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Clinical Study | Open Access
Vivien Narcisa, Dalila Aguilar, Danh V. Nguyen, Luis Campos, Jeffrey Brodovsky, Shana White, Patrick Adams, Flora Tassone, Paul J. Hagerman, Randi J. Hagerman, "A Quantitative Assessment of Tremor and Ataxia in Female FMR1 Premutation Carriers Using CATSYS", Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, vol. 2011, Article ID 484713, 7 pages, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/484713
A Quantitative Assessment of Tremor and Ataxia in Female FMR1 Premutation Carriers Using CATSYS
The fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a relatively common cause of balance problems leading to gait disturbances in older males (40%) with the premutation. FXTAS is less common in females. We utilized the CATSYS system, a quantitative measure of movement, in 23 women with FXTAS (mean age 62.7; SD 12.3), 90 women with the premutation without FXTAS (mean age 52.9; SD 9.4), and 37 controls (mean age 56.53; SD 7.8). CATSYS distinguished differences between carriers with and without FXTAS in postural tremor, postural sway, hand coordination, and reaction time tasks. Differences were also seen between carriers without FXTAS and controls in finger tapping, reaction time, and one postural sway task. However, these differences did not persist after statistical correction for multiple comparisons. Notably, there were no differences across groups in intention tremor. This is likely due to the milder symptoms in females compared to males with FXTAS.
1. Introduction
Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is caused by the premutation (55–200 CGG repeats) of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene. FXTAS is more common in males than in females—among women with the premutation in families with known fragile X syndrome, 8–16% of women over age 50 develop FXTAS. Core symptoms of FXTAS include tremor and ataxia, although the syndrome also includes autonomic dysfunction, neuropathy, psychopathology, executive function deficits, and cognitive decline [1–3]. Individuals with FXTAS often present with balance problems that interfere with ambulation leading to frequent falls. The premutation expansion is associated with elevated FMR1 mRNA that leads to a gain-of-function toxicity in neurons and astrocytes [4–8]. The RNA toxicity causes dysregulation of a number of proteins, including heat shock proteins (e.g., Hsp70), alpha B-crystallin, lamin A/C, and Sam68 and is associated with early cell death [9–11]. MRI findings include global brain atrophy and white matter disease in the middle cerebellar peduncles (MCPs), pons, periventricular area, subcortical regions, and insula, and on neuropathological assessment there are eosinophilic inclusions in neurons and astrocytes caused by the elevated levels of FMR1-mRNA [1, 12, 13].
Clinically noticeable tremor and ataxia typically begins in the early 60s, although some symptoms can be seen as early as the 40s [13]. Brain imaging studies, nerve conduction, psychiatric, and neuropsychological assessments suggest that there are early subclinical features of the premutation [3, 14–17]. A recent survey of 146 female carriers, compared to age-matched controls, demonstrated increased problems with balance, muscle pain, and intermittent tremor in carrier women who do not have FXTAS [18]. The current study suggests that a reliable quantitative measure of balance and tremor that is able to monitor early changes in the motor system could prompt early treatment. This is important because the core features of FXTAS are not as thoroughly described in the female premutation carrier population as in the male premutation carrier population.
The CATSYS system is a set of computer-assisted diagnostic instruments that has been used for the quantitative evaluation of intention and postural tremor, postural sway, hand coordination, and reaction time [19]. The system is portable and can easily be transported to and set up in a variety of clinical settings. Administration of CATSYS is straightforward and, depending on the desired number of performance tasks, can be completed within a reasonable timeframe. This makes it an easy assessment for clinicians to quickly utilize and makes this system a simple yet comprehensive quantitative assessment tool for balance and movement.
CATSYS has been utilized in two studies of male premutation carriers and identified a quantifiable difference between movements of male control patients and premutation patients with and without FXTAS [20, 21]. Allen et al. [21] found 70% concordance with CATSYS and self-report of ataxia and 80% concordance with CATSYS and self-report of tremor in carriers. Additionally, CATSYS detected ataxia in 30% of premutation men who did not self-report ataxia () and 23% of premutation men who did not report tremor (), indicating that CATSYS not only detects FXTAS symptoms in men with FXTAS, but can be a useful tool in detecting preclinical motor symptoms of FXTAS. Aguilar et al. [20] also detected similar findings, especially in differences between men with FXTAS and controls with respect to intention tremor and postural sway area, and between men with FXTAS and carrier men without FXTAS with respect to postural sway.
This study aims to investigate the potential use of the CATSYS system in female premutation carriers with and without evident clinical involvement of FXTAS.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Subjects
Recruitment of patients occurred through the Fragile X Research Treatment Center at the MIND Institute of the University of California, Davis Medical Center (UCDMC). Subjects were recruited through family members of known probands with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Controls were recruited in a similar manner, or as wives of men with FXTAS.
After participants signed an informed consent, approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, a detailed medical history, neurological examination, and MRI when possible were used to diagnose the presence of FXTAS. Based on these assessments and carrier status, patients were identified as FXTAS, non-FXTAS carriers, or controls. In total, 150 females participated, 23 were premutation carriers with FXTAS (mean age 62.7 years; SD 12.3), 90 were premutation carriers without FXTAS (mean age 52.9 years; SD 9.4) and 37 were controls (mean age 56.5 years; SD 7.8).
2.2. Methods
The CATSYS protocol was established from its original publication, where the various tasks were grouped into the four existing categories of postural tremor, postural sway, manual coordination, and reaction time [22]. As previously described, the annexation of the fifth group, intention tremor, was necessary to better evaluate the dyskinesia observed in patients with FXTAS [20, 23].
The postural tremor, intention tremor, postural sway, manual coordination, and reaction time used in this study contain the same tasks that were used to assess tremor and ataxia in a study of male FMR1 premutation carriers [20].
2.3. Molecular Analysis
DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes, where 5 mL of whole blood was processed using standard methods (Puregene and Purescripts Kits, Gentra Inc., Minneapolis, MN; Tempus Tubes, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) [24]. For Southern blot analysis, 5–10 g of isolated DNA was digested with EcoR1 and Nru1. The probe used in the hybridization was the StB12.3 [24]. Details were previously described in [24]. Analysis and calculation of the repeat size were carried out using an Alpha Innotech FluorChem 8800 Image Detection System.
2.4. Statistical Analysis
The statistical analysis proceeds in three parts. The primary analysis focuses on group comparisons (FXTAS, non-FXTAS carriers, and controls) with respect to a priori selected CATSYS outcome measures that include postural and intention tremor intensity (in both dominant and nondominant hands) and postural sway area (30 and 60 sec, eyes open; 10 and 30 sec eyes closed). These a priori primary measures (listed in Table 2) were selected based on a previous study of CATSYS measures on premutation male carriers [20]. The primary analyses were based on an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), which adjusts for age. There was complete overlap in age that allows for proper age adjustment in ANCOVA models. values were adjusted for multiple testing using the Sidak stepdown method, which provides strong control of type I error.
An exploratory secondary analysis compares study groups with respect to manual hand coordination, finger tapping, reaction time, and writing tremor in both dominant and nondominant hands (listed in Table 3). These were selected as secondary outcome measures due to previous report that did not find significant differences among FXTAS, non-FXTAS, and controls [20]. For two ambidextrous subjects, dominant and nondominant hand values were assigned the average of the left and right hand measurements. We note that for a few patients who had measurements that were extremely outlying (more than three times the interquartile range), analyses were repeated without the outliers. In all statistically significant results reported, the conclusions were not sensitive to the few outlying observations.
We considered a third exploratory analysis to examine data reduction of additional CATSYS sway measures, jointly with variables in the primary and secondary analyses described above. These include mean sway and sway intensity, in addition to sway area. Thus, we used principal components analysis (PCA) to explain and partition observed variation in all aforementioned CATSYS tasks. To adjust for age potential effects, we apply the PCA to the partial correlation matrix, where the effect of age is removed.
3. Results
3.1. Patient Characteristics
Patients were between the ages of 36 to 80 in the FXTAS (), non-FXTAS (), and control () groups. Although the age range is the same for all groups, the mean age for FXTAS, non-FXTAS carriers, and control groups were 62.69 (SD 12.27), 52.89, (SD 9.40), and 56.53 (SD 7.79). Because differences in age among the groups were significant, the subsequent analysis reported below adjusted for age. As expected, there were no differences in FMR1 expression, CGG, and activation ratio (AR) between premutation carriers with and without FXTAS. Table 1 summarizes the study patient characteristics in more detail.
aOverall ANOVA P value.
bComparison between FXTAS and non-FXTAS.
cLess than total sample sizes due to missing ethnicity data.
