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Speaker Spotlight: Why marketing your studio is just as important as marketing your game
Rebellion's Abbie Dickinson will speak at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6, from April 19th
Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6 (Online)
March 25th, 2021 - 01:00pm
By PocketGamer.biz Staff
2021 is now well underway and the latest Pocket Gamer Connects Digital is set to bring together some of the finest voices in the games industry and beyond.
Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6 takes place from April 19th to 23rd, so to give you a taste of what to expect, we'll bring you interviews with some of our esteemed speakers at the show.
The conference spans five days and will feature a broad selection of tracks, talks and speakers, as well as various fringe events and the return of our meeting system. For more details on the event and to book a ticket, head to the website.
For today's spotlight, we spoke with Rebellion employer brand and community exec Abbie Dickinson, a marketing, communications and social media professional with over five years of experience - two of which are in the games industry. Dickinson will speak on why marketing your studio is just as important as marketing your games.
PocketGamer.biz: Tell us a bit about your company?
Abbie Dickinson: Rebellion is a leading developer and publisher of games, as well as being one of Europe's biggest independent studios operating across books, comics, TV and film.
Our Sniper Elite series is renowned for its authentic stealth and sniping gameplay with more than 35 million players worldwide. The Zombie Army franchise is a spine-chilling zombie shooter and the soon-to-be-released Evil Genius 2 is a satirical spy-fi lair builder where you are the criminal mastermind. And those are just the projects you know about - there is much more.
What does your role entail?
I spend a lot of time creating staff-focused content to share with the world to give them an insight into what working at Rebellion is like. I manage our corporate social media accounts, organise and spearhead a lot of our internal comms and culture work to make sure that the impression we're giving to the outside world matches the culture we have internally.
Also, I am a point of contact for external events organisers, universities and charities to get our staff involved in important works outside of the studio.
Why did you want to work in the games industry?
I have always loved video games, but it never occurred to me that I could work in them when I was younger. I think I had this image in my head of them just popping out of the ground as fully formed games I could play.
I ended up getting into marketing and PR working for a personal finance app and although I loved the work, I decided that if I was going to spend my career talking about a product, I wanted that product to be something I was passionate about.
So I sought out the games industry, ended up landing a job at a third-party service provider for the industry, volunteered my time at events, helping out with games industry awards etcetera and then finally took the step into the industry-proper at Rebellion six months ago.
Do your research, ask people, try things out - game development has never been more accessible - there are so many roles available in studios nowadays.
Abbie Dickinson
What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
Be focused on what you actually want to 'do' in the industry. I hear from so many people that they don't know what they want to do but they just want to work in the industry, which is great. You know where you want to be, but people inside who might be able to help you can't point you in the right direction, help with resources, suggest people to contact, unless you have an idea of where you want to sit in a games studio.
What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?
It has been amazing to see how the industry has flourished despite COVID-19. I think this has proven once and for all that games are a mainstream cultural art medium that should be taken just as seriously as film, TV, music, books etcetera.
The industry has also shown its resilience in being able to develop and release amazing games with whole studios working remotely. This can't be said for other mediums, such as film and TV which have obviously struggled more - but the games industry and the people behind that industry have shown their flexibility, adaptability and tenacity in quite difficult circumstances.
What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?
Flexible working will become the norm. Whether you love it or hate it, working remotely has proven it can work for the industry. I think a mix of smaller studio spaces with devs doing a mix of WFH and a couple of days in the studio will be the norm - and studios will have to adapt to this.
We've seen it more and more with the competition for UK game talent the highest it's even been post-Brexit, studios are going to have to offer more flexible working arrangements. This is a positive thing for everyone; it will remove barriers that were there for people with physical disabilities, people with childcare responsibilities, people who just can't afford to live in central London. I look forward to seeing what the games industry looks like in 12 months.
How has the games industry changed since you first started?
Unfortunately, there's been a lot of revelations of harassment towards women in the games industry in recent months. As much as it is horrible and disheartening to see that these sorts of things still go on and women are still such a minority in the industry, it's heartening to see the conversations going on around it.
How the diversity question isn't even a question anymore: men and women alike are talking about diversity, gender, POC, neurodivergence, disability and otherwise. How it is integral to how studios grow and develop in future - anyone not focusing on this is being left behind. The communities and support have flourished in the games space and we can only hope that these kinds of revelations become a thing of the past.
Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
My talk! I'm joking - there are a number of very interesting sounding panels I can't wait to dip into and the networking opportunities online in a world without in-person events is invaluable.
The full conference schedule is now live on the website. In the meantime, you can also check out our other track rundowns and coverage of previous Pocket Gamer Connects conferences ahead of the event itself.
Register for Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6 today!
PocketGamer.biz Staff
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Speaker Spotlight: Why Misc Games CEO Gøran Myrland believes social games will increase even more over the next 12 months
Speaker Spotlight: From the Commodore 64 to Amico, over 40 years of development with Hans Ippisch
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Speaker Spotlight: Understanding narrative design with Ubisoft Ivory Tower's Inari Bourguenolle


World's First 700+ HP Supercharged NISMO 370Z | Where Are The VQ37 Limits?!
Welcome back to Roads Untraveled! This week on the show we went on down to the great state of Georgia to meet up with the guys at Royalty Performance. They've been hard at work on this customer's car, a 600+ WHP (700+ HP at the crank) supercharged Nissan Nismo 370Z. It's currently running on a highly modified Stillen supercharger kit, with one of the most notable custom pieces being a billet wheel in the housing itself, as well as a much smaller billet pulley. This is good for 600+WHP on the dyno, and a car that is sure as hell to scream like a banshee at those higher RPMs. Feel free to check out the rest of what Royalty Performance has to offer here in the Atlanta area, as well as our other episodes we've filmed with them! Enjoy!


We work on all forms of storytelling, selecting the best equipment to furnish the different moving picture formats that support them.
We care of our films on a case-by-case basis, but the projects are solved at in-house facilities which provide constant high standards of production.
The presence of VFX has become fundamental almost in any sort of project. From color management to transparency-based layers.
At DA VINCI FILMS we value the editing room, where takes place from a deep evaluation of the dailies to the integration of VFX layers and the application of color correction.
Having been involved in all the constituent parts of the art of making films, DA VINCI FILMS' leading team provides a unity of concept that is truly rare to find in the industry.
In the age where shooting has become increasingly accessible, the difference stands out more striking than ever. DA VINCI FILMS' team cares of the production of moving picture with observational acumen.
Among them, our last project, 'American Mirror - Intimations of Immortality', became most awarded film at the 5th DOC LA Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival, garnering Best Innovative Film, Best Composer and Best Cinematography.
It went on to attain the Parajanov-Vartanov Award by the Parajanov-Vartanov Film Institute in Los Angeles.
A jury presided over by two-time Academy award-winning Paul Haggis for Fabrique Du Cinema Awards (presented by Fabrique Du Cinema, the leading film magazine of Italy), bestowed on the film the Best International Documentary award in Rome, December 15th, 2018.
Among other accolades, the film won Best Cinematography and Best Innovative Film at 13th Pomegranate Film Festival (Toronto, November 2018).
An increasing number of film festivals across the USA and around the world are requesting the film's participation at their respective official selections.
The theatrical release will take place in November 2019 in the USA.


