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Review: 'Shazam!' gives the overworked superhero genre a fun, irreverent lift
By Justin ChangFilm Critic
April 4, 2019 2:05 PM PT
Film Critic
The Seven Deadly Sins play a prominent role in "Shazam!," the latest and loosest entertainment from that highly erratic, fitfully enjoyable pop-cultural entity known as the DC Extended Universe. Taking vaporous form as giant CGI gargoyles, the Sins are the evil minions — and masters — of Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong), a glowering villain forged in the crucible of a grievously love-starved childhood. But Sivana meets his match and then some in the bulked-up form of Shazam (Zachary Levi), the goofy adopted super-persona of a teenager who also knows a thing or two about the pain of abandonment.
More on all that in a moment. For now, it's worth noting that "Shazam!" commits none of the Seven Deadly Sins of franchise filmmaking, only the venial offenses of excessive multitasking and being a bit over-eager to please. The movie is too unpretentious for Pride, too jovial for Wrath, too self-admiring for Envy, too busy for Sloth. Two jokey scenes outside a strip club are the extent of its Lust, and the running time veers toward Gluttony only if you stay for the post-credits bits.
As for Greed — well, let the Hollywood blockbuster that is without Greed cast the first Infinity Stone. (That's a different franchise, I know. Kindly hold all corrections and death threats until the end of the review.)
Directed by David F. Sandberg from a script by Henry Gayden, "Shazam!" dusts off a character who was created in 1939 by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck and given the name of Captain Marvel; for reasons that are now both obvious and too tortured to recount here, he was eventually renamed Shazam. One of the movie's better jokes is that nobody knows what to call the guy (the most amusing option is "Captain Sparklefingers").
In any case, when we first meet him he's just Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a moody 14-year-old runaway. Bounced around from one Philadelphia foster home to another, he's never given up trying to track down his mother, from whom he was separated as a kid.
Billy's latest scrape lands him with a new family whose loving concern is immediately apparent, though Billy resists their attempts to make him feel like he belongs. He does reluctantly bond with his younger roommate, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a motormouth with a dark sense of humor — he has a walking disability, the true source of which he keeps joking about — and a deep love of superhero lore.
It can be risky turning a member of your movie's presumed target audience into a major character. But Grazer, with his mile-a-minute delivery, does a nice job of gushing breathlessly over Batman and Superman while pretending not to know he's already joined their corporate family.
Billy's heroic destiny zaps into focus when he has an encounter with an aging wizard (Djimon Hounsou), who's the last of his benevolent kind and looking for a replacement. After a quick consultation with his staff, the enchanter decides that this stripling is sufficiently pure of heart to inherit his powers. And so Billy becomes Shazam, a fully grown, red-costumed superhero with a lightning bolt on his chest, electricity in his fingertips and not a ton between the ears. (He's still a teenage troublemaker underneath all that grinning muscle.)
RELATED: The stars of 'Shazam!' on bringing the 'Big'-meets-Superman comic book film to life »
Shazam has a bunch of other powers, too, like superhuman strength and speed, which he and Freddy — who make an effortless comic duo — have a lot of fun discovering in the movie's most infectiously entertaining sequence. One of his key discoveries is that he can toggle between identities by saying "Shazam!," a trick that yields some pleasing slapstick in the early going. It also becomes a crucial if cowardly life-saving tactic when Sivana swoops in, determined to eliminate this threat to his sorcerous domain.
Looking a bit as if Jimmy Fallon had swallowed a refrigerator, Levi is basically playing the Tom Hanks role in a comic-book riff on "Big" (which gets a nudge-in-the-ribs shout-out here), and he gives an appropriately outsize performance that walks a thin line between joyous and irritating.
He's good at suggesting someone who, in every sense, is not yet fully formed; exhilarated as he is by his transformation, Billy/Shazam remains awkwardly suspended between boyhood and manhood, with a jerkish streak that often gets the better of him. His initial reaction to his newfound superpowers is purely exploitative, which makes him ill-equipped to deal with real danger when it arises — as it does, in a harrowing rescue sequence shot with a real sense of visceral peril.
In time, of course, Shazam will learn. He will address his nagging abandonment issues and absorb the true meaning of family by embracing his foster parents (Marta Milans and Cooper Andrews) and his other foster siblings (Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen and Jovan Armand). The supporting players are a winning bunch — Herman and Fulton have especially sweet moments — and they help keep the movie aloft even when it threatens to buckle under all its jokes, subplots, emotional reckonings, tie-in references and repetitive action sequences. (And then there are Strong's scenes of villainous retribution, which are bloodcurdling enough to remind you that Sandberg bagged his first Hollywood credits on the horror movies "Lights Out" and "Annabelle: Creation.")
With its fast-moving parts and less-than-seamless tonal swings, "Shazam!" can be an endearing, unwieldy meta-blob of a movie — one that, like last year's sublimely ridiculous "Aquaman," presents itself to us under the banner of pure escapism. That may well come as a relief if you find that superhero movies have become too dark and portentous since Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. At long last, the logic goes, the forces of humor and lightness have penetrated the brooding storm clouds hovering over the DC Comics factory, banishing all that phony doom-and-gloom in a burst of pure entertainment.
