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The interior of the Battlestar Galactica is a warren of shadowy, angular hallways and spare functional chambers split over two sound stages situated on the semi-industrial fringe of Vancouver, British Columbia. The Galactica is a spaceship, but it does not feel particularly space-age. The communication panels on the walls were scavenged from a Canadian destroyer; the desk lamps are from Ikea. If you have seen "Battlestar Galactica," which began its second season on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, you will know that this Galactica only vaguely resembles the ship that previously bore that name, when "Battlestar Galactica" first flew on prime time in 1978, square in the shadow of "Star Wars." And it certainly does not resemble the Enterprise, the "Star Trek" vehicle that has defined the visual and thematic vocabulary of television science fiction for four decades. On the Galactica, there is no captain's chair; there are no windows full of stars. The command center is busy and dark, protected deep within the ship the way it would be on an actual military vessel. As the actors move from room to room, hand-held cameras swoop behind them, closing in on them claustrophobically. The characters do not travel heroically from planet to planet, solving the problems of aliens. There are, in fact, no aliens at all.
To be fair, though, there are androids. As in the original show, the humans of the Galactica and its fleet are relentlessly pursued by evil robots called Cylons. But in the current version, conceived by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, most of the evil Cylons look like people and have found God. Ruthlessly principled and deeply religious, the Cylons have been compared by fans and critics both to Al Qaeda and to the evangelical right. And the humans they are relentlessly pursuing are fallible and complex. Their shirts are not clingy or color-coded; the men of space wear neckties. They are led by Edward James Olmos as the Galactica's commander and Mary McDonnell as the president of the humans, and their stories revolve as much around the tensions within -- between the military and civil leadership of the fleet -- as they do around the Cylon threat. As Eick described the show to me last month with evident, subversive pleasure, "The bad guys are all beautiful and believe in God, and the good guys all [expletive] each other over." Moore, who is also the show's head writer, put it more simply: "They are us."
It is sometimes jarring to watch "Battlestar Galactica," for it is not like any science-fiction show on television today. Science fiction is a genre that, for all its imaginative expansiveness, tends also to be very conservative; its fans sometimes defend its clichés fiercely. "Battlestar Galactica" upends sci-fi clichés. The show is jarring also because it is, after all, "Battlestar Galactica," which in its original incarnation was seen even within the world of science-fiction fans as something of a sincere but goofy oddity -- a mere 24 cumulative hours' worth of television that, like some bit of shrapnel from the "Star Wars" explosion of the 70's, lodged in our consciousness but had been largely forgotten.
How Moore and Eick came to transform that show into one of the most original and provocative programs on television is strange. What is stranger is that there was a small but very dedicated group of "Battlestar Galactica" fans who didn't want them to succeed. The galactica was not the first spaceship that Ron Moore had a hand in building. A quiet man with shoulder-length hair whose profound thoughtfulness and patience sometimes borders on the unnerving, Moore, who is 41, grew up in rural Chowchilla, Calif., a high-school quarterback and a "Star Trek" fan. "Star Trek" appealed to Moore's fascination with both naval history and the exotic-seeming Kennedy-era progressivism the show surreptitiously broadcast -- the original liberal-media conspiracy. In grade school he built models, including an extremely detailed miniature of the Enterprise, which he still has today, and wrote stories about dinosaurs fighting in World War II. He went to Cornell to study political science on a Navy R.O.T.C. scholarship. Though he flunked out of college and never ended up joining the Navy, he still has a deep affinity for the institution and its rituals and still subscribes to the Navy journal Proceedings ("Much to my horror," says his wife, Terry, who grew up in Berkeley). In his office in L.A., Moore has a complete set of Samuel Eliot Morrison's multivolume history of the Navy's World War II campaigns, a model of the U.S.S. Utah and an actual ship's binnacle (as well as a rather vicious-looking bat'leth, the ceremonial sword of the Klingon empire).
In 1989, when he was in his mid-20's, he managed to sell a spec script to "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which was still in its infancy. Titled "The Bonding," it told the story of a boy on board the Enterprise who is suddenly orphaned when his mother is killed on a routine mission. (Do not fear -- he is later semi-adopted by Worf, the Klingon security chief.) Soon, Moore became a staff writer for the show, then graduated to helping to produce its darker spinoff, "Deep Space Nine." As a writer, Moore became a fan favorite, known for his thoughtful scripts that revered yet challenged the long-established mythos of "Star Trek." He also became known for killing people. He would go on to kill the mother of Worf's biological son; in the movie "Star Trek: Generations," written with Brannon Braga, he managed to kill Captain Picard's young nephew, as well as Captain Kirk. It was this latter death that changed his status slightly among the fan community, to the tune of death threats.
He told me that he wept as he worked on the scene in which Kirk falls to his death. "But I was really driven to do it," he said. "I wanted to do this story about mortality, and how mortality comes to even the greatest hero, and what happens when Kirk dies." He paused. When he is asked a question, Moore often replies with a calm, unsettling candor bespeaking long reflection. "It's weird," he finally said. "He was my childhood hero, and I killed him. What does that mean? What does that say about me?"
It all came to an end with the third spinoff, "Voyager." Moore had been intrigued by its premise: a starship and its crew are left to fend for themselves in deep, unknown space (a premise not unlike that of "Battlestar Galactica"). He had hoped it would be a new direction for the story he loved -- setting "Star Trek" loose from the moorings of its old clichés and letting it explore new, more realistic territory. But as he watched the show develop, Moore grew disenchanted. No matter how many times the bridge of the "Voyager" was destroyed, the ship was always spic and span by the next episode. "How many shuttle crafts have vanished," he later said in an interview posted on a science-fiction Web site, "and another one just comes out of the oven?" But no one at "Voyager" seemed to share this frustration, and after he joined the show in 1999, at the beginning of its fifth season, his attitude left him isolated from the rest of the staff. Within months he quit. "It was very difficult," he told me, his eyes locked sadly on an empty space somewhere between us. "I didn't want to leave the nest." It was the first time he had been outside the "Trek" universe in 10 years.
Shortly after Moore left "Voyager," Richard Hatch was in the San Diego convention center, receiving a standing ovation. Hatch had been the star of the original "Battlestar Galactica," playing the idealistic Captain Apollo opposite Dirk Benedict's roguish Lieutenant Starbuck. Together they had been on the cover of People; their faces served as the models for countless lunch boxes and T-shirts. But then it was all suddenly over.
The original "Battlestar" was often dismissed as a "Star Wars" rip-off, but it was always stranger and more ambitious than that. There was an element of 70's-era "Chariots of the Gods" crackpot-ism to it. ("There are those who believe that life here began out there," spoke the tweedy voice of Patrick Macnee at the opening of each episode, and proof of this common ancestry was provided weekly in the King Tut-style space helmets Apollo sported.) But that was blended in an intriguing way with late-cold-war anxiety over Soviet appeasements and an openly biblical story line, widely considered a tribute by its creator, Glen A. Larson, to the parables of his own Mormon faith. Twelve colonies of space-faring humans, survivors of slaughter driven away from their home planets, had set off through space in search of the mythical 13th tribe that, legend tells, settled a promised land called "Earth."
Yet "Battlestar" could never fully escape the orbit of its time. The most expensive-to-produce program of its day, at $1 million per episode, it kept drifting to the security of "Love Boat"-style prime-time conventions: feathered hair and a fondness for weekly guest stars, including Fred Astaire as Starbuck's con-man father and Macnee as, well, Satan. After the show's initial great success (the premiere drew a reported 65 million viewers), the audience quickly dwindled, and it was canceled after eight months.
Dirk Benedict went on to star in "The A-Team." Richard Hatch did soaps and TV work and started a business leading seminars in personal communication. In 1995, his girlfriend at the time persuaded him to do a signing session at a "Star Trek" convention in Pasadena. He agreed, but he wasn't sure if anyone would come. By that point, "Battlestar Galactica" had virtually disappeared. There had never been a complete video release, and with only a single season's worth of programming in existence, reruns were few and far between. So Hatch was nervous before the signing session, clutching his handful of photographs, watching the long lines of fans waiting to meet their favorite "Star Trek" actors, wondering if he would be sitting at his table out on the edge of the convention for hours by himself. Then his name was announced on the P.A., and he heard the crowd roar. One by one, they came to him, the fans, with their memories of "Battlestar Galactica," emotionally recounting what the show had meant to them, how it helped them through difficult times in their lives.
"With all its flaws and imperfections, 'Battlestar' had somehow connected," Hatch told me recently, recalling the convention. "I think that archetypal, very powerful story -- Moses and the Israelites journeying across the farthest reaches of space in search of a new homeland -- there's something epic in that."
After the signing, Hatch registered the Web site battlestargalactica.com. (Neither Universal, which had produced the original show, nor Larson had ever bothered.) And so began his campaign to find and bring together fans of the original series and lead them to a new homeland, a resurrected "Battlestar" TV show or movie modeled on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" -- one that would continue the journey to Earth and would star several of the original actors, with Apollo as one of the leaders.
The journey took many turns. As Hatch continued to call and meet with executives from Universal, trying to convince them of the viability of his idea, he was approached to write new comics set in the old "Battlestar" universe, and then to share writing credits on a series of novels that would outline his vision. The first, "Armageddon," was published in 1997. Six more followed. Universal seemed content to let him work within these media. But when it came to a new TV series, Hatch says, the executives he met with in the "black tower" building at Universal just didn't get it. They couldn't get past the original failure of "Battlestar." So he decided that the best way to spark interest in a revival was to shoot what he called a "proof of concept" -- in effect, a trailer for a film or television show that didn't yet exist, based on one of his own books and starring him. He shot it using his own money, mortgaging his home and maxing out his credit cards. He relied on volunteer help from actors and cinematographers he knew around town and from fans he met on the Internet.
Compared with the thriving "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" franchises, "Battlestar" fandom was marginal -- the province of a few diehards making Web sites and sewing Colonial-warrior costumes. But these diehards rallied around Hatch, donating the costumes and props they had fabricated or volunteering to do the computer graphics for the space battles. And as they did, Hatch became for most of them the face of the fight for the new "Galactica."
In 1999, at the San Diego Comic-Con, he showed his completed trailer, titled "Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming." He reports that it received a standing ovation. I can report that it looks remarkably professional and engaging and certainly faithful to Larson's original story. But you will probably never see it, because Hatch spent somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 of his own money to create a film within a franchise in which he owned absolutely no rights and which, for this reason, as well as actors' union regulations, he can never show or distribute for money.
