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I Am Divine on DVD
Divine is, of course, the name of the most famous (or perhaps more accurately infamous) drag queen of the 1970s and 1980s, and the subtitle to Jeffrey Schwarz's I Am Divine--"The True Story of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World"--comes right out of Divine's stage show introduction. But the title is also a commentary on the appropriation of Divine, not as an identity but as a character created by Glenn Milstead, the overweight, gay Baltimore outsider who worked in a beauty shop and found his place with a group of self-described freaks (John Waters, Mink Stole, David Lochary and others) who reveled in ridiculing the culture around them. When Waters started making movies with his friends, Glenn put on a dress, caked his face with make-up, and delivered an outsized, campy performance that channeled Hollywood melodrama, vamping stage diva, and B-movie horror. Waters bestowed the name Divine on Glenn for the credits of their first film together, Roman Candles, and he embraced it with a mad, wild-eyed passion.
I Am Divine opens with the premiere of the original 1988 Hairspray, the film that brought Divine out of cult circles and into suburban theaters and mainstream culture. Glenn had spent years trying to break through as an actor apart from the Divine person and with glowing reviews of Hairspray, as well as a role in Alan Rudolph's Trouble in Mind (not as Divine but as Glenn Milstead, dressed in a suit and playing a mob boss) and an upcoming role on the TV sitcom Married... With Children, he was poised to finally do just that. He died of a heart attack, brought on by obesity and poor health, the night before his first day of shooting on the sitcom.
I Am Divine is the story of both Divine, the outrageous gargoyle of a glamour queen who both caricatured and embraced drag culture, and of Harris Glenn Milstead, the shy, generous man who was kicked out of the house by his parents when he came out of the closet to them. Glenn adored movies and glamour and wanted to be a movie star. Divine was his vehicle but the dress and make-up was a costume, a character played by Glenn, not his "true self" or self-image fantasy. As they films became more elaborate and outrageous, Glenn developed the onscreen persona as a rage-filled, psychopathic trash diva, which took off after making personal appearances at midnight movie showings of Multiple Maniacs. Director Jeffrey Schwarz also introduces us to the unseen collaborator in the creation of Divine: Van Smith, the "genius" (in the words of John Waters) who developed and fine-tuned the make-up, with its war-paint rouge and eye-shadow, exaggerated painted eyebrows, and shaved hairline. Glenn, meanwhile, defied convention by dressing his 300-pound body in tight-fighting gowns and mid-rift-baring blouses. He wasn't ridiculing his weight, he was owning it and daring the world to accept it on his terms.
Schwarz, who previously directed the documentaries Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story and Vito (on gay activist and author Vito Russo), was a fan from the moment he discovered the underground movies of John Waters. Schwarz also directed and / or produced hundreds of home video featurettes and supplementary documentaries and he got to know Waters and friends while working on a featurette about the original Hairspray. Those relationships gave him access to many friends and collaborators (many others had since passed away, some from AIDS-related illness). Frances Milstead, Glenn's mother, gave Schwarz access to rare childhood photos and home movies and Waters allowed him to use clips from some of his earliest films that have never been released to home video (including indelible footage of Divine as Jackie Kennedy in a recreation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy). Less well known even to fans of Divine's work with Waters is Divine's stage career, which Schwarz gives equal attention in his portrait. Divine was a fixture in the gay burlesque scene when he lived in San Francisco and became a cult drag performer when he moved to New York, a status that brought him more celebrity than financial stability. Schwarz finds footage from his live stage shows and stills from some of the drag shows and off-Broadway productions he starred in, and takes us on a tour through his recording career. Divine had a punishing touring schedule. His shows were exhausting and it took a heavy toll on his health.
I Am Divine is an affectionate but conventional portrait of a very unconventional person. It's also an introduction to the person behind the persona and it takes a celebratory tone, even as it ends on his premature death. If there's a tragedy here, it is that he died just as his personal life was happier and healthier than ever: he reconnected with his parents, his acting career was taking off, he had kicked drugs and alcohol, and he was making a clear distinction between Divine the character and Glenn the actor. When he did TV interviews, he was Glenn the actor. Divine was his work outfit, he explained to Waters. "Divine stood for all outsiders," says Waters by way of epitaph. "He stood for anybody that didn't fit in, that exaggerated what everybody hated, turned it into a style and won."
Wolfe releases the film on DVD. Image quality is fine, considering the film is constructed from new interviews and archival clips, many of them from 8mm and 16mm productions and eighties-era videotape. The down-and-dirty quality of these clips is part of their essence and contrast the sharp, clean HD interview footage.
The commentary by director Jeffrey Schwarz, producer Lotti Pharris Knowles and actress / Divine co-star Mink Stole (doing her very first commentary track) uses scenes and images from the film to springboard into biographical background on and personal observations about Divine and Waters that supplement the information in the film, with a few notes on the production. One of the most interesting discussions is about Frances Milstead and how, after reconnecting Glenn and publically embracing him in the last years of his life, was embraced in kind by the gay community in Florida (where she had retired). Also features 30 minutes of deleted scenes organized by topic ("Naming Divine," "Losing Divine," the movies), mostly with additional information about subjects covered in the film.
by Sean Axmaker
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New Books
THE ESSENTIALS: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter
By Jeremy Arnold
Forward by Robert Osborne
Since its inception on Turner Classic Movies in 2001, The Essentials has become the ultimate for movie lovers to expand their knowledge of must-see cinema and discover or revisit landmark films that have had a lasting impact on audiences everywhere.
Based on the hit series, THE ESSENTIALS by Jeremy Arnold showcases 52 must-see movies from the silent era to modern times. Readers can enjoy one film per week, like on the show, for a year of great viewing, or indulge in a movie-watching binge-fest. Each film is profiled with entertaining discourse on why it's an Essential, and running commentary is provided by TCM's Robert Osborne and Essentials guest hosts past and present: Sally Field, Drew Barrymore, Alec Baldwin, Rose McGowan, Carrie Fisher, Molly Haskell, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Pollack, and Rob Reiner.
Featuring full-color and black-and-white photography of the greatest stars in movie history throughout, THE ESSENTIALS is the ultimate curated guide to 52 films that define the meaning of the word "classic."
Jeremy Arnold, a writer and film historian, is the author of Lawrence of Arabia: The 50th Anniversary, a coffee-table book companion to that film's Blu-ray release. In addition to his work for numerous film trade publications, he has written over five hundred programming articles for the Turner Classic Movies website and contributed audio commentaries and historical essays to the DVD and Blu-ray releases of classic films.
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A Girl's Got to Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright
By Donald Spoto
"A girl's got to breathe!" Teresa Wright to Gary Cooper after receiving a lengthy kiss in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Teresa Wright lived a rich and complex life against the backdrop of Hollywood's Golden Age. She worked with some of the leading actors of that generation in beloved films including Mrs. Miniver, The Pride of the Yankees, Shadow of a Doubt, and The Best Years of Our Lives
"I never wanted to be a star," she told the noted biographer Donald Spoto at dinner in 1978. "I wanted only to be an actress." She began acting on the stage in summer stock and repertory at the age of eighteen. When Thornton Wilder and Jed Harris saw her in an ingénue role, she was chosen to understudy the part of Emily in the original production of Our Town (1938), which she then played in touring productions. Samuel Goldwyn saw her first starring role on Broadway--in the historic production of Life with Father and immediately offered her a long contract.
She was the only actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for her first three pictures -The Little Foxes; Pride of the Yankees; and Mrs. Miniver), and she won for the third film. Movie fans and scholars to this day admire her performance in the classics Shadow of a Doubt and The Best Years of Our Lives. The circumstances of her tenure at Goldwyn, and the drama of her breaking that contract, forever changed the treatment of stars. She had two rocky marriages, the first to writer Niven Busch--who wrote Duel in the Sun for her but she had to drop out when she became pregnant--and then to writer Robert Anderson. Both ended in divorce.
Spoto had the cooperation of Wright's family and heirs and also had exclusive access to her papers and letters. He draws on a number of interviews and anecdotes from a variety of directors and actors who worked with the actress including Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, Karl Malden, Jean Simmons, Bette Davis and many more.
Donald Spoto is the author of twenty-nine books published in more than twenty-six languages including The Dark Side of Genius, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly and Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn.
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The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd
By Michelle Morgan
Thelma Todd began her career in silent movies but went on to work with Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers, and make a series of hilarious shorts with Patsy Kelly. She was a savvy businesswoman who opened her own successful nightclub and a beloved comedienne who's mysterious death has intrigued film fans for years.
This new biography of the actress dubbed "the Ice Cream Blonde" traces Todd's life beginning with her as a vivacious little girl growing up in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her brother's death changed the dynamics of the family. Todd wanted to go to college but her mother insisted she enter beauty contests. The reluctant daughter became a beauty queen.
It wasn't long before the movies beckoned and Todd found herself in demand as an actress. She worked steadily throughout the mid-to-late 1920s and made the successful transition to sound.
Increasingly disenchanted with Hollywood, in 1934 Todd opened Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café, a hot spot that attracted fans, tourists, and celebrities. Despite success in film and business, privately the beautiful actress was having a difficult year including receiving disturbing threats from a stranger known as the Ace and having her home ransacked. It all ended tragically when she was found dead in a garage near her café. An inquest concluded that her death, at twenty-nine, was accidental, but in a thorough new investigation that draws on interviews, photographs, documents, and extortion notes-much of these not previously available to the public--the author offers a compelling new theory that the vivacious young actress was murdered.
But by whom? The suspects include Thelma's movie-director lover, her would-be-gangster ex-husband, and the thugs who were pressuring her to install gaming tables in her popular café. This fresh examination on the eightieth anniversary of the star's death raises interesting questions and is sure to interest any fan of Thelma Todd or of Hollywood's Golden Age.
Michelle Morgan is the author of The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals, The Mammoth Book of Madonna, and several books about Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn Monroe: Private and Confidential, Before Marilyn: The Blue Book Modeling Years, and Marilyn's Addresses: A Fan's Guide to the Places She Knew.
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Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story
By Mollie Gregory
Stunt players are often the unsung heroes of filmmaking. They rarely receive recognition for the harrowing work they do to make the leading actors and villains look convincing. This is often even more true for women in the stunt industry.
In the early days of filmmaking, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, from writing to editing to directing to stunt work. But as the movies matured and sound was introduced, women found their roles curtailed. Capable stuntwomen found themselves on the sidelines as stuntmen donned wigs and women's clothes to double as actresses. As a result very few stuntwomen found work between the 1930s and the 1960s.
Not until the political movements of the late 1960s and the 1970s raised the issue of flagrant sexism and discrimination did the number of working stuntwomen begin to increase. But even as late as the 1990s, stuntmen were still doubling for actresses and some were "painted down" for more convincing performances.
For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. They've traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns and raced to the rescue in fast cars.
Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers' hearts racing.
Mollie Gregory is the author of Women Who Run the Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood, 1973-2000 .
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DVD Reviews
Point Blank on Blu-ray
When documentary filmmaker John Boorman made the leap to feature filmmaking with Catch Us If You Can (aka Having a Wild Weekend, 1965), a low-budget rock-n-roll vehicle for the Dave Clark Five, he transformed the quickie into a surprisingly biting satire of popular culture set to a bouncy soundtrack, displaying a remarkable sophistication and creativity unexpected from such a project. It was enough to land him his first American film, Point Blank, where he revealed an even greater ambition and talent.
Based on the novel The Hunter by Richard Stark (a pen name for Donald Westlake), Point Blank shuffles the lean, straight-forward story of a gunman named Walker (Lee Marvin), who is double crossed by his partner in crime and returns (seemingly from the dead) for revenge, into a surreal, abstracted crime drama. The plot is faithful to original novel, a hard-boiled piece of crime fiction reimagined for the underworld culture of the sixties, but Boorman and Marvin, who requested the young director and supported his unconventional vision for the film, refract it through a modern lens. Walker's odyssey from Alcatraz in San Francisco to the underworld of Los Angeles is splintered with short, sharp shards of memory that cut through his story, as if reflecting Walker's attempts to put the pieces of cause and effect together in his mind.
Boorman views L.A. through an alienated lens and edits it more like a European art film than an American crime thriller, but fills it with offbeat, ultra-stylized scenes of violence. It opens on a gunshot that should have killed him and he struggles to put it all together when he wakes up: "Cell. Prison cell. How did I get here?" Marvin is enigmatic, to say the least, as he tracks down his unfaithful, guilt-ridden wife (Sharon Acker), his wife's sister (Angie Dickinson), his old friend turned double-crossing heist partner Mal Reese (John Veron), and finally the syndicate bigwigs, all just to get his due: "I want my 93 grand."
This vision of urban Los Angeles is alternately crowded and noisy and urban, and austere and empty and dislocated. His footsteps echoing through an empty, anonymous hallway becomes the disembodied beat of his march of revenge. A scatting, screaming R&B singer at a chic night spot called The Film Club is the feral soundtrack of a brutal backstage fight, at once visceral and abstracted in the clutter of 35mm film cans and nightclub supplies. The aftermath of a suicide becomes a psychedelic vision of destruction, which disappears in a cut to the apartment suddenly empty, a ghost house with no evidence of life or death, just transition.
The dialogue is loaded with references to "a dream" and characters constant remind Walker that he's supposed to be dead. Keenan Wynn adds another level of remove as the devil whispering in Walker's ear, another unreal figure with a carefully concealed agenda who is preternaturally attuned to Walker's movements. More than an informant, he appears from nowhere to provide a name, an address, a piece of information on the trail to the top man in the Organization as Walker's debt keeps getting passed up the chain of command.
Walker is both an unstoppable sentinel who seems more than flesh and blood and a vulnerable man wounded by betrayal who has armored over his emotions with a mission. Marvin delivers both sides of the character without compromising either. There's a cold fury under his deliberate movements and his eyes betray a moment of regret and sadness when he finds his wife dead by her own hand, but it is all pushed down and kept in check by his single-minded focus. "I just want my money" is his mantra, not a matter of greed but a debt to be settled to balance the scales. Marvin is at once deliberate and relaxed, a veteran criminal soldier alert to everything, which makes his character even more fascinating. He doesn't demand attention on screen, he commands it through confidence and ability and cool focus.
