text:
Friday, August 17, 2007
How "COOL" ruined everything pt 1 -Actual Cool
It sometimes works in music. Here's the inventor of cool.
Elvis is naturally "cool", but he is not merely cool.
He earned the right to his 'tude by having extreme talent and skill and charisma. He has a really wide range of musical influences and styles. He invented all kinds of new ways to sing, not just "cool" ones.
He doesn't only shade his eyes. He has a million expressions and emotions. Cool is just one of them. Watch and see!
Robert Mitchum was cool before they started using the word to describe guys like this.
Again-he's not merely cool. You don't get the right be cool by just keeping your eyes half closed and having no respect for authority. You have to have amazing attributes to begin with.
Robert Mitchum is suave. He has an amazingly deep charismatic voice. He is weird looking and handsome at the same time.
He's rugged and manly. He can act. He can kick your ass.
Nowadays, everyone wants to be cool, but they don't think they need anything to back it up.
Even back in Elvis and Bob's time, not all amazing people were "cool". That is another attribute added on top of the rest of their talents.
There were lots of great musicians that were not what you would think of as cool. Same with actors.
Entertainment needs a wide range of character and styles. If everyone tries to be cool, there is no variety or contrast.
I have a theory that everyone who followed Elvis, up until this day wanted to be cool,so bad, that they gave up all other pursuits, just to cultivate an instant image and quick reward.
That's how we have music with no melody that has only one emotion-anger.
Or we have dark, ugly movies that are way too serious.
The worst medium to try to be "cool" in is cartoons. Cartoonists are among the nerdiest folks on the planet, and we are supposed to be the most honest and observant of the wide variety of human types.
"Tude" is the poor man's cool. It's the executive version of Elvis. As if you can just strike a rebellious pose and automatically earn the right to be thought of as someone who goes against the corporate herd. I think it's the opposite of actual cool.
When we try to be "cool" we abandon all our natural powers of observation, variety and strong humor-humor that makes you laugh out loud, rather than humor that makes you feel like you're part of the cool group.
Many cartoonists think being able to draw well is corny, in the same way that music with melodies or happy melodies is corny.
"That's my style" is an admission of wanting to be cool, instead of wanting to be able to draw a wide variety of characters and shapes and expressions, etc...
There are lots of emotions and moods that could be conveyed in every art, especially cartoons. We can heighten the range and emotions better than any other medium-as long as we don't wear blinders and filter our drawings through what we think is a cool "style".
When I search around Deviant Art or even some of my commenters' blogs I see lots of potentially talented young cartoonists trying too hard to be cool-drawing cool humans wearing baggy pants. Kind of Jamie Hewlett mixed with anime. There are tons of drawings by different artists, yet you would think it's all the same artist.
As if you can just copy the expressions and a couple angular shapes from Gorillaz and presto! You are as talented as Jamie Hewlett. Jamie can actually draw like a sonovabitch and it's his personal style. If you wanna be like Hewlett, learn to draw for real, like he did and make up your own style. If you are not actually cool, you don't have to draw cool. Draw funny if you're funny. Draw cute, or better yet draw many types of characters. Look at the world around you and many different cartoon styles and use your eyes and your knowledge to mix up the most interesting things you see.
Now think about it-how many people would want to watch cartoons with your cool characters in them? How entertaining is a cool cartoon? Why would they pick your cool human characters over the other million cool cartoonists' cool dude characters?
This is a very big subject and I would like to discuss it with folks over many posts if anyone's interested or has their own ideas on the subject.
To be continued...
80 comments:
- Ian M said...
It's ALWAYS bothered me when cartoons try to be "cool." I think Tiny Toon Adventures was a huge culprit of the "look at me, I'm cool" sort of thinking. It's easy to fool a 4 year old, I suppose, but now that animation has a wider audience, (people who buy sets of animation for themselves, not their children, etc.) can't we do away with this hokey fake cool shit? Watching some episodes of Tiny Toons now, as a young adult, is physically painful.
It's like every character now who's "cool" you just want to punch in the face. And almost all cartoons have it. If nothing else there's other kinds of cool besides "wears sunglasses, makes wise cracking comments, and acts like he's better than everyone else" cool.
Thank God for Superbad.
- Thunderrobot(aka Chet) said...
No cartoonist thinks that its corny to draw well. I think that a cartoonist by definition is able to bend rules a little and create shapes, and drawings that dont follow the rules of construction, weight, or negative space, and if a cartoonist doesnt care to have drawings that have construction than thats their problem.
I am in awe of the great drawing masters such as chuck jones, and i want to draw as well as them, so i like the idea of learning the same drawing concepts that they used. I want to be as good as an artist as i can be, but i realize that you dont have to use drawing concepts such as construction to have a good drawing.
Im sure that "real artists" that study "van gogh" would turn their noses up to cartoon drawings of any kind, including drawings that used construction, and weight, and all of the other drawing concepts you have talked about.
- Dooley said...
It seems to me that Bugs Bunny is the cartoon equivalent of Elvis. He's 'cool' but he also has a wide variety of characteristics beyond that. Many cartoon 'stars' who came after Bugs wanted to have that same level of cool, but neglected to add any other character traits besides 'cool'.
Cool Cat, anyone?
- Kelly said...
I have been drawing all of my life. I fill up sketchbooks rapidly, with observations of my surroundings. I also doodle silly things out of my own head, trying to incorporate what I have learned by studying reality. I would be honored if you would ever take a look at my blog, where I have posted a handful of cartoony drawings. If you could let me know if I am on the right track to becoming a successful cartoonist/illustrator, I would greatly appreciate it!!
Thanks for keeping such a fascinating, forthright, and informative blog, it has already given me so much to think about. If you look back a few posts on my page you will see your name mentioned alongside some (hopefully) funny drawings.
- Brad said...
WOW! Good post and well said, its hard to jam all that theory into words.
A lot of high school kids try really hard to act 'cool' (I did it, everybody did it) but barely anybody backs it up with talent or REAL personality. Its fake, boring and one dimensional.
There was a troupe of kids that tried to be James Dean with the sulking and all that, but then you'd talk to them and you realized they had no reason to sulk and there was nothing in their brains.
I have a few friends who draw their 'style' but its boring because they don't have the fundamentals to back it up and there is no observation of life in the drawings.
- Beast said...
Hmmm. Great points on cool.
- Beast said...
Theres nothing worse than when they try to make claasic characters dress cool when they already are. Take Bugs Bunny. The modern stuff where he's in Hip hop clothes or leather jacket..uggh.
- Brad said...
BTW can't wait for part 2...
here are my contributions to the upcoming Fake Cool:
-Oceans 11-13 (the actors are too self-aware and are trying to one-up each other the whole time with flashy dialogue)
-Matthew McConaughey
-CSI: Miami
- Brad said...
Don't you have to know the rules before you can bend them?
I don't think being an animator or a cartoonist is an excuse to ignore basic art principles.
- Looney Moon Cartoons said...
The problem with 'tude' is that it is trying to be cool. If you are cool you don't have to try to be cool. If you aren't cool the harder you try the less cool it makes you. Trying to be cool is the polar opposite of cool.
btw. Kelly - I wanted to check out your blog but the link didn't work
- Johnny Mastronardi said...
>Don't you have to know the rules before you can bend them?
Yes! You have to know the rules and be able work under them before you can break them. Studying Van Gogh will actually increase your skill as a cartoonist, because you can pick up on the principles of art that he used. Even Picasso, one of the most avant garde artists of the 20th century was skilled classically. Just looking at his Wikipedia page, compare Yo, Picasso and the later works, such as Guernica. Picasso started as a realist and learned how he could break the rules and deliberately create a distinctive style of art.
The same should be true of a hero in an artistic work. Good heroes know the rules and know when the situations are extreme enough that the rules no longer apply. Modern heroes only display anarchy mixed with all the arrogant angst prototyped by the 60s beatnik.
Real cartoons also typify anarchy, but playfully and comedically. While "cool" is self-absorbed disregard, cartoonishness is manic craziness.
- TamalH said...
I think it's partially due to the fact that many media people think of a "cool" person in the most stereotypical way, and it happens to be the most boring and overused kind.
There are many different types of cool, not just the "shades wearing, convertable driving, anti-authority-take-no-BS" kind.
- Sethdr said...
Great post, and well said.
I want to know who thinks drawing well, is corny!
John, what do you think of Humphrey Bogart? To me, he was not only a 'cool' actor, but he had full respect of his profession, such as this quote he made during his career:
"I don't approve of the John Waynes and the Gary Coopers saying 'Shucks, I ain't no actor—I'm just a bridge builder or a gas station attendant.' If they aren't actors, what the hell are they getting paid for? I have respect for my profession. I worked hard at it."
- Adam H said...
Great post, and I'm eager to read the next one, or two, or ten.
The cool I hate the most is when it's cool to be lame & not good at anything or care about what you do: the lethargy cool. Don't have energy or an opinion, cause it ain't cool! Coolness in general is so put on & it drives me fucking crazy!
Imagine what the world would be like if everyone were honest to themselves & everyone else & just acted the way they naturally felt, rather than smothering their personalities with nonsense like being cool?
- Mellanumi said...
Totally agree with you on every point. I think Brad summed up the mentality of our age when he referenced the new Ocean's movies. It makes me want to puke when high profile actors think they can feign humor with false appendages and cosmetics. It can only augment, not supplement.
The whole mentality is: We only aspire to greatness, so we will ape those who were truly great. The problems is, unless you're as great as the person you're aping, then you only call attention to the serious lack of talent that separates George Clooney from Frank Sinatra.
A perfect example: Brando.
When he played Marc Anthony in 1953's Julius Caesar, he breathed new life into the role--especially with his delivery of the funeral speech. John Geilgud said that with Brando's performance, all other performances of Marc Anthony had been wiped from memory. You watch that performance and you'll know what he meant.
Another is Vince Vaughn's performance as Johnny Cash.
Terrible simulation is Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Katherine Hepburn and Jude Law's mechanical impersonation of Errol Flynn in "The Aviator." They're fine actors, but they simulated instead of being.
