text:
Maradona Worshiped as God in Argentina
Submitted by lenam on Tue, 08/21/2018 - 11:06
The "Church of Maradona" worships Diego Armando Maradona, one of the best soccer players of all times, as a god. Maradona is an Argentinian soccer player who retired a long time ago, but for some of his fans he is literally a god. His followers worship him not as a prophet or the reincarnation of some deity but as D10S, a Spanish word "dios" for "god" that incorporates Maradona's jersey number. All of this should not surprise you because soccer is perhaps the "religion" with the greatest numbers of followers around the word, and if soccer is "religion" then Maradona is its god.
Alejandro Veron and Hernan Amez, two journalists who host a radio talk show about soccer, founded The Church of Maradona which operates primarily through the internet. Members repeatedly share Maradona's memorable quotes, photos, memories, and videos of his best goals and plays, and the Church uses religious language to express a deep devotion to the Argentinian sportsman.
The main belief is that Diego Armando Maradona performed miracles on the field that were so godlike that no mortal has the right to judge him. The religion even has its own scripture and Ten Commandments, "Spread the news of Diego's miracles throughout the universe" and "Love football above all else," for example.
Besides their work to spread Maradona's religion online, Veron and Amez organize meetups in Rosario, Argentina, where followers meet for "mass." Mostly men age from 15 to 70 years old gather on this meetups to practice religion with different "relics" all around them: posters of Diego at various stages in his 21-year career, a replica of the World Cup trophy, and biographies they consider sacred to the doctrine.
As Vice.com reports, one member of the church, Walter Rotundo, baptized his five-year-old twin girls in the Church of Maradona, Mara and Dona. Each girl has an Argentina team jersey with their name on their respective back—Diego himself sent them from the United Arab Emirates. While Maradona doesn't attend this church, he understands the fervor that he evokes in his fans.
It looks like Maradona's goal in 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England, later called the Hand of god, has been taken really seriously by Maradona's fans. Maradona was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest soccer players of all times, and one thing that made him special was the passion shared among his fans. The passion he created and shared while playing continued to evolve and became a "religion" itself.
Photo Credits: Hollywood Reporter
Argentina Culture God Internet News Media Religion


How to use the COUNTIFS formula. The COUNTIFS formula needs at least two parts: One search range and the criteria you are going to search for. In our example above, we got a column with car brands.... How to use the COUNTIFS formula. The COUNTIFS formula needs at least two parts: One search range and the criteria you are going to search for. In our example above, we got a column with car brands.
Spreadsheets are one of the most powerful and easy-to-use ways to organize, view, and manipulate all sorts of data. One of the most common tasks people perform using spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel is to analyze data sets.... Spreadsheets are one of the most powerful and easy-to-use ways to organize, view, and manipulate all sorts of data. One of the most common tasks people perform using spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel is to analyze data sets.
With the launch of Microsoft 365 including cloud services and the new lowered-priced subscription options, Microsoft sales are booming again and with over one billion installations of Microsoft Office, proper training in the Microsoft suite of applications has become essential.... 10/01/2019 · One of the most common applications of Excel COUNTIF function with 2 criteria is counting numbers within a specific range, i.e. less than X but greater than Y.
With the launch of Microsoft 365 including cloud services and the new lowered-priced subscription options, Microsoft sales are booming again and with over one billion installations of Microsoft Office, proper training in the Microsoft suite of applications has become essential.


Top SUP wave actie: Part 1 of Keahi's recent SUP surfing trip to Indonesia this year.
He found the best place to keep out of the scorching tropical sun was in a sick Indo pit.
Needless to say he spent a lot of time in the shade .
Vette wave actie compilatie opgenomen op de Canarische Eilanden, hoog adrenaline gehalte... geniet ervan.
After having won the 2011 Kitesurf Wave World Championship, Airton Cozzolino is setting his sights even higher: he is trying to make his way in the SUP championships with the help of 3X Stand Up Paddling world champion Kenny Lai. In the third episode, Airton and Kai do all the fun activities available in Maui: SUP, surfing, Jet Skis, Skateboarding, canoe paddling and.. Hawaiian barbecue! The Sunset contest is getting closer and Airton is finally ready to compete.
Wave SUP op z'n best met: Art in Surf team rider Caio Vaz during the 2nd stop on the Stand Up World Tour.
Infinity SUP's versatile SUP surf model the TL. The "Team Label" is the team's favorite for all around high performance. You can see that the board is very maneuverable, fast, and can even ride the nose. Designed, tested, and approved by our SUP team Slater Trout, Dave Boehne,CD Kinley, Patrice Chanzy, Jason Kenworthy, and Brent Pascoe.


The need for a place in which men can feel comfortable and enjoy the atmosphere, along with an excellent grooming service has now been met.
Here at The Club Barbering, we have focused on masculine tastes, styles & needs, and have established ourselves as the premium Richmond Barber Shop in Melbourne. Our goal is to make each man feel as comfortable as possible, what's ours is yours.
Show up early or stay back late and take advantage of the opportunity to relax, play some pool, or just enjoy a complimentary beverage while you hang out with the guys.
The smell, the music, the decor – you'll know that The Club is taking you back to a time reminiscent of generations past where taking care of how you looked was part of being a man.
Our staff are trained professionals, skilled in the time-honoured traditions of barbering and hot towel shaves, as well as a contemporary styling, and all at a great price.
So whatever your styling needs, this Richmond Barber Shop will get you sorted!
Bull terriers, tattoo's, and sport. AFL, NRL, NBA, Soccer, UFC, and anything else not listed. A solid 20 years of barbering experience, and tennis coach of 21 years.
Raff is a muscle & euro sports-car enthusiast, and is also Chico's owner – The Club Barbering's main mascot!
AFL fan, and American Bulldog lover, Manny has over 20 years of experience within the industry. In addition to delivering close-cut shaves, Manny also has a Masters in Muscular Skeletal Management, and a degree in Chinese Medicine.
With over 50 combined years in Barbering, we know how important it is for you to look and feel your best.
Whether at work, on a date, a night out, or just maintaining the mane.
The Richmond barber shop in Melbourne that's a cut above the rest!
ADDRESS: 137 BRIDGE ROAD, Richmond, Victoria.
Last haircut will be taken 30 minutes before closing.
SEND AS A QUICK ONLINE MESSAGE NOW!


