text:
Phillies GM Ruben Amaro joined Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio on Thursday, part of a carwash of interviews over the past 48 hours following the trade deadline.
After the trades of Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence, Amaro is left answering questions about the future of the franchise. Amaro also joined Mike Missanelli of 97.5 the Fanatic on Wednesday and said he thinks they now have plenty of room to maneuver for 2013.
"We've added some talent to our system in case we have to do it via trade, and we've also created a situation where we have some financial flexibility to go out and sign a player or two, or maybe even three or four."
Many expected Victorino to get dealt, but Amaro felt the need to cash in on Pence, too.
"His value on the marketplace is much, much higher rather than having him for one year, $15 million. Control has a lot to do with it. A lot of teams are anxious to improve their club that they make their run for a possible playoff spot. Frankly, the value of the player is much greater in this situation than it would be if we waited til the end of the season."
With Mike and Mike, Amaro reiterated that the Phillies never had serious discussions to trade Cliff Lee.
"We told him (Lee's agent Darek Braunecker), all this stuff that you're hearing is really false and faulty. I think he (Lee) had a pretty decent peace of mind about what our direction was."
Amaro seems to believe that Lee, teamed with Hamels and Halladay are the key to the Phillies being a contender in 2013. There also seems to be a little bit of breathing room to make other moves to fill the numerous holes all over the diamond. Adding multiple $15 million players seems unlikely, but there is a clear need in the bullpen and the outfield. Third base is another glaring weakness, but will be harder to fill because it's so thin all over the majors.
0 Comments
I'd look to sign Vic in the off-season at a modest 2 or 3 year deal. Bourn is too expensive.5 years at 15M per?? Thanks, but no thanks.
An outfield of Brown, Vic and Schierholtz isn't all that bad with a little Laynce Nix and JMJ thrown in.
Need to address 3B, too…ugh…
I think Frandsen and Mini Mart are sufficient at 3rd base if Rube can't find something better on the market. I'll be interested to see how Dom and JMJ do with consistent playing time for the rest of the year. I might be the only one, but I think the Phils got back Pence's value with just Schierholz, even though I like Pence. The only fear that I have for 2013 is that we're back to the problem we had with Ibanez: we're too lefty-heavy in the lineup, and we don't have any RH power bats, except maybe JMJ if he can pick it up by playing consistently.
Oh jeez. Michael Martinez is not sufficient anywhere. Michael Martinez is completely and utterly lost at the plate. You cannot have an offensive void that big on your roster. He just can't hit major league pitching.
thanks eric! i'm glad someone else feels that way! how can anyone even tolerate the fact that he's here now! it's mind boggling! i just don't understand it! you mean there's nobody else in the minors that they could bring up to play 3rd. CF. ?????? LF???????????
nick – MiniMart isn't sufficient enough for anything. He's barely a AAAA player and the only reason he's here is because he's probably Charlie's illegitimate son that nobody's supposed to know about.
I'm joking, of course…but…seriously….he's not an option for regular playing time for next year at 3B.
Minny mart is not a major leaguer. Galvis will be the utility guy because jimmy and chase will need a combined 40-50 games off.
Michael Bourn. Acquire him.
Also, and I'm not sure if its just NY fan speculation, but the buzz I've heard is the Mets and The Wilpons are setting Wright up to walk. The way they handled his injury this year, the back issues and the fact that attendance is down… Thoughts?
David Wright's another "older" player…and will be a LOT older at the end of his contract…with injury concerns. Personally, I'd pass. Great player, though.
Michael Bourn will be too expensive. In my humble opinion. I'd love to have him at the right price but he'll easily get a 5 year deal in the neighborhood or 60-75M. I just can't see putting the money there when you can probably go out and sign Vic for 3/24. And yes….I think Vic would want to come back.
I'd take wright on a 3 year and Bourne at $12 per 5 years. Don't think I'd land either though.
yea and two years from now you'll be complaining that our third basemen is on the DL half the time and when he isn't he can't bend over anymore. no thanks joe. and bourn? i love the guy but 5 yrs no way! i'd rather put brown out there and see what he does. ( and i'm not a brown fan) but i wanna see so i can become one!
I don't think the Phils should commit 60M to Bourn when there will be much cheaper options.
4/48 with an option.
I feel like such a hypocrite, because I think the Rollins deal was something between Fair and Good . . . .but I don't want Victorino resigned.. I think that CF is more easily replaceable than SS …
for all the "Rollins is so overpaid" crowd . . . for whatever Fangraphs is worth to you, he's ranked 3rd among all SS in WAR …and 6th for his Fielding…
Rollins was the best available SS … (is anyone ready to say that Galvis can be an everyday player in the majors?).. Victorino is not the best available CF- and it looks like the Phillies will take a run at the guy that is . . . . which would also give them a "legit" leadoff man that everyone so desperately craves.
I'd say Victorino is the second best available CF, behind Bourn. And while I absolutely love what Michael Bourn brings, if you can get Victorino to come back on a really team-friendly deal the likes of which were speculated about earlier (3/$24mm ?!), I'd do that in a second. I don't really think that's realistic, however. I'm thinking Victorino's going to get something like 4/$50 or 5/$60, and if he's in that range the better move is to go after Bourn, since he won't be much more.
You might be able to get BJ Upton for less than either of them, although that's because he's not quite as good as either of them.
Amaro has no choice but to be optimistic. He screwed up with so many over-sized and ill-timed contracts (Howard, for instance). Polanco will not be around next year, nor Blanton, nor Pence nor Victorino, nor Schneider , nor Contraras. So that is about $30 million when you add Hamels to the equation.
It will be very interesting to see what Amaro adds to the mix. I am hopeful , but not optimistic.
I am, however, anxious to see how we play for the rest of the year and hope Mayberry and Brown show some success, as well as our bullpen.
There's also the considerably cheaper Headley at 3rd. I'm still thinking Lee might be shopped in the off season. I only say that because I think its apparent Halladays option will be declined and 2013 is his last year in pin stripes. Moving Lee in the winter frees up between pence, Vic, blanton and another around 40-45 mil. That could plug a lit of holes and leave room still to shop a servicable SP. Gillick understood hitting and a BP won games, not the SP.
So your thesis is that because Halladay is in decline and won't be here long-term, Amaro is going to deal Cliff Lee, leaving the Phillies with a rotation of Hamels, Worley, Kendrick, ???, ??? going forward?
Yeah, I don't see that happening.
How about this: If Halladay won't be here post 2013 you just got $20 million dollars freed up from the 2014 roster, AND you get 3 excellent, top-of-the-rotation arms in the rotation for 2013.
eric why don't people see the logic in what you're saying? personally i'd try to get doc semi squared away and trade him in the off season and keep lee! what's that saying better to trade a year early than a year late! after next year our baby aces we'll be almost ready to be filtering up to the show so people have to keep that in mind.
The *idea* is this: Amaro has seriously mortgaged the Phils future on the back of a dynasty of pitching. First of all, thats not gone *real* well. See 2011 NLDS. Without support, pitching isnt enough. Does it truly make sense to establish a long term commitment to 3 pitchers at almost 70 mil a season, with huge holes elsewhere?
Or does it make more sense to return to the correct notion that SP is noce, but hitting, defense and bull pen win games, series, and titles. If Halladay is gone after next year, an I believe he will be, then youll have a huge chunk of salary committed to just 2 pitchers, almost 50 million. You still lack bats, a suitable defense and a bull pen.
If you move Lee in the off season, that retains TWO quality starters, frees up another 20+mil and gives them enough wiggle room to obtain a servicable starter next year to replace Halladay. Then youd have Hamels, Halladay, Worley, Cloy and kendrick next year in 2014 Hamels, (insert SP whos FA in 2014), Worley, Cloyd and either Kendrick or Pettibone. AND, if a lee trade is properly handled, you get a decent return of prospects. And money saved applied to a decent leadoff like Bourn and a quality 3rd base.
"considerably cheaper" … in salary only . I don't even know if we have enough prospects to send to San Diego to get Headley
Yeah, but Don… are you seriously ok with paying Michael Bourn between 60 and 75 M to play CF when there are cheaper options? Say what you want about Vic…he wasn't my favorite Phillie either….but if they could get him for something like 3/24-27 don't you think that's a better use of resources? I mean..they're gonna have to have some $$$ for a decent 3B.
Bourn as a leadoff hitter would be pretty nice,though.. I just don't know…
Bourn's deal depends on who has money to spend on a CF …. Texas, Phillies, Nats… Cubs?… Marlins (for some reason, I think they'll make a play for Hamilton if he becomes available).
Angels, Red Sox and Dodgers have their CF… I think Bourn will have to weigh Phillies vs Nats … he's apparently close friends with Ryan Howard- and he knows this organization… he's going to be in a pennant race against the Nats, maybe he'll grow to hate them like we do …
5 years, $12 M ($60 M total) for Bourn sounds fair to me . . . would any team go 6 years, $15 ($90 M total) …. he'll be 30 next year, anything longer than a 5 year deal seems to long for a "speed" player- same reason I wouldn't sign Victorino (who will be 32 to start next year).
BJ Upton will be 28 next year . . . any chance we'd go after him?
The other guy I like, but wouldn't fill the CF spot is Nick Swisher… though he'd be 32 next year too, I feel like you could get him much cheaper than Victorino- higher OPS than Vic would look good batting 5th or 6th maybe
I think I remember that Bourn and Howard were close….and had just forgotten. I guess that could be a difference-maker if it came down to us and another team (Nats).
Don't get me wrong…I'd love to have him here and if he's signed in December I'll consider it a nice early Christmas present. Just not totally convinced that it's the best utilization of salary. Especially with third base being such a priority as well.
I posted yesterday that I'm mystified by all the chances Mini-Mart gets! He's atrocious. I don't understand why the organization sweats the guy.
I think everybody out there is mystified, too. I much rather see Fontenot play… I still wanna win games and it's not like Mini-Mart is gonna become a better player.
Martinez is there because he does one thing very well – he can catch the damn ball. And he can do it at 2nd, SS, 3rd and the OF. I see him as a late game defensive replacement. He won't get many at bats. Relax, he is the 25th guy and only til Sep 1.
If there were top Free Agent 3b available over the next 2 years . . . I could see the thought of trying to save money in CF, etc . . . but when your 3b options are either A) lesser-players that you can sign in FA .. or B) trade prospects for a better caliber player … I don't know if the money thing matters that much
take Chase Headley . . . if we traded for him, that shouldn't prevent us from signing Bourn …
I have NO idea what Borun will get. the Nats have been trying hard to spend money lately – and now that they look to be a playoff contender already (a year earlier than many of us thought), that should make them a Free Agent destination too … players want to win …
If the Nats outbid the Phillies by a ton, I think they'd get the player . . . but in the case of Bourn, if offers were somewhat close, we might have the edge for various factors ……..but also we're just speculating . . Maybe the Phillies plan to get Youkilis ($4 M) and BJ Upton ($8-10 M) for $12-14 per year . . . . fill two holes instead of just Bourn …who knows
Lee will get traded in the off season. He is gonna go to Arizona for Justin Upton and a pitcher. Davis Wright will be the starting 3rd baseman next year. And B.J. Upton will be signed in the off season to play center. How is this for a lineup: Rollins, Utley, Wright, Howard, J.Upton, B.J.Upton, Ruiz, Brown/Mayberry platoon. This lineup will hit for average and power. You can't bring in pitchers late to go against 2 or 3 lefties or righties in a row. This can all be done with money to spend in the bullpen and a quality #3 starter. Follow this Amaro and you win the World Series next year.
I think the Mets are setting Wright up to walk, but I doubt the Phils will land him, and if they do, it would be to a long term deal and he is injury prone. I still think if Phils can net Olt from TX thats the best option as hes under club control
Lee to AZ I dont see. Lee to TX I still see.
B.J. Upton would be a fine addition but Bourn or Vic would be better. And I dont see Vic doing less than 5 years or at least wanting that and Philly will NOT give him 5 years
Texas is not trading Olt. He just got called up and is staying put. The D.Backs want no part of Upton and want a stud pitcher. Upton is under contract for 9 mil for the next coulpe of years. And Wright is not as injury proned as you think. Want no parts of Victorino he leads the majors in pop ups to the infield and that is a true fact. He is overrated. Was glad to see him leave.
Victorino was actually underrated.
One of the best OF's in the NL over the past few years.
Lee will get traded in the off season. He is gonna go to Arizona for Justin Upton and a pitcher. David Wright will be the starting 3rd baseman next year. And B.J. Upton will be signed in the off season to play center. How is this for a lineup: Rollins, Utley, Wright, Howard, J.Upton, B.J.Upton, Ruiz, Brown/Mayberry platoon. This lineup will hit for average and power. You can't bring in pitchers late to go against 2 or 3 lefties or righties in a row. This can all be done with money to spend in the bullpen and a quality #3 starter. Follow this Amaro and you win the World Series next year.
No team wants any part of a 34 year old pitcher with $102 million left on his deal. That 2016 "buyout" becomes guaranteed with 200 IP in 2015 or 400 IP in 2014-15. He's not going anywhere unless the Phillies pick up at least half of that contract.
Big Hark –
Nice dream but you don't seem to take into account money. Uptons+Wright are a lot more than Lee and Amaro already has money issues. Also you are down two starters. Like to see you show some numbers rather than spouting off names.
Hark also hasn't taken into account the Mets 2013 option on Wright.
Question on Hamels contract. It's $132/6 plus a $6 million bonus. Plus a vesting option for a 7th year and some other stuff. The bonus can be prorated as the team sees fit. I wonder if the Phil's put all $6 million this year with the space they created?
Psujoe – No, the "bonus" cannot be prorated as team sees fit. MLB rules do not apply to specifc year compensation but to average of contract. So it is simply 144/6 = $24 million. That will be used in the calculation of each year of the contract no matter what he is actually paid that year. So even if he gets $19.5 next year for purposes of the luxury tax he is $24 million. Anyone who starts the calculations with the actual payroll is missing the point AND is not including benefits which adds millions to the calculation. Phillies are still in danger of paying the luxury tax in 2012 because no one talks about the benefits
According to Amaro, the Phils are now under the tax. It seems reasonable to me that any clear-thinking front office HAS taken those benefits into account, even if fans haven't, so I tend to believe it.
Yeah, after I posted it I realized they couldn't put the bonus on last years contract. Phils should be OK for 2012 with almost $6 million coming off. I also think Blanton will get dealth this month.
Anyone have interest in Peter Bourjos? I like his defense a lot, but his hitting is Meh so far. He probably wouldn't cost much as the Angels have a lot of guys to play OF.
Maybe he can be hitter ala the way Shane became one for us?
He has two more years of control which is very important for this team.
I'm not totally sold, just wanted to get some opinions.
I think that whoever the Phils go after for CF depends on who they get for 3rd base, and vice versa. If they sign a high average/on base type for either position, they will almost have to go for a power bat for the other; preferably a right-handed power bat.
I hate to sound like "sound fundamental baseball guy" but, with the pitching we have, speed and defense will go a looooooong way towards winning the division next year. Think 1985 Cardinals. Think of what crap they had on offense – Ozzie, Tommy Herr, Oberkfell, Porter. But they were solid defenders. McGee, Coleman, Ozzie and even Herr. Very speedy.
The really cool part of winning this way is that its cheaper to put a fast, good defending team on the field than a bunch of so so's who can hit. See: PENCE, Hunter. Bourn in CF. Lets start there. 4y44m. Makes you very strong up the middle. 3B – Hey….your gonna have to bite the bullet somewhere so why not bring Polanco back? Buy him out and sign for a couple of mill next year. I guess Dom Brown will be in LF. That leaves RF. Mayberry and a sterling LH (Nix) bat to mix in? Hey, we don't have a lotta money. Unless we go over the tax…which I hope we do.
CF Bourn
SS Rollins
2B Utley
1B Howard
C Chooch
LF Brown
RF Nix/Mayberry
The Dipsy
I'll agree, somewhat. But…
The '85 Cards had one thing you forgot: ridiculous speed. The Phils don't have that, even if they add Bourn. Rollins is okay, but slowing down, Utley is fast but questionable, and I can't think of anyone else who'd be a genuine base stealing threat. Maybe Brown.
I also doubt that Bourn would settle for $11 million per. And if Polanco come back, they'll need a really good backup, not guys like Wigginton, Frandsen, Luna, or Martinez.
True. But we have ridiculous pitching. Our O needn't be as good as the Cards O because we have much better pitching than they did. Speed is also important for D as well as on the basepaths. Yeah, they had silly speed.
The Dipsy
Unfortunately, even stellar pitching needs some offense to back it up. I don't think the Phils have enough speed to generate enough of that.
I do agree, though, that speed and particularly defense go a long way. One only needs to look at some of the games the Phils have lost this year because Pence misplayed a fly ball, or Wigginton botched a grounder.
Sorry guys. Bourne is having the best year of his career. I just don't see where he is a significant upgrade to Vic. Check his career numbers. More speed, less power, a bit younger. Just have a feeling we'll be sick of him if we see him a bit more. Oh, and he's on pace for 162 strikeouts.
I am not happy that we got rid of Victorino. I can deal with Pence leaving. Pence wasn't that good, only rarely. The fans should give Victorino a standing ovation whenever LA comes to Philly. Then we'll have some of those idiots who will boo.