Today's comic art makes my colon recoil. If I didn't spend so much time at the racks, I couldn't tell you the difference between Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo, et al.
One common sentiment amongst all artists is that once you get past technique, you're not self-conscious about style -- you move beyond to something more ephemeral than meaning: Emotion.
Emotion is where meaning springs. Hitchcock himself was asked about how he captures scenes in the screenplay format. He replied by stating that he doesn't go for scenes, he shoots for emotions.
Emotion is that magical nirvana, g-spot where everything else melts away and you're finally honest with yourself as an artist -- where the structure of the piece is insignificant, and you know in your gut everything is just right.
That's the spot I strive to touch.
- CGsucks said...
Great post John.
I've sort of always had your view of "coolness". I believe you can't act "cool" you can only be cool naturally. Wearing baggy trousers, sunglasses, and having a bad attitude doesn't make you cool. It makes you a poser.
Im a developing amateur artist myself. Even when everything I produced was crap(now only 60 percent is crap), I never tried to draw cool people. Even today, I never draw characters with baggy pants, sunglasses, visors or any other lame-o accessories.
It drives my nuts when cartoons today try to be "cool" or "with it". Especially when they make "extreme" grandmas(hey arnold,hoodwinked, etc)
THis is all coming from a very nerdy teenaged male. I read comic books, watch sci fi channel, and own several swords. Dont I just reek of nerdiness?
I like to draw all sorts of things. As a nerd, I dont draw only nerdy people, nor do I only draw "cool" people. I draw buff people, skinny people, fat people, men, woman, kids, magicians, zombies, warriors, robots, evil circus performers, pretty much anything that pops into my head. What I try to accomplish with my drawings is not "coolness". I guess what I try to do is make my drawings good or interesting to look at. I hope I never have resort to sunglasses or visors to accomplish this.
- The Jerk said...
not only was robert mitchum cool and manly, but he wrote poetry, too!
- Barbara said...
I think that's the place where young artists learning to draw go wrong: They see art that they like, but they don't have the experience or knowledge to observe what's good about it, and they just copy what they see on the surface. I did it when I was a kid.
I think when we see all of the stuff on DeviantArt drawn by kids we freak out and think the art world's coming to an end, but I think it's really just because ten years ago, all of those same kids' drawings would be stuffed in a corner of their bedroom somewhere. We didn't have the platform of putting our stuff on the internet like we do now.
Even if kids now have the flawed notion of "this is my style", they'll (hopefully) improve in some way as they get older and wiser.
Convincing people to stop acting cool is another thing. I think some people just really want their drawings to be cool in every way possible, because more than anything else, cool equals respect. It also all comes down to your mindset and what you grew up on and were influenced by.
- PCUnfunny said...
"-Oceans 11-13 (the actors are too self-aware and are trying to one-up each other the whole time with flashy dialogue)
-Matthew McConaughey
-CSI: Miami"
Add Pierce Brosnan as James Bond to that list as well. He Set Bond back 50 years. Thank god for Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE. In my opinion, true cool is when you un-afraid to act the way you are and fluant it. That's well Elvis, James Dean,and Bugs Bunny did.
- Colin said...
Theres no such thing as cool anymore. Now, the definition of cool(according to some studio heads) is a character with spikey anime hair who rides a skateboard and says "Boo-Yah"!
- litlgrey said...
You know those last few Bugs shorts directed (if one can use such a word so early in the day) by McKimson, with pathetic scripts by John Dunn?
This is a Bugs who seems to have nothing going for him BUT fake cool - a Bugs who in some cases both looks and occasionally comments that he doesn't even want to be there.
What a desperate difference to the Freleng Bugs of the late '50s who is impishly happy anywhere wherever he is, and who leaves his audience with lines like "And me? I love everybody!"
- desiree said...
I agree that Elvis was one of the 1st "cool" people in entertainment, but the inventor of? I think your forgetting the 2 men before him - Marlon Brando & James Dean. Elvis was even a fan of Dean. Now Elvis, you could argue was the 1st, because he gained more attention for his rebelliousness. However Dean and Brando follow your "logic" of cool too. They had the talent, skill and charisma. Three things lacking in today's biggest music & movie stars, They didn't just having the tude, they could back it up in actions, as well as having a wide range of expressions. I think we can agree that Dean and Brando were know for being complex men.
- Jay said...
Ya know, I came up with this same theory a while back, and now here it is on your blog! Great minds think alike ;)
I don't believe "cool" can be stopped. For instance, have you noticed how kids try to act like teenagers now? Young kids. Eight to twelve year olds, maybe younger.
Do you know WHY they act like that? Because the majority of parents these days are teenagers! So since being cool is so important to them, they teach their poor kids to be cool.
Back in the day, parents would teach kids morals, to be good upstanding citizens, etc.
These kids are going to grow up thinking there's nothing more important then being cool, and pass that on to their kids, and so on, and so on.
Most people are just mindless followers, it seems. They don't want to be a real person, they just want to be accepted by all their mediocre peers. Which apparently means being "cool" at all costs.
- Dave Schlafman said...
Drawing cartoons is not cool. It's cool like saying, my dad's an astronaut...which is still even cooler. It's humorous when I go into a book store to look at animation books and I'm standing next to a ten year old...now compare that with Brando...not cool again.
Great work shines not because it's cool, but because it's original...just keep it fresh and people will start to take notice...and sometimes watching every episode of Family Guy is more harmful because it molds your mind and imagination to do something similar...Stay in a cave, but keep the window open to observe what's directly outside your rock.
John, I really like the blog. Sometimes, I feel your harshness on the industry is intense, but after working for a year and a half in a flash animated studio, I have come to realize a lot (but not all) of what you preach is in fact right on. This post is funny because you're the renegade of today's animation world...I bet if you asked 100 animators, 75 of them would use your name to describe cool in animation...afterall, it is cool to be the renegade...you're not afraid to speak your mind about how the industry could be better, and that's why so many people tune in.
Love it. Godspeed.
- JohnK said...
Hi Chet
if you wanna be 1/10th as good as Chuck Jones, you have to learn construction...and about 100 other things too.
There's no avoiding construction if you expect to have any control over your drawings.
It's the number one most basic principle.
- pinkboi said...
THANK YOU!! As an 80s child, cartoons were ruined for me by lame attempts at cool - like the California Raisins *shudders*, or Cocoa Puff's Sonny (who was thankfully recently decoolified)
So many things that are interesting in people are frailties, like brief moments of acting like a monkey, a child or a member of the opposite sex. All quite un-cool.
Elvis' appeal is limited because of his cool. In the 70s, Elvis' popularity wane despite his talent and because of his "cool" since his version of it became corny. Cool must be subtle and mixed with a little dorky to work right, like Elvis Costello or Bugs Bunny (though even Bugs is sometimes too much - Wile E. Coyote is much funnier).
Here's where cool is good - when the art gives viewers/listeners something that they can feel is their own and that they feel as reacting against all the things they hate - destructive cool. This works well in music (the cool of Industrial and Punk in the late 70s..), but it'd also be nice to have a punk-ass cartoon that kicks musical penguins' and attitude-having chimps' asses to outer space... just make sure he(/she) can still be at the butt of the joke, too!
- pappy d said...
Marketing is looking for a snapshot, a single image of a character that will make kids want to identify with him enough to watch the show & buy the related merchandise. That's why they present him as cool, confident & sexy & shoot him from a low camera angle. It always makes me think of presentation artwork & I can't see it without feeling the cold dead hand of Formula giving me a reach-around.
A lot of the time the attitude doesn't fit the actual character in the show at all, which is natural enough. Since he has to "learn an important lesson" with every episode, he can't be constantly self-satisfied.
It's worse in features where he's supposed to have a character arc. There's no way change can improve him if he's already so hip (the "perfect" Disney prince/ss syndrome). When he does become a better person, it seems like a bizarre character twist instead of being inwardly motivated.
I see a lot of portfolios from kids right out of school where there's an obvious attempt to "brand" themselves. If they invent a distinctive graphic style they may get to lead a big national ad campaign. I'm not saying it's necessarily wrong, but it's a pose.
If you want to get out of your folk's basement, you need to adapt your style to the subject matter.
Family Guy would be yanked off the air if someone had the bad taste to animate it like a Disney feature. The humor is too gross to be that explicit. The crappy draftmsanship gives the writers the licence they need to include nudity, corpses, gay babies, etc.
You'll develop a style by thinking, doing art & being perceptive. You won't be able to NOT develop a style. Strange as it may seem, style is ultimately about your what you don't perceive as much as what you do perceive.
Many cartoonists think being able to draw well is corny, in the same way that music with melodies or happy melodies is corny.
I guess it's not "ironic" enough.
- Jay said...
BTW, how do you define a melody? Just out of curiousity…
- Pete Emslie said...
I tried to be cool once, but all I could manage was bland... :)
- Kali Fontecchio said...
I'll have a piece of that.
- Ben Forbes said...
I think "cool" characters aren't as interesting as the character with some character.
I wish there was more posts on construction. Is there a possibility for some?
- JohnK said...
Hi Ben
there are a ton of posts on construction.
Find one and then click the label at the bottom of the post that says "construction" and they will all load up for you
- Ben Forbes said...
Okay, I will check them out.
It's one of the things I find hard to do, yet it seems so simple. I manage to try and do the head construction but I dont know if its great or if I'm doing it wrong.
- Brad said...
I've thought all day about 'cool' and I don't think it exists today at all because everything is a photocopy of a fax of cool.
Every dog has its day and "cool" had its day about 4 decades ago. It ended when the Beatles grew their hair out, just ask George Liquor's barber.
- Kelly Toon said...
darn it!!!
John, the post by Kelly imploring you to look at her humble cartoon offerings was from me :(
here is a handy link:
The Art of Kelly Toon
Sorry for not making it so simple before.
Many Thanks!!
- Operation GutterBall said...
Here's some cool!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtDL5DIBmss nobody in america can even think like this, now that's good cool!
- gabriel said...
this post remember me Poochie from Itchy & Scratchy
- Thunderrobot(aka Chet) said...
Don't you have to know the rules before you can bend them?
