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Officials at Columbus Air Force Base say they are evaluating the services they provide to personnel after an Air Force Times study listed the base as one of the least-popular to be stationed in the Air Force.
Local retailers are gearing up for this weekend's sales tax free event. Beginning Friday, the state of Mississippi offers sales tax exemptions on clothing and footwear.
The latest series of unemployment data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security brings good news and bad news.
The Golden Triangle has its first homegrown beer. SweetGum Brewing Co. is slated to have its first brew on local shelves by the end of September, according to co-owners Ed Dechert and Cameron Fogle.
A Meridian man died in Lowndes County Thursday when his SUV was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler.
Road manager: Four-crew maintenance system could yield efficiencies |
Surveys explore U-boat, oil spill impact |
School formula calls for $312M more in 2016 |
12 Guard members indicted in recruitment fraud |
Bourbon St. shooting suspect appears in court |
Marriages and divorces 7-24-14 |
Business brief: Forde inducted |
Business brief: Pruitt promoted |
Airbus VP says future is bright in Columbus |
Meth lab discovered in Lowndes County |
MUW again on list of top schools for employees |
River Island Park hits funding snag |
Chinese aim for big Asian carp catch in Miss. |
Vernon looks to further highway repair |
Jamison: EPA award means more than recognition |
Ray, Hubbard remain in close race for street stock points lead |
Bulldogs land commitment from McLaurin at Collins |
Walters column: Noxubee County rarely backs away from challenge |
MSU men's basketball releases non-conference schedule |
Oak Hill Academy softball hopes to build on win column |
Central Academy softball looks for return to state tournament |
Our View: CAFB's ranking does not diminish our affection |
Froma Harrop: Is the medium the menace? |
Leonard Pitts: A nation divided, with liberty and justice for some |
John Brocato: Encounter with a stranger in need |
Susan Estrich: False equivalence |
Slimantics: The man who wouldn't go home |
You scream, I scream: Bully's cold treat keeps gaining in popularity |
Market Fresh: Versatile watermelon: smoothies, salads and refreshing drinks |
A healthy afterschool snack that eats like a treat |
Give fruit salad zing with honey and black pepper |
Trending now -- Area grands put their personal spin on summer camp |
Being Beautiful: Knowing the right questions to ask your hairstylist |
Editorial cartoon for 7-24-14 |
Obama wants limits on company mergers abroad |
Get paid for posts? Social networking's new twist |
Suspected Nazi guard's death a blow to prosecutors |
Porch shooter's lawyer says he feared for his life |
Seniors share homes for savings, companionship |
1. Meth lab discovered in Lowndes County COLUMBUS & LOWNDES COUNTY
2. Browning on Business: Golden Triangle's first brewery ready for business BUSINESS
3. Oktibbeha supes sign off on Communiversity plan STARKVILLE & OKTIBBEHA COUNTY
4. Airbus VP says future is bright in Columbus COLUMBUS & LOWNDES COUNTY
5. Meridian man dies in collision with 18-wheeler COLUMBUS & LOWNDES COUNTY


