dte energy: Wicked winds knock out power to 340,000 in Michigan

Forceful winds whipped through Metro Detroit early Sunday, downing power lines and trees and leaving more than 340,000 customers in Metro Detroit and across the state without power.

A DTE Energy spokesman said more than 200,000 customers were without power as of 10:30 a.m. today, mostly in Oakland and Wayne counties. Consumers Energy had roughly 140,000 across the state without power.

Len Singer, a DTE spokesman, said it's too early to say how long it'll take to restore power but it'll likely take "several days." He said the high winds, expected to last throughout today, are complicating efforts.

"We do have some crews out and were attempting to get some crews from other states," Singer said. "Everyone whose available" is out.

Downed power lines and trees closed some roads in Metro Detroit, including Square Lake Road east of Woodward.

Singer cautioned people to stay away from lines that have fallen.

"We have a lot of power lines that are down so we're attempting to get those de-energized," he said.

The winds, which got up 60 miles per hour in some areas, were caused by a cold front coming through the area with a low pressure system behind it. They're expected to last throughout the day but decrease in force, said Dave Kook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

But "it's going to be windy all day," Kook said. "...Those low pressure systems can be quite strong."

You can reach Maureen Feighan at (248) 647-7416 or mfeighan@detnews.com.


Source: detnews.com

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jennifer seitz: Overboard: Woman Lost at Sea

The U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican authorities are searching for an American woman who went missing on a cruise ship near Cancun, Mexico. Jennifer Seitz, 36, may have gone overboard.

Early Friday morning, Seitz's husband reported her missing aboard the Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship, which was steaming towards the Caribbean.

"At that particular point, they started a search on the ship and they eventually discovered some recorded tape, the image of a woman going overboard wearing a white bathrobe sometime around 8 o'clock the previous evening. That would be on Christmas night," Capt. Dean Lee of the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami, Fla., told ABC News.

When it was reported, the Coast Guard joined Mexican authorities in a search of an area 15 miles off the coast of Mexico. Choppy waters added to challenges of a maritime search and the woman has not been located.


Source: abcnews.go.com

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Robert Graham, L.A. sculptor, dies at 70

Robert Graham, a Los Angeles sculptor with a towering public presence who designed major civic monuments across the nation, died Saturday at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, his friend Roy Doumani said. Graham, who had been ill for about six months, was 70.

An elegant, gentlemanly artist who maintained a large studio in Venice, Graham was enormously productive throughout his career. A fiercely independent perfectionist with high-tech skills and an enduring fascination with the female figure, he explored almost every conceivable position and attitude of the female nude in his personal work, often working in an intimate scale.

But he is best known for large public commissions that pay homage to historical figures or symbolize big ideas in prominent locations.

His legacy, Doumani said, "is all over the city. He brought a lot of beauty and a vision of what art should be. . . . Bob was special to this city and, fortunately, his work will remain here and elsewhere, and he's certainly not going to be forgotten."

In Los Angeles, Graham designed a set of free-standing bronze doors for the Music Center in 1978 and a sculpture of two headless figures known as the "Olympic Gateway" at the Memorial Coliseum for the 1984 Olympics. His largest and most prominent public work in the city is the "Great Bronze Doors," a huge entryway topped by an angel, made for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in 2002.

Graham, whose work was also in demand in many other cities, also created a memorial to Joe Louis in Detroit, a monument to Duke Ellington in New York and a sculptural remembrance of Charlie "Bird" Parker in Kansas City, Mo.

But among his tributes to beloved public figures, his proudest achievement was probably the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. The complex commission, executed in 1997, includes a life-size figure of the president in his wheelchair, a bas-relief depicting a newsreel of his first inauguration and a series of panels illustrating 54 programs initiated by FDR under the New Deal.

Although Graham never followed the art world's trends, preferring to work as a relatively old-fashioned statue-maker, he showed his work in many galleries and museums, including Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills, Imago Galleries in Palm Desert and Gagosian Gallery in New York. His work is in the collections of such institutions as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Detroit Institute of Arts and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

Artist Tony Berlant, who met Graham in London in 1973, said he had great early success "within the established vanguard, here and in New York and in Europe. His own muse led him to making work that was very independent . . . He demanded to do things on his own terms and did them with incredible excellence. And he had everyone's respect for it."

Berlant said women were "the obsessive focus of his work." And he said that Graham was sometimes criticized for those sculptures, which often depicted women in the nude and headless. But those figures, Berlant said, "were incredibly naturalistic. . . . People sometimes saw them as being more icons of sexuality. But if you look at them, you see individual personalities, I think. They are portraits -- not generic."

Artist Laddie John Dill, who had known Graham since the early 1970s, called him "a class act all the way."

"As an artist, he was always on the cutting edge," Dill said. "He would always push what he was doing further and further. He started with plexiglass boxes, with those incredible scenes, and then going to bronze and monumental bronze, and he was starting to work with concrete and glass. His head was obviously way ahead of his hands. And the tragedy is that Bob was just getting started. As accomplished as he was, he had just gotten this new studio that his son designed, and he was ready for the next chapter. It's just a tragedy."

Dill said with the new studio and a sculpture that was recently installed in the middle of a traffic circle in Venice, "it all seemed so transitional. And you knew other things were coming. All of a sudden, to have it cut short like that, it was a shocker. I think that I was very fortunate in knowing him personally, and being able to spend some time with him, one on one, especially in the early days."

The artist was born in Mexico City on Aug. 19, 1938, to Adeline Graham and Roberto Pena, but he never really knew his father, who died when he was 6. He was raised by his grandmother Ana, his aunt Mercedes and his mother.

In an interview with The Times some time ago, Graham recalled Adeline taking him by the hand to visit Mexico's magnificent public monuments, such as Chapultepec Castle and the pyramids, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros' murals and the cathedrals and churches nationwide.

"I don't remember ever going to a gallery," he said. "The things that were important were those murals and what people saw all the time. They were my history books. You could see what the Aztecs looked like, what [Hernando] Cortes looked like. I never looked at it as art -- it was part of your experience as a Mexican."

At age 11, Graham and his three "mothers" moved to San Jose and he was educated at San Jose State and the San Francisco Art Institute. He lived in London for a few years with his first wife, Joey, and their son, Steven, then moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

In 1990, long after his first marriage had ended, Graham met his second wife, actress Anjelica Huston, at a dinner party. They soon became a couple and were married in 1992.

On Dec. 15, Graham was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

In addition to his wife and son, Graham leaves a group of artist friends including painter Ed Moses, who called him "a golden man" and "a great artist."

"He was just one of these impeccable human beings that I love greatly and all of his friends did too," Moses said. "He will make a mark historically as a sculptor . . . the museums don't understand this yet, but they will. He was an independent, and never played according to the rules. He did it the way he wanted, and he didn't play ball with museums or dealers. He was a real independent force and powerful force."

suzanne.muchnic @latimes.com


Source: latimes.com

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varsity blues: Greg DeLaval named head coach of Varsity Blues

TORONTO - The University of Toronto Faculty of Physical Education and Health announced today the appointment of Greg DeLaval as an athletic instructor and the new head coach of the Varsity Blues football program effective January 1, 2009.

Serving as interim head coach for the 2008 season, DeLaval helped end the longest losing streak in CIS history. He led the previously 0-49 Blues to their first win in seven seasons and guided the team to a record of 2-6, recording his first CIS victory in his first game as the Blues bench boss on September 1, 2008, defeating the Waterloo Warriors, 18-17, in a thriller at Varsity Centre.

He recorded his second win on September 13th beating the York Lions 58-7 to reclaim the coveted Argo Cup.

"Greg is the right fit," said Liz Hoffman, U of T's Director of Athletics. "He has displayed his commitment and leadership both on and off the field. His vision and direction for the football program builds on the momentum he helped create this past season. I believe the program will continue to grow under his leadership as the team prepares for off-season training in the Varsity Dome."

Prior to his successful return to the Blues in 2008, DeLaval served as full-time assistant coach during the 2003 through 2005 seasons, coaching special teams and receivers. Holder of a Master's in Education, he also received accolades for his teaching in the Faculty's undergraduate BPHE program, and will have teaching responsibilities in his new appointment.

He also spent two CIS seasons (2006-07) as the special teams coordinator and offensive assistant of the University of Calgary Dinosaurs.

"The Varsity Blues football program has entered an era of unprecedented change and challenges," stated DeLaval. "I believe that progressive thinking, innovation and creativity will be necessary to build a nationally-prominent football program here at U of T. The great part is that the administration, alumni and Varsity Blues family have demonstrated that they feel the same way. I invite anyone to our campus to see for themselves that this is a football program with world class facilities, within a world class institution in a world class city."

DeLaval played with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, starting at wide receiver in St. FX's 1996 Vanier Cup appearance and serving as team captain three times. He returned to his alma mater as assistant head football coach from 1998 through 2002. Hel has co-ordinated recruiting at St. FX, Toronto and Calgary, and recruited the core of the current Varsity Blues veterans.