I don't think being an animator or a cartoonist is an excuse to ignore basic art principles.
- im not ignoring basic art principals, my post was explaning that i want to learn all of the drawing concepts that the great cartoon master used. look at my dev art page or the bosko animation i posted, every drawing uses construction.
The "cool" artists that John is talking about dont care about what he is saying, in fact they probobley dont even read this blog. All im saying is that john is wasting his breath talking about how bad the state of modern animation is.
What i and many other people want are posts about construction, and classic drawing principals, so that we can improve our drawings.
- Matt Blasi said...
John, you wrote:
"I have a theory that everyone who followed Elvis, up until this day wanted to be cool,so bad, that they gave up all other pursuits, just to cultivate an instant image and quick reward.
That's how we have music with no melody that has only one emotion-anger. Or we have dark, ugly movies that are way too serious."
While I like your momentum of ideas, the above is a gross oversimplification of the origin of modern 'angry' music. To describe the birth, history, and evolution of such 'angry' music (metal, hardocre, punk, etc) as being derived from a need or desire to be 'cool' is to deny the rich tapestry of influences that make modern 'angry' music what it is.
Simply put, you're dismissing the various socio-political influences on modern rock music, not to mention the socialization of viewpoints that created the rap and hip-hop genres. I believe your above statement was made innocently enough; it would be hard to substantiate such a claim.
- pinkboi said...
Cool is good when the kid can partly relate to the cool character and in that way borrow strength. Music can do this well (it can do other things too, but you'd never know these days). So the important element, once again, is believability.
- Tom Dougherty said...
For some reason I'm happy that you like that Gorillaz stuff.
You're right about the 'tude shit. I've had art directors point to shit like Tiny Toons as examples of 'how it's done right' and it immediately kills any respect I would have developed for them.
- JohnK said...
>>Simply put, you're dismissing the various socio-political influences on modern rock music, <
That's another bad thing that happened to art-it got all socio-political, rather than artistic.
Rock and Rap Stars preach to us about stuff, instead of learning to play their instruments and sing properly.
Thanks for bringing that up!
- Matt Blasi said...
John wrote:
"That's another bad thing that happened to art-it got all socio-political, rather than artisitic."
Your comment implies that art is something outside the sphere of other external medias and influences. Thus, political art, art with a message, art that is mixed media, etc, is not really 'art'. You're making generalizations here that simply have no base.
Why should we think of art as something that exists in a pure form only if untouched by other elements? Was Faulkner not an artist because Intruder in the Dust deals with race and socialization in the South? That certainly had a sociological implication. Is Picasso's Guernica not art because it represents an experiences of war? Warfare is most certainly a political entity. In the same line of thinking, we might dismiss any art that is influenced by politics, warfare - in fact, any art that is not simply art for the sake of itself - as not really being 'art.' And this line of thinking is a dangerous oversimplification; it's a rash generalization about the nature of art.
"Rock Stars preach to us about stuff, instead of learning to play their instruments and sing properly."
This may be your opinion, but it doesn't hold up under close examination. Were the Beatles political and did they make art? What about Lenon? What about many of the most famous and treasured rock, folk, and country acts of the 1960s and 1970s?
What about something more modern, such as the band Rage Against the Machine. Their guitarist (not to mention the entire band) is an incredibly accomplished musician who has made a career on innovative, original guitar playing - not to mention his band's aggressive political messages. It's as if you're saying that a band, artist, or artisan of any kind isn't making art if there's a message, political or otherwise, behind the art. So in an effort to remove the taint of propaganda from your art, you've thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
I think I understand what you're trying to get at: you don't want something shoved down your throat when you're trying to enjoy something of aesthetic value (art). And that's fine if that's your prerogative. But using that as a method of judging whether something is art or not is unreliable at best. You might like art to be pure according to your line of thinking, but when begin to apply your ideas across a spectrum of art and make accusations about how various mediums have failed, you're over-reaching.
I'm not trying to be argumentative for the sake of conflict. I'm trying to say, Hold on. Let's be a little more cautious about this idea you've thrown out there, because it doesn't really hold up for art. It doesn't even really hold up for cartooning - including your own cartooning.
You've done numerous cartoons which sell products. Sure, there are cartoon roots there; cartoons have long been used to advertise. But the very act of using art - in this case, cartoons - to push the capitalist interest of a company or coporation - is a political act. It's a statement. By endorsing and selling a product, you're allowing your artistic imagery to be put to use for a distinct capitalist, free-market interest. Of course, you have to sell your art to survive. I'mnot arguing that. But let's not pretend that such an act is not sometimes a political act itself.
That might not be a bad thing. You're certainly not endorsing selling organs on the black market with your Racketu design, but not everyone has the same scruples. Disney will put Mickey Mouse on a t-shirt made by children in a foreign sweatshop and sell it for three times the manufacturing cost. Is that not a political act? Where then do we draw the line between acceptable political acts and unacceptable?
In summary, I'm cautioning your above lines of reasoning because I feel that they're riddled with generalizations and gaps of logic. I think you were on a roll - you were making excellent points about blandness and the failure of innovation in studios, the duplicity of 'cool' in our media societies - but then you made a leap of logic that simply doesn't hold up.
- JohnK said...
I talk about tangible stuff. You can have the mysticism.
- PCUnfunny said...
"Rock and Rap Stars preach to us about stuff, instead of learning to play their instruments and sing properly.
Thanks for bringing that up!"
Well I wouldn't say that for rappers like Mos Def Kanye West but for the most part, you're rignt.Also, the same goes for cartoons such as South Park and Family Guy. They want to push there political agendas but they can't draw or write.
- kate yarberry said...
When i was a little kid and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up invariably i said, "cool". I'm an art student instead.
- cemenTIMental said...
I talk about tangible stuff. You can have the mysticism.
That seems quite unfair, he has good points and what he's saying is far from being "mysticism." In fact, he's talking about far more tangible stuff than your vague implication that all modern music you don't personally like is rubbish only done to look "cool".
Having said that, I totally agree that "cool" is indeed one of the main problems with cartoons these days. It's an even worse problem in video games in the west...
- cemenTIMental said...
"Rock and Rap Stars preach to us about stuff, instead of learning to play their instruments and sing properly.
Last time I checked, learning to play an instrument and preaching an opinion are not mutually exclusive. Likewise preaching about stuff on blogs while learning to draw and animate properly. :)
- Gochris said...
I think one of the reasons "cool" is still so prevalent is that the girls dig it.
That's a gross generalization of course - but how else do you explain why ugly rock stars get so many girls and the nice guys who aren't jerks don't?
(It's because the rock stars are putting themselves out there, and nice guys aren't, I guess.)
Anyway, cool is popular because it attracts women. If suddenly being smart attracted women, you'd see guys throwing away the hair gel and hitting the books.
Also, "cool" implies no emotion, no heat. No activity. And who wants to see a cartoon character who is not active? Yet we see them all the time on TV. They just talk and talk and talk...
Which is soooo ironic, since it is actually more difficult to do lip synch animation than animation with no dialogue.
So all of the animators who read this - avoid dialogue, give us action, and your characters won't be cool.
But of course, they'll be enjoyable, and make people happy, and you will become a success and get the girls!
- Tyler said...
I think I sort of threw "cool" out the window when I had a comic published featuring two flies arguing over a piece of crap, which you can see on deviantART if you so choose.
For me, it's so much more fun to create characters who look like they've totally lost their grip on a situation... the opposite of cool.
- AtroxChobatsu said...
Hrmmm.... Poochie ffrom Itchy and Scratchy seems to come to mind when I read this post.
- Eddie Fitzgerald said...
I agree 1,000 percent! People try too hard to be cool and it hurts their work!
- Well... said...
My whole blog is about things I think are cool. but what's funny about that, is that my version of cool is totally nerdy to most people, and I like it that way. For a short time I was attempting to draw what i figured was 'cool' to other people, and it just ended up looking like everything else, but worse because it was just another fraud. But now I've completely forgotten those lame highschool bounderies, and venture into the wilderness of what I think is cool, not what they think is cool.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, it is right on the track of where my head is at right now. Focusing on what I think is cool. Not tude' cool, just Gubba cool. And I think thats..uh.....cool? hah.
- Brad Reid said...
I've thought a lot about just the sort of thing you're talking about, and I agree with a lot of what you're saying. One of these days I intend to write my ideas out in full.
In the meantime, perhaps I could touch on something of what I see happening:
All successful art and entertainment -- and there's been a glut of both for the past 50+ years or so -- needs to do two things. First, it needs to catch an audience's attention. 'Nuff said; this much is obvious. And second, once it has caught an audience's attention, it needs to get past their critical faculties, i.e. that accumulated mass of criteria that guides a person's decisions on what is worthy to continue to hold their attention.
At this stage, a variety of human expressions are unable to run the gauntlet. All varieties of sentimentality, for instance, are the first to fall. It just can't take the heat.
And what are we left with?
More than "cool", I think that the prevailing attitude that most creative people these days want to exude is edginess. It's as if the critical attitude has become its own aesthetic and then can't see beyond its own shortcomings.
When I listen to Sinatra I almost get the impression that he was scared to use a little more expression, lest someone think he was less of a man. Similarly, I think that today's culture has reached a point in which no one wants to show themself as soft.
Basically, what it comes down to is that for the creative person who accepts the edgy attitude, "edgy" in itself becomes self-perpetuating.
Boy, this really is too much of a mouthful, but I''l publish it anyway.
Thanks for a great blog!
- JohnK said...
>>Last time I checked, learning to play an instrument and preaching an opinion are not mutually exclusive. <<
What "instrument" do rappers play? The sampler?
- Brad said...
>>Last time I checked, learning to play an instrument and preaching an opinion are not mutually exclusive. <<
With the state of the music industry and all the dung they are pumping out, maybe the two SHOULD be mutually exclusive until they have the chops to back it up.
- Jose said...
"What "instrument" do rappers play? The sampler?"
Yah, Sam Kinison said they don't play instruments, it's why they grab onto their dicks on stage.
And damn some of these wordy argument-posts. Dudes like Matt should try and argue in comic strip form or something. Be fun.
- cemenTIMental said...