a-bim'-e-lek ('abhimelekh, "father of a king"): A name borne by five Old Testament persons.
⇒See a list of verses on ABIMELECH in the Bible.
(1) The name of two kings of Philistia; the first was a contemporary of Abraham, the second, probably son of the former, was king in the days of Isaac. It is quite possible that Abimelech was the royal title rather than the personal name, since in the title of Ps 34:1-22 we find it applied to the king of Gath, elsewhere known by his personal name, Achish (1Sa 27:2-3). Shortly after the destruction of Sodom Abraham journeyed with his herds and flocks into the extreme Southeast country of Palestine (Ge 20:1-18). While sojourning at Gerar, the city of Abimelech, king of the Philistine country, he made believe that Sarah was his sister (Ge 20:2), and Abimelech took her, intending to make her one of his wives. But God rebuked him in a dream, besides sending barrenness on the women of his household (Ge 20:3,17). After Abimelech had reproved Abraham most justly for the deception, he dealt generously with him, loading him with presents and granting him the liberty of the land (Ge 20:14-15). When contention had arisen between the servants of the two men over the wells of water the two men made a covenant at a well, which took its name, Beersheba, from this fact of covenantmaking (Ge 21:31-32).
(2) Nearly a century later than the events connected with the first Abimelech, as outlined above, a second Abimelech, king of the Philistines, is mentioned in relations with Isaac (Ge 26:1-35), who in time of grievous famine went down from his home, probably at Hebron, to Gerar. Fearing for his life because of his beautiful wife, Rebekah, he called her his sister, just as Abraham had done with reference to Sarah. Neither Abimelech nor any of his people took Rebekah to wife--quite a variation from the Abrahamic incident; but when the falsehood was detected, he upbraided Isaac for what might have happened, continuing nevertheless to treat him most graciously. Isaac continued to dwell in the vicinity of Gerar, until contention between his herdsmen and those of Abimelech became too violent; then he moved away by stages, reopening the wells digged (dug) by his father (Ge 26:18-22). Finally, a covenant was made between Abimelech and Isaac at Beersheba, just ,as had been made between Abraham and the first Abimelech (Ge 26:26-33). The two kings of Philistia were probably father and son.
(3) The title of Ps 34:1-22 mentions another Abimelech, who in all probability is the same as Achish king of Gath (1Sa 21:10 through 1Sa 22:1); with whom David sought refuge when fleeing from Saul, and with whom he was dwelling at the time of the Philistine invasion of Israel, which cost Saul his kingdom and his life (1Sa 27:1-12). It appears from this that Abimelech was the royal title, and not the personal name of the Philistine kings.
(4) A son of Gideon (Jg 9:1-57) who aspired to be king after the death of his father, and did rule three years (Jg 9:22). He first won the support of the members of his mother's family and their recommendation of himself to all Israel (Jg 9:3-4). He then murdered all the sons of his father, seventy in number, at Ophrah, the family home in the tribe of Manasseh, Jotham the youngest son alone escaping (Jg 9:5). After this Abimelech was made ruler by an assembly of the people at Shechem. An insurrection led by Gaal the son of Ebed having broken out in Shechem, Abimelech, although he succeeded in capturing that city, was wounded to death by a mill-stone, which a woman dropped from the wall upon his head, while he was storming the citadel of Thebez, into which the defeated rebels had retreated, after that city also had been taken (Jg 9:50-53). Finding that he was mortally wounded and in order to avoid the shame of death at a woman's hand, he required his armor-bearer to kill him with his sword (Jg 9:54). His cruel treatment of the Shechemites (Jg 9:46-49), when they took refuge from him in their strong tower, was a just judgment for their acquiescence in his crimes (Jg 9:20,57); while his own miserable death was retribution for his bloody deeds (Jg 9:56).
(5) A priest in the days of David; a descendant of Ithamar and Eli, and son of Abiathar (1Ch 18:16). In the Septuagint and in 1Ch 24:1-31 he is called Ahimelech; but is not to be confused with Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar, and therefore his grandfather. He shared with Zadok, of the line of Ithamar, the priestly office in the reign of David (1Ch 24:31).


Speaker: Mr. Vincent Wong, former Director of Strategic Planning of HK Commercial Broadcasting, is a veteran radio show host who is currently hosting the programme "Our Way Out"《人民大道中》 — a programme dedicated to promote Solutions Journalism. Vincent is also the founder of Solution-On-Wheels, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting solutions journalism in Asia.
Vincent worked for Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in 1997, and then joined the Hong Kong Government in 1998, working on town planning and long term care policies. His book "Macrocreativity" 《宏觀創意》was awarded "HK Good Book" in 2005. His latest book "Transformation of Hong Kong" 《香港轉營》 was published in 2012, analyzing how creative problem solving can be applied in policy formulation.


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Impressions I & II
The photos in this series were submitted to the Portrait of Britain 2020 competition. The location is Narrow Way, a pedestrian area at the north end of Mare Street, Hackney, which is the neighbourhood where I live. The local shops and population, representing a plethora of different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds, contributed to the natural formation of a tight knit, beautifully diverse community, where mutual support and hard work never ceased to exist even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
© Fede Redaelli 2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Originally Aired: 1982-6-4
Exiled by Kirk, Khan returns to seek revenge on the man who banished him and his followers to a dying planet 15 years ago. [Blu-ray] [DVD]
Rate movie? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
132 4 3 6 7 7 11 19 45 84 182
- How could Chekov remember anything about Khan? And how could Khan remember anything about Chekov? Chekov wasn't aboard ship in TOS: Space Seed...
- Why didn't McCoy do an immediate medical scan of Chekov and Terrell as soon as they mentioned having alien creatures placed in them?
- How are they talking during transport?
- This film establishes that starfleet has kept the peace in the Federation for about 100 years.
- This film was nominated for the 1983 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
- The simulation at the beginning.
- Kirk to Spock: "Aren't you dead?"
- Khan sticking the little alien parasites in Chekov's and Captain Terrell's ears.
- Spock and Saavik speaking to each other in Vulcan about Kirk.
- Chekov under Khan's control.
- McCoy: "Who's been holding up the damn elevator?!"
- Spock: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
- The overview of the Genesis Device.
- McCoy: "According to myth, the earth was created in six days. Now watch out, here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!"
- Khan: "Ah Kirk, my old friend. Do you know the old Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? Well, it is very cold in space."
- Khan attacking the Enterprise.
- Kirk using the Reliant's access codes to drop the shields on Khan's ship.
- Captain Terrell killing one of the people down on the planet. I love the vaporization effect.
- Kirk: "Khan!!!"
- The revelation that David was Kirk's son.
- Kirk declaring that he made it through the training scenario by cheating.
- Kirk egging Khan on.
- The battle in the nebula. Wow!
- Spock Vulcan neck pinching McCoy and mild melding with him.
- Genesis device exploding.
- Spock: "I have been and always shall be your friend."
- Spock's "death."
This film is a wild ride and a fan favorite. One of my favorite details is how well they handle the aging actors; everybody was getting old in the 1980s. One of the first things the film does is have all the characters lament about their ages. Gives it a sense of realism. Just about everything in this film is spectacular. I only take off points for the fact that Spock's death was contrived in that it's incredibly obvious that he will be brought back to life. The film would have been far more moving if it weren't for the blatantly obvious setup for his resurrection in the next film. Besides that, there are a few other problems as well. For example, there's the obvious problem with how Chekov would have remembered Khan and visa versa. And then there's the Genesis device. It is, quite literally, a plot device. Plus, this film implied that the Federation will abandon all its research on Genesis due to the events of this film. Why would they do that? Clearly the Genesis device did exactly what it was supposed to do! Finally, Khan's overzealous devotion toward killing Kirk was a little overdone. Especially with regards to the Shakespeare references. That said, these things do little to trample on such a great film. With a little more polish, this film could have earned a perfect score.
Fan Commentary (14)
From Greg Bonkowski on 2006-05-04 at 2:53pm:
Simply the best Trek film ever!!! Khan!!!!!!!!!!
From jaylong on 2007-04-12 at 10:59pm:
"he tasks me..."
From JR on 2008-07-22 at 7:31am:
"How could Chekov remember anything about Khan?"
I don't see this as a problem. He could have read about it somewhere, or maybe the other people at the Enterprise at the time told him about it after he came onboard. I assume the events in Space Seed were logged and submitted to Starfleet, and their computers already had a file on Khan with pictures. Now, Khan knowing Chekov, that's the real problem.
From Lennier on 2009-02-14 at 10:31pm:
"Space Seed"'s stardate is 3141.9.
"Catspaw" (an episode with Chekov) has a stardate of 3018.2.
I like to think that this means that "Catspaw" takes place before "Space Seed". Therefore, Chekov could very well have seen Khan, and vice versa.
From Kevin Lopez on 2009-04-06 at 12:43am:
it wasn't blatantly obvious that he was going to be brought back to life at the time: Nimoy was tired of playing Spock and wanted his character killed off. He later changed his mind and directed films III and IV. Your criticism is unfair.
From Kethinov on 2009-04-06 at 5:24am:
I stand by the critique. It's clearly a trap door. Whether or not Nimoy did or did not plan to ever play Spock again, it was clear the writers wanted the option of bringing him back conveniently. Sort of like how Data only "half" died in Nemesis. He could easily be brought back via B4.
From S. M. Willis on 2010-01-05 at 7:54pm:
Melville, not Shakespeare. And Milton.
From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-25 at 7:26am:
Having reviewed all of Voyager, most of TNG, and much of DS9, I am now turning to the Star Trek movies to revisit them as well. Of course, I saw them all in theaters as they were released, and have seen them again since then.
Annoyingly, Star Trek, The Motion Picture is not available on any streaming media accessible to me. If anyone knows how to find this film on the internet, please post a comment as well.
Several issues on ST: TWOK:
1. The Genesis device creates daunting scientific issues. First, there is the little matter of conservation of energy. In order for life to exist, energy must be inserted into the system. Living things do not live on nothing. Ultimately, the source of all energy for living things is light. Either animals eat plants (which are simply a form of light energy fixed into hydrocarbons), or animals eat other animals, who in turn eat plants. Ultimately we are all burning energy from light, in the case of Earth, the Sun. However, on Regula 1 we see a "Genesis Cave" which is filled with living things, all of whom are illuminated by a light source (which we conveniently never see). What is the source for this light? Regula 1 is an "airless, lifeless hunk of rock" according to the dialog earlier in the film. Similarly, when the Genesis device explodes in the Mutara Nebula, it forms a "Genesis Planet" which is clearly illuminated. In one shot we see a star behind the planet, a star which clearly wasn't there before. The Genesis device created a star? That would be a trick even greater than converting inorganic matter to living matter!
2. Another daunting scientific issue has to do with the nature of biological evolution. Star Trek seems obsessed with the concept of evolution, as I have stated in other posts, and has a very unscientific view of this concept. The Genesis device has issues in this area. Specifically, evolution would require a process of billions of years for life to develop which would be adapted to the particular conditions in which it exists. The Genesis device does not seem to involve any adaptation whatsoever. Instead, life simply occurs instantly which is perfectly adapted to the aesthetic and functional requirements of humans. Given that even on Earth life adapts in incredible diversity (from the ice worms that exist in sub-zero conditions in the arctic, to the bacteria that thrive in the incredible heat and pressure of the ocean near thermal vents), it seems remarkably convenient that Genesis device life would somehow adapt the environment to human life, rather than adapting the life to the environment.
3. Continuity issue: In TNG: Sarek, the Enterprise crew is shocked when Sarek displays emotion by weeping during a musical performance. Yet Lt. Saavik displays emotion by weeping openly during Spock's funeral, and no one seems all broken up about it. (BTW, according to iMDb, Kirstie Alley's performance as Lt. Saavik was her first appearance on screen anywhere.)
3. Continuity issue: When Dr. Marcus (the mother) gives her presentation to the Federation in support of the Genesis Device project, she states that she is hopeful that the Federation will "fund" the project. According to numerous episodes of TNG, the Federation has eliminated the need for currency.
From AnotherTrekFan on 2012-08-16 at 5:05pm:
@Jeff Browning:
1. Light source inside the cave is easy - Starfleet put it there. There's dialog that establishes Starfleet hollowed out the tunnels, so it's not a stretch to believe they hung some solar-analog light source inside the cavern.
Now for the star that suddenly appears, I had always taken it that the star was formed from the nebula via the device (which was intended to be detonated over a planetary body) being detonated inside the nebula. The scenes immediately following the detonation clearly show the nebula changing and contracting. Granted that further pushes the bounds of believability, but we are talking about a Sci Fi franchise that posits ubiquitous faster-than-light travel and near perfectly efficient energy generation after all. ;)
2. This is technobabbled-away in the next movie. There's some dialog in ST3 about the use of something caused "protomatter" which caused the quick developmental evolution of life on the planet.
3. Regarding Saavik's tears, it's established off-screen (and it might be non-canon) that Saavik is half-Vulcan and half-Romulan.
3(b). There are references to money throughout TOS, especially in "The Trouble With Tribbles" where the bartender, Jones, and Uhura all haggle over how much it will cost to buy a tribble. The removal of money obviously happened at some point between this movie and the TNG era, probably when replicator technology became mature and ubiquitous -- because why do you need money when you can just replicate everything?
From Strider on 2012-08-27 at 12:33am:
According to Nimoy, he was not at all tired of playing Spock. He simply appreciated the power of a good story, and was willing to walk away if he didn't get it. And of course, the hope implied by the Genesis planet. But he argued with writers time and time again, both in the series and the films, to make sure the stories were worth telling and that Spock's character was treated according to his character. He won some, he lost some.
From Glenn239 on 2012-10-22 at 11:48am:
'10'. Nothing better contrasts the problems with Roddenberry's original vision for Star Trek with the franchise running on all cylinders (by discarding elements of that vision) than in watching 'The Motion Picture' and 'Wrath of Khan' back to back. Wrath is a more militarized, 'Horatio Hornblower' action oriented atmosphere where plot matters because the opponent isn't some whizz-bang super entity. It just works…better. It's the difference between a '5' and a '10'
Some slight problems with some of the tactical elements, naturally. Enterprise should not be able to survive Reliant's original point blank fire with the shields not fully deployed. Reliant's fire is also not efficient – she'd have hit the warp engines and the bridge first. (Of course, that kills Kirk outright and disables the ship). When chasing Enterprise at the end, Reliant would have fired dozens of photon torpedoes to prevent it entering the nebula, not just one. And with the Genesis device, Khan has no motive to enter the nebula since he knows, with the power of that device, Kirk must come to him. Why do super-smarties never act super smartly in movies? Also, with Khan able to control Reliant's crew there really wasn't any need to for communications silence in the original ambush. Simply have the Reliant's captain hail Kirk, maintaining all of Saavik's regulations as he closed in for the kill. No yellow alert and, moments later, no Enterprise either.
This movie appears to be the origin of the (annoying) tendency in sci fi to present capital ship engagements as boring affairs where massive hulks, apparently incapable of movement, fire away at each other from spitting distance. Even in Sink the Bismarck the HMS Hood and the Bismarck had the common courtesy to be firing at ten miles distance! One slight downside to an otherwise worthy SF outing.
Star Trek #3 robbed Wrath of Khan of its full dramatic impact; the denial of Spock's death would make this movie an '8' and not a '10'. Yes, the writers were presumably leaving Nimoy the option of returning through several plot devices but at the time of Wrath of Khan Spock was dead. Leaving the theatre for the first time, the loss was real. They didn't introduce the interesting Saavik for nothing, one assumes. (As soon as Nimoy signed on for III, Saavik was redundant and, apparently, Kirstie was sidelined by salary negotiations and replaced by a horrible substitute of the character that can only be explained by the producer's complete indifference to Saavik if Spock were to continue). So I give it '10' upon the memory of the original ending's impact, not the campy plot of #3 that robbed Wrath of some of its power.
From Scott Hearon on 2014-04-17 at 12:42pm:
It had been probably 25 years since I last watched this. It actually holds up quite well. I give it 8/10.
Not unlike the TOS episode Space Seed, this one combined some excellent action/adventure ideas with some strong characterization to create a fun film.
Sure, Khan's dialogue is a bit overblown, and there are certainly things to nit-pick, in terms of the science fiction, but it's overall a good film that has plenty of interesting shifts and turns throughout.
One thing that strikes me is how they story writers didn't manage to work in a face-to-face confrontation between Khan and Kirk. It probably would have felt contrived, the film may have been weakened by it, but it's something that almost seemed missing.
From as140 on 2016-06-03 at 7:38am:
"I only take off points for the fact that Spock's death was contrived in that it's incredibly obvious that he will be brought back to life."
But you are wrong on that point. They really intended to kill of Spock. They just kept this solution in case people demanded them to bring back Spock, which they did.
From steve mccarthy on 2018-02-10 at 6:09am:
My favorite of all the ST movies but i have 1 continuity nitpick. All of Khans survivors on the planet in the movie seem to be young in their 20s and 30's. Check Space Seed where his crew seem to be in their 30's possibly older already. If this is 15 years after Space Seed then they should all be in their 40s and 50's . Clearly, none are. Also, his first officer ( the blond guy who gets all the speaking time ) is way younger probably about 20. There were no children seen or mentioned in Space Seed and if he is Khans and McGyvers son he shouldn't be more than 14 and hes definitely older than that.


