text:
Digital Underground
(Observer Tech Monthly, January 12, 2014)
A mammoth project for the Observer Tech Monthly: we visited six cities around the UK - including Manchester, Belfast, Bristol and Brighton - to take snapshots of the country's growing tech startup scene. In the process, we talked to more than 80 companies, organisations and key industry figures about the pros and cons of starting a tech business in a regional city. Suki Dhanda took the photos.Full text...
PS. The contact page is being amended. To contact me in the meantime, please email k...@k...x.com
A Year in Music
(Observer, December 31, 2013)
The albums I most enjoyed reviewing in 2013 include: Wakin' on a Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile, Monomania by Deerhunter, The Thieves' Banquet by Akala, Immunity by Jon Hopkins, Olympia by Austra, Tales of Us by Goldfrapp, Beautiful Rewind by Four Tet, Matangi by M.I.A., Cupid Deluxe by Blood Orange and Acid Rap by Chance the Rapper. My top 10 albums and tracks of the year can be found in this Guardian round-up, if you dig around a bit.
Land of the Lotus-Eaters
(The National, November 27, 2013)
A culinary journey around north and central Vietnam, written up for the National. (No snakes were eaten in the making of this story.)Full text...
"I like a cinema of walk and gesture"
(Observer, November 24, 2013)
A chat with the very charming director of Sideways and Nebraska, Alexander Payne, about making black-and-white films and putting his home state on the big screen.Full text...
The Night Before Christmas
(Observer Food Monthly, November 22, 2013)
For OFM's Xmas special, I pay tribute to my favourite festive meal (recipe included).Full text...
"I was probably the least criminal driver in Grand Theft Auto"
(Observer Tech Monthly, November 10, 2013)
The comedian Bill Bailey on his wild GTA rampages and falling victim to identity theft on Twitter. An interview for the new Observer Tech Monthly supplement.Full text...
"A Fine Balance"
(Observer, November 3, 2013)
Album-of-the-week review of the new M.I.A. album, which I liked very much.Full text...
"We have to make the best records possible. That's a good reason to be anxious"
(Observer, November 2, 2013)
I went to Los Angeles to meet Vampire Weekend before they played the Hollywood Bowl. Nice guys, not the easiest of interviews...Full text...
Pigs Will Fly
(Observer Food Monthly, October 19, 2013)
As part of OFM's chefs of the decade special, I interviewed Gordon Ramsay and the intrepid Fergus Henderson.Full text...
"I'm interested in groups on the margins"
(Observer, August 4, 2013)
An investigative journalist Katharine Quarmby, who has written a study of Gypsy and Traveller communities in the UK, explains why she was drawn to their lives, history and culture.Full text...
Fillet of Soul
(Observer Food Monthly, July 21, 2013)
A reprise of OFM's "how to" series. This time, I asked experts (including Ollie Dabbous and Tom Kerridge) how to fillet a fish, make incredibly indulgent mashed potatoes, fry chicken in buttermilk and prepare a full English breakfast.Full text...
The World in Black and White
(Observer, June 30, 2013)
The past two years has seen an unprecedented resurgence in black-and-white movies, from The Artist to Ben Wheatley's forthcoming A Field in England and Alexander Payne's Nebraska. So what's the sudden appeal for directors?Full text...
Eat My Fork
(Observer, June 30, 2013)
Some musings on the future of food: edible packaging, augmented-reality kitchens, enhanced rice, and the obligatory observation that we'll all be eating insects in 10 years' time.Full text...
Sit Still for a Minute
(Observer, June 2, 2013)
A fleeting interview with Peaches about her various roles in the forthcoming Meltdown festival, including a performance of Yoko Ono's Cut Piece.Full text...
"It was good to have a painful immersion in capitalism"
(Observer, May 25, 2013)
George Saunders, author of the much-lauded Tenth of December, talked to me about Buddhism and his youthful love of Ayn Rand.Full text...
What does a £2,500 record sound like?
(Observer, May 25, 2013)
Audiophile Pete Hutchison has gone to extraordinary lengths to reissue golden era classical recordings in their purest form. I talked to him about the price of perfection, the "digital con", and the sound of a truly analogue recordingFull text...
Keeping it in the Family
(Observer Food Monthly, May 18, 2013)
For the Observer Food Monthly, I talked to siblings, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, and mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law - in London, Manchester and Cork - about the highs and lows of running a food business together. Pics by Pal Hansen.Full text...
Pulling the Rug
(Observer, May 12, 2013)
The Knife turn my favourite album of the year into a brilliant stage performance with a twist. Reviewed for the Observer New Review.Full text...
(Observer, May 12, 2013)
The skate park beneath London's Southbank centre is under threat of closure. I spent an afternoon at the legendary spot talking to the skaters, BMX-bikers and graffiti writers who bring it alive. Andy Hall took the photos.Full text...
Kevin Parker's Soundtrack
(Observer, April 28, 2013)
The Tame Impala frontman talked me through the records that have influenced his life and music.Full text...
"You need a bit of animosity to get people's backs up"
(Observer, February 3, 2013)
I talked to the brooding UK rapper Devlin about the ups and downs that fed into his second album. For the Observer New Review.Full text...
Talkin' to Who?
(Observer, November 24, 2012)
I talked to some guy - what was his name again? - oh yeah, Bobby De Niro about his great supporting role in the new David O Russell film Silver Linings Playbook. Nice kid...Full text...
Turkey Lyonnaise
(Observer, November 18, 2012)
Claude Bosi - lovely guy, unless you insult his food on Twitter - explained why this most French of Frenchmen likes to cook the most British of dinners - turkey, ham and all the trimmings - on Christmas Day.Full text...
Why, in the 21st century, do a billion people live in poverty?
(Observer, November 18, 2012)
The BBC and 80 other broadcasters around the world are showing eight documentaries about poverty later this month. The series is seriously worth a watch. I put together a couple of features on the documentaries for the Observer, and here I talk to all eight filmmakers about the subjects they tackled, ranging from land grabs in Africa to whether Bono is a good thing. (I also asked a panel of experts what they would do to alleviate poverty.)Full text...
Forgetting About Everything Else
(Observer, November 4, 2012)
Something stopped me short of loving the new Tame Impala album (although Feels Like We Only Go Backwards is one of my tracks of the year). Equally, in concert at the Brixton Academy they were good but not out-of-this-world (except during the encore). I reviewed the gig for the Observer.Full text...
Breaking Down the Door
(Observer, November 4, 2012)
My first two film reviews for the Observer! They're both tiny little short reviews, but still, it was nice of them to ask - and it gave me a good excuse to marvel at The Shining again. The second film was less interesting but still worth a glance.
Young Turks etc
(Observer, October 21, 2012)
For the annual Observer Food Monthly awards, I interviewed the best newcomers, the winners of the best cheap eats award and the best independent local retailers.
James Murphy's "soundtrack of my life"
(Observer, September 30, 2012)
I talked to the former LCD Soundsystem frontman about the Velvet Underground, Bowie and Can, and what made him first want to make music.Full text...
"It feels like being in a bad soap opera"
(Observer, September 23, 2012)
This interview with Juliette Binoche was sprung on me at the last moment, but it was fun - and a little scary. She was promoting the French-language version of Miss Julie she's currently starring in at the Barbican.Full text...
Food Heaven
(The National, September 21, 2012)
We went to San Sebastian for a long weekend in May and ate a cornucopia of mind-blowing food, which I write about in this travel piece for the National. We may never eat that well again.Full text...
"Two years into writing this I felt like it was an utter flop"
(Observer, September 9, 2012)
A pleasant chat with Michael Chabon, Pulitzer prizewinning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Wonder Boys and - most recently - Telegraph Avenue.Full text...
Anna Karenina / Observer
(Observer, September 2, 2012)
I edited a special Observer supplement on Joe Wright's audacious new film (which I liked a lot more than I thought I would) and, here, I talked to key crew members about bringing Wright's singular vision to life.Full supplement...
"Always Moving Forward"
(Observer, August 26, 2012)
An interview with the hyper-prolific (and super-nice) Jessica Chastain for the Observer's Lawless supplement.Full text...
Hebden Bridge Won't Know What Hit It
(Observer, August 26, 2012)
On the phone from a sauna in Sweden, Damon Albarn told me about the brilliantly crackpot train journey he's conceived with his Africa Express associates. A 1970s British Rail diesel train will be carting 80 musicians around the country for a week at the start of September.Full text...
"I feel very, very old-fashioned"
(Observer, August 19, 2012)
Ariel Pink has made one of most confounding and exciting albums of the year so far. I had a fun time interviewing him and his big pink hair-do for the Observer.Full text...
Peeping Toms
(Observer, July 25, 2012)
To tie in with the gargantuan BFI retrospective, the Guardian asked some local film enthusiasts to write about their favourite Hitchcock movie. Here's mine.Full text...
Channel Orange
(Observer, July 15, 2012)
Frank Ocean's brilliant new record is already my favourite album of 2012 but this review of it for the Observer gets off to a grumpy start...Full text...
Coffee and Oysters
(Observer Food Monthly, July 15, 2012)
I contributed to the Observer Food Monthly's series of "how to" guides and asked the experts (among them Fergus Henderson and Hawksmoor honcho Richard Turner) how to perfect the following: coffee, steak, pizza, oysters, window boxes, noodles and bacon sandwiches. Now you know...Full text...
"Writing has to earn people's interest"
(Observer, June 17, 2012)
American author Ben Marcus on the state of experimental fiction and why his new novel The Flame Alphabet tells a very human story.Full text...
"Most French writers are lazy"
(Observer, April 27, 2012)
Laurent Binet, author of the riveting WW2 assassination meta-novel HHhH, loves Bret Easton Ellis (who in turn loves Binet's book) and has issues with fellow French novelists. I had an interesting chat with him for the Observer.Full text...
Lake Koman Ferry
(Observer, April 15, 2012)
Last September, we went to Albania and were totally bowled over. I attempted to capture what was great about one bit of it in this travel piece for the Observer Magazine.Full text...
Rebuilding Hope in Jenin
(Observer, March 25, 2012)
A year ago the Israeli-born director of a tiny theatre in a West Bank refugee camp was gunned down. Now young Palestinians are fighting to save the place where they can voice their anger, frustration and dreams in creative ways... I travelled to Jenin recently to see how the Freedom theatre is coping after the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis. Yousef Eldin took the photos.Full text...
Photo: Yousef Eldin
Abandon All Hope
(Observer, February 19, 2012)
Not sure which I enjoyed more, Shalom Auslander's relentlessly funny new book Hope: A Tragedy or this conversation I had with him last week for the Observer's books pages (particularly the Steven Pinker comments).Full text...
The Murder Rate
(Observer, February 12, 2012)
In contrast to the puppet show I reviewed last month, this homage to Punch and Judy at the Barbican was dark, funny and beautifully crafted.Full text...
Capacity For Restraint
(Observer, February 5, 2012)
An interview with the very measured British actor Hugh Dancy about his role the Sundance-winning cult shocker Martha Marcy May Marlene.Full text...
Into the Zone
(Observer, February 5, 2012)
A review of Geoff Dyer's lively jaunt through Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker.Full text...
No Magic Involved
(Observer, January 15, 2012)
A real odd couple this week. First, an interview with a graduate of MIT's health sciences and technology department who has invented a magic mirror that can take your pulse. Then, a review of a (frankly, not very good) puppet show with its head in a fairy tale.
PS. The contact page is being amended. To contact me in the meantime, please email k...@k...x.com
Small Packages
(Observer, January 15, 2012)
A gig review in which the real star is the venue.Full text...
Album Review Round-up
(Observer, January 8, 2012)
I was lax about rounding up album reviews in 2011 (and in late 2010), so here are some of my reviewing highlights and lowlights of the last 16 months. Among other things, I've appreciated The Low Anthem, DELS, Emika, Tune-Yards, Zomby, The Roots, the latest Wiley (that's him below), Neon Indian and Battles; and been unimpressed by Funeral Party, SuperHeavy and this Michael Jackson cash-in.
My Favourite Film
(Observer, December 12, 2011)
This - ie. choosing and writing about my favourite film for the excellent Guardian series - wasn't easy. But in the end I went for the film that blew my mind into outer space when I was 13. Some commenters quibbled that a film I've watched only twice is a dubious candidate for "favourite ever". Perhaps, but I'm not much of a re-watcher. Too many amazing things yet to be seen! My other favourites include Rear Window (watched three times), l'Avventura (watched once), Chinatown (four times), Blue Velvet (three), Brief Encounter (once), Raising Arizona (seven or eight, all before the age of 20), Chungking Express (one ecstatic viewing at the NFT), Sunset Blvd (twice) and The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (once).Full text...
Arm's Length
(Observer, December 1, 2011)
Laura Marling doesn't trip over herself in a rush to tell you all her deepest darkest secrets, but I did what I could in this Q and A for the Observer.Full text...
Zombie Highbrow
(Observer, November 27, 2011)
Colson Whitehead, MacArthur "genius" grant recipient and Cool Brooklyn Novelist, takes on the (beyond-debased) zombie genre in his latest book Zone One and unleashes something pretty damn good. I talked to him for the Observer.Full text...
Not in the News
(Observer, November 6, 2011)
I talked to Rageh Omaar about modern slavery, the dark side of journalism and why he doesn't miss the three-minute news storyFull text...
Audience Participation
(Guardian, October 16, 2011)
"It's a beautiful sunny day ‒ the last gasp of summer ‒ and in a leafy back garden in north London, Camille is elegantly turning the tables on this interview. I've come to talk to the Parisian singer about her brilliant fourth album Ilo Veyou, on which she does all sorts of clever things with her extraordinarily versatile voice ‒ and yet somehow I have ended up agreeing to sing for her. There is one supremely confident and accomplished vocalist in this garden and, let's be clear, it's not me..."Full text...
"Making this film felt like an exorcism"
(Observer, September 25, 2011)
An Observer Q&A with actor-turned-director Paddy Considine about his (excellent, dark-as-hell) feature debut Tyrannosaur.Full text...
My Favourite Album
(Guardian, September 5, 2011)
Actually, I've no idea what my favourite album of all time is, but I had to come up with an answer for the Guardian music blog and this seemed as good as any.
(Other candidates included Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou: Ethiopia Song/Solo Piano, Genius: Liquid Swords, The Knife: Silent Shout, John Coltrane: A Love Supreme and Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation...)Full text...
Near Misses, Unexpected Hits
(The National, August 27, 2011)
Two recent journeys, written up for the National. An optimistic attempt to get a last-minute table at the World's Best Restaurant ended in failure, but led to some very interesting culinary discoveries and revealed that there's more to Copenhagen than Noma.Full text...
Secondly: a long-dreamt-of trip to a hotel on the rim of a crater lake in western Uganda, and some primatial encounters in the dark of an equatorial rainforest.Full text...
