Relief. That seems to be the single word that sums up the past year for many in the broadcast and production industries. The sense of relief is almost palpable, coming as it does after a nightmarish 12 months in 2009.
The facts bear out Fincham's words. Average weekly viewing figures in 2010 are at a decade high, according to early Barb figures. TV advertising revenue will be 14% up by the end of the year, says WPP's media buying outfit Group M. And pay-television subscriptions are running at a record level, with BSkyB crossing the 10m milestone.
One of the key drivers of all this growth has been the 'event TV' phenomenon. Entertainment shows like The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and Britain's Got Talent were, of course, big last year. They are just as popular this year, or even more so in the case of Strictly. "The big entertainment bubble just keeps getting that bit bigger," says director of BBC Vision Jana Bennett.
But it's not just entertainment. Across drama, politics and sport, event television has reconfirmed TV's ability to bring the nation together at the same time. ITV's Downton Abbey and BBC1's Sherlock attracted huge audiences of 10m and 9m respectively. And the World Cup and the Prime Ministerial debates drew in 16m and 10m viewers.
"Live TV audiences have gone up, even though we are in a world of lots more social media, twittering and video on demand," says Bennett.
In fact, Downton Abbey stands as a kind of TV beacon for many this year – possibly because its quality stands in stark contrast to so many tired looking, formulaic formats that dominate the schedules.
Lloyd thinks it points a way forward, away from "ripped off formats" and towards programmes of "expertise, style and quality" that producers can be proud of. Lloyd's words chime with the thinking of Jana Bennett at the BBC, who adds: "There's a quest out there for the new, the different and the very high quality – there's an appetite for new things." It's also notable how audiences have looked for distractions to endless news stories about recession.
With some justification, he believes. The big TV theme of the year for Murphy is that people have wanted to laugh and to be entertained. He notes how E4's The Inbetweeners broke out to become a huge hit, as did shows such as Glee. Sky benefited from this trend too, with An Idiot Abroad and Pineapple Dance Studios performing particularly well. It's not just about comedy though.
Murphy thinks "kindness" and "warmth" are important in the current climate. He's been surprised at how "uncomfortable, even nasty" The X Factor has become this season, and speculates that Daybreak's launch problems lie in the fact that it lacks the warmth of GMTV.
On screen, the BBC has seen a big comedy push result in well-received shows such as Miranda, Rev, The Trip and Whites. It's also been a strong year for science led by flagship docs like Wonders of the Solar System. New dramas such as Sherlock, Five Days and Five Daughters have also stood out.
On the commercial channels, broadcasters were held back by their parlous financial state and a lack of investment in new and original shows became very apparent. Critics weren't the only ones to notice. International buyers were complaining at this year's Mipcom programme market in Cannes that there was less original British programming to choose from.
Downton Abbey aside, ITV's schedule is heavily propped up by bankers like its soaps, big reality shows, comedy such as Harry Hill's TV Burp and returning dramas like Lewis and A Touch of Frost. That said, Fincham points out that a new doc strand, Perspectives, launches next year as does a raft of new drama.
Over on C4, it's a similar story. Familiar formats around cooking, property and body image abound. New drama like This is England 86 and Mo has been few and far between – but have performed well when they've hit the screen. Next year looks more promising for C4 with a slew of original new shows to slot into the very big gap left by the departure of Big Brother.
Behind the scenes, it's been a year of regime change and rebuilding at the main broadcasters. Both C4, ITV and C5 saw new managements take charge.
And ITV's new bosses Adam Crozier and Archie Norman have enjoyed a year of growth on the back of strong ad revenues and ratings. McVay rates ITV's new leadership, describing them as a "rational, reasonable group of people" and says that producer relations with ITV have improved since Crozier took over.
Channel 5, of course, has experienced a corporate bloodbath since Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell acquired the business. It's busy reinventing itself with celebrity-led programming focusing on popular culture, which is only to be expected from a TV channel owned by a group that runs OK! Magazine, The Daily Star and The Express. But it's run into serious trouble in its relations with producers, after a serious spat over payment terms with Shine Group and other indies.
Meanwhile, it's been a year of rapid change at BSkyB. It acquired and rebranded the Virgin Media channels, launched a 3d channel and struck a big programming deal with HBO. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is now fighting to acquire the entire business, eliciting protests from rival media owners.
But the BBC has perhaps had the most momentous year of all. The corporation sailed through the recessionary years of 2008-9 with stable funding, while its envious commercial rivals floundered. In a sense, the BBC paid the price in 2010 for its years of plenty. A constant stream of BBC criticism from politicians and the media, centring on high salaries and inefficiency, culminated in a surprise 16% funding cut as part of the government's Spending Review.
The really notable feature about the independent production market in 2010, however, has been how it has internationalised. The consolidation trend has continued, with the likes of All3Media snapping up Optomen for a reported £40m.
But most of the ownership changes this year have had an international element to them. Global groups such as Zodiak Entertainment acquired RDF Media, while US studios Warner Bros and NBC Universal took over Shed Media and Monkey Kingdom respectively. UK indies also expanded oversees, with the likes of Shine Group launching new operations in Europe and Australasia, having already made significant inroads into the US.
Smaller producers have found the going tough in the UK market, hit by declining budgets and fewer commissions from the major broadcasters. In response, they have also looked outwards, diversifying to find new broadcaster clients in the US or to raise money from international co-producers.
Bristol based Icon Film typifies the trend. It's had great success with long running series River Monsters from US broadcaster Animal Planet. "Icon Films has grown consistently over the past year – despite tougher, meaner, leaner budgets and deal terms. A wide base of customers have cushioned the blow," says Icon md Laura Marshall.
The stand out technological trend of the year has been the interest in 3d production. A year that began with Avatar becoming the fastest film ever to earn $1bn at the box office, has also seen Sky announce and launch its 3d channel in the UK. 3d was the key talking point at kit shows such as NAB and IBC, with the big post houses all investing in 3d. However, the feverish enthusiasm that swirled around 3d at the start of the year has settled down into a more realistic acceptance that it's a premium rather than everyday technology.
Meanwhile, the reality of lower budgets has led to greater efficiencies in production. Interest in file-based workflows has picked up, with even the biggest shows such as Coronation Street adopting the technology. Cameras such as Canon's DSLR models have proved hugely popular with cost-conscious producers.
The post sector, which endured a traumatic 2008-9, has remained relatively stable in 2010. It wasn't free of casualties, with the likes of Barcud Derwen, The Club and Concrete going under. But it was nothing like the bloodbath of the previous few years, and many companies said they prospered in 2010 having spent much of 2009 reducing costs.


