text:
Tian Ci – Faye Wong and English Songs in the Cantopop and Mandapop Repertoire
Introduction: 'Covers Without Stigma'
This chapter examines the reconstruction of a number of western pop and rock songs in the Cantopop and Mandapop repertoire, with particular emphasis on the musical output of the Beijing-born, Hong Kong-based 'empress' of Cantopop and Mandapop, Faye Wong, who has generated more interest in the Western world than most of her peers, outside the relatively closed diasporic world of Mandarin and Cantonese-language pop music. She is known in the West mainly as an actress in Wong-kar Wai's 1994 film Chungking Express, which included a 'cinematic music video' (Witzleben 2000) featuring her Cantonese version of the Irish group the Cranberries' song 'Dreams', and to a lesser extent for her role in Wong kar-Wai''s star-studded 2004 film 2046. Faye Wong has gradually amassed a significant body of Western fans, known generically as 'Fayenatics'1, despite only rarely performing or recording songs in English.
Wong has recorded and performed versions of songs in Cantonese and Mandarin by US, UK, Scottish and Irish artists such as the Cranberries, Tori Amos, the Sundays, Everything But the Girl, and the Cocteau Twins, in the process negotiating an 'in-between' position linking mainstream Cantopop and alternative rock music. Her incorporation of both mainstream and non-mainstream songs and musical elements into her repertoire led her to be referred to in the Chinese music industry press in 1994 as Faye Chu Lau Tze Yam, a term meaning 'the voice of Faye's mainstream', but also 'the voices of the non-mainstream' in spoken Cantonese, which could also be translated as 'Fayestream'2. This indicaties that she could almost be said to occupy her own category in the Chinese pop music spectrum, and she has continued to combine mainstream pop songs with more 'alternative', even avant-garde oriented tracks throughout her career.
There are many examples of re-interpretations of western pop songs in Cantopop and Mandapop, drawing on what Witzleben (1998: 472) has called a 'venerable and well-respected tradition in Chinese opera' called tian ci, in which pre-existing melodies are set to new lyrics. Importantly, as Witzleben has observed, the adherence to the tian ci tradition of appropriating the tunes of western and foreign songs in Cantopop is a long-standing one, 'and has never had the stigma which is attached to the term "cover version"' (ibid.1998: 472). This is partly a by-product of the craft of song lyric writing in Cantopop, which is practiced independently by a large number of artists and generally considered as a quite separate art from musical song composition. Lin Xi, who has worked extensively with Faye Wong since her debut album Shirley in 1989, is considered to be one of the most distinctive Hong Kong-based lyric writers, and as Fung and Curtin have noted, his highly impressionistic and poetic lyrics 'are charged with metaphors and allegories' (2002: 281) which are often very difficult to translate. In a biography of Wong which appeared in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1998, Brave to Be Myself, Lin Xi's lyrics were described as ''''imagistic'": like prose poems. Their language is not fixed, in places its meaning is vague. It takes you into an hallucinatory world of sensitive intelligence' (Wong and Shue 1998: 102). The comparison to prose poems is noteworthy, given that two of the English song lyrics Wong has adapted, by Tori Amos and Ben Watt, were also written as prose poems.
Distinctive examples of tian ci in Cantopop include the late Cantopop actress and singing star Anita Mui Yim-Fong's controversial song about seduction and the frustrations of sexual repression, 'Bad Girl' ('Huai N'Thai'), first recorded in 1985, a Cantonese version of Scottish singer Sheena Easton's song 'Strut'. This song, which contained Chinese lyrics written by Lin Zhenquiang which are completely unrelated to Easton''s original song, became an Anita Mui signature tune throughout the Chinese diaspora, although its English language source was completely unknown. 'Bad Girl' did contain a chorus in English, 'why, why, tell me why', which rhymed with the Cantonese title, and segued into the Cantonese for 'Why can't I let myself go?', as well as incorporating other English words, 'Help me' and 'Midnight'. 'Bad Girl' was banned in Mainland China in the 1990s for its perceived salacious content (see Witzleben 1999: 247), but remained in Mui's concert repertoire as part of a medley, sometimes introduced in English as 'Bad Girl', until her death in 2003 (and was included in her final Sydney concert in that year). It even spawned a later song in Mui's repertoire, with Cantonese lyrics by Terry Chan, and the title and chorus in English, called 'Big Bad Girl', recorded in 1995.3
Other notable examples of Cantopop songs being launched on the back of English language originals, although with a more guaranteed knowledge of the originals by Chinese audiences, include Taiwan-born and Canada-raised Sally Yeh's 1985 version of Madonna's 'Material Girl' (retitled 'Two Hundred Degrees'); Sarah Wong's 1988 version of Kylie Minogue's 'I Should be So Lucky' (which became 'Please Don't be So Clingy'); and Angela Pang's 1992 version of Abba's 'Dancing Queen' ('Make Me Shake My Body'). As Eric Chu (2003) has pointed out, many such cover versions remain very close, or even identical, to the originals in terms of their musical settings, and sometimes there are even affinities between the Cantonese lyrics and the sense of the original English lyrics. Chu also notes that up to ten Cantopop and Mandapop albums are released every week in Hong Kong, many incorporating a wide variety of different musical styles ranging from heavy metal to techno to pop ballads, and most spend no more than five weeks in the charts, so an extensive demand for available melodies leads to a widespread appropriation of western songs, including French, Spanish, German, and Italian originals, along with songs from Japan, Korea, other Asian countries and the Middle East. Appropriations of musical phrases, and snippets from sources ranging from classical to film and television themes to pop songs, are also common (one of Faye Wong's music videos, for example, for the song 'Stop Halfway', directly cites Peter Gabriel's music video 'Sledgehammer', with an aeroplane flying around Wong's head). But as Chu (2003: 6) notes:
There has been no anxiety involved in Mandapop and Cantopop covers, the composers are always credited and the copyright fully paid for, although … when it comes to sounds and instruments that are country-specific, it's a different matter (2003: 6).
Cantonese and Mandarin lyrics virtually ensure that the songs become 'indigenised' to the extent that the original source is frequently forgotten, or becomes a distant echo, as in the case of 'Cold War' and 'Person in a Dream', Faye Wong's versions of Tori Amos' 'Silent All These Years', and the Cranberries' 'Dreams'', both of which she first recorded in 1993 and which she sang in identical versions to the originals in her 2004 'Live @Hong Kong' concert, to rapturous applause. Recent concerts by Faye Wong have also included English language cover versions of Sinead O'Connor's 'Thank You For Hearing Me' (an intriguing rendition in that it that effectively removes the scathingly ironic overtones of the original), Burt Bacharach's Dusty Springfield evergreen 'The Look of Love', and Deborah Harry and Blondie's hit 'Heart of Glass'. But such examples of 'straight' cover versions of English-language songs are relatively rare in Wong's repertoire, have not been included in any of her studio recordings, and occupy a different role to her Mandarin and Cantonese re-settings of English language songs.
Raised on Appropriation: The Emergence of Cantopop and Mandapop
In her article 'Cantopop on Emigration from Hong Kong', Joanna Ching-Yun Lee traces the origin of the English-language term 'Cantopop' (also used by Hong Kong writers, and sometimes referred to as 'Canto-pop') to a 1978 article in Billboard by Hans Ebert, revising the term 'Cantorock', which he had previously used in 1974 to describe Hong Kong's locally produced rock music (1992b:14). The term 'Mandapop' (or Mando-pop) was later added to refer to Mandarin-language popular songs, which were often versions of Cantopop songs sung by the same singers with different lyrics 'to fit the different rhyme and tonal patterns of Cantonese and Mandarin' (Lee and Witzleben 2002: 355). Mandapop began to be marketed in Taiwan and the People''s Republic of China in the 1990s, although both terms are confined to the English language.
The earliest Cantopop singing star was Sam Hui Koon-Kit (Xu Guanjie), who began his career in the English-language cover band Lotus, and who emerged as a solo artist singing in Cantonese in 1974, spearheading a Hong Kong native language song movement which led to the virtual extinction of the English language from Cantopop, a tendency which continues to the present. Hui sometimes combined topical Cantonese lyrics with western tunes, as in his version of Bill Haley and the Comets' 1955 hit 'Rock Around the Clock', which was transformed into a satirical song about inflation and rising prices in Hong Kong (see Oi-Kuen Man 1997 for an analysis). Lee (1992:14)ref) describes Cantopop as 'a new genre characterised by a distinctly British-American popular music style', emerging after Mandarin language songs, which had evolved from Shanghai film songs, lost their popularity in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. As elsewhere, tThe Beatles' visit to Hong Kong in 1964 was particularly influential on the local music scene, and Hong Kong pop music in the late 1960s and early 1970s frequently involved local artists 'performing English-language cover versions' (Lee and Witzleben 2002:, 354), with songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Joe Cocker and the Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar proving particularly popular (Witzleben 1998: 470). Witzleben also notes that there is also an extensive repertoire in Cantopop drawn from Japanese pop songs, citing a boxed CD of 55 of the 'most important' songs by the singer Nakajima Miyuki which have been covered in Cantonese and Mandarin versions, including one of Faye Wong's signature songs, 'Fragile Woman' (1998: 472).
