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Located in Downtown Victoria, Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour is next to Miniature World and Victoria Conference Centre. This 236-room, 4-star hotel has an indoor pool along with free in-room WiFi and a fitness center. Centrally located in Vancouver Coast and Mountains, the hotel is also a short walk from British Columbia Parliament Building and St. Ann's Academy.
Explore the hotel and meet new friends over drinks at the bar/lounge, or enjoy a bite to eat at the onsite restaurant. Savor a meal from the privacy of your room with 24-hour room service, or get a pick-me-up at the coffee shop/café. Start your day off with buffet breakfast, available for a fee.
All 236 air-conditioned rooms provide refrigerators, coffee makers, and free newspapers. Guests can expect flat-screen TVs with cable channels, along with free WiFi and wired Internet. Bathrooms offer hair dryers and designer toiletries, and beds sport premium bedding. Safes, phones, and ironing boards are also standard.
Property features
At Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour, guests enjoy an indoor pool, a fitness center, and a spa tub. Valet parking is available for CAD 20 per day. Front-desk staff can answer questions 24/7, and assist with dry cleaning/laundry, concierge services, and luggage storage. Additional amenities include a sauna, free WiFi in public areas, and a meeting room.
- Walking distance to British Columbia Parliament Building
- Free WiFi in rooms and public areas
- Onsite dining
- Indoor pool
Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour728 Humboldt St Victoria BC V8W3Z5
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
This 16-story Marriott sits at the heart of downtown Victoria, just two blocks from the Inner Harbour, the shops on Government St, and spacious Beacon Hill Park. The on-site restaurant specializes in steak and seafood dishes with fresh local ingredients; an adjacent lounge offers relaxing fireside drinks and meals.
The hotel offers an indoor swimming pool, spa tub, and sauna, as well as a fitness center with cardio equipment and free weights.
Complimentary wireless Internet access is available in public areas; an on-site business center contains a computer with high-speed Internet, as well as a printer/fax/copier. The hotel also has 464 square meters (5,000 square feet) of meeting and event space.
Both valet and self-parking are available in a secure underground garage.
- 24-hour front desk
- Babysitting or childcare
- Bar/lounge
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Business center
- Coffee shop or café
- Concierge services
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Fireplace in lobby
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Elevator/lift
- Fitness facilities
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Free WiFi
- One meeting room
- ATM/banking
- Luggage storage
- Laundry facilities
- Number of floors - 16
- Total number of rooms - 236
- Restaurant
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Snack bar/deli
- Sauna
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Indoor pool
- Wedding services
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Smoke-free property
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Indoor pool
- Free Wi-Fi
- Snack bar/deli
- Laundry facilities
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Babysitting or childcare
- Refrigerator
- Microwave (on request)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour offers 236 air-conditioned accommodations with safes and complimentary newspapers. Beds feature premium bedding. Flat-screen televisions come with premium cable channels. Refrigerators and coffee/tea makers are provided. Bathrooms include shower/tub combinations, designer toiletries, and hair dryers.
This Vancouver Coast and Mountains hotel provides complimentary wired and wireless high-speed Internet access. Business-friendly amenities include desks and phones. Additionally, rooms include irons/ironing boards and blackout drapes/curtains. Microwaves, in-room massages, and hypo-allergenic bedding can be requested. Housekeeping is provided daily.
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Cable TV service
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free newspaper
- Designer toiletries
- Desk
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- In-room safe
- Iron/ironing board
- In-room massage available
- Flat-panel TV
- Microwave (on request)
- Premium bedding
- Premium TV channels
- Refrigerator
- Shower/tub combination
- Room service (24 hours)
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
Where to Eat
Fire & Water Fish and Chop House - Lobby-level restaurant featuring fine steaks and Pacific Northwest cuisine, including fresh seafood and local ingredients. Heated patio for outdoor dining, weather permitting. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Fire & Water Lounge - Casual lounge with fireplace, located next to main restaurant. Bar service, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Nearby Things to Do
Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour has an indoor swimming pool, spa tub, and sauna, with towels provided. An adjacent fitness center offers stair machines, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, and free weights.
The recreational activities listed below are available on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Windsurfing nearby
- Kayaking nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Scuba diving nearby
- Scooter/moped rentals nearby
- Bicycle rentals nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
To make special requests for accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of CAD 50 per stay
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Optional extras
- Fee for buffet breakfast: CAD 21 per person (approximately)
- Self parking fee: CAD 16 per day
- Valet parking fee: CAD 20 per day
- Pet fee: CAD 50 per stay
Hotel Name
- Marriott Inner Harbour
- Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel
- Marriott Inner Harbour Victoria
- Marriott Victoria
- Marriott Victoria Harbour
- Marriott Victoria Inner Harbour
- Victoria Inner Harbour Marriott
- Victoria Marriott
- Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour
- Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel
- Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour Hotel Victoria


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A Slidell man accused of pulling off three armed robberies in about a half-hour in East Jefferson while out with his son and a nephew last year pleaded guilty to the crimes Tuesday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Edgar Olivieri, 37, averted his trial this week and admitted he used a pistol to rob three people on Aug. 7, 2009 and Aug. 8, 2009. He, his son, Steven Olivieri, 20; his nephew, Justin Olivieri, 19; and their friend Richard Faciane, 22, all of Slidell, were out drinking and ran out of money when Edgar Olivieri decided to rob the first victim, authorities said.
At 11:35 p.m., on Aug. 7, while they were driving, Olivieri saw a man standing beside a residence on Lake Avenue at West Esplanade Avenue. He got out of the vehicle's passenger seat, approached that man with a pistol and robbed him of his wallet, Assistant District Attorney Vince Paciera said during the plea hearing.
About 19 minutes later, Olivieri robbed a woman of her purse at gunpoint in the 4300 block of Lucerne Street in Metairie, and nine minutes after that, at 12:02 a.m., he robbed another woman of her purse in the 5400 block Craig Avenue in Kenner, Paciera said in summarizing the evidence he would have presented at the trial.
In each case, Paciera said Olivieri got out of the vehicle's front passenger seat and approached the victims as they stood outside. Standing beside his attorney, Carl Perkins of Covington, Olivieri agreed with Paciera's summary. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted his guilty plea to three counts of armed robbery. She sentenced him to 30 years on each count and ran them concurrently. Armed robbery carries a maximum sentence of 99 years in prison upon conviction.
For their parts in the crimes, Steven Olivieri, Justin Olivieri and Faciane pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and each was sentenced to 8 years in prison, records show. They initially were charged with armed robbery and were to testify against Edgar Olivieri this week had the case gone to trial, records show.
The three younger men already are serving prison time in connection with their convictions for a string of vehicle burglaries in the Slidell area last year. A St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman said in September when the trio was arrested they stole goods valued at about $10,000 from vehicles in subdivisions and at boat launches.
Paul Purpura can be reached at 504.826.3791 or firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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HCAOA Webinar: $25 for Members $50 for Non-Members
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Update 2: Riot's investigations into potential cheating continue. Today, Riot RedBeard issued the following statement:
"Also, while I'm here – I wanted to clarify the original post. We're investigating all instances of reported minimap looking, and reviewing all available footage. This includes the level 1 ping in the Frost/TSM game many of you have pointed out. We'll have a ruling based on the results of that investigation."
Update: Riot has written a response to the technical issues that resulted in most Day 3 games being postponed, as well as the accusationss that certain teams cheated: here.
Riot's VP of eSports says they are currently reviewing two specific games where mini-map viewing could have potentially affected gameplay. These games include the TSM/Azubu first match, the game which was paused and remade due to a communication issue for Azubu and because both Reginald and Chaox "had concerns about screen looking," and one of the final World Elite vs. CLG.EU games that was ultimately canceled, where a World Elite player turned his head towards the screen after the crowd went wild due to CLG.EU killing a ward (had to be there).
It appears that Riot has concluded, at least in the instance of the TSM/Azubu game, that screen looking only potentially occurred during the game that was reset. At the time, Riot claims they issued "blanket warnings" to both teams and since no further instance were witnessed, the issue seems to have been closed. The WE/CLG.eu game, however, is still under investigation.
Riot RedBeard made the following statement in regards to the entire "screen looking" situation:
"In hindsight, the potential visibility of minimap screens for players was a mistake. Despite on-site referees, close monitoring of player cams backstage, and stage design that ensured players would have to turn more than 90 degrees to be able to catch a glimpse of the minimaps, even the possibility of unfair play was simply unacceptable. We're taking steps to ensure the minimap screens are not visible to players.
We are re-examining photos, videos and renders of the stage layout to definitively understand sight lines between the players on-stage and the minimaps overhead. We're taking it a step further moving forward to completely ensure the screens aren't visible to players.
Forward-facing camera angles can be misleading and we want to make sure everyone has the full picture before drawing any conclusions. This is something that we believe requires a comprehensive investigation but we absolutely understand why it's cause for alarm."
Evidence of cheating during the League of Legends World Championship has begun to appear online. A player from TSM, Reginald, "clarified" comments he made earlier in which he accused opponent Azubu Frost of checking screens above the booths mid-game. The greater online community has since begun searching through recordings of studio footage to discover that many teams appear to have looked at the mini-maps shown above the booths. How dramatic the results of said actions were in-game is unclear, but the mounting evidence is difficult to ignore.
"To us, it felt like cheating, and to us it felt like the world has ended," is how Reginald characterized his team's feelings over the matter. Despite that, he requests that fans accept the results and the tournament go forward:
"I just don't think people should make a really big deal out of this, because most of the events have been like this, where the screens have been behind the players so there has always been a chance of cheating. Just not the mini-maps."
The greater League of Legends community's reaction to Reginald's comments has not been quiet acceptance, rather, the community has begun searching recordings of footage for evidence of Reginald's claims. Perhaps the clearest example of cheating was found by Reddit user BenevolentSun, who posted two screen captures: the first showing what appears to be an Azubu Frost player looking a the above-booth mini-map; the second showing an in-game "ping" on the exact location of TSM in an area where Azubu would otherwise have had no vision.
Unfortunately, further evidence has shown up showing players looking at the mini-map in other games, as well. There are pictures of a World Elite player looking at the mini-map during the middle of their match against CLG. There's even footage of Dyrus, a TSM player, looking at the map during a pause in gameplay against Azubu Frost. It's fair to wonder if a single game during the World Championship went by without a player using the above-booth mini-maps for an advantage.
Riot does have access to recording of all games, including the communications between teams using their microphones. In fact, a Riot employee, eSports coordinator RiotTiza, responded on the official League of Legends forums in regards to the WE vs. CLG.EU game:
"As the lead referee for this event, let me respond.
We keep a constant watch on all the players on stage at all times. We have cameras as well as live people walking onto stage to keep tabs in everything. All players are told that they need to remain sitting, facing forward, and with headphones on at all times, including during pauses. I can personally confirm that no WE player looked at the minimap at any point during the match.
Players make eye contact on stage fairly regularly. Team WE in particular talked directly to each other a good amount. A single, limited camera view with a field of a few feet is not enough to determine where a someone is looking on a cross-stage scale. We directly monitor players to assure this is not the case, and maintained due diligence at all times over the course of the event.
Say what you like about WE's gameplay, but they did not jeopardize their chances of staying in the tournament by looking at the minimap (EDIT for clarity- because they didn't look at the minimap. If they had looked at the minimap, it would have jeopardized their standing in the tournament. I am not, in any way, condoning any player who gains an unfair advantage from any means)."
Obviously, it's near impossible to determine how much of an impact (if at all) looking at these above-booth screens had directly on gameplay, or whether each game's outcome was otherwise affected.
Due to technical issues at the venue, the World Championship's semi-finals have been delayed into the coming week -- at a different venue. As such, the circumstances that led to these accusations of cheating are unlikely to occur again. Whether Riot will review the footage and audio or potentially replay certain games is unclear at this point. Even disqualification could be considered at this point.
Reginald, after Team Solomid's 0-2 loss to team Azubu Frost, announced he was retiring from competitive League of Legends.