Sounds lovely. But in taking stock of "Shazam!," a movie whose pleasures are as real as its limitations, I'm reluctant to praise it as either a refreshing antidote or a template for the future — as if we needed more jokey, lighthearted superhero pictures to counteract all the heavy, somber ones. These choices of tone are in fact value-neutral qualities. Strained irreverence and failed whimsy can be as much of a drag as oppressive pseudo-profundity. The two social-media schools of thought on the subject — "Why can't these movies just be fun?" vs. "Why can't you treat these movies with the seriousness they deserve?" — are certainly alike in their utter tedium.
What's killing the superhero movie — not that it shows any actual signs of dying — isn't an excess of self-seriousness. It's chronic overexposure, the fact that these pictures, for better or worse, now overwhelmingly set the studio agenda, to the detriment of vital but less obvious alternatives. "Shazam!" is hardly a solution. But at its best, it's just deft and clever enough to not feel like part of the problem.
'Shazam!'
Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of action, language and suggestive material
Running time: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Playing: In general release
justin.chang@latimes.com | Twitter: @JustinCChang
Justin Chang has been a film critic for the Los Angeles Times since 2016. He is the author of the book "FilmCraft: Editing" and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.


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It's that time of year again. Time to re-enact the First Thanksgiving.
But enough of the Soapbox. Suffice it to say that next Thursday – or Wednesday, if your Dulce works Thanksgiving (say at Grady Hospital) – is a time to give thanks. For every blessing from above.
Now, getting back to those Bible readings.
The literal swarms of locusts that invaded in successive waves to destroy the crops of Israel spoke of a soon-coming invasion of enemies as well as a future day of judgment.
See also Wikipedia. But the book ended with Joel saying Israel would later be vindicated.
Psalm 126 begins in a similar vein. With a note of vindication.) To wit: "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream." Verse 6 reads, "Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy." So in a sense that passage foreshadowed the trials and tribulations of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving, as noted below.
Jesus told his followers not to worry about food, because even the lowly birds are provided for by God. In this verse Jesus presents the example of the lilies, who also do no labor.
The point is this: As noted in Part II, the men and women who first settled America paid a high price, so that we could enjoy the privilege of stuffing ourselves into a state of stupor.
As also noted in Part II, during the worst part of that first harsh winter of 1620-1621, only six or seven surviving colonists were fit enough to feed and care for the rest.
Do the best you can, and – after taking all due and sensible precautions – trust God to help you with the rest. Some of those bad things [ – that you worried about – ] might not happen, and some bad things might be prevented with foresight and preparation. Then too, if you're "on a mission from God," you might reasonably expect His help.
The soap box image is courtesy of thepoliticalpotteries.com/2015/05/31/tony-walley-on-my-stoke-on-trent-soapbox. The image was included in a blog-post from THE POLITICAL POTTERIES, "A Political News and Debating Website for Stoke-on-Trent." Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, England. In turn it is "the home of the pottery industry in England … commonly known as the Potteries," and also now "a center for service industries and distribution centres." See Wikipedia.
According to the "Potteries" blog, the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent have a population of 249,000, represented by three Members of Parliament. The blog in turn seems designed to foster an exchange of thoughts and ideas, presumably for the benefit and guidance of those MPs.
See also Soapbox – Wikipedia.
The "Miles Standish" image is courtesy of mayflowerhistory.com/standish-myles. The caption: "17th century image of a man in armor with musket. Myles Standish would have worn similar armor, clothing and used similar weapons to those seen here." See also Myles Standish – Wikipedia.
For more on the upcoming holidays, see also On the 12 Days of Christmas.
This entry was posted in Feast Days on November 24, 2015 by dorscribe@aol.com.


San Antonio - Graeme McDowell has withdrawn from the Texas Open after nine holes with a left ankle injury.
The 2010 US Open winner from Northern Ireland told PGA Tour officials that his ankle had been giving him trouble for the past few weeks.
McDowell was at 5-over 41 for nine holes at TPC San Antonio as the entire field struggled with windy conditions.
Gusts have come in at more than 30 mph.
McDowell is ranked 23rd in the world.


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Question: Grade 7 Lesson Plan How A Bill Becomes A Law?
1 How a bill becomes a law in 7 steps?
2 What is a bill and how does it become a law class 7?
3 How a bill becomes a law step by step for kids?
4 How is a bill turned into a law?
5 What are the 10 steps of how a bill becomes a law?
6 What are the 14 steps for a bill to become a law?
7 What is a bill Class 7?
8 How does a bill become a law class 8?
9 What are the 4 types of bills?
10 How a bill does not become a law?
11 What does it mean to filibuster a bill?
12 What is a proposal for a law called?
13 How do you lobby a bill?
14 Where does a bill usually die?
15 What is it called when the President rejects a bill?
How a bill becomes a law in 7 steps?
Step 1: The bill is drafted.
Step 2: The bill is introduced.
Step 3: The bill goes to committee.
Step 4: Subcommittee review of the bill.
Step 5: Committee mark up of the bill.
Step 6: Voting by the full chamber on the bill.
Step 7: Referral of the bill to the other chamber.
Step 8: The bill goes to the president.
What is a bill and how does it become a law class 7?
A Bill is a draft statute which becomes law after it is passed by both the Houses of Parliament and assented to by the President. All legislative proposals are brought before Parliament in the forms of Bills.