John Erni (1998: 62) has suggested that due to its predominantly surface orientation, Cantopop, succeeds in capturing 'the permanent in-betweenness of our existence and our desire' (1998: 62) through three prominent and prevalent features, all of which could be applied to the re-contextualisation of western pop songs: its lack of concern with differentiating the original from the copy; its commitment to 'endless repetition and recombinance' (ibid.: 60); and its ready combination with karaoke as a means of representing 'the cultural condition of surface belongingness' (ibid.: 61,60). Often derided as bland, middle of the road, shallow and consumerist by both western and eastern commentators (see Cheung 1997, Tsang 1999, Chan 1999, Western 2001, Witzleben 1994:452), Cantopop nonetheless contains its musically and politically adventurous aspects, most notably in the 1980s output of the duo Tat Ming Pair (see Lee 1992), both of whom have worked with Faye Wong.
Faye Wong''s tian ci
Fung and Curtin (2002) have provided a reasonably comprehensive overview of Faye Wong's career up to 2001, although they overstress her contribution to gender politics and make misleading comparisons to the 'Madonna phenomenon' and the Spice Girls (2002: 265), as well as reproducing a number of inaccuracies in song and album titles. Wong's first significant cover song occurs on her fourth album, No Regrets, released in 1993, with 'Starting from Tomorrow', a Cantonese version of British duo Everything But the Girl's hauntingly melancholic 'bedsit ballad' 'The Road', the rather overlooked final track on their 1990 album The Language of Life, which had been written and sung by Ben Watt. This stood out from the relatively mediocre roster of Cantopop tracks on No Regrets for Wong's strikingly pellucid rendition of its mournful melody, which on the EBTG original had Stan Getz playing a soaring tenor sax, over subdued piano and orchestra. Lin Xi's lyrics are about a woman resolving to break up with her lover after recollecting her memories of him and 'playing the role of a weak woman for one more day',4 and although they fail to match the poetic qualities of Watt's lyrics, and the musical setting is a rather lacklustre copy of the original, Wong's lustrous, opera-trained soprano voice draws out qualities of emotion and coloratura from the melody in the vocal line which easily outdo Watt's rather low-key rendition. The song, a highly unusual, 'alternative' choice for the Cantopop canon, remained in Wong's repertoire for a few years, and was included on her 1995 Live in Concert album. A Mandarin version of the song entitled 'Weak', with lyrics by Pan Li Yu, also about a relationship breakup, was included on her 1994 album Mystery. It was a harbinger of change ahead in Wong's repertoire.
Wong's 100 Thousand Whys?, released in September 1993, marked a breakthrougha breakthrough in terms of her definition as a Cantopop artist, as she began to actively embody alternative western rock styles. The album included Cantonese versions of Sting and the Police's well-known song 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da DaDo Do Da Da', a Barry White song, 'Rainy Days Without You', and 'Seduce Me', a Miyuki Nakajima song, and two songs with English titles, Helen Hoffner''s 'Summer of Love' (sung in Cantonese) and a ballad, 'Do We Really Care', sung in English. There were enough standard Cantopop songs, like the opening track, 'Lau Fei Fei', to placate her fans, and like its predecessor, the album sold more than 300,000 copies in Hong Kong, and was the best selling album of 1993. But the undoubted tour de force of the album was 'Cold War', Wong's version of Tori Amos's song 'Silent All These Years', in an identical musical setting, with insistent piano backing, spare orchestral embellishments and double-tracked choruses, with Wong's vocal intonation and coloratura following Amos's quite closely. Lin Xi's lyrics, however, despite the political overtones of the song's title, maintain little of the implicit sense of Amos's rather surreal, poetic original, which since its appearance on the 1991 album Little Earthquakes, and its connection with 'Me and a Gun'', a song about being raped, has become an anthem of rape and child abuse, and was re-released as a single to raise funds for a charity organisation which Amos co-founded, RAINN (the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). Wong's 'Cold War', in contrast, is a relatively conventional 'relationship song' about the lack of communication between a couple, and a conflict of understanding that is never expressed. The chorus runs:
Facing each other not saying a word/ As if you and I have a rapport/ Never wanting any childish squabbles/ But our expressions silently hinting that this is a cold war/ How many years together without a word?
A vague trace of the 'silence' and the 'years' from the Amos song is maintained, and the lyrics even mention a metaphorical mime artist who becomes symbolic of the pretence and simulation sustaining the relationship, but there is no hint of any sexual violence, which would of course be inadmissible in a Chinese context. The sense of the Cantonese lyrics of 'Cold War' is in fact closer to the Tori Amos song 'China', also on Little Earthquakes, which uses the image of the Great Wall of China to embody distance, separation and conflict in a relationship. This suggests an unwitting element of cultural exchange between the two artists, although they have reportedly never made contact. 'Cold War' remains one of Wong's most popular songs, and has remained in her repertoire for twelve years.5 According to Wang Fei: the Empress''s Style:
'Cold War' was the first appearance of 'Fayestream' music. This was the beginning of her unique vocalisation. Her use of a nasal tone, very rich in its features, was a formal invocation of Amos'' original vocal. There has always been a tradition of re-wording songs in Chinese in Hong Kong, and Wong was acting within this. What was different was the song she had re-worded was a little different in nature from the popular vogue. (Unattributed author 1999: p 33).
Wong's 1994 album Random Thoughts, her first album under the name Wang Fei, consolidated the radical new departure of 'Cold War'. Stefan Graman describes it as
probably one of the most important albums in Hong Kong music history … Even though it did not bring on a revolutionary change in the Hong Kong music scene, its contribution to the growth of the Hong Kong music industry is not to be underestimated. (Graman All About Ah Faye 2001)
At the time of this album Wong had begun to hang out on the Beijing rock scene with alternative, dissident punk-styled musicians such as Cui Jian, the Taiwanese rocker He Yong (famous for an angry punk anthem entitled 'Garbage Dump' before attempting to burn his hopuse down and becoming institutionalised) and Dou Wei, who were part of the new Beijing alternative rock movement of the 1990s. Dou Wei was a singer, guitarist, flautist and drummer who had played in the well-known Beijing heavy rock group Heibao (Black Panther), and had begun to embody the musical influence of the Cocteau Twins in his band Zuomeng (Dream the Dream), before starting a solo career in 1994, and later renouncing rock music entirely in favour of spiritual development. Wong married Dou Wei in July 1996, and the couple had a daughter, but were divorced in 1999. Nonetheless Dou had a lasting influence on the change in direction in Wong's music, and played an active role as a producer in her work, as well as playing drums on some of her tracks and with her on tour. Random Thoughts was co-produced by Wong, Wei and Beijing rock artist Zhang Yatung, and was Faye's first completely 'alternative' album, which also brought her new audiences on the mainland. As Mabel Cheung's 2002 film Beijing Rocks (Mega Star/Media Asia) was to show almost a decade later, the Beijing rock scene of the 1990s was regarded by some Hong Kong musicians as an authentic source of vital, alternative, cutting edge rock music which exposed the bland commercialism and artificiality of the Hong Kong music scene, despite the common perception in Hong Kong of mainlanders as 'country bumpkins', which Faye had suffered from with her first album Shirley Wong (1989).
The title track of Random Thoughts and a song entitled 'Know Oneself and Each Other' were Cantonese re-settings of two songs by the Cocteau Twins, 'Bluebeard' and 'Know Who You Are At Every Age', from their 1993 album Four-Calendar Café. The Cocteau Twins' glossolalia vocals and dreamy, jangly, ethereal guitars - a constant feature of the Random Thoughts album - were a strong influence on Wong's work for the next four years, and according to Max Woodworth (2004) in the Taipei Times:
Wong shares the same distant-sounding, high pitched siren voice of the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser, and the gauzy aesthetic of the Twins' album covers even made its way onto Wong's album cover art (2004).
The cover of Random Thoughts was also something of a new departure for Cantopop. Instead of a photo of Faye, it consisted of Chinese characters in various different sizes and shades of black and grey, while the photo of Wong on the back cover featured her with short hair and tank top, a tomboy image which she later cultivated in Chungking Express and which led to her celebration as a gay icon (see Hsiao-Hung Chang, 1998: 291). Simon Reynolds has characterised the Cocteau Twin's 'wordless siren-songs' appropriately as 'oceanic rock', comparing them to Helène Cixoux's pre-Oedipal 'écriture feminine':
The baby-talk nonsense of their song titles and Liz Fraser's vocals, which do without any hard consonants or fricatives, are all labial, take us back to the earliest love affair of all, that of mother and child. The Cocteaus are like mother's song, all succour and softness, closeness without having to say anything at all. (Reynolds 1990: 130).