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200+ Brooklyn Navy Yard Tenants Brace for Clinton and Sanders' Impending "Battle Over Brooklyn" at Thursday's Democratic Debate
One Such Tenant, Backyard Toy Company OgoSport, Sees the Irony in Finding Themselves Caught in the Crossfires of a "Political Game" That's Coming to Their Backyard
Monday, April 11, 2016 — Before The Brooklyn Navy Yard was chosen as ground zero for Thursday's Democratic debate, TIME reported that the "Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns [were] accusing the other of political gamesmanship". OgoSport, a backyard toy maker behind an award-winning bouncy disk, and one of 200+ tenants in The Brooklyn Navy Yard, see the irony in finding their backyard being adopted by both camps to play their "political games".
In a tongue-and-cheek response to Thursday's debate, OgoSport used their custom-printing service, MOD, to create a bouncy disk with both Clinton and Sanders' faces on it [see attached graphic].
"With all the talk of capturing the NY vote, and both campaigns seeking to claim Brooklyn as their own, it's easy to forget about the actual businesses and residents that are here operating and living on a daily basis", says OgoSport co-founder Jenie Fu. She added, "we're proud that our place of work has been chosen for this debate, and we hope that with our fun MOD design, we can raise our hand in a light-hearted way and remind people that we [the locals] are here, we are paying attention and we care about real issues of substance on a local level."
Both sides have staked their claim to Brooklyn, where Bernie Sanders was born and raised and where Hillary Clinton represented for 8 years in Congress. With tensions building, there's little doubt that Thursday's debate will be both contentious and include a lot of back and forth over who is the true New Yorker most deserving of NY's vote.
Thursday's debate won't be all fun and games for Navy Yard tenants; however, as CNN and NY1 host up to 3,000 attendees, plus additional secret service and required security, media and event staff personel. The Navy Yard sent out an email to tenants Tuesday afternoon with instructions that "the entire area around the [main nearby] entrance will be impassable and [that the] recommendation is to avoid this area all day".
Employees of Navy Yard tenants that typically drive to work, such as several members of OgoSport's team, are opting not to work from within the Navy Yard Thursday due to the debate.
ABOUT THE OGODISK
OgoSport's bouncy disk has won numerous parents and kids choice awards, and has been featured in Smurf's the Movie, The Colbert Report, and the Today Show. The outdoor sportsdisk features a trampoline center, traditionally used by families to bounce balls and play games like Volleyball and tennis, and can also be customized with OgoSport's MOD printing service.
ABOUT OGOSPORT
Headquartered in The Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, NY, OgoSport designs award-winning toys to get kids and families to "Move. Think. Play".
Founded by designers Rick Goodwin and Kevin Williams to promote active play for people of all ages, OgoSport has developed and launched countless outdoor and construction-oriented toys like their popular OgoDisk(featured in the Smurfs movie) and their new OgoBILD Animate, stop-motion animation kit. Over the past few years, OgoSport has expanded to over 2,000 stores in the US and 40+ countries across the globe.
In addition to growing a loyal following of consumers who share in the company's open play philosophy, OgoSport products have also won the attention of the toy industry with awards such as the Parents Choice Award, TillyWig Awards, Dr. Toy Award, Canadian Toy Testing Council, The National Parenting Center Award, and NAPPA Award. For more information, visit www.ogosport.com.
The OgoDisk in Action
CNN article on "Sanders 'Playing Games' with Debate"
OgoSport Website
TIME article on Clinton and Sanders "Political Gamesmanship"
From award-winning classics like the Super SportsDisk to newer creations like OGOBILD, we don't just design toys or sporting goods - we design something more...We design active play for all ages. We design endless hours of fun for your children. And hours of fun with your children.
OgoSport was founded in 2004 by a duo of accomplished designers from world-renowned school of design, the Pratt Institute. Our talented roster of creators formed the company to question the current direction of play, and these inquires have inspired us to seek new directions in product development. www.ogosport.com
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Brooklyn Navy Yard, Bldg. 3 Suite #408
63 Flushing Avenue, Unit 137

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Very cute little cafe near the Quayside, Lewis and I thought we would check it out for some breakfast!
There are lots of breakfast choices, as well as lunch choices, the prices are also very reasonable. Although small, it was full which is a good sign on a Monday mid-morning and had a lovely chatty atmosphere.
The waitress was so friendly, one of those genuinely nice people you just want to run up and give a cuddle! She said hello and goodbye to every person that came in and out of the door and I thought it great that she was always up selling. When we ordered breakfast she was always asking if we wanted to add extra toast etc.
I ordered the Eggs Benedict with Parma Ham, the eggs were cooked perfectly, runny but firm! The hollandaise was great and sharp and overall I will definitely be going back for it again!
Lewis had the Eggs Benedict with Crispy Bacon and he said it was really good and the hollandaise hadn't split at all, he's all about his poached eggs at the moment!
Along with my breakfast I had a pot of Ringtons Jasmine Green Tea which was perfect!


When taking a look at any business at any stage then it is them that will be needing to hire an information technology consulting service. By seeing to it that you will be doing this one then it is you that will be able to do positive steps for your business. You need to know that once you will have an in house IT expertise then it is the one that can be very expensive. If you have a small business then it is this one that you might not be able to afford. But once you will be opting of a reputable IT consulting service then it is you that will be able to get a number of advantage.
It is saving money that you are able to do once you will be opting of an IT consulting service. Once you are able to hire an IT consultant then it is you that can save business money from it. Whenever it is you that will be able to hire an IT consultant then you are also able to fix problems, maintain and upgrade operating systems, and get advise on solutions in an ideal and cost-effective way.
Having a fresh perspective is also another thing that you are able to get once you will be opting for an IT consultant. By seeing to it that you will be hiring an IT consultant then you are also able to have a new perspective on things especially which it comes to addressing on-going issues, or simply assess your business's current procedures. Whenever it is you that will be hiring an IT consultant then they can also help you achieve a higher efficiency and accuracy. Whenever it is you that will be hiring an IT consultant then they will also see to it that you will be able to avoid any pitfalls in the future. Having the right knowledge and experience is what these experts will have and for that very reason, they also know the procedures that need to be altered.
Once it is an IT consultant is what you will be hiring then it is you that will be able to lower the risk involved. If you have a small business then your data and valuable work time can be easily compensated. By seeing to it that you will be hiring an IT consultant then it is this one that can be avoided. It is this one that can be addressed since they will be able to set up a secure system and look after its maintenance. Once you will be opting to do this one then it will be able to pay for itself.
Whenever it is an IT consultant is what you will be choosing to have then it is you that can stay competitive in your industry. Gaining regular, up to date knowledge from the expert consultants is what you are able to do with the help of an IT consultant.


Noted scholar, researcher and epidemiologist Ernest Drucker, in his recent book, A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America, utilizes his keen mind and decades of experience in an attempt to frame the ongoing debate over mass incarceration in America as a public health concern.
He hits the mark dead center.
Unfortunately, although the author makes his case in a style that is lucid, compelling and easy (even for non-specialists) to comprehend, most Americans are still not ready to listen to—let alone heed—his message.
We're on a collision course with a preventable disaster that affects us all, not just those behind bars and their families.
Drucker certainly is not the first writer and scholar to make the point that any nation that consistently builds more prisons than universities is on the verge of diving head-first into the dustbin of history.
Drucker constructs an "epidemiological riddle" to acquaint readers with the tools of his craft: numbers and the interpretation of them. Utilizing lessons drawn from the sinking of the Titanic, he demonstrates how social problems can be understood, predictions made, and solutions formulated by accurately analyzing data about a catastrophe .
The author doesn't initially tell the reader what the disaster is. But analyzing the gender, class and ages of those who lived and those who died after the "unsinkable" ocean liner went down in the North Atlantic, the answer becomes obvious. And it provides an instant education in how epidemiology works.
From the preventable tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic with such a great loss of life (all the ship's designers had to do was to include enough lifeboats, but since the vessel was supposedly "unsinkable," why bother?) Drucker turns to the equally preventable cholera outbreaks of the mid-1800s in London.
One of the world's first epidemiologists, physician John Snow, traced the cause of the disease to the Broad Street water pump in the Soho section of London, which was pulling water contaminated with feces from the Thames River. He also noticed that no workers at a nearby brewery were coming down with the disease, and rightly surmised that was because they boiled their water.
Similarly, since 2004, Drucker has been gathering statistics on mass incarceration and, along with others (including Todd Clear, noted criminologist and now dean of the Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice), he now can postulate that the plague of prisons we've experienced in this country in the last 35 years is causing an increase in crime—rather than reducing crime.
Mass incarceration feeds on itself and destabilizes entire communities.
With 2.3 million prisoners behind bars, America might have reached its incarceration apogee in 2010, when prison rates began to fall for the first time since the early 1970s, when the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws ushered in the age of mass incarceration.
But many reformers are still holding their collective breath.
Why? Because of the new wrinkle of prison privatization.
As more states seek to cut corners and save dollars in response to budgetary constraints private operators are offering pie-in-the-sky quick fixes.
But their "solutions" are a chimera, and could cost dearly not too far down the line in terms of again increasing incarceration numbers.
No corporation invests hundreds of millions of dollars and then sets about putting itself out of business. The palpable fear among reformers is that corporate lobbyists will convince legislators who, in many states, have always demonstrated a proclivity for making onerous laws—especially in the area of addiction—that do more harm than good) to keep their "hotels" full.
Faced with such disincentives, commonsense approaches that Drucker proposes relating to decreasing prison populations, reducing recidivism, improving reentry, and, most importantly, lowering crime rates at the same time face an uphill battle against the well-funded prison/industrial complex.
But at least he's broken new ground.
If, a decade down the road, your new Chevy Volt is being produced in Ohio's Lucasville Maximum State prison, rather than in the GM Lordstown plant about 60 miles outside of Cleveland where it's currently being built, you'll then understand the long-term goal of mass incarceration and prison privatization.
And why it should be of concern to you too.
Is this too outlandish a scenario? Try telling that to the millions of hard-working Americans who've lost their homes to the greed of Wall Street over the last seven or eight years.
Corporations have amply demonstrated they literally will stop at nothing to maximize profits, and the prison population is a demographic without adequate advocacy. This is the public health train wreck that Ernest Drucker and others like him are attempting to prevent.
Mansfield Frazier serves as the executive director of Neighborhood Solutions, Inc.in Cleveland.. His column can currently be seen weekly on CoolCleveland.com and The Cleveland Leader. He also occasionally contributes to The Daily Beast. Frazier is the co-publisher of Reentry Advocate, a magazine that currently goes into all Ohio prisons, select prisons in Michigan, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He welcomes reader comments.
He said what? Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's remarks in a drug case illustrate the inner-workings — and failings — of our federal criminal justice system.


