text:
'Parasite' Stars Park So-dam and Choi Woo-shik on Breaking Barriers and Cultural Differences
Demitra Kampakis○ November 13, 2019
Parasite is a film about families as much as it is about class resentment. As avatars of capitalism, the Parks and the Kims' codependence sheds light on its systemic mutual toxicity. Yet just as compelling as the parasitic relationships in these families—and what they reveal about the greedy instincts that have been socially programmed into our psyches— is how the distinct nature of their intra-familial dynamics also speak to the larger social forces they exist within. In this light, director Bong Joon-ho is asking us to consider the extent to which capitalism itself cleaves or fortifies the bonds of familial love—suggesting that the greater the class resentment, the stronger the bond.
And strong are the Kim family ties indeed. Their scruffy and clamorous energy invokes a kinship that's weathered its fair share of hardships, and whose resilience functions as a suit of armor against a ruthless and obscenely unequal social landscape. At the same time, the Kims' place at the bottom rung of the economic ladder shouldn't be taken as a lack of skill or talent on their part—we see, in fact, that Mrs. Kim used to be a prize-winning runner, not to mention brother Ki-woo's university-level English proficiency and sister Ki-jung's creative instincts (in addition to her surprising aptitude as an art tutor). The Kim siblings put these skills to good use when they are hired by the nouveau riche Parks, and their mix of competence and con-artistry humorously exposes the hollow fallacies of a credential-obsessed workforce (after all, who hasn't been frustrated with the conundrum of needing experience to get a job, only to need that job to get experience?). Perhaps, Bong posits, the only way this impossible, maddening and rigged meritocratic cycle can be broken amidst a storm of dejection is by supplementing skill with sheer luck, steadfast resourcefulness, and savvy hustling.
Ki-woo and Ki-jung possess these qualities in spades—qualities that incidentally bear resemblance to the real-life professional trajectories of the young actors who play them: Choi Woo-shik and Park So-dam, respectively. Born in Seoul, Choi moved with his family to Canada at the age of 11, and as a young man, he set his sights on pursuing a career as a theater director. A friend of his suggested he try his hand at acting as a primer, though Choi faced his fair share of rejection. It wasn't until he returned to Korea with his family 10 years later that his luck began to change, and soon enough he landed the first part he auditioned for, on the 2011 series The Duo. For the next 6 years, Choi would go on to act mostly in Korean television dramas, until a starring vehicle came along that cemented him as an actor to watch out for; 2014's Set Me Free (directed by Kim Tae-yong), a gritty and tortured turn for which he won the Blue Dragon award, as well as Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival. Parasite marks the 29-year-old's second collaboration with Bong following 2017's Okja, and his second collaboration with co-star Song Kang-ho following Yeon Sang-ho's 2016's zombie drama Train to Busan.
Park So-dam also saw her career take off following awards recognition, though it too was a bumpy road to get there. In 2004, she began acting in small roles here and there, facing 17 rejections before her big break came along in 2015's The Black Priests; the tale of a schoolgirl's demonic possession that won Park the Newcomer Prize at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards. The 28-year-old's filmography has earned her the nickname "The Jewel of Indie Films" in her native South Korea—a filmography that like Choi, includes a previous collaboration with Mr. Song, in 2015's The Throne, for which the two played husband and wife (!).
Here, Choi and Park—who like Ki-woo and Ki-jung, have an intimate understanding of what it's like to take rejection with a grain of salt in a competitive labor market—reflect on how they became involved in Parasite, their on and off-screen relationship with "Papa" Song, and learning to navigate Korea's strict culture of generational respect in preparation for this project.
How did you each come on board this project? Woo-shik, I read somewhere that you agreed to do Parasite before even knowing its premise? I imagine there was a lot of trust and good faith between you and Mr. Bong following Okja.
Choi: One day on the set of Okja, Bong came up to me and told me to "stay in shape." Confused, I initially thought he meant for me to stay muscular, but he was actually telling me to maintain a thin frame. It didn't occur to me that Bong had me in mind for another project. Even when he approached me with the offer to be in Parasite, I was never actually told whom I would be playing, or anything about the film's story—I was instead only given a hint, and had to wait for the script. When I finally read it, I remember feeling like I had just gotten off a rollercoaster. I especially loved the dramatic tonal shifts, which are even more dramatic when you consider how most Korean films and shows are written.
So-dam, is it true you thought Mr. Bong was joking when he expressed interest in meeting you?