|Analysis based on logarithm transformed data and adjusted for age.
aNot significant ().
*** (significant after P value adjustment for multiple testing).
|Analysis based on logarithm transformed data and adjusted for age.
a Not significant ().
** .
* .
3.2. Primary Outcomes: Postural Sway Area, Intention, and Postural Hand Tremor
Our primary outcomes are in the categories of sway area and hand tremor (intention and postural hand tremor intensity in dominant and nondominant hands). Postural hand tremor (intensity) was significantly greater in FXTAS, compared to controls () and non-FXTAS (), although there was no difference observed between non-FXTAS and controls (see Table 2 and Figure 1(a)). These differences were observed in both dominant and nondominant hands. With respect to intention hand tremor, the data indicates that the levels among the three groups were not different.
Postural sway results showed similar, significantly higher sway area for patients with FXTAS compared to controls () or patients with non-FXTAS () in all postural sway tasks (30 and 60 seconds eyes open; 10 and 30 seconds eyes closed). Table 2 and Figure 1(b) illustrate details of postural sway results. Note, for example in the 60 second eyes open task, that carriers with FXTAS, on average, have sway area about 4 times higher compared to non-FXTAS carriers. Typically postural sway areas are several folds higher for premutation carriers with FXTAS across all sway tasks compared to controls. Although not statistically significant after value adjustment for multiple testing, there is a consistent trend that non-FXTAS carriers also showed higher postural sway (60 sec, ; 30 sec eyes closed, ) compared to controls.
3.3. Secondary Outcomes: Hand Coordination, Writing Tremor, and Reaction Time
Based on previous preliminary (nonsignificant) findings on a much smaller cohort of male premutation carriers [20], we defined a priori a set of secondary CATSYS outcome measurements of manual coordination (pronation-supination hand tapping and index finger tapping), writing tremor, and reaction time to an auditory stimulus (Table 3). With the larger sample size in the current study, there is a clear trend in differences in manual coordination (pronation-supination hand tapping and index finger tapping) and reaction time with significance (unadjusted values, all ) and with significantly decreased manual coordination as measured by finger tapping task in FXTAS compared to controls (; significant after value adjustment).
3.4. Exploratory Analysis of CATSYS Domains of Variation
The CATSYS system provides numerous measures of sway on the force plate, including sway area, mean sway (defined as the average distance from the geometrical mean force center) and sway intensity (defined as the root mean square of the accelerations). In this exploratory analysis, we use principal components analysis (PCA, adjusted for age) to reduce the 24 CATSYS measures to a few summary variables (principal components), which includes all CATSYS measures in the primary and secondary analysis along with sway mean, intensity, and area. Briefly, PCA sequentially finds the optimal (linear) combinations of all input variables (i.e., the 24 CATSYS variables) where optimality is defined by maximization of variation. (These combinations are often also referred to as factor variables or simply as principal components.) Thus, the first principal component (PC) captures the most dominant (highest) sources of variation, and the second PC captures the second largest sources of variation (independent of the first), and so on. This can be seen in Figure 2, which displays the proportion of total variation explained by each principal component (PC) and shows that the first 3 PCs explain the majority of total variation (~60%). (As defined by PCA, the first PC captures the largest variation, followed by the second PC, and the variation explained declines with each subsequent PC). To better understand the patterns of the 24 individual variables recorded by the CATSYS, one can examine each variable by comparing it to a principle component. Because each principle component represents either a large difference between numbers or a smaller difference between numbers, then each individual variable will closely match one over another. The resulting pattern in Figure 2(b) shows which CATSYS variables are most similar to each other by correlating with a peak in a particular principle component. The first PC summarizes predominantly all sway tasks, while the second PC primarily accounts for intention tremor and writing tremor in both hands. The third PC is primarily associated with postural tremor and reaction time in both hands.
4. Discussion
Research regarding FXTAS in female premutation carriers remains a relatively small body of work because only 8 to 16% of older female carriers develop this problem [18, 25]. In this study, we have provided quantitative assessment of tremor and ataxia in a large cohort of female premutation carriers using the CATSYS system. Our findings demonstrate significant differences between those with FXTAS compared to controls, including postural sway, postural hand tremor intensity, and finger tapping. However, significant differences were not seen in the intention tremor measure. This is in contrast to previous reports of tremor in the males with FXTAS and perhaps this relates to the milder symptoms seen in female carriers [14, 20, 21, 26]. The milder symptoms seen in females with FXTAS compared to males with FXTAS are likely due to the protective effect of the normal X chromosome which diminishes the phenotype compared to males with FXTAS. The CNS changes in females are less severe than what is seen in males with FXTAS, including the degree of atrophy of the cerebellum and the severity of white matter disease [26]. Although we did not see a significant difference in the intention tremor rating across groups, we detected an array of motor findings that were more robust than previous studies in males with FXTAS on the CATSYS likely because of our larger cohort [20, 21].
There was limited evidence that females without FXTAS had differences in finger tapping, postural sway for 30 sec with eyes closed and reaction time, but these did not hold up with the statistical correction for multiple comparisons.
The secondary outcome measures, particularly the finger tapping and the reaction time, suggest subtle motor coordination involvement in carriers without FXTAS compared to controls. This is a particularly interesting finding and deserves further study including MRI measures, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to detect subtle abnormalities in white matter orientation that might represent a pre-FXTAS stage. In this regard, CATSYS may be useful in identifying pre-FXTAS individuals, giving movement clinics the ability to identify or screen for more individuals at risk for developing FXTAS. Furthermore, quantitative characterization of this subtle finding would be useful for designing early intervention studies with neuroprotective agents to hopefully alleviate the further progression of FXTAS [27]. These widespread motor problems captured by the CATSYS are supported by the broadened spectrum of neuropathological complications recently reported in females with and without FXTAS [18]. These symptoms include neuropathic pain and numbness suggestive of neuropathy, muscle pain, and hypertension. The broad clinical symptoms of FXTAS represent the RNA toxicity that occurs in a number of tissues besides the CNS [28]. The inclusions of FXTAS occur not only in neurons and astrocytes, but also in peripheral tissues including the thyroid, adrenal gland, testicles, and myenteric plexus of the gastrointestinal system (Greco et al. and Willemsen et al., personal communication) [28–30]. It is possible that thyroid disease, in addition to cochlear, eighth nerve, or inner ear problems associated with tinnitus, vertigo, and dizziness may also affect balance or even tremor, and such difficulties should be investigated in those with the premutation that, in our experience, commonly reports such symptoms.
We have found CATSYS to be a robust and quantitative measure of neurological dysfunction in premutation carriers, particularly those with FXTAS. We have also utilized this tool to follow patients with FXTAS who have been treated medically [27, 31]. In one case, we found improvement in FXTAS symptoms with venlafaxine and memantine treatment in follow-up studies after one year [31]. We suggest that this measure be utilized in the controlled treatment trials that are necessary to validate future treatments of FXTAS.
CATSYS Manufacturing Information
For manufacturing supplies and details, please refer to the Danish Product Development Ltd. website at http://www.catsys.dk/purchase.htm. Budgeting for the complete system used in this investigation should be maximized at 10,000 Euros, or under 15,000 US dollars, based on current exchange rates.
Disclosure Statement
This project was conducted without any relationship between investigators and the CATSYS manufacturers and distributors. There was no discount or prior agreement to using the CATSYS for this investigation, nor are the investigators shareholders or consultants to the company.
This work was supported by National Institute of Health grants HD036071, HD02274, UL1DE019583, RL1AG032115, RL1AG032119, RL1NS06412, the National Fragile X Foundation, the MIND Institute, the Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC) at UC Davis (UL1 RR024146 from the National Center for Research Resources), and Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities 90DD0596. The authors thank the families and patients who have participated in the research.
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Copyright © 2011 Vivien Narcisa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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We Have Best Backs In The World – Heaslip
Ireland host Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.
While the Six Nations Championship is out of Ireland's hands, they'll be playing for pride at rugby Headquarters.
Ireland No. 8 Jamie Heaslip believes that Ireland, ' can come up with a game plan and ways of breaking down their ball and also securing a lot of clean ball for ourselves'.
He said, ' We can bring a lot to the breakdown and create a lot of momentum. We have some of the best backs in the world and I believe we can cut them up'.
While Scottish back Sean Lamont, believes 'the Scottish forwards can match Ireland's easily anywhere on the field'.

