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Has anyone used an outdoor fabric to reupholster an inside chair? I really want some bright, vivid colors for a second home, but do not want a chintz or a cotton, knowing they will not wear well. The decorator suggested those outdoor fabrics since they come in such a wide range of bright colors. The more I look at the fabrics, the more i think this would work.
The upside is the ease in cleaning - just soap and water for most of these fabrics. I think it would wear well, too. Your thoughts? |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by justgotabme (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 0:59
One caution, they are stiffer. Make sure you see and feel the fabric ahead of time before you give the go ahead. |
I think outdoor fabric is the new indoor fabric, and I'm now shopping for some for my breakfast chairs. Like you, I need something that can be easily cleaned if my GD (or anyone) drops food on the chairs. My local fabric store (huge place) has a great selection of outdoor fabric and I found most of it had a really nice feel and softness. There are some brands/grades that very stiff so be sure to shop around and choose from a large piece of fabric, not a small sample. |
- Posted by always1stepbehind (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 12:56
I used outdoor fabric for my dining room chairs. Mostly because the outdoor fabric was cheaper than the regular fabric. It's a little stiffer/thicker than regular fabric but it is still work with. It's not thick and plasticy like you might think. This is a Waverly outdoor fabric. |
I just did our barstools in a stiffer outdoor fabric and I love it- so easy to clean. |
I am posting again hoping to get more opinions. Thanks! |
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Next up in The Finsiders' AFC East Positional Breakdown series is a spot that could hold the key to success for the Dolphins this season in the offensive line. Read More
Here is the official Injury Report as released by the league for Sunday's game at Sun Life Stadium between the Dolphins and the New York Jets: Read More
With the Dolphins and Jets getting ready for Sunday's game at New Meadowlands Stadium, here is the official injury report for the game, as released by the teams on Friday afternoon:
WR Brian Hartline/OUT/Finger (did not practice today)*
T Vernon Carey/OUT/Knee (did not practice today)
LB Channing Crowder/QUESTIONABLE/Knee (limited practice today)
LB Karlos Dansby/QUESTIONABLE/Toe (limited practice today)
DE Kendall Langford/QUESTIONABLE/Neck (limited practice today)
T Jake Long/QUESTIONABLE/Knee (limited practice today)
WR Brandon Marshall/QUESTIONABLE/Hamstring (limited practice today)
CB Sean Smith/QUESTIONABLE/Ankle (limited practice today)
*On Saturday, the Dolphins announced that they have placed Hartline on season-ending injured reserve and signed rookie TE Dedrick Epps from the practice squad.
With the Dolphins and Jets getting ready to face-off in Sunday night's home opener at Sun Life Stadium, here is the official game injury report, as released by the teams on Friday afternoon:
CB Darrelle Revis/OUT/Hamstring (did not practice today)
LB Calvin Pace/OUT/Foot (did not practice today)
OL Wayne Hunter/OUT/Shin (did not practice today)
OL Nick Mangold/QUESTIONABLE/Shoulder (limited practice today)
LB Jason Taylor/QUESTIONABLE/Elbow (limited practice today)
DE Jared Odrick/OUT/Ankle (did not practice today)
OG John Jerry/DOUBTFUL/Illness (did not practice today)
LB Channing Crowder/QUESTIONABLE/Groin (limited practice today)
NOTE: Jets coach Rex Ryan has made it pretty clear that he expects both Taylor and Mangold to play.

subset: commoncrawl


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Style Finder is InStyle's one-stop style directory for the best fashion and beauty destinations right across Australia.
sass & bide
Location132 Oxford StreetPaddington Sydney NSW 2021
Telephone(02) 9360 3900
Open HoursMonday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday 10am-6pm Thursday 10am-8pm Sunday 11am-5pm.
TagsDresses, Heidi Middleton, Jackets, jeans, Kate Moss, Rihanna, Sarah-Jane Clarke, Sass & Bide, Skirts, Tops
AboutThe powerhouse design duo's first boutique is still every bit as hip as it was when it first opened. Same goes for the racks of hot-off-the-runway frocks, jackets, leggings and now jewellery. You simply can't fault their wares, which have been worn by Kate Moss and Rihanna.
Other Designer in NSWA/X Armani ExchangeAkiraAlex PerryAlice McCallAlphavilleAmanda GarrettBaslerBassikeBettina LianoBird TextilesBodyBottega VenetaBrooke BensonBrunello CucinelliBurberryByron Yoga ClothingCarla ZampattiCashmere CoutureChanelCharlie Brownck Calvin KleinCoachCoachDiane von FurstenbergEmporio Armani SydneyFleur WoodGinger & SmartGucciGucci High Tea With Mrs WooHussyJac + JackJayson Brunsdon Kate SylvesterKirrily JohnstonKonstantina MittasKsubiKyotapLee MathewsLisa HoLittle Joe by Gail ElliotLonginesLouis VuittonManning Cartell Manning CartellMarnie SkillingsMiu MiuMyee CarlyleNatashaNerida WinterNicola FinettiNicola WaitePaul & JoePeelPradaPurl Harbour Saint Augustine AcademySalvatore FerragamoScanlan & Theodore Strand ArcadeScanlan & TheodoreShona JoySpell BoutiqueWheels & DollbabyWhite SuedeYoshi Jones


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Congratulations to Froma Harrop for eschewing anecdotal anti-pot "evidence" and arguing for marijuana legalization. With her May 28 Commentary ("Use marijuana legalization to fight heroin addiction"), she has demonstrated a thoughtful approach to this country's drug problems.
With hers and others' voices, perhaps someday our legislators will learn from past mistakes and attempt to solve these problems through education, enlightenment and innovation.
Ed Fatzinger
West Greenwich


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Technology has made it so that every person with a cell phone is now a "photographer". Of course there's also those those tens of thousands of wanna be photographers who flock to Best Buy to get the latest DSLR from Nikon or Canon and never use more than "automatic mode". While the people who actually know what they're doing have sites like photorankr that serve as market places for those photos, what about grandma Lilly's photos of the tomato garden?
Rest assured that if you're taking tomato garden photos or pictures of your best friend doing jello shots, there is a market place for those "social photographers". That place, is VZIBL.
The Milwaukee startup's founder Alexander Marasco, picked the name VZIBL as a sort of slang for "visible". "The idea of the company was to bring self awareness to your photographic content or become visible. VZIBL is just the 'visual you for sale'." he told us in an interview.
While sites like iStock are popular with folks sourcing photos from professional, semi-pro and even amateur photographers, VZIBL is the place for "social stock". "photographic content created by socially engaged photographers focusing on new digital tools and social networking technology. Instagram, GoPro, iPhoneography, Nikon D90…whatever your camera vice!" Marasco said.
Once a social photographer sets up an account and starts sharing photos using VZIBL it's up to him or her on whether or not they want to make money with their pictures. A photographers "social stock" can be accessible either royalty free, rights managed or exclusive rights, depending on both the photographer and the content.
Marasco is quick to point out what VZIBL gets out of the deal. Using the VZIBL app automatically assumes a 70/30 split in a sliding licensing agreement between the photographer and the platform. Naturally if you're going royalty free there's no split but a 30% revenue share isn't too far off the industry norm.
VIZIBL has gone through a pivot or two along the way. At first Marasco wanted to do create a photo thread app where people could communicate through photographs. What he found in talking to people about that idea, was that no market place really existed for this layer of photographers that's cropped up. There are probably more photographers in the "social photographer" category than any other.
While Marasco is getting ready to move east to Brooklyn New York, VZIBL was created in Milwaukee which like it's counterpart Madison, has a bit of a startup scene starting to form.
"Milwaukee is definitely creating some great 'Hackers' and with new incubators and Think Tanks now available, it seems to be consolidating minds and is launching some really interesting concepts to market." Marasco told us about his city known for it's beer.
The secret sauce in VIZIBL is creating photo-celebs according to Marasco " Publishing content has never been so easy…why not possess the ability to create future earnings from your original photography. We like to see ourselves as a visual ringtone. We want to make Photo-Celebs out of our users!"


