text:
Remote First in Tes Technology
Working remotely has multiple benefits for the Tes Technology team. These include improved engagement and happiness of our team members, a flexible and dynamic workplace, and the best possible situation for team members to find and decide where/when they can work most effectively.
One key challenge for working remotely at Tes is the blend of remote & office workers. This leads to a set of challenges that, were this a 100% remote team, would not exist. This document covers some of the key components/guidelines for running a successful remote-first team in a blended situation. Through experimentation, and some degree of failure, these guidelines are continually evolving as we find new and different challenges. One thing is certain: remote working in a blended environment cannot succeed without continuously focusing on collaboration, engagement, and a positive, trusting team.
The document is separated into broad areas and lists specific guidelines with a general indication of the importance of each guideline using MUST, SHOULD, and COULD keywords.
Styles of remote work
There are several styles of remote work that we support/encourage at Tes. All styles of remote work are supported equally.
Remote work: Any work done outside of the London office. This can include working on the train, working from home, or working from any location in the world where a team member is able to deliver their work.
London Employee: A Technology team member who spends most or all of their working time in the London office.
Digital Nomad: A London based employee who has chosen to forgo the comforts of London and the office and work from wifi hotspots throughout the world.
Remote Employee: An employee of Tes who does most of their work away from the office, e.g. from home, a co-working space or a café.
Remote Contractor: A member of the Tes technology team, who, due to location, we are not able to employ directly. These members will generally not be located in the US or UK.
Team members who work in the office each day are just as crucial to the success of a remote working policy as those who work remotely. The overall culture of the team will contribute massively to the success or failure of a remote policy. The following guidelines are meant to ensure that the culture required for remote working is enabled.
When you allow any members of a team to operate remotely, you need to have the entirety of that team adopt remote working practices, even if the bulk of the team remain in the office. If teams aren't prepared to work this way, then allowing one or two members to work remotely (even part time) is very likely to fail.
Email still has its uses in the business context. For example, communication with people external to the organization, or critical communication where delivery to the recipient is important. However, it is not possible to use email effectively as the primary communication method for a remote first team. Persistent chat rooms provide fast and reliable real-time communication while still supporting an asynchronous workflow that enables a more flexible working style. We useSlack at Tes.
Teams members must always have at least a 3 hour overlap of timezone with London. While the core of our business is London based there is always a crucial part of communication that may need to happen synchronously. We have an expectation that those further afield adjust their working day to ensure there is this overlap. This will ensure that there is an adequate amount of flexibility for organizing meetings where most or all of the team should be involved.
While Slack and other asynchronous tools are great for enabling dynamic and constant communication there is a need for team members to have face to face calls to discuss things that are too complex or time consuming to discuss via a chat tool. Additionally, disagreements and tensions that can arise during the normal course of interactions are more easily resolved via voice or video conversations.
At Tes we use a combination ofGoogle Hangouts,Zoom or Slack calls.
Supporting a full remote-first environment requires all team members to have the flexibility to work remotely and move around as needed. A laptop with a headset and a functioning camera provides this flexibility.
Teams in the office should have an external, high quality microphone readily available, so if a meeting does occur with the majority in the office and they choose to have the meeting co-located, that the remote person can hear the conversation. If you do this type of meeting you should start the meeting with a sound check to ensure all those who will be speaking during the meeting can be heard by those on the video call. Additionally, if it is a presentation/demo, the presenter should repeat all questions as the speaker may not be close enough to the camera.
We use snowball microphones[^6].
The greatest risk of remote meetings is disengagement of the remote members of the meeting. The risk of this is greatest when the people who are co-located during the meeting start a side conversation. Remote first meetings imply that all members of the team will connect to a video meeting independently. The benefit of this that that everybody shares the experience of being remote and it prevents side conversations from developing. In order to make this most effective, all team members should mute themselves when they are not speaking.
Remote meetings can be hard and while there is an expectation that when/if a remote attendee will speak up if their situation is not ideal (ie: they can't hear people in the meeting, etc) it's also important for the co-located members of the meeting to reach out to teeir colleagues to ensure that everybody is able to contribute effectively. It is not acceptable nor encouraged to create a two tiered meeting structure where those in the room have a disproportionate impact on decisions.Our meeting guide
Trust & Communication
It is best to have general team conversation via a chat tool - we use Slack - in a room accessible to all members of the team to ensure that those who are remote have an opportunity to listen in, as they would if they were also in the office and able to overhear a conversation.
It also provides the benefit of recording all of the conversations in a searchable way, and providing history that remote workers can read to catch up. Managers & those who have less time overlap can also use it to stay abreast of decisions and progress without delaying the team for status updates.
If a decision is made during a voice or in-person conversation this should be written down somewhere. While this is important for team-work in general, you can no longer rely on team members overhearing a conversation and having an opportunity to provide input.
The team is free to decide on what tool is most effective for this. We have found a decision log in a Github wiki or simply tracking the conversation and decisions via Github issues is a low friction option. Github has the added benefit where everyone can contribute asynchronously, and where we can record the outcome of any discussion.
Where the decision influences the team as a whole we try to add that to the engineering guide, so that future new starters can quickly absorb the working practices of the team.
Where remote workers are not in the office, they should still take part in the weekly demos to the wider company. If the demo time is outside of their normal working day, pre-recorded demos can be accommodated.
In order to support a remote and flexible team, meetings must be planned considering the schedules of all required attendees. There is an expectation that all team members are aware of recurring meetings and try to avoid non-essential flexibility during these times. However, due to vacation, illness or other unforeseen circumstances it is likely that people are unable to attend and in this case the teams must show a degree of flexibility by recording (via video, diagrams or notes) or rescheduling the meeting as needed.
In order to allow team members working flexible hours to be able to work when other team members or leaders may not be working, it is critical to use a tool to keep track of the tasks that individuals can/are working on. A combination of GitHub & ZenHub has proven to be very effective for the Technology team as it provides a clear and consistent workflow to ensure that there is always work to be done by all team members. The other benefit of this is that it allows the team members to show progress on their work without the need for status meetings.
In order to ensure that the team is able to plan around unforeseen circumstances if a team member does something that is out of the ordinary they should let their team know. This includes days off, remote team members working from the office or office based team members working from outside of the office.
VPN access is required to access most of the Tes network (such as MyHR and other systems/infrastructure), so it is imperative that fully remote workers are able to connect.
Social Interactions & Isolation
Remote working can increase the feeling of social isolation for team members, but this can be avoided by a focus on social interactions and team interactions.
In the absence of continuous social/professional interactions between colleagues, it is even more important to have regular, scheduled, and consistent one-to-ones with team members. Issues in this style of working can take far longer to be raised and can only be discovered via one to one conversations. It is critical that mentors or managers are able to address issues before they become an issue that impacts the entire team.
There is no perfect replacement for face to face communication and our initial experiments indicated that replacing the daily standup meeting with a tool impacted team morale negatively. These meetings should be scheduled at a time when all team members are available to take part, usually the beginning or end of the day. They should not take more than 15 minutes; participants should be limited to people whose work impacts each other and should be focused on work completed the day before, work to be completed that day and anything preventing work from completing. An end of day 'stand-down' is quite useful for teams where there is a wide variation in timezone. This stand-down can be useful to debrief team members who are starting their day with work completed during the day and plan the overlap period.
With a normal office being a social environment it's important to maintain that camaraderie and spirit of friendship between remote workers and/or office workers as such, a friendly hello from each member of the team in the morning really sets up the day well. As does a goodbye in the evening, not least to let people know you are no longer available.
There is value in teams taking a step back from specific issues to chat about successes and areas of improvement as individuals and as a team. This is especially true for remote workers, who cannot get this through incidental in-office interaction. A retrospective is a good time for team members to offer assistance and feedback outside of mentorships, and organize effectively on current epics and future projects. It is also an opportunity for team members to recognize each other's successes, which improves team bonding and helps to establish best practices.
Recorded sessions (eg. demos, engineering all-hands sessions, knowledge sharings, etc.) allow remote employees to give presentations in their own time and in-office employees to schedule sessions without having to account for remote schedules. This also builds a library of resources that new employees can reference at later dates.
Personal responsibility
One of the most important aspects of a functioning team (regardless of remote work or not) is the concept of personal responsibility. Each team member is expected to take personal responsibility for the success of their team and the successful delivery of the requirements derived from other members of the business or our users. This responsibility is required for the Trust & Communication outlined above to be fulfilled.
It is the responsibility of you as an individual to make sure you only work remotely if it makes you as - or more - effective than being in the office. If it isn't working then you will need to discuss alternatives with your line manager - be that a change in role to one that is more suitable to remote working, coming into the office each day, or changing to a formal flexible working agreement with different time expectations. Likewise, if working in the office leads you to distraction, it is important that you use the flexibility to work remotely to help you focus.
Some people find it easier to stay motivated when working from the office. In order to make a remote working culture effective, it's important that you are able to replicate the motivation you would receive in the office at home. Motivation for a particular task (as opposed to general motivation to get work done) is multifaceted and complex. A few techniques that you might want to consider are:
- Ensure the work you are doing is well defined. If required, discuss the task with your colleagues until you have a clear idea of what is required.
- Work on a task with another team member (pair programming in the engineering world).
- Set personal deadlines to achieve tasks.
- Be sure to ask for help from your team members before you become demotivated by a particular complex task.
- Discuss the situation with your mentor or line manager. You may find yourself more motivated on a different team or with a different style of work.
- Consider a visit to the office to help you rediscover your motivation
*Note*: This applies to all team members regardless of whether they are working in the office or not. You are responsible for your output and motivation. If you are lacking motivation, you need to discuss this with your mentor or manager.
If your environment at home isn't suitable to remote work, you may not be able to work in this way. Things that could impact your ability to work effectively from home may include a child for whom you are the primary caretaker, house mates or house work that tends to distract you during your work day or any other situation where you are not able to focus on your work. If this is the case for you, it is critical that you organize an alternative such as working from a co-working space, working from the office or finding another suitable location that works for you.
When a team member works remotely it can be difficult for other team members to know where or when they are available. To ensure that communication is as frictionless as possible all team members should try to respond to messages in the chosen chat tool within an hour or two. The caveat to this is that chat tools tend to be disruptively distracting. It is encouraged that team members experiment with which levels of notifications balance distraction with engagement best for them. Depending on their role, it can be fine if they only engage with the chat tool on an hourly schedule. For people with broad view across many projects it would be much better to be continuously engaged to prevent others from becoming blocked.
Travel & Costs
For individuals who choose to use the ability to work remotely to travel, this is absolutely fine, provided the conditions above are all still valid. You need appropriate places to work, the responsibility is on you to ensure overlap with your teams and it is crucial that any travel be performed in a way that doesn't impact your team. You are responsible for any travel and all accommodation and other costs as this is not travel conducted at the company's request.
For those workers who are hired full time as remote workers, a non-commutable distance from London, we will factor in a set of fixed trips to London each year - somewhere between two and four times per year - to ensure there is adequate face-to-face time with the whole team. We will arrange a single week each year where we seek to get the majority of remote workers together in London at the same time (see our blog post onTes Engineering Week.
Use common sense, remote working needs to work for you, your team and Tes.


