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By Nick Worth
It seems at times that events in faraway places have little impact on Holbrook, but when it comes to the world of potash mining, that is no longer the case. With the discovery of the potash resources in the Holbrook Basin and the plans to start mining it, Holbrook has now become part of a much bigger picture in the global potash markets.
Headlines were made in July when the Russian potash producer Uralkali split from its Belarus partners Belaruskali over accusations the latter was selling potash outside their joint agreement.
The result was chaos in the global potash market, as the Russian company Uralkali began offering its potash to China and India, both big consumers of the product, at extremely low prices.
"What you had was, essentially, a loose cannon that threatened to damage the global potash market by predatory pricing," said Ken Bond, head of corporate development for Passport Potash. "It was the epitome of predatory pricing."
Bond said Uralkali's split from Belaruskali had a worldwide effect. In Canada, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. announced it would cut about 1,045 jobs because of slow demand from emerging markets. According to Bond, those job cuts were a direct result of the Uralkali pricing practices.
He also remarked that some of the large potash consumers, such as China and India were putting off purchasing the product, playing the Russian and Belarus companies off against each other to see how low the price would go, thus lessening the demand for potash.
Bond said the unstable prices also had an adverse effect on other, smaller potash producers.
"They were trying to push some producers out of the market and guarantee that some projects would not be built," said Bond. He added the Russian company was trying to sew up the China potash market for itself.
"The split has made raising money almost impossible," Bond said. "Investors were scared. They got this deer-in-the-headlights look. If not completely scared off, they were at least frozen."
But several turns of events seem to be bringing some sense of stability to the chaotic situation.
At the end of August Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner was arrested in Minsk on charges of abuse of power and was extradited to Russia in November. Now the company has been bought.
"Uralkali shares have been bought by extremely wealthy oligarchies," said Bond. "There is a new board in place representing the new owners, and indications are they want to put the cartel back together."
The new owners of Uralkali are reportedly ready to rejoin the cartel with Belaruskali. The effect of this is that the cartel, which used to control about 40 percent of world potash exports, will be back in business.
"After the change of owners-shareholders were replaced by Uralchem and interests of Mikhail Prokhorov and Uralkali is ready to restore cooperation with Belaruskali," said Alexander Surikov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus.
In a news conference last Friday, Surikov said Uralkali's leadership had "acted thoughtlessly and did not calculate all the consequences" from the breakup of the potash cartel. He went on to state that both sides were to blame.
"The joint marketing of potash fertilizers should be restored," added Surikov. "Most probably this would happen." Surikov noted that this would be advantageous for both sides.
"That would be good for us," said Bond. "What it's likely to do is take away a lot of the uncertainty that was created when this whole incident started.
"It was the uncertainty in the pricing," Bond continued. "It was disrupting from the perspective that they were doing things just to be destructive. A lot of companies had to take a good hard look at their production. In putting that group back together you have reduced that mechanism."
According to Bond, the change of leadership in the Russian company will have a positive effect worldwide.
"If nothing else it will bring a more unified pricing in the global markets," he said.
By Nick Worth


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What's better to buy House or Condo?
I will tell cheaper...
(0) | asked by: Julie M. | share | 66 months ago | Report
Viewing Answers 1 - 4 of 4
answer by Miekeba Jones | Contact Me
A house would be better, because condo fees can change. A nightmare would be to see your condo fees rise well above the mortgage or to the point that you can no longer afford them. It is always a good idea to attend Home Association meetings to keep an eye on those fees.
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answer by Robert Hefferon | Visit My Website | Contact Me
Depends on what you want to do with it in the future... If your going to start out here and move to a bigger one as your life and finances grow... then maybe we hold the condo and rent it out and let the equity build for the future, not to mention the tax breaks :)
answer by Shelley Propernick | Contact Me
Hello Julie, the answer is a home. Of course you also need to look at your budget to see what you can afford. If you cannot afford a home, then a condo will work. You can use it as a start and purchase a home later.
There are a lot of things to consider when buying a home, whether it's a condo, a townhouse or a single-family home. Condos typically have condo fees associated with them that you need to be aware of and calculate into your monthly payment and affordability. Once you know what you can afford and accurately figure in these fees, then you can decide on a lifestyle basis what is best for you. A good realtor can give you guidance on these things and show you properties that meet your criteria. Then, once you look at condos as well as other homes in the price range that you are comfortable in, you'll be able to decide what you like best. You may want to also ask the agent to give you advice on potential resale value. Although we can't predict the future, we can certainly give you good advice based upon current market conditions. It used to be that condos were not typically as good an investment as other types of homes, but that has certainly changed.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
In a Feb. 10, 2011, letter to the editor, Lance Reynolds, board president of Alzheimer's Services of the East Bay Alameda, comments on the economics of adult day health care.
Adult day care makes sense
ELIMINATING MEDI-CAL payments for Adult Day Health Care will not reduce the California deficit. It will increase it by $51 million, according to The Lewin Group May 2010 study.
The increase could be larger if the organization, on whose board I serve, Alzheimer's Services of the East Bay, is typical. We are a 501(c)(3) charity — yet the state receives our charity.
It costs us $30 a day above the Medi-Cal reimbursement for each of our 100 Medi-Cal clients. That is $3,000 a day we must find from donors.
The state is legally obligated, and federal health-care policy encourages states, to minimize institutional care. Adult Day Health Care, for many working caregivers, avoids committing a demented and chronically ill parent to a nursing home. All Medi-Cal reimbursed clients are nursing home eligible.
If ours opt for nursing homes, the state cost is $3.65 million versus Medi-Cal state reimbursement of $950,000. With 200 Adult Day Health Care organizations in the state, the Lewin $51 million figure seems conservative, particularly when elimination will increase unemployment.
The current Adult Day Health Care Medi-Cal reimbursement program makes sound fiscal sense.
Lance Reynolds
President, Alzheimer's Services of the East Bay Alameda


text:
Free Movement in the European Union
By Morten P. Broberg, Nina Holst-Christensen
The European Court of Justice continues to deliver many important judgments which contribute to the rapid development of EU law. However, it can be difficult to understand the significance of many of these judgments unless they are accompanied by explanatory commentaries. Free Movement in the European Union: Cases, Commentaries and Questions contains over 100 important cases on the topics of freedom of movement of goods, services, persons, and capital. All these cases are accompanied by comments and questions, providing the reader with in-depth knowledge about each of the judgments and their effects. The book has been compiled for use in connection with courses studying the rules of the EU market, but is also recommended reading for those who are interested in obtaining a more informed insight into the Court's practice. This third edition includes specific reference of 12 additional new cases in replacement of 15 cases from the previous edition.
1162 pages
Publication Date: 2/10/2010
Format: Paper


text:
Stefan R.wrote a review of The North Face Apex Bionic Softshell Jacket - Men's on April 17, 2012
Nice jacket!
I got this jacket in two colors, the first as a present for X-mas, and the second from Backcountry... need I say more??? It is very well built, warm enough for fall and early winter by itself, and for colder weather with a good base layer. It sheds water pretty well. No complaints so far!!!


text: Hi, If my wife is claiming disability benifit, (and I am working, we are jointly assessed) can she also claim for the home carers tax credit? The revenue website states the carers income must not exceed €5,080 for the tax year. So if her social welfare income exceeds this does this mean she can't claim?