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With a captivating dark Mahogany finish, this bed will make the ultimate centerpiece to your bedroom set. The stylish sleigh design gives an expressive look to the room while the adjustable bed slats accommodate your choice of mattress. The under bed storage unit includes two cedar lined drawers, and provides generous space for clothing and bedding. Featuring solid wood construction that's romantic and fresh, this bed will enhance not only your room, but your home. This bed is available in queen, king and California king sizes. Eight inches from floor to bottom of rails.
The Bayfield King Sleigh Bed with Under Bed Storage Drawers by Aspenhome is available in the Tampa, St Petersburg, Orlando, Ormond Beach area from Hudson's Furniture.
Bayfield presents a transitionally styled bedroom, collection characterized by solid spruce construction with a Dark Mahogany finish and details such as artistic planking, bracket cut feet, antiqued copper knob hardware and traditional crown moulded case tops. Outfit your entire home with the style and convenience of Bayfield, with features including grommets, cedar-lined bottom drawers and felt-lined top drawers on bedroom cases, optional storage footboards and a "Liv360 Nightstand" with built-in AC outlets and a three-way touch nightlight. Perfect for any home and built to last, this collection will transform your interior and bring consistency to your home decor.
The Bayfield collection is a great option if you are looking for Transitional furniture in the Tampa, St Petersburg, Orlando, Ormond Beach area.
View other items in the Bayfield collection available from Hudson's Furniture in the Tampa, St Petersburg, Orlando, Ormond Beach area.
This item has been tagged as: Bed, Bedroom Furniture, Twin Size Bed, Full Size Bed, Queen Size Bed, King Size Bed, California King Size Bed, Bookcase Bed, Book Case Bed, Canopy Bed, Bed with Canopy, Captain's Bed, Daybed, Headboard and Footboard Bed, Headboard, Footboard, Headboard & Footboard, Pier Bed, Poster Bed, Sleigh Bed, Upholstered Bed, Wall Unit Bed, Double Bed, Day Bed, Storage Bed, Home Furnishings, Furniture, Bed frame, Furnishing For Bedroom, Bedroom Furniture Set
These images are representative of this group as a whole and may differ from this item.
Beds are no longer just about style. New designs for children and adults offer ample storage to help you make the most out of the space in your bedroom, with features like headboard storage, footboard drawers, or underbed storage. Take a look at our guide to discover the perfect storage bed for your needs.
Hudson's Furniture serves Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach, and many surrounding communities. If you're shopping for furniture or mattresses in the Orlando or Tampa areas, Hudson's can help you find the best value on quality furniture. Shop online or stop by one of our many furniture stores in Florida. Whether you're shopping for furniture in Tampa, Altamonte Springs, Lakeland, Brandon, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Sanford, Orlando, Palm Bay, Melbourne, Winter Park, Ocoee, Deltona, Smyma Beach, Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Ocala Hudson's has you covered with a great selection and incredible service. We can help you find the perfect furniture for your living room, dining room, bedroom, or vacation home. Click here to find directions and store hours to our stores or contact us and let our helpful sales staff direct you to our nearest Florida Furniture Store.
Check our store locator for the Hudson's Furniture Store nearest you.
Call 1-877-340-5799 for pricing and product information
Hudson's Furniture features a great selection of living room, bedroom, dining room, home office, entertainment, accent, furniture, and mattresses, and can help you with your home design and decorating. View recent additions to our online furniture gallery. Hudson's Furniture offers great quality furniture, at a low price to the Tampa, Altamonte Springs, Lakeland, Brandon, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Sanford, Orlando, Palm Bay, Melbourne, Winter Park, Ocoee, Deltona, Smyma Beach, Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Ocala area.
Information Accuracy - We have taken great care to provide you with information that is accurate and useful. Please notify us if you find an error, and we will do our best to correct it.
We ask that you contact us directly and visit our stores to confirm information about pricing, color, features, dimensions, availability and special order lead times.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Haydn Shaughnessy, Contributor
I write about enterprise innovation.
Jony Ive's new iOS designs for the iPhone are beautiful. He deserves success for his ambition alone: "True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absences of clutter or ornamentation. It's about bringing order to complexity."
There's still a fair bit of cant in the language he uses to describe the design, but the bigger problem is with the smartphones' market.
Not only is it tightening up at the high end (though China still looks vibrant), and becoming more competitive, it is also headed towards much greater complexity and device diversity. Does the design do enough for that new environment?
Longer term, iOS 7 will be judged on how it helps Apple to expand the context of the smartphone. It's no longer just about the phone but about the services you want to deliver, in future, and how you layer those across different devices.
The absence of that requirement in Ive's explanation made me think he has not been forward thinking enough. But it is foolish to bet against Apple in design.
Yet reaction to the design has been mixed. Some say polarized. The Verge called it confusing, while here on Forbes it was described as subtly dimensional and exquisite. Others pointed out that this will make existing iPhones in the store look entirely new, clearly a benefit in a fast changing industry. Even without a Fall product launch Apple will look better.
Much of the criticism centers on Ive's contention that this is a simplified design capable of bringing order to complexity – reviewers have called some of the icons for example, childish. And still wonder why Apple does not make it easier to get instant access to information.
But leave that aside for a moment. Apple is going to have to sell this design to its user base, and will rely on it for the iPhone 5s (if it comes) or iPhone 6. Whichever of those phones launches this Fall will face a more competitive environment that the iPhone 4 or 5 faced. Competitors like Samsung already have a six month march on Apple and its next generation iPhone.
It is not simply that phones like the Galaxy S4 are out there taking up a large swathe of the market, or that Blackberry has its act in place again, or that the HTC One is a favored phone among reviewers. Or that Microsoft and Android have overtaken Apple in design. Or that Apple no longer has a lead in display technology. The market looks saturated.
Back in January the Financial Times wrote:
Cautious comments from Samsung Electronics on Friday underlined the message conveyed by the latest quarterly results from Apple earlier in the week: even as it scales new heights, the smartphone market is entering a phase in which vaulting growth rates – and high profit margins – will be much harder to come by.
It's not only a tighter market. We are already into the cycle of price reductions and special deals in high-end smartphones (Apple is reputed to be looking at a trade-in program). The market is beginning to cascade high-end functionality down into cheaper phones. And competitors are looking to draw people away from feature phones to the bottom end of the smartphone market.
This is a familiar process of commoditization. And Apple and Google are fighting it with new services, currently with music at the top of their list.
