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Panicking Democrats Enlist Damage Control Experts to Salvage Kamala Harris' Image
By Jeff Charles | Aug 06, 2021 6:15 PM ET
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Democrats have a huge problem, and her name is Vice President Kamala Harris. It seems that at least some among the left-wing intelligentsia are recognizing it. Apparently, a group of high-profile female Democrats held a dinner designed to discuss how to rehabilitate Harris' image after six months of bad press and displays of incompetence.
Axios reported that these women met to hash out a strategy to defend the vice president and to help her get back into the American public's good graces. Kiki McLean, a Democratic public affairs expert and former adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, hosted the dinner. According to the report:
Her guests included Harris confidant Minyon Moore; two former DNC officials, Donna Brazile and Leah Daughtry; Biden adviser and leader of his outside group, Stephanie Cutter; former Hillary Clinton spokeswomen and Democratic strategists Adrienne Elrod and Karen Finney; and former Obama White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri.
The women discussed ways to help Harris get better press from the outside rather than working directly with her office. A person familiar with the gathering told Axios that "the point of it was how can this group be supportive from the outside." The individual added:
It was less about how do you sort out the infrastructure [of Harris' operation], and it was more how can this group contribute to make sure that not only is her team making the most of this moment — as the first woman of color in the White House — but how can we help from the outside?
Among the topics being discussed was speculation as to how this group of operatives could use Harris' record as a prosecutor and U.S. Senator to counter criticisms against her unfortunate performance as vice president. Another source told Axios that this little confab also concluded that much of the negative attitude against Harris included "sexist overtones" and the women talked about how they could "make sure the press knows this."
The source said:
Many of us lived through the Clinton campaign, and want to help curb some of the gendered dynamics in press coverage that impacted HRC," this source said. "It was like: 'We've seen this before.' It's subtle. But when things aren't going well for a male politician, we ask very different questions, and they're not held to account the way a woman leader is.
Unfortunately, I think the American public has some bad news for these folks. The reality is that no amount of damage control experts will turn Harris into someone that most Americans are willing to stomach. Last week a RealClearPolitics poll put Harris' favorability at 45 percent.
But if these supposed damage control experts are intent on believing that the impetus behind the criticism and low favorability is about sexism or other types of bigotry, perhaps the Democrats would do better to bring in another gaggle of operatives to help the vice president. The bottom line is that Americans aren't too keen on Harris because of her ineptitude, not her sex, gender, or race.
Perhaps Democrats would be better served by being honest about the fact that Harris' non-handling of the border crisis despite being appointed as border czar might have something to do with it. Maybe the fact that she refused to travel anywhere near the border over 90 days after being appointed could be contributing to the problem. Is it also possible that her cackling responses to questions about this matter might be a bit off-putting?
Of course, the reports about the toxic work environment Harris has cultivated in her office didn't help either. With so many coming out to castigate her for overseeing a workplace that is less than desirable, it was impossible for Democrats and their close friends and allies in the activist media to spin it hard enough to lessen the impact. If the Democrats fail to get Harris back on track, it could have ramifications for their prospects in the upcoming midterm and presidential elections. Unfortunately for them, this seems to be an impossible task.
Jeff Charles is the host of "A Fresh Perspective" podcast and co-host of the Red + Black Show.
Jeff is also a freelance writer and political contributor who has appeared on Fox Soul and the First TV Network.
He enjoys reading, binging TV shows, learning to play the banjo (badly), and all things nerdy.
Check out all of his information here.
You can follow him on Twitter: @JeffOnTheRight
If you wish to reach out to him for tips on stories or just to yell at him, send an email to [email protected]
Read more by Jeff Charles
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Butch – R.I.P. Tough Little Buddy
This has been a strange Christmas in the Stout household for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that our little dog Butch died last night on Christmas after a long struggle with Cushing's disease. He was about 12 or 13 years old.
We rescued Butch from the pound. Actually, I should say that Butch was rescued by my wife and sons from the pound.
At the pound he was all charm and cuteness and licking. He was half American Eskimo, half Cocker spaniel. Early in his life he looked all American Eskimo; later on the Cocker in him began to surface and his coat turned from its initial soft, fluffy snow white to more of a caramel/butterscotch color. When we first got him, he looked a lot like a fox with his pointy nose and erect fox-like ears. As he got older his nose rounded and his ears got more prone to floppiness.
They brought him home and presented him to me. My wife was a little embarrassed to have brought home what she called a "little froo-froo dog."
I took a look at this diminutive devil and said, "No. This guy's not a froo-froo dog. Look at him. His name should be 'Butch'."
I was right. Butch was a tough little street dog. He had obviously had a difficult first few months. Despite his friendliness at the pound (a clever ploy on his part to bust out of there), at home he was reserved and distrustful.
If Leave it to Beaver's Eddie Haskell had died and been reincarnated as a dog, he would have come back as Butch. In his youth Butch seemed to have a perpetual wise-ass grin on his face. He always seemed to be laughing at us and our innocence, snickering at our rarely successful attempts to control his behavior. I think he truly enjoyed outwitting us (especially me) and found it absolutely hilarious when he did. He followed such behavior with a sort of "Take that, schmuck!" look on his puss. The expression on his aged mug for the past year, however, was more like "What the hell do you want?"
Butch approached the world on his own terms. He was extremely smart but never so smart that he took the easy path. He was the most difficult dog I've ever owned. He rarely hesitated to bite people if he thought it was appropriate or if he found you annoying. He HATED shoes for some reason and often viciously attacked them — even if they were still on someone's feet.
Butch was more like a cat than a dog. Sure, he liked being petted. But he didn't NEED affection. Like a cat, he would accept affection and then depart after he had been satisfied with the amount he had received. Unlike most dogs, he wasn't eager to please anyone except himself. To contradict and badly paraphrase Ray Bradbury, for this dog, at least, everyday was NOT Christmas.
Woe to anyone who tried to come between Butch and his food (this must have been because of his hard life on the streets). Any tampering with his access to food was met with sheer rage.
He never knew he was a little dog. He would take on all comers, no matter what their size, dog or human.
For some strange reason, though, he ignored the squirrels in our yard.
Butch was an escape artist par excellence. He loved to escape and then relish my total exasperation in attempting to recapture him. He'd pause until I was almost in reach and then bolt out of range once again. He often evoked murder in my heart.
We tried many (often expensive ) systems to keep Butch from escaping our yard. The one that finally worked was a cable system. We suspended a cable the length of our yard from our roof to the top of our old swing set. A line with a roller on one end attached to the cable came down and attached to his little harness. That allowed him freedom of movement around our backyard; the line connected to him kept Butch from getting close enough to our fence to leap over it.
His high pitched yapping could peel the paint off a wall. One neighbor finally threatened to sue us and take our house if we didn't do something about our dog's incessant barking. Frankly, I was on their side and contemplated suing myself. I was having trouble getting any work done because of his constantly irritating barking.
Reluctantly, my wife took him to the vet to have his vocal chords clipped. He healed quickly, his voluminous bark now a soft rasp.
It didn't slow him down for a second. At the sight or sound of anyone approaching Butch would launch himself toward our fence with an energy so powerful that he would career several feet into the air, his flight (and rage-filled attack) ultimately restrained by the tether that was shaking our entire heavily anchored swing set.
In his youth Butch sported the perky flag-like tail of an Eskimo. As he got older his tail was held aloft less and less.
As I said, except when it would benefit him most, Butch was extremely smart. He easily learned tricks. His strangest one was his response to the command, "Walk like a seal!"
He would flatten himself to the floor and extend his hind legs straight backwards, like the tail of a seal. Then he would crawl forward on his elbows, simulating the fore-flipper walk of a harbor seal.
Cushing's Disease changed him from a taut, buff little fellow into a slightly larger dog with a tiny head and a huge round belly. He could no longer jump fences with that belly, so we untethered him and gave him the run of the yard. He began to get slower and mopier.
When his companion Katy died, he was inconsolable. Katy was our Bassett/Doberman pound dog. She looked like a Bassett that was colored like a Dobie. Katy was dumb as a rock but with a heart as big as any I've ever seen in a dog, a real sweetheart who lived solely for food, sleep, attentive scratching and the occasional walk.
Butch loved to tease and torment her, stealing her favorite toy and then playing with it right in front of her. If Katy made any attempt to repossess her toy, Butch would grab it and dash out of range.
As soon as Katy died Butch sank into a deep depression. He expressed this first by searching everywhere for her, and then by peeing a huge puddle of strange urine (strange because it was voluminous and didn't smell) on the kitchen floor every night. As soon as we got our little long-haired Dachshund (Spunky), Butch stopped his nocturnal floor peeing.
In his later years Butch became a crusty old curmudgeon. He put up with Spunky's youthful playfulness — but just barely.