Multiple Choice
(Observer, August 21, 2011)
Two new Q&As for the Observer, one with Jennifer Egan author of A Visit From the Goon Squad, the other with great Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, who stars in John Michael McDonagh's The Guard and is about to direct an adaptation of At Swim-Two-Birds.
Also in this week, a review of Renata Salecl's The Tyranny of Choice.
A Gap in the Clouds
(Observer, July 31, 2011)
I went to Inverness to
work on my tan review Laura Marling for the Observer.
Uganda Mobile
(Observer, July 24, 2011)
Photographer extraordinaire Yousef Eldin and I travelled to east Africa a few weeks back to report on some ingenious ways that mobile phones are being used to tackle social issues in Uganda and to forge a new enterprise culture among the country's poorest. One of the most fascinating features I've worked on in a while, it took us to some unexpected places...Full text...
Photo: Yousef Eldin
Alter Ego
(Observer, July 24, 2011)
Anna Calvi's debut album, nominated last week for a Mercury prize, is big, bold and passionate, taking inspiration from Italian opera, flamenco music and suchlike. In contrast, Calvi was small-voiced and shy when I talked to her on the phone last Wednesday for an Observer Q&A, but she had interesting things to say about how her work relies on just such a juxtaposition of strength and vulnerability - plus a few words on her encounters with Karl Lagerfeld and Brian Eno.Full text...
Speak More Languages
(Observer, June 12, 2011)
Neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok tells me why I shouldn't have let my polyglot tendencies lapse miserably after high school. Being bilingual keeps your brain healthy - and can stave off the effects of Alzheimer's.Full text...
With A Little Help
(Observer, June 5, 2011)
I travelled west to assist the folk-electronic duo Lamb with some heavy-lifting. Then I talk to them about the leap of faith that led to their forthcoming album. The interview came out a few days later in the Observer.Full text...
Long Fuse
(Observer, May 22, 2011)
For some reason I got it into my head, before I met her at a restaurant in north London last Saturday, that Ms Dynamite was going to be a difficult interviewee. I couldn't have been more wrong. I came away really liking her, and it probably shows in this long-ish Observer profile - the lead piece in the New Review's music special - which investigates what she's been up to since she "disappeared" from music in 2005.Full text...
Keeping It Minimal
(Observer, May 15, 2011)
Everything Everything are notorious for throwing everything into their music but their rather underwhelming live show, reviewed here for the Observer, is an exception.Full text...
Biggest Don't Mean Best
(Observer, May 1, 2011)
A contribution to the Observer New Review's regular "10" series: the 10 best British indie record labels (to coincide with the release of a new film about Creation Records). Expect a howl of comments decrying various unforgivable omissions. Apologies to Bella Union, in particular.Full text...
Life in the Old Dog
(Observer, Apr 24, 2011)
"Age discrimination in the media doesn't stop with humans. Our collective obsession with youth extends to the animal world. Considering how much of the internet is given over to the extreme cuteness of kittens, how often do you click on images of elderly cats or glaucomic dogs at the tail end of their lives? How many ad campaigns show us horses past their prime or birds in their twilight years? Not often, and probably none."
An appreciation of Isa Leshko's wonderful photo series Elderly Animals, in the Observer.Full text...
Ceret to Girona
(The National, Apr 15, 2011)
An account of travelling through Catalonia (French as well as Spanish) last autumn and the eating done along the way. Catalan food is extraordinary and most of the delights are relatively cheap and simple. The highlight of the trip, however, was a visit to El Celler de Can Roca, a neither-cheap-nor-simple restaurant in Girona which - for what it's worth - has just been voted second-best in the world in the latest Restaurant Magazine poll.Full text...
All This Support
(Observer, Apr 3, 2011)
Fifty years ago, the Observer played a key role in setting up Amnesty International, the influential human rights charity. As part of a special issue of New Review this weekend, I talk to three people who, with the help of Amnesty, were released from prisons in Burma, Malawi and the American sector of Cuba.Full text...
"A Catalogue of Terrifying Lurches From One Catastrophe to Another"
(Observer, Mar 27, 2011)
Hopefully not an allusion to my new role as editor of the Discover section of the Observer, but rather to the sky-scraping adventures of Auguste Piccard, the original mad scientist whom I write about in the section. Discover covers matters scientific, technological and nature-related, and I'm at the helm for the next few months.Full text...
Shady Business
(Observer, Mar 6, 2011)
How I came to spend a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Morrison's car park (Chiswick branch) being seranaded by a Margate rapper named English Frank - and other stories from the journalistic edge - in this feature on young British entrepreneurs.Full text...
Wounded Rhymer
(Observer, Mar 6, 2011)
I can't say Lykke Li was the most cheerful person I've ever interviewed - she was tired and a bit testy - but I genuinely liked her and her no-bullshit approach. Her new album is good too.Full text...
"Nobody's impressed back home"
(Observer, Feb 13, 2011)
I went to Leeds to talk to Maxine Peake (her off Shameless - and See No Evil, Red Riding, etc) about her lead role in one of several Terrence Rattigan revivals this year, a new production of The Deep Blue Sea at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Was she nice? Yes, very.Full text...
Everything, All the Time
(Observer, Jan 2, 2011)
For an in-depth and extended account of actor James Franco's off-the-scale proactivity, viz his ventures into academia, performance art, literature, film directing, etc etc etc, I refer you to Sam Anderson's highly entertaining profile in New York magazine.
For a review of Franco's intriguing new short-story collection, Palo Alto, here's my two cents in the Observer.Full text...
Legends of the Fall
(The National, Jan 1, 2011)
I had high hopes for my trip to the new, state-of-the-art Freestyle Academy - an indoor training centre for aerial acrobatics on ski, snowboard, skateboard and BMX - in Laax, Switzerland. Find out how those hopes were painfully dashed in my blow-by-blow account for the National.Full text...
Keep it Succinct
(Observer, Dec 19, 2010)
I spent a hell of a long time researching this Observer feature about online shorts. There's a bloat of bad short films out there, but definitely enough good to convince me that the internet is breathing new life into this underappreciated form.
You can watch all my choices over at the Observer website. My favourite is a toss-up between this, this and this.Full text...
The Soul Machine
(Observer, Nov 7, 2010)
"If Cee Lo Green's new solo album sounds calculated to generate hits and appeal to the widest possible audience, at the expense of his usual freewheeling inventiveness, that's because, without any attempt to disguise the fact, it is."
Album of the Week review for the Observer.Full text...
(Guardian Film Season, Oct 22, 2010)
I've contributed a fistful of film write-ups and interviews to the Guardian Film Season, which kicks off this Friday (Sept 24) and continues into October. For the Film-making Guide (FREE! with this Saturday's Guardian), I grilled Shane Meadows, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and legendary film editor Walter Murch about their jobs. Also: a foley artist, a set decorator, a line producer and a casting director. Educational!
My write-ups - for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hidden, Ran, etc etc - will be scattered throughout seven genre handbooks (also FREE! with the Guardian/Observer over the next week or two), ranking the best 25 films in each category.
Update Oct 22 All seven are now available online: romance, crime, comedy, action/war, arthouse, sci-fi/fantasy and horror.
Plus: "the best of the best" is... dot dot dot.
Album Review Round-up
(Observer, Sept 26, 2010)
Recently, I've appreciated the gargantuan Ninja Tune XX compilation, Skream, Wavves, Mount Kimbie and Mountain Man; had reservations about Salem, Robyn, Philip Selway, Klashnekoff, Laurie Anderson and Drake; and been perplexed/bored out of my skull by The Hoosiers, Tired Pony and Jack Johnson.
(Observer, Aug 29, 2010)
A fun Q&A with the Flight of the Conchords legend, who is currently playing an animalistic performance artist in Dinner For Schmucks. (He's the best thing about the film.) The Observer understandably went with the 'I was in a public park replicating gay porn pics in my underpants' sell.Full text...
Prose in Slow Motion
(Observer, August 1, 2010)
"Hello, this is Paul Chowder, and I'm going to try to tell you everything I know." A review of Nicholson Baker's superbrilliant The Anthologist, for the Observer. If you haven't read Baker on Wikipedia, read it here, right now.Full text...
(Observer, Aug 1, 2010)
A short and surreal encounter with the popstar Sophie Ellis Bextor at her OTT pop-up soiree venue, for the Observer.Full text...
Plus and Minus
(Observer, July 25, 2010)
Two London theatre reviews for the Observer, one enthusiastic, one not so enthusiastic.
Rock'n'Roll Behaviour
(Observer, July 11, 2010)
Martina Topley Bird for the Observer New Review.Full text...
(The National, June 25, 2010)
I went to the Mediterranean island of Stromboli for The National, to witness its short-fuse volcano. It displays its temper, blasting fire and ash hundreds of feet into the sky, every seven or eight minutes. I was very happy to discover that one of my favourite films, L'Avventura, was filmed nearby, on Lisca Bianca.Full text...
(Times, May 1, 2010)
Ben Machell and I profiled 40 top bloggers for the Times Saturday Magazine. My personal favourites include this and this and this.Full text...
No Excuses
(The National, April 30, 2010)
Another seasonal round-up of travel ideas - movies, football, jazz, Easter Island solar eclipse - for The National.Read more...
(My guide for spring can be found here.)
Cinema Interlude
I've been toiling over a screenplay. This would explain the occasional gaps in journalistic output. Screenplay details to follow.
Album Review Round-up
(Observer, May 2, 2009)
May 2: Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Polydor) 9/10
April 25: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way (Daptone) 7/10
April 18: Cypress Hill - Rise Up (Parlophone) 3/10
April 11: Harper Simon - Harper Simon (PIAS) 5/10
April 4: We Have Band - WHB (Naive) 5/10
March 28: Wooden Shjips - Vol 2 (Sick Thirst) 6/10
March 21: Mary J Blige - Stronger With Each Tear (Polydor) 4/10
March 7: Boyzone - Brother (Polydor) 3/10
February 28: Ringo Starr - Y Not (Commercial Marketing) 2/10
January 10: Lawrence Arabia - Chant Darling (Bella Union) 6/10
Cosmic Forbearance
(Shortlist, February 26, 2010)
A Dude-centric interview with Jeff Bridges for Shortlist magazine. Laid-back? Naturally. Likeable? Extremely. Bridges was promoting Crazy Heart, which may finally win him an Oscar, but he didn't mind when the conversation drifted, inevitably, Dude-wards.
Update: He won!!Full text...
The Maestro
(Thought Catalog, February 8, 2010)
Gonzales - genius key-tickler, perennial prankster - interviewed for new NY-based online magazine Thought Catalog.
"Chilly Gonzales takes the stage at the Pigalle Club, a Forties-style dinner and cabaret spot in London's West End (circular tables, low ceilings, regular intervals of green velvet), and assumes his place at the piano. He is wearing a brown knee-length silk robe with matching trousers and a pair of generously cushioned slippers. His hands are encased in pristine white gloves. With shadowy deep-set eyes and slicked back hair, he is the very image of the brooding piano maestro..."Full text...
Mea Culpa
(Observer, December 22, 2009)
At the end of every year, as a guilt-assuaging measure (and to quicken the December doldrums), Observer writers eulogise albums that went unreviewed in the paper in the preceding 12 months. This beautiful, unsettling record was my choice for 2009.Full text...
Other agreeable releases of 2009:
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Martyn - Great Lengths
Sonic Youth - The Eternal
The xx - xx
Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do
Micachu - Jewellery
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
And the first majorly agreeable release of 2010:Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer
Observer Film Magazine
(Observer Film Magazine, December 6, 2009)
Jacques Audiard is director of Read My Lips and The Beat that My Heart Skipped. His new film is the truly brilliant A Prophet, his best yet, and the unimpeachably cool Audiard is the cover star of the latest Observer Film Magazine. Elsewhere, we've asked six respected authors, including Geoff Dyer and Jonathan Coe, to write in defense of underappreciated or forgotten films. We republish Martin Amis's notorious 1979 interview with Roman Polanski. I interrogate the expanded best film category in the 2010 Oscars and talk to author and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo about the films of her life. And more besides.Read the magazine here...
Album Review Round-up
(Observer, December 20, 2009)
December 20: Lucas Renney - Strange Glory (Brille) 8/10
December 13: Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom (Sony) 4/10
November 29: Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew - Tricky Meets South Rakkas Crew (Domino) 5/10
November 15: Shirley Bassey - The Performance (Polydor) 5/10
November 15: N-Dubz - Against All Odds (UMTV) 5/10
November 1: Bon Jovi - The Circle (Mercury) 4/10
Light and Dark
(Observer, December 6, 2009)
Jesca Hoop at the Slaughtered Lamb.
"This sense of play, which also permeates her music, has darker undertones. She tells a story about giving her Mormon mother a pot-smoking lesson over the phone, and the story makes us laugh, but it happened because her mother was dying of cancer and needed pain relief. The conversation, their last, it transpired, led her to write the extraordinary "Whispering Light", from her current second album Hunting My Dress..."Full text...
Fun Machine
(Observer, November 22, 2009)
"According to their Wikipedia profile, the Low Anthem use no fewer than 32 instruments in creating their desolate, often beautiful folk-rock, showcased recently on their second album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. These range from guitar, upright bass and clarinet, to Tibetan singing bowl, tongue drum and fun machine. Whatever a fun machine is, there are none on clear display at the Rhode Island trio's packed-out London show, but no one could accuse the band of skimping on the instrument budget..."Full text...
Making a Killing
(Observer, November 8, 2009)
"When it was released in 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a stunningly rendered first-person shooter video game, sold two million copies in the US in its first month. The sequel, which comes out here on Tuesday, has already received 2.4m pre-orders in the US alone and is expected to become the fastest selling video game of all time, and perhaps even the biggest."Read more...
(Observer, November 1, 2009)
The stars of the Irish film Once, whose lives imitated art when they became a couple for real and then quietly split up, have returned with a new album. Life post-Once, they told me, involves playing spaghetti sticks with Ringo Starr.Read more...
Album Review Round-up
(Observer, October 25, 2009)
October 25: Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (Polydor) 3/10
October 18: Mr Hudson - Straight No Chaser (Mercury) 6/10
October 11: Echo and the Bunnymen - The Fountain (Ocean Rain) 4/10
September 27: J Tillman - Year in the Kingdom (Bella Union) 6/10
September 27: Girls - Album (Fantasy Trashcan) 7/10
September 20: Basement Jaxx - Scars (XL) 7/10
Further Afield
(The National, October 10, 2009)
The National is a fine newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates and online here. They asked me to write a series of travel recommendations for the winter ahead. I happily obliged.Read more...
