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Salt and Driftwood Collection
Salish Summer Collection
'At Home In The Wild' Watercolour Collection
Wild Pacific Collection
Following the Curve of Time
West Coast Watercolours
Sail Away with Me
Watercolor Ambassador
Tales of an Artist Afloat
A modern tiki at the performance platform at Atuona
Our cruiser friends Shelley and Mike affectionately refer to Atuona as 'the city'. In reality there's only just enough of it to constitute a town, but we were delighted to find a cluster of well-stocked grocery stores, a couple of restaurants and two museums. The town is perched just above a sweeping black sand beach with a constant rolling surf. It's very beautiful, with mountain peaks rising above the bay and horses galloping along the tideline. However, it's hopeless as an anchorage, so cruising yachts congregate a twenty-minute walk away in a more sheltered spot.
One of our priorities was finding internet access, so we called in to 'Eliane's Salon du The and Cybercafe,' featured in our Lonely Planet and on the little map we picked up at Tourist Information. The long driveway was a little tricky to find and the cybercafé part seemed shut up, but the teahouse door was wide open so we bowled on in. Inside looked cozy and homely, just like someone's living room. It was a cute idea, though the proprietor seemed very surprised to see us. We asked if it would be possible to use the internet. No, it wasn't- the teahouse was closed, permanently, and we'd just invited ourselves in to his lounge. He was very nice and calm about it really. Retreating from our impromptu home invasion as gracefully as we could, we backtracked to Snack Make Make on the mainstreet- after ensuring that it really was open for business.
Our other priority was to get petrol- unleaded for the dinghy engine and diesel for Prism. But the gas station was out of unleaded, and there wouldn't be any until Saturday when the Toporo came in from Tahiti to deliver it. Diesel was available, so we commenced a morning of shuttle runs with our 20 litre jerry can, keeping carefully tally of the number of times we refilled so we could pay at the end. Initially I was on heavy lifting duty to save Jim's ankles, but I was released from service whilst he did the last few fills so I could go to the Musee de Gaugin.
Sentinel. I added a background inspired by the mountains round Atuona.
Paul Gaugin spent the last few years of his life here in Atuona, in search of 'the noble savage.' His paintings here, scorned at the time, helped to revolutionise art. His Polynesian paintings are fantasies of colour, as he didn't paint what he saw but what he felt. Green horses wade through tumbling steams in the shade of purple trees, whilst women laze alongside pink beaches. Sinister figures stand in the forests- guardians? Spirits? Demons? Strange as some of his choices are, they make sense when viewed here, surrounded by the landscape and culture that inspired them. Many of the scenes- women in colourful pareus (sarongs) and men in white singlets riding stocky Marquesan ponies- haven't changed much in the last century. Paul probably wouldn't approve of the satellite dishes and 4x4 vehicles, but I think he'd appreciate and recognise the rich and vibrant culture, and would be glad that missionaries and French ultimately failed in achieving cultural homogenisation.
The paintings in the museum are all replicas of works hanging in galleries through Europe and America, ordered chronologically from his early works in Brittany to his vibrant canvases from Tahiti and Hiva Oa. Hanging under traditionally styled high pointed roofs, they feel real enough, and the geckos calling from the eaves and scuttling along the tops of the artworks just add to the atmosphere. Outside is a reconstruction of the House of Pleasure, a two-storied hut with shutters that lift up to let in the breeze, looking down on the well that provided Gaugin with the cold water for his absinthe. The museum has a cabinet full of objects found on the site; chunks of paint, absinthe bottles, morphine ampoules, broken pottery. A time capsule of junk that sheds light onto a life which ended a century ago, and helped change art forever.
Sketching at Iipona
One of the highlights of Hiva Oa is its wealth of archaeological sites. We organised to hire a car with our Belgian friends Geert and Cindy, and their visiting friend Tim. The car turned out to be a truck, an enormous tank of a 4x4, and I was very happy when Geert said he would drive. The Toporo was unloading, and half the island was there to receive crates and packages- everything from speedboats to kids' bikes to planks of wood emerged from the hold. Geert negotiated the chaos and we were soon on the road, heading northeast to the archaeological remains at Iipona. The road meandered along ridges and saddles with stunning views of teal-blue bays, then zigzagged up and down mountainsides in snaking switchbacks. We rose from rich jungle to arid scrubland, kept scrubby by the munchings of wild goats. The road changed from concrete to dust and rocks, and herds of wild horses trotted across the track. We rattled our way along, keeping an eye out for wild bananas and cheering whenever our bouncing backsides were spared by an all-to-brief concrete section.
The plunging hillsides made bananas hard to access- all too often they dangled just out of reach over a sheer drop, and the bunches which were easy to get to usually had a house lurking in the background- not so wild after all. Eventually we spotted a papaya tree in the middle of nowhere. A machete-wielding Geert balanced on Tim's shoulders to reach up to the top. The ripe fruit were rotten or munched by rats, but he managed to get some green papayas, which we hoped would ripen in the tropical sun.
After a couple of hours of rutted roads and postcard-worthy photo stops, we reached Iipona. We'd been instructed to pay a small fee at a snack near the waterfront, and were then given directions to get to the archaeological site. The grounds were very well kept, with mown lawns and pretty plantings. It almost felt too pristine, and I was most drawn to the outer edges where ruggedly cuboid rocks rested beneath the shady bows of banyan trees. Somehow the glorious sunshine burned off the mystery of the place, and I wondered how it would feel on a misty day.
There were five tiki altogether, in various states of repair after their encounters with warring tribes and Christian missionaries. They were the biggest I'd seen, the largest standing at 2.6 metres, staring sternly over the gardens. I was most drawn to a female tiki in a horizontal pose. The regular interpretation is that she is lying down to give birth, and is a symbol of fertility. With her arms stretched out in front of her, her toes pointed and a beaming smile on her face, to me she appeared to be flying, adventurous and free. Birth or flight- either way she has a new world ahead of her.
Geert, Tim and Cindy drove back to the village to try and find some lunch, and Jim and I stayed to draw then have a picnic amongst the tiki. A small French tour group came through, deciding that wherever I was sketching was obviously the best angle for a photo so could I please move. Or else I would be in their photo so could I please move. I retreated to the spot where Jim had spread out our crackers and cheese, and sat down for lunch. Of course, this turned out to be precisely THE best spot to take photos- so could we please move. We were glad so see them go so we could finish lunch in a single place. The next arrivals were a couple from New York along with their guide. As the couple set off exploring, the guide stopped to talk to us. He explained that there are dozens more tiki scattered across the island, many only known to the boar hunters who know the forests well. He saw missionaries and archaeologists as the enemies- missionaries break the tiki and archaeologists spirit them away. I hoped his opinion was a few decades out of date, but loved the thought of an army of statues scattered through the jungle. On this sparsely populated island I wondered how many are as yet totally undiscovered, their weather-beaten faces seen only by boar, goats and ponies.
The guide paged through my Tahuata sketchbook as his tourists rejoined us, and I was excited and gratified when he recognized the lead dancer from Fatu Hiva. He also identified a tattooed warrior as being his cousin. We all chatted about travel and he drew our attention to a carved animal beneath the glorious flying tiki. It's usually interpreted as being a dog or goat, but it looks exactly like a llama. Not impossible- Polynesians quite probably made it to Peru, bringing back with them kumara (sweet potatoes) and really confusing Thor Heyerdal, who assumed that it was the point of origin for the entire Polynesian migration. It is not inconceivable that Marquesan sailors saw llamas and came back home to carve them, although I draw the line at believing the guide's story that his ancestors built Macchu Piccu. Of course, it's also not inconceivable that the carving is just a badly done goat.
The New Yorkers departed and the Belgians returned. We piled into the ute to rattle our way back round the mountains to Atuona. With an hour or so of daylight left, we drove round to Taaoa and the multileveled platforms of Tohua Upeke. Soft golden light filtered through the dangling tangles of the banyans, kissing the wild undergrowth and the platforms of dark volcanic rocks with a magical light. I'd found the primal wildness that had been missing from Iipona. Wandering farther into the site took us to a collection of banyan trees, where we discovered a squat square tiki with round eyes and a wide smile. The path to reach him was overgrown, we had the site to ourselves, and I felt a little like an explorer as I paused a few seconds for a very quick sketch. Then it was back to 'the city', stopping to photograph the sunset over the rocky coastline as we headed towards civilization and dinner. The restaurant had a Christmas tree and fairy lights, the wine was cold, the pizza delicious, and the service surly after Jim switched his side order from rice to fries shortly before it was due to arrive.
The following day was Christmas Eve, and stalls of toys had sprung up outside the largest supermarket. Disney gardening sets and robotic dinosaurs competed for space with fairy castles, and Christmas had come early for one little boy delightedly sitting in a small electric car. Our Christmas day itself was quiet. Cindy, Tim and Geert had left for the Tuamotus and the anchorage was thinning out. We celebrated with a bottle of St Emillion, good cheese and a tin of roast duck we'd bought back in New Zealand. I sung Christmas carols, somehow forgetting two lines from every song, and illustrated the letters that Jim wrote to family and friends. We enjoyed the peace and reflection as our time in French Polynesia drew to a close. Within a few days we were heading out into the ocean, accompanied by dozens of melon-headed whales who zoomed around the boat, leaping in a joyful escort as we sailed beneath another gorgeous sunset.
The moon was inspired by a woodcarving at the performance site in Atuona. I added the view over the bay.
Tahuata and the Marquesan Islands Art Festival
Music festivals are supposed to be grubby, and the one at Tahuata was no exception. Instead of the traditional British field of mud, we were confronted by dust (which would happily turn into mud if a handy downpour gave it the chance). Consequently, a few of my sketchbook pages have a browner tinge than I would like, but I guess I need to look on it as incorporating a little bit of the island into each image.
It took us a day to sail to Tahuata from Fatu Hiva, and there were already a few boats anchored in the little harbor when we arrived. It was a rather rolly anchorage, and the swell coming in added to the excitement of dinghy landings, bringing a high risk of getting swamped. The small quay had no breakwater, and we were forbidden to tie up to it due to a constant flow of local boats and naval tenders dropping off people, instruments and supplies ready for the festival. Initially we were allowed to tie to a rocky outcrop and use a stern anchor to keep the inflatable zodiac off the sharp rocks, but soon even this was disallowed and we were forced to anchor a distance away from the wharf and swim ashore, or brave the breaking surf to attempt a beach landing (we decided to control how wet we got and anchored out rather than risk the boat in the surf). An added incentive for avoiding the wharf was that the policing of dinghies didn't extend to keeping the local children under control, and they often used tenders near the wharf as swimming platforms and playthings. Apparently our rubberised craft were more tempting than the local wooden or fiberglass boats- or perhaps the consequences of messing with them were rougher! The kids were always quick to help us unload bags, bike and water jugs when we came alongside the quay, so I could forgive their playfulness- though Jim preferred to anchor far enough out to remove temptation from their sights.
Watching the festival set up was entertaining in its own right. Each afternoon a naval ship would arrive in the bay with a new contingent of villagers, who were then ferried ashore along with carefully wrapped costumes, clubs and enormous drums. The residents of the village of Vaitahu joyfully welcomed each boatload of arrivals with singing, drumming and blowing horns and conches. People and packages were loaded into waiting trucks, which formed a snaking procession over the hill to the next bay, where a large hall provided communal lodgings. Soon the waterfront became home to a community of stone carvers, who set up generators and set to work with grinders, hammers and chisels. Lumps of red lava rock transformed into metre tall tiki, which visiting islands would present to Tahuata to grace their tohua- the large stone dance platform. The carvers were happy for us to watch as the features of the figures emerged- bug-eyes, grinning mouths and protruding tummies. Females are often given a long braid or a baby on their belly. Boys are easy to spot. Weavers sat in shady spots, as men and women created skirts, loincloths, tops, headwear and armbands to adorn themselves for the dances.
The festival opened in spectacular fashion, with greetings and dances given by each island in costume. We spotted some familiar faces from Fatu Hiva, garbed in yellow-stained tapa cloth and that fragrant vetiver we'd seen being processed. Representatives of other islands wore skirts of leaves or grass, which fluttered and rippled with every movement. Long hanging strands of moss made graceful tops for the ladies of one island, women from another wore intricate crowns made of ebony and carved bone. Some wore enough vegetation to cover themselves from neck to knees, others preferred to show a bit of midriff and leg. Masculine costumes were even more varied. The chiefs were the most spectacular, with towering headpieces of bone or shell, spectacular black ruffs which broadened their shoulders and thick skirts of frizzed black horsehair. The effect was to awe and intimidate, to convey mana and power- and it worked, especially when topped off with a boar's tooth necklace, intricate tattoos and a carved war club. The other end of the scale had an equal impact- a few tufts of grass, leaves or feathers as a loincloth, a necklace of tusks or carved bone, and very little else. This minimal attire was perfect for showing off extensive tattoos (often combined with a nicely toned physique)!
Each island presented a chant, song and dance in welcome, usually led by a flamboyantly dressed chief or two and supported by the soprano singing of the matriarchs. It was an impressive sight- and sounded incredible when voices layered with the drums. In between, I tried to see how much of the Marquesan announcements I could understand- some words such as 'pakepake' (clap) and 'kaoha nui koutou' (many greetings to you all) are similar or identical to New Zealand Maori. Visiting dignitaries had their chance to speak too- but the heavens were not impressed and promptly opened, causing many of us to seek shelter under nearby marquees whilst the politicians waffled on in the deluge. The rain stopped when the waffle did, and we enjoyed the last performances with slightly muddier backsides as we sat on the tiered rocks and grass of the amphitheater.
