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Movie News
AICN-DOWNUNDER: MIFF (Not MILF!), SOLO, SIONE'S WEDDING, And More!!
Merrick here...
Here's the inimitable Latauro with entertainment news from the land of Kangaroos and Didgeridoos...
Man, we're gonna be banned from our own funerals.
Sleep is unimportant when the World Cup is on, and downright offensive when Australia's in the competition. Nothing should take precedence over that. So, partly due to the sleep thing, partly due to the large number of reviews down below, I'll keep this bit short. Enjoy.
Okay, I love Peter Jackson. I think he's teh awesome. But I've been a little confused as to why someone would go from one of the greatest novels of all time (LOTR) to one of the most critically-acclaimed novels of recent years (THE LOVELY BONES) to a novel by, er, Uri Geller. Yeah, the one who bends spoons with his brain. That guy. The novel is, not surprisingly, a work of fiction about a teenage girl who discovers she has psychic abilities. Is the book, which incidentally is called "Ella", any good? Well, Mr Geller himself said "it's an incredible novel", which is high praise indeed... for himself. Or maybe he was just praising his ghost author. Who's probably an actual ghost. According to Yahoo, Jackson was given the novel by Geller when he was in the UK, which may well mean jack squat. Someone gave me a muesli bar the other day, doesn't mean I'm going to make it into a film.
Matthew Grainger and Jonathan King are two of the guys behind NZ killer sheep film BLACK SHEEP, which, frankly, I can't see soon enough. Looks like it won't be long until their next film begins shooting. THE TATOOIST (not "TATTOOIST", apparently, or maybe that's a plot point), based on an idea by Vela Manusaute, will be directed by Peter Burger who is mostly known for his TV work. The film centres on a skin artist who "must battle an evil spirit that is inking his clients to death". Just one request: one of the tattoos has to be a killer sheep, yeah?
Still in New Zealand, and it looks like we'll be seeing Sir Edmund Hillary's life on the big screen soon, in the form of a film called HIGHER GROUND. The film, written by Tom Scott, will probably be directed by Roger Donaldson. Well may you scorn Donaldson for his direction of DANTE'S PEAK and THE RECRUIT, but the man made THIRTEEN DAYS and THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN, which are both pretty damned perfect films. So that proves you wrong, buddy. Pictures of Hillary, circa his Everest climb, suggest that he should be played by none another than British comedian Lee Mack... but will probably be played by Karl Urban. All this first appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
Chris Isaak was in Australia recently, and, for all I know, is still here. AICN-D reader Meg happened across him, and got what can only be described as "some information". Says Meg, "I went to a Chris Isaak in-store today - great by the way! really nice - here in Australia. Asked him if he's doing any more movies, and he said he's writing a film about his old friend, Roy Orbison, and hopes that will be his next acting gig." Photos of a young Orbison don't immediately suggest any actors, but I'll be pushing for Lee Mack, because that seems to be my thing today.
The year is 1986. The country is New Zealand. The key word here is "zombies". After taking out Best Horror/Comedy Short Film at Screamfest LA in 2005 and Best Short Film at the New York City Horror Film Festival in 2005, filmmakers Michael J. Asquith and Ben Stenbeck are presenting their film ZOMBIE MOVIE online. To watch the film or just watch the trailer, head to the boys' website at www.2chums.com and get your cricket bat ready.
I've discovered that researching for news stories is not nearly as easy as stealing them from Mark Wilcox and his essential website black-magic.co.nz. Mark dropped us a line the other day to let us know that WETA has uploaded some conceptual artwork from DAYBREAKERS, the new film from the Spierig Brothers (UNDEAD). You wanna see what the boys have in store for vampires? There's only one picture up, but it's worth a look.
This is, unfortunately, the last year at MIFF for Festival Director James Hewison, who did some sterling work the last few years. What note is he going out on this year? Well, the opening night film is being kept under wraps, and, if all goes to plan, nobody will know what's playing until the lights go down and the credits start. I want to dismiss it as a semi-interesting publicity stunt, but I'll be damned if I'm not chomping at the bit to find out what it is...
The theme for this week is "cars", repeat: "cars". Those of us smart enough to stay off the roads for the duration of FATF3's will have to stay at home and dig into some backlogged DVDs until SUPERMAN RETURNS is released next week (hooray!).
Vince Vaughn nicks the title of the next FAST AND THE FURIOUS film (THE BRAKE UP), Pixar proves that their worst effort is still about a hundred times better than anyone else's best effort, Australian filmmakers break all the rules by making a film about a young girl's emotional journey, Chumscrubbing proves to be almost as popular as Phenting, Adam Sandler mixes high concept with low brow and ends up with zero interest level, John Malkovich plays at Not Being Stanley Kubrick, Matt Dillon is a load of Bukowski, Lucas Black proves he's both three fast *and* three furious, an attempt to muscle in on SHREK territory proves a tad unsuccessful, a dirty old man takes advantage of a minor (love your work, Mr Polanski!), DreamWorks unfortunately associates the word "hibernation" with its latest CGI-fest, a group of Tennessee students correctly identify paperclips as the one thing Holocaust victims needed, Zhang Yimou makes his HOUSE OF FLYING MELODRAMA, and Richard E Grant forgets what a trumpet is called.
Quite a haul for you today, including a couple of guest reviewers. The first managed to see a couple of screenings at the recent Sydney International Film Festival; the other caught an early screening of the new Australian film THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS. I did some searching around, and I believe this is the first review of the film anywhere, so enjoy.
Reviewed by Latauro
Morgan O'Neill's SOLO is going to be judged pretty harshly by many who see it; it's the script that beat most of them in the high-profile "Project Greenlight: Australia" competition. Even I begun with a pretty cynical eye, and I didn't even enter the contest!
Nevertheles, the moment the uber-cool opening title sequence kicks in, your expectations and judgments fall away pretty quickly. It's a film that wears its genre on its sleeve, and because so few Australian films do that do that successfully, you want to love it.
I didn't actually end up loving it, but I really liked it. When, during our recent interview, I told Morgan that I was really impressed with the script and the film, I wasn't blowing smoke. It's a terrific movie, and a very enjoyable one. Colin Friels is a hitman who wants to retire, but the big bosses don't want him to until he does one final job... and it's a job he doesn't want to do.
It's a slightly cliched premise, but so much that it's debilitating. If anything, the film is let down by the rather disturbingly-high number of character inconsistencies. Barrett (Friels) has to kill Billie (Bojana Novakovic), and keeps trying to warn her that this is going to happen... only he refuses to be specific. His reasons for avoiding saying it directly seem to be more of a plot device that something he would actually do, given he keeps telling her to leave town and stop nosing about in the mob's business. Likewise, Billie is writing her thesis on organised crime and keeps trying to dig into the organisation, but whenever Barrett gives her any piece of information, she dismisses it. In fact, on three separate occasions she claims it sounds more like something out of a novel by either John Grisham, James Ellroy or Raymond Chandler. For someone that invested in what the mob does, she comes across as having no clue about it. Meanwhile, the relationship between Barrett and Reno, his boss, changes from scene to scene. Are they old buddies? Do they dislike each other? Is Barrett submissive to Reno? I'm all for a layered relationship, but again, this smacks more of inconsistency.
The only other major problem I had was that a lot of the film hinges on Barrett's desire to protect Billie, which, given she's one of the more irritating characters in recent months, is a bit difficult to swallow.
But the rest of the film is really quite solid. The relationship between Barratt and Havana, the eighty year old piano player, is beautifully drawn. The scene where Barrett tries to casually avoid a sniper whilst sitting behind a desk is one of the film's highlights. The cameo by Bruce Spence as a dodgy gun salesman is terrific. Angie Milliken plays a slightly-aging hooker with a tremendous amount of class. There's really a lot to like in the film.
But more than anything else, you should see this film for Friels. Sure, he's been great in the past, but this is one of the coolest performances he's ever given. Sure, it's easy to play cool when you're portraying an icy hitman, but Friels gives it something more. He is absolutely the man here.
I'm sure a lot of people will dislike the film. There's far too much history there to go in with a clean slate ("THAT'S the script that beat me?!?"), but I can see why it won. It's a neat story, it's more than just colonial navel-gazing, and, though far from perfect, is easily one of the country's highlights this year.
Read Latauro's one-on-one interview with SOLO writer/director Morgan O'Neill here.
Reviewed by Latauro
I was trying to figure out why Village Cinemas had been pushing SIONE'S WEDDING so much lately. None of the leads were famous, none of them were white, and it was a film from New Zealand (sans hobbits) with everyone speaking in those funny accents. Why not just put in another ad for STICK IT and leave the arthouse films for the arthouse crowd?
Then I realised: it has "Wedding" in the title, the easiest way to ensure box office success!
Okay, so I'm a bit cynical. But walking into the cinema, I was wondering what this film would contain that would cause it to not only leap to the top of the New Zealand box office, but get itself a release in Australia (we almost never get NZ films).
The answer is that SIONE'S WEDDING is a funny, almost grown-up version of AMERICAN PIE, that will certainly star Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Paul Rudd when Hollywood gets around to remaking it. The story follows four friends who cause a massive ruckus at every wedding or major event they attend, so much so that they've been banned from Sione's wedding. This is unacceptable, as Michael -- one of the banned boys -- is Sione's brother, and was set to be best man. Then the boys come up with a solution: if they can commit themselves to a woman and bring her along, they'll definitely behave. An agreement is struck, the clock is ticking, and the boys need dates.
What's incredibly charming about this setup is it's not trying to be a carbon copy of its successful Hollywood counterparts. Far from it. SIONE'S WEDDING is completely focused on the Polynesian culture of Auckland. Our four boys have grown up in that culture, but are also heavily influenced by Americanisms and hip-hop. It's a mix that's never really directly addressed, just shown.