text:
Sundays, March 3 & 10
Take one session or both!
Instructor: Marsha Edelman
What is Jewish music, and how is it manifesting itself in the 21st century? Synagogue music is evolving, while music for the concert stage as well as popular expressions, both religious and secular, in Hebrew and English are filling the air. Listen to recorded samples from a wide variety of genres and discover the exciting new sounds emanating from both America and Israel. The perfect leadup to the Philadelphia Jewish Music Festival!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The first successful manned Apollo mission launches, John Lennon releases the song "Imagine," George Washington gets a posthumous promotion, and Anita Hill accuses Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, all on this day.
1932: Country singer Dottie West is born near McMinnville, Tennessee. West was the first female country Grammy winner, winning in 1965 for her top-10 hit "Here Comes My Baby Back Again." Some of her other hits included "Would You Hold It Against Me," "Paper Mansions," "Country Sunshine," "Last Time I Saw Him," "A Lesson in Leavin'" and "Are You Happy Baby?" She dies at age 58 on Sept. 4, 1991, from injuries she suffered in a car accident five days earlier.


text:
Register for a FREE GoComics account and get this, plus any other
comic strip delivered daily to your personalized My Comics Page (homepage
and free mobile app).
Upgrade to a GoComics Pro account (only $19.99/yr) and have all of your
favorite comics emailed to you daily! You'll also get unlimited archive
access to decades of comics and an ad-free website and mobile app
Custom Comic Home Page
Create a collection of your favorite strips.
Comment, share, interact with other comic fans
Account/preferences access on theGoComics mobile/tablet app.
You must be signed in to make a comment.
An everyday suburban household is turned upside down with the arrival of a newly adopted child, Jetpack Jr., who just happens to be an alien invader from outer space. Jetpack's got the mind of a middle-aged spaceman in the body of a bouncing baby boy. Sound like trouble? You bet it is. Follow the hilarious antics of Jetpack Jr. three days a week in this outrageous comic strip by Geoff Grogan.
Website | Blog
© Geoff Grogan - All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2016. Universal Uclick, All rights reserved.
Terms & Conditions - Privacy Policy
Sign Up for Free
Sign In