With Wong herself giving birth to a daughter at the end of 1996 and appearing pregnant on the cover of her 1997 album Toys, the resonances with motherhood are appropriate, especially as she appeared to take these aspects of the Scottish duo to heart, and has been quoted as saying 'I like the Cocteau Twins' music because I feel that in their musical thinking I have something in common with them'.6 While the title track 'Random Thoughts' contained lyrics by Lin Xi which describe the intoxication, emotional conflict and turbulence of being in love, and 'Know Oneself and Each Other' also contained lyrics by Lin Xi, both songs were almost identical musical settings of the Cocteau Twins originals, and a number of the other songs on the album, including 'Pledge', also had a Cocteau Twins-like 'band sound'. But 'Person in a Dream', a faithful rendition of the musical setting of the Cranberries' 'Dreams' from their 1992 Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? album, remains the stand-out track on Random Thoughts, with its driving, jangling rhythm guitar and skittering drum patterns. Faye even managed to adapt the Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan's distinctively Irish, high-pitched, lilting intonation, especially on the abruptly-ending long stresses of the ''la ah la''s in the song''s chorus, which are rendered in the Chinese lyrics as 'Ah-la-ha, la-ya-ha, ya-ha-ah', and which Faye subsequently incorporated into other songs, suggesting that both O'Riordan's and Fraser's Celtic intonations may have had a lasting impact on her singing style, along with Sinead O'Connor's.7
In her 1994 album Please Myself, in many ways a less radical collection of songs, Wong experiments with a shorter lyrical form, clearly influenced by the Cocteau Twins, in both the title track, where she sings a wordless refrain, and the slow, sweet, melodic 'Float', which has lyrics by Lin Xi and a refrain of 'la la's. The stand-out track is 'Being Criminal', a version of British independent group tThe Sundays' song 'Here''s Where the Story Ends', from their 1990 album Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. This is somewhat in the vein of the Cranberries' 'Dreams', with a jangling guitar pulse, and Faye's vocals follow Harriet Wheeler's soaring, lilting choruses. 1995's Di-Dar continues Wong's independent orientation, with the influence of the Cocteau Twins and Dou Wei apparent in some of the songs, and the title track, a self-composed piece with lyrics by Lin Xi, featuring a video strongly influenced by the 'goth' style of tThe Cure, with Faye wearing dark make-up. The Decadent Sound of Faye (1995) was a collection of cover songs in tribute to Taiwanese singer Teresa Tang, who had died tragically in 1995 of an asthma attack while on tour in Thailand. The word 'decadent' was an ironic echo of the epithet used by PRC apparatchiks to condemn Tang's music. Wong's association with Dou Wei and the Beijing rock scene, as well as her new-found penchant for trip hop and independent rock, was clearly influencing her musical orientation as well as her rebellious attitude to the music industry, albeit in a subdued and subtle way.
Wong continued to absorb the vocal influence of Liz Fraser (with a touch of Dolores O''Riordan), to the point of recording two indecipherable, wordless songs, 'Where?' and 'Imagine', along with an instrumental by Dou Wei, on her 1996 album Restless (also known as 'Impatience'). This album, arguably her most radically independent and experimental to date, also contained two Cocteau Twins songs, which they were specially invited to write for her, although they never met up in person. 'Fracture' and 'Killjoy', both with lyrics by Lin Xi, were Cantonese versions of songs the Cocteau Twins later released as 'Tranquil Eye' and 'Touch Upon Touch'. Both songs have an abstract, opaquely poetic quality, with 'Fracture' dealing with the results of a 'fatigue of love' and a 'tragic embrace'. The lyrics of 'Killjoy' (also known as 'Repressing Happiness') are confusingly opaque (and not helped by the virtual indecipherability of the only available English translation on Graman's website). The rest of the album is suffused with the influence of the Cocteau Twins, and uniquely the music and lyrics of almost all the songs are composed by Faye, giving it an unusual coherence of style and content which contrasts with the standard stylistic 'scattergun' approach of most of her albums and Cantopop in general. The production and arrangements of Zhang Yatung and the inclusion of an instrumental track with input from Dou Wei give the album a much more rock-oriented focus than any of Faye's albums before or since. It is also noteworthy that despite its musical innovations and unconventional style, Restless maintained Faye's position as the most popular and successful female artist in Hong Kong. As recently as 2005, Faye stated in an interview:
Impatience [aka 'Restless'] is the album I am most satisfied with. That was the first time I completed an album I liked. I worked with great producers and I loved every song on it. I do things according to feelings and I do them when I think they feel right. For me, Impatience is an album that just feels right. (Tsui 2005: 21).
Notoriously reticent in interviews, Faye here indicates that Restless was the culmination of her independent, western experimental rock inclinations, and implies that she had a degree of control over the album which she has not succeeded in achieving to the same extent in subsequent recordings. In 1995 Faye's continued association and identification with the Cocteau Twins extended to her contributing to the vocals of an 'Asian version' of 'Serpentskirt', a song on the Cocteau Twins' album Milk and Kisses. The song was, however, only included on the Hong Kong release of the album, and is otherwise only available on a very rare compilation of Cocteau Twins B Sides.8 This gave rise to speculation that her admiration for the Cocteau Twins was rather one-sided, and her renditions of their songs have gained little or no recognition in the West outside their respective Cocteau Twins and Faye Wong fan groups.
The 1997 self-titled Faye Wong was predominantly more low-key and spare in its arrangements than Restless, and, as with future albums, all the tracks were in Mandarin, in keeping with a strong involvement by Zhang Yatung as arranger and guitarist, and Dou Wei on drums on two tracks. Lin Xi's lyrics are also present on seven of the ten tracks, and Faye's 'la la's (or 'dar dar's - the 'r' is actually sounded in Mandarin) predominate in a number of the vocals. The album contained another two Cocteau Twins tracks, one of which, 'Amusement Park', is credited as being 'performed by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie', who provide a typically ethereal, swirling guitar-based instrumental mix, recorded at the September Sound studio in London, for Faye's double-tracked, harmonising vocals. 'Reminiscence' was a version of 'Rilkean Heart' from Milk and Kisses arranged by Zhang Yadotung, a Hong Kong- based musician who has been an important influence on Wong as a producer, with lyrics supplied by Wynan Wong. It is a low key song, with acoustic guitar backing provided by Yadotung, and not recognisably a Cocteau Twins song at all, with none of the jangling guitars and ethereal vocals of their trademark sound. Indeed, almost all the tracks on the album, with the possible exception of the final two tracks, which seem aimed at a more mainstream Cantopop market, are in a minimalist folk-rock vein which highlights Faye''s vocals, to the extent that the Cocteau Twins' contributions are barely noticeable. The simplicity and coherency of the album in terms of a blending of Cantopop and 'indie' rock styles suggested that Faye may have absorbed the Cocteau Twins' influence to the point of no longer needing their contributions. She has no longer had any recourse to English language songs in any of her subsequent studio albums, relying almost exclusively on contributions from Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore-based composers along with her own compositions on Sing and Play (1998), Only Love Strangers (1999), Fable (2000) Faye Wong (2001) and To Love (2003).
Copycat or Reinterpreter?
The 'Faye Wong In Comparison with …' web site9 contains text and illustrations assembled to provide evidence that throughout her career, Faye Wong has imitated a number of US and European artists, both visually and sonically. Four Cocteau Twins tracks are listed, with reproductions of appropriate album covers, followed by references to the Cranberries' 'Dreams' and Tori Amos's 'Silent All These Years', complete with a visual comparison of the album covers for Amos's Little Earthquakes and Faye's 1993 album 100 Thousand Whys?, both of which feature boxes and a shared use of squared images and white background designs. There are also visual comparisons of the album cover portraits on Bjork's 1996 Post and Wong's 1998 Sing and Play, and various other visual poses comparing Faye's costumes and hairstyles with Bjork (explained by the fact that both employed the same designer).10 There is also photographic evidence to suggest (rather unconvincingly) that Wong copied Madonna's hands-in-the-air album cover pose with hands in the air from her 1998 album Ray of Light (which contains a song entitled 'Beautiful Strangers') on her album, Only Love Strangers. 'Die-hard fans' of Faye Wong are addressed, and expressions such as 'desperate', 'weaker' (than the original) and 'nice try' are used to describe these alleged copycat gestures by Wong. Implications are made of plagiarism or at the least imitation, and Wong is portrayed as derivative of these supposed western models.
But to dismiss Wong's recordings and performances of songs by Tori Amos, the Cranberries, the Cocteau Twins, and others as a mere copycat 'karaoke effect' is to misrepresent the enormous impact she has made on Cantopop and Mandapop throughout the Chinese diaspora. These songs represent only a tiny portion of her complete repertoire, and while they may have provided a considerable boost to her credibility as an alternative artist in Hong Kong, the PRC and elsewhere, they have arguably made little contribution to her success in the Chinese diaspora, where the alternative credibility of these US and European artists has little or no currency. Indeed Wong's almost perfect vocal imitation, appropriation and re-contextualisation of these songs into what is arguably a highly original, distinctive and idiosyncratic musical oeuvre could be said to have opened up new areas of experimentation and musical innovation in Cantopop and Mandapop. In the West, where due to the language barrier, Wong has only ever appealed to the relatively separate world of Chinese migrants and small clusters of western 'Fayenatics', her re-contextualisation of these songs is not a recognisable issue for the first group, and arguably only provides further incentive to her appreciation by the second. Undoubtedly the musical direction of Wong's career has been strongly influenced by her (albeit vicarious) involvement in the mid-1990s with the alternative musical ethos and vocal and musical styles of the Cocteau Twins, the Cranberries, the Sundays, EBTG and Tori Amos, which she effectively absorbed into the musical styles of her later output (evident in the up-tempo, rock oriented opening title track of her 2003 Sony album, To Love, where her presence as a composer is also particularly strong). But her re-interpretations of English language songs in the much broader context of tian-ci serve only to highlight the way in which western artists have generally been completely re-contextualised in Cantopop and Mandapop as sources for a new creative output based, like most forms of popular music, on recombinative cross-fertilisation, adaptation, sampling and quotation. They also demonstrate that far from being an 'unoriginal and repetitive' local phenomenon, Cantopop and Mandapop, complete with its tradition of tian ci, represent, in Witzeleben's expression, 'a border-crossing and dialect-crossing popular music culture, which is an explicitly Hong Kong adaptation of a primarily Western musical language, with a growing pan-Chinese component' (Witzleben 2001: 417). Most Anglophone listeners who hear Wong's versions of Tori Amos' 'silent All These Years' or The Cranberries' 'Dreams' are struck by their resemblance to the originals in terms of vocal inflection, tonal emphasis and 'grain of the voice', as well as instrumental backing, yet are usually unaware that she is singing completely different lyrics from the originals. This suggests that tian-ci can be deceptive; it can also operate as a mode of incorporating a perfect 'copy' into an original repertoire, in a similar manner to that by which the Australian lyre bird performs perfect copies of the sounds of a kookaburra, a magpie, a rosella, and even a camera shutter, a chainsaw and a car alarm. And no one would question the lyre bird's originality.