The scheduling was definitely operating on island time. The two versions of the timetable only existed in French, differing substantially from each other and from reality. Workshops often failed to materialise if the people scheduled to lead them were too tired, location was often vague and timing was more of a guide than an expectation (a bit like bus schedules in Auckland or Basingstoke). There was no point getting anxious or cross, as the way of life here is to just go with the flow and there was always something to watch- dance and drumming practices on the tohua, bands in the artisan's centre, wood carving, tattooing, or the young man who rode through the village with a Bluetooth speaker strapped to his horse, piping out R'n'B. When events happened, they were wonderful. One morning there was a demonstration of traditional tattooing- called 'patutiki' in Marquesan. The subject lay on woven mats whilst the tattoo artist sat next to him, applying the ink to his skin using a sharp rock. This was tied to a long rod, which was tapped by a second rod to incise the skin and let the ink flow in. A third man gently fanned the subject, and a forth periodically wiped the blood and ink away. It was a much messier process than the modern needles and machines that buzzed away for the rest of the festival. Marquesan patutiki artists are known for the beauty and delicacy of their geometric artwork, and were highly in demand by locals, as well as by tourists wanting a permanent souvenir. So far I remain undecorated…
I also thoroughly enjoyed the lunch put on by the islands. We were told to 'bring a plate,' which in New Zealand means you bring food to be shared. I started planning what I could make, figuring out what vegetables needed to be used soon and trying to decide whether curry or couscous would be better received. Fortunately Cindy from Zensation set me straight before I started cooking- the instructions were literal and we were only expected to bring something to eat off of, preferably something natural and organic. Jim rustled up some coconut shells and we climbed the hill to the next bay.
Marquees with trestle tables were set up waiting for the feast. The food had been cooked in umu- underground ovens made by digging a pit. Fires are lit in the bottom, whilst pigs, taro, plantains and bananas are wrapped in taro leaves and placed in baskets woven from long green pandanus fronds. The baskets are placed in the embers and covered with more layers of leaves, to slowly roast overnight. When it was time for lunch they were unearthed and ceremonially carried to the waiting trestle tables with chanting and dancing. The leaves were unwrapped and their contents transferred to long wooden bowls with beautifully carved handles. Platters of crabs and shellfish were spread out alongside woven banana leaf plates full of fruit and firi firi (coconut doughnuts). Lengths of green bamboo, split in half, made perfect tongs and scoops to serve the dishes, and some people used them as rather stylish-looking plates. Coconuts were also popular- though as one unfortunate soul discovered, they don't work so well if they have a hole in the bottom…
When lunch was announced, I commenced queuing in an orderly British fashion (with only two people in front of me). It soon became clear that politeness wouldn't fill my coconut shell any time soon- not when I was competing with an endless stream of hungry Polynesian males! So I stood my ground and ended up with a chunk of pork and some plantains in my coconut, along with a good dollop of coconut milk with onion and fish sauce. Everything was lean, tender and delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed the sweet rich plantains- though by the time I'd finished, the platters of fruit and firi firi were nothing but peel and memories! Our coconut shells went in the compost, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting with Shelley and Mike from Avatar whilst I sketched the goings on.
Each evening the islands took it in turns to perform in the tohua, culminating in a collaborative dance on the third night. Offerings ranged from seated dances of sedate and elegant hand gestures to energetic performances with much hip wiggling to my favourites- the men performing high-octane cousins of the Maori haka, which sent shivers down my spine with their power. Through it all beat the drums, fast, layered and mighty, thundering as the warriors stamped and chanted with deep, throaty voices. The air was scented with sweet frangipani and vetiver, and the coconut oil that glistened on the performers' skins. I made huge strides in my figure drawing as my hands flew across the paper, trying to reflect the mana of the performers.
My favourite performance was by the islanders of Ua Pou. Flaming torches were passed round and a fiery battle commenced. The flames whirled and clashed together, then flew as the torches were tossed between performers. No one could doubt the bravery of the warriors, energetically brandishing their torches as their grass skirts whirled about them. A quick visit to the tap by the post office was enough to sort out one young man whose costume was glowing, and a few buckets of water after the performance doused a small patch of grass which was smoldering. The next island, Ua Huka, tried to compete by including two cockerels and a live pig in their performance. The animals seemed quite unimpressed and the pig, tied upside down to a pole, vocalized its displeasure, but everyone survived the dance- although only the human cast members were invited to take a bow at the end.
The festivities were cut slightly short- the islanders from Ua Pou and Ua Huka were due to leave earlier than expected, aboard the Aranui. We left before the closing ceremony, keen to avoid the manic traffic that would accompany the departures. It only took an hour to motor to Atuona on the neighbouring island of Hiva Oa, and the Aranui arrived a couple of hours later. It berthed on the quay, and we were treated to the sounds of singing and drumming as we sat outside on Prism, watching the sunset. I don't know when I'll get to hear Polynesian drums again, but relished this chance to enjoy the rhythm for just a little longer.
Confessions of a watercolour addict
We spent a couple of days anchored at Hakatea Bay. It's a little to the west of Taiohae, and the mountains circle the anchorage, creating a dramatic vista and protecting the bay from the worst of the rolling Pacific swell. Being (relatively) still was certainly a welcome change, and meant I could get my paints out without fear of them being catapulted across the cabin. Painting on a rocking boat is probably about as close as watercolours get to being an adrenaline rush...
I had a commission to work on, from a beautiful photo of Mount Maunganui back in New Zealand. I declared a painting day, and transformed the table into full studio mode. I wish I'd videoed the painting of the sunset- the way the watercolours behave when the wet paint hits wet paper is beautiful, and always has a slight edge of unpredictability. With the jewel colours of the sunset it was magic.
A3 watercolour on Arches
Because part of watercolour painting often involves waiting for paint to dry, I like to have a second piece on the go. I'd started a picture of a lemur when I flew back to Auckland to get my US visa sorted out. I'd visited the zoo with my friends Jill and Ethan, and we were entranced watching the ringtail lemurs feasting on strawberries for their lunch. I sketched them as they munched and had got as far as redrawing the sketch on watercolour paper and laying down a background wash. The whimsy of the idea still appealed to me so I decided to finish it off in between working on the larger A3 painting.
A4 watercolour on Bockingford
And then more paintings happened, I found it impossible to put the brush down, the ideas queued in my brain were all clamouring to get out and a second art day was declared. Beautiful valley walks? What beautiful valley walks? They remained unwalked by me.
A3 watercolour on Arches paper
And a bunch of the ideas that have been lurking in my head or loitering in my sketchbook got unleashed. I'm particularly pleased with the mantas- based on a sketch I did in Bora Bora.
A4, watercolour on Arches. Poor photography alert- the paper is actually white and the frame is actually rectangular (with the aid of masking tape!)
The original sketch- in acrylics
Hakatea Bay- our beautiful anchorage. Overcoming my arch nemesis- rocks in watercolour- on A3 Arches paper
Fun with night skies. A3 watercolour on Arches
This morning the brushes had to go back in their roll, and the much-depleted tube of French ultramarine was placed back into the art box along with the rest of the rainbow. We're back in Taiohae, after a dolphin-filled sail back, ready to grab a few more provisions before we head south to the island of Hiva Oa. But we'll do it again soon, watercolour paints- it's been a blast.
Nuku Hiva has been well worth the tricky sail to get here. We've been anchored off the sleepy little town of Taiohae, which boasts a few stores, a craft shop, a number of wood carvers and a few churches. The place is charming, and very genuine. It's not unusual to see someone riding their horse to the post office. Shirts are optional, traditional tattoos are almost compulsory, and boar tusk necklaces are not just worn to impress the tourists. There are hardly any tourists in any case- the place becomes busy when the Aranui is docked, then quickly returns to its usual state of dozy tranquility.
The anchorage is rather rolly, but the holding is good and there's enough to explore that it's worth putting up with the swaying. There's a little quay where we can tie up the dinghy; it's also used by the bonito boats, and we often watch the fishermen unloading their catch. There's a snack, which serves good poisson cru, tasty pastries and delicious pomelo juice, and is always full of locals and yachties (the decent wifi is an added draw). A couple of doors down are the yacht services, where Kevin does laundry and offers assistance with paperwork and parts deliveries.
On Sunday, we went to church. The entrance belongs to a tropical fairy tale- an inviting gateway with turrets, leading to a garden full of tropical blossoms. The cathedral is built of stones brought from each of the archipelagos of French Polynesia, and filled with intricate Marquesan wood carvings. Below the roof are open sides, letting in the light and the breeze. Swifts and song swirl beneath the rafters, as the a cappella choir weave magic in French and Marquesan. Sometimes guitar, drums and ukulele are used as an accompaniment, but they just seem to dilute the whole effect- the magic is in the voices alone. After mass, the congregation retreats to the outer courtyard where pastries and bread pudding are sold under shady marquees. The small children who squawked, complained and pestered their brothers through the service are carted off home, and a few people remain to share gossip beneath the trees. I loitered and sketched until the sun became too hot and we retreated to the snack for a cold juice.
I would have spent longer on this sketch, but my viewpoint seemed to house half the island's mosquito population!
Tohua Koueva is an old communal site up in the hills, in the shade of towering banyan trees. Getting there involves a couple of kilometres of walking upwards, and those inevitable moments when you begin to wonder if the climb will be worth it. In this case- yes it was. The site itself was beautiful, shady, lush and green. The extensive meeting platforms have been restored, and huts have been reconstructed to give a feel for what the site was like a few hundred years ago. There was a film crew there; two intrepid souls had swam from the neighbouring island of Ua Pou to Nuku Hiva, and were now exploring their ancestral and spiritual roots. One of the film crew, Pascal, took an interest in my sketching and took some time to tell me a bit about the site. I was surprised there were no other tourists there, he answered that they don't often get this far. He didn't mind, it allows the local population to enjoy it and connect with their culture. We spent the whole morning there, sketching and exploring, searching for tiki sculptures and absorbing the ambience. I'd happily go back- armed with a small vat of insect repellant!
I've also been working on a series of sketches of tiki. You can find the series so far here!
Sailing into the wind
Land. Solid, stable, firm, immobile, not crashing and smashing or rocking and rolling… I'm very happy to be ashore following our passage from Tahiti to the Marquesas. We were intending to wait for a weather window- southerlies, perhaps, which would speed us along on our way northeast. But none were forecast, despite the pilot charts indicating that southeasterlies should be prevalent at this time of year. So we had to leave anyway.
Sailing into wind is uncomfortable. The waves are against you, so if they reach a reasonable size the boat smashes into them, slowing as she pounds along. Island Prism performs well upwind, and is capable of 5 knots or more in a stiff breeze (respectable for a cruising boat of mature years), but the constant pounding puts strain on boat and crew both so we sometimes find we need to slow her down. And if the wind slows but the swell remains, we are left struggling and wallowing. On our way north, the winds stayed strong and stable- but struggling against the trade winds is no easy task, especially as we didn't want our teeth rattled out of our heads. We made an average speed of four knots, and our trip, predicted to take seven days, stretched out to ten and felt much, much longer.
We even ended up having Jim's birthday at sea, and celebrated with a tin of ravioli and a bar of Whittakers chocolate (the really delicious and distinctive dark Ghana). On passage isn't the best time to have a birthday, but Whittakers isn't a bad way to celebrate. And now we're on land (hooray! Land!), there are rumours of ice cream and pizza at one of the snacks, so we'll be able to celebrate retrospectively.
We're anchored in Taiohae Bay, home to the main town in the Marquesas. The bay rings with the inevitable sound of cockerels, and the crashing of waves upon the black volcanic sands. As we dropped the anchor we could smell the richness of the land- soil and wood carried on the air, with a faint scent of flowers. The mountains rise steeply out of the ocean and are covered with lush green vegetation. This is a place where things like to grow. I didn't draw much on passage- one day I hope to break through the queasy feeling it gives me, but it hasn't happened yet- so when we'd anchored I tried to capture the feeling of the voyage. I think a follow up is needed, with more headwinds.
Andrea England
An Artist Afloat- Painting the world one anchorage at a time.
Being An Artist
Crosshatching
Doodlewash
Goulet
Inktense
Island Prism
Manta Rays
Mishaps
Pingu And Amuk
Sketchbook Skool
West Coast Paintings
When Drawings Go Wrong
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The developers from Kazan Teaching Research and Methodological Center for People with Impaired Hearing Health of KNRTU-KAI presented the mobile application which substitutes and significantly expand the opportunities of the extant purpose-designed device - audio-verbal trainer named "Bekar".
The project was implemented with the grant support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and co-financing of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, said Pavel Nakoryakov, Associate Professor at the Department of Special Technologies in Education at Kazan teaching and research and methodical center.
The main advantage of the application is that the hearing speech simulator is available to any person with limited hearing capabilities, for this it is enough for him to have a smartphone and special headphones.
With a smartphone, teachers will be able to transmit speech information, audio and video files to students during classes, thus the "feedback" function is implemented. It will also be able to help hearing impaired students respond to classes, simplify communication with others, including employers. For students and employees of KUIMTS KNITU-KAI the application is available absolutely free.