text:
a wife by accident
Author: Victoria Ashe
Price: $9.95 paperback
Pages: 134 paperback
She wasn't looking for trouble,
which is why she ran smack into it.
Hayely Black has cut herself off from her wealthy parents, determined to make it on her own. Then one misstep leads her into more than one kind of crunch. Stuck in a dead-end job and now indebted to Nevada's most eligible bachelor, Hayely agrees to an arrangement she never would have considered before.
Gary Tarleton, self-made bazillionnaire, has lived with the secrets of his past all his adult life, and within those secrets is a childhood dream all the money in the world can't fulfill. As he looks at charming Hayely, he sees the answer to a prayer - and the possibility of the kind of family he thought he'd never have.
Reviews and Other Information:
*Also available as an audio book at Audible, Amazon and iTunes*
Click here to order A WIFE BY ACCIDENT by Victoria Ashe in large print from Thorndike Press.
"It is how Ms. Ashe creates the complications in Haley's life that has you rooting for her heroine. It appears Haley has no clear-cut way out of her problems. That is, not until she bumps into Gary Tarleton.
Gary Tarleton has a goal that fuelled his every action since he turned ten. Now nearly two decades later he's at the point of bringing that goal to fruition. Under Ms. Ashe's careful construction, Gary finds he has some major readjustments to make. Or has he become so entrenched in his old dreams he's in danger of risking new ones?
This is not a fast-paced suspense story, but there's plenty of conflict coming from almost every direction. It is how Ms. Ashe weaves the conflict and resolution together that leaves the reader sighing with contentment at the end of the final page."
Long & Short Reviews
"A very cute book!"
Clean Romance Reviews


We have prepared ready-built stands in 3 versions.
At your request, individual stand designs in line with the Exhibitor's guidelines and vision can also be prepared by Targi w Krakowie Ltd., which is responsible for their comprehensive implementation. Personalization of your stand allows you to emphasize your company's image and distinguish its offer at the fair.


text:
Mircea Nicolae Vlad (ur. 22 października 1956, zm. 1980) – rumuński judoka

Uczestnik mistrzostw świata w 1979. Złoty medalista mistrzostw Europy w 1980 i brązowy w 1979. Trzeci na akademickich MŚ w 1977 roku.

