

	e := new(logLineToken)
	e.tokenType = placeholderToken
	e.placeholderType = phType

	return e
}

func newPlaceholderWithVarLineElement(phType logFormatPlaceHolder, variable string) *logLineToken {

	e := new(logLineToken)
	e.tokenType = placeholderWithVar
	e.placeholderType = phType
	e.variable = variable

	return e
}

// UnstructuredLineBuilder creates strings that correspond to traditional line-based entries in an accesss log, where the
// meaning is inferred by position of each field in the line
type UnstructuredLineBuilder struct {

	// The format of each log line. See the top of this GoDoc page for supported formats. Mutually exclusive with LogLinePreset.
	LogLineFormat string

	// A pre-defined format. Supported values are framework or combined. Mutually exclusive with LogLineFormat.
	LogLinePreset string

	cf         logging.ContextFilter
	elements   []*logLineToken
	utcTimes   bool
	instanceID *instance.Identifier
}

// SetInstanceID records the ID of the current instance
func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) SetInstanceID(i *instance.Identifier) {
	ulb.instanceID = i
}

// SetContextFilter provides access to a component that has limited access to data stored in a context.Context
func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) SetContextFilter(cf logging.ContextFilter) {
	ulb.cf = cf
}

// BuildLine creates a text representation of an access log entry ready to log to a file or stream
func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) BuildLine(ctx context.Context, req *http.Request, res *httpendpoint.HTTPResponseWriter, rec *time.Time, fin *time.Time) string {
	var b bytes.Buffer

	var cv logging.FilteredContextData

	if ulb.cf != nil {
		// Extract loggable information from the context
		cv = ulb.cf.Extract(ctx)
	}

	if ulb.utcTimes {
		utcRec := rec.UTC()
		utcFin := fin.UTC()

		rec = &utcRec
		fin = &utcFin
	}

	for _, e := range ulb.elements {

		switch e.tokenType {
		case textToken:
			b.WriteString(e.content)
		case placeholderToken:
			b.WriteString(ulb.findValue(ctx, e, req, res, rec, fin))
		case placeholderWithVar:
			b.WriteString(ulb.findValueWithVar(ctx, cv, e, req, res, rec, fin))
		}
	}

	b.WriteString("\n")

	return b.String()

}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) parseFormat(format string) error {

	lineRe := regexp.MustCompile(formatRegex)
	varRe := regexp.MustCompile(varModifiedRegex)

	placeholders := lineRe.FindAllString(format, -1)
	textFragments := lineRe.Split(format, -1)
	firstMatch := lineRe.FindStringIndex(format)
	var startsWithPh bool

	if len(firstMatch) > 0 {
		startsWithPh = (firstMatch[0] == 0) && textFragments[0] != ""
	}

	phCount := len(placeholders)
	tCount := len(textFragments)

	maxCount := intMax(phCount, tCount)

	for i := 0; i < maxCount; i++ {

		phAvail := i < phCount
		tAvail := i < tCount
		var err error

		if phAvail && tAvail {

			ph := placeholders[i]
			text := textFragments[i]

			if startsWithPh {
				err = ulb.addPlaceholder(ph, varRe)
				ulb.addTextElement(text)
			} else {
				ulb.addTextElement(text)
				err = ulb.addPlaceholder(ph, varRe)
			}

		} else if phAvail {
			ph := placeholders[i]
			err = ulb.addPlaceholder(ph, varRe)

		} else if tAvail {
			text := textFragments[i]
			ulb.addTextElement(text)
		}

		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

	}

	return nil
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) addTextElement(text string) {

	if text != "" {
		e := newTextLogLineElement(text)
		ulb.elements = append(ulb.elements, e)
	}
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) addPlaceholder(ph string, re *regexp.Regexp) error {

	if len(ph) == 2 {

		formatTypeCode := ph[1:2]

		lfph := ulb.mapPlaceholder(formatTypeCode)

		if lfph == unsupported {
			message := fmt.Sprintf("%s is not a supported field for formatting access log lines", ph)
			return errors.New(message)
		}

		e := newPlaceholderLineElement(lfph)
		ulb.elements = append(ulb.elements, e)