Most of the story is fairly predictable. When you meet the "dowdy" office geek girl, for instance, you know she's going to throw her hair back moments before the end and suddenly become the pretty girl-of-someone's-dreams. You can pretty much guess what's going to happen in most of the plot threads, but that doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the film. For every predictable plotline, there's another that goes in a slightly different direction to the one you were anticipating. For every joke that falls flat on its face (the, er, highly comic white boys who act all ghetto), there's at least two more that do work. I laughed out loud more than a few times, and isn't that all you really require of a comedy?
SIONE'S WEDDING won't break any records or make you rethink the entire genre, but it's worth your time. Particularly if you see every film the Frat Pack (or whatever we're obligated to call them these days) puts out, or the teen comedies that look like they might have something to offer. SIONE'S WEDDING stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them.
Reviewed by Spans Man
This had a very brief but very favourable mention on AICN after it was shown at Sundance this year. Having read little about this movie prior to seeing it on Saturday night, I really went in with very few expectations, except knowing that it had a very simple premise of a likeable but ultimately flawed family, forced together on a cross-country road trip after their 9 year old daughter Olive flukes entry into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.
Sounds simple enough, even - So what? Wrong!
Imagine the tragic subtly of the human condition of the Office (uk version) crossed with the situation humour of Lampoons European vacation and you'll begin to get close to the what unfolded before our eyes.
This is a film about dreams, family and the school of hard knocks called Life. The whole family comprises of people who just want to achieve something for themselves in life, nothing grand, just something that defines them.
From the wannabe motivational speaker Dad facing a last chance saloon of business glory, the gay academic brother in-law on suicide watch after a failed relationship ruined his career, to the son who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into flight school- this is a family struggling with their dreams.
As my better half eloquently put it afterwards, this is a family who, when thrown together, put aside all their issues to help one chubby little girl chase her dreams and in-turn, possibly theirs.
The film set's up the family beautifully during the first scenes and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Toni Collette gives a solid performance as a mother trying to keep them all together, as do Greg Kinnear and Steve Carrell.
Stand-out performances come from Paul Dano playing the son, who, even though he doesn't speak for the majority of the movie plays with an under baked subtly that provides many of the movies many laughs and Abigail Breslin, who delivers again a near perfect performance of a 'seemingly' innocent little girl chasing her dreams.
Without wanting to spoil the movie, the real stand-out is Alan Arkin, who not only blows you away as the family's rampaging drug taking, porn loving Grandfather, that takes this movie to another level when he's on screen and then into the stratosphere with the legacy he leaves the family.
All the way through, the Sydney audience laughed and clapped en masse at several points, but with the family realising that Olive's dreams are about to be smashed to smithereens, the final pay-off delivered an ending that that had not only people crying with laugher, it brought one of the longest and loudest applauses that I have ever experienced.
This is a small budget masterpiece, and one that I really hope gets the support it deserves when it's released later this year.
Reviewed by Spans Man
Next up is another gem albeit with a much much darker message. Before I go on about Kidulthood - - A message to Australian (yes you Hopscotch) and International distributors -PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - stuff the straight to DVD release -if the reaction of the Sydney audience and UK press is anything to go by - get Kidulthood into the cinemas!
This low budget flick receiving its international premier, is a hard-core urban fable set in inner-city London and centres around lives and influences on a group of inner city kids struggling to find direction in life and whose world is generally hidden from adults.
The film focuses on a group of teens given the day off after from school a girl in their year commits suicide and follows them through a day in their lives. From sex for cash , peer group pressure, to drug dealing and racism - the film runs several themes that, whilst not without hope, combine and combust in a shocking yet inevitable conclusion.
The picture that is painted is both tragic and brutal. There are a couple of scenes that left the audience aghast and during a great Q&A with Menhaj Huda, aside from a high level of praise from the audience, one audience member (who happened to be a teacher) said not only was he >shocked by what he had seen but raised a question of how realistic the film actually is?
This question of reality was one brought-up by a couple people and was best answered by Huda when he explained that they had used kids from inner city London, many of them who had never acted before.
As a result some wanted to include some of the London patois (a cross between Jamaican and cockney English) that is their language, and a language that is so alien to modern English, they had to curb its use so that the audience could understand what these kids were saying (yes - I can easily see this English film being subtitled).
Having lived both in London and now Sydney, this movie captures something that has been years in the making and something that most older generations cannot understand namely that underneath the surface of society multiculturalism and commercialism, a generation of children are bring driven to create a society whose language, values and behaviours are radically different from what would be considered mainstream.
Although this film is essentially a British film, as Huda quite rightly feels, its message is international and one that may help explain, drive and heal racial and cultural explosions in a world where the boundaries of race religion and identity are creating an increasingly secular and fragmented society.
A great film that will linger long after you leave the theatre.
Reviewed by Noddy
Last night, and friend and I attended a feedback screening of The Book of Revelation, Ana Kokkinos's follow up to her critically acclaimed Head-On, at Melbourne's Cinema Como. We saw Greg McLean (director of kick-arse-but-too-scary-to-see-again-even-though-I-bought-the-DVD Wolf Creek) and Germaine Greer (feminist activist and author of The Female Eunuch - an appropriate audience member as it happens) in the lobby, although both must have seen the film in one of the three other theatres there that screened the film simultaneously, as there were only about ten people in the theatre my friend and I were in, none of whom was Greer or McLean. Kokkinos herself introduced the film following the Palace films marketing woman's spiel. She described the movie as a "ride" and one that would be both confronting and thought-provoking, a film we'd still be thinking about a while after we'd seen it. Kokkinos was right.
The film opens with a dance rehearsal as choreographer Isabel (Greta Scacchi - Looking for Alibrandi), encourages the dancers with some >corny words of wisdom and inspiration, reminding the male dancers "You're warriors, remember". The focus settles on Daniel (Tom Long - Two Hands) and Bridget (an impressive Anna Torv - The Secret Life of Us) as they dance in an incredibly balletic and stylised manner, the female dancers suspended by ropes and harnesses from the roof as their male partners guide them through the air. Yet Daniel's movements soon become fast, deliberate and sexual, roughly dragging Bridget through to the finish. When the dance finishes, Isabel warns Daniel that "...there are more ways to seduce someone than through sex..." This line sets up the entire film, offering a hint at things to come.
For the following ten minutes, the film plays out as a downbeat relationship drama as a tense Bridget (who it turns out is Daniel's lover) walks in on Daniel flirting with another dancer, before arguing with him to buy her cigarettes. He reluctantly does so, yet is kidnapped while taking a detour down a secluded laneway by three (ridiculously) black-cloaked women (think cheap Ringwraiths) who drug him. It is at this point that the film takes a dramatic narrative shift. It becomes graphic sex-crimes-role-reversal as Daniel is forced into sex acts by the three masked women while chained to the ground in an abandoned warehouse. The "rape" scenes are pretty explicit, showing full-on nudity, even an incredibly graphic female/male masturbation scene and a deeply disturbing anal rape scene. Daniel is made a sex object by the women who explain that their actions are for their own pleasure. It was during these confronting (I mean seriously confronting) rape scenes (and they were rape scenes, even though Daniel was able to "perform", he was not a willing participant) that I asked my friend "What's the male equivalent for misogynistic? As a guy, watching these scenes play out was disturbing, and really uncomfortable. About three people walked out. Yet Kokkinos isn't being a man-basher. Instead, she effectively conveyed (at least to me - a male audience member) the vulnerability, the degradation and sheer mental destruction of rape on a person. Rather than depicting a woman being raped, which, really, in Film and TV is now a generally desensitised subject, (just like murder - it happens all the time on Law and Order, so what?) Kokkinos has reversed the situation and her statement is pretty clear; the sexual objectification of a person is disgusting, cruel and dehumanising. Daniel is released by the women after twelve days and is >forced back into society not knowing who the perpetrators were nor how to explain to anyone what had happened.
His relationship with Bridget is strained as he finds himself unable to open up to her about his abduction. He stops dancing, and feels he is no longer a man. Meanwhile, Isabel, Daniel's mother figure, has since found out she's dying of cancer. Daniel's world has fallen apart. He struggles to deal with his experience and the film becomes pretty grim and dirty at this point. Yet in another mood-shift, he meets Julie (Deborah Mailman - The Secret Life of Us, who turns in a fantastic performance), a woman who he sees not as an object of his lust, but rather a woman with a personality, a woman who returns light to Daniel's life (literally - the visual style of the film becomes warm and sunny). Kokkinos appeared to be making a point that Daniel had learnt his lesson, telling the audience that people can be more than just animals made for fucking each other. Their relationship blossoms. Daniel returns to his dancing. He is happy again. Yet it all changes (AGAIN!) when he finds who he believes is one of the masked women who kidnapped him. He attacks her violently, searching her body for identifiable features he can remember from the masked women, none of which are apparent on this woman's body. Daniel is arrested and sent to jail. The final scene depicts Daniel and Isabel's policeman ex-husband, Olsen (Colin Friels - Tom White) sitting together. Olsen hugs a silent Daniel, consoling him in his unspoken grief, before he breaks down completely. Olsen asks Daniel to "...start from the beginning..." before the film abruptly ends.