But that was fine. Because for Hatch, it was always about convincing the world that it made sense to bring back "Battlestar." And in fact, soon Universal would indeed be relaunching the Galactica -- although Richard Hatch would not be on board. In December 2001, David Eick, who was behind shows like "American Gothic" and "Xena: Warrior Princess," got a call from David Kissinger, president of the media conglomerate Studios USA, which controlled the Universal library. Over the previous year or two, the idea of reviving "Battlestar" had been floating around Universal. Now, Kissinger said, there was some new interest at Studio USA's sister company, the Sci Fi Channel. Would Eick be interested? Eick had his misgivings about the idea. But he had some experience sending out secret, under-the-radar cultural messages through pulp entertainment (in Xena's case, a nascent lesbian chic). He saw an opportunity -- what he called "a great potential for irony." As he told me, "If you could do a show called 'Battlestar Galactica,' with that title, that would harken toward the kind of sincere, dimensional, textured, emotional drama of '2001' and 'Blade Runner' -- oh, my God. You could blow everyone's mind."
Eick met Ron Moore a few years before, when Moore was consulting on "Good vs. Evil" for the Sci Fi Channel. But even though Eick didn't know "Star Trek" particularly well, he knew that "Star Trek" was exactly what he didn't want this new series to be. And he knew that "Star Trek" was not and would never be a subject that was close to Moore's heart. And so he called Moore and asked him if he was interested in bringing a second big spaceship show back to life. Moore knew the original "Battlestar," and after talking to Eick, he watched Larson's original three-hour pilot again. It surprised him. Here was a deeply somber story about a civilization that had basically endured genocide, and for the first hour it was elegantly told and strangely affecting. "They were trying," he told me. "It took a hard left turn to insanity when they reached the casino planet, but they were really trying."
Moore said he would do it, but he wanted to make some changes. After numerous meetings and a full script treatment, he wrote a two-page memo that laid out the basic tenets of what the new "Battlestar Galactica" would eventually become. "We take as a given the idea that the traditional space opera, with its stock characters, techno-double-talk, bumpy-headed aliens, thespian histrionics and empty heroics has run its course, and a new approach is required," it began. "Call it 'naturalistic science fiction."' There would be no time travel or parallel universes or cute robot dogs. There would not be "photon torpedoes" but instead nuclear missiles, because nukes are real and thus are frightening.
"To this day," Eick says, "I don't think either of us could have anticipated how valuable the memo would be." It would repair everything that had been worn down to convention in a genre Moore had once loved. But "Battlestar" would be more than just an opportunity to do "Voyager" correctly.
"When I watched the original pilot," Moore says, "I knew that if you did 'Battlestar Galactica' again, the audience is going to feel a resonance with what happened on 9/11. That's going to touch a chord whether we want it to or not. And it felt like there was an obligation to that. To tell it truthfully as best we can through this prism." In the miniseries Moore wrote to introduce the new "Battlestar," the echoes of the war on terror were unapologetic and frequently harrowing: what happens when an advanced, comfortable, secular democracy endures a devastating attack by an old enemy that it literally created (which enemy, in Moore's version, also happens to be religious fanaticism)?
For a genre often derided as escapist, science fiction has a long tradition of social commentary, no small part of which comes from "Star Trek" itself, which embraced race and gender equality on the bridge of the Enterprise at a time when it was still largely being rejected in real-life America. But Moore wanted a show that would move between the idealistic fantasies of "Trek" and the hard moral pragmatism of the military -- that would embrace both the binnacle and the bat'leth, if you will. He listed for me some of the thornier questions the show evokes: "What does it mean to be free in a society under attack? What are the limits of that freedom? Who's right? Who's wrong? Are you rooting for the wrong side?"
Like Richard Hatch, Moore and Eick were taking "Battlestar Galactica" more seriously than it had been taken in a long time, though in a very different way. And for this reason, Moore thought he would be a hero to those who had rallied to Hatch's cause. At last there would be someone who would get a new "Battlestar" made and, what's more, who would be faithful to the original story's dark premise -- perhaps even more faithful than the original had been. As production progressed on the miniseries, details of the changes Moore and Eick had in mind for "Battlestar Galactica" began to circulate on the Internet, and to many fans they were deeply disturbing. The Cylons would look human, and they would be sexy. Even more troubling: Moore had killed the idea of any "continuation story," as Hatch had long been championing. All of the characters would be recast, including Hatch's own Apollo, and the story would start over.
Things had not gone easily for Hatch and his followers since that great day in 1999. Two attempts to revive or create a new series based on "Galactica" -- one by its original creator, Glen Larson, the other, for Fox, by the film director Bryan Singer and his producing partner Tom DeSanto -- had seemed imminent and had then fallen apart. Both had been continuations. The failure of the Singer-and-DeSanto project was particularly heartbreaking for Hatch. He had thrown his support behind DeSanto's proposed pilot, and the fans followed. But Singer left the project to complete "X2," and Fox subsequently let it drop before it could go into production.
So among the hope-dashed fan community, which had come to see the issue of a continuation as sacrosanct, Moore was regarded with some suspicion, his "Star Trek" credentials aside. Then, when they learned that he intended to recast Starbuck as a woman -- it was too much.
"Starbuck is a guy. A GUY. A GUY!!!" posted a fan named Rhonda on the forums of battlestargalacticaclub.com in December 2002. Moore was accused of bowing to political correctness, of dishonoring the memory of the original actors, of requiring a beating. One original-series fan called him "the Paul de Man of current science fiction," accusing him of casually deconstructing the story that had been so close to their hearts for so long, only in order to "make his mark."
"I started a Yahoo group called 'Ron Moore Sucks,"' John DiPalermo, a New York-based old-series supporter, told me recently by e-mail. "I proudly take credit for starting to refer to him as the MooreRon right after the script was first made available." (Someone leaked the script on the Internet.) "In every 'Battlestar Galactica' Yahoo group, I would call him the MooreRon, and it became very popular."
As for Hatch, he had been approached about doing a cameo in the miniseries, which, if he accepted, would, in effect, give the new show his blessing. Hatch declined. In an interview on the Web site "Sci Fi Pulse" in August 2003, Hatch conceded that Moore's ideas were interesting, but, he said, "what angers me is the fact that they have disregarded the polls and most if not all of what fans have said they liked about 'Galactica."' And Hatch was right. The fact was that the active fans of the old series, pro-continuation or no, represented a tiny percentage of those who might come to Moore's show out of curiosity and stay if it was good.
But Moore understood fans from his "Star Trek" days. He had been a fan and had gone to conventions, and he remembered what it was like to feel that devotion to a fictional world, and what it could make you do. And so when he was invited to appear at Galacticon, the convention Hatch was helping to organize to mark the 25th anniversary of the original show, Moore said yes.
It was held in October 2003, two months before the miniseries was to go on the air, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City. Moore took video clips from the miniseries that no one had ever seen. "I really had this blind faith," he told me. "All the way through it, I always had this faith that they just have to see it, and then they'll see that it's actually pretty good."
The audience was tense and angry. Apparently a coordinated plan had been circulating to pelt Moore with popcorn. He took the stage and showed his clips. And the crowd booed. ("They booed," Moore recalled, with a kind of cool, blinking amazement. "And hissed.")
The popcorn didn't come, but the questions did.
"I know it must be uncomfortable to be here," one audience member began. "Not to patronize you, but we owe Richard so much. . . . Ron, it's a slap in the face that he was not taken into consideration." The room grew quiet. "And when this miniseries fades away, and if it becomes a series, and when that series fades away . . . I hope you will consider what some of us said here today. That there could have been a correct way to making this happen."
Moore nodded understandingly and said a few words in his own defense. "I was asked, 'What do you want to do with 'Galactica'?" he told the audience. "I said, 'This is what I want to do' . . . and I did it. And I don't make any apologies for that. . . . I have nothing but good things to say about the original show. I have nothing but good things to say about Richard Hatch. . . . But I'm the guy that's doing the show, and this is the choice that I made, and I stand by it."
A boo began to form in the room again, and people started to yell things, and then, in the back of the room, Hatch stood up. He wore a black T-shirt, and he raised his hand to calm his people. (If you are curious, there is a commemorative DVD of Galacticon 2003, and at this moment, the camera swings wildly around to quick-focus on Hatch.)
"Ron," Hatch said, "I just want to say, No. 1, that it takes incredible courage to stand there and listen to people express their emotions and feelings, and I just take my hat off to you, No. 1." He then said he didn't blame Moore for anything. "You had the boldness and strength to actually commit to that vision," he said. "Whether it stands or falls will be up to the wide audience of this world. But just even from this, I can see that you have a bold vision, that you're an incredibly talented man and you have a lot to say. And I honor that." "Enterprise," the most recent tv series in the "Star Trek" franchise, was going off the air as I was visiting Moore and Eick in Vancouver. The week I saw Moore in L.A., the most recent "Star Wars" movie, "Revenge of the Sith," was opening up at the CityWalk in Universal Studios. I saw it there, not far from where the old "Battle of Galactica" display on the Universal Studios Tour used to be, before they replaced it in the 80's with a mock earthquake, not far from where Moore and his writers meet now.
When I walked out, those two sagas were finished (at least for now) for the first time in almost 40 years, and it was difficult not to appreciate the strange journey "Galactica" had taken to outlast and, at the end, outshine those sagas it had once been accused of ripping off. Having made its debut first as a miniseries in late 2003 and then having its premiere as an original series this past January, "Battlestar Galactica" is the most successful original program in the Sci Fi Channel's history. Meanwhile, many of the fan sites that had originally opposed Moore and Eick's vision now actively or passively support it. Discussion of the show has migrated somewhat, from the fan boards to political blogs, where the issues it raises about security, religion and the ethics of android torture inspire heated debate, as well as praise from conservatives and liberals alike.
But there are some remaining diehards. "I will never support the MooreRon," John DiPalermo wrote to me. "Maybe I'm stubborn and pigheaded, but . . . Starbuck is a MAN!!!!!" He said he prayed every day that Moore would lose his job, and he said he had also felt angry at his former rebel leader, Hatch. Because after the miniseries was a success and the first season was green-lighted, Moore e-mailed Hatch and again offered him a new role. And this time Hatch accepted.
The day I left L.A., I called Hatch and met him at the apartment complex where he lives, not far from the "black tower" of Universal he had fought for so long. He was friendly and gracious. He said he had gained some perspective on the cause that had taken up so much of his time. "Looking back," he said, "it's hard for me to believe I did what I did." He never intended to become so emotionally involved, he said. "I just felt there's something powerful here. And I just found myself taking a series of small steps that turned into big steps."
Things changed, he said, when he saw Moore defend the miniseries at Galacticon. "I just had such great respect for him up there," he told me. "I realized I was no longer thinking as the idealist. I could respect somebody else's vision for something, even something I had fallen in love with." He said it was sort of like falling in love with another man's wife. "Eventually you had to realize she's married. And not to me."
And it was hard to turn down the part that he had been offered, which was a wry and inspired matching of role and actor. Hatch now plays a former terrorist who leads a band of malcontents in the fleet, all the while striving for rehabilitation. Needless to say, the casting was Moore's idea.
John Hodgman is a contributing writer for the magazine.


