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Last Friday's theatrical screening of the long-awaited film adaptation
of the literary phenomenon that gave rise to the dubious "Mommy Porn"
subgenre was decidedly the noisiest one I have ever attended: females
(who, unsurprisingly, made up the vast majority of the audience)
gabbing relentlessly to each other throughout, women talking directly
to the screen, another who gagged on her popcorn and a chubby girl who
commented out loud that she would not allow anyone to whip her like
as if any one would ever care to or she would even feel the pain?!
I was only vaguely familiar with the novel until mid-2012 when it
became a daily topic of conversation among female colleagues at my
workplace! Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I downloaded
a .pdf edition of the trilogy (I would not dream of spending money to
acquire them legitimately!); the low level of writing on the first book
(especially) was even more off-putting than any of its would-be
objectionable content turned out to be...but I soldiered on and read
through the first and second novel even if by the time the film
version came along three years later, I am still stuck in the initial
stages of the third book! Anyhow, learning that several of those same
female colleagues had decided to attend a screening of the film and
make a "Girls' Night" out of the event, I cluelessly decided to join
their party uninvited...
The millions of fans of the novels worldwide immediately had their own ideas regarding who would be ideal casting for the central roles of disturbed billionaire Christian Grey and plain ingénue Anastasia Steele...but, in the end, these fell into the laps of Irish model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan (handsome, sure but even more wooden than any of the instruments of pain/pleasure at his disposal in the infamous "Red Room of Pain") and the admittedly beguiling Dakota Johnson (the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, no less); tellingly enough, the latter was invited to present at yesterday's Oscar ceremony but Dornan was not. Nepotism, perhaps (after all, the film was similarly breaking box office records worldwide)...but I do not think so. From the rest of the cast, only two names rang a bell for me, incidentally both saddled with the thankless roles of the parents of each respective protagonist, namely Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and Jennifer Ehle. I do not recall if it was like that in the first book as well but I was surprised to see that the major secondary character of "Mrs. Robinson" was only whispered about a couple of times but never actually appeared. Indeed, some people seemed surprised by the abrupt ending expecting the film to be a reductive adaptation of the trilogy...as if Hollywood would ever lose an opportunity to take two more trips to this goldmine in the coming years!
While I found nothing all that salacious about the book's copious erotic passages myself (I have been an avid reader of Georges Bataille's novels from 75 years previously after all!), the film's even blander depiction of them is disappointingly tame...so much so that the rumours I had heard that the sex scenes where going to be filmed in silhouette and the fact that it has actually been banned outright in several backward-thinking territories are totally laughable in retrospect. Johnson's small "mammalian protuberances" (to steal a phrase from the late great Frank Zappa) get the most mileage but Dornan is not averse to filling up with screen with the occasional close-up of his bare bottom ("a perfect 10" according to the most adulatory among my female friends who, nevertheless, also took time out to spot a couple of goofs that escaped me and google a difficult word)! But, then, there are no glimpses of blood at all in the film or, come to that, pubic hair during its 15 minutes of sexual content overall!! Needless to say, this was more of a studio marketing ploy to keep the film from being slapped with a forbidding NC-17 rating rather than a case of artistic cold feet on the film-makers' part. Still, as it is, director Sam Taylor-Johnson will remain most notorious in years to come for having married an actor 23 years her junior (Aaron Johnson, of KICKASS fame) than for having helmed the steamy film version of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY!! What with the film hurrying through the narrative and skimping on the juiciest parts...but, thankfully, Christian's irritating habit of tilting his head and Anastasia's cringe-inducing and somersaulting "conscience" have been jettisoned!!
It is all the more a pity, therefore, that one learns how director Johnson counts The Velvet Underground's 1967 counter-culture classic debut as one of her favourite albums since what is on display in her own film is worlds apart from the full-blooded BDSM relationship depicted in the shattering "Venus In Furs", the song which made me fall in love with this all-time favourite band of mine in the first place! Equally fitting would have been The Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" from their own John Cale-produced 1969 debut (incidentally, I got to see Cale live at a London concert in October 2012)...but, at least, we do get The Rolling Stones' 1978 hit "Beast of Burden" on the eclectic soundtrack that also features classical pieces and contemporary pop stuff. Just as the literary works did not really break new ground (it just slyly appealed to the lowest common denominator and hit the collective jackpot..or is that G-spot?!), so the film follows in the wake of much older (and much better) films that had tackled the controversial theme of BDSM far more liberally and artistically, among them Mario Bava's THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), (my own No. 1 film-maker) Luis Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR (1967), Henri-Georges Clouzot LA PRISONNIERE (1968), Yasuzo Masumura's BLIND BEAST (1969), Radley Metzger's THE IMAGE (1975), Walerian Borowczyk's LOVE RITES (1988), Roman Polanski's BITTER MOON (1992), etc.!
Although I was vaguely aware of the film under review being "the new
phenomenon" in horror movies, it had slipped my mind to try and score a
copy for my month-long Halloween marathon which I have just gone
through. In fact, it was the recommendation of a local film-buff friend
of mine which jogged my memory and made me spring for it sooner rather
than later. As usual, in hindsight, the end result fell just short of
all the hype that had preceded it but, having said that, it is still
the best horror film I have watched since James Wan's surprise
box-office smash, THE CONJURING (2013). Being a contemporary low-budget
Australian production, it is small wonder than none of its cast and
crew ring a bell but, as it turns out, as had previously been the case
with legendary genre stalwarts like George Lucas and John Carpenter,
writer/director Kent's breakout film turns out to be an expansion of a
previous work, in this case the award-winning short MONSTER (2005;
which, incidentally, is generously available to view in its entirety on
"You Tube")!
The simple storyline revolves around a widowed care-worker and her disturbed young son being menaced by the eponymous villain of a children's book. The film is anchored by two exceptional lead performances from Essie Davis (as the beleaguered mother) and Noah Wiseman (as her volatile kid), sensitive and subtle handling and a creepily effective sound design. Surprisingly enough, the titular villain (played by Tim Purcell mostly in silhouette) barely features in it which makes its belated and sparse apparitions all the more electrifying. Unfortunately, the director still felt the need to cater (ever so slightly) for the "torture porn" crowd and gore-hounds in the audience by, at one point, showing the possessed mother plucking out a tooth from her own mouth (for no apparent reason!) thus virtually stifling the effect of the preceding scene (one of the best in the film) where she breaks the neck of her fluffy dog during a late-night TV screening of the original Italian-language version of Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH (1963)! as well as exorcising herself of the offending spirit (which, inexplicably, she later keeps chained in the basement!) following a bout of bloody vomiting!!
Like most horror films of recent vintage (particularly the good ones), as it was unfolding in front of me, I was reminded of several earlier genre efforts to which the film-makers could well be paying tribute or referencing, the most prominent of which here being Roman Polanski's REPULSION (1965; in its harrowing depiction of the psychological unraveling of its sex-starved female protagonist), William Friedkin's THE EXORCIST (1973; in the medical examination and possession sequences), Mario Bava's own swan-song SHOCK (1977; in the fractured mother-son relationship played out in a house haunted by the malevolent presence of their late husband-father) and the Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg blockbuster POLTERGEIST (1982; in the climactic aerial abduction attempt by the spirit on the boy who had been constantly coming up with elaborate weapons to combat it). The trump card of this particular film, it seems to me, is the fact that all the supernatural horror on display emanates from an obscure literary figure that finds itself in the house out of nowhere, puts itself back together after the mother tears the inventively illustrated book up and even rewrites itself anew in a more personalized and intimidating manner as a consequence of this very defiance!
The third entry in Hammer Films' 7-movie Frankenstein cycle was the
first (of two) to be helmed by a director other than their resident
go-to-guy Terenece Fisher; in fact, it was passed on to Oscar-winning
cinematographer-turned-director Freddie Francis himself a Hammer
veteran in their psychological thrillers vein via PARANOIAC (1963) and
NIGHTMARE (1964) after Fisher bowed out due to an automobile
accident. As it turned out, both non-Fisher entries the other being
prime Hammer scribe Jimmy Sangster's offbeat directorial debut THE
HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970) did not go down well at all with fans
of the celebrated British studio!
Although I recall a couple of matinée screenings on Italian TV in the past. I eventually caught up with THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN in late 2005 while on a 3-month sojourn in Hollywood via Universal's 4-Disc 8-movie DVD collection "The Hammer Horror Series"; incidentally, that set also included two movies which, like the one under review, was padded out with extra footage for TV syndication namely Fisher's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962) and Don Sharp's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963; retitled KISS OF EVIL) which I will be checking out later on during this month as part of my ongoing Halloween marathon.
Hammer stalwart Peter Cushing reprises his signature role of Baron Victor Frankenstein but, although there is a reference here to his past crimes, the flashback in question is not imported footage from the original entry THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) but one shot expressly for this film and featuring the actor playing The Creature here, namely professional wrestler Kiwi Kingston (at one point, shown munching ravenously on a flock of sheep and even suffering from debilitating migraine attacks)! Indeed, oddly enough, this entry discounts completely its predecessor THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958) just as the above-mentioned Sangster film did the rest of the series!!
As the film begins, Cushing is fleeing the village he has relocated to after the events of CURSE because of further grave-robbing antics and, with his new assistant Sandor Eles, returns secretively to his family mansion in Karlstaad with the intention of selling off its precious possessions in order to fund his future experiments in electrical reanimation of dead tissue. As it happens, Frankenstein's hometown is being visited by a circus troupe and, after falling foul of burgomaster David Hutcheson and Chief of Police Duncan Lamont, a masked Cushing and Eles find themselves "volunteering" for the act of hypnotist Peter Woodthorpe; taking refuge inside a cave along with deaf-mute Katy Wild (which was rendered thus by her meeting with The Creature during the aforementioned flashback), Cushing fortuitously stumbles on Kingston's body perfectly preserved in a glacier. Needless to say, the irrepressible scientist contrives to transport the body to his now-dilapidated mansion and engages Woodthorpe's services to reanimate it when the proverbial thunderstorm fails to do the trick. Unfortunately for him, the latter turns out to be the real villain of the piece assaulting the deaf-mute girl and keeping her against her will in the dungeons, tormenting the chained monster and, worse still, ordering it to dispose of the local authority figures who had earlier humiliated him by stopping his public performance to apprehend Cushing and Eles!
The film was a potentially momentous co-production with Universal Studios which, 30 years previously, had made its own classic versions of the tale with Boris Karloff; this allowed Hammer to utilize for the first time a variation on the iconic Jack Pierce make-up design for the Frankenstein monster which, despite the ubiquitous Roy Ashton's involvement, lends the resultant square-headed creature a decidedly ludicrous appearance. Similarly the screenplay penned by John Elder (a pseudonym for Hammer stalwart Anthony Hinds) is a subpar hodge-podge of old Universal themes: from drunken, embittered villagers bemoaning their kin's unkind fate at the hands of The Creature to pompous figures of authority harassing the titular aristocrat to vengeful travelling charlatans taking advantage of the latter's wandering creation.
Unfortunately, despite good intentions all round, the full-blooded Hammer magic fails to strike here; perhaps this was the main reason why the film was eventually trimmed in spots but also had an additional 13 minutes interpolated into the narrative for its U.S. TV screenings. Even so, these extra scenes notably featuring Hollywood character actor Steven Geray as a sympathetic doctor add very little of substance or entertainment value that make one wonder who was actually responsible for them! Indeed, this "Extended TV version" is apparently so rare that I could only come across a hazy and wobbly copy culled from Australian TV!!
I am cheating a bit here: since KIDNAPPED, the reworked 2002 version of
Mario Bava's RABID DOGS (1974), does not have a separate IMDb entry, I
opted to post my review of it here! Anyway, after languishing in limbo
for over 20 years, Bava's unprecedented but highly impressive crime
thriller would see the light of day in 3 distinct versions on the
digital format first of which was Lucertola Media's 1997 disc, which
included a newly-shot sequence (of a silhouetted woman crying) over the
plain opening credits. This would eventually be dropped for both cuts
released on Anchor Bay's 2007 DVD edition: the first (still titled
RABID DOGS), featuring evocative credits but also frustratingly
unexplained audio drop-outs during two key moments(!), emerges as
perhaps the best version of the film (despite an admittedly draggy
KIDNAPPED, then, is the latest (and undoubtedly least) variant: why the edgy title was changed, or this particular and very generic moniker adopted (already much used in connection with several adaptations of the R.L. Stevenson adventure tale) is anybody's guess. Besides, even if Bava had intended tightening the film and shoot additional sequences, these were either muffled in their execution (helmed by his own son Lamberto, who had served as assistant director on the original production!) or were flawed to begin with: after all, from time to time, it has been proved that a director's conception (however great his talent) may not necessarily result in being the most effective approach to any given scene a case in point is Orson Welles' music-deprived version of his masterful lengthy tracking shot at the start of TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) against the originally released one accompanied by Henry Mancini's delightful brassy underscoring! In fact, none of the new scenes here add anything whatsoever to the narrative: what is the point of having the authorities going dutifully (but cluelessly) about their business trying to locate the criminals when their complete absence from the 'original' drives the inherent notion of the abductees being abandoned to their fate much harder?!
As with the director's preceding work, LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) which, rather than leave it undistributed, producer Alfred Leone saw fit to alter so drastically that the resultant effort, i.e. THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM (1975), does get listed as an individual title in Bava's filmography! the idea was perhaps to excise 'filler' material but, in this case, characterization is hurt by this over-zealous (and, by and large, unwarranted) tinkering! Besides, the entire dialogue track was redone (and, in some instances, re-written to exacerbate the profanity!) when even that for RABID DOGS itself had only been recorded in 1995 since Italian films of the era are known for being shot M.O.S. (incidentally, I wonder why they did not go the extra mile and prepare an English-language track to go with the American re-titling)!! Still, the two biggest blunders are Stelvio Cipriani's newly-composed but uncharacteristically mediocre (read: soulless) score replacing his unforgettably thumping original soundtrack, and the 'what were they thinking?' ending which not only needlessly extends it (even closing on a shot of the afore-mentioned mother) but eliminates the grim final shot of RABID DOGS into the bargain! All of which makes the film no different than the made-for-TV crime thrillers that fill the Italian small-screen schedule every other week (I know this for a fact, as my Dad is well and truly hooked on them!), which is certainly not what Bava had originally envisioned for his change-of-pace project !!
As for the extras included on the DVD, I was baffled to hear Tim Lucas constantly referring to the film as having been shot in the Summer of 1975 when the previous year had always been given as its intended release date; then again, he himself says that Cipriani's score, released on CD, gives the year of copyright as 1973?! Similarly, Lamberto Bava in the 16-minute featurette bearing this review's title, states that shooting took 3 weeks (with the first scrapped, to boot, after the sacking of original protagonist Al Lettieri!) but leading lady Lea Lander who had actually salvaged the film from the legal tangles that had long plagued it and even oversaw the initial Lucertola Media edit (reportedly down to the choice and placement of the by-now iconic music cues!) claims it was longer at 6 weeks!! Leone puts in an appearance here as well, bringing with him the same phony and misguided judgment that was all over the self-satisfied audio commentary he shared with ingratiating star Elke Sommer for THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM !
A decade after Mario Bava's legendarily unfinished and unreleased 1974
crime film RABID DOGS had been issued on DVD by German company
Lucertola Media in 1997, it was "completed" (by producer Alfredo Leone
and assistant director Lamberto Bava) and released theatrically as
KIDNAPPED not to mention issued on DVD twice (by Anchor Bay, always
under the KIDNAPPED moniker and both of which I own!) and once more on
BluRay (by Arrow Films)! This latest revisit came via the slimcase
edition that was included in Vol. 2 of Anchor Bay's "The Mario Bava
Collection", which also includes a featurette (reviewed individually),
an audio commentary by the ubiquitous Tim Lucas and the inclusion of
KIDNAPPED itself (which I got to soon after). To complicate matters
further, the pre-credits sequence shot in 1996 by other hands and
included on the OOP DVD which had always stuck out like a sore thumb
for me, is mercifully jettisoned on the Anchor Bay version of RABID
DOGS! I can only imagine how wary Bava (a master of it though he was)
may have become of the horror genre he had been stuck in since 1957's I
VAMPIRI and how much he was looking forward for a change of pace
fate would deal him an even bigger blow than his recent disappointment
with his beloved LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973; that was only officially
released in a reworked travesty entitled THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM in
1975!) when one of the producers of RABID DOGS died suddenly and the
raw footage was impounded by creditors
until leading lady Lea Lander
secured rights to the film well over 20 years after its shooting and
long after its creator had left this mortal coil! Even so, the version
of the film that is presented on the Anchor Bay DVD represents the
pinnacle of the "Eurocrime" subgenre of Italian film-making that lasted
until 1980 (the year of Mario Bava's demise) and was a direct result of
the 1968 political uprisings that occurred all over Europe.
The premise, as denoted by the retitling to KIDNAPPED, deals with just such an incident following a bloody payroll robbery in broad daylight but, thanks to one of the greatest twist endings in film history, we realize that there are multiple crimes of this sort going on throughout the film. Basically, the film becomes a savagely ironic road movie but with palpable political and social overtones that prevailed during that turbulent period in Italian history marked by violent terrorist activities and which came to be known as "Gli Anni di Piombo" (The Lead Years). The sheer fact that the film is almost entirely set within the confines of a handful of changing cars containing (at one point or another) seven characters creates an overpowering sense of claustrophobia that not even the occasional countryside stops are able to diminish. For this reason, it was of the utmost importance that the actors chosen were up to the gruelling challenge of the sweaty roles and, thankfully, all the performers here come up trumps. The trio of robbers are portrayed by Maurice Poli (as the "Doctor", the most level-headed of the bunch but not averse to sudden burst of violence), Aldo Caponi (as the impulsively knife-wielding "Blade") and Luigi Montefiori (as the lecherous "Thirtytwo"), while their victims are played by Riccardo Cucciolla (as the meek but determined "father" forced to act as their driver), Lea Lander (as a passer-by taken hostage by the bandits to facilitate their getaway), Marisa Fabbri (as a belated and motor-mouthed hitchhiker) and an unidentified child actor (as Cucciolla's sickly "offspring").
Interestingly, Lander and Poli were both Bava alumni from BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) and FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (1970) respectively; Caponi was more famous as "Don Backy", a popular singer-songwriter best-known for his award-winning song, "L'Immensita'" but he had also featured in the film which had given birth to the subgenre itself, Carlo Lizzani's THE VIOLENT FOUR (1968). On the other hand, screenwriter Montefiori was a prolific character actor under the alias of "George Eastman" in such notorious fare as Joe D'Amato's ANTROPOHAGUS (1981). Riccardo Cucciolla is the film's nominal star and his quietly resourceful performance is the key to making the startling sting in the tale's tail as jaw-droppingly effective as it is. Fabbri is somewhat overbearing as the hyperactive tag-along but another notable appearance is put in by Gustavo Di Nardo as a suspicious gas station attendant. The IMDb also credits renowned actor Ettore Manni (as a Bank president!) and Mario Bava himself in the cast, but the former's is a split-second appearance (in a crowded long-shot, to boot!) and the latter literally whizzes across the screen. Still, the film's major asset award has to go to Stelvio Cipriani's memorably pumping score which curiously incorporates snippets of Iron Butterfly's iconic 1968 epic tune, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" that were actually cues lifted from his soundtrack to Bava's own A BAY OF BLOOD (1971)!