The Varsity Blues football program marked its 130th anniversary in 2007 with the opening of the new Varsity Centre, a state-of-the art, 5,000-seat stadium on the site of the historic Varsity Stadium. In 131 years, the Blues have won eight national championships, including two during the pre-Grey Cup era (1895, 1905), four Grey Cup's (1909, 1910, 1911, 1920), two Vanier Cups (1965, 1993), and have won have won 25 Yates Cup conference championships since the establishment of intercollegiate play in 1898.

The Varsity Blues move into their renovated locker room in the new Varsity Pavilion prior to the start of training camp, which is set to commence on August 24th. They kick off the regular season on Monday, September 7th by hosting the Laurier Golden Hawks at 7:00 p.m. For further information, visit www.varsityblues.ca.

2009 Varsity Blues Football Schedule
Sept. 7 - Laurier at Toronto - 7:00 pm
Sept. 12 - Toronto at Windsor - 1:00 pm
Sept. 18 - Guelph at Toronto - 7:00 pm
Sept. 25 - Ottawa at Toronto - 7:00 pm
Oct. 3 - Toronto at York - 1:00 pm - Red and Blue Bowl for the Argo Cup
Oct. 8 - Toronto at McMaster - 7:00 pm
Oct. 17 - Waterloo at Toronto - 1:00 pm - Shrine Game
Oct. 24 - Toronto at Western - 1:00 pm

For Further Information Contact:
Liz Hoffman
Director of Athletics
Tel: 416-978-7379
e-mail: liz.hoffman@utoronto.ca

Mary Beth Challoner
Manager, Promotions and Sports Information
Tel: 416-407-3538
e-mail: mb.challoner@utoronto.ca

-30-

BACKGROUNDER - GREG DeLAVAL, HEAD COACH VARSITY BLUES FOOTBALL

Playing Career

High School: DeLaval played quarterback and receiver at St. Mary's High School in Calgary, helping the team to the 1986 city championship. He was later inducted into the school's sports hall of fame.

CIS: DeLaval played for the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in 1990 and again from 1994 to 1997. He was the starting wide receiver in the 1996 Vanier Cup, catching one pass for 11 yards while the X-Men fell 31-12 to the Saskatchewan Huskies. A three-time (1995-1997) team captain, DeLaval was named an academic all-Canadian in 1997 and was awarded the Marcel Lussier Award by St. FX for community service, also in 1997.

Coaching Career

St. Francis Xavier X-Men (1998-2002)
Assistant Head Coach (1998-2002)
DeLaval served as Offensive Coordinator with the X-Men, helping guide the team to a seven-game winning streak in 2002. He was responsible for the entire football recruiting program at St. FX. He also coordinated numerous fundraising activities for the X-Men, successfully raising more than $60,000 over two years for the football program.

Varsity Blues (2003-2005, 2008)
Assistant Coach and Coordinator of Player Development, Special Teams Coordinator and Receivers Coach (2003-2005)
A full-time assistant on the Blues staff for three seasons, DeLaval was in charge of building the team's national recruiting program, while guiding the special teams and receiving corps. Greg was named the Blues defensive coordinator for the 2006 season, but shortly thereafter had to leave the team for family reasons.

Interim Head Coach (2008)
DeLaval was the interim head coach of the Varsity Blues this past season finishing with a 2-6 record and leading the team to its first win since 2001, ending a 0-49 losing streak with an 18-17 victory over the Waterloo Warriors on September 1st. He was responsible for coordinating all facets of the football program, coaching the offence and special team units as well as implementing a national recruiting program.

Calgary Dinosaurs (2006-2007)
Special Teams Coordinator and Offensive Assistant (2006-2007)
DeLaval assisted in the coordination of the offence and special teams at Calgary. In 2007, the Dinos led the CIS in rushing and the special teams unit finished atop the Canada West conference average in every category but one. Greg coordinated recruiting in Central and Eastern Canada for the Dinos.

Other
Antigonish Blue Devils Bantam Football Team - Head Coach (2001)
U19 Nova Scotia Provincial Football Team - Head Coach (2003)

Source:

Varsity Blues Athletics

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michael feinstein: WEEKEND TALK SHOWS

Good Morning America (N) 4 and 7 a.m. KABC 322447, 69350

The Early Show (N) 5 a.m. KCBS 133640 Today Stories from 2008; Italian holidays. (N) 5 a.m. KNBC 135008

Larry King Live 6 and 9 p.m. CNN 918114, 558621

McLaughlin Group 6:30 p.m. KCET 42805

SUNDAY

Today Carson Daly; "Today's" holiday kitchen; a thousand must-hear songs. (N) 6 a.m. KNBC 72886

Pacesetters 6 a.m. KTLA 30312

Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC 53634

CBS News Sunday Morning Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Michael Feinstein performs; people who died in 2008; sky dining daredevils. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS 54577

Reliable Sources Reflections of the 2008 presidential election. (N) 7 a.m. CNN 801312

Meet the Press (N) 8 a.m. KNBC 23119, 3 and 11 p.m. MSNBC 3236664, 7524022

This Week With George Stephanopoulos Advice to the incoming Obama administration: former Clinton Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta, former Reagan Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein; the Obama administration and the media: incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; a look back at 2008, predictions for 2009: journalists Kurt Anderson, John Dickerson, Alison Stewart, Andrew Sullivan. (N) 8 a.m. KABC 81157

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace First Lady Laura Bush. 8 a.m. KTTV 23157

Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer Favorite interviews from 2008. (N) 8 a.m. CNN 960596

Face the Nation Illinois governor scandal: Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D-Ill.); the economy in 2009: author Paul Krugman. (N) 8:30 a.m. KCBS 83770

The Chris Matthews Show A look back at 2008: journalists Howard Fineman, Michele Norris, David Brooks, Norah O'Donnell. (N) 9 a.m. KNBC 69190

Fareed Zakaria GPS 10 a.m. CNN 675916

Larry King Live 6 and 9 p.m. CNN 974664, 270225

60 Minutes Tracing Barack Obama's journey from little-known candidate to rising superstar to president-elect, with interviews and news footage as well as previously unaired footage. (N) 7 p.m. KCBS 4645


Source: latimes.com

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Borders closing in Springdale

The Borders book store in Springdale will close Jan. 3 as the chain readies to open its new-concept location at Kenwood Towne Place this spring.

The store’s 37 employees will be offered jobs at other Borders and Waldenbooks locations and possibly at the new store, though it is not expected to open before March, said Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Bonnie Schmick.

The two-story Borders store, at 28,000 square feet, will be one of the chain’s first new-concept stores. The design includes a digital center where shoppers can burn CDs or download books, interactive kiosks and 32-inch LCD screens in the food and travel sections. The first such store opened in Ann Arbor, Mich., in mid-February.

The Springdale store, on Kemper Road , opened in June 1993 and has been an underperformer. That, and the new location, forced the decision to close, Schmick said.

“This store hasn’t been meeting our sales expectations,” she said. “And the new-concept store is opening on a side of town that is growing quite a bit.”

Kenwood Towne Place is adjacent to Kenwood Towne Centre in Sycamore Township, right off of Interstate 71. Its anchors also include Crate & Barrel, the Container Store, Ethan Allen and Kroger Fresh Fare, among others.

Borders (NYSE:BGP), based in Ann Arbor, Mich., operates a dozen stores in Greater Cincinnati under the Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentano’s banners.


Source: bizjournals.com

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michelle singletary: Budget your giving, even in hard times

Washington —- With rising unemployment and the stock market looking like a bungee jumper whose cord has snapped, it’s hard to argue that people should continue their charitable giving.

And yet, I will make that plea.

I know that in tough times you want to pull back on your spending, including planned donations, but that’s exactly when your giving shouldn’t go down —- when the need is so great.

The way to continue giving is to be a regular donor. Although the percentage of American households that report giving to charity (67 percent to 70 percent) has remained constant in recent years, it’s not always the same households, according to new research by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The center studied the charitable giving of the same 8,000 families in 2000, 2002 and 2004, and it found that nearly one-third alternate between donating and not donating. The researchers found that “persistent donors” give much more on average than others.

In 2004, consistent givers made total charitable gifts averaging $2,659. Occasional donors, people who gave in one or two of the three years, contributed an average of $820, according to the “Center on Philanthropy Panel Study.”

Charitable giving is a vital part of the budget for my husband and me. We believe the line item on your budget for giving should be as important as your mortgage, rent or car payment. Make giving a priority and you’re less likely to dispense with it in hard times.

In an unscientific study, I’ve looked at the individuals I’ve been helping in a financial ministry at my church. By and large, those who make giving a priority —- whether it’s tithing (giving one-tenth of your income to the church) or consistently donating money through a workplace giving campaign —- handle their money better.

Consistent givers can weather economic storms because they’re better at budgeting. They let go of things that don’t matter so they don’t have to cut out the funds they’ve pledged to help others.

If I may, I’d like to recommend some ways to continue giving during hard times.