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One of Kachemak Bay's finest Wilderness Lodges in Halibut Cove, Alaska,
Though we're from opposite sides of the Country, Kevin from Maine & Lucinda from Oregon - the Alaskan wilderness, its splendor and wildlife called to us both. We met at an Alaskan Lodge where we had jobs for the summer and were introduced to sharing Alaska's beauty with others. We have lived the Alaskan dream for 40 years and been married for 35. We've lived in the bush off the land and we built and managed a Brown Bear Photography guiding business on the wild Alaskan Peninsula in 1978. We have owned Llamas since 1982, using them for camping trips into the wilderness areas around Kachemak Bay and other wilderness areas on the Kenai Peninsula. We managed a small lodge on Alaska's coast line for six summers. For 20 years we have been raising oysters and selling two to three hundred dozen every week, year around. A relatively young industry for Alaska, we make our living oyster farming, selling our product to restaurants and other markets. We do all the planting, harvesting and maintenance of the farm together, sometimes employing an extra person Bowman and Jessica are life-long first generation Alaskan's. Jessica was born in Anchorage, and Bowman was born in a one room log cabin on Rabbit Creek Alaska. Bowman, as a newborn baby, was with his parents, Kevin and Lucinda, on the wild Alaskan peninsula where they managed a Brown Bear Photography Camp beginning in 1978.Bowman spent his child-hood growing up on the south side of Kachemak Bay, hiking and fishing and enjoying the outdoors. At an early age it was difficult to take Bowman into the wilderness because of his short legs. We solved that problem with the purchase of our first llamas. At four years old Bowman quickly learned to ride his favorite llama Conan and now we could go for extended family trips into the Kenai Mountain Range. Bowman was home schooled through the fifth grade, after which time he attended public school to play sports, returning to Halibut Cove in the summer. After high school he served four years in the Air Force, coming home to the Alaska he cherished. We first met Jess and her family when she was nine, as she helped her father build their cabin in Halibut Cove. Every summer Jess would come to Halibut Cove to help her father work on their cabin, and when she was in high school Kevin and Lucinda hired her to work on their oyster farm.
During her high school years, she traveled to many Native Alaskan villages on Mission trips. Her gift of service and love of people is a real asset at "The Ridgewood". Jess attended the University of Montana, Missoula. Our family seems to have an inherent fondness for Wilderness Lodges in Alaska, as Bowman & Jessie also fell in love while working at another Alaskan Lodge, were married at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood Alaska, and now reside full time in Halibut Cove helping run and manage Alaska's Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge, and the Sidelinger family oyster farm. Their young sons Talon & Chase are the newest additions to the Sidelinger Clan. As a final note, we don't 'don' our lodge owner caps when the first guests arrive, only to remove them when the last guests leave. You will find the Sidelinger's all year long, making improvements at "The Ridgewood." Our passion is Alaska, whether we are working on the family oyster farm, hiking, fishing, kayaking, photographing wildlife, growing our garden, or trekking with our llamas. We are enthusiastic in everything we do, and we can show you the Alaska we all love. |
In Halibut Cove, Adjacent Kachemak Bay State Park Kevin & Lucinda Sidelinger email@example.com PO Box 659 Homer, AK 99603 46514 Sidelinger Trail, Halibut Cove, AK 99603 907-296-2217 |
Site created & maintained byNet Alaska Web Services Homer, Alaska
© Alaska's Ridgewood Lodge, Halibut Cove, AK


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Tabernash Tavern Restaurant
Located in historic Downtown Tabernash, Colorado
In a warm and casual setting, Tabernash Tavern offers inspired creations from Chef Alberto, including an international mix of appetizers, entrees, soups and salads, and desserts. Several items on the menu change every month, so there's always something new to try!
2014 Winner – Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Tabernash Tavern opened in 2008, but is decorated in a vintage "Tabernash" style that harkens back to years gone by. Collections of beer cans, jumping skis from the Olympics, fishing memorabilia, and other eclectic items decorate the walls and ceilings of Tabernash Tavern.
Located in Tabernash, Colorado, Tabernash Tavern is just a 10-minute drive from Winter Park Ski Resort, and well worth the trip. Reservations are strongly recommended, (970) 726-4430.


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By now, whether here at RaptorBlog or somewhere else on the internet, you have probably stumbled across Chicago NBA writer Sam Smith's claim that "many people" believe Steve Nash will sign in Toronto for "three years" to "help bring their young players along."
Most of us think the claim is ludicrous in that "many people" never sounds very convincing and that if Nash leaves Phoenix, he would likely be leaving for the chance to compete for a championship before he retires, not to help a young team rebuild.
Then there's the fact that Nash is in Toronto right now to announce the great news that he will take over as General Manager of Canada Basketball, which gets me thinking that perhaps Mr. Smith or anyone feeding him "insider information" is simply basing the Raptors rumour/report on Nash being in Toronto, and in and around the Air Canada Centre in May.
Nonetheless, before Smith set the Raptors' (and Suns') blogosphere on fire with his report, Toronto had been rumoured as one of a handful or so of potential landing spots for Kid Canada. And it's been a scenario people have brought up in the comments section of RaptorBlog often enough this season.
While I still doubt Nash has the Raptors atop his list, I've maintained throughout the season that I do think Toronto has an outside chance at his services. You could also imagine that a full time job in Toronto/Canada and in the same organization as Bryan Colangelo, who according to Canada Basketball's website is on the program's Board, and Maurizio Gherardini, who was on Canada Basketball's Council of Excellence last time I checked, would be ideal for Nash if he is going to take on a prominent role within Canada Basketball.
Then there's the easy thinking that from a "Canada's Team" marketing opportunity, the acquisition would be one of the smartest business moves Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment can make.
But whatever the chances of Nash actually landing with the Raptors are, the real question to be asked is would he even be a good fit? Unfortunately, the answer to that question for many fans is as murky as the rumours of him coming here in the first place.
Nash turned 38 in February, is obviously past his prime, and isn't any better defensively at the point than Jose Calderon (he may even be worse considering Calderon's defensive improvements this season). Those traits don't sound like they would normally mesh with a young team that isn't even sniffing contention yet and is led by a defensive maestro in Dwane Casey.
Usually, when it comes to the Raptors' rebuild, I'm one of the most paranoid fans about taking the patient, careful approach and not doing anything to jeopardize said rebuild. I'm anti-veterans in most cases for the next couple of years, but in the case of Steve Nash, you can't convince me that signing him for a couple of years, maybe with a third year option, at a reasonable price for his age, would be a bad move. You just can't.
This isn't just a former All Star or some average vet who would be taking precious time and development away from the young core pieces. This is a first ballot Hall of Famer, a two-time MVP, one of the greatest players at his position the game has ever seen and a player that has made teammates better and maximized the talent of others more than any player we've seen in a generation. Not to mention, while he's past his MVP years, he's still one of the better point guards in the game, and you could easily argue that if the Suns had squeaked into the playoffs in the final week of April, Nash would have received some MVP votes somewere.
Nash had two 23-plus P.E.R. seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07, which stand as his most efficient campaigns to date. If you want a clear cut sign that he hasn't regressed as much as some believe, check his stats over the last few seasons. He's maintained a Player Efficiency Rating of 20.3 or higher in each of the last three years, and has only recorded a below average P.E.R. three times in his 16-year career.
But he's old, he's got a bad back and he's got to be brittle, you say? Again, check the numbers, where you'll see that Nash hasn't missed more than eight games in one season in 11 years. While it's safe to assume that Nash can't play 82 games next season, recent history suggests that with his work ethic and impeccable training, he should be able to give you 70-plus games barring an unlucky injury.
And about being possibly a worse defender than Jose Calderon, let's remember that Dwane Casey seems to have constructed a defensive scheme here (and an impressive one at that) that has already had to adapt to a defensively inept point guard.
We don't know whether the chances of the Raptors landing Nash are virtually non-existent, slim-to-none, or if Sam Smith is right and the Raptors are the front-runners. But I do know that unless Bryan Colangelo offers Nash a ridiculously long contract (he wouldn't) or offers Nash an insanely lucrative contract (I would hope he wouldn't), then I'm alright with the Raps being in on the sweepstakes. In fact, I support it.
Having a guy like Steve Nash around on a reasonable, short-term deal can only help the development of the Raptors' young building blocks, can only help the development of any young point guard that takes on the "point guard of the future" role in Toronto, and can only massively help the Raptors' reputation, both within their own country and around the NBA.
Some may see my support of this idea as short-sighted, but unless the possibility of acquiring Steve Nash takes away from the possibility of acquiring a younger superstar like Deron Williams (and there's no chance in hell of that happening), then I'd say you dismissing this as a bad idea is far worse than just being short-sighted, it's simply being blind.


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The Galveston Beach Hotel is an excellent retreat from the ordinary. We strive each and every day to offer our guests a worry free getaway that is great for young and old alike.
Located on Seawall Boulevard, Galveston Beach Hotel offers 97 guest rooms all facing the beach. The property offers beachfront balconies, a swim up pool bar, complimentary wifi, and breakfast served daily.