Although Bava's latterday movies displayed a souring in his world-view bordering on nihilism, RABID DOGS is a relentlessly bleak and vicious film unlike anything else in the director's canon. Still, the foul-mouthed exchanges between Caponi and Montefiori serve as a much-needed breather amid all the sadistic violence and torturous battle of wits. Among the highlights are Caponi and Montefiori's humiliation of Lander in an open field; the murder of Montefiori by first Poli and then Caponi; the latter's cold-blooded slaying of Fabbri and the climactic trigger-happy resolution which sees Cucciolla as the only surviving member of the characters whose fateful plight we had been breathlessly following for the last 96 minutes. One cannot say in hindsight just what track Bava's career might have taken had this been released back in 1974; what RABID DOGS makes irrefutably clear, however, is that this multi-talented and self-deprecating "Master of Horror" was no one-trick pony
Although one might understand producer Alfred Leone's concern at having
bankrolled a film nobody wanted to distribute, i.e. Mario Bava's LISA
AND THE DEVIL (1973) one is more likely to empathize with the
latter's unenviable plight of having to defile his own "masterpiece" by
inserting lots of ludicrous (and ludicrously irrelevant) footage in the
hopes of turning it into a marketable commodity (albeit shot by Leone
himself and Bava's own son Lamberto and credited to one "Mickey Lion"
on U.S. prints)! Diabolism in cinema had hit a peak with the artistic
and commercial success of William Friedkin's THE EXORCIST (1973) and
both Hollywood and European film-makers were quick to jump on the
bandwagon: from Jesus Franco's EXORCISM and LORNA THE EXORCIST to
Ovidio G. Assonitis' BEYOND THE DOOR (1974) to Alberto De Martino's THE
ANTICHRIST (all 1974)! Due to the tenuous devilish connection in Bava's
original version (but, then, Telly Savalas' inherently comic persona
there simply makes no sense vis-a'-vis his would-be unholy influence on
Lisa in the reworking!), the chance for Leone to add his own product to
the mix must have seemed too good to pass by. Needless to say, this
necessitated that additional scenes be shot featuring a
demonically-possessed protagonist (which star Elke Sommer reportedly
shot for free!), a cleric literally picked off the streets of Toledo
who just happens to be adept at exorcism (a visibly distraught Robert
Alda) and the resulting gravity-defying shenanigans at the hospital
(witnessed by Leone's own daughter Kathy, whose role as Sommer's
travelling companion was consequently enlarged). Apart from all this, a
few erotic or violent sequences are far more graphically rendered in
this version, while even Carlo Savina's previously lyrical music score
has been punched up by ominously percussive beats over the opening
Even though I do not quite rank LISA in the top-tier of the director's works myself, the desecration done to it by this travesty is still too great to overlook or forgive: incidentally, I had twice previously watched it in English, but this latest viewing came by way of the Italian-language 'original' culled off "You Tube" and, for what it is worth, it does play better this way meaning that the obligatory profanities spouted by Sommer at the befuddled Alda are even funnier now! To be fair to it, none of the various EXORCIST copycats that I have come across treated the possession theme with the requisite seriousness and spirituality, preferring to indulge in rotating heads, levitations and copious vomit-spewing. While, as already intimated, THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM does include some of these (Sommer even throws up live frogs!), its 'backstory' that is, the footage pertaining to LISA AND THE DEVIL and which the leading lady insists has already happened and is happening again, whatever that is supposed to mean has little bearing on Lisa's current condition and how can she be strapped to a hospital bed while simultaneously living a nightmare at the villa?! For good measure, Alda is lamely shown like Jason Miller's priest in the Friedkin film to have issues with the Catholic faith that could jeopardize his 'mission' due to personal tragedy (cueing an entirely gratuitous full-frontal nude seduction by his conveniently much younger dead spouse!).
Leone may have removed slow, uneventful passages from LISA (not that the substitutes were any good, and the change in tone between one setting and another is most jarring) but he also ruined a number of judicious edits: most notable are a cut from Alida Valli's face to an eerie fish sculpture that forms part of a fountain, and the dinner sequence in which Telly Savalas' own visage is reflected in the contents of a spilled wine bottle on the floor now overlapping into a puddle of green vomit beside the hospital bed only to return to this very point (highlighting Savalas' nervously apologetic reaction to his slip-up) at the next instalment of Lisa's 'recollections'! In the end, it is worth noting that, much as would again prove the case with Enzo G. Castellari's THE LAST SHARK (1981; deemed plagiaristic and refused distribution in the U.S. at the time of release) and JAWS III (1983), the climax of THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM would in return be ripped off by Hollywood for the no-less maligned (and, oddly enough, itself be subject to tinkering in the hope of salvaging it) EXORCIST II THE HERETIC (1977)!
This was my third time watching this most personal of Bava's works:
whether it is due to the fact that the last two occasions proved
problematic (the original Image Entertainment DVD experienced an audio
glitch during playback that nearly blasted my TV speakers, while there
were constant audio-related issues on the Italian-language track of the
copy I acquired of the movie's Raro Video edition!) or the shadow that
always loomed large over it in the shape of the execrable re-edit THE
HOUSE OF EXORCISM (1975), I have never been really taken with the film
as many others seem to be!! Truth be told, watching the featurette
"EXORCISING LISA" soon after, I was sort of glad to realize that I was
not quite alone in this as both assistant director and the director's
own son Lamberto Bava (who always felt the end result, even in its true
incarnation, was impenetrable and somewhat unresolved!) and Bava
scholar Alberto Pezzotta (suggesting that the time of Gothic Horror had
passed and that, other than merely ethereal, it was elegiac and
self-referential!) disclaim its masterpiece status!! Incidentally,
though the script is attributed to the elder Bava and producer Alfred
Leone on foreign prints (as a matter of fact, throughout my ongoing
Bava centenary tribute, it has been a constant irritation to find
English credits on Italian-language editions of his pictures!), it was
actually penned by other hands including Roberto Natale, who also
puts in an appearance in the 25-minute doc!! Incidentally, while
ostensibly an original, elements from it could be traced to several
short stories dutifully namechecked during said featurette as well as
Tim Lucas' audio commentary
Mind you, the movie is undeniably intriguing (in my review of the director's KILL, BABY KILL! {1966}, also co-written by Natale and a film whose stature seems to grow with each viewing, I mention how LISA owes a debt to it in the desolate narrow streets/decaying villa settings and the general nightmarish vibe) and, yet, it comes off as strangely aloof: one does not really connect with any of the characters throughout especially, as with A BAY OF BLOOD (1971), these largely seem to be on hand merely to ratchet up the 'body count' department (did we really need an additional love triangle to the mind-boggling quintet taking into consideration that Elke Sommer here undertakes a dual role already involved?!). The score by Carlo Savina (with generous but effective sprinklings of Joaquin Rodrigo's famous "Concierto De Aranjuez") is a major asset, as is the bemused presence of Telly Savalas (obviously assuming the latter half of the titular parts, scheming and manipulating the various figures around in both their human form and lookalike mannequins as if they were pieces on an invisible chess board while under the guise of an overworked and, seminally, lollipop-sucking butler!). The rest of the cast, however, are only so-so: Alessio Orano is, fatally, unsympathetic as an impotent necrophile(!); Alida Valli, on the other hand, is imposing as ever playing his aristocratic and over-protective blind mother; and Espartaco Santoni is decidedly baffling as the latter's husband and the former's rival for love of his own spouse Sommer (his comings and goings, sometimes literally from death to life, eventually grew irritating!); while Sylva Koscina, Eduardo Fajardo and Gabriele Tinti, as already intimated, are at once underused and downright redundant! Typical of Bava, too, the movie's look cannot be faulted (despite having a Spanish d.p., with a penchant for shooting in soft-focus, forced on him), effortlessly moving between the modern-day 'bookends' and the period milieu of its central narrative.
By the way, given that I am going through the director's filmography in a non-linear fashion, it becomes interesting to note parallels between efforts that one would probably overlook if they were to be viewed chronologically; recently, for instance, I picked up on how SHOCK (1977) is pretty much a reworking of THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963) and even HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1970) in its depiction of a deranged protagonist coming to terms with a crime that had been all but blocked out of its consciousness. Having just re-acquainted myself with the latter prior to my screening LISA, which I took as Bava's most Buñuelian work (in view of its leading man's affinity with the latter's Archibaldo De La Cruz), here we have an ending the Devil adopting modern means of transportation which recalls the Surrealist maestro's slyly abrupt way of concluding his SIMON OF THE DESERT (1965)! Since both Bava films were actually shot in Spain, could it be that the cultured yet self-effacing Italian was drawn to checking out the oeuvre of the country's most celebrated celluloid son at some point during their making? That said, Lucas claims the device along with the film's inherent oneiric tone was actually a direct allusion to Roger Vadim's "Carmilla" adaptation: different strokes for different folks, I guess! The audio commentary did sometimes go overboard in trying to match the poetic quality of the picture: the last rose of the season plucked by Orano for Sommer at one point apparently stood for Bava's own last gasp at making an international name for himself if you say so, Tim but, then, I was grateful to learn that Bava appreciated the work of Georges Franju and, indeed, it had never occurred to me before that he recruited two ladies from his films, i.e. Valli (from EYES WITHOUT A FACE {1960} her mannered death scene being even incorporated in the finale here) and Koscina (from JUDEX {1963}), for LISA!
In the end, while not quite among the director's greatest, the film under review is still vastly preferable to its bastardization THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM which, regrettably, will follow presently in my (41-strong but by-now inevitably winding down) Bava marathon.
I first became aware of this Swedish thriller via Tim Lucas' Audio
Commentary for Mario Bava's "Giallo" landmark (and, arguably,
masterpiece) BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964); the latter was said to be
somewhat reminiscent of it and, having now watched the earlier effort
for myself, I can see where such an argument is coming from as there
are undeniable thematic and stylistic (more on these later) and even
aural (meaning, the score) parallels
yet how deliberate imitations they
were I cannot tell! Still, considering just how many films directly
ripped off the Bava classic without taking the edge off the
prototype, I might add one can make concessions for its having drawn
a certain inspiration from somewhere, too!
For the record, here we have a fashion-house setting (with the colour scheme right from the opening credits sequence being similarly given its due), blackmail (though the main reason behind the killing spree is actually the usual one of inheritance thus also numbering males among the victims in this case!) and, while no specific aura is created around the figure of the assassin, the perpetrator does manage a few sensational slayings (in fact, twice are dead models discovered as having replaced a dummy one is stabbed and arranged in a window display, and another is memorably hung way up in the air on a symbolic gallows). Incidentally, it seems that if Bava had indeed watched this, he would derive elements from it for at least two other movies of his: the presence of a dagger (or a set of them here) is also central to the Italian Maestro's THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), whereas that of the wheelchair-bound elderly owner of the establishment to say nothing of the whole string of murders spun by the coveting of her legacy looks forward to A BAY OF BLOOD (1971)!
Otherwise, the protagonists are an icy blonde undercover model, her debonair investigator husband, his obligatory comic relief sidekick (he not only stutters but is, annoyingly, an automobile nut into the bargain!); the suspects, then, are likewise stock characters: ambitious shop manager, ne'er-do-well 'son', philandering/extravagant relatives, etc. However, there is also a middle-aged lady who repeatedly turns up and somehow comes into possession of the old woman's white cat following her demise but, for the life of me, I could not fathom what her exact function within the narrative was supposed to be! The film, then, is quite handsome-looking and reasonably enjoyable, if a bit long at 106 minutes (when BLOOD AND BLACK LACE clocked in at a mere 85, which I would say is just about right for this sort of fare!) while the twist ending was predictable enough (albeit, still effectively rendered). By the way, this was the second of 5 'vehicles' for the central sleuthing couple (and their klutzy assistants!) director Mattsson would helm; I do not own any of the others, but did manage to acquire copies of his ONE SUMMER OF HAPPINESS (1951) and THE DOLL (1962) over the years, though both remain unwatched up to now.
Rewatching this in close proximity to Bava's initial forays into the
"Giallo" subgenre, namely THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and the "Il
Telefono" segment from THE THREE FACES OF FEAR (both 1963), I was
reminded of the late esteemed British film critic Leslie Halliwell's
opening comments in his capsule review of James Whale's BRIDE OF
FRANKENSTEIN (1935) where he states that, while the 1931 original was
"startlingly good", the follow-up proved a "sophisticated masterpiece".
This was only the fourth effort by the director that had come my way
back when I first got the opportunity to check it out in 1998 via a
late-night Italian TV screening exhibiting a print so battered that, at
times, it was almost devoid of colour (such a vital factor to the
director's aesthetic)! Unlike the preceding three Bava viewings, I
recall loving this one immediately regardless, and it remains even now
my personal favourite of his oeuvre
While there are definite links to the contemporaneous "Krimi" trend (this was, in actual fact, a German co-production) and the work of Alfred Hitchcock (the technical dexterity, audience manipulation, and even having the murderer repeatedly 'clean up' after his misdeeds like Anthony Perkins in PSYCHO {1960}), there is so much groundwork here for subsequent entries in the field that one cannot stress too much the film's impact on the development of the thriller genre worldwide however, without it ever seeming an outmoded prototype or coming across as a stuffy history lesson. Until the advent of Dario Argento, ushering in the new decade with greater emphasis on baroque violence and ostentatious camera gymnastics (not that Bava was one to be kept lagging behind promptly responding with the "Slasher" template A BAY OF BLOOD {1971}!), this was the film to emulate but, by and large, the initial results were not very encouraging. The director himself was wise not to play his hand too frequently so that he made all of five and one-third contributions to the "Giallo" format during his career, unlike Argento's 15 (albeit over a much longer timespan)!
Anyway, it is all pretty much laid down here already: the black-gloved killer, the fashion-house setting, the Police procedural, a variety of suspects (each determined to safeguard a terrible secret), the suggestion of misogyny (rendered unequivocal by the original Italian title which translates to "Six Women For The Murderer"!), the splash of colours (including inevitably crimson), the creative murder weapons, the tantalizing soundtrack (to my mind, this constitutes Carlo Rustichelli's finest hour), not to mention the twist in the tail (which was still being ripped off more than 30 years later by the likes of Wes Craven!). Incidentally, I own two DVDs of the movie: VCI's initial single-disc U.S. release and the German company Hande Weg's edition: both are satisfactorily stacked with supplements (though the majority of the latter are, alas, not English-friendly!) but the image is superior on the R2 effort. Bava's mise-en-scene here is near-perfection, letting the camera prowl the various sets in search of nail-biting suspense situations (notably a woman's handbag containing an incriminating diary being left unattended on a table during a fashion show and then disappearing while props are being moved around in the atelier) or the next display of sadistic but not gloating violence (indeed, seldom has death been so enthusiastically arranged or lovingly photographed on screen!).
With this in mind and as had been the case with Bava's Gothic Horror debut BLACK Sunday (1960), given such a seminal title, one tends to overlook any flaws (which may be down to plot logic why, if everyone fears what the diary could expose of their various foibles, do the other characters not try to get hold of it like the killer? or insubstantial characterization admittedly, always a pitfall where ensembles are concerned). The cast is peppered with regulars of the director's work (Cameon Mitchell, Dante Di Paolo, Massimo Righi, Franco Ressel, Luciano Pigozzi and Harriet White Medin), but also such new 'recruits' as leading lady Eva Bartok and Lea Lander (who would subsequently prove instrumental in bringing Bava's unfinished RABID DOGS {1974} to light!).
My acquisition of this one was almost as tortuous as the movie's own
release/distribution history (due to various censor boards worldwide):
the first copy I purchased (in tow with Bava's subsequent effort BLOOD
AND BLACK LACE {1964}, upcoming in my ongoing tribute to the Maestro)
would not access the Bonus Features on my Pioneer DVD player (the same
was true of that "Giallo" landmark); I took it out on VCI, who promptly
issued me replacements, plus one freebie disc from their back catalogue
in apology (for which I chose the 1961 Best Actor Oscar-nominee THE
but the package got lost in transit, so I voiced another
complaint, which saw them sending out additional copies at their own
expense and this time around, all went well, including playback! At
the time, their edition was considered top-tier in terms of supplements
and the sheer fact of the film's rare availability in its unadulterated
form; 14 years down the line, however, it has not only been reportedly
surpassed by subsequent digital releases, but the sloppiness (for
which, alas, VCI would come to be known!) is much in evidence not
only errors in the text of their multiple biographies and filmographies
abounded but, one thing which I did not recall had bothered me so much
before, the audio of the main feature was a mess: the booming score
gave a thorough workout to my TV monitor's speakers, with the dialogue
coming off distorted as a result!
As for the movie itself, with the sadomasochistic relationship at its centre (a veritable case of "amour fou" virtually unprecedented in genre cinema!), it showed a definite maturity in Bava's themes (in this sense, it is arguably the most dense psychological study in the realm of Italian Gothic Horrors) perhaps inspired by Riccardo Freda's similarly-eyebrow-raising depiction of necrophilia in THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK (1962), also written by the prolific Ernesto Gastaldi, and already hinted at by the exploration of both lesbianism and child murder in Bava's previous work i.e. BLACK SABBATH (1963). Artistically, too, the film was a departure in that it gave vent to aesthetic quality over plot logic (which would be taken even further in Bava's next venture up this alley with KILL, BABY KILL! {1966}): thus, any number of carefully-crafted and unforgettable images unrealistically bathed in shadows and painterly hues keep one's mind off the narrative which is mainly rendered through exposition often involving the obligatory romance by bland second leads and, one of the genre's undisputed pitfalls, characters roaming aimlessly along dimly-lit sets both of which invariably take their toll on the inherently sluggish pacing of such period fare!
The irreproachable casting of Daliah Lavi (who followed this with a no-less-demanding role in the same year's little-seen IL DEMONIO) and Christopher Lee (easily the most satisfying of his many European ventures, despite the actual brevity of his appearance here!) results in ample sensual and dramatic fireworks (beautifully capped by the concluding shot of a lash slithering, almost in spite of itself, as it burns) given greater validity by the passionate strains of Carlo Rustichelli's score (cues from which were reprised in the ultra low-budget KILL, BABY KILL! itself) and Bava's glorification of their unwholesome liaison (several seaside and graveyard trysts that are prone to whip-and-dagger-happy violence, sometimes captured in extreme close-up or sudden zooms!). Incidentally, I sensed a "Giallo" element in the death scenes and the internal probing into them but, while two characters are patently made out to be suspects (one of them the second victim himself), there was always one conceivable guilty party (with the others' cognizance of a possible ghostly manifestation explained in terms of Lavi's obsession with/possession by Lee)! Notable among the supporting players are "mad" housemaid Harriet White Medin (interestingly, she was in virtually the last scene of BLACK SABBATH or, rather, the original THE THREE FACES OF FEAR version and the opening one in this instance!) and Luciano Pigozzi as the inevitable hobbling caretaker (given his affectionate tag of "the Italian Peter Lorre", he feels more like a Dwight Frye substitute amidst a Gothic ambiance!).
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text:
"I could take the easy way out and say let the consumer decide whether they want to continue to purchase Chinese-sourced pet foods and treats. That way, I could avoid any conflict of interest with companies that advertise in Pet Business magazine and either source in China or do not source in China. Better yet, I could simply ignore the entire issue.But as a journalist, I would not be doing my job, which is to…"
Publisher's Perspective
"The pet industry is not just hot—it is simply on fire. How do I know? In just the last month or so, I have had a number of conversations with manufacturers and venture capitalists all looking for the same thing: a pet manufacturer or two to acquire. A conversation with…"
"The stock price of Whole Foods, the much-ballyhooed natural supermarket chain, took a big hit after the company announced that its quarterly sales grew by a measly $300 million to $3.3 billion. Yes, the numbers are right: $300 million and $3.3 billion in just one quarter of the year. Amazingly,…"
" It seems that a week does not go by without another major retailer heralding some sort of major consolidation of stores and personnel. In just the last few months, for example, such major chains as Toys 'R Us, Radio Shack and Staples have announced significant retrenchments in the…"
" Seth Mendelson Group Publisher Group Editorial Director Two years ago, at an awards breakfast at Global Pet Expo, a retailer spoke about how suppliers had to level the playing field for all merchants and Internet retailers. He painted a pretty bleak picture for small and independent retailers, saying that…"