Small chicks grow up! These days, it's hard to imagine university politics without Lijst Calimero. However, twelve years ago, Lijst Calimero started small. On May 30, 2005, Lijst Calimero was founded by Hilgo Gabriëls, who wanted to shake student representation at the UG. At the time, the students in the University Council were organised in two established parties. One was not very innovatory, the other not so constructive. Lijst Calimero started as a one man faction, hence the name: Calimero. In the following years, Lijst Calimero got bigger and bigger. Below is an overview of everyone who sat in the University Council on behalf of Lijst Calimero in the past years.


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Micro-laundering: How Online Games Are Being Gamed by Fraudsters
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How Banks Can Build Customer-centric Yet Compliant Onboarding Processes
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Five trillion – that is, on average, the dollar value of all the trades in the forex...


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<< Back to MOTIFvations Blog Home Page
By Stuart P. Atkinson, Ph.D.
Ubiquitination – Old News Becomes Good News
PROTAC-mediated Targeted Degradation of a Chromatin Remodeler
Doubling-down! Novel Dual-targeted PROTAC Synergistically Attacks Drug Resistance in Cancer
What's Next for Targeted Protein Degradation?
Are you a researcher hoping to target a disease-associated protein with small molecules, but have been left high and dry after finding out that it's considered "undruggable"? Fortunately, an exciting alternative route forward exists, with targeted protein degradation through proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology emerging as a therapeutically relevant approach in areas such as cancer (Békés, Langley, and Crews).
Ubiquitination is a well-known cellular process whereby proteins are "targeted" and thereby tagged for degradation in a dynamic, cell regulatory process. PROTAC molecules, which typically comprise a ligand for a targeted protein linked to an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex (Sakamoto et al.), repeatedly induce protein ubiquitination to capitalize on this mechanism to promote subsequent proteasomal degradation and reduce protein levels in a targeted manner. The first applications of targeted protein degradation by PROTAC molecules focused on cancer-associated proteins such as the estrogen (ER) and androgen (AR) receptors; now, we bring you two therapeutically relevant studies at the forefront of PROTAC research in this emerging field.
Our first study reports on the development of a novel PROTAC-mediated targeted protein degradation approach that targets the SMARCA2 SWI/SNF family chromatin remodeler as a safe, effective, and patient-compliant approach to cancer treatment (Kofink, Trainor, and Mair et al.). Meanwhile, our second study doubles down and describes a PROTAC molecule that simultaneously targets the degradation of two drug resistance-associated proteins (EGFR and PARP) as a highly synergistic means of inhibiting tumorigenesis or sensitizing tumors to other treatment strategies (Zheng et al.).
PROTAC-mediated Targeted Degradation of a Chromatin Remodeler – An Effective & Patient-compliant Cancer Treatment?
Compared to intravenous or subcutaneous drug administration, the oral administration route for cancer targeting agents represents the optimal patient-compliant approach thanks to the general convenience and safety of this approach; however, this route presents significant obstacles to the translation of PROTAC molecules to the clinic due to their larger size and related physicochemical properties.
With this in mind, researchers led by Harald Weinstabl (Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Vienna, Austria) and William Farnaby (University of Dundee, UK) sought to develop a new highly specific and orally available PROTAC molecule for the targeted protein degradation of the SMARCA2 protein (a SWI/SNF-family ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler). The authors initially sought to develop this approach to support an investigation into the synthetic lethality of SMARCA2-dependency in cancers deficient for SMARCA4, a closely related paralog.
As reported in their captivating ChemRxiv preprint, Kofink, Trainor, and Mair et al. applied structure- and property-guided rational design to the development of a SMARCA2-specific PROTAC molecule that employed the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)/ElonginB-ElonginC (VCB) E3 ligase complex and optimized linking moieties, with the latter having significant influence the conformation of the entire PROTAC molecule. Encouragingly, this development strategy supported the synthesis of PROTAC molecules exhibiting elevated potency and pharmacokinetic properties suitable for oral administration.
Notably, a lead PROTAC molecule displayed high specificity for SMARCA2 when evaluated in ex vivo human whole blood assays and preferentially degraded SMARCA2 in vitro in a range of cancer cell lines; furthermore, the authors also described how the oral administration of their PROTAC molecule safely induced the near-complete degradation of SMARCA2 in vivo in mouse lung cancer xenograft models and prompted the inhibition of tumor growth.
Overall, the authors of this exciting study highlight their synthetic approach as a paradigm shift in the development of molecules appropriate for the oral administration route and underscore the successful therapeutic activity of their lead PROTAC molecule for the targeted and specific protein degradation of SMARCA2.
But why target just one protein for PROTAC-mediated targeted degradation when we can double down and promote the degradation of a pair of disease-associated proteins as a potentially synergistic approach to cancer treatment? In their recent research, a team led by Lixia Chen (Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang), Yirong Zhou, and Hua Li (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China) took inspiration from successful clinical reports of small molecule-based combinatorial treatment regimens in cancer patients or dual-targeting drugs such as bispecific antibodies to develop PROTAC molecules with the ability to target two distinct proteins at the same time.
As reported in their fascinating Journal of Medicinal Chemistry study, Zheng et al. generated a library of rationally designed dual targeted PROTAC molecules using a highly efficient convergent synthetic strategy. Each PROTAC molecule employed trifunctional naturally occurring amino acids as star-shaped biocompatible linkers to connect two inhibitor molecules (which function as targeting agents for the proteins of interest) and an E3 ligand to simultaneously induce the targeted degradation of both target proteins.
As a proof-of-concept, the authors employed the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor gefitinib and the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor Olaparib to develop a dual-targeted PROTAC molecule using different linker lengths that successfully induced the simultaneous degradation of EGFR and PARP protein in cancer cell lines thanks to the activity of the E3 ligand. In certain cancers, the overexpression of EGFR and PARP provides cancer cells with resistance to treatment approaches such as alkylating agents and ionizing radiation; therefore, inhibition of both EGFR and PARP may produce a synergistic effect with regards to tumor growth inhibition or therapeutic re-sensitization in cancers such as pancreatic and non-small cell lung cancer (Anighoro, Bajorath, and Rastelli).
The authors note the easy adaptation of their approach to the development of a broad range of dual-targeted PROTAC molecules, which they believe will significantly expand the application of PROTAC technology as a cancer treatment. Further noted combinations include pairs of synthetically lethal kinases, tumor immune targets combined with adjuvant immune targets, or epigenetic targets combined with antiapoptotic targets; however, issues concerning drug properties and pharmacokinetics arising from the increased molecular weight of dual-targeted PROTACs require attention before any potential in vivo evaluation.
Overall, these studies of SMARCA2 and EGFR/PARP targeting as potential cancer treatments provide robust evidence for the therapeutic relevance of PROTAC-mediated targeted protein degradation – but what's next? In the field of epigenetics, PROTACs may provide for the highly specific degradation of histone/RNA/DNA-modifying enzymes; furthermore, dual-targeted PROTAC-mediated targeted protein degradation may also allow us to evaluate how various epigenetic modifications cooperate or antagonize each other in a straightforward manner.
Stuart P. Atkinson, Ph.D.
Stuart was born and grew up in the idyllic town of Lanark (Scotland). He later studied biochemistry at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (Scotland) before gaining his Ph.D. in medical oncology; his thesis described the epigenetic regulation of the telomerase gene promoters in cancer cells. Following Post-doctoral stays in Newcastle (England) and Valencia (Spain) where his varied research aims included the exploration of epigenetics in embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, Stuart moved into project management and scientific writing/editing where his current interests include polymer chemistry, cancer research, regenerative medicine, and epigenetics. While not glued to his laptop, Stuart enjoys exploring the Spanish mountains and coastlines (and everywhere in between) and the food and drink that it provides!
Contact Stuart on Twitter with any questions
What are your favorite recent epigenetics breakthroughs? We'd love to hear from you! Please contact us at blog@activemotif.com or on Twitter (@activemotif) to share your thoughts and feedback! We're also looking for science writers to contribute to MOTIFvations, so if you're an established science communicator or just want to get started, please reach out – there might be a story we can collaborate on!
Oncohistones: Histone Mutations & Their Oncogenic Effects
Oncohistones are amino acid mutations in Nucleosomes shown to have strong correlation to many types of cancers. The cancer-type specificity of oncohistones may facilitate targeted therapy, while limiting the side effects that occur with chemotherapy. Methods to detect these mutations could also help in diagnostic and prognostic applications in personalized medicine.
Library QC for ATAC-Seq and CUT&Tag AKA "Does My Library Look Okay?"
"Does my library look okay?" is the most common question posed to Active Motif technical support. Get the practical scoop on quality control for ATAC-seq and CUT&Tag libraries. Find out how much library to expect from different libraries, what they should look like, and what to do if it's not as expected.
Complete Guide to Understanding & Using ATAC-Seq
Improved High-Throughput Sonication and Epigenetic Analysis with PIXUL
Generating the Best ChIP Data Every Time
Complete Guide to Sonication of Chromatin for ChIP Assays
Reversing Your Epigenetic Age
Next-Gen ChIP-Seq: Genome-Wide Single-Cell Analysis with Antibody-Guided Chromatin Tagmentation Methods
Targeting Epigenetic Enzymes for Drug Discovery & Development
Complete Guide to Using RRBS for Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Analysis
Using RIME to Analyze Protein-Protein Interactions on Chromatin
Epigenetics Products
Antibodies for
Epigenetics &
for Epigenetics