That alone makes him more admirable than Mal, who is played by John Vernon as an oily, arrogant, amoral rat, selling out anyone and everyone to buy his way back into the Organization. The rest of the members of the cast don't play characters as much as cogs, functionaries in a criminal enterprise as a cutthroat corporation, simply doing their jobs as if Walker was a rival in a hostile takeover. Only Angie Dickinson's Chris has the passion and fury and emotional life of a human being, siding with Walker out of both loyalty and for payback against Mal ("He makes my flesh crawl") and the Organization that has taken over her business and her life. Sharon Acker, who plays Walker's wife, comes off less haunted than simply weak. She barely leaves an impression, which is fitting for her character but fails to offer any sense of tragedy to her story, and she's almost instantly forgotten after she exits the film. It's really the only weak element of the film, which otherwise is strong, confident, and sure from beginning to end.
Point Blank has been called a modern film noir but it has more in common with Performance, another crime thriller that fractures time, offers enigmatic and ambiguous characters, and equates organized crime with big business. Boorman delivers meticulously executed set pieces that are designed for the wide CinemaScope frame with a sure sense of space and a dispassionate perspective. He emphasizes intelligence over action and presents Walker as total professional, never flustered and always emotionally removed from the situation. And if Walker is an extreme incarnation of the revenge driven noir anti-hero, the modern syndicate has transformed the old school mob into a world of paper jungles and corporate businessmen, an alienating concept to a two-fisted, gun-wielding independent like Walker. "Profit is the only principle," is their motto. Almost 50 years later, it's more modernist than modern, a fascinating time capsule of an era when young directors brought nouvelle vague style to classic genres, and a cryptic crime thriller that turns Marvin into the most enigmatic criminal professional in the movies.
Boorman creates a hard, austere look for the film and the new Blu-ray delivers a sharp clarity to his vision of Los Angeles as an impersonal modern city. Apart from a few scenes, he strips the frame down to isolated figures in an empty urban landscape under the hard light of the California sun. It's an urban desert and the disc preserves that atmosphere of a ghost city by day and a shadowy underworld at night when the crowds gather on the streets and in the clubs. The impersonal palette of concrete surfaces and blank office interiors in the day gives way to the color of human habitation after dark, which oddly enough has a warmer atmosphere than the harsh light of day.
Carried over from the earlier DVD release is an audio commentary track with director John Boorman and fellow director Steven Soderbergh, a fan of the film who essentially hosts the commentary. He engages Boorman in conversations about the film's style, the use of color and camera lenses, working with Lee Marvin (who became close friends with Boorman), and making his Hollywood debut with a film that refused to play by the studio rules. Soderbergh's The Limey was clearly indebted to Point Blank in both its theme of revenge and in its fractured storytelling and unconventional use of flashbacks. Taking part in this commentary is like paying tribute to his inspiration.
Also features the vintage promotional featurette The Rock (in two parts), which looks at shooting the film on location in Alcatraz, and the original trailer.
by Sean Axmaker
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Ravenous on Blu-ray
Ravenous (1999) channels the story reminiscent of the Donner Party disaster and the legend of Alferd Packer (the only American ever convicted of cannibalism) into a gruesome survival thriller with a crimson-hued streak of black humor and an elemental hint of the supernatural. The resulting film takes top honors as the definitive frontier cannibal movie. Not that there's a long list to choose from, mind you, but this earns its position with honors, thanks to a gleefully weird and savagely bloodthirsty sensibility.
Guy Pearce is Captain John Boyd, whose battle cowardice during the Mexican-American war inadvertently results in making him an accidental hero. The ordeal of playing dead under the bleeding corpses of his fellow officers also puts him off meat, as the opening scenes so vividly illustrate. Director Antonia Bird cuts straight to the heart of the situation as she intercuts soldiers devouring bleeding-rare steaks at a military luncheon with the bloody casualties of battle stacked like cordwood: meat is meat, at least as far as this film is concerned. Boyd's commanding officer (John Spencer of The West Wing), who knows that his valor is a fraud, ships him out to the fringes of military reach: a fort in a California mountain pass, which runs with a minimal compliment during the impassable winter months. "This place thrives on tedium," smiles fort commander Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones), who takes everything with a bemused indulgence. How else to survive a company made up of a useless drunk second-in-command(Stephen Spinella), a giggling weed-head idiot (David Arquette), a twitchy, mumbling chaplain (Jeremy Davies), and a macho soldier boy (Neal McDonough) who holds the rest of the company in utter contempt?
The tedium is quickly dispersed when a bedraggled disaster survivor (Robert Carlyle) stumbles into camp. He spins a horrific story of a lost wagon train and an incompetent scout who strands them in the mountains, where as the winter snows traps them and desperation leads to feeding on human flesh. It's a tale right out of the Donner Party until it turns feral, but it's not even close to the real story of Carlyle's wild-eyed survivor. For a starving man, he looks remarkably fit when he doffs his shirt, and other clues suggest that this is no production gaffe. One night, while camping on the trail to his old camp to search for survivors, he's caught licking the bleeding wounds of an injured soldier. You know, tasting his next potential meal.
That's when the film takes its twist into weird and wild horror, a bizarre plot that doesn't really make much logical sense but sure makes for a wicked mix of psychodrama and visceral body horror. The Native American Wendigo myth is referenced to explain madness, but you could say it's a vampire tale without the supernatural dimension--it turns out human flesh is addictive, and it helps to have a nest of fellow flesh-eaters to keep the diet coming--or call it a particularly gruesome metaphor for manifest destiny. However you label it, it is off-the-charts crazy, an eat-or-be-eaten thriller served very, very rare.
British director Antonia Bird seems like an odd match for this material. She honed her craft on TV drama and made her reputation with the tough, wrenching dramas Priest and Face, two films with complex characters and socially conscious themes. What they have in common with Ravenous is star Robert Carlyle, who recommended Bird after the film's original director Milcho Manchevski was let go after three weeks and the producer's chosen replacement, Raja Gosnell, was rejected by the cast. Bird (who passed away last year at the relatively young age of 62 after a battle with thyroid cancer) was frustrated by the conditions of the production and the oversight of the producers and she complained that her cut was compromised in post-production. That may explain the awkward pace, jarring turns, and a climax that feels tossed together--an uninspired way to end such a devious film--but she is clearly the architect of the odd, offbeat key of the film's blackly comic tone and surreal atmosphere and Carlyle is her partner in outsized madness. He leads the cast in playing their eccentricities big, though next to Carlyle's juicy performance, Arquette and Davies come off more like actor's studio sketches in twitchy weirdness or fidgety indecision than actual characters. Guy Pearce provides the contrast, creating a character fighting to maintain control and keep his emotions and his reflexive revulsion in check as everyone else lets their freak flag fly. It oddly enough makes him the most intense character on screen. As all that fear and disgust and anxiety just bottles up behind his desperate eyes and increasingly battered body, Pearce shows us the toll this ordeal exacts on him. In this survival drama, he's the one in true survival mode.
Scream Factory's Blu-ray features a solid new HD transfer that preserves the dynamic contrast between the white-out daylight scenes of snow and the ominous shadows of the deep forest and the dark rough-hewn quarters of the frontier fort. Night doesn't have to fall for the darkness to seep into the image. Given the elemental quality of the imagery--much of the film takes place in the snowbound wilderness, with the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia standing in for California--the transfer has a satisfying level of grain that not only preserves the texture of the film but gives the entire atmosphere an added level of authenticity. These images feel like they were carved into the film.
The film was previously released on DVD over a decade ago with three separate commentary tracks. Director Antonia Bird and composer Damon Albarn team up for the most informative track, with Bird talking in detail about the physical challenges of the production. Screenwriter Ted Griffin and co-star Jeffrey Jones tend to lapse into silences in their track and actor Robert Carlyle is even more intermittent in his the solo track. Also carried over from the earlier disc is a collection of deleted scenes (many of them in rough-cut form) with optional commentary by Bird and a gallery of stills. New to this edition is a 20-minute interview with Jeffrey Jones, who looks back on the themes of the film.
by Sean Axmaker
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Southern Comfort on Blu-ray
A motley crew of Louisiana National Guardsman wade out into the swamps for weekend maneuvers. It's 1973, as the war in Vietnam is grinding away the soul of America and the heart of the military, and this platoon of weekend warriors--a volatile collection of rednecks, hotheads, jokers, and guys who probably signed up to steer clear of the draft--are like fresh recruits going into battle for the first time. They've got the fatigues and the cocky attitude but dubious discipline and training and their machine guns are loaded with blanks as they head into the bayou. To the Cajun swamp folk, the trappers and hunters living on the fringes of society, these men are invaders who trample their camps and steal their boats. And when one of the soldiers lets loose a burst from his weapon, laughing like the class bully after humiliating the new kid, these shadowy swamp dwellers defend themselves, becoming a guerilla strike force waging a war of terror on the utterly unprepared toy soldiers. They don't know that it's just blanks in those guns but it likely wouldn't matter if they did. They've been attacked and they will respond. These city dwellers are out their element and after their commanding officer (Peter Coyote) is gone, the first casualty in the war of attrition, they are out of their depth, flailing around with a panic that dumps their radio, compass, map, and pretty much everything else that was supposed to keep them alive.
Southern Comfort will never be mistaken for a Nation Guard recruitment tool. Call it an anti-platoon movie. Hill gives the squad the outward accoutrements of a real fighting force, down to the uniforms and weapons, but this is a military unit in name only. Beyond the swaggering banter of the soldiers and self-deprecating comments of Spencer (Keith Carradine), the self-appointed company joker, they have no real training, no experience under fire, and no commitment to one another. These guys are more like barroom buddies playing soldier than a disciplined force.
There are two voices of restraint in the wilderness, Spencer and new guy Hardin (Powers Booth), a transfer from Texas who doesn't know anyone in the company but sizes up their weaknesses quickly and realizes that they haven't much a chance as long as wild cards like Reece (Fred Ward) and Stuckey (Lewis Smith) go charging through the swamps looking for payback. Casper (Les Lannom) takes command by virtue of an essentially meaningless detail of rank and bumbles around quoting regulations and making speeches, doggedly following the book because he hasn't a clue what to do next. The filmmakers don't make him a figure of ridicule, mind you, just a guy falling back on the only thing he knows. In fact, none of them are necessarily "bad guys," though like any Hill ensemble, it has its share of jerks, bullies, racists, and anger management candidates and the pressure brings out their worst instincts.
So yes, it's a story of American soldiers in an alien land, lost in an unfamiliar landscape and outmaneuvered by a guerrilla army at home in the jungle. Director / screenwriter Walter Hill and producer / co-screenwriter David Giler insist to this day that Southern Comfort was never intended to be an allegory for Vietnam, simply a survival tale in an overwhelming and unfamiliar environment. It's hard to take them at face value but it is easy to forget the allegory in the heat of the drama. It also shares DNA with Deliverance, another film about city boys with guns who take their sense of ownership and entitlement into the wilderness, threaten the locals, and end up hunted by them. But where John Boorman's primal thriller turns his Appalachian backwoods men into brutal outlaws who take pleasure in stalking the city invaders, Hill and Giler keep their Cajun soldiers hidden, seen as figures in the distance or blurs running behind the trees, ghosts on the fringes of sight. They treat the would-be soldier like wild game, silently shadowing their progress and whipping them into a state of panic to steer them into their traps. And whatever the short-fused guys in the platoon think, this is no cultural conspiracy to wipe out the invaders. Their enemy consists of a handful of isolated hunters who didn't start the war but by God are determined to finish it. The rest of the Cajun folks they meet don't seem to be a part of it, though after a couple of days in the swamps, the paranoia is powerful enough to make every sidelong glance look ominous. Ry Cooder's eerie and haunting score only intensifies the paranoia.
What ultimately differentiates them from the soldiers of a classical platoon drama is that they haven't bonded under fire and have never had to put their trust in one another. This group unravels and tears itself apart from fear and panic and unfocused rage. And in classic Hill manner, there are no philosophical musings or existential conversations. The closest the film comes to putting its theme into words is from the mantra of a terrified Simms (Franklyn Seales), who finds himself cut off from the group and suddenly aware of just how vulnerable he is. "I'm not supposed to be here," he repeats, as if begging the universe to correct some cosmic planning error. And then he's no longer there.
While this band of infighting brothers wades blindly through the swamp without a clue as to their bearings or direction, Hill's direction never falters. He has always had a sure hand as a storyteller, keeping his plots uncluttered and letting the details of character, conflict, and the world around them define the story. Southern Comfort limits the world to the middle of the swamp, where we (like the soldiers) are unable to find any point of reference, and observes how the discomfort of the environment and the constant disorientation takes its toll on what little good sense the characters bring with them to the mission. It exacerbates the already dysfunctional dynamics of this platoon of battle virgins and is as deadly on its own as the native hunters who use the environment as a weapon in their arsenal. It's not necessarily skill or even luck that saves the guardsmen who survive the ordeal. In classic Hill fashion, it is a matter of intelligence, awareness, teamwork, and the commitment to do what is necessary to survive. There's no sense of victory in survival, merely relief.
Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack. Both discs feature the new HD master but the Blu-ray of course features superior clarity and richness of color. Both are clean, strong images while the Blu-ray shows off excellent detail. The Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack puts the mix right up front. A couple of scenes of chaos and confusion overwhelm the dialogue with background sound, which is surely intentional but still seems a little out of balance to my ears.
New to this release in an original 27-minute featurette with new interviews with actors Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Lewis Smith, and Peter Coyote and, on low-resolution video via Skype, director Walter Hill and producer David Giler, who collaborated on the script with Hill. The actors share stories of shooting in the Louisiana swamps in February with wet suits under their uniforms, six weeks of working in the cold and damp, and they remind us that they were all in it together. The crew endured the same conditions so no one had the right to complain. More interesting is the discussion around the themes of the film. Hill and Giler maintain that while they did not intentionally set out to make a Vietnam allegory they were aware that audiences would make that connection, while the actors admit that they knew it was an allegory from the moment they read the script. Keith Carradine's reading is particularly detailed and interesting. Curiously, none of the six participants mention Deliverance.
Carried over from the old DVD release is a brief collection of outtakes and the original trailer. All of the supplements are featured in both the Blu-ray and DVD discs of the Combo Pack.
By Sean Axmaker
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Tess on Blu-ray
Tess (1979), Roman Polanski's film adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1890 novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, has in 2014 received a sublime Blu-Ray and DVD release from Criterion. Restored by Pathe under the direct supervision of Polanski himself, the movie looks and sounds magnificent. At first glance, the lushly beautiful Tess is a seemingly unusual work for Polanski, whose films we tend to associate with horror and sex, but this was actually a highly personal project for the master filmmaker. It was his first picture after fleeing the United States in 1977, and also a project that his wife, Sharon Tate, had suggested he make as a vehicle for herself -- just before she was murdered by the Manson gang in 1969. Polanski read the novel after her death and realized it was indeed right up his alley, and he dedicated the eventual film to her with an on-screen inscription.