Park: When I was first approached for this project, I was going through a professional slump and didn't have representation. I was in the middle of taking a yearlong break from acting, trying to figure out my career, when I received a text from Parasite's costume designer telling me that Bong was interested in meeting me. At first I didn't believe it, so much so that I don't think I even replied to the text. When I finally did meet Bong for the first time, I remember him asking me why I was so suspicious and couldn't just trust people when they say they want to meet me. [Chuckles.]
Woo-shik, you briefly touched on your initial reaction to the script. Can you both elaborate on what it was like to go into a story like this blindly? As you were reading, what came to mind in terms of how you would navigate the film's curveballs, tonal shifts, and individual character arcs?
Choi: You know those moments where you say to yourself, "Okay, I have to do this"—kind of like a pep talk? At first I didn't realize Ki-woo played such a big role within the family, and I had to try to make [pauses]—okay, in Korean culture, younger generations have to be really polite to their elders, almost to the point where the politeness becomes uncomfortable. For this reason, it's often really difficult for younger Koreans to approach older generations, and preparing to play Ki-woo meant learning how to break down those barriers in order to flesh out the character with Song, and our father/son relationship. Thankfully, it actually wasn't very difficult, because in Korea, there are no trailers on movie sets, and actors are grouped into one green room. So we would just stay in the same room, bonding and developing our characters together over casual drinks, like a family. Every time I came across a problem or question in the script, Song Kang-ho was right there to give me advice, and I think that worked well.
Park: The script's speed and the fast-paced velocity of its different scenarios were definitely most impressive, but the tonal shifts also felt very true to life for me. Life isn't just a comedy or a single genre, and you really don't know what's going to happen in the next five minutes. This is why Parasite's story felt very life-like, and I really wanted to talk with the other actors to discuss how they felt about it. I was also eager to discuss the film with audiences, to learn what their experience with the story was, and what they thought after watching it.
What's it like to work with an actor like Song? To what extent did acting with him inform your own craft?
Park: Song and I had previously worked together on a film called The Throne. In fact, we played a married couple with two kids together! [Laughs] Our characters actually had a very deep relationship, and I remember how amazing it was getting to learn from Song first-hand. He made it clear that he wanted me to continue acting, to get more work and further develop my craft and individuality. To be honest, The Throne didn't provide much opportunity for us to bond one-on-one with eye contact, due to the mandates of the script and the lack of time we had together on set. But with Parasite, we were able to make a lot of eye contact during most of its shooting, and it all felt so unreal and cathartic. Just seeing him as a three-dimensional person standing in front of me in real life was unreal. The way Song acts, no two takes are ever the same. He always brings something different, and I saw how he experiments and tries everything out even in a single scene, which was very professional and something I looked up to.
Woo-shik, you and Song previously worked together on Train to Busan, and I'm curious how that experience informed your collaboration in Parasite. How did your dynamic as screen partners evolve, and what did you learn from him as an actor?
Choi: Even now, So-dam and I still call Song our papa. We'll call him on the phone and say, "Papa, did you have dinner?" [Both chuckle.] As I said, in Korea it's really difficult to establish inter-generational relationships, because of cultural age differences and the social code that requires unconditional respect towards one's elders. But Song is really genuine, and not at all strict with these customs. For him, it's all about the acting, and he really cares about younger Koreans succeeding. Parasite was the ultimate lesson in acting [chuckles]—just by being there with him I learned more on set than I would from any drama school.
Was there any improvisation in the film? Song and I discussed his affinity for improv, so I'm wondering if there were moments where Bong gave you freer reign to experiment with the script?
Choi: Bong wasn't particularly strict with the script, but once on set, we realized that we didn't really need to improvise, because the storyboard was so compact that doing anything extra was unnecessary. But even if that had not been the case, Bong wouldn't have minded that looseness.
Park: I agree with Woo-shik, I found that I didn't need to improvise anything because of how tight the storyboard was. Bong made it clear that we could have that creative freedom, but every take, detail, conversation, and sentence was so meticulously built into the storyboard that it wasn't even necessary.
What do you want audiences to know about the Kim family, specifically Ki-woo and Ki-jung?
Choi: Parasite presents very different social classes. There's a lot of poverty and problems suffered by the Kim family, but their lack of economic security doesn't stop them from really loving and caring for each other. Yes, we do commit some cons, but they are done in the best interest of the family's survival. Ki-woo's family is really loving and always positive. [Chuckles.] And they don't really think that much about their actions. [Laughs.] I mean, they think about them, but that guilty conscious isn't quite there, because they don't really see their actions as "bad" if they're necessary.