The Best Things to Eat in the World, and Where to Eat Them
(Observer Food Monthly, September 13, 2009)
"From cake, steak and tapas, to oysters, chicken and burgers, Killian Fox roamed the world to find the 50 best things to eat and the best places to eat them in, with a little help from professionals like Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray."
Permit your mouth to commence watering... now.Full text...
Observer Album of the Week
(Observer, September 13, 2009)
Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3 (Atlantic)
"Following the patchy Kingdom Come and even patchier American Gangster, pundits have questioned whether a 39-year-old businessman can still prove his relevance, let alone supremacy, in a genre that demands freshness (and from which he tried to retire in 2003)..."Full text...
Album Reviews
(Observer, September 13, 2009)
Observer album reviews - monthly update.
September 13: Amanda Blank - I Love You (Downtown) 4/10
September 6: Taken By Trees - East of Eden (Rough Trade) 8/10
August 30: Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend (Cooperative) 4/10
August 23: David Guetta - One Love (EMI) 4/10
August 16: Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure (Polydor) 5/10
August 16: Tinchy Stryder - Catch 22 (Island) 6/10
Future Filmmaking
(Observer Film Magazine, August 30, 2009)
In the latest Observer Film Magazine, I write about the big challenges facing the next generation of British filmmakers. And I talk to four emerging talents responding to these challenges in resourceful ways.Read more...
A still from Zam Salim's 10-minute film Laid Off
Observer Film Magazine
(Observer Film Magazine, August 30, 2009)
A British film special this month in the Observer Film Magazine, which I co-edit. Jason Solomons writes about the current state of British cinema. I look ahead to the next generation. And we look back over the past 25 years, listing the 25 best British films since 1984 as voted by Ben Kingsley, Kevin Macdonald, Sam Taylor-Wood, Peter Morgan, Irvine Welsh and many others. What is number one?Read the magazine here...
Palace of the Winds
(Observer, August 9, 2009)
In June, I went to Korcula, an island on Croatia's Dalmatian coast, and spent a weekend in a restored 18th-century bishop's palace in the old town. They treated me like a high-ranking church official and I ate like an Illyrian pirate after an unholy rampage.Read more...
Album Reviews
(Observer, August 9, 2009)
Observer album reviews - monthly update.
August 9: Tommy Sparks - Tommy Sparks (Island) 2/10
August 2: Juice Aleem - Jerusalaam Come (Big Dada) 6/10
July 26: Melanie Fiona - The Bridge (Island) 3/10
July 19: Clark - Totems Flare (Warp) 7/10
July 12: Malcolm Middleton - Waxing Gibbous (Full Time Hobby) 5/10
Shredding With a Smile
(Observer, July 26, 2009)
Marnie Stern wins over the Luminaire
"A couple of songs into the London leg of her European tour, Marnie Stern observes that she's wearing the same red nail-polish as her bass player. It's a girlie moment at odds with the sounds her fingertips have been coercing from the strings of her guitar: great blocks of noise chiselled into jagged pop hooks and interspersed with Van Halen-esque fretboard tapping..."Full text...
Zowie Bowie Comes of Age
(Observer, July 19, 2009)
"Many fathers are eager to hand the family business down to their sons and Duncan Jones's dad was no exception. He wanted his son to become a rock star, or a musician of some description, but instead Jones has grown up to be a film director and his highly accomplished - and perfectly timed - debut feature, Moon, went on general release on Friday..."Full text...
Future Primitive
(Observer, July 19, 2009)
Fever Ray terrorise London.
"If you listen to too many songs involving Karin Dreijer Andersson, you may begin to imagine yourself lost in a dark Swedish forest. The music she makes with her brother Olof as the Knife is pristinely synthetic, yet the images it conjures up are of primitive nature, harsh and cold and thoroughly Scandinavian..."Full text...
Album Reviews
(Observer, July 5, 2009)
Observer album reviews - monthly update.
July 5: Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do (Cooperative/Downtown) 7/10
June 28: The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (Bella Union) 5/10
June 21: Jack Penate - Everything Is New (XL) 7/10
June 14: Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey) 7/10
Barcelona! Sonar! Deadmau5!
(Observer, June 28, 2009)
"The most spectacular audiovisual assault came right at the end and involved an oversized mouse mask with an illuminated red mouth..."Full text...
Observer Film Quarterly
(Observer, June 21, 2009)
The cover star this issue is Emily Blunt. Amy Raphael visits the set of the upcoming Harry Potter movie. Andrew Roberts talks about Room at the Top and "kitchen sink" dramas. Vanessa Thorpe explores the fantastic BFI archive. I write about great movie venues worldwide, David Bowie's sci-fi loving son Duncan Jones, and the Mexico train drama Sin Nombre, plus I talk to Dave Eggers about the films of his life.Peruse it here...
Sir Anthony Caro at 85
(Observer Magazine, June 21, 2009)
From an Observer Magazine special on ageing."The overwhelming impression you get upon entering the studio in Camden, north London, where Sir Anthony Caro has worked for 40 years, is of physicality and weight. Great battered sheets of rusting metal are stacked outside in the courtyard, surrounded by girders and heavy machine parts. Inside the large, noisy workshop, Caro's small team of assistants takes on hulking artworks with hammers and angle-grinders. But at 85, is Caro - one of the most influential sculptors in modern times - still able to engage with his pieces physically? ..." Full text...
Ronan Bennett on Public Enemies
(Observer, June 21, 2009)
A quick chat with the Belfast-born novelist and screenwriter about writing a John Dillinger screenplay for Michael Mann - and how his time in prison fed into the movie. Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp, is out on July 1.Full text...
Album Reviews
(Observer, June 7, 2009)
I haven't been posting the weekly album reviews I write for the Observer on this site, so here's a quick catch-up, going back a month or two and beginning with last Sunday's thoughts on the new Sonic Youth album. I'll collate them monthly from now on. And for the hell of it, I'll break with Observer Review tradition by awarding marks out of 10. (Warning: I'm going to rate quite ruthlessly.)
June 7: Sonic Youth - The Eternal (Matador) 9/10
May 31: Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy (Big Dada) 4/10
May 24: Toddla T - Skanky Skanky (Sony) 6/10
May 17: Passion Pit - Manners (Columbia) 6/10
May 10: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (Reprise) 2/10
May 3: Peaches - I Feel Cream (XL) 7/10
April 26: Golden Silvers - True Romance (XL) 6/10
Observer Film Quarterly
(Observer, March 22, 2009)
The latest edition of The Observer Film Quarterly, which I co-edit, features an interview with Vincent Cassel, Armando Iannucci on his unholily hilarious In The Loop, and an astute assessment of Richard Curtis by Tim Adams. And much more besides.Peruse it here...
(Observer, February 22, 2009)
"If you see men and women dashing through the streets at night pursued by sinister, black-clad figures, or a cluster of people receiving instructions from GPS-enabled phones, chances are you've witnessed an example of the recent theatrical phenomenon 'pervasive gaming'."Full text...
Holler, Stomp, Ramble
(Observer, January 25, 2009)
To tie in with BBC Four's Folk America season, the Barbican laid on two nights of music featuring American folk types - aptly enough - and hosted by Seasick Steve and Billy Bragg. Here's a review of the first night, which showcased this particularly wonderful performer (who, now that I think about it, was inappropriately un-American):"You get the impression that he is so completely immersed in the era of the earliest folk recordings that his shambling, clattering sound is a default setting, not an artistic choice. Hearing Stoneking perform live is, somehow, like listening to an old 78 recovered from a dusty attic in New Orleans..." Full text...
Frost/Nixon Supplement in Observer
(Observer, January 18, 2009)
Frost/Nixon hits the cinemas next Friday. A 120-minute movie about two men talking politics in a room, directed by Ron Howard, does not come laden with thrill potential, but it's unexpectedly entertaining, and gripping, thanks in no small part to screenwriter Peter Morgan who adapted it from his stage play (and wrote Longford, one of my favourite-ever TV films). This eight-page Observer pull-out, which I co-edited, covers the film and the events surrounding the famous 1977 interviews during which David Frost managed to cajole an apology out of Richard Nixon for the Watergate debacle.Site...
New Girls OTB
(Observer, January 11, 2009)
The Observer profiles six emerging female pop conquerors who will be laying waste to 2009, including the thoughtful, talented and really very nice VV Brown."In an age of prefabricated pop stars, VV Brown is a refreshing anomaly. Tall and strikingly beautiful with a vibrant voice and an attitude to match, she looks like the product of a major-label wish fulfilment session, but there is more to the 24-year-old from Northampton than meets the eye..." Full text...
Interview with Animal Collective
(Guardian Film & Music, January 9, 2009)
"When Animal Collective were ready to make a new record at the beginning of last year, they decided to up sticks and head south. The four members of the band, originally from Baltimore, who make music that resists almost every effort at categorisation (experimental psych-rock? postmodern pastoral pop?), had "lagoony, beachy" images in mind for their eighth studio album, so it made sense to trade the coats and mittens in for shorts, shades and suntan lotion. The plan didn't quite work out..."Full text...
Observer Miscellanea
(Observer, January 4, 2009)
A quick review of Benjamin Markovits's beautifully written A Quiet Adjustment, which looks at Byron (and his sister) through the eyes of his beleaguered wife, Annabella.
As part of Review's 2009 hotlist, an interview with the affable Cornwall-born, Becks Futures prize-winning artist Matt Stokes, who discusses his attraction to offbeat musical subcultures (Lake District cave ravers, Texan punks). If you're in London, go see his show at 176 in Camden from February 26.
Dark Skies
(Observer, December 21, 2008)
A wet, cold, dark, but oddly enjoyable trip to Northumberland for the Observer to gaze at dislocated lights, rustic observatories and, in spite of meteorological interference, the great fabric above.
"It's as we are trotting down the steep far side of the hill that the mist suddenly clears and - at long last - we are afforded an unexpectedly perfect view of the heavens. I let out a whoop..."Full text...
Photo: Amit Lennon
Uns(tr)ung Acts
(Observer, December 21, 2008)
Albums that slipped below the Observer radar in 2008, including...
"In the past 12 months he [Bradford Cox] has delivered three albums that deserve to be considered among the year's best. His solo Atlas Sound project reached us in May, wafting out of the speakers like a haunted dream. Two Deerhunter records, Microcastle and full 'bonus' album Weird Era Cont, followed in October. They were less ethereal, more grounded in crunchy guitar riffs and achingly gorgeous pop melodies..."
Other agreeable releases of 2008:
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
White Denim - Workout Holiday
Diplo vs Santogold - Top Rankin'
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior
Nico Muhly - Mothertongue
Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
Nick Cave - Dig Lazarus Dig!!!
Neon Neon - Stainless Style
And the first majorly agreeable release of 2009:Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Great Scott
(Observer, November 16, 2008)
"It's been 30 years since Scott Walker last played a full live concert..."Full text...
On the Chilli Trail in Assam, India
(Times, November 15, 2008)
"There is nothing at all serene about the bhut jolokia, the hottest chilli on earth. It registers an incredible 1,041,427 on the Scoville Heat Unit scale, more than double the score of the previous world record-holder (the red savina habanero). It is 200 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. And yet, when you bite into a bhut jolokia, there is no pain at first, only a smoky flavour with an intense, apple-like sweetness. Then, after about 20 seconds, all hell breaks loose. I know this because I was foolish enough to try one."Full text...
The Greatest Films Never Made
(Observer, November 2, 2008)
"Floods put a stop to Terry Gilliam's pet project; Stanley Kubrick's studio pulled the plug on his; Orson Welles ran out of funds. Some of the greatest directors laboured over films that ultimately never saw the light of day. Killian Fox rounds up the potential classics that fell foul of fate."Full text...
"We used to smile, but not now. They use smiles to bury you."
(Observer, September 14, 2008)
An interview with art-rock heroes, and album-of-the-year deliverers, TV On The Radio.
"'The loose idea was that we wanted to make a dance record,' says Tunde Adebimpe, the band's towering lead vocalist who has a habit of raising his fist to the gods when he sings as if testifying to some formidable higher truth. 'At our gigs in the States we can get a lot of crossed-arm starers when we're playing. So we thought it would be nice to come up with something that made it a little more difficult for people to just stand there.'"Full text...
"I liked it so much I bought the restaurant"
(Observer Food Monthly, August 17, 2008)
"Morgan Freeman wanted a decent place to eat in his home town; Sebastian Junger needed a quiet bar for a Monday night book club and Norman Cook loved his local Japanese so much he worked in the kitchen. But do other A-list investors really eat in their own gaffs?"Full text...
Sea-Kayaking off the Coast of South Wales
(Observer, August 10, 2008)
"At the far tip of Black Scar, a rock that looks like the skeleton of a battleship rising from the sea, we catch sight of a seal. He vanishes as soon as I spot him, then rises to take a closer look, peering at us through large, curious eyes as we drift by. I paddle back to the mainland feeling immensely pleased by this brief connection..."Full text...
Glitter and Doom
(Observer, August 3, 2008)
Tom Waits in concert at the Edinburgh Playhouse. "He teeters and sways alarmingly. Legs shoot out at right angles, hands grasp at empty air. At one point, his entire body leans so far over to the left it looks as if he's struck a drunkard's deal with gravity to remain upright whatever the cost..."Full text...
Scalpel-sharp and Dark as Blood
(Observer, August 3, 2008)
The first of a number of reports from the Edinburgh Fringe. "Flashes of grim humour riddle the play like light through bullet holes. Riding in the Buick Electra that shuttles the young narrator towards disaster is 'like lounging. There's this sense that platters of food will be served.' A garden gnome 'looks as if he's suffering from some sort of gastro-intestinal disorder'..."Full text...
"I have no idea how I'm still alive"
(Guardian, April 29, 2008)
"In late November 2004, Pat Dollard, a Hollywood talent agent whose biggest client was the director Steven Soderbergh, dropped everything, picked up a video camera, and went to Iraq. The 40-year-old, who was suffering a drug-fuelled breakdown following the collapse of his fourth marriage, had never been near a war zone in his life. After a brief stopover in Baghdad, he embedded at Camp Kalsu, a US Marine Corps base in an area known as the Triangle of Death."Full text...
Pat Dollard, centre
The Rise of the MP3 Blog
(Observer, April 20, 2008)
"In 2003, a few thoughtful music bloggers decided it would be a good idea to complement discussions of songs on their sites with the songs themselves, which readers could download in MP3 format and listen to straight away. Don't just take our word for it, was the attitude - take the music too..."Full text...
"Give me anything and I'll make a beat out of it"
(Observer, April 6, 2008)
Observer piece on prominent producers: Diplo, Danger Mouse, Switch and othersRead...