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I tested the website using the default browser of a smartphone and I realized that it is needed to improve the theme to make the content easier to read on mobile devices. If you think such a task is easy, you're way outline! From a quick web search I noticed that there are many things to take into consideration before making any changes. I'm currently gathering information that will help me decide what would be the best way to serve two versions of the content, one suitable for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and one of PCs (desktops, laptops). If you've gone through this procedure and care to provide some insight, feel free.
Update: A mobile friendly version of the current theme has been scheduled and will be applied to the web site soon. Stay tuned.
Mobile version of G-Loaded by George Notaras is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Licensing Information.
Copyright © 2012 - Some Rights Reserved


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Restaurant Orangerie Zurich
Oasis of good taste
You also enjoy with your eyes - and mostly you look at more things than just your plate. Therefore we have created an exclusive and personal atmosphere in our Restaurant Orangerie where you can feel comfortable whether it's in summer- or wintertime.
|Because whenever you visit our Restaurant you dine in the "green". Whether for a business lunch, festive "tete-a-tete" dinner, private celebration or business feast - our personal oasis provides the perfect conditions for all events. All connaisseurs of good taste will enjoy the unique atmosphere we provide.
Collect point on your lunches or dinner and get free meals.
Wine List


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RNC patrol car
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has released a video to the public as part of its investigation into a recent fire at a school in the west end of St. John's.
According to an RNC news release, police were called to a fire at Hazelwood Elementary School on Topsail Road during the early morning hours of July 6. The building sustained moderate damage.
Police believe the fire is suspicious in nature, though its cause is still under investigation. No injuries were reported during the fire.
In a video posted by the RNC on YouTube, two young men can be seen walking around the school shortly before 5 a.m. — authorities were called to the school at 5:30 a.m. A young man in a white hoodie can be seen throwing an object at what appears to be a window.
The other male, wearing a blue shirt with a backwards hat and a black backpack, joins him and begins hitting the same area where the male in the hoodie threw his object.
The first male is shown climbing into the building. He later opens a door to let the other male inside the school. They are then shown walking around the school. A time stamp on the video appears to indicate both males left the area at approximately 5:10 a.m.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary at 729-8000 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Anonymous tips can be provided online at www.nlcrimestoppers.com.


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Fremont, CA – April 7, 2010 – Antec, Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, is proud to announce its online auction to benefit Haitian relief. Two one-of-a-kind modded gaming chassis will be up for auction from April 7 until April 15: The "BULLET", a modified Antec Six Hundred and the "STARFIRE" based on the best-selling Antec Nine Hundred Two.
Copyright 2016 © Godem Online Inc. | Web and server solutions by NewTech Solutions.


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As a hepatologist in Phoenix, Dr. Manch cares for the liver and related structures, including the gall bladder, pancreas, and bile ducts.
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During its June 27 meeting, Avon City Council passed the final three resolutions and three ordinances related to the interchange project. The legislation declared the necessity to improve the city by building the interchange and conducting sanitary sewer and water line work in the area.
The bonds to fund the $27 million project were sold last week and the city will pay a .78 interest rate, which is lower than expected. The money will be in an ODOT escrow account on time, allowing the project to officially begin.
Council held off until this week to pass final legislation because Richard E. Jacobs Group, LLC had not yet submitted a petition to receive a special assessment for financing their one-third share of the project.
"We had to have the method and means of payment set before we could proceed," said Law Director John Gasior.
Bids will soon be awarded for work on the new Nagel Road exit.
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency conducted an economic impact study on the project in 2007 from March to December. The purpose of the study was to analyze Avon's claim that the interchange would spur economic development which could spill over into other regions. NOACA director of programs Jonathan Giblin said that board approved the project after tax sharing conditions with Cuyahoga County and Avon were agreed upon.
Plans to assess Avon land owners for one-third of the cost of the project drew controversy until tax increment financing revenue proved to be strong enough for the city to cover any cost to residents.
Construction continues on the Cleveland Clinic's $97 million family medical center that has plans to open by the end of the year, in anticipation of the interchange opening by the spring of 2013.


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This deal has ended.
These Bryan Keith Florence 9pc Comforter Sets in King or Cal King drop from $350 to $179.99 at Macys.com. Use code ELECT and they fall to $152.99. Plus, shipping is free. The sets include a comforter, a bedskirt, two pillow shams, two European shams, and three decorative pillows. This is also offered in Twin, Full, or Queen for $127.49 with the code. Note: there is a $3.25 shipping surcharge per comforter set. Sales tax is charged in most states.No longer available