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Guiding Stars – Carly Nugent
'Guiding Stars' investigates the relationship between celebrities, as contemporary models of moral behaviour, and new religions such as Scientology. It discusses how the development of the star figure coincided with changing views of identity towards the end of the nineteenth century. By examining the shift from communal definitions of identity as 'character' to the more individualistic notion of 'personality', 'Guiding Stars' investigates how celebrities came to embody these new ideals, and compares them to new religious movements such as Scientology that present themselves as speaking to the modern human condition by advocating the advancement of the individual. 'Guiding Stars' uses the relationship between Tom Cruise and Scientology as a case study to describe the way celebrities support religious movements and vice versa, and how, if celebrities can be treated like gods, religion can be treated as a celebrity.
Imagine the world being struck to its core by extraterrestrial lightning, people reduced to puffs of smoke as they run screaming down the street, and gigantic robotic tripods striding across states leaving flame and general destruction behind them. Now imagine Tom Cruise standing strong amidst the chaos, surviving, prevailing… and doing it all by himself.
Steven Spielberg's 2005 epic War of the Worlds tells the story of Ray Ferrier, an ordinary working class father caught up in an extraordinary event – a worldwide alien invasion. Throughout the course of the film Ferrier overcomes his initial happy-go-lucky irresponsibility to discover that he has the power to survive and protect his children. His achievements are a result of his own strength and determination; they are achieved alone, in the face of hysterical crowds and distant, disconnected military personnel. Two potential companions, a female acquaintance of Ferrier's and her daughter, are separated from him and his children not five minutes after they are introduced. The only other person that offers to help them goes mad, and is killed by Ferrier. War of the Worlds is a tale of individual rather than communal strength, of the realisation of personal potential. Who better to portray the central protagonist in such a film than Tom Cruise – arguably the most successful and powerful celebrity in the world?
Contemporary culture has seen celebrities rise to the status of role models. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the development of the star figure coincided with changing views of identity and the rise of modernity. An examination of the shift from communal definitions of identity as 'character' to a more individualistic understanding of 'personality' indicates how celebrities embody these new ideals and serve as examples of how to pursue them. New religious movements, particularly Scientology, also present themselves as speaking to the modern human condition, advocating the development of the individual. By discussing celebrities such as Tom Cruise (someone who influences modern society both as a star figure and a member of the Church of Scientology) the ways in which stars support religious movements and vice versa may be better understood. Just as celebrities can and have been treated like gods, so too can religion gain the status of celebrity.
At the beginning of the twentieth century the ways in which people existed radically changed. The rise of industry in the Western world saw the dissolution of small, rural communities in favour of large, urban cities. Mass production entailed an increase in consumption, and a social consciousness that focused on material accumulation. Needless to say this period, commonly referred to as "modernism" or "modernization", involved a "radical shift from one kind of social existence to another" (Barker 2000). For Steve Bruce, that shift was extreme enough to mean "the end of the old world" and the development of a new, capitalist culture (Bruce 1998).
Living in an environment where so much had been altered it is no surprise that people began to wonder how to understand themselves. As Jib Fowles notes, in the new world "the abiding question became one of self-definition" (Fowles 1992). Before modernism, identity was "sharply defined" by an individual's relationship with things such as their cultural and family history and, most importantly, "community" (Fowles 1992). People understood who they were according to their position in a social group, according to how they related to others. The movement of people, during the period of modernization, from rural communities to urban centres saw the loss of small, close-knit groups. In the bustling, hugely populated environment of the city people were "lost in the crowd", rather than identified by it (Fowles 1992). Constantly surrounded and yet at the same time alone, identity could no longer be derived from one's relationship with other people. This resulted, Fowles suggests, in a "general manifestation of anxiety and mental distress" – in a growing need to find new ways of understanding the self (Fowles 1992).
If identity can no longer be derived from one's peers, from people outside of oneself, it seems that it must come from individuals. Isolation in the new "urban milieu" of modernization meant that people were forced to look for identity internally, rather than from the world around them (Fowles 1992). This idea sat nicely alongside the thriving capitalist ideology of individual success, the 'every man for himself' doctrine of hard work for material reward. Individuals came to see themselves as not simply the sites of their own identities, but also as the creators. The idea that identity was something that could be made, shaped and perfected according to an individual's preference was an enormous change from previous understandings of the self. Fowles, in discussing the different opinions of "self-help manuals and behavioral guides", notes that before the twentieth century people were encouraged to "strengthen their "character" in order to gain inner strength (Fowles 1992). Identity as 'character' is something that may be developed and improved, but is nonetheless essentially a fixed, unalterable part of a person. As a new century dawned, however, this sort of self-help advice began to change. Guides began to emphasise the development of "personality" – the idea that one could create oneself in order to "get others to like him" (Fowles 1992). Such advice seems to suggest that identity is fluid, and may be changed to suit a given situation. 'Personality', unlike the set and stable idea of 'character', is a view of identity that is open to individual interpretation and manipulation.
Identity as personality is bound up with the modernist notion of a society that consists of unique individuals. This is evidenced in the change in focus in art, particularly writing, in the early twentieth century. Modernist writers such as Virginia Woolf and Henry James recognised "the variety of personal responses" and the "subjectivity of each individual", and strove to present their characters as people with conflicting and changing identities (Faulkner 1990). With modernism, character became personality – mysterious, constantly changing and "impossible simply to sum up" (Matz 2004). The rise of capitalism during this period also put the onus on individual responsibility and success, encouraging the idea, suggested by Richard Dyer, that each person 'makes' their own life (Dyer 1987). People were no longer expected to consider their wellbeing as part of a larger group, but rather saw themselves as "discrete human person[s]" responsible for their own advancement in the world (Dyer 1987). As Dyer notes, the capitalist system is supported by the idea of the individual as personality, working on "the basis of the freedom (separateness) of anyone to make money, [and] sell their labour how they will" (1987).
This new world brought with it new goals and new ways of behaving in society. People became concerned with how to be beautiful, confident, rich and extraordinary. Prominent figures of the nineteenth century – writers, philosophers, royal and religious leaders – were no longer relevant role models. New models were required "who could help in defining the individual" (Fowles 1992). And the recently risen stars, also often aptly termed "personalities", were soon looked to as people who could fill those roles (Fowles 1992).
The rise of capitalism and industry coincided with the creation of "the star role" (Fowles 1992). This was, he argues, no coincidence, but the result of a desperate need in the changing culture for "models of the well-integrated self" (Fowles 1992). Celebrities filled this need, as Dyer articulates, by serving as examples of how to be human in modern society (Dyer 1987). Particularly, he suggests, they show people how to live in relation to production and how to be successful as individuals (Dyer 1987). In a changing world stars presented ideal and "perfected" ways of living to an uncertain population (Fowles 1992). They represented confidence and youthfulness, demonstrated "pluck" and the ability to "overcome the forces of evil, authority and tedium" (Fowles 1992). Stars showed the world how to be complete and happy people (Fowles 1992). The burst of interest in stars in the early twentieth century is indicative of a rising interest in "how we are human" (Dyer 1987). The public's fascination with celebrities comes from the ways in which they demonstrate what it's like to live within a capitalist form of production. It is not just their extraordinary, seemingly perfect personas that are attractive, but also their "ordinariness" – the way in which they relate to their fans as 'normal' people (Holmes 2004).
Joshua Gamson argues that in the early twentieth century the presentation of celebrities shifted slightly – no longer were the public content with watching the glamour of Hollywood from afar (Gamson 2001). These things were fascinating, but they were not directly relatable to the everyday lives of those observing them. Stars that fans could not relate to were no longer enough, and as a consequence, in the 1930s, celebrities were made "more and more mortal" (Gamson 2001). They were still extraordinary in many ways, but now their extraordinariness was presented as being rooted in the ordinary. Stars were the boy or girl next door, they were 'just like you', with the same basic wants and needs – they ate and drank, worked, slept and played. As Gamson quotes from a 1940 issue of Life magazine, "[s]tars now build homes, live quietly and raise children" (Gamson 2001). The same magazine, according to Gamson, includes photographs of celebrities eating breakfast and playing with kids in backyards (Gamson 2001). The only thing that really separates celebrities from the rest of the world, it seems, is that they are famous, while those watching them are not. This shift in focus to the similarities between the lives of stars and those of fans created a feeling of "connection and intimacy" between the famous and their audience (Gamson 2001). Celebrity lives have become simply "a blown up version of the typical", ourselves writ large and in lights, showing us, as Dyer suggests, "how we are human now" (Gamson 2001; Dyer 1987).
There is a certain irony in the fact that the ordinariness of celebrities is in part what elevates them to the status of deities. For it seems that, in the modern, predominantly secular age, celebrities have overtaken religion and religious figures as models of moral behaviour and as objects of worship. The gods of the twentieth and twenty first centuries are brand names, self-help gurus and movie stars; walls are adorned, no longer with Bible verses, but with larger than life pinups of Brad Pitt; and models of Jesus Christ bleeding on the cross have been replaced by cans of Coca Cola and iPods. It is these people, and objects, to which people have come to relate to as "human personalities and mythic figures" (Walker 1970). The modern obsession with all of these cultural products, it may be argued, is not necessarily empty or mindless, however. Rather, the deification of celebrity figures is a way of meeting a need that traditional religion is no longer able to meet – that is, the need to know who we are in the world, and how we should behave.
Bruce David Forbes argues that popular culture and religion have similar functions (Forbes and Mahan 2000). Both act as examples of how to locate oneself within the world, offering guidelines for every aspect of life from morality to clothing, relationships to diet. Whether the example takes the form of Jesus feeding the masses or Madonna adopting orphaned children from third world nations, there is an implied code of behaviour to be found. Both celebrities and traditional religions like Christianity work to help people deal with everyday problems (Forbes and Mahan 2000). And it is not surprising that, in today's modern, consumer driven society, people are more ready to look for meaning in American celebrities adopting Malawian children than in loaves and fishes. It seems entirely legitimate to argue, as Forbes does, that popular culture works more and more like religion (Forbes and Mahan 2000). And it is understandable, then, when individuals who are part of that religion are "conferred a sacred status", representing as they do the predominant feeling of the modern world (Hunt 2003). As Stephen J. Hunt notes in a discussion of stars as religious figures, the actors from TV shows such as Friends – a program that earned huge success through its representation of 'ordinary' people – are given "almost a divine status" by fans (Hunt 2003). One of the most widely quoted examples of fans 'deifying' a celebrity is that of Elvis Presley. As Erika Dross notes, since the singer's death in 1977 "a veritable Elvis religion has emerged" (Dross 2001). Along with the seemingly infinite amount of general Elvis memorabilia, there is also a proliferation of Elvis churches, shrines, rituals, and online "temples" (Dross 2001). Dross argues that this immense devotion indicates that Elvis culture has crossed over into the realm of "religious faith" (Dross 2001). However it is not just Elvis's status as an extraordinary figure, as "virtuous, transcendent and even miraculous", that inspires people to worship him (Dross 2001). His ability to relate to the public, to situate people in a particular culture and reflect their wants and needs, makes him a sort of poster boy for a larger set of beliefs and values. One woman interviewed by Dross stated that her devotion to Elvis came from seeing him as a man sent "to wake us up, to shake us, to ask us, what are we doing, where are we going?" (Apostolakis, qtd. in Dross 2001). It seems that Elvis has become something of a prophet for popular culture, a 'guiding star' for people to follow as they attempt to navigate life in the modern world.
Though it may have been given a run for its money, so to speak, in the new, capitalist world, organised religion has not been completely overtaken by the rise of the celebrity 'godhead'. Many people still look to religious groups for guidance, requiring something more than a picture of Elvis or a Brad Pitt film to make sense of their world and define their identity. Such religious institutions, however, have had to adapt to the changes of the twentieth century in order to maintain their following. Religion and Popular Culture in America, edited by Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, presents a collection of essays that argue that religion has recreated itself to suit what has become a "consumer-oriented, mass-media culture" (Forbes and Mahan 2000). It has done so, in some cases, by using techniques of modern marketing – working with, rather than against, contemporary society. Some religions have also understood the shift from a community based conception of identity to a more individualistic notion of personality, and have tailored their services accordingly. As Roy Wallis observes, new religious movements are often based around the individual, rather than a group of people (Wallis 1976). And Steve Bruce argues that the "individualism" encouraged by modern society has changed the culture of religion to become one that believes in "the divinity of the self" and the power of the individual to mould their own meaning (Bruce 1998). God, like identity, is no longer sought externally, but inside ourselves. It is not surprising, then, that so many religious movements during the twentieth and twenty first centuries have developed 'self-help' mentalities. As Stephen J. Hunt notes, the twentieth century saw strategies of self-help become "psychologically based self-improvement movements" (Hunt 2003). These movements offered to do just what the modern individual wanted – to release their inner potential.
Religion in the modern world remains strong largely because it has "commodified" and "personalized" its practices (Hoover 2001). Like the role of the celebrity, religion today serves to explain what it means to be human and to help people define themselves "against the backdrop of urban anonymity" (Dyer 1987). If celebrities can become religious figures, it seems so too can religion gain the status of celebrity. The relationship between new religious movements and stars is illustrated by the example of Tom Cruise as a highly successful celebrity and a member of a 'New Age' religious organization, the Church of Scientology. An analysis of Cruise and his religion highlights the ways in which celebrities serve as models of behaviour for the individual in the modern world, as well as how religion has been able to make itself relevant to today's society. It also identifies the relationship between stars and religion as one that is mutually beneficial – Tom Cruise, for example, is an outspoken supporter of Scientology, and is in turn rewarded by the church for promoting it. "There is a fluidity among the relationships between religion and popular culture" – a flow of elements back and forth from one to the other, a symbiosis that may give us insight into the state of contemporary culture (Forbes and Mahan 2000).