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Ching-Yun Lee, J. (1992) 'Cantopop on Emigration from Hong Kong' Yearbook for Traditional Music, vol. 24, 14-23.
Joanna Ching-Yun Lee, J. and J. Lawrence Witzelben, J.L. (2002) 'Hong Kong,', in R.obert C. Provine et al (eds.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume and: East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea. London: Routledge.
Graman, S (1999) All About Ah Faye: http:www.graman.net/faye/htm (accessed 8 October 2001)
Ivy O-Kuen Man, I. (1997) 'Cantonese Popular Song: Hybridization of the east and west in the 1970s', in T.oru Mitsui (ed.) Popular Music: Intercultural Interpretations, Graduate program in Music, Kanazawa University: Kanazawa, Japan:, 51-55.
Simon Reynolds, S. (1990) Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock, London: Serpent''s Tail.
Anthony Spaeth, A. (1996) 'She Did It her Way: canto-pop princess Faye Wong broadens her appeal with a quirkier sound', Time International, vol. 148(, no. 16), 14 October 14.
Ann Tsang, A.. (1999) 'The Cantopop Drop', Billboard, vol. 111( no. 9), 27 February 27, Asia Pacific Quarterly, 1.
Clarence Tsui, C. (2005) 'Walking Tall', Post Magazine (Hong Kong), 6 March 6, 16-21.
Unattributed editorial (2001), 'Catching the stars,'. (2001) South China Morning Post, 11 May 11,19.
Neil Western, N. (2001) 'Everywhere but Hong Kong', South China Morning Post, 11 May 11, Features, 1-2.
J. Lawrence Witzelben, J.L. (2002) 'Music in the Hong Kong Handover Ceremonies: A Community Re-Imagines Itself', Ethnomusicology, vol.46( no.1):, Winter, 120-134.
J. Lawrence Witzelben, J.L. (2001) 'Film Songs, Film Singers, and Intertextuality in Hong Kong Popular Song: Some Preliminary Observations', in Peter Doyle and Tony Mitchell (eds.) Changing Sounds: New Directions and Configurations in Popular Music. Sydney: University of Technology: Sydney, 416-417.
J. Lawrence Witzelben, J.L. (1999) 'Cantopop and Mandapop in pre-postcolonial Hong Kong: identity negotiation in the performances of Anita Mui Yim-Ffong', Popular Music, vol 18( no 2): 241-257 .
J. Lawrence Witzelben, J.L. (1998) 'Localism, nationalism, and transnationalism in pre-postcolonial Hong Kong popular song', in T. Mitsui (ed.) Popular Music: Intercultural Interpretations. Kanazawa University: Kanazawa: Mitsui, 469-475.
Wong Kei-kwok, W. and Shue Lan, S. (1998), (eds.) Brave to Be Myself: Faye Wong. Guangzhou: Guangzhou Travel Publishing (in Chinese version).
Unattributed (2003) 'Faye Wong In Comparison with … [http://www. Angelfire.com/sd/pianophillic/faye.compare.htm] (accessed 8 October 2001)
Unattributed (2001) 'Parallel' [http://statiq.net/suffix/parallel/] (accessed 8 October 2001)
Unattributed (2003) [http://www.lajabour.com/article/simon.html] (accessed 24 March 2003)
Unattributed (1999) Wang Fei: the Empress's Style, Taipei.
Max Woodworth, M. (2004) 'Faye Wong is All Woman', Taipei Times, 26 November.
Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes, EastWest/WEA International, 1992.
Cocteau Twins, Four-Calendar Café, Capitol Records 1993.
Cocteau Twins, Milk & Kisses, Mercury Records, 1995.
The Cranberries, Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? Polygram 1992.
Everything But the Girl, The Language of Life, WEA/Blanco Y Negro, 1990.
Anita Mui, Anita, Capital 1995.
The Sundays, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, Rough Trade Records, 1990. Faye Wong, 100,000 Whys? Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1993.
Faye Wong, No Regrets, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1993.
Faye Wong, Mystery, Hong Kong: Decca/Cinepoly, 1994.
Faye Wong, Random Thoughts, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1994.
Faye Wong, Please Myself, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1994.
Faye Wong, Sky, Hong Kong: Decca/Cinepoly, 1994.
Faye Wong, The Decadent Sound of Faye, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1995.
Faye Wong, Di-Dar, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1995.
Faye Wong, Restless, Hong Kong: Cinepoly, 1996.
Faye Wong, Faye Wong, Hong Kong: EMI/A Production House, 1997.
Fare Wong, To Love, Hong Kong: Sony, 2003.
There are numerous Fayenatic websites in English, but All About Ah-Faye, (last accessed 9/1/05) created by Stefan Graman, aka '"Mr. Sweden'', in October 1999, is the most detailed and comprehensive. ↩
In Wang Fei: the Empress's Empress's Style, a Chinese-language book collating material from various unacknowledged sources published in Taiwan in 1999. Thanks to Peter Lebaige for the translation. ↩
On Anita Mui, Anita, [Capital 1995 CD-04-1184. put in discography] The Medley in Track 26 of the DVD, Anita Mui Fantasy Gig 2002, (Zhonghua Records), contains a version of ''Bad Girl'Girl'. ↩
Translation by Diane Yeo. ↩
''Silent All These Years'' was the penultimate track on her 2004 DVD, Live@Hong Kong (Sony Music 2004). Wong recorded a Mandarin version of the song on her 1994 album Mystery, with different lyrics. ↩
Translation by Eric Chu. ↩
In Wang Fei: the Empress''s Style, it is stated that ''this sound has become her trademark and appears constantly in her later songs'', but that ''Chinese does not have this tongue position in its pronunciation, where the vocal cavity is rounded and the tongue curled'' (1999: 36). However Peter Lebaige notes that: ''In fact the Beijing variation of standard Mandarin, the Beijing dialect, does have that tongue position, the sound often occurring as a suffix to words in spoken conversation. I find it hard to believe that Wang Fei wouldn''t have noticed the similarity of the Irish sound to this sound in Beijing Mandarin, and hence would have had little trouble in vocalising it'.' (email to the author, 2002). This suggests that O'Riordan''s vocal style may have had a lasting impact on Faye''s singing style and been absorbed into her Mandarin inflections. Faye later recorded ''Break Free'', a Mandarin version of ''Dreams'' with lyrics by Li Yao on her 1994 Mandapop album Sky (Decca/Cinepoly). ↩
In an interview with Bruce Stringer on a Faye Wong website (Accessed 24/3/03) Simon Raymonde states: ''We heard from Mercury that a big Asian rock star had covered some songs of ours, so we just asked them to try and get us copies. Then when we heard them we were actually quite impressed. Usually the Cocteau''s covers bands don''t quite get it, so it was a nice surprise, and instrumentally they even sounded like they had worked hard to get it right. On a whim we thought it might be cool to try and actually try (sic) to do something together, so we made a few polite enquiries. In the end …. we decided we would send her a couple of the forthcoming album tracks from ""Milk and Kisses"" and see if she fancied doing some more vocals for the Mercury Asian release. She did a great job and what she did we used! … Faye certainly must have had some kind of fascination with Liz ''cause she got it so bang on, you know, it was kind of spooky. … We never met, never spoke, never exchanged emails. It was all done through [Hong Kong producer] Alvin Leong who was a great chap, but personally there was no interaction at all. … I had hoped the collaboration would develop further, but the people with the money thought otherwise''. ↩
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/pianophillic/fayecompare.htm (accessed 27/6/03) ↩
Another title website 'Parallel' (accessed 8/10/01) put in biboffers a more positive, extended comparison between Bjork and Faye Wong: both ''defy the trends'', both have achieved ''international critical acclaim'', both have been married to rock musicians, both are single mothers, both are ''hopeless romantics'', both have worn clothes designed by Martin Margiela ''before he was well known'', both ''have sparked off ""copycats""'', and both have been involved in internationally successful films. ↩
Summary of 'Tian Ci – Faye Wong and English Songs in the Cantopop and Mandapop Repertoire'
This chapter examines the reconstruction of a number of western pop and rock songs in the Cantopop and Mandapop repertoire, with particular emphasis on the musical output of the Beijing-born, Hong Kong-based 'empress' of Cantopop and Mandapop, Faye Wong, who has generated more interest in the Western world than most of her peers, outside the relatively closed diasporic world of Mandarin and Cantonese-language pop music.
- Tags:
- Tony Mitchell, Conference Papers


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SPSCC Concert Choirs Celebrate 15th Anniversary
The South Puget Sound Community College Concert Choir and Puget Sound Community Choir are celebrating their 15th anniversary in style. The choirs will sing Fifteenth Anniversary Favorites on Wednesday, March 12 at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts.
The concert will consist of a variety of favorite selections the choirs have performed across their 15 years. The choirs began in winter quarter of 1999. The concert choir is the for-credit class choir at SPSCC, while the community choir is the College's Community Education choir (not for credit). Molly McNamara will be the choir conductor, and Jennifer Hermann the piano accompanist. The concert will also feature guest instrumentalists.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Minnaert Center Main Stage. The concert is free, but donations to the choirs can be made at the door.
More information about the SPSCC music concerts can be found online at www.spscc.edu/entertainment.

subset: commoncrawl


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Viewers: in countries Watching now:
In this course, author Alicia Katz Pollock shares the keyboard shortcuts, workflows, and commands that can transform the casual Word 2010 user into a pro. This course covers helpful and lesser-known techniques for making document navigation, content creation, formatting, layout, working with data, graphics integration, and publishing easier. Alicia also includes her favorite top 10 formatting tips in Word, from clearing existing formatting to inserting lines and creating abbreviations with AutoCorrect.