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Written by Kristi Dement of Bed and Breakfast Blogging
Discover Fall Foliage in Missoula
Another fall is beginning its descent upon Big Sky Country in Missoula, Montana. With the arrival of autumn, it's time to start looking forward to spectacular fall displays. Tree-filled mountainsides are already showing hints of their dramatic colors. Soon, we'll be surrounded by the vibrant crimsons, bursts of fiery oranges, and yellows standing against a backdrop of green, all of which make fall foliage season in Montana a truly stunning display. Though Montana may not be at the top of many lists when it comes to fall foliage displays, we assure you it is a stunning season to visit. Whether you want to enjoy the beauty of fall by foot or behind the wheel, you won't have to go far. Book your room at our Missoula Bed and Breakfast today, and discover fall in Montana. Continue reading
Luke Bryan Concert
Luke Bryan Concert is coming to Missoula. For his Kill the Lights tour, Luke Bryan will be performing at the Adams Center (32 Campus Drive in Missoula) on the University of Montana campus. His concerts happen on Wednesday April 20 and Thursday April 21 from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm.
Luke explains how his tour-titled track, Kill the Lights came to be in this YouTube video. You can even tell that he has a great singing voice just by hearing him speak. He has a sexy voice!
Hear Luke Bryan sing his hit song, Kill The Lights. The song lyrics show up on the screen as well as some images of him performing in front of fans.
During preparations for his performances at the MusiCares Gala and the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards® where he paid tribute to music icon Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan learned his Kill The Lights album has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200, his third consecutive album to do so, and Top Country Albums charts.
Kill The Lights contains Luke's two-week No. 1 single "Home Alone Tonight" featuring Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town and closed 2015 as the best-selling country album of the year and the 10th biggest selling album on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Year-End list.
Luke Bryan was also nominated for four different i-Heart Radio Music Awards:
Male Artist of the Year:
Ed Sheeran
Justin Bieber
Luke Bryan
Sam Smith
The Weeknd
Best Tour:
Foo Fighters
Garth Brooks
Luke Bryan
Taylor Swift
Country Song of the Year:
"Buy Me A Boat" – Chris Janson
"Homegrown" – Zac Brown Band
"I See You" – Luke Bryan
"Lose My Mind" – Brett Eldredge
"Take Your Time" – Sam Hunt
Country Artist of the Year:
Blake Shelton
Brad Paisley
Luke Bryan
Sam Hunt
Thomas Rhett
The 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards are set to take place on April 3rd, at the historic Forum in Los Angeles, and will be televised live on TBS, TNT, and truTV at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT., as well as simulcast on iHeartMedia stations nationwide, and on the iHeartRadio digital music platform.
When you see the Luke Bryan Concert, be sure to stay with hosts Brady and Elaine at their Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast. Their relaxing and romantic retreat always pleases their happy guests.
Written by Kristi Dement of Bed and Breakfast Blogging
International Wildlife Film Festival 2016
The 39th Annual International Wildlife Film Festival happens at Roxy Theater at 718 S. Higgins Avenue in Missoula, Montana starting on Saturday April 16 through Saturday 23, 2016.
The WildWalk Parade (which is free to the public) happens Sunday April 17 starting at noon. Dance, crawl, swing, and slither through downtown Missoula as the wildlife parade roars down Higgins ending at Caras Park for WildFest!
The International Wildlife Film Festival's mission is to promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of wildlife, habitat, people and nature through excellence in film, television and other media. Their mission is fulfilled through outreach and education, and includes the following programs:
IWFF, our annual wildlife and conservation themed film festival
The Roxy's community cinema program, a year round calendar of community-centric films and events
The Montana Film Academy, specializing in youth filmmaking and media education.
Throughout the year they serve a diverse, all-ages population – their constituency ranges from grade school children to elders. Their programming offers a rich variety of possibilities, from wildlife and environmental film and new and classic fiction and documentaries, to live music, poetry, performance and other cultural offerings.
The IWFF began in 1977 at the University of Montana. They have produced an annual wildlife themed film festival each year since 1977, making them the first and longest running event of its kind. In 2002, they purchased the historic Roxy Theater to act as the anchor/home for the festival.
While IWFF presented their annual event each year, and some occasional programming, the true potential for the venue was not realized until the summer of 2013 when we launched their year-round screening series and began extensive collaboration with universities, businesses and the local Missoula community.
IWFF is a non-profit that serves other non-profits by providing a venue and a gateway for the community. The Roxy is a unique venue with incredible resources including three cinema screens with HD projection, state-of-the-art sound systems, two stages and amenities ideal for conferences, film festivals and educational events.
When you visit Missoula to attend the International Wildlife Film Festival, be sure to stay at the peaceful Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast. Hosts Brady and Elaine offer wonderful hospitality and luxurious accommodations. Wake up to savor their gourmet breakfasts made fresh each morning.
Written by Kristi Dement of Bed and Breakfast Blogging
Stomp in Missoula Montana
Stomp in Missoula Montana to witness STOMP perform live at the Adam Center on University of Montana campus. On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, at 7:30 pm the inventive and invigorating stage show that's dance, music and theatrical performance blended together in one electrifying rhythm.
STOMP is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, utterly unique, and appeals to audiences of all ages. The international percussion sensation has garnered an armful of awards and rave reviews, and has appeared on numerous national television shows. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms.
The return of the percussive hit also brings some new surprises, with some sections of the show now updated and restructured and the addition of two new full-scale routines, utilizing props like tractor tire inner tubes and paint cans. As USA Today says, "STOMP finds beautiful noises in the strangest places." STOMP. See what all the noise is about.
Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast hosts guests from many different areas of the world. Guests visit Missoula to experience outstanding performances, witness competitive sports, walk historic trails, ski beautiful snow, taste delicious cuisine, shop incredible retail, and so much more! Blue Mountain B&B guests enjoy being near to all the fun while still being at a gorgeous and peaceful mountain setting with views of the Bitterroot River.
Written by Kristi Dement of Bed and Breakfast Blogging
U of Montana Griz Basketball 2016
The University of Montana Griz Basketball teams, both mens and womens, attracts a lot of fans. Did you know that both the mens and womens head basketball coaches were also Grizzlies basketball players? In Big Sky Country, they play to win the Big Sky Conference.
Travis DeCuire was formally introduced as the University of Montana's 27th men's head basketball coach in June of 2014, at a press conference in University of Montana's Adams Center. DeCuire and the 2014-15 Griz went on to surpass all expectations, leading UM to a 20-win season and a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season title.
As a point guard for Montana from 1992-94 DeCuire was named All-Big Sky Conference as a junior and senior. He set a school record in just three seasons with 435 career assists. He also established UM's single-season mark with 199 assists as a senior in 1993-94, when he was ranked 12th in the nation, averaging 7.1 assists a game.
He was the recipient of the Grizzlies' Carl Dragstedt Award (MVP) as a junior (he shared it with forward Matt Kempfert that season) and senior, and received the John Eaheart Award (Outstanding Defensive Player) following his senior year.
Mens Griz local games left in the regular season:
Jan. 21 Idaho Missoula, Montana 7 pm
Jan. 23 Eastern Washington Missoula, Montana 7 pm
Feb. 4 Montana State Bozeman, Montana 7 pm
Feb. 11 Southern Utah Missoula, Montana 7 pm
Feb. 13 Northern Arizona Missoula, Montana 7 pm
Feb. 20 Montana State Missoula, Montana 7 pm
Mar. 3 North Dakota Missoula, Montana 8 pm
Mar. 5 Northern Colorado Missoula, Montana 2 pm
Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada:
Mar. 8 First Round Games
Mar. 10 Quarterfinal Games
Mar. 11 Semifinal Games
Mar. 12 Championship Game
Last year, Head Ladies Basketball Coach Robin Selvig, won Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. A graduate of University of Montana in 1974, Coach Selvig has been coaching the Lady Griz basketball team for the last 37 years and has coached over 845 winning games!
The 2014-2015 Lady Griz Basketball won the Big Sky Conference with 14 wins and only 4 losses. They made it to the 2015 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, but lost to Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana.
The 2015-16 season is Robin Selvig's 38th year as coach of the Lady Griz and his 43rd year at Montana as either a player or coach at his alma mater. He enters the season with a record of 845-275, an average of more than 22 wins per year.
The Assistant Coaches are also graduates of the University of Montana:
Shannon Schweyen (Montana, '93), 24th year
Trish Duce (Montana, '93, '95), 22nd year
Sonya Stokken (Montana, '09), 3rd year
Lady Griz local games left in the regular season:
Jan. 14 Thurs. Northern Colorado Missoula, Montana 7 p.m.
Jan. 16 Sat. North Dakota Missoula, Montana 2 p.m.
Jan. 30 Sat. Montana State Bozeman, Montana 2 p.m.
Feb. 4 Thurs. Sacramento State Missoula, Montana 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 Sat. Portland State Missoula, Montana 2 p.m.
Feb. 20 Sat. Montana State Missoula, Montana 2 p.m.
Feb. 25 Thurs. Idaho State Missoula, Montana 7 p.m.
Feb. 27 Sat. Weber State Missoula, Montana 2 p.m.
Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada:
March 7 Mon. First-round games
March 9 Wed. Quarter final games
March 11 Fri. Semi final games
March 12 Sat. Championship game
Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast in Missoula welcomes guests to stay at our luxurious and scenic mountain retreat. Overlooking the Bitterroot River and enjoying gorgeous mountain vistas, our guests love coming to stay with us.
While we are located in a quiet setting, we are also just a fifteen-minute car ride from the University of Montana campus in Missoula. Guests can enjoy watching our Montana Griz basketball games during their stay with us.
Missoula Grizzlies Football
Missoula Grizzlies Football at the University of Montana is incredibly fun to watch in person. Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast of Missoula, Montana loves hosting sports fans. Did you know that Missoula can claim several famous football players?
John Elway Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback (resident of Missoula)
"Wild Bill" Kelly Member of College Football Hall of Fame (raised in Missoula)
Played College Football for the University of Montana and then made the NFL:
Colt Anderson, Philadelphia Eagles Safety
Doug Betters, Miami Dolphins defensive end
Kroy Biermann, Atlanta Falcons defensive end
Guy Bingham, New York Jets Center
Dan Carpenter, Buffalo Bills placekicker
Scott Curry, Green Bay Packers offensive line
Barry Darrow, Cleveland Browns offensive tackle
Terry Dillon, Minnesota Vikings defensive back
Aldo Forte, Chicago Bears offensive tackle
Scott Gragg, New York Giants offensive tackle
Tim Hauck, Green Bay Packers safety
Lex Hilliard, Miami Dolphins running back
Trumaine Johnson, St. Louis Rams cornerback
Mike Lazetich, St. Louis Rams offensive guard
Marc Mariani, Tennessee Titans wide receiver, selected for 2011 Pro Bowl as a return specialist for AFC setting two records
Marty Mornhinweg, Philadelphia Eagles assistant head coach and offensive coordinator
Dallas Neil, Atlanta Falcons special teams
Milt Popovich, Chicago Cardinals halfback
Cory Procter, Miami Dolphins guard
Chase Reynolds, St. Louis Rams running back
Brian Salonen, Dallas Cowboys tight end
Shann Schillinger, Atlanta Falcons safety
Kirk Scrafford, Cincinatti Bengals offensive lineman
Mickey Sutton, St. Louis Rams, cornerback
Mike Tilleman, New Orleans Saints defensive tackle
The University of Montana Grizzlies currently are 5-4 in wins to losses. Their final home game in the regular college football season is on Nov. 14 when they play against Eastern Washington at 1:30pm. Click to get tickets to that game on the University of Montana campus. Their final regular season game on Nov. 21 is an away game against arch rival Montana State in Bozeman, Montana at noon. Hosts Brady and Elaine Anderson-Wood welcome you to enjoy your own Blue Mountain Experience in Missoula.
Missoula Hosts Comedian "Fluffy"
Missoula hosts comedian Fluffy! Comedy lovers unite when it comes to watching comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias. American comedian, actor, writer, producer and voice actor. He is known for his shows I'm Not Fat… I'm Fluffy and Hot & Fluffy. He employs storytelling, affected voices, and sound effects in his act. His other trademarks include references to his weight and his use of Hawaiian shirts. Everyone likes "Fluffy"!
Fluffy will be performing an entertaining live comedy show at University of Montana's Adams Center on Saturday November 7 at 7:30 pm. Many people have already seen him on television and in movies and laughed at his funny jokes. Come to Missoula, Montana to be there in person to see him on stage!
Just a reminder that the popular country music group Little Big Town performs five days later at the Adams Center on Thursday November 12, 2015.
Tickets go on sale starting October 30, 2015 to see "Stomp" in concert at the Adams Center on Tuesday February 2, 2016 at 7:30 pm. Stomp is a percussion group, originating in Brighton, UK that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance. Concerts with these popular percussion performers sell out fast! When you get reserve your tickets, please stay at our lovely Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast right here in Missoula. Our peaceful, scenic inn is conveniently close to University of Montana's main campus in Missoula.
Tickets go on sale starting November 20, 2015 to see the Broadway hit "Mamma Mia" on Friday March 25, 2016. This Broadway musical was the basis for the 2008 Golden Globe-nominated movie "Mamma Mia" starring Meryl Streep. Over 60 million people have seen the Broadway show, which has grossed $2 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut.
Hosts Brady and Elaine Anderson-Wood prepare a delicious breakfast each morning. When you make reservations to see these memorable performances, be sure to reserve a room at their gorgeous mountain retreat!
Missoula Concerts Newsboys and Little Big Town
Newsboys – We Believe…God's Not Dead Tour
Event Date: Friday, October 9, 2015 at 7:00 pm
Facility: Adams Center on University of Montana Campus in Missoula
Grammy Award-winning Christian music group, the Newsboys, will bring their "We Believe…God's Not Dead" tour to the Adams Center at The University of Montana in Missoula for a concert at 7 p.m. Friday, October 9. The "We Believe…God's Not Dead" tour is one of the most in-demand nights of worship, praise and celebration this tour season. The tour also includes Hawk Nelson and Ryan Stevenson.
The tour is named for the band's hits "We Believe," the group's longest-running No. 1 single to date, and "God's Not Dead (Like a Lion)," which has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Newsboys, a Christian pop rock band, was found in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Currently, the band consists of lead vocalist Michael Tait (formerly of DC Talk), keyboardist and bassist Jeff Frankenstein, guitarist Jody Davis, and drummer/percussionist Duncan Phillips.
Little Big Town – The Pain Killer Tour
Event Date: Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Facility: Adams Center on University of Montana Campus in Missoula
Little Big Town is returning to Missoula! Special guests will be The Shires.
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its foundation: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Kimberly Roads), Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. Their musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead singers; Westbrook and Sweet also play rhythm guitar.
Pain Killer covers all new territory for Little Big Town. The band and its writing and production partners favored multi-layered effects. They drew from amix of music influences including vintage 50's country, 70's country, funk, groove, a cappella, bluegrass and straight up rock n' roll. This evolution of Little Big Town's sound is the outcome of their free reign to write and craft as they chose, making Pain Killer as uninhibited as their creative process.
Hosts Elaine and Brady Anderson-Wood of Blue Mountain Bed and Breakfast welcome you to be their guests. Experience their gorgeous, peaceful mountain setting that is in Missoula, Montana –the same town where these live concerts are performed on University of Montana campus. Each morning guests delight in fresh, delicious gourmet breakfasts.
Written by Kristi Dement of Bed and Breakfast Blogging