Let’s start with how you organize the categories on your budget.

The category of charitable giving is often listed at the bottom of a budget form. If it’s not dead last, it’s tucked in the miscellaneous section.

Instead, move the category up closer to the top. We tend to fund our expenses starting with the most important —- housing or transportation, for example —- to the least important —- pet grooming or video rentals. When things get tight, we start cutting from the bottom because that’s where more of the expendable costs are located.

On the budget sheet for my household, the line item for tithing is first, even before the mortgage payment. The line item for church offerings and charitable giving is listed right after major expenses such as housing, food and transportation.

Treat your donation as if it’s a bill, advises Melissa Brown, associate director of research at the Center on Philanthropy, who co-authored its donor stability study.

Brown said that in her family, they agreed to give up a regular treat to make room for a monthly charitable contribution.

“We are trying to teach our children about philanthropy,” Brown said. “So we told them we had to give up something to do this.”

And they did.

“We have a lot of options in our modern lifestyle rather than cutting off contributions to people who have less than we do,” Brown said. “We consume so much. When you challenge most people, they can find the money.”

If you are worried about your economy or your own finances, there’s another way to find money to give. De-clutter your house.

When’s the last time you used that treadmill? What about the barely used clothes your children have outgrown or the toys buried at the bottom of bins in their bedrooms?

Pack up all the stuff you’re not using and sell it at a flea market or online and then donate the proceeds. In fact, make this the yearly fund-raiser in your household. You get to clean out your house and do some good.

Looking for a way to cut your taxes? Try giving. Your donations could add up to a sizable tax deduction if you itemize. Just be aware that to deduct any charitable donation of money, you must have a bank record or written communication from the recipient showing the name of the organization and the date and amount of the contribution.

Also keep in mind that if your contributions entitle you to merchandise, goods or services, including admission to a charity ball, banquet, theatrical performance or sporting event, you can deduct only the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the benefit received.

Finally, become involved. You are likely to be a persistent giver if you maintain an active relationship with the organizations you support.

I know that giving is personal. But don’t be a fair-weather giver. If we all gave regularly, the burden would be easier on everyone in good times and bad.

Michelle Singletary is a financial columnist for The Washington Post. Write her at Michelle Singletary, Buyer’s Edge, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303 or e-mail buyersedge@ajc.com and put “comment for Michelle” in the subject line.


Source: ajc.com

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sagamore hill: Veteran police officer fired in Sagamore Hills Township

SAGAMORE HILLS TOWNSHIP — A 20-year veteran of the township's police department was fired Tuesday following a unanimous vote of the trustees.

At an emergency meeting, Chief David Hayes presented unspecified charges against Patrolman Mark Podgorski and recommended his termination.

"We acted on the request of the chief," Trustee Rosemary Snell said. Snell did not disclose the charges brought against Podgorski, but said they were not related to his demotion from the rank of sergeant in July following an incident during which he and other officers entered Somier McLaughlin's home during a domestic dispute.

McLaughlin won a $650,000 settlement after she filed a lawsuit charging that intervening police officers had no writ, court order, warrant or any other legal authority to be at her home.

The trustees agreed with Hayes' move to demote Podgorski, who was the officer in charge during the incident. They cited findings by a Wayne County Sheriff's Office investigation that Podgorski used bad judgment, should not have been at McLaughlin's house at all, and should have left when she told him to.

Hayes could not be reached for comment.


Source: blog.cleveland.com

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Sagamore Hill (Even the House Has Antlers)

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estelle parsons: Estelle Parsons to Direct Maxwell Anderson's Night Over Taos

Estelle Parsons will direct INTAR's production of Maxwell Anderson's Night Over Taos, to play September 20-October 20 at Theatre for the New City, with an official opening on October 1. The production will feature a cast of 25, including Miriam Colon, Shawn Elliott, and Peter Jay Fernandez.

The play, which was written 75 years ago, is the true story of Mexican freedom fighter Pablo Montoya, who in 1847 led a bloody and ultimately futile siege to protect New Mexico from being ceded to the United States. Anderson's many other plays include Winterset, Anne of the Thousand Days, and High Tor. He also wrote the librettos for Knickerbocker Holiday and Lost in the Stars, along with numerous Hollywood screenplays.

The creative team features Peter Larkin (sets), Howard Thies (lighting), Erich Bechtel (sound), and Yukio Tsjuli (original music). Parsons, who is best known as an actress, is a three-time Tony Award nominee, most recently for Morning's at Seven. She is an Academy Award winner for Bonnie and Clyde. As a director, she is best known for the Broadway production of Salome starring Al Pacino.

INTAR's season will continue with Bring It On, Yous Tube, by Carmelita Tropicana and Ela Troyano, and Jorge Ignacio Cortinas' Bird in the Hand. Both shows will be presented at the Lion Theatre on Theater Row.

Source: theatermania.com

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Hotels in Bangalore (Bengaluru)

* 5 Star Deluxe Hotels in Bangalore
- The Leela Palace
- The Oberoi Hotel
- Windsor Sheraton
- Taj West End

* 5 Star Hotels in Bangalore India
- Hotel Grand Ashok
- Taj Residency
- The Le Meridien
- The Park Hotel

* Luxury Hotels in Bangalore India
- Ista Hotel

* 4 Star Hotels in Bangalore India
- St Marks Hotel
- The Capitol
- Gateway Hotel
- Luciya International
- Royal Orchid

* 3 Star Hotels in Bangalore India
- Central Park Hotel
- Harsha Hotel
- Mercure Inn
- Museum Inn Hotel
- Hotel Bangalore International

* 2 Star Hotels in Bangalore India
- Hotel Ramanashree
- Nalapad Residency
- Hotel Geo

* Spa Resorts in Bangalore
- Ayurgram Health Resort
- Manipal County
- The Dominion Country Club

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Hotels in India

Hotels in Mumbai

Hotels in Delhi

Hotels in Hyderabad

Hotels in Kolkata

Hotels in Jaipur

Hotels in Nagpur

Hotels in Pune

Hotels in Chennai

Hotels in Goa

Hotels in Bhopal

Hotels in Chandigarh

Hotels in Ahmedabad

Hotels in Agra

Hotels in Bhubaneshwar

Hotels in Jodhpur

Hotels in Varanasi

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Airlines in India

Indigo Airline

Air India Express

Paramount Airways

Kingfisher Airline

Indian

GoAir

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Giants sign Randy Johnson

The Big Unit has become the tallest of Giants.

Randy Johnson will bring his 6-foot-10 presence, Hall of Fame credentials and menacing glare to the mound at AT&T Park next season, after agreeing to a one-year, $8 million contract Friday night with the team of his boyhood.

The 45-year-old Walnut Creek native and Livermore High School alumnus comes home needing five victories to reach the magic 300-victory mark; he could become the final pitcher in a generation to achieve the benchmark.

But the Giants have had ample chances to celebrate milestones amid four consecutive losing seasons. They're counting on Johnson to provide more than a platform for the marketing department.

"He can still pitch," Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said earlier this month. "He's an intimidating force. The opposition knows who he is, and if he's on your side, the team knows you've got a chance to win every time he goes out."

A five-time Cy Young Award winner, Johnson joins a Giants rotation that already boasted two Cy winners; Barry Zito won the A.L. award with the A's in 2002 and Tim Lincecum captured the N.L. trophy last season. The 2002 Atlanta Braves (Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz) were the last major league team with three Cy Young winners.

"I'd say we've got a stout staff now," said right-hander Matt Cain, another solid starter along with left-hander Jonathan Sanchez. "This is Randy Johnson. He's a monster out there. We don't have to worry about his heart or his dedication, that's for sure.

"It'll be awesome to have him on our side and watch him work.''

While Cain and Sanchez are expected to open the season in the rotation, the Giants could revisit trading one for a hitter this spring — particularly if left-hander Noah Lowry proves he is fully recovered from a pair of arm surgeries.

For now, the Giants wanted insurance for Lowry at the back end of the rotation and they aggressively pursued Johnson because of his experience and desire for a short-term contract.

"He's a guy who commands instant respect whenever he toes the rubber,'' Giants outfielder Randy Winn said. "That will be huge not only for our pitching staff, but the team as a whole. He has a presence about him. It gives you confidence to play behind a guy like that."

Johnson was a basketball and baseball standout at Livermore High who chose to focus on his fastball at USC. He conquered bouts of wildness to become one of the most intimidating pitchers in history, starring with the Seattle Mariners before achieving his greatest feats with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With his mullet flowing in the breeze and his slider blistering the heels of right-handed hitters, Johnson was instrumental in Arizona's run to the 2001 World Series championship. He has pitched two no-hitters, including a perfect game in 2004 — just the 15th in major league history.

The "Big Unit" ranks second all time with 4,789 strikeouts; only Nolan Ryan, with 5,714, has more.

After two up-and-down seasons with the New York Yankees, Johnson returned to Arizona in 2007. He avoided recurring back problems and is coming off one of his best seasons in years, going 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts. He threw a complete game in his final outing and had a 2.41 ERA after the All-Star break.