text:
Edit Article
wikiHow to Be Awesome in Destiny Online (DO)
New to Destiny Online? Just read this and follow the step-by-step instructions and you'll be an expert in no time!
1Download the game. Put in the disc if you have a console version.
2Choose a server. Choose any that you prefer.
3Choose your Guardian. Start off the game by completing the first level on Earth. Play through the early missions on the first two planets. This way, you'll level up quick.
4Go to the Last City. Do various tasks there such as upgrading your character/equipment, picking up bounties, bartering, and socializing with other Guardians.
5Once you are level 10 or higher, join a hut. Try starting a hut with some of your friends, or players that you get along with.
6Practice with different weapons and abilities. Find out what works for you, and keep at it until you have mastered them.
7Light up the Crucible. Put your skills to the test in versus modes. Try out different game modes to raise your level, get more points, unlock new equipment, and improve your playing ability.
8Save up points. Get rid of materials you no longer want or require. Upgrade your inventory as you progress. Make sure you carry powerful weapons in your arsenal at all times. Make sure to carry sufficient ammunition for them as well.
9Keep completing missions and winning matches in the Crucible. After a while your skill should be honed, and your pockets lined with money. Purchase any unlocked goods that can increase your chances of winning.
Community Q&A
Ask a Question
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- Have lots of friends! They may come in useful during critical situations.
- The game can become very addictive.
- Once you level up to level 40, don't think you can do everything in the game because in the Crucible, you can get killed by higher level players. But as you level up, you will become very strong.


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This is a Range Rover that won't go off road but is guaranteed to be the company's most fuel efficient model.
Britain's 4WD specialist has built a new one-wheel-drive mode of transport - a racing bike designed purely for the road.
The concept road bike has been designed by Land Rover as the "ultimate accessory" for the company's smallest model yet, the Evoque that's due in Australia later this year.
The Range Rover bike is constructed predominantly from carbon fibre, with the exotic and lightweight composite material used for the monocoque frame, forks, handlebars and wheel rims.
Drivetrain components comprise a 20-speed 'Ultegra' transmission from Japanese bike components specialist Shimano.
Land Rover says the custom-made wheels are designed for aerodynamic efficiency as well as stability. They're wrapped in triple-density rubber said to offer both durability and strong grip.
Other details include a leather saddle and silicone gel handlebar grip, which match the colour of the bike's frame. Transmission and braking components are finished in black.
The Evoque concept bike is on display at the 2011 Geneva motor show, though Land Rover hasn't confirmed whether it will be built as an accessory for the identically named premium softroader.


text:
The top ten trees of Balboa Park
History, roots, reverence.
Elizabeth Salaam 10:30 a.m., Nov. 22
At this time of year, the pies in Julian are made with fresh apples from Julian orchards. The Julian Pie Company gets its apples from Crown Orchards in the Farmer's Road area north of town. Apple Alley and Mom's get theirs from Apple Lane Orchards across Highway 78 from Julian High School. Apple Lane is owned by Tyler and Janet Johnson, who are new to the apple business. Tyler worked for a telecommunications company in Sorrento Valley before becoming a full-time apple farmer a year ago. Janet was an executive at a credit union in San Diego and still works for them on a partial basis.
"Don and Mary Hall started this business around 1993," says Janet, standing in the open-beam kitchen of her farm house. "He was an engineer for..."
"General Dynamics..." the tanned, curly haired, goateed Tyler interjects.
"They were selling whole apples on site," Janet resumes her story, "and they thought, 'There must be something more we could be doing.' So they went to the pie companies, Mom's and Apple Alley, and said, 'If we could provide you with cored, peeled, sliced apples and delivered them to you, would you be interested? It would save you space and you wouldn't have to have an employee doing it.' These places don't have storage space, so they were having to continuously drive to San Diego or have apples shipped in. But Don, when he built this place, put in two walk-in cold-storage units."
When the pie shops expressed interest, Don Hall bought machines to sort, peel, and slice apples as well as a cider press and installed them all in a barn in the middle of his orchard. In the meantime, the Johnsons, who lived in Jamul, were growing tired of long commutes, and they wanted to raise their two children in a small-town environment.
"So we bought a cabin up here four years ago," Janet continues, "and we never spent a night in it. We finally said, 'The only way we're going to be here is if we just move up here.' So we bought a house and moved here."
For a while, the Johnsons had an even longer commute "down the hill" into work every day. But in 1999, Tyler's Sorrento Valley company went public and stock he had bought at 33 cents a share topped out at $400. "We wanted to use that money to buy a business and get out of what we were doing," he says.
While they were looking, "Our realtor asked us, 'If you had to make a wish list of what you'd like, what would it be?' " Janet recalls. "I answered, 'Oh, a house on a hill, walking distance to town, with a working orchard.' Our realtor said, 'That's almost impossible.' I said, 'Well, if you ever find one, let me know.' Four minutes later, he called, 'You're not going to believe this, but I found you exactly what you asked for.' Don and Mary Hall were almost 70, and they were ready to retire and travel. But they weren't going to sell unless it was to somebody who cared intensely about providing the apple service."
The Johnsons met with the Halls that same day. "He asked us," Janet recalls, " 'If you buy the place, will you promise to keep the apple business going?' We told him, 'We want to buy this place because we want to continue the apple business.' So he sold it to us."
No contracts were signed to that effect. And no contracts with the pie shops were signed over from the Halls to the Johnsons. "There were no contracts," Tyler explains. "It's all on the handshake system."
"The old-timers up here are that way," says 68-year-old Ray Meyer, who has worked 38 years in the local orchards. He's the dean of apple farming in Julian. "Business is done on a handshake. You tell them you'll do something, and they tell you what they'll do, and it all gets done."
Meyer sells his fruit out of a roadside stand along Highway 78 just west of town. He lives in a rented house across the street. He grows apples on four separate orchards in the Julian area -- in the Wynola and Farmer's areas -- none of which he owns. But he doesn't exactly rent them either. "At the end of the year," he explains, "if I make some money, I pay them. It's up to me. It's all handshake agreements."
Though he has no formal leasing agreements with his orchard owners, Meyer says that by maintaining their orchards, he maintains the value of their properties. "See, the critical thing is, if you have an orchard which you neglect and it goes to pot, your land value goes down. The only thing to do then is get a bulldozer in and push it out. But if you maintain it, you're maintaining their land value."
In an average year, Meyer sells around 5000 one-bushel boxes of apples. Each box is 38 to 40 pounds. They sell between $13 and $20 per box, depending on the variety of apple. The higher end of the price spectrum represents what Meyer calls antique apples. "I've got some old varieties that you can't buy in the store," he explains. "I've got Northern Spy that I'm almost sold out of. They're known better on the East Coast; wonderful, tart cooking apple. Some people love to eat them. I've got a few Arkansas black, Mammoth Black Twig, a few Pippins yet. Pippins used to be a big apple, but they're going obsolete now. They used to be the green apple you got in the store. Now Granny Smith is taking over. I've got some Lady apples, which is another antique variety. At first I thought, 'What am I going to do with those Lady apples?' But they sell. They're a little flat apple, a little bigger than a crab apple, kind of bland-sweet. And they keep forever. They're very hard and crisp, and they keep and keep and people love them. People like something different. Hindsight is better than foresight, and, when I look back, I think I should have planted and grafted a lot more of these antique varieties."