text:
Child beating cases will go to grand jury
The cases of two Dailey residents who allegedly beat their 9-year-old son with a metal pipe between 70 and 80 times was bound over to Randolph County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Magistrate Rob Elbon found probable cause in the case of Raymond James Kale Jr., 27, who is charged with two felony counts of child abuse resulting in injury, child abuse or neglect creating risk of injury. During a joint preliminary hearing in Randolph County Magistrate Court for Kale and his co-defendant, Loren J. Garcia, Elbon declined to modify Kale's bond, which is set at $250,000 cash only.
Elbon also found probable cause in the case of Garcia, who is charged with one felony count of child neglect resulting in injury, child abuse or neglect creating risk of injury; and one count of child abuse resulting in injury, child abuse or neglect creating risk of injury. Elbon did not modify Garcia's bond either, ordering that it remain at $100,000 cash only.
The charges stem from an incident that allegedly occurred May 13 at the couple's trailer in Dailey, which is located across from Shockey's Auto Sales, said Allyson Scott, a Child Protective Services employee who testified for the prosecution during Tuesday's hearing.
Scott testified that she and the investigating officer, Senior Trooper S.E. Hevener of the Elkins Detachment of the West Virginia State Police, interviewed the couple's 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter May 14 at a local elementary school after CPS received a complaint.
Garcia is the biological mother of the two children, while Kale is their stepfather, Scott said. The children had reportedly been misbehaving while the couple's landlord was visiting the trailer to fix a broken bathtub. When Kale arrived at home, Garcia allegedly told him about the incident.
"Mr. Kale returned home and the biological mother told him the children had been acting up," Scott told the court. "He said something to the effect of 'let's whack 'em,' so he grabs a metal pipe and starts striking (the 9-year-old male child) at which point the child starts to fight and scream. (The child) goes to run down the hallway. Mom goes down the hallway after him and drags him back into the living room and he was saying something to effect of 'no, no!'" Scott continued.
"Mom grabbed some dishwashing liquid and put it in his mouth at which time he reports that he vomited. According to the child mom then wiped his face in it," Scott testified. "After that, Mr. Kale continued to hit (the child) with the metal pipe… the child reported that the total number was about 70 or 80 times."
Scott said the boy had "blackish purple blue bruises" on his to his right buttock, another near his hip and a third on one of his forearms "that was almost completely round and had a little bit of an abrasion in the middle."
"The size and shape of the metal pipe would almost exactly match up to the long linear bruises on both of the children," she added.
The 7-year-old female child said she witnessed her brother being beaten and said the morning before the interview with Scott and Hevener, her stepfather, Kale, also allegedly hit her with the same pipe.
"She was in trouble for urinating in the bed the night before," Scott testified, adding that she observed "bruising on (the child's) right buttock also, like a greenish yellow in color."
The brother and sister were taken to Arbor Medical Associates for evaluation, but Scott told the court she had yet to receive results from the evaluation.
Garcia's attorney, Christopher Cooper, suggested that perhaps his client was afflicted by battered wife syndrome – "a circumstance wherein the battered wife acquiesces to the actions of whoever the batterer is and may not do something that is in her self-interest or somebody else's self-interest."
Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Parker and Kale's attorney, Dwight Hall, objected to Scott testifying about the particulars of battered wife syndrome. Cooper, however, countered that he was merely "trying to indicate to the court that there may be another explanation and one that you may need to consider in determining whether you bind this over to the grand jury."
Scott interviewed Garcia about whether she'd been abused by Kale and subsequently concluded that it was not an issue in the couple's household, she told the court.
Hevener, the prosecution's second witness, testified the children had allegedly been struck with a black metal pipe that measured 2 feet in length and an inch in diameter, saying the pipe was a spare part of a corner shower organizer.
He said he'd elicited a digitally recorded confession from Kale in which Kale allegedly admitted to striking his 9-year-old stepson with the pipe after learning that he'd been jumping up to smack the ceiling fan with his hand while the landlord was present.
In their closing arguments, Hall and Cooper questioned the state's definition of child abuse.
"It amounts to a fine line here," Hall remarked. "Back in the day, it was acceptable to use a switch or a belt or a paddle or whatever that object was to discipline your kids… is this child abuse? Where do you draw the line, your honor?"
Cooper asked if washing a child's mouth out with soap constituted child abuse.
"If that's the case, then I'm sorry for my parents: I certainly needed it because my mouth tends to run," Cooper said. Cooper also noted that none of the bruises on either child resulted from the actions of his client, Garcia.
"You do not have the necessary evidence to bind this over to the Circuit Court for abuse," he said.
Elbon, however, did just that, announcing that both cases would be bound over for grand jury consideration.
As of presstime, Garcia and Kale remained in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail.
Contact Katie Kuba by email at email@example.com.


text:
Our top moments of the week:
15. Dirtiest Make-Good: On 90210's 100th episode, the gang returns to West Beverly High, where one-time mean girl Naomi is reminded of just how nasty she was. Determined to prove she has changed, Naomi goes on stage and sheds her clothes and lets everyone throw hors d'oeuvres at her so she could feel the embarrassment many of her classmates often felt. Somehow, humiliation isn't quite the same when you plan it yourself. 14. Janie's Got a Gun Award: Bryan and Jane knock back a...
Read More >
Other Links From TVGuide.com
- Jimmy Fallon
- Mariah Carey
- Tracy Morgan
- Criminal Minds
- How I Met Your Mother
- The Roots
- Beth Riesgraf
- 90210
- Sons of Anarchy
- Leverage
- Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
- The Good Wife
- Parenthood
- Boardwalk Empire
- Revenge
- Suburgatory
- Scandal
- Homeland
- The New Normal
- Nashville
- Blake Shelton's Not-So-Family Christmas
Page 2 of 2 -
Comments are currently unavailable on this article
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Honesdale man arrested for growing pot
August 27, 2013 —
A Honesdale man has been arrested for growing pot plants both inside and outside of his home at 20 Oregon Turnpike.
The Pennsylvania State Police said they received a call regarding a residence where marijuana plants were viewed outside the home of 43-year-old Dennie Edward Mahon. Police investigated and on August 28 a search warrant was executed at the property.
Police discovered that the was a fully functional indoor growing operation established throughout the residence. There were approximately 17 plants in various stages of growth in a bathroom and a bedroom closet. There were also seven jars of processed marijuana in the house.
While outside the property, all the troopers present recognized at least three plants as marijuana, and they were considerably taller than all the other vegetation growing there at the time. Also observed from the yard was the fact that all of the windows to the residence were covered.
One of the windows at the rear of the residence had a small section of the interior exposed and there was a very bright light coming from it.
The odor of marijuana was readily detectable by all of the troopers, who also noticed that several large meters were attached to the base of the PPL meter. This technique is reportedly used to slow down the speed of the meter show as not
to show the actual power being consumed by the residence.
When Mahon returned to his home, he was detained by a waiting trooper and arraigned on various drug charges.


text:
Most unique dating websites
Published On: Jan 26 2012 10:05:39 AM PST Updated On: Dec 03 2015 07:50:07 AM PST
With the arrival of MouseMingle.com, a newly launched dating site designed for hardcore Disney fans to find each other, check out some of the other most unique dating sites to hit the web.
The views expressed are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to our Terms of Use.


text:
Brooke Waddell, an elementary school student in Roaring River, N.C., gets surprised in front of her classmates as her brother, Pvt. Christopher Waddell, springs from a gift wrapped box.
No email address was supplied by
To complete your registration on this site, please supply an address.
Please confirm or modify the email address to which you will have subscription offers sent.
For a more personalized experience, please supply the following optional information.


text:
Firm's Recall Hotline: (888) 966-4532
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
Name of Product: IKEA KARLSTAD sofa-beds
Units: About 500
Distributor: IKEA Home Furnishings, of Conshohocken, Pa.
Hazard: The mattress and seat cushions intended to be used as a mattress fail to meet the mandatory federal open flame standard for mattresses, posing a fire hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: No injuries were reported.
Description: IKEA KARLSTAD sofa-bed frame has article number 801-215-12, supplier number 20789 with date stamps (YYWW) 0845 through 0927 located on a label attached to the underside of the sofa-bed frame. The mattress topper is not affected by this recall.
Sold at: IKEA stores nationwide from November 2008 through July 2009 for about $850.
Manufactured in: Mexico
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the mattress and cushions and contact IKEA or visit the Returns and Exchange Department at their local IKEA store to arrange free installation of a replacement mattress and seat cushions.
Consumer Contact: For more information, contact IKEA toll-free at (888) 966-4532 anytime, or visit the firm's Web site at www.ikea-usa.com
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of
thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the
nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or
mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to help ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household
chemicals -– contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.
Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at
301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing
to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.
Times: 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime
Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.
Please use the below phone number for all media requests.
Phone: (301) 504-7908
Spanish: (301) 504-7800
View CPSC contacts for specific areas of expertise
We are still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product.
Report a Product on SaferProducts.gov
The link you selected is for a destination outside of the Federal Government. CPSC does not control this external site or its privacy policy and cannot attest to the accuracy of the information it contains. You may wish to review the privacy policy of the external site as its information collection practices may differ from ours. Linking to this external site does not constitute an endorsement of the site or the information it contains by CPSC or any of its employees.
Click Ok if you wish to continue to the website; otherwise, click Cancel to return to our site.