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The menopause
Reviewed by Dr Jeni Worden, GP
What is the menopause?
The menopause occurs on average at 51 years. |
The menopause, also called the change of life, is defined as the end of the last menstrual period.
In Western women, it occurs on average at 51 years. But there's a wide range of normal extending from your 30s to 60s.
What is the menopause like?
The menopause occurs when the ovaries no longer respond to the controlling hormones released by the pituitary gland of the brain. As a result, the ovaries fail to release an egg each month and to produce the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone.
It is the fall in the levels of these hormones in the bloodstream that gives rise to the symptoms of menopause.
Research into the menopause is relatively recent. One hundred years ago, when life expectancy was shorter, most women did not live long after the menopause and so little was known about it.
How does the menopause start?
Many women experience symptoms of the menopause and irregular periods for several years up to the menopause itself.
This is called the climacteric, or 'perimenopause', and represents the gradual decline in the normal function of the ovaries.
One of the common problems of the climacteric is that periods become erratic both in spacing and amount. Until the periods peter out altogether, heavy bleeding can cause plenty of problems.
Treatments for heavy bleeding are listed below.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are medicines, such as ibuprofen (eg Nurofen), that are used as painkillers and to lower a raised temperature.
They reduce the amount of blood lost in a period and help reduce pain. Mefenamic acid (eg Ponstan) is another painkiller used in the same way.
Tranexamic acid
Tranexamic acid (Cyklokapron) is a drug that encourages blood to clot on a bleeding surface, which can reduce heavy menstrual bleeding. It's only used for the heaviest three or four days of each period.
It's not suitable for women with a previous history of clots in the veins (thrombosis). Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea are the likeliest side-effects from this drug.
Progestogen tablets
Oral progestogen tablets will cut menstrual flow when given for long enough (21 days each cycle), as will the progestogen released from the Mirena intra-uterine system.
Mirena is currently the most effective non-surgical way of dealing with excessive vaginal bleeding.
There are other drug options that can be used by specialists, if necessary, but these can be accompanied by significant side-effects.
Heavy menstrual bleeding is the most common reason for having a hysterectomy. One in five women have had a hysterectomy before the age of 60.
Complete removal of the uterus is a relatively major operation. This means it is accompanied by risks such as those of an anaesthetic, of bleeding at operation, wound infection, vein clots post-operatively and so on.
However, these are risks that apply to any operation. In practice, hysterectomy is a successful and well-tolerated procedure.
Endometrial ablation
Lesser surgical procedures to treat heavy bleeding are now possible using fibre-optic instruments that can destroy the lining of the uterus (endometrial ablation).
This works because it is only the inner lining of the uterus that is hormone-sensitive and responsible for menstruation.
The procedure does not completely remove every piece of the uterine lining, and 30 to 90 per cent of women still get some menstrual bleeding afterwards, but usually it is light.
For the same reason, if you later take HRT after an endometrial ablation, you will still need to use a combined HRT preparation and not just oestrogen alone.
What is the menopause like?
Every woman experiences the menopause differently.
Many hardly notice 'the change', except perhaps their periods become irregular. Others suffer every symptom and find their lives are severely affected.
The transition into the menopause is usually gradual and is accompanied by a range of symptoms.
Hot flushes and sweating
The most common symptoms by far are 'hot flushes' and sweating attacks. These episodes can happen at any time, as often as several times an hour.
Each hot flush usually lasts for three to six minutes.
Exactly why flushes and sweats occur is not fully understood, but mostly it is because the automatic controls of the nervous system become erratic.
This triggers the skin blood vessels to open and signals the sweat glands to become active at any time. Usually, this would only happen if you were too hot and needed to lose heat.
Sleep disturbance
Sleeping difficulty can be due to problems falling asleep, restlessness or night-time sweats. Some women sweat heavily and have to get up to change the sheets several times a night.
Psychological changes
Depression, mood swings, tiredness or headaches are all possible symptoms. Forgetfulness or irritability can be distressing for both you and the rest of the family.
Physical changes
- During the menopause your skin becomes thinner.
- A lack of oestrogen often means the glands in the vagina don't produce as much lubrication as before and this may cause stinging around the vagina during sex.
- Some women don't feel like having sex, whereas others find their orgasms become less intense.
- The lack of oestrogen also affects the bladder and you may find you need to pass water more often.
- There is a gradual rise in the risk of heart disease and stroke after the menopause.
- Falling oestrogen levels result in unfavourable changes in cholesterol and fat levels in the blood, causing a predisposition to these problems.
In recent years there has been a lot of interest in osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) in connection with the menopause.
Oestrogen normally stimulates the bone-building cells.
As a result of the drop in oestrogen, women tend to lose bone mass and strength for several years following the menopause. Ultimately, this can make the bones more likely to collapse or fracture.
What can make the menopause easier?
Medical treatment is available for women who are troubled by symptoms of the menopause.
Hormone replacement therapy
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) alleviates the symptoms of the menopause by adjusting hormone levels.
It involves receiving a small daily dose of oestrogen. Women who have not had a hysterectomy are also given a progesterone-like drug as part of the HRT. This is called combined HRT.
Combined HRT can be described as either sequential or continuous.
Sequential combined HRT is suitable for women who are perimenopausal, ie still experiencing erratic menstrual bleeding. Most preparations are designed to mimic the menstrual cycle and result in monthly periods. They are based around a 28-day cycle in which oestrogen is taken every day and a progesterone is added for the last 12 to 14 days of the cycle.
For women who are borderline postmenopausal and have very infrequent bleeds, there's also a sequential preparation available that results in three-monthly bleeds.
Once a woman has not had a natural period for a year and is described as postmenopausal, continuous combined HRT is more suitable. This form of HRT does not produce periods and involves taking a daily dose of oestrogen and progesterone.
How is HRT taken?
There are many ways of taking HRT, with the most usual being a daily tablet. Alternatives include skin patches, a small pellet or implant under the skin, a gel applied daily to the skin, a ring inserted into the vagina, or a nasal spray.
What are the side-effects of HRT?
The majority of women have no side-effects, but the following are fairly common:
- nausea
- breast tenderness
- weight gain
- fluid retention.
These symptoms often settle after the first few months of treatment. If they don't, it's worth consulting your doctor or gynaecologist to adjust the medication.
How effective is HRT?
HRT is effective at relieving hot flushes and vaginal dryness and many women report an improvement in their general sense of wellbeing.
However, HRT is not a magic fix and if disturbed mood or behaviour is due to underlying problems at home or work, HRT cannot be expected to improve matters.
HRT is often taken for a short spell of six months to a year to relieve hot flushes.
The long-term benefits of HRT have recently been brought into question.
Previously it was thought that HRT prevented heart disease and strokes by slowing the development of hardening of the arteries. Several major research studies reported in 2002 and 2003 have shown this is not so.
The possibility that HRT users are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease is still to be confirmed, but it does seem that HRT offers some protection against developing bowel cancer.
The most important result of these research studies has been the confirmation that HRT increases the risk of developing breast cancer and endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the womb).
The risks with HRT
To put into perspective the magnitude of these risks, it helps to put together some figures.
For purposes of comparison, the risks are stated as the number of people affected per 10,000 women-years of observation. This can mean one thousand women observed over 10 years or five thousand women over two years, etc.
The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study showed the following risks.
Sequential HRT
Some evidence suggests sequential HRT is associated with a slightly higher risk of endometrial cancer.
Sequential HRT is the sort associated with a monthly or three-monthly bleed.
It is recommended for use in the climacteric phase.
Ideally, all women on long-term HRT should move to a continuous type within a year or two of starting HRT.
- Breast cancer: the risk of developing breast cancer in women not taking HRT (on placebo) was 30 per 10,000 women-years. On HRT the risk was 38 per 10,000 women-years.
- Heart disease: women not taking HRT had 30 cases of heart disease per 10,000 women-years. Women on HRT had 37 cases per 10,000 women-years.
- Stroke: on placebo the risk was 21 per 10,000. On HRT the risk was 29 per 10,000.
- Clots in the veins (venous thrombosis): on placebo the risk was 16 per 10,000. On HRT the risk was 34 per 10,000. Researchers included those clots that moved from the leg veins up into the lungs, which are the most dangerous type, as well as those that stayed within the leg veins.
- Endometrial cancer: it is difficult to put an exact figure on this, but long-term oestrogen-only HRT does increase the risk of abnormal growth of the lining of the womb (endometrium) and endometrial cancer. Using combined HRT reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk Evidence suggests that sequential combined HRT may still be associated with slightly increased risk of endometrial cancer, however no increased risk has been found with continuous combined HRT.
Breast disease and HRT
HRT has been known for years to increase the risk of breast cancer. The risk increases with the length of time HRT is used and becomes detectable after about one to two years of treatment.
The risk falls once HRT is stopped, and takes about five years to drop back to the average in the population.
The Million Women study showed combined HRT had a higher risk of breast cancer than oestrogen-only HRT. The study found that:
- in women aged 50 who do not use HRT, about 32 in every 1000 will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the time they reach the age of 65
- in women who start oestrogen-only HRT at age 50 and use it for five years, about 33 to 34 in every 1000 will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 65
- in women who start combined HRT at age 50 and use it for five years, the figure would be 38 in every 1000
- for those who start oestrogen-only HRT at age 50 and use it for 10 years, breast cancer will be diagnosed in 37 in every 1000 by the age of 65
- in those who start combined HRT at age 50 and use it for 10 years, the figure increases to 51 in every 1000.
The best evidence available at present tells us that breast cancers that occur in women taking HRT are smaller, less advanced and of a more treatable type than breast cancers occurring in women not taking HRT.
This accounts for the fact that despite the increased numbers of cancers arising due to HRT, the actual mortality of women from breast cancer is the same in the HRT and non-HRT populations.
However, experts now feel the balance of risk has swung against HRT given for longer than five years.
It's recommended that HRT is only used as a short-term treatment to relieve menopausal symptoms and that treatment is reviewed at least annually.
Any woman considering HRT should discuss the risks and benefits for her individual circumstances with her doctor before making a decision about treatment.
Other breast problems related to HRT
Women in the pre-menopause who take HRT often get breast pain and benign breast lumps, including cysts (fluid-filled lumps).
HRT may cause benign breast lumps that are already present to get bigger.
In the UK, as well as relying on women to check their breasts and report changes to their GP, there is also a national screening service that offers periodic mammograms to women over 50.
HRT is known to increase the density of breast tissue, which makes it harder for the X-rays used in mammography to penetrate the breast. It is therefore of concern that HRT can make it more difficult to detect breast cancer by mammography.
However, HRT is not the only type of medicine that can be used to relieve menopausal symptoms.
Other treatments for the menopause
Tibolone (Livial) is a synthetic steroid hormone that has some oestrogen plus some progesterone effects (and has some testosterone-like effects, too).
In a way it's a type of combined continuous HRT in a single tablet, which is largely how it's used.
It helps flushings and sweats, vaginal dryness and irritation and also protects against osteoporosis. It possibly improves libido.
The benefits of tibolone include much less breast tenderness and little effect on breast tissue density in mammograms density. However, the Million Women study showed that tibolone is associated with a slightly increased risk of breast cancer, of around the same level as that associated with oestrogen-only HRT.
Clonidine is a drug originally developed for use as a blood pressure lowering treatment, but at smaller doses (Dixarit) it can relieve hot flushes.
Oestrogen creams and pessaries
Vaginal dryness can be relieved by short courses of oestrogen creams or pessaries that are inserted into the vagina.
There is also a special vaginal ring containing oestrogen that can be left in the vagina for three months, where it slowly releases oestrogen into the vaginal tissues.
Complementary medicine
A range of 'complementary' medical treatments are also widely in use to relieve menopausal symptoms.
Although the scientific evidence in favour of complementary medicine is not as good as for conventional treatments, they are generally safe to try.
Black cohosh is the best known of the complementary treatments. It has its origins among North American Indians, where it has been used as a traditional folk remedy for a range of gynaecological problems for hundreds of years.
Liver damage may occur in some people taking black cohosh – although liver injury is rare it could be serious. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have said that all products containing black cohosh should carry a warning.
A natural process
There has been a tendency to think of the menopause as an illness or a health hazard, which is the wrong way to look at it. It's a phase of life and we have to live with it.
The hand of woman (or man) has little influence on the processes of nature, and the menopause is a changing scene in the world of medicine. There are many unanswered questions - a lot of the problems we thought we had some answers to have turned out not to be so clear cut.
The big health issues that face older women in the UK today are mainly to do with cardiovascular diseases, being overweight, developing diabetes and having poor mental health. It's the same list for men.
We know the things that need attention across the population to help these problems:
- the low levels of exercise most of us take
- our excessive intake of high-calorie foods, salt and alcohol
- hypertension (high blood pressure)
- cholesterol levels.
These are actually bigger threats than cancer to the majority of people, and all of them can be improved by actions we can take ourselves.
Are there steps I can take to make the menopause easier?
It's perhaps taking it a bit far to say that with the right attitude the menopause can be made into a joyous part of your life. However, the same actions that make life better generally will make the menopause better, too.
- Regular exercise, such as walking for 20 to 30 minutes three or four times a week, can improve your health and add years to your life. Exercise strengthens your bones, increases wellbeing and can help make sleeping easier.
- Eating the right food is also important. For healthy bones, the body needs about 1500mg of calcium each day from dairy products, such as milk products and cheese.
- Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables provides the necessary minerals and vitamins for good general health and also helps to protect against cancer and heart disease.
- There's some evidence that soy flour (or other foods rich in so-called 'plant oestrogen') can reduce menopausal flushings.
- Smoking is never good for your health. Stopping smoking is the biggest single move anyone can make to improve their health, whatever their age.
- Watching your weight. Overweight or obese women have more problems with the menopause, so keeping the biscuits at bay really will help.
Writing group for the WHI study. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women. Principal results from the women's health initiative randomised controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288:321-333 http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/288/3/321.
Dixon JM. Hormone replacement therapy and the breast. British Medical Journal 2001; 323: 1381-1382 http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7326/1381.
Beral V, et al. Breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy in the Million Women Study. Lancet 2003; 362: 419-427.
HRT: Update on the risk of breast cancer and long term safety; MHRA Current problems in pharmacovigilance, Volume 29 Sept 2003. Tanna N. Hormone replacement therapy: risks and benefits. Pharmaceutical Journal 2003; 271: 646-648.
Based on a text by Niels Lund, specialist gynaecology and obstetrics, Charlotte Floridon, MD, PhD, gynaecology and obstetrics and Christel Bech, nurse
Last updated 03.12.2010