text:
Oglethorpe County hit the ground running Friday night and never looked back.
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The Patriots scored on eight out of nine offensive possessions on their way to a 45-14 victory at Athens Christian School.
The Eagles had no answer for Patriots quarterback Ryan Martin, who was 7 of 13 for 193 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Martin's primary target was Rico Barnett, who slipped through the Eagles' secondary for three catches, 126 yards and two touchdowns.
"Our coaching staff really broke it down and told me what to look for," Martin said.
The Patriots (5-4) marched down the field on their first drive of the game, scoring on a 4-yard Chad Chandler run.
Oglethorpe County never relinquished the lead.
Following the opening score, the Patriots regained possession when Rashad Dalton intercepted Chance Thomas' pass with one second remaining in the first quarter.
Two minutes later, the Patriots found the end zone again, as Martin connected with Barnett for a 40-yard touchdown.
With Oglethorpe County in control, the Eagles attempted to battle back on their next possession.
Running back Kel Roberson plowed in from 2 yards out as the Eagles got on the board. With a two-point conversion, Athens Christian (1-6) cut the lead to 14-8 in the second quarter.
That would be as close as Oglethorpe County would allow the Eagles to get, however.
Dalton scampered in from 26 yards out, giving the Patriots all the offense they needed. Clay Gabriel added a 27-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter, giving the Patriots a 24-8 advantage.
Athens Christian showed promise as the second half began, scoring on Jacob Griffith's 12-yard run, bringing the Eagles to 24-14.
The comeback ended when the Patriots scored on their next possession. Martin once again found Barnett for a touchdown.
Oglethorpe County scored three more times in the second half, sealing the victory.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


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Downtown Slaton property owners who want to renovate or change their buildings have new rules to follow.
A new ordinance aiming to restore and protect Slaton's downtown buildings was enacted this week, placing guidelines for all future growth in the town's center.
"We really want to get back to the feeling of being a vibrant downtown," Slaton Mayor Laura Lynn Wilson said during a public hearing Monday to discuss the ordinance.
On Tuesday, the Slaton City Council unanimously approved the Historic Landmark and District Zoning Ordinance.
The original version of the ordinance was made public in March and was created partially to preserve and restore the city's landmark buildings. It also was done to help promote economic growth in the downtown area and prevent buildings from being used simply for storage.
The ordinance also puts restrictions on the colors and styles that downtown businesses can use on their storefronts. Some business owners had expressed concern with the ordinance, saying it gave the city too much control over what business owners could and couldn't do with their own property.
Many business owners are in support of the ordinance.
Terry Melugin owns eight buildings in Slaton's downtown area. Many of Melugin's properties are used for storage. Still, Melugin said he supports the historic preservation ordinance.
"I feel the city is going in the right direction with this ordinance," Melugin said Monday.
A seven-member committee, which includes three downtown business owners, will oversee the implementation of the ordinance.
"The committee is not here to dictate to people, it's here to help people," Wilson said. "This is a living document. It is a document that can be changed if need be."
Existing uses will be allowed to remain, but any property that sells must adhere to the new standards once ownership changes hands.
Shop owners who can't afford to make the proposed changes to meet the requirement of the ordinance can apply for a hardship variance, Wilson said. Eventually, the city hopes to offer one or two grants per year to business owners wanting to improve their buildings.
The city also is considering tax abatements for property owners who spend money to improve their properties.
"We're taking whatever steps we can to show we're partners in this as well," said Roger McKinney, Slaton's city administrator.
To comment on this story:
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© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
Advanced Imaging for Radiotherapy Treatment Planning and Guidance for Low-Intermediate Risk Prostate Cancer (Margin)
This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
University Health Network, Toronto
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First Posted: April 29, 2009
Last Update Posted: November 1, 2016
Princess Margaret Hospital, Canada
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
University Health Network, Toronto
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
No Study Results Posted on ClinicalTrials.gov for this Study
|Study Status:
|This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|September 2017
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|September 2017 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)


text:
A new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII was shown at Square Enix's 1st Production Department Premier press conference in Japan. Opening with its signature "fantasy based on reality" phrase, the trailer highlights Noctis, Stella, gameplay footage, voice acting, and more..
The gameplay specifically included combat scenes involving swords and guns, a scene where Noctis controls a tank-like vehicle, a scene where he climbs into a bipedal robot, another where he fights a massive creature, and another against a group of soldiers.
Both 4Gamer.net and FF-Reunion say the trailer confirms the game as still PlayStation 3-only. We're assuming that means "PS3 Only Worldwide" is written at the end of the trailer, like we've seen in the past.
Thanks, Andriasang.


text:
Elder Scrolls Online - News Roundup
ZeniMaxOnline has two more updates on the website for Elder Scrolls Online. The first update is a new article in their Creating ESO posts this time about crafting.
The Elder Scrolls Online offers you choices at every turn, and the crafting system is no exception. Whether you want to focus on becoming a master crafter or you just want to have a few helpful buffs as you adventure, we have just the right fit for you. Because the system is so diverse, we wanted to share some things you might not know to help get you excited to create your own items, food, potions, and more in ESO.
The final and second update is a new issue of the The Tamriel Chronicle.
We're back with your weekly dose of fan art, fiction, podcasts, and more. ESO fans like you constantly impress us with their creations, and we just have to share! If you like something you see, why not leave a comment for the creator or fansite? We know they'd love to find out what you think.
Information aboutElder Scrolls Online
SP/MP: Single + MP
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: MMORPG
Platform: PC
Release: Released


text:
Release Date: 2012 |
Album Rating: 3.5Surprised this didn't have a review, so thought I would fix that. Anyway, discuss.
Good review. I had listened to the first four EP's album and thought it was alright, I have been meaning to check this out.
I don't really agree with you on the "90 percent of the focus is the message" part though, because a lot of these songs and
even Black Flag and Circle Jerks songs don't really have a "message". I mean, take the song Wasted off Black Flag's first
EP with Morris, I think 90 percent of the focus was just the energy and the "fuck you, this is what I'm doing" aspect. Anyways,
I'm sure you could pick up the lyrics pretty fast by reading them along with the song.
Album Rating: 3.0Good review. Album's pretty good.
Good review. loved first four ep's alot so am most likely going to check this out.
Album Rating: 3.5This nicely sums up how I feel about this record, good job!
to artifitialbox, perhps not 90 per cent of the focus is the message but it´s still a big deal in all true hard core and it´s concept it´s like a message itself and if you don´t get it then maybe you are a hippie.
nice review by the way
by the way i was looking at your pick and confirmed, you are a hippie and should not been hearing to this kind of music unless you want to accept all you know is wrong and your life is a lie, good taste in cars by the way what´s that a plymouth 67?
Album Rating: 2.0I still don't know what to thik of this,
I mean it's cool, but why emulate the 80's?
Digging: Laddio Bolocko - The Life & Times of Laddio Bolocko
For anyone who is interested Guitarist Dmitri Coats has joined a supergroup with Danny Carey from tool and Brent Hinds from Mastodon. http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/02/members-of-tool-and-mastodon-join-forces-for-new-supergroup/
Digging: Disbelief - Disbelief
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Nvidia nForce 780i SLI chipset
PCIe 2.0 and Penryn - bring 'em on
The layout of the Asus is very conventional with the power connectors and six laid-down SATA connectors at the edge of the board. If you use two or three graphics cards then the expansion options vanish as the board will be full of graphics and if you don't want to run SLI then it's hard to see why you'd choose either a 680i or 780i motherboard in the first place.
Considering the high-end nature of the P5N-T Deluxe it's a surprise that you only get four USB ports on the I/O panel however there are two more ports on a bracket and provided you have some front-mounted USB ports on your case then all should be well. The SoundMAX integrated audio with digital outputs is a decent choice but remember, you're supposed to be using this motherboard with up to three graphics cards so the chances of using an X-Fi could be limited.
There are a couple of bits missing that we'd expect to see on a high-end Nvidia board such as Power and Reset micro buttons, a debug display and a second Gigabit LAN port.
3DMark06 Results
Longer bars are better
We tested the two boards with a Core 2 Duo E6750 and 2GB of Kingston DDR2-800 memory with a pair of GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards running on Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. If we had three GTX or Ultra cards you can bet we'd have used them as Asus includes a 3-way SLI bridge in the package but we don't and neither, let's face it, do you.
Crysis Results
Average frame rates
Longer bars are better
In the main we couldn't separate the performance of the two platforms although the 780i SLI leapt ahead in Crysis at a resolution of 1280 x 1024. It's most unlikely this is a direct benefit of the new chipset so for the time being let's call it a quirk of the drivers.
F.E.A.R Extraction Point Results
Average frame rates
Longer bars are better