My wife investigated Cushing's disease (which humans also get, too, although it's not contagious) and found that there was medicine for it in the UK. She bought these expensive pills and they began to work almost immediately.
Unfortunately, they also increased Butch's aggressiveness and he began to become dangerous to be around. He bit me on a number of occasions.
We stopped his meds and then would occasionally add them when we thought he needed them, trying to strike a kind of balance between health and aggressiveness.
We knew something was seriously wrong with Butch yesterday when he threw up his breakfast. We offered him food throughout the day but he refused it — a first in the entire time we've known him. He moped around like Katy did before she died. He was oblivious to us and our attentions. He seemed to be pondering another world, one that none of us could see. He'd take a few steps and then stare off into infinity.
Typically, my family and I don't spend Christmas day at home. We spend Christmas Eve at my brother's house, then go to my mom's house to spend the night. We have an early Christmas dinner there, watch a movie and then head home. This year, though, my mom visited my brother Dave up near Stockton, CA this Christmas.
It was extremely lucky for both us and Butch that we spent Christmas day here at home, having both of my sons at home and all of us lavishing Butch with attention on what would become his last day on earth.
We had just watched the emotionally powerful (both my wife and I were crying) "Ode to Joy" sequence in The Immortal Beloved. I put on an episode of the old Boris Karloff-hosted show Thriller. We were five minutes into it when my wife entered the room.
"I have an announcement to make," she said. "Butch has just died."
He was lying down in our service porch, in between our house and the backyard. His little body was still warm. My wife had placed his head on a pillow. My wife, sons and I took turns stroking and petting him, saying our goodbyes.
She called the Humane Society (from whom we got Butch) and they sent over an extremely kind, gentle and thoughtful Animal Control officer who retrieved his body.
As I said, this was a different kind of Christmas for us.
Dan O'Bannon, Part Three – Bits & Pieces
Dan and I attended the cast and crew premiere of Lifeforce, a film that Dan had written (with Don Jakoby) that Tobe Hooper had directed. I much preferred the film's less pretentious and more honestly descriptive working title, Space Vampires (its title in the UK). In many ways, Lifeforce was a space program/sci-fi version of The Return of the Living Dead. I highly recommend Lifeforce, if only for the abundant nudity of the exquisite Mathilda May.
I was working with Tobe on the remake of Invaders From Mars (that Dan had written with Don Jakoby) at the time. Early on, Dan would visit me in the Invaders art department and suggest things to include in the film. I could tell that Dan was creatively frustrated and eager to direct again.
If you haven't seen Dead & Buried, a 1981 film Dan wrote with Ron Shusett, definitely track that baby down. It's got one of the best openings in horror cinema. The rest of the film plays out like a classic Twilight Zone.
Dan told me he wrote Blue Thunder in response to the police helicopters that would hover over his abode at night. They drove him nuts. He used to stand on his rooftop and angrily flip off the cops above him as they shined their Night Sun down on him.
Total Recall was a Philip K. Dick adaptation (from We Can Remember it For You Wholesale) by Dan and Ron Shusett. Originally, the lead character was a meek little Walter Mitty kind of guy (which makes much more sense, dramatically, than the film's final incarnation if you think about it). When Arnold signed on for the lead (which turned Total Recall into a hot "go" project) nearly everything had to change, script-wise, obviously.
Let me end with a bit about my experience with Dan in recording the commentary for The Return of the Living Dead DVD:
Dan and I met at the recording facility. He was anxious. Dan was carrying what looked like a large briefcase. I got distracted by one of the producers. When I turned back to Dan, he had vanished.
Getting close to our taping time, I decided to use the restroom. I found Dan inside. His case was on the sink, opened. It was a thoroughly stocked professional makeup kit.
"I just can't trust anyone to make me look good, so I always do my own makeup for camera."
I watched as he skillfully applied various substances to his neck and face.
"You know," he confided, "I've never done this before, this commentary thing."
"Don't worry, Dan," I replied. "I have. I've done this live at conventions. They'd begin our film and hand me a microphone. I did live commentary throughout the entire movie. It's not so hard and the fans love hearing all of that behind-the-scenes stuff."
"But I'm worried I'll just clam up, that I won't be able to think of anything to say."
"You'll think of things."
Dan seemed truly worried.
"You'll cover for me if that happens, won't you? I'll be depending on you. Really."
"Sure; not a problem, Dan."
We entered the sound stage. Each of us were miked and our volume levels were set. They projected our film on to a huge screen. All we had to do was begin talking about whatever came into our mind about the making of the film, triggered by the images we were seeing.
Dan had no need to worry. From the very first frame of the movie, Dan was off and running; I could barely get a word in edgewise. He was stepping all over my favorite TROTLD stories but I figured Hey! — this is Dan's movie, it's his moment to shine. So, I pretty much just filled in the few gaps where Dan took a break to breathe or when he actually paused for some other reason.
That same day we shot the DVD's Designing the Dead documentary (on my production designing of the movie), so I ended up getting my own proper face and voice time anyway. We both had a lot of fun that day.
And that DVD of our little film became MGM's biggest selling DVD of the year!
Bless you, Dan. I'll always think of you with amazement, awe and a smile. I am very, very lucky to have known you and to have counted you as one of my friends. Sleep well, my brother, at last.
Dark Delicacies Signing Today!
Hi, Local Fans! Last minute holiday gifts, anyone?
Today I've got a signing of my new dinosaur books over at Dark Delicacies in Burbank from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. Yes, I will be doing sketches in books purchased.
(If you haven't caught my recent drift, I actually have been drawing sketches in all of the Deluxe Edition Dinosaur Discoveries purchased from me on this site as a nice little holiday surprise for my fans.)
4213 W. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CA
818-556-6660 / 888-darkdel
www.darkdel.com
Last night I was happy to catch my friend Ray Bradbury at the Fremont Center Theatre in South Pasadena. I was pleased to present him with his Christmas gift: a signed copy of the Deluxe Edition of Dinosaur Discoveries with a sketch of a Tyrannosaurus rex….and a big kiss on his cheek. Bless you, Ray; you're one of America's Living Treasures.
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Dan O'Bannon, Part Two
O'Bannon Tale #1: Dan was fastidious in regards to climate control. He constantly was messing with (and breaking) the thermostats in the Burbank warehouse where we were shooting the interiors for The Return of the Living Dead.
His climate concerns were not limited to the set. They carried over into his home life, too.
One day he got into a conversation with the fellow who was fixing his air conditioning. He quickly discovered that the repair guy was my Uncle Buddy (small world, ain't it?). My uncle always has done excellent work; he knows his stuff when it comes to heating and cooling systems (he's retired now). So, whenever anything went on the fritz in the O'Bannon household, which was often due to Dan's own attempts to "fix" things, he called the air conditioning company, always demanding that "Billy's uncle" (Dan couldn't remember my uncle's name) be sent out (my Uncle Buddy still calls me "Billy"; he's known me since I was a baby). My uncle loved working at Dan's home and he loved Dan and his eccentricities.
O'Bannon Tale #2: I mentioned in yesterday's Journal entry that Dan's tales often emanated from his own intense neuroses. O'Bannon was probably the most paranoid guy I ever met. He tapped that paranoia as a writer, creating classic scripts for Alien and Blue Thunder.
While making The Return of the Living Dead, I was in the process of buying a house with the Conan the Destroyer money I had squirreled away while living on my per diem down in Mexico City during the making of the film. Dan had just been through the process of buying a house.
Now, Dan was a researcher. He loved to research everything. Buying a home was no exception. On our hair-raising drives (when Dan was driving we ALWAYS missed our freeway exits) together to location scouts, Dan gave me the benefit of all of the house research he had just done.
Dan had determined that the absolute best house to own was a Spanish adobe-style home. He told me, though, that Spanish adobes had one drawback.
"The walls aren't machine gun proof."
So, at enormous expense, after purchasing his very expensive Santa Monica Spanish adobe abode, he had the house's walls taken out and had steel plates inserted inside of them before replacing them. Now they were machine gun proof! Problem solved!
O'Bannon Tale #3: Like I do, Dan O'Bannon loved comics. Before he died, I had enthusiastically agreed to drawing a whole series of comics with him. We were both very excited at the thought of collaborating again. I had read so much of Dan's work and knew him so well that I was convinced we were going to produce some great things together and make history in the world of comic art.
You may or may not know this, but Dan O'Bannon wrote what was to become one of the most influential comic book stories ever published. No, it didn't do a lot to influence other comics. But it changed motion pictures forever.
The story is called "The Long Tomorrow." It was illustrated by Dan's friend Jean Giraud — better known to comics fans as "Moebius." I believe it originally appeared in the French comics magazine Metal Hurlant and was reprinted here in the States in Heavy Metal.
Hunt it down. The entire look, ambiance and feel of the story was used by Ridley Scott as the visual template for Bladerunner. Scott even duplicated some of the panels as shots in his magnificent film.