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Uncharted: Fight for Fortune
UNCHARTED: Fight for Fortune is an action-adventure turn-based card game featuring the heroes and villains from the UNCHARTED universe. Take a look at the new trailer of the game below to give you an idea of how combat works.
If you're stuck in Uncharted: Fight for Fortune, ask your fellow GameFAQs members for help.
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ARCHFASHION curates the best boutiques in Australia.
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All about eve last one in stock sale & clearance items are considered final sale please refer to our shipping & returns policy for details. Frilled crop bikini top with removable cups, clip back, adjustable straps and subtle sweetheart neckline. Also features all about eve logo tag and suits an a to d cup. Fabric: outer 80% nylon & 20% elastane. Lining 100% nylon


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Celebrating 20 years! 95.9 The Hawk is Southern Utah's Classic Rock radio station. Listen to the Rock N' Roll Morning Show weekdays from 6a-10a. Tune your radio in St George, UT to 95.9 fm/ in Cedar City, UT to 95.5 fm.
Great video of a buffalo takin care of *bid-ness! when confronting lion who has just taken down another in the herd.
A new survey came up with the ten most regrettable things people do when they're DRUNK. Just HEARING them will make you never want to drink again.
Def Leppard will take over AXS TV on December 29th, give commentary throughout the day and then end things with the broadcast premiere of "Def Leppard: Viva! Hysteria." The concert includes a full performance of the multi-million-selling album "Hysteria," along with many of the band's greatest hits. Def Leppard members Rick Savage, Joe Elliott, Rick…
Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora opened up on his time with the band and talked about the possibility of playing with the boys again in 2014. He said: "We were the hardest working band in the world, man. You're talking 24/7, and you don't get to come home. I missed so much of my child's life….
It's flu season, but if you want to avoid getting sick, you need to think about some of the RANDOM places germs hang out. Here are five germ magnets to watch out for . . .
A lot of people are worked up about the whole NSA spying thing. But I doubt many people are as angry as THIS guy.