text:
President of University of Hartford. Growth, vitality, and service to the community are key attributes of Walter Harrison's first 10 years as president of the University of Hartford.
Read More
Sharon L. Vasquez became provost of the University of Hartford on Aug. 15, 2010. As provost, she oversees all academic-related functions, including undergraduate and graduate programs, faculty, information technology, and libraries. Read More
J. Lee Peters has served as vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Hartford since 2002. Read More


text:
Just tuned in, great block by STAT on Lebron!
(33-44) - (52-23)
Venue TV TIME American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL abc 1:00 PM EST
Possible starters:
Injury Report
New York Knicks
Miami Heat Andrea Bargnani - Torn Ligament, Left Elbow (OUT) Greg Oden - Back spasms (OUT) Kenyon Martin - Post-surgery, right foot (OUT) Dwyane Wade - Strained Left Hamstring (QUEST)
Just tuned in, great block by STAT on Lebron!
Thanks for the game thread Rady. Knicks are not in control of their own destiny so they need to win every game they can, hopefully all the remaining ones.
Im HATING on the new NBA .. a 3 on 2 fast-break layup basket has turned into a 3-ball shot.
That was the strategy of all the oponents that loss to the original DreamTeam by 50 points
Thanks for the GT rady .... ur the real WINNER in the forum
Did someone mention Tony Douglas as a Miami Heat starter..........................
The Knicks D is much better with Prigoni in there instead of Felton. It took Woody too long to find a rotation, I was saying in the preseason that we should have had a set rotation. Way too late in the season before he found one, have to admit I overrated him as a coach.
Ray Allan leaving Boston to go to Miami was huge for them. How did I not know Chalmers was from Alaska of all places.
Miami Heat bench players went on a 17-1 run .......help!
Good effort from Shumpert keeping the game alive!
Terrible way to end the 3rd quarter, Hardaway's clearly useless tonight, Woody should bench him already
WOW! Lebron came to challenge Melo for best stats, and Melo's a no show
The Knicks are fighting for the win .. down by 15 now 7
GO Knicks!!!
JR's having another red hot night but there's just no answer to the Heat


text:
Hands off CoolidgeMarch 26,2014
Amity Shlaes has taken up a leading role at something called the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation and is trying to recast Coolidge as a model conservative leader. Together with someone named Matthew Denhart she wrote in last Sundays paper that Coolidge would be on the side of the current right-wing Republicans and maybe even be a tea party member. The foundation has more or less co-opted Coolidges name, and with it a bit of his character as pragmatic, sensible and unifying. This is rather clever. It begins a process of salvation of the Republican Party back from the wild, squalling, hateful and borderline destructive mob it has become in recent decades.
Ms. Shlaes is trying to make that trip back herself. She is in competition with a number of women on the far right who now realize that the previous message isnt selling. She is well-educated, an adequate writer, and is married to a man named Seth Lipsky who ran a right-wing and desperately pro-Likud newspaper in New York City, the New York Sun. The Sun had little news in it, but paraded daily exhortations for right-wing policies and more support of the Israeli military.
The paper failed after a few years, demonstrating that American Jews are tired of hearing the same divisive politics and bloody-minded calls for more armament. For a time Ms. Shlaes voiced this line, but in her article last week she never said Coolidge would have sent money to Benjamin Netanyahu.
To be a successful conservative female commentator in these times you have to be shriller than Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and probably even Mona Charen, wherever she is. Its open competition to get your mug on Fox News, to sell articles to the Wall Street Journal and to hawk your books. Like all loud advocacy, its a hard ship to slow or steer.
Now Ms. Shlaes says we have a lot to learn from Coolidge, such as his refraining from critical comments about his political opponents. Coolidge rarely raised his voice and in many cases refused to use his voice at all. Yes, we should do more of that. Theres no disputing that he would find right-wing rant radio repulsive, and probably MSNBC as well.
But before Vermonters agree that their best known presidential character would appreciate the hard-edged Republican attitude toward economic unfortunates in American life, a few differences should be brought out, facts that Ms. Shlaes didnt mention.
Coolidge lived in far different times in a far different America. Most Americans, not just certain political strains, viewed economics then as hard and unforgiving. Daily life was nasty, brutish and short. Few expected help or even attention from the national government. Disease killed thousands, industry ground up its workers, and racial and gender prejudice went unquestioned. That Coolidge didnt advocate liberal solutions to these problems, and to many others, didnt mean he agreed that the government should actively fight against making life better for as many citizens as possible.
The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation is, in simple terms, being used, perhaps co-opted, to raise historical rationales for a return to the economics most Americans would rather forget. Coolidge in fact took steps, not great steps admittedly, toward the advancement of rights for the poor and the racially dispossessed. That he didnt scream and yell or like the Limbaughs of this world, lie doesnt mean he wanted no government help for anyone. The Coolidge foundation doesnt say anything directly to support this, but theres a subtle push to the conclusion that we can learn from Coolidges example. What is that example? The foundation will tell you, even if it has to create it from its own imagination.
Mr. Shlaes article took some Coolidge quotes and then veered off to the silly, claiming that the Coolidge character today would want to know the temperature, not the wind chill. What that meant I have no idea, but it seemed like a cutesy way of saying that whoever invented a rating that might stop your skin from freezing was weakening the national character. She also said Coolidge would have preferred cross-country skiing to downhill. Again, what could that mean? It sounded like Peggy Noonan doing a backflip into the cooking sherry.
The adult Republicans now realize that they went too far to the right. Further they realize that they had allowed all sorts of nuts and berries to dictate their party philosophy in crazed and violent overstatement. That crap doesnt sell any longer, except in the mental backwoods of the tea party. Ms. Shlaes and others used to agree with such idiocy, but it was all an act. Now, coming back to what they hope will be regarded as the sensible center-right, they have concocted a theatrical piece involving old Cal, who deserves better. The memorial foundation suspects that most Americans have almost no memory of Coolidge. Vermonters are mildly aware that he was a native and are surprised to discover that he was a governor of Massachusetts. We also know that he spoke with a minimum of words, a trait that didnt help explain his exact thinking.
For many, an affection for Vermont and its history pushes us toward the conclusion that if Coolidges character were more in evidence today, wed all be better off. And maybe thats so. The question is what the real Coolidge character was. The memorial foundation seeks now, in the writings of Ms. Shlaes and others, to appropriate the rights and patents to that character for political purposes.
Id point out that anyone can start a foundation and stick a famous name on it. Several celebrities are listed on the foundations website, including Nancy Reagan and Jim Douglas and (whats this?) Vince Illuzzi. Should I start the Nancy Reagan Foundation? She is still with us, but she might be flattered that people care enough to use her name and promote her thoughts as examples of how we should live. Or I could start the Jim Douglas Foundation for the same reason. Or the Amity Shlaes Foundation. On second thought Ill do no such thing.
You can see that such organizations get to define themselves, and then that definition can be used as they see fit. They have meetings, they send out publicity, they accept financial contributions, and they pay themselves. There is no requirement that they stick to the truth, or the facts, or the historical consequence and relevance of their honoree. We need a man like Calvin Coolidge now only if you let the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation define who Coolidge was.
On third thought, I need a project. I might start small with the Vince Illuzzi Foundation.
Jeff Danziger is a writer, editorial cartoonist and former Vermonter.MORE IN CommentarySure, you can buy your uncle a necktie that he wont wear, or your niece an Amazon certificate... Full StoryFor the past month, I have been watching close friends and family descending into a pit of... Full StoryAdjusting to snow, sleet and cold after spending over a month in an exponentially warmer climate ... Full Story
- Most Popular
- Most Emailed


text: The Art Of Flight 18 November 2011 StephenAdamiglucom Ski Events Last night the world tour of the Art of Flight arrived in London for the UK premiere at the BFI IMAX, Europe's largest HD screen. Though the film has been available to buy for a few weeks now, the vast majority of people in the room had waited so they could watch the Art of Flight on the big screen, and none of them, me included, were disappointed. The event started as soon as you arrived at the IMAX, where the girls greeting you on the door, checking your tickets and generally being helpful, were all dressed in Red Bull flight attendant gear. Once through to the big screen itself, Tim Warwood, introduced us to the film, while looking like a WW1 pilot, before introducing and interviewing Travis Rice, the man behind the film. On discovering the fact that most people had waited to watch his film the excitement built up and culminated when a fan (our Invoice & Ticketing Manager) donated a beer to Rice, which he finished in one to applause and cheer from the crowd. The room then went dark and the film started... The Art of Flight opens with Travis Rice discussing the digital age that we now live in and the world of second hand information we are a part of, going on to say that sometimes you need to experience things for yourself. The opening sequence is him going through the airport and the production team giving us a glimpse of the amazing HD filming we were about to experience. Then bang — the crew are in Alaska, with Rice being dropped at the top of a ridge and the helicopter takes off, shown in an incredible showcase of HD slow-mo, with the heli flipping itself over 90°, before vertically heading down the cliff face. The room was silent... the crowd was already in awe of what we would spend the next hour watching. This film is truly incredible, and rather than ruin it for you I'm going to leave it for you to watch, but here are a couple of highlights to enjoy. The team's first trip Canada is incredible, showing how dangerous the mountain is, how every snowboarder, however famous and skilled, has to respect their surroundings. The section shows them testing the conditions and setting off avalanche after avalanche, before finally finding a line they think is safe, only for Mark Landvik to be swept down the mountain by another avalanche. Though he was okay, he was both upset with being swept down the mountain and that they'd put themselves there in the first place. The section where Travis Rice heads to Patagonia will have you on the edge of your seat, as they push the level of safety beyond the realms of normality, to get one, insane line in an area the locals describe as: "where the devil lives." The film isn't all about beyond the realms of safety. The sections where the team head to Jackson Hole and Revelstoke are the most fun, with the guys clipping trees in mid air, throwing down huge tricks and hitting lines that make the sport look fun — with some sections in Revelstoke looking rideable by mere mortals like us. The Art of Flight pushes snowboarding to another limit and though it lacks the story-style feel of That's It, That's All, it truly is a masterpiece. The cameraman turns to Jeremy Jones in his section at the end and Jeremy perfectly sums up how this film will make you feel: "Travis is the future of snowboarding, and the future is now." If you don't own this film, then get onto iTunes and download or fork out for a Blu-ray player, as this is what HD was made for. I doubt there'll ever be a film that makes me want to strap on my snowboard more.


text:
Former Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o has been named the second most-disliked athlete in America, according to a poll by Nielsen Sports and market research firm E-Poll.
The entire list was posted on the Forbes website.
Forbes said Te'o was in a virtual dead heat for most disliked athlete, each with 15 percent public appeal in the survey. However, Armstrong was pushed to the top of the list because he has a higher name recognition.
The financial magazine said that although the online girlfriend hoax apparently wasn't his idea, most people feel he embellished the extent of the relationship for personal attention.
Candidates on the list were limited to active athletes with a minimum of 10 percent awareness.
Te'o's appeal rating went from 88 percent to 15 percent almost overnight, according to Forbes.
The following is the full list of disliked athletes:
- Lance Armstrong - 15% appeal
- Manti Te'o, University of Notre Dame linebacker - 15% appeal
- Tiger Woods, golfer - 19% appeal
- Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears quarterback - 20% appeal
- Metta World Peace, Los Angeles Lakers forward - 21% appeal
- Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees third baseman - 22% appeal
- Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback - 23% appeal
- Kurt Busch, NASCAR driver - 27% appeal
- Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers guard - 27% appeal
- Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys quarterback - 27% appeal


text: Saliha at Azizatu Nafsiha has begun to write a beautiful, thoughtful series about wrestling with faith and gender expectations as an African American Shi'a Muslim woman. It's called "Coming Into My Own," a theme to which most of my readers will relate. Her writing is lucid, elegant and transparent in its depth. I highly recommend following this [Read More…]


text:
"I was raised Evangelical and just recently started looking, with an open mind, into the Catholic Church. You guys have been instrumental in my leaning more and more towards coming home to the Catholic Church."
"These are the living springs of great thoughts and great actions. Everything grows clear in the reflections from the Infinite."