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very excited this is coming to Toronto (and not somewhere in Suburbia)
Ripley's releases more details about Toronto Aquarium
The official groundbreaking for Toronto's new aquarium took place earlier today, which means there are finally some more details to share about the project that's already under construction at the base of the CN Tower. Expected to be finished in 2013, the $130-million attraction will receive funding from all three levels of government, including $11-million from the province of Ontario and between $8- to $12 million from the City of Toronto in the form of property tax incentives over a 12-year period. The Canada Lands company, who owns the land on which the aquarium is being built, will also kick in "more than $10 million to redevelop the John Street corridor that includes new signage and improved access which will increase and enhance the flow of pedestrian traffic from Front Street," according to a press release issued today.
Among the aquarium's many features, it'll include a 96-metre-long moving walkway through a see-through tunnel that runs below the so-called shark lagoon, which will be inhabited by sand tiger sharks but no great whites (sorry Jaws fans). Although it won't start out fully stocked, the 5.7 million litre attraction will be able to accommodate 13,500 sea creatures, or about 450 total species. Ripley's also plans to implement breeding and conservation programs for endangered species, which will include a tag and track program for sand tiger sharks.
So what you do think? Will this become a premier destination?
Highlights from today's announcement (from press release)
- The Aquarium will be one of the largest in North America, with a capacity of 5.7-million litres (1.5-million gallons)
- The main exhibition space will include a tropical reef tank, along with Great Lakes exhibits and Atlantic and Pacific habitats
- It will also feature aquatic life-support systems with special recovery basins that reclaim, clean and re-use water;
- Marine and freshwater science education and conservation programs designed to build understanding of the aquatic world
- Trained educators throughout the facility to answer questions and point out special areas of interest
- Aquarium construction is projected to create more than 600 jobs, generating an immediate economic impact of more than $50 million, $35 million of which will be labour income. In addition, during the two-year construction timeline the project is forecasted to generate more than $25 million in taxes for all three levels of government;
- When operational, the Aquarium will generate 300 to 350 jobs and have a projected annual economic impact of more than $35 million on GDP;
- During the first 20 years of operation, the Aquarium is expected to generate more than $220 million in tax revenues for all three levels of government.
- The Aquarium will be open 365-days-a-year, starting in the summer of 2013
More renderings
Main Lobby:
Shark Lagoon and tunnel:
Tropical Reef:
Exterior view on Bremner side:
179 Comments
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very excited this is coming to Toronto (and not somewhere in Suburbia)
I finally know now what that construction site is all about. Hope it's gonna be done soon, about 5min walk from my home!
Ripley's graphic designers need to attend a diversity workshop.
I don't think the rendering artist meant any harm.
p.s. BlogTO: lighten up :)
-Rob Ford
As for the aquarium - I have problems with the captivity of animals like this - but, I am glad to see something at the base of the CN tower. Last time I was there it was really depressing - embarrasing for the city really - such a waste of a great location.
My thoughts exactly. It's bad right now, especially when Jays' games let out.
@Cliffs The skywalk exit south is cut off presently. You have to wind down a dangerous maze of yellow construction taped stairs via doors on the side of the walkway. It basically looks like a bomb was dropped in front of the CN Tower south and east of Rogers Centre (near Gate 6) and a fence was erected around it with blue aquarium advertising on it.
On the other hand, Ripley's Aquarium Canada? CANADA?! Yes, of course the T-Dot is in Canada, but I would like to think the City can stand up in its own right. How's about Ripley's Aquarium Toronto? The one in Tennessee is called "Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies." That's a great name - I wish ours were called that instead.
I would imagine that something like this would help teach a very large amount of people about marine life and perhaps take more of an interest in conservation. I've certainly been to other aquariums where they hand out pamphlets about which sea food species to avoid eating as they are being over-fished to the verge of extinction.
This isn't Marine Land, where the animals have to do tricks for the public's amusement, but an aquarium where they generally have a heavy education side to them.
Are they going to choose a lucky tourist from the crowd to put their head under water and get kissed by a shark?
The good news is Montreal almost sucks as bad as us, but not quite. Hooray!! We win!
So I'm certainly pro-aquarium. I'm just not necessarily pro-Ripley Aquarium. This thing will be mucho expensive ($35 min) and have none of the educational mission of the ROM or Zoo or Science Center. It is a pale, very commercial knock-off of a first-class non-profit aquarium like the Georgia Aquarium or Vancouver Aquarium or the Shedd. And while I love the downtown location vs something subruban, the base of the CN Tower is a bit tourist-trappish.
I just don't know -- an aquarium is better than no aquarium, but I don't want to see the city made to look bad. The main Toronto draw for most distant tourists remains Niagara Falls -- but do we really want to bring Clifton Street into the core?
Its just not a touristy place; not location-wise, and not history-wise. We don't have the grand buildings built on the back on colonialism, we don't have mountains, we don't have a lot of things.
what we do have is a pretty nice city, and a cool place to live. People that move here from out of town/province/country seem to like Toronto a lot, you just need to actually be here for a while to find out what is so great about it.
Vancouver may have mountains, Montreal may have whatever the hell it has, but neither of them are as bustling and teeming with life as Toronto. And if some dickhead from Croydon would rather go to Cleveland, let him. I'm sure he'll have a great time.
And this time we are going to screw with the much abused coral reefs and the not really understood marine life, for our entertainment/?/!!! (Remember the cod, folks?)
@ iSkyscraper - London and New York are also far bigger than what Toronto is, why would they want to visit when their home towns offer pretty much everything Toronto offers. That's like being surprised when people in Toronto doesn't desire to visit Ottawa.
Plants aren't meant to live in Green houses either!!
Check out Monkey World - they do amazing work saving monkeys from tourist attractions and the poor treatment that is standard.
I guess fish don't sleep.
Despite its size, Toronto has very little appeal outside the immediate 4-hr-drive region. I'm not sure a chintzy commercial aquarium will help with that problem.
Imagine the CN Tower getting a $27.25-million makeover like the statue of liberty is about to get. You'd freak over that too!!
It was an off-the-cuff observation and a joke. Next time I'll add one of these - [/funny] - for those with broken humour metres. Seriously, who would make that comment sincerely about graphic renderings?
In conclusion, I will not be including these renderings in my dissertation on post-colonial representation and aquatic amusement attractions.
So it might be ok to have the aquarium in a tourist-heavy zone. But it's still the whole Ripley thing that bothers me. Why couldn't Ontario Place used an aquarium as their new centerpiece to renew their fading park, which has easy transit and road access? They are on the water, government owned -- it would have been a superior solution. Too bad cheapo Toronto opted for the private option.
I bet the only reason anyone from New York goes to Montreal is because they speak French which makes it "exotic". I can't think of any tourist attractions in Montreal that makes it so much more appealing than Toronto.
Either way, I'm not sure I why I am debating this with you because I do agree that Toronto isn't a great tourist destination compared to other cities in the world. However, I do find it to be a great place to live.
Toronto is starkly different. Ghost town after 2am. The culture here comes from the different ethnicities (diversity). I don't see this as a liberal town. It seems extremely conservative. It's not just a Ford thing, it's the vibe you get from the people.
Toronto differs from Montreal in that it has many tall buildings, and a big city feel. And it still holds keys to Canada's past - Things many Canadians remember fondly and are disappearing in the rest of Canada. Grand train stations, baseball, big fairs (CNE), symbols of greatness (CN Tower).
In all seriousness, I have no idea why Ripley's is in the aquarium business other than to package it with their other schlock, er, attractions. Some sort of combo ticket for people coming to see Niagara Falls that gets you into their museum on Clifton St, a stay at their water-park-hotel near the falls and a visit to the Toronto Aquarium on your way back to the airport. Odd business model to my thinking, can't see them lasting as an operator more than 10 yrs.
The CN Tower location gives you direct, sheltered access to the Aquarium via Union Station and the Skywalk. People can arrive at Union via TTC, GO, or even Via and get there quickly and easily.
It's also pretty cool to hear that Ripley's said No to Ford's idea to surround the place with a parking lot.
I can attest to that, and as I've said before elsewhere, Toronto is too full of uptight white people to be as effective a party & nightclub city as Montreal is. It needs to have most of the more conservative whites die off or leave for Toronto to be like Montreal.
The culture here comes from the different ethnicities (diversity).
To that that I would add 'And ONLY from the different ethnicities-who don't even live in the main parts of Toronto anymore.'
Y'all have to live in NYC for 10 years before the novelty wears off, weekend trips don't mean sh&*. You can't speak of New York so shut up and quit comparing!!!
If you go back and read my original comment, my point was not to compare Toronto and New York as tourist destinations or places to live but simply to point out as seen from here in New York, Toronto has a high business profile but is a very weak tourist draw (short travel article in the NYTimes every four years notwithstanding, agfag). I could be giving you the LA viewpoint or the Paris viewpoint but I don't live there.
