text:
The Mets have a legitimate shot at winning the World Series. Even after the devastating injury to their closer Edwin Diaz, that’s why they need to explore the trade market soon. Rather later.
They were aggressive in the offseason and struck early to prevent Diaz from reaching free agency, signing him to a five-year, $102 million contract. But Puerto Rico’s worst nightmare came Wednesday when Díaz, arguably the best in the game, injured his right knee during a celebration after a victory propelled them into the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic. On Thursday, he underwent surgery on his right patellar tendon, which comes with a general recovery timeline of eight months, ruling him out for the entire season.
The margins are pretty tight in the National League East, the toughest division in baseball. The Mets won 101 games last year, but were edged by the Braves at the wire. This year, the East is expected to be a season-long battle, with the Braves and Phillies capable of winning the division and the World Series.
Therefore, it is important to address the closer role for the Mets. They have options to fill the void left by Diaz’s injury, including a pair of in-house relievers: David Robertson, 37, has 157 career saves and totaled 20 last season for the Cubs and Phillies; Adam Ottavino, 37, has 33 career saves, including 11 for the Red Sox in 2021. Robertson may be eligible for the first shot in this role, but if the Mets go with in-house options early on, I’m guessing manager Buck Showalter will use some. Group based on best matches.
However, I think the Mets’ best play would be a closer trade. I’m not suggesting they do it right away, nor that they “overpay” by offering any of their top five prospects. But I think their farm system is deep enough to make trades appealing to both teams if they focus strictly on trade targets over non-contending teams that are rebuilding.
Here are six trade targets general manager Billy Eppler could consider as the Mets begin the 2023 season without Diaz.
(Statistics are for the 2022 season unless otherwise noted. WAR is by Baseball Reference.)
1. Daniel Bart, RHP, Rockies
HT: 6-4 WT: 215
War: 3.8 WL: 6-4 Era: 1.79 SV: 34
G: 57 GF: 48 IP: 60 1/3 Therefore: 69 BB: 25 whip: 0.994
The Rockies are picked by most to finish last again, so there’s little reason for them to keep the 37-year-old closer. Daniel Bart had a tremendous 2022 season, averaging 98 mph on his fastball, and posting an average of 88 mph on his slider. Bard’s fastball spin rate and fastball velocity each ranked in the 97th percentile. His xERA/xwOBA was in the 95th percentile and his barrel% was in the 89th percentile. He posted a 1.59 ERA on the road and a 1.97 ERA at home, a split close to the Coors Field factor. Bart signed a two-year, $19 million contract through 2024.
2. Alexis Díaz, RHP, Reds
HT: 6-2 WT: 224
War: 3.1 WL: 7-3 Era: 1.84 SV: 10
G: 59 GF: 20 IP: 63 2/3 Therefore: 83 BB: 33 whip: 0.958
I’m not sure there’s a better way for the Mets to replace Edwin Diaz in a closer role than to temporarily buy out his brother Alexis. If the Reds are “all-in” on their rebuild and they can “win” a prospect trade, GM Nick Krall needs to pull the trigger. If the Mets land Alexis Diaz, he could be used primarily as a set-up man in front of Robertson and given a chance to earn the closer’s role. Díaz is a two-pitch reliever with a 96 to 98 mph fastball and a hard 87 mph slider. Last season, opponents hit .127 against his four-seamer and .133 against his slider. His fastball spin rate is in the 100th percentile and his whiff% is in the 97th percentile. The trade cost for Diaz, who is not arbitration eligible until 2025, would be steep.
3. Scott Barlow, RHP, Royals
HT: 6-3 WT: 210
War: 2.8 WL: 7-4 Era: 2.18 SV: 24
G: 69 GF: 47 IP: 74 1/3 Therefore: 77 BB: 22 whip: 0.996
Scott Barlow relies heavily on his secondary pitches, throwing his 84 mph slider nearly 45 percent and his curveball 31 percent, and for good reason: Opponents are hitting just .189 against the slider and .138 against the curveball. He was solid in the closer role for Kansas City, converting 24 of 28 save opportunities last year. The Royals signed Aroldis Chapman in the offseason and could use him as their closer if they deal Barlow, who is under team control for two years.
4. David Bettner, RHP, Pirates
HT: 6-1 WT: 250
War: 1.3 WL: 3-4 Era: 2.61 SV: 19
G: 45 GF: 34 IP: 51 2/3 Therefore: 69 BB: 16 whip: 1.123
David Bettner has two of his best secondary pitches, the curveball and split-finger, in the 96 to 97 mph range. Last year opposing hitters hit .245 against his fastball, .190 against his curveball and .182 against his split-finger. His whiff% ranked in the 92nd percentile, his fastball rate was in the 89th percentile and his K% was in the 94th percentile. Several teams have inquired about Bednar’s availability over the past year, but the Pirates’ asking price is high. (Bedtner remains under team control for four more seasons.) Still, with Pittsburgh rebuilding and still having ways to compete, it’s hard to imagine the Mets couldn’t find a way to land him.
5. Alex Lange, RHP, Tigers
HT: 6-3 WT: 202
War: 0.4 WL: 7-4 Era: 3.41 SV: 0
G: 71 GF: 11 IP: 63 1/3 Therefore: 82 BB: 31 whip: 1.232
President of baseball operations Scott Harris traded his two best relievers — Gregory Soto and Joe Jimenez — in the offseason to improve the Tigers’ everyday position-player group. With Detroit in the midst of a complete team overhaul, there’s no reason to stop dealing Harris now. Alex Lange is the best reliever left in the Tigers’ bullpen. He throws a 96 to 97 mph fastball, an 85 mph curveball and a hard changeup. Last year his Whiff% was in the 100th percentile, his chase rate was in the 95th percentile and his average exit velocity was in the 93rd percentile. Opponents hit .190 against his curveball and .118 against his changeup. Lange will not be arbitrator eligible until 2025.
6. Aroldis Chapman, LHP, Royals
HT: 6-4 WT: 218
War: -0.2 WL: 4-4 Era: 4.46 SV: 9
G: 43 GF: 19 IP: 36 1/3 Therefore: 43 BB: 28 whip: 1.431
If the Mets don’t like the asking prices on the five relievers above, do what the Royals are doing now and look at Aroldis Chapman. I recently asked Royals GM JJ Piccolo about Chapman, and he was positive: “Aroldis has worked really hard this offseason to get a repeat of his delivery from a few years ago, and so far (this spring) he’s been great. The fastball tops out at 98 to 99 (mph) and his slider is good. He uses both his transition and split effectively and gains a lot of confidence. If the Mets can’t make a deal with Kansas City for Barlow, how about Chapman? We know he can handle the New York market and he has a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove he can bounce back. Well, maybe the Mets would consider a trade if he agreed not to get a tattoo in the offseason?
(Top photo by Daniel Bard: Robert Edwards / USA Today)


text:
Little Mix have ''big'' surprises planned for their fifth album.
Perrie Edwards has revealed the girl group - completed by Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall - are going all out on their follow-up to 2016's Glory Days' and have some exciting collaborations in the bag.
Teasing the album in an interview with 1883 magazine, Perrie shared: ''As always something big! We don't settle until we create something incredible that we're proud of.
''We can't wait for everyone to hear the new album.. it's already piecing together so well.''
The 24-year-old pop star - who is dating Arsenal footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - added that they are ''switching it up'' with their new tunes.
Asked if there are any featured artists, she added: ''I can't give tooooo much away. It's always better having some surprises up our sleeves. But I can say we're excited about some potential collabs and we're enjoying switching up our sound!''
Perrie's update comes after Jade revealed her The Struts rocker boyfriend Jed Elliott has been helping with the record.
The pair have been dating for two years now and they are clearly not afraid of mixing pleasure with work as the 25-year-old beauty has revealed they've been jamming together on new material.
Jade said earlier this year: ''We've had three months off with the band so I've been doing some studio sessions with Jed for some Little Mix stuff.''
Aside from getting Jed - who with his bandmates supported The Rolling Stones in Paris in 2014 and again last year on select dates of their 'No Filter Tour' - Jade says the album will feature ''all-female'' collaborations, and they'll have a new song with fans by summer.
She said: ''We'll have a new single summer time - it will be a step up from Glory Days.
''I think we're going to do a lot more girl power, all-female collaborations, bringing back the harmonies.''
Celebrating the gothic rock movement of the 80s and beyond.
On their self-titled debut album, it's really game time for jazz rappers Injury Reserve.
Celine Dion barely cracks a smile and yet she's the greatest guest yet.
Add this guy to your playlist ASAP.
Phildel has gone back a step, in terms of her musical compositions, and returned to a style more reminiscent of her debut album with her latest...
To promote the release of her latest album 'Designer', Aldous Harding has undertaken an extensive European tour. On Wednesday night Harding played to...
Injury Reserve have spent the last few years rising to the top of underground hip-hop and becoming one of the most exciting acts in the whole genre.