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The Jolie Dilemma: 'We Live in a World Obsessed With Breasts'
Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her chance of cancer, sent shock waves through the media last week. However, a disproportionately high number of Israeli women live with her 'Ashkenazi gene.'
Efrat Roman says she knew "forever" that she was a carrier of the gene - way before she ever underwent any screening, and way before three tumors...
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June 28th, 2008, 8:46 AM
Is it like the must have game so far for Pokemon? I played the first games; I thought they were alright, but they got tedious. So are the new games better? worse? Are they worth picking up?
View Full Version : Is Pkmn Mystery Dungeon 2 worth getting?


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November 5, 2012 — by Ryan Estis
Last week I had the good fortune of delivering a new strategic workshop in collaboration with Don MacPherson of Modern Survey. Don and I examined the future of work and the opportunity that HR professionals have to drive business performance through employee engagement. We leveraged the most current data set from Modern Survey research in …Read More
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Ryan Estis is a Keynote Speaker & Management Consultant blogging about business performance.
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VOAD coordinates response to disasters
Rob Wilkinson, Janesville, is vice chairman of the state VOAD and also is involved in the local chapter. He answered the following questions:
Q: What is VOAD?
A: It is a group of independent organizations that work with Rock County Emergency Management to coordinate the response to disasters. There is a national VOAD, state VOADs and local VOADs.
Q: Is the local VOAD helping with the recent flooding situation in Rock County?
A: Not yet. But VOAD will help if people need assistance recovering from flood damage.
Q: When did the local VOAD organize?
A: It�s been in existence for at least five years.
Q: Why is it important to have a VOAD in this area?
A: So community partners can train, prepare and become acquainted before disaster happens. VOAD also coordinates emergency response to avoid duplication of efforts by various agencies so they are making the best use of their funds.
Q: Can you provide an example of how this works?
A: If the American Red Cross responds to a disaster where families have been displaced from their homes, it could provide the temporary shelter while the Salvation Army furnishes the food. Instead of one agency using all of its money and manpower to do both, the costs and workload is shared.
Q: Did VOAD help August 2007 flood victims?
A: Yes. And Wilkinson has been leading that effort since the federal government declared 14 counties�including Rock, Jefferson, Green, Dane and Columbia counties�disaster areas.
Q: How can people help VOAD?
A: Wilkinson said VOAD needs to grow. And for that to happen, it needs service clubs, businesses and union members to get involved so they can share their expertise in their respective fields, such as fund-raising, donations and skilled trades.
Agencies linked through the Rock County and Stateline Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster are American Red Cross, Caritas, Critical Incident Stress Management/Chaplaincy, Rock County Public Health, ECHO (Everyone Cooperating to Help Others), Edgerton Community Outreach, First Call, Rock County Humane Society, Rock County Emergency Management, Retired & Senior Volunteer Program, Salvation Army, Stateline United Way, United Way of North Rock County, Voluntary Action Center, Volunteer Network.
To connect with Rock County and Stateline Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster, call (608) 752-3100.
VOAD meetings are the second Wednesday of every other month. The next meeting is at 1:30 p.m. March 12 at the Rock County Job Center, 1900 Center Ave., Janesville.
Last updated: 12:52 pm Thursday, December 13, 2012


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A kind act
To the Editor:
On Jan. 2, I took my two dogs on their daily early morning walk. That Monday morning, a Waste Management truck came by. The driver usually gives my dogs biscuits. I was bent down fixing one of the dog's collars, so he threw the biscuits out the window. My shepherd found hers immediately, but my scottie couldn't. He looked at the retreating truck and ran after it as fast as his four little legs would take him. The driver must have seen him in the side mirror. He stopped, got out and gave Robbie (the scottie) a new biscuit.
I don't know the driver's name, but these acts of kindness have brought joy to my dogs and happiness to me.
He's more of what the world needs more than ever.
Janet Luquire
Twain Harte


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The Coalition Government has set up a number of websites, including Spending Challenge and Your Freedom, to help gather suggestions and ideas from the public on improving the way we work.
PM and Zardari agree to strengthen ties
The Prime Minister and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari have pledged to increase cooperation between the UK and Pakistan on economic development, security and cultural issues.
In a joint statement issued after bilateral talks at Chequers, the PM and President Zardari stressed the importance of ensuring a "strong, stable, secure and economically prosperous Pakistan" and of tackling security issues at both the global and regional levels. The Prime Minister also acknowledged the sacrifices made by Pakistani military and enforcement agencies in combating extremism.
Read more: PM and Zardari agree to strengthen ties