text:
Creme de la Creme Human Resources has 26 years of presence
in the International market
Creme de la Creme Human Resources is a Management Consulting Company specialising in executive selection, Assessment and training. The quality of service that Creme de la Creme Human Resources offers its clients on an ongoing basis, places it among the best companies in its field.
A hallmark of a solid search company is that the majority of its comes from satisfied clients - clients who return again and again to find the executive talent they need to grow their businesses. This is the positive pattern that we are experiencing.
To contact us please press here

subset: commoncrawl


text:
CMA's Valley Subaru offers a variety of certified used Subaru cars & SUVs for drivers in Staunton, and the surrounding areas of Waynesboro, Lexington, Fishersville & Stuarts Draft, VA. At CMA's Valley Subaru, we want you to drive in confidence; this means providing an inventory of only the very best certified Subaru models. You'll be impressed by the quality each vehicle below holds, and you just might ask yourself why you ever bought a vehicle brand new in the past.
CMA's Valley Subaru in Staunton, VA treats the needs of each individual customer with paramount concern. We know that you have high expectations, and as a car dealer we enjoy the challenge of meeting and exceeding those standards each and every time. Allow us to demonstrate our commitment to excellence!
Our experienced sales staff is eager to share its knowledge and enthusiasm with you. We encourage you to browse our online inventory, schedule a test drive and investigate car loan and auto financing options in Staunton. You can also request more information about a vehicle using our online form or by calling (877) 645-8701.
If you don't see a particular vehicle, click on CarFinder and complete the form. We will gladly inform you when a matching car arrives. If you'd like to see a vehicle in person, click on Dealership: Directions for step-by-step driving instructions to our site, or give us a call. We look forward to serving you!