Park: You see that my brother in the film Ki-woo, doesn't even have his own room and instead sleeps in the living room. I really feel that even if the Kim family had lived in that small basement house all their lives, they'd never be the ones to complain about their situation, or compare themselves to other people. They're happy with what they have, and don't think they should necessarily feel bad or ashamed about where they fall within society's economic scale. I strongly believe that mentally, they're very independent and healthy. When they first walk into the wealthy Park household, for example, they don't think, "Wow, we have to be that way, like them." Rather, it's more like; "They're the Parks and we're the Kims, and we're very different from each other. It's not necessarily bad or good, just different." In that way, I feel like the Kims are much more mentally healthy and emotionally wealthy than you would expect them to be.
How has the film been received in Korea? Have Korean audiences embraced its social themes, and how do you hope Parasite resonates on a global scale?
Choi: Because Parasite takes place in Korean society, and is told through the lens of the country's distinct social dynamics, I thought, "Would non-Korean audiences understand these cultural differences?" It turns out, most of the film's problems and messages actually represent global issues, so people just understand and embrace it. However, there were some small differences among audience reactions in Korea relative to other countries. Native speakers, for instance, understand the film's wordplays since many Korean dark comedies heavily toy with similar wordplay, but about 5 percent of those nuances are lost in the translated subtitles. Still, there's a global recognition and understanding to the movie's ideas, which is why I want people to come and enjoy it for themselves. On an individual level, people will respond differently to the various messages it communicates, so it's exciting to think about the conversations Parasite will inspire for those who see it.
Park: I don't think there's one specific message or emotion that everyone should feel as a cohesive group, it's more about everyone relating to certain parts that feel true to their own life. Like I said, I couldn't wait for people to watch it and talk about it, so I actually went on my own the day it was released in Korea—I paid for a ticket and everything. [Chuckles.] On my way out, I could hear audiences chat about how they felt, and everything they couldn't wait to discuss. It was then I knew we had something special, and I felt deeply proud to be a part of it.
Parasite is now in wide release.
Bong Joon-hoChoi Woo-shikParasitePark So-damSong Kang-ho
Demitra Kampakis
Jordan Raup○ January 17, 2020
2020 Oscar Nominations
Nick Newman○ January 9, 2020
Parasite Will Be Adapted into HBO Series by Bong Joon Ho and Adam McKay
Leonard Pearce○ January 9, 2020
The Best Cinematography of 2019
The Film Stage○ January 2, 2020
The Best Scores & Soundtracks of 2019
Jordan Raup○ December 30, 2019


text:
import logging
import time

import zmq.green as zmq
from gevent.queue import Empty

from job_runner_worker.config import config

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def publish(zmq_context, event_queue, exit_queue):
    """
    Publish enqueued events to the WebSocket server.

    :param zmq_context:
        An instance of ``zmq.Context``.

    :param event_queue:
        A ``Queue`` instance for events to broadcast.

    :param exit_queue:
        An instance of ``Queue`` to consume from. If this queue is not empty,
        the function needs to terminate.

    """
    logger.info('Starting event publisher')

    publisher = zmq_context.socket(zmq.PUB)
    publisher.connect('tcp://{0}:{1}'.format(
        config.get('job_runner_worker', 'ws_server_hostname'),
        config.get('job_runner_worker', 'ws_server_port'),
    ))

    while True:
        try:
            event = event_queue.get(block=False)
            logger.debug('Sending event: {0}'.format(event))
            publisher.send_multipart(['worker.event', event])
            continue
        except Empty:
            pass

        try:
            exit_queue.get(block=False)
            logger.info('Terminating event publisher')
            return
        except Empty:
            pass

        time.sleep(0.5)

    publisher.close()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
LARRY BELL with Alex Bacon
Portrait of the artist. Pencil on paper by Phong Bui. From a photo by Zack Garlitos.
Alex Bacon visited Larry Bell in his Venice Beach studio to reflect on the artist's long and influential career, which is currently being celebrated in an exhibition of work from the 1960s at Hauser & Wirth's uptown space at 32 East 69th Street. It runs through April 9, 2016.
Alex Bacon (Rail): The show at Hauser & Wirth is titled From the '60s. Is it going to take us all the way back to the shaped canvases from the early 1960s?
Bell: Yes! Back to 1960!
Rail: Wow! So maybe a good place to begin is with how you started. I know you studied with Robert Irwin at Chouinard Art Institute. When did you start painting those shaped canvases?
Bell: When I got out of Chouinard. I started doing very organized compositions in oil paint on paper, because I didn't have much money, and paper was a good support. Then the organization became paramount and more important than the paint technique.
Rail: What systems of organization were you using?
Bell: Cubes.
Rail: Already around 1960?
Bell: Yes. They were a two-dimensional illusion of a cubic volume of some kind—a brick volume or a square volume.