However, what we also know is that they want to offload functionality to wearables – the iWatch (Apple recently took delivery of a consignment of 1.5″ PHOLED screens) and Google Glass are part of the new process of layering complexity across devices.
That's important because the next generation of smartphones will be sold more and more on essential services, for example the deeper integration of the smartphone into health services.
The time-honored way to sustain market share under the pressure of commoditization is to innovate in services in exactly this way, services that create customer dependency. Services will naturally replace hardware functionality as the major selling point (we've already seen Samsung try and fail to do this with the S4).
That in turn means the interface will have to manage even more complexity, interaction and data visibility as people use the phone for things like monitoring, measurement and health interaction. But it will also need to be carried across at least one wearable device, a smartphone, and a tablet.
Apple has always been great at service development, so I read the iOS redesign as an attempt to prepare the way for a larger service layer. One big challenge lies in the timing – launching a new phone, with a radical new UI design into a highly competitive market where growth is slowing. Apple faces a tough Fall. And the question is can a new iOS help it over the bumps or will customer acceptance become one of the hurdles Apple faces when it looks to reignite growth with new product launches?
But the bigger question concerns the future of multiple device interaction. Is this design primed for that? Some of the most intelligent commentary suggests not – Apple's primary motivation was to play catch up with… no, not Android but with Microsoft. But Ive himself stresses simplicity, and the need to bring order as smartphones become more and more cluttered. Cliff Kuang at Wired agrees. I'd like to hear how Ive wants it to interact with the iWatch and those other great products Tim Cook has been promising.
Follow me on Twitter @haydn1701 or join me on Facebook. I am here on Google
Related on Forbes:
Love the article…Thoughtful writers are a treat to read. If I may humbly ad some perspective thru the Korean lens.
It is an excepted fact that the "Baby Boom" is soon headed for the belly of the curve. One major functionality point the Koreans get and Apple doesn't (and I have an Apple my Attorney has its rival). The Apple is more easily manipulated by one hand (great for tickets in California). The screen of the Samsung top of the line is bigger. Older people like myself often need readers glasses. As the market segment expands into older and older users (of which there are many many more) the smaller screen is going to be a handicap. Remember also people are vain, the sole reason my attorney friend did not get an Apple was he wanted to use it without glasses as it makes an otherwise attractive older man appear to be in his dotage. Rowan A. Salter
I quit working at shoprite to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $45 to $85 per/h. Without a doubt this is the easiest and most financially rew. job I've ever had. I actually started 6 months ago and this has totally changed my life. Here's what I do Going1.Cℴℳ
Summing up, I get that you are saying that the response to iOS 7 is even more boring than the announcement itself. Pundits who love Apple or iPhone love it, anyone with an ax to grind can find fault.
The market for moving from to a smartphone is maturing, but that's a stat that only those inside the industry care about. What I see on the street is people replacing a phone often, the "smarts" are just tiny reason. Last I checked, the number of people using a lot of apps was still low.
Personally, I wouldn't buy an iPhone to make calls and have hundreds of apps, but I only have to look across the room to see an example of a smart phone that is used primarily for text and occasionally for calls.. little else.
I saw a stat that 50% of people going for support at an Apple store don't have apps on their phones. That may be out of date, but I think the upside for mobile growth is much more than "who has the coolest phone"
If services are critical to the future of smartphones and a UI overhaul is critical to making those services available, intuitive and enjoyable, then I would bet on Apple above anyone else.
Google can't even get most of the OEMs and telcos to allow for OS updates to provide the conduit for new services. The vast majority of Android phones still run completely a completely outdated OS. New, innovative services inevitably require the latest OS.
Also the iPHone still has literally 100s of telcos to invade and the iPad is on a trajectory that makes the iPhone growth look anemic.
Android maybe fragmented, yet it is still utterly dominating sales and taking over the marketplace. MAC users once claimed they were clearly the best of breed and that would carry their style of PC to dominance. Yet the market choose the open ended Windows/Intel approach.
Few, if anybody, ever disputes Apple does great design and such. But it remains an expensive walled garden which eventually the market rejects in favor of alternatives which fit more people better than some soviet era or Henry Ford answer to choice.
There are a lot of Apple fans becoming very bitter than history has started to repeat itself again.
As for wearable? Nice idea, and I suspect there will be that element to what we use and do in the future. Yet like always-on DRM, 48 Frame per second movies, 3D anything, and holographic Tupac, we cannot assume it will catch-on. People may rebel against some wearables just because it feels like a money grab, or a step too far.
iO7 was just an update. Maybe because they still have to figure out where they are going with other things. You wouldn't want to make some grand move if you are about to introduce some kind of facny way to integrate motion or wearables or something else deeper into the overall ecosystem. The mistake was rolling it out as if it were a big deal.
It doesn't matter what Apple does, it will never be good enough or innovative enough. Yet Samsung comes out with lame gimmicks and they're praised as the new cool innovative device. Or Samsung claims to have sold 10MM units in 2-3 months and its talked about like that is some fantastic number (selling 10MM units in 3 months would be a train wreck for Apple). I can always count on a negative spin from Forbes (the article's title says it all). There is no way for Apple to be successful in the media's eyes and I have not put my finger on why.
When do you feel Apple will be claiming bankruptcy? Will it occur within the year or is it more like 18 months to 2 years away? Also what level did you short from?
Their latest trick to try and call the S4 a success is to just keep releasing phones all called the S4. It's boring and trite, much like this article. Usual attention grabbing headline from the usual suspect.
How can you write an article about the iOS 7 design without mentioning Windows Phone?
iOS 7 is a blatant copy of Windows Phone 8. Apple has humiliated its self, as a side-by-side comparison demonstrates with stark clarity:
Free iOS 7 for every Apple device:
How can you write an article about the iOS 7 design, without mentioning Windows Phone 8? It's a WP clone.
iOS 7 is a blatant copy of Windows Phone 8. Apple has humiliated its self, as a side-by-side comparison demonstrates with stark clarity.
@frznnguyen No, I'm referring to something much more significant than imitating "a few good features".
I am referring to the wholesale copying of the UI of Windows Phone, with substantive design concepts also taken from Android:
I am also referring to iOS7 new features, which are stealing the ideas of apps submitted to the corporation by developers in good faith:
Apple is infamous for imitation instead of innovation.
"Good artists copy great artists steal" (Steve Jobs, 1994)
I hope that clarifies my comment.
Yes, sorry for the vague comment, I was of course referring to all the other articles out there raving about the new iOS design without a nod to the existing designs which clearly inspired it.