"He's not the same pitcher in terms of how hard he throws, but he's still successful," Winn said. "He knows how to win."


Source: mercurynews.com

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Lawrence of Arabia’s home up for sale

THE North Wales birthplace of Lawrence of Arabia has been put up for sale.

The Grade II Lawrence House/Snowdon Lodge in Tremadog, near Porthmadog, is on the market for £900,000.

Legendary T E Lawrence, who reportedly said he was born a Welshman and will die a Welshman, was born at the property in 1888 and lived there for 18 months.

He went on to become one of the most famous and enigmatic characters of the 20th century leading an Arab revolt against the Turks in the First World War.

The property has been turned into a popular youth hostel.

Three years ago owners Carl Borum and Anja Grunert won permission to build a 30 room extension in the grounds.

The development with planning permission is now being sold through Sterling Estates.

Nigel Crabtree, from Sterling Estates, said: “This is a special property, it is interesting in its own right and is an exciting development but there is also the historical side as it is the birthplace of Lawrence of Arabia.

“It is a very impressive site with a great deal of potential.

“The property is listed Grade II for historical reasons as the birthplace of TE Lawrence and lies within the boundary of the Tremadog Conservation Area.”

The existing Victorian property, which has 10 bedrooms, sits in four acres of land.

Lying in the foothills of Snowdonia it has been a popular hostel location for climbers and walkers with dormitories, double bedrooms and family rooms.

In 2005 the owners received planning permission for a major tourists development to provide additional bedrooms along with a retail unit, restaurant, exhibition and conference facilities, together with the formation of a new vehicle access, car parking and landscaping work.

This was won at appeal.

The plans had originally been rejected by the planning committee of Gwynedd Council.

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Source: dailypost.co.uk

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Green Acres Road, huh?

Great. Now I've got the Green Acres theme song running through my head.

Green Acres is the place to be
If you want to lose your poor peepee
So don't go pissing off your wife
Or she might come after you with a knife

dun dun dundun dun... one slice!
dun dun dundun dun... not nice!
dun dun dundun dun... she cuts!
dun dun dundun dun... my nuts!!

Thanks to my wife
Now I'm scarred for life
Green Acres we are theeeeere!

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Kent's future has got me thinking about a song I use to love as a kid- the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go." I think it perfectly encapsulates the predicament Jeff find himself in. OK, maybe not- it's a fun song anyway.

It also happens to be a song a close friend asked myself and another buddy to sing and dance to for his sisters Bat Mitzvah. Why he asked us to do it I still do not know. In our preparation it seemed like it would be fun. As it was happening I wondered, "why am I doing this?" Now, in retrospect, I scratch my head and think, "what the hell was I doing?" I was young and stupid, I guess.

Anyway, below are some choice lyrics to the song and a video.

Darling you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here ’til the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

Always tease tease tease
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
One day is fine, next day is black
So if you want me off your back
Well come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know!

This indecision’s bugging me
If you don’t want me, set me free
Exactly who’m I’m supposed to be
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
Come on and let me know
Should I cool it or should I blow?

Jeff, I think your productive playing days are in it's twilight. Go and wander around the Texas plains and tend to your bike business.

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soul man lyrics: Wham! - Last Christmas Lyrics & Video

Wham! - Last Christmas Lyrics

[CHORUS:]
Last Christmas
I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special

[CHORUS:]

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance
But you still catch my eye
Tell me baby
Do you recognize me?
Well
It’s been a year
It doesn’t surprise me
I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying “I love you”
I meant it
Now I know what a fool I’ve been
But if you kissed me now
I know you’d fool me again

[CHORUS]

A crowded room
Friends with tired eyes
I’m hiding from you
And your soul of ice
My god I thought you were
Someone to rely on
Me?
I guess I was a shoulder to cry on

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover but you tore me apart
Now I’ve found a real love you’ll never fool me again

[CHORUS x2]

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover buy you tore him apart
Maybe next year I’ll give it to someone
I’ll give it to someone special

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New releases in fiction and nonfiction

“Freedom beats all!” yells the eponymous hero of Lucky Billy, John Vernon’s whip-smart take on the legend of Billy the Kid. Billy makes this declaration as he does what, next to killing, he does best: escaping, in this instance from the town of Lincoln, N.M., just days before his scheduled execution.

The way Vernon’s “Kid” sees it, freedom is an escape not just from the law but from any kind of fixed identity. The raw territory of New Mexico, where “names are like hats,” is fertile ground for this enterprise. In his brief life (he’s 21, at most, when shot down by Sheriff Pat Garrett), Billy goes by a dozen names: “And with each new name a piece of past washed away, with each one his selfhood loosened its grip.”

In 1878 he is just another scrawny cowboy, known to all as Kid Antrim, when the Lincoln County War catapults him to fame, and, hard on its heels, notoriety. Enraged by the murder of a giddily ambitious Englishman named Tunstall, who was briefly a father-figure to the orphaned Billy, the Kid vows to break the “Irish stranglehold” on the county, though he is at least half-Irish himself.

His bloody, botched campaign of revenge makes him “the theme of every tongue,” and Billy soon finds himself hard pressed to keep up with his snowballing legend. Inevitably, he has to partake in the “communion of lead” he encourages.

Vernon’s free-wheeling prose style underscores both Billy’s energy and his self-regard:

. . . the hard case, the desperado, the tough little pine knot, the canny pistolero of the sure aim and sixth sense finds his mind racing as he descends (into the canyon), as it looks like he really and truly has escaped, racing and skidding and hopping around like spit on a hot stove. Que hombre, what a man!

Late in the novel, Vernon brings us back, forcefully, to Billy’s very earliest years, of which almost nothing is known for sure. Relying almost entirely on his imagination, he takes us to some compelling, dark places in New York City, and more of that material would have been welcome in place of some tangential passages earlier on.

Late in the novel, Vernon brings us back, forcefully, to Billy’s very earliest years, of which almost nothing is known for sure. Relying almost entirely on his imagination, he takes us to some compelling, dark places in New York City, and more of that material would have been welcome in place of some tangential passages earlier on.

It’s hard to think of two 19th-century lives at first glance more different than those of Billy the Kid and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Poet and priest Hopkins had no time for “gashed flesh or galled shield,” but his interior life was as full of drama and conflict as Billy’s Wild West. And it is this soul-drama, this poetic revolution, that Paul Mariani, himself a poet, captures beautifully in Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life.

In many ways this is the major new biography of Hopkins we have been waiting for. The young Victorian intellectual stunned his eminently respectable Anglican family by becoming not just a Catholic but a Jesuit to boot. Having himself gone through the Jesuits’ famous 30-day retreat, Mariani speaks with authority about Hopkins’s spiritual formation.

There is a tendency in Hopkins criticism to divorce the poet’s religious and aesthetic visions, but Mariani understands — and shows — them to be utterly mixed together “in the alembic of his imagination.”

There is, however, nothing preachy about the biography, and Mariani never stops chronicling Hopkins’ romance with the English language, to which he will contribute “a barbarously refined new energy . . . giving it back something of its original Anglo-Saxon force.”

Hopkins is one of those poets with a reputation for being difficult, and so it is a little frustrating that Mariani uses key terms in Hopkins’ poetic theory such as “inscape” and “instress” several times before defining them. Hopefully, this will not put off Hopkins novices, for this is an otherwise rewarding and wise guide to the life and work of a man committed to showing the “thisness — the dappled distinctiveness of everything kept in Creation.”

Not quite everything under the sun finds a place in Schott’s Miscellany: 2009, but it’s a close-run thing. For those of us who became addicted to the Book of Lists series in the late '70s, British editor and designer Ben Schott’s handsome almanacs are a welcome addition to 21st-century life, a brave new world in which only “6% of men wear a necktie to work every day.”

The mission of this annual compendium of facts and figures, ranging from the trivial to the tragic, is “to offer an informative, selective, and entertaining analysis of the year.” That it does, though you could probably make it through 2009 without knowing the names of the “Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities,” the world’s “largest atoll,” or the “outstanding wine and spirits professional.”

Schott’s attention to fonts and symbols makes the miscellany reminiscent of almanacs from bygone eras, and in that spirit several of the sections might give rise to new types of parlor games. “Portmanteau Celebrity Names,” anyone? “Brangelina” is your starter for 10, but how about “Speidi,” or “KatPee”?

Browsing the book (there is really no other way to read it), you might also begin to regret what you missed in 2008, such as Brian Williams’ guest appearance on Sesame Street, “reporting on a ‘selfishness epidemic,’” or the five fleeting days when Spain’s national anthem had lyrics.

Miscellany in hand, your new year’s resolution might be to seize the day, and seize the data.

Robert Cremins is a Houston novelist and a regular contributor.•••

It’s hard to think of two 19th-century lives at first glance more different than those of Billy the Kid and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Poet and priest Hopkins had no time for “gashed flesh or galled shield,” but his interior life was as full of drama and conflict as Billy’s Wild West. And it is this soul-drama, this poetic revolution, that Paul Mariani, himself a poet, captures beautifully in Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life.