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Do you celebrate Halloween?
|Yes, I decorate my house and hand out candy
|No, I'm too old for Halloween
|Yes, I'm the life the party
|Yes, I'm too old to trick or treat, but my children do
|No, I don't need any cavities
Highstreet 9 years ago
We put an old toilet in an outhouse one year and parked it at 8th & High. There was a manniquin's arm reaching up out of the toilet to flush it and a note that said "Good-bye cruel world!" Anymore, where you gonna find an outhouse?
Oh, the days of my misspent youth...
Peabody 9 years ago
Very funny! This a great Halloween prank -- I'm glad people are this imaginative for the holiday celebration. I hope the current and future "youth" keep up these fine traditions.
Nathaniel Johnson 9 years ago
Great prank highstreet.
I wish there were better options than packaged candy to hand out. I remember when people did caramel apples and home-made treats. I also remember it changing when people became hysterical about people tampering with apples and suddenly it had to be pre-packaged. I never saw how that could possibly prevent tampering but it created a major boost for candy companies. I think it would be just as effective to label the candy you give out with your street address or some means of identifying where the candy came from.
BaldwinDad 9 years ago
I agree it is shame now a days that all your able to safely hand out is prepackaged candy. I miss the days of homemade cookies, caramel apples, rice krispie treats, or cupcakes.
But really who do you think started the rumors of the tampering with homemade candies?? I would bet it was the major candy companies in cooperation with the media who was all too glad to run with it, since they make allot of money from those candy companies who advertise with them. Also remember, our society is becoming based off the concept of fear and consumption make them afraid of something so we can sell them something eles to make them feel safer.
Also it didn't help that their are some people out there looking to sue everyone and their cousin for any minor incident.
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Lawyer without prior discipline history suspended 6 months
A Hubertus lawyer with no prior professional discipline record has been suspended from practice for six months for lack of action in civil cases for seven clients and for not keeping them informed.
Everett E. Wood was also ordered to pay nearly $20,000 for the costs of the proceedings against him, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court's ruling.
The Office of Lawyer Regulation issued a complaint alleging 28 counts of professional misconduct against Wood (Wisconsin, '92) in July 2011. The counts involved inaction and lack of client communication in civil cases involving seven clients, and one count of practicing law during a time his license was suspended for failing to meet continuing education requirements.
The court quoted the referee's finding:
These are matters where Mr. Wood simply failed to act diligently on client matters and then when confronted by his clients, failed to communicate. To compound the issue, when several of Mr. Wood's clients finally lost patience and brought the issue to the OLR for investigation, Mr. Wood often failed to cooperate with the OLR.
Further, the misconduct doesn't involve just one case that slipped through the cracks——this misconduct spans a period of time and a series of cases. This is a pattern of misconduct that has caused Mr. Wood's clients unnecessary anxiety, stress and money.
- Reelz Network airing show Saturday on Steven Avery and the Teresa Halbach murder
- Citing inappropriate Randa rant, 7th Circuit orders new sentencing in heroin case
- Illinois man who drove drunk at WI Boy Scout camp loses appeal
- Kenosha man seeks U.S. Supreme Court review of expanded warrantless home search
- WI Supreme Court to hear case of fired Walgreens worker
- New episodes of 'Making a Murderer' are in the making
- Milwaukee defense lawyer suspended 60 days
- Supreme Court decided 43 cases last term, fewest in in 25 years
- Tiny school district feels big financial pain from Woznicki records requests
- Marcia Clark, O.J. Simpson prosecutor and author, coming to Pabst Theater