European pilots joined aviation stakeholders, today, in signing the 'European Corporate Just Culture Declaration' at a High-Level Conference on 'Saving lives with safety information', in Brussels. The Declaration is a commitment from wide parts of the sector to cooperate at company level to encourage pilots and other safety professionals to report safety occurrences without fear of reprisals. The Declaration comes in the context of the new EU Occurrence Reporting Regulation (ORR 376-2014), which will apply across Europe on 15 Nov., marking an important milestone for Europe's aviation safety system.
But procedures and legislation alone will do little to create an environment of trust, one where safety professionals report possible errors without fear of reprisal or blame. A Just Culture environment is therefore essential to make the new Occurrence Reporting Regulation work in practice.
"At its core, Just Culture is pretty simple: people make 'honest errors' and punishing them for this will make them stop reporting such errors. We will therefore continue to actively honour our commitment made today and do all we can to pave the way for a more open and transparent system, with a clear, documented and easy-to-understand 'Just Culture' that is lived and 'breathed' at all levels of an organisation," said Dirk Polloczek.
"Damned if you do, doomed if you don't" - Does this count for safety reporting in aviation?


21s Century Century Fashion Kit demo with "Dangerous Box" => [ https://youtu.be/Wl4574fxfEo?t=1m13s ] . Warning: Please do not attach a RC LiPo battery directly to a Peltier Cooler without a microcontroller, transistor, and heat sink to manage the power and regulate the heat. The demo video demonstrates how the thermochromatic paint turns clear when the mixture is heated and opaque when it is reheated.
I'm hoping there are plans to use this on the Sparkfun coffee mugs.
The MSDS is lacking in the "what the heck is in this stuff" department... my wife has shown me some clear hair dye that Joico makes ... http://www.sleekhair.com/joi12-clear-mixer.html and I am 50:50 on an experiment... but I need to know if this has any metal components as using anything metallic when coloring hair, if the color that contains a developer, will have a chemical reaction with metal, and in rare cases that chemical reaction can cause the hair to dissolve.
Hi, i want to make a print on t-shirt with this red. I dont know how i will use this production. please help.
Hi, loved the product and couldn´t help to get it but ... have a question, how is the process to follow in order to dye a garment properlly?
It's a weird, new material. Additionally, it's a pigment, not a dye, and doesn't exactly dissolve in water. You may be able to dye with it, but there's no guarantee, and it will definitely take some experimentation. It looks like Dena Molnar and Nicole Tariverdian at MIT had some luck with this; check out their write-up here. Good luck! And if you learn anything new or get awesome results, share them here!
How much paint does 20g mix into?
In the MSDS it says SOLUBILITY IN WATER Dispersible. Does that mean that you could make color changing liquid?
It means it disperses, not dissolves (think colloid).
This reminds me of those Hypercolor shirts back in the 1990s, and those HotWheel cars that could change colors in warm water. Neat stuff!
The way I used it was to place a tiny amount of the powder on the end of a toothpick and mix it into a small pool of clear finger nail polish sitting on a piece of cardboard. This was enough to paint a generous blob onto 5 aluminum framed power resistors using the toothpick.