That was not the first time that Dan had changed film making forever.
In the mid-1970s Dan was hired by George Lucas to design the onscreen computer graphics in Star Wars. Not long after that, Dan was hired by Alejandro Jodorowsky to work on Jodorowsky's filming of Frank Herbert's Dune. The phenomenal cast that was slated for this epic sci-fi adventure included Orson Welles and Salvador Dali. Together, Jodorowsky and O'Bannon assembled an amazing art department that boasted Moebius, Ron Cobb, Chris Foss and H. R. Giger.
I have to halt this story for a moment to emphasize the historical importance of what Dan and George Lucas have done for the art of cinema, art direction-wise.
History lesson: The first production designers were originally called "art directors." The two most important art directors, William Cameron Menzies and Anton Grot (I borrowed heavily from Grot for my production design of Masters of the Universe), came from an illustration background (they have been reported to have been children's book illustrators but I have yet to find a single copy of any book they illustrated. Their work does look like early 20th century children's book illustration, however). Menzies began in the silent era with Douglas Fairbanks; Thief of Bagdad; Grot designed the Errol Flynn swashbucklers.
Later in his career, William Cameron Menzies not only designed Gone With the Wind, he storyboarded the entire film in full color. On top of that, he directed a third of the film, including the famous "burning of Atlanta" sequence.
GWTW's producer, David O. Selznick, had a problem. The film's other director, Victor Fleming, did not want to share directing credit for the film.
Selznick came up with a solution.
He approached Menzies, explained the problem, and then presented Menzies with his solution. Although Menzies would not get a director's credit, Menzies would receive the on-screen credit "Production Designed by William Cameron Menzies." That was the first time the title "production designer" was ever used. It quickly caught on and soon there were both production designers and art directors on movies.
Here's the basic difference now between the two (and this varies from picture to picture): The production designer is responsible for everything you see on the screen except for the performances of the actors. That's sets, costumes, make-up, special effects, props, etc. The art director usually is in charge of the Art Department's budgeting and scheduling, with hands-on involvement in regards to the entire Art Department.
Decades later, the backgrounds of Production designers and art directors had changed. No longer were they from an illustration background. Instead, nearly all of them came from the world of architecture. In the studio system, set designers slowly worked their way up the ranks to become art directors. If they were lucky (and careful politically), some eventually became production designers.
George Lucas changed all of that by hiring illustrator Ralph MacQuarrie to design Star Wars, along with a team of other talented artists (although Ralph didn't receive the production designer credit; neither Moebius nor Syd Meade received the production design credit they deserved for Bladerunner).
Jodorowsky and O'Bannon shared the same vision, using comic book artists and illustrators to design Dune.
Unfortunately, the financing for Dune fell through and the project was dead. At that same moment in time, though, O'Bannon's (and Ronald Shusett's) script for Alien was greenlit. Ridley Scott brought Dan to London to work on the film. Dan mentioned the aborted Dune project and the great art department that had been assembled. Dan suggested that Ridley consider hiring the Dune Art Department to design Alien. Scott looked at their work and agreed.
The success of Star Wars and Alien briefly opened the doors for guys like me to enter the film business. I didn't have to become an architect and slog away for decades in the hopes of becoming a production designer. In 1979 Ron Cobb (a production designer after five years in the business, beginning with Dan on Dark Star) hired me to work on Conan the Barbarian. That led to other films, and within three years (and with the mentoring and guidance of Ron Cobb and Pierluigi Basile) I became the production designer on an American Godzilla film (sadly unfilmed) and then The Return of the Living Dead.
The door pretty much slammed back shut not too long after that, although there have been a few exceptions (my friend Tim Bradstreet, known for his Punisher covers, just designed a film).
Dan O'Bannon had that vision, though. He knew that visual excellence in one medium could transfer and translate well to another medium. Bless him.
Dan O'Bannon, R. I. P.
I am really sorry to have make two postings today. Immediately after my Rocketeer posting I was saddened to learn that writer-director-artist Dan O'Bannon passed away yesterday. My heart goes out to his loving wife and son.
Dan hired me to production design "The Return of the Living Dead." In doing so, he made me the youngest production designer in film history. It took an enormous leap of faith on his part to hire me for this huge, intense job. I'll be forever thankful for his trust in me.
We met at one of Ron Cob's parties. Dan had known Ron a long time. Ron designed the spaceship for Dan's first film, "Dark Star." Ron also painted the presentation art for a little film that Dan and his co-writer, Ron Shusett, were trying to pitch, a small sci-fi project entitled "Alien."
Dan was at some of Ron's parties at which I had brought the drawings and paintings from a work I had in progress at the time, my book The Dinosaurs–A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era. Dan was especially effusive about my work at those parties.
His effusiveness turned into a life-changing job the night I showed him a cover I had done for the "Alien Worlds" comic book. Unbeknown to me, Dan was considering me as production designer for his first film as a director: "The Return of the Living Dead." He knew I'd have no trouble designing unique zombies for the project but he wasn't sure I could handle the high-tech design aspects of the film.
Dan later told me that seeing my "Alien Worlds" cover was a revelation. "Stout CAN do high-tech!" he excitedly thought to himself.
Designing that film was one of the hardest things I ever did (I temporarily left the film biz for nine months after we had wrapped). It wasn't the work that was tough; it was dealing with the bigger-than-life personalities, egos and power plays that were going on throughout the production. I came very close to committing felony assault on several occasions.
I saw myself as Dan's protector on that show. I was always the first one to arrive at any meeting, making sure that Dan always had the "power chair" in the room. When several of our team conspired to take control of the film away from Dan, I stood by the guy who had given me this big break and warned him in advance of what was coming.
Dan saw stuff in black and white. You were either a friend or an enemy. He had decided quite early on that I was a friend (which I actually was). I was also a friend to the film, though, too, and often had to conspire to convince Dan somehow that what he wanted wasn't going to be the best thing for our movie (like painting the mortuary walls bright red).
We got through that film and remained good friends. The two of us flew to Louisville, Kentucky (the film's setting) to promote the movie at RiverCon. On the way back I got to meet Dan's parents on our stopover in St. Louis.
We sporadically kept in touch over the years (I'm not the best at that and Dan was notoriously reclusive). Whenever we would get together we always expressed joy in being in each other's company. We were extremely proud of our little film and were pleased and amazed when it became a huge cult classic. In recent years, Dan and I (and the great cast of the film) were guests at cinematic celebrations of our little horror comedy gem. It was always great to see Dan.
At our last meeting (at a Clu Gulager film festival) Dan took me aside. After the show and our Q & A, he asked if I would like to collaborate on a several new creative projects, including a new film, a board game, video games and a complete (and brilliantly inventive) revamping of his website. I excitedly agreed to all of the above. We hugged and departed.
Dan was a real true character in my life. Like a lot of the film people I've worked with, Dan was outrageous — bigger than life. There is too much that I've experienced with Dan or know about him to be contained in this one posting. I'll be happy to share more of Dan's character in forthcoming posts.
Until then: Dan, rest in peace. Let loose those inner demons at last. Perhaps they will settle as inspiration in the soul of another creator, perhaps not. All I know is that you, Dan O'Bannon, were one of a kind — and you were my friend.
This week saw the release of The Rocketeer–The Complete Adventures by Dave Stevens.
This is a magnificent book, beautifully designed by my favorite go-to design guy, Randy Dahlk. The early stories have been magnificently re-colored by Laura Martin (Dave's personal pick) so the book maintains a high, classy quality all throughout.
My (and Dave's) friend Thomas Jane wrote a wonderful, heartfelt introduction that gives the readers a tantalizing and warmly human peek into Dave's very guarded private world.
There are two versions of the book. I know the economy is tough right now but, if you can spring for it, go for the boxed Deluxe Edition. It adds more than 130 extra pages of sketches, rare obscurities, pencil drawings, layouts, notes, etc. that are very well worth the extra coinage of purchase. It gives readers a rare glimpse into Dave's methods and thought processes, a window into how he created The Rocketeer.
That section brought back a lot of memories, as I was there for the comic's creation. Dave was working in my studio at the time, subletting a chunk of Richard Hescox's space. Richard and I were often grabbed to pose for Dave's photo reference. Not mentioned in the book is Richard's wife Alice, who posed for Millie, the waitress at the Bulldog Café. Dave was never a slave to his photo reference, as you'll see when you compare the photos he took to the finished art. Dave always made everything he did his own.
In the later stories I was surprised to learn that some of the penciling and inking were done by other artists (whom Dave obviously trusted with his baby). One of Dave's best friends, Mike Kaluta, drew a lot of the latter books' layouts.
As fussy and particular as I knew Dave to be, I think he would have heartily approved of this fine book collection…after a bit of grumbling and grousing about elements of the reproduction that only he could see, of course.
If you're looking for Christmas gifts, you can do no better than this fine book.