How a bill becomes a law step by step for kids?
Kids in the House
The Bill Begins. Laws begin as ideas.
The Bill Is Proposed. When a Representative has written a bill, the bill needs a sponsor.
The Bill Is Introduced. The Hopper.
The Bill Goes to Committee.
The Bill Is Reported.
The Bill Is Debated.
The Bill Is Voted On.
The Bill Is Referred to the Senate.
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How is a bill turned into a law?
A bill can be introduced in either chamber of Congress by a senator or representative who sponsors it. The president can approve the bill and sign it into law or not approve (veto) a bill. If the president chooses to veto a bill, in most cases Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law.
What are the 10 steps of how a bill becomes a law?
The 10 Steps for a Bill to Become a Law
Step 1: The Bill is Born!
Step 5: Committee Action to Report a Bill.
Step 7: Referral to Other Chamber.
Step 9: Final Action. Anyone can draft a bill, but only members of Congress can introduce legislation.
Step 8: Conference Committee Action.
Step 4: Mark Up.
Step 6: Voting.
What are the 14 steps for a bill to become a law?
How a Bill Becomes a Law
STEP 1: The Creation of a Bill. Members of the House or Senate draft, sponsor and introduce bills for consideration by Congress.
STEP 2: Committee Action.
STEP 3: Floor Action.
STEP 4: Vote.
STEP 5: Conference Committees.
STEP 6: Presidential Action.
STEP 7: The Creation of a Law.
What is a bill Class 7?
Aug 30, 2018. The proposal to pass a new law or to change the existing one is called a bill. A bill on the subject under the state list or concurrent list can be introduced in either house of the legislature. A bill is discussed and debated in three stages. Then, it is put to vote in both house.
How does a bill become a law class 8?
A bill that is passed by both the houses of the parliament goes to the speaker. The speaker signs it and now the bill is sent to the president of assent. This is the last stage of a bill. If the president gives assent to the bill, it becomes a Law.
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What are the 4 types of bills?
There are four types of Bills, namely (i) Constitution Amendment Bills; (ii) Money Bills; (iii) Financial Bills; and (iv) Ordinary Bills.
How a bill does not become a law?
A bill becomes law if signed by the President or if not signed within 10 days and Congress is in session. If Congress adjourns before the 10 days and the President has not signed the bill then it does not become law ("Pocket Veto.") If the veto of the bill is overridden in both chambers then it becomes law.
What does it mean to filibuster a bill?
The Senate tradition of unlimited debate has allowed for the use of the filibuster, a loosely defined term for action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or other debatable question.
What is a proposal for a law called?
A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act of the legislature, or a statute.
How do you lobby a bill?
Lobbying by Phone
Be concise.
Identify yourself as a constituent.
State the reason for your call by bill number and/or subject.
Ask a specific question or request a specific action.
Relate the bill to a local example or problem State your position as "for" or "against" the bill.
Where does a bill usually die?
If the first chamber does not approve the changes made by the second chamber, and both houses want the bill to advance, the bill is assigned to a Conference Committee. The Conference Committee Cannot Reach Agreement. The Bill "Dies." The Bill Is Sent To The Governor For Signature.
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What is it called when the President rejects a bill?
The power of the President to refuse to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevent its enactment into law is the veto. The president has ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign a bill passed by Congress. A pocket veto occurs when Congress adjourns during the ten-day period.
Readers ask: What Are Conditions In A Lesson Plan?
Quick Answer: What Does It Mean To Be An American Lesson Plan For Elementary?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The cheapest and most effective way to improve air quality is to eliminate the individual sources of pollution to reduce their emissions. Pollutants that contain asbestos can be sealed or enclosed. Gas stoves can be adjusted to decrease the amount of emissions. Source control is a very cost effective way of improving air quality because increasing ventilation can increase energy costs.
Air pollutants can be reduced by an increase in the amount of outdoor air coming indoors. Most systems installed in homes and businesses do not mechanically bring fresh air into the house. Opening windows and doors can help but it does not filter the air to bring in fresh air. Advanced designs of new homes and offices are starting to feature state of the art air conditioning at a very affordable price, and will include energy-efficient systems. Thermacool can create a design that will perfectly suit each client's needs that will not only cool and heat rooms but will bring outdoor air into the home and office space.


About Us - Northern Specialty Supplies Inc.
We received the poly mailers today and they are gorgeous. I wanted to say that, on top of an exceptional end product, your customer service is fantastic. We deal with dozens of suppliers all over North America and our first experience with Northern Specialties has been… I'm running out of superlatives… the best. A particular shout out to Dave in shipping who, unlike every other shipper on the planet, took ownership of our project to make sure a slight glitch was rectified immediately. Thanks again… now what else can I buy from you?!?
Northern Specialty Supplies astounds me with their care, reliability, and trustworthiness. Their hands on approach to logistics cannot be beaten. All the orders I've placed with them are cared for, from order receipt to delivery.
When I think of NSS, the following comes to mind: Integrity, Quality, Responsiveness, On Time, Packaging Expertise, Graphics Expertise, Excellent Customer Service, Friendly, Courteous and Reliable. They are all that and more! Most importantly, they back their word! Definitely a premier supplier to our organization!!