So if you have a weak set of tourist attractions, and you start a project with increasing tourism as one of its express goals, my point was that the location was ok (if perhaps a missed opportunity re: fading Ontario Place) but I have very little faith in Ripley's making this something that is a true draw. The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta was only built six years ago, in a city with no waterfront, but they did it huge (world's largest, and just expanded again), incurred no debt via corporate and private donations, run it as a non-profit, stuck it downtown and pull 2 MILLION visits a year. That's how you do it right.
This argument was used to claim that black people were better off as slaves on plantations than as free men and women.
Now, in terms of ways to make sure it stays afloat, there are 2 things I think should really be included. The first is a shark-diving experience. I'm an expat Torontonian living in the ROK now, and let me tell you, one of the BEST experiences I have had here is shark diving in the Busan Aquarium http://www.scubainkorea.com/
Much like the EdgeWalk, its a seperate experience, but if you pay for it, you get access to the entire facility. The dive is done without cages (just scuba gear), and ample basic training is provided before jumping in the actual tank with the sharks. The whole experience lasts about 3 hours (depending on how many people are in the group) with about 30 minutes spent just walking in the tank with the sharks. This would REALLY help bring in the tourists.
The other thing the Busan Aquarium has (and this, I think, is just more of a money making gimmick) is a glass-bottom boat that people can take on top of the bigger tank's waters (basically, instead of looking sideways through the glass at the fish/animals, you are looking down). Again, great way to pull in a few extra bucks and help to stay open.
I'm pleased that your mind is blown, and I hope it will encourage you to think broader.
Tens of trillions? ya sure about that.... You know, there are probably tens of trillions of Steves too! Does that justify poor treatment of Steves?
I'm hardly projecting feelings, rather pointing out that this goes against the nature of ocean creatures. Regardless, I would rather someone project "feelings" of desire for freedom onto a fish, than forcibly confine it assuming it will live a better life.
Just last month a St Louis newspaper wrote a great big article about TIFF and travelling to Toronto, saying how much they enjoy the city, and how lucky people are here..
I mean wtf, right?
Sometime in 2016, after Ripley's realizes that Toronto lacks the tourist traffic to keep this going as a cheesy tourist trap, and they realize Toronto also lacks the family incomes to keep residents coming in the dead of winter in addition to all the other museums, etc. they belong to, they will indeed give up and walk away. (It's happened before. Anyone remember Olympic Spirit?) They will hand the City of Toronto the keys, who will then, in a post-Ford era of enlightenment, turn the place over to the Toronto Zoo to run as a satellite campus.
This is exactly how things work in New York where the Bronx Zoo (which is almost exactly identical to the Toronto Zoo in every way) runs the tiny but much more central and touristy Central Park Zoo along with the Coney Island Aquarium, Queens Zoo and Brooklyn Zoo. What this does is let them charge high prices because of the value argument where you get multiple zoos with your membership/ticket.
Think about it - the Aquarium taps the tourist dollars that the main Toronto Zoo is far too distant to catch, serves as a big downtown ad for the zoo, and adds value to that decision about whether to cough up $150 or so for a family membership. The juicy belt of residents that lies on the fringe of old Toronto and the boroughs is just as likely to hop on the TTC to go to the Aquarium as to hop in a car and drive to Scarborough, and you figure a couple aquarium trips and a couple zoo trips a year and you get your money's worth.
It would be, in the end, the ideal outcome for this situation. Thanks for the free aquarium Ripley's, and I look forward to it becoming the saving grace of the real nonprofit educational animal conservation society in this town.
I think they are, I understand the confusions though since they are primarily a food. We are always told not to play with food.
The article is a bit misleading.
I went to the Shedd Acq. in Chicago a few months ago. That place was huge. It has 5mil gallons of water, whereas the one here will only have 1.5mil. I don't know how that can be "one of the largest in North America"
looking forward to seeing it.
You must also remember most species will be preyed upon in nature, by keeping the predators fed in the aquarium think of it not as a prison but more like a luxury resort(If luxury resorts also had medical care)... :)
What is the torment you think these fish are going through...?
Everything humans do goes against nature... you can't change that not here not like this.
If you really think it is that bad, think of it like this... They are taking one for the team, like the soldiers that fight for us, they are fighting for the other fishes. They should be honored to live in an aquarium for the freedom of there fellow brothers and sisters. And I rather live on a island with all my needs taken care of than go to war... How about you.
I,ll see you at the aquarium so we can get more educated on them before we decide...
on the main point about aquarium!
1) dark skinned people are difficult to see in low light / dimmed light situations.
2) it is a known fact that like dogs, marine life becomes agitated by dark skinned people. Sharks become aggressive and knock themselves against the glass, which causes harm to the fish.
3) pyschologists in marine life behaviour acknowledge that marine animals are sensitive creatures. Studies indicated that rap music and hip hop was a factor for mass whale beaching / whale suicide. These intelligent mamals simply could no longer tolerate the sound of jz's voice.
Thus, it is good pr on the part of the art department to not remind the marine life or the public of this cultural genocide inflicted on the whales and dolphins.
4) the art department thought it wise to not depict cleaners, and security guards in the computer model design. Hence, people of african, indian, and srilankan race were not included.
Would you have said the same thing if you lived here before the ROM was built? What about the AGO? Or the zoo?
Aquariums provide a safe place for animals as well as a high educational value for people of all ages. Most aquariums also have rehabilitation centres for sick and injured animals that are found in the wild. The ocean is being obliterated, how can you POSSIBLY say that a place where these animals are safe from harm (mostly due to humans) is a bad thing? Beana, there's being supportive of animals, and what you're doing. You're being totally irrational. Have you actually been to a real aquarium? Marineland doesn't count. Animals that are not being rehabilitated have TONS of room. And they don't process space like we do.
Personally I can't wait for this to be built and will frequently visit.
Don't wait for the aquarium to be built, go to http://www.projectaware.org and find out what you can do right now.
When we go to the Bass Pro Shop in (wherever it is - Vaughan? near Wonderland, anyway) I park myself in front of their fish tank (freshwater, native Ontario species, HUGE) while my husband goes and does whatever it is he does in the store. An hour goes by, while I edge my way closer to the glass and glare at kids jumping on the rocks (what's with parents these days? oh wait - they're as fascinated as I am) and then once I get up there, I'm just mesmerized. It's hard to leave when the time comes.
I have a small reef tank - only 20 gallons - and it is a time-sucker between caring for the couple of dozen different corals I have, the snails, shrimp and a few brilliantly-coloured fish but I LOVE it. I take all this time to make sure the environment is as perfect as possible and I feel the loss of even a tiny fragment of any of my corals, let alone the fish. (And I have only captive-propagated species, for those ready to criticize.) Many of the people who work at large facilities are like that: the best ones are fanatics about the living creatures in their care.
Wouldn't it be great if Ken Thomson (or some other mega-billionaire) would pay for running something like this? But it's not gonna happen so we have to accept that it'll be for-profit. We can only hope it has enough attendance to keep it going. Time will tell.
There's a new aquarium opening in Rome in June this year, and we plan to visit there when we're in Italy in October. And you can bet I'll be visiting Toronto's aquarium as soon as it's open.
To the aquarium haters.....do you really think one aquarium is going to adversely affect the marine biology. Get a life. If anything it will bring awareness to it.
I'm sick of this politically correct BS which is destroying this country. People get a life.
An aquarium is badly needed and a great addition for Toronto!
*Subway lines that are running until at least 2am, doesn't close at 12 midnight
*Streetcar and bus lines that operate 24-7/365-not all, but at least a decent amount in the downtown/suburban core (only New York and Madrid have subways that operate 24-7/365-the Paris subway shuts down at 12 midnight, as does the Montreal subway and the London Underground also shuts down at 1am.)
When Montreal has that, THEN you can boast about it, and say that it's a better city than Toronto. Until then...
Stop being so emo.
Today being the opening day for the Aquarium I envy the first timers that will be attending on day one. We all have choices!!!
I for one love Toronto and all that it has to offer.Nothing is perfect in this life or for that matter on this earth!!! I was once told that if one has nothing nice or civil to say it is then best to say nothing at all. True!!! Life is Short..too short to always complain and be negative.Find love in your heart and kindness and understanding will follow...
When you find yourself frustrated,bored or even miserable,go to the new Toronto Aquarium.You may even surprise yourself and actually really enjoy the fact that you got out and went somewhere where you did indeed have a good time. Try it you,ll like it.
P.S. If and when i do go... I hope that i run into a mermaid and I,ll never come up for air or back to reality. Grow up,enjoy life before it passes you miserable people by!!! Just my opinion.Always remember to Live,Love + Laugh.
Life,s Short Live Fast...Be respectful of one another and have constant love in your heart...Blessings will then abound. Trust me...From one who knows!!!
I'm also wondering if people actually go back to see who has responded to their comments. The negative ones are hilarious.