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ATLANTA — It was the inflection in Vince Wilfork's voice that made what he was saying unusual.
The Patriots co-captain was holding his weekly meeting with reporters and, as usual, going into considerable detail about the challenge the Patriots will face Sunday night against the Falcons.
As he does every week, Wilfork was praising the opponent, insisting that the game would be a tough one. But this time, the emotion in his voice shifted in mid-sentence.
"It's going to be rocking," Wilfork said of the Georgia Dome. "It's going to be a challenge for us to go on the road and play a really good football team. Receivers, tight ends, offensive line, everywhere you look they have weapons. … It's going to be a big challenge for us."
The change came when he got to the part about playing a really good football team. The tone made those words special. There was emphasis on the "really good football team." It was as if he was telling everyone that yes, he and his teammates know what is happening this week. They know it is meaningful.
The Patriots are 3-0, but they have almost had to apologize for it because their opponents have been weak. The players have done all they could to convince everyone that they do not care about who they have beaten. The only thing that matters to them is that they have won every game.
"We're 3-0. There's nothing more we could do," Devin McCourty pointed out.
With his words, though, Wilfork seemed to be acknowledging that the Patriots understand what everyone has been talking about. They might not like it, but they understand. Never mind the 1-2 record; Atlanta is truly a huge test, a measuring stick for any team, especially in the Georgia Dome. The Falcons have won 12 of their last 13 home games. Quarterback Matt Ryan is 34-5 in his career in the dome, the best home record of any quarterback in the NFC. For one of the rare times in recent seasons, the Patriots will enter as slight underdogs.
The two quarterbacks involved, Tom Brady and Ryan, have the best overall records of any quarterback in the league with at least 50 games. Brady is 139-39 (.781), the first quarterback to get 100 games over .500. Ryan is second at 57-24, a .704 winning percentage. Both teams advanced to the conference championship games last season.
"It's going to be a challenge for our defense; it's a challenge for our offense," is the way Brady described the assignment. "I think we have to play our best game, there's no doubt about it. You can't (go three-and-out). If you (repeat) what happened last week with us, (when) we had three three-and-outs to start the game, it could be 21-0. That's the way (the Falcons) play. We have to be able to start fast. We have to put points on the board. We have to get people in the end zone. Obviously the critical plays like turnovers, critical third downs, scoring opportunities in the red area are all going to be crucial to winning the game."
In some ways, the Falcons could be called the Patriots of the NFC. In a conference where the best teams recently — San Francisco, Seattle and the Giants — have been defensively oriented, Atlanta more often than not has won by outscoring opponents. The Falcons have a great passing attack with Ryan at the controls, Tony Gonzalez back at tight end and Roddy White and Julio Jones outside. There is no chance the Falcons will be less than totally focused. They have not lost two consecutive games since late in the 2009 season. A loss would mean having as many defeats as the team had all last season.
Coach Mike Smith is trying not to let his team get too high.
"Well, this is the most important game for us because it is the next one," he said. "You're guaranteed 16 opportunities and you want to make the best out of each opportunity. I think everybody in this league has that same mindset where the next game is the most important one."
"Absolutely not," he responded when asked if the 1-2 start his team has had makes this one more important. "You can't concern yourself with anything but this game, and that is the mindset that we take each and every week. We've doing it that way since we've been here, and we will continue to do it that way."
Altanta will be without Steven Jackson, the former Ram who was brought in this year. Jackson is out with a hamstring problem. That just makes it more likely that the Falcons will fill the air with Ryan throwing to Jones, White and Gonzalez. The Patriots certainly expect it.
"You know they want to throw the ball. I'm defending the run on the way to the quarterback," defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. "These guys want to throw the ball. They want to make big plays. They want to get the ball in Julio (Jones) and Roddy White's hands.
"I'm putting all my eggs in that basket," Kelly said.
Chandler Jones agrees that the Pats cannot afford to let Ryan sit back and pick them apart.
"He's a good quarterback," Jones said. "You don't want him sitting back there without any pressure and just having seven on seven. You want to go back there and move him off the spot a little bit."
Ryan likes having both Jones and White.
"I think both those guys are dynamic players, and both at different times have carried our football team," he said. "Depending on how teams choose to match up against us, one of those guys usually finds single coverage, and we feel like with those guys that we match up well week in and week out when they face single coverage.
"Roddy has been around doing it for a long time, a perennial Pro Bowler and one of the better players in the league, certainly one of the best receivers in the league, and Julio I think is a guy that's coming into his own as a player," Ryan said. "He's playing at an extremely high level, incredibly gifted physically, certainly plays the ball really well, has a knack for making big plays, so I'm lucky to have both of those guys around me."