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Craftsy Member since August 2013
I'm enrolled in these Craftsy classes:
Piece, Patch, Quilt: Basic Quiltmaking Skills
Small Machine, Big Quilts, Better Results
Free-Motion Quilting With Lines, Curves & Loops
The Essential Guide to Lightroom
The Essential Guide to Photoshop
Clever Cuts for Efficient Quilting
Help! How Do I Quilt It?
Easy Piecing, Amazing Design
Stupendous Stitching
2015 Craftsy Block of the Month
Fast & Flexible Log Cabin Quilts
Flying Fat Quarters
Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety
Tailoring Ready-to-Wear: Beyond the Basics
The Secrets of Free-Motion Quilting
Free-Motion Quilting with Feathers
Photographing Coastal Landscapes
Figure Drawing: An Essential Guide
Creative Serging
Garden of Quilted Possibilities
Beginner Serging
Finishing School: Better Borders
Bag-Making Basics: Drawstring Bag & Bucket Bag
Cut to It: Strategies for Smarter Quilting
Ultimate Free-Motion Quilting
Finishing School: Edges & Bindings
The Classic Double Wedding Ring
Bead Stitching: Shaped Peyote
Machine-Finished Hand Appliqué
Machine Quilting Beautiful Borders
Diamond Quilt Designs
Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts
2014 Block of the Month: Craftsy Color Theory
Precision Piecing
Continuous Line Quilting
Bag-Making Basics: Reversible Tote & Zipper Pouch
Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine
Craftsy Block of the Month 2012
Quick-Strip Paper Piecing
Creative Quilt Backs
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Pictures to Pixel Quilts
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Free Motion Quilting a Sampler
Design It, Quilt It
Playing with Curves
Machine Quilting Negative Space
Beyond Basic Machine Quilting