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It started almost exactly a year ago, when Miley Cyrus, on the 2013 MTV VMA broadcast, let loose the twerk heard 'round the world. It followed her official music video for the single "We Can't Stop," which brought down an avalanche of investigations into the rhythmic hip-popping dance move, where it came from and for whom it was appropriate. (New Orleans' Big Freedia responded in September by setting a Guinness world record for mass public twerking, and more recently by posting a guide to bounce-music dance moves.)
Then there was Lily Allen's video for the clever "Hard Out Here," the giant fake butts worn by dancers on Katy Perry's "Prismatic" tour and the twerking segment of Taylor Swift's brand-new video for "Shake it Off." All of those claimed to be lampooning the cultural obsession with shaking rumps, but came under criticism for using the shaking rumps of black women to accessorize the white stars.
And finally, on Aug. 19 (the day after the release of the "Shake it Off" video) came the bootylicious video for Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda," which takes its name from Sir Mix-A-Lot's classic paean to the impressive rear end, "Baby Got Back." Basically, it seems as if we've been spending a lot of time lately talking about butts. (In a post that went up Thursday, "The Summer of Ass," Spin magazine senior critic Carl Wilson agreed.)
The history of social dancing is part and parcel of the history of popular music, so if you look at it that way, backfields in motion have always been integral to American sounds. During the early-20th century tango craze, its slinky, undulating lower-body movement scandalized lots of upstanding citizens. New partner dances that went with ragtime and early jazz, like the bunny hug and the grizzly bear, articulated grinding, wiggly hips and were considered quite daring. Shake your hip and let your backbone slip? Bend over, let me see you shake your tail feather. Free your mind and you-know-what will follow.
In this year of Miley, Nicki, T-Swift and the addition of the word "twerk" to the Oxford English Dictionary, what everyone is arguing about is not so much the butts but what the butts mean. What do we talk about when we talk about butts?
In her sharp piece for Grantland, "Nicki Minaj Reclaims the Twerk," Molly Lambert takes it all the way back to the case of Saartjie Baartman. In the early 19th century Baartman, a black woman, was sold into slavery not as a laborer but as an object of curiosity; under the name the "Hottentot Venus," her curvy body was displayed in the same way such sideshows presented exotic animals. After her death, she was dissected, and her remains continued to be displayed.
That's heavy stuff, but arguably it's at the core of why people are taking issue with the black dancers who set-dress Allen, Cyrus, Swift and Perry's performances. Although the mainstreaming of the ample bottom as something to be desired is a positive indicator of America's increasingly multiracial beauty standard, one still does not have dominion over, with apologies to Naughty By Nature, the presentation of O.P.B. (other people's butts).
The "Anaconda" video is thus far the finest spectacle produced by 2013/14, the 12 months that were ruled by the rear. It's a happy coincidence that the Young Money rapper is capping off – almost exactly a year later – what Miley Cyrus's confounding VMAs performance began with a video that manages to harness the power and agency of black female sexuality, while at the same time laughing her face off at those who fetishize it.
She sends up the exoticized concept of the mysterious black female body by opening the video in a jungle. She boasts about her sexual prowess, and slinks around showing off the perfectly round jewel at the source of it while making – and this is important - unbroken eye contact with the camera, cocking her head, giving patented Nicki Minaj crazy eyes, taunting and daring the viewer to (Oh. Ma. God, Becky) look at her butt.
The video is about Nicki and the pride she takes in her bottom, without taking it too seriously, or really seriously at all - and snickering at those who do. Except for Drake, who Nicki menaces with a lap dance while tossing glances at the camera toward the end of the video (and who, after all, is the subject of an ongoing Internet joke about his perceived lack of masculinity) the only thing remotely male in the video is a banana, which is viciously sliced to bits and tossed aside when Nicki, in apron, appears to suddenly tire of making smoothies. Ultimately, like Nicki Minaj herself, it's clever, frightening, kind of ridiculous and totally hot.
Thus, Nicki wins the year of the butt. In Anaconda's clever, defiant yet super-foxy silliness, she owns it. Yours, too.