Aaron and NSS bend over backward with their assistance to make ordering as smooth and easy as possible. Their eagerness to serve is really appreciated and has saved us many a potential headache.
As the oldest private coin processor in Canada, we have seen companies in the money processing business come and go. Since Northern Specialty Supplies began in 1986 it has continued to grow by doing the basics right and continually improving the products and processes needed to run an efficient operation. We are proud to have Northern as our premier supplier of coin and cash processing supplies.


Capital of the French Riviera, Nice is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Its assets are unique and numerous. Nice has an ideal location right between the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains, just a few kilometers from the Italian border. It boasts a mild climate, bright sun, diverse landscapes, and of course beautiful beaches with blue azure waters.
A city of history, culture, art, creation, events, leisure, nature, and culinary flavors, Nice combines an authentic charm with the conviviality of the Mediterranean by offering a host of activities and sites to visits.
Take an opportunity to visit the 20th-century collections in Nice's great museums and galleries, which house prestigious collections with contributions from Matisse, Chagall or even the famous School of Nice.
Thanks to the French Riviera Pass, you can receive discounts on some of the city's top guided tours and museums. Discover or rediscover Nice, a city of scents and flavors, through visiting the some of the many markets, boasting fresh flowers, vegetables, fruit and fish. Also don't miss the old town with its many narrow streets - its "Piazzetta" offers many other treasures.
Urban, cultural, seaside and culinary explorations are all awaiting you.
Guided visits of old city from the Tourism Office leave every Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
The Nice Carnaval is a major wintertime event on the Côte d'Azur that takes place every February around Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). For the event, a procession of flowered floats and world-renowned floral competitions take over the city.


the charge of the conversation.
But instead… I will 'hey' YOU. And I will lead the charge. So let's get into it.
Yup… Yesterday was the first day of the month, first week of the month. On the first Monday of the month.
The vibe has officially changed. And the build up to fall season shenanigans… Has officially begun.
I'll be getting right into the Halloween mood this week. With the release of Venom, the movie.
It's the final Marvel movie of the year. With one of my fave characters of all time.
Today… I am of course talking about Halloween.
It's my favorite time of the year when dealing with S-curve members.
Because… You get to learn how to benefit from the inevitable binge cheating that will occur.
Yup… You are encouraged to stuff your face, with ALL food types. That's the lifestyle part of this experience. Which is why the prepaid option is based on a 6 month Lifestyle Phase for this time of year.
That… Will remain open to you. Until the season changes at the start of 2019.
Do one month of that Prepaid option… Working directly with me, up until 31st October (With a focus on nutrition coaching) @ $100.
We'll continue on for free, up until Thanksgiving (November 22nd).
This is more education and fun focused, than results focused.
I'm talking cheat snack 'chatter'. Halloween picture reposts to our social pages (Like what you see on the hallow-curvish page above). And of course… Solid S-curve formula teachings.
And during this time. I'll be sharing as much halloween related S-curve experience stuff as possible.
Via our members, associates, Amazon, or wherever else. Even offline pics and vids from my own shenanigans.
It all starts today. So the longer you wait. The less time you'll have for us to start playing with this ish.
If you don't like Halloween. Then stick to the script that we started writing in September.
But if you're in for some fun. With unlimited coaching/chats and member page updates. Then it's all about Hallow-curvish.
Because it's unlimited and with 3 weeks for free, after Halloween. It means that it's first come first serve.
One thing that you would have heard throughout your life. Is that your body starts falling apart after 30 years old.
This is true… Only if you don't keep your muscle fibers active.
If you keep them active. You'll keep your 18 year old body. Long after 30 years old.
In fact… By staying active. You'll build lean mature muscle (Which takes time). So you'll most likely look better with time.
That's one of the big goals of Stage 3 and 4 over on More buzz.
But for this to work. 121 coaching must happen. Because without that entity in your corner and in your head. You're just going to fall off and turn into a stubborn bitter adult.
Which is what happens to most people. So our job here. Is to not let that happen… Or continue happening…. To you!
– > Lean bean – Because they're basically an S-curve member partner now. They even wrote that article. So they understand 'Tis the S-curve experience'.
It's an ingredient focused supplement that go-getters should at least try once. Or established/successful Stage 3/4 members should try… In order to assist in boosting results. Since 70-100% S-curvish results are much harder to come by. Especially without help.
Most people 'get it' straight away. And for those who don't. They do so… After following for 1-3 months.
– > Poco phone – Because I meet some people who don't use smart phones… Yup. But you'll need one, if you become an S-curve member.
And today… The smart phone scene is hyper competitive. Which means that the value given at the lower end, has increased. Which means that the device side of things, doesn't need to be an expensive investment.
You can just use more cash on Stage 3 or TC2.0 trips. Where the value received there… Lasts a life time @ knowledge and experiences.
– Coming up for air > looks like.
– Cycling for > S-curve HIIT cardio.
– We are > beasting for Halloween trick or treating.


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News & Politics » Miscellany
For a few Quarters More
City Enforcer Gary Somerville Takes Down a Gang of Meter Cheaters
by Tori Marlan
Gary Somerville, the ruddy-faced head of security for the Department of Revenue's parking division, is standing on the corner of Wacker and Columbus preparing to ruin the day for more than a few people. "You know the routine," he tells a man in a booting van. "As soon as we get there I want you to start running the plates. We're looking for a car that's boot-eligible." He borrows a tow-truck driver's two-way radio. A dispatcher informs him that two meter attendants are on their way. Wait for my call, he tells the booter and tow-truck driver.