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a coward.
There I said it.
When it comes to raising my prices or pricing a dog for the extra work done on it ...I am a coward.
I am a pretty good groomer, but I have never claimed to be a good business woman.
I made the number one mistake that many groomers make when first opening their businesses.
I started my prices too low.
Then to top it off..
I can't believe that I am about to admit this.
I did not raise my prices for 5 years.
I believed that this was what I needed to do to keep customers coming, and get new customers.
I am very ashamed to admit that I have only raised my prices half a dozen times in the 24 years that I have been open.
Never anymore than $5 at one time.
I feel that my small to medium size prices for a basic clip are where they should be now.
I still undercharge for my hand scissor cuts, and my large dog prices are ridiculously low for my existing customers.
So why not just start charging what the hand scissoring is worth and what the large dogs are worth?
I know for fact that my large dog customers would not find another groomer to clip or scissor their dog for what I charge now.
They would most likely come back after trying to find someone else.
I know, they would come back realizing just how good they had it.
But, as I told you at the beginning of the post...I am a coward.
Well, maybe not really a coward.
I have no problem taking up for myself or my prices...with new customers.
It is my regulars that I just don't want to deal with.
The whining, the being offended because I raised their price, the ones who make smart comments under their breath, (I don't even pay that much to cut my own hair) the ones who will get down right indigent because you dared to raise their price by a dollar.
Because of the economy, I have not raised my prices in the last 2 years.
Do you think that my customers even noticed?
I doubt it.
They will know now.
I have mentioned it in the price increase letter that will be going out next week.
I have also offered for them to shop around if they feel that they need to, that I will understand.
I stand behind my quality of work, customer service, and care that I give all of my furry customers.
I must raise my prices.
I have bills to pay too.
I can not worry if some of my customers decide to leave because of the increase.
If I don't increase my prices to cover my overhead, all of my customers will be looking for a new groomer.
I just wish that I didn't have to hear the crap.
Oh well, I clean up crap everyday, whats a little more?
I made up a sign to hang in my lobby.
Still not 100% sure that I will hang it.
There will always be some smarta** to say something.
I have been working on a tougher skin.
Been working on that for 25 years.
I have gotten a little better.
I have!
Oh, who the heck am I kidding?
Don't make my mistake.
Charge what you are worth.
*If your work is good, and you take good care of your furry customers and their owners, they will stick with you.
Note to self:
Repeat the above statement every morning 100 times till you believe it!
Happy Grooming, MFF