text:
Image copyright: InConcert35
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You're welcome, Timmie. :))
Loved it. Thanks.
Jill, thank you so much for all the accolades. :))) I'm tickled pink at all the things you liked about the puzzle!!! You're so very welcome, hon. :)))
Thank you, Debs!! :))) So glad you enjoyed the puzzle, hon. You're most welcome. :)))
LOL, Barb. Thank you. Enjoy, hon. :))
Oh, the textures! The three dimensions! The colours! The design! The eye-poppingness! What fun -- thanks again.
Superb mix, and very different. Loved it, thanks so much Robyn : ))
This looks great, Robyn... :) I'm just starting :)


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This sale has ended
Shopping cart (0 item)
Black & White by Noritake
Modern-Meets-Classic Dinnerware
Long favoured by chefs as the canvas for their culinary artforms, white tableware speaks of class, sophistication and timelessness like no other colour. Except maybe, for black. Strikingly modern, black-on-black is next-level in the world of plating. Explore the best of both colours with this curated Black & White Collection by Noritake. Update your dinnerware with fine porcelain and china, tastefully detailed with subtle embellishments, and crafted for any occasion. Pair with stunning stainless steel cutlery and handmade Italian glass for the perfect final touch.
Product added successfully


text:
If Oprah Winfrey endorses it, her fans will buy ...en masse.
The talk show queen featured the Chicago-based online coupon sensation, Groupon, both on her show and on her website.
True to form, Oprah fans flocked to the site in volumes so large it sent the website into shock causing viewers to get "error" messages or slow page loading.
Oprah gave the company a nod on her "Ultimate Favorite Things" show and that was when problems began for Groupon who shortly after tweeted the following from @groupon:
"Hang in there, everyone: big things are afoot at Groupon.com today and we apologize for the site being so slow. We're on it. Updates soon..."
According to a Chicago Tribune report, Groupon confirmed that they were experiencing slowness for users and working to fix the problem as soon as possible.
Today's deal of the day,$25 for $50 at Nordstrom Rack, will be offered all weekend long to make up for the outage according to another tweet by @groupon.
Groupon has the same effect on other businesses who sign up to offer a daily deal through the company. Earlier this year the daily deal led to site problems for Gap.com.


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Dani Leventhal's Sister City.
Video artist Dani Leventhal will be the focus of a special Views from the Avant-Garde event on December 18. The evening will be a celebration of Leventhal receiving the 2013 Kazuko Trust Scholarship Award Grant, presented by the Kazuko Trust and The Film Society in recognition for her excellence with experimental work. The evening will include the premiere of two of her newest works (Sister City, Nikhole), as well as a special teaser for a new work-in-progress (Hard As Opal).
The Kazuko Trust was established upon the death of Kazuko Oshima, a Patron of the Film Society and film aficionado, who was keenly interested in experimental film in particular. It was her wish to contribute to experimental film by awarding the Film Society with a five-year $50K grant ($10,000 a year or $5000 for two filmmakers per annum) for the purpose of creating a "scholarship fund for worthy experimental filmmakers" featured in the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde.
Dani Leventhal's work expresses an "absolute and fearless ongoing effort to connect—in more ways than one," according to Film Society.
"Her videos represent a prolonged and intensive engagement with the world around her. This engagement is deceptively casual at first glance, but Leventhal has an acute eye for striking images that bring her, and by extension the viewer, into close and unflinching contact with her surroundings and the lives of others. Those images are then organized into an unpredictable succession of fleeting glimpses and impressions collected according to what she describes as "an emotional logic," and her distinctive and often startling practice of montage explicitly recapitulates the work of forming connections, linking fugitive moments of tender lyricism and stark reality, candid and sometimes harrowing anecdotes, and attentive close encounters with human and animal life in enchanting conjunctions of disparate sounds and images that form an irresistible stream of consciousness flow."
Nora Coblence, executor of the Kazuko Trust noted: "When the time came to decide where Kazuko's funds should go, the Film Society of Lincoln Center seemed like the ideal choice. She loved film with a passion, always supported the Film Society, and was quite avant garde in so many of her multi-artistic endeavors."
The first two recipients in 2012, Laida Lertxundl and Michael Robinson, each received $5,000 grants during its inaugural year. This year, the committee decided to award Dani Leventhal with a $10,000 grant. The 2013 committee includes Film Comment Editor Gavin Smith, VIEWS curator Mark McElhatten, Nellie Killian of Migrating Forms and BAM and Chris Stults of the Wexner Center.
Screening on December 18 at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center includes:
Platonic (2013, 20:26)
Sister City (2013, 4:39) – (Premiere)
Nikhole (2013, 4min) – (Premiere)
Hard As Opal teaser (2013, 1:22) – (Work in progress)
Draft 9 (2003, 28m)
Tickets are $8 for general public & members. Visit FilmLinc.com for more information.
Leventhal's bio. follows:
Leventhal is an assistant professor of drawing at The Ohio State University. In 2009 she received an MFA in film/video from Bard College. Shehas screened her single-channel videos at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Gene Siskel Film Center, PS1, Cine Cycle, the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Union Docs, the New York Film Festival Views from the Avant Guard and Anthology Film Archives. Leventhal has been the recipient of the Wexner Center Film/Video Residency, the Milton Avery Fine Arts Award and the Astraea Visual Arts Grant. Her drawings are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Yale University.