In many ways this is the major new biography of Hopkins we have been waiting for. The young Victorian intellectual stunned his eminently respectable Anglican family by becoming not just a Catholic but a Jesuit to boot. Having himself gone through the Jesuits’ famous 30-day retreat, Mariani speaks with authority about Hopkins’s spiritual formation.

There is a tendency in Hopkins criticism to divorce the poet’s religious and aesthetic visions, but Mariani understands — and shows — them to be utterly mixed together “in the alembic of his imagination.”

There is, however, nothing preachy about the biography, and Mariani never stops chronicling Hopkins’ romance with the English language, to which he will contribute “a barbarously refined new energy . . . giving it back something of its original Anglo-Saxon force.”

Hopkins is one of those poets with a reputation for being difficult, and so it is a little frustrating that Mariani uses key terms in Hopkins’ poetic theory such as “inscape” and “instress” several times before defining them. Hopefully, this will not put off Hopkins novices, for this is an otherwise rewarding and wise guide to the life and work of a man committed to showing the “thisness — the dappled distinctiveness of everything kept in Creation.”

•••

Not quite everything under the sun finds a place in Schott’s Miscellany: 2009, but it’s a close-run thing. For those of us who became addicted to the Book of Lists series in the late ‘70s, British editor and designer Ben Schott’s handsome almanacs are a welcome addition to 21st-century life, a brave new world in which only “6% of men wear a necktie to work every day.”

The mission of this annual compendium of facts and figures, ranging from the trivial to the tragic, is “to offer an informative, selective, and entertaining analysis of the year.” That it does, though you could probably make it through 2009 without knowing the names of the “Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities,” the world’s “largest atoll,” or the “outstanding wine and spirits professional.”

Schott’s attention to fonts and symbols makes the miscellany reminiscent of almanacs from bygone eras, and in that spirit several of the sections might give rise to new types of parlor games. “Portmanteau Celebrity Names,” anyone? “Brangelina” is your starter for 10, but how about “Speidi,” or “KatPee”?

Browsing the book (there is really no other way to read it), you might also begin to regret what you missed in 2008, such as Brian Williams’ guest appearance on Sesame Street, “reporting on a ‘selfishness epidemic,’” or the five fleeting days when Spain’s national anthem had lyrics.

Miscellany in hand, your new year’s resolution might be to seize the day, and seize the data.

Robert Cremins is a Houston novelist and a regular contributor.


Source: chron.com

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green acres lyrics: The holly & the ivy

"The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir ..."
-- Traditional carol

Tradition is at the heart of the way we celebrate Christmas, taking us back to the fondly remembered days of childhood and the distant past of long ago and far away.

On the personal level, there are memories of Grandma's special cookies and the cherished Old Country customs she's handed on to her children's children. On the spiritual plane, we revisit the birth of an innocent babe in a small Middle Eastern village 2,000 years ago. And on the mythic canvas, there's dear old Santa in his North Pole workshop and hoary pagan rituals of forgotten origin that live on in our modern world.

Christmas is a tapestry, a thing woven of hope and wishes to kindle warmth in winter's darkest days.

Yule log in the hearth and a fir in the hall? The primitive Teutonic tribes of Germany did it first. Caught under the mistletoe by your least-favorite uncle? Blame it on the Celts, who associated mistletoe with fertility -- in polite company, we'd say romance. Holly and ivy, as celebrated in the centuries-old English carol? Well, there's a tale there, too.

Back to the past
For holly's role, we can start with the Romans, who used it liberally in their year-end festival of Saturnalia. This was a holiday co-opted by the early Christians as the birth of Christ (the true date being a mystery) and was known as the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, referring to lengthening days that follow the winter solstice. The Romans decked their halls with boughs of holly long before anyone gave a fa-la-la and exchanged holly wreaths, a practice adopted by the early Christians.

In a culture at least as old, the Druids of England's primal forests revered the holly and considered it a gift from the gods. These nature-smitten tribes, the original tree-huggers, wore sprigs of holly in their hair for solstice rituals. Think of those sharp-edged leaves and be glad this custom has become passe.

Centuries later, European cultures would assign holly the power to banish witches and protect their homes from thunder and lightning (Donner and Blitzen in another Christmas tale). Brightly arrayed in red and green, the preferred Christmas palette, holly had fans long before our day.

Ivy, evergreen and pliant, was a symbol of eternal life among the northern pagans and the emblem of Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, in ancient Rome. Clearly, one group was focused on the sweet hereafter and the other on wild partying in the here and now, but the sacred and the secular camps still struggle over Christmas, don't they?

That battle goes on in the lyrics of "The Holly and the Ivy," which is thought to have pagan origins dating back more than 1,000 years. The version we know -- with the red berries and prickly leaves reconfigured as symbols of Christ's blood and thorny crown -- may have appeared as early as the 15th century, when holly and ivy were common church decorations at Christmas time.

The Christianized carol was first published in 1710 on the kind of broadsheets handed out in church. Nearly 200 years later, it was collected by British folk historian Cecil Sharp, who included it in a volume of carols and hymns he authored in 1911. But it was based on a much earlier song called "The Contest of the Holly and Ivy," which has nothing to do with salvation and piety.

Mentioned in a 1561 manuscript during King Henry IV's time, its lyrics relate the "contest" between the male holly, strong and sturdy, and the female ivy, a clinging vine. It's a sort of "Kiss Me Kate" battle for rule of the domestic roost and begins this way:

"Holly standeth in the hall, fair to behold
Ivy stands without the door; she is full sore a-cold
Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be I wis,
Let Holly have the mastery as the manner is ..."

Some think that what's referenced is the custom of using holly for interior decoration and ivy as an outdoor sign marking a vintner's shop -- echos of the Roman link to Bacchus, king of the grape. But it can't be all about proper decorating etiquette, can it?

To my mind, this is a classic tangle of Christmas themes, with pagan earthiness overlaid by Christian high-mindedness -- a rising solstice sun here, the holy mother and child there. It's all so wonderfully rich and resonant.

Out to the garden
Taking the plants in question outside, a gardener would say there's little contest between the two, since holly wins -- hands down.

Hollies are supremely useful broad-leafed evergreens with shapes, sizes and habits of growth to suit any purpose. There are prickly types and smooth-leafed kinds, soaring trees and rock garden specimens, small-leafed varieties resembling boxwood and species that atypically lose their leaves in winter. Showy berries can be red, orange, yellow and even ivory.

English ivy -- the common type -- is a take-over artist that can be invasive, clambering into trees and up house walls with aerial roots that stick like glue to any surface. It can damage walls that aren't of the firmly mortared stone or brick kind. (Boston "ivy," which put the ivy in Ivy League, is really Virginia creeper and in another genus entirely.)

British settlers found their beloved holly's American equivalent growing along the Eastern seaboard. Hardier than the English kind, it was less favored since its leaves were dull and its berries fewer. Before hybridization efforts began to improve native stocks, they were all but depleted by unregulated collection for holiday sales.

Here's where the story focuses more tightly on New Jersey. In 1926, Clarence Wolf, owner of a sand and gravel firm in Millville, planted a 55-acre holly orchard with trees transplanted from local swamps and forests. Dan Fenton took over in 1947 and, with plant breeder Elizabeth White, founded in Holly Society of America in Millville, the "Holly City."

Cuttings from the orchard were planted at Rutgers Garden in New Brunswick, which was the largest collection of American hollies for decades, until it was superseded by the Berheim Arboretum in Kentucky. Enter the unassuming and professiorial Elwin Orton, a Rutgers University researcher who has galvanized modern holly breeding since his arrival on campus in the 1960s.

Orton's first introduction in the 1970s, 'Jersey Princess,' was an upright, conical tree bred for darker leaf color and heavy berry set. Following it were 'Dan Fenton,' a profuse fruiter; "Jersey Gold,' with yellow berries; 'Jersey Knight,' a male pollinator; and an entire series of dwarf clones suitable for rock gardens ('Jersey Jewel,' 'Jersey Midget,' 'Jersey Sprite').

Orton has given the genus the better part of 40 years of close attention, making crosses with English, Japanese and Chinese species, and introducing some 30 new hybrids. Few individuals have played a more critical role in improving the hollies available in the trade, which today offers 1,000 cultivars of our native species. So, holly's modern story is New Jersey's story, too.

The subject of sex insinuates itself like an old refrain when it comes to holly culture. Most are dioecious, that is, divided into male and female forms. Only females produce berries, but they require a male nearby for good pollination when flowers of both genders bloom in May or June. The berries ripen as winter approaches, and once softened by freeze-and-thaw cycles, are eagerly taken by fruit-eating birds like robins and cedar waxwings.

English ivy can make an attractive, dense groundcover, but needs to be monitored closely so it doesn't throttle the shrubbery or escape into the wild, where it will smother everything in its path. The best way to handle it outdoors is in firmly defined beds or in containers, where it can be kept in confinement.