Looted from Dark Runed Chest that appears after killing Mal'Ganis in Stratholme Past.
Not sure what boss they're from, but when I find it, I'll edit my post.
Looks a little rough for a piece of armor probably once worn by knights of the silver hand. Design is cool, though.
Too bad blizz is repeating their designing alot.... Don't know what I mean? Look at "Same Model As" tab... 22, thats a little too much.
Where are the old, nice pvp and tier models? I want them back in WotLK!
It's really a shame that almost all good lvl 75-80 Northrend shoulders look like this one.. I mean all the same design! Just stupid..


text:
North Little Rock, AR 72114 | Business Hours
2021 Guadalupe ST Suite 260
Austin, TX 78705 | By Appointment Only
AR: 501-798-0004
24/7 Live Phone Answering
TX:737-400-9440
Injury Attorney
Nursing Home Attorney
Medical Malpractice Attorney
Limited-Scope Legal Representation
Unbundled legal services
Injury Attorney > Services > Unbundled legal services – A more affordable way to approach legal services.
Unbundled legal services – A more affordable way to approach legal services.
When a client hires a lawyer, it is normally from the beginning to the end of the case. Unbundled legal services can reduce task and cost.
However, in today's world, more people are representing themselves. Often it is because folks think they do not need or cannot afford a lawyer. With unbundling, a client hires the lawyer only for tasks that are agreed to in advance. For example, a lawyer could write the divorce petition and allow the party to file on his/her own; or one could hire the lawyer to review settlement agreements; or the lawyer could help complete financial documents, including complex matters such as a qualified domestic relations order. Unbundling can also be applied to other types of litigation where litigants are pro se (self-represented).
Unbundling is a method of legal service delivery in which the lawyer breaks down the tasks associated with a client's legal matter and provides representation only pertaining to a defined portion of the client's legal needs. The client accepts responsibility for doing the footwork (such as filing the documents at the courthouse) for the remainder of the legal matter until reaching the desired resolution. Unbundling is also referred to as limited-scope services.
The unfortunate truth is that, in this down economy, many individuals who need legal assistance are either postponing what they can, are going into the courthouse alone without any guidance, or are going online to cut and paste together their own legal documents or turning to non-lawyer legal service companies
Frequently unbundled legal services include:
Conducting legal research
Drafting contracts and agreements
Drafting pleadings, briefs, declarations, or orders
Making limited appearances
Organizing discovery materials
Preparing exhibits
Providing legal guidance or opinions
New York judge outlines guidelines for limited-scope representations
A New York state Court of Claims and acting state Supreme Court justice has extolled the benefits of limited-scope legal representations.
In a guest column published in a Buffalo, N.Y., business journal Richard Dollinger noted New York has embraced such "unbundled" legal services.
Limited-scope legal representations, also called "unbundled legal services," involve actions in which an attorney provides some, but not all, necessary services for a given action. For example, in a child custody case, an attorney may write documents to submit to the court, but the client may gather other documents, thereby reducing the cost of the legal representation.
The judge noted the increasing use of such representations in family law and bankruptcy cases. He also extolled the virtues of such arrangements as helping those with limited financial means: "Most significantly, it expands the availability of legal services and narrows the evident 'justice gap.'"
Though limited-scope legal representations offer various benefits to both attorney and client, the judge contended several facets of such agreements require thorough examination:
Attorneys must clearly and fully explain the limits of their representation and ensure the client understands those limitations, enabling that client to give "informed consent" required by the court system.
Disclosure of legal representation extends beyond the client and includes other parties to an action, potential counsel of other parties and the court system. Such disclosure is necessary for multiple reasons, including proper service of documents.
Communication among parties must be clear to ensure all parties receive relevant information in a timely manner.
State-by-state rules regarding what services an attorney can provide, including those requiring no notice of service to the court.
Ultimately, state organizations governing attorney-court rules must decide what limited-scope representation services to allow and how those services will be provided. The goal of such arrangements remains unchanged — provide necessary legal services to those who may otherwise not be able to access them. -Rick Fahr
Accident LawyerAffordable LawyersAffordable Legal ServicesFamily LawHip ReplacementJohnson & JohnsonLimited Scope RepresentationMass TortMedical MalpracticePersonal InjurySocial Security DisabilityTalcUnbundled AttorneyUnbundled Legal ServicesUncategorized
Common Mistakes To Avoid When Claiming SSD Benefits
Cyberbullying: Harassment in the Facebook Age
The Criteria for Qualifying for Social Security Disability Insurance
Illinois high court endorses limited-scope legal representations
Investors Sue Johnson & Johnson for Losses
"social security attorney" – Google News
SCAM ALERT: Alaska Attorney General say beware of social security scam - KTUU.com January 21, 2020
New York Law Enforcement Officials Operate $10 Million Lab Designed to Crack iPhones - MacRumors January 21, 2020
Barry Dolowich, Tax Tips: Employment vs. independent contractor - Monterey Herald January 21, 2020
HighlandCountyPress.Com (Hillsboro, Ohio) - The Highland County Press January 21, 2020
Biden, Sanders release competing ads on Social Security - POLITICO January 22, 2020
Joe Biden's Long Career as a Deficit Hawk Will Come Back to Bite Him - Slate January 22, 2020
Social Security impostors targeting Alaskans through phone scam - KTVA January 22, 2020
Robbery, Social Security, Inflation, Drugs, and Politics - FXStreet January 21, 2020
Copyright © 2019 | Lisa Douglas is licensed in AR and TX
Social Security Arkansas/Texas | Talcum Powder MDL (Nationwide) | Estates Wills & Trust (Centeral Arkansas) | Personal Injury (Centeral Arkansas) | Faulty Hip Replacements MDL (Arkansas & Surrounding States)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There are millions of surveillance equipment pieces in the world today. In the UK alone, there are over 6.1million surveillance cameras. Now, there is chance that you are being spied on. In fact, it is highly likely that as you read this someone or a program is monitoring you. The world as it is today is a den of surveillance and reality is that we will always be watched.
So who is watching you?
The government for one is spying in citizens, under the popular guise of protecting national security. The government has the resources as well as the capacity to legislate in the favor of watching you.
Businesses are watching you too. The CCTVs at the mall are not only tools for ensuring security, they are also tools for collecting shopping patterns. The mall wants to know what brands are moving and how the customer behaves when he or she is offered different options at the shopping facility.
Your spouse might be watching too. Perhaps he or she has noticed some behavior that is suspicious. She or he then fills your house for example with hidden cameras and other devices such as spy SUB drives.
Your parents might be watching you too. They might try to justify it as protecting you but sometimes it goes much further. The same goes for your boss.
So how can you detect their activities?
Surveillance can be done through things like hidden cameras, car tracking, computer monitoring, remote text message monitoring, computer hacking and phone tracking.
If you for example start hearing a buzz in your house that wasn't there then that might be the hum of a motion camera turning. Strange LED lights can also indicate the presence of a camera. Strange wiring in your car or magnetic attachments under your cars are also indicative of tracking devices. Battery drain on your phone or an unexplained rise in the data usage or unexplained charges in your phone bill is indicative of an unwanted app in your phone.
While there is nothing you can do about the CCCTV in the street or the Google algorithm studying your session cookies, there are things you can do about more brazen attempts at spying on you. You can for example use bug detectors (just Google and you'll find good suggestions there) to try and sniff out hidden microphones and cameras. There are solid security solutions out there for people who do not want to be spied on, on mobile and same goes for other devices.