The website Forbes.com ranks Tom Cruise ">number one on the 'Forbes Power 100' – a list of the world's most powerful people. The website suggests that a combination of Cruise's success in the 2005 blockbuster War of the Worlds and his marriage to actress Katie Holmes is responsible for Cruise's status as one of Hollywood's most sought after actors. Indeed, this assessment should not be surprising to anyone who has been even slightly exposed to today's celebrity culture. Love him or hate him, it is difficult to deny that Tom Cruise is an incredibly successful, rich and famous public figure. Cruise burst into the 'big time' in the 1980s, starring in Top Gun (1986), The Color of Money (1986) and Rain Man (1988) – movies that all made it big at the box office. By the 1990s Cruise was averaging, according to IMDb, 15 million dollars per film, making him one of the world's highest paid actors. He is certainly a person whose fame and fortune, lifestyle and domination of the big screen make him larger than life. Multi-million dollar blockbusters such as the Mission Impossible trilogy (1996, 2000, 2006), The Last Samurai (2003) and War of the Worlds (2005) have made Cruise not only an international superstar, but have created an image of him as someone constantly surrounded by action, adventure and fantastic, extraordinary events. Cruise is an enlarged figure of a man, blown up by the big screen and outlandish, romanticized scripts. His lifestyle off-screen is similarly engorged. According to the website for People magazine, Cruise inhabits a "$35 Million Beverly Hills Mansion" of "1.3 acres", "seven bedroom (sic) and nine bathrooms" (People). He also loves putting on a show – whether jumping on Oprah's couch or proposing to his girlfriend on top of the Eiffel Tower, his stunts are often enlarged and outrageous. Cruise certainly presents an image of an extraordinary individual, someone "special… even miraculous" (Dross 2001). However, there are elements of Cruise's image that relate him to the ordinary – to the everyday existence of his fans. Films like War of the Worlds, while on the one hand presenting extraordinary circumstances, also present Cruise as an ordinary, working class father, someone who is just as challenged by his children as he is by alien invaders. Fan websites, also, are often preoccupied with Cruise's battle to become the star that he is today – TomCruiseFan.com describes him as a person whose life has, up until now at least, been a struggle. According to the site's biography, Cruise came from a family that was not well off, and that forced him to take on a heavy load of responsibilities. The website relates that before stardom, Cruise was "[i]mpoverished and barely scraping by" (TomCruiseFan.com). It also humanizes Cruise by describing him as a "kind and thoughtful man" who is popular within the Hollywood community (TomCruiseFan.com).
It is easy to see Cruise as an example of the way in which celebrities exemplify the modern idea of the individual. Through his success within the contemporary capitalist world, as well as his presentation as a strong, confident and yet ordinary human being, Cruise serves as a model for behaviour, playing out as he does "the ways that work is lived" in a capitalist structure (Dyer 1987). The public can see in Cruise "perfected, confident behavior" that Fowles argues people in the new "unanchored" modern world crave (Fowles 1992). To be successful in one's field of work, to have material wealth, and to be attractive – as Fowles notes – are all concerns of modern society (Fowles 1992). Cruise symbolizes all of these things, while maintaining his connection to the ordinary man by having had to 'struggle' to get where he is today. The fact that, like the character of Ray Ferrier in War of the Worlds, Cruise has struggled alone, and has (seemingly) single handedly created his own success, supports the idea of identity as defined by the individual, of identity as "personality" (Fowles 1992).
Another important aspect of Cruise's celebrity identity is his attachment to the Church of Scientology. Scott Bowles notes that to really understand Tom Cruise it is necessary to understand his connection to Scientology: Bowles quotes Cruise as stating that his involvement with the Church has helped him to find his "center" in the midst of his fame (Bowles 2003). According to L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, this is exactly the aim of the religion – "to renew a person's sense of full responsibility by the reorientation of his spiritual center" (Hubbard, qtd. Hogarty [19–]). In other words, Scientology is about discovering one's identity, and finding an anchor for the self in what Fowles calls "the backdrop of urban anonymity" (Fowles 1992). And it works by focusing on the satisfaction of individuals.
Scientology, founded by Hubbard in 1954, began as a program called Dianetics, which, Roy Wallis notes, "has a place in a continuing tradition of self-improvement movements" (Wallis 1976). Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950) is essentially a self-help manual with some scientific twists. The basic thesis of Dianetics is to do with clearing one's Theta (something akin to the idea of a soul) of all the emotional debris it has collected throughout its life in a world where "morals are at a low ebb" (Scientology 1994). Clearing is achieved through a process called auditing, carried out by a trained "auditor" with the assistance of a machine known as an electropsychometer or E-Meter. The E-Meter, Scientologists claim, measures and registers "mental energy" in a subject (Scientology 1994). The goal of these auditing sessions is to rid the subject of the disruptive aspects of their mind, leaving them in "a new state for man – Clear" (Scientology 1994). According to information from the Church of Scientology, becoming Clear makes one's individuality stronger.
Scientology is a religion that has developed itself in accordance with the modern world, and as such fits easily into the capitalist system It is run like a business – as Hunt notes, Scientology is more like a "corporate commercial enterprise" than a church – and deals with "customers" rather than parishioners (Hunt 2003). More importantly, though, the Church of Scientology is concerned with advancement for the individual, rather than a group – a way of thinking that recognizes and speaks to the modern isolated, self-concerned city dweller. As Wallis notes, Scientology owes its success to its ability to offer explanations for the modern lives of individuals (Wallis 1976). Scientology offers to answer the question of "self-definition", or rather, to help us create our own answers to this question. There is great emphasis in Scientology on the "responsibility" of the individual – as Paul Bannigan Hogarty notes, "Hubbard cannot state emphatically enough… that the person is his being" (Hogarty [19–]). The religion claims that "only by allowing an individual to find his own answers to life's problems can improvements be made" (Scientology 1994). By putting the onus on the individual Scientology supports the notion that we are in charge of the creation of our personalities, that we can be the people we choose to be. Indeed, the Church's late founder L. Ron Hubbard is treated like a prophet by Scientologists, and has been called a "powerful personality" (Wallis 1976).
Scientology may be one of the most successful of the self-help organizations, but it is also one of the most controversial. According to John Sweeney, a BBC journalist who recently made a documentary about the religion, "Scientology has two faces – nice and smiley, and sinister and dark" (Sweeney 2007). Rumours of Scientology's cultish practices are not uncommon: there are stories of people joining Scientology and "disconnecting" from their families; reports of brainwashing and, in 1995, accusations that the church was responsible for the death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson (Frantz 1997). Reports that Scientology is nothing more than a money-making venture – according to Operation Clambake, Hubbard once stated "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is" – detract even further from its credibility. Then there is the fact that Scientology's metaphysical beliefs seem to be drawn from science fiction. It has been widely reported that a core belief of the Church of Scientology is that human beings were brought to Earth 75 million years ago by "an intergalactic space lord called Xenu", who "dumped them in volcanoes and blew them up with atomic bombs" (Sweeney 2007). Despite these extraordinary and mysterious aspects, however, around 800,000 people call themselves Scientologists. From this it may be argued that Scientology's strange, extraterrestrial nature is in fact part of its attractiveness. By combining a concern for the individual with modern business practices and a spectacular science fiction-esque belief system, Scientology has tapped into what today's society wants from religion. That is, the ordinary combined with the extraordinary – the same product, in fact, presented by celebrities like Tom Cruise.
New religions such as Scientology and celebrities such as Tom Cruise not only relate to society in similar ways, they also support each other. According to an online biography, in 1990 Tom Cruise "renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced the Church of Scientology" (IMDb). He has since gained the title of an Operating Thetan (someone who has passed the status of Clear) and is currently, according to Rolling Stone magazine, at one of the highest levels of the Church known as OT VII. Cruise speaks openly to the media about his Scientologist beliefs, and was recently married to actress Katie Holmes in a Scientology ceremony at which the head of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, was his best man. "I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist", Cruise has said (Cruise, qtd. Ross 2004). Cruise has greatly supported and promoted Scientology: according to Rolling Stone, the Church reported that in 2005 it received "289,000 minutes of radio and TV coverage" and that much of this publicity was due to the popularity of Tom Cruise, who promoted the religion and its beliefs to interviewers such as Oprah Winfrey and Matt Lauer (Reitman 2006). Scientology has returned the favour to Cruise and other celebrities, offering them "free courses" and setting up special "celebrity centres", such as the elaborate Celebrity Centre International situated in Hollywood Hills (Figure 2) (Reitman 2006).
Figure 1. Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International located in Hollywood, California, USA (accessed 15th May 2009)
In 1955, the Church created a policy called 'Project Celebrity' that aimed to recruit famous people from different fields – such as the arts, sport and business – in order to promote Scientology (Reitman 2006). According to the official website, Scientology reveres "the great artist" and recognises that "society as a whole looks upon them as not quite ordinary beings" (Scientology 1994). The Church has been able to use the extraordinary quality possessed by celebrities to its advantage, embracing them as spokespeople for Scientology and role models for society. For their ability to "truly communicate" Scientology rewards celebrities such as Cruise – in 2004, the actor was awarded the "Freedom Medal of Valor" by Scientology for his promotion of the religion (Ross 2004). According to the 'International Scientology News', "[e]very minute, of every hour – someone reaches for LRH [L. Ron Hubbard] technology… simply because they know Tom Cruise is a scientologist" (Ross 2004). And in January of this year, Cruise was dubbed "the new "Christ" of Scientology", with David Miscavige predicting that in the future the celebrity will be "worshipped like Jesus for his work to raise awareness of the religion" (Smith 2007).
Just as celebrities like Tom Cruise support Scientology, so too does Scientology support its stars. Both aspects of modern culture – the celebrity and the new religious movement – have evolved and become successful by responding to a changing society. By recognising the shift in emphasis from a communally to individually defined identity that came with modernization, Scientology and star figures like Tom Cruise were able to offer guidance where it was most needed. Both 'religions' are models for how to behave, for how to be in the modern world. They indicate, by emphasising individual responsibility and potential, how to create a 'personality', and how to operate in a business-oriented civilisation. Both Scientology and stars like Cruise successfully link the ordinariness of the everyday person to the extraordinary, out-of-this-world life that the everyday person aspires to. By joining forces to support each other's causes that link is made even stronger, and the line between religion and popular culture becomes more blurred. As Stewart M. Hoover notes, the two are meeting on a "common turf" – the experience of living in the modern world (Hoover 2001). It is by recognising this everyday world and life within it that celebrities and Scientology are able to speak so clearly within contemporary culture.
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Why a Massive Lobbying Push for Immigration Reform Fell Flat
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Lobbying around immigration reform soared last year, but a concerted effort from the tech sector, agriculture, big business and labor unions couldn't push a law through Congress.
First, let's put this in perspective. Publicly reported lobbying activity declined last year on the whole, but immigration was one of the few areas that saw growth.
The number of registered lobbyists dealing with immigration nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013, going from 895 to 1,640. And the number of clients lobbying on immigration increased by almost 80 percent during that period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Here's why: Congress appeared to have a legitimate chance at passing a bill last year. Lobbyists representing companies, like Microsoft and Facebook, major associations and labor unions, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO, took to Capitol Hill to make the case for immigration reform.
One of the hottest issues was an expansion visas for highly skilled workers, an acute point of interest for tech companies.
But the lobbyists weren't able to get a bill through Congress in 2013, and the odds this year aren't too good, either.
Getting a bill through both chambers of Congress was always going to be an uphill climb, a reality of which lobbyists were well aware.
"Most members know where they are on it, and for many it was in their first campaign platform before they ever got here," said Carl Thorsen, co-founder of the lobbying firm Thorsen French Advocacy, who represented a number of clients on immigration last year. "It is rare that any outside advocate is going to change their mind."
Source: Center for Responsive Politics
Lobbyists did provide value, however, in collecting information on which members were considering backing reform and advising outside groups with an interest in the issue, such as local chambers of commerce and growers associations, on how to work with them.
"If I were the head of an association that was really interested in immigration reform … I'd do an assessment of where everyone is on the Congress," said Steve Billet, a veteran lobbyist who is currently the head of legislative affairs program at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. "And then identify people who you may be able to move on a vote like this and target them for specific meetings and information campaigns."
The united push for a bill from business, labor and immigrant-rights groups energized supporters of reform. But it also fueled opponents' complaints that the effort was solely driven by interest groups representing big business, labor unions and Silicon Valley.
"Is it not time for the GOP to make a clean public break from the special-interest immigration lobby and let Democrats own — solely, completely, and exclusively — the unwise and unpopular policies they are pushing on these groups' behalf?" Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a chief critic of the Senate's immigration bill, wrote in National Review last month.
The lobbying effort wasn't enough to keep immigration reform from sputtering in Congress, to the delight of those critics. At the same time, the failure of immigration reform may have shattered the myth that lobbyists are an all-powerful force in Washington.
"It maybe takes more than just having the right lobbyist," Billet said. "I think you need to have legitimate circumstances surrounding an issue that suggest that what it is that they're trying to do makes sense."
And those circumstances have simply not aligned. The Senate was able to pass a bipartisan bill last June, but Republicans in the House have not agreed to take up the issue.
Many Republicans have acknowledged that it's in their party's long-term interest to pass immigration reform, as a way to open the door to winning back Latino voters. And polling indicates that broad reform is popular nationwide.
But many individual members aren't concerned about national politics. They worry that supporting immigration reform could hurt them in their home districts, which typically have small Latino populations.
Those candidates worried about reelection aren't usually interested in a lobbying pitch around an ideologically charged issue like immigration, according to Sarah Bryner, research director at the Center for Responsive Politics.
"Until there is maybe more grassroots activity and more change at that level, the money might not matter because politicians are unwilling to take steps to implement policies that might be unpopular with their constituents," she said.
And in a midterm election year when the GOP has a chance of taking control of the Senate, Republican leaders have become gun shy about taking a vote on an issue like immigration reform, which could divide the party.
Still, lobbyists don't believe their efforts weren't all for naught. They pointed to several key members, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who have said they want to tackle the issue. That's a change from this time two years ago.
"They're starting to show some results of their lobbying efforts," said Billet, who managed various lobbying efforts for AT&T until 2002. "I think they're likely to get something moving in the House here in the near term."
Jordan Fabian is Fusion's politics editor, writing about campaigns, Congress, immigration, and more. When he's not working, you can find him at the ice rink or at home with his wife, Melissa.
Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.