text:
House of Lords
|Session 1998-99
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament
Arrangement of Clauses (Contents)
|Immigration and Asylum Bill
Make provision about immigration and asylum; to make provision about procedures in connection with marriage on superintendent registrar's certificate; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
Leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom
|Leave to enter.
| 1. In the 1971 Act, after section 3, insert-
|Leave to remain.
| 2. In the 1971 Act, after section 3A, insert-
|Continuation of leave pending decision.
| 3. In the 1971 Act, after section 3B, insert-
|Accommodation for those temporarily admitted or released from detention.
| 4. The Secretary of State may provide, or arrange for the provision of, facilities for the accommodation of persons-
| 5. - (1) The Secretary of State may, with the approval of the Treasury, make regulations prescribing fees to be paid in connection with applications for-
| (2) If a fee prescribed in connection with an application of a particular kind is payable, no such application is to be entertained by the Secretary of State unless the fee has been paid in accordance with the regulations.
| (3) But-
| (4) If no fee is payable in respect of some part of the application, the Secretary of State must entertain that part of the application.
| (5) "Indefinite leave stamp" means a stamp which indicates that the applicant has been granted indefinite leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom.
| (6) "Claim for asylum" has the meaning given in subsection (1) of section 91; and subsection (3) of that section applies for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of Part VI.
| (7) "Dependant" has such meaning as may be prescribed.
|© Parliamentary copyright 1999
|Prepared 22 October 1999


text:
Ferrari does not deserve large penalty, says Hill
8 September 2010 – Damon Hill does not believe that Ferrari should earn a heavy sentence following Wednesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) hearing in Paris, with the opinion of the 1996 World Champion being that the Formula 1 governing body should first tidy up rules surrounding team orders.
However, with it being common knowledge amongst fans and F1 insiders alike that team orders of some degree take place on a regular basis, Hill believes that a strong penalty for Ferrari – which is subject to a docking of championship points or a ban after being found guilty of implying that Felipe Massa should yield to Fernando Alonso in Germany – would be inappropriate.
"Flexing their muscles because they can is not necessarily wise," BRDC Chairman Hill told The Daily Telegraph. "I don't think a punishment that big would fit this particular crime.
"It is an issue which has been creeping up for some time, has not been addressed and I think Ferrari might get off because the rules aren't clear.
"This is where the sport doesn't do itself any favours; it needs a media circus to make the necessary changes - I mean, this is happening four days before the Italian Grand Prix."


text:
A MILITARY judge is set to sentence soldier Bradley Manning for the largest leak of classified information in US history.
Manning, who faces up to 90 years in prison for giving the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks more than 700,000 military and diplomatic documents, is due to be sentenced on Wednesday (0100 AEST Thursday).
Prosecutors have urged the judge to jail the 25-year-old for 60 years, although the defence suggested any prison term shouldn't exceed 25 years, saying the classification of some of the leaked documents expires in 25 years.
Manning leaked documents, including Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department diplomatic cables, while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in early 2010.
Lawyer David Coombs said the soldier had limited life and military experience.
His youthful idealism contributed to his belief that he could change how war was viewed by leaking the secret files, Coombs said.
"He had pure intentions at the time that he committed his offences."
Prosecutors have called Manning an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor, while supporters have hailed him as a whistleblower.
Prosecutors did not say why they were not seeking the maximum punishment for Manning, who was convicted last month of 20 offences, including six violations of the Espionage Act and five counts of stealing protected information.
The government was unable to show that Manning knew the documents would get to al-Qaeda, and Manning has said he only leaked information that he believed would not be harmful.
Manning took the stand last week and apologised for hurting his country, pleading for a chance to go to college and become a productive citizen.
The court was told that Manning felt extreme mental pressure in the military because of his gender-identity disorder during the era when openly gay people were not allowed to serve.
Manning must serve at least one-third of any prison sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
He will get credit for about 3 1/2 years of pretrial confinement, including 112 days for being illegally punished by harsh conditions at a Marine Corps brig.
Originally published as Manning's sentence due on Thursday AEST


text:
Sea Robin Pipeline Company
First Revised Volume No. 1
Contents / Previous / Next / Main Tariff Index
Effective Date: 08/01/1997, Docket: RP97-411-000, Status: Effective
First Revised First Revised Sheet No. 14 First Revised First Revised Sheet No. 14 : Superseded
Superseding: First Revised Sheet No. 14
1.1 DAY - A period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours commencing at
9:00 a.m. Central Clock Time or such other period as the parties may agree upon.
1.2 MONTH - A period of one calendar month commencing at 9:00 a.m.
Central Clock Time on the first day of such month.
1.3 YEAR - A period of three hundred sixty-five (365) consecutive days
commencing and ending at 9:00 a.m. Central Clock Time, provided that any
such year which contains the date of February 29 shall consist of three hundred sixty-six
(366) consecutive days.
1.4 BTU - A British Thermal Unit measured at a pressure of 14.73 pounds per
square inch absolute (psia) at 60 degrees Fahrenheit on a dry basis.
1.5 MMBtu - 1,000,000 Btu's. One MMBtu is equivalent to one dekatherm.
1.6 NATURAL GAS - The term "natural gas" shall mean any mixture of
hydrocarbons or of hydrocarbons and non-combustible gases, in gaseous state, consisting
essentially of methane.
1.7 CUBIC FOOT - The quantity of natural gas necessary to fill a cubic foot
of space at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and at a pressure of 14.73 psia.
1.8 MCF - 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
1.9 AGREEMENT - The term "Agreement" shall mean, as applicable, an ITS
Agreement as defined in Rate Schedule ITS, an FTS Agreement as defined in Rate
Schedule FTS between Transporter and Shipper, an FTS-2 Agreement as defined in
Rate Schedule FTS-2, or a Temporary Capacity Release Agreement as described in
Section 21 herein.
1.10 MDQ - The term "MDQ" shall mean the maximum daily quantity of gas
which Transporter is to receive or deliver at each Receipt or Delivery Point or in the
aggregate, in accordance with the terms of the Agreement.