	} else {

		v := re.FindStringSubmatch(ph)
		arg := v[1]
		formatTypeCode := v[2]

		lfph := ulb.mapPlaceholder(formatTypeCode)

		if lfph == unsupported {
			message := fmt.Sprintf("%s is not a supported field for formatting access log lines", ph)
			return errors.New(message)
		}

		e := newPlaceholderWithVarLineElement(lfph, arg)
		ulb.elements = append(ulb.elements, e)

	}

	return nil
}

// Init checks that a valid format for access log lines has been provided
func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) Init() error {

	f := ulb.LogLineFormat
	pre := ulb.LogLinePreset

	if f == "" && pre == "" {
		return errors.New("you must specify either a format for access log lines or the name of a preset format (neither has been provided)")
	}

	if f != "" {
		//Custom log mode - ignore the preset
		pre = ""
	}

	if pre != "" {

		if pre == presetCommonName {
			return ulb.parseFormat(presetCommonFormat)

		} else if pre == presetCombinedName {
			return ulb.parseFormat(PresetCombinedFormat)

		} else if pre == presetFrameworkName {
			return ulb.parseFormat(PresetFrameworkFormat)

		} else {
			message := fmt.Sprintf("%s is not a supported preset for access log lines", pre)
			return errors.New(message)
		}

	}

	return ulb.parseFormat(f)
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) mapPlaceholder(ph string) logFormatPlaceHolder {

	switch ph {
	default:
		return unsupported
	case "%":
		return percentSymbol
	case "b":
		return bytesReturnedClf
	case "B":
		return bytesReturned
	case "D":
		return processTimeMicro
	case "h":
		return remoteHost
	case "i":
		return requestHeader
	case "l":
		return clientID
	case "m":
		return method
	case "q":
		return query
	case "r":
		return requestLine
	case "s":
		return statusCode
	case "t":
		return receivedTime
	case "T":
		return processTime
	case "u":
		return userID
	case "U":
		return path
	case "X":
		return ctxValue
	}

}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) findValueWithVar(ctx context.Context, cd logging.FilteredContextData, element *logLineToken, req *http.Request, res *httpendpoint.HTTPResponseWriter, received *time.Time, finished *time.Time) string {
	switch element.placeholderType {
	case requestHeader:
		return ulb.requestHeader(element.variable, req)

	case receivedTime:
		return received.Format(element.variable)

	case processTime:

		switch element.variable {
		case "s":
			return ulb.processTime(received, finished, time.Second)
		case "us":
			return ulb.processTime(received, finished, time.Microsecond)
		case "ms":
			return ulb.processTime(received, finished, time.Millisecond)
		default:
			return "??"

		}
	case ctxValue:
		return ulb.ctxValue(cd, element.variable)

	default:
		return unsupportedPlaceholder

	}
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) findValue(ctx context.Context, element *logLineToken, req *http.Request, res *httpendpoint.HTTPResponseWriter, received *time.Time, finished *time.Time) string {

	switch element.placeholderType {

	case percentSymbol:
		return percent

	case bytesReturnedClf:
		if res.BytesServed == 0 {
			return hyphen
		}

		return (strconv.Itoa(res.BytesServed))

	case bytesReturned:
		return (strconv.Itoa(res.BytesServed))

	case remoteHost:
		return req.RemoteAddr

	case clientID:
		return hyphen

	case userID:
		return ulb.userID(ctx)

	case method:
		return req.Method

	case path:
		return req.URL.Path

	case query:
		return ulb.query(req)

	case requestLine:
		return ulb.requestLine(req)

	case receivedTime:
		return received.Format(commonLogDateFormat)

	case statusCode:
		return strconv.Itoa(res.Status)

	case processTimeMicro:
		return ulb.processTime(received, finished, time.Microsecond)

	case processTime:
		return ulb.processTime(received, finished, time.Second)

	default:
		return unsupportedPlaceholder

	}

}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) ctxValue(cd logging.FilteredContextData, key string) string {

	if cd == nil || cd[key] == "" {
		return hyphen
	}

	return cd[key]