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Am Rhein mit der Ae-1
Ich habe das erste Mal einen Fuji Sensia 100 getestet und muss sagen, dass ich sehr von den Farben fasziniert bin
This photo was shot on film. Taken by aalus with a Canon AE-1 loaded with Fuji Velvia film (available in our Online Shop) in Duisburg-Homberg, Germany. These tags describe this photo: homberg, rhein, fuji, velvia, duisburg, and x-pro. Date: 2012-01. Time: Noon. This photo can also be found in the album Am Rhein mit der Ae-1.Please login to get more out of this site
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Abbott dumps Joyce for Andrew Robb
PUBLISHED: 25 Mar 2010 17:18:58 | UPDATED: 26 Mar 2010 05:02:18PRINT EDITION: 25 Mar 2010
Andrew Robb has taken Barnaby Joyce's place as the federal Opposition's finance spokesman Photo: Glen McCurtayne
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has dumped Barnaby Joyce from the finance portfolio, putting Andrew Robb into the job instead.
Just hours after saying Senator Joyce had been doing a good job, Mr Abbott announced a snap news conference this afternoon, fuelling speculation about the nature of his reshuffle.
The reshuffle was needed because of the resignation of Nick Minchin on Wednesday.
Senator Joyce will take over the portfolio of regional development, infrastructure and water and will continue as the leader of the Nationals in the Senate.
Ian Macfarlane has been made energy and resources spokesman.
Mr Robb, who has been in the ministry without a portfolio after a period of sick leave last year, will take on finance, while remaining chairman of the coalition's policy development committee.
"I welcome Andrew back to the frontbench team," Mr Abbott said.
Nationals leader Warren Truss will have responsibility for trade, transport and local government.
Mr Abbott said the changes would consolidate the coalition's good work in holding the Rudd government to account for its broken promises, waste and mismanagement.
"I also look forward to working with the coalition team as we continue to outline our direct action plans for Australia's future," he said.
Mr Robb played a key role in events that saw the eventual downfall of former leader Malcolm Turnbull.
His change of position on whether the coalition should support a deal with Labor on climate change in many ways marked the beginning of the end for Mr Turnbull.
Mr Joyce told reporters after making a speech in Perth "of course Tony and I discuss all these things".
"There is no animosity and they were completely civil and straightforward discussions," he said.
"Nobody has asked anyone to resign or do anything else. I didn't volunteer my resignation."
Mr Abbott was the leader of the coalition, Mr Joyce said.
"I obviously have the greatest respect for Tony and this I'm sure is going to be an amazing statement for today," he said.
"This is an interesting time," Senator Joyce said during his speech. "You've obviously heard the conjecture surrounding the position of (shadow) finance minister and I acknowledge that.
"Although my style mightn't be the appropriate style that people in Canberra may wish for, I never have any problems really laying down that the substance and expertise of the role I'm in is actually suited to what my life is."
After delivering his speech, Senator Joyce left before news came through of his dumping.
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People | Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Andrew Robb |
Topics | Politics |


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This annual lecture honors Donna J. Brogan, an outstanding former faculty member and chair in the Department of Biostatistics of the Rollins School of Public Health, and is made possible in large part by the generous support of Donna and her colleagues and friends. Dr. Brogan has been Professor Emerita since her retirement from Emory in 2004. |
2014 Donna J. Brogan Lecture
April 16, 2014 at 4:00-5:00 pm, reception following
Lawrence P. and Ann Estes Klamon Room (8th Floor), Claudia Nance Rollins Building
Dr. Kathryn Roeder is the 2014 Brogan Lecturer and will present "Statistics and Genetics Open a Window into Autism" in the Rollins School of Public Health. The abstract of Dr. Roeder's talk is here.
Dr. Roeder is Professor of Statistics and Computational Biology at the Lane Center for Computational Biology at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Roeder received her BS in Wildlife Resources from University of Idaho and her Ph.D. in Statistics from Pennsylvania State University. Immediately securing an Assistant Professorship at Yale University, her career path then took her to Carnegie Mellon University in 1994. In her early work, she played a pivotal role developing the foundations of DNA forensic inference. Her current work focuses on statistical genomics and the genetic basis of complex disease with an emphasis on autism. Dr. Roeder is an elected Member of the International Statistical Institute ('95), a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics ('97), and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association ('97). The Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) has twice honored her with the Presidents' Award ('97) & the Snedecor Award ('97). She received the Janet L. Norwood Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Statistical Sciences in 2013. A snapshot of activities over her career includes board positions with the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, advisor to both the FBI & NRC/NAS on DNA forensics, and numerous editorial positions in prominent journals.
Location: Lawrence P. & Ann Estes Klamon Room, #8030 on 8th floor, Claudia Nance Rollins Building, Rollins School of Public Health, 1518 Clifton Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30322. Visitor parking is available in the Michael Street Visitors Lot (behind Grace Crum Rollins Bldg., 2nd deck entrance) or at the 1525 Clifton Road Visitor pay parking deck (building directly across the street from Grace Crum Rollins Building).
Questions: Bob Waggoner, firstname.lastname@example.com
History of the Donna J. Brogan Lecture in Biostatistics
The Donna J. Brogan Lecture in Biostatistics was established in late 2004 by the Biostatistics Department of the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University to honor the outstanding career of Dr. Donna Jean Brogan, a biostatistics/statistics faculty member at Emory for 34 years. Emory recognized Dr. Brogan's inspiring career with a gala retirement celebration in 2004. Her colleagues, friends and family members marked this occasion with gifts to support what would become the annual Donna J. Brogan Lecture in Biostatistics. These lectures, always in April, may be related to Dr. Brogan's research interests in sample surveys, breast cancer epidemiology and statistical education. Since the inception of the lectures in 2006, preeminent scholars and lecturers in biostatistics have visited Emory to deliver the lecture in honor of Dr. Brogan.
In 2010, Dr. Brogan made a significant contribution to establish an endowment fund that will provide funding continuity for the lecture. Her endowment, combined with generous gifts from colleagues and friends, makes possible one of only two named lectures at the Rollins School of Public Health. If you wish to contribute to the endowment fund for this lecture, click here. Please choose Rollins School of Public Health for "Select Direction" and Donna J. Brogan Lecture in Biostatistics for "Select Fund".
Previous Years' Lectures:
- 2013: "The Prevention and Treatment of Missing data in Clinical Trials"
by Dr. Roderick Little - 2012: "AIDS: Statistical Science and Public Health"
by Dr. Ron Brookmeyer, Ph.D. - 2011: "What is Quality? Government Statistics and the Larger Social Science World"
by Dr. Robert Groves, Ph.D. - 2010: "Statistical Issues in Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment"
by Donald A Berry, Ph.D. - 2009: "Statistical Issues and Challenges in Analyzing High-throughput "Omics" Data"
by Xihong Lin, Ph.D. - 2008: "Tests of Gene-Environment Interaction: Family Based Designs and Analysis"
by Nan M. Laird, Ph.D. - 2007: "Absolute Risk: Clinical Applications and Controversies"
by Mitchell H. Gail, M.D., Ph.D. - 2006: "Costs of Smoking in the United States: Disease, Death, Dollars"
by Scott Zeger, Ph.D.