text:
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dead at 80
Steinbrenner was raised in a strict, no-nonsense household headed by his father, Henry. The oldest of three children, Steinbrenner attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana. At Williams College, he ran track, specializing in hurdles. After that, he enlisted in the Air Force.
Following his discharge, he enrolled at Ohio State, pursuing a master's degree in physical education. It was his intention to go into coaching, but after working at a high school in Columbus and at Purdue and Northwestern, he turned to the business world.
In 1963, Steinbrenner purchased Kinsman Transit Co., a fleet of lake ore carriers, from his family and built a thriving company. Four years later, Steinbrenner and associates took over American Ship Building and revitalized the company.
It was in Cleveland that Steinbrenner met baseball executive Gabe Paul and became involved with the group that bought the Yankees. With 13 partners, Steinbrenner purchased the team from CBS.
"When you're a shipbuilder, nobody pays any attention to you," he said. "But when you own the New York Yankees ... they do, and I love it."
With that, the Bronx Zoo days began. It was while he was under suspension that the Yankees ushered in baseball's free-agent era by signing Catfish Hunter to a $3.75 million contract. Even though he officially was barred from participating in the daily operation of the team, no one believed Steinbrenner was uninvolved in the deal.
For the first five years of free agency, Steinbrenner signed 10 players for about $38 million. Steinbrenner's $18 million, 10-year deal with Winfield was the richest free agent contract in history at the time.
During those days, Yankee Stadium underwent a $100 million facelift and reopened in 1976. That year, the Yankees won the AL pennant, but got swept in the World Series by Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. The Yankees surged back to win the World Series in 1977 and 1978 and the pennant in 1981.
Forbes magazine has estimated Steinbrenner's estate at $1.1 billion. By dying in 2010 - during a yearlong gap in the estate tax - his heirs could realize an unexpected bonanza, depending on how his holdings were structured.
In addition to his sons, Steinbrenner is survived by his wife, Joan, daughters Jennifer and Jessica and 13 grandchildren. A private funeral was expected to be held this week, followed by a public memorial.
He never expected to die this way.
"I don't have heart attacks," he once said. "I give them."
The Associated Press