What "instrument" do rappers play? The sampler?
Uh.... is this a trick question? What are you on about?
I probably shouldn't bother arguing since you keep moving the goalposts... my point is that the old "pop stars shouldn't preach their opinions" is rubbish; no one complains when the opinions being preached match their own. All you're really saying is "I disagree with this famous person and wish they'd shut up"
Also most terrible mainstream pop/rap/rock acts are made up of people who CAN play instruments perfectly well, but just don't have any particular desire or need to make good music using their skills.
Singing is a different matter... nearly every pop/r&b track out there these days is layered with horrible autotune FX to disguise total lack of talent, sounds like robots singing.
- cemenTIMental said...
With the state of the music industry and all the dung they are pumping out, maybe the two SHOULD be mutually exclusive until they have the chops to back it up.
The problem with the music industry is NOT the lack of instrument-playing ability! It's pretty much every other aspect of music that's lacking.
- Pete Emslie said...
Brad said: "When I listen to Sinatra I almost get the impression that he was scared to use a little more expression, lest someone think he was less of a man. Similarly, I think that today's culture has reached a point in which no one wants to show themself as soft."
I'd have to respectfully argue that point. Sinatra was the kind of guy who wore his heart on his sleeve when he sang. Though we usually think of his swinging, breezy material like "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Witchcraft", Frank recorded numerous songs that spoke of great loneliness and heartbreak. And in his performing of these songs, he always invested huge emotion, both on record and also live on stage. To hear him perform his classic, "One For My Baby" is to hear a man who knew heartbreak firsthand and was not afraid to let all that emotion out for all to hear. Likewise with "Angel Eyes", "In the Wee Small Hours", etc. etc.
Yet I really can't say that I hear great sadness, or for that matter, great joy in anything on today's music scene. Yes, there is plenty of anger, but is that something that we're supposed to enjoy ad nauseum? As a guy in my 40's, I too have a low opinion of rap, having heard nothing there that could possibly speak to me emotionally, let alone appeal to me esthetically, due to its total absence of that most basic component of music: melody. Besides, the lyric content is usually unintelligible gobbledegook to these old ears. In contrast, I never have any trouble understanding what Frank is saying...
- Pete said...
I thought Billie Holiday invented cool
- Jay said...
I think what John's saying is that he wants to be entertained!
Why can't art just be art? Why does it HAVE to be something that makes a statement, or makes you think? Why can't it be just a beautiful painting, or a pretty/fun/happy song? An entertaining movie?
Why does everything have to make you think? I want my entertainment to take me OUT of reality. I don't want to think about all the crap going on in the world. There's enough time for that elsewhere.
I honestly think "cool" has to do with the whole "make me think" crap. It's not cool to be happy, and enjoy yourself. You've got to be "deep" and have a sort of inner pain. Which incidently is what 99% of all art is about today.
- b. Touch said...
Virtually all of Elvis' "coolness" - and some of his music - was lifted from African-American performers.
So I wouldn't be too sure that Elvis is the inventor of "cool". Maybe Billie Holliday as someone suggested, but certainly some early jazz or rhythm and blues artist.
- Raff said...
>> The crappy draftmsanship gives the writers the licence they need to include nudity, corpses, gay babies, etc. <<
And that's the norm today - the shock value of wild crudeness and the use of poor draftsmanship as a distancing device to make it palatable.
What a clever combination - you don't have to discipline your humor, you don't have to learn to draw...AND since it's all so theoretically disgusting, it can be marketed as "edgy" to rich teens who need filth to counterbalance their sterile suburban lives.
Brilliant! We're gonna be rich!
Oh, wait, here comes Youtube with video from an era when subtlety and impressive use of skill to express the subtlety were the norm.
RIP television.
- pappy d said...
"Edgy" means it's as far as you can go without thinking outside the box.
- Mellanumi said...
Dude, this conversation is far from over...
Matt Blah-si, you seriously need to chill, man. Your writing sounds like Shakespeare cum Yoda. Puh-leaze tell me you aren't a cartoonist.
In terms of cool, cool is the unexpected. In a sea of clones, it's the one thing that sticks out. A person smiling in a crowd of frowners is cool. Then everyone starts to frown and that one person who refuses to do so is now cool. And so everyone smiles again...
It's the difference between formula and formulaic. Something can adhere to a formula and still be spontaneous, inventive, original, and groundbreaking without being derivative and formulaic. But that's because the artist knows how to work the genre.
Working in the film industry, I am constantly assaulted by MBAs who have suddenly grown a creative imperative and think: "Geeze, if it worked for Usual Suspects, it must work for us. If 300 did it so well, then we can do the same."
These clones have no idea what film is. Their knowledge ends circa 1990 with the emergence of Reservoir Dogs -- now that's cool.
Or if they want to seem urbane, 1942 with the release of Casablanca. Now Bogart, he's freakin' cool.
Or if they want to seem slightly exotic, they have a poster in their office of Fellini's "8 1/2." Surrealism -- totally cool.
They don't even really know what surrealism really is: "It's a bunch of crazy dreamlike stuff, like a dream, man, right. That's trippy, man. Like a dream."
Because these people don't have the balls to be themselves, to take a chance. They don't know enough to take a chance. If they had more knowledge, if they actually respected the medium enough to care about it, they might not try to make clones. They might actually give the public something they didn't even know they wanted.
But that was the old days of America. When you got these bright bulbs all over the place challenging the status quo. Thinking big. Living for their art. They were called innovators.
But people don't want to think big -- it hurts too much. It costs too much time. You might have to devote a whole lifetime to it before you see the rewards.
They want immediate. They want easy. They want Saw 15.
One of these days I'll write my book on John, and I'll point out that one of the things you see in his artwork like all the great animators of Termite Terrace is respect for his craft. How many times have you heard Chuck Jones describing Bugs Bunny in terms of Buster Keaton's mannerisms? If you haven't, you shouldn't be a cartoonist.
John does the same. He looks at the same inspiration, and he works damn hard to make sure his characters are INNOVATIVE. While everyone else is copying Cal Arts, John's telling people to watch the silents comedies. Who else in the animation community required that no two drawings look alike?
The problem with some of your responses to John is that you don't understand aesthetic principles are like colors on a spectrum -- you won't know what green is until you see it in relation to yellow, or blue, or anything else. In the same way, there're people out there who think the artwork on "Boondocks" is the most mindblowing thing. That the actors in 300 were some of the best ever. Sure the work on Disney's Tarzan is pretty, and polished, but it doesn't have the same innovation as the Fleischers cartoons. Nor was it so different from what was already out on the market. You can't deny that by comparison to our earlier art forms, we've lost something.
Your average vaudevillian could outperform some of today's best actors. They are more expressive and more alive because they had to be-- the camera didn't get too close.
So when you make comments like "John's wasting his time complaining about the state of the animation industry," you're dead wrong. Because that's what led John to do something like Ren and Stimpy. His resistance to all that commerce that was being crammed down his gullet.
And I don't know anyone who doesn't think Ren and Stimpy is cool.
- Mick said...
I reckon that the use of 'the art of...' books is over used. It isn't just cool that is too apparent, everything is over used. It doesn't take much to be yourself but it does take a lot to bust out of the bullshit that surrounds us. I guess this is straying from the point a bit but I'm not really bothered. I've never been cool in my life and I'm a tip top fella
- glamaFez said...
Miles Davis' "Birth Of The Cool" is pretty cool.
- Jeremy said...
leave it to someone to trot out the "Elvis robbed black musicians" horse.
it was a great post to read John, and it really highlights the death of a real genuine nature to a lot of things done today. i think that loss of "genuine" comes as we further disconnect from the things we do in our daily lives. lord knows i am in no rush to churn my own butter, but damn if i don't wish it was easier to just connect with something without a hundred layers of intellectual garbage.
i feel like all this irony and socio political stuff just keeps us from really seeing how people really aren't putting something behind the things they do and the people they are.
looking forward to more posts.
Very interesting John, not so many artist I know talk about this problem. I used to try so bad to draw "cool" characters... and I know what you mean about some DeviantArtists. Now I don't try anything anymore, I'd rather feel, express and only strive to be more clear in what I say in a drawing... still, I think one needs a lot of courage in order to draw "honestly". The idea of having a style is so strong nowadays, that the essence is very often overlooked.
Thanks for the lesson!
- Adam said...
I guess I'm a little late on this but I'll throw my opinion in, which I think may clarify John's post a bit too.
There's 'genuine cool' which I think is having a skill that allows you to do things others can't but want to do.
And there's 'fake cool' which is wanting the respect 'genuine cool' gets you but not having the skill to get it.
So 'genuine cool' people are driven by something outside of seeking other's respect and as a result they get respect because their focus is on something more tangible than other people's opinions which is what allows them to develop their respectable skills.
and 'fake cool' people are either copying 'genuine cool' people to get a taste of 'genuine cool' respect ( of course the only respect they'll receive is by the people who can't see through their posturing ). Even worse than that are the 'fake cool' people who don't display any personality or skill at all for fear of people labeling them 'uncool'.
So I guess the lesson is don't try to be 'cool' because you'll end up in the pathetic 'fake cool' category.
So to put it in context with art. The path to being a 'genuine cool' artist is to just keep focused on creating your art. Learn from others ( don't just imitate! ) people you respect. Observe and record the immediate world around you. Don't be afraid to fail and be considered 'uncool'. Share what you have learned so far by showing others your work and your techniques. Graciously accept criticism from people who want to see you improve and dismiss the rest. If you do this you will become 'genuinely cool' with no additional effort. You'll have both amazing artistic skill and real respect for the price of one!
And as a bonus you won't have to endure the stress of wanting to constantly impress everybody you meet which will make you happier. And as a bonus bonus you'll get laid more too.
- Rafa said...
Thanks for your advices, they are pure gold !!!
- el_lang said...
I think that a character doesnot need to be cool to nçbe ibteresting , because if someone puts much effor in "inventing" a "cool" character the result is fake ,or a overacting character, I think the public desides if a character is cool or not , I rather not to develop a character from the begining thinking if it is cool or not,because I am not cool ,and I dont know how to be.