And that's coming from a guy who has got some new books out of his own!
Merry Christmas, Dave.
I was recorded for two different television programs this last week. One will be on national television early next year. The other is part of a large project of historical documentation in one of the areas in which I work. Both were fun!
As soon as I can talk about either of them, I'll fill you in.
I saw "The Road" the other night. Very good but relentlessly depressing film. The boy looked like his mom (Charlize Theron) but looked too well fed and apple-cheeked to be starving.
I also saw "Bruno", finally. Yikes! It looked like he had some very close calls…
I've been picking up various Richard ("Pirate Radio") Curtis DVDs to study his writing. He likes to do that Richard Price thing, the emotional sucker punch. He has you laughing , then laughing even harder, when WHAM! he connects with the saddest punch possible to your emotional gut. Or sometimes, the reverse. "Muriel's Wedding" (written by neither) has a lot of that.
OK; back to work on this Todd Rundgren cover…
Two days ago I did something really stupid (even for me).
My friend Josh Olson wrote a savagely witty essay for "Written By," the official magazine of the Writers Guild. I'm a WGAw member, so I get the magazine.
The article's Suessian-cadenced title was "I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script." It's an extremely barbed but funny rant about the many ways he gets put upon by writers who demand that he read their scripts and give them his input or a critique. It's out there on the internet. I recommend you Google it and track it down.
I immediately wrote an e-mail to Josh in response to his essay. In that e-mail, I told Josh about parallel abuses I sometimes have had to endure at conventions.
I was primarily inspired by one incident that occurred in Texas (Austin, I believe). Shortly after the convention opened to the public, a guy I'll call "Corn Boy" (that's what the convention organizers called him, as at their previous show he was first in line at the convention banquet's buffet table. He proceeded to take every single ear of corn on the cob from the serving plate, piling them all on his own plate and leaving none for any of the other convention guests or attendees. Hence, the name: Corn Boy) came over to my table. Without asking my permission, he opened up a huge leather portfolio and spread his art all over my table, completely covering the books and art I was trying to sell. He insisted I carefully examine each and every piece that he had brought (and, believe me, he brought a lot). If I was a little too quick in perusing something, he'd shout, "WAIT! You didn't really look at that one!" and shove it back in front of my face. If I made even the slightest bit of criticism (in an attempt to help him to be a better artist), he would turn on me viciously. Needless to say, my sales dropped to zero with this guy firmly in place.
He showed no signs of leaving until I came up with a plan.
"Do you know my friend Mark Schultz?"
I glanced across the room at Mark and caught his eye. Mark gave me a smile and a friendly wave.
"That's him right over there," I said as I grinned and waved back. "Mark's a great artist who absolutely LOVES to look at artwork like this."
Corn Boy reassembled his portfolio almost instantly and made a beeline for Mark's table, where Corn Boy repeated his overwhelming act of intrusion.
Obviously, cruelty is not completely foreign to my nature.
But back to the mess I created: I was so in love with my own bit of self-indulgent navel-gazing (my e-mail to Josh) that I thought it would be a dandy idea to post it right here on my Journal.
Whereas Josh's essay was funny, mine was not (although I thought so at the time of posting). Whereas Josh's essay was instructive, mine came off as hurtful, cruel, smug and mean, four attributes I never intentionally wish to project to anyone of my acquaintance.
My sincerest apologies to anyone out there who read it. There are no valid excuses for what I had written. I did indeed have a cold (as I explained the following day) and was pretty miserable that day (note to self: don't write ANYTHING when you're sick) but I should have known better.
The next day (yesterday), I tried to soften what I had written with a misguided attempt at humor.
I had a pretty sleepless night last night, worrying I had hurt someone with what I had written. As soon as I got up this morning I deleted both the posting and its follow-up.
Sure enough, there was an e-mail from a young artist who had recently sent me a link to his site. He thought what I had written was meant for him. It wasn't, but there was no way of him knowing that until I had promptly e-mailed him back with an explanation and an apology.
I actually don't mind giving out free advice, especially over the internet when I can do it to fit my own time frame/work agenda or schedule. Plus, looking at artwork on websites is as easy as making a click; very convenient. And the art I see on the net is never pale, barely legible pencil drawings on little dog-eared scraps of paper.
Counter to the attitude projected by my misguided rant, I often volunteer my time to groups of young artists, giving free lectures on negotiating, artists' rights and writing contracts. I also don't charge for the instruction I give at my figure drawing workshop.
I'm sorry if any of you took what I wrote that day personally; please know that it wasn't directed at any of you, my loyal friends, fellow artists, fans and readers.
Please, just chalk it up to my gross insensitivity on one bad day.
Dinosaur Discoveries are IN! Mural Deluxes are OUT!
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Yesterday I drove up to San Jose to see my publisher, John Fleskes. He had phoned me the previous day with the news that our new books, Dinosaur Discoveries (deluxe hardbound edition), Dinosaur Discoveries (softcover) and New Dinosaurs A to Z had just been delivered.
I told him I'd drive up the following day to sign the limited hardcover books. It was about a five and a half hour drive. I immediately plunged into signing the books. As soon as I finished, we broke for a nice lunch, then returned back to his place. We loaded up my car with my share of the books. I made it home by 9:00 PM. The drive back took about five hours.
My wife thought I was insane to drive up and back in one day. She tried really hard to talk me out of it. I told her I needed to get my pre-ordered books so that I could ship them ASAP (especially with the holidays looming). She said that could wait. I told her I didn't know how many of these books were going to wrapped and re-sent as holiday gifts. I explained I always try to put myself in my customer's shoes and ask myself how I would like to be treated. I know that if I was going to send the books out as presents that I'd want them shipped to me sooner rather than later.
Today, I'm packing and shipping my pre-orders of the book. I'm going to extend the pre-order deal on the deluxe editions of Dinosaur Discoveries (I reimburse your shipping fee) through Friday. I also personally sign ALL of the books you order.
The Deluxe Edition of William Stout–Prehistoric Life Murals is SOLD OUT. A few stray copies are for sale on my website catalogue for $100 each. The Dinosaur Discoveries Deluxe Editions (the only hardcover edition of the book) is selling even faster than the murals book —- and they are fewer of them. If you'd like the hardcover version (with its extra color plate), I'd order NOW. I expect them to sell out before Christmas.
I am so pleased with these new books! John and Randy did a fantastic job of making my work look as good as it could possibly look.
Pre-order customers: When you get your book(s), let me know what you think!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


At the invitation of Toby Marks, I've just spent a few days buried deep in the glorious countryside (and weather!) of Norfolk. Our time was spent making extensive field recordings of all sorts of things – most notably, a delightful, narrow-gauge steam railway! Toby had done his research and found a lovely volunteer run railway line called the Bure Steam Railway. This is now probably the most extensively recorded steam train ever! Various contact mics, my trusty Sony and Tascam recorders and Toby's really lovely new Sound Devices thing meant that we have a great deal to listen to and catalogue. All the clunks, squeals and chuffs you could possibly want and all in a fantastic setting! We also tried to get the sound of seals and their new-borns… sadly too windy and too far away as well as far too many people. However a little afterwards we found ourselves at this atmospheric wind pump and then deep in a magical wood as dusk settled being approached by a deer and then a hare. We also (through Toby's contacts) met a lovely chap who lived in the area and who was seriously involved in sound recording… a range of fantastic microphones and of all things, a bat detector! Put this near your alarm system and find a whole new world of sound you didn't even know was there! A fantastic time and great fun.


text:
Part 3 Characters, Egypt 9 Glory Gods, Stand Users,
Retired Characters
ダニエル・J・ダービー
D'Arby the Elder (JoJonium, Anime, ASB)
Terence Trent D'ArbyW [1]
Black (Anime)
Dark Green (OVA)
Telence T. D'Arby (younger brother)
Chapter 211 - D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1
SC Episode 34 - D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1
Kenji UtsumiW (OVA)
Kōji IshiiW (ASB)
Banjō GingaW (Anime and Eyes of Heaven)
Cam ClarkeW (English)
Curt Mann (English Dub)
Cyrille Artaux (French Dub)
Oliviero Corbetta (Italian Dub)
" My name is D'Arby, D-A-R-B-Y. The "D" has an apostrophe. "
—Daniel introducing himself,Chapter 212
Daniel J. D'Arby (ダニエル・J・ダービー, Danieru Jei Dābī) is a minor antagonist appearing in Stardust Crusaders.
Daniel is an expert and inveterate gambler and his Stand, Osiris, can steal souls. He is a member of the Egypt 9 Glory Gods and meets the Joestar Group in Cairo. Here, he tricks them into wagering their souls in various gambles.
Daniel is a man of average to above-average height and slim to middling build.
He wears dark hair of middling volume, flowing slightly back and apart from his face, and a trim mustache of medium length. A light surface trails from the bottom of his eyes to points aside his mouth; scored by thin, black, horizontal lines.