With the film's unexpected sudden finish, I thought, "It left a few too many questions unanswered." Kokkinos warned us before the screening that it really is food for thought, a film begging questions to be asked of it. In retrospect, I think Kokkinos has created a piece of art, as oppose to cinema, through which she has conveyed several significant ideas. She is obviously making comment on the humiliation of a person by rape, yet has amplified this (at least from a male audience member's point of view) by reversing the roles of the rapist and victim to female and male respectively. Yet she is also trying to explain to the audience that it is a person's qualities that make them attractive, as she conveyed through Julie. Yet, as I explained, The Book of Revelation is more a piece of art, perhaps a surrealist didactic piece of art rather than cinema. As a film, it is confusing, explicit, uncomfortably confronting, unsatisfying and not an enjoyable experience - of course not all films are. Yet Kokkinos appears to have preferred to make a severe social comment through imagery rather than a film that conveys one as such. On the plus side, performances were superb and the music combined with the dance sequences were just amazing. Daniel's final solo dance sequence for Isabel is heartbreaking and moving especially. Overall, an unsatisfying experience, an ordinary film (if not original), yet one that make a statement that needs to be heard.
** ½ out of 5
- Tony Jaa to star as a B&D loving sex addict in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's THE THAIS THAT BIND
- Kids who wear black clothes and have really bad hair cuts are being asked to participate in a crowd scene for the new Dreamworks family film FINDING EMO
- Bryan Singer announces that, due to a typographical error, the soon-to-film sequel SUPERMAN REMAINS will star Ian McKellen as the film's villainous painter, Pisarro-Superman
Peace out,
email@example.com B>
Readers Talkbackcomments powered by Disqus
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June 23, 2006, 3:58 p.m. CST
Fo Sho
by Giz
June 23, 2006, 3:58 p.m. CST
First? Moi? Nice...
by Giz
June 23, 2006, 4 p.m. CST
finding emo, eh...
by Giz
Gonna stick them in a room and make then listen to the beatles?
June 23, 2006, 4:03 p.m. CST
Oh, and Ian, eh..
by Giz
He IS the king Geek! BOW BITCHES!
June 23, 2006, 4:03 p.m. CST
by brycemonkey
Poster that is...
June 23, 2006, 4:06 p.m. CST
Thanks Lat, one thing though...
by brycemonkey
That was a lot of reading (that some of us did or didn't manage Giz I'm looking your way). Was it just a really heavy one or could that have been split up? Just saying is all. Keep up the good work. Peace.
June 23, 2006, 4:07 p.m. CST
You caught me...
by Giz
Now im ashamed...excuse me while i cry in my corner...
June 23, 2006, 4:16 p.m. CST
It's OK Giz, it's a disease...
by brycemonkey
I know you can't help it. I'm speaking from experience as a reformed FIRST! poster :-P
June 23, 2006, 4:43 p.m. CST
by tompbeast
that Weta concept art looked like a crap video game and Kidulthood is an OK and very scary/realistic look at the yoof of today with slightly dodgy acting due to the fact most of the cast are non professionals cept a few like Ray Winstons Daughter. Worth a watch.
June 23, 2006, 5 p.m. CST
Why Village is pushing Sione's Wedding
by eddieneversleeps
They invested in the film.
June 23, 2006, 5:01 p.m. CST
Holy crap! I didn't know Ray had a daughter...
by brycemonkey
and she is hot! http://tinyurl.com/lyljj And her Dad is Ray Fucking Whinstone! I may have to dump my g/f...
June 23, 2006, 5:33 p.m. CST
Major Edit Copies of "Lady in the Water" Lost in Fire
by digital8
It's break news right now. The Avid they were using caused a large fire when no one was there, and they kept prints in the same building.
June 23, 2006, 5:33 p.m. CST
by digital8
June 23, 2006, 5:34 p.m. CST
by Elmore Rigby
June 23, 2006, 6:21 p.m. CST
milf's are awesome . . .
by reckni
but baggage can weigh down long-term possibilities.
June 23, 2006, 10:10 p.m. CST
Arron Spelling died?
by Orionsangels
June 23, 2006, 11:53 p.m. CST
"Someone gave me a muesli bar the other day"
by moviemaniac-7
Muesli Bar: The Movie!! Congrats with going on the next ground with your socceroos, Lat! I'd like to see that Sione's Wedding flick, but unfortunately most movies made Down Under won't be released here in Europe and IF they do, it's straight to DVD... Lucky for us, we still get all the Hollywood 'masterpieces'
June 24, 2006, 12:46 a.m. CST
AICN-D: The Director's Cut
by Latauro
This may be a tad self-indulgent, but I spent ages putting the following bit of text together only to see it truncated again. For some reason, chunks go missing out of the middle of the column on a regular basis. Don't know why. Anyway, here's how it should have read: --- BOX OFFICE --- The theme for this week is "cars", repeat: "cars". Those of us smart enough to stay off the roads for the duration of FATF3's will have to stay at home and dig into some backlogged DVDs until SUPERMAN RETURNS is released next week (hooray!). --- 1. THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT; 2. CARS; 3. THE BREAK-UP; 4. THE DA VINCI CODE; 5. STICK IT --- RELEASED THESE PAST WEEKS THREE --- Vince Vaughn nicks the title of the next FAST AND THE FURIOUS film (THE BRAKE UP), Pixar proves that their worst effort is still about a hundred times better than anyone else's best effort, Australian filmmakers break all the rules by making a film about a young girl's emotional journey, Chumscrubbing proves to be almost as popular as Phenting, Adam Sandler mixes high concept with low brow and ends up with zero interest level, John Malkovich plays at Not Being Stanley Kubrick, Matt Dillon is a load of Bukowski, Lucas Black proves he's both three fast *and* three furious, an attempt to muscle in on SHREK territory proves a tad unsuccessful, a dirty old man takes advantage of a minor (love your work, Mr Polanski!), DreamWorks unfortunately associates the word "hibernation" with its latest CGI-fest, a group of Tennessee students correctly identify paperclips as the one thing Holocaust victims needed, Zhang Yimou makes his HOUSE OF FLYING MELODRAMA, and Richard E Grant forgets what a trumpet is called.
June 24, 2006, 4:06 a.m. CST
"Three fast and three furious" -.HILARiOUS!
by The Wrong Guy
Funny stuff, Lat. Strange how it goes missing on you..I blame Harry. ;) And Go Socceroos!
June 24, 2006, 4:06 a.m. CST
Kidulthood didn't do that well in the UK
by Babyshamble
Mainly lots of scallies went to see it, unable to realise that it was criticising them. I thought it was ok, it was written by Noel Clarke (who plays Mickey in Doctor Who). Come on ENGLAND!!!!
June 24, 2006, 5:22 a.m. CST
Zombie Movie is great.
by raw_bean
It's been (legally) available for download with Steam for weeks. For the uninitiated, Steam is the digital content delivery service that Valve sells it's awesome Half-Life games through, amongst others.
June 24, 2006, 12:35 p.m. CST
Aaron Spelling Died today
by DOGSOUP
Just thought you'd like to know
June 24, 2006, 1:40 p.m. CST
Spelling died and they still broadcast crap
by moviemaniac-7
June 24, 2006, 7:01 p.m. CST
Teri Hatcher is a hot MILF
by Wazoo
June 24, 2006, 10:12 p.m. CST
aww maaannn
by Weapon M
I thought this article was about MILFS mannnnn! Oh well, that Doctor Doom advertisement is OOBER COOL!!! -- did I just say Oober, I need a Gill.. -- did I just say GILL!?!?!? omg.. I need a beat down, seriously. I'd beat myself down if I wasn't such a wuss/
June 25, 2006, 11:35 a.m. CST
Where THE ZONE Go???
by ZombieSolutions
Where THE ZONE Go???
June 26, 2006, 12:01 a.m. CST
Why isn't Fox releasing LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE sooner?
by scrooged
You get to see it, in June. And as far as I know, its not due out in Australia until late October.
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In less than a month the Quad Cities could see massive cuts to its largest employer.
The Rock Island Arsenal and its contractors are bracing for the federal budget sequester to take place in March.
That means jobs will be on the line if lawmakers don't figure out a way to avoid these deep spending cuts.
As Millions of dollars in contracts could evaporate from local employers.
Lawmakers have already approved a 500 billion dollar cut in defense spending.
The sequester would take away another 500 billion dollars from the military if it takes effect.
At the Arsenal, the Army bought 34 million dollars worth of services from one client over the last three years.
Any deep cuts will have a severe impact.
"There would be a trickle down into the defense industry that reside in the Quad Cities, what those cutbacks would be we don't know either," says MandusGroup Vice President Sam Kupresin.
He hopes the sequester will be gotten rid of. Because if enacted, the cuts will hurt.
"If sequestration were enacted, we in the Quad Cities, let alone our own business, the Quad Cities in general would feel the pain both on the Arsenal itself, there probably would be cutbacks."
MandusGroup builds hydraulic repair trailers and artillery repair kits. It's just one of 212 contractors supporting Arsenal Island over the last three years representing over 133 million dollars in private business, army depots can't replace.
"Those aren't enough obviously to manufacture and sustain the vast amount of military equipment we have in our military so you need defense contractors to supplement that."
Kupresin says a draw down is expected, that's normal for the end of every war. The sequester though represents something more than that. A trillion dollars out of the defense budget could trigger another round of base closures. Further cutting into the private sector defense industry.
"You need to keep a substantial warm civilian industrial base in preparation for what may come in the future too."
All things Kupresin wants Congress to measure carefully.
The sequester would also cut back spending on non-military spending.
The White House released a list of agencies that would be affected, including the FBI, FEMA, and the IRS.
805 Brady Street, Davenport, IA 52803
Telephone: 563.383.7000
Fax: 563.383.7131
Email: email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Proof and Hearsay
"Crime, courts and legal issues in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin." Many daily newspapers have their own police blotter-ish crime blogs that only touch on trials, but this blog of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel really gives Wisconsin's courts, litigation and lawyer discipline their due.