I don`t feel construction is something someone could get to "master" with just studing a metod,I studied construccion for several years , using the books authored by Andrew loomis ,and ,even while it was ment for learning "realistic drawing" not for animation ,the basics seems almost the same,but I think that the most important part ,is the prosses of learning something for onself. after all the study I can not say I am the artist I would like to be but, I agree with you , the ideal would be to be able to use the whole range of characteristic that exist in the nature to produce something that is unic , and not repeat everytime a variation of the same phenotype.I really dont know why all the young people want to learn to draw a "predefined" style as anime , marvel , disney,or even what is called "cartoon" nowdays,when I was a kid I use to read comic magazines with ten or more different stories frome any genre , and you could recognize the style of each artist , not because they drew allways the same face(except one ore two artist)but because of the way of modeling the characters , the way they used the ink,"the mood" they inflicted to the stories. the reason why I desided to learn this principles was the desire,of being able to draw anything in any way I wanted, I can`t forget when I watched walter lantz teaching how to draw "woody" ,I used that system when I was a kid to draw any other cartoon I wanted.I studied because I tryed to learn something that would alow myself to draw exactly what there was in my mind. I understand very well what you say about deviant art , in someway I see that most of the ones who draw animals ,a 90 percent draw that kind of bluth /disney mix,maybe this is because is easier to copy from a drawing than designin from the real thing.I learned from the begining not to copy from other artist ,(unless of course it were generic drawings made with teaching purpose) .I wonder if someone would read,if the one who might read this is courious about how I draw here is my link http://moztrow.deviantart.com/ .It is quite complicated to "invent" unique characteristics for the design of an animal character, because ,obviously the animals don´t have much diferences in the traits as human does.after all... I would say that the thing I do the best is "painting" more than designin a character or constructing ,but what more can I say ...
- Alleycat said...
You forgot James Dean :)
If he isn't cool I don't know who is!
- Peter F. Bernard, Jr. said...
Way way back in the 90s I got hired by a client-who-shall-remain-nameless to draw a storyboard for a proposed live-action kids show. It was going to feature a man in a dog suit-- but not just ANY dog suit! A dog suit with TUDE, yo!!! He used all these words like "edgy" and "in-your-face" and so forth to describe him. He wanted EVERY single cliche of a teenager from that era used-- the dog would wear a backwards baseball cap, sunglasses, a t-shirt with a lumberjack shirt over it, baggy shorts, high-top converse all-stars and he carried a skateboard! In the middle of the project, I deliberately said something to his secretary to get myself fired, I couldn't do it anymore. I'm too sensitive to be a cartoonist, it seems. So anyway, years later, I was watching the Simpsons (sorry, I watch the Simpsons) and that dog character was in one of their episodes!! My jaw was on the floor. They were making fun of TV executives in that one, and the execs had decided that what Itchy and Scratchy needed was a dog with tude! They said the exact same things I had been told when I was told how to draw him. I figure my client must have made his pitch to one of the producers or writers or SOMEbody on the Simpsons because this WAS that character, and in the story Homer plays his voice-- and EVERYONE HATES HIM! I was laughing SO HARD, I was so grateful to them for making me feel better about getting myself fired off that gig, hahaha. Here's a script excerpt--
We at the network want a dog with attitude. He's edgy, he's "in your face." You've heard the expression "let's get busy"? Well, this is a dog who gets "biz-zay!" Consistently and thoroughly.
So he's proactive, huh?
Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.
Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm"? Aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important? Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that. I'm fired, aren't I?
Oh, yes.
- Peter F. Bernard, Jr. said...
Ha ha, Elvis admitted he copied his look from Captain Marvel Junior, so I guess that means the "inventor of cool" was Mac Raboy, hahaha.
- Michael said...
Hi, I ve just recently found this Blog and although this might be too late a want to add my view of Coolness: Somebody is Cool, if the majority of his actions is aimed for "comforting": 1.Other people, 2.Himself....
1.Man who looks at a woman like "ohh, she would look even more beautiful, if i gave her an orgasm."
---the woman notices it and will like the man, because he is sincerely wishing, that both of them feel comfortable
2.Cartooncharakter is liked, when he exaggerates things or is unpredictable, because its funny for watcher,,, in the same time the character is liked because he has all the faults of humans, like lazyness, greed, rage...
3.A musician/actor is liked, when he performs very good to please his viewers but in the same time shows his own beliefs through his acting, because he would feel bad, if he betrays himself, betrays his style.... for example, DeNiro would never "overact" because he thinks, less is better,,, on the opposite side Kirk Douglas would always show energy, its his style.
People, who try to imitate "cool" persons often only please only one side,,, like a bulimic actress who perhaps looks good on screen, but acts bad, because she has no energy for acting itself.... or the Rapper with a 'tude which only pleases his ego, but doesn't much for the pleasure for the ears of his listeners...
i hope my bad english didn't destroy my point completely, bye
- Isaak said...
Speaking of executive Elvis,
Ricky Nelson's career was an attempt by Ozzie to replicate Elvis.
This and more information is in David Halberstam's "The Fifties." I think you would like it, since it features people who shaped the decade by using remarkable effort and insight.


text:
By Ed Patino
TEKONSHA � Bad starts to both halves proved costly for the Litchfield High School boys basketball team.
The Terriers were unable to match the intensity of the Tekonsha Indians and fell 61-46 in Friday's Southern Central Athletic Association game.
Litchfield (3-12, 2-10 SCAA) fell into a seven-point hole in the first quarter. The Terriers recovered in the second frame and pulled to within 26-24 by halftime.
The Indians, playing in their winter homecoming game, regained control in the third quarter and eventually built their lead up to 44-30 entering the fourth. Tekonsha matched baskets with the Terriers in the fourth to prevent a rally.
"This game is all on us, and I was unhappy with having such a blah effort," Litchfield coach Karl Drake said. "There are fundamentals that guys have to execute for us to play well, and it didn't happen tonight. Tekonsha played with effort and intensity and took it too us, and we didn't respond well."
Devin Conley recorded a double-double for Litchfield, scoring 26 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. Colt Tefft also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Terriers will travel to Pittsford for another SCAA game Tuesday.
Hillsdale Academy 85, Waldron 51
Chip Blood reached a milestone and the Hillsdale Academy boys basketball team celebrated a homecoming victory over the Waldron Spartans in Friday's Southern Central Athletic Association game.
Blood finished with 19 points to lead Hillsdale Academy (10-6, 9-4 SCAA). He scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer with 2:30 remaining in the game.
"It was fun to hear that announced and we took him out right after that," Hillsdale Academy coach Rick Milligan said. "I know that Chip is glad to get that over with."
The Colts raced out to a 46-20 lead by halftime. For the night, they shot 57 percent from the field, including 65 percent on 2-point field goals. Along with Blood, four other Colts scored in double figures, and the team recorded 24 assists.
"Everything was falling for us tonight, and when you shoot like that things will be bright for you," Milligan said. "We got out running and attacked the basket all night. It was a fun night and and everyone got to play.
Alex Wood also scored 19 points for Hillsdale Academy, while Liam Wolfram had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Adam Krutsch scored 14 points and handed out five assists and Casey Wood finished with 11 points.
James Champion scored 13 points to lead Waldron. Levi Long had 11 points, while AJ Merfeld finished with nine points.
Jonesville 57, Union City 34
A strong start helped the Jonesville High School boys basketball team make a statement Friday as it defeated the Union City Chargers in a Big Eight Conference game.
Jonesville (7-8, 5-4 Big Eight) was not intimated by the Chargers, who entered the game in second place in the Big Eight. The Comets raced to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter, with Kyle Jones scoring 10 points in the frame. Jonesville led by 14 at halftime, then put the game away with a 15-4 run in the third quarter.
"This is a big win for us, and defensively we did a great job," Jonesville coach Larry Sheerer said. "Kyle got us off to a good start offensively."
Jones finished with 15 points to lead the Comets, while Aaron Cleveland added 10 points. Caleb Taylor had nine points and three assists and Kyler Gimenez scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds. Brandon Jenkins had seven points and five steals, while Wes Racker had six rebounds. Steven Eckardt grabbed four rebounds.
Brady Johnson scored 14 points to lead Union City. Emmitt Fraley was held to two points.
Jonesville will travel to Reading for another Big Eight game Tuesday.
Camden-Frontier 54, North Adams-Jerome 45
A surge in the third quarter helped the Camden-Frontier High School boys basketball team rally to beat the North Adams-Jerome Rams in a Southern Central Athletic Association game Friday.
North Adams-Jerome (6-10, 4-8 SCAA) held a two point lead after the first quarter, then stretched it to 26-22 by halftime. Camden-Frontier (8-9, 6-7 SCAA) began its rally in the third quarter, outscoring the Rams 15-6 to take the lead. The Redskins held off North Adams in the fourth quarter for the homecoming victory.
On the night, the Redskins were 16-of-21 from the free-throw line.
"The difference was our run in the third quarter, and all the guys contributed in some way," Camden-Frontier coach Jason Holubik said. "We did a good job sharing the ball and playing good team defense. It was a good atmosphere tonight and hopefully we can build momentum for districts."
Alec Dahlstrom scored 11 points to lead the Redskins. Ethan Riddell had 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Gary Johnson added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Eric McCormick scored a game-high 19 points to lead North Adams-Jerome.
Tekonsha tops Litchfield; Jonesville upends Chargers

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Dodge City Lady Demons had everything going their way in their Western Athletic Conference showdown against the Great Bend Lady Panthers at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Lady Demons, however, gave up two quick baskets in the final 15 seconds and didn't make a basket in the final nine minutes of the game as the Lady Panthers overcame a 10-point deficit to beat Dodge City 59-44.
Great Bend outscored the Lady Demons 26-5 in the final quarter with Morgan Harwood scoring eight points to lead the Lady Panthers into taking the lead away from Dodge City in the final four minutes of the game.
"We were very careless with the ball there at the end of the third quarter and, like we said to them at practice, you turn the ball over to them and it's two points for them," said DCHS girls basketball head coach Kelley Snodgrass. "We really focused this week about being patient when we played and not go for steals; but in the fourth quarter, we lost our minds both defensively and offensively.