Soon Somerville is off in his car, which is thick with the smell of stale smoke. He turns left onto Stetson and passes the Athletic Club at Illinois Center and two young guys from Auto Park Valet, the targets of today's operation. At the end of Stetson he makes a U-turn and parks half a block from a sign that's propped in the street advertising valet parking for $6.
Somerville doesn't get his binoculars out of the backseat. He doesn't have to. He knows what's going on. The valet guys have commandeered the whole stretch of meters in front of the posh club, in effect privatizing the parking spaces and--since they don't feed the meters--pocketing what would have been city revenue. In an equally egregious violation of city ordinances they double-park their customers' cars and keep them in loading and handicapped zones until meters free up.
Somerville is responsible for preventing people from ripping off the city, and nailing them when they do. A few weeks ago he learned that parking-meter revenue in area 336--near the Athletic Club--was dropping. Small dips are no cause for concern. Meter revenue always varies from one collection period to the next. Most of the fluctuations are innocent--people's parking habits change, meters jam, the city closes off streets for construction, a festival, cleaning, or a film crew.
But when revenue from an area is down by about $350, Somerville says, his boss is likely to send him a memo. "My job is to investigate and try to determine why an area drops," he says. "We were doing revenue watches on 336, and it kept dropping. So I figured, uh-oh, either my guys are stealing or somebody's running some kind of game on me. So I sat down the street for a day or so, watched what was going on, and bingo, I see guys throwing all the cars on our meters and not putting any money in. It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out. If they park four cars on one meter in the course of the day they've made $24. It's 24 to zero, that's what I say. They're ahead and we're behind."
When Somerville realized what was happening he approached one of the valet guys and played dumb. "Are you sure you can use these meters?" he asked. "My boss said it was OK," he says one responded. Somerville returned a week later, introduced himself, and informed the valet guys that they were violating city ordinances. When he went back a third time they still hadn't made any changes. "These guys just don't get it," he thought. That's when he decided to tow, boot, and ticket any of their customers' cars he could.
At 9:42 AM Somerville calls a city dispatcher from his cell phone. "Alfredo, would you tell 924 and Jackson to start moving in?" Seconds later he pulls up behind one of the double-parked cars. Whipping out his investigator's badge, he makes a beeline for the valet guys.
"How you doing today?" he says. "I know you're putting money in the meters like you said you were going to do, right?"
"Yeah," a guy with a ponytail says meekly.
Somerville points to the nearest meter, which is flashing zeros. "Including this one here?"
"It just expired."
Two meter attendants armed with ticket books charge the block. The powder blue city vehicles round the corner--the booter van rolls slowly along one side of the street, stopping briefly behind each car, and the tow truck trails behind it.
Somerville steps into the middle of the street and flags down the tow truck. "Bring it around," he yells, directing the driver to a new-looking Volvo sitting under a sign that says Valet Loading--Tow Zone. The sign is directly over the city's legitimate No Parking--Loading Zone sign.
"Guess what's going to happen?" Somerville says to the valet operators. "What do you think I have that tow truck here for?"
A mixture of concern and regret washes over the face of the guy with short hair. Finally he says, "Is there any way we can, uh--"
He doesn't know what to say, and Somerville doesn't give him time to think. "I told you before, sir, you're running your business off the city of Chicago's meters. I told you it's illegal."
The tow truck hitches the Volvo.
"Can't you take one of those cars that's, like, less expensive?" the short-haired guy says.
Somerville, who drives a Ford, purses his lips tightly. "Oh, poor people it's OK, and rich people get away with it?"
There are numerous ways to cheat the city, and all of them aggravate Somerville. Store owners wrap plastic bags over working meters, construction workers substitute slugs for quarters, vandals spray paint time-indicator windows, and people deflate their tires or use pry bars to remove (and sometimes steal) boots. Meter collectors pilfer quarters, booters accept bribes, mechanics skillfully break meters so they can scoop up the coins inside when they're doing maintenance. On any given day half of the dysfunctional meters in the city have been intentionally jammed with paper or paper clips or gum or some other object.
The city began seriously clamping down on theft and vandalism when it hired Somerville in December 1988. He came to the job with 16 years' experience as a police officer and a couple years' experience conducting private investigations, which he still does on the side.
He brought with him a large bucket of surveillance equipment and other investigative tools. These days his arsenal includes night-vision goggles, four different sizes of binoculars, a tape recorder, a videocam, two still cameras, a tool belt (to fit in with construction workers he suspects of wrongdoing), Mace marked "for law enforcement only" ("Ten times stronger than anything you can buy on the street"), and a set of handcuffs ("If I see a guy breaking a meter with a sledgehammer I'm not going to go up to him and say, 'Would you please wait for the police?'"). "I'm trying to get more equipment," he says. "This is a minimum."
Somerville likes to spend as much time in the field as he can. He refers to his office as "the dungeon," because of its location in the dingy basement of the Kraft Building and because it has a cell-like room that's used for storage. Yet it's down here that Somerville practices one of his most reliable methods of preventing theft and identifying lazy meter collectors: "salting quarters."