text:
Well, I kind of implied I'd do this, and so here's my first attempt at transcribing one of Joss's audio commentaries from the 'Buffy' DVDs. It took even longer than I thought it would - several hours - so I can't see me doing all of them in any sort of reasonable timescale, but I think it's interesting to read this. When it's all set out in writing it's clearer to see what Joss says than when you're just sitting there listening, I think, and there's some interesting (and doubtless controversial) things said here...
Why did I start with the commentary for 'Chosen' rather than, say, the one for 'Welcome to the Hellmouth', which might have been more logical? Well, partly because I prefer the later seasons and partly because I'm occasionally illogical and strange. As Buffy would say, it's a thing.
Feel free to link this or copy it elsewhere. Some day, if I do more of these, I may even put them up on a webpage somewhere. Well, other than this webpage, obviously.
Note: I've transcribed this as accurately as I can. There are a couple of occasions where I couldn't quite make out what was said, so I've put (??) to mark that. I've also missed out the various "um"s and "er"s, the "you know"s, and the repetition and false starts. Where context is needed, I've put in [square brackets] what was happening on screen at a particular moment. If you spot any errors please let me know and I'll amend it.
'Chosen' Commentary
Hi, I'm Joss Whedon and this is the very final audio commentary, on the very final episode, of the very final season of 'Buffy'. And if you've actually been through all the episodes and all the commentaries and all the DVDs and you have a feeling of exhaustion, confusion and sort of a low-riding rage that you can't really describe or understand, then you'll know how I felt when we shot this. To say that I was wiped out by the time we got here is the understatement of the world.
[Buffy and Angel talking in the crypt after Caleb's apparent death]
And no scene, I think, showed that more than this one, because we had so little time to shoot so much. I'll explain as we go to the credits. You see, that was actually the first stuff we shot for the episode, and we only had David for a little while – and I mean a *really* little while, I had about seven hours to do about ten pages. And it all required everybody to be completely on point; but that's – with Nathan and Sarah and David, that's what you get. Professionalism. Everybody was right on the mark, and everybody worked really hard.
It was a good start to this – because there was no episode we ever shot that was harder, bigger, and that left less time for me to try and do anything interesting with the camera, it left less time for the DP to light, left less time for everybody and everything to do their best work. And yet somehow people managed to. The stunts, I did not have to shoot that night. John Medlen shot most of it Second Unit, and you'll be hearing a little bit about David Solomon who also shot huge amounts Second Unit for me on the show because it took so many days.
[Caleb comes back for his final battle with Buffy]
What can I say about Nathan Fillion that hasn't already been said? He's a great hero and a great villain, and just delightful. I was so happy to have him back for the beginning of this episode. Just because I wanted to work with him, and he'd gotten to work with other directors and I didn't think it was fair that I didn't get any.
And I thought splitting him in half from the crotch up was maybe a little on the nose as a radical feminist statement goes, but for his character, I really thought he'd earned it. So.
[Angel gives Buffy the information folder and amulet]
And David, again, came in and just was right on the money – same as Sarah – from the first take, which was so important. The only person who didn't do their best work here, I think, was me – just because the lack of time meant that, here we are:
[The camera shows Angel talking]
There's an over.
[The camera shows Buffy talking]
That's an over.
[The camera looks over Buffy's shoulder at Angel talking]
Then we have a two-shot. Over, over, two-shot, which is pretty much the gold standard for boring television directing. But when you're in the kind of hurry we were in, I really didn't have any choice. They make one big move in this entire scene – and once they do, we started shooting both of them at the same time. And that's the rarest thing of all, because usually you light in one direction and it's very specific. And then it takes a while to turn around and light in the other direction.
But every now and then, when you're desperate, you ask your DP to light both people at the same time. It's not un-doable; both of them look good here; but we had two cameras running at the same time. It also helps the scene sometimes because both people are in it – in their coverage, in their close-up at the same time, and they're giving their all and they're working off the rhythms of the other person very specifically, so you're not cobbling together something that is taken at what could be hours apart. So it's a fun way to shoot, it just makes life hell for a DP. Ray came through as he always does, really spectacularly at that.
Yes, there will be praise, because a lot of people really impressed me. This was a really hard episode to shoot. And one of the shots coming up… this one:
[Buffy and Angel leave the crypt and walk out into the graveyard]
Steadicam shot designed to show the scope of the giant graveyard, and give a little motion – and emotion – to what they're doing. Of course, the giant graveyard here is our parking lot – the graveyard that Gareth Davies, our producer, suggested we build at the beginning of Season 2 to save time going out to graveyards. We shot the first half of this scene the first half of that night, then we came out here to shoot the rest of it. Again, the time constraints were insane, and yet this stuff looks great, and the two of them are as funny and real as they've ever been. So that worked out just fine.
["Oh my God, are you twelve?"]
And David doing my all-time favourite thing, which is being petty. Whenever Angel is petty I think he's at his best. And I love the fact that I feel the scope of the graveyard – which is where I thought Buffy and Angel should leave their relationship on this show, because it is the iconic place for Buffy. The graveyard, more than anything else.
A lot of this last episode had to do with finding that perfect iconic moment, and that perfect iconic thing that really said "This is a summation of what we've done". I did that before; I did it in episode 22 of Season 5, where I had Buffy fighting a vampire in the alley at the beginning. I had made a lot of the statements to round out my feelings about the show already. But life went on, the show went on, and writing a second final episode of 'Buffy' was, I'll say, much harder than writing the first. Partially because I'd already written one, partially because I knew this was actually the end. At some point I just had to let go and just write. Forget about the pressure. Forget about it being perfect because it wasn't going to be – and it isn't – and just try to make it good enough. Hit the beats. Give an episode that people would remember. We knew where we wanted to go thematically and it was just a question of getting there.
[Buffy compares herself to cookie dough]
This speech about cookies was originally pitched – not cookies exactly, but I believe baking was in there – by Marti Noxon early in the season. And I think as a showrunner I could have done a better job of bringing us to it. She comes to this conclusion a little bit out of the blue, and that's my fault, but we knew that emotionally, that's where we wanted her to get. And what we wanted to get to was the idea of "My relationships don't work out because I'm still becoming a woman, and finding my place, and I don't need to be "find the perfect guy" at age 22. Or however old Buffy is at this point. "I can wait. I can wait till I'm fully formed." And I think that's a very important message. And when Marti had – she'd thought about this in her own life, and she told me, and I was like, "I think that's exactly where we need Buffy to get."
And it helps with the other really complicated part of writing this episode, which was "How do you get Angel and Spike together in the same show, have her have the big emotion for both of them, and not make her seem like the Slut Queen of Slutdonia?" as Marti herself would say. So it was very tricky – and I would like to point out that I had to do it in the same act; that by the end – before the end of Act One she's sleeping with Spike.
[Angel fades into the shadows]
This exit for Angel was meant to mirror his first exit; him backing off in the darkness. Something hopefully iconic enough, and something to give people hope that Buffy and Angel might one day work out, because *some* fans – now, I realise not many, but there were a few fans who feel that the Buffy/Angel romance was, like, a big deal. And clearly I thought Parker was the most important romantic relationship of her life; other people disagreed; that's fine, I guess they can do that. They care about the Angel thing. Some people care about the Spike thing. I don't know why we couldn't get Parker in there too, but apparently… whatever. That vocal minority who care about Buffy and Angel meant that we had to do service by him.
[Xander hears about Caleb's death]
Eye socket jokes: always funny.
[Buffy goes down to the basement to talk to Spike]
And this was the trick. How to get her in the sack with Spike half an act after Angel had left. But the experience – I've said this probably a hundred times, and probably all of them on the audio commentaries to these damn episodes – the trick is always to make the audience go through exactly what she's going through. It's confusing to us emotionally that we should bounce from one to the other, and it's confusing to her. But Spike is the person in her life right now.
[Buffy sees the sketch of Angel on the punch bag]
That drawing, by the way, is my own creation; and a lot of the crew-members were like "Why does he hate Butthead?" I was like "Oh, it's supposed to be Angel." And that was something that I did on the day. It wasn't in the script. That's the kind of wacky improv I've got going. Who knows what could happen at any moment? I could come up with that. I think that's actually the only thing I came up with. I mean, besides the script.
[Spike asks for the amulet]
The great Marsters, with a chemistry with Buffy that is just completely different from Angel's. And different than David's and yet works very, very well. He's more on Buffy's level. He's more… their vulnerabilities come out – and I don't just mean as characters but as actors – around each other. And that really works, it works on a very different level. Their relationship clearly been through a lot – much more, in fact, than her relationship with Angel in a way – and you feel that history. These two; and they bring it to the set every time they come to work. And that's why we still came to work; because they did.
[Spike dashes across to stop Buffy leaving]
And James: the ability to turn on a dime is a very rare thing in an actor. From incredibly noble or scary to completely dorky or disarming. He does it with the 'tongue' line earlier, he does it here. You'd be amazed how few people can actually do that: and the last person I'd ever expect to be able to do it would be a theatre-trained guy, but yet, he's got the chops. He can go from Dracula to Jack Benny in a heartbeat, which is one of the reasons that I love him. That and his shiny, shiny hair.
[Spike and Buffy lie down on his bed together to sleep]
The idea behind their sleeping together was very important. It was that their relationship had enough trust in it: that it was physical and romantic but not sexual. That was, of course, in response to the rape issue of last year, when he had attempted to rape her because he didn't understand the boundaries of their relationship – he was soulless. But having gotten his soul and having fought to become a person, we wanted to say this man can be redeemed from that.
Not – and I've said this before, but I'll say it again – not in a Luke and Laura "he rapes her and they get married" way. Not in an "all is forgiven" way. Just in the way of he's still a human being who did a wrong thing and we still count him as a human being. I think that's a very important message, that their relationship should be complicated, and yet come to a place of trust. Without saying "Okay, now they're going to become lovers again", because I think that would be wrong. I think that's the wrong message. It's a very fine line.
[Buffy talks to The First in the form of Caleb]
Love watching them face off. I love Nathan, he tells his little jokes like he's – almost like he's an old man. His little puns and his silliness, he's just - the delight he takes in his character is so very charming. And the point he's hitting on, of course, being the whole point of the show, being the whole point of the season.
[The First morphs into the shape of Buffy]
And it seemed not only really… affordable to have Sarah play The First for most of this, but also the smartest, because we've come full circle. We ended the first episode with her as The First, and we show this episode with her as The First. And she should literally be the person telling herself that she is alone.
[Buffy and Buffy/The First talk to each other]
These two didn't actually get along at all. And working with the two of them was a nightmare. I thought they would – but they were complaining their outfits were too similar, and their trailers were the same size… and there was trouble.
[Spike wakes up]
"I'm drowning in footwear" is just one of those lines that make you glad you're a writer, that can write something that silly and actually put it on the air.
["We're gonna win"]
It's an odd thing to end an act with an affirmation of potential victory; but it made sense to me here because it's so strange.
Act Two
[The Scooby gang are reflected in a mirror as Buffy talks to them]
Well, this shot was kind of a cheesy trick, but it was a way to get everybody in the frame so I liked it. This scene was one of those "Okay, got to make our day" kind of scenes in the sense of, I shot the room as a three-wall. You'll notice I don't come around on Giles when he speaks to Willow – I get into profile. Which I don't mind doing, I don't need to be in everybody's face exactly for every moment. But it was a function of the very small amount of time we had that I played it as a proscenium, almost. We never do see that fourth wall. The bed helped.
Some people have complained that the magic that this Scythe – originally from the 'Fray' comic that I was writing at the same time – is a little too convenient. And my answer to those critics is, "Well, don't tell everybody!" It is convenient, and that doesn't really bother me, because ultimately, to me, the magic, the phlebotnum is always secondary to what needs to be said. And what needed to be said had to do with empowerment. And the way to get there was through Willow's magic and what it means to her, and through being a Slayer and what it means to them. So the fact that everything fell into place a little too easily; maybe I could have thought of something a little more intricate but that isn't where my heart was. My heart was in… the heart, more then it was in the magic.
[Buffy tells the assembled Potentials about her plan]
This scene, well, first of all, the first time Buffy got through this speech – which, I'm sure you can realise when you watch the episode, we shot all as one. There are two parts to it and it's very long. And in fact it's about twice as long as what you see on screen; we cut about half of it in the editing room. Apparently my pen runneth over. So Sarah's basically doing a scene that is four times as long as what she does here. And did she get every single word right on the first take? Yes she did. Did the extras actually spontaneously burst into applause when she was done? Yes they actually did. And it's again one of the reasons why we went as long as we did, working as hard as we did: the fact that she can do that.
[The camera focuses on Faith listening to Buffy]
I'd also like to point out the fact that it was young Ms Dushku who actually stopped to say how much she liked the scene, how much she liked the speech, how much she liked the words. And coming from an actor who knows that they're going to spend half the day standing there looking with absolutely no lines – I thought that was particularly gracious.
[Faith and Wood talk about their sexual encounter]
In this scene she accused me of getting back at some girl, because of the way Wood kind of disses on her. But actually it just made me laugh. And there aren't any girls I need to get back at! (Fake laugh) Actually, I think I told her that if that was what I was trying to do with the show, it would be going another four seasons...
But I think these two just had a lovely chemistry. And this is not something that necessarily would have been in the last episode – a relationship talk from the two of them. But it deals with the isolated nature of the Slayer – embodied here by Faith rather than Buffy – which is really an important part of the season. And it just tells us a little something about the two of them and it pays off really nicely at the end.
Two takes in either direction; both of them were so on point and so delightful. Eliza not happy about giving up control of the scene, of being, like, vulnerable when he attacks her skills. And the expression "Dude, I got mad skills" was actually said to me by Eliza. In reference to serving ice cream, actually, or working at the Dairy Queen, I believe, not in reference to anything else. But I loved the phrase so much I thought I simply have to have Faith say it. And of course since it was me writing it became dirty. Weird. It's a thing.
D B Woodside, from the first frame that I saw in the first episode, he intrigued me so much. A real comer, a real epic guy, just a little bigger than life. And you look for that: so often, you don't find it. It's really hard to find someone who's a match.
[Willow and Kennedy prepare for the big day]
I love Iyari and Aly in this scene. Well, I love Aly in pretty much every scene… where she doesn't have to speak a foreign language. And I think it's not a big secret that originally I had planned to bring Tara back; and when that didn't work out, I was looking for the anti-Tara. Somebody as un-earthy and unlike her as possible. And Iyari has a wonderful presence and a great physicality with Aly that is just very natural. So I liked working with them. And this was my first time because I didn't shoot any up until this one because I was too tired. I was pretty much too tired to shoot this one too, but I had no choice. I couldn't let somebody else do it… except for the parts that I let John Medlen and David Solomon do… which again we'll come to later.
And the reasoning behind the two of them was very simply: somebody has to end this show with a goddamn girlfriend! And why shouldn't it be Willow? Somebody has to end in a decent relationship, because we had so many of them fall apart.
[Giles, Xander, Andrew and Amanda play Dungeons and Dragons]
I loved this. I loved doing this as a oner because I love a oner. I always love the oner. You have to do them a lot more times; they take about as long as doing a scene with coverage, but when you get it, it's all there and it's all in the frame. It's delightful. And Tom – well, I can't say enough about him.
["Step back, girlfriend"]
This thing he does with his hood when he says "Step back", he had never done in any take. He just threw it in there right now; here we go: "Step back, girlfriend". He had never done that before, and he's always trying to bring more to the table. Not in that annoying "I have an idea that will ruin the shot" way, but just in that "I'm staying in it." And I loved that he became a huge part of the show.
This scene was also added so that we could give Amanda some screentime, so that later on I could kill her. Because I wanted to take a toll…
[Focus on Anya asleep at the table]
…and, well, I think Emma knows that as well as anybody. A battle without some kind of a toll is not a real battle.
[Buffy stands alone on the porch of her house]
I pulled wide here because I had planned to shoot that on set, and when they said "We're going out and shooting it" I said, "Well then, dammit, I'm pulling wide so that they know we really went there!" That night we had actually four directors shooting porch scenes for four different shows.
[Buffy goes downstairs to see Spike]
And this bit here I did actually add on set. Not just the picture of Butthead on the punching bag but this, where I said I wanted to get a couple of shots. We were going fast – and that one, I didn't know if I was going to use the two of them. And to me it's almost the most important shot in the show because it really shows the mystery of their relationship. And that's one where I wanted the audience to fill in the blanks. I wanted them – I wanted whatever you want to have happened, to have happened. If people believe that on their last night together they made love, great! If they believe that on their last night together they talked all night, great! If they believe that they had a fight, great!
Whatever it is, it's up to the viewer and I think that the viewer has earned that, and I love that elliptical nature of their last night together. I think that there should be work for the viewer to do, in that sense, emotionally, because I think it makes it more textured. And that shot of the two of them looking at each other, I just find beautiful.
Act Three
[Everyone receives their instructions for the coming battle]
I had fun with this shot too, setting up all my parameters. Coming around, big wide lens, showing the school.
[Andrew's speech]
And then of course the great Andrew 'Oscar' speech, which made me laugh every single time we did it. Sometimes out loud, which is actually not a good thing for a director to do during a take.
His brother Tucker, of course, a character that we referenced all the time, was the guy that tried to destroy the prom. And we had originally wanted that actor, Brad, to do one of the Nerds, but he was busy and couldn't. And so we found Tom and played up the idea that everybody couldn't remember him because he was somebody else's little brother. Which, by the way, happened to me in high school all the time. But I love that; the little continuity things are very important to me.
[Dawn tells Buffy that anything she says will sound like goodbye]
That sentence was actually said to me by Marti after the show, when she was leaving the house after we'd watched it. Well, it nearly made me cry. But I don't cry because I am a manly man.
[Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles are left standing in a circle]
This moment…. Well, I don't think I really need to explain what's going on here. I felt it was very important, and I think the audience did too, that these four, of everyone, have their moment together. These four who started it all should finish it all. And much in the same way they began it, which is why I echoed the exact line "The Earth is doomed" from Giles.
[The three younger ones walk off leaving Giles by himself]
This shot is an echo of the very ending of the two-part beginning. And this shot, also, very important as they peel off, one by one, best friends going to their destinies and Buffy left alone.
I shot it in slow motion, but unfortunately it was so slow that it took up about half the show. I had a whole long walk for Buffy down the basement where she remembered things and walked in slow motion. Really, really long. Had to cut it. Had to cut a lot of things. My shows almost always come out long because I talk too much. In this instance I'm supposed to be talking right now, too much, but sometimes I just do.
[Buffy, Faith and the Potentials slice their hands open over the Seal]
Almost cut this shot, which I think is again one of the most important shots, just for time when we were shooting. But the idea of all these girls bleeding together, I think has a good earthy, almost menstrual metaphor to it which I think is important since they're all becoming empowered together. Becoming Slayers. Oh, did I give it away? Well, if you're listening to the audio commentary you probably already know that.
[Willow prepares to cast her spell]
My biggest regret about this episode was that I didn't get to do more funny Willow stuff. There was just so much plot to get through. And funny Aly is just such a great thing and I wished we'd had more.
[Buffy leads the Potentials into the Hellmouth]
This shot is rather seamlessly woven in by Loni and our guys Zoic, and really gave us an epic feel that we just didn't have the money for on this show lo! these many years. And so we'd been saving all year for this very sequence and these very shots. The idea that there was now a technology where you could do hundreds and thousands of bad guys just didn't exist in the first six years. And people said, "Well, somebody saw 'The Two Towers'", and the fact of the matter is, what I saw was the little thing that was in 'Cinefax' explaining that they had this new technology where you could create thousands of bad guys. And I was like, "That will make this battle different than all the others!" The sheer number.
[The Slayer empowerment spell]
And this. This I knew I was coming to from the start of the season, pretty early on in it. Buffy was isolated. As a character, even in the world, Buffy and her gang: never ensemble, always 'the star' and 'the others' in the magazines and what-not. And it was very important to me to say "Okay, it's great that you've worshipped this one iconic character: but find it in yourself. Everybody. And that's why we shot the people all over. And that was a great fun thing to do, and the last thing I shot for the show on First Unit was the girl in the trailer. And Drew Goddard pointed out that it was kind of a great last shot to be shooting – this one:
[A new Slayer deflects the blow of the man who was about to hit her]
– for this show. And I can't say enough about our little baseball girl.
[A new Slayer gets ready to hit a ball really, REALLY hard]
So many people just lost it. I thought, "Oh, this is going to be too cheesy, the baseball thing", and so many people were like "I was that girl, I played Little League, that was so important!" And that's the crying moment for a lot of people.
["These guys are dust"]
Again, I can't say enough about the Zoic guys: the job they did integrating these things. And Felicia Day as Vi and Indigo as Rona, just doing great work. And Sarah Hagan as Amanda, just – they really stuck. A lot of girls came, a lot of girls got killed.
[Willow gets all white-haired and glowing]
This image, which we refer to – speaking of 'Lord of the Rings' – as the Cate Blanchett image, obviously meant to… she couldn't stop talking about her black-haired evil. And the idea that when she empowers these women she comes to something more powerful – beyond the concept of power, beyond the power that's evil; something truly connected, about connection, about women's connection to each other and to the earth, and that it would bring out the best in her – it would be nifty – seemed like a good conclusion to her story, her arc.
[The Slayers fight wave after wave of ubervamps]
This scene, all of this stuff, this is where David Solomon really came in and helped out. He shot for days of Second Unit, because there was simply so much to shoot. And without him – I mean, he was a great director on the show, and a great producer anyway – without him doing this episode I never would have made it through. He kept it interesting when… we actually had to stop filming one night, one Friday night halfway through because I was just too tired.
[Vi is in the thick of the battle]
Felicia was like "You (???)" She loved all this footage we got of her, but she looked great.
[Buffy dusts a vampire with the Scythe as Slayers leap around behind her]
That shot was very specifically storyboarded before we ever did anything, it was very important to get that moment of just everybody doing everything in slo-mo, I thought it came out really nicely.
["Bunnies. Floppy, hoppy bunnies"]
And if you're going to pay off things people have dealt with over the years, bunnies is going to be one of the most important. Emma, just about the funniest person who ever looked that good.
[Giles and Wood fight ubervamps]
D B loved to fight. So did Tony. I wish we could have had more of it – we, again, wanted to keep everything as just fast as possible.
[So do Anya and Andrew]
And "I have swimmer's ear" is just something he happened to say, that made me laugh. And so I put it in; it had nothing to… I don't know why the character is saying that, it's not going to stop the vampire.
Some people complained, again, that the vampires were too easy to kill. That they were supposed to be stronger than other vampires. And the fact of the matter is… it's true. Like the convenience of the magic, it's true. Because, again, I was more interested in showing the empowerment than I was in the continuity. To make every vampire as hard to kill as the first one would have been too hard.
Act Four
Shooting the battle as it was required many, many more days than we had scheduled, and more directors. So it… once I'd gotten all the big moments out…
[Buffy, wounded, gives the Scythe to Faith]
And this was a very important thing too also, the sharing of the Scythe. Means the sharing of the power, just about as literally as you can get.
[Dawn sun-fries three ubervamps]
Had to use a little sunlight since it was the middle of the day.
[The death of Anya]
And this. One of the most brutal images that we've ever done. And done to keep the sense of battle: the unheroic death. But also interesting because I actually had never seen it before; never seen anybody cut like that. And I came up with the idea of the stuntman using a half-sword and digitally adding the rest of the sword and the cut. So instead of just one of those endy (??) slices like you always get in swordfight movies you'd really get someone down.
[Amanda is killed]
And of course Sarah [Hagan] following as well. That was because I needed a toll, I needed this battle really to feel like a battle – and I couldn't kill any of my Core Four and still call it a happy ending. I couldn't kill Dawn and still call it a happy ending either. So Anya got the nod. And to make it as unheroic as possible just felt very real and very creepy – and that shot was in fact her last shot.
[Buffy tells The First to "Get out of my face"]
Lot of people didn't actually get that this was a pun. But it seemed like the right thing.
[Buffy gets up to fight, in slow motion]
And here I just - I've really got to give it up for the composer. He increased the budget of the show by half just because his music gave it such an epic feel.
[Buffy swings the Scythe and knocks three ubervamps right off the ledge]
A great Zoic shot there. But this music, to me, embodies just so much of what I was striving for and just makes the thing feel twice as epic as it was. Beautiful piece of music.
[The battle rages]
That's Ming – great, great stuntwoman, she gave us great footage, as Felicia did too. All the girls really enjoyed their fighting, they really wanted to fight more and more. Iyari particularly. Sarah at one point said "Look, we're going to need some footage. I'll just keep fighting; just keep rolling, and I'll fight."
[Spike's amulet activates]
The sunlight hits Spike, the sunlight is channelled through Spike, and it gets nasty. Some of the body language from these vamps – again, all CGI – again, really beautifully done. The idea of the soul being the thing that elevates and kills him felt like a beautiful wrap-up. And again going from the epic to the humorous in a heartbeat; that's our boy.
[The Slayers leave the Hellmouth]
The girls kept walking through the beam: I had to explain, "You're being chopped in half! Duck!"
[One of them trips and falls running down the school corridor]
And she actually fell, which was really fun. Because it makes it look real – because it was! And she wasn't hurt; nobody was hurt; it's all fake, it's okay.
[They board the school bus]
The idea of the bus: what can I say? Just felt right. It's a good way to get a lot of people out, and it's a school bus. You leave school on a school bus. That's what we did.
[Xander looks for Anya but doesn't see her body]
This shot, one of my favourites too. He's looking for her, she's right there, he doesn't find her. Those always get me.
[Buffy and Spike's last scene]
This was an interesting scene because both James and Sarah came to it from the wrong place, really. They were playing things falling apart, and the terror of it, and I said that what I wanted was for them to completely distance themselves from it. I explained how all the sound was going to drift out.
[Their hands burst into flames]
I thought that this was a sort of romantic image, the two of them. We actually did it with real fire but their hands were all gelled up and you could tell, so this was added CGI, and looks beautiful. I thought it was a nice comment on their relationship. But what I basically told them was "Play the romance. Be proud of him. Love him when you say you love him. Love her when you say she doesn't love you. Forget about the crumbling world. For that period of time it doesn't exist."
It's a cinematic trick but it's a necessary emotional one. I was surprised that they hadn't come there because usually the three of us come to a scene in exactly the same place. And this time it really was sort of different. And eventually Sarah said "If you have what you think you need I think we should move on, because I'm not sure I understand how this works." But I look at the two of them get together and their work is tremendous. But that is part of making TV and movies.
Sometimes you'll get a take from an actor that blows you away and they'll go "Oh, I wasn't feeling a thing, I was thinking about something else, can we go again?" And you're like, "You just gave me gold" and they're like, "But I didn't feel it." I'm like, "The audience will." Sometimes you can let them have another and sometimes you just say, "Trust me. The audience will be there, because I was."
[Spike sees how it ends]
Another beautiful image. Our boy, going down for the last time. Even though everybody already knew he was going to be on 'Angel'...
[The school bus rushes out of Sunnydale]
I loved revving Felicia up to as much intensity as she could get. That was fun. Right there, we're going around the lot. Our own little lot. And then this.
[Buffy flees across the rooftops and jumps onto the bus]
Actual miniatures and CGI. And I'm just obsessed with people running and jumping on things. The big leap. And so I got one at the end of my show. It's an old trick. There is another old trick.
[Aerial shot of Sunnydale collapsing into the crater]
The first trick was the fact – I love that, by the way, I just couldn't have a better description of what happens to Sunnydale – but, the first trick was, she jumped, the bus drove under, but actually they happened at different times, and we were still. Which is something we did when Faith fell into the truck. They were talking about showing the back (??) and we were cheating with perspective, and I was, "Can't we just shoot them both and do a split-screen?" And then of course the…
[Buffy jumps off the bus and glances around at the open road ahead]
Now this, I have to say, the endless road behind them was something that came from Tony Head. He pointed out "Oh, that's beautiful! You have an endless horizon, it's a perfect image for the rest of the show, for the end of the show and for the rest of their lives!" And I was like, "Yeah, that's great, except I parked a bus in front of it and you guys play in front of the bus and we're never going to see it." So I gave that moment to Sarah of just looking out and seeing that horizon, because I agreed with Tony, I thought it was beautiful, and I didn't think it should be missed.
[The 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign falls into the crater]
And then of course that poor sign, which in one incarnation or another has been knocked down so many times.
[Xander asks Andrew about Anya]
Again, I had very much planned not to have any reason for Anya's death, any reason behind it or any reason to come after it. But the writer in me couldn't not resolve it somewhat, and I think the audience needed what Xander needed, which was something. And that something was Andrew learning that the thing that he's sort of reviled for, making up stories, becomes the thing that he helps Xander with. Becomes the thing that he actually is good at. Giving her the epic death that she didn't actually get to have.
[Wood and Faith's last scene together]
I think these two have as grown up and textured a relationship as any characters on the show and they had about four scenes together total. So I love that about them. I love how much goes on in each of them when he dies. Dying – having a character die then suddenly bringing them back is something you can only earn after you've actually killed a couple of people. So this was a nice opportunity to say, "This isn't over yet." Have the call-back and – but I wouldn't have been able to do it if I hadn't legitimately offed a few beloved characters.
[Everyone gathers on the edge of the crater]
And then we come to what is the final shot. Needless to say, we shot this one a bunch of times. I had this in my head from the start. When we first did it we started up high, and it looked kind of fake and cheesy. And they're, of course, playing against an abyss that isn't there. But I knew this was going to be a oner, I knew there was going to be a slow push-in. We started to shoot it, and then Ray, the DP, said, "You know what? The light's not that good, the wind's not that good. Let's just leave the crane arm and go shoot the little bits in front of the bus. So we held off for about four hours and came back, tried again. Everybody giving their lines, a tough thing; everybody being at the right place in frame. Very tough. But I wanted it to just be everyone, and to end with the close-up of Buffy.
[Close-up of Buffy starting to smile]
Because what this shot ultimately about, is what a lot of the show is about: which is that the story goes on. That there is closure, but not a closing. That what we've seen is a life being formed, like the cookie dough speech explains. This is a life in progress, a life that in some ways is just beginning...
...Like that smile.
That's all I have to say. Thanks for watching my show.