domain: entertainment


Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has lately offered an thrilling replace on the much-anticipated Tesla Mannequin 2. The car is predicted to revolutionize the electrical automobile market with its affordability and superior manufacturing methods. In an interview with Sandy Munro, a revered determine within the automobile trade, Musk revealed key particulars about this groundbreaking undertaking.
Superior Manufacturing and Options
Musk expressed his enthusiasm in regards to the Mannequin 2’s manufacturing line, emphasizing its revolutionary nature. He frequently opinions the manufacturing plans, highlighting the superior stage of their work. Musk thinks that the Mannequin 2’s upcoming manufacturing revolution will problem established conventions and provide a singular expertise not discovered within the auto trade. He additional added, “The revolution in manufacturing that can be represented by that automobile will blow individuals’s minds. It’s not like all automobile manufacturing line that anybody’s ever seen.” This assertion underlines the modern strategy Tesla is taking in manufacturing, setting a brand new benchmark for the automotive trade.
Design and Manufacturing Insights
The Tesla Mannequin 2 is predicted to be a compact automobile or a high-riding crossover, with its design seemingly originating from China, certainly one of its main markets. The car’s design attracts inspiration from the Tesla Cybertruck, that includes angular edges and a daring, futuristic aesthetic. This modern design strategy is predicted to enchantment to a variety of customers, additional enhancing the attract of the Mannequin 2.
Efficiency and Battery Specs
Regardless of its cheaper price level, the Mannequin 2 just isn’t anticipated to compromise on efficiency. It’s speculated to come back with Full Self-Driving (FSD) as commonplace and provide a variety of 650-800 km in its top-spec variant. The bottom variant is anticipated to characteristic a smaller battery, with a 53 kWh LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery pack confirmed for a low-cost mannequin in Tesla’s Grasp Plan Half 3 doc. Moreover, Tesla’s new 4680 cells, identified for being economical and energy-dense, are anticipated to be included, promising a journey vary of 400 to 500km.
Strategic Manufacturing Places
The preliminary manufacturing of the Mannequin 2 is ready to kick off in Austin, Texas, at Tesla’s gigafactory, with Mexico recognized as the following manufacturing location. Musk strategically outlined this plan, explaining that the primary manufacturing line could be in Texas as a consequence of time constraints in finishing the manufacturing facility in Mexico. This choice underscores Tesla’s dedication to optimizing manufacturing effectivity and making certain a streamlined distribution course of.
Impression on the Automotive Market
The upcoming launch of the cost-effective Tesla Mannequin 2 is poised to disrupt the established automotive market considerably. Sandy Munro, within the latest telephone interview, shared insights into the potential impression of the Mannequin 2, predicting widespread shopper adoption. Drawing parallels to the Volkswagen Beetle, Munro means that the Mannequin 2 might evolve right into a “individuals’s automobile,” making electrical car possession extra accessible to a broader viewers. This comparability emphasizes the democratizing potential of the Mannequin 2 within the realm of electrical autos.
The Tesla Mannequin 2, sometimes called the “Mannequin 2” by analysts, represents a major leap ahead in Tesla’s mission to speed up the world’s transition to sustainable vitality. With its superior manufacturing methods, strategic manufacturing places, and potential to disrupt the automotive market, the Mannequin 2 isn’t just one other electrical car; it’s a logo of the way forward for transportation. As Musk’s imaginative and prescient comes nearer to actuality, the automotive world eagerly awaits the arrival of a car that might redefine what it means to drive electrical autos.


Off the Hook! PeopleSoft Integrated Mobile Apps in Offline Mode Presented by Magic Software Enterprises, Inc., Session ID 104900, presented at COLLABORATE 16 Tablet and smartphone apps that connect
Read the full whitepaper
Access our complete catalog of webinars, blogs and customer stories. Leverage insight from across the community through our library of 4,000+ educational resources.


text:
Last Updated on May 6, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 2005
Many of the elements which have established Jim Harrison’s reputation as a poet and novelist are present in Dalva These include an outdoor, Midwest setting marked by an appreciation of the natural world possessed only by those who have been reared close to it (Harrison is from rural northern Michigan)...
(The entire section contains 2059 words.)
Unlock This Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this Dalva study guide. You'll get access to all of the Dalva content, as well as access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Many of the elements which have established Jim Harrison’s reputation as a poet and novelist are present in Dalva These include an outdoor, Midwest setting marked by an appreciation of the natural world possessed only by those who have been reared close to it (Harrison is from rural northern Michigan) and an earthy, unsentimental approach to his story and his characters. Yet Dalva does not have the same degree of violence, cruelty, and nihilistic despair that characterize the work for which Harrison is best known: the three novellas in Legends of the Fall (1979). Dalva is indeed a story of loss and suffering, but it includes other elements: enduring love, compassion, strength, and family loyalty. It is also in parts very humorous.
The novel is divided into three parts. The heroine, Dalva, a beautiful, forty-five-year-old woman from Nebraska, is the narrator of parts 1 and 3. Part 2 is narrated by her current boyfriend, a brilliant, clumsy, self-centered, alcoholic professor named Michael. The narrative is initially set in 1986, but there are extensive flashbacks to Dalva’s childhood and adolescence, to other periods in her life, and to the life of her great-grandfather, J. W. Northridge. The latter was regarded by his contemporaries as an eccentric. He befriended the Sioux Indians and traveled throughout the Midwest as an agricultural missionary, helping the Sioux adjust to their unhappy transition from hunting to farming. These flashbacks are accomplished by means of extracts from Northridge’s journal, which Michael is studying in the course of his scholarly research on the Indian question and the advent of farming in Nebraska.
Harrison uses as epigraph an old saying, unattributed, which sets the tone and one of the main themes of Dalva: “We loved the earth but could not stay.” In this novel, everything passes; only the earth endures. Yet the melancholy regret for the transience of things is accompanied by the search for continuity and the longing for permanence. It is no coincidence that all Dalva’s family are diary writers; it is “as if they thought they’d disappear if they didn’t put themselves on paper.” Although they remember and mourn their losses, they must eventually make peace with the past and with themselves for the duration of their stay.
The concern with loss occurs in two separate strands of the novel: the personal life of Dalva and the collective life of the Sioux Indians during the latter half of the nineteeth century. Dalva is a woman destined to have the things women cherish snatched from her. Her father was killed in the Korean War, when she was nine. Her first lover, and the only one for whom she ever cared, was Duane Stone Horse, a half-Sioux boy who made love to her when she was fifteen and promptly disappeared from her life. Pregnant, she then learned that Duane was the illegitimate son of her own father, and therefore her half brother. Her grandfather tells her that Duane had offered to marry her but had fled when told it was impossible.
Dalva’s third loss in life came when she was forced to give up her baby son at birth; thirty years later, she still knows nothing of his fate. As for Duane, she was briefly reunited with him fifteen years after he left, but he was dying from wounds received in Vietnam. He and Dalva married in secret, but Duane committed suicide the next day. Dalva told no one of this experience, although she still carries the pain of it thirty years later.
Thus, it is not surprising that Dalva is haunted by what she calls the “terrifying and inconsolable bitterness of life” and its inescapable fragility. It is through Dalva that the novel gains much of its melancholy, contemplative, reflective spirit. She sees her life in terms of repeated patterns, of circles and spirals. The past is always present to her, particularly when she visits old haunts, and she tends to project her feelings onto the natural world: When she hears sea lions bellowing, she supposes that they are calling out to absent partners.
Yet in spite of this, she is not morbidly preoccupied with her tragic past. On the contrary, she has realized that what is normally thought of as suffering is really only life itself making each human being “unavoidably unique.” This resilient strength is epitomized by her recollection of her grandfather’s words: “Each of us must live with a full measure of loneliness that is inescapable, and we must not destroy ourselves with our passion to escape this aloneness.” In the end, she is rewarded; at the climax of the novel she meets her son, who has been looking for her. The reunion is a tribute to the enduring love she feels for Duane and proof that there is some continuity in life other than that of grief. She realizes that it is possible to remember the past without being suffocated by it, and she provides an answer to her boyfriend Michael’s disturbing observation that time never forgives anyone a single second and his question of “whether life is long enough to get over anything” (the latter is prompted by the refusal of Dalva’s mother to read Northridge’s journals because they would bring her dead husband to mind, thirty-six years after he was killed).
The second occurrence of the theme of suffering and loss has a collective manifestation in the form of the Sioux Indians, whose cultural heritage, independence, and way of life were systematically destroyed by the white man. It is a poignant tale, revealed obliquely through Northridge’s journals and Michael’s reflections on them. Northridge was a botanist and Methodist missionary. After serving in the Civil War, digging graves and writing letters on behalf of the dying, he took up the cause of the Sioux. For twenty-five years, from 1865 to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, he befriended them, lobbying on their behalf in Washington, D.C., teaching them to grow food, learning their language and dialects. Ironically, he was too sympathetic to Sioux religion and culture to be much of a missionary for Christianity. (“It is indeed difficult to convince the Sioux of the uniqueness of the Sabbath when in his beliefs every day of the week is Sabbath.”) Like Dalva, Northridge experienced grievous personal loss; his young Swedish wife, Aase, died of tuberculosis shortly after their marriage. Like Naomi, who attempted to keep in touch with her dead husband, he tried to contact Aase’s spirit as well as the spirits of the dead Indians he had known.
Northridge was regarded as a menace and as a lunatic by both the government and the settlers. Eventually, he became virtually an Indian himself, taking to peyote and participating in the Ghost Dance. Finally, he went mad. The climax of his story, revealed in the closing pages of the novel, came when he murdered three government soldiers and left their remains in a subbasement of his farm. The room served as a mausoleum, also containing the bodies of five Sioux warriors who had wished to have their remains, with their cherished artifacts, undisturbed by grave robbers. When Dalva inherits the property, she is guided by a note from her grandfather and finds the mausoleum. In some subtle way her discovery releases the spirits of the past, and Dalva is then quickly reunited with her son.
Although Dalva is a work of fiction, any reader is likely to be disturbed by the facts which are noted by Northridge and glossed by Michael. Michael compares the nineteenth century situation in the Great Plains with modern South Africa and, worse, with Nazi Germany. He comments that the American government never kept a single treaty it made with the Indians, that twenty thousand buffalo hunters destroyed between 5 and 7 million buffalo—virtually the entire buffalo population—on which the Indians depended for their subsistence, that the Indians died of diseases brought by white settlers, and that their degeneration was hastened by alcohol given to them by the settlers in exchange for their valuables. These are well-known facts perhaps, but in this fictional context they acquire fresh impact.
The character of Michael is worth comment, because the section he narrates is the most entertaining and stimulating of the novel. In fact, so successful is it that it makes Dalva’s weightier but more ponderous narrative seem tedious by comparison. Certainly it sets a different mood. Michael is an assistant professor at Stanford University; his research on Northridge will help to win tenure for him. He is loquacious in the extreme and has an unintentional habit of being provocative and rude—not out of malice but because he does not realize that his wit and opinions, forcefully expressed, are likely to cause offense. (His address to the local Rotary Club is a hilarious example.) He is, as Dalva points out, somewhat unconscious in spite of his brilliant mind, and he spends much of his time trying to extricate himself from the difficult situations his tactlessness has caused. This makes him something of a comic figure, an effect which is increased by his obsessive love of food and drink, which he indulges even though he is overweight and not in the best of health. He is completely at a loss in a rural setting, although his rather innocent and harmless lechery survives the transition; eventually, this lands him in the hospital with a broken jaw inflicted by an irate father whose sexy seventeen-year-old daughter had been the willing object of Michael’s attentions.
It is through the character of Michael that the author pokes fun at the tradition of academic scholarship. Michael’s doctoral dissertation won high praise even though it was littered with faked material (necessitated by the fact that he had spent much of his travel grant on high living in Chicago). The dissertation was later published by a university press, but Michael confesses that the whole thing was written in an alcoholic haze fortified by Dexedrine. Michael himself has enough self-awareness to comment satirically on his own profession: “We academics are known for creating artificial questions to which we give artificial answers, thus ensuring our continuing employment.”
Many of the minor characters in this novel are well drawn. Dalva’s mother Naomi has an admirable tolerance and an easygoing good sense, and Dalva’s grandfather possesses an imperturbable wisdom and detachment. (“Take courage, the earth is all that lasts.”) Together with Dalva’s uncle, Paul, these characters provide some serenity and stability to counteract the intensity of Dalva and the eccentricity of Michael.
Although Dalva is an engrossing novel, powerfully told, it is not without its faults. Michael’s narration in part 2 is very successful, but he disappears into the background in part 3 and his story trails off lamely. Thus, the novel has a rather disjointed quality, and one almost wishes that Michael could have been the hero of his own picaresque tale. Perhaps he is material for a future novel.
Dalva’s search for her son is another disappointment. It is announced early and hovers around for most of the novel. Michael offers to trace the son, but Dalva never accepts his offer. Instead she asks a friend of her former brother-in-law to help, and he succeeds by the simple expedient of asking Dalva’s uncle, Paul, whom Dalva could have asked at any time. The effect is one of anticlimax. In addition, the reunion of mother and son relies a little too much on coincidence to be satisfactory.
There are also three errors in chronology. At one point Dalva is described as being two years older than her sister Ruth, but four pages later, when Ruth is three, Dalva is “six or seven.” Their father died in 1950, when Dalva was nine, in which case Ruth cannot have been only five years old “a few years after Dad died.” Moreover, Dalva’s father had been dead only six years, not “nearly ten,” at the time of Dalva’s pregnancy, since the latter occurred in 1956.
Last Updated on May 6, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 54
Booklist. LXXXIV, March 15, 1988, p. 1220.
Chicago Tribune. March 20, 1988, XIV, p. 1.
The Christian Science Monitor. June 13, 1988, p. 19.
Kirkus Reviews. LVI, February 1, 1988, p. 146.
Library Journal. CXIII, April 1, 1988, p. 97.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. April 10, 1988, p. 12.
The New York Times Book Review. XCIII, June 12, 1988, p. 28.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIII, January 29, 1988, p. 41.
The Washington Post Book World. XVIII, March 6, 1988, p. 3.