text:
Breaking Local News
1st Annual McTrooper Run A Success
Money raised through the McTrooper 5K on Saturday will go directly to support the Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home away from home for families of seriously ill kids. The goal is to build a brand new home in Charleston that will help kids and families across the area. About 300 runners were part of the event Saturday.
Logan Co. Meth Bust Leads to Six Arrests
A Logan County meth bust has six people facing charges. The arrested after police executed a search warrant at a home outside of Chapmanville on Stone Branch Bottom. In addition to prescription pills. police found meth-making materials and two clandestine labs.
Guards at WV At Work During Shutdown, But Not Paid
Prison guards in West Virginia are considered essential employees so they've been working despite the government shutdown. But they're not being paid until the shutdown ends, according to the American Federation of Government Employees in Beckley. The Daily Mail reports furloughed employees will eventually be paid since Congress voted Oct. 5 to give laid-off workers back pay once the shutdown ends. For those that need money right now, the correctional officers' credit union is offering members short-term, low-interest loans.
Shooting Near Rutledge Road Was Self-Inflicted
Detectives with the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office have been investigating the shooting of Frank Kennedy outside his home on Dons Drive, near Rutledge Road outside of Charleston. Detectives say Kennedy was taken from the scene with a gunshot wound to the torso, to Charleston Area Medical Center for surgery. The investigation revealed Kennedy suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Charleston Airport Gets Grant Funds
Eighteen West Virginia airports are getting more than $20 million in state and federal grants. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Secretary of Transportation Paul Mattox announced the grants Wednesday. The West Virginia Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Commission allocated more than $2 million matching funds. The money is for infrastructure, safety and improvement projects. Yeager Airport received the biggest grant, more than $8 million in combined federal and state funding to remove obstructions.
Patriot Reaches Deal to Fund Retirement Benefits
Patriot Coal has reached a deal with Peabody Energy and Arch Coal to help fund future benefits for Patriot retirees. Patriot said in a press release that will clear the way for the company to finish out its financial reorganization by the end of the year. In a separate announcement, the Charleston Gazette reports United Mine Workers has reached "a global settlement" with Patriot and with Peabody that will provide more than $400 million to cover future health-care benefits for retirees affected by Patriot's bankruptcy. Under the deal with Knighthead Capital Management, Patriot will get $250 million in new capital for benefits.
Kanawha County Library to Offer Free Music Downloads
The Kanawha County Library is offering free downloadable music starting on Monday. The free, legal music downloads will be available through Freegal Music Service, which has more more than 7 million songs from more than 28,000 music labels. You'll need a library card and PIN, and then you can download three songs per week for free, and the downloads don't expire.
Inmates Charged With Sexual Assault
Two inmates at a Kanawha County jail are facing new charges after being accused of sexually assaulting a third prisoner back in September. Lorrae Church of Akron, Ohio, and Mary Browning of Charleston have been charged with second-degree sexual assault for the alleged incident at South Central Regional Jail. Court documents said there was an argument before the attack, and afterward doctors at Thomas Memorial Hospital had to remove a piece of glass or Fiberglas from the victim. The two appeared in Kanawha County Magistrate Court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
Sen. Manchin Calls for Pharmaceutical Investigation
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin wants an investigation into the situation involving the FDA and pharmaceuticals. A Food and Drug Administration panel that comes up with policies regulating prescription painkillers, is accused of accepting thousands of dollars from pharmaceutical companies. Manchin said during a conference call this week he hopes this could lead to a reclassification for hydrocodone, which has been abused in West Virginia. The Washington Post reportt the FDA panel accepted as much as $25,000 from large pharmaceutical companies so the companies could attend and provide input at closed-door meetings.
Furloughed Workers Apply for Jobless Benefits
Thousands of federal workers have been applying for unemployment benefits during the federal shutdown. Workforce West Virginia had asked furloughed workers to wait until this week so they had ample time to get their computer systems in order, but many workers didn't wait and filed early. Regardless, now is a good time to apply for unemployment benefits. Even though federal workers will get their jobs back after the shutdown, they're eligible for benefits in the interim.