text:
The strum of a guitar. The rhythms of a drum circle. A singer whose voice quiets an agitated soul or lifts a heart.
Alongside chemotherapy and radiation, these things are medicine and are increasingly being respected for their ability to heal.
A recent analysis of 30 music-therapy studies involving 1,891 patients attempted to better document the benefits to cancer patients. The research, led by music therapist Joke Bradt of Drexel University in Philadelphia, found that music reduces anxiety considerably and might improve quality of life. The studies showed some improvement in mood and a decrease in pain, and smaller benefits were seen for heart and respiratory rates and blood pressure.
The theory behind music therapy is that it can improve physical, psychological, cognitive and social well-being for patients of all sorts. Watching it in person tells you much more.
An exhausted cancer patient in his 80s can transform into a toe-tapping, smiling and vibrant man with the help of a little flamenco. Contentment settles over the faces of a handful of cancer survivors who gather in a weekly class to play old favorites on their guitars.
Winding down from Simon and Garfunkel's The 59th Street Bridge Song, four survivors recently ended an hour of playing and singing at the JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Center with the line, "Life I love you, all is groovy." It seemed perfect for them.
"This has just given us an inside liveliness," said Maureen Mugavin, a 68-year-old Beechwold woman who had breast cancer. "It just goes right inside and perks me up."
Susan Steinman, a classmate who also had breast cancer, agreed. "It kind of opens you up — to life, to other people," said the 62-year-old Bexley woman.
Steinman said she'd always wanted to play guitar but had put it off. After cancer, she decided, " The time is now."
Both women said the music takes them away from nagging worries that the cancer will return and gives them joy that lasts beyond the class.
Musical intervention can include singing, playing, writing or listening, said Alejandra Ferrer, a music therapist at Ohio State University Medical Center. Ferrer teaches the guitar class and plays at patients' bedsides at the hospital.
Therapeutic music doesn't have to be what you might think of as "happy music." Ferrer's regular repertoire includes Bob Marley's cheery Three Little Birds and also Green Day's achingly dark Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
There is honky-tonk and broken-hearted country. American standards, such as This Land is Your Land, and gospel and hymns are popular with patients. Amazing Grace is a favorite, Ferrer said, but she has even learned songs by Metallica and Stone Temple Pilots.
Ferrer said she likes all sorts of music and spends about 70 percent of her time singing and playing and about 30 percent talking to patients. Some like to talk more, others not at all. Either is fine with Ferrer.
Rather than going into a patient's room or into a group lesson with songs in mind, she tries to acclimate to the mood of the moment, she said. If it is angry or anxious, so be it. Ideally, by the time she's finished, the patient's mood will have lifted, even just to a more-neutral level, Ferrer said.
Studies have found that music therapy can reduce stress hormones, boost the immune system and reduce hospital stays, all of which have helped to legitimize it, Ferrer said. In some cases, "It can be the only thing that makes them feel happy," she said.
One of her proudest moments was working with an older man who would find himself overcome with anxiety when he was inside a mask used to steady the head and properly aim radiation. He loved music, so Ferrer worked with him to help him guide his thoughts to pleasant things. Eventually, they got to the point where he was able to get through the treatments with no problem.
John Morgan, who plays guitar for patients at Riverside Methodist Hospital, said he, too, has had many moving experiences, often at the end of a patient's life.
He recalled playing old church-camp favorites at the bedside of a woman whose daughters had been sitting for days, awaiting her inevitable death. The distraught women sang to their mother, along with Morgan. She died less than a minute after he left the room.
"The nurses told me, 'You just played that woman into heaven,' " he said. "That one still gives me goose bumps."
Often, the music therapy extends beyond the patient, to his or her loved ones and to the medical staff, Morgan said.
Although Morgan hasn't formally studied music therapy, as a lover of music, he understands it intuitively.
"I think music kind of starts when we hear our mother's heartbeat in utero," he said.
Human beings are hard-wired to respond to music, said Dr. Ali Rezai, an OSU neurosurgeon.
It's what sends a tingling down our spines during a symphony's performance or makes us tap our toes during a jazz concert.
On top of that, we have a deeply learned connection to music based on our culture and what our families and peers listen to, Rezai said. That's what can make tears spring to your eyes upon hearing the first chords of a certain tune at the right moment.
Music travels from the ear by nerves to the brain. There, it stimulates several brain centers, including areas that register pleasure and reward, Rezai said.
Because cancer patients often have ongoing treatment — and are living with a disease that can cause high levels of anxiety — they've been the subject of much study on the benefits of music. But work also has been done in stroke patients as well as with those with traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain and Parkinson's disease, Rezai said.
Dr. Eric Kraut started the OSU program 15 years ago with a nurse who also had a strong interest in treating cancer patients' emotional suffering.
"We noticed right in the beginning how much difference it would make, bringing some peace to both the patients and the staff," said Kraut, a professor of medicine and director of benign hematology.
The past decade has brought a better understanding of how music affects the mind, Kraut said, adding that he's hopeful that music therapy will become something that happens every day, everywhere in the hospital.


text: PITTSBURGH, PA (May 9, 2013) – More flights and more seats were available for Pittsburgh International Airport travelers in March 2013 compared to March 2012. The result is that five airlines reported increases in traffic according to the March 2013 Scheduled Airline Traffic Report, prepared by the Allegheny County Airport Authority. AirTran had the highest percentage-based increase. The airline reported an increase of 13.5 percent passengers (94,334 in March 2013/83,097 in March 2012; 13.5 percent increase). AirTran's increase can be attributed to the airline increasing its frequency to Ft. Lauderdale by seven flights per week and to Ft. Myers by eight flights per week. Other airlines which reported increases in traffic were: Southwest, which added daily service to West Palm Beach, (120,823/114,473; 5.5 percent); United, which added seven more weekly flights to Chicago, (109,614/107,396; 2.1 percent); American, which also added seven additional weekly flights to Chicago, (51,008/50,277; 1.5 percent); and Air Canada (3,724/3,405; 9.4 percent). "The flights to Florida destinations were increased including nonstop Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach. We are encouraged by the increase in fights and seats available to one of our biggest business destinations such as Chicago," said Bradley D. Penrod, President/Chief Strategy Officer of the Allegheny County Airport Authority. "Southwest has added a new route to Houston Hobby in April and JetBlue has increased its frequency to Boston on May 1. This provides more access to important business markets for air travelers." Airlines which recorded decreases in traffic for the month include: US Airways (169,567/198,819; 14.7 percent); Delta, (113,618/120,272; 5.5 percent); and JetBlue (14,303/24,691; 42.1 percent). Overall traffic dropped 3.6 percent for the month (677,724/702,878; 3.6 percent). Year-to-date scheduled totals show scheduled traffic down 1.9 percent (1,770,407/1,803,841; 1.9 percent). United (290,268/269,790; 7.6 percent); AirTran (218,534/190,303; 14.8 percent); American (139,635/136,148; 2.6 percent), and Air Canada (8,885/8,787; 1.1 percent) all report increases in traffic through March 2013. US Airways (467,874/505,390; 7.4 percent); Southwest (302,220/326,169; 7.3 percent); Delta (297,812/306,721; 2.9 percent); JetBlue (44,041/58,826; 25.1 percent) have reported decreases in traffic for the year.


text:
Dear Members,
Keep in mind that Character Bashing is now prohibited. Making fun of certain characters/character pairings leads to a pointless thread filled with insults and general rule breaking.
Also, remember that Versus threads are allowed only in the Versus section.
Thank you, NarutoBase Staff
Originally Posted by Danzo Auditore De Firenze
Gaara wins low-mid difficulty.
Are you serious?
Pretty sure Gaara wins with less than low difficulty. He won't even need sand tsunamis, just use the sand from his gourd to overwhelm Sakura.
[IMG]http://t1.************/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQejCBks0gBC59Gn6F7RFR3JAma6qK3L lz0qDQ_J7dSijPk1JQctra7GQ[/IMG]
Originally Posted by king gaara
not sure if this is a serious thread. gaara buries sakura 200 meters under the ground GG.
its a serious thread, i'm makin it serious.and gaara's fan are much more than sakura's.dont think that sakura cud win now with so much less fans.
Lee in 5 gates was as strong as Sakura, plus much much faster and superior hand to hand technique. And Gaara survived him
Gaara wins, low diff.
sakuras isn't a mere shinobi
look at these i found somewhere:
1.only sakura and other highly skilled ninja were able to notice the genjutsu,
and counter it with a powerful enough kai jutsu)
2.she may lack a huge amount of jutsuu's, but she can control her chakra more precisely than even kakashi, and can control it to make huge punch's and kicks n c generally have less jutsus coz c dont name it.
3.Gouwan (Strong Arm; her super strength)
4.Dokunuki no Jutsu: Poison Extraction Technique
5.Bunshin no Jutsu
6.Kawarimi no Jutsu
so c can stand a chance na!
The time it takes gaara to win this is equal to the amount of time he can play pokemon for. He might crush her out of anger after failing to catch mewtwo.
LOL is this a serious thread? Gaara would crush both Tsunade and Sakura with low diff.
That would be interesting to watch how finnaly sakura dieying..Still she pretty
Last edited by Itachi8179; 12-01-2012 at 09:19 AM.
Originally Posted by Slug Princess Tsunade
He can fly, but Tsunade can jump very high with her chakra control. ( She jumped with Gamabunta's sword high enough to defeat Manda. She jumped high enough to knock down a Complete Susanoo).
Kimimaro was able to break thorugh the sand. Tsunade, with her strenght- can do it too. I'm not saying that she wins for sure, but she has good chances against the Kazekage.
Kimimaro's strongest bone spear broke like biscuit against Gaara's defense. She has strength but is she stronger than a c3 or 5 susanoo sword strikes? She is strong but can she resist Gaara engulfing her with sand and tying her down? No. Gaara will definitely win as long as there is no plot no jutsu. I am not saying that she is not strong but she will lose to Gaara
Grt replies ha! So it seems sakura along with tsunade are weaker against Gaara the Kazekage.
Originally Posted by Paintry4
Grt replies ha! So it seems sakura along with tsunade are weaker against Gaara the Kazekage.
Yup! That is true.
Gaara rapes
I'm a huge Sakura fan but. Gaara stomps
Last edited by Fanta; 12-03-2012 at 01:50 AM.
Originally Posted by GiantShuriken
Gaara rapes
i wud like to see that
Originally Posted by nath0man
I'm a huge Sakura fan but. Gaara stomps.
hey u sudn't feel like this.although every member here are in favour of gaara.but u sud go for ur favourite one.coz naruto is also like this,nindo da.
SRA gaara would still win
Me too on gaara side lmao
gaara takes this no diff
Forum Rules