Rail: Were they rendered in perspective?
Bell: Yes! But they were pretty simple. The canvases were shaped so that the canvas plane itself had an illusion of volume. And then what I did was paint very simple kinds of things into that shape that would add another volumetric illusion to the imagery.
Rail: So it was two illusions co-existing?
Bell: Yes, it was exactly that. And then I got tired of painting illusions, I guess. I decided I wanted these things to have some dimension to them so, using the same flat diagram of the cube, I made them deeper. But I didn't find it engaging enough to keep going, and I started wanting to change the dimensions; I started adding things to the construction of the stretcher box, which were pieces of glass. In some cases it was a thick piece of glass that went right up against the wall and you looked through the glass, through a square hole in the canvas, to see the wall.
Rail: And how did you have that idea? Why glass?
Bell: Well, I found glass a very interesting material because it did something that nothing else I knew of did.It had some very special qualities: it reflected light; it transmitted light; it absorbed light—all at the same time—and had a shelf life of about three million years. So it met all the criteria to be an interesting material. It was available everywhere; it was not very expensive; there were people who knew about a local glasscutter who grinded and made shapes out of it, and so on.
Rail: Did you find that wanting to use glass introduced you to people working professionally with industrial and commercial materials in Los Angeles?
Bell: Yes, because at a certain point I needed them. I wanted a piece of glass to be reflective, like a mirror on both sides. I found a guy out in Burbank that did a lot of work for Walt Disney Studios. He made special reflectors and lenses, what they call front surface mirrors, which is what I was looking for. And those works got me a show in New York with Pace Gallery in 1965.
Rail: Were these still the relief works that use glass?
Bell: No, they were cubes.
Rail: So how did the cubes evolve from the reliefs?
Bell: I just decided to get rid of the two-dimensional plane. Period. And stop making illusions of volumes and make the volumes themselves instead. The most natural form for me was a cube because I liked the symmetry of it. And they were pretty clumsy attempts to do something, but, in fact, I sort of bluffed my way through a bunch of constructions that were based on cubes. They weren't very good cubes, they were just cubes, you know? Made of glass and wood, because in the beginning I would make a wooden structure and then glue glass or mirrors to it.
Rail: So were the early glass boxes reflective, throwing things back out to the viewer, rather than something you look into?
Bell: Some of them were like that but most of them you looked into.
Rail: Were you thinking about Albers or anything like that?
Larry Bell, Untitled Trapezoid Improvisation, 1983. Amber laminated glass. Unique. 4 panels. 60 x 72 x .5 inches / 72 x 102 1/8 x 102 1/8 inches (overall). Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Genevieve Hanson.
Bell: No, I was looking at the corners of my room.
Rail: Oh, really? So, in a way is this almost like a floorplan?
Bell: Yes, something like that. I wouldn't say it was a plan. The imagery was simple.
Rail: And maybe it had a sense of your immediate space?
Bell: Yes, because the one in the pieces in the Hauser & Wirth show is actually an illustration of the skylight that was above my head. It's a huge picture and this alluded to the volume of the well that went up from the ceiling to the skylight.
Rail: Also in your room, or in your studio?
Bell: In my studio.
Rail: So you were already thinking very much of the painting as an object?
Bell: I don't know what I was thinking actually. They were intuitive things. They just happened, and for some reason, this is what they looked like. I don't know why they came up. It was not some kind of a fetish I had with hard edge or anything.
Rail: Nonetheless, it's interesting that you would pick something as specific as a window or a room, but then the paintings are in fact different illusions of volumes. To take something like a bird's-eye view down onto a room, and to then use that to skew an actual volume. So there's the looking forward, but also a looking down in the same painting. It's also interesting that at this time you're still painting, even as you are experimenting with the first cubic volumes. So it wasn't like you were moving on from one thing to the next.
Bell: No, no, I worked on a lot of different things simultaneously. During this period of time I was even still painting on paper, because this stuff took a lot of time, where there was immediacy with the paint. Because the paper sucked up the oil, there was no mess on the floor and that nervous energy that you have in the studio. I had to get it off somehow, so I was doing paintings on paper, too, at the same time as I was working on the first cubes.
Rail: What did you want the viewer to get out of these?
Bell: I never had any prejudices about that. I just wanted them to feel finished. I wanted it to feel like there was some resolution to what the viewer was looking at, that there was a finished statement of some kind. There was no more to it than that.
Rail: Were you exhibiting these works in the early 1960s?
Bell: Yes, at Ferus Gallery. Just about all of this stuff was shown there.
Rail: How did you get involved with them? Was that through Robert Irwin?