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Jackson County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Fairview Street in the Village of Horton about 1:15 a.m. Kuhl said seven minors, ranging in age from 18 to 20 years old, were cited for possession of alcohol and the homeowner, a 20-year-old man was arrested for resisting and obstructing.
"It looks like he attempted to flee on foot," Kuhl said. "He did not get too far."
Deputies were originally called to the area for a report of a loud party, Kuhl said.


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Work under way on Mass Effect 3
Now that the dust has settled on Mass Effect 2, BioWare seem to be raring to get on with finishing the saga.
BioWare's senior technical designer has been teasing some details via her Twitter account- chiefly about something called Project Wombat.
She tweeted: "ME3 Trivia: Today I started work on 'Project Wombat' for Mass Effect 3."
Whilst she couldn't comment on what exactly Project Wombat was she did say that the name was nothing to do with what the project was.
She did however offer: "ME2 trivia: the ammo system in #masseffect2 was originally called 'Project Sasquatch'."
When we have more we'll let you know.
Latest News
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 after all
- Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third gets a release date
- Adr1ft is coming to PC and consoles at the end of the summer
- EA gives the new Mirror's Edge a name – Mirror's Edge Catalyst
- ZombiU PS4 and Xbox One port reportedly in the works
- Mike Bithell's Volume to be released this August
- Gearbox's new shooter Battleborn gets a pre-E3 trailer
- Steam Controller launches in October, Steam Machines arrive in November
- Gears Of War devs Black Tusk change their name to The Coalition ahead of E3


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WOLFVILLE – In a dominating fashion, Marion MacAulay's Bluenose rink won the Dominion curling club championship for the third-straight season on Sunday.
Skipped by MacAulay, her team includes Kerri Denny (third), Gilda Chisholm (second and Donalda Buckingham (lead).
Against Meredith Harrison in the final, the lone team that had defeated them in the double-knockout event, MacAulay stole one in the second end before Harrison was forced to one in three.
In the fourth the Bluenose rink scored three before stealing one in the fifth end and two in the sixth to win 7-1 in six ends. They will now represent the province in November at the national championship.


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HPV causes cancer. Help protect your kids.
Grading is a way of classifying extrahepatic bile duct cancer cells based on their appearance and behaviour when viewed under a microscope. To find out the grade of a tumour, the biopsy sample is examined under a microscope. A grade is given based on how the cancer cells look and behave compared with normal cells (differentiation). This can give the healthcare team an idea of how quickly the cancer may be growing and how likely it is to spread.
The grade of extrahepatic bile duct cancer is based on the degree of differentiation of cells and their rate of growth.
well differentiated or low grade – slow growing, less likely to spread
moderately well differentiated or moderate grade
poorly differentiated or high grade – tend to grow quickly, more likely to spread
Extrahepatic bile duct cancers are usually slow growing.
Grading plays an important part in planning treatment for extrahepatic bile duct cancer and can also be used to help estimate the prognosis (future outcome).
Cancerconnection.ca provides a trusted online community for cancer patients, their family and friends.


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To the editor:
The Journal is to be commended for the generous printing space it gave this week Monday to report the death of Vaclav Havel. There he is correctly described as the hero of the anti-communist revolution in Czechoslovakia. He was a prime mover of what has been called the Velvet Revolution because it was achieved by diplomacy, not by gunshot. Under the communist regime his fearless defense of human rights put him in and out of prison five times, then after the revolution his courage won him his country's first democratically elected presidency.
Unlike what seems to be a majority of our politicians in the Congress, he contended for what was right and had to be done in-behalf of his people and his country without fear of not being re-elected. He put festering problems which needed solution and correction above service to self. He did not have to face an electorate largely loathe to moderate its standard of living and tighten its belt He was among the few international officeholders of this past hundred years who possessed the wisdom and foresight of a genuine statesman.
In February, 1990, one year after the Velvet Revolution and almost twelve years before 9-11, Havel was invited to address a joint session of the US Congress. The following excerpt from his speech will let the man speak for himself:
"Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being human, and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed, whether it be ecological, social, demographic, or a general breakdown of civilization, will be unavoidable. We are still a long way from "the family of man "; in fact, we seem to be receding from the ideal rather than drawing closer to it Interests of all kinds -personal, selfish, state, national, group, and, if you like, company interests - still considerably outweigh genuinely common and global interests. We are still under the sway of the destructive and thoroughly vain belief that man is the pinnacle of creation, and not just a part of it, and that therefore everything is permitted him. We still don't know how to put morality above politics, science, and economics. We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine core of all our actions - if they are to be moral - is responsibility. Responsibility is something higher than my family, my country, my firm, my success. It is the benchmark where all our actions are independently recorded and only where they will be properly judged."
Ted Hartwig
New Ulm


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With helping others at the forefront of our minds this time of the year, it seems appropriate to talk about assists this week. As with rebounds, finding assists requires the savvy owner to look beyond the pure stats of the matter. Obviously you can't ignore them altogether, but the correlation between scoring stats and assist stats is not as clear as you might think. For instance, the top assist men in the game right now are Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul, Jrue Holliday, Russell Westbrook and Greivis Vasquez. Rondo's Celtics are 12th in the NBA in scoring, Paul's Clippers are 8th, and Holliday's 76ers are way down at 26th. Westbrook's numbers are certainly helped by the Thunder being the NBA's top scoring team, but he's the outlier of the top 5, as Vasquez's Hornets are 28th.
As with any fantasy stat, you're going to learn much more through watching games than just by pouring over stat lines and recaps. For instance, any Celtics fan who has watched even a few Rondo efforts this year can tell that the guy would much rather pass the ball than shoot it. He regularly passes up 12-foot jump shots and semi-contested layups in favor of kicking the ball out to a teammate for a much longer shot. That's a guy who wants to win the assist title, and one you want anchoring that category for your team.
Other players focus solely on the ball going through the rim. No one has ever thought that Westbrook's focus is on passing the ball. He likes to shoot (to put it mildly) and he's going to keep shooting, so the number of assists he gets will be reliant upon whether his teammates' shots are going in at a high rate. Right now, Oklahoma City is the second-best team in the league at shooting the ball. They're getting excellent shooting from Kevin Durant (will continue), Kevin Martin (probably will continue) and Serge Ibaka (he's shooting much higher than his career average; may not continue). That means that if assists are a category you're focusing on, you'll want to keep an eye on how Martin, Ibaka and the rest of the Thunder are shooting over the remainder of the season.
Finally, no assist column would be complete without mentioning the importance of guys who haven't contributed much to your totals so far this year. We've watched almost this entire season without seeing offensive geniuses like Kyrie Irving, Steve Nash and Ricky Rubio do their thing. Irving is the most interesting of the trio because he is not a pass-first guard; he is more like Derrick Rose than Rondo. If you're the owner of a team with scorers and rebounders, but you're struggling in the assist category, Irving might be a guy you trade for a more traditional point guard.
As always, you're going to need to entirely understand your team before evaluating a particular category. Rondo for Irving has been a hotly debated trade in many leagues since the latter came back from injury, but it's a pretty simple answer if you've done your homework. Points can come from anywhere. You can find points in volume from guys like Ryan Anderson, DeMar DeRozan and David West. In the NBA, if a team doesn't have a big-time shooter, someone else is going to get the buckets. But assists are a commodity. Rondo Claus and his 13 dimes a night should be reason enough to brighten even the dullest of fantasy seasons.
The Fantasy 413 NBA column appears on MassLive each Wednesday. The Republican's Fantasy Guys can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com, on Twitter @TheFantasy413 and through the comments section on MassLive.


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The conference was organised by Latvian Java User Group and Oracle at November 28th in Riga, Latvia. This was a major Baltics IT event welcoming more than 280 Java programmers from the region.
15 talks was presented by 15 speakers from Russia, Latvia, England, France, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Finland and Italy.
Photos and presentations from Java Day Riga 2013 are available now.
For any questions please contact Latvian JUG.