"We didn't take care of the ball or value the possession and we didn't get any stops on defense."
Jessie Harshberger scored all eight of her points in the first half and tied as the leading scorer with Chandra Sain. Alexis Sanchez added seven in the loss for Dodge City (5-13, 1-5).
Harwood scored 19 points (14 after intermission) and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Great Bend (11-7, 4-2) and Tarynn Slueder added 10 in the victory.
Neither team took care of the ball in the first quarter with Dodge City turning the ball over 10 times, while Great Bend gave it up seven times in the opening stanza. The Lady Panthers scored seven of the first nine points, but the Lady Demons fought back to trail 11-7 after eight minutes.
The Lady Demons took control of the contest in the second quarter. Harshberger tied the game for Dodge City with a basket, then hit two free throws to put the Lady Demons ahead. A three-pointer by Sain helped Dodge City extend the lead to 26-20 by intermission.
Harshberger had five rebounds to go with her first half points to lead the Lady Demons, while Sain added five for Dodge City. The Lady Demons were 9-of-22 shooting in the first half. Although Dodge City committed 12 turnovers before intermission, only two were in the second stanza.
Great Bend was only 6-of-22 from the field and were outrebounded 20-11 before intermission.
The Lady Demons continued to apply the pressure in the third quarter, pushing the lead up to double digits a couple of times. A basket by Sanchez put Dodge City up 39-29 before the Lady Panthers started their run.
The Lady Demons' next game will be "Senior Night" at the DCHS Fieldhouse as they host Hays in another WAC battle. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
NOTE — The Garden City Lady Buffaloes beat Hays 47-43 in the New Garden to claim the girls basketball league title.
Lady Demons lose focus, contest to Lady Panthers
The Dodge City Lady Demons had everything going their way in their Western Athletic Conference showdown against the Great Bend Lady Panthers at Allen Fieldhouse.


text: Choose from our range of garden tables to help you relax or dine in style. Many of our tables are made from tough polyethylene so are both waterproof and UV resistant and are very easy to maintain. For help and advice please call , email or use our service below.


text:
Ph: 8807000695
[Monday – Sunday : OPEN-7:00 AM to 11:00 PM]
(Service ALL OVER CHENNAI)
Con Support Godrej Appliances Service Centers in Kodambakkam
- General Repairing
- Replacement of Spares
- Board Level Service
- Experienced Service Team
- Immediate Response
- Quality Service
- Service All Over Chennai
- Work on Sundays Also
Con Support is the best when it comes to home appliance service. The service done by us is of great quality. The washing machine, air condition, refrigerator and microwave oven are done service with great quality. The benefits of all these appliances are many and are used on daily basis. We are Con Support Godrej appliance service center in Kodambakkam. We are in this field of service for many years. And it does automatically help when people are in the field for many years. Our Con Support Godrej appliance service center in Kodambakkam always uses best and experienced service technicians. This helps in diagnosing the issue very quickly and also helps in providing quick service. Our company which deals in service for Godrej washing machine, Godrej air condition, Godrej refrigerator and Godrej microwave is a very reputed company and is well known to the customers. Servicing is a very difficult field. And if you are in the service field then it is a very hectic task. Travelling to the customer's place and then to do the service is a lot of hard work. Our Con Support Godrej appliance service centers in Kodambakkam would undertake vigorous training for the technicians which builds them in such a way that they do not get tired by long travelling. We also make them work on shift basis which keeps them fresh. The training which takes place at our Con Support Godrej appliance service centers in Kodambakkam is quite different from others because we not only do provide service training but also provide training on how to talk to the customers and how to offer pure and 100 percent customer support.
If there is any need to service washing machine, fridge, microwave and ac then do contact our Con Support Godrej appliance service centre in Kodambakkam through our customer care online call center toll free number which will help you quickly book the complaint. The customer care toll free call center online number is a good way to contact the service technicians quickly and it will help in complaint registration and it will help in quick service. The other important feature of our Con Support Godrej appliance service centre in Kodambakkam is that we provide service all over the city. So you do not need to worry about the location. Just pick up the phone and mention the requirement and we will be right there. The other important thing which has to be mentioned is that we use genuine spare parts. This is the most important aspect of our Con Support Godrej appliance service centres in Kodambakkam which has made the company grow in leaps and bounds. Using good spare will make the washing machine, ac, fridge and microwave work like new and will be durable as well. So no matter whatever the problem just pick up the phone and contact our Con Support Godrej appliance service centres in Kodambakkam and get the work done quickly.


text:
Royal Farms has proposed constructing one of its convenience stores at the current location of the failing Sunoco gas station and the home adjacent to it at the intersection of Duncan Road and Kirkwood Highway in Mill Creek Hundred.
Royal Farms has proposed constructing one of its convenience stores at the current location of the failing Sunoco gas station and the home adjacent to it at the intersection of Duncan Road and Kirkwood Highway in Mill Creek Hundred.
But the redevelopment still faces some opposition from residents who live on Wild Cherry Lane near that tract of land.
New Castle County Councilman Tim Sheldon (D-Roseville Park) introduced the resolution for the Royal Farms in Mill Creek at NCCo Council's Land Use Committee meeting held Tuesday at the City/County Building.
Land use attorney Shawn Tucker, of the Drinker Biddle & Reath law firm, represented Royal Farms while Duffield Associates engineer Jeffrey Bross represented Fred Wittig, who would lease the parcels at that intersection to Royal Farms.
Tucker said this tract was already zoned commercial, including the vacant home next to Sunoco. However, his client required a new deed restriction for the land. The current deed restrictions were designed to protect the community from unwanted commercial uses by requiring parking restrictions, limited use of signs and enhanced landscaping to serve as a buffer.
In sum, Royal Farms and the property owner requested that New Castle County Council give them a new deed restriction that would consolidate the three parcels off the junction of Kirkwood Highway and Duncan Road into one parcel and give it more extensive landscaping and a retaining wall to separate it from a nearby residence, Tucker said.
Tucker said the Royal Farms redevelopment would be a vast improvement upon the current state of the property with extensive landscaping on the perimeter that included 10-foot, fast growing, evergreen, Leyland cypress trees. The landscaping and buffers provided by Royal Farms would be unrivaled on the heavily developed Kirkwood Highway, Tucker said.
The Leyland cypress trees and the retaining wall were added to the plan in response to quality of life and property value concerns raised by Olivia and Bill McClintock, who have shared access to Duncan Road with the current office building on the property, Tucker said.
Royal Farms felt it had a solid plan going into the land use process, Tucker said. Now, his client felt the plan was even stronger.
Councilman John Cartier (D-Penny Hill) asked about storm water management on the property.
Bross said this property, which predated the county's Unified Development Code, was 100 percent non-conforming presently. But, the redevelopment would bring the three parcels to within 50 to 60 percent conforming, he said.
Nonetheless, Wild Cherry Lane Civic Association President Larry Hall, past president Fred Cushing and fellow Wild Cherry Lane resident Gina Connor expressed ongoing opposition to the plan. Cushing presented council with a petition of 60 signatures of local residents stating their opposition as well.
Cushing said there had been violations to the deed restrictions of this land in the past, so he and other Wild Cherry Lane residents were skeptical that a new deed restriction would be effective.
Councilman Bill Bell (D-Middletown) said that was unfortunate. But he assured Wild Cherry Lane residents that anything put into the plan would have to be adhered to by law and would be monitored by the NCCo Department of Land Use.
Councilman William Powers (D-Townsend) advised Wild Cherry Lane residents to obtain copies of the actual plans that would note any promises the developer made to them.
But, Councilman Bob Weiner (R-Chatham) pointed out that notes could be removed upon the sale of the property. So, he urged community members to become involved in writing the new deed restriction prior to NCCo Council's next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 9.
Tucker pointed out that he and Bross met with Wild Cherry Lane residents for more than an hour to address their concerns. In addition, he said his law firm would pay for anyone who legally and successfully challenged any violation of the deed restriction.
"They aren't going to be any broken promises," he said.
The NCCo Department of Land Use and the Planning Board both gave a favorable recommendation to the proposed deed restriction. Land Use General Manager David Culver and Planning Board Chairman Richard Killingsworth signed the recommendation on Feb. 19, 2013.
The NCCo Councnil Land Use Committee also indicated favor for the redevelopment plan.


text: Tinfy: Kung Fu Hustle Tenfi Tinfy: Kung Fu Hustle Reviewed by 7Khmer On 8/04/2013 06:51:00 PM Rating: 5 More for you Share this Our Website KHMOTION Khmotion won't respond any cause a problem linked to or referrerd to our site.They must face the law concerning Copyright and Related Rights. If you found out that this video is under your copyright please use contact form, we will review and delete this video. Do not copy or take videos from us without permission we will claim up you as copyright .


text:
The Hogs and Hops Festival is turning out to be the little festival that could. Following last year's inaugural success, organizers ramped up this year with Kansas City Barbeque Society approval, a larger venue, more vendors, more food and more drinks.
The second year of a festival depends on the first. All the numbers have to be high, from attendance and profits to post-event reviews, in order to pull off a sophomore appearance.
All of that fell into place last year for the Hogs and Hops Festival, held on the grounds of Fordham and Dominion Brewing Company. The event, which featured 26 barbecue teams, lots of locally crafted beer, live music and regional craftsmen and women wound up exceeding the expectations of its organizers.
Event chairman Mark Hoffman was especially pleased. The dismal, rainy weather didn't chase anybody away and the inaugural event, also a fundraiser, went off without a hitch.
"We had zero issues," Hoffman said. "No problems whatsoever. No fights. Nobody had to be kicked out. It was great."
A great first-year festival does have one problem, though. How do organizers top it and keep people interested? Hoffman said he has a plan for that, too, which he kicked into gear just as things were wrapping up last year.
A lot of things are different this year, from the venue to the barbecue competition to the entertainment. One thing will remain the same, though.
"We wanted it to feel like a big backyard barbecue," Hoffman explained. "So, we've made sure to expand on activities and interests that will appeal to every member of the family.