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Having problems with your Acer Aspire 3100-1405 Notebook ?
How do you brighten up the screen? I cannot understand why it is going dark on me. Hope you can help.
Answers :
There is a function key on the keyboard marked Fn press this key and while holding it press right arrow key for more bright and left arrow for less bright
i hope it helps ur problem pls rate me fixya if i fixed ur problem
i hope it helps ur problem pls rate me fixya if i fixed ur problem
Repair Help & Product Troubleshooting for Acer Aspire 3100-1405 Notebook
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EXCLUSIVE! Set News Report!
A new search for a stand-out voice on NBC's singing competition show "The Voice" started months ago, and in fact is winding down to the point where the live shows will soon began in September for viewers at home to make their voice heard by voting for their favorite singers.
Some changes have been made to the show's original format that will keep the show fresh and interesting. Mentors Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine will now have a total of sixteen contenders each on their teams. A change from last season's twelve and the first season's eight as explained by the show's warm-up host on the set. From there mentors get a team of ten each, then that gets knocked-down to five. HOLLYWOOD JUNKET got a sneak-peek at one mentor's pool of contestants when we visited the set!
A Chance to Steal:
The Battle rounds this season provides a unique opprotunity for the mentors. Once they have each chosen who they'd like to keep and who to eliminate during this round, the other mentors get to "steal" any one of the eliminated singers giving them a second chance to stay in the competition.
Another Elimination:
Executive Producer Mark Burnett's "The Voice" has added the element of a "Knockout" round that occurs after the "Battle" rounds. At the beginning of the Knockout round, the mentors each have ten contestants. These ten contestants come out into the boxing ring stage once more, one team at time. The mentor then pairs up who they'd like to see singing against each other. The contestants do not know until that moment on the stage who they'll be singing against. During this Knockout round, the singers already have their songs prepared that they will perform.
And Then There Were Five:
The singers then face-off one against each other – going up in front of the mentors in pairs. Unlike the Battle round where they must sing a duet, here, they sing their song one at a time. At the end of each performance, all of the mentors give their opinions on whom they think should be the keeper talent. Then, the mentor who's team is on stage decides who to eliminate and explains their choice. At the end of the Knockout round each mentor will have a team of five remaining under their guidance.
One talented singer, a mentor chose to keep because he wanted to develop her even more, and eliminated the most talented contestant stating "I don't know what else I can do for you…you are going to go-on to do extremely well!"
Here's a piece of set news for the Christina haters out there – apparently it was overheard that "Christina is nicer this season".
Producer of "The Voice" Burnett used the audience as an opprotunity to preview his new reality action stunt show called "Stars Earn Stripes" which premieres on Monday, August 13, at the beginning of filming. The celebrity mentors had to sit through it as well.
"The Voice" returns to television in it's third season on Monday, September 10 at 8/7c on NBC. For hopefuls who would like to be on the show, auditions for season 4 are happening now!


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Carlene Aguilar FHM Autograph Signing
If you're in the Philippines Saturday, here's your chance to meet Miss Philippines-World 2005 and FHM Philippines January 2009 cover girl Carlene Aguilar. She'll be signing autographs at Robinsons Galleria Movie World in Manila on January 10th from 6pm to 8pm.
Carlene gave birth to a healthy baby boy in September 2007. Hope Leah Dizon comes back looking just as fabulous after giving birth.
(Photos via Brix.)
Happy Birthday Sofie Garrucho!
Once the exclusive domain of detached geeks, gaming and blogging are now things real people do. That makes Filipina gamer–blogger Sofie Garrucho an even more relatable girl next door, even with her glamorous looks. Happy birthday, Sofie!
(Photo by Peter Jaena.)