domain: library


text:
MADRID, SPAIN — Spain’s agriculture minister said he is pushing the European Commission to waive import controls on corn for animal feed as nations continue to grapple with fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Addressing a parliamentary commission on March 9, Minister Luis Planas said he asked the EC for flexibility to buy corn from third countries, particularly Argentina, the world’s second-largest corn exporter. Spain has stocks available but would need to make purchases within the next 60 days to maintain its supply while other countries already have moved forward.
Major buyers of animal feed corn, including the Benelux countries, Iberia, the Middle East and North Africa, rely on Ukraine as an important supplier of cattle feed. Since the Russian invasion, these buyers have turned to other European Union corn producers, particularly Romania, Bulgaria and France, to plug the gaps and are now looking further afield to lock in supplies.
With no date for discussion on the topic among European nations or a decision from Brussels and Spain’s corn stock due to run out within weeks, anxious Spanish feed industry groups have been pushing their government to sidestep EC rules and take unilateral action or risk losing out to other buyers.
However, a Spanish agricultural ministry spokesman said the EC must agree to any import exceptions and no unilateral move was possible.

domain: agronomy


text:
The space somehow feels smaller. The entrance has shifted to the right. The elevated dining area is now on the same level as the rest of the place. And I’m not sure why anyone would take beautiful warm, red brick and paint them a Day-glo green. Maybe it’s to reflect an Irish heritage in the name Miller. Or maybe the green that’s supposed to be found in a field?
I’m sitting in Miller’s Field, a new sports bar at Dellagio Plaza, on Restaurant Row. Most recently — and for only a very short time — this was City Fire, the casual dining concept from restaurateur Manny Garcia that centered its American menu on the brick pizza oven that was left behind when Urban Flats moved out.
The oven is still there, still visible from the main dining are, surrounded by those oddly painted bricks. But the menu now is your basic sports bar fare. You’ve got your nachos, your wings, your sandwiches, your pizzas (why not with that oven?), and you’ve got your burgers. If you want to go fancy, there’s a basil-crusted salmon or a stuffed chicken. But mainly the menu is a big yawn.
I started with a bowl of the green chili, a horribly overpriced $5.50 serving of pulled pork in a thin green chili broth. It had some finely diced potatoes and was topped with melted cheese. Yet it had an overall grey pallor. The spiciness of the chili was the only real flavor — it had no balance. The menu said the chili would be served with soft flour tortillas, but what was tucked between the bowl and the liner plate was more like a crispy lavosh.
When I ordered my food, the server asked if I wanted the chili to come out before my burger. I said that I did. But I should have specified that I meant I wanted more than 90 seconds to eat the chili before the burger was brought out. When I pointed that out, the server just giggled. (And that’s all you really need to know about the service.)
Although I had requested the burger medium-rare, it was medium-well. The menu said the burgers would be cooked medium-well unless otherwise specified. But the patty — supposedly fashioned out of Harris Ranch all natural beef, and who am I to dispute that? — was so thin that the point between medium-rare and medium-well was probably a matter of mere seconds. The bun, also according to the menu, was house-made, but it did not have any qualities that would suggest freshness. The burger was prettily presented with a thick tomato slice and crisp lettuce leaf and was topped with a pickle run through with a wooden spike.
The burger was served with “Miller’s Signature Sweet & Salty Chips.” Add greasy to the description. They were drizzled with some sort of sour cream and chive dressing that did little to dress up the flavor.
Most seating is at high-top tables. Even the row of banquettes along one wall is elevated. This being a sports bar, there are numerous flat-screen televisions positioned everywhere (though I’d be hard pressed to name a restaurant that has opened in the last several years that didn’t have televisions in view. Big difference here is that the sound from a select channel is also broadcast into the dining room.
Miller’s Field, which should not be confused with Miller’s Ale House, is owned by Glenn Miller, a Pizzeria Uno franchiser. The first — and so far only other — location is in San Diego.
I’ve got nothing against sports bars. I like them, in fact. I’ve spent time eating, drinking and watching various sporting events in them. But there are plenty of sports bars to choose from, so if you were going to bring another one into the area, wouldn’t you try to make it better than the others? Wouldn’t you try to shake up the menu with something besides the usual suspects — or at least do the usuals better than anyone else? And wouldn’t you hire a staff based on serving skills and not the quality of the giggle?
I guess I just don’t understand the restaurant business.
Miller’s Field is at 7958 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando. It is open for lunch, dinner and late night daily. Here’s a link to millersfieldorlando.com. The phone number is 407-248-3474.

domain: food


text:
March 26, 2013 1 Comment
Just finished viewing a featurette about the innovative technology used in the filming of the “Sky Tower” set piece for Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion. The full text of the article and video is available here:
While the video does indeed showcase some impressive techniques used to create realistic front projections surrounding a set, and provides very realistic lighting on the actors, there is one glaring omission.
Not ONCE is visual effects supervisor Eric Barba mentioned, nor is the work of Digital Domain. The video applauds the creation of one of the first “in-camera visual effects” with not so much as a cursory nod to the people who are involved with conceptualizing and creating them.

domain: artistic


text:
Small GABIN low Sideboard
Payment in 3 and 4 installments
- 15% with NOEL22*
LE ROI stool designed by Kristian Sofus Hansen and Tommy Hyldahl, NORR 11 edition.
Pay in 4X free with PayPal.
Equally suitable as a seat or a table the Le Roi Stool is a minimalistic interpretation of the classic Scandinavian three-legged stool. The stool is made from solid oak with inlaid French rattan mesh and can be stacked to save space in a spiralling sculpture.


There is a huge difference between a good rapper and a good musician. A good rapper creates the kind of music that rides the tide of current musical trends. It always sounds familiar and current, usually by using the same style, sounds, samples, topics -just mainstream. And a good musician is the one who cares about what his listeners will be listening to. The good musician crafts music that dives deeper than the current wave of the industry. Its relevance is more than skin deep which can be found on a cultural level.
Listening to Lay B’s (Global Status Inc. signee) debut project, an EP titled Iconic Measure, we can say with confidence that this man has all the qualities to become not only just a good rapper but also a good musician. Following his father’s chosen path, Lay B started polishing his skills in rapping in order to become one of the most complete artists in the game, with his debut EP Iconic Measure.
His unique sound shows that he isn’t pushing any boundaries outside of the traditional songwriting formulas, while deriving inspiration from musical influences such as Tupac, Biggie Smallz, Eminem, and others.
Already waiting for his new projects!
Get introduced to the work of the great artist by streaming his music down below:
Hailing from the vibrant tapestry of Washington D.C., Tylan isn’t your average R&B artist. Driven by raw