Somerville writes on quarters with invisible ink, then drops the marked coins into randomly chosen meters as well as in meters in areas he's investigating. After the collectors finish their routes Somerville confiscates the collection cans from the salted areas and takes them to his office, where he dumps them, one can at a time, into a box and turns off the overhead light. Holding a black light in one hand and foraging through the coins with the other, he usually spots a chalky G or X in a matter of seconds. If he doesn't, he knows the collector either stole the quarter or failed to complete the day's route. "Technically, if I don't catch someone with their hand in the cookie jar there's no way I'll ever be able to prove they stole anything."
It's actually difficult for collectors to steal from meters. Theoretically the only way they can come into contact with quarters is if something's wrong with the meter or the collection can inside. Each meter is equipped with a can shaped like a bank's pneumatic tube that catches quarters, and the collector empties the can by locking it onto a larger can and twisting, transferring the quarters from the small to the large can without handling them. But Somerville says that despite the tight security the superdetermined will figure out how to get to the change. Sometimes he'll test a collector's loyalty by rigging a meter so that the quarters land in a heap inside the well rather than inside the can. One of those quarters will be salted.
Somerville says that salting, or more likely the threat of salting, deters collectors from slacking off on the job. Since they're paid for eight hours regardless of how long they're on the street, the temptation to blow off meters on their route is strong. Because the city pays the private collection agency by the number of meters collected, Somerville considers skipping meters stealing. "If you skip them," he tells new collectors, "you skip on out of here." He says he makes exceptions in cold weather or when the collectors would have to roll their carts over sleeping homeless people, which is sometimes the case on lower Michigan and Wacker. "I try to be fair, but I expect them to tell me if they skip."
Somerville says he's broken a lot of cases by what he calls "sniffing around" (following employees, staking out businesses) and "stumbling and mumbling" (riding around to "see what you see"). Once while training a new security employee, he noticed a collector dipping into meters. Somerville tailed him for two blocks and retrieved $140 in stolen quarters from the collector's pockets.
Sometimes Somerville's security measures seem so elementary that it's a wonder they're effective. He might strategically place on his desk a fictional report suggesting that an employee is stealing, then call the person in for questioning. He says it's surprising how often the employee will fess up to a real theft. "He will look at the report and say, 'Wait a minute, I didn't do it by myself.'"
Somerville realizes that no matter how good he is, no matter how high-tech his methods or equipment, he can't eradicate theft from the department. "Sears doesn't catch everybody, Montgomery Ward doesn't catch everybody, there's no way I'm going to catch everybody. I'm not so naive as to think people aren't stealing and getting away with it."
Yet the department has more than doubled its meter revenue during Somerville's tenure, climbing from about $7 million a year to $15.9 million. "I don't credit that all to security," he says, "but I guarantee guys think twice about stealing now." Parking division officials say an increase in ticket fines and meter rates (up to a quarter for only ten minutes in the busiest Loop locations) have also contributed to revenue growth. Somerville claims that he and his security staff alone saved the city $175,000 last year in outstanding tickets just by tracking down "GOAs" (gone on arrivals, or people who freed their booted cars), and they recovered $90,000 worth of booting devices.
Occasionally Somerville is called upon to defend his tactics in front of Department of Personnel hearing officers by employees charging they've been harassed. Every now and then someone harangues him for invading an employee's privacy, but Somerville contends that everybody in the parking division--himself included--is being watched by somebody and everybody knows it. Department managers say that's the way it has to be, because there's a lot of money at stake. Last year combined revenue from parking tickets and meters totaled $95 million. Somerville admits that some of his tactics sound terrible when he's in court testifying against an employee. "But that's what I have to do to keep this place honest."
Some collectors say they don't mind the scrutiny. "All you have to do is follow the guidelines and rules and regulations," says Garry Brown, a collector for almost five months. "We got a little handbook. You do everything that's inside that and there's no way you can get in trouble." Brown is watched not only by Somerville and his security staff, but also by his supervisor, Peter Sanders--who's being watched in turn. "If you're not doing anything wrong it shouldn't bother you," Sanders says. "The way Gary runs his operation is fair. He's not out to get you. He's just making sure you're doing your job."
Somerville says his biggest problem by far lies with the public. "It amazes me what people will do to sidestep a meter. You see enough of it every day and you get tired of it." It's an affront to Somerville every time someone vandalizes a meter or pries off a boot. "I guess I do take it personally," he admits.
What really irked him about the valet guys at the Athletic Club was that they ignored his warnings. (Paul Loxas, who owns Auto Park, says Somerville "never fully explained to them what the problem was" and that if Somerville had called him directly he would have made sure the valet service complied with city ordinances.)
On the day Somerville decided to blitz the area he was sitting in his car, smoking a cigarette and peering at the valet guys through binoculars. As he saw them hustle cars into the spaces, ignoring the meters, he felt some satisfaction thinking that the next time he returned they'd be forced to take him seriously. "Well, you've had your fun," he said. "Now it's my turn."
If Somerville's having fun at this point in the Athletic Club operation, he's disguising it well.
He's shouting at the short-haired valet guy, who slipped a quarter into a meter after noticing the meter attendants ticketing some cars. "Step over here," Somerville orders.