text:
This month I joined over 250 arts professionals at the bi-annual Family Arts Conference in Bristol to discuss and learn more about how we can make the arts accessible for families. Although the majority of people in the room represented professional arts organisations who often had their own venue, there were still many inspiring thoughts to take away from the day that could apply to Making Music members.
When we think of families, we automatically think of parents and children – but the theme of this year's conference was that we need to change this thinking.
In an ageing society, families now commonly include grandparents and even great-grandparents. Older people may also come with carers, but then there are plenty of younger people who may also come with carers. The definition of family now needs to be expanded to include all of these people.
Kate Organ, a freelance consultant who was my highlight of the day, reflected on the fact that in the arts we are often seeking a younger audience. But, she stressed, an older audience is not a sign of failure. In fact, by actively seeking the younger audience, its's possible that we unconsciously create an apathy towards the older generation and cause them to feel side-lined. It's important to remember that people of all ages can enjoy the arts, and to provide opportunities for all ages to do so, without excluding others.
Kate also spoke of research that has proved that there is a decline in people over a certain age going out in the evening – something which we at Making Music have already heard anecdotally through our members. But Kate highlighted the flourishing demand for matinee performances, which shows that there are plenty of other ways in which older people can engage with the arts if they are provided.
It was also highlighted that older people often come with other groups of people in tow – children and grand-children, but also parents (Kate gave an example of someone who had once answered a survey question with 'our audience is mostly made up of older people and their parents!') and carers. Sometimes the way into an arts event might be through the older generation, rather than the younger. What is important is that you allow people the opportunity to experience your art form together, as part of a group. As one speaker said 'the audience told us that if we made it easier for them to attend as a group, they would come as a group'.
Several other speakers reflected on things they had tried in this vein – an accessible festival for families, relaxed performances, bring the grandchildren events – but all had the same message: that building an audience for these takes time, that the initial enthusiasm soon drops off and that interest builds slowly from there. Do try new things, but don't be afraid to get it wrong and expect low numbers to start with. With confidence in your idea and a bit of determination, your family audience – young and old! - can grow.
Later in the day I attended the 'Marketing to Families' breakout session and was interested to learn about two useful platforms for communicating with younger people and families. Popjam is a creative social network for young people, with over 1M UK children using it. Although the content is mainly created by the users, they do want to have other content on there too – so you may be able to list your family event on there. We also learned about Hoop, a new app which helps kids and families to find activities suitable for 0-11 year olds in their local area. Currently available in 21 UK cities, they are hoping to be nationwide by the end of the year.
The day finished with some interesting statistics from Arts Council England and the Audience Agency. I learned that:
- Having a child aged 0-4 leads to a drop in arts engagement for adults, but a child aged 5-10 is a motivator for encouraging adults to engage in the arts.
- Parents with teenagers are less likely to engage with the arts.
- Teenagers who engage with the arts are healthier and happier than those who don't.
- People who have recently moved house are more likely to engage in local cultural events.
- Events that are free, during the day time and are 'drop in' format appeal to cash-strapped families looking for ways to entertain their children.
- Children and family-branded events attract a greater cross-section of people.
These points were not particularly ground-breaking, but it was good to hear that research supports some of the things we have often suspected.
Further information
- Visit the Family Arts website to find out more about the Family Arts Standards, or to list your family-friendly event.
- You can read Kate Organ's report on participatory arts for older people 'After You Are Two' on the Baring Foundation's website.
- Arts Council England have a report on their recent research around older people and arts engagement, available on their website.