He wears a light shirt, dark tie, and a vest of a medium color, printed with spirals.
" GOOD! "
—Daniel J. D'Arby's catchphrase
Daniel J. D'Arby exhibits an affable but sly, knowing character.
Daniel's first and foremost character trait is his love of gambling. He states that he lives for the thrill of gambling (which he recognizes as worthless). This love of gambling is complemented by his enjoyment for cheating, and he proudly admits that cheating is one of his greatest skills shamelessly rigging every game he's seen participating to while justifying himself by claiming that if the cheat isn't exposed, it is "fair" game. His addiction to gambling is such that he can remember specific instances of when he gambled on one. Moreover, D'Arby developed a philosophy comparing gambling to social life, claiming that like gambling, it revolves around fakes and cheats. According to him, those who are stupid enough to be cheated simply deserve it and have no right to complain, exhibiting a belief in a form of social Darwinism. In contrast, D'Arby readily accepts that Jotaro Kujo broke his finger when the student saw through one of his trick as his punishment.
Therefore, D'Arby has also great pride and confidence in his ability, as he calls himself the greatest gambler in the world. D'Arby reveals himself as soon as he wins Polnareff's soul and openly challenges Jotaro's group. When his pride is on the line, D'Arby outright states that he isn't battling the Joestar Group for his master DIO but for his pride as a gambler. During their poker game, D'Arby didn't hesitate to taunt Jotaro through harmless commentaries during their poker to better rub his first victory in his face. However, when the pressure of having to gamble information on The World while Jotaro erased any certainty about his hand proved too much to handle, D'Arby went mad.
D'Arby seems to hold some pride in his family name, making the effort of spelling it to the Joestar group and being angered when Joseph Joestar persists in calling him by the wrong name (which would be perceived as a grave insult to Japanese audiences), though this may have been part of his plan.
Main article: Osiris
Daniel's Stand is Osiris, of the power to extract a target's soul when they sense defeat, typically after a game or bet with him; after which it is compressed as one or more casino tokens.
D'Arby is understandably agile with cards
Gambling and cheating: With a flair for deception, Daniel is a skilled professional gambler, confident in his ability to prevail in any type of game and his forte being poker. D'Arby has an exceptionally keen mind when it comes to cheating. He not only made sure that a whole bar was rigged in his favor when he played against the Joestar Group, but could also think of a way to cheat on the spot when playing against Joseph.
Sleight of Hand: D'Arby has an exceptional fine motor skill and sense of touch, enabling him to perform cardistry. He is nimble and precise to the point that he can figure out which page of a book he is on just by touching it with his fingers, and can memorize the order of the cards in a deck by touching them. His nimbleness allows him to perform card tricks in order to cheat and tried to use a second dealing in poker.
Daniel is a man who seems to have a predatory desire for tricking people into his seemingly innocuous games just to steal their souls with his Stand. He then begins goading the loser's friends and family to try winning back the soul, giving him even larger winnings. With this, he has collected several souls, including those of the Moor Family. He shares this interest in collecting souls with his younger brother, Telence, though Daniel has no interest in keeping the souls conscious in captivity, instead of having them in a deep sleep inside his collection. In addition, his collection is meticulously detailed, with every soul's name listed, as well as area and date of capture.
At some point in the past, Daniel had tried to hit on his brother's girlfriend, prompting Telence to savagely beat him up. Daniel would never challenge Telence due to his ability to read minds.
The Joestar group encounter Daniel while searching Cairo for DIO's mansion. After asking around in a cafè he is sitting in, Daniel tells them he knows the location of the mansion, but refuses to share the information for money. Instead, he tries to convince the group to try winning the information from him in games of chance. He first quickly sets up a game to see which one of two pieces of beef a nearby cat would take first. An impatient Polnareff accepts his bet, as well as the condition that Polnareff bets his soul in return, thinking it is all nonsense. Daniel wins the bet and takes Polnareff's soul with his Stand, Osiris, as well as revealing himself to be one of DIO's men and the owner of the cat involved in the game.
Because of his Stand's nature, the Joestar group had to beat him at his own game to win back their friend's soul. Joseph tries outsmarting Daniel in a game where they put coins in a glass of liquor until someone loses by causing the glass to spill over, but Daniel turns out to be the better cheater thanks to a piece of melted chocolate under the glass.
Jotaro then challenges Daniel at poker, which the gambler comments on is his strongest game. After Jotaro foils his attempt at second dealing by breaking his finger, Daniel is visibly shaken and declares that he is no longer fighting for DIO, but for his pride as a gambler. He splits Polnareff's and Joseph's souls into five chips each for them to use. They then get a nearby boy to deal the cards for them. Jotaro loses with his pairs of eights and nines to Daniel's queens and jacks. As it turns out, Daniel owns the entire cafè and "everyone within a stone's throw of it". He confidently tells himself that no matter who Jotaro picks to deal the cards, he will only get bad hands.
In the second round of the game, Jotaro refuses to look at his cards, saying he will play with the ones he has, which frustrates Daniel. Jotaro begins raising Daniel with his remaining "soul chips", as well as Avdol's and Kakyoin's souls, without a single twitch. He also promises to give up Kakyoin's soul instead of his if he forfeits the poker game. This, along with Star Platinum fetching Jotaro a cigarette and a drink without Daniel's immediate notice, confuses him and causes him to have doubts about whether he truly is in control of the situation anymore. Daniel's four kings was apparently a guaranteed win, but he begins wondering if Jotaro really has one of the three possible hands that could beat him, or if Star Platinum had switched the cards without him noticing. As Daniel is about to call, Jotaro raises his mother's soul, demanding Daniel meet his raise with information on DIO's Stand. This causes Daniel to panic, knowing that if he were to tell, DIO would have him killed for betraying him. Daniel tries to force himself to call Jotaro's bet, but he falls apart completely and becomes a hysteric mess, admitting defeat in his heart. Polnareff, Joseph and the hundreds of other souls Daniel had collected over the years were freed from his collection.
Chapter 184: "'The Fool' Iggy and 'God Geb' N'Doul, Part 2" (Mentioned only)
Chapter 210: "Shooting DIO?!" (Mentioned only)
Chapter 211: "D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1"
Chapter 216: "D'Arby the Gambler, Part 6" (Retired)
Chapter 227: "D'Arby the Player, Part 1" (Mentioned only)
Chapter 236: "D'Arby the Player, Part 10" (Mentioned only)
SBR Extra Chapter 3: "Untitled Stand Chapter" (Mentioned only)
SC Episode 24: "High Priestess, Part 2" (glimpse)
SC Episode 34: "D'Arby the Gambler, Part 1"
SC Episode 35: "D'Arby the Gambler, Part 2" (Retired)
SC Episode 40: "D'Arby the Player, Part 1" (Mentioned only)
SC Episode 41: "D'Arby the Player, Part 2" (Appears in flashback(s))
Episode 10 (OVA): "D'Arby the Gambler"
Daniel J. D'Arby is encountered in a bar earlier in the story and challenges the player to pick out a certain tarot card. The other player characters lose and have their spirit taken (Represented by their mental points dropping to 1) but the last player character wins on the final turn, restoring their mental points and moving the story on.
Daniel does not cheat all in said game and no explicit mention is made of his Stand, nor does he go insane after being beaten.
Cult Jump (GB)
Daniel appears as one of the ten characters from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise who appears on the game.
Daniel, along with his cat and his Stand, makes a cameo in the game's continue screen, asking if the player wishes to continue (In the English locale, he asks 'Continue?' while in Japanese, 'Game no tsuzukeru ka?'). If the player lets the timer run down, Osiris takes their soul away compressing it into a poker chip. In the updated game and HD rerelease, Daniel appears on the main menu. When the player selects a mode or when they continue, Daniel shouts his signature phrase, "GOOD!"
In the PSX version's Super Story Mode, Daniel is encountered as a boss with three different minigames, all of them the same as the manga. the first two games are rigged as they were in the manga, so the player will always lose, but the Poker minigame allows the player to win once they unlock and choose the "Bluff" option.
However, if the player replays the minigames via the Boingo Book menu, this time the player can win said minigames to see optional different endings, and can also win the poker game legitimately by forcing Daniel to run out of coins to bet with.
Daniel appears in the game as the host of the game's Customize mode. His taglines are available for use in Player Cards as well. He also appears as a support character in Campaign mode. When he appears, he challenges the player to pick a card from a set of ten. 9 of them have Daniel on them whilst one has Iggy on it. Getting a Daniel card will give the player a support item for free whilst getting an Iggy will get the player nothing.