Tender ivies -- and there are lots of them that won't survive harsh New Jersey winters -- make lovely house plants. Variegated, with splashes of cream or gold, deeply lobed or reduced to delicate miniatures, their leaves add a welcome splash of color to interiors. They'll curl around your windows or obediently submit to topiary training.

Really, just reverse the whole drift of the centuries-old carol: Let the holly stand "without the door," where it will bear up beautifully in the cold, and bring the ivy into the hall, where you can keep an eye on its willful ways. That's my advice and I'm sticking to it.

Merry Christmas, one and all.


Source: nj.com

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Sun-Times love story

Each time they travel to a new city together, Cleveland natives Allen Paszt and Laura Hardy make a point of reading the local newspaper together in their hotel room to start the day. They stuck to that routine during a recent stay at the Drake -- with one significant modification.

A note in the upper right-hand corner of page 21 of Friday's Sun-Times read, "Laura, will you marry me? Love, Allen."

Paszt, a 36-year-old accountant, bought a 3.7 carat Marquise diamond ring with baguettes on the side in October. He asked for -- and received -- the blessing of Hardy's father over Thanksgiving.

He just needed a clever way to pop the question.

So when Hardy, 35, also an accountant, told Paszt they could both go to Chicago for one of her upcoming business trips, he saw his opportunity and contacted the Sun-Times.

With all the pieces in place, Paszt was up Friday morning at 4 a.m. to track down a copy of the Sun-Times. He brought it back to the room, where he found Hardy less enthusiastic about waking up that early to read the paper.

"I just knew it was going to knock her socks off," Paszt said.

It certainly did.

"Maybe if it was a nice dinner, I would have suspected something was up," she said. "But at 6:30 in the morning, I was not expecting it. I was absolutely stunned."

In fact, Hardy almost flipped past the page before spying the note -- dropping the paper in disbelief just as Paszt was presenting her with the ring.

"Well," he asked her, "will you?"

Gasping for breath, Hardy managed an emphatic, "Yes!"

Hardy admitted that for the rest of the day, she had a tough time keeping her eyes off the ring.

"I had gloves on when we were shopping," she said. "I took them off so I could look at it more. I haven't been able to stop smiling, either."

"We just get along so well," Paszt said. "We're like peanut butter and jelly."

Hardy added, "I'm the sweet one. He can be a bit crunchy at times."


Source: suntimes.com

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Sad Christmas songs...

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Teen Survives Deadly Coastal Taipan Snake Bite

A 15-year-old Australian boy survived two bites from one of the world’s deadliest snakes, the coastal Taipan. Ryan Cole was bitten on the foot as he jumped into a pool.


Cole began convulsing and bleeding from his mouth. His brother and several friends quickly cleared his mouth and wrapped a t-shirt around the bites to prevent the venom from spreading. They called for help.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where anti-venom was pumped into his body.

“I’ve been attacked twice and bitten four times – that’s pretty lucky. But then it is really lucky to have survived. I’m really grateful to my mates that they know what to do and did it,” Cole said.

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Source: transworldnews.com

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Hollywood lost some of its greats in 2008

Charlton Heston's powerful screen presence dominated "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." Paul Newman portrayed lovable rogues in smaller-scale films that ref lected changing attitudes toward sex and society.

Moses and Michelangelo. Hud, Butch Cassidy and "Cool Hand Luke." Heston and Newman created indelible roles on screen -- and strove to shape their world as well, through activism that put them on opposite sides politically.

They were two of the fascinating figures in the arts and entertainment world who died in 2008.

Born more than a half-century after them, Heath Ledger had his life cut short by a drug overdose, never seeing the phenomenal success of "The Dark Knight."

Miriam Makeba, Odetta and Yma Sumac were three exotic queens of song, who taught mainstream audiences in America -- and the world -- new ways of hearing and appreciating music.

George Carlin brought a counterculture spin to standup comedy and inf luenced every comedian to follow.

We also said goodbye to Bo Diddley and producer Jerry Wexler, giants of rhythm and blues and rock. Studs

Terkel illuminated the lives of ordinary Americans, weaving their reminiscences into moving best-sellers such as "The Good War." Arthur C. Clarke took us to new worlds with "2001: A Space Odyssey." Alexander Solzhenitsyn heroically challenged the Soviet system by revealing the horrors of the gulag.

Here, a roll call of notable people in arts, entertainment and popular culture who died in 2008.

January

Ken Nelson, 96. Capitol Records talent scout, helped push Buck Owens, Merle Haggard to stardom. Jan. 6.


Source: owensoundsuntimes.com

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Laser technology offers collagen growth to eliminate wrinkles

The latest offering of the dermatology industry is laser technology. Light is the perfect tool, because when it’s absorbed in the skin it stimulates collagen growth.

Collagen is a type of protein, which is fibrous in nature. It connects and supports your bodily tissues, as well as internal organs. As a person gets older, collagen degradation occurs. This leads to wrinkles. And to restore the body’s function back to its youthful condition, it needs new collagen.

Lasers today are precision-engineered to target specific areas that need collagen. Most skin specialists refer this method for stimulating collagen growth. It is a great solution for those who are looking for way to fight visible signs of aging.

Why laser technology? Laser technology has proven to be fast, safe, and effective. The method harnesses infrared waves from the spectrum of light to target collagen within the dermis. While it is a proven treatment, effects are determined on a case-to-case basis (depending on age and current skin condition). But laser technology comes highly recommended for those looking to eliminate wrinkles.


Source: grinza.com

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Bristol Palin's future in-law arrested

Sherry L. Johnston, the mother of Bristol Palin’s fiancé, was arrested Thursday night on drug charges.

Johnston was arrested at her Wasilla home and charged with six felony drug counts. Alaska state troopers then searched the Johnston home for further evidence of narcotics. She was charged with second-degree misconduct for allegedly manufacturing narcotics and a fourth-degree misconduct related to possession.

She has been released from the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on a $2,000 bond.

Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who was vaulted into the national spotlight in September when it was announced that he is the father of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter Bristol’s child. The baby is due on Saturday, and the two are set to wed this summer.

Via a spokesman, the Alaska governor issued this statement to the Anchorage Daily News: “This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor's communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities.”


Source: politico.com

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Alaska: Future Palin In-Law Is Arrested

State troopers have arrested the mother of Bristol Palin’s boyfriend on drug charges. The woman, Sherry L. Johnston, was arrested after troopers served a search warrant on a Wasilla home. Ms. Johnston, 42, has been charged with six felony drug counts. A trooper spokeswoman said in a news release that the charges were in connection to the prescription painkiller OxyContin. Ms. Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, 18. Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, announced in September that her daughter Bristol, 18, was pregnant and that Mr. Johnston was the father. She is due to give birth this weekend.

Source: nytimes.com

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Moon And Planets Will Form Bright Triangle In The Heavens

Moon and planets will form bright triangle in the heavens
By JUDY SIEGEL


Look in the southwest skies in the coming days to see a spectacular conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon, which will form the vertices an isosceles triangle.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration reports that while not very rare, the phenomenon is breathtaking. The last time it was seen worldwide was last February, and the next time will be on May 11, 2011.

Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets visible from Earth. The best time to see them converging is right after sunset; they will appear equidistant from the new moon between November 30 and December 1. Until then, they will gradually move into alignment - and if the sky isn't clouded, the moon will suddenly appear on the horizon and rise at the perfect angle between them to create the triangle.

NASA official Dr. Tony Philips predicts the two planets will appear to be so close, you could hide them behind your thumb if you outstretched your arm. On December 1, you may also be able to see a phenomenon of "Earthshine," in which a ghostly image of the full moon appears inside the bright horns of the crescent. It is also known as "the da Vinci glow" because Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to explain it: Sunlight reflected by the Earth then reflects off the moon, Phillips said, casting a sheen of light across the dark lunar terrain.


Source: dreamteammoney.com

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Moon and planets will form bright triangle in the heavens

Look in the southwest skies in the coming days to see a spectacular conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon, which will form the vertices an isosceles triangle.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration reports that while not very rare, the phenomenon is breathtaking. The last time it was seen worldwide was last February, and the next time will be on May 11, 2011.

Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets visible from Earth. The best time to see them converging is right after sunset; they will appear equidistant from the new moon between November 30 and December 1. Until then, they will gradually move into alignment - and if the sky isn't clouded, the moon will suddenly appear on the horizon and rise at the perfect angle between them to create the triangle.

NASA official Dr. Tony Philips predicts the two planets will appear to be so close, you could hide them behind your thumb if you outstretched your arm. On December 1, you may also be able to see a phenomenon of "Earthshine," in which a ghostly image of the full moon appears inside the bright horns of the crescent. It is also known as "the da Vinci glow" because Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to explain it: Sunlight reflected by the Earth then reflects off the moon, Phillips said, casting a sheen of light across the dark lunar terrain.