Bell: Well… no, because Bob [Irwin] wasn't the only person running the place, there was Billy Al Bengston and Irving Blum as well. I knew all those guys. They were my gang and I was the youngest, but I thought I was going to get drafted. I thought I was going into the Army for sure, so I wanted to do something. I didn't figure I'd come back. I went to see Walter Hopps and I said, "I want to do a show sometime," and he said, "I haven't seen your stuff lately." So he and Irving came down. Just like that I had a show at Ferus.
Rail: And that was when?
Bell: 1962.
Rail: What kind of work did you show?
Bell: Paintings. And then the next show was the constructions.
Rail: Also at Ferus?
Bell: Yes.
Rail: And how were they received, those early shows?
Bell: Well it was pretty early in the game here in L.A. and nobody really talked about them, though the gallery actually sold a couple of them. So that was doing pretty well. I didn't have any track record really.
Rail: I don't imagine many people were selling at that time in L.A.
Bell: No! There was no money. There was nothing. Nobody ever thought there was going to be any money in doing this stuff. We were a tight little group of jokers, just having a good time.
Rail: So would you say it was as social, or even more social than it was about aesthetic issues?
Bell: Oh yes, I definitely thought so.
Rail: Were there conversations among people around Ferus about ideas around art and stuff like that?
Bell: Maybe Irving [Blum] and Walter [Hopps] did, but there were no general debates, except over selections of people to participate in the gallery, and that got pretty heated. There were some of the guys who didn't want other people. They didn't want this person and that person, so they'd let their feelings be known to Irving and Walter.
Rail: What did you think about some of the work that came over from New York? For example, I know Stella showed a few times at Ferus. Was that influential at all?
Bell: Yes. Well, he was one of the young Turks. He was a contender and he was in the place [New York] where people bought stuff and took note of important studio activities.
Rail: It must have been interesting for you because, judging by the dating, you came to the shaped canvas independently of seeing those being made around the same time by other people. Stella, for example, would have started painting shaped canvases at about the same time, 1960. How did you have the idea to physically shape the canvas?
Bell: I don't remember—that's a good question. I remember going to the guy who made stretcher bars, right around here, he was at a little wood shop. He made stretchers for a lot of the artists. Lucius Hudson was his name.
Rail: And you went to him and asked him to make these shaped stretchers?
Bell: Yes, and then I went to an upholstery guy to learn how to stretch the canvas and fold the corners and stitch it on that angle—stitch it tight so it would stay that way.
Rail: So you didn't feel too much of anything when you started seeing other shaped-canvas work? Did you feel any kind of affinity?
Bell: No, I just felt an affinity with my artist friends. I only met Stella in '65 when I went to New York.
Rail: You did a show with Sidney Janis in 1964, and Robert Irwin was in that show and few others—you didn't go to New York for that show?
Bell: No, I didn't. Bob [Irwin] was in that show, Chuck Hinman was in that show, Robert Whitman—it was called Seven New Artists.
Rail: What work did you show?
Bell: Two cubes. I only went to New York for the first Pace show in 1965. Some interesting things happened to me. The cubes that I showed were pieces that were made here in Venice, but the way I treated the surface was done by this fabricator who did work for Disney, and it cost a lot of money. But he was a very nice guy and he liked doing stuff that was not normal for him; the coating process was very expensive and the guy let me pay him over time. So I had pieces that were sent to New York and several of them broke in shipment. But we shipped everything over more than a month before the show and there was time to repair what was broken—if I could find a guy to do the coating and if I could find a guy to replace the glass panels. And I found one. The guy in New York who did the coating charged me a fortune to do the job. And after we finished up and I had paid him he said, "You're crazy."
Rail: What kind of projects would he do normally?
Bell: Toy cap pistols: six million novelty cap pistols a year for one place. Millions of Christmas-tree ornaments, too. The balls were glass and they were metalized, mirrored. And then he would dip them in dyes. That's what he did.
Rail: So he adopted that process to make—
Bell: Well, he adapted one of his coaters to be able to redo my cubes, and the material on the pieces was gold. We had put gold on the glass, so that required a certain kind of technique. The guy knew how to do it.
Rail: You were coating the actual pane of glass?
Rail: Is that what 'vacuum coated' means?
Bell: Yes, exactly that.
Rail: So could you describe what that process is?