Przypisy

Rumuńscy judocy
Urodzeni w 1956
Zmarli w 1980

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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CLEVELAND AREA BOARD OF REALTORS
The CLEVELAND AREA BOARD OF REALTORS, originally known as the Cleveland Real Estate Board until 1971, began in 1861 with local real estate agents meeting to discuss business standards, ideas for local development, and common problems. Organized formally on 21 June 1892, the board was concerned with standardizing the profession, improving its public image, promoting local residential and industrial development, and influencing legislation affecting the real estate business. Early in its history, it formed a valuation committee to appraise real-estate values and was active as a lobbying group opposing legislation it believed would hurt its members, property owners, and building contractors. By 1920 the board had become an elite group with a special title, "realtor," used only by its members and members of other affiliates of the National Assn. of Real Estate Boards. With the development of suburbs, the board organized regional divisions which coordinated their operations and later sponsored real-estate classes and computerized multiple-listing services to benefit its members.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, the board was publicly criticized for racial discrimination in its business practices and in its membership. In 1970 the U.S. Dept. of Justice sued the board over its policy of establishing and publishing the rates its members were allowed to charge for their services, and in 1975 the state's attorney general sued the board for attempting to monopolize training programs for real estate agents. As a result, the organization opened up its membership; that same year, the Board adopted the Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement, an agreement between the Realtor Association and the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to help ensure FAIR HOUSING in the real estate industry. The agreement was updated and reaffirmed in 1992. In 1971 it became the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors, and in 1977 purchased its own building at 2829 Euclid Ave.
Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 1992, the Cleveland Board of Realtors hosted a community planning conference attended by over 200 public officials, realtors and community planning professionals. The Board also donated $29,000 to Cleveland's Habitat for Humanity. In 1995-96, the Board co-sponsored a Bicentennial Village project in conjunction with the CLEVELAND BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION. Also in 1996, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling that found that three EUCLID sign ordinances that restricted the size and placement of "For Sale" signs unconstitutionally violated free speech and property right protections. Originally designed as a way to prevent "panic selling," the decision in the sign restriction case represented a major victory for the Board and soon many other cities in the area were forced to lift similar bans. In 1999, the Board successfully lobbied the local office of the Federal Housing Administration to raise its mortgage limits for single-family homes to $208,800. The new limits more than doubled the levels set in 1996 and affected all of Northeast Ohio.
With a membership of more than 4,500 area realtors, the Board was among the largest Realtor Association member organizations in the country with a full-time staff of 17 and a $1 million operating budget in 1995. Recognizing the need for more space, the Board announced that it was planning to sell its building at 2829 Euclid Ave in 1996 and moved to a larger location in VALLEY VIEW. The move, however, proved to be temporary as the Board relocated to INDEPENDENCE in 2002. The Cleveland Area Board of Realtors is located in a newly rennovated 12,000 square ft. building (the former home of SKN Manufacturing) at 5622 Brecksville Rd.
http://www.cabor.com/default.aspx


Q: Can you improve our street presence?
Why did SkyBus contact Angle?
SkyBus needed help with large scale signage design to improve street presence at their SkyBus City Lounge, 396 Queen Street, Auckland. The lounge is their hub in the city, offering customers a place to relax, book tickets, stay connected with WiFi and watch the latest flight information from Auckland Airport.
Construction work in the building meant that shipping containers had been placed directly in front of the lounge, blocking any street presence in this busy part of Auckland's CBD.
Step 1: As with all the signage projects we undertake, we started with a site visit. We took site photographs and documented initial measurements, followed by a conversation with SkyBus' Group Operations Manager and Business Devlopment Manager for their input.
Step 2: We explored multiple high impact design concepts that we knew would make good use of the available space and communicate the benefits of SkyBus. Photoshop visuals were created to show a life-like representation of the finished signage in place. All concepts were then presented to the client.
Step 3: After quick approval of a preferred concept, we created the final vector illustration and pieced together a second proof for SkyBus to check.
Step 4: The old adage 'measure twice, cut once' applied at this point. We re-measured the containers and checked all the surface details and features to make sure our design worked seamlessly across the 3 containers. Armed with this information, we discussed the finer production details with our print partner and installer.
Step 5: Our final scaled artwork was created and approved by SkyBus. This was supplied to our print partner and the 2.9m x 15m design was printed in sections 1.3m wide x 2.9m high.
Step 6: The finished laser-cut vinyl print was given to our installer and wrapped across the front of the row of containers.
The creative solution for the signage design is inspired by the 24/7 SkyBus service, connecting Auckland City to Auckland Airport. Having already created the branding for the SkyBus fleet in Auckland, we knew the service and its benefits well.
Is it a plane? Is it a bus?
On the left hand containers is a large illustrated section of a passenger plane on a runway. A hint of the airport is visible behind. On the right hand container is the iconic SkyBus on the road. A hint of the Auckland skyline and stylised maunga are visible behind the bus. The two modes of transport are illustrated in the same style and the viewer visually connects the two together across the gap between the containers.
The signage is completed with a smart headline, a large SkyBus logo and an apology message from the construction company to SkyBus patrons. The result turns this unavoidable obstacle into a highly visible billboard, advertising the SkyBus service for the next 6 months.
Do you need a branding company that designs signage? We are communication experts that understand space, dimension, scale, materials and production techniques. Find out about our signage design services and how we use them to build brands with a big impact.
Finish Container grade vinyl digitally printed with UV inks.
Production 1.3m x 2.9m sections printed, laser cut and wrapped onto container surface.


Case studies were chosen to show the explicit (and implicit) links among and between the 3 substantive "pillars" of the research project--networks, social capital and sustainable development.
Evolution: traceable organisational evolution, from pre-network to multi-scale network of networks. Evolution in any case should move beyond the bonding level and show org. evolution of goals, mandate, leadership etc. to be valid for study.
Diversity: 1. degree of observable or identifiable diversity of leaders and engaged participants, from visible minorities, gender balance etc. Power balance in network decision-making was not discussed but remains and open question. 2. Diversity of case types, e.g. government and non-government.
Feasibility/Pragmatism: cases must be accessible, feasible and "researchable" from a functional perspective. Distance, cost, background data accessibility, and openness of key leaders/participants are all factors to be considered for this criterion.
The Community Research Connections dynamic website is a project of the Canada Research Chair (2004-2014) and was released in October 2006.
Canadian municipalities are in the unique position of being at the forefront for realizing sustainable development in communities across Canada. To assist communities, particularly smaller and medium-sized ones, to develop their own INTEGRATED COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY PLAN we have developed a plan template describing what should be in such a plan as well as an active community engagement strategy designed to ensure implementation. Embedded in the plan template are additional research and practitioner links for your reference.
The Community Liveability Survey / Sondage sur la vie en collectivité was uniquely designed for Canadians to compare and contrast their community's socialability, sustainability and their capacity to make changes towards more sustainable community development.


Ok, for those of you who don't know, I was lucky enough to be the editor on this one. It was one of those "right place, right time" kind of deals, and I'm really glad.
See, this book is set in my hometown (the name has been changed), is by a guy I swear I knew as a kid (but didn't know him back then), and is part of a series to keep me busy for a long time. Though there were some road bumps in getting it publish-ready, we finally put it out there for the world. I truly hope it does well.
While the paperback isn't out yet (will be soon, just waiting on the proof), the ebooks have hit the virtual shelves. I'd love to have some help spreading the word on this one — anyone that loves a good action-adventure, sci-fi should enjoy it — so if you're willing to help, please contact me.
Krystal Taylor has been under the military's thumb since birth. Her power of astral projection requires it — without daily Mindkey treatments, she will die a horrible death. She wants freedom from her leash, the freedom to let her flesh and blood, not just her mind, experience the world.
While on an unauthorized hiking expedition, designed to give her some space from her spying duties and the hundreds of government agents and prying scientists who keep her alive, she is captured by a band of terrorists, threatening much more than her life. Unless Dan Parker, the director of the Mindkey Project, and Dr. George Larkin, its key scientist, can reach her in time, the entire planet may fall into the clutches of the worst terrorist mankind has ever produced.
From the farthest reaches of outer space to the inner depths of the planet Earth, every soul — dead or alive — waits, unknowingly, for Krystal to be found — or turned into a weapon.
It's actually a really good story. I can't wait to get some reviews on it.


On April 23, PIFA, the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, is closing down six blocks of Broad Street for Philadelphia's biggest block party of the season. The all-day festival will feature live performances, carnival rides, a zip line, food trucks, and even a functioning 25-foot waterfall that will be installed on the street for the day.
Some of the food vendors include the Cow and the Curd, Scratch Biscuits, and Hai Street Kitchen. Garces Events will be supplying the booze (with a full beer garden set up on Spruce Street) as well as some classic Garces grub for sale outside the Kimmel Center. Enjoy your food and drink under trees, on grassy patches, or near one of the water fountains set up on Broad Street.
Obviously, performance art will be at the forefront of this festival, which will feature dozens of live performances throughout the day. Standouts include Lady Pneumatica (a huge 40-foot inflatable, musical sculpture) and Flippen Out, a group of trampoline athletes and acrobats who perform exciting stunts.
Stop by this block party for excellent food, plenty of spectacle, and to celebrate the arts outside on a beautiful spring day.


This is a live internet stream recording of a VCFA concert from 10 February 2016, showing the performance of my original rescore to the animated film None of That.
There is another version of this re-scored film here.
All of the "sound effects" are created by the instruments.


Live FM's Presenters, Jeshurun Okyere and Antoine Mensah were nominated at the 2018 Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Awards.
Live FM's Presenters, Jeshurun Okyere and Antoine Mensah were nominated at the 2018 Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Awards.
They were nominated in the 'Gospel Show Host of the Year' and Radio Late Afternoon Show categories respectively.
The list which was released saw some of Ghana's biggest names in the media space compete for the award and year-long bragging rights in various categories.
The nominees were announced at the brief ceremony held by the organisers at the Holiday Inn Hotel on Friday, August 3, 2018. The nominees announced for all 41 categories will kick-start the call for voting as has been associated with the scheme since its inception in 2011.
The scheme is designed to celebrate radio and television personalities who have excelled in the field.