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Date Maple Grove Cougars On-line!
I can say that there is nothing like dating an older single much more experienced women. They are called 'Cougars', & they really know how to have a great time, enjoy life, & love the company of younger men. In Maple Grove there are thousands of cougars on-line right now, searching for that special someone to spend time with. If you are looking for a cougar, then stop browsing & start connecting today!
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Check how many cougars live in Minnesota.
Check how many cougars live in Minnesota.


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Number of religious marriages fall, but Devon still has more than the rest of the country
PUBLISHED: 12:00 09 April 2019 | UPDATED: 14:14 09 April 2019
Fewer couples are choosing to tie the knot in a church, synagogue or other religious venue in Devon, new figures have revealed.
A total of 4,850 couples got married in Devon in 2016, 13 per cent more than in 2011.
In Devon, there were 1,286 religious weddings in 2016, compared with 1,549 five years earlier, according to the latest Office for National Statistics data. That's a drop of 17 per cent since 2011.
Of the weddings held in Devon, only 2.6 per cent were between same-sex couples – 43 between men and 83 between women. That's a 7 per cent increase compared with 2015, the first year same-sex marriages were recorded. The data does not include same-sex civil partnerships which were converted into a marriages.
Despite the downward trend, religious weddings are more popular in Devon than the rest of the country.
Across England, the number of marriage has remained steady over the last five years, with 236,238 in 2016.
For the first time ever, less than a quarter of marriages in England and Wales were religious ceremonies.
In England, a quarter of marriages were held in religious venues, compared to 27 per cent in Devon. These figures only include opposite-sex marriages.
Across England and Wales, three in four religious weddings were Anglican, while a further 11 per cent were Catholic. Non-Christian ceremonies only amounted to four per cent of the total.
The Canon Sandra Millar, who heads the Church of England's work on weddings, says many couples might think they have to be regular parishioners to get married in a church.
She said: "We want to reassure couples that they don't have to be churchgoers to have a church wedding.
"They don't need to be christened, and we welcome couples who already have children.
"We're working hard to encourage couples to 'just ask' at a church about getting married and all the creative possibilities that there are for their service."
Kanak Ghosh, from the ONS, said: "Marriage rates remain at historical lows despite a small increase in the number of people who got married in 2016.
"Most couples are preferring to do so with a civil ceremony and for the first time ever, less than a quarter of everyone who married had a religious ceremony.
"Meanwhile, the age at which people are marrying continues to hit new highs as more and more over 50s get married."
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Sidmouth Herald. Click the link in the orange box above for details.


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Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that he saw nothing wrong with how the Rev. Al Sharpton invoked his son Dante's name during a City Hall meeting on complaints about NYPD practices, and he defended Sharpton's right to speak out.
"Everyone has a right to speak . . . and he has a right to offer any example he wants," de Blasio told reporters after a Brooklyn event on hurricane preparedness.
Sharpton -- charging black New Yorkers are too often the targets of excessive police force -- told de Blasio on Thursday, "If Dante wasn't your son, he'd be a candidate for a chokehold."
The meeting was prompted by the July 17 death of Eric Garner, 43, on Staten Island after a police officer put him in a chokehold during an arrest on a petty charge. Autopsy results announced later Friday found the chokehold was a factor in his death.
After Thursday's meeting with Sharpton, de Blasio said, he spoke with his son about the remarks. "Dante is a sophisticated young man. It doesn't affect him. He has his own life and this is not new to him."
Sharpton, the veteran civil rights activist, had told de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton that they weren't going far enough to overhaul police practices and warned the mayor, "If we are going to just play spin games, I'll be the worst enemy because I am tired of seeing people bury their kin."
The mayor said Friday: "I don't always agree with Rev. Sharpton. But he is a personal friend . . . and I am not afraid of anyone who challenges me."
He again defended Bratton as "the greatest police reformer in this nation" and said the commissioner "is systematically retraining the police department."


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The community development data dashboard provides insight into economic and housing conditions and trends in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Some data sets are available for LMI neighborhoods, while others provide information for borrowers or households with low or moderate incomes. Often, this kind of information is presented for a city, region, state, or the U.S. as a whole but does not illuminate differences within a given geography. By reporting trends and conditions by income category, this resource can help shed light on whether aggregate statistics for a given geography also reflect the experiences of LMI communities within that geography or whether there are meaningful differences that warrant additional exploration.
E-Mail Notifications
Find out when information for community development publications and events is released.
Contact Us
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
The Community Development and Regional Outreach Department has compiled information on each region within the Third Federal Reserve District and has developed a suite of materials that the department calls community profiles. We hope these profiles are useful for banks and other stakeholders in identifying the credit and investment needs of their communities, the funding sources available to meet those needs, and the organizations providing services to low- and moderate-income communities in each region.
Simply click on a metropolitan area in the map, and you'll find links below the map: four American Community Survey reports produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, an interactive map for that area, and a spreadsheet with information on bank locations based on data collected by the FDIC. You'll also find lists of community organizations and funding sources that are operating in the selected metropolitan area.
Please contact Keith Wardrip (215-574-3810) with any questions or to suggest an organization for our lists.
The Consumer Credit Explorer (CCE) is an interactive tool for examining trends in consumer credit use at the regional, state, and national levels. The CCE enables users to look at quarterly changes in credit use indicators from 2005 through 2019 and to compare indicators across different areas. Users can analyze overall credit access, median debt levels, and delinquency rates for a variety of credit types (e.g., auto loans, student loans, mortgages, credit cards). Also, users can view trends by neighborhood income, borrowers' Equifax Risk Scores, and borrower age groups.
The Home Mortgage Explorer draws from publicly available Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data and enables users to explore trends in residential mortgage lending between 2010 and 2017 for national, state, metropolitan, and nonmetropolitan geographies. The Explorer includes information on the number of originated mortgages, application denial rates, and the reasons given by lenders for denying applications. Trends can be examined by loan type (e.g., conventional, Federal Housing Administration) and loan purpose (e.g., home purchase, refinance), and all measures are provided by applicant and neighborhood income.
The Rental Housing Affordability data tool enables users to examine trends in rental housing affordability in Third District states from 2011 to 2018. Additionally, the tool includes demographic and economic profiles of cost-burdened, lower-income renters to enable users to better identify vulnerable groups and inform the development of programs and services.
This tool provides interactive and downloadable fact sheets for each of the Third District states (Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) and the following areas:
Note: Estimates from prior reports published by the Community Development and Regional Outreach Department should not be compared with estimates in this analysis because of the differences in the geographic areas covered, data sets used, and methodologies employed. See Methodology for details. For copies of the historical reports, contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
The following resources provide valuable local-level information that can be of use to those who work in community development. With two exceptions, these resources are not affiliated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.


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- 2 Beds
- 1 Full Baths
Property TypeResidential – Townhome
SubdivisionSUMMIT COVE SUB
Listing Date09/21/20
Year Built1974
Lot Size0.01 Acres (627 SqFt)
Property Description
Completely remodeled 2 bedroom unit in the perfect location to access all that Summit County has to offer! New kitchen, redone fireplace, beautiful bathroom, gorgeous floors...must see to truly appreciate. 2nd bedroom is accessed from staircase/ladder-very private and perfect for a roommate, office, studio or anything else your heart desires. LOW HOA dues, 2 minute walk to free shuttle, small ski locker at the front door. Perfect starter home or mountain getaway!
Presented By
- Near Public Transit
- Mountain(s)
- Southern Exposure
- Public Transportation
- Fireplace
- Main Level Master
- Electricity Available
- Municipal Utilities
- Phone Available
- Sewer Available
- Water Available
- Cable Available
- Sewer Connected
- Baseboard
- Electric
Financial Information
We get asked this question a lot. Below is a tool that gives you the ability to see what the market is like in your community. Find out what homes like your own are selling for right in your back yard. Simply enter in your address, choose the proximity of the search and find out market data for other homes that are selling near you.
While we'll provide you with plenty of information, this is a snapshot of your market data and there are real people behind the high-tech and automated tools. If you would like more detailed information or help in understanding the results we are here to help.
Until then, enjoy the tools!
© 2020 Summit MLS, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Association of REALTORS®. All rights reserved. The information being provided is for the consumer's non-commercial, personal use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumer may be interested in purchasing. The information provided is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. You may not reprint or redistribute the information, in whole or in part, without the expressed written consent of Summit Association of REALTORS®.
Listing courtesy of Breckenridge Associates R.E.