text:
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text:
Meet The Team Event
Fri, 15-08-2014 17:27 — ssandalow
Meet your favorite RBNY players 8/19 at the adidas store in Soho!
Short Title:
Meet The Red Bulls!
Primary Image:
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New York Red Bulls | 600 Cape May St. | Harrison, NJ 07029 | 877.RB.SOCCER © 2014 MLS. All Major League Soccer trademarks and copyrights used by permission. All rights reserved. Made by MLS Digital


text:
Sasquatch sighting
Early Halloween surprise: Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, was spotted in various places in Gothenburg Thursday. The ape- or hominid-like creature, that some people believe inhabits forests, arrived in an ambulance borrowed by fans to attend the Swede vs. Haymaker football game in Cozad Friday night. The costume was donated by Monsanto Learning Center employee Jake Fritton.
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- McCook Community College recognizes two Brady graduates
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- Tim Strauser installed as funeral directors president


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- For Sale
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The -2 bedroom, {[{property_type_label || ''}]} for sale located at 621 Pinecrest Dr, Holland, MI 49424 went inactive on 06/14/2011.
Cozy 2 bedroom ranch with tons of character! Kitchen appears to have been updated and some wood floors. Potential for additional finished area in the basement. Sold AS IS, yr blt, sq ft, lot dim estimated, all information regarding property subject to buyer verification.
DIRECTIONS: Ottawa Beach Road (W) to Division, (S) to Pinecrest (immediate left) (E) to address.
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text:
Mrs. Joan Blanks WaitesPublished 10:02am Sunday, December 2, 2012
Funeral service for Mrs. Joan Blanks Waites, 76, of Alexander City, will be Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 11:00 am at the Chapel of Radney Funeral Home. Dr. Skip Lowery will officiate. Burial will follow in the Hillview Memorial Park. The family received friends on Monday, December 3, 2012 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Radney Funeral Home.
Mrs. Waites passed away on Saturday, December 1, 2012 at Baptist Medical Center South. She was born on September 6, 1936 in Clay County, Alabama to William Luther Blanks and Myrtle Ezell McDaniel Blanks. She was a member of First Baptist Church, an avid reader, a talented writer, and enjoyed difficult crossword puzzles. She worked for many years as the office manager at Blythe Insurance Agency and Wedgeworth Pest Control. She enjoyed spending time talking with her friends on the telephone.
She is survived by her husband of 41 years, William David "Bill" Waites of Alexander City; daughter, Dee Dee Waites Loyd (Jimmy), of Altoona, AL; son, Ray Waites (Shelley), of Rockford; sister-in-law, Ruth White of Alexander City; grandchildren Hunter Waites (Hayden), Heath Waites, Rayley Waites, Parker King, Jessie Loyd, and Jamie Loyd; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings, Janie Maude Blanks Hodnett (Freeman), Marcus Leon Blanks(Luvelia), Annie Lula Blanks Fetner (Jessie Hugh), William Elliott Blanks, and Daniel Malvin Blanks(Jerry Lene).
Memorial messages may be sent to the family at www.radneyfuneralhome.com.


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The May eAuction (May 13 - 31)
The May Hong Kong Auction (May 29th and 30th)
The September Hong Kong Auction (September 11)
The Early Fall Auction, NY (September 17th & 18th, 2015)
The Late Spring Auction (May 14 & 15)
The April eAuction (April 15 - 26)
The April Hong Kong eAuction (March 31 - April 14)
The Early Spring Auction (March 28)
The March eAuction (March 13 - 29)
La Paulée de New York Auction (Feb 26 & 27)
The February eAuction (February 13 - March 8)
Finest & Rarest, HK (January 24)
The January eAuction (Jan 15-25)
The December eAuction (December 12 - 28)
Auction Schedule
Dust off your paddles! Our Fall live auction season commences with an exciting one day sale in Hong Kong. We've been working hard all summer to fill The September Hong Kong Auction with the most jaw-dropping wines imaginable, beginning with THE BEST FROM THE BORDEAUX 2009 VINTAGE, FEATURING A DEPTH OF FIRST GROWTHS AND LARGE FORMAT OFFERINGS (Lots 1-78) which includes offerings from Chateaux Cheval Blanc, Haut Brion, Latour, Lafite Rothshild, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, Pavie, Petrus, and d'Yquem among other favorites. Another offering to watch is the exciting fifty lot parcel of Meursault Vireuills Dessus Coche-Dury Domaine et Selection 2011 (Lots 423-440).
We look forward to seeing you at on Saturday, 7 September at the JW Marriott Hong to ring in our Fall season and are always happy to assist you with absentee and online bidding for those unable to participate in the saleroom. For more information, to request a catalog or to register for this auction, email firstname.lastname@example.com or call +852 2530 1971 (914.448.3026 in the US).


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Home > Archives
Tuesday May 3, 2011
By MAGDALEN NG
Bi Feiyu's talent and passion for language helps him write good novels.
WINNING the prestigious 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize last month came as a surprise for Chinese author Bi Feiyu.
Friends had told him there was no way a Chinese author would win since Chinese writers had already bagged the prize in 2007 (when the prize was launched) and 2009.
His novel, Three Sisters, was up against the likes of Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe's The Changeling, Japanese author Yoka Ogawa's acclaimed Hotel Iris and best-selling Indian authors Tabish Khair's The Thing About Thugs and Manu Joseph's Serious Men.
Bi had thought that his chances of winning were so low that he did not even take his 42-year-old university lecturer wife (whom he declines to name), to the awards ceremony held in Hong Kong.
Speaking over the telephone from his home in Nanjing where he lives with his wife and 14-year-old son, he says with a laugh: "You know that women must shop when they go to Hong Kong ... if my wife were there and I didn't win, I would be courting trouble."
As it turns out, there would have been quite a lot of "shopping money" to splurge – the winner receives US$30,000 (RM90,900).
Continuing his banter about his wife, Bi, speaking in Mandarin, adds that she did not think highly of Three Sisters. In fact, "she doesn't think that I write well. Maybe it's because we're too close. Even after I won the prize, some things will not change," he says with mock exasperation.
Perhaps it is because his wife was his unpaid secretary before he started writing on computers. He explains: "Before I send my manuscript out to the publishers, it will usually be a mess, with lots of changes. My handwriting is not good too, so I used to ask her to copy it out for me. But I ditched this secretary after I got a computer!"
Three Sisters is about the Wang family and how the fate of three sisters changes during the Cultural Revolution in China when their philandering party secretary father has an affair with a soldier's wife and falls from grace.
Begun in 2007, the Man Asian Literary Prize is awarded annually to the best novel by an Asian writer published in the previous calendar year. The book can be either written in or translated into English. The translator of the winning book receives US$5,000 (RM15,150).
Bi is the third Chinese winner to win in four years, following Su Tong (2009 for The Boat To Redemption) and Jiang Rong (2007 for Wolf Totem). Filipino writer Miguel Syjuco won the 2008 prize for Illustrado.
Bi's work was first published as Yu Mi in 2001. When he started writing it, he planned to pen a traditional love story in response to books he describes as focusing too much on fornication.
He explains: "It would be what you called 'xia ban sheng xie zuo' ('lower body writing' in Chinese). I was dissatisfied with the current state, so I wanted to write a love story that was actually coy."
Halfway through, Bi realised that there was a bigger picture, so he wrote a she hui xiao shuo (societal novel) instead.
He says: "Many authors have already written about the Cultural Revolution, but I feel they touched only on the surface, talking politics. So what I wanted to do was to look at how the smallest details of life, such as family, relationships and even sex, was affected and harmed during that time."
Some readers might find the fate of his protagonists, Yuyang, Yuxiu and Yumi, too tragic – think rape and loveless marriages – but he thinks his novel accurately depicts the sense of oppression and resignation many felt during that period.
"The events that happened to the characters are fictitious, but I think that many (Chinese) will be able to relate to the emotions that the sisters experienced," he says.
Bi was born in 1964 in rural northern Jiangsu. His father had been labelled a "rightist" in the 1957 Anti-Rightist movement and exiled to the region. His mother was a schoolteacher. Bi remembers the first character he learnt to write from her was "Mao" for Mao Zedong, and not his own name.
His parents did not support his career choice to be an author: "In those days, it could prove to be politically dangerous. My father's life was wasted by politics. He returned to the city only in his 40s. His prime was over."
As a child, he loved writing but knew nothing about being an author. He recalls that in the early 1980s, when he was at university, a sudden poetry wave swept through the student population.
"Almost everyone wanted to write poetry. It was a strange time. I spent a lot of time writing poems but I did not succeed," he says.
After graduation, he attempted to write prose in the form of short stories and novellas. "It's not that shorter form is less time consuming, but rather, it demands a greater precision from the writer. That form trains a novelist to be a better linguist.
"It was only when I felt that I wrote better that I started to attempt longer stories."
He has written more than 100 short stories, six novellas and three novels. As well as Three Sisters, his other translated novel is Moon Opera, about an opera singer whose career is ruined when she attacks her understudy.
Bi says unabashedly he feels that from the start, he had a talent for language and it is something he loves passionately.
He says: "I love the written word. Although a good novel can do a lot of things – such as reflect on life, comment on political or socio-cultural issues – without a good command of the language, you will not be able to write a good book."
Has his love for the Chinese language rubbed off on his son?
He replies, chuckling: "He doesn't like literature. He prefers basketball. He has no intention of being an author."
He adds: "When he was seven or eight years old, he said he wanted to be an author. When I asked him why, he replied, 'Because I can play games on the computer every day.' He thinks I'm playing computer games when I'm actually writing."
However, it seems these days, Bi does not spend much time in front of the computer. Used to writing for six hours each day, he has not been able to work as usual since winning the prize.
"I get interview requests every day. I hope your call will be the last for today," says the author, who is writing a novel set in post-economic boom China.
After the experience of writing Three Sisters, he says of this latest one: "I have a general direction for development but no detailed plans. Plans are sometimes useless. They get messed up anyway. – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network
Neighbours heard cries of children being beaten
RM1mil reward offer for information on Dr M's alleged misdeeds
Body of child found buried in kitchen
'Wild' party ends for 51 at popular mall
Money down the drain
Man killed after car smashes into toll booth barrier
Copyright © 1995-2015 Star Media Group Berhad (ROC 10894D)(Formerly known as Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad)