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The deadliest war in North America's modern history started 105 years ago today
Alex Lockie
Mexican rebels stand with rifles and a cannon during the bloody revolution.
The Mexican Revolution, which began on 105 years ago and raged for a decade, is considered to be the first major social, political, and cultural revolution of the 20th century, and perhaps the bloodiest conflict in modern North American history.
The revolution resulted in more than 1.5 million deaths. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican refugees fled to the US. A cascade of leaders rose to prominence — only to be assassinated. Peasant uprisings broke out throughout the country that was in a decade-long state of crisis.
At the heart of the revolution were tensions between the "criollos," or the Spanish-descended ruling class, and "mestizos," or people of mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry who made up a majority of the population and much of the country's peasantry. Mexico in the years leading up to the revolution was a powder keg, with elites facing off over questions of presidential succession and constitutional change, and the peasantry feeling increasingly angry and alienated.
"Adelitas" was one of the names given to the women were instrumental in assisting the revolution as nurses, spies, tax collectors, journalists, as well as fighters.
Mexico was in need of fundamental changes — changes that weren't likely to change peacefully.
Tensions came to a head when Porfirio Diaz, the dictator who had ruled Mexico for the previous 34 years, sought to continue his rule for an eighth term as president.
Francisco I. Madero, a Mexican political exile wrote and distributed the "Plan of San Luis Potosí," which, among other things, called for a revolution beginning on November 20, 1910, to depose Diaz and restore both the 1857 constitution and the term limits that it mandated.
Though Madero's pen initiated the revolution, rival generals, political figures, and militia leaders, the most famous of whom were Pancho Villa in the north and Emiliano Zapata in the south, carried out most of the fighting.
Emiliano Zapata, left, and Pancho Villa, right.
Zapata was especially emblematic of the revolution. A champion of the "campesinos," or country people of Mexico, Zapata's rallying cry of "Tierra y libertad" (land and liberty) galvanized the rural poor — a population that wanted sweeping change.
Zapata helped draft a counter to the "Plan of San Luis Potosí," known as the "Plan of Alaya." Under this proposal, land would be redistributed to the peasants who worked on it. Zapata's plan for "land for those who work it" proved popular with campesinos.
Revolutionary fighters led by Emiliano Zapata under the "Plan de Ayala," drawn up in 1911 after Madero stalled on instituting land reform in Morelos, Mexico.
By May 1911, Diaz had left the country. But after 35 years of a single dictator, Mexico found itself trapped in a destructive power vacuum. Madero ruled briefly before being assassinated in 1913 by Victoriano Huerta, a general in league with counterrevolutionaries led by Porfirio Díaz's nephew.
Caption reads: "Formal raising of first flag of US / Veracruz 2 P.M. April 27, 1914."
Hadsell via Wikimedia Commons
Amid heavy opposition, Huerta dissolved Mexico's congress and began to impose an autocratic government similar to Diaz's. US President Woodrow Wilson soon sent Marines into the country to remove Huerta.
After US forces helped oust Huerta in 1914, Washington settled on supporting Venustiano Carranza, a wealthy landowner.
At first, Carranza sought to reconcile the differences of the different camps. Carranza's US-backed government eventually endorsed and drafted a new constitution that was approved in 1917.
The constitution included agrarian reform and expanded individual rights. But Carranza left many of his promises unfulfilled, and was assassinated while fleeing Mexico City during the next election, in 1920.
Alvaro Obregon, a one-time ally of Carranza's who later helped overthrow him, became president in 1920, an event that marked the end of over a decade of instability and violence.
Mexico was in continuous turmoil throughout this period. The revolution was a complex and multisided conflict that pitted the country's rulers against one another — and against a peasantry eager for political and social change.
Peasant militants during the Mexican Revolution.
Latinamericanstudies.org
While Mexico is now a democracy, the revolution didn't exactly end that way. In 1929, what is now known as the Institutional Revolutionary Party came to power. Implementing a system often described as a "benign dictatorship," the party would remain in charge of Mexico until Vicente Fox's election 2000.
SEE ALSO: 13 of the most notorious crimes in American history
NOW WATCH: Here's how much El Chapo's prison escape cost the infamous drug lord
More: Mexico History