Home builder confidence in housing market conditions surged in August after sagging to an eight-month low in July. The National Association of Home Builders reported a July reading of 68 in August after analysts expected a one- point increase from July's Housing Market Index reading of 64. Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders consider housing market conditions positive than those who do not.
Component readings of the Housing Market Index also improved in August. Builder confidence in current housing market condition rose four points to 74; Builder confidence in housing market conditions over the next six months rose by five points to 78. Builder confidence in buyer traffic in new home developments rose one point to an index reading of 49.
Builders have long cited a shortage of buildable lots and labor, along with rising costs as impacting confidence in current and future confidence in housing markets. NAHB said that labor shortages are worse in 2017 than in 2016. Builders reported labor shortages including carpenters and electricians. August readings suggest that positive economic developments are mitigating long-term builder concerns, but a recent tariff on Canadian lumber raised materials costs for some builders.
The discrepancy between builder confidence and housing starts concerns real estate pros and housing and lending industry leaders, but without enough workers to staff their building crews, home builders face obstacles in meeting buyer demand for homes.
Stronger economic and jobs indicators are boosting builder confidence in housing market conditions. As more prospective home buyers find stable jobs, buying a home becomes possible for prospective buyers who have waited for economic conditions to improve sufficiently to invest in home ownership.
Three month rolling averages were mixed. The Northwestern region gained one point for an index reading of 47, the Midwest gained one point to a reading of 66 and the Southern region dropped three points to a reading of 66. The Western region had the highest level of builder confidence but lost one point for a reading of 75.
Shortages of homes for sale and buildable lots have impacted builder confidence for several months. As the number of available homes dwindles, demand and home prices have risen. Real estate pros view building more home as the only solution for easing the shortage of homes for sale Lower readings on builder confidence in market conditions could indicate slowing in the construction of new homes.
While home builder confidence jumped in the aftermath of the election, builders said that a tariff on Canadian lumber is affecting home prices and construction jobs. In a statement released with July's Housing Market Index readings, NAHB said that the lumber tariff tacked on an average of $1236 to the average home price. NAHB leaders also said that as materials costs continue to rise, affordability will become an issue and that construction layoffs could potentially exceed 8000 jobs.
NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald said about the lumber tariff, this is hurting housing affordability even as consumer interest in the new-home market remains strong" While current interest in new homes is healthy, home builders will have to manage costs to keep home prices affordable and competitive.
Case-Shiller's 20-City Home Price Index posted a month-to-month gain of 0.20 percent for a year-over-year gain of 5.90 percent. Seattle, Washington again topped the 20-City index with year-over-year home price growth of 12.20 percent. Portland Oregon followed with an annual price gain of 9.70 percent. Denver, Colorado was replaced by Dallas, Texas with a year-over-year home price growth rate of 8.80 percent. Fifteen cities posted higher year-over-year gains in home prices in February as compared to January readings.
Case-Shiller National, 20-City and 10-City Home Price Indices reported moth-to-month 0.20 percent home price growth before seasonal adjustment. After prices were seasonally adjusted, national home prices increased by 0.40 percent month-to-month; the 20-city index showed an increase of 0.70 percent and home prices in the 10-City Index rose by 0.60 percent after seasonal adjustment.
David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chair of the S&P Dow Jones Indices Committee, said that ongoing shortages of homes for sale continue to boost home prices as demand exceeds supply. First-time and moderate income home buyers continue to face affordability concerns as rising home prices can negatively impact buyers' ability to qualify for mortgage loans.
Analysts said that while rising home prices are a sign of economic strength, housing market indicators such as housing starts have not had corresponding growth rates. New construction is viewed as the only way to ease demand for homes as rising home prices have so far not cooled demand.