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Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Kaufman presents a dead bird
Charlie Kaufman can't tell jokes. Well, so what, you might say; according to some, nor could Shakespeare, and what of that? But then, Shakespeare never wrote a play consisting of nothing but jokes.
Of course, Kaufman the writer has been badly let down by Kaufman the director (although no more or less badly than he was let down by Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry, than whom he is at least no less talented) so it's hard to say where exactly the fault lies; but while watching this film one comes to the slow and dazed realisation that what it's attempting is humour.
For example: Caden (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is raging about his daughter's getting a tattoo at an early age. Claire (Michelle Williams) takes off her shirt to reveal that her back is entirely covered by a bright red tattoo of Satan, which she says she got at the same age. Caden, who has been sleeping with Claire for several years: "Well, I've never seen THAT before." It's a joke right out of "The Simpsons"; one can imagine Homer Simpson delivering the same line. The difference is that in "The Simpsons" the line would have been funny, and we wouldn't have blinked, sat in puzzlement through whatever happened next (one ceases to care after a while) and perhaps even made it through the closing credits and out into the street before realising that this line was supposed to be funny. Kaufman presents jokes to us the way a cat might present a dead bird, then stalks off to bask in his own cleverness while we're struggling to work out what our reaction is meant to be.
Not one of Kaufman's jokes, conceits, or visual touches, not the one-liner about the tattoo, not the unexplained Zeppelin that weaves its way through the scale-model New York tenements, not the miniature portraits you need magnifying glasses to see, not the laboured basic premise of the film, has any impact or life. Anyone can come up with these ideas: philosophy postgrad students are already able to generate thought experiments of this kind by the dozen, and often tell them better. And, alas, the film is like conceptual art. Once I tell you what it's about you might as well not bother to watch it. You've already got the gag. And it's not funny.
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967)
There can be little doubt that this is unmitigated tripe.
Okay, not unmitigated. The shot of the swirling coffee was nice to look at.
It's not fair to judge Godard by this one film, but if one were to do so, one would be forced to conclude that he's a charlatan. A real artist wouldn't have to talk our ears off for two solid hours. He talks at us through his characters, through his whispered narration (that guttural whisper is really hard to take after a couple of minutes); and even his incessant cinematic doodling is a kind of pitilessly boring monologue (he'll suddenly turn the soundtrack off not so much for effect as to goddamned well SAY something about cinematic convention I don't know what, exactly; the point he's trying to make is surely a banal one, whatever it is).
Godard is so enamoured of language that not only does he use it blast it at us relentlessly; he has himself and his cast, when they run out of anything else to talk about, which doesn't take long, start talking about language. And what twaddle they talk on the subject! "I suppose these are my eyes. How do I know they're my 'eyes' and not my 'knees'? Because people told me. But what if they hadn't?" That's not really the best example of fatuous nonsense; I remembered those lines among all the others because, silly though they are, they at least made sense: they don't reveal a mind so muddied by bad philosophy that it cannot think at all, which is what most of the rest of the script reveals.
Sleuth (2007)
Pinter-sized remake
Poor Kenneth Branagh an undervalued director if ever there was one is likely to receive far more blame than he deserves for the way this turned out. To be sure, he must have signed off on the tacky, minimalist set design (maybe this would work, or seem to work, if you saw the movie on TV) which in turn forced him into a series of count-the-pores close-ups in order to get away from the bare surfaces and garish lighting. But this set basically echoes, admittedly in the most simple-minded possible way, the minimalist, engineered-rather-than-written screenplay which Harold Pinter manufactured out of Anthony Schaffer's vastly superior original. Schaffer's version was a stage firecracker, and so perhaps if looked at in the cold light of day it is a little mechanical and formulaic; but Pinter's re-working of the material is ten times more mechanical and formulaic; the chief difference is that there's no firecracker: Pinter doesn't want to run the risk of giving us something to enjoy. He seems to think the goal of black comedy is to mortify our flesh and dull our intellect.
Michael Caine is magnificent, but a large part of that magnificence consists in his ability to turn Pinter's stop-and-start dialogue into a performance of any kind, let alone a good one. How hard this task is can be seen by looking at Jude Law, who, without bad acting or any obvious misjudgement, utterly fails to do so.
Inland Empire (2006)
The people who gush over this film are simply not to be taken seriously.
Firstly, it's shot with hand-held digital cameras (not the kind of digital used in, say, the recent Superman, where digital comes close to being a passable substitute for film if you lower you standards only a hair's breadth; rather, it's the kind of lousy, cruddy, mud-o-vision digital which makes you wonder why you bothered walking into the theatre) - with an absurd overuse of fish-eye lenses. And it's not even in focus all the time. I know the out-of-focus shooting was deliberate - well, actually I don't know, but let's suppose it was - but it adds insult to injury: the image definition isn't anywhere near good enough for even a half second's out-of-focus shooting to be endurable.
Why do we stand for this kind of thing? Why don't people who pay good money to see a movie rise up in spontaneous rebellion when they find they've been swindled? It's one of those mysteries of modern life, like the mystery of why all modern buildings are ugly, when we certainly don't have fewer technical resources than our ancestors did when they made buildings that were beautiful.
And secondly, Lynch's latest is about (inasmuch as it's about anything) an actress, and about the production of a film. It's set in Hollywood and most characters are film-makers of one description or another. Does the resulting work consist of tedious, puffed-up, self-referential tomfoolery? Is there any serious doubt? Mulholland Drive was a more lifeless, inferior knock-off of Lost Highway chiefly because it was about Hollywood rather than something external to Hollywood: the most versatile directors in the world have difficulty making films about films without turning out something tiresome and trite, and Lynch, although he has on occasion been a great film-maker, and although he did make The Straight Story, is not renowned for his versatility.
One of the basic plot points is silly. Being based on a Polish folktale does not curse a production. Being set in Hollywood, does.
Lynch usually relies heavily on his is-it-real-or-is-it-a-dream ambiguity, but in this instance, there's nothing else - and the lousy digital images mean that even this stalwart gimmick doesn't stand a chance of working. Obviously, in excrement-brown digital, it's all a dream. Or might as well be. The digital cameras have robbed Lynch of his power to invest mundane items with menace (in digital, the mundane simply looks even more mundane); they've preventing him from using his slow, gliding camera; they've led him into the by now well-known just-let-the-camera-operator-follow-the-actors trap, and encouraged him to be self indulgently profligate in compiling more and still more footage for the thinnest script he has ever worked on.
You don't have to take my word for any of this, or trust my aesthetic subjective sense. Let's suppose for the sake of argument I'm a lousy judge of cinema. Nonetheless, the movie was shot on low-definition, muddy digital video: that's a known fact: look it up. The movie is set entirely in Hollywood and features actors, directors and technicians; again a known fact: look it up. You now know all you need to know to infer that Lynch has laid an egg.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
The most morally reprehensible thing on Australian TV at the moment
I don't really have anything to say; read George Orwell's essay on "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" and discover why it's all been said before, better than I could say it.
Obviously the show is cruddy enough on aesthetic grounds: I don't know whether to blame the wooden acting or the 100%-exposition dialogue, so let's blame both. But people are willing to overlook such things on TV in the interests of fantasy. I am too. What's depressing is that people are willing to overlook the lousiness of the production in the interests of what they're really getting out of the show: the chance to watch the hounds chase the fox for an hour, until the latter collapses of exhaustion.
What's also depressing is that this show is part of a trend. In the past, a leading-up-to-the-trial kind of TV show would have focused on the defence lawyers; it's a shame that we're now getting a kick out of siding with the prosecution, especially when it's this bunch of deeply unpleasant people.
Perry Mason didn't have a mean streak.
The Road to El Dorado (2000)
Undervalued, like all hand-drawn animation
The "banter" between Miguel and Tulio felt very contrived at first, but that soon passed; there were moments of true humour, and the story was a good one. Animated films just aren't treated fairly. This (like its maligned Disney counterparts) was vastly better than the majority of popular Hollywood films, and deep down, we all know it.
Yes, I'm aware of the problems. While the art direction was decent, El Dorado wasn't as fabulous as it might have been; the aspects of the city most likely to give one a pure, adolescent thrill - things like the fantastic and colourful beasts, like the giant turtlish things people used to cross the lake, were neglected. It's not as though we in the audience particularly cared about the gold. (The other problem with the art direction, of course, was the CGI. It usually is.) The songs were a bad idea; note that for the most part, this isn't a musical, but one of those films in which the characters can't be bothered to express their thoughts and feelings by singing for themselves; instead, they get a pop star (Elton John here, Phil Collins in "Tarzan") to do so for them. (The songs are so ineptly worked into the story you'll cringe.) They weren't good songs, either. I'd thought of Tim Rice as being, at worst, workmanlike in his lyrics; here he slips a few notches, to lame.
But it's lush, it moves briskly, there's nothing really wrong with the plot, and the character animation is superb - much better than in "The Prince of Egypt". Note Chel, in particular: I'm glad to see ex-Disney animator James Baxter at work on a really sexy babe. (She has a tendency to waddle - I suspect because Baxter was asked to tone down the heat a little - but that only serves to make her cuter.) Hardly an animated classic, but compare it to - oh, I don't know, the live action "Road to" movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope - and it dazzles. Well, it glows invitingly, at the very least.
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Sorry - this film is disqualified.
If I hadn't had independent evidence to the contrary I would have sworn there was something wrong with the print. Unfortunately, the disgustingly desaturated colours (the kind of colours that look as though they've already passed through someone's digestive system, if you get my drift) were deliberate. Every print looked as hideous as the one I saw; every screening, therefore, was just as much a painful chore to sit through. It would have been far franker - and far kinder to the audience - to shoot in true black and white, rather than in the various shades of pale murkiness one might see in institutional carpets that have fallen into disrepair and haven't been washed since the 1970s. Occasionally, when we leave the island of Iwo Jima, we might see some foliage that you can tell without squinting is green rather than yet another shade of mouldy brown; the cinematography off Iwo Jima is still lousy and the footage still looks like photos that were under-exposed and then left in the sun for a few months, but by this stage we're grateful for the smallest of mercies.