}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) processTime(rec *time.Time, fin *time.Time, unit time.Duration) string {
	spent := fin.Sub(*rec)

	return strconv.FormatInt(int64(spent/unit), 10)
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) query(req *http.Request) string {

	q := req.URL.RawQuery

	if q == "" {
		return q
	}

	return "?" + q

}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) requestHeader(name string, req *http.Request) string {

	value := req.Header.Get(name)

	if value == "" {
		return hyphen

	}

	return value
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) requestLine(req *http.Request) string {
	return fmt.Sprintf("%s %s %s", req.Method, req.RequestURI, req.Proto)
}

func (ulb *UnstructuredLineBuilder) userID(ctx context.Context) string {
	return hyphen
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Chris Brown praises his son Aeko & explains the Golden Ratio
By Sameen Baleegh Last updated Jun 20, 2021
Chris Brown has been quite private about posting photos of his kids Aeko and Royalty. But recently the singer has begun sharing several photos of his kids online and on social media. When the singer posted a photo of his son Aeko, fans immediately took to the comments section to praise Aeko and talk about how precious the baby is. And just then Chris left a remark about the "Golden Ratio." People also know that as "Divine Ratio."
The UNIVERSE inside you ❤
A post shared by CHRIS BROWN (@chrisbrownofficial) on Apr 10, 2020 at 4:01pm PDT
Related: Fans Think Chris Brown's Daughter Royalty Is Just Like Her Dad
The Golden Ratio as per Chris Brown
Soon after Chris's post of his kids, he left another post. And in this post, he talked about the golden ratio and explained it in quite a lot of details to his followers. According to sources, the singer explained it in terms of beauty and attraction. He said that this ratio is present everywhere in the universe. In fact, many artists and painters have been using it for centuries to achieve balance and beauty in their art:
"..because of its frequency in the natural world and can be seen in art, photography, human anatomy, and design. Renaissance artists used the Golden Ratio extensively in their paintings and sculptures to achieve balance and beauty"
Chris Brown went on to explain that it not only exists in humans but is found in other creations of God like flowers and shells. And so he continued to say:
Naturally, it provides us with aesthetic images, creating proportions that most people find attractive and appealing. The golden ratio is everywhere, existing in natural forms like shells, flowers, galaxies, even the human face."
AekoChris BrownGolden RatioParenting
Michelle Money reveals daughter is off ventilator and is recovering
Amy Schumer is being sued for posting pictures of herself