text:
Deltona Driver Arrested for Second DUI Used Racial Slurs, Tells Deputy He Should Be Hanged; Driving Wrong-Way On County Road 92, Daytona Beach
CrimeLocalSociety
By Joe Mcdermott On Mar 21, 2022
While being transported in the deputy's patrol vehicle, Nathan Zacharias, 27, of Deltona, became verbally abusive and made use of racial slurs several times. He further stated that the deputy should die, and that he should be hanged.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – A wrong-way driver who crashed into an oncoming vehicle and narrowly missed several others early Sunday on International Speedway Boulevard near Daytona Beach was arrested and charged with his second recent DUI.
Nathan Zacharias, 27, of Deltona, was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of traffic around 12:30 a.m., causing other drivers to swerve to avoid a head-on collision with his pickup.
Zacharias clipped the driver's side mirror of one vehicle that swerved out of his way. Another vehicle was not able to avoid a collision, and two of the four people in it were transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries. Their vehicle sustained heavy damage and was inoperable.
While conducting the crash investigation, it was evident that Zacharias was impaired, but not injured. His fine motor skills were diminished, his speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, he was unsteady on his feet and he smelled heavily of an alcoholic beverage. Several open and unopened beer cans were on the floor of his vehicle.
The deputy noted Zacharias' driver's license was restricted to business purposes only due to a prior DUI in August 2021. Asked how the crash occurred, Zacharias said he was on his way home to Deltona (although he was driving east toward Daytona Beach) when a deer caused him to swerve into the other vehicle.
While being transported in the deputy's patrol vehicle, Zacharias became verbally abusive and made use of racial slurs several times. He further stated that the deputy should die, and that he should be hanged.
Zacharias was charged with three counts of DUI with damage to persons or property, failure to obey driver's license restrictions, refusal to submit to DUI testing, and making a threat against a law enforcement officer. He was still in the Volusia County Branch Jail with a total bond of $9,000 at the time of this writing.
Joe Mcdermott is our daily investigative journalist and staff reporter who keeps his eyes peeled for interesting Local, US and World News exclusively for The Published Reporter®. Mcdermott, one of our first and thus veteran reporters, is also a data analyst for select independent news and media organizations in the United States.
You Can Flip My Stories On The Flipboard Digital Magazine
Disclaimer (varies based on content, section, category, etc.): Charges are accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. News articles on this site may contain opinions of the author, and if opinion, may not necessarily reflect the views of the site itself nor the views of the owners of The Published Reporter. For more information on our editorial policies please view our editorial policies and guidelines section in addition to our fact checking policy and most importantly, our terms of service. All links on this site could lead to commissions paid to the publisher. Please see Advertising Disclosure in sidebar.
Subscribe to Joe Mcdermott (via RSS) or a specific category with our Feedburner Feeds.
Eight Rounds Fired In Riviera Beach Shooting
Illegal Alien Held Without Bond After Arrest for Cutting Throats of Bike-Riding Florida Couple
Ohio Trans Woman Charged with Exposing Themselves to Minor…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
How to Pace Your Story
Home >> Write Better >> How to Pace Your Story
There was a nervous energy rippling through the rows of people. Through the window, I could see the brilliant orange and purple sunset dripping below the horizon.
I couldn't pinpoint the exact moment the airplane started moving, but I could tell we were picking up speed. With a lurch, we were off the ground - rattling and bouncing in our cramped seats. My body thought it was still at ground level, while my stomach seemed to know we were several hundred feet higher than that.
There was a crunching sound as our plane rose suddenly into the air and dropped.
The woman next to me gasped. A child started bawling. The lights flicked on, and the stewards rushed to find their seats - yet, during the action all I could think about was:
This is exactly how you pace a story.
What is Pace, and Why Should Writers Care?
The pacing of your prose will go a long way to keeping your readers hooked.
When our airplane evened out, a light flicked on above my seat. The Pilot's voice - a pleasantly gravelly voice - crackled over the speakers in an easy drawl, "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. We're lowering our altitude to avoid this pocket of turbulence."
The Pilot told us we were flying at 500 miles per hour - yet, to me, it felt like we were hardly moving at all.
This is the mistake that many new writers make: everybody wants to write a gripping, fast-paced story, and many new writers believe that means faster-paced prose.
But when you're always going at 500 mph, it doesn't feel like you're going very fast at all. It feels steady, predictable, and in the world of writing that means the death of reader interest.
To improve your pace, you have to keep changing your pace.
Change is interesting. Change is what keeps us reading. If we know we're about to read 8 chapters in a row about fast-paced action, we're much more likely to skip to the end.
How Can You Control Your Story's Pace?
How to speed up your writing:
Write short, choppy sentences
Focus on telling and using the right verbs
Cut out descriptors and adverbs
How to slow down your writing:
Write long, descriptive sentences
Pull away from the action, and focus on the setting or the microactions
Show emotions, show motives, show everything
If you really want to slow down your writing for a climactic moment, try focusing on the single most important decision a character is about to make. Usually, that decision happens on the cusp of an action.
Zoom in on that decision. Explore the conflict of emotions and motives. When the action happens, gorge yourself on the details.
Her finger slipped against the trigger. She looked into her father's face - there was fear in his eyes, but she could only see the red-faced monster who had dominated her through with the terrible threat of violence. For so many years, it was she who had been afraid of him.
Not. Anymore.
She squeezed. The gun bucked, and a shot rang out in the cold air. A single, hollow-point bullet leaped out of the barrel, and buried itself between her father's eyes.
His mouth agape, he lifted a hand to the wound, as if to plug the deep, black hole with a shaking finger.
Blood burbled out of the hole, cutting a crimson path down the wrinkles of his face. He fell forward.
It was finished.
While the syntax might be choppy and quick in places, the pacing feels slower here because this stretches a single moment of time out into several paragraphs of drama.
Want to See How a Master Writer Paces his Story?
Stephen King's The Shining is not only an amazing read, it's a great example of pacing. Compare these two passages - one from the beginning, the other from the climax of The Shining (Beware: Minor Spoilers Ahead)
He rubbed his hand harshly across his lips and followed Watson into the boiler room. It was humid in here, but it was more than the humidity that brought the sick and slimy sweat onto his brow and stomach and legs. The remembering did that, it was a total thing that made that night two years ago seem like two hours ago. There was no lag. It brought the shame and revulsion back, the sense of having no worth at all, and that feeling always made him want to have a drink, and the wanting of a drink brought still blacker despair — would he ever have an hour, not a week or even a day, mind you, but just one waking hour when the craving for a drink wouldn't surprise him like this?
Climax:
(There were no voices. It was your imagination. It was the wind.)
"It wasn't the wind."
The sound of her own voice made her jump. But the deadly certainty in it made her go forward. The knife swung by her side, catching angles of light and throwing them on the silk wallpaper. Her slippers whispered against the carpet's nap. Her nerves were singing like wires.
Can you feel how different they are? The first one is introspective in a soul-sucking kind of way. It's almost philosophical.
The second one is pure action and reaction. You can almost smell the fear, and it's hard to stop reading because the sentences keep coming at you.
Write Now: Write a sentence that changes your favorite character's life. Write a scene that ends with that sentence, building up from a quick start to a slow, powerful finish.
Post your a comment or your scene below!
Related: 6 Books that Taught Me How to Write Better
4 comments on "How to Pace Your Story"
impossiblebebong says:
Bookmarked it. Useful tool. Someday, it may come in handy.
Someday soon, one hopes!
I'm on it.
Short Fiction – "Selfless" | P.S.Hoffman says:
[…] I'll be referencing my post on Pacing your Prose, which you can read here now. […]


text:
Clayton, California
For the community in Placer County, see Clayton, Placer County, California. For the former town in Los Angeles County, see Clayton, Los Angeles County, California.
Clayton (formerly Clayton's and Claytonville[8]) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 10,897 as of the 2010 census.
City of Clayton
Parts of Clayton as seen from Mt. Diablo in Summer 2005
Location of Clayton in Contra Costa County, California.
Coordinates: 37°56′28″N 121°56′09″W / 37.94111°N 121.93583°W / 37.94111; -121.93583Coordinates: 37°56′28″N 121°56′09″W / 37.94111°N 121.93583°W / 37.94111; -121.93583
March 18, 1964[1]
Jim Diaz[2]
• State Senator
Steve Glazer (D)[3]
• State Assembly
Tim Grayson (D)[4]
• U. S. Congress
Mark DeSaulnier (D)[5]
0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) 0%
3,122.92/sq mi (1,205.63/km2)
www.ci.clayton.ca.us
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.8 km2), all land.
Clayton is located at the foot of Mt. Diablo State Park.[citation needed]
This region experiences hot and dry summers. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Clayton has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[9]
Climate data for Clayton, California
13 12 9 6 4 0 0 0 2 3 8 12 69
Source: Western Regional Climate Center (1991–present)[10]
In 1857, the town of Clayton was laid out and founded by Joel Henry Clayton (1812–1872) and his two younger brothers. Clayton was born in Bugsworth, now Buxworth, in the United Kingdom, and emigrated to the United States in 1837. After years in other states he settled down with his wife Margaret (1820–1908) at his town at the foot of Mount Diablo, where he and his family prospered. Clayton was named after Joel Henry Clayton, although only by the flip of a coin. Joel Clayton and Charles Rhine cofounded the town, and each wanted to name it after himself. If Charles had won it would have become Rhinesville, but Joel Clayton won. Joel and his wife Margaret both died in Clayton, and were buried in Live Oak Cemetery in what is now Concord, CA.[11]
Clayton prospered during the coal mining boom in eastern Contra Costa County. The post office opened in 1861.[12] Following a previous incorporation attempt in 1960, Clayton incorporated in 1964 [12] in order to stave off an annexation attempt in 1963 of the Cardinet Glen neighborhood by nearby Concord. After steady expansion during the 1970s to the east and west from its original boundaries, Clayton's land area more than doubled in 1987 to near its present-day boundaries with the annexations of the Dana Hills/Dana Ridge and Clayton Wood subdivisions, as well as the former Keller Ranch property that was developed during the 1990s with the Oakhurst Country Club.
On December 7, 2009, it snowed in Clayton and Concord for the first time since the 1970s.[13]
On September 8, 2013, fire broke out on Mount Diablo. Called the Morgan Fire, it started at the mercury mine area of Morgan Territory Road. The fire grew quickly and threatened homes and livestock. Evacuations were ordered for several areas, including Oak Hill Lane and Curry Canyon. It took over 1000 firefighters and eight aircraft to extinguish it. Full containment was announced on September 14, 2013, having burned 1,259 ha (3,111 acres).[14]
Find sources: "Clayton, California" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The public schools which the minors of Clayton attend include: Mt. Diablo Elementary School, Highlands Elementary School, Diablo View Middle School, Pine Hollow Middle School, and Clayton Valley Charter High School.
Public librariesEdit
The Clayton branch of the Contra Costa County Library system is located in Clayton.[15]
Est. 2019 12,150 [7] 11.5%
The 2010 United States Census[17] reported that Clayton had a population of 10,897. The population density was 2,840.7 people per square mile (1,096.8/km²). The racial makeup of Clayton was 9,273 (85.1%) White, 146 (1.3%) African American, 34 (0.3%) Native American, 717 (6.6%) Asian, 16 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 234 (2.1%) from other races, and 477 (4.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 982 persons (9.0%).
The Census reported that 10,887 people (99.9% of the population) lived in households, 10 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 4,006 households, out of which 1,455 (36.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 2,795 (69.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 301 (7.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 112 (2.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 136 (3.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 36 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 647 households (16.2%) were made up of individuals and 310 (7.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72. There were 3,208 families (80.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.04.
There were 4,086 housing units at an average density of 1,065.2 per square mile (411.3/km²), of which 4,006 were occupied, of which 3,621 (90.4%) were owner-occupied, and 385 (9.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.8%. 9,936 people (91.2% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 951 people (8.7%) lived in rental housing units.
As of the census[18] of 2000, there were 10,762 people, 3,883 households, and 3,207 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,054.6/km² (2,729.3/mi²). There were 3,924 housing units at an average density of 384.5/km² (995.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.95% White, 1.12% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 5.38% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 1.54% from other races, and 3.73% from two or more races. 6.33% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 3,883 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.6% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.4% were non-families. 13.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city, the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 31.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $101,652, and the median income for a family was $107,448. Males had a median income of $77,535 versus $50,279 for females. The per capita income for the city was $42,048. About 1.2% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 1.9% of those age 65 or over.
The median income for a household in the city in 2015 was $136,352. The per-capita income for the city was in 2015 $56,975.[19]
According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Clayton has 8,078 registered voters. Of those, 3,128 (38.7%) are registered Democrats, 2,685 (33.2%) are registered Republicans, and 1,888 (23.4%) have declined to state a political party.[20]
Clayton vote
by party in presidential elections
2016 54.9% 3,500 38.9% 2,479
1984 28.0% 657 71.5% 1,680
1976 39.3% 455 59.1% 684
The city of Clayton is served by the daily newspaper East Bay Times published by Bay Area News Group-East Bay (part of the Media News Group, Denver, Colorado), and by the local newspapers The Clayton Pioneer, The Clayton Gazette and the Diablo Gazette, and is also served by Claycord.com a local news and talk blog covering community news and events.
^ "California Cities by Incorporation Date". California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions. Archived from the original (Word) on November 3, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
^ "Clayton City Council". City of Clayton. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
^ "Senators". State of California. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
^ "Members Assembly". State of California. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
^ "California's 11th Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
^ "2016 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved Jul 19, 2017.
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Clayton, California
^ Climate Summary for Clayton, California
^ "General Climate Summary Tables – Concord Wastewater Plan, California". Western Regional Climate Center. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
^ "Joel Clayton" from the Clayton Historical Society
^ "Photo from local newstation KTVU Channel 2". My.ktvu.com. 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
^ "Morgan Fire General Information".
^ Clayton Library. Contra Costa County Library. Retrieved on April 1, 2010.
^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
^ "2010 Census Interactive Population Search: CA - Clayton city". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
^ "Clayton, California (CA 94517, 94521) profile: Population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders".
^ "CA Secretary of State – Report of Registration – February 10, 2019" (PDF). ca.gov. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Clayton, California
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Clayton (California) travel guide from Wikivoyage
Clayton Historical Society website
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clayton,_California&oldid=905440711"


01 Nissen Farm Lane is a $57,000 property on a 2.80 acre lot located in Damariscotta, ME.
Come join this glorious Damariscotta Subdivision on Nissen Farm Lane! Beautiful modern homes in this developing neighborhood have already been built. Underground power to all lots, paved road, approved for well and septic. Restrictive covenants are in place to preserve your low risk investment. All lots are near level and ready for your building dreams. Close to all of Damariscotta amenities and easy access to all points Maine.
I am interested in 01 Nissen Farm Lane, Damariscotta, ME 04543.