Hardy's tale, to which the film is very faithful, is about a poor English girl, Tess, whose father learns he is a distant descendant of a once prominent, rich family, the D'Urbervilles. He sends Tess to the home of a remaining D'Urberville to find employment (or at least a handout), but Tess winds up being seduced by the ne'er-do-well Alec D'Urberville (Leigh Lawson), who becomes obsessed with her. Fleeing Alec, she eventually finds work at a dairy farm and starts a passionate relationship with a young farmer named Angel Clare (Peter Firth). But in this society, the revelation of the sins of her past, even if they were not her fault, could doom Tess to shame, ostracism and worse. Ultimately, Tess is about a woman struggling to make her way in the world, looking for happiness, or at least survival, but finding that a judgmental society, timing and even luck are all working against her.
Polanski explores this theme vividly, sympathetically and cinematically. Costumes, speech and physical mannerisms of the actors all convince the audience of the time period and of the distinctions among the social classes, and the film's pictorial beauty does much to stress the contrasting cruelty of some of the characters. The movie is not "pretty" for prettiness' sake. Most important, one really feels the isolation of Tess throughout the film, which is at once sprawling and intimate. The plot itself, while important, feels less vital here than the depiction of Tess' emotional experience of the world she is forced to inhabit, and as a result, the long running time feels entirely appropriate and never tedious.
Tess was shot entirely in France, mostly on locations in Normandy and Brittany, because Polanski worried that if he traveled to England he would be extradited to the United States. Polanski later wrote, "To tell the story at all, it was essential to find the proper setting, a twentieth-century equivalent of Hardy's nineteenth-century Dorset. The only way to convey the rhythm of his epic was to use that setting as an integral part of the film, signaling the passage of time and the change in Tess herself by means of a visible, almost palpable change in seasons. Once our rural locations were chosen, we would have to film throughout the year from early spring, through high summer, to the depths of winter." With such a shooting strategy, filming wound up lasting nine months over 80 separate locations, and Tess became, at $12 million, the most expensive film ever made in France to that point. Freak weather and labor strikes only added to the overall time and expense.
If Tess is atypical of Polanski, it's in the way that The Age of Innocence (1993) is atypical of director Martin Scorsese. But in fact, both films are completely emblematic of their directors' concerns and are indeed suffused with violence. It's just that the violence is emotional, an undercurrent beneath a pristine surface -- exactly like the societies the films depict.
That being said, it's hard to shake some of Tess's most exquisitely beautiful imagery, such as the lovely natural light of an outdoor dance, or the riders and dogs on a fox hunt who appear out of a sublime mist, or the face of Nastassia Kinski, who is heart-stoppingly gorgeous (a quality, incidentally, that is vital to the story). Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, who had shot such films as Becket (1964) and Cabaret (1972), died a few weeks into production and was replaced by Ghislain Cloquet, who sadly would himself pass away two years later. They shared the Oscar for Best Cinematography. The film also won for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Score.
Criterion's dual-format release contains one Blu-ray disc and two DVDs, with both formats containing the film and identical extras. And there are plenty, starting with three short documentaries about the film's making (originally included in Columbia's 2004 DVD release), directed by Laurent Bouzereau and totaling 73 minutes in length. Bouzereau expertly interviews key players like Polanski, producers Claude Berri and Timothy Burrill, co-writer John Brownjohn, actors Nastassia Kinski and Leigh Lawson, set decorator Pierre Guffroy, costume designer Anthony Powell, hair and makeup artists, the crew electrician, the assistant editor and others. The artists discuss fascinating details of production, like the challenge of getting the "strawberry seduction" scene between Kinski and Lawson just right (which astonishingly was shot on a rainy day despite looking on-screen like the height of warm summer), the creation of the Stonehenge set outside of Paris, and the design of the costumes to be authentic and truly expressive of character -- beautiful without being decorative. Powell is fascinating as he discusses his approach, and also about the little splotch of blood he put on the hem of Tess' dress at a key point in the story, which Polanski shot for maximum impact.
Burrill recalls that on location the filmmakers were only able to see the rushes days after shooting, rather than the next day, and not always under the best conditions. But gradually, he says, "we started to see what was happening, the magic that was coming off the screen, and the extraordinary professionalism of Nastassia.... I don't think there was ever one day when she fluffed a line. She was word-perfect, always."
Second is a 52-minute documentary from 2006 by Daniel Ablin and Serge July entitled Once Upon a Time... Tess. This is also interesting, but it covers much of the same material as the Bouzereau pieces, with many of the same interviewees telling the same stories. It's also not as smoothly edited. But unlike the Bouzereau film, it includes composer Philippe Sarde, and delves more into Polanski's pre-Tess life and career. It also recounts the difficulties in Tess's post-production, particularly concerning the running time. Francis Coppola was brought in by producer Claude Berri to trim the film, which was deemed overlong, but Polanski hated the result, leading to a falling-out between Berri and Polanski and between Polanski and Sarde. Polanski himself eventually trimmed the film by about 20 minutes, resulting in the current running time of 171 minutes.
Third, there's a 1979 episode of the French TV program Cine Regards, running 48 minutes, that looks at the making of Tess and interviews Polanski during the film's production. The interviews with Polanski are revealing, but the real strengths of the piece are the long, uninterrupted slices of life on the set as Polanski directs and thinks through scenes, conducting his orchestra of crewmembers. These sequences go on long enough to make us feel as if we are there.
Fourth is a 1979 episode of the British TV program The South Bank Show, 50 minutes in length, in which host Melvyn Bragg interviews Polanski. And Criterion rounds things out with the film's trailer as well as a handsome printed booklet containing a fine essay by Colin MacCabe and crisp, colorful photos from the film, almost all of which feature the entrancing Nastassia Kinski. It's a beautiful package and motion picture, all very highly recommended.
By Jeremy Arnold
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Used Cars on Blu-ray
The opening of Used Cars (1980) has the ominous, wind-scoured character of a modern crime film in a desperate southwest town where a Sergio Leone western wouldn't be out of place. The camera cranes down from a high shot over a struggling used car dealership, where a few pathetic beaters line the lot, and slowly glides over to one car with someone is crammed under the dashboard. The only sound is the lonely wind--the kind of strangled, desolate howl you get in dustbowl dramas and desert survival thrillers--and the grunts of the man struggling with the mechanics under the dash. And then we see the odometer turn back, shaving some 40,000 or so miles from the record. The title hits the screen, a brass band jumps in with "Stars and Stripes Forever," and the unidentified mechanic wriggles out to reveal Kurt Russell in a cheap, loud suit making his rounds to mask the sorry condition of the cars on the lot. It turns out that this is a crime movie after all, or at least a film of multiple misdemeanors and bald-faced misrepresentation, and the perpetrators are the good guys.
The second feature from director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer and producer Bob Gale, Used Cars comes right out of the screen comedy culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the underdogs snubbed their collective noses at authority, propriety, property and privacy laws and anything else that crossed their paths in slobs vs. snobs comedies like Animal House (1978), Caddyshack (1980) and Ghostbusters (1984). Used Cars is raucous and reckless and far more gleefully corrupt than any of its brothers in rebellion, embracing the confidence games and illegal stunts pulled by the skeleton crew that works for Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden), who is the closest thing that the film has to an honest man. The devotion of salesmen Rudy (Russell) and Jeff (Gerrit Graham) and mechanic Jim (Frank McRae) to Luke is really all that separates them from Luke's rapacious brother and across-the-street rival Roy L. Fuchs (Warden again) and his slick sales force. That and the fun they have ripping off the rubes who wander on to their lot.
The premise of film - two used car outfits at war with one another - was hatched by John Milius, who was one of the executive producers (along with Steven Spielberg), but the script is pure Zemeckis and Gale. The rivals are twin brothers, the Cain and Abel of used car dealers. When impending freeway construction threatens to destroy bad brother Roy's dealership and make the good brother Luke rich, Roy finds a way to speed the demise of Luke's bad heart and Rudy makes good on his promise to keep Roy from taking over the lot. Rudy has his own, more immediate motivation, of course--he's trying to buy his way into the local political machine and he's still a little short on the down payment--but it's also personal. Luke is something of a father figure to the crew, which makes them the mischievous sons who break the rules whenever dad's back is turned. After Luke dies, their antics more outrageous, from secretly burying Luke on the lot (his beloved convertible fittingly serves as his casket) to jamming satellite signals with wild pirate commercials replete with gratuitous nudity and senseless destruction of private property. The plot seems to careen from one comic collision to another but there's a nicely-constructed plan under it all, simple but ingenious enough that you don't actually see how the pieces are laid in place until it all comes together in the ragged spectacle of final act.
It's not really a satire of American business so much as a wicked lampoon: lie, cheat and steal as the American way, as long as you do it with a sense of fun. Kurt Russell was just breaking out of his clean-cut post-Disney persona when he took on the role and he sinks his teeth into Rudy, turning the brash characters into the epitome of the smiling mercenary selling lemons to suckers with dirty tricks and phony promises. Gerrit Graham is his partner in commercial piracy, unfazed by anything but harbingers of bad luck, notably red. Deborah Harmon is both romantic interest and plot complication as Luke's long lost daughter, who shows up just after dad's death. Jack Warden has a field day playing twin brothers and Frank McRae is hilarious as the giant adrenaline-pumped mechanic. The crotch-grabbing Mexican junk car wholesaler is ubiquitous character actor and future director Alfonso Arau in his first great comic role in an American film (Romancing the Stone and Three Amigos soon followed). But the entire cast is in danger of being upstaged by the adorable dog Toby, who has his own role to play in the sale stunts. This pooch's hilarious performance makes him one of the greatest movie dogs.
Zemeckis matured into a polished filmmaker and an ambitious storyteller and went on to make more sophisticated, more provocative, and certainly more subtle films, but he never made anything as savagely funny as Used Cars. Its banged-up ingenuity and rough-and-tumble energy and warped mirror reflection of the American Dream as a snatch and grab free-for-all is wickedly funny. Everyone is a crook here and the epilogue even enshrines mendacity as a virtue, at least when it comes to stepping into the used car game.
Used Cars has a remarkably tidy visual aesthetic for a film about a seedy, shabby culture, with a screen that is uncluttered and flooded with desert sunlight in day scenes and blasted with floodlights as bold as a football stadium night game for the after-dark stunts. The new HD transfer shows a well-preserved print and is sharp and clear. Simply put, it looks superb.
The commentary track with Zemeckis, Gale, and Russell, carried over from the 2002 DVD reelease, is almost as fun as the movie. "We wanted Jimmy Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life, except he's totally corrupt," is how Zemeckis explains the genesis of Rudy. Kurt Russell laughs back: "So you cast me!" These guys are having a blast laughing their way through their remembrances, but they manage to stay on track and keep the production stories coming. Few commentaries manage to balance the information and entertainment so well.
There's a four-minute reel of outtakes (apparently taken from surviving video dub; it's all quite hazy), a radio interview with Russell, a car commercial featuring Russell, galleries of art and stills, and not one but two isolated score tracks: along with Patrick Williams' musical score heard in the film is an alternate, unused score by Ernest Gold. We don't quite get it in the context of the film (at least not with dialogue and sound effects) but it's a more conventional, less satirical approach. The accompanying 8-page booklet features another fine essay by Julie Kirgo.
By Sean Axmaker
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Press Release
Library of America's The Moviegoer on LAURA
Library of America's new regular web feature called The Moviegoer is devoted to great films inspired by classic American writing. This biweekly column features columns by Megan Abbott, David Denby, Wendy Lesser, Charles McGrath, Farran Smith Nehme, Carrie Rickey,Terrence Rafferty, Harold Schechter, Michael Sragow, & others and launched on January 27, 2016.
American literature has proven an endlessly renewable resource for filmmakers, its originality and vitality inspiring whole catalogues of memorable movies. Now Library of America, the acclaimed nonprofit publisher of the nation's greatest writing, presents The Moviegoer, a biweekly column in which curator Michael Sragow (Film Comment) and other leading writers and critics offer fresh, penetrating examinations of the best of these films, gems that readers will want to revisit or watch for the first time. Standing at the intersection of classic American writing and classic filmmaking, The Moviegoer, offers not reviews but full scale reevaluations that explore the creative alchemy involved in translating a masterwork from page (or stage) to screen. It takes its inspiration, and its catholic compass, from the hero of Walker Percy's famous novel, and, in the words of curator Sragow, "aims to generate new enthusiasm for cinema as well as for literature."
To read the entry in the series on Laura by Megan Abbott and to sign up for an alert when a new Moviegoer is published, click here.
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Dick Dinman Visits the Deadly GARDEN OF EVIL
DICK DINMAN VISITS THE DEADLY "GARDEN OF EVIL" : Twilight Time's co-founder the award winning writer, producer and documentarian Nick Redman and acclaimed writer and film aficionado Julie Kirgo join producer/host Dick Dinman as they salute the singularly riveting Gary Cooper/Susan Hayward/Richard Widmark edge-of-your-seat action adventure GARDEN OF EVIL which Twilight Time has just released in a spectacular wide screen transfer emboldened by no less than three listening choices each of which graphically stress the essential importance of the monumentally powerful and unique Bernard Herrmann score.
The award-winning DICK DINMAN'S DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR is the only weekly half hour show devoted to Golden Age Movie Classics as they become available on DVD. Your producer/host Dick Dinman includes a generous selection of classic scenes, classic film music and one-on-one interviews with stars, producers, and directors. To hear these as well as other DVD CLASSICS CORNER ON THE AIR shows please go to www.dvdclassicscorner.com or www.dvdclassicscorner.net.
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John Wayne Cancer Foundation kicks off SHOW YOUR GRIT campaign on May 26
Join TCM on May 26 as we honor one of Hollywood's greatest stars, John Wayne, on his birthday with a full day of his films beginning at 6am. An icon of American individualism and courage, Wayne is perhaps best known for his work in the Western and war genres--where his image as the direct (sometimes gruff) yet always just and strong hero has become the stuff of screen legend for generations of film fans. Our tribute begins with an early Wayne film, Ride Him, Cowboy (1932) and continues through McLintock! (1963) at 5:45pm ET.
The day of programming is also in support of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation's Show Your Grit campaign, which kicks off on May 26. The John Wayne Cancer Foundation (JWCF) was created by his family in honor of Wayne's memory with a mission to bring courage, strength and grit to the fight against cancer. For 25 days, beginning on John Wayne's birthday and ending on Father's Day, June 19th, the John Wayne Cancer Foundation challenges you to #ShowYourGrit on social media to raise awareness and honor those who have shown courage, strength, and grit in the face of cancer.
To learn more about the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and to join the John Wayne movement please visit http://johnwayne.org/.
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TCM Podcast An in-depth look at this month's films by the employees of TCM DOWNLOAD TODAY >
- Added:...
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Wednesday, March 20, 2011
Removed: 10:00pm Springfield Rifle 12:00pm Casablanca Added: 1:00pm Virginia City 12:15pm Casablanca
Wednesday, March 20, 2011
Removed: 10:00pm Springfield Rifle 12:00pm Casablanca Added: 1:00pm Virginia City 12:15pm Casablanca
Wednesday, March 20, 2011
Removed: 10:00pm Springfield Rifle 12:00pm Casablanca Added: 1:00pm Virginia City 12:15pm Casablanca