Bell: The materials that are on the surface are evaporated in a vacuum. The coating on these things, and on what I've done since, reached the surface of whatever—whether it was paper, glass, or Mylar—it gets to that surface because of the electrons that change the form of the material from a solid to a vapor, even gold or aluminum, say. It gets hot and evaporates it. It's the electrons that do that. So the molecules of aluminum, let's say, are thrown off of a piece of tungsten filament like the filament in a light bulb, and attaches to the surface that I put in front of it. It then builds up the coating because there's no air in the process. Whatever the crystalline structure of this stuff was that gave it its optical qualities are maintained when the film goes back together; the same crystalline structure that gives aluminum its optical brightness goes back together as a thin film on the surface.
Rail: And how did you discover that?
Bell: The guy who works for Disney. I didn't know anything about the process, he never let me in the back room, he just gave me what I wanted and he did a good job. But I never knew anything about how it was done, and then when I went to New York and located this guy to try and repair them, I went to his place, but he was a novelty metalizer which meant even though the process is exactly the same, the end product was much less refined than that done by the optical coater in L.A. So he suggested I get into doing it myself and save a lot of money. He sold me a used metalizer and gave me a book called Vacuum Deposition of Thin Films and told me I should start on page one. I moved and set it up in New York and learned how to run it. A few years later I bought another, the tank I still use. I ordered it in 1968 and it was delivered in 1969 and I've been using it ever since. It was designed to coat two pieces of six foot by ten foot glass.
Rail: So you moved to New York in '65?
Bell: Yeah, I stayed there for '65 and '66 and then I missed my friends, I didn't like cold weather, it just got too fucking cold. There was a blizzard in '66, there was a blackout, I was not prepared for the traumas of New York.
Rail: You had a feeling that it would be a good place to push your career forward?
Bell: Yes, because I did my first show at Pace and they sold everything before the show opened. I had hardly sold anything ever. And here they had sold everything. So I stayed in New York.
Rail: And you must have met a lot of people at that time?
Bell: Yeah. Judd, and Morris, and Bob Whitman, and Larry Poons, Leo Castelli, Neil Williams, John Chamberlain—
Rail: Stella you mentioned before.
Bell: Yeah, Stella, Judd, Poons, Williams and Chamberlain became buddies.
Rail: Did you enjoy having conversations about art with them?
Larry Bell, Light Knot 11, 2012. 7mm polyester coated with aluminum silicon oxide. Unique. 59 x 41 1/2 x 27 inches. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Alan Shaffer.
Bell: Oh, the conversations were mostly about humor. There was almost no talk about the significance of anybody's art, unless it was putting it down in funny language. Absolutely everything was based on humor. Nothing was not based on humor.
Rail: Even someone like Judd?
Bell: Even Judd. He had this round face, and when he laughed his eyes completely disappeared into his cheeks. [Laughter.]
Rail: Would you spend a lot of time in their studios?
Rail: So you saw what they were working on?
Bell: Yeah, though Judd didn't do much work in his studio.
Rail: By that point he was fabricating?
Bell: Yes. He had a few old wooden things. I don't think I ever went to Frank [Stella]'s studio until the '70s. He liked to go eat Italian food in his neighborhood, and he was married to [the critic and art historian] Barbara Rose at that time.
Rail: I guess they had a lot of parties at their apartment for the movers and shakers in the art world. Did you ever attend any?
Bell: Oh yeah that's how I met Judd and Poons and all the rest of them—it was through Frank and Barbara. They had a couple of parties for me, 'welcome to New York' parties, and introduced me to all those guys.
Rail: I'm curious: so when you started making the cubes, you also thought to display them on pedestals?
Bell: Yeah I wanted them to look like they were floating.
Rail: You didn't want to make them large and place them on the floor? What sizes did you work with?
Bell: Twelve inches cubed to twenty-four inches cubed.
Rail: What were those dimensions based on?
Bell: How much I could pick up. I worked by myself, and didn't have any assistants. If something had to go from this to that place, I had to be able to pick it up and carry it over. So when I started working on the large glass things, it was an imperative to have people around to help move things. And not just moving them, but cleaning them and doing all the stuff that is necessary to put them into the vocabulary of the show.
Rail: So the pedestals are Plexiglas, is that correct?
Rail: This introduces an element of complete visibility to the cube, where you can see all of its sides.
Bell: Yeah, and it also takes me out of the Minimalist camp, because pedestals are very traditional. [Laughter.]
Rail: Did anyone react to that as a conservative gesture, to put sculptural work on pedestals?
Rail: Did you see them as pedestals or did you see them as part of the work?
Bell: I saw them as both. At the time I was looking for a sale, so if somebody bought them, and they wanted to put them on their coffee table, that was okay with me. I was making these things hoping somebody would want them, so we presented them with Plexiglas bases. Well, some of the early ones were glass, but it was very heavy, expensive, and fragile. The ones in Plexi were cheaper and they didn't break.