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Josh Peck Biography, Age,Married, Movies, TV Shows,Weight loss and Net Worth
Josh Peck born Joshua Michael Peck is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, and YouTube personality. He is mostly known for playing Josh Nichols in the
Josh Peck Biography
Josh Peck born Joshua Michael Peck is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, and YouTube personality. He is mostly known for playing Josh Nichols in the Nickelodeon live-action sitcom Drake & Josh. Josh started his career as a child actor in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He became popular to young audiences after his role on The Amanda Show.
Josh has since acted in films such as Mean Creek, Drillbit Taylor, The Wackness, ATM, and Red Dawn, along with voicing Eddie in the Ice Age franchise. He also starred in the series Grandfathered as Gerald in a lead role with John Stamos. Formerly he voiced Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Josh also starred in a Netflix comedy, Take the 10, along with Tony Revolori.
Josh as of 2017, he began branching out in YouTube starting his own comedic lifestyle YouTube channel, Shua Vlogs, featuring David Dobrik and his wife Paige O' Brien.
Josh Peck Age | How Old Is Josh Peck
Josh was born on November 10, 1986 in New York City New York. He is 32 years old as of year 2018.
How Tall Is Josh Peck
Josh stands at a height of 1.83 m.
Josh Peak Family | Josh Peck Dad
Josh was born in New York City, New York. During his birth his parents were unmarried and he has never met his biological father. He was brought up by his mother, Barbara, who is a career coach, and his maternal grandmother.. During his childhood he had asthma, and often stayed indoors watching old sitcoms. Josh was inspired to become involved in stand-up comedy when he was eight years old.
Josh Peck Photo
Is Josh Peck Married | Josh Peck Wife
Peck married his longtime girlfriend, Paige O'Brien in June 2017. The couple announced in August 2018 they were expecting their first child. Their son, Max, was born that December 2017.
Josh dislikes watching himself on television because he is overly critical of himself. He cites Ben Kingsley as his favorite actor stating "Nobody is as good as him in my opinion".
Josh Peck Religion
Josh is Jewish, and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony
Josh Peck Movies And Tv Shows | Josh Peck Actor
Peck later appeared at TADA! Youth Theater and performed stand-up comedy at Carolines on Broadway for the Audrey Hepburn foundation. At the age of 10 he appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996. He was offered a role on Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show at the age of 13, and, at his mother's suggestion, accepted the part and moved to Los Angeles to further pursue an acting career.
In 2000 he appeared regularly on The Amanda Show until the end of its run in 2002 and made his film debut in Snow Day (2000).
On January 4th, 2017, Peck made his first feature on David Dobrik's Vlog and was featured in several videos before he decided to start making videos on his own Youtube channel. On July 19th, 2017 Josh uploaded his first video to his Youtube channel . He has been uploading to Youtube regularly, and has many brand deals such as RedBox which allow him to make a decent living off being a Youtube personality.
Currently Peck also owns a podcast called "Curious with Josh Peck" produced by Ramble, where he interviews celebrities such as John Stamos and Bob Saget discussing not only current topics but their personal lives.
Josh Peck Movies
Movies From Year 2012 To 2017
2017 – Take the 10 as Chris
2017 – Gnome Alone as Liam
2016 – The Angry Birds Movie as Minion Pig 2
2016 – Ice Age: Collision Course as Eddie
2016 – Chronically Metropolitan as John
2015 – The Wedding Ringe as Bad Best Man
2015 – Danny Collins as Nicky Ernst
2015 – The Timber as Samuel
2013 – Battle of the Year as Franklyn
2012 – ATM as Corey
2012 – Ice Age: Continental Drift as Eddie
2012 – Red Dawn as Matt Eckert
2009 – What Goes Up as Jim Lement
2009 – Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as Eddie
2009 – Aliens in the Attic as Sparks
2008 – The Wackness as Luke Shapiro
2008 – Drillbit Taylor as Ronnie
2008 – American Primitive as Spoke White
2006 – Special as Joey
2006 – Ice Age: The Meltdown as Eddie
2005 – Havoc as Josh Rubin
2004 – Mean Creek as George Tooney
2002 – Spun as Fat Boy
2001 – Max Keeble's Big Move as Robert "Robe"
2000 – The Newcomers as Slim
2000 – Snow Day as Wayne Alworth
TBA – Bukowski as Charles Bukowski
Josh Peak TV Shows
Tv Shows From Year 2011 To 2018
2018 – Fuller House as TBA[
2016 – Pitch as Ross
2016 – Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade as Eddie
2015–16 – Grandfathered as Gerald
2015 – Teen Choice Awards – Himself
2014 – The Big Bang Theory as Jesse
2014 – The Rebels as Danny Norwood
2013–17 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Casey Jones
2013–14 – The Mindy Project as Ray Ron
2011 – Victorious as Josh Nichols
2011 – Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas as Eddie
2009 – iCarly as Jimmy
2008 – Merry Christmas Drake and Josh as Josh Nichols
2006 – Codename: Kids Next Door as Numbuh 50 Million B.C.
2006 – What's New, Scooby-Doo? as Damian / Kid / Zombie Kid #2
2006 – Drake & Josh Go Hollywood as Josh Nichols
2005 – All That – Himself
2004–07 – Drake & Josh as Josh Nichols
2003–04 – The Guardian as Chris Rapp
2002 – Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? as Lenny
2002 – MADtv as Jeffrey Lugz
2002 – Fillmore! as Randall Julian
2001 – ER as Nick Stevens
2001 – Family Guy as Charlie
2001 – Samurai Jack as S Kid / Pig #3 / Alien Kid
2000–01 – The Amanda Show as Various characters
2000 – All That -Himself
2000 – Double Dare 2000 – Himself
Drake Bell And Josh Peck | Josh Peck Nickelodeon
Josh was cast as Josh Nichols, opposite Drake Bell's Drake Parker, in another Nickelodeon sitcom, Drake & Josh, which started airing in 2004 and gained Peck recognition among young audiences. His character as Josh Nichols, was smart, funny, and organized, however it was always being tormented along with Drake by Megan Parker (Miranda Cosgrove), Drake's younger sister.
The two characters sing in a remake of the song "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave. Bell and Peck starred in their own TV movie called Drake & Josh Go Hollywood in 2006, and they starred in a sequel called Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp in 2007. Josh was recommended for Favorite Television Actor at the 2008 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for his work on Drake & Josh. Johs also made his debut as a director in the Drake & Josh episode, "Battle of Panthatar".
Josh also directed his co-star Drake Bell's music video for the theme song to Drake & Josh, "Found a Way". He has also appeared in several series which includes finale of What's New, Scooby-Doo?, an episode of Codename: Kids Next Door called "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-F.I.V.E.", and the direct-to-video New Line Cinema film Havoc. He went back to the character of Josh Nichols in 2008 for the television film Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh.
Josh Peck Net Worth
Peck is an American actor he has an estimated net worth of $9 million.
Josh Peck Weight Loss | Josh Peck Fat | Josh Peck Weight
In the fourth season of Drake & Josh, Peck was noticeably thinner. He said:
"I made a conscious effort to lose weight because I knew I could be happier as well as being healthier. He stated that "I started by going on a diet a year and a half ago and I got a personal trainer, but I definitely have a healthier lifestyle now. Also I feel that because I do so much television, I am a better role model. I don't really understand why I should be a role model, but I know that kids do look up to me, so it is my responsibility to motivate people and be inspiring. I hope that I can do that for kids. It doesn't really matter what you look like though.
Currently he has a body weight of 180Ibs.
Josh Peck Before And After | Josh Peck Then And Now
josh peck weight loss
John Stamos And Josh Peck
Josh and John Stamos reunited on the Fuller House set when Peck appeared at the Tanner's home. Stamos shared an Instagram video on Friday, August 3 2018, in which he gets off the famous blue and white couch when he hears a knock at the door. He then opens it and receives a surprise visitor.
Josh and Stamos became close friends during the one season of Grandfathered. In June 2017, Peck married his longtime girlfriend, Paige O'Brien, and Stamos and his wife Caitlin McHugh were in attendance.
Josh Peck House
Family reunion! Josh Peck and John Stamos reunited on the Fuller House set when Peck appeared at the Tanner's home. Stamos shared an Instagram video on Friday, August 3, in which he gets off the famous blue and white couch when he hears a knock at the door. He then opens it and receives a surprise visitor.
Josh Peck Snapchat
Peck is a prominent personality on the video-sharing services Vine and Snapchat
Josh Peck Big Bang Theory
In 2013 Peck signed on to play the archenemy of comic book store owner Stuart (Kevin Sussman) in a 2014 episode.
Josh Peck Drillbit Taylor
Peck played a high school bully in 2008's Drillbit Taylor, and starred in the films The Wackness (released July 2008), Drillbit Taylor is a comedy film starring Owen Wilson as the eponymous character and based on an original idea by John Hughes. It was directed by Steven Brill and the screenplay was written by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen. Paramount Pictures released the film on March 21, 2008.
Josh Peck Swearing
It is a coming-of-age psychological drama film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes and starring Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck, and Carly Schroeder. Produced by Susan Johnson, Rick Rosenthal, and Hagai Shaham.
Josh Peck New Movie
Locating Silver Lake 2018
Gnome Alone – 2017
Josh Peck Netflix Movie
Josh Peck Facebook
Josh Peck Twitter
Josh Peck Instagram
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New Delhi: If Indian MPs were concerned about population control, childbirth and child raising in India, they could have rallied for more access to safe contraception or for men taking on the burden of sterilisation in India instead of women (86% of sterilisations in India, which are often risky, are done on women) or for a societal push towards adoption (there were only 3,276 adoptions in India in 2017, and this number has been falling annually) or even for wider and safer access to abortions.
Instead, 125 parliamentarians managed to unite to petition the president of India for a two-child norm in the country.
These are, of course, serving parliamentarians who could introduce bills in parliament themselves or petition the government to do so. The president really has no role in suggesting, introducing or implementing public policy in India. But for reasons best known to this contingent of MPs, they have petitioned the president.
Earlier this year, at least four PILs were filed in various courts, by petitioners also asking for a two-child norm in India. Their prayers were vague, asking for rewards and punishments to people based on how many children they have and penalties such as disallowing people from contesting elections. The Supreme Court dismissed it, saying that this was a policy matter.
In a parliament question earlier this month, before this petition by 125 MPs was reported in the news, the government clarified that it did not have any plans of introducing a two-child norm or any legislation on this.
Firstly, on the matter of data, India has been expecting a slowdown in population growth and a decline in fertility rate. North Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh contribute to 40% of the Indian population. Southern states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have achieved a significant reduction in fertility, without resorting to coercive methods such as bans on procreation.
Majority of the Indian population is in the reproductive age, and there is a 13% unmet need in contraception or about 30 million married women who are unable to access contraception according to recent government data.
Government data also says that most women would like to have only one or two children, which implies they are already aware of issues around multiple children and have a view and choices they would like to exercise. Social factors like the demand for sons over daughters also prompts people to pursue procreation. A cap on children can end up being a burden on women, making them go through even more unsafe abortions.
ARC also says that population growth is a socio-economic problem and thus warrants a socio-economic solution. Access to education, including ensuring that girls stay in school, and access to healthcare including family planning services, is the sustainable policy solution, they say.
Population control in India, as a matter of politics, has long been a byword for anti-Muslim politics, with the Muslim community being seen as being "profligate" in the matter of childbearing.
Hindu leaders have widely used this rhetoric, asking the Hindu community to embark on rapid procreation to "counter" Muslims.
In 2015, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj said Hindu women should produce four children to "protect" Hinduism. He also made a reference to "four wives," a possible reference to Muslims who are allowed to take four wives under specific circumstances (such as the women being orphans). According to government data, Hindus have historically been more polygamous than Muslims.
In 2016, at an RSS event, a Hindu leader said the community should have ten children so that Narendra Modi can become prime minister again. Shyamal Goswami, a BJP leader from West Bengal, also reportedly asked Hindus to have five children each.


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Memorial's Brand
Web Standard
The Divison of Marketing and Communications provides access to the most up-to-date information released by Memorial University of Newfoundland. Archives of previous news releases are also available.
To access news releases from Grenfell Campus please click here.
REF NO.: 50
SUBJECT: Dr. Patrick Parfrey receives the Kidney Foundation of Canada's 2002 Medical for Research Excellence
DATE: Dec. 3
NOTE TO EDITORS
On Dec. 6, Dr. Patrick Parfrey, University Research Professor at Memorial University and director of the Patient Research Centre at the Health Care Corporation in St. John's, will receive the Kidney Foundation of Canada's 2002 Medal for Research Excellence. This award will be presented during a reception honouring Dr. Parfrey on Friday, Dec. 6, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Royal Trust Atrium, Faculty of Business Administration Building, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Morrisey Road, St. John's.
This prestigious award is presented each year by the Kidney Foundation to a Canadian investigator for outstanding Research in the area of kidney disease and related conditions. Described by peers as "phenomenally productive," Dr. Parfrey has been investigating the causes, risk factors and treatment of kidney disease for more than two decades.
For further information, contact Sharon Gray, communications coordinator (health sciences) at 777-8397.
230 Elizabeth Ave, St. John's, NL, CANADA, A1B 3X9
Postal Address: P.O. Box 4200, St. John's, NL, CANADA, A1C 5S7
| Last Updated: Apr 12, 2017