Vintage Prewar EA horn button with clamp and part of the wire wrapped in flex cable. Off a 1938 Schwinn girls Excelsior bicycle.
Nice original RARE vintage button & clamp. The item "VINTAGE PREWAR EA HORN BUTTON FITS SCHWINN AUTOCYCLE BICYCLE" is in sale since Saturday, January 12, 2019. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Transportation\Bicycles\Bicycle Accessories".
The seller is "ammo1957" and is located in Syracuse, Indiana. This item can be shipped to United States.


text:
The real reasons Keith Olbermann quit MSNBC
by Source on January 22, 2011 · 24 comments
in American Empire, Civil Disobedience, Civil Rights, Culture, Media
Keth Olbermann's last toss of his papers at the camera on "Count Down."
MSNBC's liberal crusader abruptly resigned on air Friday, ending a provocative eight-year run.
By Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast / January 22, 2011
Keith Olbermann, the liberal crusader whose combative style put him increasingly at odds with his network bosses, resigned abruptly from MSNBC Friday.
The cable channel confirmed his unexpected departure as Olbermann was rather calmly announcing the demise of Countdown after an eight-year run that included a bitter feud with Bill O'Reilly, fiery denunciations of Republicans and occasional acknowledgements that he had gone too far.
Olbermann said he had been "told that this is the last edition of your show" and thanked his audience, saying: "My gratitude to you is boundless." He also thanked a list of people who have worked with him, notably excluding MSNBC President Phil Griffin, whom he has known for three decades.
A knowledgeable official said the move had nothing to do with Comcast taking control of NBC next week, although the cable giant was informed when it received final federal approval for the purchase that Olbermann would be leaving the cable channel. This official described the dramatic divorce—Olbermann was about halfway through a four-year, $30 million contract—as mutual.
Olbermann, who quit MSNBC once before—in 1998, ripping his bosses in the process—almost single-handedly revived the network by leading it on a leftward march and aggressively attacking the rival operation he called Fox Noise. But his relations with top NBC and MSNBC executives sharply deteriorated when he was suspended for making donations to Democratic candidates, and they began to talk about how the channel was now on solid enough footing to survive without him.
At one point, Griffin told Olbermann's chief negotiator, "We are at war."
Officially, the network offered little guidance, saying in a bland statement: "MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors." A new host, former Democratic Senate staffer Lawrence O'Donnell, will move his program from 10 p.m. eastern to Olbermann's 8 p.m. slot, with Ed Schultz moving from 6 p.m. to O'Donnell's time period.
From Jon Stewart's rally for sanity to the recent calls for civility after the shootings in Tucson, Olbermann has been on the defensive about his intense and sometimes incendiary style. He temporarily ended his "Worst Person in the World" segment and said that commentators, including him, should refrain from inflammatory language—even as he denounced his chief antagonists:
"If Sarah Palin, whose website put and today scrubbed bullseye targets on 20 representatives including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics—she must be repudiated by the members of her own party, and if they fail to do so, each one of them must be judged to have silently defended this tactic that today proved so awfully foretelling, and they must in turn be dismissed by the responsible members of their own party…
"If Glenn Beck, who obsesses nearly as strangely as Mr. Loughner did about gold and debt and who wistfully joked about killing Michael Moore, and Bill O'Reilly, who blithely repeated 'Tiller the Killer' until the phrase was burned into the minds of his viewers, do not begin their next broadcasts with solemn apologies for ever turning to the death-fantasies and the dreams of bloodlust, for ever having provided just the oxygen to those deep in madness to whom violence is an acceptable solution, then those commentators and the others must be repudiated by their viewers, and by all politicians, and by sponsors, and by the networks that employ them."
Olbermann has also gotten involved in several flame wars with little-known critics on Twitter, blocking them from his account.
Olbermann almost single-handedly revived the network by leading it on a leftward march.
But Olbermann's departure is certain to disappoint legions of fans who viewed him as standing up to the conservative establishment. He long resisted the liberal label, saying he was radicalized by the abuses of the Bush administration and the Iraq War. "I find myself currently aligned, not in the sense of having membership, but being in the same part of the ballpark as a lot of liberals," he told me in 2006.
Whatever his excesses, he led third-place MSNBC out of the cable wilderness to the point where it overtook CNN in prime time, boosted not only by his numbers but by those of his protégé, Rachel Maddow.
Without question, he was a polarizing presence, and several NBC veterans, including Tom Brokaw, complained to network management that he was damaging MSNBC's reputation for independence.
At a meeting with Olbermann's representatives last September, NBC Chief Executive Jeff Zucker and NBC News President Steve Capus said that some of their client's behavior was unacceptable and had to stop. Griffin said that Olbermann's personal problems were affecting his work and he looked angrier on the air, eclipsing the smart and ironic anchor they had once loved.
In November, when Griffin suspended Olbermann indefinitely over the political donations, the two sides engaged in blistering negotiations over how long it would last. Olbermann's manager, Price, warned Griffin that if the matter wasn't resolved quickly, Olbermann would take his complaints public by accepting invitations from Good Morning America, David Letterman, and Larry King.
"If you go on GMA, I will fire Keith," Griffin shot back.
The suspension wound up lasting just two days, and Olbermann said he was sorry for the "unnecessary drama" and "for having mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule" in making the $7,200 in contributions. But after years of internal warfare, Olbermann had no major allies left at 30 Rock.
There were similar backstage struggles in 2008 and 2009 when top executives tried to get Olbermann and O'Reilly to tone down their personal attacks. O'Reilly, who never mentions Olbermann by name, was assailing NBC's parent company, General Electric, while Olbermann once imagined the fate of "a poor kid" born to a transgendered man who became pregnant, adding: "Kind of like life at home for Bill's kids."
The high-level talks came to include Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of GE; Zucker; Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox's parent company, and Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. But every attempt at hammering out a truce broke down.
Olbermann could be his own worst enemy. After Scott Brown won the Senate race in Massachusetts last January, Olbermann called him "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, tea-bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees." After Stewart criticized that rant, Olbermann said: "I have been a little over the top lately. Point taken. Sorry."
Even during our 2006 conversation, the former sportscaster was envisioning an exit strategy: "If it gets too hot and I have to get out of the kitchen, I'll go do sports."
Numerous staffers at MSBNC believed it was only a matter of time before the prime-time host, who once quit ESPN, would either bolt or be pushed out. If Olbermann concluded that he would no longer have the independence he craved in the more buttoned-down Comcast era, it is unlikely that anyone in the NBC executive suites tried to talk him out of it.
Howard Kurtz is The Daily Beast's Washington bureau chief. He also hosts CNN's weekly media program Reliable Sources on Sundays at 11 a.m. ET. The longtime media reporter and columnist for The Washington Post, Kurtz is the author of five books.
Dee January 22, 2011 at 10:14 am
KO was an awesome journalist. I appreciated reading your article. Olbermann is the reason I began watching cable news. For a long time, I considered myself Republican/conservative, but KO really opened my eyes. He changed me to an Independent Liberal. He made me more actively involved in politics and changing the social status quo. I really owe my sociopolitical development to him. I did not think I would be this sad to see him go, but I am really quite depressed. But, I will cope and I hope that KO will grace the TV air waves once more.
mary lee johns January 22, 2011 at 10:18 am
I very seldom missed a show. Keith was a person who gave voice to so many of us who are both liberal and progressive. I grew up in the 60's and had to live to see many of my hero's assinated because of their beliefs. The one that broke my heart was Robert Kennedy. It was the first time I voted and went to bed knowing that America stood a chance to make the changes in the lives of many of us. When I woke the next day I was devastated. I went from this young person who believed in the opportunity of America to an individual who knew that things would not change. I lived through the Great Society that actually prepared me for the leadership roles I would take over the years. I lived through the Nixon years, the Regan years, Clinton, Bushes and finally in my older years now to Obama.
Of all these many years of my adult life I have very, very seldom ever heard anyone speak in the progressive manner Keith Obermann has. It brought back a small spark that things may be able to change as the result of his voice urging the people of America to become better. Why is it that Russ Limbaugh, Beck and that sort can poison the airwaves and the few sane voices of MSNBC are held to a different standard. I believe the leadership of MSNBC has did a major disservice to those of us who believe in the voice and message of "Count Down With Keith O…"
Why is it that our voice has to be quieted when the rest of the crazies can say and do what they want? We once more have young vibrant leaders once more being shot down for their beliefs. Why do we fear those who would destroy the chances of young people of color shoving them into the compounds of poverty? I heard one of the Tea Party Leaders who stated if they can't be of use then let them Starve. In the history of this country another person made a similar statement and that was "if their hungry let them eat grass." Keith voiced his opposition to this type of thinking. He helped my relatives on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in their hour of need; he helped those who needed health care in poor areas of the country; he was giving voice to families who will die without needed transplants. Shame on you MSNBC for allowing a hero of the people disappear into the night and stop a program who allowed a small flicker of hope to shine in the darkness of this hateful time in the U.S.