text:
Florida GOP: Losers should have stayed
The Florida straw poll results were disappointing for a number of the 2012 candidates, who now have to explain why they lost the contest to a long-shot candidate with no experience in national politics.
But the results are also a bit awkward for Florida Republicans, some of whom sold the Presidency 5 straw poll as an event that would anoint the GOP's 2012 nominee.
Republicans here are now calling Cain's performance a result of him doing the leg work — meeting activists, making himself accessible to delegates, actually showing up to give a speech — that several other candidates declined to do:
Republican Party of Florida spokesman Brian Hughes suggested it had been a mistake for several candidates, including Perry, to leave the state before the straw poll vote was taken.
Jon Huntsman campaigned in New Hampshire on the day of the straw poll and finished second to last, while Romney simply declined to participate.
"Retail politics 101: The person who shows up and works hard wins," Hughes said. "A number of them left the state, but Herman Cain stayed."
One prominent Republican, meanwhile, is carefully backing away from the claim that the winner of P5 will be the GOP's White House nominee:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who had predicted ahead of the straw poll that the winner of the event would be the next president of the United States, sounded a softer note in a statement congratulating Cain on his win.
"Clearly, communicating a strong conservative message directly to Florida and its grass-roots voters made a difference today," said Scott, who has a close relationship with Perry. "I believe that as we saw in 2010, a challenging primary between our Republican candidates will serve our party, state and nation well in preparing to defeat President Obama in 2012."