Author: All are reporters for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Bruce Vielmetti is a crime and courts reporter and John Diedrich is the federal courts reporter.
Blawg Related Categories: Criminal Justice • States • Wisconsin • Legal News Publication
Recent Posts from Proof and Hearsay


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hummingbirdArticle Free Pass
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- The Hummingbird WebSite Resource for information on these birds, their biology and behavior, ecology and conservation, and rearing. Features hummingbird-themed products, articles, a nature store, and an impressive photo gallery.
- A-Z Animals - Hummingbird
- Animal Planet - Hummingbird
- Annaberg Media - Journey North - Hummingbird
- Defenders of Wildlife - Hummingbird
- Buzzle.com - Hummingbird
- Smithsonian National Zoological Park - Hummingbirds
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Britannica Web Sites
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- hummingbird - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
A hummingbird is a small bird with a long, slender bill. Many hummingbirds have brightly colored, glittery feathers. Often the males are more colorful than the females. The birds are named for the humming sound made by the rapid beating of their wings.
- hummingbird - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
The Portuguese call it beija-flor, meaning "kiss-flower." The Aztecs adorned Montezuma's ceremonial cloaks with its feathers. The dazzling hummingbird still captures people's fancy.


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CAPE CORAL: By the end of the weekend, nearly 100,000 people are expected to attend the Cape Coral Festival of the Arts.
Saturday afternoon, artists were showing off their wares, but the businesses along Cape Coral Parkway say this is a much needed boom.
And the crowd is the biggest they've seen in two years.
"Compared to last year – 200-percent more. It's extremely good today," said Mickey Goodman, of Cape Dog and Deli. "Many people didn't know that we were here and we've been here 11 years."
The festival starts back up at Sunday 10 a.m. along Cape Coral Parkway.
By Derek Dellinger - bio | email


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Ronnie Brown is an Eagle
Filed to ESPN: Ronnie Brown-to-Detroit trade voided because RB Jerome Harrison had health issues. Brown still an Eagle, Harrison a Lion.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 19, 2011
The trade was voided because Harrison has some health issues. I hope Brown likes being the #3 RB since Dion Lewis has clearly passed him on the depth chart


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On a recent visit to clients in Hong Kong, Credit Suisse analysts were repeatedly asked if it is time to take profits in Indian equities.
The answer from Credit Suisse analysts Sakthi Siva and Kin Nang Chik: There are some very overvalued names. They admit in a fresh research report that, excluding tech, cyclicals have outperformed defensives by 35% from the 2013 lows. Including tech, cyclicals have outperformed by 28%. But there is still room for Indian cyclicals to outperform defensive stocks, they conclude.
The rotation into cyclical stocks in India was a hot trade as reform-minded Narendra Modi and his BJP party were swept into office earlier this month. Investors were buying riskier industrials and financials and selling expensive, export-driven defensive technology and healthcare stocks. But there is room to run, CS says.
"Most Indian cyclicals are still only priced for a modest rise in return on equity. Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL.Bombay) implied ROE is 14.2% versus current ROE of 11.1%. Cyclicals such as Tata Motors (TTM), Hindalco Industries and Hindustan Zinc are still trading on discounts using our P/BV vs ROE valuation model—so implied ROE is still lower than current ROE."
Ranked by size and price/book vs ROE, CS analysts have Outperform ratings on:
They point to the five most overvalued stocks using a price-to-book versus return-on-equity valuation model: Hindustan Unilever (HUL.Bombay), TCS, Hero Motocorp, Sun Pharmaceutical (524715.Bombay) and ITC Holdings (ITC), which is trading at a 358% premium to the region.
For U.S. investors, funds are the easy option. Today, the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI) is flat and the iShares India 50 ETF (INDY) is down 0.32%. For more on the potential upside for India stocks after a good run, see Emerging Markets Daily on Morgan Stanley's India Investment Fund (IIF): "Investing in India With a Closed-End Fund."
Investors are cheering the decision by India's central bank to raise its key lending rate for a second consecutive, continuing its fight against inflation.
Exchange-traded funds focused on India were up across the board, with the iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA) rising 1.74% to $24.52. The Wisdom Tree India Earnings Fund (EPI) rose 1.7% to $16.85. And the Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF (SCIF) rose 1.2% to $27.54.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India increased the rate at which it lends to banks overnight by a quarter percentage point to 7.75%. The central bank last raised that rate, called the repurchase rate, after its policy meeting in September.
HSBC Global Research analyst Leif Eskersen wrote:
The RBI talked and walked like a hawk, further raising the inflation guards while continuing the roll-back of the currency stabilization measures. The steps have now re-established the 100bp spread between the MSF and the repo rate, and the additional liquidity infusion will help guide the call money rate in the direction of the repo rate. This is in line with the previously stated objective of eventually making the repo rate the operational rate again. Zeroing in on inflation, despite the weak growth backdrop, is appropriate in light of the lingering inflation pressures and the elevated inflation expectations. The pass-through to inflation from the weaker exchange rate is still playing out and the ongoing adjustment in administered prices is also adding to pressures. Weak demand is helping contain pricing power, but a bigger structural element to the inflation story is putting a thick floor under inflation. Going forward, the RBI will have to continue to its staring contest with inflation. This implies signaling a hawkish stance, including the willingness to raise the policy rate further, if needed, to help anchor inflation expectations. Achieving lower and more stable level of inflation is critical to revive growth.
The rate hike was not a surprise. Still, it reinforces the belief that Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghura, Rajan, who took charge of the central bank in September, is serious about fighting rising prices even as the South Asian nation struggles with a slowing economy.
India's economic growth slumped to a decade-low of 5% in the fiscal year ended March, a sharp decline from growth of more than 9% just two years earlier.
Wholesale inflation—the main gauge of prices in India—reached a seven-month high of 6.46% in September, remaining above the central bank's comfort level of 5.0% for the fourth consecutive month. Meanwhile, the country's consumer-price index in recent months has been more than 9% higher than it was a year ago.
Rajan did allow some easing. The RBI loosened some temporary borrowing restrictions which had been put in place in July to protect the rupee against speculation. The marginal-standing-facility rate—at which it lends emergency funds to banks— was cut to 8.75% from 9.0%.
Vanguard is making the switch from MSCI's emerging-markets index to FTSE's, and in the process dumping shares of South Korean stocks. The reason: FTSE classifies South Korea as a developed market, while MSCI maintains that it's an emerging one.
In terms of returns, the switch hasn't mattered much for investors. Both the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) have stunk it up this year: EEM has dropped 6%, to VWO's 5.5% drop.
Vanguard's selling is having an impact on individual stocks, however, according to a Nomura report released today. Vanguard is nearly halfway done with its transition, and last month the selling picked up. The fund giant sold 1.7 trillion won worth of Koran equities in March, up from KRW1 trillion in February, and a huge portion of the KRW2.5 trillion sold by foreign investors in March, according to Nomura's estimates.
Nomura also found a strong correlation between the 12-week weight changes of individual stocks and their performance, which was as high as 0.97 for the 20largest companies by market cap.
The good news: The selling should moderate for companies that have been dumped ahead of schedule. That includes Amorepacific (090430.KS), GS Holdings (078930.KS), Posco (PKX) and Samsung Engineering (028050.KS).
But some companies are behind schedule. They include SK Hynix (000660.KS), LG Display (LPL) and Samsung C&T (000830.KS). (For those interested, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is only slightly behind schedule).
With the transition only half done, expect Vanguard's selling to be add to South Korea's problems, which include a weak yen and a belligerent North. The iShares MSCI South Korea Capped Index ETF (EWY) has dropped 2.4% today to %55.51. It had fallen 10.2% this year through April 4.
Emerging-market stocks have sold off this year and that's helped exchange-traded funds designed to profit from their fall produce big gains. Investors, however, haven't needed to turn to such complex–and risky–products for solid developing-market returns.
The iShares Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) has dropped nearly 6% this year, and its decline has helped boost so-called inverse and leveraged-inverse ETFs. The ProShares Short MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EUM), for instance, has gained 5.6% so far this year, while the ProShares UltraShort Emerging Markets ETF (EEV), which doubles the bet, has risen 11.3%. The Direxion Daily Emerging Markets Bear 3x Shares (EDZ) which leverages the short bet three times, has surged 16.6%.
Despite the tough environment, some 13 actively-managed funds have beaten EUM's 5.6% return, while two funds have trumped EEV's 11.3% gain. EDZ's 16.6% gain remains unsurpassed.
Even some long-only ETFs have been producing positive returns so far this year. The PowerShares DAW Emerging Markets Technical Leaders ETF (PIE) has gained 6.6%, while the First Trust Emerging Markets SC AlphaDEX (FEMS) has gained 5.9%.
All told, nearly one quarter of the ETFs classified as emerging markets by Morningstar have produced positive returns this year.
NYSE Euronext has announced that two new Global X ETFs would begin trading on Wednesday, April 3: the Global X Nigeria Index ETF (NGE) and the Global X Central Asia & Mongolia Index ETF (AZIA).
Both funds will track indexes comprised of 25 stocks, with the AZIA drawing from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, along with Mongolia.
Of course, these are frontier markets and they're called that for a reason. Here's what I wrote about frontier markets generally on Feb. 9 in Barron's.
There's the outsized growth, sure, but that comes with higher-than-average risks. Most frontier-market stocks trade infrequently, are expensive to enter and exit, and come with idiosyncratic factors that can cause markets to plunge or freeze up completely. It's not a bet for the faint of heart—or an easy market to play. "It makes sense to have some exposure," says David Romhilt, head of manager research for the Americas at Barclays in New York. "But there are real risks in the space."