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Massachusetts court defends gay marriage
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This comment is regarding the gay marriages in Mass. I am a resident in Vermont and unfortunately your article shares incorrect information. Vermont was the first US state to legalise gay marriages. I just thought I would point that out. I think it was in 2000 that gay marriages were actually legalised in Vermont.
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Whether you sneak them into your unit on weather or add them to your St. Patrick's Day lesson plan, these rainbow-themed activities from Katherine at Katherine Marie Photography are dynamic, unique, and fantastic! We really can't choose any favorites {everything looks like so much fun, seriously!}, so here are a few highlights!
Fun with Rainbows
For more fantastic rainbow activities that can be tailored to the skill level and interests of your students, be sure to visit Katherine's full post!


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- Overview
- Transcript
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Next, the course introduces more advanced exposure options: program mode, exposure compensation, ISO adjustments, and more. After Ben briefly defines each option, he shows how to adjust it using the camera controls.
Ben also discusses white balance options, advanced metering and autofocus controls, flash, live view, and video shooting. The course ends with a chapter on maintenance, including sensor- and camera-cleaning and care tips.
- What is a DSLR?
- Attaching lenses
- Powering up and down
- Formatting the media card
- Holding the camera
- Shooting in the Auto and Program modes
- Changing the ISO
- Controlling autofocus and white balance
- Using a self-timer
- Working with the exposure control options
- Activating Live View
- Shooting video
Skill Level Beginner
Your camera includes an orientation sensor that lets it figure out if you're shooting in portrait or landscape orientation. Your camera records the orientation of your shot in the metadata for each image. When you view the images on the back of the camera, or in an image editing program, the image should appear rotated correctly. Sometimes, though, the camera's rotation sensor gets confused, and the proper rotation data doesn't get recorded with the image. So to fix this, you can rotate images in camera. This rotation will actually change that rotation tag that gets stored with the image so that images will appear correct in your image editing application on your computer.
If you're reviewing your images, and you come across an image that needs to be rotated, all you need to do is drop into the menuing system, and in the first page of the playback section, you will find an item for rotate image. Hit the Set button to go into there, and now what I have actually got is a full image browser here. I can scroll through my different images, and find anything that needs to be rotated, such as this image, which was actually shot in a landscape orientation, and this tells me that if I hit the Set button, I am going to rotate 90°. So, that's not quite right; there we go.
Now I'll just keep rotating the image around until it looks right. Now remember, this rotation tag is stored with the image, so when I get this into my image editor, it should have the correct orientation. Another rotation feature that I find very handy; consider this image that I shot in portrait orientation. Now, the camera has correctly rotated it, so that it's upright, so that when I am holding the camera like this, I see the image in its proper orientation. However, I'm wasting all this screen space. My image is kind of small after it's rotated. I would really much rather have it be displayed this way at full size, because since I am just holding the camera, I could always rotate it, and have a much nicer, larger view of my image.
I can actually tell the camera to start doing that instead. If I go into the menu, and go here to the first page of the setup category, I have an item called Auto rotate, which is currently set to On for both the camera, and computer, meaning images are going to be rotated for display on the camera, and they are going to be tagged for rotation on the computer. If I pop that open, I have two choices; I can turn off rotation altogether, or I can say, actually, go ahead and tag the images for rotation on the computer, but don't rotate them on the camera; there's no camera icon right there.
So I am going to hit Set to take that, and now when I play back that image, aha! It's filling the whole screen. It's sideways, but that's okay, because I can always just rotate the camera, and look at it that way. This gives me a much nicer, larger view. It's a setting I really recommend. It's going to make it easier to review fine details in your images.