text:
Screen Editor Gethin Morgan reviews A Woman Captured, which has its UK premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest on 8 June and is nominated for the Grand Jury Award.
A Woman Captured is the kind of documentary where the filmmaker has managed to take the camera to a place that, ordinarily, no one could go. Bernadett Tuza-Ritter acts as writer, director, editor, cameraperson and eventually close friend of Marish, the slave whom this story is about.
Somehow, Tuza-Ritter managed to convince Eta, the rich Hungarian woman enslaving Marish (and others), to allow her to essentially live with Marish and film her day-to-day life. The insight this gives is both extraordinary and devastating.
At this point Marish has cooked, cleaned and taken care of her masters household for 11 years. An image shown of her first day shows just how much she has aged; her wrinkles deep, skin tough and hands worn. The only time she gets out of the house is to work her factory job, earning a decent wage, all of which goes straight to Eta. All Marish gets is the tiniest amount of food (at times she feeds off leftovers), a sofa to sleep on and cigarettes.
The cruelty on display is soul-destroying as Eta taunts, harrasses and abuses her captor both mentally and physically. "Happiness. It's never anywhere near where I am", Marish says, rather nonchalantly.
Marish is an incredible subject. She is sweet, caring and has a wry sense of humour ("I can make jokes anytime, even when I feel like crying"). It's bafflingly impressive considering her situation, which she is totally resigned to. That is, until the bond she develops with the filmmaker becomes so strong that Marish realises she does not have to live like this, so she plots her escape to reunite with her 16 year old daughter.
The deftness with which Tuza-Ritter crafts this film is remarkable considering it is a feat merely to have captured the images at all. Despite the footage being a little grey and grainy, she manages to capture some stunning images. Her eye for a powerful moment is terrific; whether it's showing Eta feeding her dog with food she wouldn't give Marish, or simply Marish's facial expression when Tuza-Ritter says she can do whatever she wants. Perhaps most powerfully of all, the word slave is not uttered once other than in writing at the beginning and end.
This film is so packed with heart. It's eye-opening, devastating yet heart-warming. Meanwhile it's also incredibly insightful. Modern slavery is a subject not often spoken about but this documentary highlights it's horrifying reality. There are an estimated 45m slaves worldwide today suffering from the same cruelty as Marish.
It's that double-edged sword of being so personal yet so informative that makes A Woman Captured a truly astonishing achievement in documentary filmmaking.
5 stars
Image Credit: Sheffield Doc/Fest


text:
Recent Articles
« Older: APSU has confirmed cases of flu, suspected to be H1N1 Newer: Tanner to hold telephone town hall meeting on August 31st »
CPD has homicide suspect in custody
On August 27, 2009, around 10:50 p.m., Oak Grove Officers responded to a call of a possible stabbing across from Enterprise Car Rental on Hwy 41A, Oak Grove, Ky. When units arrived on the scene, they saw a male lying on the ground, with an apparent stab wound. The victim was transported by ambulance to Blanchfield Hospital on Ft Campbell where he was pronounced dead.
Clarksville Police received notification around 11:08 p.m. by Oak Grove Police Department, that the stabbing occurred in the business center parking lot at 3431 Ft Campbell Blvd, Clarksville, TN. After officers arrived, they talked to a witness at the scene. The witness stated that , Donald Green Jr. had an altercation with the victim, Byron Nixon, 17 years old, in the parking lot of 3431 Ft Campbell Blvd.The witness also told officers that Byron Nixon had an apparent stab wound to his chest. Byron Nixon was able to flee from the scene on foot and crossed over into Oak Grove, Kentucky and collapsed. Donald Green had already left the scene prior to officers' arrival and his vehicle information was disseminated in an attempt to locate Green.
Around 7 a.m. on August 28, 2009, Green contacted the Police Department and made arrangements to turn himself in at the Kangaroo Express located at 301 Providence Blvd.
DONALD RAY GREEN JR (B/M, DOB: 8-17-82, Given Address: 3410 Oak Park Terrace, Clarksville, TN) is charged with: CRIMINAL HOMICIDE with a $1,000,000 bond.
The investigation is ongoing and the lead investigator is Detective Tim Anderson, 931-648-0656, ext. 4003 or the TIPSLINE 931-645-8477.
TopicsByron Nixon, Clarksville Police Department, Crime, Donald Ray Green Jr., Homicide, Murder
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2006-2020 Clarksville, TN Online is owned and operated by residents of Clarksville Tennessee.


text:
Sound Affair Mastering
Online / FTP Mastering
Sound Affair offers a safe and secure online file transfer service for all of your audio mastering needs.
- Files can be uploaded in 16- or 24-bit WAV or AIFF audio files.
- No MP3 or data compressed files, please.
- Finished masters will be returned to you via FTP, USPS Priority Mail, Express Mail, or FedEx, as requested.
Please provide us with instructions for your project by filling in our order form:
- Streaming & CD Mastering
- Vinyl Mastering
Feel free to contact us by phone, email or text to let us know you've uploaded your files. Thank you for choosing Sound Affair; we look forward to working with you!


text:
The Bank of Colorado Arena at the University of Northern Colorado reopened Thursday morning after first responders negotiated with a man who refused to come down from the rafters for more than 12 hours.The man was unarmed and not considered a threat to others, and UNC police Chief Dennis Pumphrey said he willingly came down and was taken into protective custody after 10 a.m. Thursday. He had been in the rafters since at least 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.Pumphrey said the man was taken to North Colorado Medical Center for mental health treatment, and no charges would be pursued."This was a situation where we had a scared individual with some mental health concerns, and it just really isn't appropriate to pursue charges under the circumstance," Pumphrey said.Pumphrey said the man didn't have a real awareness of what he was doing, and pursuing charges wouldn't help anyone in the end. If someone had been hurt, then the decision would probably change, but Pumphrey described the hours-long negotiations as "a minor inconvenience."Pumphrey said the man was active Wednesday night, running around in the rafters, so Greeley fire and paramedics were on standby in case he fell, but he slowed down Thursday morning. UNC police and Greeley police's crisis intervention team talked with the man overnight, but Greeley fire's Squad 1 finally convinced him to come down.Squad 1 is a team comprised of a paramedic, North Range Behavioral Health mental health professional and Northern Colorado Health Alliance care manager, said Darren Conradson, a Greeley fire paramedic. The team, active for a year now, responds to calls that don't necessitate an emergent response and helps connect patients with resources for better care, Conradson said.Pumphrey said Squad 1 had dealt with the man before and had a "pretty good" relationship with him.The University of Northern Colorado sent an emergency alert about 7:25 a.m. Thursday advising students to avoid the gym as police negotiated with the man. The gym's closure affected only one class in the building, which was moved to another location, according to a second alert.[swift-infobox title="Emergency Alerts"]The UNC Emergency Alert is a mass notification system that allows the university to simultaneously issue campus alerts by voice, e-mail and text messages during an emergency. For more information, visit www.unco.edu/alerts.[/swift-infobox]The closure didn't affect athletics much, either.Ryan Pfeifer, assistant director of strategic communications for the athletic department, said the kerfuffle didn't disrupt any basketball practices Thursday morning because none were scheduled in the main gym. The auxiliary gym is where basketball teams most often practice, and there are other entrances to the weight room attached to the main gym."It really didn't affect any day-to-day operations for us," Pfeifer said.Football players huffed and puffed past the locked gym during a workout, and students and staff wandering by stopped intermittently to glance through the windows into the gym. For a time, the man was sitting on a ledge above an illuminated Bank of Colorado sign, swinging his legs. His statements were mostly muffled through the doors, though it was possible to make out a couple of expletives.Facilities management employees in safety vests inside stood watch by the doors to the gym while police negotiated with the man.Pfeifer said there's no telling how the man gained access into the gym, which is normally locked, but it's possible a door might have been left unlocked or propped open accidentally. Pfeifer said it was a sad situation, for the man was probably only trying to keep warm. Temperatures overnight dipped into the lower 20s.Greeley and Evans' cold weather emergency shelter is organized especially to combat those cold and potentially deadly nights.The shelter offers single adults a warm, safe place to stay from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. through April 15 within the Sunrise Community Health Center, 2930 11th Ave., in Evans. No background screening is required for those wishing to stay at the shelter, but they must have some form of identification.
– Kelsy Schlotthauer covers breaking news and just about anything else for the Greeley Tribune. Reach her at firstname.lastname@example.com, (970) 392-4439 or on Twitter @K_Schlott.