This disqualifies the film from serious consideration as a work of real merit. Nothing this ugly can be worth watching - even if the musical score had been other than thin and banal (it isn't), if the story had been about anything (it isn't), if there'd been a single moment or idea or exchange that had been well conceived or energetic (there isn't), the colours alone ought to be enough to make any self-respecting critic or audience member to say: "Sorry, I'm not interested." The fact that this film had an audience is a sad comment on audiences.
To make my point, Eastwood's companion piece, Letters from Iwo Jima, is in principle a much better film: it isn't a kind of dour flag-waving exercise (people, this film is about a flag! a flag, for Christ's sake! it's not about human beings at all!); there's a genuine story with a central character one could reasonably take an interest in; by taking the viewpoint of the opposing side, Eastwood and Haggis have managed to get some freshness in their conception... but none of this matters: there's the same damned god-awful colour scheme to get past, and it can't be got past.
Why do you think so many people mistook this piece of hothouse patriotism for an anti-American work? A comment on the futility of war, or some such? It certainly can't be the film's content: it's because staring at various subtle shades of pigswill for two hours is enough to put anyone in a miserable mood.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
A film whose many flaws cancel each other out and become positive virtues
I knew I hadn't just bough a cinema ticket when I saw one of the opening ads, in which some second-string Australian celebrities stood in front of the audience to harangue us into reading the New Testament. "It changed my life," each one said in succession. The screen darkened and left me writhing in embarrassment, wondering what kind of naked, bludgeoning propaganda I'd just let myself in for. Would this be like it was sitting through "Triumph of the Will", with the addition of the uncomfortable feeling that some of my fellow audience members might actually be taking it seriously, and lapping it all up?
Then there was a trailer for an upcoming feature, and I relaxed somewhat.
As it happens the film is very much like "Triumph of the Will"; perhaps closer to pure propaganda. Both films are great, in a curious, disturbing way. One key difference is that Leni Riefenstahl was a great director, performing well below her ability in "Triumph of the Will"; with "The Passion" we have a mediocre director performing above his. Gibson didn't really do a good job, objectively speaking, and by rights his film ought to be dreadful. But Gibson's very failings, each individually enough to sink a film, collectively transform his film into something marvellous. This was a complete fluke; but so what? I've recently seen "Cold Mountain", a right shocker of a film even if there was a lot of genuine artistry in its component parts. Why should I be kinder to IT, just because its badness was something of an unfortunate accident? The mirror-image point applies to Gibson's film.
The controversy surrounding the film is pointless and silly but not quite too ludicrous to dismiss out of hand. This is NOT an anti-Semitic film; but it's worthwhile looking into why anyone thought it was. An obvious reason would be the scene early on, in which Jesus is captured and brought before the temple and we see a roomful of jeering, pantomime wicked Jews, not just acting broadly, but acting broadly in unison. The head priest makes some feeble snide comment at Jesus and it's as though everyone else in the room is a puppet controlled by the same set of strings, as they slap their thighs, flail their arms, bend at the waist and contort their faces into unnatural, apelike laughter. This effect is exaggerated by Gibson's two most obvious stylistic devices.
Firstly, his ridiculous overuse of slow motion. How slow is this film? I darted out to urinate at one point, halfway through Jesus's progression up Calvary; when I came back, he'd travelled perhaps three metres. Nobody in this film can be whipped, feel remorse, be inspired, crawl in the dust, laugh, cry, walk across the room or pay thirty pieces of silver without it happening lliiikke tthhiiisss
Secondly, there's the way Gibson uses Aramaic and Latin. You have to applaud his decision to film what is essentially a bilingual story in the correct, original languages. It's obviously the right decision. But this isn't a standard subtitled release. Watch a French film, and you'll see people talking with apparent naturalism in French, with the subtitles doing their best to translate with, inevitably, the odd word left out here and there, or the odd phrase condensed or simplified or simply unavailable for translation. But because this story was So Very Important, Gibson arranged things so that NOTHING was lost in translation. This means that people speak slowly, simply, emphatically, sparsely, as though they know they're acting for our benefit and want to make sure they say nothing that will be lost in translation or fail to be caught by the slower readers in the audience. This strange mode of speaking is unnerving after a while.
The result is, the Jews are like no people on Earth we can recognise. They come across as yet another exotic tribe from the Old Testament, with no obvious connection to anyone living to day; more than that, they aren't even like human beings as we know them. They seem to be aware they're living within the pages of the Bible.
But if this is true of the Jews is this is equally true of the Romans. More so, in fact. Gibson's sadistic, buffoonish, verismo-operatic Roman guards whip and mock Christ as though they've been heartened by the pantomime acting the Jewish extras have managed to get away with and wish to do them one better.
This is all very irritating at first, but the end result is to heighten the atmosphere and set the ground rules for what is, after all, a grand, dark supernatural fantasy. This is where Gibson's narrowness of vision is actually an asset. The story of Christ's sacrifice ON OUR BEHALF is one of the most ridiculous myths ever told. Tell the full story and it's hard to avoid asking questions like: "But why didn't God just repeal the eternal damnation he'd condemned us all to, WITHOUT putting himself through this vicarious torture first? He's omnipotent, right? And what possible connection could his decision to allow himself to be whipped have to his decision not to fry you and I for eternity, anyway?" Gibson vanquishes such awkward questions by simply presenting us the pivotal moment of the Christian myth, in all its gory detail, and letting the rest of the fantasy fall into vague shape by itself.
All that remains to object to is the final insert shot of Christ rising from the dead, as though he's about to stalk the land like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator". But that moment can't erase or negate the strange, seemingly flawed, accidentally magnificent film that precedes it.
Travelling Light (2003)
Pointlessly nasty, or just pointless? Hard to tell, hard to care.
least, she stood out the front bravely enough BEFORE we'd all seen the film, and presumably stuck around for the screening itself, although I don't blame her if she didn't and her mere presence at the screening made me curiously reluctant to say anything bad about her film. But then I come here and read someone actually PRAISING this valueless work and my reluctance vanished.
Barring comments on Sacha Horler's performance, which I suppose is up to her usual high standards (not that that it's easy to tell in a film like this), the nicest thing that can be truthfully said about the film is that it accurately conveys what it was like to live in suburban Adelaide in the 1970s ... to people who lived in suburban Adelaide in the 1970s. And if you think THAT'S an artistic achievement of any worth, you obviously haven't thought very much.
We do manage to gather that suburban Adelaide wasn't a very pleasant place back then. Everything looked sterile, and every single person who ever said anything, said it in the context of a sterile conversation. What it's like to LIVE in this impossibly bleak and mind-numbing environment, it's hard to say; there's nothing human about the film, so watching it gives us no means of telling. What it's like to sit through 88 minutes of flat conversations flatly acted in flatly lit flat settings, though, is obvious enough. It's boring. Or if not boring, AT BEST irksome. It's not as though the individually tedious scenes ever connect with one another, to produce something more than the effect of very many of them in succession.
Hulk (2003)
Lee's one idea that works allows him to ignore everything else that doesn't
There ought be something wrong with the split frames, the panning cuts, the jigsaw-like dissolves and all the tricks Ang Lee uses to keep reminding us that his film was based on a comic book. Bad ideas in principle, no? This may have been a comic book once, but it's a film now; these devices make no more sense than the old Hollywood convention of opening films like "Jane Eyre" with a shot of a big leather book being opened to the first page.
Yet we might as well drop whatever theoretical objections we may have and admit that (Ang) Lee's comic book fixation works for the film, and works well. There's a sense that every frame and every shot neatly and gracefully interlocks with its neighbours. It suits the kind of nothing-but-the-story storytelling that Lee's aiming for and somehow suits the material as well. And, much as I was prepared to hate it, it looks great. There are not only some stunning shots in this movie but they were laid out so as to enable me to best admire them.
A pity the film doesn't get over its main hurdle: the fact that Lee is a gifted, multi-talented director capable of taking almost any subject whatever and making it insipid and boring. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" IN PRINCPLE a thrilling, magical ride used the beauty of its individual shots to make us pretend (it even made me pretend, for a while) that it wasn't completely unengaging and forgettable so much tasteless rice pudding and "Ride with the Devil" managed to be, not just the dullest United States Civil War film ever made, but the dullest it's POSSIBLE to make. If "Hulk" is a better film than either of these it's not because Lee has learned how to make scenes come to life. Performances are somehow flat and pitched poorly against one another, none of the material sings, and if Lee had any idea why all this stuff interested him he didn't succeed in conveying it to me. Much of the film is so much finger-tapping while we wait for the inevitable to happen. When the Hulk REALLY goes berserk it's obvious enough what the solution is: do nothing and wait for him to calm down. This solution not only leaps to the mind of a child of three but it's already been employed in the film by the very members of the military, boneheads though they may be, who are in charge of what to do now so however much fun it might be to watch (FINALLY, after so much exposition!) the Hulk leap around a smash things to bits, it doesn't do much for us, knowing that we're just waiting for the characters to start doing nothing. It's not that this lapse of military intelligence is implausible, you understand. The generals did, after all, have their brains amputated years ago, when they became soldiers. But why should Lee insult us by asking us to think and feel at their level? A really skilled director, like Kubrick, would know that the way to make this extended farce exciting would be to distance us from it, to show it to us from the viewpoint of a god.
But if Lee knew how to make films exciting "Hulk" would be very different in many ways.
And yes, state-of-the-art CGI is still bad. We even get a shot of the Hulk's magically stretchable blue pants during a transformation scene in bright sunlight (somehow devoid of true shadows for anything computer animated), just to rub our noses in them.