As a freelance artist Devika has been involved in delivering and developing new works across the country.
She has been a part of the contemporary dance spectacle Initium, developed and nationally-toured by Akademi London.
Alongside working on projects locally in Yorkshire such as the The Story Retold, telling the story of Diwali with live music and poetry performed by Musical Arc (physically impaired musicians) and Fused (International Youth Music Group). She presented her new work Borderline at Yorkshire dance center as the part of GOING SOLO an insight into the diverse art of solo performance.
She is part of Nirmanika A unique collaborative production presented by Milapfest and Apsaras Arts (Singapore).
Karnataka Government- India has invited to present her work at World Kannada Conference - 2011 .
She is one of the main speakers in Mystic and science conference 32, University college ,Winchester.
She has been selected for international dance development project ' Dance Intense 2011' at York University Toronto Canada by Sampad Birmingham UK.
079 8889 5668 and start your journey today.
Copyright © DEVIKA RAO DANCE THEATRE | All Rights Reserved.


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To remove this issue please choose the correct version of MailChimp module with corresponding to the Drupal version.
Please verify your versions. Go to your module and sites\all\modules\**\mailchimp\mailchimp.module then see the code which library to download.
A PHP 5.2+ API client for [v2 of the MailChimp API](http://apidocs.mailchimp.com/api/2.0/). Please note that we generate this client/wrapper, so while we're happy to look at any pull requests, ultimately we can't technically accept them. We will, however comment on any additions or changes made due to them before closing them.
This can be installed via [Composer](http://getcomposer.org/) and our [packagist package](https://packagist.org/packages/mailchimp/mailchimp).
A basic example app to help kickstart you which – will also automatically install this package – is over in a public [github](https://github.com/mailchimp/mcapi2-php-examples) repo.