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The Gramercy
Wireless Speaker
The Gramercy
Wireless Speaker
- 45mm dual neodymium drivers
- Passive subwoofer
- 4 Ω impedance
- 6+ hour battery
- Built-in speakerphone
- BT / Line-in / MicroSD
- 7" × 7" × 2"
- Bluetooth 4.2
- 30' working range
Shipping is via UPS and USPS, and is free for domestic US orders over $129. Check out our FAQ for more information.
Purchase without hesitation - you can return your LSTN product for any reason within 14 days to receive a full product refund.
We offer a one year warranty on all headphones, earbuds, and speakers.
Twin 45mm speakers and a built-in passive subwoofer combine to provide amazing sound quality.
Go from chill mode to work mode in seconds with the Gramercy's built-in speaker phone for conference calls and more.
The included stand allows you to set up the Gramercy in seconds and ensure that your music goes wherever you do. Listen to your favorite music with Bluetooth, Line-in, and MicroSD card playback.
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Sound & Purpose
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A Thousand Splendid Suns Characters
The two main characters are Mariam and Laila. Mariam is a more traditional woman, raised ten years or so before Laila. Mariam is also more subservient than Laila, having had little education and a mother who constantly berated her. Laila, on the other hand, even though her mother also spent little time building up her confidence, did have a loving father whose goal in life was to ensure that she was educated. Aziza, the daughter of Laila and Tariq, is portrayed as strong-willed and bright.
Download A Thousand Splendid Suns Study Guide
The men in this story do not fare quite as well. Laila's father is honest and intelligent, but he is weak and caves in to his stronger wife. Jalil also caves in to his three wives and does not stand up for Mariam. Rasheed is a brute, and his son Zalmai is portrayed as instinctively taking after him. Tariq, who is wounded and loses a leg in his youth, is both tenderhearted and brave. He is not afraid to admit his love for Laila and works hard to take care of his parents and to rescue Laila.


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MoenStone Sink Care
A MoenStone sink is designed to resist stains but still requires basic cleaning or rinsing after use to keep it looking its best. This material requires no special maintenance other than keeping it clean and avoiding prolonged exposure to extremely hot materials such as hot cookware.
Light Cleaning
Light cleaning requires just a little dish soap and warm water, wiping away debris with a damp sponge for routine maintenance. Residue that's hard to remove is scrubbable with a nylon scrub pad.
Mineral Deposits
Calcium and lime deposits from hard water sometimes leave a white residue behind. Remove such buildup by pouring vinegar over the affected area, then scrubbing with a nylon pad. If the buildup is still hard to remove, pour vinegar over it again and allow the vinegar to sink in for a few minutes.
What to Avoid
Steel wool, abrasive cleaners and undiluted bleach should be avoided, as these may damage the surface of the sink. While MoenStone is heat-resistant, pots and pans that are extremely hot should be cooled before setting inside the sink, as over time, extreme temperatures may damage the MoenStone material.
Photo Credits
- Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images


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Added Value UK hires Kate Jones as new Brand Director
14 Jul 2011|Added Value
Added Value has appointed Kate Jones as Brand Director in its London office with responsibility for insight, innovation and brand development, specifically for financial services, FMCG and retail sectors.
Kate is a former Mars Confectionery marketer, with agency experience in insight and innovation. She joins the UK board reporting to UK Managing Director, Bart Michels.
Kate graduated as a food scientist and joined Unigate in the sharp end of dairy production management in 1994, before joining Mars Confectionery in 1997. Over the next nine years, Kate's career spanned wholesale and retail marketing in confectionery and petcare. Kate led the launch of White Chocolate Maltesers and the global brand management of its best-selling Aquarian pet food brand.
Kate left Mars in 2006 to consult, with Inzenka, for agencies and direct clients, specialising in brand growth and innovation during which time she launched new commercial ventures for companies such as Royal Mail, The Post Office, Experian and Unilever.
Bart Michels, Managing Director of Added Value, said: "Kate is a great, new addition to the senior team. Not only does she have spades of client and agency experience, but she has the passion and thirst for seeing things differently, bringing a new perspective and inspiring clients as she does – just what we look for in our brand leaders."
Kate Jones said: "I'm delighted to have joined Added Value. The company sets the standard for insight and innovation, and provides a platform for growth and development which is well-known and respected within the industry and of course an exciting client list."
Outside of work, Kate is a proud member of 'Chix with Stix' knitting on the tube, in the pub and sometimes in meetings (if they go on a bit too long).prev next


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As bad as you might think inequality is, the reality is that it's even worse for a very simple reason: Taxes really are only for the little people.
By which I mean anyone who doesn't have a net worth solidly in the nine figures.
None of this is exactly news, but, as The New York Times' blockbuster report on how President Donald Trump managed to inherit $413 million in inflation-adjusted dollars without paying much in the way of gift or estate taxes shows us, it's important to remember that the super-rich tend to be even more super and rich than the tax returns that economists use to estimate inequality say they are. That isn't to say that the uber-wealthy are all bending the law to the point of potentially breaking it, like the Trumps are alleged to have done — disguising gifts as "loans," inflating invoices to make other gifts look like business income, and assessing properties at wildly different values, sometimes within weeks of each other, to minimize their tax bill — but rather that there are plenty of other more and less legitimate ways for well-heeled individuals and companies to shield their money from Uncle Sam.
Trump engaged in fraud and dubious tax schemes as he inherited $413 million from his father, report says
Like using tax havens.
Now, on the legal end of the spectrum, there's the way that companies shift their profits to show up in low-tax jurisdictions such as Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. This, according to Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman and his co-researchers, covers as much as 40 percent of all multinational profits and 50 percent of U.S. ones. To put that in perspective, U.S. companies report more profits in Ireland, the top tax-avoidance destination in the world, than they do in China, Japan, Germany, France and Mexico combined. All of this can be inferred from the fact that foreign firms tend — on paper — to be much more profitable than local ones within these tax havens. Not to mention that multinationals book five times as many profits in their haven subsidiaries as they do in their non-haven ones. This, as you might expect, increases inequality, but it doesn't do it in a way that escapes the eyes of the authorities. Whenever these "overseas" profits are paid out to investors — a bit of a misnomer, because a lot of that money is often invested in things such as U.S. Treasury and corporate bonds despite being listed in other countries for accounting purposes — they still have to pay taxes on it here, so we can keep track of how much they have.
That isn't the case, though, when it comes to the less scrupulous use of these havens: the outright evading of taxes. The problem, of course, is that, by its very nature, this isn't the kind of thing we can even begin to quantify. People, after all, don't exactly fill out forms telling us how much of their taxes they're not paying. But it turns out that we don't need them to. That's because the Bank for International Settlements has begun publishing statistics on the banking relationships between different countries that allow us to stitch together a picture of how much wealth is being held offshore. And it's a lot. Indeed, Zucman and his team estimate that around 10 percent of global GDP is being held inside all the different tax havens. It's actually not as bad for the United States as it is for a lot of other countries — about half of Russia's wealth, for example, has been moved out of the country — but it's enough to increase the top 0.01 percent's share of household wealth from around 7 percent to almost 8 percent. That's over $1 trillion hiding overseas.
But rather than do anything about this, the Trump administration and the Republican Party as a whole have continued to starve the IRS of the money it would need to pursue these kind of investigations. In the past eight years, tax fraud cases are down 25 percent.
In the meantime, then, the rich will be able to get richer the old-fashioned way: by finding ways not to pay taxes.
Matt O'Brien writes for The Washington Post, where this first appeared.