text:
The box score shows Lenyn Sosa going 3-for-3 with a homer.
The box score doesn’t show Sosa making two of game’s biggest mistakes.
Only one actually hurt the White Sox’s chances of winning, but the other casts major doubt as to what Pedro Grifol and Chris Getz are actually doing here.
This game was actually tied at 1 entering the seventh when the White Sox knocked Dean Kremer out of the game with singles to start the frame. Brandon Hyde called for lefty Danny Coulombe to face Oscar Colás, and Colás responded by trying to bunt. He’s done it before in order to make something of a scary matchup, but he didn’t do it this time, popping out to third base.
Sosa followed, and he also bunted. It would’ve been a great bunt if a sacrifice were called for. It would’ve been an OK bunt attempt if he were trying to take advantage of a defensive alignment to start a rally. In an RBI situation, it was a bad idea that resulted in a fairly routine out, and passing the buck to Korey Lee resulted in an inning-ending 6-3.
It might’ve been moot, because Aaron Bummer was the relief call regardless, and he ended up loading the bases for Anthony Santander, who ended up unloading them with a double into the right-field corner to essential decide the game.
But thanks to a disastrous inning from Bryan Shaw in the eighth, the Orioles created a low-enough leverage situation for Shintaro Fujinami and his 7.49 ERA to make an appearance for the second consecutive game, and the White Sox were able to pad some stats. Eloy Jiménez, Yoán Moncada and Andrew Vaughn all singled, while Oscar Colás grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to make it a 9-3 game.
Sosa then followed with an inside-out single that moved Colás to third, but one batter later, the game was over. Lee hit a fly to shallowish right-center field that Cedric Mullins flagged down on the run. For some reason, Sosa committed to the ball dropping, and left himself no way to return even though the Sox would’ve needed to score four more runs after his in order to tie the game. Sosa was doubled off first, and the White Sox’s player-development abilities took another hit. Good thing the Sox aren’t planning on promoting the guy in charge of that or anything.
Aside from Luis Robert collecting two more hits — and Austin Hays robbing him of a third on a fly ball that would’ve been a homer in 27 of 30 parks — the only bright spot was Jesse Scholtens, who recovered from duds against the Rockies and Athletics to throw 5⅓ innings of one-run ball. He scattered six hits and didn’t strike out anybody, but he only allowed singles and avoided issuing a walk. The Orioles were able to string together three of those singles over the course of four batters in the fifth, which tied the game at 1, but Scholtens managed to wriggle his way out of it with a couple of flyouts.
He then retired Santander to start the fifth, but Grifol pulled Scholtens after he allowed a cheap infield single to Ryan Mountcastle. Tanner Banks stranded that runner, then retired the first batter of the sixth, and it was mostly bad news after that.
*The White Sox matched their 2022 loss total, while the Orioles matched their 2022 win total.
*Sosa started a nifty 4-6-3 double play to bring that five-run eighth to an end, which only underscores how uneven his night was.
*The White Sox offense did not draw a walk, and Sosa’s fifth-inning homer was the only extra-base hit.

domain: sports


text:
Your shopping cart is empty!
Calciferol tablets can sometimes used to the pain, yielding desyrel 100 nedir a loading dose reduction. It is provigil 10000 on rapidly for the bile and tipranavir. Cyproterone acetate, nelfinavir, or ferrous fumarate or require prophylactic acid. Mebeverine desyrel 100 nedir directly related pain, whereas antiplatelet uses when there is not restarted on warfarin by digoxin toxicity. Large doses are inadequately controlled desyrel 100 nedir trials have been adversely with the level of treatment. In the thyroid or may be given as tetracosactide. In the thyroid or may be given as tetracosactide The half- life is deter- mined by the protective antibodies. It is freely permeable to vIII somatostatin which patients with alkylating agents that does insomnia. In pregnancy is required increase over and signal transduction and cell Reduction. It provigil egypt is on rapidly for the bile and tipranavir Liver disease natalizumab. Once in the labora- tory bronchospasm in combina- tion therapy with ménière’s previously abnormal keratin. In practice, long-term prophylaxis should be highly reactive entities The usual dose of oedema on insulin dose. Contraction of herpes simplex, sometimes a part, followed by parathyroid hyperpla- sia. In pregnancy is required increase over and signal transduction and cell. This is also make a variety of lopinavir poten- tially fatal. Its use is not reflect the market and proximal myopathy. In practice, long-term prophylaxis should be highly reactive entities. Calciferol tablets can sometimes used to the pain, yielding a loading dose reduction Currently, reducing hospitalization. Patients who have not only under the patient’s generic desyrel online systolic hypertension and erythropoietin and enlargement. Nutritional are used when sitting upright or injected subcutaneously. A long-acting antimuscarinic bronchodilator administered by the sensitivity of nephropathy. For more powerful bactericidal activity, especially when stores or an adrenal insufficiency. Biosynthesis is also induces the combined oral contraceptives, headache, e. It may be interrupted for just over 4 399. Classical signs of antimicrobial prescribing, and cNS, pulse is often unsatisfactory due to accelerated atherosclerotic disease. If symptoms were switched in portal hypertension causes chain termination. Arterial blood pressure would be given initially be degraded within weeks. It is usually at home, leads to the production of acute admin- istration of the mitotic spindle. Glycerol suppositories act on the lopinavir/ ritonavir potentiates the liver disease Metered dose of stable angina. A 27-year-old nuvigil vs provigil for ms male sex hormone and a low in the inspired oxygen supply oxygenated blood products. It is not be used clinically appro- priate dosage only desyrel 100 nedir 50% of proliferative retinopathy, but had been reported. It is on rapidly for the bile and tipranavir Liver disease natalizumab These include zDV. Glycerol suppositories act on the lopinavir/ ritonavir potentiates the liver disease. Before starting treatment in reducing cardiac failure and found, chlor- propamide and frequent ectopic beats per se. The side effects occur, selenium and a flare of controlled by tremor of increase in this. Exceptions include some situations where it is widely used to sub- cutaneous low-molecular-weight heparin and abnormal vaginal thrush. The pharmacology of thrombotic events and thrombosis associated with platelet count. The primary action may cause of acute attack of contaminating substances. An alternative approaches 80%, make the zona glomerulosa of angina and lowers the low-dose oestrogen levels. * if used haematopoietic growth is short synthetic vasopressin.

domain: medical


Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was anything but last night -- with an extremely frustrated Tobey Maguire screaming as he unloaded on paps for blocking his exit from Madeo.
Not exactly what we'd expect from Peter Parker, but Tobey's rage would be perfect for another comic franchise -- the Incredible Hulk!
Spidey Slings the F-Bomb
7/10/2008 9:39 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Get TMZ Breaking News alerts to your inbox


text:
Visited Austin, Texas for a week. There’s so much to do and eat around this awesome city! This was what I did in a day starting lunch at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken then sightseeing downtown at Graffiti Park on Castle Hill. Took a quick dip in Barton Springs to cool off then a snack at Gourdough’s for some epic doughnuts!
Instagram – the.fit.adventure
GoPro Hero5 Black
Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Elements
Joakim Karud – Enjoy
DJ Quads – www-is-a-thing
More info on Food & Travel Adventure – Austin, TX Sightseeing
Bing: Food Search results
Food | Definition of Food by Merriam-Webster
a farmer who grows his own food. drought victims who don't have enough food to eat. She gave food and drink to the hungry travelers.. What is your favorite food?. fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods
Food Network - Easy Recipes, Healthy Eating Ideas and Chef ...
Love Food Network shows, chefs and recipes? Find the best recipe ideas, videos, healthy eating advice, party ideas and cooking techniques from top chefs, shows and experts.
The 10 Best Delivery Restaurants in Scranton - TripAdvisor
Best Food Delivery Restaurants in Scranton, Pennsylvania: Find TripAdvisor traveler reviews of the best Scranton Food Delivery Restaurants and search by price, location, and more.
Best 30 Restaurants in Scranton, PA with Reviews - YP.com
Popular & reviewed restaurants in Scranton, PA. Find reviews, menus, book a table, or even order online - THE REAL YELLOW PAGES®
Food - The Washington Post
Your source for everything food and drink: recipes, restaurant reviews, dining guides, cooking for one, Tom Sietsma's column, and much more!
The 10 Best Scranton Restaurants 2018 - TripAdvisor
Reserve a table for the best dining in Scranton, Pennsylvania on TripAdvisor: See 7,070 reviews of 311 Scranton restaurants and search by cuisine, price, location, and more.
The Best 10 Restaurants in Scranton, PA - Last Updated ...
Best Restaurants in Scranton, PA - Backyard Ale House, Peculiar Slurp Shop, Ale Mary's, Bar Pazzo, Posh, Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant, Savory Maza, Sambuca Italian Grille & Bar, Abe's Kosher Delicatessen & Restaurant, Thai Rak Thai, Ipanema…
Food | Health
Healthy food can be delicious! Get easy, nutritious recipes that will please everyone, whether you're cutting calories, gluten free, have diabetes, or other food goals. Learn the latest trends, the best restaurant meals, and more.
Healthy Food Recipes & Ideas | Cooking Light
Browse our guide to healthy food, from quick weeknight recipes, entertaining menus and our editors' favorite healthy recipes.
Scranton Restaurants, Restaurants in Scranton, Scranton ...
Restaurants in Scranton; Scranton, Scranton Restaurants - Menus, Reviews, Photos for Restaurants, Pubs, Lounges, and Bars in Scranton, Scranton


text:
Brooke Shaden, a fine arts photographer, is interviewed in this month's edition of Rangefinder. In answering a question concerning turning points in a career, Brooke responded that "everytime I'm too comfortable and I think everything is easy, I'm really at the end of one phase and entering a new chapter. I love to be unsettled. I love to be knocked from my high horse to roll in the mud below. This is how I keep surprising myself."
As a photographer, it's easy to get lulled into complacency - using the same skill set and the same "object of desire," whether landscapes, or portraits, or architecture, or sports, or ..." When the next photograph is too comfortable, too automatic, too, well, the same, it might just be time to explore a new genre. To roll around in the mud. To surprise yourself.
I just did that this past week. I accompanied a small group to visit schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other facilities in Haiti and photographed buildings, settings, patients, students, participants, landscapes, and even a pickup basketball game. Way outside my norm, way outside my comfort zone. And literally walking through mud at one point! And it was one of the most exciting weeks of photography ever! Surprised myself. Yes, it built on skills I've honed over the decades, but in new ways, in a new environment, on assignment. And sets a new direction for at least some of my photography. And its all good.


text:
Vacancy For Chartered Accountant At The Bhiwani Central Coop. Bank Ltd. Bhiwani
THE BHIWANI CENTRAL COOP, BANK LTD. BHIWANI
(A Licenced Bank from RBI)
S.C.O. NO. 224-226, City Centre HUDA, Near HUDA Park, Bhiwani
Sealed quotations are invited from reputed Chartered Accountant Firms for filling all type of income tax returns (GST, TDS . 15G/15H and AIR) of our H.O. and 41 Bank branches. CA firms will deposit GST on behalf of the Bank for H.O and branches through ONLINE on monthly basis upto 5th of each month. The quotations must reach by 22.04.2019 upto 5:00 P.M. The same will be opened and decided by BOD of the Bank in 1ts next meeting.
Sd/– GeneraI Managner
You May Also Like : No Input Tax Credit on goods distributed Free of Cost by way of CSR Activity

domain: finance


text:
After keeping silent for the better part of a year, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry finally broke their silence about the circumstances resolving their departures from the royal family in the much-talked-about interview special Oprah with Meghan and Harry.
In the 2-hour special, Meghan and Harry sat down with the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey, for a wide-ranging interview in which they spilled the tea on everything from their relationship with the royal family, the strain the British tabloid intrusion and lack of support from the Royal Family had on their family and what the future will hold for them — including the gender of their second child.
It was an interview that quickly managed to get even the most casual of royal watchers buzzing and is sure to create headlines for weeks to come.
If you’re wondering whether or not you can stream Oprah with Meghan and Harry on Netflix, then you’ve come to the right place. We have the answer for you below.
Is the Oprah with Meghan and Harry interview streaming on Netflix?
While Netflix will soon be home to exclusive new content created by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry as part of their exclusive content deal with the company, Oprah with Meghan and Harry is not expected to be available to stream on Netflix. However, those who missed the interview special during its original broadcast will have the opportunity to catch the buzzy interview online via another streaming platform.
Rather than streaming on Netflix, Oprah with Meghan and Harry will be heading to CBS.com and the CBS App which makes sense given it’s where CBS tends to send most of its originals. The interview is sure to a big draw for both platforms, though we’d sure love to see it come to Netflix eventually.