text:
"Shaw Movie Great Drama"
Raymond Chow: Innovative Producer
December 2, 2018 December 2, 2018 MeredithLeave a comment
The past month has been a sad one for martial arts culture fans, for it brought us the deaths of Yueh Hua, Jin Yong, and Raymond Chow (obituary here).
The whole reason I loved HK Cinema was because of #RaymondChow #RIP https://t.co/ZeFeArOsS1
— SinghLung (@HongKongLegends) November 2, 2018
Surely many western fans of Hong Kong cinema owe their awareness of it to Golden Harvest (now known as Orange Sky Golden Harvest), which produced and distributed the films of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung, among others.
Image from hkmdb.com
I wrote about Golden Harvest in my book about Shaw Brothers Studios because they were not only Shaws' most potent competitors but also because they were founded by Leonard Ho and Raymond Chow who, before they started the company, had been two of the most valuable executives working at Shaw Brothers.
What interested me, when I was researching the business and production models of both Shaw Brothers Studios and Golden Harvest, was how differently they were structured and how this, in turn, informed their relationship to the filmmaking talent they worked with.
Chow and Ho developed a business model that was particularly good at satisfying the needs of creative talent as well as cannily identifying ways of capturing profit. Their business model was as different from that of their primary rival Shaw Brothers as you could get: where (Shaw Brothers') Movietown was huge, the Golden Harvest headquarters were tiny; where Sir Run Run Shaw rigidly controlled just about everything to do with the making of his films, Chow and Ho were very strategic as to what aspects of filmmaking they controlled and they weren't afraid to delegate." ~ From Chapter 10 'Bitter Harvest' in 'Ask for the Moon' by Meredith Lewis
In other words, Chow and Ho developed an approach to filmmaking that allowed innovative talent like Lee, Chan, and Hung space to do their thing, while Sir Run Run's approach made finding this space harder for any innovative filmmakers at Shaw Brothers.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Sir Run Run found out that Ho and Chow were leaving his company and going into competition against him. Chow had started his working life as a print journalist and then branched out into television and radio producing. Sir Run recruited him to work for Shaw Brothers in 1959, with Leonard Ho joining not long after. These two men learnt about the film industry at Shaws, and their experience there must have been invaluable to them when they branched out on their own. How interesting, then, that they created an organisation that functioned in ways so radically different to those employed by their former master.
Their approach worked. Golden Harvest's list of productions contains many of the most popular and / or seminal films in the history of Hong Kong cinema from the early 70s up until today (you can look at Raymond Chow's filmography and a short bio here at hkmdb.com).
So, no wonder so many martial arts film fans felt a sense of loss when they heard of the passing of this remarkable entrepreneur and creative visionary. We are lucky that we have so many of the films he was involved in to enjoy.
Posted in UncategorizedTagged bruce lee, Golden Harvest, jackie chan, martial arts movies, Shaw Brothers
Another Extract from 'Ask for the Moon: Innovation at Shaw Brothers Studios'
December 2, 2018 MeredithLeave a comment
Respectable Western critics have long been at a loss to explain why audiences and filmmakers are fascinated by Hong Kong film. From the start, these movies have off ended guardians of taste. ~ David Bordwell
"Oh, those stupid movies!"
I was somewhat taken aback by the vehemence of my conversational partner's reaction. A middle-aged hipster poet, he was not someone I knew well. I had rocked on up to my friend's Christmas party a few years ago and, having no one else to talk to, had fallen into conversation with the bloke who happened to be sitting next to me on the couch. As you do, at Christmas parties. One thing led to another – the usual pleasant conversational fare was being churned through at the expected rate – when I mentioned, as I invariably do at some stage of any conversation I participate in no matter what the context or setting, that I was a huge fan of kung fu movies.
This was all a few years back, so maybe this chap said "silly" instead of "stupid", but there was no doubt that his knee-jerk reaction was one of dismissive contempt. I was genuinely puzzled. The last DVD I had watched before trotting along to that party had been Wilson Yip's magisterial Ip Man (2008 starring Donnie Yen at his most elegantly patrician) and my head was full of that. This film is exceptionally good; it is, at one and the same time, a hand-on-heart action-packed kung fu movie and an art-house film that transcends its own genre. It is an example of how a universally appealing story and characters, great acting, direction, and production values are not mutually exclusive to films in either genre. Ip Man was nominated for a slew of awards at the 29th Hong Kong International Film Festival and other Asian film festivals and even won some, including best film and best action choreography. It is damned classy, and about as far from the idea of a ham-fisted chopsocky as you can get.
But when I mentioned kung fu movies, this guy didn't think of an award-winning film. He thought of something cornier, shoddier, more risible. And something vague: when I asked him exactly which kung fu movies he was thinking of, he looked embarrassed and then confessed that he had never actually watched one, of any stripe, the whole way through. "I saw half a Bruce Lee once…"