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I finally inked up my Balloon Celebrations set from the Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalog. How fun! I CASEd a card designed by Heidi Baks for this one. I needed something simple and quick, because kids were coming over for Super Bowl snacks, and I didn't have a lot of time. This card was perfect! So perfect, in fact, that it's probably one we'll be making at our card classes this month.
Basically the only thing I changed from Heidi's card was the color palette. I used the Love Blossoms designer series paper stack for my middle layer, so I took my card and balloon colors from that.
I stamped the balloons on Whisper White card stock in Garden Green and Wild Wasabi, and Blush Blossoms and Rose Red. Then I punched them with the new Balloon punch. If you order the stamp set and punch together, you can save 15%!
The balloon strings are Basic Gray. I thought that would make a nice "string color." And, of course, the bow is Rose Red.
I love the subtle bling the sequins add to the card. I used the Metallics Sequin Assortment from the annual catalog.
Although it was a long game, Miss Amelia hung in there until the end. She ended up spending the night here, and she fell asleep with very little fuss. But since I'm sure I'll get an early morning wake-up call, this will be a short post.
Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a wonderful day!
Price: $37.25
Price: $8.00
Price: $5.00
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


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I was a knucklehead and really didn't know what I was doing.
It was almost 15 years ago. For $397, I had purchased a home study course on a marketing topic. It was a gigantic course and I learned a ton from it. It totally hooked me and brought me into online marketing.
So what did I do for my own first information product? Yep. I created a monster home study course and sold it for $397.
At the time, everyone else was selling digital download PDFs (this was before Kindle). You could buy PDFs and other smaller digital products for $30, $29, or $39 at the most. A $50 product was unheard of.
Me? I followed the model of something I liked, and, like a knucklehead, I started out with a $397 home study course. In retrospect, it was the best thing I could have ever done. I learned some valuable lessons.
Here are the 12 highly powerful, highly coveted and highly proven Marketing Maps we are using inside our own business!
These maps can transform your business, and even your life!
First, I learned you can use the market as a judge – as a measuring stick – but if you are operating in an unsophisticated market – from a direct response point of view – one of the easiest ways to grow your business is to raise your prices.
I don't mean unsophisticated prospects; I mean unsophisticated marketers. When your competitors clearly haven't tested the price, you are competing against unsophisticated marketers.
Second – and I get asked this question all the time – I do recommend, when possible, starting your funnel with a high-priced product instead of a low-priced product.
Truth be told, however, there are certain situations when one is more appropriate than the other.
If you are a more-experienced, savvy marketer who has created marketing funnels before, then definitely, start with a higher-priced product.
On the other hand, if this is your first funnel, start with a lower-priced product. It requires far less complexity in the funnel, there are fewer steps, less EBM content, and you need to do a lot less selling. And it gives you a taste of victory a lot faster.
Now if you start with a higher price, it doesn't mean that you never get the opportunity to present a lower-priced product. It just means you take the cream off the top, and you get to do it right away.
Not only that, but it's a lot easier to get to break even on a traffic campaign when you're selling a $400 product compared to a $40 product. It only takes one sale.
Your product, "light"
So after you start with the high-priced product, what do you do next?
For the people who don't buy right away, you roll out a payment plan. Then for the people who don't take that offer, you roll out a lower, streamlined version of your product. Call it the "light" version, or strip it down and rename it. Then you can go down as low as you want. It's a new offer.
If you are currently selling one or more products successfully, but you haven't tested the price, then you have no idea what the market threshold is. We have even found sometimes that we can charge 20% to 30% more and it actually bumps conversions!
It's possible that a product at $97 will sell better than at $67. This means it's possible that one of the easiest ways to grow your business might just be to raise your prices.
Why do the conversions go up? We can speculate, but it doesn't necessarily matter why. At the end of the day, it's just about numbers.
So take it from this knucklehead. If you can handle a little funnel complexity, your first offer should start out high.