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- Northern New York Newspapers
- Watertown Daily Times
- The Journal
- Daily Courier-Observer
- NNY Ads
- NNY Business
- NNY Living
- Malone Telegram
■ MARTINSBURG The town Planning Board meeting set for Wednesday has been rescheduled to 7 p.m. July 10 at the municipal office on Cemetery Road.
n POTSDAM The Potsdam Rotary Club held a dinner Wednesday night at Clarkson Universitys Cheel Arena to celebrate its 85th anniversary. Amy Flack took over as club president, replacing outgoing president Maureen Farina.
Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.
You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:


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Burn Co BBQ is Tulsa, Oklahoma BBQ. A true no frill, down-home BBQ experience. Stop in for their famous BBQ Smoked Sausage Fatty Wrapped with Bacon. All smoke don a Hasty-Bake.
Burn Co BBQ
3208 e. 11th St.
tel: 918-574-2777
Burn Co BBQ is Tulsa, Oklahoma BBQ. A true no frill, down-home BBQ experience. Stop in for their famous BBQ Smoked Sausage Fatty Wrapped with Bacon. All smoke don a Hasty-Bake.
Burn Co BBQ
3208 e. 11th St.
tel: 918-574-2777
Some first timers go to IN-N-OUT Burger and just order food from the menu posted on the wall, others that have good friends are pressured into ordering from the secret menu.
The secret menu at IN-N-OUT is where your animal instincts will come out. For instance the delicious well done animal style fries pictured.
What are Animal Fries? Melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions. It's Bomb!
Since 1984, Culver's has been dropping burgers like this one out of the sky's of Sauk City, Wisconsin and beyond. If you did'nt know most burger never give you REAL cheddar cheese. At Curver's you can expect a fresh, never frozen, Midwest-raised beef patty layered with two strips of crisp bacon, Wisconsin cheese, fresh lettuce, ripe tomatoes, pickles, red onion and our signature mayo. The real cheddar and bomb mayo make the difference. www.culvers.com
What? No meat!!! Yes and It was still BOMB! Just look at the picture and get lost in the o0ey-gooey cheese! This one had avocado, sprouts and 3 types of melty cheese!
Cheese explosions of meat, sweet and savory.
Fire baby! Fire and food together form a marriage made in haven. If there is one thing you are guaranteed at a Hibachi restaurant it is a show of Food and Fire. Isn't that BOMB?
That's right! These little suckers are constructed with all handcrafted elements. Juicy cooked meat, Cloe-slaw, bun… talk about special. They are bomb!
Fancy deep fried mushrooms and onions are bomb. What does fancy mean? It means F*** store bought, stupid button mushrooms or gross flavorless mushrooms delivered by some big-ol food truck.
These mushrooms were acquired from a farm within 20 miles of the restaurant and are likely organic.
BAM BABY! Eat that!
Smoked Egg-corn squash with a crap ton of butter brown sugar and maple syrup. Bust up the Hasty-Bake baby and get smokin… its Spring!
Pan Fried Diner Food, its all good. Simple seasonings, flower and a seasoned cast iron pan. That's all you need. Want to make it at home? Steal your grandmas 50 year old skillet..
Would you like custard on that fudge?.. no thank you… I'll take fudge inside of and on top of my extra think custard. 3′Finger Brown
Ok so we have a thing for fast food breakfast sandwiches and biscuits. Something about them just captivate my artery clogged heart. Pictured is the Chick-fil-A Sausage Egg, Cheese and Bacon biscuit. Next time i will kindly ask for my cheese melted. Nonetheless, this sandwich has BOMB potential.
Which Biscuit is your Favorite? WhataBurger or Chick-fil-A??????
Whataburger has a BOMB (AKA outstanding) breakfast. Pictured is the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit with added Bacon. This breakfast sandwich is a sticky delight.
Siegi's Sausage Factory manufactures sausage for shops and restaurants around the world. Hit their destination restaurant form German baked Ribs on Wednesday.
BAM Baby! This is pure Hamburger Stand Bliss. A stacked classic Cheeseburger with Chilli Cheese Fries up in front. To the back right a half empty mug off homemade root beer.
Dark bark on the outside, pink smoke ring, juicy flavorful inside and candy, melt in your mouth fat!
Hello Cinco De Mayo… no one in the States has a clue what this day means… lol, do you?
Does it matter? No, it does, because Mexican food and beer are among the most popular in the United States.
Check out these Carnitas from La Hacienda. Yum pork flavor… good in any form.
Bacon wrapped Jalapenos stuffed to the rim with cream cheese. That is what you would call the crispy, hot, sweet treats we dipped in mothers milk (ranch) at BrewBurger.
This is a crazy mound of Bacon Mac-N-Cheese with bacon and cheese layered. I did not spare a single expense making sure this dish had tons of bacon and cheese.
When Rob is grilling this burger , it is Tulsa's best hands down. Even if he isn't there don't worry…the other guys get it real close. If you have not experienced BrewBurger, please, check it out and if you want my advice, "go double… and med-rare"…. it's that good!
BurnCo. BBQ in Tulsa occasionally holds a Thursday night dinner. At this Foodie gathering they featured this Hasty-Bake Smoked seafood gumbo.
This is a Donkey Burrito… or a better definition is if it weights more then one pound then, BAM it's a Donkey Burrito.
Most people don't actually know that the literal definition of a burrito is young donkey. hahahahahahahhaha! So that would make this a wet young donkey! Enjoy.
This one comes from El Rio Verde in Tulsa. Id say the best within 500 miles.
If you ever get stuck in Downtown, Tulsa after 11am. Walk over to Joe Mommas pizza for a by-the-slice experience that with take you to a state of drunken satisfaction. After that hit up the Max for a flaming shot!
Did you know that the happiest place on earth comes with some nice hot double pepperonis? Oh yeah boys, hot, by the slice Disneyland Pizza is oh so good.
Submitted by Christine Marie
The apples came from Oak Glen, California, picked straight from the orchards and the Carmel was made from scratch!! Stick-icky goodness!
Submitted by Christine Marie
What do you do with a tree full of citrus in the sunny state? Of the million and ten things you could make one is this delicious creation. A California Tangerine Cake with a little sticky-icky on top!
Submitted by Christine Marie
This Pan fry is a simple mix of flower, pepper and lots of fatty greasy in an icon pan. Call it a flavor combustion!
After ordering over 100 of them I still don't understand exactly what a Macaron is. So don't feel stupid.
What I do know is that they (the ones I ordered) where made with the finest ingredients, you could tell, and they had a nice crisp crunch to them.
Similar to a Oreo cookie its all about whats in the middle baby!
If you want to Wiki definition … a sweet meringue-based confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring.
The Pictured Macaron were made by Antoinette Baking Company
Does your food talk to you? Mine does… does that make me insane?
If this dish could talk it would say, "why do my lips taste so good?" Then it would say, "hey stop that, that's inappropriate… stop that," and then It would not be able to talk because I ate it's face off… literately.
Thanks for the smile Village Inn!


text:
This dialogue focuses on speaking about various likes and dislikes using the different forms of like. The subject of the conversation is an interviewer asking a business traveller questions about his likes and dislikes when traveling for business.
A Business Traveller
Interviewer: Good morning Sir. I'd like to ask you a few questions if I may.
Jack: Well, I'm waiting to catch my flight so I guess I can answer a few questions.
Interviewer: Thank you Sir. First of all, how often do you travel?
Jack: I travel about twice a month.
Interviewer: Where are you flying to on this trip?
Jack: I'm flying to Austin, Texas.
Interviewer: … and where did you fly on your last trip?
Jack: I flew to Portland, Oregon. I've already been there three times!
Interviewer: Really! Do you enjoy travelling for business?
Jack: Yes, although I prefer staying in the office.
Interviewer: What do you like most about travelling? Jack: I like visiting new cities and trying out new food.
Interviewer: Is there anywhere you would like to visit that you haven't visited yet? Jack: Yes, I'd like to go to Hawaii! I love going to the beach!
Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time today.
Jack: You're welcome. My pleasure.
Check your understanding with this multiple choice comprehension quiz.
More Dialogue Practice - Includes level and target structures / language functions for each dialogue.