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Backhand Shelf will be running a daily recap of the major stories and events during the World Junior Championship thanks to our man on the ground in Alberta, Jonathan Willis. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Low-Ranked Teams Crush Lower-Ranked Teams
Both component states of former Czechoslovakia were in action, and both faced off against the two teams most likely to be headed for relegation. And while there's a clear gap between the talent between the big teams in this tournament and the more middle of the pack entries, that same gap exists between the teams at the bottom and the teams in the middle.
The Czech Republic crushed Denmark, while Slovakia walked away with a less impressive score thanks to a heroic performance from Latvia's goalie. Notes from both games are included, along with some comments from Canada's practice and media availability a little earlier in the day.
Czech Republic 7, Demark 0
A terrifyingly mismatched affair that saw a fresh Czech squad dominate a tired Danish team in all aspects of the game. The shots were 20-2 at one point, and the Czech's outmuscled, outhustled, and simply looked like they were in an entirely different tier than the Danes. When people talk about imbalances at the World Juniors, this is precisely the sort of game they have in mind, and it's a good reminder that the gap between the teams at the bottom of the tournament standings can be quite significant.
Nothing, for me, quite captured the essence of the game as a look at the rink midway through the second period. With half of the frame expired, the Danish end was completely covered with shavings from where skates had carved into the ice. The Czech zone, in contrast, gleamed as freshly as if it the Zamboni had just pulled off the rink.
It wasn't just a matter of controlling the position of the play or the possession of the puck, either, though the Czechs did both. There was also the matter of physical play, where for the most part the Czechs simply ran the Danes around. The Danish team played with spirit, and they didn't back down, but for the most part they simply couldn't compete with the Czechs physically any more than they could on the scoreboard.
Slovakia 3, Latvia 1
An undisciplined Slovakian squad took six penalties – and offered up a full, two-minute long 5-on-3 power play to their Latvian opposition – but in the end it really didn't matter. On the Slovak's top three forward lines and first two defense pairings, no player finished with less than at least two shots. Marek Tverdon, who led the team with seven shots, scored one goal and Tomas Jurco scored another to give the team a 2-1 lead. While Latvian goalie Kristers Gudlevskis stopped 43 others the Slovakians would also add an empty-netter.
Around the Rink
The loss of Smith-Pelly for the remainder of the tournament was the hot topic after Canada's practice on Tuesday, and many of the players opined that the team would be playing the remainder of the tournament for him. Smith-Pelly, when asked the sort of thing he'd say to encourage the team (he'll stay with them for the rest of the tournament despite being injured), was clear: "I don't have to say anything. They all know what's at stake here."
- With Smith-Pelley gone, Canada's lines saw some minor tweaking. Brett Connolly stepped up from the fourth line to fill Devante-Pelly's spot alongside Quinton Howden and Tanner Pearson went from 13th forward to a regular spot on the fourth line. Asked about the elevation of Pearson, Canadian coach Don Hay suggested that the "13th forward" designation tended to be a little overblown and that the lineup was a fluid thing. "You have to understand that with this tournament, roles change, because of the pressure of the tournament," Hay said, "Some people can handle the pressure, and some people can't. When you can't handle the pressure, you move down very quickly. When you show you can handle it, you move up very quickly."
- Once again, Hay was asked about Freddie Hamilton, and once again made no secret about his admiration for Canada's primary defensive forward. ""I really love Freddie Hamilton. Coachable young man, because he's so intelligent. We asked him last night to do a good job against Granlund, no problem. He did exactly what we told him to – he won faceoffs, was on the defensive side of the puck, and created offense. He's the kind of player that coaches really enjoy coaching, because he doesn't question why you're doing things, or how you're doing things, he just goes out and does what's best for the team. I think he gives up a lot from his individual play, because I think he can play a high role. To me, the role he played last night is one of the most important on the team. It doesn't just mean scoring goals to be a good player." It's worth noting that Hamilton's a pretty successful scorer back in junior, which ties into the coach's point about sacrificing personal offense for the good of the team.
- I got a chance to ask Brendan Gallagher about what it meant to the team to have Visentin play so well in the game against Finland, given the pressure and attention on him in the tournament. "We know there's a lot of pressure on him. In our locker room we don't worry about Visser at all; we know what he's going to bring every game, that's not a worry of ours at all. We know what he's going to do."
- As for Visentin, it was interesting to hear him explain how he approaches playing in different games. "You know, to be honest I don't change my approach to any game. We're all here because we're good at playing hockey, so I'm just going to go out there and play the best I can." In other words, he tries not to overthink things: regardless of the situation, all he can do is all he can do.
- One of the areas the Czechs feel they can compete with Canada is in net. Petr Mrazek was left off the team last year (as assistant coach Jiri Fischer put it: "This is first time in the tournament; politics for some reason kept him out of the tournament last year") but the Detroit prospect is highly regarded. According to fellow Czech Radek Faksa, a regular opponent of Mrazek in the OHL, he's "maybe the best goalie in the Ontario Hockey League." Mrazek hasn't gotten the attention that the goalies of other top countries have, but asked if his abilities weren't being properly recognized at the tournament Fischer was succinct: "We know the strength of Petr and whatever everybody else thinks that's their decision."
- One could have been forgiven for thinking that Fischer had been behind the bench of a losing team; while his charges were boisterous (their dressing room erupted with cheers and chants after the game) he was level-headed and decidedly critical of his team's game. He didn't like the penalties they took, he didn't like some of the hits guys didn't see coming, he didn't like their tendency to miss shots from the blue line… there was absolutely no trace of overconfidence, just a grim determination that his team would be better still when facing Canada. Asked about his team's game plan against the favourites, Fischer said in part, "We have to play very structured, even better details than we had today… we took some penalties. Putting Canada on the power play is definitely not going to be a smart idea tomorrow, so we need to be even a little better prepared than we were today."
- Radek Faksa, mentioned earlier, is a top prospect for this year's NHL Draft. He's been climbing steadily in most draft rankings month-to-month and has 16 goals and 17 assists in 31 games for Kingston. Red Line Report ranked him as the 26th-best prospect for the 2012 Draft in their December bulletin. Faksa's favourite NHL team is the Edmonton Oilers and he'd love it if they selected him, but in the end he said, "Really it doesn't matter to me. I'm excited for draft, and hope that I will go very high."
- On the Danish side of things, the reaction was mixed. Sebastien Feuk, who had valiantly tried to keep his team in the game, was clearly dispirited following the loss; his first words to the media were, "I don't have much to say right now," and when asked if he'd felt like he had to hold the team in a lopsided game said simply, "I have to. I'm the goalie." Canucks' prospect (and Denmark's top player) Nicklas Jensen was less crushed; disappointed but realistic, while head coach Todd Bjorkstrand was visibly angry at his team's performance.
- Bjorkstrand, asked about his team's game plan against Canada, chuckled slightly in disbelief before saying, "That's going to be, uhh… yeah. We'll take a look at a little bit of the tape, and we'll practice tomorrow. Obviously we're going to have to be very well prepared and come with the right intensity and the right attitude to play against a team like Canada."
- More Bjorkstrand: "We're here in Canada, playing in the World Championships. [The effort level] should be there every night, every shift in my opinion. It should be a given."
- Niklas Jensen went on at some length about the Danish special teams, the importance of avoiding relegation, and the new wave of young Danish players making their mark at the NHL level. He also talked about his OHL teammate, Boone Jenner, now playing for Canada: "He is my linemate back home, and a really great guy, but obviously when he's out there I want to hit the guy really hard."


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Lenovo, Intel launch K800 phone sporting 4.5-inch display
As expected, Lenovo and Intel jointly announced the K800 smartphone today in China -- the second phone powered by Intel silicon to hit the market.
In addition to the 1.6GHz Atom processor, the K800 boasts a 4.5-inch 720x1,280 IPS display, 1.3MP/8MP front-rear cameras, Intel wireless display technology for steaming video to a compatible HDTV, and an Android 2.3.7-based operating system.
The K800 will run on China Unicom's network. The phone supports HSPA+.
Lenovo follows the first Intel phone, the Lava Xolo 900 launched in India last month.
Smartphones running on Intel processors … Read more


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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Housing Development Corporation (HDC) President Emily A. Youssouf and HDC Board Chairman Shaun Donovan today announced that in 2006 HDC will provide $1.8 billion to finance the construction or preservation of more than 9,000 affordable apartments. This is the largest volume of financing and the greatest number of apartments built or preserved in one year since the corporation was chartered 35 years ago. HDC functions like a private mortgage bank for affordable housing in New York City. Its operations are self-financing, and it does not use any tax levy dollars.
"Private market initiatives can serve the public good," said Mayor Bloomberg. "HDC, which serves only New York City, this year has issued more bonds for affordable apartment buildings than any other city or state agency in the nation. It has been a banner year for HDC, and as a result we are continuing to make record levels of investments in the future of all five boroughs."
"I am proud to say that all our hard work creating new programs and restructuring old ones has given us another record year," said HDC President Youssouf. "These programs are attracting private capital, and private developers, into affordable housing at a rate never seen before in New York City. The 25,500 apartments that we have financed under theNew Housing Marketplace Plan are the very real results of this innovation."
"HDC can celebrate another great year helping to create and preserve affordable homes for thousands of New Yorkers," said HDC Board Chairman and Housing and Preservation Development (HPD) Commissioner Shaun Donovan. "The Mayor's New Housing Marketplace Plan is the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the nation's history and we are ahead of target with almost 49,000 units financed so far. Conventional wisdom says that you can't build affordable housing in a strong market, but New York City is saying the opposite. The Mayor's Plan actually harnesses the strength of our booming housing market to build affordable housing and HDC's innovative financing is a sterling example of how we are doing that."
The financing provided by HDC is in the form of low-cost mortgages made by pooling the proceeds of the sale of tax-exempt and taxable bonds with money lent from its corporate reserves. These mortgages are provided to developers for the construction and preservation of affordable housing. HDC programs are designed for multi-family rental housing and cooperative developments and serve a wide range of income segments, from very-low to middle-income tenants.
HDC's final board meeting for 2006 was held today. The Corporation agreed to provide up to $550 million in financing to build or preserve more than 2,000 affordable apartments across all five boroughs. These approvals bring the total investment HDC will make in housing this year to $1.8 billion, which includes $1.7 billion in bond proceeds and more than $92 million in low-interest loans from HDC's corporate reserves.
Some of the developments represented in today's approvals include:
The Bronx
HDC today agreed to provide at least $71.5 million in financing for buildings in the Bronx that will be reserved for households earning no more than $42,540 annually for a family of four, including these four buildings:
Today, HDC approved $22 million for financing of two buildings in Brooklyn:
Developments from the Lower East Side to East Harlem were approved today as HDC agreed to provide at least $172 million for affordable housing in Manhattan, including:
HDC today approved at least $49 million in financing for three buildings in Queens containing 484 apartments. Specifically:
Staten Island
HDC approved $25 million in financing today for the redevelopment of the Markham Gardens public housing project on the island's north shore into a privately-owned mixed-income neighborhood with 23 three-story buildings containing a total of 240 apartments.