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They always covered up the parts they hated most. Stretch-marked thighs and blemished skin, but now they had a bigger problem. It started as a pimple just above their belly button. Overnight it multiplied and darkened. So they told no one and drew a line around the patch of miscellaneous rash, hoping to track its every move. After it conquered the stomach it turned to the chest. Panic came in short breaths. They frequented the bathroom to look at the foreign body and occasionally scratch it.
Paranoia reasoned………….
This could be deadly, or contagious. So they booked an appointment with
Google Doctor. The search was "dark red rash on stomach." The results were distressing. Images of worst-case scenarios—pus wounds, dengue fever, ringworm. Overwhelmed by the amount of graphic close ups of afflictions that could be theirs. Terrified at the thought that this might not only be permanent but could eventually inhabit every part of their body. The urge to peel off their skin and run away was very real.
Dressing up used to be the highlight of the night, now it felt like facing work on a Monday. Red flecks and white scabs was not the aesthetic they were going for. This narrowed the range of options. No mesh, no singlets, no white at all in case the weepy skin bled through.
The second look was good, colours matched and their butt looked peachy, but they couldn't get the image out of their head—
A cutie walks past in the club, eyes on them, until they see the arms and shoulders spread with dollar-sized rings of scratched up skin and sidles away into the crowd of people getting down to Rihanna—
So they played it safe with a long-sleeve and a pair of old Jordans.
Friends asked how their day was. Itchy. It was all they could think about. Conversations rolled into the next as they fought the urge to stick their hand down their pants and scratch like a fucking maniac. Raw… so that pricks of blood soaked through the fabric and dried black. The relief, tinged with a mild pain, was satisfying enough that it took priority over seeing friends, or getting another beer. The doctor prescribed steroids; the naturopath, more vegetables. No real answers, just half-assed treatments wasting money.
The uber arrived with the anxiety. They knew it would be awkward, that moment, when all the clothes were gone and they stood staring at each other. Ready to explain the red blotches on their neck that spread out like continents on a map.
"You can't catch it from me don't worry."
The thirty-second pause as the other person decides whether they still want to have sex lets the doubt seep in… maybe if they bang from behind so they don't have to look at each other? If only they were drunk enough that they didn't care, but then they wouldn't remember either. The birthmark flares up when they are nervous. They are definitely nervous. But no more or less than the last time they had to drunkenly explain it to someone else they wanted to fuck. The other person moves towards the door, closes it and turns back. The light stays on as they pull and scratch each other closer. They stroke the birthmark, "it's actually kind of beautiful."
Art direction and styling by Kate Baxter and Emilie Marschner.
Photographed by Lekk Porter.
Writing by Emilie Marschner.
Thanks to Jac, Molly, Emma, and Eden.


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"Ambrose Treacy College aims to be an authentic Catholic community in the Edmund Rice tradition, that promotes excellence in learning, leadership and service in order to challenge its members to make a prophetic difference for our world."
As a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we are called to be authentic to the Charter of Edmund Rice Education. We aspire to be faithful to the four touchstones of The Charter: Liberating Education; Gospel Spirituality; Inclusive Community; Justice and Solidarity. The integration of the touchstones reflects our mission and helps inform the authentic development of the Edmund Rice charism within our community.
Through a community consultation, a new vision statement for Ambrose Treacy College was developed in 2014. This vision statement aims to capture the essence of what we as a College stand for. Our vision is built around our desire to help educate and prepare young men for a world that is desperately calling out for our future leaders to be young men of character who will help shape the direction of our future communities.
Mission Statement
As a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, Ambrose Treacy College has developed a Mission Statement that describes the community we will strive to be. In our future endeavours, we strive to be an inclusive community on a journey to:
- Live and grow as a faith community based on the story of Jesus, Edmund Rice and Ambrose Treacy in order to make their message of compassion, justice and love an active reality.
- Demonstrate respect for the dignity of the person by celebrating and supporting the holistic pursuit of their potential.
- Engage boys in dynamic and relevant experiences and pathways that promote learning, personal growth, achievement and service.
- Develop courageous young men of character and integrity who build compassionate relationships and proudly contribute to the College, its traditions and aspirations.


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August 5, 2009 The Healthcare Debate
I generally avoid discussing political matters in this blog; though I have my opinions I feel they're better expressed at another time and place.
What I do believe is that this country's health care system does need changes. And I believe that most people in this country also feel that way. The difference is not in recognition of the problem, but in the wide diversity of opinion on the solution.
Lines have been drawn in the political sand, insurance company lobbies are pouring $1 million a day into the fight.
Whatever your feeling about our healthcare system, you deserve a chance to make your feelings known. So I decry what's been happening at the town hall meetings held by various members of congress during their August recess. A mob, a bunch of thugs shouting down everyone else, including the congressional representative, all in the name of free speech.
If free speech is important to you, then it is also imperative that you respect that same right for other citizens. Everyone should be heard, not just those willing to shout loudest and longest.


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packaging materials manufacturer
increase packaging machine existence.
I had been being placed in my office waiting for August to end and my cell phone to diamond ring once more. It hadn't nevertheless it managed. Samantha was experiencing potential problems and essential my help.
"How quickly could you get right here, KC? "
In her own workplace around caffeine Sam explained her difficulty. "We have now been running coupled pleasantly with a little beneath capability. We simply required over a new consumer therefore we have trouble producing ample item. "
"Our product is reagent covered window vials. In the morning high quality needs to check out the line and sign away from that it is able to work. That slow downs start up by half an hour. The short potlife of the reagent means we would have to discard it if quality found a problem so we don't start mixing until quality has signed off. Mixing takes another 20-30 minutes before we can start production."
"Two questions, Sam: What is the expense of the reagent? "
"About $300."
"The frequency of which does good quality get a difficulty that will result in discarding this product? "
"Not frequently," she stated. "Perhaps 5 instances annually."
"Fiddlesticks on dropped ability! " I roared. "You're burning off an 30 minutes every day or 3 weeks of yearly generation to prevent the possible reduction in $1,500 of reagent. All those phone numbers don't add up.
"Start your formulation very first thing. Then, when high quality symptoms away from, you can begin operating instantly."
No person enjoys to take a chance on putting together out good product or service but occasionally it's an intelligent threat worth taking.
KC Boxbottom, packaging detective, is in the case to fix challenging packaging puzzles. He or she is the change-ego of John Henry, CPP. Called the Changeover Wizard, Henry will be the owner of Changeover.com, a asking organization that can help companies fix and find the cause of inefficiencies in their coil packaging procedures. He produces a cost-free monthly e-newsletter known as Low fat Changeover, containing articles and tips on changeover and relevant concerns.
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Improve Your Play On The Court With These Basketball Tips!
People of all ages and every walk of life around the world have loved basketball for a very long time. There are many people that don't know how to play. This article was put together to help anyone who wants to play basketball to appreciate it so they can do better at it.
Learn to correctly dribble the ball. Use fingertips to dribble. You'll have a lot more control over the ball this way. Dribble to your body's side instead of doing it out front, and bounce the ball at your waist's level. Never look at the ground. Always look up.
Practice layups often. In a typical game, up to four-fifths of all shots are layups. When you practice, you need to be able to run toward the basket at full speed, then shoot while jumping in the air. This will assist you in perfecting your ability to jump and then shoot.
Be sure to watch professional games to learn some great tips and tricks to improve your game. Go to a bunch of professional games in person, watch them on television, or just get online to search for basketball videos. Every truly great player has unique skills that you can learn from.
Don't pump too much iron if you plan on being a jump shooter. Muscle strength can be great for basketball players, but it is actually possible to have excessive amounts for playing on the perimeter. Some professional shooting guards made their arms so big that it started decreasing their field goal percentage.
Work on pass catches. When you practice, mix it up so that you can catch perfect passes and errant throws. During the course of a game, you can expect there to be many errant passes. You can do the rest of your team a favor by practicing how you can best complete imperfect passes.
Having a pre-free-throw shot routine will help you become dependable at free throws. You could dribble twice, touch your forehead, bend your knees, or some other kinds of movements. If you make your routine consistent, your body will eventually know how to make the shot every time.
One of the best ways to play a strong defensive game is to know your opponent. Watch tapes and be sure you're paying attention to scouting reports. Know which players are left and right handed. Having a good understanding about your opponent strengths and weaknesses allows you to focus on how to better stop him. A defender with an education will be good at what they do.
When exercising, concentrate on building up core strength and improving your footwork. Your balance will improve if you strengthen your core. Concentrate your efforts on the back, abdomen, buttocks and hips. Similar to boxers, jump rope to help increase speed and better your footwork.
Upset and disrupt your opponent's play. All successful basketball players do this. Force them away from their comfort zone. Make aggressive plays. Do not allow them to decide which plays to make. If you allow this, they will run over you. Rather, you make the initial move and break up their flow.
You can prevent other players from stealing the ball from you by dribbling hard. This is because the ball returns to you hand faster, so the opposing team has less of a chance to get it. If you are being guarded closely, halt your dribble and pass to an open teammate.
There are many things that can make you feel great. Researching ways to bolster your basketball skills can do this as well. This will allow you to win the games you play, along with making sure your teammates are impressed.
What You Need To Know About Shooting Hoops
A great thing about the game of basketball is that the basics are easy to learn. You can pick up the basics in a few short minutes. But there's still a lot to learn, and thee tips can help you get there.
Make sure you are dribbling the right way. Don't use your palm to dribble, but use your fingertips instead. Using your fingers allows you to better control the basketball. You should be dribbling the ball at your side instead of in front of your body. The ball should always be dribbled at waist level. You should always look upwards instead of at the ground.
Watching the pros can help you pick up on certain skills for improving your game. Go to games, watch them on TV and you can also watch videos. You will quickly notice all the different skills that they have which makes them a great player, then take what you learned and use it to help improve your own game.
It is important to practice catching the ball from others as much as passing. Practice catching errant throws along with perfect passes. During a real game, many of the passes that come your way will be off-target and tougher to handle. Make sure that your teammates also practice this type of pass with you.
Footwork is the best way to find an opening shot. Focus on positioning yourself more quickly than the opposing player is just as important as having someone beneath the hoop. After establishing good position, you need to make sure you hold it. Practicing your footwork is important to master these skills.
See if your teammates admire something in particular about your game play. You may have a certain skill that you have perfected. Perhaps you are quick footed, or you are always ready to lend a hand on the court. Find out what others perceive as your natural gifts and build upon those more completely.
One way to get a good understanding of your game is to ask your fellow players about your ability. They will probably notice the things you do best. They may say you're fast or that you share well. You can learn a lot about your skills by knowing how others see you on the court.
Practice dribbling with your weak hand as much as possible. If both hands are useful for dribbling, your opponents will not stand much of a chance. Practice with your weak hand by tying your dominant hand behind your back. This will help you use that hand more easily and improve your dribbling with that hand.
Your fingers should always be spread out when handling the ball. This keeps it under control. Your palm should touch the ball as little as possible. You should only let the fingers touch the ball during passing or shooting.
Upset and disrupt your opponent's play. All successful basketball players do this. Force them away from their comfort zone. Make aggressive plays. Do not allow them to decide which plays to make. If you allow this, they will run over you. Rather, you make the initial move and break up their flow.
You can prevent other players from stealing the ball from you by dribbling hard. This is because the ball returns to you hand faster, so the opposing team has less of a chance to get it. If you are being guarded closely, halt your dribble and pass to an open teammate.
No matter what type of basketball game you like to play, the better your skill level, the more you will enjoy your game. Now that you've read all the way through this article, put it to good use! If you learn new skills, your game will improve.