text:
About MLM
Film & TV Rights Catalog
Sharlene Martin, President
Sharlene Martin, Literary Manager/Producer
In 2003, Sharlene took her passion for great stories and their authors and her years in the entertainment industry, to form Martin Literary & Media Management. Her agency has experienced extraordinary success in sales and alliances. In the years since that time, her remarkable rise in the publishing industry is demonstrated by a rapidly growing list of non-fiction sales to such renowned major publishers as Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, St. Martin's Press, Hachette, Simon and Schuster, as well as to a host of boutique publishers for specialized genre books.
Representing adult nonfiction, she has numerous New York Times bestsellers and high profile books, including: Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six by Anthony Flacco; Picture Perfect: The Jodi Arias Story by Shanna Hogan; Notes Left Behind by Keith & Brooke Desserich; Raffaele Sollecito's book, Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox; HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell's memoir, I Want; Suzanne Hansen's You'll Never Nanny in this Town Again; MaryJo Buttafuocco's Getting It Through My Thick Skull; and The Goldman family's If I Did It, based on the OJ Simpson murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson. Many of Sharlene's authors have had their books boosted as serial reprints in prestigious publications such as Readers' Digest, People Magazine, WHO, and the London Times, and numerous clients have appeared on Oprah. Other client appearances include 60 Minutes, The TODAY Show, The View, Fox and Friends, Good Morning America, The Early Show, 20/20, 48 Hours, Discovery Channel, Inside Edition, The 700 Club, ET, The Insider, ABC Nightline, Dr. Phil, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, HLN, Discovery ID and Fox News.
She is actively doing business with a host of film and TV companies for adaptations of her clients' books. Hallmark Hall of Fame's acclaimed TV movie was based on her client's book, Front of the Class. She was Executive Producer of Lifetime's movie, The Pregnancy Project, which garnered the two top Imagen Awards for Best Primetime Movie/Special and Best Actress (Alexa Vega). She was Co- Creator/Producer of the reality series, DEADLY SINS for Discovery ID, which ran for six seasons. She was the Co-EP with Nancy Glass Productions for the season of specials, EPIC MYSTERIES for Discovery ID. She served as Executive Producer with Outpost Entertainment for A&E's documentary, OJ: Guilty in Vegas. She served as Executive Producer for Apple TV+ straight to series one-hour scripted mystery, HOME BEFORE DARK, directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), based on her client, Hilde Lysiak, a 13-year-old crime reporter and publisher of the Orange Street News, and author of the Scholastic Branches six book series, Hilde Cracks the Case. She Executive Produced for Secrets of a Marine's Wife for Sony Television on Lifetime. She has numerous projects in development with such Amazon, Netflix and Atomic and Mammoth Screen in the UK. Sharlene is a member of the Producers Guild of America and full credits can be seen at www.IMDB.com.
Additionally, she is also the co-author, with Anthony Flacco, of Publish Your Nonfiction Book (Writer's Digest Books) and Literary Fails: Totally (sic)!.
Publishers, editors, writers and entertainment execs who deal with her consistently express their joy in working with someone who is such an avid fan of good writing, as well as an enthusiastic guardian and representative of her clients' work. She employs this personal touch to all her business relationships and credits it with her proven record of success.
Sharlene only represents nonfiction and does not represent screenwriters.
Follow Sharlene on Twitter: @MartinLitMgmt
Sharlene@MartinLit.com
Adria Goetz, Senior Literary Manager
Adria Goetz is a Senior Literary Manager, currently accepting queries for picture books, middle grade, graphic novels, adult fiction, quirky gift books, and devotionals. She represents books for the general market, as well as the Christian market.
She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in English with a Creative Writing emphasis, as well as the Columbia Publishing Course. Adria worked for the Pierce County Library System for two years. Prior to becoming a Literary Manager, Adria fostered her knack for developing creative work during her three years as an intern and assistant at Martin Literary & Media Management. In 2019, she was selected as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree.
If you're not sure if your project is right for Adria, she hopes you send in a query anyway because she would love to take a look at your labor of love! She is specifically looking for:
Picture books: Adria loves magical picture books, stories with heart that feature everyday moments contemporary families experience, and funny, commercial picture books.
Middle Grade: Adria loves a strong voice, a good hook, magical adventures, high concept stories,
and graphic novels.
Adult Fiction: Adria is looking for female-driven Thrillers/Suspense, and Women's Fiction (from upmarket book club fiction, to frothy beach reads).
Adria lives in an old Victorian home in the Seattle area with her husband Alex and their two darling cats, Maple and Mulberry. To learn more about Adria and what she is (and isn't) looking for, check out her wish list. She tweets at @AdriaMGoetz.
Adria@MartinLit.com
Lindsay Guzzardo, Literary Manager - Adult Fiction
Through tenures at Amazon Publishing, Guideposts Books, and Penguin/Signet, Lindsay Guzzardo acquired and edited numerous bestselling titles to fantastic customer and trade reviews, particularly in commercial fiction, women's fiction, and romance.
Now a Literary Manager of adult fiction, Lindsay applies her comprehensive market knowledge and keen editorial instinct to identify and nurture exciting new talent for MLM.
She will consider any adult fiction with a clear, marketable, compelling hook, and strong voice. Her personal tastes align with the following wish list, but she would never shut herself off to The Next Big Thing!
Lindsay is also interested in working with proven genre writers (i.e. previously published, award-winning/nominated, placement in contests, strong platform, etc.) from the elevator pitch onward. Bring her your pitches and she will help direct you which one to pursue, or she can provide you with one to flesh out into a proposal.
She loves:
Fiction that elevates diverse/marginalized voices
WWII-era fiction
Retellings of classic stories (either modern retellings or classic stories told from a different character's perspective)
Fiction exploring family dynamics and relationships (particularly mothers/daughters and sisters)
Amish romance/fiction
Cozy, charming, small-town romance/fiction
Rich, evocative historical fiction
Fiction featuring historical figures
European-set fiction, any era and tone
Dark psychological and domestic suspense
Family dramas that interweave past and present
Gorgeous, lyrical literary fiction
Wholesome, clean fiction and romance
Please submit to Lindsay via Query Manager: https://querymanager.com/query/Lindsay_Guzzardo
Note: Periodically, she pauses incoming queries to tend to her current queue.
Follow her on Twitter: @LindsayGuzzardo
Lindsay@MartinLit.com
Delia Berrigan Fakis, Literary Manager - Adult Nonfiction
I can still remember when I was a little girl, sitting on my daddy's lap in our wicker rocking chair, listening to him read The Monster at the End of This Book, and somehow magically doing Grover's voice all the way through.
Now, I don't know if that's at the root of why I became obsessed with books. My dad also indoctrinated me at a young age with a love of poetry and we've both gone through many frayed editions of Oscar Williams's Immortal Poems of the English Language. It was perfectly normal to hear me quoting Keats, Auden, Houseman, Dickinson, and Shakespeare at high school and college parties.
I grew up in Washington, DC, earned my BA in English from Drew University in Madison, NJ and my MS in Publishing from New York University in New York City. I spent the first 15 years of my career at John Wiley & Sons, the Doris S. Michaels Literary Agency, and was subsequently recruited to Hallmark Cards, Inc. headquarters in Kansas City to help lead the book division.
Now I'm thrilled to have joined a team of brilliant women at Martin Literary Management while also pursuing my J.D. with a concentration on intellectual property.
I'm most interested in representing Adult Nonfiction in the areas of:
History and Current Affairs
If you're a leader in your field and know how to reach your audience, I want to hear from you! If you have a distinct voice, a handle of the craft, and something unique to share with the world, send me a query.
I will also take on select projects that strike my personal interest the areas in literary and commercial fiction, mysteries, and children's picture books.
Submit query letters to Delia@MartinLit.com
Follow me on Twitter @primarilyprose
Delia@MartinLit.com
Sera Rivers, Senior Literary Manager
Sera Rivers is a Senior Literary Manager, currently accepting queries for middle grade and young adult fiction and graphic novels, as well as the occasional picture book.
In 2007, Sera joined SCBWI when her best friend insisted that Sera belonged in the kidlit world. She now attends SCBWI conferences and workshops every year. She's volunteered for the New England chapter since 2012, co-directing NESCBWI's 2017 and 2018 annual spring conferences. In 2009, after immersing herself in the kidlit community, she decided to pursue her passion—a career in the children's book industry. She went back to college, earning her bachelor of arts degree in Creative Writing and Journalism Studies from the University of Massachusetts and her master of fine arts degree in Writing for Children, with a concentration in young adult novels, from Simmons University. Her young adult memoir THE WICKED ONES won the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award.
Sera worked in educational publishing for seven years and launched Avenue A Books, a children's graphic novel imprint at Center for Responsive Schools. As Avenue A's acquiring and managing editor, she worked with new and established children's book writers and illustrators to create picture books and middle grade novels. She loved helping writers and illustrators hone their craft to produce their best work. Now, as an agent, Sera provides editorial feedback to help clients get their manuscripts submission ready.
Please submit to Sera via Query Manager: https://querymanager.com/query/SeraRivers. She tweets at @writeloudly.
Sera believes that words have the power to change lives, and she's looking to represent authors and illustrators who want to make the world a more inclusive, welcoming place for us all. Sera seeks stories that grab her attention from the first page and take her on a wild ride of emotions; stories that move and inspire readers to evaluate their own selves and strive for something more. Her most favorite books make her laugh, cry, and feel so connected to the characters that her heart aches for them when she reads the last page.
In 2021, Sera is excited to sign:
Own Voices: Sera is especially interested in inclusive narratives and #ownvoices representation. She welcomes queries by children's authors and illustrators who identify as BIPOC, LQBTQIA+ and other underrepresented and marginalized identities and cultures.
Sera is specifically looking for:
Young Adult: Sera loves fast-paced, compelling, and mind-bending stories with unreliable narrators. She enjoys stories that incorporate setting as a character (such as Stolen by Lucy Christopher) and twisting plots with endings that are surprising yet inevitable (such as They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera). She would love to see contemporary stories that tackle tough topics, especially if they incorporate a magical element to them (such as We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson); horror (no demonic possessions or gratuitous gore/sex); ghost stories; psychological thrillers; and speculative fiction.
Some of her favorite YA authors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Shaun David Hutchinson, Walter Dean Myers, Amy Reed, Adam Silvera, Courtney Summers, Renée Watson, and Nancy Werlin.
Middle Grade: Sera is seeking voice-driven contemporary stories that tackle tough topics (such as From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks; Melissa's Story by Alex Gino).
Some of Sera's favorite MG authors include Kwame Alexander, Katherine Applegate, Erin Dionne, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Rebecca Stead, and Jacqueline Woodson.
Graphic Novels: Sera would love to represent more graphic stories in all genres of the children's market, especially stories with a parallel imaginative or magical world to them (such as Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani).
Some of Sera's favorite graphic novelists include Cece Bell, Jerry Craft, Victoria Jameson, David Small, and Gene Luen Yang.
Picture Books: Sera is only looking for picture books that tackle tough topics (such as Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty and Bryan Collier; The Breaking News by Sarah Reul); horror (such as Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown; Bone Dog by Eric Rohmann).
Some of Sera's favorite picture book authors and illustrators include Deborah Freedman, Ezra Jack Keats, Jon Klassen, Larissa Marantz, Yuyi Morales, Kadir Nelson, Raul the Third, Dan Santat, Allen Say, and David Weisner.
Sera is not looking for:
high fantasy, historical fiction, or adult fiction or nonfiction.
Sera@MartinLit.com
Regina A. Bernard-Carreno , Literary Manager
Regina is a literary manager currently accepting queries for true crime, memoirs, picture books, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, cookbooks, and lifestyle artisan books.
Regina joined Martin Literary Management in 2021. She holds a PhD in Education from the Graduate and University Center at the City University of New York, and graduate degrees in African American Studies from Columbia University and Philosophy from the Graduate Center (CUNY). She holds other degrees in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). Alongside writing and teaching, Regina facilitates Reader Discussion Groups, Private Reading groups and has served as a reader and sometimes editor for both literary and academic journals. She has published widely in academia as well as in trade magazines. The work she hopes to accomplish as a literary manager is to help writers, as well as author-illustrators, think through their projects, see multiple opportunities where perhaps they don't readily exist and help shape their work into successful books. Ultimately, she looks forward to championing great ideas.
Non-Fiction: In non-fiction, she's open to seeing true crime projects (No crimes against children or graphic gore against women/children) as well as memoir. Regina also loves cookbooks that help the reader travel to new places. She wants to see cookbooks that have personal narratives tied to them, whether that's a personal story woven throughout, cultural traditions and practices, and/or dishes that tie together cultural memories. She is also accepting submissions for artisanal projects such as crafting (think knitting, sewing, crafting, home-gardening/homesteading, apothecary/healing, and alternative health practices).
Picture Books: Regina is looking for picture books that deal with a little magical realism, immigrant stories, bilingual picture books, and stories that deal with children and their relationship to animals, earth, and the environment. She'd love to see folktales from a wide variety of places reimagined, especially from authors-illustrators.
Middle Grade: Regina is seeking chapter books and middle-grade novels dealing especially with adventures, solving mysteries, and facing/overcoming hardships and developing friendships.
Graphic Novels: Regina is looking for Middle Grade, Young Adult, and adult graphic novels. She'd love to see more writers of color telling stories of MG & YA and has her eye out for BIPOC creators in this genre. For adult graphic novels, Regina is interested in projects in the vein of Marjane Satrapi's work and projects in that spirit telling of immigrant stories.
Young Adults: Regina would love to receive rom coms of all kinds. Think Hallmark cards and movies geared towards young adults, complete with heartbreak, friendships, and triumph.
Regina@MartinLit.com
Anthony Flacco, Editorial Director/Head of Adaptation Development
Anthony Flacco is the author of five nonfiction books and three historical novels, including the New York Times bestseller Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. His book, Tiny Dancer: The Incredible True Story of a Young Burn Victim's Journey from Afghanistan is an international bestseller. Anthony holds an MFA in screenwriting from the American Film Institute. He completed the Walt Disney Studios Screenwriting Fellowship, and spent a year writing for the Touchstone Pictures division.
Anthony provides guidance to MLM clients who need additional editorial support in fine tuning their proposals and manuscripts. Learn more about Anthony at www.anthonyflacco.com.
Anthony@MartinLit.com
2021-22 MLM College Interns
Emma Caplinger is an intern assisting president and literary manager/producer Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary and Media Management. She is currently a sophomore at Seattle University pursuing a double-major in English literature and psychology. Emma comes from a family of readers and, because of this, has always had a deep love for reading and writing.
As a child, Emma often woke up with her nose in a book after falling asleep while staying up too late reading. Now, she especially loves poetry and personal essays, but enjoys both reading and writing anything from journalistic articles to cheesy romance novels.
Sadie Hutchings is currently a senior at Emerson College studying Writing, Literature, & Publishing. Prior to her time with Adria Goetz at Martin Literary Management, Sadie interned with INCLUDAS Publishing doing design work and continues to volunteer at the small press today. During her time at Emerson, Sadie has taken courses in book editing, social media marketing, and electronic publishing.
Additionally, she has worked on various student-led publications and is currently an Editor in Chief of Emerson's Stork Literary Magazine. As someone who lives with a chronic illness, Sadie is particularly passionate about disability and health representation in storytelling.
Engel Williams is an editorial intern, assisting senior literary manager, Sera Rivers, in the children's book division of Martin Literary. She is currently a junior, majoring in Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
When she was a young girl, Engel learned that books did not in fact spontaneously appear on her bookshelf. Since then, she's been writing speculative and dark fantasy stories. When not writing, she is a fervent collector of hardcover novels. Though her To-Be-Read pile is endless, she's always interested in Young Adult and Adult Fantasy or Science Fiction books with impossible storylines.
Nick Friesen is an editorial intern assisting Literary Manager Lindsay Guzzardo. He is currently a junior at Seattle University, double-majoring in creative writing and film studies. Nick started reading at a very young age and has yet to stop! Throughout his youth, he spent hours upon hours reading and writing his own fantasy novels and short stories.
Today, that passion for the fantastic is still alive, but his tastes have changed slightly. He typically reads a wide range of nonfiction, poetry, and novels of all sorts.
© 2022 by Martin Literary Management