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Project to begin in the Second Quarter of 2013 will include Hotel, Truck Stop, Restaurant, and other services to support the growth in the region.
MultiCorp International, Inc. has purchased 157 acres of prime real estate in the Dawson Creek area of British Columbia for the development of a 100-200 room hotel, full service truck stop, truck wash, convenience store, and other retail space to be able to service the expected boom in growth in the Dawson Creek area.
"This parcel is situated in the prime area of Dawson Creek and will capitalize on the fact that Dawson Creek's population is set to explode over the next 4-7 years. The company plans to work closely with our strategic partner, New North Construction, Ltd, to develop the property with a truck stop, hotel, fueling station, and other ancillary service businesses to accommodate the growth projected for this area. When this project is completed, it should be valued in the $100 million dollar range and will create a steady income for the company of $4-6 million dollars per month in revenue" stated Mr. Paul D. Lisenby, CEO of MultiCorp International, Inc.
Securing this property is the first of the development projects we have planned for this area of B.C. As part of the company's due diligence process, Mr. Lisenby personally was in Dawson Creek earlier this year and spoke with key local business owners to insure this project would be in the best interests of the company. As Dawson Creek welcomes some 50, 000 new workers along with their families over the next 4-7 years, the building of this project – as well others the company has planned for this area – will truly create an incredible opportunity for MultiCorp to expand its business globally.


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Feedback Section
on November 24th at 04:24AM
Well...I'm finding myself telling you guys my situation again because I feel like everyone else will just tell me how dumb I am but it rolls off me. I need strangers to set me straight. So remember the shady guy I have been as you call it, "sweating" for like 6 months....who still hasn't given it to me bc he "forgets" condoms or other things go wrong? I find myself still responding to his daily texts and getting all excited when he calls or leaves me voicemail. However, in the meantime I have been hanging out with my ex bc we get along as friends and generally have a good time in all aspects. He pretty much wants things to be serious again but he knows I'm stuck on this other guy who is a moron, I know. What is wrong with me...like I have this great option here with this guy who wants to o
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This article discusses a recent unpublished decision of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, in which the court was asked to determine whether a mechanic's lien was superior and prior to a mortgage held by a bank.
This case discussed the priority dispute which arose, and demonstrates that a contractor should carefully document not only the first date of work, but also what that first work was, to ensure that priority is not lost.
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Nepal mulls leasing Himalayan peaks: official
Published on Mar 11, 2014 7:48 PM
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepal is considering a plan to lease Himalayan peaks to private tourism companies, an official said Tuesday, in a bid to ease traffic on Mount Everest and help jumpstart the economy.
The proposal would involve hiring out some of the 326 Himalayan peaks that are currently open, in an attempt to lure climbers away from the main drawcard of Everest amid fears of congestion.
It one of several new measures - including lower mountaineering fees - designed to attract more climbers to the impoverished country, which counts tourism as a key revenue earner.
"We have begun discussion on leasing unclimbed peaks to the private sector, to promote these mountains as new tourism products," Mohan Krishna Sapkota, spokesman for the tourism ministry said.
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A tub of bacteria never tasted so good. Make these easy homemade yogurt recipes for your family and stop paying more for store-bought.
The blender gets labeled as a one-trick pony — and that's not fair. Put yours through its paces with these concoctions that spin together fast.
Everyone's got one tucked away in some kitchen cabinet. If you're not getting enough mileage out of your blender, check out these 14 great uses.
Take DIY to the next level (and save money) with this collection of easy-to-acquire homesteading skills.
There's nothing sweeter than a handmade Valentine's gift — unless it's a delicious and decadent sugary treat, like these.
Homemade gifts are always appreciated, but your recipient may not always want your famous pecan-sugar bars. Mix it up with these DIY beauty gifts.
Show friends and loved ones how much you care with a gift of delicious, handmade edibles you made yourself!
Who doesn't love dumplings? Enjoy them more often, for much less than store bought, with this quick and easy dumpling making routine.
Save money and keep your pets healthy and happy with pet gear you make at home for cheaper.
Peanut may still be the king of nut butters, but there are plenty of nutty new challengers — most of which you can make right at home, for cheap.
Cool off deliciously and frugally (and kinda-sorta healthfully) with these delicious, easy to make homemade frozen treats.
Summer's here, and that means hours of outdoor fun. Protect your family from sunburns with these DIY salves and solutions that don't contain nasty chemicals.
Power through the mid-morning slump and afternoon doldrums with a healthful handful of these nutritious, energy-rich snacks.
Need a boost after your workout but can't stand the drain to your pocketbook? Make your own cheaper, tastier, and healthier versions at home!
Why buy when you can make at home so many of the home and personal care products you use? Here are 17 easy recipes to get you started.
Homemade protein powder? Yep, you can make that and 34 other grocery staples cheaply and easily at home. (And discover the five you should DEFINITELY skip.)
Homemade liqueurs and infused alcohols are easy to make and are always welcome gifts around the holidays. Here are 10 great ones you have to try.
For luscious, organic lotion, making your own is the way to go. Follow these recipes to have some seriously happy, healthy, and moisturized skin.
I doubt if the cost of yeast is really breaking your household budget. If you bake a lot you probably already buy yeast in bulk, so you're not paying the per-packet price anyway.
I'm a dill pickle addict. Once that seal has been popped on my jar of Claussen dills, I usually take care of that jar within 24 hours. Pickles aren't cheap, however, so I went fo
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The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy ) are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic. The Poles can also be referred to as the inhabitants of the Republic of Poland and Polish emigrants irrespective of their ethnicity. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas and Australia.
There is no commonly accepted definition of the Polish people. According to the preamble of the Constitution of Poland, the Polish Nation consists of all citizens of Poland. However, like in most European countries, many people limit the group to native speakers of the Polish language, people that share certain traditions, or people who share a common ethnic background originating from Poland. As to its origins, the name of the nation comes from a western Slavic ethnic group of Polans primarily associated with Poland and the Polish language. Poles belong to the Lechitic subgroup of these ethnic people. The Polans of Giecz, Gniezno, and Poznań were one of the most influential tribes of Greater Poland and managed to unite many other West Slavic tribes in the area under the rule of what became the Piast dynasty, thus giving birth to a new state. The Polish word for a Polish person is Polak (male) and Polka (female), however, when this common noun is used verbatim in the English language (usually spelled as Polack) it is always offensive.
The term "Polonia" is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10-12 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States (Polish-Americans), Canada, (Polish-Canadians) and Brazil (Polish-Brazilians). France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles lived in France since the 1700s. In the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation and later Soviet rule.
In the United States a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, and Buffalo. The majority of Polish Canadians arrived to Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 – 1970, and again since the fall of Communism in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, the city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world (after Chicago) and Polish music, dishes and culture are quite common in the region. In recent years, since joining the European Union, many Polish people have emigrated to countries such as Ireland; where an estimated 200,000 Polish people have entered the labour market. It is estimated that over half a million Polish people have immigrated to the United Kingdom. The Polish community in Norway has increased dramatically and has grown to a total number of 120,000, making Poles the largest immigrant group in Norway.
A survey carried out by the CBOS public opinion institute, between March 30 and April 2, 2007, found that 86% of Poles felt that EU membership had had a positive effect, with only 5% of the respondents speaking against it, down from 22 percent in 2004. The institute also found that 55% of those surveyed prefer the EU to remain a union of sovereign states, while 22% supported the idea of a "United States of Europe". Principal areas of Polish life that have been improved by EU membership, are agriculture (according to 75% of those surveyed), the environment (61%), productivity (57%) and unemployment (56%).
Among the ten new EU members, of which eight are Central or Eastern European, Poles are the most mobile, with considerable numbers of Polish migrants found in almost all 'old' EU countries, filling numerous vacancies on the European labour market, especially in areas where indigenous workforce is insufficient. According to Franck Duvell of Oxford, some countries, like Germany and Austria, missed on that opportunity by discriminating against mobile Europeans, granting them freedom of movement without freedom of employment, which resulted in the increase of numbers of illegal migrant workers there. "In fact, the EU accession process, and namely the Polish experience could possibly serve as a paradigm for easing some of Europe's migration dilemma," Duvell suggested.