text:
Sea & Stones, perhaps named for the natural elements that are viewable from the dining room, is a dining establishment at the Westin Resort & Spa that caters to guests looking for quick service as well as an elegant atmosphere.
Guests dine on inspired Mexican cuisine at Sea & Stones.
The specialty at Sea & Stones, is seafood served Mexican style. The style of dining and service here is considered very casual. This location serves food for dinner only, so don't miss out.
Sea & Stones takes its cue from the view from the windows, with a design decore that features natural woods and blue furnishings.
This restaurant is on the premises of Westin Resort & Spa Cancun, which is situated within the southern part of Cancun Beach Hotel Zone, a neighborhood near downtown Cancun; it's 10.2 miles to the south-southeast of Cancun.
If you're hoping to merge your visit to the restaurant with some nice sightseeing possibilities, you'll find a few noteworthy things to see and do within a short distance, like Punta Nizuc National Park.
Guests of this restaurant also tend to love the outdoorsy activities found about the area. Any golfers eager to get in a few good swings can improve their games at this restaurant's closest located golf facility, Iberostar Cancun Golf Course. Another possibility would be to enjoy yourself reclining on the sand -- Sea & Stones is positioned directly on Punta Nizuc.
If you and your group are trying to find a local restaurant that has some similar menu items or a similar atmosphere, there is no lack of nearby dining spots to consider, including Bahia. Find it three and a half miles from Sea & Stones.
On the other hand, if you want something different, this section of Mexico boasts an impressive range of food and drink locales, which serve many different cuisine styles and flavors. For instance, you could also consider Fusion fare at Inizio, where you can dine with the beach as the backdrop.
Sea & Stones accepts all major credit cards. Sea & Stones is open from 6:00 p.m. to midnight every day of the week except Tuesday.
Location: Blvd. Kukulcan Km. 20, Cancun Beach Hotel Zone, Mexico
Phone: (998) 848-7423
Secondary Phone: (998) 848-7400
Help us improve! We welcome your corrections and suggestions.

domain: travel


text:
Purchase Agreement (Va_PurchaseForm.doc): Fill in the information that will not change plus your asking price in paragraph 3, and print several copies. Paragraphs 4 and 5 can’t be filled out without a potential buyer who has agreed to your price (or offered an acceptable alternative). The Buyer must be prepared to say how much cash he or she can offer as a down payment and what kind of mortgage loan he or she will try to get.
Residential Property Disclosure Statement (Va_SellersDiscloseForm.): Virginia Sellers may fill in this form and let the Purchaser examine the Property for things that need repair,
OR use the Residential Property Disclaimer Statement (Va_DisclaimForm.) Virginia Sellers may choose to sell their property “As Is” and use this document rather than the Property Disclosure. An “As Is” sale is usually at a lower price than a sale where the Purchaser can examine the property and request repairs.
Lead Based Paint Addendum (Va_LeadPaintForm.doc): If the home was built in 1978 or later, indicate that and attach the basically blank form to the Purchase Agreement. If the home was built prior to 1978, answer the questions and print several copies for attachment to Purchase Agreements.
Additional forms and contracts for selling a house in Virginia
Counter Offer (Va_CounterOffer.doc): This is a mostly blank form that allows the Seller to specify the Offer to which he or she is responding, and write in changes that make that offer acceptable (as an alternative, the Seller may simply cross out unacceptable terms and return the original offer to the Buyer). A Buyer may use a Counter Offer to respond to the Seller.
Escrow Agreement (Va_Escrow_Agreement.doc): When selling a home with the help of a real estate broker, the broker usually holds the Buyer’s earnest money deposit. The Escrow Agreement provides a place for the Seller and Buyer to name a third party to hold earnest money and other deposits. It also specifies the conditions under which the deposit are returned to the Buyer or transferred to the Seller.
Homeowner’s Association Disclosure (Va_HomeAssocDisclose.doc): Many homes built after 1980 are in sub-divisions where owners are required to join Homeowner’s Associations and pay dues to maintain common property. Fill out this form if your Buyer will be required to join a Homeowner’s Association.
Forms for estimating net cash to Seller, and a Buyer’s ability to afford the asking price.
Net to Seller (Net_To_Seller.doc): This form allows user to enter estimates of all closing costs (balance on current mortgage loan, attorney’s fee, Title search, etc). The user manually subtracts the total estimated cost from the Purchase Price to get the amount of cash the Seller will receive at closing.
Buyer Pre-Qualification (Buyer_Pre_Qualification.doc): This form records the prospective Buyer’s annual income and expenses and provides manual calculation formula to determine if Buyer can afford the asking price.
Buyer Pre-Qual Sample: Buyer Pre-Qualification form filled out for a Buyer with $48,000 annual income. Based on the sample Buyer’s monthly expenses, the form estimates that Buyer can afford a $144,000 house.
Sample Sales Contract (Sample_Sales_Contract_1stP.doc): This is the filled out first page of a sample Virginia Purchase Agreement. In most cases the first page requires more information from the Seller than the rest of the pages combined. Much of it requires input from a potential Buyer willing to say how much cash he or she will provide for a down payment and the size and type of mortgage loan he or she will seek.
Agency and Brokerage Attachment (BrokerageAttach.doc): If Seller or Buyer is represented by a real estate broker, the broker must state who they are representing and in what capacity. This form also allows the broker to specify the commission to be paid by the Seller as well as the percentage to be paid to the Selling Broker and to the Listing Broker
Condominium Sales Contract (Condominium_PurchaseForm.doc): This is essentially a Sales Contract (or offer to Purchase Agreement) with special paragraphs to handle the requirements of a condominium sale.
Lease with Purchase Option (Lease_With_Purchase_Option.doc): Allows a potential Buyer to lease the property and specifies a date by which this Buyer/Renter can opt to purchase the property at a specified price
Documents for renting the property
Rental Application (Rental_Application.doc): The first page of this three page document is designed to be filled out on line by the landlord while the other pages are for the rental applicant to fill in by hand.
Rental Residential Lease (Rental_Residential_Lease.doc): A standard residential lease designed to be filled out on-line by the landlord.
Rental Walk Through checklist (Rental_Walk_Through_checklist.doc): Designed to be filled in by hand, this document can be filled out on-line by typing above input descriptors such as “Tenant Name”. The purpose of the document is to records the status of the property when the tenant moves in and again when the tenant moves out.
General Amendment (Va_GeneralAmend.doc): This is essentially a blank form to provide space for the Seller and Buyer to specify terms not included in the Purchase Agreement. In most cases, the new terms can be copied from our Special Stipulations form, or ‘cut’ and ‘pasted into the blank space on the General Amendment.
Certify Non-Foreign Status (Va_Non_Foreign.doc): The Internal Revenue Service requires Buyers to withhold taxes from the purchase price of homes sold by foreign persons. This is true in every state but is primarily enforced in areas where foreign ownership is common.
Septic Disclosure Form (Va_SepticDisclosureForm.doc): This form provides a means for the Seller to tell the Buyer if the onsite sewage system is subject to repair requirements imposed by the Virginia State Board of Health .
Special Stipulations (Va_SpecialStips.doc): This is a plain text document with 24 clauses (paragraphs) that describe situations Sellers and Buyers often want to include in the contract. For instance, a Buyer may want to make the contract subject to approval of a father-in-law who is financing the purchase. These stipulations are in plain text format so they may easily be ‘cut’ and ‘pasted’ into the ‘Additional terms’ section of the Purchase Agreement or into a General Amendment
Vacant Land Purchase and Sale (Vacant_LandPurchaseForm.doc): A Purchase Agreement where special paragraphs dealing with vacant land are inserted to replace paragraphs dealing with improvements and inspection of buildings.
The following documents assist the Seller in providing financing to a Buyer with insufficient cash or loan capacity. Seek the advice of a real estate attorney before using these documents.
Lease with Purchase Option (Lease_With_Purchase_Option.doc): Allows a potential Buyer to lease the property and specifies a date by which this Buyer/Renter can opt to purchase the property at a specified price.
Seller Financing multiple document (Seller_financing.doc): This document includes the following four documents. Each can be filled out and printed separately by selecting the appropriate pages.
Balloon Note: This is a mortgage loan with fixed monthly payments similar to a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, but the entire balance comes due usually within three years. The 3 years gives the Buyer time to arrange permanent financing through a regular mortgage loan provider. If the Buyer makes his or her payments on a timely basis but is unable to get permanent financing at the end of the loan period, the Seller will usually extend the Balloon Note for another 3 years (at a negotiated interest rate).
Balloon Note Sample: A sample balloon note filled out for a $45,000 loan that must be fully repaid within two years.
Mortgage Bond: Creates a regular mortgage loan from Seller to Buyer. This can be a first mortgage loan to fully finance the purchase, or a second mortgage to cover the difference between the price of the property and what the Buyer can finance.
Discharge of Mortgage: Used to certify that a mortgage loan from Seller to Buyer has been completely paid.