Pat Herron January 27, 2011 at 10:16 pm
I also remember the sixties. I ran all the way home to tell my Mom about Pres. Kennedy but she already knew. I was a sophomore in high school when they killed Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Just starting to get into what was going on back then. Now I look back and see all the others, especially the Black leaders whose names people don't even know anymore. Oddly it was only Black and Progressive leaders that they killed. So I really appreciate having a voice speaking out for the poor and middle class, for labor and the environment, even for sanity since the world seems to have gone nuts.
Keith's voice was there when things were darkest. When Pres. Cheney and his side kick were at their worst. I can't tell you how glad I was to hear a voice challenging all that hate filled so-called "patriotism". Keith has to come back. We need him. There are
too few voices speaking the truth and too few leaders to unite us and get this country back from the corporate interests and hate mongers that have temporarily taken it over.
Frank Gormlie January 27, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Bump ^
Martin January 22, 2011 at 10:50 am
I began watching COUNTDOWN about two yeas ago and became a die hard fan. I consider myself an Independent Democrat able to see to the folly of both the left and the right. He was able to show the hypocrisy that many politicians have and not worry about any backlash. He could pick apart their tainted flaws and expose them for all to see. I especially liked it when he showed how the Tea Party was just a bunch of fools who had found a political platform. I hope they will be like the Whig Party of the last century and disappear soon. His recent segement on the Tragedy in Tucson calling for end of the hateful rhetoric filling the airways was very fitting. It is unfortunate that MSNBC would not allow him to continue his show. America needs someone on the left to tell the other side of the story. I will miss Kieth Olbermann. Vaya Con Dios Keith.
dan huanh January 22, 2011 at 11:03 am
I am in my 60's too, I remebered the year 1963 when I wasa college student in Taiwan, I cried quietly when I heard President Kennedy was assainated in Texas where his advisors told him not to go. I was heart broken when Robert K was killed by a Middle east guy.
Over the years, My dream of living in a Democratic country kind of fade away as extreme right turn the country to river of no return. American in decline because of going too extrem right, the supremacy will destroy us eventually, As a citizen I pray that we should steer back to right track, cut defense spending, educate young people with disciplines, .
No Pain , no gain, I also hatte to see the extreme left wasting so much welfare $ feeding many lazy people. Stay in the middle, I hope Gabby recover well and take us to a new horizon.
libhomo January 22, 2011 at 2:10 pm
KO didn't quit. He was the target of a Stalinesque purge by Comcast. I wonder who they will go after next.
Alex January 22, 2011 at 2:32 pm
He was my favor journalist . good lock to you KO.
donna davis January 22, 2011 at 2:37 pm
I was very sadden to hear that Keith Oblerman would no long be on MSNBC. Why
would you take him off? Keith Oblerman help bring clarity to the daily spin of the day,
Keith will be missed. I Pray, bring Keith back on the air his voice which, is my voice should not be silent. Keep the Faith Keith, when one door close another door always
opens. Your biggest Fan DD
Richard Akel January 22, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Keith – For the sake of the millions of us out here who loved to hear the naked truth from a bullshit-free master of communication, and for our democracy, please don't quit politics – you are a Churchillian voice in an increasingly right wing, media circus – a fascist jingoistic circus at times. The suits at NBC are just a bunch of gutless flacks and bean counters, and Brokaw's so concerned about NBC's "image" he seems to have forgotten about the First Amendment. Go ahead and set up your own independent Internet newspaper, or show, or whatever. Just do it , pal, and we'll be there to support you – build it and we/they will come.
Goatskull January 22, 2011 at 6:50 pm
I'll miss him. It was always fun watching him and Bill O'Reilly go at it. Maybe he'll come back on another network.
Jim Hamill January 24, 2011 at 10:41 am
I will really miss Keith .I watched him all the time.
He really told it the way I see it.
I hope Comcast did not have anything to do with it.
Sure hope he is back on the air soon with a different network.
He was making a lot of money but I think he was worth every penny.
Maybe he will go back to sports as he was also very good at that.
Come back sooooon Keith.
Tina CdeBaca January 25, 2011 at 1:48 pm
I really miss Keith. I left CNN because of him and now I have left MSNBC. I tune in on Rachael now and then, but I'll just wait for Keith to pop up somewhere else.
Allthink January 25, 2011 at 2:42 pm
he should join the Comedy Network team…
Andy Cohen January 25, 2011 at 3:59 pm
I LOVE Keith. The cable TV box will never be the same without him!
We all owe Keith Olbermann a debt of gratitude, as expressed by both of his protoge's Lawrence O'Donnel and Rachel Maddow: Without Keith, not only would neither of them be where they are today, but we would be completely lacking for any authoritative voice for the progressive movement; totally bereft of a counterbalance to the media arm of the Republican Party, Faux Noise. There would be no one to fact check and call out the nonsense of the Republicans and Faux Noise.
Thank you Keith for lifting the Dems out of their own ineptitude.
geniezuc January 26, 2011 at 12:50 pm
I see a movement out there to get him to run for the Senate! You go Kieth! I loved his commentaries.
JT January 28, 2011 at 11:36 pm
I miss you I watch you everynight
keep the fath
IL February 7, 2011 at 6:21 am
I missed your show because it was a show I would watched everyday and it was refreshing after a day of dealing with three of my children who have cancer. I would really like to know if you get on with another network.
Whitneymuse February 13, 2011 at 11:53 am
I'm in my 60s, too; It was time for KO to find another spot for his commentary. Rachel has very well researched and pithy remarks to keep the folks over at Fox walking the narrow line of their ratings. I read that he's on Al Gore's network that I don't get on my channel lineup; imagine that his low-key style will get on someone's blog so fans will be able to follow his thoughts, soon.
Lewis Montrose February 15, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Keith Oberman was by far the best of MSNBC. He was the best counterpoint against the lying fanatics of the right who are the most serious destroyers of democracy in our country's history. Most, if not all, of his criticism of the speakers of right was correct.
They lie, he countered.
Maybe you should evaluate you own egos.
nick February 20, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I enjoyed his show. Keith was a person who gave voice to so many of us that are not heard. As one blogger said here the 60?s assinated many heros because of their beliefs. I agree another one that broke all of our hearts was Robert Kennedy. I watched Regan punish mental health institutions in name of "big government" and Obama trying to give all of us some form of basic health care.
Seldom did anyone speak in the progressive manner Keith Obermann. It may have even helped us bring back change as the result of his voice urging the people of America to become better.
I agree with the previous blogger "Why is it that Russ Limbaugh, Beck and that sort can poison the airwaves and the few sane voices of MSNBC are held to a different standard. I believe the leadership of MSNBC has did a major disservice to those of us who believe in the voice and message of "Count Down With Keith O…"
Why is it that our voice has to be quieted when the rest of the crazies can say and do what they want? We once more have young vibrant leaders once more being shot down for their beliefs. Why do we fear those who would destroy the chances of young people of color shoving them into the compounds of poverty? I heard one of the Tea Party Leaders who stated if they can't be of use then let them Starve. In the history of this country another person made a similar statement and that was "if their hungry let them eat grass." Keith voiced his opposition to this type of thinking. He helped my relatives on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in their hour of need; he helped those who needed health care in poor areas of the country; he was giving voice to families who will die without needed transplants."
Dear MSNBC please bring back Keith! and Keith if they do not bring you back! Then please begin your voice again in another venue. God bless.
Keith was the voice of everyday Americans! Maybe that was the reason the big shots at MSNBC decided he had to go. After all, they are not like us. They are not middle-class, hard-working everyday Americans. Keith spoke out for us!!! Hopefully Keith will be back on the air soon. We need him to speak out for us, unite us, encourage us and give us hope that we still might have a chance to succeed in this land of opportunity. By the way, I also am 60 and lived through both Kennedy assassinations and MLK's assassination and felt the heartbreak and the loss of the dreams we all had for our country. Now, it feels as though our democracy is slipping away from us and we everyday Americans are helplessly watching it slip away. We need people like Keith to keep people honest and investigated.
Olivia, thanks for sharing those thoughts that many of us feel. Actually, Keith works for Al Gore's Current TV. The democracy is slipping away but it seems that ordinary Americans are beginning to awaken from their long slumber. We need people like you to stand up for the folks in Wisconsin wherever you live.
Tweets that mention The real reasons Keith Olbermann quit MSNBC -- Topsy.com
Older Article: Jan. 22nd beach clean-up in OB
Newer Article: Anti-tax zealot Richard Rider doesn't think the poor deserve a hot meal.


text:
Q: Doctrine join 4 entities and order by datetime I would like to join 4 entities that each have upload_datetime column. Then i would like to order them by that datetime column descending and get only 7 records.
Right now i have this:
return $this->getEntityManager()
            ->createQuery('SELECT a,v,p,q FROM SelfInspirationDomainBundle:Articles a, SelfInspirationDomainBundle:Videos v, SelfInspirationDomainBundle:Pictures p,SelfInspirationDomainBundle:Quotes q ORDER BY a.uploadDatetime DESC, v.uploadDatetime DESC, p.uploadDatetime DESC, q.uploadDatetime DESC')
            ->setMaxResults($limit)
            ->getResult();

But it doesn't seem to work correctly. Any ideas?