Daniel appears in the game's Story Mode twice, both of which are in Morioh. His first appearance sees him taking the soul of Jotaro's future daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, in a game of heads-or-tails before Jotaro could stop it from happening, in an act of revenge for his previous humiliation by him. Jotaro then defeats Daniel in a poker game, forcing him to relinquish Jolyne's soul before disappearing. He later reappears back in Morioh, now holding a Saint's Corpse Part thanks to Heaven Ascension DIO. Defeated by Jotaro once again, he gives his corpse part to Jotaro and tells him that the only other person who knows DIO's weakness is Enrico Pucci, before disappearing once again.
Joseph and Polnareff's souls"> Star Platinum breaking Daniels's finger for cheating"> JoJonium">
Polnareff and Joseph's soul chips"> Star Platinum breaking Daniel's finger for cheating"> Egypt 9 Glory Gods card">
Heritage for the Future"> Chara Heroes; Part 3 Vol.3"> Statue Legend series">
Araki created the character of D'Arby to have a showdown between a well-established cheater like Joseph and someone else who could be his equal.[4]
Although his relationship with his younger brother is questioned and somewhat unexplained, he once was savagely beaten by Telence T. D'Arby after he tried to steal Telence's girlfriend.
The coin game he plays against Joseph is inspired by the 1968 movie Farewell Friend / Adieu l'ami by Jean Hermin where it is used multiple times by Charles Bronson's character.
In the colored editions of the manga, the cards D'Arby uses resemble a pack of blue-colored Bee Club Special No. 92 playing cards. In the OVA however, actual blue Bee No. 92 playing cards are used, while other adaptations instead have him use red-diamond back cards with standard white borders of an unknown brand despite resembling red Bee Stringers cards.
The card box and security seal used for the anime/manga's deck is referenced and used for the Prize D'Arby Poker set sold at Ichiban Kuji, though the cards inside are different.
Also in the OVA, the chocolate bar D'Arby is eating is a Hershey's brand.
In the TV anime, the animation for his hand movements was motion captured from an actual magician.[5]
Curiously, despite his right hand's fingers still being intact, he still grabs and holds cards with his left hand in his reapparance in Eyes of Heaven.
↑ Pet Shop's Horus - Vol.8 "Shueisha Jump Remix Stardust Crusaders Edition" P84 The Secret of JOJO Characters
↑ In episode 40 of Stardust Crusaders, Daniel's brother Telence T. D'Arby, who is 21, mentions that his brother is 10 years older than him.
↑ JOJOVELLER: STANDS - Comments by Hirohiko Araki[1]
↑ Age_seeker tweets (576720712435507200)
Start a Discussion Discussions about Daniel J. D'Arby
Who is the most intelligent minor JoJo villain?
S.Cond Bomb
pretty much every minor villain in part 5 (minus Carne, Sale and Melone) they were aware of their stands' weaknesses and strengths and u...	 2018-10-15T10:25:43Z
VanceTotal
For me: Part 1: Bruford, but that's not saying much, every minor villain in Part 1 are very basic and with only one trick. Part 2: Wh...	 2019-01-14T20:06:40Z
Hardest fight in JoJo
Xspartan010x
Killer Queen's Bits The Dust: It nearly wiped out the Joestar group untill Hayato managed to cause the Joestar group discovering Kira and ...	 2018-12-22T10:34:02Z
Josuke&yasuho
Tsurugi Higashikata's [https://jojo.wikia.com/wiki/Paper_Moon_King Paper Moon King] : [https://jojo.wikia.com/wiki/Yasuho_Hir...	 2018-12-22T13:29:50Z
Retrieved from "https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Daniel_J._D%27Arby?oldid=308331"


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Great news! I don't know if you have noticed or not, but babywisemom.blogspot.com is now babywisemom.com! You may not have noticed because the internet is doing it all for your. Your shortcuts and everything will still work as they did and will just forward you on.
The one thing I don't have figured out is getting it so if you type it rather than https://www.babywisemom.com/ it takes you to https://www.babywisemom.com/. I followed the instructions and have ot wonder if the IP addresses google gives are outdated or something (because the instructions certainly are).If anyone knows, please inform me!
So for now, you can type in babywisemom.blogspot.com or https://www.babywisemom.com/ to get here.
Previous Post Poll Results: If you required your child to say "yes Mommy," how long did it take for him to start to say it on his own?
Hi Valerie, it seems to be working fine? I just tried the babywisemom.blogspot.com and babywisemom.com and both took me to the blog (with babywisemom.com in the address bar). Is that how you wanted it? I've forwarded domains to a blog before so I might be able to help if not.
Hmmm, I just tried babywisemom.com and it didn't work for me. I'll ask James how to do when he has a free moment since I know he knows how. Sorry if I end up having a baby before I get back to you though…that's right, no baby yet!
Cindy, yes I want it to come even if you type in babywisemom.com with the "www". It worked for you? It isn't working for me and not Rachel. I wonder why it would work for some and not others?I followed the google instructions (they run blogspot). I set my AName (is that what it is called?) to point that way. I don't know if their IP addresses in their instructions are old or what. My .com is through godaddy.
That is very strange; I am doing it now http://www.babywisemom.com and I get the blog main page.I use godaddy as well – what you do is 'domain forwarding' in godaddy. Login and click on the domain name; look for domain forwarding. You can then set it to foward to the babywisemom.blogspot.com – it should show up transparent to readers as they can get their either way.On my website, I own the .com and .biz – so http://homespunfromtheheart.biz/ takes you to the same place as http://homespunfromtheheart.com and looks the same, etc. the only thing I did was in go daddy domain forwarding. Let me know what happens, I have few tecchy friends to ask.
Well people, I have purchased a domain name for the blog. It is babywisemom.com. That should be easier to remember and find than babywisemom.blogspot.com.
From what I understand, if you type in babywisemom.blogspot.com, then you will be directed automatically to babywisemom.com. I think everything should go smoothly with the transfer. I have discussed things with a blog reader, Meg, who recently did this with her own blog (Thanks Meg!).
I will transition it later this week. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up in case things do not go as smoothly as they should.
Previous Post Poll Results: Did you ever cluster feed?
Just curious why you got a domain name? I think it's great. Will we still be able to read it through google reader?
I thought it would just be easier to remember if it was a domain name. To register a name, it is only about $10 a year, so it isn't a big dollar amount. The hosting is free because blogger will still host it and direct readers to the new domain name (automatically). I think you can still read through reader–if I understand things correctly! I know for computer-savvy people, and blog-knowledgeable people, xyz.blogspot.com is as easy to remember as xyz.com. But for those who aren't as familiar with blogs, xyz.com is much easier.
No worries Valerie 🙂 I'm sure it'll be a really smooth transition!
Just FYI (I need to post about it), I still haven't been able to get this working properly. Hopefully I can get it worked out soon!


text:
Back to the Cinema
David Reviews All Movies Ever
50 Movies for 50 States
Instant Gratification
Crate-Digging
The Gross Yields
On Shuffle
Quick Trips
This Record's No Good No More
Unspool't
Batman In Print
The Illustrated Story
Tales and Their Tellers
Yearly Recaps
Critical Masses All-Time Crate-Digging Top 50, part 1: 50-41
March 14, 2016 · by Ryan "Critical" Masteller	· in Crate-Digging, Music, Yearly Recaps.	·
Here is the next part of the hiatus info-dump, a nostalgia trip through the five and a half years that I've been doing Crate-Digging columns here at Critical Masses. I figure I'd have fun and quantify some stuff, as much as quantifying anything can be fun. So, I took a trip down the ol' Internet wormhole and compiled a top-50 list of releases I've reviewed. To take a look back at some of the best stuff I've reviewed here. You know.
One of the criteria that has developed over the years is that I had to like a record to review it here, and so even though I've given myself the arbitrary number fifty as stopping point, rest assured that if I've written about you, I've liked your music. See? Everybody's my buddy, at least electronically, whether they like it or not. You're all top infinity in my book. But this is an exercise, so there you go.
There are a couple rules I've imposed on myself for making up this list. No singles or videos were considered, which means there is no Signior Benedick the Moor on this list, which is too bad because his albums and EPs have been some of my favorite work released over the past couple years. It just turns out that I only wrote about his singles and videos for some reason. So rule number 1 here is kind of an honorable mention for Christian – he's a bad dude, and you should listen to everything he's ever released.
Also, I tried to keep this to the records I've discovered while writing. What I mean by that: I began Crate-Digging as an attempt to write about my record collection in alphabetical order by album, but that became difficult to maintain, and I abandoned that after a year or so in favor of reviewing the new and exciting things that crossed my path. So even though I reviewed a bunch of stuff that was older or more visible (read: popular, I guess), I didn't consider much of it here. An exception: Ween's All Request Live, an in-studio performance album that I did discover while reviewing for this site, and I just fell madly in love with. So it's on the list … somewhere.
I noticed that Northern Spy Records are well represented on this top 50. Bravo.
No more writing – here are numbers 50 to 41. 40 to 31. 30 to 21.