text: With a wide range of cartomizer options and over 100 different e-juice flavors that are available prefilled, Vapor4Life has what you're looking for. Our very own Smileomizer comes in applications for 808, 510, e Cigar, and V-Kit Systems, or select from prefilled cartridge options. For those of you who like to completely customize your vaping experience, our blanks and tanks options allow you to vape whichever flavor you like.


text:
2006: The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair grounds in Katowice, Poland, collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others. The trade hall was hosting the 56th National Exhibition of Carrier Pigeons, with about 700 people in attendance, at the time of the collapse.
2003: In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush states that Saddam Hussein had tried to acquire "significant quantities of uranium from Africa," citing British intelligence sources. That intelligence would later turn out to be substantiated only by forged documents.
2002: Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, best known for the "Pippi Longstocking" book series, dies at age 94 in Stockholm, Sweden.
1996: Writer Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of the DC Comics character Superman (along with artist Joe Shuster), first published in "Action Comics #1" in June 1938, dies at age 81 in Los Angeles, California. Siegel and Shuster sold all rights to the character to DC Comics for $130 in March 1938 and fought a number of legal battles over ownership of the superhero the rest of their lives, eventually gaining recognition for their roles in creating him.
1994: Actor Hal Smith, best known for playing Otis Campbell, the town drunk on the TV sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show," dies of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Santa Monica, California.
1991: Football halfback Red Grange, a charter member of both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame, dies of Parkinson's disease at age 87 in Lake Wales, Florida. Grange, who played for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears and the short-lived New York Yankees, helped legitimize the NFL when he signed with the Bears in 1925. He won two NFL championships with the Bears in 1932 and 1933.
1986: The space shuttle Challenger breaks apart over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. The disaster, which occurred after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff, would result in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program while it was investigated. Changes implemented before the next shuttle launch in September 1988 included various safety measures, solid rocket booster redesign and a new policy on management decision-making for launches.
1985: The supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the song "We Are the World" in Los Angeles to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Most of the stars who came together to sing on the track, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen, were in town for the American Music Awards. The song would be released on March 7, 1985, and instantly become a worldwide commercial success, topping music charts throughout the world, becoming the fastest-selling American pop single in history and earning three Grammys.
1981: Ronald Reagan uses an executive order to lift remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, so that prices would be wholly determined by the free market in the U.S. The move, which was started under President Jimmy Carter, helped bring an end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
1981: Actor Elijah Wood, best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
1980: Six Americans who had managed to escape the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, when Islamist students and militants seized the building and took hostages on Nov. 4, 1979, leave Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports with the help of the Canadian government and the CIA. The Americans had been hiding at the Canadian embassy in Tehran and two CIA agents joined the six diplomats to form a fake film crew who were supposedly leaving Iran after scouting for an appropriate location to shoot a scene for non-existent sci-fi film named "Argo." Pictured is a fake movie poster created by the CIA as part of the cover story. The incident was dramatized in 2012 in actor/director Ben Affleck's Best Picture Oscar-winning movie "Argo."
1980: The USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Bay in Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
1979: Actress Rosamund Pike, best known for her roles in movies such as "Gone Girl," "Die Another Day," "Pride and Prejudice," "Fracture," "Wrath of the Titans" and "Jack Reacher," is born in London, England.
1978: The TV fantasy drama "Fantasy Island," starring Ricardo Montalban at the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his energetic sidekick, Tattoo, premieres. The show would run for seven seasons before ending on May 19, 1984.
1976: Rapper Rick Ross, known for hit rap songs such as "Hustlin'," "The Boss," "Here I Am" and "Aston Martin Music," is born William Leonard Roberts II in Coahoma County, Mississippi.
1968: Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, known for her emotional ballads and for founding the Lilith Fair tour, is born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Some of McLachlan's best known songs include "I Will Remember You," "Angel" and "Adia."
1959: Filmmaker Frank Darabont, best known for directing the movies "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile" and "The Mist," is born in Montbéliard, France. Darabont has been nominated for three Oscars: two for "The Green Mile" and one for "The Shawshank Redemption." He also developed, executive produced and directed the pilot episode of the TV drama "The Walking Dead."
1958: The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, in Denmark.
1956: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on national television on "The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show."
1949: Gregg Popovich, who has won five NBA championships as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, is born in East Chicago, Indiana. Taking over as the Spurs head coach in 1996, he holds the record for most consecutive winning seasons in NBA history (playoffs included) at 18. He is also a three-time NBA Coach of the Year, winning in 2003, 2012 and 2014.
1939: Irish writer William Butler Yeats, one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature, dies at the age of 73 in Menton, France. In 1923, he became the first Irishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, with the Nobel Committee praising his "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." Some of Yeats' greatest works include "The Tower" and "The Winding Stair and Other Poems."
1938: The world land speed record on a public road is broken by driver Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 268.9 miles per hour on the Reichs-Autobahn A5 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Germany.
1936: Actor and filmmaker Alan Alda, best known for his roles as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series "M*A*S*H" and Arnold Vinick in "The West Wing," is born in The Bronx, New York.
1934: The first ski tow in the United States begins operation in Woodstock, Vermont. Clinton Gilbert entered into a partnership with Bob and Betty Royce, proprietors of the White Cupboard Inn, to construct the device using the rear wheel of a Ford Model A to haul skiers up a 500-foot slope. Within five years, more than 100 tow ropes were operating in North America.
1922: Following a snowstorm lasting more than 28 hours, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C., collapses, killing 98 people and injuring 133.
1916: Louis D. Brandeis is nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court of the United States. After his Senate confirmation on June 1, 1916, following a bitter and drawn out confirmation process, he would become the high court's first Jewish member.
1915: An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard.
1912: Painter Jackson Pollock, a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement who was well known for his uniquely defined style of drip painting, is born in Cody, Wyoming. He died at age 44 in a single-car drunken driving accident on Aug. 11, 1956, in Springs, New York. One of his passengers, Edith Metzger, was also killed in the accident.
1901: Baseball's American League is formally organized as a "major league." By the time the 1901 season began in the spring, the league would consist of the Chicago White Stockings, Boston Americans, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, Cleveland Blues and Milwaukee Brewers.
1896: Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, England, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 miles per hour, thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph.
1892: Actor and filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, who earned three Oscar nominations for Best Director for "The Love Parade" and "The Patriot" (both in 1930) and "Heaven Can Wait" in 1944, is born in Berlin, Germany. Lubitsch, who also directed movies such as "Ninotchka," "The Shop Around the Corner" and "To Be or Not to Be," received an Honorary Academy Award in 1947 for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. He died of a heart attack, his sixth, at age 55 on Nov. 30, 1947.
1878: Yale Daily News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.
1873: French novelist and performer Colette, best known for her novel "Gigi," which Lerner and Loewe would use as the basis the stage and film musical comedies of the same title, is born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in Yonne, France.
1820: A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic mainland at a point with coordinates 69º21'28"S 2º14'50"W and witnesses ice-fields there.
1813: Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice" is first published.
1754: English art historian Horace Walpole coins the word "serendipity" in a letter to British diplomat Sir Horace Mann.
1547: King Henry VIII of England dies at the age of 55 in the Palace of Whitehall in London. His 9-year-old son, Edward VI became king, and the first Protestant ruler of England. Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
1521: The Diet of Worms, an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire held in Worms, Germany, begins. It would prove most memorable for the Edict of the Worms issued on May 25, 1521, in which Protestant reformer Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic Church.
1225: Saint Thomas Aquinas, considered the Roman Catholic Church's greatest theologian and philosopher, is born in Roccasecca, Kingdom of Sicily. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and much of modern philosophy was conceived in development or refutation of his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics and political theory.
A.D. 814: Charlemagne, the founder of the first empire in western Europe after the fall of Rome, dies at age 71 in his capital city of Aachen, now the westernmost city in Germany. He had taken to his bed a week earlier with pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Charlemagne (seen here to the right, mounted on a horse and wearing a crown) became king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe in present-day Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and western Germany, in A.D. 771 and worked to unite all Germanic people into one kingdom and to convert his subjects to Christianity. After Pope Leo III crowned him emperor of the Romans in A.D. 800, he encouraged the Carolingian Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual revival in Europe. During his 13-year reign as emperor, Charlemagne expanded his kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of western and central Europe, earning the nickname "Father of Europe."
No email address was supplied by
To complete your registration on this site, please supply an address.
Please confirm or modify the email address to which you will have subscription offers sent.
For a more personalized experience, please supply the following optional information.