text:
Tuesday night, about 50 Monrovia residents (myself included) and 20 or so members of the City Staff gathered at the Monrovia Community Center to discuss the city's priorities for the next five years. It was a fascinating exercise in government-by-the-people, and, at first blush, has implications cast past City government priorities in a vastly different light.
The event, open to all stakeholders in the city, including residents, business and property owners, students and those similarly interested, was designed to garner direct input from the people as to what the City government's top priorities should be for the coming half-decade.
With attendees broken up into a half-dozen groups of 8 or so, the process began by asking each guest their highest priorities for the city government over the coming years, and then going round and round the table until 30 or so had been listed. Some of the concerns were very broad, like financial solvency (my own contribution). Some were vague (developing a more cohesive community, again my own). Some caused deeply passionate appeals (animal control was a hot one). While others were uniquely insiderish, such as one from my table regarding concerns about the dangers of aged automatic shut-off valves on gas meters for older homes.
Once we'd exhausted the available time, the City employees led a round of voting at each table. Each participant had five votes to spread among the 30 or so ideas. Since each of us only offered up three or four ideas, this meant you had votes for ideas other than your own.
But, many participants cast most or all votes for others' suggestions, dismissing our own ideas. For example, I'd proposed that the City should tackle the issue of homelessness, as it is a quality of life issue for everyone. However, faced with a long list from my counterparts, including issues like home preservation, I didn't vote for that priority, and it ended up off the list.
Once all the votes were tallied, City staff consolidated all of the ideas that got three or more votes onto a ballot they placed on the walls of the center. Each participant then voted on this consolidated "top ideas" list, producing a prioritized list of what the group, collectively, is most concerned about.
Much to my surprise, and that of several other participants, the two "holy grails" of local politics in almost any jurisdiction -- financial solvency and public safety (specifically "no cuts" to public safety) -- tied for distant third place among the priorities. While the vote was neither binding nor comprehensive by any means, that result alone alters some thinking that has been inflexible at City Hall (and almost every city hall).
For example, four years ago the City and Monrovia Police Officers' Association became embroiled in a deeply heated dispute over the MPOA contract. The council openly and repeatedly stated that public safety was its highest priority with in the constraints of sound fiscal policy, leading to a painfully protracted dispute, complete with MPOA billboards on local freeways. Imagine the City Council addressing that issue it he context that cuts to public safety were not unthinkable and the fiscal solvency wasn't top of mind. Wow!
There was some thought in the room after the session that this was not really a statement of prioritization. One community icon (and past Citizen of the Year) who was seated at my table, observed that most participants probably took those priorities for granted and cast their votes with priorities that might be more flexible in the minds of city leaders. He may be right, but, from my perspective, the idea that people wouldn't at least go through the motions of acknowledging that prioritization -- especially in a time of $16 trillion in national debt and the increasing impacts of prison re-alignment -- was quite staggering.
Regardless, the top vote getters will not make City officials' lives any easier: Economic development and redeveloping the area around the future Gold Line Station were the top vote getters, meaning the people's highest priorities (again, by this survey) are exactly the things the City has no money to pursue, given the recent demise of redevelopment.
Economic Development was the top choice, garnering 31 votes, or two for every three participants.
This was far from the end of Plan Monrovia. There will be another session next month, officials said, and the results of that session and Tuesday nights will be folded together to help City officials plot our way forward.
There is also an online component, at www.planmonrovia.org, allowing people to share ideas, comment on others and otherwise get involved in the community's future.


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Anyone try Little Shanghai in San Mateo?
Yes, give it some time to settle in. It's less than a month-old and not up to snuff yet.
Here's the interesting part of the long menu -
Drove by here yesterday at lunch time and it appears to be open again. How is it this go round?
re: Melanie Wong
This restaurant was new to us and recommended by a friend. We went tonight and enjoyed the food very much. We like Shanghai East, which is just on the other side of El Camino and felt Little Shanghai was just as good, though with an even more interesting and, I think, larger menu. We had XLB. The wrapper was a little less chewy than I like, but I loved the flavorful soup and filling. The Pork and Pickled Vegetable Noodle Soup had a dark, hearty broth and decent noodle. I saw people having soup with even thicker noodles (my preference) so I'm wondering which soups would have these. Next up was stir fried chicken with a nice brown sauce. Very rustic -- all the chicken was on the bones and chopped up. A bit hard to eat, but something I felt tasted quite homey and authentic. The most unusual dish was Braised Pork with Sticky Rice. The rice was dark brown and rather sweet. I wondered if it had been made with some kind of sweet liquor. It was topped with a good portion of small fruit that looked like miniature dates. In the middle were slices of pork. I wouldn't order this again (extremely filling and a little too sweet for my taste) but my husband and I both agreed that it was worth trying once. We figured that for some people this might be a very authentic dish that reminds them of home. There is so much more to choose from on the menu and I'm sure the many experts on Chinese cuisine on Chowhound can set us straight with more recommendations. Address is: 17 E. 25th Ave., San Mateo, phone: 650-573-7161. They have a URL but the Web site is not up yet: www.lshfood.com. We were remarking that less than five years ago all we could say was that there was very little decent Chinese food in San Mateo -- now we have a wealth of riches from Everyday Beijing to Joy Luck Place to Shanghai East and now Little Shanghai.
re: Melanie Wong
we went there a couple of times before the management change and I'd say the XLB and vegetable buns are as good as Shanghai East's. They have a lot more non-Shanghainese items on the menu. I had a craving for twice cooked pork for one visit and it was authentically greasy and smoky - but a bit too greasy for my taste. The lunch specials on the menu are pretty standard but the portions were huge. Hopefully they have not cut back on the portions after the management change.


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Shoot from 1cm super macro up to 100x with the Intelligent Digital Zoom without changing lenses. Lens shift image stabilization ensures that even hand-held shots are blur-free.
The FinePix SL1000 uses a 16MP BSI-CMOS sensor which allows you to shoot at sensitivities as high as ISO 12800. Autofocus speeds are as fast as 0.2 seconds and continuous shooting mode of 10fps at full resolution (max 9 frames) for quick action.
Using its 16MP BSI-CMOS sensor, the SL1000 is capable of 1080i full HD movie capture at 60 fps with stereo sound. You can also edit movies right in the camera or freeze the action!
The FinePix SL1000 boasts a high-resolution (920K-dot) electronic viewfinder equipped with an eye sensor, making it easier to frame subjects and check focus in bright daylight conditions. The tilting LCD monitor lets you shoot photographs and movies from a variety of angles.
Use Advanced Filters to create unique images, choose RAW for more control or shoot a panoramic image with the SL1000. Share pictures with friends and family, tagging pictures and movies for upload to FACEBOOK and YouTube right within your camera.
Photos or videos can be easily uploaded by simply connecting your camera to PC.