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Weird News - Page 14
Girl, 13, Suspended for Bringing Butter Knife to Cut Fruit at Lunch
Grocery Store Charging $5 Fee Just to Browse
Punxsutawney Phil Is in Trouble With the Law
The official first day of spring may have been earlier this week, but one prosecutor in Ohio thinks that winter has gone on far too long—and he blames a certain prognosticatory rodent.
Syfy's 'Ghost Hunters' Investigate Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium
Is Shreveport's Municipal Auditorium haunted? The Syfy Channel's hit show "Ghost Hunters" seems to think so. According to SMG Manager Sam Voisin, the paranormal investigation crew was at the storied local venue recently filming for an upcoming show.
Shreveport Minor Robbed When Trying To Buy Drugs, No One Arrested
University Cuts Baseball Team, Team Cuts University From Uniform
Louisiana Man Arrested Wearing Tin Foil Hat; Threatened To Torch Schools
Enraged Man Beats Woman in Wheelchair for Eating Last Piece of Chicken
Drunk Woman Takes Off Pants, Flee Cops In Toy Power Wheels Truck
Jamie Craft of Jonesboro, Arkansas has herself quite a Tuesday.
The 28-year old kicked of her midweek adventure by getting good and drunk and crashing her Trans Am into the side of a mobile home. Mind you this was a proper, adult sized Trans Am, which becomes important later in this tale and also made what she did a pretty serious crime.


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Rafachat - vol. 79. Who cares about the AO? SA slam to start very soon! Bamos!
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Re: Rafachat - vol. 79. Rafa to win the WSOP next year! Bamos! :rocker2:
On the downside, I lost a molar.
The poor thing had impressive roots with 3 strong hooks holding on for dear life but it had to go.
I will need dental work to bridge the gap so I'll know where my 13th month pay (= bonus) will go.
My teeth are of a crap quality, sadly. If you add the amount of money my parents spent on it with the amount I've spent on it, you get a small fortune. My dentist said that the work I've had done as a teenager to correct my teeth affected the quality of my teeth badly. Makes sense, you wiggle and move those teeth around until they have the correct position but it can't be good for the teeth themselves.
On the upside, shortly, I'll have a 1,5 week off.
The Frankenstorm images from the East Coast are impressive.
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A company with a long history in this valley is getting a fresh start over the weekend as they move into a new headquarters building.
Newhall Land is leaving its '60s era building – where chains serve as rain "gutters" and moving into new quarters on Springfield Court, a mere half-mile away.
"We started looking at moving a few years ago," said Marlee Lauffer, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications. "This is an absolutely great building, but it's not as efficient as it could be."
Staff reductions, which took place when their home building division moved out and other corporate shifts took place, also left the remaining staff with lots of empty space.
"In this new building, we'll have the whole third floor," Lauffer said. "It's going to be great; we will all be together, departments will be able to interface with other departments and we'll be more efficient. Plus it's a brand new building."
The current building is also one of the properties acquired by LNR during the acquisition.
The Newhall Land and Farming Company was established in 1883, by the sons and widow of Henry Mayo Newhall. At that time, the company owned more than 46,000 acres, formerly beloning to Antonio del Valle and christened by Newhall as Rancho San Francisco.
Lauffer said that the last few months have been bittersweet, with staff going through files and storage, finding memories and evidence of how business has changed – especially where computers came into play.
"We've been doing lots of shredding and lots of scanning," she said.
Their new headquarters will be at 25124 Springfield Court, which is off of Tourney Road near the 5 freeway. Lauffer said that one of the benefits of the new building is that everyone has a view office, overlooking the valley, the Tournament Players Club, the Westfield Valencia Town Center and the Valencia Commerce Center – as well as a glimpse at the future Newhall Ranch properties.
"It's a good way to start the next phase of Newhall Land," Lauffer concluded.


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Highly qualified women top the list
The study shows that, among MS patients using alternative treatments, there is a significantly bigger proportion of people with a high level of education compared to those who do not use alternative treatments. There is also a larger proportion of highly paid people and of younger women.
"Some critics are of the opinion that when alternative treatments are so popular, it is because they appeal to nave people looking for a miraculous cure. But our results indicate that it is primarily the well-educated segment that is subscribing to alternative treatments. And that using alternative treatments is part of a lifestyle choice," says Lasse Skovgaard.
He hopes that the new knowledge will improve communication regarding how the chronically ill use alternative treatments in combination with conventional medicine:
"We see that so many people are combining conventional medicine with alternative treatment that it should be taken seriously by the health service. Until now, there hasn't been much focus on the doctor-patient dialogue in relation to the alternative methods used by the chronically ill to manage their lives," says Lasse Skovgaard. He says that the research group is continuing to analyse the results and, among other things, is conducting several interview studies based on the results of the questionnaires. The interview studies will, for example, provide additional knowledge on how patients perceive the risks associated with using alternative medicine and explore why some patients turn their backs completely on conventional medicine.
|Contact: Lasse Skovgaard
University of Copenhagen


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As of Thursday, December 12, 2013
© Copyright 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post
If You Go
• What: Christmas in the Park, Caboose Lighting
• When: 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday for Christmas; 6:30 p.m. Sunday for caboose
• Where: Town Center Park, 330 Town Center Ave., Suwanee
• Cost: Free
• For more information: Visit www.suwanee.com
SUWANEE — This weekend, Suwanee is overhauling parts of the city and creating a winter wonderland.
Today and Saturday, Suwanee's Old Town Center is transformed into a scene from a Charles Dickens' novel for the annual Christmas in the Park event.
Sponsored by Shadowbrook Baptist Church, the park is set up with 11 themed houses with different activities inside. Children could join a Nativity play at the Starry Night Theater, ride the Christmas train at the Suwanee Station, write letters to Santa at the post office and write letters to soldiers overseas.
The event is free, but attendees are asked to bring canned goods to donate, pairs of new and gently used shoes (kids size 5 to adult size 12) and new and gently used coats (kid and adult sizes).
After rescheduling from last week, Suwanee's annual Caboose Lighting and Holiday Festival is on Sunday.
The event includes performances by local elementary school choruses, craft activities and s'mores.
Children from Level Creek, Riverside, Roberts and Suwanee elementary schools sing for the crowd and usher in Santa with a variety of holiday tunes. Traveling into town along Main Street, Santa will pause to magically light the red caboose before heading to the Burnette-Rogers Pavilion where children can share their wishes and get their photo taken.
"I always enjoy visiting Suwanee," Santa Claus said. "There sure are a lot of good boys and girls who live there. The Caboose Lighting is a low-key, come-as-you-are way of welcoming my favorite time of year."
Cookies, hot chocolate and s'mores will be available while supplies last.
More like this story
- Jolly old Saint Nick
Santa Claus to make a stop in Suwanee on Saturday ( November 30, 2008 )
- Old Town Suwanee celebrates caboose lighting ( November 30, 2012 )
- Ornaments to be given away at tree lighting ( November 21, 2012 )
- Tree lighting sparks start of festivities ( November 22, 2006 )
- Suwanee church gears up for Christmas in the Park ( November 30, 2013 )


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how 'bout them leaches
In the Guadalupe River there are some smallish harmless leaches living in their natural habitat. Every once in a while, but very, very rarely you may find one stuck to your back or arm or leg or whatever... they rinse right off in the current, and pose no health threat that I am aware of.
So don't freak out.
Just beware of the Central...
Just beware of the Central Texas sun. Bring sunscreen of at least 30spf. Also if you go to Schlitterbahn, buy some aquashoes because the pavement gets pretty hot by the afternoon. On the tubing, consider getting a tube with a bottom if your not used to being on the river, there's some pretty big rocks in the rapids. Might want to look out for water moccasins on the river. They say if you leave em alone they won't bother you, but that doesn't help me much. We tubed for four hours and saw ONE snake (he had little interest in us)
When on the river
DO NOT bring styrofoam, glass or cans. All beverages must be in non disposable containers. Cops are looking for tubers with this items and you WILL get a $500 fine. Please keep our rivers clean!
I bring sangria in a thermos...
Jumping off Bridges
Every summer there is some drunken idiot that jumps of a bridge into a river that is 5 feet deep and dies, so don't do it. Many people also jump of trees into deep parts off the river but the river floor is constantly changing and floods causes rocks to be shifted so it is dangerous also.
- Adventure Travel
Beware Drinking on the River
Consumption of alcohol by minors, public intoxication and drugs are against the law. The proposed ban on alcohol consumption on the Comal & Guadalupe Rivers was not approved.
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