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Tonawanda Lutherans leave church after rift
Former members of a Lutheran church in the Town of Tonawanda at odds with their denomination over Biblical interpretations and other cultural differences – including sexual orientation and abortion – left their Eggert Road building earlier this month in favor of worshipping in their pastor's living room.
After a September vote, more than 120 members of Augustana Lutheran Church broke from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after services on Oct. 6 and renamed their congregation Church of the Apostles, Lutheran, according to former Augustana pastor Rev. Troy Mulvaine, who has been holding services in the living room of his South Lawn Court home in the town.
It's the latest of several area congregations breaking with national denominations, including an Episcopal church that relocated to a former synagogue on Eggert.
"The reason we left is that our bishop told us that we don't know what the scriptures really say," said Mulvaine, who was Augustana's pastor for 10 years.
Specifically, Mulvaine said he objected to the church allowing unbaptized people to receive Holy Communion, to church health insurance paying for abortion and to changes in the worship book that eliminated references to "Father."
Upstate New York Synod Bishop Marie Jerge disputed Mulvaine's claims as false allegations and "issues of perception." She said the Evangelical Lutheran Church – while taking the Scriptures seriously – does not consider them the "inherent word of God," which some groups disagree with.
"We don't believe that any human being can fully understand all the depths that God has in mind in one single interpretation, so sometimes there are different approaches," she said. "And they didn't like that."
Divisiveness leading up to such splits has not been uncommon recently in churches where liberal and conservative ideologies clash over hot-button social issues.
Most notably, the rector and most of the members of the former St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Parish on Brighton Road at Fries Road across from Kenmore East High School, once the diocese's largest congregation, broke from the diocese in 2008 and is now known as St. Bartholomew's Anglican Pro-Cathedral. The Brighton Road building now houses the Episcopal diocese offices.
Five churches in Erie and Niagara counties have left the Evangelical Lutheran Church within the last 10 years, leaving 44 in its Niagara Frontier Conference, Jerge said.
"Something's wrong," Mulvaine said. "Something's just not right."
Mulvaine said Augustana members in April initially voted overwhelmingly to leave but that vote was declared unconstitutional by Jerge because she said she wasn't given proper notice.
Another vote was scheduled for three months later. But in the meantime, Mulvaine said a former pastor who now lives in Florida called members individually to urge them to stay with the Evangelical Lutherans. Members who rarely attended services but were in favor of staying with the national denomination were persuaded to turn out for the September vote, Mulvaine said. The breakaway group came up just short of its needed two-thirds majority.
"With all the politicking, we lost by four votes," he said.
Mulvaine said he had promised to leave the congregation if members voted to stay.
"The next day, people start calling me and said, 'Well, we were duped. We were told you weren't going to leave and nothing was going to change,' " said Mulvaine.
Mulvaine said 120 people – some of whom had been life members for 50 or 60 years – resigned from the church with him, and 50 of them sat on folding chairs last Sunday during a service in his living room. It's where they will worship while they search for a permanent home. Jerge said Augustana had the same number of worshippers Sunday.
"The church isn't the building," Mulvaine said. "People didn't think we would really leave. They thought we were too in love with the building."
In another sign of bad blood between the groups, Mulvaine said late last week that while he was expecting a piano tuner, he was visited by a town building inspector tipped off that Mulvaine was planning a large gathering.
"Boy, that's sad," he said of the tipster. "Can't you just let us go?"
Carl Heimiller, the town's supervising building inspector, said town code does not allow homes to be used for worship services. Mulvaine has been issued a violation notice, Heimiller said.
Mulvaine denied receiving any orders to cease holding services in his home and plans to go ahead with Sunday's service. He said he has been looking at properties in the town, including closed schools and funeral homes currently for sale, as a permanent home.
Meanwhile, Augustana's pastoral duties were taken over on Oct. 7 by Pastor John Scarafia, who urged diplomacy and conciliation between the groups.
"We need to be healing," he said. "We need to be rebuilding."
Jerge, who is based in Syracuse, also said she encouraged that approach during visits as the rift widened in recent months.
"I tried to help them to have conversations with each other and not get into shouting matches or calling each other names," she said.
Mulvaine said he was saddened to leave the building where he had overseen $250,000 in upgrades over his 10 years at the helm, including installation of handicap accessibility, air conditioning and an elevator. The new congregation has joined an informal group of Lutheran churches called the North American Lutheran Church, Mulvaine said.
"It was the best 10 years of my life," he said. "That's my family. They've been very, very good to me. But the last few months it got really personal."
Jerge said Augustana will continue on with its ministry under Scarafia's leadership.
"I trust that they are acting on their faith," Jerge said of the splinter group. "But the truth is, people have walked into and out of churches for hundreds of years on matters of belief."
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Awesome selection of quality Superman T-Shirts straight from the Warner Bros. Store.
Superman Name Logo
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The recent grounding of the Ho Tsai No. 18 fishing vessel at Padang Padang has proven an undeniable study in contrast. An idyllic, tropical rendering of all that is good in the natural world has been graffitied with a rusty, fish-killing colossus that has not only made for some interesting photographs, but now threatens serious damage to one of the world's wonderful waves.
View exclusive photos and video from the wreck here.
In the latest update from Bali, Staff Photographer, Jason Childs, reports that the boat has begun leaking oil as many expected, but the surfers haven't halted their enjoyment of the Indonesian jewel.
"Rizal, Benji, and others surfed there, and had to put up with slippery boards from all the oil and diesel in the line up," said Childs. "It's a really sad situation and it appears that the next swell due Monday will probably see the ship break up on the rock and pollute the whole area."
The ship began to wash up on the rocks after a failed attempt by locals to tow the boat further out to sea, and as a large swell begins to fill in, activists embark on a race against the clock to remove the boat from causing any further destruction to the beach.
"Everyone is now preparing for the worst," said Childs. "Today, the tug boat that was meant to come and drag the boat off the reef didn't show for a number of reasons so local fishing boats were coordinated and tried to drag the boat off the reef but they were under powered and the tide was running out so the boat wouldn't budge."
So how has this affected the Rip Curl Pro Search trials? After much speculation, event directors decided to postpone competition.
"The contest has been put on hold for this swell, and they will reevaluate again on Monday for the next big swell," Childs reports. "There is lots of diesel and oil in the lineup at Padang Padang and it's now stretching all the way to Uluwatu this morning. A combination of wind and currents dragged it that way."
A local organization called Role Foundation aims to be in the water at sunrise tomorrow morning to haul the boat off and provide as much relief as possible. Hopefully officials and residents can band together to salvage a paradise lost.


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Like most people, Frank Eberhart soon hopes to see an economic turnaround.
But Eberhart, owner of Marvin Shoe Service, isn't hoping for business to pick up. He'd actually like to get caught up, or get a little closer to it.
As the economy went down, business at the shoe repair shop on downtown Athens' College Square actually picked up.
People are saving their hard-earned dollars by getting old shoes repaired instead of buying new ones. But the enormous popularity of women's boots also has helped, becoming a staple of the shoe shop's business in recent years, Eberhart said. Boot heels often need repair.
Many of the shop's customers are lawyers who work downtown, along with students from the University of Georgia. But the shop also gets shoe repair jobs in the mail from customers residing in Atlanta, Savannah, even as far away as Alaska and Canada. Those customers are often ex-Athenians who have moved away. But Marvin's reputation has spread.
The shop also gets a steady stream of shoes from a Dallas business owner who specializes in recycling very expensive shoes, such as the pair of handmade ostrich hide boots waiting on one of the store's crowded shelves last week.
Whatever the reasons, the mounds of shoes waiting for repair or customer pickup just keep growing little by little.
"We get further and further behind. You could open up another shop in town, and it wouldn't help anything," said Clayton Landrum, a lifelong friend of Eberhart's who works in the shop with him. "The thing of it is, nobody knows how to do it."
A few decades ago, Athens boasted five shoe repair businesses, but now Marvin is one of just two shoe repair shops left, along with Alps Shoe Repair on Baxter Street, another multi-generational family business.
Their main business is what it says on the sign, shoes. They'll attach new heels or soles on a worn pair, for example, or stretch them to fit better or to avoid rubbing a painful bunion, always with an added shine afterward.
But Eberhart, Landrum or part-time worker Stan Thrasher also will re-string baseball gloves, repair bridles and saddles, and replace broken zippers or mend tears in leather jackets. They can make a belt to fit a vintage buckle, or re-attach luggage handles that have popped loose. They'll do what they can to make a puppy-gnawed purse look new again — what they call "dog jobs" are another staple of the business, along with boots.
"Anything in leather, basically, we'll do it," Eberhart said.
They've also learned over the years to work with many of the synthetic materials in modern shoes, some of which have no leather at all in them.
No one seems to know just how long there's been a shoe repair shop at 156 College Ave., but it has been at least 110 years, Eberhart said.
On a wall in the front of the store is a photograph showing what the 100 block of College Avenue looked like in 1902.
In the old photo, the sign over what is now the Marvin storefront says "Blue Ribbon Shoe Shop."
Marvin Eberhart bought the business 35 years ago, intending to call it "Marvin's Shoe Service." But a sign painter left the apostrophe and the "s" off the name, so the family just decided to go with what the sign said, "Marvin Shoe Service," Frank Eberhart said.
• Follow education reporter Lee Shearer at www.facebook.com/LeeShearerABH or https://twitter.com/LeeShearer.