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The following students from your area have earned placement on Gonzaga University's Dean's List for fall semester 2012. Students must earn a 3.5 to 3.69 grade-point average to be listed.
- Sarah Marr, a resident of Mercer Island.
- Jacqueline Pearson, a resident of Mercer Island.
Gonzaga University is a private Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic university providing education to more than 7,800 students. Situated along the Spokane River near downtown Spokane, Washington, Gonzaga is routinely recognized among the West's best comprehensive regional universities. Gonzaga offers 75 fields of study, 25 master's degrees, a doctorate in leadership studies, and a Juris Doctor degree through our School of Law.
The information above was provieded by ReadMedia. To announce student successes on Mercer Island Patch, click here to submit the information.


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July 31, 2014
The Virginia Department of Transportation hopes to ease holiday travel by suspending lane closures for Christmas and New Years.
The department says it is opening temporarily closed lanes from noon on Monday until noon next Wednesday. It will do the same from noon on Monday, December 31 until noon on Wednesday, January 2.
Long-term construction zones with concrete barriers and orange barrels will remain in place.
VDOT also is reminding those who are driving to their destinations for the holiday to buckle up, avoid distractions, obey speed limits and to drive free of drugs and alcohol.


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The Herald Bulletin
Mr. and Mrs. Gary Williams and Mr. and Mrs. John Heath are pleased to announce the engagement of their children, Kelly Laine Williams and Joseph Mathew Heath.
Kelly graduated from Anderson University and Ball State University and is presently employed at Anderson Community Schools.
Joe graduated from Ball State University and is presently employed as a police officer in Alexandria.
The couple will marry on July 13 at First Baptist Church in Anderson.


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The end-of-summer sale at the Pat's Corner gift shop at the is set to begin the week of Sept. 17.
Through Sept. 21, items in the gift shop will be on sale at a 25 percent discount. The sale does exclude artist work, however.
The gift shop shares space in the Sandy Rodriguez Center with the Brandon Regional Library, at 619 Vonderburg Drive, just west of Parsons Avenue.
Gift shop hours are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Thursday evenings from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Call ahead of your visit at 813-689-0319.
The shop is named posthumously for Patricia B. Odiorne, an early supporter of the center, in whose name a scholarship is given annually to a local high school senior. All proceeds from Pat's Corner support children's programming at Center Place.
Looking to extend your discount shopping past the week of Sept. 17-21? Then consider becoming a Pat's Corner volunteer.
"If you have two free days per month, we would love to have you help in our gift shop," said Lisa Rodriguez, the center's marketing director. Volunteers receive a 25 percent discount on the day they volunteer on all merchandise, excluding artist sales.
The shop features unique gifts, including frames, trinkets, scarves, purses, paintings, prints, jewelry and handmade items from local artists.