Read the funds' prospectuses for a discussion of those risks. My favorite comes from the Nigeria ETF.
Cash Transactions Risk: Unlike most ETFs, the Fund expects to effect a portion of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in a more conventional ETF.
I've written quite a bit about the problems inherent in funds that track the broad emerging-market stock indexes–and I'm not the only one.
Emerging Global Advisors, for one, noted in a white paper earlier this year that the composition of the MSCI Emerging Market Index lends itself to wilder price swings due to both its large concentration of stocks in the most volatile sectors like financials, energy and materials, and more volatile countries, including Russia and Brazil.
Investors with a very long time frame don't necessarily have to worry. They can buy a cheap index exchange-traded fund like the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) or the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Core ETF (IEMG)
But there are alternatives. And Yesterday, Morningstar's Patricia Oey looked at one: So-called low volatility exchange-traded funds.
She focuses on the two most popular ETFs, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility (EEMV) and PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Low Volatility (EELV). The latter "seeks to create a low-volatility portfolio by employing a simple rule–it selects the 200 least-volatile stocks from the S&P Emerging BMI Plus LargeMidCap Index and weights each holding by the inverse of its volatility," Oey writes. The former uses a more complicated methodology , which Oey describes as "using an estimated security covariance matrix and a number of constraints to limit turnover and to ensure investability and sector and country diversification." That's a fancy way of saying it looks not only at volatility, but correlations as well and then making sure you're not loaded up in any one country or sector.
Oey prefers EEMV because its slightly cheaper, has higher trading volume and does a better job of tracking its index. The one downside: EEMV's index dropped 42% in 2008, while EELV's fell 34%. Both beat the MSCI Emerging Markets Index's 53% decline.
EEMV has gained 8.9% during the past 12 months, while EELV has increased 7.2%.
Emerging Global Advisors has its own offering, the EGShares Low Volatility Emerging Market Dividend ETF (HILO). As its name suggests, it buys dividend paying stocks that also have low volatility. The idea:
Dividend-payers have tended to be less volatile than the broad market, in part because of the meaningful contribution dividends have made to total return. In fact, dividends accounted for more than 25% of the performance of broad EM equities over the last decade. EM earnings have allowed dividend growth to be robust. While dividends have played a significant role in broad EM market performance, they can make an even greater contribution in a deliberate strategy in which dividend screens are applied. Screens can be utilized to filter both historical payout level and consistency. To further attempt to reduce volatility, beta and correlation screens can be added to the dividend screens. Beta is used to screen out more volatile equities while correlation is used to identify stocks that perform differently and therefore may enhance diversification.
HILO has gained 0.4% during the past 12 months.
Back in Nov. 2011, I wrote about the new emerging-market acronyms that investment banks and asset managers had been manufacturing to sell emerging markets to investors.
We all know the BRICs–Brazil, Russia, India and China–but how familiar are you with the CARBS (Citigroup's mix of commodity-producing nations Canada, Australia, Russia, Brazil and South Africa), MINTS (Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand and Singapore), CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa), MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) and CASSH (Canada, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong).
Some of these countries have done very well–Thailand and Turkey standout–while others have languished, including Brazil and Malaysia. But has any investors done better because of these acronyms? I seriously doubt it.
The acronyms keep coming, however. Turner Investments released a report on what they've dubbed the TIMPs. That would be Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines–and Turner says they "could be the next BRICs."
The report notes that what made the BRICs so successful was the timing. It was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neil, and for the next decade the group grew at a 6.6% clip–and investors gained 424% from 2001 through 2010.
The BRICs have been disappointing lately, so why not come up with a new, better group of countries that have nothing in common other than the potential for quick growth? And so we have the TIMPs. Turkey and Mexico are here because their locations should boost trade–and their economies. Indonesia is described as "a sleeping giant…and stirring." And the Philippines, well, it's "ready to meet the mostly unfulfilled expectations many have held for it" economically.
The only thing I can see that they have in common is strong performance. The iShares MSCI Mexico Capped Investable Market ETF (EWW) has 19% during the past 12 months, the iShares MSCI Turkey Investable Market Index (TUR) has gained 36%, the iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index ETF (EIDO) has returned 16% and the iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index ETF (EPHE) has gained 35%. For those keeping track at home, the iShares Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) has lost 0.3% during the same period.
Those are fantastic returns, but how long can they keep it up?
In my column for Barron's this weekend, I looked at why the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was underperforming U.S. benchmarks--and what investors can do about it.
As always, the 550 or so words I have proved to be too few to do the subject justice. And one of my readers pointed out that one of my fund offerings was closed to new investors–and thus pretty much useless.
So, in answer to some questions from readers, here's a few more options–and facts to consider–when looking for alternatives to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) exchange-traded fund and other top-heavy investment vehicles.
First, the issue is far from academic (although it is academic as well). According to EDHEC Risk Institute,
the amount of money in exchange-traded products has been growing at an annual rate of 30% a year, and sit at $1.4 trillion. Most of the cash, however, is in capitalization-weighted indexes, which has its its critics. And in the emerging world it can be especially problematic.
In a paper released in February, EDHEC found that equal-weighted indexes have better risk-adjusted returns for nearly all the major emerging-Asia benchmarks, including South Korea's Kospi 200, India's Nifty 50, Taiwan's FTSE TWSE 50, and the FTSE ASEAN Index, which includes stocks from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The one exception: The FTSE CHina 25 Index, the benchmark for the iShares FTSE China 25 Index ETF (FXI). Its conclusion: There are better, more efficient ways, to get emerging-market exposure.
I focused on the iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (DVYE), which Josh Brown at Fusion Analytic uses for his clients. And according to Morningstar, a dividend-oriented emerging-market strategy has provided offered better returns and less volatility than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. It's not the only fund available for investors interested in such exposure, however. The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income ETF (DEM) is another solid choice (hat tip to @ETFProfessor1), although it's been underperforming EEM since May (thanks to @BartlomiejF for pointing this out). Other options include the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility Index (EEMV) and the EGShares Low Volatility Emerging Market Dividend ETF (HILO).
Yes, say the folks at AltaVista Research.
Last October, iShares launched the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets Index (IEMG) exchange-traded fund, a cheaper, more diversified version of its iShares Emerging Market Index ETF (EEM).
What's the big difference between the funds? IEMG holds nearly twice as many stocks as EEM–1,625 to 847, AltaVista says–with most of the additional names being small caps, giving it a small-cap tilt.
IEMG also has the iShares MSCI India Index ETF (INDA) as its largest holding, a rarity among ETFs. That's not necessarily a problem, however, AltaVista says. It writes:
[It] may well be cheaper to assemble large portfolios like these from building blocks instead of entirely from scratch—but it may result in some discrepancies in sector, market cap and geographic allocation and other measures…
iShares, however, has done a good job of making the sector and country exposure between the two funds nearly identical, AltaVista says.
Sector exposures are very similar between pairs. In fact, none varies more than 1.8% in any given sector, and most sectors vary far less. As a result, Financials remains the largest sector in all six funds, for better or worse. Nonetheless, each Core fund remains reasonably well diversified with exposure to all ten GICS sectors. Geographic exposure is similar between the pairs as well.
Ultimately, the reason to choose IEMG over EEM comes down to fundamentals, AltaVista says.
Stocks in the Core IEMG are…slightly more profitable than their Traditional counterparts in EEM, with average ROE figures of 11.7% and 11.5%, respectively. However they trade at identical valuations. Combined with the Core fund's substantially lower expense ratio…it makes sense to switch to the new Core fund.
It's an opinion shares by Index Universe's Matt Hogan, who likes it for the small-cap exposure and low cost.
What do you plan to do?
When you have 500 words to write a column, a lot of material ends up on the cutting room floor. Most of time it doesn't matter. But this past weekend's article on frontier markets was one where I wish I'd had twice the words.
The take away from the column was that investors who are interested in frontier markets–which have been on fire this year–should search out emerging-market funds that have exposure to countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Qatar and Argentina.
Large funds, however, can't really buy frontier stocks because most of the stocks are too small and the funds too large to build up a meaningful position. That's why fund companies like Acadian Asset Management have one fund for emerging-markets and another for frontier, and manager's respect the difference between the two.
So if you're attached to your large emerging-market fund that doesn't have frontier exposure, there's nothing wrong with going into a frontier fund–as long as you know what you're getting yourself into and size it appropriately. That means looking to one of the dedicated frontier funds like Harding Loevner Frontier Emerging Markets (HLMOX), Nile Pan Africa (NAFAX), HSBC Frontier Markets (HSFAX) or Templeton Frontier Markets (TFMAX). These funds are among the top performers this year in the emerging-market category.
Don't mistake the Forward Frontier Strategy Fund (FRONX) for a plain-vanilla actively managed frontier-markets fund, however. Over at its website, Forward explains that the "fund invests in securities that approximate the MSCI Frontier Markets Index," and it does that with a wide range of investments. The fund:
Invests in a variety of instruments including structured notes, exchange traded funds, exchange traded notes, and in some cases foreign equity securities that are intended to provide investors with exposure to frontier markets equities, but at a potentially lower cost, with better liquidity and transparency than direct investments.
So while it's a frontier fund, it's a very different one. One of the advantages: A lower expense ratio. One of the disadvantages: All those derivatives that are essentially the debt of the issuing bank.
I also pointed out the shortcomings of the two frontier-market exchange-traded funds–the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 Index ETF (FM) trades just 17,000 shares a day on average, while the Guggenheim Frontier Markets ETF (FRN) has 42% of its portfolio in Chile, a country not in any traditional frontier index. As of yet, nothing jumps out as a good alternative.
And remember–only the most bullish should even think about putting up to 5% of their equity portfolio in frontier markets.