text:
Bayleys news & articles
New high rise tower breaks new ground
Tags: Auckland CBD Commercial
Work will commence later this year on the first high rise commercial tower to be built in Auckland in over a decade.
Mansons TCLM has announced its intention to build a new 30 storey $675 million office, hotel and retail building on a 4,258 sq m block of land between Wyndham Street, Albert Street, Swanson Street and Mills Lane in Auckland's CBD. It will comprise 30 levels of office accommodation, a 5-star 125-room hotel and a variety of luxury brand shops at ground level.
Mansons TCLM director Culum Manson says the complex, to be known as 1 Mills Lane, will establish a number of new benchmarks for a New Zealand CBD office tower – it will be the greenest, being designed to a 6 Green Star rating and incorporating two "garden" floors, the highest at 198 metres, have the largest floor plates at approximately 1,500 sq m and the tallest floor to ceiling heights with an internal stud of 3.2 metres.
Mansons will commence demolition work on the existing buildings on the property once longstanding tenant the NZ Herald (NZME) has relocated in November to a nearby Mansons' 5 Green Star office development nearing completion at 151 Victoria Street.
Culum Manson says the company has received demolition consent and is working to finalise resource consent by October. "This will enable us to complete the building by the end of 2018. There are a significant number of large CBD corporate leases due to expire towards the end of this decade and the building's completion has been timed to coincide with what we believe will be a period of strong tenant take up of quality high rise premises.
"There has also been little CBD hotel development undertaken in Auckland in recent years and with annual hotel occupancy rates in the city at record levels of over 80 percent, we believe there is a big opportunity in this sector of the market as well, particularly given the site is very well located close to the proposed convention centre and the waterfront. We are already talking to 5-star international hotel brands about managing this component of the development which will be an added bonus for office tenants who have clients visiting Auckland and needing accommodation."
Architect Patrick Clifford of Architectus has been appointed to design the building. It will incorporate two garden floors, for use by office tenants and their visitors – one in the middle of the building and the other on the roof top with wraparound views of the city, harbour and harbour bridge. The latter will be based on the Architectus' design for the top level of its award-winning, 6 Green Star office development at 1 Bligh Street in Sydney.
Waterfront views for office floor tenants will also be maximised by locating core building services, such as lifts and the stairwell, on the southern side of the building. Mr Manson says this configuration will provide occupants with highly efficient floor plates and also make it easy to provide interconnecting stairways for businesses that occupy multiple floors which have proved popular with tenants occupying contiguous levels in other Mansons' developments.
As has been the case with recent large scale CBD projects by Mansons TCLM, such as the Telecom (now Spark City) and neighbouring 151 Victoria Street, a large public plaza area, to be known as Mills Square, is being incorporated into the development at ground level. There will also be pedestrian laneways linking the shops. Culum Manson says this will revitalise what is currently a "dingy"
part of the CBD, with a 3-level lobby for the office building and separate lobby for the hotel to be located in this area.
About 300 car parks will be located underground and Mr Manson says a further 1,000 car parks will be offered to tenants within a two to five-minute walk.
Senior Bayleys leasing broker Paul Hain says 1 Mills Lane should generate considerable interest from both office and retail tenants given the quality of the development and its strong location between the waterfront and the Federal Street entertainment precinct.
"It's also virtually right on the doorstep of one of the busiest parts of Queen Street. The corner of Queen and Shortland Streets is literally a 30-second walk via the Swanson laneway which runs off Mills Lane. It's also in the favoured western part of the CBD which has benefitted from a significant migration of tenants in recent years because of its proximity to the waterfront and the Britomart and ferry public transport hubs.
"The market has been hanging out for some time for new high rise office options given the last wave of office tower development ended with the completion of PWC Tower in 2002 and it looks as though Mansons will have the advantage of being the first to complete with this building."
Mr Hain says there is no prime office accommodation currently available in the CBD for tenants wanting to lease more than a few hundred square metres and Mansons' new building at 151 Victoria Street is filling up quickly ahead of its completion in July of this year. He has been involved in the leasing of approximately half of the building, totalling 8,300 sq m, to NZME and an agreement to lease the top floor is currently under negotiation.
"This leaves only two floors totaling 6,340 sq m remaining, which will result in some of the many tenants looking at the building missing out," he says. "Supply will remain extremely tight for the next three and a half years for businesses looking for trophy premises in the CBD."
Related articles


text:
December 13th ShowWednesday, December 13th, 2006
We'll be on live tonight starting around 9p.m. eastern. We plan on taking a sneek peek into the President's 2007 agenda and talking points for the State of the Union Address. We also have some great listener mail to share with you. Be sure to join us!


text:
This 27" square wallhanging has a Celtic border framing the Celtic center block. Starting with one of Scarlett's original Celtic blocks, Patty Oliver-Matz added her own touches and the Celtic border to create this distinctive wallhanging.
Full size pattern templates are included along with the instructions. Originally published in Celtic Style Floral Applique, Scarlett's first book that is currently out-of-print, this design is now available as a pattern.
Please click on the picture to visit the Gallery and to see the supply list for this quilt.
There are two options available! Choose how you want to buy this pattern:
1. Save time and shipping costs! Pay online and download immediately as an e-pattern.
2. Buy the printed pattern:


text:
I mentioned a few days ago that part of the backstory to the recent crisis in US-Israeli relations is tied to a briefing David Petraeus gave the Adm. Mullen and the Joint Chiefs back in January. (And let's not get upset about the word 'crisis'. Friendships and alliances have occasional controversies and crises. There's nothing wrong with that. Denial feeds problems.) At that briefing, which reportedly took the Chiefs and the administration by some surprise, Petraeus made a straightforward case that the lack of progress in settling the Israel-Palestine dispute was damaging American interests in the Middle East and the lands of Islam more generally.
Now we have him saying it in his own words, in prepared remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Lists under root causes of "drivers of instability, inter-state tensions, and conflict … [and potential] root causes of instability or as obstacles to security" Petraeus notes the following …
Insufficient progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace. The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the AOR [CentCom Area of Responsibility]. Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations. The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the AOR and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support. The conflict also gives Iran influence in the Arab world through its clients, Lebanese Hizballah and Hamas.
In a sense, all of this is no more than commonsense, a given in many conversations about the US position in the world, especially in the arc of Muslim majority nations from the eastern Mediterranean to Indonesia. The continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict directly harms the vital interests of the United States. But if this is the consensus view at the highest levels of the US military, that's a very different world we're living in than the one we've been in heretofore.
What remains to be seen is whether this is a statement not to be acted upon or a strategic analysis that will inform Pentagon policy.


text:
IT MAY have been more than 80 years ago, but the Birmingham Mail was at the fore-front of pioneering work across the community even then.
In 1921, the city's favourite newspaper made a £15,000 donation to set up one of the first convalescent homes for sick children.
And now a plaque commemorating that major gift - equivalent to more than £500,000 now - has been cleaned up to take pride of place at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.
John Sims, member of the Northfield hospital's League of Friends, said: "The tablet has been renovated and lacquered along with other plaques from around the hospital so people can appreciate the history of the hospital and sites connected to it.
"The Birmingham Mail made such a generous donation in the 1920s and patients will be able to see that once again.
"We hope to get these tablets in a more noticeable place during the first weeks of the new year."
The League of Friends decided to revamp the plaque after noticing it had become darkened and with age and barely legible.
Members now plan to create a corridor of memorable tablets as a central feature at the hospital.
The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, formerly the Woodlands, was set up to cure club feet, spinal disease and all bodily deformities.
The Forelands closed in the early 1990s. ..SUPL:


text:
A Note From the Road: Road Trip Arkansas - The Answer is No - River Dr - Lakeview, Arkansas
Such a rare "moon"
|The Answer is No - River Dr - Lakeview, Arkansas
There is an abundance of birds here Mom,
Including this guy - I had seen a picture of one a white peacock once, but this was the first time I had seen one in real life. I had an idea of how I would have liked this photo to have looked to go but the peacock was having none of it, choosing instead to present me this vista.
I believe the gesture is meant to be disdainful.
xoxo a.d.