"No, I won't," says the valet guy, approaching the next meter.
Somerville yells to the tow-truck driver in the middle of the street, "Give me the radio. I'll call for a squad car."
"OK, OK," the valet guy says.
A short while later the Athletic Club's interim manager, a boyish-looking man, comes out and introduces himself to Somerville. Without being asked, Somerville gives him the rundown, then says, "I would strongly suggest, such as the ordinance requires, that you have a lot, 'cause I'm going to write a report to City Council asking that the valet license be revoked. I'm not trying to be a hard guy, but these meters were not designed for valet parking. If I pulled up they'd tell me I can't park here until I pay $6. Who are they to control the city of Chicago's streets?"
"OK," the manager says.
"I hope this won't inconvenience your customers, because that's not my intent."
"Well," the manager says, a resigned smile appearing on his face, "it will, but I mean--"
"My intent is to do my job, and I certainly intend to follow through with it, especially after giving them a warning."
"So to work it out we need to feed the meters?"
"I'm telling you that's illegal. You should have a lot."
"Believe me, we'd love to have a lot," the manager assures him. "It costs millions of dollars."
But the valet guys had told Somerville that Auto Park has a lot. The problem is that it's a seven-minute drive from the club. It's easier to use the meters.
The booter finishes running the plates on the block. When he informs Somerville that they're all clean he's dismissed. After the meter attendants have hit the eligible cars--nine in all--they too return to their regular schedule.
The tow-truck driver, back from the pound, sets his sights on a white Lexus in the loading zone. The short-haired guy tries to persuade Somerville to let him move the car to the Auto Park lot. "Come on, you towed one car. That's a hundred dollars. You already put me out of business. I got the message, trust me."
"Yeah, and you'll get a real good message when you have to explain to that customer where the car is."
"But he's going to damage it," the short-haired guy says.
"Believe me, he's towed many cars, and we're insured if we damage it."
The tow-truck driver slides a jimmy down the car window, trying to unlock the door so he can straighten out the wheels. The short-haired guy pleads with him not to break into the car and brings him the keys.
Somerville begins to soften. His aim isn't to hurt the citizen, after all. "Sir, you know where this customer is right now?"
"Yeah."
"Go get him."
A few minutes later the manager comes out of the club. "That's Joe Perillo's car," he tells Somerville.
Somerville draws a blank. He's never heard of the car-dealer tycoon.
"He's in the shower right now. Can I move it for him?"
Permission granted.
Somerville gets into his car to leave. But before he can pull away the short-haired guy appears at his window. "Yeah, buddy?" Somerville says.
The valet guy says he needs some time to find a lot nearby.
Somerville tells him to call his boss. "Do it today, will you? Let's get together so we can work this out so it's a satisfactory thing to you and to me. You don't need this."
The valet guy says again that what he needs is some time.
"Call my boss," Somerville says. "If he says it's OK, it's OK. If not, I gotta do my job so he pays me. I gotta eat too. Alrighty? Thank you and have a nice day."
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos by Cynthia Howe.
Miscellany Feature


text:
August 4, 2016 operawala
Up the revolution! – Mike Smith
(This review appeared in the Arts Scene in Wales, by Mike Smith, July 30,2016. link: http://tinyurl.com/jv582rn)
It is an interesting juxtaposition – the late Peter Maxwell Davies' interwoven stories of young people who make a stand against conforming, convention and even culture performed in a great Establishment monument, the imposing Barry civic war memorial hall.
You could say even using an art form that is extremely inaccessible for most young people, modern opera, is in itself counter intuitive, despite the librettist David Pountney's express desire to create work for students. I suppose he had music students in mind so fair enough.
Back to Barry.
Kommilitonen! is staged in the 1930s Barry Memorial Hall, erected to honour the generation of predominantly young people who en masse fought for God, king and country and gave their lives in the First World War. It is now called Barry Memo Arts Centre, no doubt a marketer's idea to make the place trendier and appeal to the, cough, young.
Anyway, we passed through the stunning room bearing the names of the war dead and beautiful period carving into the vast main hall with its sweeping Deco balcony and large stage for the promenade performance.
The band was on the stage and the principles and large number of chorus members mainly marches around and clambered up and down the black and white cube structure in the middle of the space. The cubes were cleverly used with video projections not only of pre-recorded imagery to accompany the narrative, the massed young people in a sort of cinema audience environment, surtitles of the Pountney's libretto (a bit distracting at times when you had to look in one direction for the projections and elsewhere for the action) and some extremely moving pieces of historic text plus surfaces for the young people to daub slogans.
The three stories are of the children of an educated and therefore doomed parents in the Cultural revolution in Mao's China (Soar to Heaven); James Meredith, the first black student to enrol and graduate from the University of Mississippi in the sixties (The Oxford Revolution) and the Munich White Rose student group who wrote, printed and distributed any Nazi leaflets in Munich in 1942. I would question quite how the three very different situations, sets of characters, motivations and outcomes fit together let alone how effective this work in trying to interweave them despite the excellent production from Polly Graham, designer, Gabriella Slade, smooth and well-paced movement from choreographer Jo Fong and lighting from Katy Morison with the video projections by Will Duke.