text: Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Virginia West Virginia VIRGINIA Where can you find colonial history, rolling mountain landscapes, a world-class technology corridor, and pristine beaches in one place? It's all right here in Virginia, sugah! Here, it's back bay respites, relaxing wine country, towering lighthouses, and more she-crab soup than you can shake a crab leg at. Virginia is simultaneously a kiddie-haven and sinfully romantic. Y'all come see! some suggestions on what toSEE & DO IN VIRGINIA View All Things To See & Do In Virginia


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There is a regulation for everything
It seems, the poems tell us so too
We're writing the dirges of our age
Though we westerners are full
Of privilege, or some of us,
At least, at most…
The Standard for Pruning of Amenity trees
Prevents lopping. I am grateful
Paradoxically I am happy the cypresses
Will not have their tops lopped
But I will lose them, all
Thirty or so…They're
Only trees, Only trees
They should outlast us all
We bear, but only witness
Somewhere now
The keening and wailing
Grows louder than the chainsaws.
Copyrighted by the author


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TeamBreakout is a unique Live Escape Game in Dortmund for groups consisting of 2–6 people. The principle is simple: 1 team, 1 room and 1 hour to escape.
You will be challenged by solving puzzles, finding real objects, decode messages and combine a series of clues that will enable you to find the way out.


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Big Commitment From McDonald's and Dunkin' on Plastics Pollution
As You Sow's leadership work on reducing plastic pollution achieved a major victory early in 2018 with impressive commitments from McDonald's to remove all polystyrene foam packaging from all restaurants around the world by this December, and to recycle all consumer packaging in restaurants worldwide by 2025. This was followed a few weeks later by Dunkin' Brands agreeing to eliminate one billion foam cups from its operations. Between the two companies, approximately two billion foam cups will be replaced by recyclable paper cups in the next year.
Our shareholder proposal urging the company to phase out polystyrene was supported by 32 percent of shares voted in 2017. McDonald's phased out foam cups for hot beverages in the U.S. after engagement with us in 2012, but continued to use them in foreign markets like Hong Kong and the Philippines, which had high levels of plastics in waterways. We refiled the proposal for 2018, but withdrew after the company agreed to phase out foam.
Plastic pollution creates litter on land and when swept into waterways can injure and kill marine life, spread toxins and pose a potential threat to human health. This issue was dramatically elevated in the past two years when better data became available:
- A key 2015 study concluded that oceans contain far more degraded plastic than previously believed; an estimated 150 million tons of plastic, with 8 million tons added annually—equivalent to a garbage truck every minute.
- A 2016 Ellen MacArthur Foundation study predicted oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050 if no actions occur to reduce the flow of plastics.
The McDonald's commitment to recycle packaging in all stores worldwide will be formidable to achieve and requires unprecedented levels of involvement with recyclers and local governments. Other quick service brands need to work with peers to find ways to add more food packaging to curbside recycling streams and to help finance stable materials end markets.
We also made progress on foam used as a packing material. Last April, As You Sow withdrew a proposal at Target after it agreed to phase out foam packaging used in e-commerce.
In 2018, our work will expand by convening a group of ESG investors to work together on engaging companies and co-filing proposals. The Plastics Solutions Investor Alliance will engage both U.S. and European ESG investors; plastic pollution is already a much higher priority issue in Europe than in the U.S. In January 2018 alone, the European Commission released a plastics policy strategy, the U.K. Prime Minster unveiled a plastics waste plan, and UK retailer Iceland committed to stop using plastic packaging altogether. We will prioritize dialogues with four large consumer goods companies: Nestle SA, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Please contact us if you would like to participate in this new alliance!
Finally, a new As You Sow proposal at Starbucks asks the company to stop using plastic straws which are often found in beach cleanups and are harmful to marine life. It made previous commitments to serve 25 percent of beverages in reusable containers and to recycle on-site cups by 2015. It fell short on both counts and the proposal also seeks a new, more aggressive strategy to meet these goals.
Conrad Mackerron
Senior Vice President, As You Sow


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ArtsyAvainKorea Korea travel
Things to see and do in Busan's Gamcheon Culture Village!♥4:24 PM
For our second day in Busan, the first thing on our itinerary was to visit one of the popular tourist spots there and we had the pleasure o...
This work represents the alley, which is the communication channel of the residents. The unconstrained movement of the fishes makes this enchanting living space full of vitality.
I wish I didn't have such a heavy breakfast that day, because I really wanted to try out one of the famous street foods in South Korea - Eomuk Tang or fishcake on skewers. :)
But, we did witness our friend Say Tioco eat a Water jelly dessert that looked like a drop of water. She got the clear version, so it didn't have a flavor to it. But I think the sauce and powder makes up for it or complements it well.
1 comments♥
Thank you so much for reading my blog and for leaving lovely comments. Will also try my best to drop by your blogs!:) xo