Here's what to expect:
1 Change of address
Pre-sale tickets were decent last year but organizers didn't know what to expect. Then, 2,000 people showed up to join 26 barbecue teams and 35 vendors for the area's first big barbecue-cooking competition.
"Because of the huge turnout last year, we thought it would be best to relocate to the Delaware State Fairgrounds," Hoffmam said. "The larger venue will give everybody room to enjoy all the things we've added this year."
2 Bragging rights get real this year
Last year, two dozen barbecue competitors grilled, sauced and rubbed their way towards prize money and local bragging rights. However, most grillers —professional and backyard — know that the real bragging rights come from a Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned competition.
"They regulate the competitions, send professional organizers to each event and winners of KCBS events are invited to the American Royal World Championships," Hoffman explained. "Even with just one year under our belt, we managed to get sanctioned for this year so we're really excited."
There's more, though. The Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association will present a new award at Hogs and Hops: Delaware Team of the Year. The event also obtained an official proclamation from Gov. Jack Markell earlier this year, certifying Hogs and Hops as a Delaware State Championship barbecue event.
The official proclamation means that next year, the winner of Hogs and Hogs will square off against the winner of the Middletown BBQ Cook-off in a coin-toss of sorts to see who represents the state in the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational in Lynchburg, Tenn.
3 Beyond the meat
Hoffman said they were pleasantly surprised by all the families that attended last year and really wanted to grow that aspect of the event this year. They reached out to Dover Macaroni Kid/BK Rentals for a partnership that will revamp the "Funzone."
Free activities for children include the inflatable bounce houses and slides as well as face painting. Low cost activities (for all ages) will include a mechanical bull, bungee run, rock-climbing wall, bungee trampolines and cornhole tournaments.
The shopping area has also been expanded to include more than 50 vendors from all over the region, from "jewelry to arts and crafts to everything in between."
4 Washing the barbecue down
Hogs and Hops will once again partner with Dover's own Fordham/Old Dominion Brewery.
"We have selected 12 varieties of brews and we will have 30 taps running to keep lines and wait times to a minimum," Hoffman said. "We'll also have Old Dominion Root Beer on tap for free for anyone who doesn't or can't drink beer."
Other drink options include the new Painted Stave Distillery from Smyrna and wine from Fenwick Wine Cellars on Fenwick Island.
5 The festival soundtrack
Like every other aspect of this year's festival, the music choices are bigger this year, too. Organizers are bringing in a professional stage and sound system so that visitors can fully enjoy Delaware natives Love Seed Mama Jump and up-and-coming country music star Tyler Tolliver.
"Tyler is a former marine and a great guy. He has a new CD that's starting to take off, so it's going to be neat in three or four years when he really hits it big," Hoffman said. "And, Love Seed Mama Jump just goes hand in hand with every Delaware event, right?"
Cowboy Up will provide a deejay in between sets, as well.
6 Making the most of the day
Hoffman said that they encourage all festival goers to bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the concerts and stay comfortable. Small coolers for water and kids' snacks will also be allowed. However, outside alcohol is not permitted and all coolers are subject to search.
7 It's not just fun, it's a fundraiser
"The money we raise is going to help our 'officer in distress fund,' so if an officer or a firefighter is killed or severely injured in the line of duty, this fund assists with helping the individual or family with their transitions," Hoffman said. "It could be used for college tuition, things insurance doesn't cover or home renovations and handicap upgrades."
1. All tickets, except VIP, will be available at the gate. Our capacity is 6,000. While we aren't expecting that many, we certainly blew expectations out of the water last year. So come early to ensure you get in!
2. When you enter the main entrance to the fairgrounds, go straight back and you will see parking signs with arrows. Parking is on the practice horse track.
3. The nearest ATM is in the casino. Most food vendors and some other vendors will take plastic, but it's best to bring cash. Only cash will be taken at the gate and at the beer ticket sales booth.
4. The Health Department WILL NOT allow the BBQ teams to give samples this year...we know...that stinks! But they have their rules! Feel free to walk through the competition site, but keep in mind the teams are on strict time limits and under a lot of pressure-so don't distract them. After 2: 30p.m., most teams are more than willing to talk about their cookers and answer questions but from 12 to 3 p.m., it's all business. There's $4,000 up for grabs!
5. Our bartenders are volunteering their time, so show them some love with a tip now and then.
6. Everybody will get a cup when they enter-it's yours for the whole event. Replacements/extras are $1.00 each.
7. Growlers will be sold at the Fordham merchandise tent, and will cost 5 beer tickets ($14) to fill. VIP ticket holders can bring their own growlers and fill them since they have the unlimited beer option.
8. The event is outdoors, rain or shine.


text:
Lizardo has been swimming since she was four years old, and she currently swims for FRAC in Yuba City.
Alyssa Lizardo, a senior at Gridley High School, took fourth place at Masters in October of 2012 with a time of 00:58.32 in the 100 freestyle. This was Lizardo's third straight year making it to the Masters Swim Championships. At the NSCIF Division II Section Championship, Lizardo placed third. Lizardo said she expected to do well at the championships, but she feels she did much better than she had initially anticipated. She commented that at the Division II level, she would usually come in first but swimming against schools in over divisions, especially the bigger Division I schools. She said that this was her best performance at Masters, and she took two seconds off of her time from last year.
"It was exciting," she said. "I was happy because I have worked so hard for it."
She plans to attend Butte College after graduation, where she will study History. She hopes to become a History teacher after college.
Lizardo has been swimming since she was four years old, and she currently swims for FRAC in Yuba City.


text:
Malloy gets firsthand glimpse of Stonington, New London damage
Gov. Dannel Malloy, wearing jeans and a crisp black windbreaker, strode down the sidewalk next to the Stonington Free Library Wednesday morning and greeted Stonington First Selectmen Ed Haberek.
Unshaven, sleep deprived and wearing a neon safety jacket over the clothes he had worn since Tuesday, Haberek shook the governor's hand.
"So how are you doing?" asked Malloy, who was touring storm damage along the southeastern Connecticut shoreline, stopping in Stonington and New London.
"We're hanging in there," answered Haberek, who was dealing with a crisis at the Mystic sewer plant, a town that was 95 percent without power, and residents' criticism for wanting to have Halloween on Nov 16.
Haberek then led Malloy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, state Sen. Andrew Maynard and state Rep. Diana Urban on a tour of some of the hardest hit areas of the borough.
Malloy saw the tree, which was still blocking Gold Street, that had fallen on the Stonington Free library. He walked through the Town Dock where flood waters had torn up a chunk of rock and concrete and likely undermined the piers.
Malloy told Haberek that when he heard how hard Stonington had been hit by the storm, he wanted to come see the damage for himself.
After Haberek complained on Wednesday that CL&P had just one crew in town, nine crews showed up.
A few hours after Malloy left town, power was restored to the Mystic sewer plant, which allowed operators to process sewage and stop it from backing up into residents' homes. The return of power came just as a hair salon on Williams Avenue reported a sewage backup and a home on Sloop Lane reported a smell of sewage.
In New London, Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio told the governor a similar story. Late Wednesday morning, about 44 percent of New London was still without power, including the Thames River apartment complex on Crystal Avenue, where 124 families live.
Finizio visited the low-income housing complex to assure residents that he was working with CL&P to get the power back on. He told people that if they had any medical emergencies to call 911.
"We're a tough community and we'll be fine,'' Finizio said.
When Malloy was asked whether he was satisfied with CL&P's response across the state, he said the utility has made a lot of progress. "But if your power is not on then there's not enough progress. We've seen a drop in the numbers (of power outages)."
Along New London's waterfront, residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order during the storm gathered around the governor and showed him pictures of the storm on their cellphones.
"It was bad, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been,'' said Finizio, showing the governor the remains of a pavilion at the private Osprey Beach. The pavilion was built just after the 1938 Hurricane and had withstood all storms until Monday.
Joseph Caldrello, whose wife Sandy owns the beach, said water steadily poured over the seawall during the storm and waves crashed onto the street. Caldrello lives across from Osprey Beach.
He said the waves sounded eight times louder than a plane taking off.
"It looked like a war zone down here. I felt like I was in a science fiction movie,'' he said. "But the police department and the public works department did excellent jobs.''
Finizio said when he got an alert from the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Monday night to expect a "catastrophic" storm with an 8- to 9-foot storm surge, he pulled city workers off the streets.
"I wasn't sure there would be any houses standing,'' he told the governor.
Flanked by Blumenthal and Courtney, Malloy mostly listened as Finizio explained how the water crested over the sea wall, and waves crashed across Pequot Avenue and into front yards. The water, which left sand and debris, also swept over the beaches and sea walls along Mott Avenue, flooding basements, he said. The hurricane left debris at Ocean Beach and all along Pequot Avenue. Several large trees came down, blocking roadways, taking down power lines and one landed on a house.
Blumenthal told Finizio it was important to document all damage.
Traveling with the governor in New London were state Sen. Andrea Stillman, and state representatives Ernest Hewett, D-New London, Edward Moukawsher, D-Groton and New London, and Elissa Wright, D-Groton.
Municipal damage adds up to $288,000 for Stonington in wake of Sandy
President Pelosi? Will Trump defect? Where will the Connecticut GOP hide?
Notre Dame to cover up murals of Columbus over depiction of Native Americans
Norwich aldermen criticize separation agreement for former NPU GM Bilda


text:
Abuse, neglect, and exploitation involving at-risk adults is a growing problem in the United States, and Colorado is no exception. To help deal with this problem, each county department of human services in the state provides Adult Protective Services (APS) to their community. The main responsibility of APS is to provide protective services to stop or prevent the mistreatment or self-neglect of at-risk adults. APS works with a variety of agencies in the community to arrange services necessary for the health, safety and welfare of at-risk adults.
In 2012, APS caseworkers responded to 11,000 reports of mistreatment and self-neglect of at-risk adults in Colorado. At-risk adults are adults age 18 or older who cannot provide for their own health, safety or welfare, or obtain the services necessary to keep themselves safe and healthy. Some of the conditions that contribute to making an adult at-risk for mistreatment or self-neglect include dementia, Alzheimers disease, developmental disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or serious medical conditions.