Hi! I'm Alicia Katz Pollock and I'd like to welcome you to Word 2010 Power Shortcuts. In this course I'll show you a number of unconventional tips and tricks designed to make you more effective and efficient with Microsoft Word 2010. I'll show you several ways to navigate anywhere in your document without scrolling. We'll take a look at creative ways to manipulate your font formatting. I'll walk you through a number of techniques to work with images, so that you don't have to roundtrip your artwork into advanced graphic applications. We'll also explore a variety of features to automate your complex documents using styles and field references.
Whether you're new to Word or an experienced master, these techniques will shave hours off of your document development. So let's jump in to Word 2010 Power Shortcuts.
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Alternative Sports, Elementary P.E. Games & More
eSportsonline not only has elementary P.E. games like school playground balls for all major sports, but we also feature alternative sports equipment and outdoor activities for the entire family including jump ropes, hula hoops and more. Whether you're a teacher, coach or parent, you can be sure to find everything you need to keep your kids active and healthy. Order online today!
Multi-Color Spots/Markers
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Prominent & Leading Manufacturer and Supplier from Vapi, we offer Industrial Chemicals such as Ammonium Hydroxide and Barium Metaborate.
Item Code: 1336-21-6
Ammonium hydroxide, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols Nh3(aq). Although its name suggests a base with composition [Nh4+][oh−], it is not actually possible to isolate samples of Nh4oh — it exists only in dilute aqueous solutions.
Item Code: 13701-59-2
Barium metaborate monohydrate is prepared from the solution of barium sulfide and sodium tetraborate. It is a white powder. It is used as an additive to e. G. Paints as flame retardant, mold inhibitor, and corrosion inhibitor. It is also used as a white pigment.


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New Mexico Lobos Women's Mountain West Basketball – At Utah State
Wednesday: Utah State 67, New Mexico 65
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The New Mexico's trail of heartbreak on the Mountain West road continues.
The Lobos scratched into a 65-64 lead with 32 seconds to play, but two free throws by Utah State's Jennifer Schlott with 1.1 seconds to play doomed UNM to a 67-65 loss.
"I really thought we had it. We had everything going our way," said Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez. "I thought something good was going to happen. We just fell short."
The Lobos had a chance to go up by three in the closing seconds, but a missed trey by Brea Mitchell with 12 seconds to play led to Schlott racing down the court and being fouled by Bryce Owens as Schlott went up for a potential game-winning layup.
Instead, Schlott, who scored 33 points, won the game at the line.
"We had the ball and ran the play to perfection," said Sanchez of Mitchell's trey attempt. "Brea got a wide-open look and I don't fault Brea at all. You get an open shot, I'm a believer that you take it. We had to foul (Schlott). It was a tough way to lose. We needed to sprint back (after Mitchell's miss)."
The loss dropped UNM to 9-17 on the year and 4-11 in Mountain West play. UNM will play host to Nevada Saturday in The Pit. The Lobos have lost nine of 11 and all nine losses have been by seven points or fewer. The Lobos led Utah State by 13 in the first half and eight points at halftime.
"It's disappointing," said Sanchez. "Our kids played hard. They played well."
The Lobos got 18 points and nine boards from Antiesha Brown and 17 points and seven boards from Deeva Vaughn. Utah State got 21 points from Makenlee Williams. Schlott also had six assists. The Lobos had 41 rebounds (21 offensive) to 34 boards for Utah State.
"They went to work (on the boards)," said Sanchez. "They went in there and gave us second and third chances. We had a lot of people getting in there, but we have to make those bunny shots. We have to make layups.
"We had players who had wide-open shots and they have to start hitting them."
The Lobos shot 35.8 percent from the floor to 48 percent for Utah State. UNM went 6-of-25 from long range but still outscored Utah State in the paint 24-to-18. UNM went 11-of-16 from the free-throw line and Utah State went 15-of-18 with Schlott going 7-of-7. UNM only sent three players to the line. Khadijah Shumpert went 5-of-10 from the stripe.
The win bumped Utah State to 12-15 and 6-10 in league play. Schlott and Williams combined for 54 points. Shumpert had nine points and six boards. Mitchell had eight points off the UNM bench.
Second Half: Utah State 39, New Mexico 29
The Aggies got a break at the 17:58 mark when UNM's Shumpert went to bench with four fouls. Utah State slowly started scratching out of its eight-point halftime hole. UNM was up 40-38 at the 16:11 mark. The Aggies finally produced a tie at 44-all and pushed up 45-44 on the second of two free throws. A Schlott layup gave Utah State its biggest lead up to that point at 48-44.
The teams see-sawed the lead for a while. UNM went up 49-48. The Aggies went up 50-49. UNM went up 51-50. Utah State went up 53-51 and then 55-51 and 56-51.
The Lobos' challenge at the end probably was going to be similar to what confronted them in their loss to Utah State in The Pit: stop Schlott, the MW's single-season scoring leader. UNM lost Vaughn to fouls at 4:12 – fouling Schlott., who made two free throws to make it 58-53.
Brea Mitchell popped in a trey to beat the shot clock and pull the Lobos to 58-56. Schlott hit two more at the line: 60-56. Sara Halasz made a tough shot on a drive: 60-58. Schlott scored a runner: 62-58, but Shumpert and Brown scored to form a 62-all tie. UNM then grabbed the lead 63-62 on one free throw by Shumpert.
The Aggies went up 64-63 on a layup, but Brown pulled the lead back to UNM with free throws: 65-64. Nelson made one freebie for Utah State: 65-all with 24 ticks to go. Utah State called time after the single point.
The Lobos worked Mitchell off a screen and she got a good look at a trey, but it failed to drop. Schlott ended up racing down the court and was hacked by Owens as Schlott went up for a layup. The Aggie made her two free throws with 1.1 second on the clock and that finalized the 67-65 scoreboard.
First Half: New Mexico 36, Utah State 28
The Lobos got 11 points from Deeva Vaughn, eight from Antiesha Brown and ruled the boards 24-15 to roll into the half with an eight-point lead. The Lobos led almost the entire first 20 minutes, but had to break out of a 20-18 deficit to take control of the board down the stretch.
The Lobos led by as many as 13 points (36-23), before Utah State scored the final five points of the half. UNM had 14 offensive rebounds to three for the Aggies. Utah State had 14 turnovers and UNM had 10. Schlott had 17 points for the Aggies, but only two points in the final 7:51 of the half.
The Lobos got off to a strong start, ruled the glass 10-1 early and led 12-4 before taking a 12-6 lead into the first media break. The Aggies came back to form a 14-all tie, before UNM drifted into an 18-16 lead at 10:41.
The Aggies took their first lead at 20-18 behind Schlott's scoring, but Brown brought the lead back to UNM with a trey: 21-20 at the 7:51 break. Schlott was 7-of-8 shooting with 15 points at that point.
UNM slowed down Schlott and again drifted ahead with 3-pointers from Owens and Vaughn helping UNM claim a 31-23 lead at the 3:35 break. UNM had a 20-12 rebounding edge at that stop and Vaughn had 11 points. UNM went up 36-23 before settling into its 36-28 lead.


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April 11, 2014
Sophomore Kyle Funkhouser allowed just one hit and no runs over his final six innings in winning his sixth straight start.
CardsTV Postgame Interviews: RHP Kyle ~nbsp>Funkhouser | OF Cole ~nbsp>Sturgeon
HOUSTON - The 10th-ranked Louisville baseball team bounced back from an early two-run deficit to earn a 4-2 series-opening victory at No. 7 Houston on Friday night at Cougar Field.
After allowing a pair of runs in the first inning of the top 10 showdown, sophomore righthander Kyle Funkhouser (Oak Forest, Ill.) was dominant the rest of the way, while the Cardinals (25-8, 5-2 American) used timely hits and a pivotal error by the Cougars (26-7, 4-3 American) to gain command in the middle innings. Surrendering four hits in the two-run first inning, Funkhouser settled down and allowed just one hit over the next six innings while finishing with eight strikeouts overall to win his sixth straight start and improve to 7-1 on the season.
Junior righty closer Nick Burdi (Downers Grove, Ill.) recorded the final four outs of the game without allowing a hit or a walk to earn his sixth save of the season and the 22nd of his career. He also extended his career-best scoreless streak to 21.1 innings dating back to last season while working more than one inning of relief for the fourth time in his last five appearances.
At the plate, senior outfielder Cole Sturgeon (Owensboro, Ky.) was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI, while senior third baseman Alex Chittenden (Indianapolis, Ind.) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the winning effort. Freshman outfielder Logan Taylor (Lexington, Ky.) chipped in with a single, an HBP, a run scored and a sacrifice bunt, while junior shortstop Sutton Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) walked three times and scored once for Louisville.
Fast out of the gates on Friday night, each of the first four hitters for Houston reached base to begin the first inning despite only the leadoff single to left field by outfielder Kyle Survance leaving the infield in that span. After an infield single to second by Josh Vidales and a bunt single down the third base line by Casey Grayson, designated hitter Justin Montemayor reached base on a glancing RBI infield single off of Funkhouser to score Survance. Shortstop Frankie Ratcliff followed with a RBI sacrifice fly to left field to score Vidales for the 2-0 lead before Funkhouser earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
After struggling through the first four innings, the Cardinals finally broke through in the fifth scoring three runs, all of which were unearned thanks to a key two-out error by Houston shortstop Frankie Ratcliff. After a flyout and a groundout started the inning for Louisville, Chittenden reached with a single through the left side and Taylor followed with an infield single on the left side. Moments later, Ratcliff sailed a throw over first and into the Louisville dugout allowing Chittenden to score on a routine groundball off the bat of Whiting that should have ended the inning. Sturgeon then followed with a RBI double down the left field line off Houston righty starter Aaron Garza to score both Taylor and Whiting for the 3-2 lead.