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Every now and then I try not to use a blue nail polish when polishing my nails. That's how I ended up with a nail art featuring a nude base and a stripe of orange. Quite simple, yet a bit more special than just bare nails. Just how I like my nails lately!
Monday, 29 August 2016
Sunday, 21 August 2016
16 in 2016, number three
As you might have already noticed on my Instagram, I've bought new shoes and I absolutely love them. I wore them to a family party last weekend, paired with a dress I rediscovered at the back of my closet. We had so much fun talking with my cousins that we forgot to take a picture of my look. Since I loved my "new" dress so much too, I wore it again the next day. Again, we forgot to take pictures of it. (good blogger over here, yeah...) In the end I got my pictures taken at home, by a friend, right before spending the hot Summer afternoon at a lake. So here you go! :D
Thursday, 18 August 2016
Even though I haven't been blogging a lot lately, I've spent a lot of time on the blog's Instagram. I've been posting a load of pictures from my last outfit (16 in 2016: number two!), but besides that there are also pictures of my everyday life. If you haven't been following me yet, go to @clothesndreams now!
Let's start with some AWESOME news! :D
Monday, 15 August 2016
Life Lately
Life's been quite hectic lately: next to starting a job, I started running again and it became Summer, meaning weekends are jammed with seeing friends and enjoying the sun (if there is any, of course). It's a constant juggling of everything, arriving late to some things or staying late at other things. But hey, with a splash of sunshine, that's exactly how I like it!
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Sky Rewriting the Record Books in 2012
Its been a memorable first half of the 2012 season for the Chicago Sky with many ups and downs, fantastic finishes and record breaking performances.
With the Skys early season success, its no surprise many records have fallen thus far in 2012.
Team Records:
After a 1-1 start, the Sky reeled off six straight wins, a franchise record for most consecutive wins. The previous high was four.
The Skys 7-1 start was easily the best start in team history.
For the first time in franchise history, the Sky recorded back-to-back winning months (2-1 in May and 5-4 in June).
In a June 16 contest at Indiana, the Sky shot 12-13 in the first quarter. The 92.3% shooting was the best shooting percentage ever by the Sky in a quarter and third best in WNBA history.
In a 98-91 overtime win against Tulsa on June 8, the Sky scored a franchise-high 21 points in overtime. In the same overtime period, the Sky made 12 free throws, also a franchise record.
Epiphanny Prince was unbelievable:
In one of the most dominant performances in Sky history, Epiphanny Prince scored 24 of her career-high 33 points in the second half of a dramatic 94-92 overtime comeback win in Atlanta on June 2.
Prince tied Cynthia Coopers WNBA record of three straight 30-point performances when she recorded 31 points against Washington on June 1, 33 points against Atlanta the next night and then followed it up with a 32-point outburst vs. Tulsa on June 8.
She now owns three of the top seven highest scoring performances in team history.
Prince was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week two consecutive weeks in June for her extraordinary play, a franchise first.
Sylvia Fowles was unstoppable:
Fowles began the season by recording eight consecutive double-doubles, tying her own WNBA record from 2011.
She pulled down 21 rebounds on June 8 vs. Tulsa, tying her career-high and a Sky franchise record, which she set during the 2010 season.
She had another huge night with 19 rebounds on June 2 at Atlanta. She now owns five of the top six rebounding performances in Sky history and 10 of the top 12.
With five offensive rebounds at New York on June 10, Fowles became the Skys all-time leader in offensive rebounds, passing Candice Dupree (287).
With four blocks at home against Washington on June 1, Fowles moved past Chasity Melvin to #16 on the all-time block list in WNBA history.
For her outstanding play, Fowles was recognized as the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in May by the WNBA.
Swin Cash Reached New Milestones
With a block in the season opener at Washington on May 19, Cash recorded her 200th career block. She is the 21st player in the history of the WNBA to reach that milestone.
On June 2, Swin Cash became the 16th player in WNBA history to record 10,000 minutes in her career.
With Epiphanny Prince, the Skys leading scorer at 22.3 points per game, expected to return to the hardwood for the second half of the season, many other notable records could fall:
Racking up the Points: Despite missing Prince for eight games, the Sky are still on pace to challenge the 2,586 total points the team scored during the 2010 season.
Sharpshooters: So far in 2012 the Sky are shooting .440 from the field, two percentage points ahead of 2011, when the team shot an all-time franchise best .438 from the field.
Making em Count: With 795 career field goals made, Fowles is just 14 shy of becoming the Skys all-time leader.
All-Time High: Fowles is 52 points away from becoming the Skys all-time points leader.
1,000 Point Club (Part 1): Prince has scored 999 career points and looks to become the fifth player in Sky history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
1,000 Point Club (Part 2): Tamera Young is only 34 points away from becoming the fifth player in Sky history to score 1,000 points (unless Prince gets there first).
Most Free Throws: Fowles is only two made free throws away from becoming the Skys all-time leader in yet another category.
Money from the Charity Stripe: With ten made free throws, Cash would become the eighth player in WNBA history to reach 1,200 made free throws.
Triple Threats: The Sky are on pace to set a new team record for 3-point field goals made as they are on pace to convert on 204. The team record of 186 was set in 2007.
Three-Point Royalty: Prince has made 29 3-point field goals in 2012. Despite missing eight games, if she continues at her blistering pace, she would own the top spot in Sky history for most 3-pointers made in a season. Stacey Dales set the record in 2007 with 68 made. Additionally, with 103 career 3-pointers, Prince is nine away from passing Erin Thorn for second most in team history.
Rebounding Advantage
Controlling the Boards: Led by Sylvia Fowles, the Sky are on pace to obliterate the teams current record of 1,165 total rebounds in a season. Averaging almost 37 rebounds per game, the team is on pace for 1,254 rebounds in 2012.
Limiting the Second Chances: Through the first 17 games of the season, the Sky have pulled down 441 defensive rebounds and are on pace for 882, which would be a new
Owning the Glass: In 2011, Fowles reeled in a Sky record 100 offensive rebounds. Through the first 17 games of the 2012 campaign, Fowles already has 70. Were she to finish with 140, it would be the fourth highest total in WNBA history.
Getting Defensive: With 140 defensive rebounds in 2012, Fowles is on pace to break the Skys all-time defensive rebound number. Should she reach 280, she would break Lisa Leslies all-time WNBA mark of 276 set in 2004.
All-time Best Rebounder: Averaging 12.4 rebounds per game (and projected to reach 421 total boards on the season), Fowles is expected to top Tina Charles WNBA records in average 11.7 and total rebounds of 398 set in 2010.
Double-Double Machine: With 14 double-doubles on the season, Fowles is only ten short of breaking Connecticut Suns Tina Charles WNBA record set in 2011 of 23 double-doubles in a season.
Elusive company: Cash needs only 34 rebounds to become the 14th player in WNBA history to reach 2,000 career rebounds.
Rebounding wins games: Ruth Riley needs 38 rebounds to reach 1,600 total rebounds in her career.
A League of Her Own: Ticha Penicheiro is 25 rebounds short of reaching 1,500 career rebounds. She will become the only player in WNBA history to record 1,500 points, rebounds and assists in her career.
Somebody call 911: The 2010 Sky set a team record with 284 steals in a single season. Led by Princes 2.0 steals per game, the 2012 Sky team looks to surpass that as they are on pace for nearly 300 thefts.
S.W.A.T.: Riley is four swats shy of joining the 500-block club in the WNBA. She currently is sixth on the WNBA all-time list.
The Most Dimes Ever: The WNBAs all-time leader in assists, Ticha Penicheiro, is 22 assists away from becoming the first WNBA player to reach the 2,600 assist plateau.
No Sophomore Slump: Last year, Vandersloot fished out 127 assists, a Sky franchise record. In 2012, she already has 83 assists and should crush that mark.
Longevity and Consistency
Most Sky Minutes Ever: Fowles has played 3,959 minutes in a Sky jersey and if she continues to play big minutes, she could pass Jia Perkinss 4,553 to become #1 all-time for the Sky.
Starting on the right foot: Fowles is nine starts away from starting the most games for the Sky in franchise history.
Most Games Played: Penicheiro is eight games shy of reach 451, where she would become the WNBAs all-time leader in games played.
While the Sky have a chance to set many records, the most important record is still reaching the WNBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Chicago begins the second half of their season on August 17 against the reigning Eastern Conference Champions Atlanta Dream. The game is slated for a 7:30 PM start.


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For The Courier
The 18th annual Founder's Day Celebration of the Pink Rose Arts and Civics Federated Club will kick off Black History Month activities. The event will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at New Prospect Baptist Church fellowship hall. Activities include entertainment, music, dinner and door prizes. Tickets are $15 for adults, $7.50 for ages 7-10 and children 6 and younger are admitted free. Proceeds will go toward scholarships the club sponsors.
Nakita Lashaye Green, daughter of Freddie and Lillian Green of Russellville, will be the keynote speaker.
Green was born in Helena and grew up in Russellville. She attended Russellville High School where she was involved in numerous activities including Student Council, band, girls' basketball, and track and field. After high school, she attended Tennessee State University where she participated in Packard Science Institute, TSU's Honor College and Biology Club. She was also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology/Chemistry.
Concerned by the lack of educational opportunities that students were receiving in Nashville, she decided to pursue a master's degree from Tennessee State University. She graduated with a Master of Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2008.
Green is currently an eighth-grade science/physical science instructor at LEAD Academy, a public charter school that serves fifth-through-ninth grade students from some of Nashville's low-income neighborhoods. LEAD Academy's mission statement is "Do 'Whatever It Takes' to graduate 100 percent of our students and send them to a four-year college or university."
Nakita has a sister, Melody Green, and a nephew, Malaki.


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German Neo-Nazis Hold Hitler Youth Camp, French Sell T-shirts
Hitler may have died 63 years ago, but his anti-Semitic propaganda did not go with him to the grave. Last week police in northern Germany raided a neo-Nazi camp attended by children. At the camp, which was modeled after Hitler Youth Summer camps, 39 teenage campers wore uniforms of white T-shirts and black shorts, and studied racist Nazi materials. Following the police raid, the head of the German equivalent to the FBI warned that the German neo-Nazi movement has become increasingly ambitious and violent, marking a change in strategy.
Next door to Germany, French prosecutors have begun investigating Parisian clothing shops accused of selling anti-Semitic T-shirts. Covered in Polish or German, the shirts display slogans used by the Nazis, such as "Jews forbidden from entering the park." Sales people at the stores say they did not understand the inscriptions, but also that the shirts have been very popular with some customers. Let's hope widespread anti-Semitism never goes back in style in Europe.