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Full CoverageBreaking News
4pm Update: North Union Township StandoffUPDATED 4:27 PM EDT Sep 27, 2013
WTAE Channel 4 Action News' Ashlie Hardway has the latest on the efforts of law enforcement in the North Union Township Standoff.Video Transcript
3 Good afternoon Pittsburgh I'm Wendy Bell and we have breaking news I want to dial you into right now -- Let's go live to North Uniontown Township -- Sky 4 in Position Over a police standoff on Center Avenue -- A situation that had locked down three local schools -- And this is Important news for parents -- The lockdown of the high school and two elementary schools in the Laurel Highlands school district has been lifted -- So students are being released now -- As this tense situation continues. The quick back story here --- State police -- trying to pull over a truck -- were fired upon by someone inside that vehicle -- A chase began and that truck crashed here into this home in the 200 block of center avenue. One of the suspects ran inside that house. And he is still there now -- holding police at bay... And forcing the lockdown of this Center Avenue Neighborhood. LIVE on the scene right now -- is Channel 4 Action News reporter Ashlie Hardway -- Ashlie -- you can see this 3 home -- you are that close -- Tell us what you see and what is going on. Our live coverage
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Benefit officially has Olympics fever! To celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, we created a limited edition "London 2012"-inspired that gal primer and held our own Bene-lympic Beauty Games.
america the beautiful
For the 4th of July, my family took a champagne cruise around NY Harbor. It was really cool. While admiring "Lady Liberty" from a far, I couldn't take my eyes of Lady Lana (my sis!) sitting right across from me. She was so boat-chic. "Its all about playing with brights and keeping it casually comfortable." She wore yellow stretch jeans, a tailored denim blazer to keep within the nautical theme and a chunky necklace and fedora to keep her look stylish and fun!
bring your mom to work day.
Last week, my mom came into the City. I gave her a tour of our new office & then we took a little field trip to visit Joseph at the Fillmore Street boutique. Lately, we've been chatting about how easy it is to get in ruts: clothing, exercise, recipes, and, yes, even makeup. So, I figured it was by far time for her to visit Benefit (and subsequently be subject of a blog post). Here are some pics from my mom's visit to my work...also some great tips from Joseph for makeup when you're not 17.
Holiday already?
It just dawned on me that the holidays are here! This is my absolute favorite time of year. You have holiday parties and family events galore… but sometimes there is just never enough time in the day. When are you supposed to get ready for […]
what's the POREfessional?
What's the POREfessional? Some people call it a "pro balm" -- I call it the "primer phenomenon." Meet the POREfessional, our latest complexion primer to instantly help minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines that makes your skin look and feel silky smooth! Since Benefit fans know that we have a few different solutions for complexion needs, here is a chart that breaks down the differences between the POREfessional and some of our other complexion perfecting products...
maid of makeup
Here are our personal favorite makeup tips for special events, just in time for those holiday (or engagement!) parties...


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Posted 12.17.12
In this clip from 2011, Jake Adam York reads from "Collect," which appears in his third poetry collection, Persons Unknown, published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2010. York, who was the editor of Copper Nickle as well as a contributing editor of Shenandoah, passed away on Sunday. He was forty years old.
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Cheryl Cole pays tribute to 'delicate' Queen on Twitter after Royal Variety Performance
Girls Aloud introduced to Her Majesty as they impress at another live showcase
Posted: Tuesday 20 Nov 2012
Above: Cheryl Cole looked on as the Queen was introduced to the Royal Variety Performance acts
Above: Cheryl Cole shook hands with the Queen at last night's Royal Variety Performance
Above: Girls Aloud chatted to the Queen after their performance at the Royal Albert Hall
THEY won't be forgetting this gig in a hurry.
Cheryl Cole was left beaming from ear-to-ear after meeting the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance last night.
The Girls Aloud beauty joined her bandmates, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts for the exclusive evening at London's Royal Albert Hall.
After gracing the stage in matching black and gold gowns, the Something New singers were introduced to Her Majesty.
As the Queen showed an apparent interest in the Princesses of pop, Chezza explained that the band had reunited after three years apart, while Kimberley added: "It's really nice to be back together."
After their fun-filled Royal evening, the girls hit Twitter to share their excitement.
Chezza wrote: "The Queen is so delicate. She has hair like candy floss and tiny little dancing style shoes .. Awww #theroyalvariety2012."
Strictly Come Dancing's Kimberley Walsh gushed: "Cannot believe I just met the Queen! What an amazing night! #royalvariety2012."
[See more celeb news: Brian Conley quits I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!]
And Nadine commented: "I met the Queen of England tonight & the Duke. The royal Albert hall was jumping with faces. A celeb spotters dream! Xxx hahaah great day!"
We're totally jel.


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Want the latest info on this nice snowy weather we've been having? Now is your chance to talk to CBS 21 Meteorologist Tom Russell. Join him Thursday morning starting at 6:00 a.m. for a live chat on the big storm.
Here's a bit more about Tom, courtesy of CBS 21:
"Tom joined the CBS 21 family as Chief Meteorologist in 2002. He is a well-traveled broadcaster having worked in cities from Maine to California and Florida to Pennsylvania. Tom has won many awards for his work including an Emmy and numerous AP Awards. He is a big fan of Pa. weather with its four distinct seasons and the challenges that go with them. Tom has covered major weather events in Central Pennsylvania including the devastating Cambelltown tornado in 2004 as well as the record snowfall in 2010. Tom is known for his involvement in the community. He is on the Board of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, works with CBS 21 helping the MDA, March of Dimes and other groups. And you can often find him in our schools teaching kids all about the weather. With all it has to offer, Tom loves to call the midstate home. He believes that it is a great place to raise a family. Tom lives in Harrisburg with his wife and three daughters. Tom is a member of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association and holds seals of approval from both organizations."
Leave your questions about the big storm in the comments section below. At 6:00 a.m., Tom Russell will take them on.


text: MARIANA is one of the major colonial towns, and in the first half of the eighteenth century was grander by far than its younger rival 12km to the west, Ouro Preto. Mariana was the administrative centre of the gold mines of central Minas until the 1750s and the first governors of Minas had their residence here and the first bishops their palace. Yet today Mariana's churches are far less grand than its illustrious neighbour's, and it's really little more than a large village, albeit one that is steadily expanding. It does, however, have a perfectly preserved colonial centre, mercifully free of steep climbs, that is less crowded and commercialized than Ouro Preto. As Mariana is only a twenty-minute bus ride away, you might stay here if you can't find a place in Ouro Preto.


text:
By Polly Keary, Editor
Monroe citizens have voted against ticketing cameras twice, and in April the city informed the camera company that contracts would not be renewed, but the saga of traffic cameras may not yet be over in Monroe.
A growing number of people are speaking out in support of keeping cameras in the school zones, while anti-camera activist Tim Eyman is preparing a lawsuit against the city of Longview over that city's traffic camera initiative process that could impact Monroe, as well.
Traffic ticketing cameras were approved by the city council in 2007, and were installed in 2010. But they've never been popular. Tim Eyman, a well known Mukilteo anti-tax activist, helped organize a Monroe citizens' initiative to force the city to do away with the cameras and go to voters before ever getting into another contract. The city sought a judicial ruling on the validity of the initiative, and it was struck down in part, and almost entirely on appeal, but the legal battle cost the city about $80,000.
The cameras, including a set of red-light cameras at U.S. 2 and Kelsey and two sets in school zones on Main Street and on Fryelands Boulevard, will be removed at the end of the year when the three-year contract with camera company Redflex ends.
Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer said he doesn't care about the red light cameras. But, he said, Monroe has a problem with speeding in school zones, and he'd just as soon see the cameras in those zones stay.
Those cameras are only on when school is in session, but they've identified a large number of speeders, one of whom blasted through the 20 mph Fryelands school zone at 65 mph.
Quenzer initially supported the use of cameras in 2007, citing the regular complaints of school crossing guards that drivers were going too fast and not paying attention to the presence of kids.
"The reason we chose those two (Frank Wagner Elementary and Fryelands Elementary) is they are walk-to-school schools," he said.
The police force doesn't have enough staff to watch traffic in each of the school zones in the town, and although it would be feasible to at least post an officer near Frank Wagner during the morning and afternoon walk times, Fryelands presents a challenge.
There is nowhere in that school zone on Fryelands for an officer to pull over and watch for speeders. And drivers still behave badly there, he noted.
"People look at that as a freeway," he said. "The people that drive through there and get tickets are passing a sign that says schoos zone, passing a flashing light that says school zone, and past a sign that tells you your speed. And they still go too fast."
The tickets have improved the situation there, though, he said.
"Since we implemented the cameras, there haven't been any complaints from the crossing guards," he said.
And overall speed has come down, he added, especially from Monroe drivers. Each September when school begins, there are a fair number of Monroe citizens that get tickets, but by October, nearly all speeders ticketed are from outside the town.
That reflects statewide trends he said, citing a study that showed that, in nearly every town with school zone speeding cameras, the number of speeding vehicles was dramatically reduced.
In a Facebook discussion on the cameras, some residents were expressing support for their use on school zones.
"The subject of red light cameras fairly needs to be broken into two separate issues; the actual traffic signal cameras and the school zone speed cameras," stated former city council member Mitch Ruth.
"I suspect that, if the citizens had the information about how many cars are speeding, and at what amazingly high average speeds through school zones during school hours, general public opinion would dramatically reverse."
"Keep the cameras…in the school zones. Dump the red light cameras," agreed Monroe resident Michael Guy.
"Having once lived across the street from Fryelands Elementary with a direct view of the posted speed on the sign, I agree with Mitch," stated Ryan Klemmer. "It was not uncommon to see speeds upwards of 50 during the morning school commute. The crosswalk at the entrance of the park is used by students and staffed with flaggers but people still speed. Keep the school cameras."
But not everyone supports keeping them. Some say it's too easy to fight the ticket and that they don't seem to change behavior enough. Others point to the decisive vote against them in two advisory ballots.
Taking the cameras will also mean a loss of revenue for the city. Even after the cost of the legal battle, and after the lease payments and the cost of running the court and reducing tickets, the city came about more than $250,000 to the good last year. Some of that money went for expenses associated with the Jacque Rothenbueler murder investigation, and some went for equipment.
As Monroe residents continue to debate the merits of at least the cameras in school zones, Tim Eyman has filed suit in the state Supreme Court against the city of Longview over that city's refusal to put a camera initiative on the ballot unit, instead seeking legal review, and that case could impact Monroe, as well.
"The city of Longview took a similar obstructionist approach as Monroe did with regard to our local red-light camera initiative," Eyman wrote to Monroe's city officials. "There was no reason to appeal two lawsuits (Monroe's and Longview's) so just Longview's case will be reviewed but the actions of both Longview and Monroe will be judged by the high court."
Eyman said he doesn't know what, if any, legal impact a decision in his favor could have on Monroe, though.
"It depends on what the state Supreme Court says and how they rule," he said. He expects a decision in 2014.
The cameras are slated for removal Dec. 31.