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A Time To Hedge 0 comments
Since my post on putting on some long exposure we've had a nice little runup. One thing I've been learning is that this truly is a stock-picker's market so one needs to be nimble and willing to take action on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. At this point I would be putting on hedges to protect my recent gains. We've had a nice little run.... I'd raise cash by booking gains or add a short hedge.
Do your own research prior to making any decisions. I own put options on CMG and ESS as well as the TZA (3x inverse ETF). I still hold my longs (KEM and PPD) though I sold out of most, if not all of my others.
Disclosure: I own put options on CMG and ESS as well as the TZA (3x inverse ETF).Back To David Schrader's Instablog HomePage »
Instablogs are blogs which are instantly set up and networked within the Seeking Alpha community. Instablog posts are not selected, edited or screened by Seeking Alpha editors, in contrast to contributors' articles.Full index of posts »
PPD ripping on only 2x avg volume Oct 25, 2010
PPD looks to be gaining support here... if you had taken profits when discussed, now may be a great time to re-enter the position. Oct 11, 2010
Lots of nearly parabolic movement going on... don't be greedy when everyone else is Sep 29, 2010
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Confirmed: Chelsea let defender leave on loan
MATT MIAZGA has signed for Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the rest of the season.Daily Express » 1m
MATT MIAZGA has signed for Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the rest of the season.Daily Express » 1m
AFC Bournemouth youngsters Brandon Goodship and Sam Matthews join National League side Braintree Town on long-term loans.BBC Sport » 1m
Chelsea re-sign Brazil defender David Luiz for a fee of around £34m from Paris St-Germain.BBC Sport » 4m
Tottenham agree a £30m deal for Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko, beating rival interest from Everton.BBC Sport » 14m
Wales forward Hal Robson-Kanu joins West Bromwich Albion on a two-year deal with an option for a further year.BBC Sport » 15m
France international Moussa Sissoko says he has signed a five-year deal with Spurs.SkySports.com » 15m
Everton have signed West Ham striker Enner Valencia on a season-long loan.SkySports.com » 15m
Tottenham have landed a Deadline Day coup by signing France international Moussa Sissoko just before the window closed.SkySports.com » 15m
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- Report: #741204
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: Skype.com
Skype.comInternet United States of America
Skype.com Skype Skype kept billing my account after I turned off the monthly renewal again and again, Internet
*Consumer Comment: Skype defeats ninjas
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This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/15/2011 03:34 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Skypecom/internet/Skypecom-Skype-Skype-kept-billing-my-account-after-I-turned-off-the-monthly-renewal-again-741204. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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#1 Consumer Comment
Skype defeats ninjas
AUTHOR: Tek - (USA)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, April 01, 2015POSTED: Wednesday, April 01, 2015
I have used this service on and off for several years. I have never had an issue such as this. The disable/renew option is located clearly in your account profile as the last option at the bottom of the account tab. You will need to make sure you enter all fields and complete all steps in order to successfully release your account from any further charges. If you are having further issues, might I suggest you take an A+ essentials class for basic computer use. They are taught all over the country, relatively cheap, and you could greatly benefit from it.
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Frank Warren's Take on Khan, Fury, Chisora's Return
By Frank Warren
THE Brits were in action on both sides of the Atlantic last weekend.
In Las Vegas on Saturday night, Amir Khan destroyed former six-time world champion Zab Judah in five rounds to unify the WBA and IBF world light-welterweight titles.
Fact is, though, Judah didn't want to know, he couldn't deal with the fast hands of Khan and to me he didn't fancy the job.
He looked like he didn't even want to be there, despite boasting earlier in the week that 'The new Judah is a monster who is 150 per cent prepared for Khan'.
The American, to say the least, was disappointing - CompuBox recorded him only landing 20 punches in the fight.
His performance mirrored that of Shane Mosley when he faced Manny Pacquiao, just content on copping his dough and surviving.
Khan, at 24, was too young, ambitious and fast for the 33-year-old. And in the fifth round, when Judah complained of a non-existent low blow from Khan, he was looking for a way out.
It was a good win for Khan, who looked in great shape, and sets him up for a big fight on December 10 which is likely to be against veteran Mexican Erik Morales.
Before that happens, Morales could face tough Argentinian Jorge Barrios for the WBC world light-welterweight title after his promoters Golden Boy pushed for current holder Timothy Bradley to be stripped of the title because of inactivity.
Over here at Wembley Arena, giant gypsy Tyson Fury outboxed Dereck Chisora to capture the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.
As Chisora's manager, I was very disappointed that he came into the fight a stone overweight.
Plus the inactivity caused by two fights against Wladimir Klitschko falling through may have contributed towards the loss.
But that's not to take anything away from Fury who got himself into great shape, showed plenty of skill and heart and deserved the win.
I spoke to Fury for the first time after the fight and he seems like a nice fella - he doesn't need to fall into the David Haye trap of trying to sell a fight with outrageous comments.
It looks like the Manchester traveller will next face Irishman Martin Rogan, who was at ringside.
Meanwhile, Chisora will need to get his act together quickly. He will be out again in September against a top-10 ranked opponent.
The good news for boxing was that Channel 5, who broadcast the fight live, peaked at just under 3million viewers - which is nearly double the eyeballs they normally get on a Saturday night.
I ANNOUNCED this week that James DeGale will make his return to the ring in September against Poland's Piotr Wilczewski for the European super-middleweight title.
A good win will put DeGale back in Pole position to challenge for a world title - maybe before the London Olympics.
It is pressure time for Chunky. He is a man on a mission and cannot afford to lose this one.
IT was sad to hear colourful American promoter and manager Butch Lewis died of a heart attack last Saturday.
He promoted Bernard Hopkins' early career but he was best known for the brilliant job he did on the Spinks brothers, Michael and Leon.
That was the rule but I believe the EBU have scrapped that rule fairly recently. Therefore, you can fight on the back of a loss if they feel you are a worthy challenger.Comment by joehenry83 on 07-31-2011
I am suprised to hear james degale is fighting for the european title as i thought that the european rules are that you cannot fight for their title on the back of a loss. Thats the reason why john murray…Comment by PrinceNaz88 on 07-30-2011
Yeah, I was quite surprised reading that article. He is often very bitter towards his former boxers in his articles but in this one there was no sign of that at all.Comment by edgarg on 07-30-2011
[QUOTE=The Devil;10920978]Wank Warren loses again. Chisora flopped like Farnks wifes tits when the bra comes off. Why do these Warren updates get published? No one wants to hear his biased, bitter, jealous "opinions" on boxing. I'd rather hear Don King…Comment by Freedom. on 07-30-2011
[QUOTE=The Devil;10920978]Wank Warren loses again. Chisora flopped like Farnks wifes tits when the bra comes off. Why do these Warren updates get published? No one wants to hear his biased, bitter, jealous "opinions" on boxing. I'd rather hear Don King…Post a Comment - View More User Comments (6)