text:
2009 Red Sox Pitching Preview
I guess I could just give you guys the same predictions that everyone else has… but I don't really want to do that. I'm going to break down each position, and briefly look at every player. Tonight, I want to look at pitching. I'll tell you guys how I think their 2009 season will be, and what they will need to do to either come over the 2008 woes, or maintain their 2008 heights.
iced this spring, he just needs to maintain his command. The biggest thing will be the transition from Kansas City to Boston. There is always a lot more scrutiny and attention in places like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, but as long as he stays focused, I'm not concerned.
18 Comments
Elizabeth – GREAT break down! I have to be honest – Delcarmen scares me. He is so inconsistent. Having a 6 man rotation I think will be a great thing coming down the stretch. Our pitchers will all be well rested for the playoffs. Pap should be in better form at the end of the season because of Saito and the other help he has now. And the young guys in the farm system? It doesn't get any better! I'll be down my Fenway tomorrow (only outside the park) but I'll take some pictures!
I do enjoy watching Wakefield pitch. That knuckleball dances all over the place and I don't know how he does it. I wouldn't want to be his catcher in the worst way, but I wouldn't want to face him either. He's always tough on the Yankees.
I do not think Smoltz will be a starter. He will be a reliever unless Penny gets hurt and if Penny gets hurt before Smoltz is okay then call up Clay and have Masterson start.
It looks like you have ended up with part of the Dodgers pitching team ie Penny and Saito. I was very sad to lose Takashi. He was one of my favorites. Please be good to him. Penny just seemed to alienate himself from the team. We have Mann. What are your thoughts about him. I know most Red Sox fans are very down on him and we Dodger fans are having a love affair with him.
oops. sorry. Typo. It should be that we have Manny.
Who the heck is going to touch that pitching staff…OMG!! Red Sox Nation definitely has it going on right about now.
Good luck this season!
BoSox/Brewers 2009 World Series…how about it?
All I got to say is it's going to be a hell of an interesting season in the AL East. The arms in each of our teams are sure to make the rivalry step up a notch. I'm loving it. Can't wait to start this thing. =)
– V [ http://flairforthedramatic.mlblogs.com ]
Remember Smoltz was very effective out of the Braves Bullpen before returning to a SP role. He can close, and I'd trust him to close before Saito. Saito lost a little bit last season (age finally catching up with him) and spent time on the DL. Broxton took over as Closer.
But Saito certainly has closer experience should the need arise.
And don't be surprised if Boston trades a P during the season especially if Penny is effective early.
Staffs with deep pitching rosters go far into the postseason. I picked Boston because of this pitching to win the AL East for 2009. All I want now is to play ball!
Elizabeth, very solid breakdown of the pitching staff. You are right, Beckett was playing catch-up all year last year, and I think he will be a Cy Young favorite with 20+ wins. Lester will be fine, if he stays healthy, and he should. He will develop nicely, picking up on his past two years. I expect that Buchholz will return from Triple-A to stay very early in the season, and can be part of a 6-man rotation, or spot start when Wake or Penny needs a day off (or if Dice-K walks too many!)
What interests me is Smoltz. I have had the privilege of watching Smoltz with the Braves since before you and Bob (bigpapi72) were born (and yes, it was a privilege!).This is the first singificant injury he has had, and he should be fine come May/June. I would not be surprised if he were to return to a CLOSER'S role on days when Pap needs a day off, or if his arm needs rest/gets injured. Smoltz was as effective as a reliever as he was a starter, and I would not be surprised if he were to do so again–and see if he isn't effective again! My two cents! GO SOX!
That was a really good breakdown of your team's pitching staff. You guys certainly are an elite team and will give us a run for our money this season! Also, I think Jon Lester is going to be an absolute ace, one of the true elites in the league eventually. Hopefully that won't happen this year though!
Hey, what's up! I am commenting to invite you to a content I am starting for the 2009 MLB season. It's going to be a pick 'em contest. Every Friday all us bloggers who are competing will make our picks for the slate of MLB games, and we'll keep running totals and see who comes out on top. Should be fun, it's only once a week so it shouldn't be hard to keep up, let me know if you're interested!
Elizabeth, I like your approach to predictions (I feel the same way as you). I think I was talking to someone just yesterday about that, and there is nothing you can say or do that would change my mind and vice versa. Today, all teams are 0-0 and everyone has a chance. Let's take the magic of Opening Day for what it is. Great breakdown on the Red Sox!
I saw Buckholz in Spring Training and he was very impressive. Think you are going to see great thinsg from him!
The Red Sox have a great pitching staff this year. They have the ability to plug in players and not miss a beat. The rotation is 7-8 deep,and the bullpen is going to be nasty when Bard joins the club later on. The Catchers will do a phenomenal job with the staff,and I look forward to seeing plenty of gems this year! Can't wait for your thoughts on the positional players.
With warm regards,
all those twitters were bogus. not sure about jim rice at ask14, may be legit but i don't care about that one. of the others, justin morneau's is operated by a fan club, it's not him either. so debunking basically all u posted. thanks – mark http://mlblogs.mlblogs.com
Hey there. I'm sure you watched much more of the Sox at Spring Training then I did, is there a reason to think Dice is going to cut back on the walks this year? I avoided him in every fantasy draft because of the free passes, now I'm curious if I overreacted.
– Toby
Yeah, the Red Sox pitching staff is deep with some good pitchers. If anyone pitches poorly, they always have someone there to pitch in their place.


text:
SHOREHAM - The Rocky Point man who allegedly drove while on drugs and caused a crash that injured a young mother pleaded not guilty today.
Police say 24-year-old Dennis Karachopan was on heroin when he crossed into oncoming traffic on Route 25A in Shoreham yesterday. His red BMW crashed into a car carrying a 23-year-old mother and her 3-week-old newborn baby.
Officials say the baby was apparently uninjured in the crash, but the mother remains in serious condition at the hospital.
Witnesses at the scene tell News 12 Long Island that they were concerned because the baby remained silent and didn't cry, despite the devastating impact that left both cars virtually unrecognizable.
Witnesses add that Karachopan, who has a previous drug arrest, was recognized by police. They say that responding officers made him get down on his knees and watch as rescue crews worked for more than an hour to remove the young mother from her car.
Karachopan was arraigned today for driving under the influence of drugs, and his bail was set at $10,000. He's due back in court on Wednesday.


text:
My son is almost 2 months old, and for about 2 weeks my breastmilk supply has skyrocketed. I have tried nursing normally (offering one breast each feeding). I've tried block feeding in 3 hour blocks, and nothing seems to be working. I'm waking up in the middle of the night, and the breast he hasn't fed on is completely engorged and hurting. I know repeated engorgement without relief can cause mastitis, and that is why I want to get this under control.
I don't want to pump because it will just exasperate the problem and start a vicious cycle. HELP! I don't know what to do.