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David Dowty
Professor of Linguistics
Classes and meetings:
W 01:30 pm-03:30 pm - MeetingOffice Hours:
T,R 11:30 am-12:20 pm - 795(Lazenby 018)
T,R 01:30 pm - 02:30 pm
By appointment -- call or email to make appointment
Linguistics, 209 Oxley Hall
Ohio State University
1712 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Office phone: 614 292-5400
Semantic and Syntactic Theory
Lexical Semantics and Thematic Roles
Categorial Grammars
Semantics of Tense and Aspect
Resumptive Negation. Arguments about dative alternations; Adjuncts as complements and complements as adjuncts; Conceptions of `compositionality'; Categorial/type-logical grammar and the phenogrammatics/tectogrammatics distinction. The semantic correlates of complement diatheses (`argument alternations'). Lexical semantics and lexical rules in general.
(In syntax, Categorial Grammar and (Type Logical Grammar) as linguistic theories (especially non-constituent coordination, wrapping).
'Resumptive Negation as Assertion Revision' (pdf file) (Draft of 5/26/06 -- please do not cite)
`Compositionality as an Empirical Problem' (.pdf file) Papers from the Brown University Conference on Direct Compositionality (In Press), edited Chris Barker and Polly Jacobson, Oxford University Press
``The Dual Analysis of Adjuncts and Complements in Categorial Grammar'' (pdf), in Modifying Adjuncts, ed. Lang, Maienborn, and Fabricius-Hansen, de Gruyter, 2003 , (Also in ps.gz) (Earlier version published in ZAS Papers in Linguistics 17, 2000)
``The semantic asymmetry of `argument alternations' (and why it matters)'' (pdf), Making Sense: From Lexeme to Discourse, in Groninger Arbeiten zur germanistischen Linguistik Nr. 44, ed. Geart van der Meer and Alice G. B. ter Meulen, Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, Groningen 2001, [Note: this is an abbreviated version of a longer paper in preparation.]
``Non-Constituent Coordination, Wrapping,and Multimodal Categorial Grammars'' (gzipped postscript) (gzipped .dvi)[expanded draft of Aug 96 paper from International Congress of Logic, Methodology, in M. L. Dalla Chiara et al. (eds.) Structures and Norms in Science, 347--368, 1997]
``The Role of Negative Polarity and Concord Marking in Natural Language Reasoning'' (gzipped postscript), SALT IV, 1994.
`` Variable-Free' Syntax, Variable-Binding Syntax, the Natural Deduction Lambek Calculus, and the Crossover Constraint'' (gzipped postscript) [1992 WCCFL]
[with Chris Barker] ``"Nominal thematic proto-roles" 1993 [unpublished draft of an expanded version of "Non-verbal thematic proto-roles," NELS 1992] (gzipped postscript)
``Toward a Minimalist Theory of Syntactic Structure'' (.pdf file), Discontinuous Constituency, ed. Harry Bunt and Arthur van Horck, Mouton (1995) pp.~11-62., [originally presented at the 1989 Tilburg Conference on Syntactic Discontinuity].
"Same and Different: A Response to Stump and Carlson", unpublished talk given at a conference at the University of Texas in 1985.
Thematic Proto-Roles and Argument Selection (.ps) (.pdf)(Prepublication version, superseded by version published in Language 67.3: 547-619 (1990). [also published in Semantics: Critical Concepts, ed. Gutierrez-Rexach, Rutledge, IV:221-244 (2003). )
"Toward a Minimalist Theory of Syntactic Structure" (See publication information above.)
[With William A. Ladusaw] "Toward a Nongrammatical Account of Thematic Roles" Syntax and Semantics vol. 21: Thematic Relations, ed. Culicover and Wilkins, Academic Press, 1988. (o.o.p.)
[With Pauline Jacobson] "Agreement as a Semantic Phenomenon." 1988. Proceedings of Eastern States Conference on Linguistics, Columbus: OSU Dept. of Linguistics. See important note about this paper
The books Word Meaning and Montague Grammar and Introduction to Montague Semantics, originally published in the Kluwer Synthese Language Library are now available in Springer's series Springer Classic Titles in Linguistics
``The Dynamic Adjunct-to-Argument Reanalysis Hypothesis and the Problem of Prepositions'', invited presentation, University of Tuebingen Conference on Recent Developments in Semantics, Blaubeuren, Germany, October 9-16, 1994.
``Argument Alternation and Predicate Semantic Transfer'', invited lecture, the 12th Annual Conference of the Israel Association for Theoretical Linguistics, Hebrew University, June 17-18, 1996, Jerusalem, Israel.
``Argument Alternations, Lexical Polysemy, and Thematic Roles,'' University of Goteborg, May 4, 1998; University of Oslo, May 6, 1998; University of Bergen, May 6, 1998 Abstract (Handout .ps)
``Anaphora and Type Logical Grammar'', Stanford University Linguistics Colloquium, January 19, 1999, (Abstract .ps) (Hdt1.ps, Hdt2.ps, Hdt3.ps)
The Invention of the Trace (1847)


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