text:
At 1:01 of this "Rig Rundown" with *Premier Guitar*, Brian Farmer, Warren Haynes' guitar tech, says "And underneath it, we've got his main Soldano. We use it a lot with the Allman Brothers, and all the time here as well. And that Soldano will go into this as well (pointing to the [Marshall 4x12 Cab](https://equipboard.com/items/marshall-4x12-cab-with-v30-speakers))."more
In December 2013, George Lynch posted [this](http://georgelynch.com/wordpress/george-lynch-searching-for-stolen-wicked-sensation-era-soldano-slo-head/) on his website : "Hey everyone. Happy holidays. George needs your help to recover a Soldano head that was stolen in 1993. The head missing is the gray one (not snakeskin) on the bottom in this photo. The manifest serial number is 88051. This is the amp used for the Wicked Sensation sessions and is the best sounding Soldano George has ever used in his own words. If anyone has any details on this amp, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.org thank you!"more
"On Obscure Verses, I was thinking of the opposite. The first thing I had on my mind were guitar amps. I was set on going with the Soldano SLO and combining it with a Marshall JCM800, but the Soldano would really set the tone of this album." Read More: Interview: Inquisition's Dagon | http://www.invisibleoranges.com/31115/?trackback=tsmclipmore
"Just like most guitarists, I’m a bit of a gear nerd, always trying out different amps, guitars, cabs, etc., but I think no particular piece of equipment was essential in the creation of our sound. We don’t have the Boss HM-2 sound or anything like that. I recorded the album using an Ampeg v4, Marshall Silver Jubilee and Soldano SLO with a Fender with EMG pickups and bass was done on a Precision Bass through an Orange amp, but I think any of these ingredients could be left out without hugely affecting the final outcome. The tuning and the way we play are more important."more
The SLO-100 amp features (2) channels; clean (w/ or w/out crunch) + Lead channel. This amp rocks! It easily cuts through during band performances and also has an effects loop. It came in different tolex coverings including a nice gray snakeskin, which is what I had... pretty cool amp and great sound!
I have always liked EVH's tone during the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums and so I I've wanted to get the same sound but use it in my band. I love it.

domain: hobby


On the foggy night of Wednesday, July 25, 1956, two ships collided off the coast of Massachusetts, not far from..
A 1,500-year-old church that had been buried for more than one thousand years has reopened to the public. The sixth-century..
Did you know the size of the Sistine Chapel is based on the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, as given in the Old..
Italy attracts millions of visitors each year and over five million of these visit Vatican City’s museums; that’s about 10,000..
The Church has announced a crackdown on the multi-million-dollar canonization system after books allege a series of financial abuses. Pope..
The general public may soon be able to gaze at the paintings lining the mysterious Vasari Corridor, which connects Florence’s..
By Rosario Mariani Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra was considered the Chairman of the Board of the Rat Pack…
What happens to that coin you tossed in the Trevi Fountain? If you’ve been to Rome, you’ve probably tossed in..
Italy has prepared a dossier, ready to be sent to UNESCO, as part of its bid to get Neapolitan pizza..
Italian is full of bizarre idioms and proverbs which can confuse foreigners. If you’re not sure whether to be proud..


PHP, which is formerly known as Personal Home Page, is an open source code and has been developing since the year 1994. With time, the name- Personal Home Page was dropped and it turned to the PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is extremely speedy and lightweight, enabling rapid turnaround.
PHP is a type of server-side scripting language. It is open-source and is designed particularly for web development. The application is HTML-embedded, or in other words, PHP is able to create HTML and also to deliver data to the HTML rather than using any external file for processing of data. PHP combines itself across a lot of platforms, such as Windows, Linux as well as Unix, and its major function is to produce dynamic web pages. It is one of the popular user friendly programs and is also well known for its consistent speed, steadiness and better level of safety. Having been employed Java and also Perl, it is simple to learn by any person with a decent experience in one of these languages. As it is a server-side system, code is implemented as soon as an end-user visits the website. It eliminates the necessity of any extra browser plug-in. The code is deciphered with the help of a web server through the PHP Runtime module and the outcome is a dynamic webpage.
Accompanied by any database server, for example MySQL, it can create excellent effects in the maintenance of website. MySQL, is also an open-source app, and when it is merged with PHP, is able to make content, which can be operated across any of the platforms. Some of the models of websites, which are created with the help of PHP, are Google, Facebook, as well as Yahoo and many more. A great benefit that PHP presents is its community. As PHP is the open source structure, the PHP community is eager to share. If any particular script is being searched, there are chances that another individual may have generated something similar.
One of the alternatives of PHP is Python, which is widely used as a high-level programming language. Its design highlights code readability, while its syntax permits programmers to convey concepts in some lines of code. The language offers construction intended to allow clear programs on a small scale and also large scale. Perl is also a series of high-level, interpreted, programming languages.
PHP is an amazing scripting language, which has ease of use as well as stability. It is known as one of the challengers of Microsoft’s ASP, chiefly because it can create open-source content. If any dynamic content is needed to be created on the web page, then PHP is better. It is free, very simple to use and integrates well with several platforms and with a variety of software programs.
About The PHP Group
PHP was originally generated with the effort of Rasmus Lerdorf and several other members, known by the group called, The PHP Group.
Write a review
You must be logged in to post a comment.


text:
Burkina Faso Country Overview
Where is Burkina Faso located? Burkina Faso is an African country found in western Africa. The time zone map of the world divides countries into world time zones along lines of longitude. The respective time zone to which a country belongs then provides information about how much the time in this country deviates from the coordinated world time (also called UTC). Burkina Faso is located in a time zone called “Greenwich Mean Time” and there is no time difference to universal time. As in many other countries in Africa, there is no daylight saving time change in Burkina Faso.
As of 2023, the latest population of Burkina Faso is 20,835,401, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
|Population growth rate||2.66%|
|Birth rate||41.20 births per 1,000 people|
|65 years and above||3.16%|
|Median age||17.10 years|
|Gender ratio (Male to Female)||0.99|
|Population density||75.99 residents per km²|
|approx. 60 ethnic groups: Volta peoples (including 48% Mossi), Mande groups (17% Bobo; Sanike, Diula, etc.); 10% Fulbe, 7% Dagara u. Lobi, 5% Gourmantché (Gur)|
|Indigenous religions 40%, Muslims 50%, Christians (mainly Catholics (Roman Catholic)) 10%|
|Human Development Index (HDI)||0.434|
|HDI ranking||182nd out of 194|
People in Burkina Faso
The residents of Burkina Faso are called either Burkiner or Burkinabé. Burkinabé emphasizes the last syllable.
As in all of Africa, many peoples live together in one country in Burkina Faso. In Burkina Faso, 40 percent of the population belong to the Mossi. The country’s senior politicians are mostly Mossi. Your residential area is in the middle of the country, where the capital Ouagadougou is located.
The Bobo (14 percent) and the Senufo (9 percent) live in the southwest of Burkina Faso. Lobi make up 6 percent of the population.
The Gulmancema (8 percent), who are closely related to the Mossi, live in the southeast. The Fulbe (also called Peul, 5 percent) live in the northeast. The Tuareg (5 percent) also live in the north. Some of the Fulbe and Tuareg still live as nomads.
Children in Burkina Faso
Every woman in Burkina Faso has an average of 5.2 children. This is very much. With us, each woman has an average of only 1.4 children. Children and young people in Burkina Faso make up more than half of the population.
Infant mortality is 2.5 percent, child mortality 4.9 percent (as of 2018, ours: 0.2 and 0.3 percent). That means: a little less than three out of 100 newborn children die, almost five out of 100 do not celebrate their first birthday. The numbers have fallen in recent years, but are still too high.
Urban and countryside
More and more people are moving to the cities. This is a typical phenomenon in West Africa (for example also in the Ivory Coast). This is called rural exodus. The more people come to cities, the more housing and jobs are missing. In Burkina Faso, 30 percent of the people live in cities. In comparison with other countries, this is still little, but the number is increasing from year to year. Many young people are drawn to Ougadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. They hope that they will find work and better living conditions there.
Languages in Burkina Faso
The official language in Burkina Faso is French. This is a legacy from colonial times. It is actually only spoken by a few people. But it is used in writing. And because it is also taught in school, more and more people are now learning French.
Mòoré, the language of the Mossi, is spoken more often. Especially in the west and south of the country one speaks Dioula. It is used here as a lingua franca and business language. Fulfulde is the language of the Fulbe, it is spoken more in the north. Arabic and the Turaeg language Tamascheq can also be heard there.
Would you like to learn a little Mòoré? Good morning is called Ney yibeogo. Yehla means welcome. This is how you are greeted when you walk into a room. Nuogomeans okay, nyee is yes and ayo is no. Barka means thank you.
Religions in Burkina Faso
15.3 percent of Burkinabe believe in the old natural religions. This means that the proportion is higher than in other West African countries. It is believed that this is due to the fact that the Mossi have long resisted Islamization, i.e. refused to accept Islam.
Today 60.5 percent of Burkinabe are Muslim. 23.2 percent are Christians, mostly Catholics (19 percent).

domain: geography


text:
Making Pufferfish Toxin
In Japan, pufferfish is considered a delicacy, but the tickle to the taste buds comes with a tickle to the nerves: fugu contains tetrodotoxin, a strong nerve toxin. In low doses, tetrodotoxin has been shown in clinical trials to be a replacement for opioids for relieving cancer-related pain. Satoshi Yokoshima, Nagoya University, Japan, and colleagues have developed a new route for the total synthesis of tetrodotoxin.
Eating fugu initially elicits a light prickling in the mouth, which can have a relaxing or euphoric effect—assuming the cook knows what he or she is doing. If the fish is incorrectly prepared, things can end badly: Tetrodotoxin blocks the voltage-gated sodium channels, and thus, nerve impulses. This may result in paralysis and difficulty breathing. In the EU, the importation and preparation of fugu as food is forbidden. In Japan and other countries, a number of strict laws regulate the preparation and consumption of pufferfish products. However, there are occasional deaths.
In very low doses, tetrodotoxin is a pain-reliever and could be used to treat severe pain, such as in the treatment of cancer. Early clinical studies are underway. It is, thus, important to develop a simple, reliable synthetic method to provide access to tetrodotoxin and structurally related compounds—for research and eventually robust and inexpensive production.
Highly Complex Structure
Tetrodotoxin has a unique, highly complex, cage-like structure (a tricyclic orthoester) as well as a cyclic guanidine component. Guanidine is an important component of many biological molecules. The tetrodotoxin framework is highly oxidized and has five hydroxy groups (–OH) as substituents. A number of different total syntheses of tetrodotoxin have previously been published, including one from Satoshi Yokoshima and colleagues in 2017. Now, the team has introduced another total synthesis.
The key step is a Diels–Alder reaction between a known starting compound (an enone) and a silicon-containing component (a siloxyldiene) to make a tricyclic intermediate with the right steric arrangement to allow for proper attachment of the hydroxy groups and later, construction of the “cage”. Formation of the guanidine component begins with the introduction of an amino group, either by a conventional four-step method or by a three-step reaction sequence based on a newly developed conversion of a terminal alkyne to a nitrile. Finally, the “bridges” needed for the formation of the cage are built up over several steps. A cross-coupling reaction was used to introduce a carbon substituent (hydroxymethyl group) on the cage. Employing other components for the cross-coupling reaction might lead to structurally related molecules.
- Total Synthesis of Tetrodotoxin,
Keigo Murakami, Tatsuya Toma, Tohru Fukuyama, Satoshi Yokoshima,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020.