Louisville added to its lead in the seventh inning as Sturgeon connected for a RBI single through the right side scoring Chittenden from second on a close play at the plate, which led to the ejection of Houston head coach Todd Whitting. After the ball rolled just out of the reach of a diving Vidales at second, the throw home by Survance in right field was to the first base side of home plate, where catcher Caleb Barker gloved it and had to reach back to his left to attempt a tag. Chittenden slid under that tag and across the plate for the Cardinals' fourth run of the game, which led to an animated meeting between Whitting and home plate umpire Todd Olinger and the eventual ejection.
Garza was charged with the loss and dropped to 6-3 on the season after allowing four runs, including only one earned, on six hits and two walks in 6.1 innings. After being out-hit 4-1 in the opening inning, Louisville finished the night with an 8-5 advantage in the hit column.
The Cardinals and Cougars will continue their top 10 weekend showdown on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., ET, while Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m., ET.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
Louisville Postgame Notes
- The Cardinals improved to 9-6 this season in games where the opponent scores first.
- Louisville moved to 16-2 against righty starters in 2014.
- The Cardinals have two or fewer earned runs in 18 of 33 games this season.
- Louisville improved to 22-0 this season when leading after the eighth inning and has won 77 straight games when entering the ninth with a lead dating back to 2012.
- The Cardinals improved to 20-0 this season when out-hitting their opponent.
- In nine starts this season, Kyle Funkhouser has 54 strikeouts in 59.0 innings pitched and a 2.75 ERA to go with the 7-1 record on the mound.
- After entering the game 1-for-his-last-17 at the plate in the last five games, Cole Sturgeon had his first three-hit performance since going 3-for-6 against Western Michigan on Feb. 21.
- Chipping in by recoding a pair of outs in a shutout relief outing, Kyle McGrath extended his career-best scoreless streak to 19.2 innings.
- With the 0-for-4 outing on Friday, Jeff Gardner's 10-game hitting streak was halted.


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Contacting Nero Customer Service Center
At first, Nero looks like an online software company that sells third-party computer software, but Nero is the brand. The brand appears to be focused on burning multimedia, particularly Blu-ray DVDs. The main software suite offered by Nero, as of December 2012, is Nero 12.
Contact Info:
Nero customer service offers three departments for customer support – general, ordering and technical. Choose the contact information for the department designed to handle your support issue.
Phone Contact Numbers
You can call Nero customer service between 9 AM and 8 PM Monday to Friday (ET). The phone number is not toll free, so long distance charges do apply outside of the Los Angeles area.
- General Customer Service: 1-818-956-7551
Order customer support is provided by Asknet AG, according to the Nero contact page, but no phone number is listed. There is a contact form, but you must log in to access the form.
Technical support lines are open from 7 AM to 1 AM Monday to Friday and 8 AM to 8 PM Saturday and Sunday, EST.
- Technical Customer Service: 1-888-309-4212
Mailing Address
Letters to the customer service department can be addressed to:
Nero Inc330 N Brand BlvdSte 800Glendale, CA 91203
Official Website
Nero software is available online at http://www.nero.com. Contact information is available in two locations on the site – Support and Contact. Support is the best choice for customers who want to get in contact with Nero customer service.
The software company is also active on sites like:
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nerosoftware
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/nerosolutionshttp://twitter.com/nerosolutions
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/nerosolutions
Customer Service Email
We found three links to customer support pages/forms, but none are direct email addresses and one (orders) requires the visitor to log in before reaching the form. Order customer support is not provided by Nero customer service.
- General Customer Service: http://www.nero.com/enu/customer-service-form.html
- Orders Customer Service: https://shopping.nero.com/cgi-bin/pages/rnfaq
- Technical Customer Service: http://www.nero.com/enu/support-form.html
Our Experience
The Nero technical support line is a pay-per-use system. Customers are expected to pay $1.29 per minute and there is no guarantee a resolution will be found. The message states the agents will attempt to find a resolution. We disconnected the call after being told there was a charge involved. Customers who need technical support should visit the Support Knowledgebase to search for an answer to the problem before contacting Nero technical support. One support call to Nero customer service could cost hundreds of dollars.
As an alternative to calling Nero customer support or searching the knowledgebase, online chat is free during normal business hours. Email support is also available.


text:
Step 1: Disable Transparency
Select Personalize
Choose Windows Color And Appearance
Uncheck Enable Transparency
Click OK
Step 2: Disable the Animation for minimizing and maximizing windows
Click System and Maintenance
Select Performance Information and Tools
Click Advanced Tools
Click Adjust The Appearance and Performance of Windows
Uncheck all of them except for Use Visual Styles on Windows and Buttons
Step 4: A few tips
Registry Cleaner also works well for this.
Another thing is viruses. Vista is very secure but you always need to be conscience of what your downloading. Websites that have Keygens, Cracks, or Serials are usually dangerous. I recommend AVG because it is the best. It finds all the kinds of Viruses. Most hackers are trying to break in through Norton because many people have it. It also comes on most computers. I reccomend buying AVG because the freeware version finds things but is not always able to clean them. Also, even though AVG gets spyware, I like Spyware Doctor or Spysweeper just in case. The freeware version of spyware doctor is herehere.
Defragmenting every now and then isn't a bad idea. Also, disk clean up helps. These can help you if you have limited disk space as CCleaner does.
Last but not least, always update your computer. This will patch problems and improve your security.
Tried this on my old but was running HP -running vista and now it will not boot. "A DISK READ ERROR OCCURED.' Ok this sucks..... now what?
Take the boot disc out of the disc tray, that should fix the problem.
System tweaking
software like Advance system care also increase your system speed
I would like to share this as it helped me. :)
I am using arride pc optimizer software that give me full support to do faster work and keep far to the all kind of viruses and errors from pc.
Try @ http://www.arridepcoptimizer.com/
AVG for life. I only use Vista ultimate on VMware workstation
1) Before manually cleaning a computer registry, create a backup file in case you accidentally delete necessary files.
2) You should establish a system restore point within the computer before running registry cleanup software or manually editing registry files.
3) Due to the sensitive nature of the computer registry, PC users should use a software application to clean the registry. Software programs, such as Regcure, TweakNow Regclean or Max Registry Cleaner, scan the registry to detect errors, fix system errors and help improve computer performance. However, you can also find some free registry cleaners on the internet.
Genius is spelled G-E-N-I-U-S, not G-E-N-I-O-U-S!
can you please tell me how i can make my hp laptop ( vista home premium on it ) work faster.
i made a new instalation and now my internet explorer and other programs run so slow. How can i make the file you said?


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I can't get enough
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- About
- About me
- I am a 19 year old girl from a small town in rural Virginia. I've lived here my whole life. My town doesn't have a stoplight. Heck, there are only THREE stoplights in my whole county. Stop and think about how many you have. The stoplights we have in the county are on a major highway, so that's probably why we've got them. I live about 30 minutes from a "city" which would be a mere hicktown to you. There we have bowling, food, WalMart, Farm Fresh, Lowe's, a couple of hardware shops, and a few other places. Nothing exciting. What little we have is slowly dying because of the closure of our paper mill. While it stunk and polluted the air, it "smelled like money" as we always said growing up. Rumors are flying fast that it will reopen as something in the new year, but one can only hope and pray. I go to the mall around twice a year--once to get school clothes and once again to get my homecoming dress.
In August, I will be attending an all girls college three hours from home. I'm extremely excited!
I used to have my entire life story in my about me, about how I cam here because of all of my problems. I don't feel like that it something that you need to know based off your first glance at my page. I'm completely comfortable with my past, but it's in the past for a reason. If you ever want to talk about it with me (or anything else), feel free to message me.
In the past, I have been a Mentor, a LHO, a forum moderator, on Performance Committee, and have served in various other committees. I have enjoyed my service here at TeenHelp because it has made me feel as if I had a purpose. For a while, this site was the reason I got up in the morning. I was able to help others and that was a great thing for me.
- Details
- Here for
- Like to help and be helped
- Relationship status
- In a relationship
- Sexuality
- Bisexual
- Ethnicity
- Caucasian/White
- Education
- High School
- Occupation
- Student
- Politics
- Central
- Religion
- Atheist
- Zodiac sign
- Aquarius
- Interests
- Hobbies
- I'm a fiber artist. I *love* to knit, I can crochet, and I love working with looms. I'd like to learn to spin my own yarn. If there is anyone else out there who has an interest in fiber arts let me know, I'd love to chat. I'm thinking about opening a shop on Etsy if I learn to spin (I'd like to over the summer) but the start up cost is outrageous to learn. I've got to buy everything and I'm horrified it won't work out.
I also love to read. I'm a book junkie, they are taking over my room. It's insane.
My family has owned dogs since I can remember. When I was younger, I was *very* into breeding dogs and raising the best dogs for the types of hunting we do. Now, I help manage the books we have on them and make sure everything is running smoothly. We have 3 kennels. We have kennels at my grandparents' house and we have pens at the huntclub. At the house, we have pens where the puppies stay until they grow out of that. Often times the puppies need extra care, especially the young ones. There have been times where I have had to go outside and bottle feed puppies. It is a lot of trouble, but it is worth it to see them grow into beautiful hounds. My sister is currently obsessed with plot hounds and we have just purchased a male puppy for breeding purposes. We have named him Bear.