text:
Welcome to the forum. Normally, posting a commercial link on a first post would get you banned for spam, but exceptionally I have:
moved your thread to AF Marketplace, as your thread is clearly pushing a commercial product, albeit not as its producer;
removed your duplicate thread on another part of the forum (normally this would lead to immediate banning, too).
The only reason that I have done this is because the product is unusual and might interest members and visitors. However, please do not repeat any more commercial links, or it will lead to an immediate ban without warning. Thank you for kind understanding. I hope that you will join in other forms discussions on other topics.


text:
Mortgage Offset Accounts
An offset account is a transnational bank account that is linked to a home loan mortgage account. The home loan mortgage account that it is linked to can either be for residential or investment purposes. You can only link one offset account to one loan account. One offset account cannot provide interest benefits to multiple loan accounts.
The offset account is a tax effective way to reduce the amount of interest that you pay on your home loan. It is tax effective because unlike traditional savings accounts, the interest benefit provided is not taxable by the Australian Tax Office.
There are two types of offset accounts, full offset and partial offset.
Full Offset: If you have money in an offset savings account. The whole savings amount will reduce the effective loan. So, interest is only charged on this amount
For example, you have purchased an investment property with a loan of $350 000. You create an offset account where you put savings of $20 000. The interest that you are repaying your loan at is now charged on $330,000.
A Partial Offset: A proportion of the transaction account balance is offset against the loan balance.
For example, you are offered an offset account with 40% offset capability. You have purchased an investment property with a loan of $350 000. You have put savings of $20 000 into your offset account. The interest that you are repaying your loan at is now charged on $342,000. (Original loan of $350,00 – 40% of the savings in the offset account totalling $8,000)
You can build up your offset savings account by making regular deposits of your income and rental earnings any other savings you accumulate.


text:
by JB Burke
Q. I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 7, but I have doubts
about my computer. It is a couple of years old, and I am
concerned it may not be able to support Windows 7. How do
I find out before I invest?
A. Indications are that Windows 7 does a better job than Vista
of supporting existing hardware. But rather than crossing your
fingers and taking a chance, here is
something you can do to check your current hardware setup. Do a
Google search for "Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor." The first hit
should take you to a Microsoft site with a download of the
Upgrade Advisor program. Click "download" and save the program
somewhere you can easily find it, like the desktop. Double-click
the program to install it. Accept the license and click close
when it completes. It will start automatically. Follow the
directions on the screen, and in a few minutes it will tell you
if your system is ready for Windows 7. The report includes both
hardware and software issues that may need to be addressed.
Another issue: What OS are you running now? If it's Vista, then
you can do an upgrade without reinstalling your applications. If
it's XP, then you'll need to back up all your data (unless you
have it on a separate drive - a good idea), make notes of your
application settings and find all your install disks. The reason
is, with XP you'll need to do a "clean install" - format your
"C" drive and install Windows 7 as if on a new system.
Published: Courier 11/1/09 - Page 5C
This article has been written by a PCS member and was published in "The Daily Courier"
of Prescott, Arizona on the date listed above. While current when
written, these articles may contain outdated information and you should
check with other sources prior to relying on the article's contents.


text:
Havahart® Critter Ridder®Choose a brand to learn and explore more
proven dual-action multi-species animal repellent that lasts up to 30 daysShop Critter Ridder® »
Critter Ridder® is Proven to Repel:
How Critter Ridder® Works
Critter Ridder® animal repellent uses a powerful, patented blend of ingredients derived from hot peppers, which work together to irritate nuisance animals when they smell, or taste a treated area. The intense burning sensation that Critter Ridder® delivers will turn animals away, and after a few unpleasant visits, they will be unwilling to return.
How to Use Critter Ridder®
For best results, use both Critter Ridder® Spray and Critter Ridder® Granules, which together deliver highly effective dual pest protection.
Spray Critter Ridder® Ready-to-Use Liquid for multi-surface protection. Apply the peppery spray directly onto trash, soil, plants and other areas where you see signs of animal activity.SHOP NOW »
Sprinkle Critter Ridder® Granules in and around an area you want to protect. By sprinkling the granules along flowerbeds or around vegetable gardens, you can create an effective perimeter to deter pests from entering these areas.SHOP NOW »
Dual-Protection Discount
For the best protection, Havahart® recommends using both a liquid and a granular repellent. Stock up on our dual-protection bundle to ward off critters and achieve total yard protection.Shop Now »
Where to Apply Critter Ridder®
Use Critter Ridder® Animal Repellent to defend:
- Vegetable Gardens
- Flowerbeds
- Storage Areas
- Basements
- Cellars
- Sheds
- Barns
- Indoor Potted Plants
- Ornamental Plants
- Trees
- Shrubs
- Garbage Cans
- Bird Feeders
- Trash Bags
- And More..
Approved for Organic Gardening
Critter Ridder® is OMRI® Listed and USDA approved for use in organic gardening. Many organic gardeners prefer Critter Ridder® as an alternative to chemical pesticides.


text:
Enjoy a challenging and scenic run through the back dunes of Lake Michigan at Hoffmaster State Park. All proceeds from this race will go to the Gillette Nature Association.
The Gillette Nature Association is a non-profit organization that promotes and sponsors interpretive activities and educational opportunities for the Muskegon and Ottawa county community surrounding the Gillette Visitor Center at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park.
With the assistance of volunteers, the Association hosts over 200 yearly events at the Gillette Visitor Center to heighten public awareness and preservation of the unique natural features of the park, reaching nearly 35,000 people a year.
In addition to hosting special events, the Association provides funding for new exhibits, interpretive trail markers, audio-visual programs, educational materials and educational outreach programs. The Association is a registered 501© (3) non-profit organization. The Association raises funds through its membership program and several fund raising events throughout the year. All membership fees and donations are tax deductible
General Information:
Please arrive 45 minutes prior to race start time of 10:00am in order to ensure that you obtain your t-shirt, race bib/chip and race packet. Please stick around after the race for additional family fun events! The Little Turkey 1 Mile Trot registration will be at 11:00am at the Visitors Center and is free! Please be there at 11am to sign forms and get a turkey bib for your child. An adult must accompany the child on the trail. Transportation will be provided from the beach parking lot to the Visitor Center for runners and visitors via trolley. EVERYONE MUST PARK AT THE BEACH PARKING LOT- spectators, little trot participants, and runners.
Race Location:
Start line and registration for the 5k will be at Hoffmaster State Park beach parking lot, and the finish will be at the Gillette Visitor Center. Make sure to have a recreation passport for park entry. The Little Turkey 1 Mile Trot will begin at 11:30 from the Visitors Center. Route may have a slight variation of distance based on GPS checks.
Fees: Early Registration – thru August 30th – $15 No Shirt, $20.00 Short Sleeve, $25 Long Sleeve
September 1st thru November 1st – $20 No Shirt, $25.00 Short Sleeve, $30 Long Sleeve
Late Registration – November 2nd thru November 8th – $25 No Shirt, $30.00 Short Sleeve (if available), $35.00 Long Sleeve (if available)
Race Day – $30 No Shirt, $30 Short Sleeve (if available), $35 Long Sleeve (if available)
Please note: Shirts not guaranteed for Late Registration/Race Day Registration.
The Little Turkey 1 Mile Trot is free. A prize will be given to children who complete the trot, no t-shirts will be given. An adult must accompany the child. You do not need to be at registration early, the trot will start at the Visitor Center- please register there at 11:00am.
Race Packet pick-up:
All race packets are to be picked up the morning of the race near the start line. Pick up and late registration will begin at 9:00am race day. You must be registered by November 1st to get the t-shirt you desire and we may run out after that point, so please sign up today!
Numbers for the Little Turkey Trot will be given out at the Visitors Center at 11am.
Overall M/F winners.
Age groups will be three deep as follows:
13 and under, 14-16, 17-19, 20-24, 25-29,30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70+ Results will be posted during the race and will be awarded immediately following. The Meatblock will be giving a turkey to the first place finisher in each age catagory! So, get training so you can brag to your family on Thanksgiving that you won the bird with your amazing running skills. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsors! We couldn't do this without them!
We will also be holding a food drive for the Muskegon Salvation Army's food pantry, so bring a few canned goods with you. You will have a chance to win a gift basket if you donate. This is the perfect time to help other families in our community have a special Thanksgiving!
A big thank you to our early sponsors Eagle Alloy, Waddel &Reed, Tylers Sales- New Belgium Brewery, The Meat Block, Road ID, Community Shores Bank, Michigan Spring & Stamp, Pulver Chiropractic, Ginman Tire, Arconic, Nowak Machined Products, Lighthouse Insurance, and Grand Traverse Pie Co.!
More Information at
A recreation passport is required for park entry.
Online registration ends on November 9th 9:00am.
Click to reach the official site
Information about the event is available in : English


text:
Articles by Richard Beck
Richard Beck / June 18, 2015
Radical technological change has damaged the record industry but given listeners more choice than ever
Richard Beck / December 11, 2014
A book in which the author tries to learn to love Celine Dion is the most important piece of music criticism written in the past two decades
Richard Beck / September 26, 2013
There is an air of uncritical enthusiasm about American television drama these days. It is time for a reality check
Richard Beck / February 5, 2013
Sheila Heti has struck hard against the male literary scene, as all the fuss shows
Richard Beck / September 19, 2012
Jane Austen inspires vicious feuds among her hordes of admirers
Richard Beck / April 24, 2012
Jonathan Franzen came of age at the same time as the internet. But he and his peers are more 19th century than 21st, says Richard Beck