text:
Q: Json deserialization Issue in c#, missing ReadOnlyCollection property value I am trying to Deserialize object with ReadOnlyCollection type property . in bellow code i tying to populate "actors" values using "Actors" values from json,  but it not working .
My Code `
    using System;
    using Newtonsoft.Json;
    using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Reflection;
    using System.Text;
    using System.Threading.Tasks;

    namespace GeneralConsolApp
    {
        public class Program
        {
            public static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                Movie movie = new Movie()
                {
                    MovieID = 1,
                    MovieName = "Die Hard",
                };
                movie.AddActor(new Actor() { ActorID = 101,ActorName= "Bruce Willis"});
                movie.AddActor(new Actor() { ActorID = 102, ActorName = "Samuel L. Jackson" });

                Console.WriteLine("after Actors count : " + movie.Actors.Count);

                var serializedMovie = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(movie);

                var deserializeMovie = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Movie>(serializedMovie, new JsonSerializerSettings
                                                                                {
                                                                                ContractResolver = new TestJsonDefaultContractResolver()
                                                                                });

                Console.WriteLine("after Actors count : " + deserializeMovie.Actors.Count);

            }
        }

        class Movie
        {
            public int MovieID { get; set; }
            public string MovieName { get; set; }

            public System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection<Actor> Actors { get { return actors.AsReadOnly();  } }

            private List<Actor> actors = new List<Actor>();

            public void AddActor(Actor actor)
            {
                actors.Add(actor);
            }

            public void RemoveActor(Actor actor)

            {
                foreach (Actor actor2 in Actors)
                {
                    if (actor2.ActorID == actor.ActorID)
                        actors.Remove(actor2);
                }
            }
        }

        class Actor
        {
            public int ActorID { get; set; }
            public string ActorName { get; set; }
        }

public class TestJsonDefaultContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
    {
        protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(
            MemberInfo member,
            MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
        {
            var prop = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);

            if (!prop.Writable)
            {
                if (prop.DeclaringType == typeof(Movie) && prop.PropertyName == "Actors")
                {
                    //// how to map Actors to actors

                    //prop.ItemConverter = null;  ??? how to use this ?
                }
            }

            return prop;
        }

        protected override IValueProvider CreateMemberValueProvider(MemberInfo member)
        {
            return base.CreateMemberValueProvider(member); //// or use this ??
        }
    }
}

I am trying to override DefaultContractResolver and planned to map "Actors" values to "actors" when we do Deserialization . For that in "CreateProperty" function i tried to use bellow code , but i not get how to do that.
if (!prop.Writable)
            {
                if (prop.DeclaringType == typeof(Movie) && prop.PropertyName == "Actors")
                {
                    //// how to map Actors to actors

                    //prop.ItemConverter = null;  ??? how to use this ?
                }
            }

runcode in online

A: you don't need any contract resolver. Use this Movie class
class Movie
{
    public int MovieID { get; set; }
    public string MovieName { get; set; }
    [JsonIgnore]
    public System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection<Actor> Actors { get { return actors.AsReadOnly(); } }
    [JsonProperty("Actors")]
    private List<Actor> actors;

    public void AddActor(Actor actor)
    {
        if (actors == null) actors = new List<Actor>();
        actors.Add(actor);
    }

    public void RemoveActor(Actor actor)
    {
        if (Actors != null)
            foreach (Actor actor2 in Actors)
            {
                if (actor2.ActorID == actor.ActorID)
                    actors.Remove(actor2);
            }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Raise money for your business before the downturn catches up with you first.
If the economic downturn is causing your sales to slow, you need to quickly raise some cash to tide you over. Sooner is better than later for raising funds, says John Taylor, vice president of research at the National Venture Capital Association. With the stock market trending down, he says, angel and venture investors may feel less flush and be more hesitant to invest in the coming months.
"We are definitely advising people to raise a little bit more while they can and spend a little bit less for the rest of this year," says Flybridge Capital Partners general partner Jeffrey Bussgang.
Online-video company Blackwave Inc. took this advice to heart when it sought $16 million in round B funding late last year. The stock market had already begun to gyrate, so Blackwave president and CEO Robert Rizika, 42, decided to take advantage of the high interest in Blackwave's technology and seek more money than the year-old startup needed right away.
Last December, Blackwave closed on $16 million in VC funding after just two months of fundraising with Flybridge, Globespan Capital Partners and Sigma Partners. The money will be used to get Blackwave's more-efficient video storage product ready to be mass-produced, hire sales reps and begin marketing."It could be tough to raise money in the future," says Rizika, who projects sales for his Acton, Massachusetts, company to reach eight figures this year. "And you never know--development or finding customers could take a little longer than you think."
Choose your targets carefully. Don't waste time on angels or venture capitalists who don't specialize in your industry. Network and try to secure introductions to investors who are in your arena.
Get your ducks in a row. Polish your financial statements, customer references and company pitch before you approach investors. This will eliminate delays while you produce additional documentation.
Don't be afraid of debt. Consider seeking a venture-backed loan rather than venture capital, says Bussgang. The deals can come together fast, and as a bonus, you give up less company equity to investors.