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Hi bro,
I chance about your site [Implausible Nature], very informative. Thanks!
I came up with a 1750 BT list for an upcoming tournament in Singapore (May), wondering if you are able to offer any advice. I am especially undecided over items in red.
|Implausible Nature
Hi bro,
I chance about your site [Implausible Nature], very informative. Thanks!
I came up with a 1750 BT list for an upcoming tournament in Singapore (May), wondering if you are able to offer any advice. I am especially undecided over items in red.
So its been awhile since my last real post, but such is life sometimes eh? Even so, I've not been sitting around completely idle. Been lurking around B&C primarily, with a few other blogs being on my daily reading list. Kept up with things as best I could, and put in my two cents when it was quick and easy to do so.
In addition to that, I've gotten a few more games down under my belt testing out my Nova Open list. It has netted me several more wins, however, it has also shown me potential issues that I may come across at the event. These are things that need to be addressed before I travel down to Virginia. :)
Okay. Some stuff is going down...
Somewhat dramatic things are happening IRL, not really willing to get into it for the time being...but its what is distracting me from providing content to you.
However, with that being said, I'll do my very best to finish up my article on fixing CC for tomorrow. As well as answering emails by the end of the weekend.
Got some good things on tap (I hope), but I hope you understand that life will always take a front seat to Warhammer. Until next time!
May the Emperor guide you! :)
Back from out of town, I can start posting actively again. While I've been around on various forums and such, I've not been able to sit down at put more thorough articles on a page for ya'll, so I apologize. But that changes today.
First off, I just want to let everyone know that the 2nd installment of Making CC work for the BT article series is coming shortly. Got some good feedback and I want to build on that. However, that is isn't want I'm here to talk about today. It seems that drop pods need to take center stage once again. Prompted by this discussion, I think it'll be good to refresh my position on our drop pods. I'm not going to go into how to play the "Defensive" Drop Pod list, because I've already done an article on that here on Implausible Nature. Nor will the discussion to follow assume that you're using my lists; simply that you're using a full FOC chart when playing an MSU army. In addition, the article does not examine hybrid Drop Pod lists.
Making CC work for the BT
So I've been hearing more and more demands for a CC-oriented army list from me. While I do have several on the website, I'd not consider either of them "ultra-competitive". My mechanized all-comers list is a well balanced list that is built to beat the majority of the armies that it comes across. But it does have some glaring flaws that keeps it from being a tournament list. The other list is my version of the BT heavy mech list. It features two terminator squads in dedicated LRCs, with three crusader squads supporting them. In addition, the list contains three Typhoons to provide long ranged fire support. It's a rock list that will stomp armies not prepared to deal with the onslaught of CC-oriented units bearing down on them. Unfortunately, most balanced tournaments CAN deal with this list. And as such, its effectiveness decreases significantly, especially with the change to our smoke launchers.
** Beware, this is a long one. ;) **
Laeroth's Blog
This blog is not devoted to anything specific. One day it might contain random thoughts about the world or ranting about something, the next day discussing some 40k tactics. More times than not, however, it'll be 40k related. But be aware of this random range of posts! Feel free to comment on anything you see here, provided its on topic. :D
November 2017


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'Organic Lawn Care' started by DeepGreenLawn, Jul 18, 2008.
Give me a hint where to look. I'd love to see it.
Can you view this link? http://www.lawnsite.com/search.php?searchid=4135012
That should contain a few for you to read. At the top of the site is a tab called "search". Click it and put in any word and it will search all threads onsite for anything containing search word.
Hey guys, last as in the latest.
I used a biosludge type compost from a local county municipality that sold it pretty cheap. It was a class A compost so any disease, bacteria, etc was not of concern, however, it did was not consistent in its finishing and I burned a few spots.
I am no longer offering this service due to the labor I had involved with it. I personnaly had a trailer load, wheel barrel, and a rake for this job. I would load the wheel barrel, pour out little piles spaced evenly, and then spread the compost with a rake. It worked well, and smoothly, and the benefits to doing this are still more than obvious. Again, the labor that was involved was OK for the time but I have since grown to a size that it is no longer feasible.
If I were to recommend this practice to anyone else I would suggest using a manufactured compost spreader that can run from about 2-10 thousand dollars. You get what you pay for and different designs of spreaders can be used for different aspects.
For a large, open space, I would go for the broadcast spreader. For smaller, tighter areas, I would recommend a drop spreader. Each has their benefits and down falls.
As far as a compost to use, you will need to find a quality, well screened compost. I have done a few of these topdressings including my own yard. The "Cobbpost" as we call the product I used above, was great in texture, but the base product, and the lack of a consistent product caused me to take it off the list. I have used "store bought" products from local nurseries and have had issues with small wood chips that do not go away except with heavy rains, and if it is anything like my back yard where it pools, then you will likely never be happy.
However, there are some people who have posted here about having high quality products near there locations, so each location may be different. Unfotunately I do not have such a product near me.
The reasons for doing this service are many, but here are a few that I based my applications on.
1. Organic matter, the building blocks, foundation, base, whatever you want to call it, of a proper organic lawn program.
2. Fertilizer, a quality compost is full of nutrients that the lawn can feed off of and depending on the amount applied and the product, can last sometimes a full season.
3. Reduces compaction. We have the infamous "red clay" here in GA and compost is great for breaking it up.
4. The list goes on and on as far as benefits of compost/OM (organic matter) such as drought resistance, disease resistance, etc etc....
The downfalls and problems I came across...
1. You need a high quality product.
2. LABOR intensive, without the proper equipment.
3. Large bulk amounts of material lead to transportation, storage, and application issues.
4. Cost, all that labor adds up and if your charging like you should, it's not cheap for the customer.
Any other questions feel free to ask. I have also used manure from a nearby dairy farm, I personally have had issues there with smell, and possible burning as well. Sometimes you have to work with what you have, if you are doing your own property the smell of some products may not be an issue, if you are doing a customers home... then you not only have to take them into consideration but also their neighbors, and my concern was if I have neighbors smelling the crap next door, why would they want to go organic as well?
I have since found a quality 100% organic bagged product that will go through my normal spreader that is OMRI listed, not manure based, and does not smell. The cost is about double my synthetic products and therefor the cost to the customer is also higher. We are currently looking for any and every way to lower our costs for the next year to attempt to even out our prices.
Good luck!
Thanks for that, it is most helpful.
I'm not a lawn care company, I make compost and I'm trying to learn more about the mechanics and benefits of topdressing for lawns.
Sure, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. What do you mean by "you make compost?
I compost the yard trimmings for a local town.
Compost windrows
Looks like you have a great handle on the process.
Thx, I grasp the actual composting part and how it can help the soil etc. etc. but I'm NOT a grass person by any stretch of the imagination.
We have constructed some top dressers and I've done a few lawns in town just to see if they worked, how much product they applied, how long it takes, yada yada. Once I get my head wrapped around this subject I hope to be able to converse with people about it with some intelligence rather than baffle them with BS.
It can be complicated. (at least for me) So here I am learning as fast as I can. There are a lot of posts on the subject.
So when topdressing with compost, it does not even out low spots in lawns does it? I take it topsoil must be used for that???
DGL, why not just limit your compost usage to once a year then supplement with your other organic product(s)? This way you reduce your labor costs but still get the benefit of a yearly compost top dress.


text: Hi i got a 2008 prefacelift 8pa 1.9 a3. I installed a new wiper stalk to control trip computer. got the rite part numbers followed this guide http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/58335-ambient-temperature-display.html now my wiper still works but the controls for the trip dont work and neither does the controls to vary the wiper speed slightly (the switch that faces u). Is there coding issues? i did activate the trip on vcds already


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Wayne Rooney [2] is going to decide about his future at Manchester United this week, in another get-together with new Manchester United [3] boss Moyes, after an approach from Arsenal [4] was turned down for the striker.
According to the Mirror, Europa League Winners Chelsea have also been trying to acquire the England player, who is Moyes' top priority in his plans for the next season.
The report said that Moyes, who took over from Alex Ferguson on Monday, has already let Rooney know that he wants him to stay and is going to convince the player about his future by outlining his specific role in the side, in a face-to-face meeting with the striker and his agent, Paul Stretford.
The report also mentioned that the new manager is ready to give Rooney all the assurances he wants, including not being overlooked for big games like he was last season under Alex Ferguson. (ANI [5])
[1] http://www.syndigate.info
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Rooney
[3] http://www.manutd.com/
[4] http://www.arsenal.com
[5] http://www.aninews.in


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Barbara Madsen, chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, will speak about the crisis of sex and labor trafficking at the 2012 Northwest Human Trafficking Summit Oct. 13 at the Westin hotel in Seattle. State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells and former State Rep. Velma Veloria are among other notable Washingtonians who will discuss the policies and laws addressing the human trafficking crisis.
Laurel G. Bellows, president of the American Bar Association, and Chief Justice Madsen will co-chair the summit, and will deliver the keynote remarks at 10:15 a.m. on Oct. 13.
The summit is being co-convened by the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, the Washington state Gender and Justice Commission and the Washington state Minority & Justice Commission, and sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Group Health and Seattle University School of Law. The meeting will include training for legal professionals and service providers on laws regarding trafficking of people; a legal education class on representing unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings; and instruction on understanding cultural sensitivities and working with victims of violence.
The event will conclude with panel discussions that will outline solutions and strategies to address domestic child prostitution, global sex and labor trafficking, and the unmet needs of human trafficking victims.
Conference highlights include:
"Kids in Need of Defense Training" — This session will explore the legal representation of unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings, with an emphasis on visas for human trafficking victims, child victims of crime, abused and abandoned children, and deferred action for childhood arrivals. Speakers include Juliann Bildhauer of Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice; Christina Fiflis, chair of the ABA Commission on Immigration; and Riya Kuo, lawyer for Microsoft Corp.
8 – 10 a.m.
"Cultural Sensitivity and Working with Victims of Violence Training" — Panelists will discuss the effects of surviving violence and will address how to be sensitive to those effects, consider cultural differences, and communicate effectively when interviewing survivors.
Panelists include Gillian Dutton, associate professor of lawyering skills at Seattle University School of Law, and Kathleen Morris, Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network of Seattle's International Rescue Committee.
11 a.m. – noon
"Background on Current Policy Development and Implementation" — Former Washington state Rep. Velma Veloria and Washington state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells will speak about the state's historic role in combating human trafficking and developing laws to criminalize it.
Noon – 12:30 p.m.
There is no charge for media covering this event. For media credentials and more information, please contact Maria Gutierrez at 202-662-1091, email@example.com.


text: I just had a paint job done on my 87' full size Cevy blazer. Acrylic enamel and it came out great. However, they used the same paint on the fiberglass cap as the metal body9I didn't want to pay extra for flat matte paint for top). It is shiny and doesn't look as good as it should on the topper. Would it come out alright if I painted the topper myself using a good quality flat spray paint(acrylic)? Would wait at least a month for the new paint to completely cure and scruff it up some before application.