The short second half brings the stories to their conclusion but also brings in Christian morality of sacrifice with the Christ trial and betrayal narrative, then the easy morality that people need some form of faith and respect for authority (packaged in whatever way rocks their boat) to survive. Whether we also come away inspired by these tales of young people making a stand (compared with today?) I do not know. It would be a brave librettist indeed to take up the stories of young suicide bombers, geeky anti-Big Business computer hackers and, say, young European Fascists.
Conducted by Alice Farnham the orchestra and singers (the WNO Youth Opera's own groups, students at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Birmingham Conservatoire and WNO Orchestra) work together splendidly to realise Maxwell Davies' mish mash of styles and genres from cabaret to jazz, loud brass band marching tunes, gospel and art-song contextual flavours whether the Far East or the Deep South.
It is with the chorus that the writing for voice is most effective and pleasant on the ear and individual songs are not particularly memorable despite the emotion and passion they contain and the impressive professional quality of these young voices, particularly Oscar Castellino, Tara McSwiney, Jack Bowtell, Dragos Ionel and Flora Macdonald. They are given a thought-provoking and challenging libretto to get their lips around and while I doubt it will drive them to become involved in political action it will certainly help their future careers. Up the revolution!
Previous Young Opera Singers Shine In Narratives Of Darkness – David Nicholson
Next Reviews of Oscar at Welsh National Opera's 'Kommilitonen!'


In this video, Dr. Bill Johnson of Innovations Medical discusses the different resurfacing techniques, their indications, and the best possible combinations of procedures for different types of skin problems associated with aging.
Resurfacing, simply put, is a process of putting a new surface on the skin. In the past, laser resurfacing has been tagged as a brutal procedure, wherein the entire surface and upper layer of the skin are removed. It is associated with much pain and discomfort. Moreover, it often necessitates recovery period as long as six months.


text:
'Close To $1,000 Just To Get Into The Nosebleeds': Tom Brady's Return To Gillette Stadium Could Draw Record Ticket Prices
By CBSBoston.com Staff May 13, 2021 at 8:33 am
Filed Under:New England Patriots, NFL Schedule, Patriots News, Tom Brady
FOXBORO (CBS) – Want to see Tom Brady make his return to Gillette Stadium this October? You'd better start saving your pennies.
The NFL released its full schedule Wednesday night, highlighted by a Sunday Night Football matchup between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4.
Demand for the October 3 game is already massive. John Higgins, owner of Higs Tickets, said people have been anticipating the ticket crunch since Brady left Foxboro.
"It started not only with the schedule coming out, but it started when they announced he was coming here. Months and months ago," Higgins said.
So how much might fans have to pay if they want to see Brady as a visiting player in Gillette Stadium for the first time?
"It could be close to $1,000 just to get into the nosebleeds upstairs. It could be a record for an NFL game that's not a Super Bowl,' Higgins said.
Higgins warned that the higher the demand is for a game like this, the more likely that counterfeit tickets start showing up on the market. He warned that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Patriots fans told WBZ-TV they'd give just about anything to get the chance to be at the Patriots-Bucs game. But for most, that probably won't be the case if that means paying $1,000 a ticket.
"Maybe if I win the lottery or something," one fan said.
CBSBoston.com Staff
More from CBSBoston.com Staff


Keystone Resort is becoming more than what it's been, which is hard to do when you are three peaks deep.
The buzz word the last couple years has been evolution. It's a philosophy more than a word, one that has seen Keystone embrace new-school culture with the enormous Area 51 Terrain Park and expand into Erickson and Bergman bowls with snowcat tours.
Add in some renewed energy at the base village, and Keystone is changing for the better.
But the same terrain that has always made the three peaks " Dercum Mountain, North Peak and the Outback " so much fun to ride continues to be Keystone's biggest draw.
The smooth, fall-line runs on the front side provide some of the most consistent intermediate skiing in Summit County. Head back to North Peak for a series of long mogul runs that will have your legs burning and heart pumping.
Beyond that is the Outback, Keystone's glade capital and launching point for its two in-bounds bowls " North Bowl and South Bowl.
There's nothing frighteningly steep here, but there's enough pitch to keep the advanced skier coming back for more.


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University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, ©1996
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Angels of art : women and art in American society, 1876-1914, Bailey Van Hook
Date rape : feminism, philosophy, and the law, edited by Leslie Francis
Democratic philosophy and the politics of knowledge, [by] Richard T. Peterson
Feminist interpretations of Mary Wollstonecraft, edited by Maria J. Falco
Grotesque purgatory : a study of Cervantes's Don Quixote, Part II, Henry W. Sullivan
Humanism and the rhetoric of toleration, Gary Remer
Popularizing Pennsylvania : Henry W. Shoemaker and the progressive uses of folklore and history, Simon J. Bronner
Shaw's people : Victoria to Churchill, Stanley Weintraub
The constitution of good societies, edited by Karol Edward Sołtan and Stephen L. Elkin
The cultural politics of Tel Quel : literature and the left in the wake of engagement, Danielle Marx-Scouras
The miners of Windber : the struggles of new immigrants for unionization, 1890s-1930s, Mildred Allen Beik
The religion of Socrates, Mark L. McPherran
The rise of Sinclair Lewis, 1920-1930, James M. Hutchisson
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