The Fall Dance Concert this Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 16-18, will close with a high-energy street jazz piece called Get Outta My Way, created by acclaimed choreographers Brian and Scott Nicholson. It features music by Kylie Minogue.
The Nicholson twins, who are Ariana Grande's world tour creative directors and lead dancers, came back to the College of Fine Arts' dance program in October for their second residency in less than two years, leading master classes as well as rehearsals to get students ready for the upcoming event.
The popular annual Fall Dance Concert is filled with variety and versatility, in which dance faculty and guest artists choreograph dance based in theatricality. In conjunction, Visual Arts will host the Fall for the Arts sale.


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Source: (2003) In, Elmar Weitekamp and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. Restorative Justice in Context: International Practice and Directions.Devon, UK and Portland Oregon: Willan Publishing. Pp. 257-271.
By rejecting the dominant form of justice and its colonizing effects, people that were once marginalized and silenced are now experiencing voice and participation. They are given the key position in the creation of meaning regarding the event that they have experienced. With this restorative approach, a consistency between the practice of research and the goals and values promoted with restorative justice is necessary. Just as restorative justice challenges the traditional ways of knowing about crime and justice, research practices have the potential to challenge the dominant ways of knowing of the social world. If society is moving from a criminology that is violent and a justice that is retributive, it will need to advance ways of knowing that emphasize connectedness above separation and healing rather than suffering. A set of transformative guidelines for research that is more consistent with the values of restorative justice is presented. Transformative inquiry aims at social action more than "pure� knowledge. It acknowledges that much knowledge is subjective, constructed, and inter-relational. It recognizes the complex and limited nature of research findings. Transformative inquiry respects subjects by promoting values such as collaboration, accountability, confidentiality, and opportunities for subjects to present themselves in their own voice. It defines the researcher's role as facilitator, collaborator, and learner more than neutral expert. It acknowledges others' realities and is open to being affected personally by this interaction. It is attuned to the potential harms and unintended consequences for subjects and others. It uses visual as well as verbal, non-linear as well as linear, artistic as well as scientific methods of elicitation and presentation. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.


Welcome to our class page. We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and finding out about what we are getting up to in our class. Our class teacher is Mrs Parker and our classroom assistants are Mrs Lavery and Mrs Fleck.
PE - Wednesday and Thursday are PE days so bring your kit - white t-shirt, navy or black shorts/tracksuit bottoms and trainers/plimsolls.
We are developing a growth mindset approach to learning. It is a challenge but we are ready for it!
We enjoy using ICT to enhance our learning and below are some of the programs we use regularly. Follow the links below to access these resources.
Our Winter Topic was fun! Mrs Parker set us a challenge - she told us we had to build an igloo using plastic cups. It wasn't as easy as you might think! We had a lot of thinking and discussing to do with our partner. Have a look at some of the pictures below to see how well we worked.
Our Winter topic was great. We learned about the Arctic and Antarctic, the similarities and differences between them, the animals that live in both places and the climate in both places. It was a great topic and we learned so much.
Our topic for term 2 is World War II. We are learning about reasons why WWII occurred, countries involved, evacuees, rationing, Belfast Blitz, make do and mend, women in WWII and Anne Frank. It's a busy term!
We visited the NI War Museum to learn about WWII from pictures, artefacts and videos. As you can see from our pictures we had a great day!


text:
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Our client-focused team of civil and criminal litigation lawyers are more than capable of handling every aspect of your case from start to finish, both in and out of court. Our mission is to ensure that you receive sound advice, adequate legal representation and a robust problem-solving approach throughout.
Wilkinson Law's legal team are experienced business advisors, having successfully owned and run their own businesses both locally and in the United Kingdom. You will therefore find us very practical, very hands-on and extremely knowledgeable in our approach.
Buying or selling your home can be a daunting process, no matter what type of transaction is involved. Our priority therefore is to make your conveyancing transaction as smooth and as stress-free as possible. Email us your transaction details and we will happily provide you with a free fixed quote within minutes.
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Our Family Law specialists know that relationship problems often involve high emotions, especially when there are children involved. Our skilled family law team is sensitive to your needs during this difficult time, and we will work with you side by side to resolve your family situation with compassion and efficiency, and without the unnecessary legal jargon.
Our able team of private client lawyers work with both individuals and families, providing legal advice from a Gibraltar and a UK perspective on a variety of matters such as investments, taxation, estate management, succession planning, wills and probate and testamentary issues.
Wilkinson Law is a full-service and results-focused law firm located in the heart of Gibraltar's busy Main Street.
Our smart new premises are as accessible as they are client-friendly and our mission is to provide our clients with innovative legal solutions, excellent legal representation and a pro-active, no-nonsense attitude throughout. How do we do this? By being approachable, efficient and responsive with each and every client that walks through our door.
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Richard is the senior partner of Wilkinson Law. Admitted as a solicitor by Lord Denning himself in 1974, Richard has a vast experience in private and commercial practice, in both the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. For many years, he pioneered the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the liquefied petroleum gas industry. Recognised locally and internationally as an exceptional lawyer, Richard is often consulted by clients looking for innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems, particularly in high value commercial transactions. As a lifelong yachtsman, Richard knows how to help a client weather any storm.
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Suresh is a partner of the firm. Having graduated in Computer Science in 1989 with first class honours from Imperial College London, Suresh converted to law in 2008, completing the Diploma in Laws and graduating with distinction from the University of Law. After completing the Bar Professional Training Course in 2010, Suresh was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2011 and to the Gibraltar Bar in early 2012. Widely regarded as a tenacious litigator and a hands-on problem-solver, as well as a highly-successful entrepreneur with a proven track record in business, Suresh is regularly instructed by clients in both contentious and non-contentious matters. Suresh is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Hindi.
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Janet joined Wilkinson Law in November 2018 as a skilled office manager, bringing considerable operational expertise to the firm. She is a highly organised, detail-oriented professional with many years' experience providing structured, high-level administrative support within the legal profession. Having previously worked for a number of law firms both in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, Janet's strong client service skills, attention to detail and outgoing personality allow her to build and maintain productive, long-standing client relationships. Outside of work, Janet is a keen adventure-seeker, having recently climbed Machu Picchu just for fun!
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