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Pisgah group wants plans to fight timber harvest
The state is using the land "for profit and for commercial reasons and the land was purchased for recreation," said Laura Powell, who resigned as the history and education chairwoman of the Friends of Pisgah over the issue.
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Fargo uses social networks to fight floodwaters [google.com]
When Kevin Tobosa got word Thursday that a friend needed help building a sandbag dike, he immediately posted a status update on his Facebook page: "Heading to 2825 Lilac Lane in North Fargo — needs to be raised another 2 feet."
When city officials needed volunteers at other dikes, Tobosa suggested setting up a Facebook group. By Thursday, it had attracted more than 4,550 members and was constantly picking up new ones.


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Monroe Chapel Methodist Church Homecoming 1946
Monroe Chapel Methodist Church Homecoming on July 21, 1946
Monroe Chapel is located on Rt 68 midway between Clarion and Sligo PA in Clarion Co.
Monroe Chapel pastor, the Rev. Albert J. Renwick, is in black suit seated behind children on side walk -- seated on his left is the Rev. John Fetzer who was a member of the congregation before entering the ministry to serve Methodist churches in lower part of New York state.
Seated on ground, front row, fifth from right, trying to hide grass stained knees, is Clayton D. Harriger, who was a member of the congregation before leaving to enter the Methodist ministry in 1959 to serve Methodist churches in the New Castle PA area.
Submitted by Clayton D. Harriger, retired United Methodist pastor