I hate Bruce Lee flicks, something which confounds Bruce Lee fans who all seem to need to lie down in a dark room after I tell them this. But the kung fu movie genre covers a vast range of sub-genres that can differ widely in aesthetic, style, and tone. Don't like the self-conscious macho stylings of Bruce? Try the luscious romanticism of Chor Yuen's swordplay films, with their gloriously coloured costumes, extravagant sets and dancelike high-flying action. Find them a bit saccharine? Then take on the mischief of a cracking good Lau Kar Leung film, with baroque action choreography and fun pot-boiling plots.
You know, I am rather tired of people saying, 'Are you trying to challenge Hollywood?' I really feel we have something quite different and equally as good as Hollywood has to offer. ~ Run Run Shaw
Chopsocky flicks have a dire reputation among most of us Westerners. The average man on the street thinks of badly made films, peopled by corny actors in silly wigs, gurning their way through formulaic plots, overlaid with dubbing so bad that it's funny. The problem is that it is too easy, at this remove in time and place, to fall into the trap of viewing these movies with what film academics like Leon Hunt have identified as the (often white) 'camp gaze' – to allow cultural artefacts from different cultures some cachet only because they are different, exotic or somehow 'other'. This is a distorted way of viewing films from other cultures and can lead to a limiting belief that 'our' way of filmmaking is the ultimate way, the only way. Any deviations in aesthetics or modes of performance or storytelling are seen as failures and only valued as entertainment because of their wrongness or risibility.
"Their (Hong Kong films') audacity, their slickness, and their unabashed appeal to emotion have won them audiences throughout the world. 'It is all too extravagant, too gratuitously wild,' a New York Times reviewer complained of an early kung fu import; now the charge looks like a badge of honour. These outrageous entertainments harbour remarkable inventiveness and careful craftsmanship… The best of them are not only crowd pleasing but also richly and delightfully artful." ~ David Bordwell
Of course, the martial arts movie genre has crappy movies in it; all schools of cinema do. But what many Westerners don't understand – are not given the opportunity to see – are the many "delightfully artful" films that exist in the genre as well.
Shaw Brothers played an important part in producing movies that demonstrated that the martial arts genre can produce a lot of decent looking mainstream entertainment as well as classy art-house films. Sir Run Run Shaw set up a production process that was geared towards churning out films that were crowd pleasing. As a businessman, he wanted bums on seats and healthy box-office returns. But as a businessman who loved film and, I think, genuinely believed in it as an expression of cultural values (defined, by Sir Run Run, as the cultural values he believed in, mind), it was also important to him that Shaw Brothers films exhibited "careful craftsmanship". Shaw Brothers' Movietown was set up to provide the resources to support this. In this book, I look at a few directors who were able to go further in that they not only gave Sir Run Run the nicely made crowd-pleasers he wanted but were able to manipulate the resources available to them to make films that were also "richly and delightfully artful".
It is the tension between the artful and the operational that I want to unpack in this book. The challenge that always faced me as an arts manager – balancing the needs of the artists and the needs of the bean-counters and paper-pushers – is a challenge writ large in the case study of Shaw Brothers Studios. Examining this challenge gives deep insight into the nature of fostering innovation in an organisation.
~ From Chapter 1 of 'Ask for the Moon' by Meredith Lewis. Image by Rebecca Stewart.
If you would like to buy 'Ask for the Moon: Innovation at Shaw Brothers Studios', please go here. For more information about the book, read the media release. And you can find another extract from the book here.
Posted in UncategorizedTagged kung fu movies, Shaw Brothers
Rest in Peace Yueh Hua
"He's gorgeous!" said my Mum, boggling at Yueh Hua playing the titular role in The Lizard. "He's warm, funny, and he's really really good."
Yueh Hua in The Lizard. Image from hkmdb.com
The Lizard (1972) is a combination rom-com / kung fu / heist movie produced by Shaw Brothers Studios and directed by Chor Yuen. I could sense the surprise in my Mother's voice. She is not a fan of martial arts movies – she can't stand the violence – and only watched The Lizard to keep me company one evening. In fact, I chose the film when I realised that she would be sitting up with me as I thought she would enjoy the broad humour, the entertaining plot, the lovely sets and costumes, and the engaging performances. Like many Westerners who don't watch martial arts movies, Mum was under the impression that the movie she would be viewing with me would be shoddily made with risible acting.
But Shaws didn't set out to make bad movies, they were in the business of making crowd pleasers that reflected well on their brand and made the audience want to come back for more. They resourced productions like The Lizard with the best technical, and among the best human, resources available in Hong Kong at the time.
This included a large stable of talent, both behind and in front of the camera. One of Shaws' most gifted stars was Yueh Hua. He died recently; you can read an obituary here.