Rail: And did you find that you could control getting different kinds of effects with the glass?
Rail: When you were working with the guy in L.A. and he did not let you into the room, would you have to tell him what you wanted?
Rail: How would you describe what you wanted?
Bell: "I want this blue. I want this to reflect blue on one side and look like a mirror on the other side."
Rail: And then when you got the machine and you were doing it yourself, did you find you had a greater range of things you could do since you were in there?
Bell: Yes. Plus it was a lot of fun. The same kind of fun that guys who like to fix up hotrods have. Stuff with wrenches, macho shit.
Rail: So then, when you were in New York, you were focusing purely on those cubes?
Bell: Yeah, Pace said to make some more stuff. "We can sell these!" is exactly what they said. So when I decided I wanted to go to bigger things, the Pace people were a little reticent, because it was more complex to store them and move them, and all of that.
Rail: Are you still talking about the cubes or are you now talking about the sheets of glass?
Bell: The sheets.
Rail: Ok. I think you did the first one for the 1969 show at MoMA, Spaces, is that true?
Bell: Well, that was glass, but it wasn't the same kind of treatment and arrangement that I used for the later works. What I did for Spaces was a dark room containing a reflective surface. It wasn't a right angle thing, the glass was not right on the wall, and there was very low light in there. So essentially the glass reflected the door you walked in through. The light might be illuminating some part of the space that was reflected in the glass, so as you moved towards the glass, you were actually moving away from the source of the light that was being reflected. So the light appeared to move away from you to the same degree as you were moving towards it, until you hit the wall and couldn't see it anymore.
Rail: Would you say that at this time you were still interested, as you had been in those early shaped paintings, in certain kinds of illusions?
Bell: Yeah, I didn't see them as illusions though, I saw them as real things.
Rail: Phenomena of perception?
Bell: Real phenomena. What I'm looking at is really happening. There are no tricks. This is another reality, and I know it is because I can see it. That's all I needed. If I could see it, I must be going the right way. Every time that something would make itself clear to me through an improvisational use of the materials, I learned something, and so everything that happened in the studio was some kind of lesson. I wasn't going to lead the work anywhere, I was following the work, that's the way it works. You follow the work. The work is the teacher. Each discovery is given to you by the work.
Rail: And did you find that the cubes then led you into wanting to do more with actual space?
Bell: Yes, because all of the focus on the cubes was in the corners, the way the light gradated out of the corners; I decided to get rid of the cube shape, just make the corners. And that would allow me to make these visual things much bigger because you couldn't lift a giant cube, but you could put two pieces of glass together and glue them at a right angle, and if they were treated properly and lit properly, they did all kinds of interesting things; and then if you put another pair of corners in front of the first one it does something else. And then if you put them together you can make a big box.
Rail: So it was endless, the things that this idea opened up for you?
Larry Bell, Bette and the Giant Jewfish, 1963. Vacuum coated glass and chrome plated metal. Unique. 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches. 36 x 16.5 x 16.5 inches (pedestal). Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen.
Bell: That was the best thing about it all: the permutations were factorial. If I had twenty-four pieces of glass to set up, I had a factor of twenty-four possibilities. Twenty-four times twenty-three, and that total times twenty-two, and that total times twenty-one, and so on. It was an enormous amount of possibilities with the same parts, and I liked that—that the depth of the potential of each of the things I did was staggering. I could've spent a lifetime dedicated to only one of those projects. It was action, so I was making more and sticking them out there, and I didn't care what they looked like, they just did their thing and looked good.
Rail: Did you find that that then required more attention to the lighting, and other qualities of the space, in which you placed the sheets of glass?
Bell: Well, when I did a show I would usually set up the pieces based on the lighting that the artist that was there before me had set up for his or her show. So I would compose the work based on what I had, and then when it started to not work I would readjust the things until finally it was all new. I never tried to neutralize a space, I would just take it as it was and then mess around with it.
Rail: How would you play around in a space? What was your process in putting together a room?
Bell: Let's say the space was 4,000 square feet—was it long or was it square? Was it round, or whatever? Then I would decide how many parts might be the most I could put in, and take as much as I could to improvise with—because they were all improvisational things—and start using them. There were times when I brought fifteen to twenty pieces and ended up using only four, because it didn't need any more.
The configurations of the piece really were determined by the fact that they were mirrored on one side and went together at ninety degrees. Some of them were trapezoid shapes, some were rectangular, some of them were triangular. I did a big piece called the Iceberg, which was the iceberg and its shadow; the iceberg was twenty-eight panels of clear glass, and the shadow of the iceberg was twenty-eight panels of gray glass. So there were fifty-six parts, I never saw the whole thing up. Thirty-one was the most I ever put up.