- Music
- Music pretty much rules my life. During the off season, I'm supposed to run and I have my iPod cranked up in its dock playing away for me. I like a lot of country music. I do listen to some groups like Hinder, The Rocket Summer, and Between the Trees for instance. Paramore is pretty good too--and Haley Williams is hot!
- Movies
- I must admit, I can't sit still long enough for a movie. I loved Blue Lagoon though and Juno was amazing.
- Television
- I am addicted to The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I also watch Survivor regularly--but probably only because I started watching the first season.
- Games
- I don't really play that many games. I like the board game Mancala. We got a Wii this past Christmas and I'm learning to use that slowly but surely. I also like to play MahJongg online. I also love Dice Twice or Shut-The-Box as you British folks call it. It's an amazing dice game.
- Books
- My most recent read was Dewey. That's probably one of my favorites of right now. I'm interested in teen fiction and I used to read a lot of fantasy books. Right now, I'm more focused on knitting than reading though--mainly because I don't like our librarian and knitting does not require a trip there!
- Sports
- I have several passions. One of them is fastpitch softball. I've been playing since I was a little girl. In the past year, I've played for a fall ball team, my high school team, a rec team, and an all star team. I train or practice anywhere from 5 to 7 days a week. Practices for me can be anywhere from two hours a day to 5 plus. On game days I spend at least 3 to 4 hours at the ballpark--the most I've ever spent is 12. I also help coach the younger girls and I do a fine job with them, I would like to think. I'm an outfielder. There is a common misconception that people play outfield because they suck, but I play it like a pro. I call a lot of shots--like bunts--and am good at the mental aspects of the game--predicting pitches, calling pitches, figuring out opposing teams signs. I can come back from an at bat and tell you every pitch the girl threw me and let you know what you need to do to get ready. I'm good because I've got the brains. I was the only girl from our rec league association that plays outfield (5 teams) that was picked for all stars out of any age group that I know of.
Other than softball, I honestly lack athletic ability. Every ounce of ability I have now has come through blood, sweat, and tears.
I run for training, however I am pretty horrible at it.
I also win the most frequently injured award because I'm always getting hurt. It's not a question of will I get hurt, it's when and how badly. At the level I play at and the amount of time I spend on the field, it's luck when I manage to come home from a practice without a bruise of some sorts.
- Heroes
- I honestly never know how to fill out this box. I'm going to mention TH people here, people that have really inspired me and kept me going. There are so many more I could mention, so don't feel bad if I leave you out. I love the community as a whole.
Jes--I love talking to you. Your sarcastic humour makes me smile.
Moyshi--You have been my best friend on here since forever. I'm so glad I have met you, you've really colored my world.
Bri--I remember the day that we first talked. I've watched you grow and it has been amazing to see you change into an entirely different person than you once were.
Sarah--You were once so shy, so helpless it seemed. I seem you reaching out to others now, talking to them. We don't talk as much as I like, but I'm glad to see that you have grown in this site and that you have changed for the better.
Alex--I saved you for last. :P I love you. <3
- Favorite quotes
- When you go apartment-hunting in the South, you encounter little old ladies who ask you if you use strong drink. In New York you encounter paranoids who wonder if you will commit suicidenot that they care; what they worry about is blood on their fresh paint, a dubious smell in the hallway, or a hole in the awning as you pass through on your way to the sidewalk. The Southerner who moves to any part of the country has problems, but the culture shock that attacks the Southerner who moves North is almost indescribable.
(Florence King (b. 1936), U.S. author. Southern Ladies and Gentlemen, ch. 14, Stein & Day (1976).)
While the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.
[Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964), U.S. author. Paper, read at Wesleyan College for Women, fall 1960, Macon, Georgia, repr. in Mystery and Manners, eds. Sally and Robert Fitzgerald (1972). "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction," Cluster Review (1965). Written in 1957.]
Our strength lies in our intensive attacks and our barbarity...After all, who today remembers the genocide of the Armenians? ~Hitler
Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive. Josephine Hart, Damage
So much love in you
You got so much love in you
I'm amazed that Im talkin' to you
You look like the songs that I've heard my whole life coming true <3
"Something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." -- Mark Twain's definition of a classic
"The North isn't a place. It's just a direction out of the South."
--Roy Blount, Jr.
- Other interests
- I've forgotten to mention how much I love the internet. I like pretty much everything there is, I read the news and look at things all the time. It's a great tool for my papers and things at school, as well.
- <3 Amanda Kate
Read my blog here. :-)
"because we always carried a piece of each other around."
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text:
And now for a cautionary tale about what happens when one illegally downloads music on the Internet: Richard Marx will be right here waiting for you. Jammie Thomas-Rasset was just a mom who liked file-sharing, but then she got caught. The RIAA decided to make an example of her and has fined her $1.92 million for illegally downloading 24 songs off the Kazaa network. Two of the artists whose music Thomas-Rasset downloaded, Richard Marx and Moby, are now speaking out in support of her and calling the exorbitant fine "a farce." Marx said in a statement:
"As a longtime professional songwriter, I have always objected to the practice of illegal downloading of music. I have also always, however, been sympathetic to the average music fan, who has been consistently financially abused by the greedy actions of major labels … Holding Ms. Thomas-Rasset accountable for the continuing daily actions of hundreds of thousands of people is, at best, misguided and at worst, farcical. Her accountability itself is not in question, but this show of force posing as judicial come-uppance is clearly abusive. Ms. Thomas-Rasset, I think you got a raw deal, and I'm ashamed to have my name associated with this issue."
Moby then remixed what Marx already said, by writing on his website, "Charging $80,000 per song? Punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business."
The RIAA is willing to negotiate a deal with Thomas-Rasset, but right now the biggest question on our minds is who downloads a Richard Marx song these days? [Source: Rolling Stone; Photos: FilmMagic and Getty Images]


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A selection of stories from today's press and other media that relate to Ekklesia's work, produced daily by James Vincent and covering papers such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent and Guardian.
Religion & Society
US Episcopal Church nominates gay and lesbian bishops
Leaders of the US Episcopal Church in America have risked deepening tensions in the Anglican Communion after nominating homosexual and lesbian priests as bishops.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5966987/US-Ep... [3]
Controversial bishop attacks Roman Catholic archbishop over Facebook
A controversial bishop has denounced the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales for portraying Facebook as a suicide risk.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/5967620/Controversial-Bis... [4]
Car boot wood 'could be Crusades tabernacle'
An antique dealer believes that an ornate piece of wood he picked up at a car boot sale may be a 1,300-year-old artefact from the Crusades.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5966768/Car-boot-woo... [5]
Pope Benedict condemns 'senseless attack' of Christians burnt alive by Muslims in Pakistan
Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the 'senseless attack' in Pakistan in which seven Christians were burned alive.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1203810/Pope-Benedict-... [6]
Comment: Social media, God and suicide
Was the Archbishop of Westminster right to suggest that social media can cause suicide?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/03/religion... [7]
Comment: Churchgoers don't care
The institutional church has nothing of interest to offer its members that isn't already provided by secular organisations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/03/anglican-epis... [8]
Comment: Quakers make the right decision
It's not only the Quaker decision to recognise same-sex marriages that deserves praise, but also the way it was arrived at.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/03/quaker-gay-ma... [9]
Race & Identity
New migrants face points test for citizenship in Britain
It has been a long journey since David Blunkett set out to get a grip on immigration policy and insisted that would-be citizens knew something of the language and customs.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6737908.ece [10]
Anti-war migrants could damage citizenship hopes
Immigrants who take part in anti-war demonstrations or fail to integrate into the British way of life will damage their chances of getting citizenship under government proposals published yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6737429.ece [11]
PC PCs? Officers in burkhas dismissed as gimmick
Three women police officers spent a day in full Muslim dress as part of a scheme to improve community understanding.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/pc-pcs-officers-in-burkhas-di... [12]
Calais people smugglers 'more likely to be British'
People smugglers trying to sneak illegal immigrants into the UK from Calais are increasingly likely to be British, figures have revealed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1203960/Calais-people-... [13]
Crime & Justice
MPs and peers call for inquiry into torture
Democratic accountability of the security and intelligence agencies is "woefully deficient" and an independent inquiry must be set up to investigate numerous and detailed allegations of their complicity in torture, a cross-party group of senior MPs and peers will say today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/04/mps-government-inquiry-tortu... [14]
Guantánamo Bay inmates may be moved to single US mainland complex
President Obama's pledge to shut Guantánamo Bay appeared beset by confusion last night with the emergence of conflicting plans over how to close the prison.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article67379... [15]
Comment: West must stay alert to rights abuse
Torture in Iraqi prisons was widespread during Saddam Hussein's time but Britain and the United States hoped to change all that by installing a new, democratic government that would respect the rule of law and human rights.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6737967.ece [16]
Life & Death
Government may allow Commons time to hear assisted dying bill
The government is to consider giving time for a bill to allow assisted dying if the director of public prosecutions fails to come up with clearer advice on when it is legal or illegal to help someone to die.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/03/commons-assisted-dying-bil... [17]
Comment: It's an unholy mess – people must be allowed to die as they wish
The Director of Public Prosecutions needs to be bold and brave as he writes the rules on assisted suicide, argues Mary Riddell.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/maryriddell/5967243/Its-an... [18]
Peace & War
Tribal violence kills at least 160 in Sudan
More than 160 people, mostly women and children, were killed when heavily armed south-Sudan tribal fighters launched a dawn raid on a rival group.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/tribal-violence-kills-at-... [19]
People & Power
Harriet Harman: 'If only it had been Lehman Sisters'
Harriet Harman yesterday laid the blame for the financial crisis on the male domination of the top jobs in banks. The deputy Labour leader suggested that the presence of more women in the boardrooms of financial institutions could have eased the impact of the meltdown.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/harriet-harman-if-only-it... [20]
Economy & Politics
Large pay rise for parliamentary officials who ran MPs' expenses
The officials who run the parliamentary expenses system were awarded a rise in pay and perks of up to £25,000 last year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6737922.ece [21]
Education & Culture
Jewish school wins right to appeal against ruling its entry policy was racist
Europe's largest Jewish school succeeded today in winning leave to appeal against a court judgment that said its entry policy was racist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/aug/03/jewish-school-admissions... [22]
Globalisation & Development
BBC forces George Alagiah to quit role as Fairtrade charity patron
The BBC is facing a barrage of criticism after forcing one of its most senior newsreaders to step down as patron of a charity that supports farmers in the developing world.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and... [23]


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18 posts tagged with learning and kids.