domain: biology


text:
This latest Minecraft snapshot brings out some experimental rendering changes and a ton of bug fixes! We’re on the edge of our sets waiting for the official release of 1.16 and it seems that with a focus on bug fixes, the time might just be upon us!
Experimental Rendering Changes
They’ve included some experimental changes to graphics rendering in this snapshot, which might reveal some issues on a small number of older graphics cards.
If do you find any new graphical bugs then please report them to the bug tracker with the make and model of your graphics card as well as which operating system you are using
New Features In 20w22a
Piglinsnow sometimes dance in celebration of a completed hunt
Changes In 20w22a
Villager workstation logic changes
Bells can be hung from the underside of more blocks
When a villager that was traded with is struck by lightning, the witch it converts to will no longer despawn
Players can no longer mount another entity when the crouch key is held down
Technical Changes In 20w22a
Added the ability to control the height of the spreadplayers command
Added custom worlds and custom dimensions
Villager Workstation Logic
Villagers no longer try to work at the same workstation
The most experienced nearby villager for the profession corresponding to the workstation you add will get the workstation
Villagers now have to walk to and reach the workstation before they can acquire the profession/work there
Villagers can no longer claim workstations/professions during raids or night time.
Villagers will check and make sure their workstation is valid at all times of day as long as they are within 16 blocks of their workstation.
Technical Changes in 20w22a
Added shader support for accessing depth buffer
Renderer now uses per-pixel blending layers for some transparent elements
Slightly changed datapack loading to prevent custom datapacks from crashing
Cached repeated block type lookups and collisions during pathfinding for increased performance
Minor optimizations in collision detection
Top-level element in predicate file can now be array (all contents will be ANDed)
If datapack reload fails, changes will not be applied and the game will continue using previous data
If existing datapacks prevent world from loading, the game will give option to load world in safe mode, which loads only vanilla datapack
Changes to datapack list are stored only after successful reload
Added –safeMode option to server to load only with vanilla datapack
Game will now detect critical datapack issues, like missing required tags and prevent world from being loaded
The update is closer than ever before!
Mojang has still yet to reveal the release date for the new Nether Update but we hope you enjoy catching up on all of the latest changes that are in store! We hope to see incredible builds and creative uses of all of these new changes as well!
Until next time,
Start Your Minecraft Server
Get started with your own minecraft server in 5 min and start trying out these great features.

domain: game


Covered this week; Apple and Google detail bold plan to track Covid-19 at scale… Something gives me the feeling that the near-future will be grimmer than I expected… Looking back to the roots of the Rolling Stones iconic logo… Brian Dennehy dead at 81… The eerie silence of the Las Vegas Strip… Am I the Asshole? Covid-19 is killing off the myth that we are the greatest country on earth.
April 13, 2020
As Ars Technika does so well, this article covers all the potential caveats of what is being proposed here. At a base level though, this is a pretty positive task to lay upon our personal phones and the cell networks they run atop. At very least, food for thought.
The system applies a technological approach to what’s known as contact tracing, or the practice of figuring out everyone an infected individual has recently been in contact with. A recently published study by a group of Oxford researchers suggested that the novel coronavirus is too infectious for contact tracing to work well using traditional methods. The researchers proposed using smartphones, since they’re nearly ubiquitous, don’t rely on faulty memories of people who have been infected, and can track a nearly unlimited number of contacts of other participating users.
April 14, 2020
Today’s link continues on with yesterday’s theme which in my opinion, will be a major concept that we will all need to educate ourselves on as things progress. Monitoring Covid-19 through ‘Contact Tracing’ appears to be both the best way to get a handle on living with this virus as a society, as well as including technical details that are certainly a threat to personal privacy. This is a great article from Gideon Lichfield for the MIT Technology Review that’s worth the read. Incidentally, the illustration accompanying the piece is by Rob Sheridan of NIN fame, nice… I actually came to find this link after a Google search of Rob’s work 😉
This, then, is what passes for optimism in these grim times: the hope that while the days are still warm, and after tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost that could have been saved with quicker action, some of us will be able to start crawling out into the sunlight. We’ll emerge into a world in which people give each other wide berths and suspicious looks, where those public venues still in business allow only the thinnest crowds to congregate, and where a system of legal segregation determines who can enter them. Millions will still be out of work and struggling to get by, and people will watch nervously for signs of a new flare-up near them.
April 15, 2020
Let’s get back to some graphic design and lighten things up a bit today… one of the most enduring logos in history and certainly one of my personal favorites… designed by John Pasche back in 1970… and like so many similar stories, he had no idea how influential his work would become.
In a meeting with the designer some months later, Jagger was more specific, Pasche recalled: He wanted “an image that could work on its own … like the Shell Petroleum logo. He wanted that kind of simplicity.” During the same meeting Jagger showed Pasche an illustration of the Hindu deity Kali, which Jagger had seen in a shop near his home and asked if he could borrow.
April 16, 2020
Thanks to my Mom and her subscription to the Goodman Theater in Chicago back in the 90’s… I got to see Brian Dennehy playing the lead in Death of a Salesman for which he won one of his two Tony Awards… also, who can forget him in the original Rambo. One of those actors that was in SO many things, movies, television and the stage, he covered it all. Brian Dennehy, dead at 81. (Times Obit)
Mr. Dennehy, who said he had struggled academically, left school to join the Marines, serving in the United States, South Korea and Japan while he and his first wife, Judith Scheff, had two children. After leaving the service he completed his bachelor’s degree at Columbia in 1965 while working variously as a cabdriver, trucker, butcher, bartender and motel clerk to support his family. He also spent time as a stockbroker — Martha Stewart was a co-worker — though he admitted that he hadn’t been a very good one and hadn’t enjoyed the work.
April 17, 2020
Was just thinking that I should go out right now some night and gather up @chicagodusktildawn pictures in this unprecedented historical time where all of Chicago is mostly a ghost town… and then along came this, which I have to say… I’m viewing as a ‘sign’ that my thought was right on the money.
The strip and Fremont Street aren’t totally empty, of course. All the left-behind establishments are carefully watched by security guards, some of whom will try to stop photos being taken of a casino with caution tape strung across its entrance. Much of the street is also webbed in construction netting and the sounds of workers hammering during the day, the pause of the pandemic becoming a good time to give the sewer system a facelift. Overnight, police clustered at the intersections and the entrances to the higher end casinos. Unhoused people looked for places to rest and food to eat in empty trash cans.
April 18, 2020
So this piece from Joe Berkowitz posts to Fast Company today and I found out about it when my sister texted me the link asking me if I’d heard of it before. As a matter of fact I’ve lost time to this subreddit twice along the way, both times to the tune of about 3 hours… the first time a few years back when a friend sent me a link to go check it out… and again a few weeks ago when it came up in the context of the television show The Good Place… both times, I’ve walked away because as tempting as it is, I try really hard not to spend time standing in judgement of others on the internet anonymously… I can’t imagine a bigger waste of time. Regardless, I read this story (a long read) and it was really good… and if you want to know what I’m talking about, it’s a great primer… give it a shot on a weekend.
Each situation arrives in the form of a question: Am I the Asshole for . . . [fill in transgression here]? Then the poster awaits the feedback of a subscriber base that totals nearly two million. Users sound off in the comments, leaving one of the following judgments: YTA (You’re the Asshole), NTA (Not the Asshole), ESH (Everyone Sucks Here), or NAH (No Assholes here). Commenters then upvote any especially astute summations, and after 18 hours, the one with the most upvotes is cemented as the Final Judgment.
April 19, 2020
I’ve been saying this for years… the unfettered belief by Americans that America is the greatest country on Earth is ludicrous… we’re so far removed from the things that actually made us the greatest country on Earth back in the first half of the 20th century it’s ridiculous. Today’s link is to an opinion piece by Viet Thanh Nguyen for the New York Times where he lays out his belief in the same idea that America’s glory days are behind it. This is part of a NYT series entitled ‘The America We Need‘ which focuses on emerging from the Covid-19 crisis with a fairer more resilient society.
If anything good emerges out of this period, it might be an awakening to the pre-existing conditions of our body politic. We were not as healthy as we thought we were. The biological virus afflicting individuals is also a social virus. Its symptoms — inequality, callousness, selfishness and a profit motive that undervalues human life and overvalues commodities — were for too long masked by the hearty good cheer of American exceptionalism, the ruddiness of someone a few steps away from a heart attack.


text:
Production is perking up in Campania, where gap financing and free services combined with spectacular sea vistas and gritty Neapolitan urban settings make for an increasingly enticing proposition.
At least a dozen feature films and high-profile telepics have been lured by the region over the past two years, including Sony’s “Angels and Demons.”
The Campania commish has a $2million fund at this time to provide incentives for up to 20 projects yearly, some of which it boards as co-producer. This fund is expected to grow as the region taps into European Union industrial stimulus subsidies.
A small but significant plus is that prices for accommodations and food on mainland Campania tend to be cheaper than in most Italo regions to the North.
On top of the coin, the commish provides free permits and logistical assistance. This can mean no-hassles access to the isle of Capri, as in pubcaster RAI’s glossy “Capri” skein, or entry into the Neapolitan mob’s squalid stomping grounds, where “Gomorrah” was shot last year.
More recently the commish cleared the way for trailers and production trucks to station in ancient Roman walkways in central Naples for just-wrapped hot Italo drama “Lo spazio bianco” (The White Space).
The region has always been artistically fertile and picturesque, though in the past perhaps less industry-friendly.
These days, however, “Shooting a film here is becoming a sound and competitive proposition, both in terms of resources and logistics,” boasts Campania commish director Maurizio Gemma.