A: One option would be to create a parent class to encapsulate the shared functionality and use Doctrine's Inheritance Mapping to create a sub-class for each of those four classes.
/**
 * @Entity
 * @InheritanceType("SINGLE_TABLE")
 * @DiscriminatorColumn(name="discr", type="string")
 * @DiscriminatorMap({"article" = "Artice", "video" = "Video", ...})
 */
class Asset
{
    /**
     * @ORM\Column(name="upload_datetime", type="datetime")
     */
    protected $upload_datetime;
}

/**
 * @ORM\Entity
 */
class Article extends Asset {
...
}

Then you can do a query like:
$this->getEntityManager()
        ->createQuery('SELECT a FROM Bundle:Asset a ORDER by a.update_datetime');

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Thai billionaire has a doll-like appearance that has been disparaged as a cosmetic surgery disaster.
If anyone doesn't know Mary Sue, just glance at her to think she is about 20-25 years old. However, in order to get the beauty as it is now, she spent a lot of money on cosmetic surgery and had to wear makeup 24/24. Naturally, for Sumanee, money is not problem because she is a businesswoman of antiques and jewelry in Thailand. The desire to own Barbie doll-like appearance from the young days made Mary Sue not be afraid of pains, determined to change her appearance. Ironically, her cosmetic cases were not quite successful, making her face somewhat deformed, bizarre small nose and overly thick lips.
However, everyone acknowledges that Mary Sue looks much younger than her age.


The title comes from a caption Simon liked to a photo of exactly that: the Belgian surrealist painter, his wife, and their dog, after WWII. The photo, I think, was in an intro of a book about Magritte and his work.
But the song, while somewhat evocative of Magritte's magical-realist art (everything normal, but with a dream-like twist), the song focuses more on the idea that even great artists have somewhat normal lives. They shop, they dine... they dance to popular music in their underthings in their hotel room.
In this case, they dance to the doo-wop groups that prefigured 1950s harmony groups like Dion and the Belmonts and The Crew Cuts, and may have even been smoother and more sophisticated than such street-corner hoodlums: "The Penguins/ The Moonglows/ The Orioles/ And The Five Satins."
Why was this music "fobidden"? Under the Nazis, all music made by African-Americans (and African-Europeans) was considered overly sexual and rhythmic and therefore "degenerate" (their word). Completely unlike Beethoven or Wagner, of course, whose works were restrained and refined. Magritte's work was also less than approved-of by the Nazis.
The next verse has the couple shopping on Manhattan's "Christopher Street," although I saw nothing of a trip to the States in the brief bio I just read, let alone their becoming American "immigrants." As far as I know, they (and their dog) remained Belgian citizens their entire lives, although there were exhibits of Magritte's work, I see, in New York in both 1936 and "after the war" in 1965. Magritte lived until 1967, so I suppose the couple could have come in for that.
And seeing suits in the American "style" might have driven home the pain that they were between worlds. They lived in Europe, with its stodgy ways, and Europe lived in them as well. But Magritte also was struggling in Europe, especially under the Nazis. Why could he not have been American? And free to have his strange artistic visions, and have them accepted? And be free to dance to this pretty music that never should have been "forbidden" to anyone?
The music that they loved but could never fully embrace also "brought tears to their eyes," but it also seems to have cheered them back up, as it is mentioned before-- their "easy stream of laughter."
It is the bridge of the song in which things become slightly surreal. We have the image of time slipping past like hunters stalking prey (or, possibly, evading becoming prey).
Simon, to my knowledge, does not perform this song in public, possibly due to the political incorrectness of the word "Indians." While it may make his listeners more comfortable sociologically, Simon is not about to sing: "decades gliding by like Native Americans." The absence of this song from his repertoire is lamentable, as it is truly a very pretty and evocative effort, along the lines of "Slip Slidin'" and "Something So Right."
But why were these things "hidden away"? And why were their hearts a lifeless "cabinet" that was "cold"? Did the weariness of want wear away their passion... or was it the drive to success that sidelined it? Was it the strain of being caught between being European in body and American in spirit? Was it simply the passing of years and the onset of age?
It matters not, now. The recordings have been recovered, and with them, the fresh bloom of youth. And "now," their relationship can be as wonderful "as it was before."
It is always popular to see which musicians influenced a given musician, or what painters a given painter. But it is less common-- and perhaps even more revealing-- to discover which musicians influenced what painter... and vice versa. We can only imagine that Simon, knowing that he was influenced by both Magritte and The Moonglows, wanted Magritte to love them, too.
When remaking this song for his In the Blue Light album, Simon made two changes to the lyrics.
Now, the "laughter" is "flowing" through the air (instead of "floating") and they "peeked" in their bedroom drawer (instead of "looked"). I agree that these words are stronger, better, and more evocative word choices.
Rosalie-- Well, not to my knowledge, and not on any recording or video I have seen or heard, and not the two times I saw him perform live, in any event. And yes, it is a pretty song that probably would find an audience; many more people are familiar with Magritte's name and work that one might guess.
He performed it during his solo acoustic tour in August 1984 (there's a bootleg you can download), but not in a long while. It's one of my favorites. Love this blog, by the way!
Thanks for the info... and compliment! I was really hoping he would perform it on his current tour, but I think while he was reviving some of lesser-known material, Simon was also focused on upbeat songs, which is why he chose Crazy Love II instead of Rene and Georgette this time. Just a guess, but I'm happy to know a live version is available.
You've got the "Indian" reference wrong - the line is "Decades, gliding by like Indians, time is cheap". The Indians in this case are in reference to the song " Ten Little Indians".... get it? 10 Indians- 10 years in a decade.
CommentGuy-- I am familiar with the nursery rhyme you mean. However, I think the line "gliding by like Indians" refers to the stealthy way they are said to stalk prey-- swiftly, silently, and unnoticed-- not to their number.
Hi Paul, Love your blog. It's a great source of inspiration and information!
As for the Indian reference in this song, I always thought it to be about the bikes. Indian were the single biggest motorcycle manufacturing company in the years between the two world wars, and both the Scout and the Chief models were considered to be the pinnacle among roadsters. To me, and given Paul Simon's overall moral compass, that makes more sense. Obviously, it's just my thoughts!
Anon-- Thanks for the compliments! I was first made aware of the Indian motorcycle brand when the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" came out in 2005. But Indians, the human kind, do "glide by" stealthily and silently while hunting, while there is nothing about a motorcycle that is silent.
Also, which one would a Frenchman be more likely to know about-- Native Americans or a specific motorcycle brand?
I appreciate your point of view and I can certainly see where you're coming from!
Not trying to right or wrong anybody here - just throwing in my two pennies' worth!
Anon-- I still think the reference is to the Native American kind of Indians. To know what Simon thought motorcycles sounded like, listen to his song "Motocycle" with Tico and the Triumphs.


The scans were found at aethereality gallery.
The textures were from aethereality.
I used three coloring layers on top of the textures, as well. Tell me if the coloring & textures mix well together.
The color scheme you used actually does fit quite nicely, however I think the foreground/background needs to be a bit more well-defined. It's not that I can't tell, but I was just thinking the overall image would be more effective if the large background scan of the girl was more faded or something? But I would probably be hesitant to fade such a pretty scan...so I'm not really sure.


text:
The following is a list of Oricon number-one albums of 2017.

Chart history

See also
List of Oricon number-one singles of 2017

References

Number-one albums
Japan Oricon Albums
2017

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Dallas News Homes / SEARCH: 3833 Cummins St Houston, TX 77027
Save this listing Unsave this listing 3833 Cummins St, Houston, TX
Camden Plaza
Camden Plaza offers smart luxury living in a midrise setting, right in the heart of Houston. Named 'Houston's #1 best apartment option' by the Houston Chronicle, our customer service and established reputation are unrivaled. Located in Upper Kirby, one of the city's most desired neighborhoods, residents enjoy easy commutes and the convenience of walkability. With direct access to US 59, Greenway Plaza business district and the 610 Loop - you will find the city's best shopping, nightlife and entertainment right at your fingertips. Our studio, one and two bedroom apartment homes feature stainless appliances, engineered wood flooring, 10 foot ceilings and granite countertops throughout spacious kitchens and bathrooms. In addition, we offer a 24 hour state-of-the-art fitness center with spin room, two resort-style pools and rentable clubrooms fully equipped for entertaining. Our pet-friendly community also features a private Bark Park with agility course for our four-legged residents.
Property Name Moscow
Amenities Internet Cafe: Coffee Bar & Wifi Access, Bark Park, Onsite Storage Rentals, Expanded Cable With HBO Included, Walk In Closets, Intrusion Alarms- Monitoring Available, Two Inch Blinds, Brushed Nickel Hardware, Ten Foot Ceilings With Crown Molding, Framed Bathroom Mirrors, Granite Countertops, Stainless Steel Appliances, 24-hour Emergency Maintenance, Coffee Bar, Pet-friendly, Clubroom, Dry Cleaning Service, Outdoor Barbeque Grills, Garages, Close To Businesses/employers, MyCamden.com, Close To Highways, Close To Shopping, Close To Entertainment, Planned Social Events, 24 Hour Fitness Center/studio, 2 Pools With Waterscapes, Front Door Trash Pick-up, Washer
Our community is located near the heart of Houston's world-class Medical Center, with convenient access to all of the city's major freeways. We're just down the street from great entertainment at NRG Stadium, the Toyota Center, and the downtown Theatre District, and just minutes from the fantastic...
7009 Almeda Rd Houston, TX
AMLI Uptown is ideally located in the heart of the Uptown District. Our Houston Galleria apartments are within walking distance of BLVD Place and The Galleria Mall and only minutes from Uptown Park. AMLI's Uptown Houston rental apartment are near world-class shopping, dining and entertainment...
2525 Mccue Rd Houston, TX
Sawyer Heights Lofts offers an eclectic combination of historic charm and high-energy elegance. Our stylishly appointed loft apartment homes feature gourmet style kitchens, sleek black-on-black energy efficient appliances, granite counter tops and custom cabinets. Our gleaming simulated wood or...
2424 Sawyer Heights Street Houston, TX
At The Westheimer, you can create the world you've always wanted. That's because you'll live at the epicenter of all that's exciting about Houston. From arts and entertainment to education and employment, there are endless ways to recreate your reality. Located between affluent River Oaks and...
2001 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX
One bedroom homes ranging from 676-910 square feet and two bedroom homes ranging from 1,064 - 1,277 square feet. Each appointed with first-class amenities and the latest in modern design.
2 Stadium Drive Houston, TX
Located in the Inner Loop near prestigious River Oaks, The Gael is right around the corner from Highland Village shopping, dining and The Galleria, and features private access to Central Market. The Gael also offers easy access to Greenway Plaza and other great Downtown destinations. Offering one...
4000 Essex Lane Houston, TX
3833 Cummins St Houston, TX


text:
A British brand that firmly bridges the gap between high-fashion and hairdressing as seen by its long-standing sponsorship of London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Awards. TONI&GUY hairdressers are qualified beyond industry standard; having completed their NVQ training, its hairdressers complete a further year's training specialising in either cut or colour and learning the Superbrand's unique methods and techniques before completing a final intensive six weeks TONI&GUY Diploma, at one of our international Academies.
About TONI&GUY Epsom
Undoubtedly the best hairdressers in Epsom, TONI&GUY opened its doors in 2000 much to the joy of Epsom's residents. The salon is situated on Epsom High Street in a beautiful Grade 2 listed building. As one of the most educated team of hairdressers in Surrey, we pride ourselves on offering the highest standards of hairdressing. Our talented team of stylists and technicians are on hand to give you expert advice and offer many services including the semi-permanent blow-dry treatment Nano-Keratin for smooth, manageable hair. Epsom is a L'oreal Colour specialist salon, which boasts a very experienced and creative technical team.
Check out our promotions page for our latest hairstyling offers.
For information or a complimentary style consultation please come in and let the team look after you.