50. Speculator – Lifestyle (Leaving Records)
What I said: "Yes, Lifestyle owes a debt to the 1980s, featuring snippets of dialogue and samples of songs from the era, woven seamlessly into the album as a whole. But instead of being simply a stylistic retread, the tape swallows the characteristics in a fog and regurgitates mutant representations for both easy consumption and critical appraisal."
49. High Wolf – Ascension (Not Not Fun)
What I said: "Ascension smacks of the American Southwest because of its rhythmic tribalism, and while this characteristic is indicative of native cultures throughout the world, the signature tablas and other percussion instruments, combined with guitar, analog synthesizer, and various loops and effects, call to mind swirling space jams that truly make sense under the huge clear night sky surrounded by cacti and red rock formations. There's no jungle canopy to be found on this record. There's just space, lots of it, and a feeling of joyous reverence beneath the night sky, the only witness to the ceremony and celebration of earth and nature. Oh, and that fistful of peyote should start kicking in any time. That should help."
48. Wasted Cathedral – Pleasant Valley (Adhesive Sounds)
What I said: "Pleasant Valley is Saskatoon's Chris Laramee's debut on Toronto-based tape label Adhesive Sounds as Wasted Cathedral, and it's my favorite thing so far on the nascent imprint. Top that, you guys! How're you going to beat favorite? Good luck. But I'm not here to taunt anybody, let alone such nice people. So I'm going to instead opine on how pleasant Pleasant Valley is, and how this quick trip can easily become a much longer one if you turn your stereo on "repeat." Because if it's one thing I've learned, the most enormous doses possible of good things only make them more good!"
47. Black Unicorn – Traced Landscapes (Field Hymns)
What I said: "[Curt] Brown's synth excursions (and let's face it, you can't call them anything but excursions) are best experienced with high-tech noise-cancelling headphones, the bigger the better, so if you look like a 1980s helicopter pilot while listening, you've got the ideal situation going on. There's no better way to chill out than with the opening couplet of "Lowland Observatory" and "Cosmonoctambulant" (and no, I will not type that again), trippy interstellar passages that tie new age, ambient, and Kosmische together to rip open a new dimensional rift in the spacetime continuum. To paraphrase well-known galactic traveler/popular rift-ripper J. Spaceman, ladies and gentlemen, we truly are floating in space."
46. Peace Arrow – ↑↓↑↓ (self-released)
What I said: "What's great, though, is that while you can listen to ↑↓↑↓ and say, "Oh, yeah, this reminds me of [The Microphones and Mount Eerie]," the field, fortunately, is wide open for experimentation, and while Myers uses similar tricks and sounds – acoustic guitar, synthesizer and keyboard elements, found sound, seemingly rickety rhythm, multitracking – he's definitely embraced his own delivery, striking a path much more akin to his Gainesville, Florida, locale than [Phil] Elverum's Anacortes, Washington, Pac-NW forest-gazing. Swamp-gazing, then? Nah, I know better – we call 'em marshes this far north."
45. Each Other – Heavily Spaced (self-released)
What I said: "Don't pass on this action. Calgary's got some great music coming from it …, and Each Other is the vanguard. Their equally boss debut EP Taking Trips is worth a listen as well. I am refreshed after listening to Heavily Spaced. Bath-scrubbed refreshed. Hair washed with snow refreshed. (I just watched White Christmas – sorry.) It's a chilly inhale of an EP, invigorating and exciting. I have it on repeat."
44. I.E. – Most Importantly (Deathbomb Arc)
What I said: "I.E. is more interested in the exploitation of this life as an artistic expression, not to hold it up as a standard, but to pinpoint its ridiculousness as an acceptable form of living. Like Quentin Tarantino exploits violence to ludicrous levels in his films, Margot Padilla sends up the wretched junior high years everyone goes through, giving the garbage a glossy veneer in the process. When set to a club beat and blasted through speakers, Padilla's mall-punk snootiness becomes a highly usable form of ravesploitation. Put pipe to lips; smoke."
43. Kal Marks – Life Is Murder (Exploding in Sound)
What I said: "Life Is Murder is a pretty grandiose example of no one winning in the end, especially once the emotional carnage has truly been accounted for."
42. Brother JT – The Svelteness of Boogietude (Thrill Jockey)
What I said: "He's back with The Svelteness of Boogietude, a collection so mesmerizing and enjoyable it's got to be a smash hit. Always somehow behind (or ahead of) trends as mainstream media focused on what Terlesky wasn't doing (thanks a shit ton, Nirvana), Svelteness pretty much comes at the right time. And I can't explain why that is – maybe he's finally found the perfect outlet at Thrill Jockey, nestled among their roster. Maybe it's because Svelteness is a stylistic roller coaster, brilliantly melding psych, folk, garage, and soul in a postmodern matrix recalling everybody from The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Scott Walker to Marc Bolan. Toss a little bit of Ween in there on the really weird numbers, like "Sweatpants." Or "Muffintop." (In fact, muffin tops are mentioned in both "Sweatpants" and "Muffintop.") Or maybe it's just because you read a title like The Svelteness of Boogietude and just completely understand exactly what it means and sounds like without hearing a note or a word. It's a title that deserves a knowing chuckle and an immediate needle drop. It's a title made for your goddamn headphones."
41. Moonface – Organ Music, Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped (Jagjaguwar)
What I said: "At this point, I hope you realize that Spencer Krug's grand narratives embody us all, encompass each and every one of us in universal storylines of love, lust, ambition, violence, and death. He has continued on this path from the very beginning and grown this skill exponentially. The metaphors are at once lofty and meta, yet employ strategically simple language, all in an effort cast the broadest net and reel in the greatest number of likeminded listeners. I am Spencer Krug. You are Spencer Krug. We are all Spencer Krug."
Tags: Crate-Digging, top 50
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Walrus Oil is a proprietary wood finish recipe made up of Coconut Oil, Mineral Oil, Vitamin E, and Beeswax, FDA compliant for food contact surfaces such as cutting boards and butcher blocks. Walrus Oil is a liquid form and does not solidify under normal conditions, its highly shelf stable and has virtually no scent. It goes on smooth, not too thick and not to thin, and won't contaminate food with a strange taste. It will leave your board with a silky smooth finish, rich color, and a little shine. Use two coats for more depth and color.


If you decided to sell your house to simply life, lock in gains, downsize, or relocate for a job, this article will help you minimize your tax bill.
According to the IRS, most home sellers do not incur capital gains due to the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusion for single and married couples. This makes sense since the median home price is roughly $210,000 in 2018, and the average holding period is nine years.
Ownership: You must have owned the home for at least two years during the five years prior to the date of your sale. It doesn't have to be continuous, nor does it have to be the two years immediately preceding the sale.
Use: You must have used the home you are selling as your principal residence for at least two of the five years prior to the date of sale.
Timing: You have not excluded the gain on the sale of another home within two years prior to this sale.
But let's say you plan to sell a property in an expensive coastal city where your gains are much greater than $250,000 / $500,000. There's a good chance you still won't owe much in capital gains tax if any if you keep proper records.
If you have greater than a $250,000 / $500,000 capital gain, the title company will most likely send you a 1099-S which tells the IRS the final sale price of the home plus any real estate taxes you may have paid. In other words, you must file a 1099-S when doing your taxes, just like how you must file a 1099-MISC for every freelance job you work.
If you haven't received a 1099-S, call the title company and ask for one so that your records and the IRS's records match. While you're at it, ask the title company for the HUD-1 settlement statement or Closing Disclosure from when you purchased your home and for how much. You want to make sure you have the proper date and cost basis in place for when you do your taxes.
Now that you have these important statements it's time to dig deep into your records to find out how much you spent on construction, renovation, improvements and any special assessments you've paid for local improvements. All these expenses INCREASE your cost basis, thereby DECREASING your capital gains and your capital gains tax.
The problem many long term homeowners encounter is NOT keeping proper records of all their expenditure over the years. It's hard to remember exactly how much you spent remodeling a bathroom 30 years ago. And often times, the company who did work for you may have gone out of business. Hence, contact all your vendors today even if you don't plan to sell your house for a while.
Always take pictures of each receipt and keep a spreadsheet of all your home improvement work. The spreadsheet should include a date for when work was completed, the description of the work, the vendor, and the cost.
Here's an example of a $1,800,000 home sale that was originally purchased for $800,000 in 2003. This price appreciation is quite typical in expensive coastal cities like SF and NYC. Despite a handsome $1,000,000 gross profit, the home seller pays $0 federal and state capital gains tax. Study the chart carefully, and let's discuss the line items below.
Cost to sell: Despite negotiating a total commission cost of 5%, it still costs an absurd $105,000 to sell this $1,800,000 home due to commissions, inspection, 3R and NHD reports, staging, water compliance, and transfer taxes. The transfer tax is particularly arbitrary and onerous for higher priced homes because it is based on a percentage of the selling price, e.g. NY City realty transfer tax: 1% to 2.625% based on +/-$500K home value and type of property. Just remember that the costs to sell a home are negotiable between the real estate agent and the homebuyer.