Displaying 1 through 18 of 18. Subscribe:
Spanish kids' shows for 6-year-old, first-year student?
Our daughter just finished her first year of Spanish in a full-immersion kindergarten. We're looking for good all-Spanish TV shows we can show her (and my wife, who wants to learn) over the summer so she doesn't forget it all. [more inside]
Kids' upcoming attitudes toward surveillance - any research or similar?
Is there a book or a research article (or high quality speculation) to be found, which would ponder how frequent bombarding with "surveillance is a good thing" comments (appearing in media and made by some kind of authority) and "yet another security flaw appeared in a mobile application, in a web service or in a department of a company" news (which would happen to some high profile and well known company) affects kids and youngsters? I mean their mind is still shaping, so it would be interesting to know in advance, what kind of adults will they become? Naturally the mind of an individual is shaping throughout the whole lifetime, but it could be said that there are lots of people, who aren't or will not be very good at getting rid of their "old programming".
What is the best non-fiction book for kids in your field of study/work?
My kids (currently 6 and 9) have become voracious readers. We have a large and varied collection of excellent fiction for them, but the non-fiction collection is more haphazard. They love learning new facts as they read (the type of thing that makes them look up from the book and say, "Did you know...?"). I want to make sure that the collection of books gives them a good introduction to fields where I myself may not have enough knowledge to judge the quality/accuracy of the book. So what's the kid's book in your field that makes you say, "If only every kid got to read this book, people would understand [topic] better."? [more inside]
Teach a kid to Raspberry...
Raspberry Pi online forum or F2F user groups for kids? [more inside]
What's the best software to teach talented youth digital tools for design?
What's the best software to teach talented youth digital tools for design? [more inside]
What are some telltale signs of ADHD and learning disorders in young children?
Sometimes my 3 year-old daughter strikes me as "not all there." I've been so careful to not be a paranoid helicopter mom that I now wonder if I've missed something. What signs should I look out for when considering ADHD and/or learning disabilities and delays? [more inside]
How Can I Encorage My Kids To Be Curious About The World Around Them?
How Can I Encorage My Kids To Be Curious About The World Around Them? It seems like mefites are, in general, interested in learning new things, curious about the world, open to new ideas and that's how I'd like my kids to be. At the very least, I'd like them to be curious about everything from flowers to airplanes and whatever else they might encounter. How can I encourage them? Just encourage questions? Force them to read Wikipedia? [more inside]
Do my numerous constraints rule out meaningful work with kids?
I'd like to learn about jobs that involve working intensively, one-on-one, with preschool or elementary-aged kids, to help them learn or develop. But, I have so many constraints that I'm not sure any role fits. Could you point me to any possibilities? [more inside]
Help us bang the drums!
Help me and my sons (10, 7) learn to play the drums. [more inside]
Robot toys and fiction on the topic of robots / artificial intelligence and learning?
Robot toys and fiction on the topic of robots / artificial intelligence and learning? [more inside]
How do I explain programming to a 12-year-old?
Looking for some resources for explaining a programming career to middle school kids. [more inside]
Best educational games for child???
What are the best kid games that are educational? [more inside]
What do I teach my kids instead of line number BASIC?
What's the modern day equivalent of old school "line number" BASIC as a tool for young children to play and learn with? [more inside]
Summer program for 15 yr old NYC?
Can you recommend a summer program, August - Sept, for a bright 15 year old girl living in Queens, NYC? My niece is very smart, loves dance and theater and wants to excel academically. She's starting to make choices that aren't ideal, and (unrelated) do somewhat poorly in Math. I would love to find a program in Queens, or NYC for the month of August that can help her with school, inspire her and encourage her in the right direction. Help?!
Sesame Street-ish show in Spanish?
What Spanish language kids' show (in the USA) would be good to watch for someone trying to pick up Spanish? [more inside]
Help a geek inherit the earth
What language/environment would be a good choice now for a 6-year old math whizz to learn the basics of programming? [more inside]
Don't play with that, that's not a toy...
Parents - suggest developmental toys for an active 1-year-old? [more inside]
What should my child do now on the internet?
My 4 year old has outgrown the internet. [more inside]
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Change 4 Life
StreetGames is a supporting partner of the national Change4Life campaign and as such is committed to getting people to 'Eat Well, Move More and Live Longer'.
Through our network, we aim to support and encourage community projects who utilise innovative and effective ways to promote these core health messages, particularly when it comes to getting young people fit and healthy.
From doorstep sport initiatives to healthy eating clinics, StreetGames projects can play a vital role in helping Change4Life campaign to make a real difference. If you or your project want to get more involved it's easy! Simply info [at] streetgames [dot] org (contact us) or call Change4Life on 0300 1234567. Alternatively visit the Change4Life website for more information.
And if you are already doing something as part of the campaign - matthew [dot] pottinger [at] streetgames [dot] org (let us know about it!) Your story could be the inspiration needed to help another individual or project. By sharing details about all the great work, activities and initiatives going on around the country we can definitely make a Change4Life!


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You Can't Touch Mine, But I Can Do What I Want With Yours
A comment on the main page with regard to The Pioneer Woman's version of Italian cusinine got me thinking about something that really frosts my cookies.
My issue is with cooks (not Pioneer Woman specifically since I have not read her enough to even know if she does this) who speak of the food of their region as being the best, and being a cuisine that noone outside of that region can properly make or understand since it is not part of their history (fair enough), but then have the gall (I changed that word) to butcher the cuisines of other regions.
There's a Southern cook in particular who does this often, saying not to mess with southern food, then commits acts against humanity by adding cream cheese to lasagne, and other such culinary atrocities.
Anybody else bugged by this?
Talk is closed, but that doesn't mean the conversations have to stop!
Check out this post for a more thorough explanation, and jump onto our Facebook page or our Twitter feed to keep the conversations going!


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Chase prepares for 2013 football opener
The Chase Trojans had over 70 players come out for preseason practice, but as the season approaches, that number is down to 35.
That fact doesn't seem to worry coach Daniel Bailey, however.
"We don't have a large quantity of players coming back, but they are quality players," Bailiey said. "The small roster wasn't a complete surprise, so everybody has been preparing to go both ways. They will be tired by the end of the night, but with the experience we have coming back, I'm not really worried."
Much of that returning experience resides on the offensive side of the ball.
Josh Wright, a 1,000-yard rusher, is back for his senior season, while classmate Jordan O'Rourke will flank him on the wing. Quarterback Tyrell Boykins is only a junior, but boasts two years experience on the varsity level. All three players will be in a backfield protected by four seniors on the offensive line.
"Our offense is definitely our strength this year," Bailey said. "Anytime you have a quarterback, fullback, and wingback returning in a triple option offense, you are in good shape. The best thing about experience is that we can make good reads and make adjustments during the game. The line is also a key, because they have been playing together for four years as a unit. When coaches tell them to adjust their blocking schemes, we can trust them to execute it."
Defense is much less settled. Gone are Carlos and Trey Watkins who anchored the unit for the past five seasons. In their place come athletic, but inexperienced players who will be forced to play on both sides of the ball.
"We have been spoiled over the years with Carlos and Trey," said Bailey. "This year our front seven may struggle a little because of inexperience. They are veteran players, but for the last several years, these guys have been exclusively on offense. This year they are going to have to play both ways. It's going to be a challenge."
According to defensive tackle Chandler Casner, the challenge is more than physical.
"Our biggest obstacle is more mental right now," he said. "With the numbers we have, everybody on the line is going to have to play ever single play without a break. That's a tough thing to wrap your mind around."
The most vital phase of the game for Chase in 2013 may be special teams. The Trojans dropped three games last season by three points or less and hope the improved leg of Omar Jimenez will flip those results.
"If we had won those games, we would have been at least 8-4, instead of 5-7 and the season would have been totally different," said Bailey. "Omar is a soccer player who has worked hard over the offseason to improve. I've seen him hit 50-yard (field goals) this year, but he is consistent at about 38-40 yards. I think he will win us a game or two this year. I'm excited about what our special teams can do."
Offense, defense, and special teams will have to come together for the Trojans to find success against a tough schedule that includes Cleveland County powerhouses Crest, Burns, Kings Mountain, and Shelby.
"Our goal has been and will always be to win every ball game, including the state championship," said Bailey. "We have smaller goals throughout the season, like representing Rutherford County well against Cleveland County and making the playoffs. I think our biggest goal though is taking one day at a time. Our ultimate goal is a state championship, but we can't get there without taking small steps and that first step is our game against Newton Conover."