text:
There are roughly a quarter of a million bowl games this bowl season, and you can't be expected to know the names of all the bowls, who's playing, and why you should watch. Fortunately, I have nothing better to do (at least until I find a shiny object distraction) and am here to give you all the general bowl game information you'll need to identify the names and teams, plus a reason to watch and what each bowl game could do to spruce up the place.
(When I set out to write this, I knew it was going to take a long time, and not that you do or should care, but HOLY CRAP did this take forever. Gutenberg could have printed Bibles for all of Europe in the time it took me to do this.)
Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Temple (8-4) vs Wyoming (8-4)
Why you should watch: Besides being the first game in the final month of college football for this season, you can see with your own eyes the ugliest uniforms in college football when Wyoming takes the field in their best brown/yellow/mustard vomit wear. Also, you can confirm that Steve Addazio, yes, THE Steve Addazio, is an employed college head coach, and won eight games at Temple, which seems impossible.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Force the bowl director, or whoever gives the winning team the trophy, to call himself Gil Dan Jellymittens during the trophy presentation.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Ohio (9-4) vs Utah State (7-5)
Why you should watch: To catch a glimpse of Utah State head coach Gary Andersen's tattoo he got after making a bet with his team in which he said he would get tatted up if they made a bowl game. Sadly though, it's only a tattoo of the Utah State logo and a bowl message, and not an Aggie dragon eating the heads of the mascots of the seven teams Utah State beat.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Encourage all fans to build potato guns and bring them to the game so that they may shoot them at fans of the opposing team. Hairspray for launching fuel and potatoes for ammo should be provided to all fans as well.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
San Diego State (8-4) vs Louisiana-Lafayette (8-4)
Why you should watch: An 8 PM kickoff in New Orleans greatly increases the chances the announcers have been doing some boozing, EVERYONE in the crowd is boozing, and someone runs out on the field. And most likely the security people have been in the drink and won't really care about the field runner, but just wait until the runner's lack of exercise takes over and has them fall to their knees wheezing for air.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Give potato guns to those who have been swilling hand grenades all day.
Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg
Florida International (8-4) vs Marshall (6-6)
Why you should watch: Do you really want to miss the commercial in which The Dubliner is prominently featured? 920 calories and 52 grams of fatty fatty GOODNESS.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: A game within the game: Both teams eat pregame meal 45 minutes before kickoff at Beef 'O' Brady's, and the team with the first player to throw up loses a possession.
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
TCU (10-2) vs Louisiana Tech (8-4)
Why you should watch: If you're in North America on December 21st, odds are the weather is less than ideal wherever you are. Watching this game in the perfect conditions of San Diego will make you question why you have chosen to live in a place where the temperature gets below 60 degrees, thus potentially leading to a life improvement.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Bring Houston Nutt into the booth to discuss just how bad of a coach you have to be to lose to Louisiana Tech at home by 20 points.
MAACO Las Vegas Bowl
Arizona State (6-6) vs Boise State (11-1)
Why you should watch: Wait, what? Boise is in the Las Vegas Bowl? SUCKS TO BE YOU. Also, it's Dennis Erickson's final game as the head coach of Arizona State. You may recall that Erickson was the first choice of Robert Khayat and Pete Boone to replace David Cutcliffe before Ed Orgeron showed up with a PowerPoint presentation that wowed and dazzled the mind. IT REALLY SUCKS TO BE AN OLE MISS FAN.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Slot machines determine every play call.
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Nevada (7-5) vs Southern Mississippi (11-2)
Why you should watch: Whatever I said about San Diego times a hundred. It should be noted that Southern ruined Houston's perfect season and cost its conference a big chunk of BCS cash money, yet will spend Christmas in Hawaii rather than New Year's in Memphis, where it will be soul-numbingly cold. C-USA leadership, seriously, get it together.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Increase the debris on the field by at least 450% so we can find out what it would be like if a game was ever played at a landfill.
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl
Missouri (7-5) vs North Carolina (7-5)
Why you should watch: Will Missouri fans start the S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C! chant if they win? Ha, of course not. That would mean Missouri fans actually went to this game.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: I've said this before, but I'm gonna keep saying it until it actually happens (note: it will never happen unless I'm put in charge of everything). One team should represent Shreveport, the other Bossier City, and whichever team wins, the area is called the Shreveport/Bossier City or the Bossier City/Shreveport metroplex for the next year. This all stems from an angry gas station attendant who once told a friend that he was not in Shreveport, but that "this is Bossier City!" Noted.
Little Caesars Bowl
Western Michigan (7-5) vs Purdue (6-6)
Why you should watch: Though the game may cause you to wish blindness upon yourself, it will at least inspire you to get a $5 Hot-n-Ready pizza which you will eat in one sitting because, not surprisingly, $5 pizzas don't keep very well.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: With Detroit and Purdue in the same night? IMPOSSIBLE.
Belk Bowl
Louisville (7-5) vs North Carolina State (7-5)
Why you should watch: You might get to see one of the great moments of pure joy happen again:
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Have a "Tom O'Brien heart beats per minute" graphic on the screen throughout the game. If it gets above 41, $15 Belk gift certificates for everyone.
Military Bowl
Toledo (8-4) vs Air Force (7-5)
Why you should watch: Who doesn't need a little flexbone in their life in the middle of Wednesday afternoon? Sorry, Toledo, I have no idea what you do. But, I found this to be an enjoyable read about a fairly simple concept to come out of the flexbone and how it could be added to other offenses.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Fighter jet flyovers after every change of possession.
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl
California (7-5) vs Texas (7-5)
Why you should watch: So you can wonder aloud just how in the hell Texas, with literally every resource imaginable at its fingertips, is 7-5 and in the Holiday Bowl (and very lucky to even be there).
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: A bet between the schools in which California will take control of programming for The Longhorn Network for three months if it wins, and Texas will see to it that no vegetarian meals are available in Berkeley for three months if it wins.
Champ Sports Bowl
Florida State (8-4) vs Notre Dame (8-4)
Why you should watch: When the Irish do something dumb, and they will do something dumb, you will have the opportunity to see Brian Kelly's face turn a shade of purple that you previously did not know existed in the color spectrum. There's also a good chance one of his eyeballs will pop out, which is fun for the whole family.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Build a time machine and travel back to the early '90s when this game would have meant something.
Valero Alamo Bowl
Washington (7-5) vs Baylor (9-3)
Why you should watch: Robert Griffin III playing against a Washington defense that ranks 99th in scoring defense and 94th in passing defense. I want ALL THE STATS for this game.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Instead of the ESPN announcing crew, have Paul Finebaum do his radio show from the broadcast booth. "PAAAAAAWWWWLLLLLL, ain't no way R2D2 or whoever he is could play in the SEC. Also, I-man, I'm a gonna whoop your ass, boy. ROOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL TAAAAAHHHHHHHHDDDDDD!!!"
/ruptures spleen at the idea of all of this happening
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
BYU (9-3) vs Tulsa (8-4)
Why you should watch: Tulsa'a losses on the season came against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Boise State, and Houston. Combined record: 43-6. Granted, they were blown out in all of those games, but Tulsa may very well be a pretty good team. They're fun to watch on offense and use defense as a time to get their offense some rest. I saw BYU play two or three times this year and they are none of the things I just mentioned, which means the Tulsa offense could dominate and destroy.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Nic Cage's Top Gun for helicopters, or more commonly known as the great Firebirds, airs on the jumbotron throughout the game.
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Rutgers (8-4) vs Iowa State (6-6)
Why you should watch: If you're not working that Friday, it will be the perfect accompaniment to a two-hour post-lunch nap.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: The Yankees take batting practice while the game is being played, putting everyone on full alert, while offering the chance that some Yankees get injured.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
Mississippi State (6-6) vs Wake Forest (6-6)
Why you should watch: It's tough because there's no championship at stake, other than the worthless Music City Bowl championship (someone be sure to let Wake Forest know this), but there is some enjoyment out of watching two teams slap at each other to avoid going to a bowl and finishing the season with a losing record.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Snow, ice, and record-breaking low temperatures. And lots and lots of snow and ice with a 25-mph wind.
Insight Bowl
Iowa (7-5) vs Oklahoma (9-3)
Why you should watch: Since it's not a big/BCS game, Oklahoma should put on a show on offense.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: A pre-taped segment in which Landry Jones is placed on a beach, told that he's playing against Oklahoma State, and must throw the ball into the ocean once of out 15 times to win $25,000. 2:1 odds says he can't do it.
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas
Texas A&M (6-6) vs Northwestern (6-6)
Why you should watch: Well, now that Mike Sherman is not there to lead A&M aimlessly, then fall into a fourth quarter disaster, I'm not sure there really is any reason to watch. Dammit, Mike, you couldn't beat Texas and give everyone else in the SEC what they wanted, which was one year of you in the SEC.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Mike Sherman is allowed to coach both teams, setting an NCAA record for most overtimes with fewest amount of points scored.
Hyundai Sun Bowl
Georgia Tech (8-4) vs Utah (7-5)
Why you should watch: Paul Johnson's glares of hate-disgust have always had a place to rest in my heart. I encourage you to invite them into yours.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Demolition derby with a fleet of Hyundais. Though, I'm not sure a Hyundai can do damage to another Hyundai, so it might take a long time to declare a winner. But, hey, this is El Paso, I think they've got some time.
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
Illinois (6-6) vs UCLA (6-7)
Why you should watch: I made no attempt to research this, but, after the firing of Rick Neuheisel and Ron Zook, this could be the first game in which interim coaches lead both teams. Now, if only both teams had a handful of interim players, things might be a little more interesting.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Zook is given the keys to UCLA and Neuheisel calls the shots for Illinois. Also, Neuheisel plays an acoustic set during halftime, and Zook performs a series of water skiing stunts in which rings of fire are featured. File that under NEVER ERASE on your DVR.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Cincinnati (9-3) vs Vanderbilt (6-6)
Why you should watch: To see if the field (I'm talking about the actual turf) physically smiles when it realizes that the Memphis Tigers are not bumbling and farting their way through another game on the Liberty Bowl surface.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: When I was in my senior year at Ole Miss, we had a recruiter or an HR person from AutoZone come and talk to one of our classes about the joys of working for AutoZone, whose, for the uninformed, corporate headquarters are in Memphis.
It seemed like a decent enough place until he mentioned that in your first year of employment there, you would get ZERO vacation days, and after year one, you would get five. Right after that, I remember telling my brain to disengage all forms of attention being paid. This has nothing to do with the bowl game, but should serve as a pointer for future AutoZone recruiters to stop talking after they mention the vacation thing because no one is listening anymore.
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Virginia (8-4) vs Auburn (7-5)
Why you should watch: Because Chick-fil-A is so incredibly delicious and awesome at everything they do, we owe them for providing us with said deliciousness and awesomeness. If it were up to me, I'd put Truett Cathy's face on Mount Rushmore.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Offer viewers a chance to win chicken biscuits, even if it's a microscopic chance of winning. People would be crowded around the television like the president is addressing the nation to tell us we're invading a country.
TicketCity Bowl
Houston (12-1) vs Penn State (9-3)
Why you should watch: If Houston shows up, which is probably pretty iffy now that they're without their coach and are in the TicketCity Bowl instead of a BCS game, it would be a great test of an Airraid-ish offense against one of the better defenses in college football. Penn State ranks fifth in scoring defense, fifth in pass defense, and 10th in total defense, while Houston ranks first in scoring, passing, and total offense.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Ticket "handling/processing fees" are crucified and burned at halftime.
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl
Ohio State (6-6) vs Florida (6-6)
Why you should watch: Who can pass up the chance to see if Will Muschamp's carotid artery explodes through his neck? And you know the TaxSlayer.com commercials are just going to be the best, with a production value of 1/1,000 X 1089 of the Pitbull Dr. Pepper commercial, but eleventy to the eleventy gazillionth power times more entertaining. Slay ALL THE TAXES.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Medieval Times-like fights at halftime between the knights of TaxSlayer. Or, just Slayer playing at halftime because, remember:
Outback Bowl
Michigan State (10-3) vs Georgia (10-3)
Why you should watch: Just to remind yourself that Mark Richt will be at Georgia at least another year, which is another year Georgia won't become the LSU or Alabama of the SEC East. New Year's toasts and congratulations to everyone!
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: At halftime, Todd Grantham tries to eat all of the shrimp from one of the local Outback restaurants.
Capital One Bowl
Nebraska (9-3) vs South Carolina (10-2)
Why you should watch: If only South Carolina's offense was a well-oiled machine of points and yards, because the thought of Steve Spurrier toying with Bo Pelini by throwin' it around a little bit and running up the score, which would result in Pelini rage-stomping on the sideline and rage-smacking his gum, has me cackling with delight. It could still happen, but we've all seen Connor Shaw play this season.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Smallpox is introduced to the Vikings of the Capitol One commercials, thus ending their reign of highly annoying, on-all-the-time during December spots.
Rose Bowl
Wisconsin (11-2) vs Oregon (11-2)
Why you should watch: I'm interested to see if Wisconsin becomes the fourth straight team (Boise State, Auburn, and LSU) that has over a month to get ready for Oregon's speed-up offense and keeps the Ducks under control. During the season, it's impossible to get your defense in the kind of shape they need to be in to run with Oregon's offense for four quarters, especially if you're not getting much help from your offense.
That's why you see so many teams play with Oregon for a half, then collapse in the third quarter under the weight of Oregon's superior physical conditioning on offense. Wisconsin is big enough on offense that they'll be able to push Oregon around, giving their defense extended rest, but they still have to deal with Oregon's speed, both of the players and pace, on offense.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Already qualifies as appointment TV, but I'd still like to have Musburger tell us at the top of the broadcast which team he has on the moneyline, against the spread, any over/unders, and all prop bets.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
Stanford (11-1) vs Oklahoma State (11-1)
Why you should watch: (SMASHING OF CHUNKS OF METAL TOGETHER) (LOUD VOICE CRIES: "CONTRAST OF STYLES") (EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE)
Stanford's defense won't be able to handle the speed of Oklahoma State's players, nor the fast pace of the Cowboy offense. Oklahoma State's defense won't be able to handle Stanford slamming away into them, nor the way the run will set up the pass for Stanford. And, as we've seen this year, unless Oklahoma State's defense is creating a turnover, they're not stopping anyone. SOMETHING WILL HAVE TO GIVE (MORE EXPLOSIONS).
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Already qualifies.
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Michigan (10-2) vs Virginia Tech (11-2)
Why you should watch: If Denard Robinson goes into vidya game mode and you miss it, you will want to kick yourself in the eye socket.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Not have invited a team that lost twice to the same team by the combined score of 61-13, and played a non-conference schedule that everyone should always schedule if they want to go to BCS games (Appalachian State, East Carolina, Arkansas State, and Marshall).
Discover Orange Bowl
West Virginia (9-3) vs Clemson (10-3)
Why you should watch: You should always watch any game in which Dana Holgorsen is involved, but you certainly don't want to miss a primetime Clemsoning by Clemson.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Already qualifies, but if someone were to write a song called "Holgo and Dabo" set to the tune of the "Dukes of Hazzard" theme, that would be pretty sweet as well.
AT&T Cotton Bowl
Kansas State (10-2) vs Arkansas (10-2)
Why you should watch: Bill Snyder strikes me as the person who will be least impressed by the bells and whistles of Jerrah Jones World. I would love to see video of Snyder walk out on the field for the Wildcats' first practice or walk-through, glance at the jumbotron that's the size of a nuclear submarine, look back out at the field, adjust his jacket, and gently cough. In contrast, Bobby Petrino has a PowerPoint presentation at the ready to show Jerry Jones how he can put a stop to the Cowboys' bed-shitting ways.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Houston Nutt gives the pregame prayer and mentions Ole Miss' back-to-back Cotton Bowls for the first time in 50 years at least seven times during his 45-second invocation.
BBVA Compass Bowl
SMU (7-5) vs Pittsburgh (6-6)
Why you should watch: To laugh at all the poor bastards who are at this game.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Publicly unveil former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford's plan to lure the 2020 Summer Olympics to the Magic City. Langford could even walk everyone through the bid via satellite from his jail cell in Kentucky.
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Arkansas State (10-2) vs Northern Illinois (10-3)
Why you should watch: Whenever the Sun Belt and the MAC get together, THERE WILL BE BLOOD*.
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Arkansas State announces before the game that Houston Nutt will be named its next head coach and will be interviewed at halftime.
*No idea if this is true
Allstate BCS National Championship
Alabama (11-1) vs LSU (13-0)
Why you should watch: If you pay close attention, you'll be able to come away with a pretty good evaluation of both teams' kickers and punters, which is interesting never. But, you'll also get to see how the season ends, Les Miles, and hoards of very drunk fans who have spent the previous three or four days working themselves into a frenzy for this game (I'm willing to bet there will be more LSU and Alabama fans on Bourbon Street in the days before the Michigan/Virginia Tech game than fans of those schools).
Way the bowl game could make itself appointment television: Of course it already qualifies, but if we could get one more classic Les Miles clock disaster to remember the more chaotic times, I might shed tears of joy.
If you read all of this, give yourself $20 and a gold star for lack of productivity.