Construction, renovation, and home improvement cost: Over a 15 year time period, this homeowner spent $373,000 making their home perfect. It feels wonderful living in a completely remodeled home compared to an aging rental, especially as your wealth and tastes grow over time. Further, almost all the costs are deductible. This is where having records of all your costs over the years is so important.
Special assessments from the city: $5,000 was assessed by their city to pay for a water treatment plant overhaul and water sewage pipe replacements.
Cost to purchase the home in 2003: Typically, home buyers will pay between about 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price of their home in closing fees. This homeowner paid 1 percent of the purchase price in closing fees due to some negotiating. Here are some typical fees homebuyers may face.
Application Fee: This fee covers the cost for the lender to process your application. It can often include things like a credit check for your credit score or appraisal as well.
Flood Determination or Life of Loan Coverage: This is paid to a third party to determine if the property is located in a flood zone.
Pest Inspection: This fee covers the cost to inspect for termites or dry rot, which is required in some states and required for government loans.
Prepaid Interest: Most lenders will ask you to prepay any interest that will accrue between closing and the date of your first mortgage payment.
Phew! That's a lot of fees. No wonder why the real estate market has powerful lobbyists to keep transaction costs high. In hot real estate markets, some homebuyers will skip the home inspection, appraisal fee, origination fee, pest inspection, application fee and more because they are paying cash and need to make their offer as competitive as possible.
Profit before exclusion: Without the $500,000 tax-free profit exclusion for married couples, the home seller would have to pay taxes on $499,000 in capital gains. At an 22% total effective tax rate, we're talking $109,780 in taxes. If the couple was in the top marginal tax bracket, they would have had to pay a 20% federal tax rate + 13% state tax, or $164,670 in taxes. But thanks to the tax-free profit exclusion and all the costs associated with the home, the tax liability is $0.
Net proceeds after tax: The seller walks away with $895,000 in net proceeds, which is fantastic considering the seller put down only $160,000 in 2003. Of course, the home improvement expenses cost them $373,000 over a 15 year time period, but they gained tremendous lifestyle value. If we add the downpayment to the home improvement costs, the home seller still comes away $362,000 richer while having lived in an awesome home all those years.
Compare a $362,000 gain with a $1,080,000 loss if you were to rent the house for $6,000/month on average for 15 years. That's a $1,442,000 swing! Now you can see the wealth building power of homeownership over time. Hopefully, the renter invested their cash flow wisely during this time frame.
If you plan to sell your home in the near future and know you will likely have a large capital gain, then it's best to make as little W2 or 1099-MISC income as possible. Once a couple's income is over $250,000, they've got to pay an additional 3.8% Net Investment Income tax (Form 8960) on every dollar above $250,000, as well as the higher marginal income tax rate. The income threshold is $200,000 if you are single.
Here's an example where a single person made $141,827 in net investment income from his home sale and various stock sales and $167,724 in W2 and 1099-MISC income for a total MAGI of $319,551. Given the income threshold is $200,000, he has to pay an additional 3.8% NII tax on $119,551, or $4,543. What a bummer.
If this individual did more proper planning, during the house sale year, he could have worked less, increased his business expenses, pushed out his 1099-MISC freelance income to the following year, asked for his December paycheck to be paid in January, and deposited as many freelance paychecks in the following year as well.
Business owners have much more flexibility in adjusting their income than day job workers, which is why I encourage everyone to start their own.
If your property sale was a rental property, then you can consider doing a 1031 Exchange where you defer capital gains tax indefinitely. But for a primary residence, understanding the tax laws and keeping great records are what will save you a ton in capital gains tax when it comes time to sell.
With a large financial windfall, you can utilize the proceeds to buy a nicer home in a lower cost area of the country or world. If not, you can reinvest the proceeds in completely passive investments and rent to keep things simple.
Just remember that you can take advantage of the $250,000 / $500,000 tax free profit rule every two years until the rule changes. Thank goodness the government is on the homeowner's side.
Look into real estate crowdsourcing opportunities: If you don't have the downpayment to buy a property or don't want to tie up your liquidity in physical real estate, take a look at RealtyShares, one of the largest real estate crowdsourcing companies today. Real estate is a key component of a diversified portfolio. Real estate crowdsourcing also allows you to be more flexible in your real estate investments by investing beyond just where you live for the best returns possible. Sign up and take a look at all the residential and commercial investment opportunities around the country Realtyshares has to offer for free.
Readers, do you think it's unfair that a home seller can pay no tax on a $1,000,000 gain? Are you more inclined to remodel and enjoy a nicer home after seeing this example? Why are people still against homeownership with so many tax advantages? What is missing or needs fixing in my chart example?
The post How To Pay No Capital Gains Tax After Selling Your House For Big Profits appeared first on Financial Samurai.


Double the bill, double the fun!
Our Cal UC Berkeley Rally Flip Cap® launched on August 21, 2016 at the Recreational Sports Facility. Invented by Jordan Kay, Berkeley '09 alumni and '07 placekicker for the California Golden Bears. Our Flip Caps look like a normal hat, but can also transform into a signboard with its patented double bill flip-up feature.
Why blend in when you can Stand Out from the crowd.
Jordan Kay, Founder of Rally Flip Cap, is in the studio with Martina demonstrating how everyone can show their team spirit.
Long is the tradition of rally time in baseball, first used by players on the 1977-78 Texas Rangers team but wasn't widely introduced to fans on a national level until the 1986 World Series. The Mets players were seen on TV wearing rally hats in the dugout during a critical game 6 game. Trailing 5-3 in the 10th inning, the Mets came back to win game 6 and then ultimately game 7 to win the championship and forever associating the rally cap with bringing late inning luck.
Rally Flip Cap was invented by Jordan Kay who had the idea to keep the rally hat tradition but put a modern spin on today's style of hats. He teamed up with his brother Ian Kay and Rally Flip Cap was born. Their mission is to enhance fan experience inside and outside of the stadium. Rally Flip Cap is a new twist on rally time that makes it quicker, easier and way more fun to join in on the die-hard fan experience! The best part is you no longer have to turn your lid inside out or balance your hat as a shark fin on top of your head while trying to enjoy the game. The double-billed hats are stealth and look like a regular ball cap. With a flip of your secret second bill, you can instantly enter rally time and stand out from the crowd!
Jordan Kay was a placekicker at Cal Berkeley in the 2007 season and it was important for him to bring in his Cal family into the Rally Flip Cap experience. He created two Cal licensed rally hats that allows students, alumni, and Cal fans to show off their pride and support the school with a portion of each purchase going to teaching and research activities at UC Berkeley.
There are two styles of the Berkeley hats which were invented by Jordan Kay a Berkeley '09 alumni and placekicker. The former UC Berkeley student who graduated with a degree in American studies did his homework. It took him three years to trademark, develop, patent, and conduct market research regarding his original concept.
Rally Flip Cap a family business founded by two brothers, Jordan Kay a former Berkeley alumni and placekicker, and Ian Kay are pleased to announce they have two new products to add to their range of caps. The two new baseball caps invented by Jordan Kay include the Cal Go Bears Hat and the Cal Dry Erase Hat. Rally time just got better.
The two official licensed products have become a talking point around the USA with sports fans and baseball cap enthusiasts. Jordan Kay looked at all the baseball caps from the days of 1860 when the Brooklyn Excelsiors first wore a ball cap and decided a major new design feature was needed to add more fun while enhancing the fan experience inside and outside of the stadium.
The Cal Go Bears Cap (http://www.rallyflipcap.com/cal-go-bears-hat/) displays the word Cal in stylish letters, but when people want to give their support to their team they use the hidden flip feature, which displays Go Bears. The flip design feature is functional and stealth, but it doesn't stop there. Jordan wanted to add a new feature and designed a Cal Dry Erase Cap.
The Dry Erase Cap has caused excitement and curiosity with hat lovers and fans of all kind by having a hidden flip feature that allows them to write their own words and erase them when they want a new message displayed (http://www.rallyflipcap.com/cal-dry-erase-hat/). With the erase pen any message can be displayed including let's win the game, marry me, or would you like to go to the prom (makes for a great ice breaker). With the hidden flip feature and the dry erase feature, it has become the most unique baseball cap on the planet because it looks like a regular hat.
Jordan Kay was a Berkeley student from 2004 -2009. He was a walk on placekicker and in the Fall of 2007, he earned himself a scholarship under the leadership of then coach Jeff Tedford. During his time as a placekicker, he shared the field with NFL players Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett, Alex Mack, DeSean Jackson, Chris Conte, Bryan Anger, to name a few.
Behind every small business there is a family.