Source: jpost.com

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How Bad Is Seven Pounds’ Ending, Anyway?

A couple of days ago, following Todd McCarthy's entertaining takedown in Variety, we expressed heartfelt hope that the Times would assign its review of Will Smith's new Seven Pounds to Manohla "The Terminator" Dargis. Turns out that wasn't even necessary! This morning, the typically nicer A.O. Scott hilariously brutalizes the film, branding it "among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-
ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-
over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made." Without revealing what it is (since "the people at Sony might not invite me to any more screenings"), he blasts Pounds' creepy ending in a way that totally made us want to know what it is. So, we dug around on the Internet (mostly on the movie's Wikipedia page) and figured it out. How bad is it? Bad! Spoilers, after the jump!

The film's story is apparently told in out-of-order flashbacks, but here's the gist: Will Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent. Some time ago, while out driving with his fiancée, he became distracted by his BlackBerry and turned his car into oncoming traffic, killing her and six strangers. Then, out of guilt, he decides to commit suicide by sharing a bathtub with a deadly jellyfish so he can donate his organs to atone for his sins. Using his IRS credentials (they're actually his brother's — Will Smith's character, whose real name is Tim Thomas, stole his identity), he tracks down seven strangers in need: Woody Harrelson plays a blind pianist who gets his eyes, "Ben" gives his lungs to his ailing brother (the real Ben), he gives a single mother his house, some other woman gets his liver, some dude on dialysis takes his kidney, another guy gets his bone marrow, and he gives Rosario Dawson, the movie's love interest with congestive heart failure, his heart (barf!). (One person who needed bone marrow turns out to not be very nice, and since Ben has pledged only to give his organs to "good" people, he had to pick someone else.) Anyway, yes, the film's title refers to the "seven pounds" of flesh that Ben gives to make up for killing seven innocent people. At movie's end, after Will Smith kills himself, Rosario Dawson (who finally has a heart that can reliably pump blood to her various extremities!) meets Woody Harrelson (who can now see!) and they cry.

Source: nymag.com

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Seven Pounds Ending and Sentimentality Slammed by Critics

With the Oscar and holiday season upon us, it is just about that time for a movie with Oscar hopes and plans to forcefully jerk tears out of us to come out. Seven Pounds is that movie this year, with Will Smith trying to get some Oscar attention and make us cry our eyes out.

The marketing and publicity for Seven Pounds has been deliberately mysterious, with a story shrouded in secrecy and promises of an ending to tie it all together in tear-jerking fashion. However, the ending and the other 99% of Seven Pounds aren't making too many critics cry.

The most people know about Seven Pounds is that Smith plays a grief-stricken IRS agent who decides to change the live of seven random people, seemingly as penance for a terrible act. But things get complicated when Smith falls for a dying woman, played by Rosario Dawson.

Other than that, the rest of Seven Pounds is played in a jumbled fashion. It seems to be one of those movies with a story that would take a half hour to tell straightforward, but is stretched to two hours through flashbacks and a mismatched structure.

The ending of Seven Pounds is therefore supposed to tie everything together. Also, it would presume to explain what exactly the title of Seven Pounds means. Smith and his Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino hoped that it would tie in to a moving and sentimental climax to all that brain teasing.

However, very few critics feel that way. A few, like New York Post reviewer Lou Lumenick, even gave away the big secret ending in their ranting about the film. Some even figured out within a half hour what Seven Pounds really refers to, and therefore figured out the ending with 90 more minutes to go.

The majority of critics slam Seven Pounds for excessive sentimentality, especially in the ending, and a story that makes absolutely no sense to them and defies all logic. They also attack Smith for playing an almost Jesus like figure, and for material like a subplot about a CGI jellyfish. There are some particularly savage reviews from the likes of Variety and the New York Times.

Source: associatedcontent.com

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I believe in music

A long, long time ago,

I can still remember

How that music used to make me smile.

-- Don McLean,

"American Pie"

I've given up on New Year's resolutions. I never was very good with them, anyway.

But it is a time to look back, so here goes.

The year 2008 shall always be in my mind The Year of the Fire, but I have written enough about that already. Besides, a calendar seems like a relatively arbitrary way of dividing up history.

Regular readers are probably aware of how I preface most of my blogs with the lyrics from a song. I have always loved music. My mother, a frustrated Glee Club member while in high school, used to sing while working in the kitchen and mowing the yard. I started taking piano lessons when I learned my alphabet, eventually studying under a Juilliard School of Music graduate in Decatur, of all places. In college, I took applied piano and was a member of the college choir. Since moving to Carroll County, I was a founding member of the Ozarks Chorale.

My biggest frustration, however, is the death of my record player, and I have an album collection of more than 300, ranging from the Animals to Zager and Evans, with classical, religious, comedy and country thrown in for good measure.

Fortunately, I can recall many of the lyrics to the songs I have listened to over at least the last 45 years. Enough so, that I tell folks who come through my checkout line at Walmart that

"I am the singing cashier."

I was also the singing apple grader, hay hauler, and poultry grower. Singing in a newspaper office however, is generally quite distracting.

Back in my farming days, I recall working in the apple packing shed with my cousin, Lou Ann Daugherty, now Lou Ann Sutton of Harrison. At the time my sister-in-law, Rosalie, who lived up the road, was breaking into the music industry, recording in Nashville and playing some gigs at Elks Clubs in northwest Arkansas and bars in nearby Oklahoma, and we both were hanging around the fringes of her performances.

(Incidentally, my sister-in-law has since gone gospel.)

Anyway, Lou Ann and I were into music, and she was more or less my piano playing idol at the time. We both enjoyed that one hit wonder song by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, "Jackson." I recall as clearly as if it were yesterday how she would take Nancy's part and I Hazelwood's, singing the song while she bagged apples and I stacked the boxes on the floor. It was fun, and no one bellyached about it.

Eventually I made it to college, and roomed with a cousin who, like me, slept best with the record player going. It was only after moving to Carroll County that he finally got around to returning my Al Green album, "I Stand Alone," to me. I think that experience over three years was an experience in subliminal learning -- The Monkees, The Beatles, Pinkiny Canady, Rhinoceros, It's a Beautiful Day, The Animals, John Davidson, Joy of Cooking, Carole King, and I could go on and on, all produced lyrics and melodies which float through my mind. It is as I say, "I've got a million of them."

Another influence on my music was a roommate in Rogers by the name of, simply, Von, a drummer in my sister-in-law's band, and somewhat of a songwriter, although the only one I can recall is somewhat like doggerel, "Talked to a Blade of Grass Today."

Sometimes the sister-in-law's band rehearsed at our place, since it was centrally located for the band members.

In married life, my wife is a former torch singer on the Tulsa circuit, and we share a common love of music. In fact, one of our favorite games when traveling in a type of categories game where we select a category and see who can come up with the most songs that fit. The competition is usually pretty close, whether the category is colors, natural settings, or whatever else comes to mind.

Anyway, with all that history, you now know why music is a natural part of my life. I would hate to think of life without it.


Source: carrollconews.com

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All Kona wants for Festivus

Since I'm still new enough at TV Squad not to exist on the "Meet the TV Squad" page, this is my first Festivus. It's nice to be able to dig deep into my heart for all of my TV wishes in hopes that some internet fairy will grant them and make the television landscape just a little bit more awesome... for me, at least.

Without further ado, here is what I want for Festivus:

* Christina Hendricks and the rest of the Mad Men cast should guest-star on more shows. Ever since I started watching Mad Men, I've noticed Hendricks popping up places. She's on an episode of Without a Trace here, an old episode of Cold Case there... I love me some Joan Holloway and Mad Men isn't returning soon enough. I loved seeing Jon Hamm host SNL, and I'm super excited about his upcoming guest stint on 30 Rock. More please!


* I want Jim and Pam to actually get married on The Office, and for Holly to come back. I hate shows that focus too much on "will they or won't they" relationships. The Office has handled the Jim and Pam thing in the least-annoying way possible, but they better not push their luck. These two need to actually walk down the aisle with a minimal amount of bullshit getting in their way. This will free up the writers to concentrate on other relationships, like Michael and Holly, which I loved. Bring Amy Ryan back! I don't care if she's off making movies. I loved Holly.

* Life on Mars and The Mentalist really need to live up to their potential. Out of all of the new shows this season, Life on Mars and The Mentalist are the two that initially blew me away. However, after the first few episodes of both shows, the bloom came off the rose. The Mentalist needs to delve deeper into the whole Red John thing, and Life on Mars needs to stay away from Sam's constant "in the future" blathering and interactions with people he knows in 2008.

* BBC needs to vary the reruns of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares that they air. I discovered the American version first, mainly because I didn't used to have BBC America, but I love this show. I haven't been watching it for very long, but it has been months since I've been able to catch an episode I haven't seen already. I know the seasons are short, but Kitchen Nightmares has been on for years; I'm pretty sure there are more than half a dozen episodes.