And even that might be too much.
Emerging markets have been synonymous with growth, but the outlook for individual nations is constantly changing. Countries from Brazil and Russia to Turkey face challenges including infrastructure bottlenecks, credit issues and political shifts. Barrons.com's Emerging Markets Daily blog analyzes news, data and research out of emerging markets beyond Asia to help readers navigate the investment landscape.
Barron's veteran Dimitra DeFotis has been blogging about emerging market investing since traveling to India and Turkey. Based in New York, she previously wrote for Barron's about U.S. equity investing, including cover stories and roundtables on energy themes. Dimitra was among the first digital journalists at the Chicago Tribune and started her career as a police reporter at the Daily Herald in the Chicago suburbs. Dimitra holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the business and journalism schools. She studies multiple languages and photography.
Write to Dimitra at email@example.com


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A recap of last week's action around the AL Central, with news on the Indians, Royals, Tigers, Twins, and White Sox, including scores, schedules, standings, injuries, and more...
An open thread to discuss Friday night's game between the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers. First pitch is set for 8:05 ET; Trevor Bauer and Yu Darvish are the scheduled starting pitchers.
I am a Red Sox fan but I had a die-hard Indians fan on my podcast. He talks about 1997 game 7, Josh Beckett's National Anthem singing girlfriend, his love of Kipnis and Choo, and Ubaldo Jimenez's dipping velocity. Really worth a listen.
Priced to move at $25.25! Celebrate Thomecoming with a new tee from Mistake By The Jake. Unfortunately, not available in flannel. However, also available in navy.
"The surprising Indians ran to the top of the American League with a defense that ranked second in the AL in Defensive Efficiency as recently as May 23, but a 4-14 slump in their ensuing 18 games was joined by a drastic decline in their defensive performance. Cleveland currently ranks 23rd in Defensive Efficiency, 11th in the American League."
"When people talk about awful trades, the conversation always turns to A.J. Pierzynski for Francisco Liriano/Joe Nathan, or Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore/Cliff Lee/Brandon Phillips. But Cabrera was acquired from the Mariners for the last 43 games of Eduardo Perez's career. When the Mariners gave Cabrera up, they were 41-40 -- only two games out of first place, but hardly a juggernaut. Perez came over to DH, but the Mariners felt like he needed a platoon partner. So they did what most of us would have done, which was give up Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard. Once Mariners fans take enough prescription drugs, they can convince themselves that the Indians really are the 2011 Mariners, and then they don't mind so much"
Craig Calcaterra tries his hand at this memory game. No Tony Pena or Tony Fernandez for the Tribe, though until you get to the comments.
"We were watching in Tacoma," says his former teammate in the Mariners' organization, Eddie Menchaca, now a manager at Class A Clinton. "The clubhouse erupted, everyone started chanting 'Choo! Choo! Choo!'" A man appeared in the Tacoma clubhouse to see what the commotion was about. It was then Mariners G.M. Bill Bavasi, visiting from Seattle. It was quickly becoming apparent that he had just gifted the Indians their next star.
Here's the entire set (I believe), available without watermarks. Enjoy.
Justine Siegal throws Indians batting practice.
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Authorities said one person was injured Tuesday afternoon when three cars crashed on Interstate -70 by the Cabela's exit.
Ohio County Lt. Harry Croft said the driver of a green pick-up truck was attempting to merge and did not see a car.
Croft said the driver attempted to swerve and that's when his truck was hit by another pick-up.
The cars were traveling westbound on I-70.
Authorities said the accident was quickly cleaned up and traffic is flowing again.
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Theres no external fx or processing on any of the demos except for a small amount of Logics Limiter.
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text:
The BLM notice about closure of the BLM campground lists the following as alternatives (ostensibly for the public) # Spencer W. Kimball Scout Reservation, (702) 968-8138 # Potosi Pines Camp, (702) 875-1980 # Clark County Shooting Park, (702) 455-2000 The first two appear to be private concerns, at least their websites don't list camping. The CCSP doesn't list camping that I could find, not that I would want to climb there. Additionally, the 1st item on the BLM site lists Red Rock Canyon backcountry for camping. This seems to contradict all the camping strictures for Red Rocks. Perhaps someone can explain if these listed alternatives for camping are available. I understand the BLM campground is supposed to be open Oct 1. If these alternatives are available it could be useful if the campground opening is delayed or full.
I don't know about the others you posted, but I'd suggest Lovell Canyon. It's free, fairly close and you shouldn't be bothered, although it is primitive with no services. www.sunsetcities.com/lovell-canyon.html I was at a meeting last night where it was confirmed that the BLM Campground is indeed opening this Friday in the AM. Happy climbing.
Thanks for the update. I have been to Lovell Cyn, not excited about going back.
I drove through the campground yesterday and they are open. They are still building the shade structures. It looks like they have poured a concrete slab at each site with a metal shade structure and picnic table. They have also added some wooden benches by the fire pits.


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Editor: Rosalynn Koch, Esquire
Neither involuntary manslaughter by criminal negligence nor second degree endangering the welfare of a child is a lesser included offense of felony murder that is based upon the predicate offense of first degree child endangerment. State v. Lumpkins, No. 71602 (Mo. App. W.D., September 20, 2011), Welsh, J. In a felony murder prosecution, the trial court refused defendant's requested verdict directing instructions submitting involuntary manslaughter and second degree child endangerment. Held: Affirmed. Statutes specifically denominate involuntary manslaughter based upon recklessness as a lesser offense of felony murder, Section 565.025.2(2); but the same is not true for involuntary manslaughter by criminal negligence. That offense is not a lesser included offense as it requires a mental state not required for felony murder. To the extent that MAI-CR 3d 314.00 Notes on Use (C)2 mandates submission of any involuntary manslaughter instructions justified by the evidence, it conflicts with substantive law and should not be followed. Second degree child endangerment is not a lesser included offense of felony murder.
Plea counsel was not ineffective for failing to request a change of judge after the judge admonished the defendant about the impropriety of the charged behavior. Phillips v. State, No. 95720 (Mo. App. E.D., September 13, 2011), Sullivan, J. After an aborted plea proceeding for statutory sodomy, the judge expressed regret about withdrawing the plea, advised the defendant that his behavior had been inappropriate despite defendant's claim that the victim had initiated the contact, and threatened the defendant if he had any contact with the victim. After eventually pleading guilty, the defendant filed a post-conviction motion challenging counsel's failure to move for a change of judge. Held: Affirmed. Defendant was not entitled to an automatic change of judge. Disqualifying prejudice is prejudice that has an extrajudicial source. Because the defendant was free on bond, the court's cautions were warranted.
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News: Drake & Nicki Minaj To Invade Video Music Awards 2010
Thursday, Aug 12, 2010 5:16PM
Young Money rappers Drake and Nicki Minaj have been confirmed to appear at next month's Video Music Awards ceremony which will feature the return of Kanye West.
According to reports, Drake will perform while Minaj is being billed to present an award.
He's back! Kanye West will make his triumphant return to the MTV VMAs on September 12, when the Chicago MC is set to perform for the show, which airs live from Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET. West joins Drake and Best New Artist nominee Florence and the Machine as the first announced performers for the 2010 VMAs. Drake, who will make his VMA debut this year, is also nominated for two awards: Best Hip-Hop Video ("Forever") and Best Male Video ("Find Your Love"). His Young Money cohort Nicki Minaj, who is nominated for Best New Artist, is confirmed as one of the first wave of presenters. (MTV)
In support of the event, Minaj has been chosen to help promote this year's showcase.
Nicki Minaj Homemaker, who received her first VMA nomination for Best New Artist, dreams up her newest role as a pampered '50s housewife in these behind-the-scenes photos from her 2010 MTV Video Music Awards promo shoot. In the clip, an orange-haired Nicki envisions an imaginary photo shoot while riding a purple motorcycle to the September 12 awards show. "I don't even have my album out and I'm part of the freakin' promo!" she tells Entertainment Weekly. "Basically, they're documenting my rise and paralleling that with my journey, literally, to the VMAs." (Rap-Up)
West, who caused controversy last year after interrupting country singer Taylor Swift's "Best Female Video" acceptance speech, has since garnered support from the rap community.
"The crazy thing is people hate you, then when you put another album out they like you again," G.O.O.D. Music associate Rhymefest said in a recent interview. "I think that we as a people are so force-fed by corporations that we don't know what we want. Yeah, people were mad at Kanye last year, but they're also looking forward to him putting another album out. Soon as the album drops they are going to forget why they were mad in the first place. I think people love Kanye because he speaks his mind and there ain't that many Black men that do that and why we are on it, n*ggas need to stop fronting like that White girl deserved that award. They knew what he was saying and need to cut it out, for real." (XXL Mag)
Following last week's nominees announcement, Eminem released a playful statement sharing his reaction.
"Apparently MTV doesn't care that I have two massive stadium shows on the other side of the country the day after the VMAs. F me, right?!?!," says the rapper, who's up for Best Male and Best Hip Hop Videos. "I mean, I'll be there but don't expect me to be nice about it." (PEOPLE)
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards will air live from the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12, at 9 p.m.