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Removing Parents from Public Schools
It is not an accident. There really is a steady trend by the government and the courts to remove the influence of parents from the public schools.
Lincoln Park High School – Chicago, IL
Photo credit: K Seferovic (CC-By-SA 3.0)
Caffeinated Thought of the Day: Do All to His Glory and Praise
Michael Ramey
Common Core State Standards,
data collection,
parental control of education,
parental influence in public schools,
It is no accident, no coincidence. And it's not just your imagination. There really is a steady trend by the government and the courts to remove the influence of parents from the public schools.
I'm not saying your child's teacher or principal, or even your local school board, is out to get you. Nor am I suggesting some giant system-wide conspiracy, where some shadow organization is secretly working through all different channels to rob you of your rights.
It is something bigger and more dangerous than that.
What we are witnessing is the rise of an ideology, a statist mindset that actually believes that "expert" agents of the state can make better decisions for your child than you can.
In 1979 the Supreme Court held, "The statist notion that governmental power should supersede parental authority in all cases because some parents abuse and neglect children is repugnant to American tradition." Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979), at 603. Unfortunately, a growing, powerful minority no longer find that idea repugnant today.
Instead, they argue that because not all parents are experts in education, parents should not be trusted with educational decisions for their child. Education is far too important; it must be kept in the hands of the experts.
This trend is seen in court cases such as Fields v. Palmdale (2005),which held thatparents have no say in what, when, or how their children are taught about controversial subjects in the public schools; and Parker v. Hurley (2007), which held that parents have no right to opt their children out of objectionable material, even if it does not involve a core curricular subject.
It is also seen in legislative action, such as Congress's 2009 defunding of a voucher program in D.C. that allowed low income families to make school choices for their children. And that perfectly parallels a lawsuit brought in 2013 by the federal government against the state of Louisiana in an attempt to end a similar educational choice program in that state.
For those of you keeping score, our list now covers all three branches of the federal government: the judiciary, the legislative, and the executive.
Perhaps the greatest example of this intrusive statist mindset, however, has been the push to adopt the Common Core State Standards. Conceived by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and fleshed out by trade unions in D.C., the Common Core includes "curriculum standards" that all states must adopt in order to be eligible for federal "Race to the Top" education dollars.
Under Common Core, local school districts and even state departments of education are losing authority over education decisions to a smaller and more centralized group of "experts" who are further away from and less accountable to the real experts: the parents and local school teachers who know those children and work to meet their needs every day.
Common Core is also coupled with a scheme to create a national database of American students. Proponents claim it will allow educators to tailor curriculum to the individual student's needs, but critics see it as a ploy to help big businesses exploit student data for advertising revenue.
Fortunately, parents have started to push back. Several states that adopted the Common Core have since reversed that decision; five states declined to adopt it in the first place. And other states where Common Core was implemented this school year are still seeing parents and lawmakers pushing to retake control of education from the centralized federal powers behind this program.
The ultimate way to push back, of course, will come in 2015 with our newly concerted effort to push the Parental Rights Amendment through the U.S. Congress. This Amendment to the Constitution will secure the "fundamental right" of parents "to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children," including "the right to choose public, private, religious, or home schools, and the right to make reasonable choices within public schools for one's child."
If you have friends or family members, with children in the public schools, who are concerned about Common Core or about the loss of their ability to influence the culture in their child's educational surroundings, be sure to let them know about the PRA. It will not let one family dictate the curriculum for an entire school, but it will allow parents to make choices for their own child, such as the choices that Fieldsand Parker took away.
Your tax dollars pay for the public schools. Yet elitist bureaucrats are making them unsafe for parental rights while pushing their own statist worldview. And anywhere unsafe for parents is unsafe for children.
Working together, we can reverse this trend and restore the rights of parents in the education of their children.
Cross-posted at ParentalRights.org
Big Brother Is Watching Your Kids
Emmett McGroarty, the executive director of the Preserve Innocence Initiative of American…
Should Iowa Require High School Students to Pass U.S. Citizenship Exam?
John Hendrickson: The Civic Education Initiative is a step in the right direction in reversing this great moral problem of civic ignorance among high school graduates.
John Hendrickson
Iowa Withdraws From Common Core Assessment Consortia
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Iowa Dept. of Ed Director Brad Buck informed Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium that Iowa was withdrawing immediately.
School Choice Celebrated at Iowa State Capitol
School choice was touted at a rally on Wednesday at the Iowa State Capitol in light of several active bills that would expand educational freedom.
Michael Ramey is the Director of Communications and Research with <a…


Fast trains from Enschede to Utrecht take around 1 hour and 38 minutes, covering a distance of approximately 122 kilometres. There are frequent services on the rail route between Enschede and Utrecht.
1. Are there direct trains from Enschede to Utrecht?
Direct trains from Enschede to Utrecht have been found.
We usually find around 19 direct trains on the route from Enschede to Utrecht every weekday.
2. How long is the train journey from Enschede to Utrecht?
The Enschede to Utrecht train travel time is normally about 1 hour and 38 minutes, whatever time you make the journey.
3. What are the Enschede to Utrecht train times and schedule?
On weekdays the earliest direct train to Utrecht is usually scheduled to depart Enschede around 04:46 and the last train is around 22:46. At weekends the first train of the day leaves Enschede around 06:16, and the last at 22:46.
What's the Enschede to Utrecht train price?
The earlier you book the better, and the cheapest tickets we've found for trains from Enschede to Utrecht are $52.24.
Trains departing 30 days in advance will cost around $25, and when booking 7 days in advance the price is usually the same. Booking on the day of travel may be more expensive.
When to book Enschede to Utrecht train tickets?
Trains in the Netherlands usually open for booking around 0 days in advance. If booking is not yet open for your dates then you can set a booking alert to receive an email on the day that the cheapest tickets are released for your journey from Enschede to Utrecht by train.
Which train companies operate between Enschede and Utrecht?
InterCity is the train company that operates on the route from Enschede to Utrecht.
Cycling around Amsterdam is one of those things you just have to do as a visitor. However, there are so many quieter cycling trails to discover in the Netherlands, all of which are accessible by train.
Discover Dutch life beyond the capital with one of our quick, easy day trips from Amsterdam by train.


Ever wanted a 12 vs 12 PvP battle in the stars, piloting your scout or gunship?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is finally about to let you become a galactic warrior, conquering the stars, in its latest DLC expansion Galactic Starfighter. Epic 12 vs. 12 battles await, with you dodging in and out of an asteroid belt, trying to get a good shot at your opponent before someone puts the blast on you. Current players who have, or get, Early Access will be enjoying this by December 3rd, while Preferred Status players get this January 14th 2014; everyone else will have to wait until February 14th 2014 to enjoy this free to play offering.
"Our goal with Star Wars: The Old Republic has always been to immerse players into their own Star Wars adventure and huge space battles are a vital part of fulfilling that fantasy," says Jeff Hickman, General Manager of BioWare Austin. The Early Access mob get exclusive paint jobs for their fighter, two pilot suits, and two special titles - Test Pilot and First Galactic Starfighter - of their own. Those with Preferred get two pilot suits and the Test Pilot title, in addition to their early entry to Galactic Starfighter.
Wondering how you get to be Early or Preferred? Well, if you're a former subscriber who dropped off the radar, you get to be Preferred just by rejoining the Old Republic universe. Or you can buy something - anything - from the online store, to get Preferred status. Early status will only be offered to those who have an active subscription on or before November 1st.


I'm sorry WSET. At my age and with my eyesight, I can't see the difference between Deep Purple, Ruby, Garnet or Tawny. (I'm going with Garnet on this one). But looking at Jayson's 2010 red wine Napa Valley, I can tell that it paints the glass with Napa Valley color. Rich, ripe juice with deep fruit that is so particular to and characteristic of Napa Valley. Decadent. So deep it absorbs light like velvet without a sheen. It is one of my "markers" in blind tastings even before inhaling the wine's aroma.
If you're a fan of Napa juice, this may be your chosen glass. At 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, it's only 3% shy of being eligible to be labeled as such. Merlot makes up 17% with 6% from Cabernet Franc and the 5% being made up from Malbec. The significant percentage of Merlot softens the blend allowing for the wine's drinkability on release. It is produced and bottled by Pahlmeyer in Oakville, California and modeled after the blends of Bordeaux, if you accept that Napa can model Bordeaux.
Pahlmeyer is one of those names that causes heads to turn and draws "oohs and aahs" in the trade. "Jayson" wines are created from declassified Pahlmeyer lots, a concept that began in Bordeaux in the 18th century as a means of using high quality lots not chosen for a chateau's premier wines. Some wineries may attach an initial and the numeral "2" as an indication on the label when doing this. Others (particularly in France) will use different names entirely with little indication on the label that the wine has been declassified (so you may not know it is attached to the famous estate). In "Jayson," all the grapes for this wine are grown and vinified by the same standards as for Pahlmeyer wines.
"Jayson" was awarded 90 points from Wine Spectator, commenting that the wine was "… pure, rich and persistent, displaying a vivid core of blackberry, expresso, vanilla bean and dried herb notes." I didn't get the expresso, but enjoyed brown spice that they did not mention.
Whatever you detect, I encourage you to decant this wine and save a remainder for the second day. In my tasting (the first day) I decanted a half bottle, allowed it to air for just under two hours and thought the nose to be all berry dominant. This was enhanced with hints of allspice and clove. The taste was all rich and ripe berry (black) fruit with cassis underlying. The texture was syrupy and glycerin-like; the wine full-bodied. As a "Bordeaux", it lacked (for me) the dust and earthiness of "old world" wine. Although dry, it was not "chewy." In fact, it gave me a "sweet" impression from its level of sun-drenched, warm weather fruit ripeness. Tannins were so smooth they were absorbed into the fruit. All this is intended to be descriptive, not critical. If you find red wine, in general, too dry or your special guest does, again – this could be the wine you want in your glass.
What I got was a rich and supple, easy drinking wine that presents itself elegantly and with a luscious mouthfeel.
Winemizer.net does not accept any advertisements, nor is it affiliated with any winery, vineyard, importer or distributor. You may be assured that any opinions are not economically biased (though they may not be appropriate to your individual and unique palate.