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|Andrea Solario, Wikimedia Commons
Antiphon, Invitatory (Liturgy of the hours):
Come, let us worship the Lamb of God on this feast of Saint John[,] who went before Christ in life and in death.
Agnum Dei, quem in passione Ioannes præcessit, venite, adoremus.
The Lamb of God, whom in [his] passion [too] John has gone before, Come, let us adore.
Second Reading, Office of readings (Liturgy of the hours):
There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ (Homily 23 of St. Bede, Liturgy of the hours, citing CCSL 122, pp. 354, 356-357).
Neque enim dubitandum est quia beatus Ioannes pro Redemptoris nostri, quem præcurrebat testimonio, carcerem et vincula sustinuit pro ipso et animam posuit, cui non est dictum a persecutore ut Christum negaret sed ut veritatem reticeret; et tamen pro Christo occubuit. Quia enim Christus ipse ait: Ego sum veritas, ideo utique pro Christo, quia pro veritate sanguinem fudit.
Responsory to Reading 2, Office of Readings (Liturgy of the hours):
Herod sent out a band of men to arrest John
and had him chained and imprisoned
—on account of his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, whom he had married.
He sent an executioner who beheaded John in prison.
—On account of his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, whom he had married.
R/. Misit Herodes rex ac tenuit Ioannem et vinxit eum in carcere, * Propter Herodiadem, uxorem fratris sui, quia duxerat eam.
V/. Misso spiculatore, decollavit eum in carcere. * Propter.
Responsory to Reading 1, Matins (Breviary, 1960):
R. Herod the King sent forth, and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison, for he feared him, for Herodias' sake,
* His brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.
V. For John had rebuked Herod, for Herodias' sake.
R. His brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.
R. Misit Herodes rex manus, ac tenuit Ioannem, et vinxit eum in carcere, quia metuebat eum, propter Herodiadem,
* Quam tulerat fratri suo Philippo uxorem.
V. Arguebat Herodem Ioannes propter Herodiadem.
R. Quam tulerat fratri suo Philippo uxorem.
Antiphon to Psalm/Canticle 2, Morning Prayer (Liturgy of the hours):
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and guarded him carefully.
Responsory to Reading 2, Matins (Breviary, 1960):
R. John the Baptist had rebuked Herod,
* For Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom he had married while his brother was yet alive.
V. Herod sent an executioner, and commanded to behead John in the prison.
R. For Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom he had married while his brother was yet alive.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
R. For Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom he had married while his brother was yet alive.
R. Ioannes Baptista arguebat Herodem
* Propter Herodiadem, quam tulerat fratri suo viventi uxorem.
V. Misso Herodes speculatore, praecepit amputari caput Ioannis in carcere.
R. Propter Herodiadem, quam tulerat fratri suo viventi uxorem.
Antiphon to Psalm/Canticle 3, Morning Prayer (Liturgy of the hours):
Although John's words disturbed him greatly, Herod enjoyed listening to John.
Reading 3, Matins (Breviary, 1960; St. Ambrose, Treatise concerning virgins):
We must not hurry past the record of blessed Baptist John. We must ask what he was; by whom he was slain; and why and how. He was a righteous man, murdered for his righteousness by adulterers. He was a judge, who suffered condemnation to death by the guilty ones because he had justly judged their guilt. He was the prophet whose death was a fee paid to a dancing-girl for a lascivious dance. And lastly a thing from which even savages would shrink his head was served up as a dish at a banquet. For the order to commit the atrocity was given amid the merriment of a dinner-party; and the servants of the murderer introduced the murder amid the courses of the meal, running from banquet to prison, and from prison to banquet! See how many infamies are contained in this one crime.
Quóniam beáti Ioánnis Baptístæ non strictim prætereúnda est recordátio, ínterest ut quis et a quibus et quam ob causam, quo modo et quo témpore sit occísus, advértere debeámus. Ab adúlteris iustus occíditur, et a reis in iúdicem capitális scéleris poena convértitur. Deínde præmium saltatrícis, mors est Prophétæ. Postrémo (quod étiam omnes bárbari horrére consuevérunt) inter épulas atque convívia consummándæ crudelitátis profértur edíctum; et a convívio ad cárcerem, de cárcere ad convívium ferális flagítii circumfértur obséquium. Quanta in uno facínore sunt crímina!
Collect (Liturgy of the hours, new Roman Missal):
O God, who willed that Saint John the Baptist
should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death,
grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice,
we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach (2010 translation of the Roman Missal).
God our Father,
you called John the Baptist
to be the herald of your Son's birth and death.
As he gave his life in witness to truth and justice,
so may we strive to profess our faith in your gospel.
Deus, qui beatum Ioannem Baptistam et nascentis et morientis Filii tui Præcursorem esse voluisti, concede, ut, sicut ille veritatis et iustitiæ martyr occubuit, ita et nos pro tuæ confessione doctrinæ strenue certemus.
O God, who willed that Blessed John the Baptist be [and remain (voluisti, a perfect)] the Precursor of both the being-born and the dying of your Son, grant that, as he fell in death a witness to the truth and to conduct in accordance with the divine law [(iustitiae)], so we, too, may contend strenuously for the confession of your teaching [(confessio became "an acknowledgment of Christ under torture" or suffering)].
Collect (1962 Roman Missal):
May the holy festival of Thy Forerunner and Martyr, St John the Baptist, we beseech Thee, O Lord, afford us help unto salvation.
Sancti Joannis Baptistae Praecursoris et Martyris tui, quaesumus, Domine, veneranda festivitas salutaris auxilii nobis praestet effectum.
Antiphons, Lauds (Breviary, 1960):
Ant. For Herod had laid hold upon John, * and bound him, and put him in prison, for Herodias' sake.
Ant. Herodes enim tenuit * et ligavit Ioannem, et posuit in carcerem propter Herodiadem.
Ant. O Lord my King, * give me in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
Ant. Domine mi rex, * da mihi in disco caput Ioannis Baptistae.
Ant. Puellae saltanti * imperavit mater: Nihil aliud petas, nisi caput Ioannis.
Ant. John had rebuked Herod for Herodias' sake, * his brother Philip's wife, for he had taken her.
Ant. Arguebat Herodem * Ioannes propter Herodiadem, quam tulerat fratri suo Philippo uxorem.
Ant. Give me in a charger the head of John the Baptist. * And the King was sorry, for his oath's sake.
Ant. Da mihi in disco * caput Ioannis Baptistae: et contristatus est rex propter iusiurandum.
To the Benedictus:
Ant. Herod sent * an executioner, and commanded that John's head should be cut off in the prison. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
Ant. Misso Herodes * spiculatore, praecepit amputari caput Ioannis in carcere. Quo audito, discipuli eius venerunt, et tulerunt corpus eius, et posuerunt illud in monumento.
Antiphon to Psalm/Canticle 2, Evening Prayer (Liturgy of the hours):
He sent an executioner to behead John who was in prison.
Antiphon to Psalm/Canticle 3, Evening Prayer (Liturgy of the hours):
The disciples of John came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Intercessions, Evening Prayer (Liturgy of the hours):
You called John the Baptist to give testimony to you by his life and even by his death,
—help us to imitate his unceasing witness to your truth.
Tu, qui per martyrium Ioannis iustitiam vindicare voluisti,
—fac nos veritatem tuam indeficienter testificari.
You who, by the testimony [and martyrdom] of John, willed to demand [(vindicare)] righteousness,
—cause us to bear witness to your truth unfailingly.
Collect (The Episcopal Church):
Almightie God, by whose prouidence thy seruaunte John Baptiste was wonderfully borne, and sente to prepare the way of thy sonne our sauiour, by preaching of penaunce; make us so to folowe his doctrine and holy lyfe, that we may truely repent accordying to his preachyng; and after his example constantly speake the trueth, boldly rebuke vice, and paciently suffre for the truethes sake (1549 Book of common prayer).
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Saviour by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake (Lesser feasts and fasts 2000).
Cf. St. Augustine, Sermon 82.8.11-10.13.


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For as much financial success as Tyler Perry has made in film, very little has to do with his ability as an actor — at least when he's not in drag. So casting him as James Patterson's Dr. Alex Cross — a character made famous in Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001) by Morgan Freeman (and which had originally been pegged for Idris Elba) — is more than just a bit confusing. The idea with Rob Cohen's plainly titled Alex Cross isn't just to launch a new film franchise, but to truly test Perry's sway outside the man's normal territory of faith-tinged potboilers. After a weak opening weekend, a lot of the blame will likely fall on Perry. However, while he lacks the gravitas or ability to carry such a broken film, this is really a project that was doomed from the start.
Instead of going the taut-thriller route of the Freeman films, we get an action picture traipsing around as a crime flick. Director Cohen — whose career consists of a slew of crapfests like Stealth (2005) and xXx (2002) — is saddled with a script full of corny dialogue and a meandering, often downright dumb plot, but has no clue how to make it palatable. Honestly, the film holds itself together for a while. Its story — involving the Sherlock Holmes-like Cross hunting down a sadistic professional killer (Matthew Fox) — at least makes sense. Also there's genuinely surprising lengths that the film is willing to go to create the sense that literally no character is safe. Perry even holds his own, though Alex Cross — at this point — demands little in the way of heavy lifting, fitting neatly inside the bounds of any number of TV police procedurals.
The problems arise when Alex Cross slips into revenge flick mode, since Perry simply cannot pull off the gruff tough guy stuff. Watching him in a wife-beater tank top, sawing off the end of a shotgun in his basement is silly, while watching him get all handsy with criminals and calling them "maggots" is laughable, and his big climactic fight scene with Fox would be hilarious if Cohen had any idea how to shoot a coherent action sequence. But so much of this movie just isn't Perry's fault. The plot slowly falls apart into a heap of unexplained, far-fetched absurdity. There's a catastrophic failure in the entire casting process. Perry shouldn't be playing a rough and tumble cop. Ed Burns shouldn't be the wise-cracking sidekick. And Fox — despite a game attempt — isn't at the top of the list to play spindly, wild-eyed, crazed killers. Alex Cross, when all is said and done, is less a movie, and more a cavalcade of poor decisions on every level. Rated PG-13 for violence including disturbing images, sexual content, language, drug references, and nudity.
Playing at Carmike 10, Carolina Asheville Cinema 14, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande


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Ash set for Belfast return to the Limelight
Ash has confirmed that they are to play the Limelight 2 on June 8th 2015.
The band, fronted by Tim Wheeler who not long ago had his own solo tour, will visit Belfast ahead of the release of their new album 'Kablammo', which is available for pre-order now.
Formed in 1992 in Downpatrick, Ash are famous for their infectious brand of alternative rock laden with pop hooks and are no strangers to success with gold and platinum selling records in 1977 and Free All Angels. Their return to Northern Ireland will certainly be welcomed with open arms.
Listen to their new single 'Cocoon' below, taken from new album 'Kablammo'.