Check out some recent Drake footage down below:


text: Hello Solar Supporters! Here are the Latest News, Events & Announcements from NMSEA Please Check Our Event Calendar <http://www.nmsea.org/Events/Event_Calendar.php> for Additional Event Listings SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE at the end of this message Or contact us with questions & comments. We value your input! ****************************************************************************************************** *_ANNOUNCEMENTS_* /**//**/*** - NMSEA SunPaper Archives Online */-/ *New Mexico Solar Energy Association on Facebook/ /* *_EVENTS_ **//**// REGISTRATION AVAILABLE!!! - OCT 28-30 & NOV 5-6: **Photovoltaic Design & Installation Classes **/ - Santa Fe, NM/* *_ANNOUNCEMENTS_* ** * NMSEA SunPaper Archives Online *A selection of past SunPaper editions are available for reference online. For more details, please visit the NMSEA website <http://nmsea.org/Sunpaper/index.php>. _______________________________________ ***New Mexico Solar Energy Association on Facebook *NMSEA is also using Facebook to spread the word about our educational outreach, upcoming events & fundraising drives. If you would like updates about solar energy innovations, events and sustainability related news, please visit NMSEA on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Mexico-Solar-New-Mexico-Solar-Energy-Association/142681782410865?ref=ts> and press the "Like" button! _______________________________________ *_ EVENTS _** **OCT 28-30: Photovoltaic Design Class/ - Santa Fe, NM /**OCT 28-30 & NOV 5-6: **Photovoltaic Design & Installation Class **/ - Santa Fe, NM/* * *New Mexico Solar Energy Association (NMSEA) has scheduled its next */Photovoltaic Design/* /& /*/PV Design and Installation/* classes. The classes will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Santa Fe Girls School. Here are several links to the information on the NMSEA website regarding these classes. All Workshops: http://nmsea.org/Workshops/index.php PV Design: http://nmsea.org/Workshops/pv_design_workshop.php PV Design & Installation: http://nmsea.org/Workshops/pv_workshop.php Registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis. NMSEA Members receive a discount on the class. Please spread the word! <http://earthusa.org/preliminary-schedule/> // ************************************************************************ *New Mexico Solar Energy Association* 1009 Bradbury Dr. SE, # 35, Albuquerque, NM 87106 505-246-0400, 888-886-6765, Fax: 505-246-2251 info at nmsea.org <mailto:info at nmsea.org> www.nmsea.org <http://www.nmsea.org/> ************************************************************************ To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to this NMSEA-news e-mail list, please click here <http://nmsea.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nmsea-news>.** <http://nmsea.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nmsea-news> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://nmsea.org/pipermail/nmsea-news/attachments/20110930/74f00e42/attachment.html>


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We're coming up to Mike Shanahan's second draft with the Redskins, and most of us are waiting with bated breath to see if he can set our franchise in the right direction. Is it just me, or is Vinny Cerrato basically our Dick Cheney? Back to Shanahan: he had some very impressive drafts right before leaving Denver, but the jury is still out on last year's picks (not counting McNabb, Jarmon, or Brown - I mean college player evaluation). Trent Williams is the obvious bright spot, playing most of the season against elite level rushers. He had flashes of awesomeness, but also showed his freshness at times. Regardless, most fans would agree that he is a quality addition to our team.
But he hasn't always been the fan favorite. If you remember a little over a year ago, he wasn't "projected" to go #4 in the draft to the Redskins. He was widely believed to be the 2nd best tackle after Russell Okung. Hogs Haven was littered with mock drafts and prayer letters for Shanahan to draft Russell Okung and save our decade-long lineman drought.
One man didn't see the title "Top Rated" as an end-all in draft evaluation. If you don't know him, Mike Mayock is the only analyst you should consider listening to about draft evaluations. He rated Okung higher than Williams, but emphasized that Williams was a close second. He even went so far as to say that Washington, if given the chance, would likely take Williams over Okung, because of his potential in Mike Shanahan's unique zone-blocking scheme. Fans and bloggers heard Mayock said this, but most were still shocked when Washington took the tackle at #4 (partly because we forgot what drafting a lineman in the 1st felt like).
Well Mike Mayock has another message for Mike Shanahan: draft Jake Locker with the #10 overall pick. He fits your unique scheme. He will watch more film than anybody. Elway agrees with his own subtle hints. Maybe last year was a coincidence, and Shanahan took no stock in what Mayock had to say. Chances are, they are just two very intelligent people who came to the same deduction on player evaluation. But regardless of whether Mike Shanahan is listening, Mike Mayock is definitely sending out the message. Hard. Listen to what he has to say about the QB draft prospects in this new NFL.com video. He is more open and honest than I normally hear analysts, especially saying an almost outright "no" to Cam Newton. For Redskins though, the message comes through loud and clear. Watch from 2:00 on - Dear Mike Shanahan, draft Jake Locker at #10.


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The Crack-Ship That I Should Not Ship:
Emily Fitch & Hermione Granger
( I had to break up my two ultimate-endgame OTPs of all time for this, so appreciate it okay? )
Going to Hell for this.
"Hermione?" Emily prodded.
The girl sitting across from her open and closed her mouth silently a few more times, then straightened her back, ran her fingers through her long brown hair that fell in pretty loose curls around her face and tucking it behind her ears. She took a deep breath. "Oh."
Emily smirked. "Oh?"
"I mean. That's great. Honestly."
Emily stifled a laugh.
"I mean, obviously you know that. Since you're –"
Emily brought a hand up to shield her face slightly as her body started to laugh in repressed laughter.
"You're laughing at me, aren't you?" Hermione asked, her voice finally levelling out as she stared pointedly at Emily with accusing, but beautiful brown eyes.
"A little," Emily admitted, looking up at Hermione with a cheeky grin on her face.
"You just caught me a little off-guard is all. I didn't know."
"Just like you. All the brains in the world, but common sense…?"
"Hey!" Hermione protested, flicking a crumb off of her plate in Emily's direction.
Emily laughed. She watched as Hermione's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink, and followed it up the smooth curve of her face to her adorable little ears.
"It's okay. I know your brain's just too busy remembering everything you've ever read to notice things like when your female friend checks out other girls," Emily teased.
"I like books," Hermione grumbled a little stubbornly.
"I know," Emily replied, reaching a hand across the table to take hold of one of Hermione's. It was soft and warm in her own, and it sent a flash of heat through her. "You were reading when I met you, remember?"
"King's Cross Station," Hermione said with a small smile and a nod.
"You were in that sexy school girl's outfit," Emily supplied.
Hermione froze and looked up at her, startled. "This one? The one I'm in now? You think this is sexy?"
"Some people are BORN to pull of uniforms like that. You're one of them," Emily assured her.
Hermione looked from Emily's eyes to where their hands sat on the table interlinked and back again, then she cleared her throat.
"Is it hot? I'm hot. Coffee in July, I mean, really. What were we thinking?" Hermione asked, pulling her hand away and smoothing down her grey school sweater.
"That caffeine would do us some good?" Emily suggested, noting the way that Hermione's blush had deepened substantially. "Want to get out of here?"
Hermione nodded gratefully.
"So, clubbing tonight?" Emily inquired as they left the café, letting her shoulder brush casually against Hermione's as they squeezed through the door.
She was acutely aware of the way that Hermione's breath caught in her throat for a second before she replied, "Yeah, sure. Sounds fun."
Oh yes, Emily thought, there was definitely something more behind Hermione's reaction to her coming out than surprise.
"Katie's in town for a bit, too, so we can meet up with her, if you're willing."
"Your sister scares me a bit," Hermione replied, and Emily let out a small laugh.
"Just try not to talk books with her this time. She's more of a Heat magazine kind of girl," Emily advised.
"Honestly, I don't even understand how she can read that rubbish," Hermione sighed.
Emily shrugged. "Each to her own."
She let their hands bump together as they headed down the narrow pavement. She brushed her fingers against the back of Hermione's hand purposefully, noting that, while Hermione didn't pull away, her body stiffened ever so slightly and her breathing grew a little shallower.
Emily rolled her eyes, but continued on.
"So, um, how long…I mean, well, when did you realise –"
"That I'm gay?" Emily supplied, unsurprised that the conversation had turned back to this. She could practically hear the wheels turning in that big brain of Hermione's.
"Um..yes," Hermione replied, clearing her throat uncomfortably.
"A few years ago," Emily told her.
"But you never said anything!" Hermione protested.
"I may be out, but I still rarely introduce myself by saying, 'Hi, I'm Emily, and I'm gay.' I only told you today because you hadn't figured it out yet, and I was starting to wonder if you ever would," Emily explained. And because I like you and I wanted to see what your reaction would be, she added in her head.
"I would have noticed! Eventually…I'm sure I would've," Hermione said defensively.
Emily smirked. "Hermione," she said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a small alley that was really more just a gap between two buildings.
"What?" Hermione asked, eyes bewildered as they searched Emily's face.
Emily bit her lower lip as she studied Hermione's face for a second. "I might have left something out earlier."
"You're gay and you're secretly a man?" Hermione guessed, her eyes flicking down Emily's body, then back up quickly as her cheeks flushed a bright red.
Emily laughed. "Not even close."
"What, then? Honestly, Emily, don't leave me in suspense."
Emily reached out and laced her fingers through Hermione's, pulling her friend a step closer to her.
She watched the way that Hermione held her head a little higher as she swallowed hard and held Emily's gaze.
"It's just, that I like someone, and I didn't tell you that," Emily said.
"Oh?" Hermione asked, her voice raised an octave higher than normal.
"Again with the 'ohs'," Emily murmured, a smile playing on her lips. She stepped towards her so that they were only centimetres apart, breathing the same air. It wouldn't take much. Just a small lean forward.
"Oh!" Hermione muttered again, her breath hot against Emily's lips.
Emily slipped her hand around Hermione's back, holding her in place.
Hermione started to lean back, but the lower half of her body didn't try to move away and Emily took that as a good sign. She brought her other hand up and ran it through Hermione's hair, then she closed her eyes.
"I –" Hermione started to say, but Emily shook her head and moved in, swallowing whatever the rest of that sentence was with a kiss.