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'Scary Movie 5' Trailer Continues the Downward Trajectory of the Spoof Genre
Movie News By Nathan Adams on December 24, 2012 | Comments (3)Movies that spoof a bunch of other movies that already exist became really popular in the late '90s. So popular that we're creeping up on 2013 and people are still putting them out, even though none of them have been remotely watchable for as long as anyone can remember. Why won't the studios stop punishing us with these painfully lazy, painfully unfunny pseudo-movies? Because far be it from those greed vampires in Hollywood to leave the corpse of any genre alone until they've drained it completely dry of every last possible dollar. That being said… MTV has posted a new trailer for Scary Movie 5! Despite the current state of the spoof genre, we shouldn't have any fear about this one, right? Because this isn't one of those lousy Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer movies that are so lazy they don't even bother to write jokes—Scary Movie 5 was written by spoof veterans David Zucker and Pat Proft, who have credits on things like Kentucky Fried Movie, The Naked Gun, and Hot Shots, so it should probably at least be decent, shouldn't it? Well, not from the looks of the trailer.
'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' Trailer: Now You See It
Movie News By Nathan Adams on December 21, 2012 | Be the First To CommentIf there's anything that The Incredible Burt Wonderstone has going for it that makes it look really exciting, it's that it offers us up the opportunity to watch Jim Carrey getting completely off the wall with character work for the first time in forever. In recent years we've seen his attempts to do dramatic work, we've seen his attempts to star in corporate, family films, but none of these efforts have been able to touch the manic energy of his first few projects—the goofy shit like Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber that people fell in love with, and that made him a star. From the looks of this trailer for Burt Wonderstone, it seems like his work as a douchey, Criss Angel lookalike here might be the first taste of classic Jim Carrey we've gotten in a long time.
Second 'Identity Thief' Trailer Features Even More Attempted Vehicular Homicide
Movie News By Nathan Adams on December 18, 2012 | Comments (2)Given the fact that Identity Thief stars Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, it wasn't all that much of a surprise that its first trailer was full of laughs. But what kind of came out of nowhere was how many cars got crashed in it and how much serious physical trauma Bateman and McCarthy endured during just two minutes of footage. It got to the point where it started to look like they were starring in an action movie. The second trailer that just got released for the film doesn't do anything to contradict that notion either. As a matter of fact, it gives us another scene where McCarthy gets hit by a car, and one where she gets her head smacked against a passenger seat window; and that's in addition to the part where Bateman hits her with an acoustic guitar. Is it possible that this year's rekindling of the Three Stooges franchise was so inspiring to people that it's going to usher in a full-on slapstick revival in comedy?
Kevin Smith Announces Plans to Go Back to the Quick Stop For 'Clerks III'
In Development By Nathan Adams on December 7, 2012 | Comments (5)Director of film and builder of podcast empires Kevin Smith has been talking about his retirement as a movie man for quite a while now. The plan, until very recently, has been for him to go out with a film called Hit Somebody, an epic in scope hockey movie that follows a sports career from its beginning in the '50s all the way through to its end in the '80s. What wasn't quite clear was exactly what form Hit Somebody was going to take. At first it was thought to be one film, then it got confirmed that it was going to be split into two films, and then, just a couple days ago, Smith confirmed on Episode 99 of his 'Jay & Silent Bob Get Old' podcast [via /Film] that it's now going to be split into six hour-long episodes of a mini-series, to be aired on a yet to be named TV channel. That's not the end of the story though. Apparently Smith still wants to make one big final film that he can market as his retirement project, and earlier today he took to his Twitter account to fill everybody in on what that would be. He started things off by explaining to his followers that, "Since HIT SOMEBODY is now gonna be a mini-series, yes – that leaves room for a new final flick before I retire from directing feature films." And then followed that up by dropping the fairly big bombshell that, " … the […]
Seth MacFarlane Readies His Next Feature Project, Which Could Make Him One of the Biggest Stars in the World
In Development By Nathan Adams on December 4, 2012 | Comments (1)Even though Seth MacFarlane's animated shows for Fox, Family Guy and American Dad, have been hugely successful, MacFarlane himself still gets a lot of guff from critics for his shows being too formulaic and his talent being overstated. He relies too much on pop culture references and absurdist asides, people say. All of his characters' voices sound the same, people say. But, in the last year or so, we've really seen MacFarlane take the first few steps toward branching out and proving that he has more to offer the entertainment industry than his critics would suggest. The biggest step toward that goal was proving that he can write and direct a successful feature film with Ted. Despite a few dissenting voices complaining that MacFarlane's voice for Ted's CG teddy bear sounded too much like his voice for Peter Griffin, most everyone was in agreement that MacFarlane had directed one of the year's best feature comedies, and the box office results more than backed its positive reviews up. Ted brought in about ten times the coin that it cost to make. Suddenly, MacFarlane finds himself in the elite club of being a money-making filmmaker, and a whole new world of possibilities has opened up for him. So what's he going to do with his newfound clout? Not rest on his laurels, that's for sure. Not only is he all set to host this year's Academy Awards, which should boost his profile in the culture even higher, but now THR is reporting […]
'Admission' Trailer Forces Tina Fey and Paul Rudd Into a Series of Comedy Clichés
Movie News By Nathan Adams on November 19, 2012 | Be the First To CommentHow could a modern woman possibly handle becoming a mother when it already takes all of your focus to reach your goals in the professional world? It's a question that's been one of the major preoccupations of Tina Fey's work as an actress, and while there are no easy answers to it, watching Fey struggle is usually fertile grounds for comedy. It will always be true that taking someone who's generally bumbling and self-centered and forcing a kid upon them—while traumatic for the child—is hilarious for the casual observer. But, by the looks of its new trailer, it seems like Fey's new starring vehicle, Admission, might be treading on familiar ground one time too many. The deal here is that Fey's character gave up a kid when she was in college, and now that said kid is teenaged and attending a hippie school run by Paul Rudd, Rudd has taken it upon himself to reunite mother and son. While Fey is generally incredulous about the idea at first, eventually she finds herself becoming attached to her long lost progeny…and she might even be developing some feelings for that charming and handsome guy who brought them back together.
'The Heat' Trailer Sees Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock Firmly Back in Their Comfort Zones
Movie News By Nathan Adams on November 16, 2012 | Comments (2)Entertainment doesn't necessarily have to be original to be good. Sometimes things get used over and over again because they make sense and just work. Tried and true, the expression is. This is good news for Paul Feig's (Bridesmaids) new film, The Heat, because, while its new trailer makes it look like it's probably going to be a good time in the theater, it also doesn't seem to have an original bone in its body. What Feig has given us appears to be typical buddy cop fare, where a straight-laced officer gets partnered up with a loose cannon, and while there's an initial period of friction, eventually they end up bonding. It casts Sandra Bullock in the frigid shrew role that she knows so well, Melissa McCarthy in the role of the slovenly loudmouth that she's been continually revisiting ever since Bridesmaids, and it seems to follow the usual formula right down to the letter. Heck, this trailer even uses that M.IA. song, "Bad Girls," that's already appeared in ads for For a Good Time Call and TV's The Mindy Project, and that's starting to feel played out. But, you know what? It's using that song because it has the sort of hook that sells movies.
'21 & Over' Trailer Realizes That Teenagers Buy Tickets to Party Movies
Movie News By Nathan Adams on November 12, 2012 | Comments (2)Jon Lucas and Scott Moore hit a goldmine when they wrote the script for The Hangover. It turns out young people like to watch movies where the characters on screen are partying so much that they'll even buy tickets to retreads like The Hangover Part II, or movies that barely even qualify as being movies, like Project X. It's gotten to the point where party-gone-out-of-control is pretty much a genre onto itself. Enter Lucas and Moore's new film, which they've both written and directed, 21 & Over. Jeff Chang is newly turned 21, and despite the fact that he has an important interview tomorrow morning, a couple of his crazy friends have decided to take it upon themselves to take him out drinking and give him the night of his life. The results are a derivative mix of those aforementioned party films, a little bit of the journey aspect of the Harold & Kumar films, and a sprinkling of the way they kept repeating the name McLovin in Superbad (though here it's repetition of the protagonist, Jeff Chang's, name, Jeff Chang).
'Warm Bodies' Trailer Proves That Even a Decaying Zombie Heart Can Feel Love
Movie News By Nathan Adams on November 8, 2012 | Comments (2)Zombies don't exactly lend themselves to teen romance stories as well as vampires do, what with their flesh being all gross and decaying, like a jack o' lantern in November, rather than pale and smooth, like a porcelain doll. But that's not going to stop the creators of Warm Bodies from capitalizing on the current zombie crazy by making a teen zombie romance anyway. Ridiculous idea or not, one has to admit that the zombie apocalypse genre can get pretty homogenous and predictable, and could use some sprucing up. It feels kind of refreshing to see a zombie movie where the walking dead have thoughts and emotions, but have trouble acting on them due to their newly unresponsive bodies and overpowering craving to consume living flesh. Not only does the conceit seem to make for good comedy, but there are hints in this new Warm Bodies trailer that it could make for an effective character moment or two as well; which kind of makes sense, because this one is being brought to us by Jonathan Levine, the director of the funny, yet affecting cancer drama 50/50.
'John Dies at the End' Trailer Prepares to Fight Evil With Axes, Flame Throwers, and Neutron Bombs
Movie News By Nathan Adams on October 29, 2012 | Comments (1)If you watch the new trailer for co-writer/director Don Coscarelli's (Bubba Ho-Tep) latest film, John Dies at the End, you'll probably be left with some questions. Why are those pills that can grow wings called "soy sauce?" Can taking them really make you jump to different dimensions? Is the main character talking into a Polish sausage like it's a cell phone? Don't let all of these questions left hanging in the air worry you—a lot of them don't even get answered after you watch this crazy film in its entirety—just focus in on the fact that Coscarelli has taken David Wong's crazy novel of the same name and made a crazy movie out of it, and the results are crazy hilarious.
A Heartless Paramount Ruins Chances of Next Adam Sandler Movie Being Scrapped