text:
Oliver Nimaya
CECAFA
by Oliver Nimaya November 10, 2022
South Sudan will face Uganda in the final of the U-20 CECAFA Championship 2022 at the Al Hilal Stadium in Khartoum, Sudan…
The South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) has today signed a joint agreement with the Sudan Football Association (SFA) aimed at football development.…
U-20 AFCON Qualifiers
South Sudan defeats Ethiopia to qualify for U-20 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations
by Oliver Nimaya November 8, 2022
Talk about writing football history and South Sudan have done it again in 2022. After the youngsters qualified for the U-17 AFCON…


text:
Councillor Steve Wilson, Lord Mayor of Kingston upon Hull and Admiral of the Humber, with his Consort Karl Hudder.
Long-serving Lord Mayor reflects on a bumper reign
Categories: Civic, Council Government and Democracy, News
Tags: Councillor Steve Wilson, Lord Mayor
As Hull's 107th Lord Mayor prepares to hand over the chains and robes to his successor, Councillor Steve Wilson has reflected on his extended time in office, that began in May 2019.
With almost 600 civic engagements under his belt and new Civic Crown awards handed out, Councillor Wilson has been very busy, despite a large proportion of the role taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amongst the many duties, the Lord Mayor has heavily supported veterans and attended many of the events including visits to the veterans breakfast clubs and communities outside their homes on VE day.
The Lord Mayor has also supported the young mayor including the presentation of new chains of office and robes.
In June 2019 the Lord Mayor visited Hull's twin-town of Freetown, Sierra Leone to meet with their mayor and other dignitaries, as well as visiting a school and seeing the ongoing partnership work with the Freetown Society and council. Councillor Wilson also met with the British High Commissioner of Freetown in July 2019 when he visited Hull.
Lord Mayor, Councillor Steve Wilson said:
"I have had a fantastic time being Hull's Lord Mayor and would like to think I've given the role a bit of a new lease of life.
"I've had the privilege of being involved in some amazing experiences, but what has astounded me most during my time in office has been the incredible community spirit I have seen across the city.
"During the pandemic especially, neighbours have got to know each other, good deeds are being done and people who maybe once felt alone, now have a whole new circle of friends and family."
The Lord Mayor also introduced the Civic Crown awards, recognising people who have made a difference during his time in office. 128 awards have already been given to people including local writer Russ Litten, historian Robb Robinson, Rooted in Hull's Adrian Fisher, city tour-guide Paul Schofield, brave young Max Clark and city boxer Tommy Coyle. More details on everyone given awards can be found on Twitter @LordAward.
Lord Mayor continued:
"The Civic Crown awards have been my chance to thank some of the wonderful people I have met over the last 18 months. Some in the public eye and some behind the scenes working hard to make our communities fantastic places to be.
"I have another 36 awards to hand out once restrictions are lifted and I'm looking forward to this rounding off my year.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone I have worked with and met during this time, it has been a real honour to serve as Kingston Upon Hull's Lord Mayor and I would like to wish my successor a wonderful future term."
The 108th Lord Mayor will be elected following the Full Council meeting this Thursday (19 November).
Hull City Council announces further support for businesses impacted by lockdown restrictions
Hull's 108th Lord Mayor and Admiral of the Humber is elected