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How to use the new features in DVD Studio Pro 4 and audio/video compression tools included in Final Cut Studio.
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North Stonington — Three people were injured and the southbound side of Interstate 95 was closed for nearly four hours Thursday in the wake of a multivehicle accident involving a state Department of Transportation truck.
The 2:30 p.m. crash occurred just south of Exit 93, when state police said a van driven by 63-year-old Glen Kelley of Wisconsin struck the last in a line of state DOT trucks lined up and performing pothole repairs in the center lane of three.
State DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said the DOT truck, with flashing beacons and a crash attenuation system, was struck at a high rate of speed. Nursick said the van somehow missed the barrels attached to the back of the DOT truck that are designed to minimize damage on impact.
State police said Kelley was in the left lane and struck the side of the DOT truck. The side of the van was ripped off and caused serious injuries to the two passengers inside. Another vehicle traveling in the left lane struck the van after it hit the DOT truck.
Life Star landed on the highway shortly after 3 p.m. following what emergency officials described as a prolonged extrication of one of the passengers.
Evette Arias, 53, of Pawtucket, R.I., one of the passengers in Kelley's van, was flown by Life Star to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries. Kelley and a second passenger, Lydia Diaz, 37, of Pawtucket, were taken by North Stonington Ambulance to The Westerly Hospital.
The driver of the vehicle that hit the van after the crash and the driver of the DOT truck, Frank Sierpinski of Ledyard, were not injured.
I-95 South reopened shortly before 6:30 p.m. Traffic at one point had backed up into Rhode Island.
The crash remains under investigation.
State police: New London woman slept, ate, showered in strangers' home
New London man, subject of 2014 manhunt, charged in Westbrook
Third fire this year at former Salem pheasant farm draws investigators
City councilors, union leaders urge regulators to take their time on L+M-Yale New Haven decision
Police chief wants to make Groton a 'law enforcement destination'
Tribe building casino in Massachusetts applauds Justice Department decision
Waterford soldier's remains come home after more than 60 years


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AppNexus Packages Makes Deals Even Easier
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(800) 866-1690
Calling all zombie fans! The apocalypse is here, and the only escape is on the rails. Zombies and trains! What could go wrong?
This October, Zombie Train is back from the dead. The virus has spread, we're out of ammo, and rations are running low. Our only hope is Evacuation.
This brand new experience brings zombie fun, special effects, and theatrical interaction together for an onboard event unlike any other.
Find out more
Providing a unique venue for family entertainment and excursions, the Sacramento RiverTrain offers year-round experiences sure to animate the kid in all of us. Click below for event dates, tickets, and boarding locations.View Details
Operating the 3rd oldest rail line in North America, the Sierra DinnerTrain meanders through the countryside, seemingly unspoiled by time. A choice location for a vast and abundant film legacy, this railroad hosts year-round experiences for train-lovers of all ages. Click below for event dates, tickets, and boarding locations.View Details
Originally built as a logging railroad in 1885, the Skunk Train travels 40 miles of railroad through California's quintessential redwood forests. In its 130th year of service you are invited to experience the Skunk Train in a whole new, undead way. Click below for event dates, tickets, and boarding locations.View Details
Is this experience family friendly?
Yes, children are welcome to ride. The show is family friendly uses comedic dialogue, but there will be several scenes where creepy zombies come through the cars and some children may get scared. We trust your discretion as to whether your child is prepared for slightly spooky zombie encounters.
Is the show scary?
We have some scary zombies and there are a few surprises, however our show is family friendly and not intended to be overly scary or spooky. Our focus is to provide you with a fun & unique show.
What happens on the ride?
Zombie Train offers a fun 40-minute train ride with a colorful cast of characters as our Zombie Train crew, a theatrical show, spooky zombies, and special effects aboard a moving train.
What are the special effects?
The special effects aboard the train will involve smoke and flashing lights. If you have any health concerns with these effects we ask that you inform our staff during the reservation process, we can seat you away from the effects with advance notice. Please add a note to your online booking, or call our office at 800.866.1690 to request special seating.
Will there be hordes of zombies?
No. Train safety regulations limit the number of zombies on our trips. While there will be zombies onboard the train at times, most will be seen safely off the train in set performance pieces. We have a great cast, who are a mix of character driven survivors and zombies, and we think you'll have a bunch of fun with them!


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Bee's don't let the pesticides kill them !
Over a year ago
Subject: Tell the EPA: Immediately suspend the pesticide that's killing bees!
Dear Friend,
A blockbuster study released this week by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has for the first time labeled the pesticide clothianidin as an "unacceptable" danger to bees.
Scientists have long thought that clothianidin is at least partially to blame for the alarming rate that bees have been dying off in the U.S. – nearly 30% of our bee population, per year, has been lost to so-called colony collapse since 2006.
But the EPA has repeatedly ignored scientists' warnings and Americans' urgings to ban its use, citing lack of evidence.
Now, the EFSA study could be a major breakthrough to convince the EPA to take emergency action, and suspend the use of clothianidin to stop the precipitous decline in global honeybee populations.
I just signed a petition urging the EPA to take action. add you name here to speak out for the bees:
Help them.