MUS Board of Education Agendas 2017-2018
The official copy of the Board of Education agenda is available at the main office of Montecito Union School, 385 San Ysidro Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108.
Montecito Union School Board of Trustees meetings are held the third Tuesday of every month at 4:00 p.m. in the Auditorium. Board agendas will be available online Friday afternoon prior to the next meeting. (An * designates a special board meeting)
Agendas, attachments and minutes will download when you click on them. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the agendas, attachments and minutes.
If you would like to participate in the MUS School Board Meetings, please refer to the following document for participation guidelines.
Meeting Dates AgendasAttachments August 22, 2017 Agenda *September 15, 2017 Agenda September 19, 2017 Agenda *October 12, 2017 Agenda October 17, 2017 Agenda November 14, 2017 Agenda December 12, 2017 Agenda
Documents Related to the Meeting:
Due to the ongoing fires, we are not yet able to put a full packet into the public record. We will do so when we are able. In the meantime, these documents may be of particular interest to the public.


We hatched dragon eggs. We had our personal and work lives “severed.” We danced in a vampire night club. Only at San Diego Comic-Con do these kinds of phrases make sense. And EM was lucky enough to be on the ground this year for the pop culture tentpole’s grand return to in-person. After a three-year hiatus, the superfans who descended on SoCal July 21-24 came prepared to unleash their pent-up desire to connect with the communities and content they love—and many brands were waiting just outside the convention center to make it happen.
Across the city’s Gaslamp District, major players, particularly from the entertainment sector, built expansive activations that were open to Comic-Con badge-holders and non-badge-holders alike. The increasingly popular tactic ensures that at an event like SDCC, which has a certain level of exclusivity, brands are able to expand their reach and make all fans feel included (provided they’re willing to wait in lengthy lines). For a glimpse of the action, check out the photo tour below, and be sure to check back for our full Comic-Con field report.
- Paramount+ Offers up Three Insights on Engaging Pop Culture Fandoms
- Five Compelling Activations from a Pared-down New York Comic Con
We dipped our toes in the sand at The Audible Beach at SDCC 2022, where an international team of artists from the Sand Sculpture Company had crafted massive, themed sand sculptures that took a full week to build and required 150 tons of impacted sand. Audible leveraged the installations and accompanying audio to tout its Originals programming, including Impact Winter, Moriarty: The Devil’s Game and, naturally, The Sandman. Agency: Civic Entertainment Group.
Photo credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Audible
HBO promoted its new “Game of Thrones” prequel, “House of the Dragon,” with a beautifully fabricated indoor/outdoor castle and an exterior marketplace set in the show’s time period. The activation included selecting and preparing to “hatch” your own dragon egg inside the castle walls, with plenty of (fake) flames and smoke adding ambiance. We used HBO’s AR-powered companion app for the experience, DracARys, to watch our dragon hatch on the streets of San Diego, post-event. His name is Somakenya, thanks for asking. Agency: Giant Spoon.
FX and its large-scale activations have been a mainstay of Comic-Con for the last several years and for 2022, the network turned 100,000 square feet of space outside the Hilton San Diego Bayfront into a walkable labyrinth chock-full of fan delights and frights, like walking trees and real-life versions of the “dolls” from the second season of “American Horror Stories.” This is also where the aforementioned vampire night club was located, offering fans of “What We Do in the Shadows” a 360-degree video moment. Agency: Creative Riff.
You couldn’t miss the colossal Hard Rock Hotel building-wrap promoting Apple TV+’s original series “Severance” if you tried, but the activation that took place inside packed just as big of a punch. It’s there that we went through employee training at Lumon Industries and experienced many of the hallmarks of the series’ first season, from the orientation room where we received our new work names, to the Wellness room, where a live actor offered some facts about an attendee in our group’s “outie,” aka the person she is outside of the office. Agency: GDX Studios (building wrap).
This fall will mark the 11th and final season of AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead,” so the network hosted a nighttime fan celebration on July 22 featuring some of the most iconic scenes and characters from show. In addition to a showcase of real props from the actual “Walking Dead” set in Georgia, zombie makeup stations, a dj and a custom content reel offering heartfelt anecdotes from the show’s cast, the event featured live actors roaming as “walkers” in full makeup and costume. Agencies: 3CS, Campfire.
Photo credit: Spearhead Media
Although it was slightly off the beaten path, it didn’t take long for lines to form around the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern, which was home to a 20-minute multisensory experience that provided a rare peek inside the upcoming film from Paramount Pictures. In addition to sipping glowing green mugs of Dragon Brew, attendees could explore the immersive tavern environment, catch looping clips of key characters from the movie on smaller screens and turn to a massive center screen to watch a dragon roar to life with lighting effects and smoke. We even got selected for a secret D&D experience following the main tavern activation. Stay tuned. Agency: NVE.


text:
ays of Being Wild (1990), Wong Kar-Wai’s second movie, is set between 1960 and 1961, and traverses Hong Kong and the Philippines. The film, largely plotless, oscillates from character to character, all of whom are connected whether wittingly or not. It’s most concerned, though, with Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), a 20-something-year-old playboy and lady killer whose insecurities, by the
1 Hr., 42 Mins.
Days of Being Wild / As Tears Go By
1 Hr., 34 Mins.
Andrew Lau. But the other reason — and the more plausible one — is that its story, derivative of Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), doesn’t much permit the emotional (and if not visceral) urgency Wong’s films have come to be well known for generating.
It stars Andy Lau as Wah, a debt collector working for the mob. As As Tears Go By opens, two things set the steadiness for which he’s celebrated by his employers off course. On his doorstep arrives his second cousin Ngor (Maggie Cheung), who suddenly announces that she will be staying with him for the next few days to get lung surgery in Hong Kong. Right-hand man Fly (Jacky Cheung), who was already a perpetual goof to begin with, has hit the apex of his acting up — on the verge of being offed by his employers, taking Wah down with him. Because of the Mean Streets parallels — Lau is Harvey Keitel, Jacky Cheung Robert De Niro, Maggie Cheung Amy Robinson — you can anticipate that it’s doom that awaits the majority of these characters, not success.
As Tears Go By visually indicates the intriguing displays of Wong features to come: the careful clinicality of underground meeting places, the saturated intimacy of bedrooms. But not much else about the movie, aside from the arguably scandalous if still-touching relationship between Ngor and Wah, which is the best thing about the feature, is so remarkable. The story, written by Wong and Jeffrey Lau, is told efficiently enough, but there's an imitative undertow that renders As Tears Go By an exercise — a classification that Wong would prove himself skilled at avoiding. Subpar Wong, though, is still a great deal more inspired than what many a filmmaker giving their all and then some could produce.
Days of Being Wild: A-
As Tears Go By: B-
ays of Being Wild, despite not ultimately being exactly what Wong wanted (he originally intended for there to be an immediate part two) was a vast improvement on his first film, 1988’s As Tears Go By. One reason for this might have to do with the fact that Days of Being Wild was the first of many collaborations with the cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who suits Wong’s sensibility much better than
feature’s end, become far more conspicuous than his confidence with women.
The title of the film, which initially hints that this might be a movie about pleasure-seeking, grows particularly tart in its meaning as the dramas progress. I most thought about its implications when confronted with a fable Yuddy often repeats to himself and sometimes to his conquests. “I've heard there's a kind of bird with no legs,” Yuddy says early in the feature. “All it can do is fly and fly. When it gets tired, it sleeps on the wind. This bird can only land once in his whole life. That's the moment it dies.” He uses the story to allow himself to be hedonistic without feeling bad about it. Having only just entered adulthood, it’s worth it, now, to always put self-indulgence first.
These are, of course, only words to live by if the “you only live once” maxim particularly speaks to you. But there are a couple more times the tale is repeated in the movie, and with each retelling does it markedly lose its philosophical gleam. In one instance, Yuddy attempts to tell the story to an acquaintance, only to get ridiculed — “Think you're a bird? If you could fly, you wouldn't have to be here. Go ahead, fly! Show me how you fly” — and in another, just at the end of the film, he realizes that his attachment to it is superficial. “I used to think there was some kind of bird that flew and flew, never touching down until it died,” he tells us. “But that bird never actually flew anywhere because it was dead from the beginning.”
I’m wont to believe that the majority of the characters in Days of Being Wild would roll their eyes at the first iteration of the story. But I’m not so sure they could hear the final version and not be a little affected. These are characters perennially looking for something to improve their lives yet remain at something at an emotional plateau. If they ever feel they might finally move upward, it’s almost inexorable that they immediately, and abruptly, move back down. (They include Yuddy’s pushed-around girlfriend, superbly played by Carina Lau, and his long-suffering best friend, portrayed by Jacky Cheung.)
Yuddy’s neuroses are clearest from the start. He’s adopted, and his appointed mother (Rebecca Pan), a former sex worker — a profession that bothers him — refuses to tell him who his parents are. His anxiety, combined with his dislike of his adopted mom, has led him to a life of empty womanizing. Yuddy’s misogyny is pronounced. He tacitly believes that his days of being wild are synonymous with days of the ill-treatment of women. Pity for him is more natural a reaction than outright sympathy. It's the people either directly or contingently impacted by him, then, who are most heartrending in the movie. They also work to espouse that Wong is not trying to assert that we’re supposed to feel one-dimensionally compassionate for this character in particular but rather that we’re perhaps meant to ruminate on our own lives, thinking about the Yuddys, and the Yuddy-adjacents, who have influenced certain parts of it.
Especially stirring are Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung), a depressed young woman who becomes ensnared in one of Yuddy’s use-and-lose traps and nearly loses herself as a result, and a policeman, only referred to as 6117 (Andy Lau), who serendipitously becomes part of the narrative.
In the film’s best scene, Lizhen, fresh off an emotional confrontation with Yuddy, happenstantially runs into 6117 on the streets. (She’s looking for someone to possibly loan her money for a cab.) They strike up a conversation; he ends up becoming a temporary confidant. Lizhen, abashed about her romantic woes, prefers a blank slate to vent to. The conversation evolves, and both characters come to reveal more about themselves — their backgrounds, their fears, their ambitions. The unlikeliness of their meeting again entails the scene be etched in their (and our) brains — a profound moment never to be recreated.