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Re: Call of duty world at war 2War_Crimes Oct 7, 2013 1:16 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
SIde note. You could have different endings and stuff such as you could be selfish and leave your teammates to get killed and run away or you could help save them or you could stop the killing of pow's or you could join in the killing. Make the game free roam but kind of like crysis or far cry 1 but you parachute in to Normandy with linear missions But side missions like run to a village and kill a officer or blow up a bridge. They would figure out the rest I'm sure of it.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2trialstardragon Oct 7, 2013 6:16 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
Then you will not be playing CoD anymore and no one will miss you. For they do not need to go back to WW2 just to make a few players like you happy.
They do not have to stay or repeat that time period just because you thought it was fun. times changes, games change. They dont and should not have to stay the same ever.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2Waffle1130 Jul 6, 2014 2:00 AM (in response to trialstardragon)
This guy must not know about WW2. Tanks=power. Weapons=evolving. It would be a nice turn away from the "Evil Russian" cliche. Do you even know at what time peroid the basis of the Assault Rifle took place? Hint: WW2. STG44. World first Assault Rifle. In case you try to fight me on that one, here: Sturmgewhr (STG) in German means Assault Rifle. It would also be a good history lesson for those 8 year old too.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2LifeSong1 Oct 8, 2013 5:24 AM (in response to War_Crimes)
The problem is that there were a LOT of games made covering that era and I think they decided to take a break. I could see a game going back and doing that at some point, but not anytime soon for COD.
BTW - You said "I have not played a call of duty game since Black opps 2"...I just want to point out that none of has until November . Good luck with waiting it out.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2iHattoriHanzo0 Oct 8, 2013 9:01 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
There is something about WW2 that these current CoD games can't touch. Its just an amazing time that can be glorified and romanticized like no other. Pretty odd since it was so horrific.
I would love to see them revisit someday.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2darkslayer54 Oct 10, 2013 8:29 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
I'd like to see a World At War 2 as well. Most of the popular AAA titles that dealt with WW2 have moved onto modern/future warfare... There are still a few WW2 shooters being released here and there, but they don't offer the same close quarter experience that CoD does.
If Treyarch made another WW2 game I could most likely buy it.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2bubbacake Oct 19, 2013 9:13 AM (in response to War_Crimes)
I feel like World War 2 and modern war games have been done to death.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2trialstardragon Oct 19, 2013 1:52 PM (in response to bubbacake)
Yep like how Bungie did Halo to death and then moved on to Destiny. Same needs to be done with CoD really.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2bubbacake Oct 19, 2013 4:27 PM (in response to trialstardragon)
And it'd just be the same thing, I'm sure. Some Russian/Chinese/Middle Eastern terrorist or government threatens the world's safety, and it's up to the united States of America to save the world.
I actually liked the twist in Modern Warfare 2, where the power hungry general is revealed as the baddie. Reminds me of the novel Starship Troopers.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2trialstardragon Oct 19, 2013 7:49 PM (in response to bubbacake)
Nah, not the same it could be set far enough in the future is is not about earth anymore but some other planet and two different races. Haloish; but not Halo.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2bubbacake Oct 19, 2013 8:25 PM (in response to trialstardragon)
Still probably be up the U.S. lol.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2trialstardragon Oct 20, 2013 4:20 AM (in response to bubbacake)
Nah the world confederate of nations or something similar.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2iHattoriHanzo0 Oct 19, 2013 6:54 PM (in response to bubbacake)
It would be interesting to see Treyarch or IW do something completely different. What exactly, I have no idea. Would love to be surprised one year.
Probably too risky for Activision.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2Messier_83 Oct 24, 2013 2:16 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
World War II is the reason so many franchises are successful. Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, and Battlefield have World War II to thank for millions of dollars. Activision knows this. You can bet your ass with the conclusion of Black Ops 2 (and the World at War storyline) that Activision has 100% at the very least considered Call of Duty 2014 to be a WWII game. Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first IW CoD on next-gen and is a completely new story. It is a surefire thing that Treyarch's first next-gen game will be a game that features a completely new story as well.
Here are some dates of the last WWII video games. It is nearly 2014, keep in mind.
Last Call of Duty WWII game: 2008
Last Medal of Honor WWII game: 2007
Last Battlefield WWII game: 2009 (arcade game)
Last Brothers in Arms WWII game: 2008
Last Battlestrike WWII game: 2008
WWII video games have been beaten senseless the beginning of the decade and as a result a drought occurred. This is yet another reason why Call of Duty 2014 will be set in 2014.
A WWII shooter would be a very refreshing change of pace, and Activision knows this.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2Illmashuup Feb 21, 2014 4:37 AM (in response to War_Crimes)
I Agree with some of what you were saying but I have played every call of duty made. i like the way they have all turned out however I find that world at war was by far one of the best along with modern warfare 2, I think that they should make a second world at war as looking back now I can see how much I liked tht game although times have moved on and a lot of companys have made a game like that at somepoint I feel that they should make it, I though the black ops games weren't that great. making a second world at war might not be such a bad idea because they are so used to doing more modern styled games now.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2[pde]paulkersey Feb 27, 2014 12:47 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
Since they seem to have a modern shooter and a futuristic shooter, they could very well make a World At War 2 as it was one of the greatest CoDs ever, and I'm not even a fan of WW2. However, a WW2 game would break in the cycle a bit without having to be yearly or WW2 all the time. It could be every 3 years (CoD is now a 3 year dev cycle). Furthermore, there's no other WW2 game like a CoD WW2 game.
World At War was the first CoD to bring 4 Player Campaign Co-op
World At War used the formula that made CoD4 so successful
World At War brought zombies (I know that has nothing to do with main game, but it's highly popular to this day)
World At War brought bigger maps for bigger fights and it makes more sense to do big fights in the WW2 era. It could be the first and only CoD on consoles since years ago to have more than 12 players and bring the feeling of war (PC benefited from this with 32 players)
World At War brought better graphics for its time and with the newer consoles out, it can really be pushed much further like thunderstorms and rain effects (probably limb dismemberment too). Just don't make the colors yellow and brown only, even if it is for authenticity
World At War could expand on vehicles like CoD United Offensive (PC) or CoD3 (console) the CoD way
World At War was the last CoD with real player dedicated servers
World At War - Bolt-Action Rifles, Tommyguns, Browning, etc.
I was one of those who said WW2 games need to go, but really, it's ok if they're not over saturating the market and everyone is doing them. If I were going to play a WW2 game, it would be a CoD version and it would be similar to Call Of Duty World At War.
Re: Call of duty world at war 2nikolaibelenski May 22, 2014 2:54 AM (in response to War_Crimes)
I would love to see another WW2 Call of duty
Re: Call of duty world at war 2HockeyPro25 Jul 13, 2014 11:02 PM (in response to War_Crimes)
Some of you are right about the whole WWII stuff. There has been a lot, and I mean a lot of war games revolving around that time era, but it wouldn't hurt to see another one. I mean it has been 6 going on 7 years since the last full WWII game. But I also think a modern day CoD would be good too.


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Activity Clusters
Activity Clusters
LOD2 Activity Cluster
A1 - Fundamental and integration activities
Fundamental and integration activities will form the ground work which provides the necessary infrastructure and integration methodology. In particular, these types of activities serve the following purposes:
- the efficient and uniform use of existing and complementary technology, and, …
A2 - Component activities
Within this cluster of activities we will develop the technologies necessary to deliver the LOD2 promise – creating an integrated infrastructure for semantic information integration on the Web. In this context, three core challenges need to be addressed:
- ensure the knowledge stores scale…
A3 - Use case activities
The effective deployment of the LOD2 Stack will be demonstrated within case studies driven by project members representing LOD2 end-user communities and describing real world application scenarios. The use of case studies is twofold. Firstly, they are used to extract requirements, which guide the c…
A4 - Maximizing real-world impact activities
A4 - Maximizing real-world impact activities contain specific measures related to the exploitation and dissemination of project results. While user-centric activities represent the customer perspective, this activity takes concrete steps towards successful exploitation from the point of view of the…
A5 - Management activities
A5 - Management activities will ensure that LOD2 runs smoothly in a coherent and cohesive fashion and that all contractual obligations are met.