text:
23 February 2012
At any rate, the studio executives continue to give new directors a chance to try their stuff, and the latest sample is presently on American soil, though it premiered in Japan in the summer of 2010: The Secret World of Arrietty, an unusually crappy title for a film known in its native country as The Borrower Arrietty. By any name, the film's completion represents the end of a four-decade quest on the part of producer-screenwriter Miyazaki to film an animated adaptation of Mary Norton's 1952 children's novel The Borrowers, which has since been turned into a 1973 telefilm, a 1992 television program, and a 1997 feature; I am personally familiar only with the last of these - and I wish I wasn't - so I can't say what seems likely, which is that Ghibli's version of the story is the best; certainly not the truest to the book, which has an irreducible Britishness to it that survives the translation to the Japanese suburbs not one iota, but it's hard to imagine this scenario playing out with more delicacy and care than animator-turned-director Yonebayashi Hiromasa brings to bear. It is fair to admit that Arrietty is pretty darn far from the best of the studio's output, owing mainly to a somewhat less sophisticated narrative - it comes powerfully close to having the kind of straightforward comic villain that Ghibli is so very good at avoiding - and partially to a significantly less complex visual style than the great majority of their films. It's also fair to say that if there's a more sensible and appealing movie "for kids" that has all the right kind of sweetness and intelligence to be just as good for adults released in the States this year, I will very likely die of shock.
Arrietty of the title is a 14-year-old girl living with her parents Pod and Homily in a house on the edge of the woods. Not "in", maybe. "Under". This is, you see, a family of borrowers, a race of hominids about three inches tall, who live by snagging odds and ends that the full-sized humans, called "beans", don't need and won't notice if they go missing: a sugar cube here, a sheet of tissue there, and so on. The story kicks off when a young human named Shawn (Sho in the original Japanese version) moves into the house to rest up in preparation for a rather dangerous round of heart surgery; he happens to come along the same day that Arrietty is going on her first borrowing trip, and she manages to get seen. Things unravel steadily but quietly from here: the calculating housekeeper Hara/Haru has been convinced for years that there are little people in the floorboards, and Shawn's awkward attempts to hide them only serve to rouse her suspicions; in addition, the boy's attempts to help tend only to get Pod and especially Homily all the more paranoid than they already are, and the borrower family is forced to confront the horrible question of whether or not it's worth the arduous, dangerous trip to a different human house, where they won't be hunted like rodents.
That conflict, such as it is, opens up during the film's 94 minutes with almost exaggerated slowness; Yonebayashi (doubtlessly taking at least some of his cues from Miyazaki's script - there's a lot of My Neighbor Totoro in Arrietty's DNA) would prefer to linger over moments of peace, particularly the exquisitely restrained development of Arrietty and Shawn's friendship, than emphasise moments of tension, and it's probably not a coincidence that the scenes which generally land the hardest, particularly a sequence involving a murderous crow that feels like it goes on forever, are those which violate this generally aimable spirit. It is, in all ways, a singularly nice movie, legitimately and effectively so; and it's not common at all for niceness to avoid the feeling that it's condescending to us.
The same spirit infuses the visuals, which are far simpler than the films by which Ghibli made its reputation in the West, primarily Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away: the look is deliberately stripped down, "cartoonified", with delicate shading replaced by bold patches of color, and exactingly precise lines dropped in favor a few swift strokes that give us "face" without attending to every crag and wrinkle. If it recalls anything in Ghibli's recent history, it's The Cat Returns, a feeling strengthened by the pride of place given to the film's depiction of Shawn's cat, a round shape in just a few colors that still manages to express with admirable specificity the altogether cat-like emotions of "I want to eat you" and "I am too comfortable not moving to bother with eating you now". And it all takes place against drop-dead gorgeous backgrounds, done up like oil paintings that started off on the road to Impressionism before the painter decided that realism wasn't so bad, after all. Indeed, if the character design and animation are pleasing to the eye but ultimately slight, it's the vivid, evocative backgrounds that give the film the bulk of its visual impact: the borrowers' world is rich and detailed without seemingly blandly "real", and it is a potent reminder of what 2-D animation can achieve, stylistically, that tends to fall flat in fully-rendered CGI. But I surely don't need to bang that drum any more than I have over the years.
I am tempted, in fact, to say that the only place the film genuinely comes up short, rather than being a very effectively anti-ambitious mood piece, is in its American localisation; considering how high the bar Disney and especially John Lasseter have raised the bar for quality dubbing tracks, the U.S. Arrietty is embarrassingly shoddy, with far too many examples of Godzilla-esque "the mouth is moving but the words aren't coming" fuck-ups, and a less-than-inspired batch of voiceovers: Amy Poehler and Will Arnett are fine as Homily and Pod, if wasted, while Carol Burnett's Hara is just a touch too obviously Carol Burnett. And the less said about Disney teen star product Bridgit Mendler's anodyne take on Arrietty, the better (in the UK, they got Saoirse Ronan, lucky British bastards). So it's a bit of a difficult place to be in: the movie is charming and delightful and simple and deeply pleasing, but I would really strongly advise anyone reading this to wait until the DVD comes out, and just watch the Japanese track, the way Disney always makes us do. It'll be worth it, I promise: low-key and all, but Arrietty is a sleepy charmer, from its playful establishing scenes of a microscopic, detailed-packed world, all the way to its hopefully melancholy final moments.
6 comments:
- Sssonic said...
As is often the case, our opinions on the broader film are generally aligned: it's low in ambition but high in realization, wonderfully sweet and moody and calmly quiet in the best way. I do agree Hara is a bit of a flop as villains go, though; we never get much sense of her motive or character beyond "batty" and "old". One need not compare her to other Ghibli antagonists like the magnificently nuanced Lady Eboshi or the fantastically bombastic Yubaba to find her wanting in the extreme, though such a comparison draws that contrast most sharply.
I must, however, respectfully disagree about the American translation. To the extent Hara works at all for me, it is because of Carol Burnett's acting; maybe I'm simply not familiar enough with her work, but the "obvious" element you cite here never came up for me, leaving me instead with a delightfully spry performance. Likewise, I actually really liked Mendler's Arietty; especially early on, her little squeaks and giggles match the character so nicely and helped give the character some of my favorite moments. Arnett and Poehler, meanwhile, seem remarkably comfortable in their roles, despite pretty clearly moving outside of their usual territories. To me, the REAL failure of the voice cast is David Henrie as Shawn; as a friend of mine put it, he sounds like a 30-year old asthma patient rather than a weakly young teenager.
I also think the music simply HAS to be given credit here; the various vocal themes and the gentle, soothing, emotionally atmospheric score really do a lot to reinforce the movie's gentle but introspective feel.
- Tim said...
I can't believe I didn't mention the music! You're absolutely right - it's among the best soundtracks in Ghibli history. And, I have no idea how much this is the English dub, but the sound work was really impeccable.
Seconded on Henrie, who was so uninvolving that I basically forgot about him.
- Chris D said...
I saw it with the British dub. It is not good. Everything is spoken in these terrible, inflectionless breathy whispers and the syncing is atrocious. Furthermore, there is a seemingly endless scene in which Sho vomits exposition not far removed from "ARRIETY, YOU ARE GOING EXTINCT LIKE MANY OTHER EXTINCT SPECIES BECAUSE WE HUMANS ARE UNABLE TO CO-EXIST WITH OUR ENVIRONMENT" over and over with slightly different wording.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. I found it sleepy and mostly charmless for the most part, and I thought that there was more chemistry between Arrietty and Spiller in the precious few scenes he appeared in than her entire relationship with Sho.
Also worth noting: the music in the British dub is comprised almost entirely of insipid pop songs written specifically for the movie, where it exists at all.
I'm definitely going to give it another shot when I can get my hands on a DVD with the original audio track, but my opinion at the moment is fairly negative. I'd sooner watch Earthsea.
- Daniel Silberberg said...
"done up like oil paintings that started off on the road to Impressionism before the painter decided that realism wasn't so bad, after all."
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Superb description of the ineffable quality of Ghibli background paintings that I've never been able to articulate.
- Pan Miluś said...
I found this movie to be incredeble plesant supprise. I love studio Ghibli... A LOT! But there was something about the basic premise I found pretty big step back as far the imagination go. "Tiny people living among us". Sudio that broth us Totoro, Spirited Away and Monanoke is reducing itself to a premise of 80's cartoon!? Seriously!?
But I finally watch in on DVD...
BOY WAS I WRONG! IT'S SUCH A GREAT AND BEAUTYFULL FILM and quickly became one of my personal favorites! GREAT FILM!
- John Smith said...
I really enjoyed taking in the visuals and seeing the physics and engineering of the borrowers' world. It's truly a visual feast.
It's just really strange that the plot basically seems to stop the moment it really gets going. Maybe that's a side effect of the ponderous nature of the movie, but it is jarring to say the least.


text:
Delivery and returns
FREE Collect in store - order online for delivery to your chosen store, collect from 12pm (midday) the next day
What can and can't I collect in store? >
Home delivery - find out more >
- £3.99 Next day home delivery* - NEW now order up until 10pm - find out more >
- £3.50 Standard home delivery** - get your order within 5-7 working days. FREE when you spend over £50 - find out more >
International home delivery - find out more >
- £7.50 International home delivery to Europe - get your order within approx. 7-10 days
- £15 International home delivery to the Rest of the World - get your order within approx. 10-14 days
- Shop on our dedicated websites for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA.
- Collect in store is not available outside the UK
- Service terms and delivery times may be amended during peak periods or sales. Please see our Help section online or ask in store at the Customer Order point for full details.
Returns and refunds
- FREE UK Returns - find out how >
- International returns - find out how >
- Tell me more about the M&S refunds and returns policy >
Terms and Conditions
WEBSITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS - Standard
These website terms and conditions ("Website Terms") apply to your use of the Marks & Spencer website at www.marksandspencer.com (the "Website"). You must read these Website Terms carefully, and we recommend that you print and keep a copy for your future reference. By accessing, browsing, using or registering with the Website, you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to these Website Terms in their entirety. If you do not agree to these Website Terms in their entirety, you must not use this Website.
Privacy Policy
These Website Terms supplement (and are in addition to) the terms of our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect about you when you use the Website, and you can view our Privacy Policy online by clicking here. Please note that when you agree to these Website Terms you shall be deemed also to have read, understood and agreed to our Privacy Policy in its entirety.
Other applicable terms and conditions
If you order a Marks & Spencer product or service through the Website, our General Terms and Conditions of Sale will also apply. Depending on the product or service ordered, our Additional Terms and Conditions of Sale may also apply. You can view our General Terms and Conditions of Sale and our Additional Terms and Conditions of Sale below.
If you are a corporate customer, then our Terms and Conditions of Sale for Corporate Orders may also apply. By ordering a Marks & Spencer product or service through the Website, you shall be deemed also to have read, understood and agreed to our General Terms and Conditions of Sale and (where applicable) our Additional Terms and Conditions of Sale.
Your use of this Website
You must only use this Website for lawful purposes, and you must not use it in a way that infringes the rights of anyone else or that restricts or inhibits anyone else's enjoyment of the Website.
You may use, download and print content on the Website solely for your own personal use or internal business purposes. Other than for your own personal use or internal business purposes, you may not without our prior written consent:
copy, reproduce, use or otherwise deal with any content on the Website;
modify, distribute or re-post any content on the Website for any purpose;
reproduce, crawl, frame, link to or deep-link into this Website on or from any other website;
use the content of the Website for any commercial exploitation whatsoever.
If you are a corporate customer and would like to request permission to use photography or other content from our Business Solutions website for corporate use, please contact our Business Solutions team on 0870 6080505.
More details
Pop these cosy slippers on and give your feet a break.
- Product Shape: Slipper mule
- Fit: Regular fit
- Slip-on
- Flat sole
Care and composition
- Care instructions
- Machine washable even at 30º
- Keep away from fire and flames
Get free Christmas Food Box when you spend £75 on Clothing, Beauty & Home
- Spend £75 in a single transaction on selected Clothing, Beauty and Home and get the Christmas Food Box free
- To redeem the Christmas Food Box with a cocktail, add T631375N into basket
- Or, to redeem the Christmas Food Box with a soft drink, add T631375O into basket
- Offer available from 00:01 1 December 2016 until11:59 9 December 2016
- Offer available at marksandspencer.com,on mobile and in selected UK stores while stocks last
- Offer available on all Clothing, Beauty and Home products including 3 for 2 Mix and Match offer, except all furniture, selected made to measure curtains and Sale
- The Christmas Food Box cannot be purchased as part of the £75 qualifying transaction
- The offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer unless stated
- Full product details on the reverse of the Christmas Food box and online atwww.marksandspencer.com
- Worth value calculated on price per ml/G of standard size product
- One box per transaction
- The qualifying spend cannot include delivery charges
- Subject to availability
- Over 18s only
- Any refunds will take into account this offer.
- This does not affect your statutory rights.
- There is no cash alternative
- Discount will be made at the checkout
Free standard delivery on orders over £50. Conditions apply.
• Free standard home delivery applies within the UK for clothing, home, beauty and wine from www.marksandspencer.com when you spend £50 or more online in a single order delivered to a single address.
• Offer excludes made to measure shirts, furniture and gift cards.
• The basket value is calculated inclusive of any other promotions.