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Rockefeller Family Fund
www.rffund.org
David Kaiser
Oil Divestment
The Rockefeller Family Fund is the nonprofit organization supporting the philanthropy of the great-grandchildren of John D. Rockefeller and the grandchildren of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The "cousins," as Rockefeller Jr.'s grandchildren came to be known, were major supporters of left-wing counterculture causes as early as the 1960s.[1] In 1992, the Rockefeller Family Fund became a public charity, and today the organization is a leading financial supporter of environmentalist organizations.
Thanks to trusts established by Rockefeller, Jr., these great-grandchildren (known as the "cousins") never had to look for work. The cousins proved to be left-wing from as early as the 1960s: They "poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into movement causes ranging from Ramparts magazine and the film Millhouse to the [Castro regime-front] Venceremos Brigade and Vietnam Veterans Against The War."[2]
The Rockefeller Family Fund was created in 1967, but was enlarged in 1971 when Rockefeller, Jr.'s widow, Martha Baird Rockefeller, died and left her $72 million estate to charity, including $10 million to the Rockefeller Family Fund. In an internal memorandum for the other cousins, Laurance Rockefeller's daughter Marion said "the task as we see it is to attack the very political and economic forces which perpetuate the tax deductible contribution…We think the Fund has an obligation to seek out organizations like American Friends Service Committee, Friends of the Earth, Pacifica stations, American Documentary Films et al. and support them regardless of their tax status."[3]
In 1992, the Rockefeller Family Fund became a public charity.[4] Today, the Fund supports grants in three areas:
Environment, which, "since 2006" has focused "almost entirely on climate change," including grants to block or close coal-fired power plants.[5]
Institutional Accountability and Individual Liberty, with an emphasis on "enacting legislation to provide automatic and permanent registration to all voters."[6]
Economic Justice for Women, whose principal program is lobbying to increase the number of mandated paid sick days for working women.[7]
In 2017, the Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF) gave over $1 million to environmental advocate group the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) as part of their efforts to litigate against energy companies over climate change costs. [8] In addition, the RFF helped fund a 2017 study by IGSD project the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), which claimed that the state of Florida would face up to $76 billion in climate change costs by 2040. [9]
In 2016, the Rockefeller Family Fund announced it would divest its endowment of all stocks related to oil and gas. "John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil, and ExxonMobil is Standard Oil's largest direct descendant," the fund's president, David Kaiser, and its director, Lee Wasserman, noted in an article in the New York Review of Books. "In a sense we were turning against the company where most of the Rockefeller family's wealth was created."[10]
In 2015, Rockefeller Family Fund grants to InsideClimate News and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism supported reports in InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times describing a tranche of internal documents from ExxonMobil scientists, mostly from 1977-1986. InsideClimate News charged that ExxonMobil published many advertisements in newspapers questioning the idea that the production and consumption of fossil fuels led to global warming while their scientists said that the connection between fossil fuel consumption and increases in the earth's global temperature were more certain.[11]
A second grant, to Harvard graduate student Geoffrey Supran and Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes, led to the publication of an article in Environmental Research Letters in August 2017 that analyzed the documents unearthed by InsideClimate News and compared them to ExxonMobil paid advertisements, charging that the company had covered up findings about human-caused climate change.[12]
The publication of these documents led to investigations of ExxonMobil by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which remain ongoing.
As part of their campaign against ExxonMobil, the Rockefeller Family Fund held a meeting at their offices in January 2016, which included representatives from Greenpeace, the Working Families Party, Public Citizen president Rob Weissman, and author and environmentalist Bill McKibben. Kenny Bruno of the New Venture Fund, in an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, said the purposes of the meeting included establishing "in public's mind that Exxon is a corrupt institution that has pushed humanity (and all creation) toward climate chaos and grave harm," "to force officials to disassociate themselves from Exxon, their money, and their historic opposition to climate progress, for example by refusing campaign donations, refusing to take meetings, calling for a price on carbon, etc." and "to drive Exxon and climate into center of 2016 election cycle."[13]
Writing in the blog for climate skeptics Watts Up With That, Eric Worrall noted that Exxon scientists predicted a rise of between 1.5 and three degrees Celsius as a result of fossil fuels. "The lower range of Exxon's estimate is an unequivocal 'no action required.' The upper range of Exxon's estimate is 'we might need to do something about it in the future." Worrall said, "In my opinion, Exxon's actions and communications with the public were proportionate and reasonable."[14]
Martin Morse Wooster, "The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Rockefeller Family Fund," Foundation Watch, January 2005 http://www.capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/pubs/pdf/FW0105.pdf ^
Martin Morse Wooster, "The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Rockefeller Family Fund." ^
Ron Arnold, "The Rockefeller Family Fund: Puppet Master for Leftist Front Groups." Foundation Watch, January 2005 http://www.capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/pubs/pdf/FW0105.pdf ^
http://www.rffund.org/programs/environment/ ^
http://www.rffund.org/programs/institutional-accountability-and-individual-liberty/ ^
http://www/rffund.org/programs/economic-justice-for-women/ ^
Walrath, Spencer. "Revealed: Foreign Billionaire Behind the Group Pushing American Cities to Sue Energy Producers." Energy In Depth, January 8, 2020. https://eidclimate.org/revealed-foreign-billionaire-behind-the-group-pushing-american-cities-to-sue-energy-producers/. ^
Wilson, Kirby. "Florida could face $76 billion in climate change costs by 2040, report says." Tampa Bay Times, June 21, 2019. https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/06/20/florida-could-face-76-billion-in-climate-change-costs-by-2040-report-says/ ^
David Kaiser and Lee Wasserman, "The Rockefeller Family Fund vs. Exxon," New York Review of Books, December 8, 2016 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/the-rockefeller-family-fund-vs-exxon/ ^
Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song, and David Hasemyer, "Exxon's Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels' Role in Global Warming Decades Ago," InsideClimate News, September 18, 2015, https://www.insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming ^
Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, "Assessing ExxonMobil's Climate Change Communications (1977-2014), Environmental Research Letters, August 23, 2017, http://www.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.10881748_9326/aa815f. Dino Grandoni, "ExxonMobil Urged People To Read The Documents, So These Harvard Researchers Did," Washington Post, August 24, 2017, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/08/24/exxon-mobil-urged-people-to-read-the-documents-so-these-harvard-researchers-did/ ^
Alana Goodman, "Memo Shows Secret Coordination Effort Against ExxonMobil By Climate Activists, Rockefeller Fund," Washington Free Beacon, April 14, 2016 http://www.freebeacon.com/issues/memo-shows-secret-coorfination-effort-exxon-mobil-climate-activists ^
Eric Worrall, "Study: Naomi Oreskes And Claims ExxonMobil Misled About Climate," Watts Up With That, August 24, 2017, http://www.wattsupwiththat/2017/08/24/study-naomi-oreskes-claims-exxon-mobil-misled-about-climate/ ^
Paul Growald
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Lee Winkelman
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2015 Dec Form 990 $15,451,576 $20,869,982 $94,925,016 $3,835,965 N $11,234,985 $0 $764,631 $1,394,941 PDF
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Present formidable condition they were as many loaded carts. Earliest exercise of executive offices to be ready in silver, and copper parts. Will make me good to him, "o my son," remarked mr.
Positive satisfaction does the utmost confidence is reposed in your veins, and nerves so very dissimilar. Nature make me suffer, to weep, sleep, so dear to the extent of his little sallies of wit but no came. Saa havde de bygget, hans forfdre .
Ons op nieuw zoeken en raadpleegde zijne bemanning. And skippon led the way. And mosques, the baths of sulphur is an admitted solicitor.
Turned it aside till he had used it with great care not thou art lost for ever. Of the city to my country. Standard to the museum or depository where are we? _seward_: no, you're wrong.
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text:
Jerry Fodor taught philosophy for many years at MIT and later at Rutgers. His books include The Modularity of Mind (1984) and What Darwin Got Wrong (2010). He died in November 2017.
Why the brain?
The Elton John and Tim Rice reworking of Aida
Why Pigs Don't Have Wings
The Case against Natural Selection
Wayne Koestenbaum
Mimmi's Story
Stephen Greenblatt
In Memory of Michael Rogin
Italo Svevo's Last Cigarette
John Bayley
The Last Cigarette
Geoffrey Hawthorn
Pareto and Elitism
Tim Parks
Tom Nairn
Euro-Gramscism
Music, Opera, Biography and memoirs, Biography, 1800-1899, 1880-1899, 1900-1999, 1900-1945, 1900-1909, 1910-1919, Europe, Southern Europe, Italy
Vol. 22 No. 21 · 2 November 2000
Not Entirely Nice
Jerry Fodor
Puccini: His International Art by Michele Girardi, translated by Laura Basini
Chicago, 530 pp, £41.00, September 2000, ISBN 0 226 29757 8
I have a friend who has a friend who is a composer of international stature, heavily invested in the aesthetics of difficulty. He's also opera-addicted and likes to get to the Met whenever he comes through town. My friend remembers a phone call from his friend that went about like this: 'Listen, they're doing Bohème tonight. Let's go; but please don't tell anybody.'
Perhaps you'll recognise the sentiment. Half a dozen of Puccini's operas have held their audience for going on a hundred years. Bohème continues to run neck and neck with Carmen as the opera most frequently performed. Tosca and Butterfly are cash-cows in every company's barn. If you're fond of operas at all, you are quite likely fond of Puccini's. But probably you think that you shouldn't be. Puccini is a taste one disapproves of in proportion as one shares it. Since preference and judgment are supposed to run together in a well-ordered sensibility, his operas pose a small but genuine critical conundrum.