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Kampala. Police yesterday announced that they have arrested at least eight suspects in the recent mobile money robberies and killings registered in four weeks in different districts.
Police also said five suspects, who were targeting Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos), have been apprehended.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said robberies targeting mobile money operators and Saccos were registered between February 12 and March 7 in the districts of Wakiso, Busia, Mbale, Masaka, Kalungu and Mbarara in which two mobile money operators were shot dead while four others are nursing wounds.
Mr Enanga cited numerous incidents in which the Flying Squad Unit (FSU) has tracked down armed thugs.
The FSU at the weekend conducted an operation in Mbarara District where it killed one and arrested five suspected thugs.
Police revealed that its operatives tracked and cracked down a criminal gang operating in Ankole Sub-region especially in the areas of Rwizi and Greater Bushenyi regions in Nyakaizi Cell, Kakoba Division.
Mr Enanga said in Masaka and Lyantonde districts, a Sacco was robbed of Shs380m but police have so far recovered only Shs24m.
"We advise mobile money operators to stop carrying huge sums of money and use internet banking. They should also avoid exposing their records books," he said.
By Daily Monitor


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ADRIAN, Mich. – The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team finished off the regular season with a sweep of two seven-inning, non-conference games with 16th-ranked Adrian (Mich.) College at Nicolay Field.
BW (28-12 overall) survived a late inning push by Adrian (30-10) to take game one by a score of 7-5 and completed the sweep with a 9-4 victory in the second game.
A two-run home run off the bat of senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference right fielder Alex Marcum (Granville) gave the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Five more runs would come around to score in the fourth inning, one when senior All-OAC catcher Trent Kaltenbach (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) hit a deep fly ball dropped by the right fielder and another by senior center fielder Chase Knodle (Poland/Seminary) ripped a single past the diving shortstop. Marcum really blew the game open, however, when he hit a three-run double to cap off the inning.
Adrian finally got on the scoreboard with a two-run homer of its own in the fifth inning and continued to rack up the runs in the sixth, cutting the Yellow Jacket lead down to 7-5. The Bulldogs threatened to walk off in the bottom of the seventh when the first two runners reached base and a sacrifice put them in scoring position but sophomore lefty Spencer Berg (New Albany) recorded the final two outs to lock down the win.
Knodle and Marcum combined for four of BW's five hits in the first game while Marcum had a career-high tying five runs batted in (RBIs).
On the mound, senior right-hander Brandon Wysong (Bradford) notched his second consecutive win after going four scoreless innings, only allowing three hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Berg gets his first save of the season with 0.2 innings of work in the bottom of the seventh, recording one strikeout.
While game one featured a lot of offense, the second game started as more of a pitchers' duel until the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, back-to-back base hits and a walk loaded the bases for junior designated hitter Reese Albright (Parma/North Royalton). The junior sent a ground-rule double over the right field fence for the first runs of the game as BW led 2-0. Knodle and sophomore left fielder Dudley Taw (Sheffield Lake/Brookside) each followed with two-run singles to open up a 6-0 advantage. The Bulldogs were able to answer, however, with a four spot in the bottom half of the inning.
BW gave itself a little bit of breathing room when Taw singled through the right side to bring home a run in the top of the seventh and then senior All-OAC Spencer Badia (Bellaire) added two more runs with a ground-rule double for a comfortable 9-4 lead.
Knodle, Taw and Badia each had two base hits in the second game while Taw had a team-leading three RBIs. Knodle, Badia and Albright all recorded two additional RBIs as well. With his two steals in the nightcap, Knodle also broke the school record for stolen bases in a season with 30, which also leads the OAC. The school record previously stood at 29 by Bill Snyder from 1981.
Freshman righty Nick Smith (Mentor) got the nod in game two and threw 3.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits and five walks. Berg and sophomore right-hander Spencer Aukerman (Medina) combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief, giving up just one hit apiece. Berg earns the win while Aukerman picks up his first save of the season after his three-inning performance.
The Yellow Jackets will open up the 2018 OAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed, taking on second-seeded Marietta College on Thursday, May 10, at 3 p.m. at Fishbaugh Field on the campus of Otterbein University.


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Ultra feminist writer Clementine Ford bragged on Facebook after getting a man fired from his job at Meriton Apartments in Australia.
She posted an email she received from the man's employer:
"Dear Clementine Ford,
Meriton Group have now investigated the matter relating to the complaint made about Michael Nolan using inappropriate language on Facebook.
Meriton Group does not condone this type of behaviour. Michael Nolan was removed from the Meriton site on Saturday 28th November pending an investigation, and as of 2:30pm today 30th November 2015, he no longer works for the Meriton Group."
She then goes on to say how, "Perhaps Michael will think twice next time before using his social media account to call a woman 'slut' when she speaks out against online misogyny. These men have rarely ever faced consequences for their actions, but that's starting to change."
So, what exactly did Nolan do to deserve being fired? Ford included several screenshots which include him sharing "racist jokes" which anyone who receives 'fwds' from family members has probably already seen.
In addition, a screenshot of Nolan allegedly saying "slut". There was no context in the screenshot, but according to Ford it "was a comment left on the thread of a screenshot of a man publicly saying I would jibber less with a cock in my mouth."
Ford's collection of articles she writes includes hits such as: #ShoutYourAbortion - If you've had an abortion, you have nothing to apologise for, A guide to feminist sex positions, and What happens when women accept compliments online.
Honestly, if the most personal thing this man did to her was allegedly call her a 'slut' then she has some serious issues to deal with in her life.