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Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet
Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, (born April 18, 1740, near Exeter, Devonshire, Eng.—died Sept. 11, 1810, Lee, Kent), British financier who established one of the most influential business firms in the history of the United Kingdom. The third son of a German immigrant, he went to London, where he gained experience in two mercantile firms and, in 1763, set up the partnership of John & Francis Baring & Company. At first he acted merely as an import and export commission agent for other merchants, but the house of Baring, known as Baring Brothers and Company after 1806, also bought merchandise on its own account, lent its credit in the form of acceptances, and received deposits of friends and clients. It became a key aid to the British government in financing the wars against France after 1792. Sir Francis also underwrote marine insurance and took an active part in the management of the East India Company, of which he was head in the year 1792–93 and for which he received his baronetcy. He was a friend of Jeremy Bentham, a follower in large measure of Adam Smith, and adviser to numerous politicians, the most notable being William Pitt the Younger.
One admirer stated in the Gentlemen's Magazine that he was, at the time of his death, "unquestionably the first merchant in Europe; first in knowledge and talents, and first in character and opulence." His house led in financing U.S. trade and marketing U.S. bonds, 1815–60; for its subsequent history, see Baring Family.
Article Title: Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet
Date Published: 07 September 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Francis-Baring-1st-Baronet


Distinguish, differentiate, compare and explain what is the difference between Sliding and Rolling Friction. Comparison and Differences.
1 It is the force of friction acting between two bodies which slide or surfaces which are rubbing against each other. It occurs when the surface of one body is rolling against the surface of another body.
2 Rolling of the bodies over others actually reduces the friction. Sliding of the body increases the friction. Hence sliding friction is always larger than rolling friction.
3 It acts as a back-haul external force along the contact area to stop the relative motion. It is a force which attempts to stop the rolling motion by generating a reverse torque and so, rolling friction is a resistive force but not a type of friction.


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In Need of Brains: Notes on AMC's "The Walking Dead"
By Calum Marsh
RICK GRIMES, the hero of AMC's The Walking Dead, cannot resist a good debate. Indeed, he gravitates to them helplessly, dragging fellow survivors into the orbit of his well-honed rhetoric and retort. He seizes every opportunity for deliberation, no matter how grave or trivial the subject: his group's next course of action, who ought to participate in a supply run, whether a captured foe should be freed or murdered, what sorts of vegetables will be grown in a garden. All find him impassioned, parrying the inevitable riposte, eyes narrowed and index finger jabbing the air for emphasis. Occasionally the series conspires to throw a zombie or two his way. Rick dispatches these threats capably and then gets right on back to arguing.
Now, I appreciate that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, even questions of apparent insignificance take on a certain moral weight — as the show has been more than willing to demonstrate, even a quick stroll down to the corner store may prove calamitous for those inclined to heedlessly take it. That debate would rarely subside in such a world seems plausible, even if the incessant chatter takes an inevitable toll on those forced to endure it. But I think it's safe to assume, too, that the writers of The Walking Dead have been inspired at least in part by a televisual precedent. Many of the most esteemed TV shows of the last decade-plus, from HBO's The Wire to AMC's Breaking Bad, are acclaimed for the nuance and sophistication of their moral quandaries, for the complexity of their questions and the ambiguity of their answers. In these shows, decisions have consequences — often messy, always intriguing.
One of Breaking Bad's best qualities, particularly in its early seasons, was how meticulously it plotted the implications of its every action: every late-night excursion required an excuse, every accidental corpse necessitated disposal. The appeal lay not so much in the decisions as in seeing how those decisions might play out over time. You can often see The Walking Dead straining to conceive of drama in these terms, accumulating trauma and parceling out effects, remembering every so often to mention dead characters and catastrophic events. These attempts largely founder. Some time toward the third season, the widower Carol refers in passing to the husband she lost at the beginning of season one, and I expect my reaction was common: Oh right, him. This isn't because The Walking Dead is especially complicated, or even because, compared to its contemporaries, its cast is unmanageably large. It's simply because The Walking Dead doesn't care — not about internal logic, not about emotional or psychological coherence, not about its own ongoing history. And not at all about consequences.
The central miscalculation here, one of which the show's writers seem at least dimly aware, is that short-term satisfaction matters more than long-term care — perhaps a shrewd choice, as ratings are concerned, but a poor one artistically. Rick may spend the majority of his time engaged in debate over the direction his group ought to be travelling or the destination toward which they ought to be headed, but the focus of the show is always on the act of deciding rather than the decision. The decision is irrelevant: the machinations of the plot are governed by the seemingly arbitrary whims of its creators, who summarily whisk their characters from one audience-boosting spectacle to the next with little regard for dramatic integrity or meaning. With a show like Breaking Bad you get the impression that the events are unfolding organically, each action following the last as if it could only be that way. The Walking Dead has no sense of direction whatsoever: characters act without any real motivation, action defers to the superficial jolt of surprise, and in general things seem to happen spontaneously.
This, of course, has been a problem with the series from the beginning — the group's return to a dead-infested city to rescue Merle in the third episode, literally moments after Rick is reunited with his wife and child, was a particular strain on its dramatic credibility — but it became even more pronounced across the first half of the show's second season, when Rick and his dwindling band of survivors take refuge on a remote farm and spend a half-dozen episodes doing more or less nothing. The pretense for their rural sojourn is the accidental shooting of Rick's son, Carl, by a farmhand out hunting for deer. It's a turn of events entirely typical of the show's lazy writing: a sudden intrusion on behalf of fate, appearing without warning out of the ether, ushering in a new dilemma and introducing a quick fix of shock into our systems. And, again, the event has no permanent consequences: Carl is brought to the farmhouse — what luck that its patriarch happens to be a doctor — and, after a few requisite items are scrounged together by the group, the winsome child makes a full recovery. You might think that a shot through the stomach would be an experience of some significance to a child, even one growing up in a zombified world. But no: once he's up and walking, Carl never again so much as mentions his nearly fatal wound.
These are common enough complaints even among fans of The Walking Dead — flaws have become a fixture of the series, and increasingly we've found a need to air our grievances. So why, then, do so many of us continue to tune in week after week, season after season? I suspect we share our reasons. Films about zombies pose a simple question: if the world were overrun by the flesh-eating undead, how would people survive? The Walking Dead, being a television series about zombies, poses the same question and modifies it slightly: if the world were overrun by the flesh-eating undead, how would people survive and keep surviving? This strikes me as an essential reconfiguration. Though the zeitgeist has perhaps exhausted its interest in zombie narratives, the scope of The Walking Dead promises something we have genuinely never seen before: the apocalypse as long game, its effects seen through, unrestrained by a two-hour running time and the limitations of a three-act structure. On television the story has been liberated from its traditional strictures, freed up to imagine how a bold few might live out not their final days or final hours, but their final weeks and months, maybe even years. We want to see what comes after, and the one advantage of The Walking Dead is that, at least while the ratings remain stratospheric, there will always be more after: one more episode, one more season.
It's surely a testament to the intensity of this appeal that, despite the best efforts of its writers, The Walking Dead has yet to entirely squander it. As the show delves into its fourth season, it continues to coast on an apparently indefatigable goodwill, blundering through its premiere as if to remind us that more of the same is still to come. I often wonder if I would prefer that The Walking Dead be worse than it is: it might be easier to stop watching if it were truly awful, or if it gradually expunged its remaining virtues and left only irritation in their wake. As it stands, The Walking Dead is just good enough that I cannot give it up for good, despite my near-constant protestations — and I imagine I'm not the only one. (It's tempting to think of the zombies as a metaphor for those of us still watching: shuffling around mindlessly, occasionally letting out a groan.) The last time it was genuinely great, I think, were the first and second episodes of its third season, when the group of survivors came upon the prison and, having excised uninteresting characters and replaced them with a more appealing lot, a new dynamic began to settle in. Though once again plagued by dismal plotting — we're to believe that they've spent the last eight months circling around a prison without stumbling upon at it even once? — these episodes at least seemed elegant and assured, tightening up the rhythm of the slack second season and doubling down on psychology.
From there, things began to fall apart, as was perhaps inevitable, beginning with an introduction to Woodbury and the Governor, which resembled nothing so much as mid-series Lost. Well, what was a begrudging fan to do? Two great episodes had irrevocably restored the faith, and the brief glimpses of inspiration that followed — Michonne's face-off with Merle and Gargiulo in the woods, the Governor unceremoniously shooting one of his townspeople in the head after infection, the recurring bit with the hitchhiker that bookends the King County bottle episode — successfully sustained the impression that as a whole the series was still worth watching. The Walking Dead seems perversely well-suited to hiding its own flaws, to redirecting our attention momentarily to something surprising or grotesque in the hopes that diversion will be enough. It's strangely attuned to audience response: whenever it senses our encroaching boredom, it kills off a major character or lets loose a shocking revelation. These are the tactics of a series that, for all its flaws, at least seems aware of them. I suppose that's better than nothing.
After mainlining the third season over a day and a half on Netflix, I've come to realize that the most consistently appealing quality of The Walking Dead is in fact its opening titles. Whatever its structural faults as long-form drama, the series has clearly perfected the art of the pre-credits sequence, devising a few minutes of suitably intriguing material to whet the viewer's appetite and then, effortlessly and wonderfully, cueing the first few seconds of the show's main theme at precisely the moment it seems most exciting. They have, it's true, gotten a bit schematic as the series has rolled on — presumably they've run out of ways to pan back and reveal a shuffling horde of zombies in the near distance or whatever it is — and yet it never fails to affect me. This, I think, may be the secret to why so many of us keep watching: however resignedly we tune in, half-expecting to shut it off in frustration, those first two minutes have us hooked. All we need is something vaguely portentous and a clean cut to the titles, and we're fully engaged. What, we think, will be in store for us over the next 43 minutes? Epic battles? Extraordinary turnabouts? We always forget what's most likely: Rick, duly exasperated, ready for another argument.
Calum Marsh is a freelance essayist and critic born in Great Britain and based in Toronto.
Kill The Leading Man: Two Histories of 21st Century Television
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