Hermione's lips were soft against hers, inviting as they moved slowly, kissing her back.
"Okay?" Emily murmured, pulling back just enough to ask, her lips still brushing Hermione's as she spoke.
Hermione made a noise that sounded like "uh-huh" somewhere at the back of her throat, and then their lips were pressed together again.
Oh, Emily thought cheekily as she pushed further into the kiss.
She let Hermione dictate the pace, but she kept her presence felt, pressing their bodies closer together, encouraging when Hermione's tongue flicked against her lips. She tasted sweet, Emily couldn't help thinking as their tongues met.
She pulled back a bit, holding on to Hermione's waist still as she looked into her face. Hermione's eyes fluttered open after a second, and her lips were still slightly parted from the kiss.
"You're beautiful," Emily said, unable to stop the thought as it tumbled out of her mouth.
Hermione blushed, and straightened somewhat, forcing Emily to pull back a little more. She cleared her throat. "Well, I…" she trailed off.
"Have I actually managed to leave Hermione Granger speechless?" Emily asked with a grin.
Hermione blushed deeper. "Apparently. Yes," she replied after a moment's pause.
"Are you okay?" Emily inquired softly, reaching out to stroke her thumb across the smooth skin of Hermione's cheek.
Hermione turned into the touch unconsciously. "Yeah. I may need to think about a few things, but…Yes," she replied.
Emily smiled warmly as Hermione's lips found her palm and kissed softly. "You know, on second thoughts, we can ditch Katie tonight."
Desperately holding my Ron Weasley action figure to my chest and begging him for forgiveness. What have I done.
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OH MY G-D! I think I just boarded this ship, without realizing it. I shouldn't but… I just. Oh goodness, I can't help...
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Hermily or Emilione? I vote Hermil! I SHIP IT HARD! Now to convince Kathryn Prescott and Emma Watson to act this out…
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Why do I kind of love this crack ship?
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I SHOULD NOT SHIP THIS. Naomily, and Ron & Hermione are my favourite couples of ALL TIME. FUCK. this is really hot tho....
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Desperately holding my Ron Weasley action figure to my chest and begging him for forgiveness. What have I done.
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"Hermione?" Emily prodded. The girl sitting across from her open and closed her mouth silently a few more times, then...
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Too much?
Album Rating: 4.0I don't even remember what this sounds like but apparently liked it enough to give it a four. Digging: Rinoa - An Age Among Them
Digging: Rinoa - An Age Among Them
Album Rating: 3.5haha too bad they went on hiatus
Album Rating: 5.0The day they come out of haitus, I am buying a ticket to wherever their first show is. I'll sell my organs if I have to
Album Rating: 4.0Really? Which ones?
Album Rating: 5.0Whichever I can get rid of the quickest
Album Rating: 4.0Okay i'll give you my mailing address.
Album Rating: 5.0What are you in need of? I'm your guy
Album Rating: 4.0A liver and a heart. I hope you don't plan on being alive when you hit up the Thrice show.
Album Rating: 4.5Well this took an interesting turn.
Album rules btw, but not as much as Beggars.Digging: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Digging: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Album Rating: 5.0Hmmm that does kind of put a damper on things. I think being unalive would hinder my ability to enjoy the show to the fullest potential
Album Rating: 4.0But what if you were a ghost or some shit? You could float on the stage and sit right in front of them! Then afterwards you could run around and do ghost shit all over the world.
Album Rating: 5.0I'd tickle their buttholes and Dustin would start crying cause he loves God so much
Album Rating: 3.5Dude I'd blow Dustin if they'd get back together and promise another album I ain't ashamed
Album Rating: 5.0Oh I'd go full homo for each and every one of them. No shame.
Stellar banter guys, really.
Album Rating: 5.0You are intimidated by my beauty, I can tell
Album Rating: 4.0Anthology is so good fuckDigging: Eskaton - 4 Visions
Digging: Eskaton - 4 Visions
Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound OffListened to this for first time since I killed it upon release. Cataracts is my jam.
Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound OffDoes anyone on sputnik have a Dustin Kensrue/Jesse Lacey/Andy Hull esque voice? If so, you should sing for my band, over the Internet. Serious inquiry here. Having an incredibly difficult time finding a singer.
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Belly Worship Quiz
by POPSUGAR Moms 8 Reactions 0 Shares Print
Mother's Day is just days away so celebrate baby bumps by taking our Belly Worship quiz.
Read More Belly WorshipQuizzesExams
POPSUGAR-Celebrity 6 years
love that belly!!!
POPSUGAR-Celebrity 6 years
love that belly!!!
tweet-hotpants 6 years
5/5 i want to be a mom and worship my belly!
rgrl 6 years
:woohoo: 5/5 (some were guesses). :oops:
rgrl 6 years
:woohoo: 5/5 (some were guesses). :oops:
Angelica 6 years
Cute belly!
Angelica 6 years
Cute belly!
Link Love
- Mom forced to stop feeding baby homemade formula — BabyCenter Blog
- The easiest ways to save on organic food — The Stir
- A look inside Fergie's second baby shower — Celebrity Baby Scoop
- Danielle Jonas debuts her baby bump — People Moms & Babies
- 7 light and fresh recipes to take you through Summer — FitPregnancy
- Does where you live affect your risk for PPD? — The Bump
- Where to find the best deals on school supplies — Real Simple
- Now this is how you announce a pregnancy! — HuffPost Parents


text:
Tile Patio (01:00)
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Retaining Wall 101 (01:00)
Stone Walls (01:00)
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Backyard Checkerboard (01:00)
Watering Lawn and Plants (01:00)
How to Prune a Tree (00:60)
How to Trim or Prune a Shrub (00:60)
A Sharp Edge (00:60)
Fencepost Hole Essentials (00:60)
The Secrets of Mulch (00:60)
Riding Mower Basics (00:60)
Mowing 101 (00:60)
The Perfect Patio (00:60)
Fertilizing (00:60)
Weed Control (00:00:60)
French Drains (00:00:60)
Replacing a Sprinkler Head (00:60)
Major League Lawn (00:60)
Patio Pavers and Walkways (00:60)
Backyard Putting Green (01:21)
Beachside Getaway (01:32)
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From Dustbowl to Dynamite (01:26)
Home Brewer's Paradise (01:54)
From Boring to Sexy (01:32)
Bachelor Backyard (01:57)
Grill Island (01:32)
Shuffleboard Court (01:33)
Vegas Water Table (00:02:30)
Outdoor Shower (00:01:23)
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Putting In a Putting Green (01:25)
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Making a Quick Cobble Patio (00:01:30)
Backyard Checkerboard (02:52)
You never know what you'll be bringing home from the home improvement store. You go in for grass seed but come home with new patio chairs and a bag of cement. If you're lucky enough, you could also bring home a professional landscape contractor. On DIY Network's Yard Crashers, expert Ahmed Hassan waits at stores looking for the perfect weekend warriors who could definitely use his help. Once he finds his target, Ahmed and his team follow the surprised shoppers home and completely transform their yards.
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LAWRENCE — As part of the police department's reinvigorated effort over the last year to crack down on the burgeoning drug trade across the city, three people were arrested Thursday and charged with trafficking $5,000 in heroin and cocaine following a daylong surveillance operation. Police also arrested two more on drug possession charges.
"This was a significant drug operation," Police Chief John Romero said yesterday. "These were major arrests."
In addition to more than 60 grams of cocaine and heroin, police also seized an unregistered firearm, nearly 40 rounds of ammunition, almost $4,500 in cash, several cellphones and miscellaneous drug paraphernalia.
Romero said the arrests are a sign that the department, understaffed following massive layoffs in 2010, has nearly returned to its full potential.
"We are in the process of dismantling drug operations in the city," Romero said. "For two years, we didn't have the resources."
In July 2010, the city was forced to lay off 40 police officers due to budget cuts, and Romero had to eliminate the department's special operations units. Crime spiked as all the officers on the force were put in a "reactive" mode instead of "proactive, crime-fighting" mode, Romero said.
"For two years, all we did was respond to crime because we had to do away with special operations," he said. "Now, we're playing catch-up."
These arrests came following a daylong surveillance set up by the city's recently re-instated Special Operations-Street Narcotics Unit, acting on tips from neighbors and with help from a confidential informant.
Romero credited neighbors with dropping a dime about the operation.
"Most of our leads come from the neighborhoods," he said. "That's how we make these arrests. People call us with drug tips. Believe it or not, these things pay off. ... This was a good-sized drug operation."
Police arrested:


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Madonna files defense in charity legal battle
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Madonna's lawyers have filed court papers in Malawi defending the pop star's dismissal of a number of employees from her charity, blaming the decision on "genuine economic reasons."
The singer is facing legal action from a number of former staff members who were let go from her Raising Malawi organization following the collapse of plans to build a girls' school in the African nation.
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The $15 million education project was abandoned earlier this year amid allegations of financial mismanagement, prompting Madonna to dissolve the foundation's board of directors.
Former employees of the charity filed an official complaint at Malawi's Industrial Relations Court in Blantyre, accusing the star of unfair dismissal, and Madonna's legal team has now responded to the allegations.
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The singer's legal papers state, "There is nothing unfair about the termination of the applicants' employment since termination of employment was necessitated by genuine economic reasons ... [The decision not to go ahead with the school was made] after carefully reviewing its [the charity's] financial commitments and future plans and was made in good faith ... [We] had tried to act reasonably and expediently to avoid frustrating the former workers."
Madonna's legal response also addresses the group's allegations that staff were forced to sign a termination agreement they deemed "unfair and unconstitutional," adding, "[It was] simply a confidentiality agreement."
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The case will be heard in court on April 27.
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