Hua was a product of the Shaws system, as well as being one of its most reliable mainstays. His filmography boasts a remarkable 138 films, many of them for Shaw Brothers. His biography on The Hong Kong Movie Database states that he acted in about five films a year during the 1960s and 1970s. It must have been exhausting! However, the consistent work plus the opportunity to collaborate with other talented people would have given him a chance to refine his skills. In return, he proved to be a box office draw for Shaws, and a performer who could be relied upon to turn in consistently good, and often excellent, performances.
Working my way through Shaws catalogue of martial arts movies, one thing that has struck me about Hua was that he was a most versatile actor: at the start of his career he played the rambunctious Sun Wukong (King Monkey) in Ho Meng Hua's trilogy of films inspired by Journey to the West as well as a seminal performance as the impish Fan Dapei / Drunken Knight in Come Drink with Me (1966). This made him a star and he then often played earnest leading men in films such as Killer Darts (1968) and The Shadow Whip (1971). I especially liked his portrayal of the jaded but morally robust hero in The Casino (1972) (he and co-star Lily Ho made a sexy couple in this film).
Yueh Hua in The Casino. Picture from hkmdb.com
During his career he also branched out into playing important character roles, such as the mysterious Monk Wu Hua in Clans of Intrigue (1977) or an ambiguously aloof wandering swordsman in Heroes Shed No Tears (1980). His performance in Death Duel (1977) shows that he could also make an effective cold-eyed villain. Regardless of which part he played, he always distinguished himself through subtle performances and a strong screen presence.
Yueh Hua in Death Duel. Picture from hkmdb.com
We are lucky that he left a wonderful legacy of films behind.
Thank you, Yueh Hua, and Rest in Peace.
I have written about Shaw Brothers Studios is 'Ask for the Moon: Innovation at Shaw Brothers Studios'. If you would like to buy the book, please go here.
Posted in UncategorizedTagged Shaw Brothers, Yueh Hua
Resourcing Creativity
September 26, 2018 MeredithLeave a comment
A blog I wrote about 'Ask for the Moon' for my other website (DangerousMeredith.com.au). This blog is about the importance of resourcing the activities of creative people adequately.
Dangerous Meredith
My book Ask for the Moonlooks at creativity and innovation in organisations, and the conditions that nurture or constrain these. As a central case study for the book, I chose to look at Shaw Brothers Studios and their production of martial arts movies in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s.
Shaw Brothers had a business and production model that was unique for the time and place in which they operated. Their artistic workforce – directors, cinematographers, editors, martial arts choreographers, performers, writers, production designers, etc. – were extraordinarily creative and some of them even managed innovations in their art form.
The good thing about working for big studios was that you got classy, quality support. Even if you asked for the moon, they could get the moon for you, which was amazing. ~ Shaw Brothers Studios director Chor Yuen
One of the components of the Shaw Brothers production model…
News and An Opportunity
Opportunity to win my book
The excellent Kung Fu Movie Guide website is giving away a copy of my book as their monthly prize. All you have to do is sign up for their excellent monthly e-mail bulletin here.
The Kung Fu Movie Guide is a treasure trove of articles, reviews, and a podcast. They are great for keeping up with the latest news about the genre and essential for any serious fan of the genre.
Support the Gutterthon
I was happy and proud to contribute a copy of Ask for the Moon as a reward in this month's Gutterthon. The book has already gone as a reward but, if you like "thoughtful writing about disreputable art", you should still definitely head on over to the Gutterthon and support it. The Cultural Gutter is chockers full of great writing about all kinds of genres – sci-fi, horror, Bollywood, comics, fantasy, videogames, romance. There are many great rewards still on offer for the next 24 days, and you will have the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes out of supporting a website to pay its contributing writers.
Artwork by Rebecca Stewart
Start Dis Podcast Interview Coming Up
Later this month I will be interviewed for the Start Dis Podcast, which describes itself thusly: "The StartDis podcast is for people of conscience, who value education and who love to learn a little bit about everything."
The "little bit" I will be contributing to the interview will be musings about the nature of creativity, using the activities of Shaw Brothers filmmakers as an example. Stay tuned for further details.
And speaking about podcasts, you can check out an interview I did for the Bedrock Games podcast. Due to internet problems on the day the audio quality isn't great, but I really enjoyed responding to the thoughtful questions I was asked. More information here.
By the way, if you are on twitter, you can follow me at either @DangerousMere or @FuThoughts. The Kung Fu Movie Guide can be found at @KFMovieGuide, Cultural Gutter at @CulturalGutter, Brendan Davis (and his blog and podcast) at @Bedrockgames, and the Start Dis podcast at @StartDisPodcast.
Posted in News, UncategorizedTagged Innovation, kung fu movies, martial arts, Shaw Brothers, wuxia
Categories Select Category Artwork News Uncategorized