text:
Posts Tagged 'Oscar Wilde'
Wilde about Algy
Posted in Comedy, Decadence, History, Humour, Literature, Music, Satire, Theatre, tagged Algernon Charles Swinburne, Fleshly School of Poetry, Gilbert and Sullivan, light opera, music, Oscar Wilde, Patience, poet, poetry, Reginald Bunthorne, Swinburne, Victorian England, Victorian music, Victorian poetry, Wilde on December 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Wilde about Algy: Oscar, Algernon, and Gilbert Too
If someone who gets the blame for what someone else did is a scapegoat, someone who gets the credit for what someone else said has to be a scapequote. And the greatest scapequote of them all has to be Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It's not surprising, though, because Wilde was a very clever and sharp-witted man. For example, you may well read that the painter James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), also reknowned for his wit, once jealously remarked of one of Wilde's bon mots: "I wish I had said that." To which Wilde replied, "You will, James, you will."1
Pretty sharp, wasn't it? The problem is that it was really the other way around: Wilde was jealous of something Whistler had said, and it was Whistler's put-down. See what I mean about Wilde being the greatest scapequote of them all? And it isn't just other people's repartee Wilde gets the credit for:
Behind the fun of Gilbert's lines stands the quite serious business of satire. Generally his targets are common human attitudes – hypocrisy, class distinction, and so forth; but with Patience he descended from the general to the particular and burlesqued the aesthetic movement of the time, typified by Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater, J.M. Whistler, and their self-professed disciples.2
He didn't, you know. Gilbert is W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911), and Patience (1881) is one of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, but Gilbert did not write Patience about Oscar Wilde and the school of poetry Wilde typified: he wrote it about Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1903) and the school of poetry Swinburne typified. And I can't believe anyone at the time thought otherwise: Swinburne was far more famous than Wilde and, as we shall see, is unmistakably caricatured in the hero of the opera. It's Wilde's fame since then that has caused history to be re-written – to the point, I was amused to discover, that one biographical dictionary credits him with even more than inspiring Patience :
WILDE, Oscar … (1854-1900), Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, poet and wit, born in Dublin … In 1881 his first volume of poetry was published, Patience, and the next year he embarked on a lecture tour of the USA …3
Wilde's first volume of poetry was in fact called Poems, and is in fact a good piece of evidence that Patience wasn't written about him, because it was published in July 1881 and Patience was first performed in April. Is it likely that the hero of Patience, who is a poet, was based on someone who hadn't even published his first volume of poetry? Not very, and it becomes even less likely when we look first at the name of the hero, which is Reginald Bunthorne, and second at his precise classification, which is "Fleshly Poet". Reginald Bunthorne is clearly meant to suggest Algernon Swinburne, and "Fleshly Poet" is clearly meant to be a reference to
Fleshly School of Poetry, The, the title of an article in the Contemporary Review (Oct. 1871), in which Robert Buchanan[,] under the pseudonym of "Thomas Maitland", attacked the Pre-Raphaelites[,] especially D.G. Rossetti. This attack was the prelude to a long and bitter controversy.4
Conducted in part by Algernon Swinburne, who was closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and whose verse was one of the chief targets in Buchanan's article, just as it is one of the chief targets in Gilbert's libretto for Patience :
"OH, HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!"
What time the poet hath hymned
The writhing maid, lithe-limbed,
Quivering on amaranthine asphodel,
How can he paint her woes?,
Knowing, as well he knows,
That all can be set right with calomel?
When from the poet's plinth
The amorous colocynth
Yearns for the aloe, faint with rapturous thrills,
How can he hymn their throes
That they are only uncompounded pills?
Is it, and can it be,
Nature hath this decree,
Nothing poetic in the world shall dwell?
Or that in all her works,
Something poetic lurks,
Even in colocynth and calomel,
I cannot tell.
[Exit BUNTHORNE.
ANG[ELA]. How purely fragrant!
SAPH[IR]. How earnestly precious!
PA[TIENCE]. Well, it seems to me to be nonsense.
The vocabulary and phrasing are characteristically Swinburnian: limbs are lithe in "Dolores", for example:
Thou shalt blind his bright eyes though he wrestle,
Thou shalt chain his lithe limbs though he strive;
In his lips all thy serpents shall nestle,
In his hands all thy cruelties thrive. [lns. 201-4]
And Patience's verdict on Bunthorne – "It seems to me to be nonsense" – echoes the verdict of many on Swinburne: for Tennyson he was "a reed through which all things blow into music"5 and for A.E. Housman a kind of poetic "sausage-machine".6
But then Housman did admire Swinburne greatly in other ways, and Swinburne himself was well aware of his own prolixity and tendency to sacrifice sense to sound:
From the depth of the dreamy decline of the dawn through a notable nimbus of nebulous noonshine,
Pallid and pink as the palm of the flag-flower that flickers with fear of the flies as they float,
Are they looks of our lovers that lustrously lean from a marvel of mystic miraculous moonshine,
These that we feel in the blood of our blushes that thicken and threaten with throbs through the throat?
These are the first lines of "Nephelidia", a self-parody published in The Heptalogia in 1880. Perhaps Swinburne heard that Gilbert was at work on a Swinburlesque, and decided to get in with his own first; in either case, he was already familiar with parodies on his verse. In 1866 he had published the first series of his Poems & Ballads, and had been condemned in very strong terms for the blasphemies and obscenities of poems like "Dolores":
Cold eyelids that hide like a jewel
Hard eyes that grow soft for an hour;
The heavy white limbs. and the cruel
Red mouth like a venomous flower;
When these have gone by with their glories,
What shall rest of thee then, what remain,
O mystic and sombre Dolores,
Our Lady of Pain? [lns. 1-8]
O lips full of lust and of laughter,
Curled snakes that are fed from my breast,
Bite hard, lest remembrance come after
And press with new lips where you pressed!
For my heart too springs up at the pressure,
Mine eyelids too moisten and burn;
Ah! feed me and fill me with pleasure,
Ere pain come in turn. [lns. 25-32]
By the ravenous teeth that have smitten
Through the kisses that blossom and bud,
By the lips intertwisted and bitten
Till the foam has a savour of blood,
By the pulse as it rises and falters,
By the hands as they slacken and strain,
I adjure thee, respond from thine altars,
Our Lady of Pain. [lns. 113-120]
But by far the cleverest and most telling critique of Poems & Ballads, in general, and "Dolores", in particular, was written by a Cambridge don called Arthur Clement Hilton (1851-77):
By Algernon Charles Sin-Burn
(Written at the Crystal Palace Aquarium)
Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between.
Wast thou born to the sound of sea-trumpets?
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges – thy muffins and crumpets,
Of the seaweeds – thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
Sinburnian or Saint?
Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
That creeps in a desolate place,
To enrol and envelop the sleeper
In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
Indelible ink!
Ah breast, that 'twere rapture to writhe on!
O arms 'twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eight-fold embraces enfolden,
Let our empty existence escape;
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
Crushed all out of shape!
Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
With death in their amorous kiss!
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
With bitings of agonized bliss;
We are sick of the poison of pleasure,
Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
And bite us again!7
A good parody is worth a thousand moral condemnations – or a thousand literary criticisms. The best critical essay on Swinburne I have ever read is A.E. Housman's "Swinburne", whose "sausage-machine" verdict was quoted above, but even if the essay wasn't rather sour and disdainful in tone it would still take a long time to read – particularly by comparison with these lines from G.K. Chesterton:
He was defeated in several battles by the celebrated Arnhold brothers – the three guerilla patriots to whom Swinburne wrote a poem, you remember:
'Wolves with the hair of the ermine,
Crows that are crowned and kings–
These things be many as vermin,
Yet three shall abide these things.'8
And yes, anyone familiar with Swinburne's political poetry would remember. Not those exact words, of course, because Chesterton has made them up, but the verbal dexterity and the passionate but naive anti-monarchism.
Chesterton wrote at least one more parody of Swinburne, and it's another example both of how effective parodies can be as a method of literary criticism and of how enjoyable they are. A parody is a work of art in its own right, and instead of sniping at its target from the groves of Academe it's fighting on the same ground and with the same weapons. Housman's essay on Swinburne is very good, but would much better have been accompanied or even replaced by a parody of him – which Housman, unlike most literary critics, would have been well capable of supplying. The asperities of Housman's judgments in prose would have been softened in a parody, conveyed by example rather than explication, and Swinburne addicts like me would have had another purified extract to inject. In some ways Hilton's "Octopus" has the same advantage over "Dolores" itself as Chesterton's lines have over Housman's essay: it distils and concentrates an essence, and allows one to savour Swinburne's pungencies and spices in twenty couplets and a minute rather than, as in the original, two-hundred-and-twenty and half-an-hour.
Mutatis mutandis, the same is true of Chesterton's second Swinburne parody in "Old King Cole – Variants of an Air":
In the time of old sin without sadness
And golden with wastage of gold
Like the gods that grow old in their gladness
Was the king that was glad, growing old;
And with sound of loud lyres from his palace
The voice of his oracles spoke,
And the lips that were red from his chalice
Were splendid with smoke.
When the weed was as flame for a token
And the wine was as blood for a sign;
And upheld in his hands and unbroken
The fountains of fire and of wine.
And a song without speech, without singer,
Stung the soul of a thousand in three
As the flesh of the earth has to sting her,
The soul of the sea.
And, with increasing silliness but also increasing affection, Mortimer Collins' "Salad":
O cool in the summer is salad,
And warm in the winter is love;
And a poet shall sing you a ballad
Delicious thereon and thereof.
A singer am I, if no sinner,
My muse has a marvellous wing,
And I willingly worship at dinner
The sirens of Spring.
Take endive… like love it is bitter;
Take beet… for like love it is red;
Crisp leaf of the lettuce shall glitter,
And cress from the rivulet's bed;
Anchovies foam-born, like the Lady
Whose beauty has maddened this bard;
And olives, from groves that are shady;
And eggs – boil 'em hard.
And Barry Pain's survey of "The Poets at Tea":
3. Swinburne, who let it get cold
As the sin that was sweet in the sinning
Is foul in the ending thereof,
As the heat of the summer's beginning
Is past in the winter of love:
O purity, painful and pleading!
O coldness, ineffably gray!
Oh, hear us, our handmaiden unheeding,
And take it away!
And, finally, Richard le Gallienne's "A Melton Mowbray Pork Pie":
Strange pie that is almost a passion,
O passion immoral for pie!
Unknown are the ways that they fashion,
Unknown and unseen of the eye.
The pie that is marbled and mottled,
The pie that digests with a sigh:
For all is not Bass that is bottled,
And all is not pork that is pie.9
APPENDIX 1: How did Wilde become so strongly associated with Patience?
Nihil novi sub sole, inquit Ecclesiastes. Nothing new under the sun, saith the preacher. I don't actually believe that, not completely, anyway, but it's certainly true that many things are not as new as we think they are. Marketing campaigns and advertising hype, for example. Very twentieth-century, aren't they?
Well, yes. But they're also very nineteenth-century. A name nearly as closely connected with Gilbert and Sullivan as they are with each other is D'Oyly Carte. As in the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte (1844-1901) and the D'Oyly Carte Company he founded to produce Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. And a company it was in both senses: the operas were produced to make money, and if you want to make money you also have to avoid losing it. Pirating of the operas in America lost D'Oyly Carte money, and he was always anxious about their reception there.
But the problem he felt Patience might have was not with piracy but simply with popularity. The opera satirized English institutions that the Americans would be unfamiliar with, and his apprehensions may have been increased by a verdict passed after the first British performance by the "critic of the Referee", who
noticed that some of Gilbert's shots went over the heads of the audience, perhaps because the fusillade was too rapid: this opera is packed with subtleties of humour – the very title Patience, or Bunthorne's Bride is a joke, for Bunthorne is the only one who is not married off at the end.10
That last point is yet another piece of evidence for the thesis of the article: Swinburne was aged 44 in 1881 and still, remarkably, unmarried; but Swinburne could hardly be expected to help publicize an opera making fun of him and his art. An up-and-coming young poet with a hunger – craving, even – for fame might be expected to, however. Particularly one who would later write that "There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about".11
D'Oyly Carte worked also as an agent, and there was just such a young poet on his books: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, who was aged 27 in 1881 and still, not very remarkably, unmarried. D'Oyle Carte arranged for Wilde to undertake a lecture tour of America with a profitably comprehensible Patience following in his wake: audiences who had seen Wilde posing and posturing on stage with a lily in his hand could now understand, and laugh at, Bunthorne doing the same.