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By Ted Braun
Chronicle contributor
On March 20 ten years ago, President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney took our nation into the Iraq War. According to George Tenet, director of the CIA, it was supposed to be a "slam-dunk." In fact, on May 1 of that year Bush, standing before a "Mission Accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, declared the end of "major combat" in Iraq.
Today at the ten-year mark, however, the Iraq War is being described as one of the biggest disasters in the history of our nation. The figures are disturbing: An amount of $2 trillion has already been spent. Nearly 5,000 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives (either in combat or through suicide). Tens of billions will still be needed for continuing troop disability expenses. It is costing over $600 million a year to guard the giant U.S. Embassy and its personnel in Baghdad.
The figures for the Iraqi side are disquieting, too. Over one million Iraqis have died due to the invasion. Five million have become refugees, many fleeing to other countries. But the worst outcome for the Iraqi people is taking place as they suffer from contamination resulting from Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions, white phosphorous, a new kind of napalm, and bullets containing lead, uranium, and mercury. Between 2002 and 2005, the U.S. armed forces expended six billion of these bullets.
Two Iraqi cities, Fallujah and Basrah, have exhibited increasing rates of cancer and congenital birth defects: children being born with two heads, only one eye in the center of their face, multiple tumors, disfiguring facial and body deformities, and complex nervous system problems. The majority of families had returned to their bombarded homes and lived there, or otherwise rebuilt on top of the contaminated rubble of their old homes. The remaining traces of DU in Iraq represent a formidable long-term environmental hazard since they will remain radioactive for more than 4.5 billion years.
Another source of Iraqi anger against the U.S. (still continuing today) was the treatment that Iraqi prisoners received in fourteen U.S. prisons in Iraq after 2003. A leaked report from the International Committee of the Red Cross listed treatment that included mock executions, waterboarding, painful stress positions, extreme heat and cold, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, rape and sodomy, and sexual humiliation.
Two days before the Iraq War began, a group of veteran Intelligence professionals wrote a Memorandum to President Bush, urging him not to attack Iraq. In it they stated that the intelligence information upon which the attack was being based—the reports of uranium, aluminum tubes, and weapons of mass destruction—was fraudulent and cooked. It appeared, they said, that the administration was shaping the intelligence for political purposes. Needless to say, their Memorandum was ignored and the war commenced.
On the Internet there is a moving "Last Letter" written by Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran who was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City and is now under hospice care. He wrote the letter to George Bush and Dick Cheney on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. Following are two paragraphs from his letter. They are rather long, but it's important for us to hear what this dying man has to say:
"I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to 'liberate' Iraqis or to shut down the mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called 'democracy' in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq's oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out preemptive war. Preemptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
"I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire."
There are many things to think about on this tenth anniversary.
• • •
This column is sponsored by Cumberland Countians for Peace and Justice and dedicated by the local writers to the theme that the lion and the lamb can and must learn to live together and grow in their relationship toward one another to ensure a better world. Opinions expressed in "Lion and the Lamb" columns are not necessarily those of the Crossville Chronicle publisher, editor or staff. For more information, contact Ted Braun, editor, at 277-5135.


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KERRY CONRAN: It was a deliberate choice to kind of separate the good guys and their weapons, from the bad guys [who] were more advanced. Giovannis character kind of creates most of the technology that the good guys had.
Jude, how was working with Gwyneth Paltrow?
JUDE LAW: Its a lot of fun. We worked together first five years ago and got on very well and stayed in contact. When I first got involved in this, I dont seem to remember any other name coming up. It just seems that she was just perfect. She was as enthusiastic about the script and about the visual references that were sort of put to her, and jumped on board. We had a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun. Its very easy working with Gwyneth because she gets it. If she says she gets something, she gets it immediately and theres no messing about. Shell be there, shell turn up, shell do the job. Shes great fun to be around.
I think once we all got a taste of their relationship, we just all kept kind of feeding it with ideas of how they could continue bickering and what they could bicker about. And then, of course, we just sat in a cockpit all day with nothing else to do so used to talk about their backstory and how they met and how their first argument started. So theres a lot of good banter, and a lot of that was onscreen.
How long did you have to sit in that cockpit?
JUDE LAW: Three days solid, pretty much.
Obviously comic books had a strong influence on this film, and pulp fiction itself. What were your influences and what kind of comics have you read?
KERRY CONRAN: Ive read the whole litany of comics. The stuff that was the most visually striking were the covers of the 30s and 40s. The graphic images just in the covers, I thought, told the stories on such a grand scale. I do think those comics had such a whimsy to them that you dont so much see today. Today I think theres much more a little bit more reality, a little bit more grounded in certain ways. The artwork of that era, they just dreamed up things on that level. They were sort of inventing the genre as they went along.
JUDE LAW: Theres an optimism to them as well, isnt there?
JON AVNET: A lack of cynicism. The part of the World of Tomorrow, the Worlds Fair and what was happening there, what was being invented, and its relationship to the pulp images of the time and to the sense of the infinite possibilities. If you look at that time now historically, knowing what was about to happen, and you look at the optimism and you look at our time now, not knowing whats going to happen, its an incredibly different feeling. Or so it seems I wasnt around at that time.
JUDE LAW: Im a comic book reader and a fan, but I didnt know the type of references that Kerry has just given. I didnt collect those. I read more obvious and modern ones, Parallax and Strange Days and Watchmen. What was interesting was that as soon as Kerry showed me those images, it was like such a real, immediate, tangible sense of what was going on at that time. It didnt take an awful lot of explanation to know, once he started feeding me those, what the film was about and where the kind of innocence lay and where the heroics lay. And that it was a good old-fashioned hero, not a hero who was sort of driven by dementia or that he was hiding something. He was just square-chinned, get up in the morning and go save the world, you know? That type of guy.
Whered the idea come from to use Sir Laurence Olivier?
KERRY CONRAN: Jude Law came up with that
JON AVNET: We dont necessarily want to give him all of the credit just 100% of the credit. Kerry had written this over a two year period of time. Kerry and I got together Marsha [Oglesby] brought this six minute video that hed been working on for four years in his garage on his little Mac there. I guess Marsha and Kerrys brother Kevin persuaded Kerry that at six minutes over four years, you might finish this thing shortly prior to going to your grave. When I saw it, I got really excited about it. Obviously we had this character and its like, Who do you pick? So we, like the great artists that Kerry and I are, didnt have a clue. And we were sitting with Jude one day and
JUDE LAW: I just wanted to work with him (laughing). Thats it. And it just seemed to make sense.
JON AVNET: But the thing that was also great is that when we were sitting there, we felt that with the technology that we were about to put into place, that this was possible. And that it was possible in a number of different ways. We had no real idea at the time exactly how he would be realized, what footage we would take. I called up his estate and said, We want your boy. It was a sort of strange negotiation to get him.
Was it his voice?
JON AVNET: No. The voice I think the voice shall remain a mystery. I think very few things do, but lets say a lot of work went into making it be very, very good.