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I have searched for the answers already, but I am still lost. I went to bluehost and to the wordpress link to see my domains, but I didn't see wp-content anywhere. I am trying to edit a current theme to my liking, but it warned me with this:
'If you need to make changes to this theme, create a new stylesheet in the wp-content folder then go to the 'WordPress Admin > Settings > Adventure Journal' and add your new stylesheet under the 'Custom Stylesheet' section. This will prevent your changes from being overwritten when new versions of this theme is released'


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I'm a bit jaded about continuing to play the draft for a game-breaking WR. Third rounders that never pan out, first rounders that never sign... etc. I'd much rather focus our great draft picks on filling other needs and possibly securing a franchise QB.
With that said, is our passing attack fine as is? Are Vernon Davis, Josh Morgan, and some sure-handed veterans enough to supplement our RB-centered offense?
If not, is it time (by time I mean next offseason) the 49ers start throwing high round picks around when names like Anquan Boldin and Braylon Edwards go on the trading block?


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Italy Honors Program
GHC Study Abroad in Montepulciano, Italy
How would you like to spend a month in Italy? And how would you like to take summer courses for credit during your stay? Kennesaw State University (KSU) has a consortium of summer classes in Montepulciano, Italy. Montepulciano is a beautiful hill town in Tuscany overlooking vineyards and olive groves. It is about 115 miles north of Rome and 80 miles south of Florence. Students who participate in the Montepulciano program live in apartments in the town and take two summer classes (six hours of credit) at classrooms in the town's newly renovated medieval fortress (La Fortezza). Students choose from a range of courses, with morning and afternoon sessions. Classes also take field trips to places such as Rome, Florence and Siena, with free time for students to travel on their own in Italy from Friday-Sunday.
Georgia Highlands College will send a group of students (3.0 minimum GPA) to Montepulciano for the second summer session (June 23-July 24). Dr. Jon Hershey, who is a professor of English and Dean of the Division of Humanities, will accompany this group of GHC students to Montepulicano and will teach classes there. For more information on KSU's second session of the Montepulciano program, please see the following link:
The cost of the Montepulciano program is $4,750. Students will need to submit an application and pay a $300 deposit by March 1, 2016. The cost of the trip includes round trip airfare, ground transportation, group excursions, lodging and some meals. It does not include all meals, tuition or weekend trips students take on their own. Students can use financial aid to pay for classes and in some cases the cost of the trip itself. Classes at the Montepulciano program are run through KSU, but course equivalences have been established to transfer course credit back to GHC. The college has scholarships available for the Montepulciano program. Students may also apply for the Gilman International Scholarship, a very generous federal scholarship. More information about the Gilman Scholarship can be found here:
If you would like more information, or would like to apply for the Montepulciano program, please contact one of the following individuals:
Dr. Bronson Long, Director of Study Abroad and Global Initiatives, Georgia Highlands College, email@example.com
Ms. Teresa Hutchins, Director of the Honors Program, Georgia Highlands College,firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr. Jayme Feagin, Director of the Honors Program, Georgia Highlands College, firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr. Jon Hershey, Professor of English and Dean of Humanities, Georgia Highlands College, email@example.com
Dr. Todd Harper, Associate Professor of English, Co-Director of the Montepulciano Program, Kennesaw State University, firstname.lastname@example.com


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- Report: #969374
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: Mike Nguyen Photography Studio
Mike Nguyen Photography StudioInternet United States of America
Mike Nguyen Photography Studio Foto Mike Nguyen RIPS OFF HIS CREW TREATS THEM WITH NO RESPECT ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR Internet, Internet
*General Comment: False Propaganda/Slandering/Wrongful Allegations
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He is on modelmayhem, thats where i first met him:
He NEVER pays anyone! No matter what!! He uses hair stylsits, make-up artists, wardrobe stylists, assistants, and NEVER PAYS ANYTHING ! Free Slave Labor!!
Even though we are working for Mike for free, we get no respect. Just always made to feel so low and unworthy.
He always claims NO TRADE SHOOTS, NO TFP, NO TFCD, etc. etc.. so that means he is hired to shoot because he states he does not shoot for free, he only accepts paid work. But he won't pay his crew a dime! Expects the world from us, but can't even pay us. Is that even legal?
If you want to be mistreated, abused, treated like a slave working long hours for no pay, then work for Mike Nguyen Photography.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/14/2012 07:22 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Mike-Nguyen-Photography-Studio/internet/Mike-Nguyen-Photography-Studio-Foto-Mike-Nguyen-RIPS-OFF-HIS-CREW-TREATS-THEM-WITH-NO-RESP-969374. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report.
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#1 General Comment
False Propaganda/Slandering/Wrongful Allegations
AUTHOR: kstu - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, November 17, 2012POSTED: Saturday, November 17, 2012
The allegations of him doing no TFP, No trade, etc. and only accepting paid work are misconstrued and misinterpreted. He does pay his team when it is a client, who pays him and everyone who is involved. When he is shooting an editorial it is all free, even he is not being paid. Everyone is putting their time in to create beautiful and captivating work.
I have always been paid when he has a client. If you were wrongfully treated by so said abuser, why did you not speak up instead of reverting to this method? I do not believe you have worked with him nor ever met him due to the false propaganda you are spreading about him. Nor has he ever worked with a male industry worker from Arizona, which is stated at the bottom of this false report.
Everyone in the fashion industry knows that working long hours are the norm. And all creative work is free and no one gains any profit from editorial work unless you are shooting for high end fashion magazines like American Vogue. Please cease and desist
these false allegations you are wrongfully accusing an innocent person.
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?
Advertisers above have met our
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Other Customers Might Need Hazard Pay
(I'm looking for a cheap pair of runners for bike riding in a well known, high street supermarket. I'm wearing a hoodie that looks similar to the fleece jackets worn by staff. A man, large and burly, comes up to me.)
Man: "Hey, you! How much are these jeans?"
(I realise he thinks I work here.)
Me: "Sorry, friend, I don't work here. Wouldn't know."
(I expect that to be the end of it.)
Man: "That's not what I f***** asked, pal."
(I left quite quickly.)


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We all love our fishes and we want the best for them. Browse through our category, compare prices and check out the other Ciao member`s opinion. Here you can find everything what you need: aquarium and tanks, aquarium decorations, fish foods and advices or tips. We also would like to recommend you our related topic,
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Hot shots: Dallas Morning News photographers' favorite photos of 2013
Photo: Sonya Hebert-Schwartz/Staff Photographer
A firefighter bows his head after fighting a six-alarm fire that took the life of a fellow firefighter and destroyed at least 24 units at the Hearthwood North Condominiums in northeast Dallas. Two other firefighters were injured in the overnight blaze.
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Definition of arbour in English:
(US arbor)
A shady garden alcove with the sides and roof formed by trees or climbing plants trained over a framework.
Example sentences
- We have a scented country garden and pond, water features, gravel gardens, arbours, pergolas, a summerhouse, many rare and unusual perennials, and 120 clematis.
- They have planted a formal, yew encircled rose garden, with blue-painted pergolas and arbours, and have recently planted a gravel garden beside the sea road, with grasses, Verbena bonariensis, cistus, eryngiums and grasses.
- The most popular garden structures, not counting the ubiquitous shed, include trellises, arbours and pergolas.
bower, alcove, grotto, recess, pergola, gazebo, summer house;
shady place, shelter, hideaway, retreat, sanctuary
- Example sentences
- The people who buy these plots of land will have no sea view and no arboured lane to drive beneath.
- This part of the garden is an area framed by a square yew-hedge with arboured entrances at the cardinal points.
- There is an arbored back porch the entire width of the home for enjoying your morning coffee or evening sunsets.
Middle English (also denoting a lawn or flower bed): from Old French erbier, from erbe 'grass, herb', from Latin herba. The phonetic change to ar- (common in words having er- before a consonant) was assisted by association with Latin arbor 'tree'.
Words that rhyme with arbourAnnaba, arbor, barber, Barbour, harbour (US harbor), indaba, Kaaba, Lualaba, Pearl Harbor, Saba, Sabah, Shaba
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: ar¦bour
Definition of arbour in:
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= trending


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Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Two accidents caused major traffic delays on I-20 near the state line Sunday afternoon.
We are told the first accident happened eastbound around noon when a woman in an SUV hydroplaned.
It caused her car to turn horizontally across both eastbound lanes.
There were no reports of major injuries, however, traffic was slow moving as crews cleaned up.


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I've been using this theme with its "flat skin" in single column mode (check vicuna website to learn more).
This is my favourite vicuna configuration but there's a huge bug: if you browse from for instance "categories" it behaves as the original double column mode, resulting in a messy layout.
Please check the code:
- Vicuna theme is available here
- Vicuna's flat skin is available here
Many thanks in advance for your help.