Movie News By Nathan Adams on October 25, 2012 | Be the First To CommentComic actor Adam Sandler, his production company Happy Madison, and Sony Pictures all have a rich history of working together. They've brought us a litany of steaming piles of comedy crap, including titles like Grown Ups, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and the Kevin James-starring Paul Blart: Mall Cop. And, despite the fact that Sandler's last horrible excuse for a comedy that he made with Sony, That's My Boy, didn't perform up to the standards of his previous films, all indications have been that the studio and Sandler were still perfectly happy in their relationship and ready to continue work on a Grown Ups sequel and then some sort of untitled Western comedy. But recently there was a glimmer of hope. Sony has been experiencing some money troubles, and has, as THR puts it in their report of all this inside baseball stuff, started, "actively seeking partners, divesting and abandoning specific projects." This means that guys like Sandler, who may be showing signs of slowing down as an earner, are starting to look like a bigger risk to the studio, and that they're less likely to fund risky projects unless they can get some sort of partner to come on board and split the cost. Suddenly, that untitled Western comedy was in trouble. Might it be possible that it could get put in turnaround, thus sparing us from having to see another terrible Adam Sandler comedy for a few years?
Elizabeth Banks' Bad Decisions Will Make Her Take a 'Walk of Shame'
Casting Couch By Nathan Adams on October 17, 2012 | Be the First To CommentAnyone who's lived in a college town or a neighborhood with a bustling bar district over the past ten years or so has probably heard the term "walk of shame." Or, at least, you have to have seen one take place, even if you didn't know what the kids were calling it at the time. The walk of shame happens when somebody makes some bad decisions at a bar, spends the night at the house of someone they don't know, and then has to walk back home the next morning looking all disheveled and gross because the person they spent the night with doesn't even have the decency to give them a ride. Due to the fact that the walk of shame is both comically embarrassing and promotes casual sex, it was only a matter of time before somebody in Hollywood used it for the basis of a raunchy comedy, and that time is now. According to THR, Elizabeth Banks has just signed a deal with Lakeshore Entertainment to make Walk of Shame her next project after filming wraps on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The film, which was written and will be directed by Steve Brill, tells the story of a news anchor in Los Angeles who has to make her way across town after a one night stand in time to receive a promotion at her work that she's been dreaming about forever.
'Son of Ernest' Seeks to Revive the Magic of Jim Varney's Ernest P. Worrell
In Development By Nathan Adams on October 15, 2012 | Comments (4)Seeing as he appeared in commercials, had his own television series, and starred in nine feature films, you would think that the character of Ernest P. Worrell was one of the most hilarious and beloved in comedy history. But that's not exactly the case. As a matter of fact, you would probably be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to admit to ever liking an Ernest movie these days (full disclosure: I still consider Goes to Camp, Saves Christmas, and Scares Stupid to be guilty pleasures). We must have all just been experiencing some mass hallucination throughout the 80s and early 90s, and there's no way anybody could make any money by trying to market another Ernest product in this day and age, right? Well, don't tell that to RuckusFILM, as they're trying to bring the character back in a new feature called Son of Ernest. As announced in a press release (which was originally given exclusively to Variety) today, Ernest creator John Cherry, along with Ruckus' Clarke Gallivan and Coke Sams, and screenwriter Dan Ewen, hope that there's still enough affection for the denim-vested friend of Vern to transition the character from the late Jim Varney to a new actor, who will essentially be doing the same schtick under the guise of being Ernest's son. You know what this means, don't you? Ernest got laid!
'Dog Day Afternoon' Tells Its Own Tale of Civil Unrest, But Still Isn't as Funny as 'Airheads'
Features By Nathan Adams on October 9, 2012 | Be the First To CommentSidney Lumet's 1975 tale of a bank robbery gone bad, Dog Day Afternoon, is not only considered to be a high point in the careers of both its director as well as its star, Al Pacino, it's also considered to be one of the key films that was a part of the New Hollywood movement, which started in the late '60s and continued through to the blockbusters of the 80s. New Hollywood was all about a generation of filmmakers making films that were artsier, grittier, and more experimental than most commercial fare, all from within the confines of the studio system. But while Dog Day Afternoon and its tale of cross-dressing and violent crimes certainly looks at home under that classification, is it really good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as stuff like Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, or Mean Streets? The early '90s saw one of the biggest boom periods in the history of sketch comedy mainstay Saturday Night Live. Cast members like Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, and Chris Farley led the show to probably its most critically successful period since the original cast, and pretty much everyone on the show went on to become a star in film. Out of all of these talented comedians, however, none became quite as successful as Sandler. After starring in Billy Madison in 1995, he was off to the races, earning big paychecks, pulling in big box office dollars, and gobbling up media attention. Some of his […]
'Johnson' Finally Cuts to the Chase and Turns Dick Jokes Into Entire Film
Casting Couch By Nathan Adams on October 8, 2012 | Comments (1)Do you love all of the dick jokes in today's raunchy, R-rated comedies, but hate it when the movies stray away from its protagonists' penises and try to put their focus on something else, like flash mobs, food trucks, or burgeoning art careers? Then the new comedy from screenwriter Jeff Tetreault, Johnson, might be exactly what you're looking for. The movie is about a womanizer named Rich Johnson (get it?) whose genitals feel so overworked by his sexual conquests that they take human form, leave his body, and refuse to come back until he learns how to be a better man. According to THR, Twilight star Cam Gigandet has been signed to play Johnson, while comedian Nick Thune has been tapped to play the johnson. Wondering how exactly one depicts a wang taking human form on film? You're in luck, Tetreault has another dick joke to tell as a non-answer to this question. He explained to THR that his script is, "semi-autobiographical. Nick is only 6'4, though. Shaq would be more of an accurate physical representation."
'Movie 43' Trailer Is Absolutely Filthy and Full of Huge Movie Stars
Movie News By Nathan Adams on October 3, 2012 | Comments (1)It's been a really long time since a sketch anthology movie got released in theaters. I'm not some sort of human trivia machine, so I don't know exactly how long, but let's just say that it's been quite a while since somebody showed somebody else their VHS copy of Kentucky Fried Movie in a college dorm room. The people at Relativity Media are making a big play at bringing the form back though, by recruiting an army of funny filmmakers and a legion of talented actors to put together a new sketch comedy anthology called Movie 43. Who do they have directing segments of this thing? People like Bob Odenkirk, James Gunn, Elizabeth Banks, Peter Farrelly, and tons others. Who's starring? People like Halle Berry, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Richard Gere, Kate Winslet, Uma Thurman, and many more than can be typed without having your fingers cramp up. This movie cast Gerard Butler as its leprechaun, so you know it's star-studded.
'The Guilt Trip' Trailer Packs Every Stand-up's Jewish Mother Bit Into Two-and-a-Half Minutes
Movie News By Nathan Adams on October 3, 2012 | Comments (1)They've been a staple of comedy for as long as people having been waxing comedically about their problems: overbearing Jewish mothers. They poke, they prod, they have a uniform misunderstanding of everything that's happening in the modern world, and they're generally able to get under your skin like no one else you've ever met. But still…they're mom. Sounds like a guy being annoyed by and then eventually growing closer to his overbearing mother could make for a good movie, huh? Well, that's what the writer and director of The Guilt Trip, Dan Fogelman and Anne Fletcher, are hoping, because they've made a movie whose entire narrative seems to consist of a cross-country trip taken by a mother and son team played by Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen. So, how does it look? Not terrible. Certainly this is well-worn territory to anyone who's seen more than a few minutes of stand-up comedy or watched more than a couple failed sitcom pilots, but the dialogue in this trailer appears to be amusing enough, and Streisand and Rogen both seem to be spot-on in their interpretations of the archetypical characters they're playing. For Streisand fans especially, who haven't been able to see her star in a movie that doesn't have the word Fockers in the title for quite a while, this one should be a real treat.
Bilbo Baggins to Journey With Nick Frost and Simon Pegg to 'The World's End'
Casting Couch By Nathan Adams on September 28, 2012 | Be the First To CommentWe've been hearing about Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's next film together as co-writers for a while. A mashup between the concepts of the pub crawl and the apocalypse, The World's End has been said to be the third film in an informal trilogy that started with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Other than Wright directing and co-writing the film with Pegg, we've also known from the start that Pegg was set to re-team with Nick Frost as its stars. But, seeing as the film's synopsis says that it's about five friends in their forties trying to recreate an epic pub crawl they completed when they were younger, there's always been a question of who else was going to be joining the cast. Well, a press release put out by Universal today not only confirms a couple names that have been floating around for a while, it also adds two more to the mix.
'The Comedy' Trailer Takes Tim and Eric Out of Their Wheelhouse
Movie News By Nathan Adams on September 26, 2012 | Be the First To CommentWhether you like the work Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim do on their cable show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, or not, you have to admit that what they produce is so unique and absurd that it's hard to explain to those who haven't seen it. And the trailer for a new film that they star in, The Comedy, is exactly the same way. You can sit through over two minutes of this preview, you can get introduced to the lives and struggles of this group of characters, but when it's all over, it's still kind of hard to explain what you've watched. Despite the head-scratching nature of some of this material, The Comedy isn't rampant silliness like Tim and Eric's other work. It's looks gritty, indie, kind of dark, and it sees the famous comic duo taking acting roles in a project that was the creative work of someone else. From director Rick Alverson and his co-writers Robert Donne and Colm O'Leary, The Comedy tells the story of an aging, trust fund hipster (Heidecker) who has begun to feel trapped by his life of convenience and irreverence, so he's started to act out in destructive ways.
'King Kelly' Trailer Was Shot Entirely on iPhones, But Don't Let That Scare You
Movie News By Nathan Adams on September 26, 2012 | Comments (1)If modern technologies like video upload sites and HD video cameras small enough to fit into phones are scaring you because of the new possibilities they bring to narcissistic vanity goblins like Internet porn stars and reality TV actors, then King Kelly might be the scariest horror movie you see all year. But, if teenage-aimed movies like Project X, which glorify the most vapid and soulless aspects of party-obsessed youth culture, really get under your skin and make you mad, then King Kelly might be the funniest piece of satire you see all year. Shot entirely on iPhones and telling the story of a teenage girl who makes amateur strip videos (Louisa Krause) looking to get into the world of indie filmmaking (you know, so she can be famous), King Kelly appears to be a brutal skewering of the self-obsession and celebrity worship that's running rampant in today's culture. Thanks to advances in modern technology, nearly anyone can now take a shot at becoming famous (as long as they're willing to humiliate themselves), and the effects of that seem to be a gradual poisoning of our society that's not looking like it's going to end anytime soon.
Neil Miller
Scott Beggs
Rob Hunter
Kate Erbland
Christopher Campbell