In short, and in D'Oyle Carte's own words of denial, Wilde was sent out as "a sandwich[-board] man for Patience".12 To the Americans, familiar with Swinburne's poetry but not with his person, Bunthorne became Wilde, and the misidentification – helped, perhaps, by changes in the opera – travelled back across the Atlantic to last to the present day. And it is likely to last, perhaps, for good: modern audiences are familiar neither with Swinburne's poetry nor with his person, but Wilde, in Swinburne's shadow at the beginning of his career, now looms larger than ever.
And so it is that the anomalies of Wilde-as-Bunthorne go ever more unnoticed: Swinburne's surname, like Bunthorne's, is disyllablic and a trochee:13 Wilde's is neither; in real life Swinburne was, like Bunthorne on stage, short and bearded: Wilde was tall and clean-shaven; Swinburne, like Bunthorne, was an English aristocrat: Wilde was Irish and not particularly aristocratic; Swinburne was Bunthorne: Wilde was not.
APPENDIX 2: Lewis Carroll's parody of "Dolores" in Sylvie & Bruno
'Why, that are one of the Professor's songs!' cried Bruno. 'I likes the little man; and I likes the way they spinned him–like a teetle-totle-tum.' And he turned a loving look on the gentle old man who was sitting at the other side of his leaf-bed, and who instantly began to sing, accompanying himself on his Outlandish guitar, while the snail, on which he sat, waved its horns in time to the music.
In stature the Manlet was dwarfish–
No burly big Blunderbore he:
And he wearily gazed on the crawfish
His Wifelet had dressed for his tea.
'Now reach me, sweet Atom, my gunlet,
And hurl the old shoelet for luck:
Let me hie to the bank of the runlet,
And shoot thee a Duck!'
She has reached him his minikin gunlet:
She has hurled the old shoelet for luck:
She is busily baking a bunlet,
To welcome him home with his Duck.
On he speeds, never wasting a wordlet,
Though thoughtlets cling, closely as wax,
To the spot where the beautiful birdlet
So quietly quacks.
Where the Lobsterlet lurks, and the Crablet
So slowly and sleepily crawls:
Where the Dolphin's at home, and the Dablet
Pays long ceremonious calls:
Where the Grublet is sought by the Froglet:
Where the Frog is pursued by the Duck:
Where the Ducklet is chased by the Doglet–
So runs the world's luck!
He has loaded with bullet and powder:
His footfall is noiseless as air:
But the Voices grow louder and louder,
And bellow, and bluster, and blare.
They bristle before him and after,
They flutter above and below,
Shrill shriekings of lubberly laughter,
Weird wailings of woe!
They echo without him, within him:
They thrill through his whiskers and beard:
Like a teetotum seeming to spin him,
With sneers never hitherto sneered.
'Avengement,' they cry, 'on our Foelet!
Let the Manikin weep for our wrongs!
Let us drench him, from toplet to toelet,
With Nursery-Songs!
'He shall muse upon "Hey! Diddle! Diddle!"
On the Cow that surmounted the Moon:
He shall rave of the Cat and the Fiddle,
And the Dish that eloped with the Spoon:
And his soul shall be sad for the Spider,
When Miss Muffet was sipping her whey,
That so tenderly sat down beside her,
And scared her away!
'The music of Midsummer-madness
Shall sting him with many a bite,
Till, in rapture of rollicking sadness,
He shall groan with a gloomy delight:
He shall swathe him, like mists of the morning,
In platitudes luscious and limp,
Such as deck, with a deathless adorning,
The Song of the Shrimp!
'When the Ducklet's dark doom is decided,
We will trundle him home in a trice:
And the banquet, so plainly provided,
Shall round into rose-buds and rice:
In a blaze of pragmatic invention
He shall wrestle with Fate, and shall reign:
But he has not a friend fit to mention,
So hit him again!'
He has shot it, the delicate darling!
And the Voices have ceased from their strife:
Not a whisper of sneering or snarling,
As he carries it home to his wife:
Then, cheerily champing the bunlet
His spouse was so skilful to bake,
He hies him once more to the runlet,
To fetch her the Drake!
[1]I did read this once, only the other party wasn't described as being Whistler.
[2]Michael Hardwick, The Osprey Guide to Gilbert and Sullivan, Osprey, Reading, 1972, Patience, pg. 91
[3]Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ed. Magnus Magnusson, W & R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1990.
[4]The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Literature, ed. John Mulgan, Oxford, 1957.
[5]Algernon Charles Swinburne: Selected Poems, ed. L.M. Findlay, Carcanet, Manchester, 1982, introduction, pg. 2
[6]"Swinburne", in A.E. Housman: Collected Poems & Selected Prose, ed. Christopher Ricks.
[7]Unauthorized Versions: Poems & their Parodies, ed. Kenneth Baker.
[8]From the story "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown", in The Wisdom of Father Brown, pg. 306 of the 1983 The Penguin Complete Father Brown.
[9]These are taken from Imitations of Immortality: A Book of Literary Parodies, E.O. Parrott.
[10]Leslie Bailey, The Gilbert and Sullivan Book, Spring Books, London, 1966, "Patience: A Caricature of the Follies of the Age", pp. 210-1
[11]"The Picture of Dorian Gray", ch. 1
[12]Letter from D'Oyly Carte to Helen Lenoir, December, 1881, quoted in The Gilbert and Sullivan Book, pg. 212
[13]Other phonetic similarities between Swinburne and Bunthorne are too obvious to mention.
© Simon Whitechapel 2004
Paper-Deep
Posted in Adventure, Children's Literature, Decadence, History, Horror, Literature, tagged Admiral Benbow, adventure, Ben Gunn, Bill, Billy Budd, Black Dog, Blind Pew, cheese, children's books, children's literature, cutlass, damnation, Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, dream, eighteenth century, English literature, Flint's treasure, Herman Melville, horror, Israel Hands pickles and wines, Jim Hawkins, literary style, literature, Long John Silver, Mr. Hyde, nightmare, nineteenth-century literature, Novels, Oscar Wilde, parrot, piracy, pirate, pirate adventure, pirate book, prose, R.L.S., realism, Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish literature, Scottish writer, sea, ship's cook, Silver's parrot, Spy-glass Hill, Stevenson, stories, story, subtle magic of words, temptation, the Hispaniola, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Sea, Treasure Island, treasure-seeking on August 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Treasure Island (1883) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1885), Robert Louis Stevenson
These two books contain two of the greatest stories ever written. But they're curiously different in style, despite the brief time that separates them. Treasure Island has deep pages, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has shallow ones – paper-thin, you might say. In the former, the prose vividly evokes the sounds, sights and smells of the eighteenth century: there's a three-dimensional world beneath the words and you read almost as though you're looking into an aquarium. When you've finished the story, you feel as though you've lived it, as though you've really met the characters who moved through it, really had the adventures that Jim Hawkins describes. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn't like that. I read it, I don't live it, because the words don't transcend language and I don't forget the printed page as I do in Treasure Island. The closest the story comes to conjuring a moment of reality is perhaps here:
They mounted the stair in silence, and still with an occasional awe-struck glance at the dead body, proceeded more thoroughly to examine the contents of the cabinet. At one table, there were traces of chemical work, various measured heaps of some white salt being laid on glass saucers, as though for an experiment in which the unhappy man had been prevented.
"That is the same drug that I was always bringing him," said Poole; and even as he spoke, the kettle with a startling noise boiled over.
This brought them to the fireside, where the easy-chair was drawn cosily up, and the tea-things stood ready to the sitter's elbow, the very sugar in the cup. (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, "The Last Night")
It's a clever domestic touch amid the horror that has gone before and the horror that is to come. But Treasure Island is full of touches like that, bringing the world of the story before the mind's eye or ear or nose: the notch in the "big signboard of Admiral Benbow", left by Bill's cutlass as he aims a blow at Black Dog; the "five or six curious West Indian shells" in Bill's sea-trunk and the "piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end" in his pocket; the "smell of sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks" at the Hispaniola's first anchorage; the death-shriek that sends marsh-birds whirring aloft when a loyal sailor is murdered; O'Brien's red cap floating on the surface and the baldness of his bare head beneath the rippling water; Long John Silver's parrot's "pecking at a piece of bark" in the dark; the "wood ash" on the black spot handed to Silver, which soils Jim's fingers; the "heavy-scented broom and many flowering shrubs" on Spy-glass Hill; the grass sprouting on the bottom of the "great excavation" where Flint's treasure had been; the "strange Oriental" coins "stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spider's web"; and many more.
The characterization is excellent too. Treasure Island is full of memorable figures, cleverly seen from (mostly) a boy's perspective: Bill, Blind Pew, the Squire, Ben Gunn, Israel Hands and, most memorable of all, Long John Silver, the charming backstabber and affable rogue. They're good, evil, pathetic, frightening, cunning, stupid, murderous, brave and more. Hands' mind and motives are captured in a single line: "I want their pickles and wines, and that." And here's Ben Gunn's long exile evoked in tragicomic dialogue: "Well, many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese — toasted, mostly — and woke up again, and here I were."
The characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde don't live on the page like that: Hyde is described as evil, but he isn't frightening like Blind Pew. Hyde is words on a page; Pew wrenches arms and skips nimbly from the parlour of the Admiral Benbow. His stick goes "tap-tapping" on a "frozen road". He lives, and dies, before the mind's eye. But one thing the characters of the two books have in common is that they're almost all male. There's a cook and a housemaid in Jekyll and Hyde, Jim's mother and Silver's "old Negress" in Treasure Island, and that's it, unless you count the Hispaniola, Silver's parrot and the sea.
This paucity of female characters links Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and Herman Melville's Billy Budd (1924). Those two books also have shallow pages. Billy Budd, in fact, is the shallowest book I've ever come across. All I found in it was words conjuring nothing: there were no sounds, sights or smells to the story:
The lieutenants and other commissioned gentlemen forming Captain Vere's staff it is not necessary here to particularize, nor needs it to make any mention of any of the warrant-officers. But among the petty-officers was one who having much to do with the story, may as well be forthwith introduced. His portrait I essay, but shall never hit it. This was John Claggart, the Master-at-arms. But that sea-title may to landsmen seem somewhat equivocal. Originally, doubtless, that petty-officer's function was the instruction of the men in the use of arms, sword or cutlas. But very long ago, owing to the advance in gunnery making hand-to-hand encounters less frequent and giving to nitre and sulphur the preeminence over steel, that function ceased; the Master-at-arms of a great war-ship becoming a sort of Chief of Police, charged among other matters with the duty of preserving order on the populous lower gun decks. (Billy Budd, chapter 8)
I found the book boring and a chore to read. That's not true of Stevenson's and Wilde's stories, which are both about temptation and damnation. But the reality conjured by those two authors is almost a theatrical one, as though the characters are on a stage surrounded by props and special effects:
It was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March, with a pale moon, lying on her back as though the wind had tilted her, and a flying wrack of the most diaphanous and lawny texture. The wind made talking difficult, and flecked the blood into the face. It seemed to have swept the streets unusually bare of passengers, besides; for Mr. Utterson thought he had never seen that part of London so deserted. (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, "The Last Night")
The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac-blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and fro in the languid air. A grasshopper began to chirrup by the wall, and like a blue thread a long thin dragon-fly floated past on its brown gauze wings. Lord Henry felt as if he could hear Basil Hallward's heart beating, and wondered what was coming. […] "How horribly unjust of you!" cried Lord Henry, tilting his hat back and looking up at the little clouds that, like ravelled skeins of glossy white silk, were drifting across the hollowed turquoise of the summer sky. […] There was a rustle of chirruping sparrows in the green lacquer leaves of the ivy, and the blue cloud-shadows chased themselves across the grass like swallows. (The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 1)
Lord Henry ponders the "subtle magic" of language and asks himself: "Was there anything so real as words?" Yes, I would say, and things more real too, but the attempted paradox is a reminder that Wilde is not striving for realism. I don't think he could have achieved it as Stevenson could and often did. Stevenson was a better writer, but The Picture of Dorian Gray is a more fully realized book. It's longer, after all. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is as short as the dream or nightmare it resembles: it offers the ingredients for horror, but you have to cook some of them for yourself. Treasure Island isn't a dream: it's an aquarium or a magic mirror. All three are books to return to again and again over a lifetime, but for me Stevenson's literary stature seems to grow, Wilde's to shrink, each time I do so.


The regular opening times of WHSmith Broadwalk in Dunstable are Monday to Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM, on Saturday 8:30AM-5:30PM, on Sunday 10AM-4PM. View the actual opening times of WHSmith Broadwalk in Dunstable in our branch locator.
For more information about opening times on Sunday or late night shopping make sure to view the information in the designated blocks. If this WHSmith isn't nearby your location you can use the 'Map & Directions' tab to find the fastest route to Broadwalk in Dunstable. This location's coordinates are specifically 51.8871 latitude, -0.52057 longitude. To contact this Bookstore by phone you can dial 01582477465 during business hours.