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From depths of the seemingly bottomless pit of absurdity, insanity, and strife that was 2017 came forth madness, hardship, struggle, social upheavals, and triumphs. In other words, it was quite a year, to put it lightly. Even with as punishing a socio-political year and the horrific revelations reported on within the corridors of power in the Media industry the Films themselves again stood strong to bring forth works of unique resonating power. The films released in 2017 reflected, examined, and were able to comment in striking varying ways the state of things from many diverse point-of-views. It was hard to nail down the right final order of this list for me because of the sheer quality of films I got to see. From the Sundance Film Festival to at-home-streaming here are my picks in order of preference for the finest that cinema had to offer in the long haul that was 2017.
Honorable Mentions:
- The Beguiled: Sofia Coppola's modern update on an Eastwood/Siegel Collaboration is a tense study of repressed emotions and relationship dynamics that never ceases to subvert your expectations.
- Good Time: The Safdie Brothers craft a down and dirty New York small crime thriller with Robert Pattison giving his all in his very best role to date.
- Columbus: Video essayist's Kogonada debut feature is an architect's dream showing how the aesthetics of the places we live in effect our moods and life outlooks.
- First They Killed My Father: Angelina Jolie's very best directorial work to date depicts how insidious political and military indoctrination is on a young mind in a totalitarian regime.
- Nocturama: Daring and ballsy doesn't even start to describe Bertrand Bonello's a-matter-of-fact depiction of a group of diverse young people planning to set up bombs in the middle of Paris, but what the film has to say about the kinds of people who commit these acts of terror and the state's response to them may take more getting used to.
Special Time Travel/Honest Depiction of Depression and Anxiety/Extreme Gallows Humor All Packed into a Short Film Mention:
- World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts: Couldn't quite fit Don Hertzfeld's joyously morbid animated short into the countdown but this is as wonderful a followup to an already excellent original work as has been in recent memory.
25). It Happened in L.A (Dir. Michelle Morgan)
One of the funniest movies of 2017 is also one of the best directorial debuts from last year with an LA romp through the utter shamelessness of the vapid and shallow Tinseltown socialites. Think Brett Easton Ellis by way of Whit Stillman in showing us utterly vapid shallow characters and their complete lack of self-awareness as they go through daily goings and relationships. Morgan is able to weave between these shameless characters while taking the comedy and situations to places you can't believe but will laugh along anyway with and at these characters in equal parts.
24). Princess Cyd (Dir. Stephen Cone)
Cone's followup to the under-seen dramedy Henry Gamble's Birthday Party is another charming natural comedy-drama about the different kinds of relationships, from forging them to understanding what we want out of these connections.The film centers on Cyd Loughlin (Jessie Pinnick) a 16-year-old girl visiting her novelist aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) in Chicago, the two attempt to bond even though Cyd isn't much of a reader but upon meeting Katie (Malic White) finds a kindred spirit and perhaps more. The easy-going nature of the film helps to effortlessly guide you along the story beats, no grand catharsis is had just subtle hints of possible change by the end.
23). Okja (Dir. Bong Joon-ho)
Hayao Miyazaki crossed with fast food nation is a strange brew coming together to work in this corporate satire of the food production industry with great emotional weight. Joon-ho's trademark drastic tonal shifts serve him well here as a child bonding with her beloved pet story shifts to a bleak satire on mass animal farming for our endlessly consumption-driven world. A movie that doesn't talk down to its audience by being preachy in its themes (the animal rights activates are portrayed as self-righteous idiots), but allows for its message to come naturally as an organic and moving part of the story.
22). Get Out (Jordan Peele)
As penetrating and timely a social satire as has ever been made, Peele's debut feature horror/comedy film delivers in both departments in equal doses. Daniel Kaluuya's Chris goes to visit his white girlfriend's (Allison Williams) affluent parents for the weekend he begins to notice strange things around him and the people interacting with him. He was expecting a level of awkwardness and micro-aggressions but this is something else entirely, and it's far worse than he ever could've imagined. The filmmakers were able to tap into the cultural zeitgeist in a way few films today have, reflecting just what is simmering just beneath our perceptions.
21). Beach Rats (Dir. Eliza Hittman)
This examination of faux masculine bravado is also a gorgeously shot depiction of youthful angst, sexual awakening, and allowing yourself an identity. Hittman makes you feel as if you're a fly-on-the-wall to Frankie (Harris Dickinson) as he spends days hanging out on the Beach with his friends near Coney Island and nights online finding older men online to have sexual encounters with. The filmmakers wisely choosing to not play it safe with the closeted teen needing to be honest with themselves storyline, providing a fresh take on the well-worn story.
20). Your Name. (Dir. Makoto Shinkai)
Our first Anime on the countdown is the wonderfully vibrant drawn teenage body-swap romantic comedy-drama with a more sci-fi twist beyond the body-swapping aspect of it. Shinkai is able to start things off with a hilarious teenage body-swap comedy but ends with profound musings on seemingly cosmic human connections. While not making much sense on a logical level instead uses emotional logic to get its message across.
19). Detroit (Dir. Kathyrn Bigelow)
Well, onto the intentionally uncomfortable sits in the countdown comes the far-too-relevant recreation of the 1968 race riots in Detroit and in particular the Algiers Hotel incident involving black citizens caught in the middle of the chaos in the city, the overtaxed Detroit police, and overbearing national guard. Bigelow doesn't flinch in showing the horrific event in painstaking detail, depicting the disastrous convergence of racism, toxic masculinity, and institutions held dangerously unaccountable. A tough watch but one that is unshakable in our world today.
18). mother! (Dir. Darren Aronofsky)
One of the most discussed and derided movies of 2017 is also the most exhilarating and daring of Aronofsky's career, which is saying quite a bit. An insane vanity passion project, a modern metaphorical retelling of Bible stories, a moral parable about the environment, take your pick. In any case, any film that promotes this much fiery discussion deserves some credit. Jennifer Lawrence's dedicated role is also notable for her having to maintain her performance with the camera in close-up on her for the nearly the entire running time, the film hinges on us following her through thick and thin as bonkers as this thing gets. A fever dream put on-screen that could only come from the mind of a filmmaker as off-kilter and against-the-grain as Aronofsky.
17). Una (Dir. Benedict Andrews)
And adding another one to the uncomfortable sits category comes an adaption of a stage play of child abuse and coming-to-grips with that horrible past. Rooney Mara plays the titular character who finally is able to find and confront Ben Mendelsohn's Ray who preyed on and molested her as a child years ago. Now released from prison she wants to have a few words with him. Serious stuff to be sure, but the filmmakers are able to carefully handle the subject while not playing it safe in the least. Mendelsohn and Mara play-off one another perfectly as Ray wants to apologize and move-on while Una angrily refuses to let that happen. A fiery acting duet proceeds that bring to light the nature of confronting the past head on, and of past trauma that continually resurfaces in self-destructive ways.
16). A Silent Voice (Dir. Naoko Yamada)
Another anime entry set around High-school provides an introspective teenage melodrama that examines growing-up with the struggles, awkwardness, epiphanies, and empathy. Dealing with heavy concepts of bullying, self-imposed isolation, worldly perspectives, and psychological turmoil this is an animated work that handles its sensitive subject material in a mature and careful manner. Another reminder that some animated works (anime especially) are not just for the kiddies.
15). The Florida Project (Dir. Sean Baker)
Baker has always been a very consistently great filmmaker in his eclectic career focusing on the fringes of American society, utilizing different cinematic techniques with each new project. His latest entry shot on 35mm being his best thus far, again depicting people that are often glanced over in popular media. Centering on a run-down motel in Orlando, FL run by Willem Dafoe's Bobby we follow a group of precocious kids and their daily routines of getting into all kinds of mischief. The movie aims to show us how a great many in this country live every day through the eyes of a carefree child, allowing an audience understand (without judging) this paycheck-to-paycheck living situation.
14). Personal Shopper (Dir. Oliver Assayas)
Kristen Stewart finally leads a supernatural melodrama that is worth talking about. Kidding aside, she is great as Maureen, a personal shopper for a Paris socialite who also moonlights as a medium hoping to contact her recently departed brother. She goes to only the best high-end Fashion houses to buy and do fittings for cloths conveying a distinct feeling of supreme dissatisfaction with the work. She yearns for some sort of connection alive or dead, but the answers she gets may not be at all what she bargained for. A horror movie where the true terror comes introspectively from the unshakable and universial feeling of being unfulfilled or incomplete.
13). I, Tonya (Dir. Craig Gillespie)
The best kind of ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries are the so-called "Sympathy-for-the-Devil" takes which explain the appeal of infamous sports villains. While there has been a 30 for 30 done on the Nancy Kerrigan assault in 1994, The Price of Gold, depicting disgraced Olympic skater Tonya Harding as a willing perpetrator in busting Kerrigan's knee, Margot Robbie helped to produce a decidedly different take on the whole affair. Gillespie's film presents Harding as struggling through cycles of physical and emotional abuse in her life beginning with her mother LaVona (a pitch-perfect Allison Janney) to bumbling husband Jeff (a hilarious and menacing Sebastian Stan) and beat the odds to become a world-class skater. Margot Robbie shines in the title role portraying Tonya Harding as a dedicated, driven, abrasive, and ultimately a rather tragic sports figure. Now while you probably shouldn't take the film as the absolute truth, as they explain in the beginning title cards, it can't be denied that the figure skater's story has a scope of Shakespearian self-destruction. The filmmakers merely decided that her story was one of empathy, not jest or ridicule.
12). My Happy Family (Dir. Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß)
In this naturalistic familial drama from Georgia, Manana (Ia Shugliashvili) struggles to redefine herself after deciding to suddenly leave her emotionally stunted marriage and overbearing in-laws. She finds an apartment on her own and tries to separate herself from her former life, but she finds that is more difficult than she realized in a traditionally strict patriarchal society. Though the language, customs, and manners are regionally based the exploration of remaining your own independent self while trying to fit in among your peers and close family has universal appeal.
11). Blade Runner 2049 (Dir. Denis Villeneuve)
Rare is the sequel you didn't think was necessary but was awe despite any misgivings going in. Villeneuve's follow-up to the original Ridley Scott tech-noir masterpiece is a dazzling to look at technical feat, shot by the great Roger Deakins, but is also a somber journey through this dystopian future of artificial humans, devious all-encompassing corporations, paranoia, and maintaining order. This is also the rare sequel that expands on the mythos and world building that the original set-up, showing us that this future still has things to say about our times even if we haven't gotten around to flying cars yet.
10). Lady Bird (Dir. Greta Gerwig)
The solo directing debut for indie darling Greta Gerwig is also the single funniest, heartfelt, and truthful movie about the follies of youth, parenthood, and discovering yourself through many trials and errors. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are as convincing and resonating a Daughter/Mother pair that has ever been portrayed on film.Though the story is centered on Christine 'Lady Bird', Marion comes across as the rock of the family having to put up the antics and angst of a teenager while being the breadwinner of the home. Gerwig's comedic timing translate into her directing and editing her breakthrough personal project.
9). A Ghost Story (Dir. David Lowry)
The first thing Lowry wants you to notice about his wonderous mysterious little film here is the frame that will be used, it's smaller than the academy ratio 1.38:1 much more square with rounded edges like an old-timey photo. It connects the story as it unfolds on-screen to the past as if we are seeing the events on-screen through a vintage hand-crank projector. Additionally, it also depicts how confined our own worldview can be, what is just beyond our periphery vision? Mis-marketed as a sort of modern hipster Ghost successor, instead check this one out for the ideas of legacy, the nature of time and memory, and watching Rooney Mara eating a whole pie for the first time!
8). Song to Song (Dir. Terrance Malick)
Rooney Mara certainly tackled some heavy material in her work last year. Taking his unique cinematic style to the Austin music festival scene, Malick finds a different way to depict the highs and the lows that a group of musicians goes through as they muse poetically about what they want out of life. The cinematic maestro's contemporary trilogy after the monumental success his Tree of Life hasn't been received well, to say the least. Hopefully, someday there will be a major reevaluation of these movies as poetic experiments of the medium. If not then I'm content with appreciating them as they are in the here and now.
7). The Lost City of Z (Dir. James Gray)
The pursuit of Knowledge, Glory, and/or Adventure. The great explorers of the late 19th and 20th century searched far and wide for combinations of these goals, some succeeded but most didn't. Percival Fawcett was one of those explorers, venturing into the Amazon Jungle first on a simple survey mission then becomes obsessed returning to the jungle searching for a lost civilization unknown to historians at the time. Gray puts on a killer Werner Herzog impression exemplifying the self-destructive power of obsession and the intrinsic human nature of exploration.
6). Frantz (Dir. François Ozon)
And now my slot for a hidden gem of a movie literally no else is talking about and/or saw. The many stages of grief were embedded in the themes of many movies of 2016 but mostly on a smaller personal scale. Ozon's powerful criminally underseen work here aims to convey the sheer magnitude of loss felt in the aftermath of a bloody conflict the scale of WWI, both on a national and personal level. German Paula Beer's Anna is grieving over the death of her fiancé Frantz when she spies a man named Adrien placing flowers on Frantz's gravestone. As she finds out more about this mysterious Adrien the more it leads her to revelations on her own personal grief and the loss of life on both sides of the immense bloodshed. The French auteur portrays in stunning Black and White photography the toll war takes on its non-combatants and the sheer mental cost of moving on in the aftermath.
5). Dunkirk (Dir. Christopher Nolan)
A thing that happens with watching as many movies as I do is that certain expectations are built-in going with certain genres. Horror has to unsettle and terrify, Comedy has to make me laugh, Drama has to feel in some way truthful to life etc. War movies, at least the best kind, have to convey, without any sort of gloss, what these soldiers experienced as it happened to them and Nolan rendered that very thing as few filmmakers have been able to before. Portraying and cross-cutting between multiple perspectives from Land, Sea, and Air of the evacuation of the Allied army at Dunkirk harbor during WWII. The auteur filmmaker continues to leave his unique stamp on various genres for the better of cinema.
4). Call Me By Your Name (Dir. Luca Guadagnino)
It has been stated before about the Italian filmmaker but has to be said again Guadagnino finds ways to entice not just sight and sound but all the five senses in his work. Taking us back to 1983 and one of those Summer's that you hope will last forever, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) spends his time in Italy writing piano music and having flings with Italian girls until Oliver (Armie Hammer) a Graduate Student of his fathers comes to help with research for the summer. After a few flirty/abrasive interactions the two begin to realize that there might be something between them, something that might be worth exploring further. The chemistry between them is palpable depicting as intense a romance on-screen as any in recent memory, they adore each other. Can it last? Should it last? It doesn't matter to the two of them in the moments they share, and that is perhaps the most important lesson the two could teach us.
3). Phantom Thread (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
If this is indeed acting legend Daniel Day-Lewis' swan song he has a helluva note to end his remarkable career on. Take a bow, sir. Paul Thomas Anderson's twisting story of coupling power dynamics, the psychosis of the creative spirit, and vibrant 1950's fashion is an absolute luscious visual treat for the eyes. The film succeeds both as an acting showcase and parable on cultivating relationships between two very independently spirited and thinking people trying to find ways to depend on one another.
2). The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Dir. Yargos Lanthimos)
The Greek filmmaking auteur makes his mark on this list with the single most spine-chillingly Kubrickian film of 2017 about family bonds and skewed senses of morality that bind and ensnare us. It is unmistakably in the vein of the Master filmmaker from the eerily center-framed photography, impossibly smooth tracking camera, using production design to influence the framing of the shots, peering behind the curtain of culturally valued institutions, and ratcheting up the tension with simple gestures and words. I tell you somewhere Stanley is grinning ear to ear and that is just about as high praise for a film I can give.
1). Mudbound (Dir. Dee Rees)
A shared history. We all share this not-so-distant sordid past that is inexorably tied to brutality, oppression, subjugation, land, and bloodshed. One that continues and informs our current times. Controlling the narrative of the dark complicated history of our nation has gotten ever more heavily debated and politicized recently with it becoming clear that a complete history is necessary in order for any sort of repairing of chronic societal issues to begin. Dee Rees' epic empirically shows us this difficult process of empathy and reconciliation in two sons returning from war to fight another conflict that bears the weight of their family's pasts and by extension the nation itself. Breaking down the racial divides and revealing the evil of intolerance for exactly what it is. It's America then, it's America now battling the current surge of hate from the highest offices in the land. A vocal and powerful minority will never accept it but We the majority are still here and in this together.
And there you have it, the very best that cinema of 2017 had to offer in my book. It was a long year to be sure and 2018 already is showing that it'll be no easier. However, as the filmmakers, characters, and stories above emphatically portray we never really sign up for easy.