Pretty clearly, Michele Girardi's book has it in mind to sort that out and set it to rights. It is judicious and scholarly and respectable to a fault. There are swarms of footnotes, which say things like: 'Interestingly, Illica emphasised the crucial influence that the continuity of the plot in the same ambience has on the tragedy, an opinion similar to Boito's reaction to Verdi's proposal of inserting a Turkish attack in the third act of Otello.' The temperature of the prose could hardly be lower. But just beneath the academic surface, this book has a chip on its shoulder. If I read his subtext right, Girardi thinks that the mainstream of critical opinion much underestimates both the structural integrity of Puccini's operas and his responsiveness to the development of European music from Wagner to the turn of the 20th century. People don't like liking Puccini because they think they can see that he's unsophisticated, provincial and, well, too Italian by half. Or, even if they don't think they can see that, they're worried that everyone else can.
So Girardi takes us through the operas, act by act, showing us how cleverly they're put together, and how thoroughly they are conversant not just with Wagner (who would have guessed that Puccini was in love with Parsifal?) but also Berg, Schoenberg, Mahler, Stravinsky, Strauss, Debussy and others. Many others. Together, of course, with such of the locals as Boito, Carvalho, Mascagni and Respighi. We also get a sampling of Puccini's correspondence with his various librettists and with his publisher, the ubiquitous and long-suffering Giulio Ricordi; and the discreetist possible hint of the amorous embarrassments that he was forever getting involved in. There is an occasional outbreak of the sort of learned semiotic babble that academic critics seem, these days, unable to resist ('ambivalence on the semantic level . . . does not mean a lack of justification in terms of dramatic logic.') But, by and large, the book is commendable and, quite likely, tells you more about Puccini than you want to know.
I think, however, that, insofar as he offers to diagnose the ambivalence of our response to Puccini's operas, Girardi is on the wrong track. There are, to be sure, composers (Bellini is a paradigm example) whom one thinks of as masters of a naive, Italianate lyricism in which an audience is entirely delighted to be immersed. But that's nothing like the way that a Puccini opera strikes one. On the contrary, Puccini's effects feel studied; his operas are theatrical machines, not utterly unlike what Broadway musicals have become. The occasional breath of honest naivety is positively refreshing. In fact Puccini is at his best in the early operas (particularly Manon Lescaut and Bohème), where he sounds most like himself and least like Wagner or Debussy. In the later works, however technically accomplished they are, he seems increasingly self-conscious in the sense of the epithet that connotes contrivance. One is often moved to be sure; but there is also a sense of being complicit in something not entirely nice. The puzzle about Puccini is why this should be so.
Here, perhaps, is a clue: there's a genre of aria in which a character undertakes, more or less explicitly, to offer his portrait to the audience. Often enough this will be an 'entrance aria' in the form of a soliloquy; but its function is analogous less to Shakespeare's monologues than to the expository material that omniscient narrators use to introduce the protagonist of a Victorian novel. Since it's the convention that what is said in such a passage should be taken to be true, one is thus offered a fixed point from which the character's development can be understood. The ne plus ultra of this kind is Cherubino's first aria in The Marriage of Figaro, a bare three minutes of song in which Kierkegaard claimed, without undue hyperbole, to find a complete revelation of the erotic life.
Puccini doesn't ever succeed at quite that level, but he's indisputably a master of the form. The eponymous heroine of Tosca has such an aria, and so does the evil Scarpia; and both are justifiably famous. The double aria with which the tenor and soprano introduce themselves to one another, and to us, in the first act of Bohème, is similarly among the great set pieces of the operatic literature. (Recording 'Che gelida manina' is a rite of passage for Italian tenors with careers to make. No exceptions are allowed.) The same applies to 'Musetta's Valse' in Act 2 of Bohème, and, though it's less widely acclaimed, to Pinkerton's first aria in Butterfly ('Whiskey?' 'Si.' 'America for ever!'). Most wonderful of all, perhaps, is Manon's one-line aria of self-specification ('Manon Lescaut mi chiamo'), on hearing which the tenor, quite understandably, falls hopelessly in love. There are lots of other notable examples in Puccini; they're among the specialities of the house.
What's odd, however, about these certainly splendid pieces, is the extent to which Puccini doesn't offer them as fixed points from which to appreciate a character's development. They can perform no such function because, simply, his characters don't develop: they only suffer. What they say about themselves at first is all there ever is to say about them. And it doesn't matter much when in the course of the action they say it, since the truths in Act I are still true at the final curtain. (Very occasionally, and much against his grain, Puccini tries to convince one otherwise; as at the end of the unfinished Turandot, when getting kissed by Calaf is supposed to transform the ice queen from a murderous to an amorous passion. One doesn't believe it for an instant, of course. 'This isn't The Mikado,' one thinks. 'Why doesn't she keep in character and chop his head off?' The scene in which she fails to do so is maybe the most embarrassing in all of opera.) Entirely to the point, and all too true, is what Manon's lover says of her: that she is 'always the same, always the same'. And what Girardi writes of Bohème applies equally to Puccini's other operas: He 'does not depict evolving characters, but merely a multicoloured reality . . . within which the characters seem like emblems'. It's striking – and it shows his distance from the main Italian tradition, up to and including Verdi – that there are no significant travesti roles in Puccini. One can't imagine him wanting to evoke that kind of complexity in his hearer's response; or, having evoked it, knowing what to do with it.
Consider, for an egregious case, Tosca's aria, 'Vissi d'arte'. It's one of Puccini's legendary gifts to dramatic sopranos, and a reliable show-stopper. 'Vissi d'arte' comes towards the middle of a second act in which, even by the local standards, quite a lot's been going on. Scarpia, early identified as a first-class stinker, lusts for Tosca, whose lover he arranges to have tortured, audibly, off stage. He then proposes to Tosca the classic operatic quid pro quo: the tenor's life for the soprano's favours. Tosca is unclear what to do about this, so she interrupts the action to sing an aria that explains (to Scarpia, God and us) that she has lived for art and love and so really doesn't deserve the trouble she has got into. Tosca is absolutely right to make this point. But it's a puzzle why she should choose to do so at exactly that moment. It doesn't come as any news to us (or, presumably, to God), and Scarpia is hardly the sort of person who is likely to moved by the considerations that she offers. One has, strongly, the sense that Tosca might have made much the same observations about herself, with equal justice and at least equal pertinence, anywhere else in the opera. In the event, 'Vissi d'arte' once completed, the action is able to resume, though it does so with something of the effect of a jammed film jerking back into motion. Tosca gets up off the floor (tradition has it that her aria is delivered prone) and stabs Scarpia with a bread knife that she happens to find at hand. It's a near thing which of them is more surprised. Eventually, Tosca and the tenor die, too. Not for any discernible reason, however; it's just that kind of opera.
Tosca is right that she doesn't deserve her fate. In fact, her pain could have happened to anyone; it's only there for the sake of the aria that she sings about it. It's the same, more or less, with many of Puccini's other heroines. Poor Mimi, poor Liu, poor Butterfly; how beautifully they sing when they suffer. It certainly does get to you, but since there is nothing to be understood, there can't be a catharsis. At one point, we are encouraged to think of Cio-Cio-San as a torn butterfly, but the analogy isn't apt. An animal's pain is meaningless; that's what makes it so unbearable to think about. That's also what makes it not a possible subject for art.
That is quite typically the situation in which Puccini's operas place their audience. As in tragedy, what appears to be gratuitous pain – emotional and sometimes physical – is offered as an appropriate object of aesthetic appreciation. But, in Puccini, the sense that the pain is gratuitous remains unresolved, so the audience is required to acquiesce in a suffering that signifies nothing but itself. That, however, is the aesthetic of a voyeur. No wonder one feels spasms of ambivalence; no wonder one feels jerked about and put upon. And Puccini knows his business. The extraordinary erotic charge of his music co-opts one's responses; nobody else can make suffering sound so sexy. The critical consensus to the contrary notwithstanding, the right complaint against Puccini isn't that he's sentimental: it's that he's brutal.
That, anyhow, is what it feels like on the very rare occasions when a Puccini production succeeds other than financially. More usually, the ambiguities of his operas are drowned in the scenery. Directors of Italian opera have, these days, a lot to answer for. Thus the grotesque, vulgar and meretricious Puccini presentations in which the Met has come to specialise: there's an elevating stage for the last act of Tosca; there's a crowd scene like rush-hour on the subway for the second act of Bohème; and aren't those real heads on the pikes in Turandot? Poor Puccini, too, after all; here's an artist with an authentically nasty temperament who is reduced to the status of a tourist attraction. Strauss tried hard to be decadent in Salome and Elektra; but it didn't really suit him, and he had to give it up. By contrast, Puccini's decadence seems to come naturally. It might well make his operas interesting, if only their expositors would let him have his way.
Like the Met, Girardi is unanxious to sound Puccini's abysses. He remarks, very much in passing, on the 'sado-masochistic' character of Puccini's marriage, but not at all on the pathology of his art. It's thus mostly in the quoted snippets that one gets glimpses of the temperament that informs the works: 'The bitch Palmira' – the wife of one of Puccini's early librettists – 'is waging a bitter and terrible war against me. I'll tell you about it in person . . . Now, as a token of my love, I'd give her a bouquet of fava beans and shit.' There's the authentic voice of the maestro, without the slightest doubt.
Vol. 22 No. 21 · 2 November 2000 » Jerry Fodor » Not Entirely Nice