text:
« We don't need no homework: The Revolt against Homework is Spreading in US Schools..
Thomas Alva Edison too had a plan for monetary stability… »
70 years of John Bate Clarke Medals: How do you define excellence in economics?
Beatrice Cherrier and Andrej Svorenčík research on 70 years of Clark Medal. They analyse the forces behind the medal and the several arguments over what is meant by excellence in economics:
As with other prizes, the history of the John Bates Clark medal has been fraught with controversy. Its very existence was repeatedly challenged. While the three first medals commanded wide agreement as discussed below, the 1953 nomination process launched a decade-long protest. Duke economist and historian Joseph Spengler, who was nominated to sit on AEA's Committee on Honors & Awards (CHA), refused to vote. On April 10, 1953, he send a resignation note which made it clear that he "disagree[d] thoroughly with the principle of the award and, therefore, must abstain from giving a recommendation … I cannot conscientiously rate the people in question. If I were to make a new rating each week … I am sure that I would come up with a somewhat different rating each time. … I question very seriously whether we can make an effective appraisal, and whether, if we do, we can do much to advance the cause of economics.
While the decision to give no award that year also reflected other types of concern, it triggered a reassessment of the relevance of conferring the
award. The AEA leadership was deeply divided on the matter. Normann Buchanan, the head of theCHA, circulated a memorandum asked whether it was "wise for the AEA to make invidious distinctions by an official award that draws a sharper line than can [be] adequately justified."
Manpower economist J. Douglas Brown thought that "the field of economics is so subdividedby specializations, university groupings, occupational connections, etc., that no group of judges can really comprehend the "values" of the contributions of all candidates." Theimpossibility to set meaningful age and geographical boundaries was discussed. The 1957 nominating committee, for instance, was especially frustrated with having to dismiss the nomination of Richard Ruggles (too old), Guy Orcutt, Frank Adelman and Leonid Hurwicz (turning 40 days before the prize announcement), and Klein and Patinkin (considered residents of England and Israel).
Despite whatever controversy in the beginning and appeal for diversity, the awards mainly went to Universities in North-East:
Nevertheless, it seemed that in the first decades of operation, being the "right person in the right place" meant being a white male theorist with a PhD from Harvard. The gender bias did not changed until Susan Athey became the first woman to be awarded the medal in 2007. We found no evidence that the perceived theoretical bias of the first ten awards was deliberate. In those years the committee was in majority composed of applied economists, in
particular labor or industrial, and there was no sign that they explicitly believed that a "fundamental contribution" was necessary theoretical. As the identity of discipline stabilized in the postwar period, research which reflected a combination of theory, econometrics, measurement efforts and empirical creativity was increasingly rewarded. That went hand in hand with a decrease in the institutional diversity of laureates. Finally, while Harvard had been the dominant employment institution for laureates, Chicago gained traction, and MIT achieved domination as the most frequent PhD-granting institution for laureates by the mid 2000s.
Interesting paper..
This entry was posted on July 28, 2017 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Academic research & research papers, Economics - macro, micro etc, Economist, Medals and awards.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Samuel Gris·wold [griz-wuh ld, -wohld, -wawld] /ˈgrɪz wəld, -woʊld, -wɔld/, Peter Parley, 1793–1860, U.S. author and publisher.
Airbuses have pitot tubes made by two companies—by the U.S. company Goodrich, and by the European company Thales.
She felt the aching pain, and the eating smart, she begged Dr. Goodrich to take her from the room.
Goodrich has recovered from the Louis veneri which he contracted from an amorous contact with a Chinnook damsel.
Mr. Goodrich said this amendment went to change the principle of the bill.
There are several specimens of these bows and bolts at Goodrich Castle.
Taking up the discussion in detail, the writer will first answer the criticisms of Mr. Goodrich.


text:
Калърпойнт () е тип оцветяване при котките.

Характерен е основен бял или по-блед тон на топлите участъци на тялото (главно торса) и по-наситен и тъмен цвят на по-студените – главата, крайниците, опашката.

Калърпойнтът е вариант на албинизма, при който има нарушение на пигментацията на кожата. Среща се и при други животни, отглеждани като домашни – добитък и гризачи, напр. зайци.

При котките е често срещан при хималайските, персийските, сиамските котки и други породи. Малките се раждат напълно бели, тъй като са били на топло в утробата на майките си, но обикновено до 2 – 3 дни след раждането меланинът вече не може да се изработва нормално при променената температура на околната среда и крайниците започват да се оцветяват в по-тъмни тонове.

Това явление може частично да бъде преобърнато – напр. при силна треска е възможно да се наблюдава обезцветяване на тъмните участъци.

Освен това наситеността на тъмните участъци също може да варира и да потъмнява още с напредване на възрастта или под влияние на хормоните – така напр. женските имат по-наситена пигментация, след като са родили малки.

Домашна котка

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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