There are a wide range of situations that may be considered mistreatment or self-neglect. Physical abuse, caretaker neglect, exploitation, and sexual abuse are all forms of mistreatment. Self-neglect occurs when an at-risk adult does not or cannot provide for their own health, safety or welfare because they are unable to secure necessary services or resources.
When APS responds to a report of mistreatment or self-neglect the first step is to interview the at-risk adult and investigate the allegations. If the allegations are criminal in nature, APS works with local law enforcement and the District Attorney as part of their investigation. If the allegations are valid, and the at-risk adult accepts help, APS will set up protective services and find resources to help keep the at-risk adult safe. These services may include homemaker services, food delivery, medical services, home health care, and other support services. The goal of any APS service is to keep the at-risk adult safe while helping him or her remain as independent as possible.
If you suspect mistreatment or self-neglect, its OK to speak up. You should immediately report the situation to the Montezuma County Department of Social Services at 565-3769. Ask to speak to Adult Protection Intake. If calling about an emergency situation during non-business hours, contact 565-8441 (law enforcement) to make the report.
All reports are confidential and can be made anonymously. However, it is helpful to APS if you provide your contact information so APS can contact you, if needed.
Warning Signs of Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation
S udden changes in behavior, finances, or lifestyle
P hysical injuries, dehydration, or malnourishment
E xtreme withdrawal, depression, or anxiety
A bsence of basic care or necessities
K ept away from others
U nsanitary living conditions
P ersonal items or money missing
Holly Bock is the Montezuma County Adult Protection Caseworker. She can be reached at 564-4110.


text:
Major credit cards, Paypal and Etsy gift cards accepted.
◦ Please contact us within 12 hours of submitting your purchase if you need to make changes to your order. And if the order has already been started, we cannot accept cancellation or make changes to your order.
◦ We can not view or change your billing informations since Etsy handles all payment transactions. Etsy keeps your payment information secure, and we never receive your credit card information. For further billing info, please contact Etsy team.
For the gifts, Please leave us a note in the NOTE BOX when you check out so we can include ribbon bow on your package.
Please let us know If you want each item in all separate boxes.
Otherwise, your order will be shipped in one box as layered set.
Items will be shipped via standard USPS First-Class mail in a padded envelop.
(With a delivery confirmation number. however, First-class mail doesn't have Insurance. Insurance is an optional and can be purchased separately by USPS)
Please note that shipping times do NOT include production times.
But we always try to get your order done faster for rush orders.
Our current production time is 2-7 business days*
• Regular First-class within U.S. : 2-6 business days
• Regular First-class INTERNATIONAL : 1-3 weeks depending on the custom processing
You can find shipping upgrades options in the drop bar menu when you check out, and this shipping times do NOT include production times. I'll do my best to meet these shipping estimates, but cannot guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.
• Within the U.S
•Priority : 2-3days
•Express : 1-2 days
• International
•International Priority : 6-10 Business days
•Rush International Express : 3-6 business days
◦ For international customers,
For first-class international, it doesn't show full tracking information once it leaves the states and is still in the process of transiting.
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply.
We're not responsible for delays due to customs.*
◦ We can not be held responsible for not receiving when the tracking shows "DELIVERED".
◦ For any shipping upgrades or questions, Please contact us via Etsy Convo.
Just contact me within: 5 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 7 days of delivery
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:
Please contact us ASAP if you are unhappy with your purchase*
◦ NON-Personalized items can be refunded with unused & in the original packaging. Items MUST be sent back in mail within a WEEK of RECEIVING, and please note that shipping charges plus 7% restocking fee can not be refunded.
◦ Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
◦ Returns are NOT accepted on PERSONALIZED items, unless mistake is on our side. Because all of our items are created just for you at the time of your purchase, no refunds or exchanges will be accepted. However, if there are any problems with your order please contact us immediately.
◦ Earrings and Body Chain/Belly chains are non-returnable
◦ No refund for not-receiving items when the tracking shows "DELIVERED".
◦ For international customers,
you are responsible for all customs fees, taxes, and duties if occur*
For any additional questions or custom orders please message us ♥
Please leave us your initial, name, words and etc. while check out in the note to seller section.
Standard process time is 2-7 days plus shipping time.
Shipping time for U.S. address :
❤ Firstclass: 2-7 working days
❤ Priority: 2-3 working days
❤ Priority Express: 1-2 working days
Yes, you can choose different shipping methods
such as USPS Priority or USPS Priority Express while
check out for purchase a separate listing for shipping
upgrades :
Apr 27, 2018
Feb 26, 2018
Le premier s'est cassé au bout d'un an et demi à le porter tous les jours sans l'enlever. Sous la douche, dans la mer peu importe le collier est resté nickel ! J'en ai donc commandé un deuxième et d'autres bijoux de la boutique. Magnifique !
Mar 24, 2017
Nov 11, 2016


text:
Townsend voters will have a choice among five candidates seeking three Town Council seats in next month's municipal election.
Townsend voters will have a choice among five candidates seeking three Town Council seats in next month's municipal election.
Incumbents Dwain Haines and John Ness are both seeking another two-year term, while residents Lorraine Gorman, Sandra Sturgis and Rudolph Sutton Jr. also filed their candidacy papers before the April 4 deadline.
Incumbent Councilwoman Karen Jennings opted not to seek a fourth term. She could not be reached for comment this week.
Ness, a five-year Townsend resident first elected to council in 2009, said public safety and the town's fiscal stability would be among his priorities if he's re-elected on May 4.
"I am concerned about the well-being of residents, improvements in the quality of life and the safety of all that live in Townsend," the applications programmer for JPMorgan Chase said. "We also have gone through some rough economic times and adjusted the budget accordingly. I would like to continue this scrutiny to ensure the town stays within its budget and maintains a balance of sustained growth."
Haines, a 10-year resident first elected in 2011, said he wants to help usher in changes to town government he argues are needed and long overdue.
"Over the last two years, not everyone on council has been able to get along and some things that need to happen haven't gotten done," said Haines, who works for the state highway department. "Our charter is outdated and needs to be changed. One of those changes, I think, should include allowing the people to vote for the mayor, instead of council picking who they want it to be."
Former town councilwoman Sandra Sturgis, an 8-year resident who stepped down from her elected office last summer, said she's ready to regain her seat.
"I had a lot going on when I left and felt I wasn't able to give the office the attention it deserves," the former production worker at BBSI said. "I've gotten those things straightened out and I'm ready to serve on council again."
Lorraine Gorman, a 5-year resident of Townsend, said she wants to take an active role in guiding future growth, while preserving the area's small town charm.
"I've been involved with different things in town and I've been attending town council meetings for four years," the right-of-way agent for New Castle County said. "I've got a lot of energy and experience working with developers, municipalities, counties and DelDOT that I think will be helpful on council."
Rudy Sutton, a town resident since 2006, said he wants to preserve the family atmosphere that makes Townsend unique.
"I want to be a voice for the people and help bring about any changes that would be for the good of the area," the building contractor said. "Townsend has a completely different atmosphere than New Castle and I want to work to keep it that way."
The top three vote-getters in the May 4 municipal election will win office.
Townsend residents have until April 19 to register to vote in the upcoming town election.
Voters must be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and have lived in town, or legally owned property in Townsend, for 90 consecutive days prior to the election.
Voters can register at Town Hall, 661 South St., between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays up until 4 p.m. on Friday, April 19.
The town also will hold special weekend and evening voter registration hours from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 6 and from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 17.


text:
Call (201) 362-3494 to get this deal
- Flooring
- Concrete Flooring
- Walkway
- Outdoor Steps
- Outdoor Wall
- Exterior Wall
Have you worked with J and P Concrete? Share your experience and help your neighbors hire great contractors. Leave a review.
Share Profile
Quick Facts
- Licensed
- Free Estimates
- 7Years in Business


text:
I had a great time last night in Baltimore visiting my friend Laura Rachel, tattoo artiste extraordinaire. Laura and I shared the scuzziest house in all of Akron about a zillion years ago. Then a couple years back Laura flew all the way to Japan to attend one of the retreats I led at Tokei-in temple (guess which one in the photo is Laura). That was a big surprise. She liked my first book and got into zazen because of it.
Back when I shared a house with her I didn't really talk about my practice. I asked her last night if she was even aware of it in those days, and she said she wasn't. Even now I'm a little reluctant to talk about Zen unless someone specifically asks about it and seems sincerely interested. There's no sense in trying to convert anyone. It's too hard. You have to really want to do it.
And speaking of people who want to do zazen, what an audience I had at the Traditional Chinese Cultural Institute in Washington, DC (actually Potomac, MD)! I was primed to expect a bunch of middle-aged Chinese people who wanted to hear about the Chinese origins of Zen. Instead most of the audience was young punk rocker-ish types who wanted to hear about the finer points of zen practice! The kinds of questions they were asking were things I rarely get asked outside of Zen centers. Amazing. Plus they all dragged themselves out of bed to show up at ten in the morning! Thanks!
So far the tour has been going great, but I am really, really tired. Talking takes a lot out of you. The woman who organized my talk in DC told me it's because talking takes a lot of chi energy. I'm inclined to believe that's true. It takes a lot of something! That's for sure! Plus all the dragging around of big boxes of books.
If you want a review of one of my talks on the tour, take a look at Stone Darth's Live Journal page. Yes it's true. I told all those Zen nerds at San Francisco Zen Center that I hate zen. I do. Sometimes. It's important not to love it too much, I think. If you love it too much you have a tendency to get a bit too idealistic and dreamy with it. Hating zen is no impediment to practice. It's what drives me sometimes.
I got two days off. Well, not quite two anymore. I'll be with my sister and my niece Skylar. I wonder if she'll put me on her YouTube show again. Sock Monkey is traveling with me. I know he'd like to be on the show.
My brother-in-law (my sister's husband) is doing up some T-shirts for me. So I'll have those on some of the later dates on the tour (see full info about upcoming dates to your left). Buy them so I can buy gas and eat!