* Chuck and Blair need to keep on being awesome. Gossip Girl, a show that I thought was only okay last year, has quickly become one of my favorite things to watch. I don't give a crap about most of the characters, but the deliciously evil Chuck and Blair keep me coming back every week. Don't ruin this for me.

* Damian Lewis should be on TV all the time. In case you don't know, this guy is seriously hot. Oh, I've mentioned this already? I don't care. It bears repeating. I'm glad that Life is doing so well in the ratings, not only because it's a really good show, but because it means a regular dose of Damian Lewis. It's not enough for me though. I want him to host SNL and guest star on like, every show, ever. That would be great. Thanks in advance.


Source: tvsquad.com

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One's calm and one's hyper, but they run in step

Amy Flock wore white on her wedding day. She slid a blue garter around her thigh. She slipped a lucky penny in her shoe and her grandmother's pearls around her neck.

All very fitting and traditional.

But little else about Amy and Ryan Flock's Aug. 30 wedding day was typical.

The San Diego couple exchanged vows 30 minutes after completing a six-day, 108-mile adventure run in the Colorado Rockies. While Amy wore white, her skirt and shirt were flecked with brown dirt prints. She soaked her swollen left hand in ice for 15 minutes so she could squeeze on her wedding band.

Of the occasion, Amy says, “It was exhilarating. You know that saying that you don't want to go into your grave site well preserved? I'd rather be bruised and knocked around a bit. That's how I interpret life and our wedding. Nobody can ever take away this memory from us.”

That the Flocks opted for a non-traditional wedding is hardly stunning. Ryan and Amy live life, stretching, twisting, sometimes downright snapping their comfort zones.

They met while auditioning for “The Apprentice.” They exchanged phone numbers after standing in line for five hours that day but didn't begin dating until 18 months later when they bumped into each other at an Ocean Beach bar.

Amy, now 31, barely recognized Ryan, now 28.

He had lost nearly 40 pounds.

“I don't mean to be rude,” Amy said that May 2007 evening. “But what happened to you? You look amazing.”

Normally fit and athletic, Ryan had let his physique turn pear-shaped.

“I decided enough's enough,” Ryan said. “I started working out all the time, watching what I eat. Not partying, being stupid. I grew up, I guess.”

Further evidence the couple do things differently?

Amy proposed to Ryan.

They were vacationing in San Francisco in October 2007, bopping about North Beach early in the morning, lost as they walked about.

“I was a little freaked out,” Amy said. “I just remember Ryan being so calm and wonderful and beautiful. I knew all along (he was the one), but at that moment I said (to myself), 'This is my man. I love him. I want to be with him forever.' ”

“I want to marry you,” she told Ryan. “Will you marry me?”

“It was beautiful,” Ryan said. “It was genuine.”

Ryan works as a service manager for Firestone tires. Amy is a sales manager for a company that decorates trade shows and corporate events.

The couple ran a half marathon 13 months ago. Thinking it would help prepare them for last summer's Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, they stepped up to the marathon last June.

“They're apples and oranges,” Amy said of the marathon and 108-mile event. “But in our minds, it made sense. It definitely wasn't like running a marathon. A marathon's one day. This is a marathon for six days, at altitude.”

The couple's story is featured in the January issue of Runner's World.

As you'd expect, there were some tough stretches during the six-day adventure.

“I don't know so much that we got on each other's nerves as it was just the stress of doing a race,” Amy said. “You're living in a tent, don't have any space, it's freezing.”

“A few times, I held my tongue, let her get it out,” Ryan said.

Asked what he learned about his bride, Ryan added, “That's she's very graceful and courageous. She has a lot of pride and a lot of strength.”

Amy said the 108-mile race reinforced what she already knew about her husband.

“He is so calm, level-headed, rational,” she said. “Those are amazing qualities in a partner. You don't need two hyper, spazmadic persons. I'm that person. I need that complete opposite to make us a whole.”

Fifty family and friends traveled to Beaver Creek, Colo., for the wedding. Many brought white roses, which Amy turned into a bouquet. The groomsmen and bridesmaid wore black track suits.

What new adventures await the newlyweds?

They plan to take the triathlon plunge in 2009. They'd like to run the Great Wall Marathon one day. They'll return to Colorado in August for a repeat of the 108-mile ultra. Organizers have comped them an entry.

There's one other thing Amy learned about Ryan.

“He's in it for the long haul. He's not going to give up,” she said, discussing ultra-running and life. “That race definitely symbolized our life together and our marriage.”


Source: signonsandiego.com

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IL - Ex-Police Sergeant Doubled as Serial Rapist

By JIM AVILA, ALISON LYNN and LAUREN PEARLE

Wife Stands by Illinois Policeman Jeff Pelo, Sentenced to More Than 400 Years in Prison

On May 12, 2003, 25-year-old Kristie Mills awoke to the unimaginable: a masked intruder standing in her doorway.

"I was in shock," Mills said. "Absolute shock. I looked at the door and saw the light there, and something just didn't seem right. And that's when I saw him.

"The next thing I remember is he was on top of me in the bed," she said. Mills said the intruder told her he was there to burglarize her, and that he didn't want to hurt her, but if she made noise, he would shoot.

Wearing a ski mask and gloves, he seemed oddly calm and methodical as he bound her with zip ties and duct tape, she said.

"He actually taped all the way around my head so that I wouldn't be able to open my mouth at all. Put tape over my eyes."

Then he slipped a pillowcase over her head. "He seemed very assertive when he talked and not like somebody who's, you know, panicking. He seemed like he knew what he was doing," Mills said.

The man sexually assaulted Mills for 45 minutes.

Then, still blindfolded, he forced her into the bathroom where she heard water running. "I started to panic and I thought he was going to shoot me in the bathtub," she said. "Just over a month from my 26th birthday, and I was going to die."

Mills was forced to take a long bath and told to wash carefully, while her rapist calmly walked about her apartment cleaning up after himself.

As quickly as he had arrived, he was gone, taking with him all the evidence, including the bed sheets.

She was so upset and scared that when she got out of the bathtub, removed the pillowcase, and ripped the tape from off her eyes, she "actually ripped hunks of hair out." She then called 911.

Rapist's Next Victim

Two years later, the rapist found his fourth victim, 28-year-old restaurant manager Sarah, who also awoke to someone coming into her room in the middle of the night. She was just six weeks away from her wedding.

"It was gun to my head, knife to my throat," said Sarah, who asked that her last name be kept private.

He made it clear he had been stalking her, and he threatened her loved ones. "He knew everything about me," she said. "What my sister looks like to what car my husband drove, my work schedule. He knew where I worked out. Pretty much everything."

Sarah had brushed off an attempted break-in a couple of months earlier. "I didn't take that seriously," she said.

The intruder sexually assaulted and attacked Sarah for almost three hours. As with Mills, he was careful. He bound her hands and covered her head with a pillowcase.

"The majority of the assault was spent just humiliating and demeaning and terrorizing me. I mean, it wasn't at all about anything to do with sex. Just devastation is what, how I felt."

Rape Investigation: Searching for a Model Citizen

Before leaving, as he had with Mills and his other victims, the attacker forced Sarah into the bathroom for a long soak to wash away the evidence.

"All I could think about was, 'I can't have someone call my family, my fiancé, my parents, my siblings and tell them that I have been killed six weeks before I get married,'" she said.

He left Sarah alone, shaking in her tub and waiting hours until sunrise to flee.

Although she considered telling no one, she thought, "If I don't tell the police, this person is going to rape yet another person." So she called the cops.

Even through her trauma, Sarah had memorized details of her attacker, from his gait to the haunting eyes behind his mask.

"He had a very distinct way of walking," Sarah said. "Kind of cumbersome. He had very distinct bright blue eyes. I knew I would be able to pick them out as soon as I saw that person."

Mills also remembered his eyes. "When you're staring into those eyes and that's the only thing you can see and the only thing you can focus on, they stick with you."

Bloomington, Ill., Police Detective Clay Wheeler had spent two years, from December 2002 to January 2005, pursuing the first serial rapist in his town's memory.

"I've seen more brutal things, more violent things, but some of the things that happened and what he would say and tell these girls as he's assaulting them, and I mean, I get chills and just … it just disgusts me," he said.

He and his partner Matthew Dick realized this was a special kind of rapist; he was a stalker, a man seemingly obsessed with his victims who gathered intimate details about them.

"He's actually engaging in conversation rather than just the quick act of violence," Dick said. The victims described how he would talk almost lovingly to them, as if he was their boyfriend, before getting angry and violent.

And he knew how to cover his tracks. "It was very obvious to us that this was a sophisticated criminal and knew what he was doing," Dick said.

When the police turned to the FBI for help, they were told the rapist might be a seemingly model citizen.

"The one thing they did tell us that I'll never forget is that this would be some guy that everybody works with. They'll say, 'Naw. He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that,' you know. And it'd be somebody that would be maybe a respected member of the community," Wheeler said.

The police had no prime suspect. Meanwhile, the rapist was stalking his next victim.




Source: sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com

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