Rail: How did the studio function for you in this kind of context? You must have done a lot of playing around in general in the studio once you had this condition.
Bell: Yeah I did some playing around, I made models and they were pretty slick. If the room was forty-by-forty feet, say, I'd make a grid and just use an inch-to-foot scale, and take pieces of glass together that could simulate the floor of a forty-square-foot room, and place them based on the matrix. Then I would go there without the model and try to bring a feeling of spontaneity to the installation. A lot of times these things had to stand on the floor, and a lot of times the floor was no good, the floor was uneven. In those cases, the composition was based on what the floor wanted rather than what I wanted.
Rail: How did people respond to these works?
Bell: People liked them. They had a good time. I liked watching people go around them. Were they looking at themselves or looking through it at somebody else, walking in their reflection? What they were looking at is what I found interesting.
Rail: You also had a photography practice. For example, you photographed some of Robert Irwin's early installations. You would photograph them, in a way that he quite liked, almost like composite photographs.
Bell: Yeah, I did some things with photography. I wasn't that interested in the pictures; I was interested in the process. I had a camera; it was a light angle camera with a lens that moved 120 degrees. I had about seven of them, I was totally hooked on these cameras and I changed a little bit of something on each of the cameras, so that each had something different going on. But I didn't pursue photography very much.
Rail: Did you ever exhibit your photography?
Bell: Yes, a few people wanted it. I did a show in France in Nîmes, and the curator insisted on showing the photography. She thought she could do an exhibition that would prove my work was more related to the writings in science fiction than they were to Minimalism.
Rail: How did you feel about that thesis?
Bell: I thought it was a great idea, I didn't have any problem with that. I thought it was neat.
Rail: Do you have a personal relationship to science fiction?
Bell: Well, it's only through one writer, H.G. Wells. I was always a Wells fan. [The curator] made a case for it, and I named a lot of sculptures after characters in Wells's stories. Griffin was a central character in his story of The Invisible Man. In The Invisible Man, before Griffin tried his potion on himself, he tried it on his landlady's cat. The cat disappeared except for its eyes. I set up a piece in my studio in New Mexico, and my daughter came in. She was about five at the time. She went inside this thing and disappeared inside it, except for her eyes. She reminded me of the passage from the Wells story, so I called that sculpture The Dilemma of Griffin's Cat. Griffin showed up in a lot of my work. He was an interesting guy, the character. He had this theory that he could make flesh become transparent with his combination of some chemicals and stuff like that. His professor at school said he was crazy and gave him a really hard time. He went about proving he was right, but what happened is that he may have been right, but becoming invisible is one thing, and becoming visible again is another thing that he didn't consider. He was so focused on only one side of it.
Rail: You were saying that you don't identify your work with Minimalism. I'm wondering if there are other artists that you feel an affinity towards? Do you agree with people who would place you alongside your peers in California?
Bell: Yeah, sure.
Rail: Does the term "Light and Space art" mean something to you?
Larry Bell, Untitled 1962, 1962. Mirrored glass, acrylic on canvas. 53 x 66 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Genevieve Hanson.
Bell: Well, look. It's too generic. If there was no light, you couldn't see anything. And the stuff that you see is in some space. And so "light and space" means practically nothing because everything is light and space; there's nothing that isn't. All that we see is the light reflected off of some surface.
Rail: I guess one could say that a lot of your work has been about investigating the terms of perception, and how different kinds of perceptual effects can be generated, organized, or constructed. Certain New York artists we've been discussing—someone like Judd, say—are controlling certain effects. If you go to Marfa and you see the 100 milled aluminum boxes, there are effects that happen, which are happening in the eye even more than they're happening in the actual space. So there's a certain relationship, it seems, between that and what you have been saying you'd like to achieve in your work, in terms of perceptual phenomena.
Bell: That wasn't lost on Judd either. In general, I refused to give anybody shit because I didn't understand their philosophy. I don't want to understand. I want it to be a mystery. I want to see things I've never seen before and find surfaces that are interesting to look at. Whether I'm working with them or somebody else is.
Rail: How did you end up getting back to two-dimensional works in the 1970s?
Bell: It's the same coatings that I put on glass that I started putting on paper. Like I said earlier, glass reflects, transmits, and absorbs light all at once. Paper doesn't do that. But it has an interesting surface; it collects the material in an interesting way, everything is very readable in this media, and aluminum tends to make things look white.
Rail: What are the patterns and the different colorations based on?
Bell: Gradients. I like the transitional aspect of the colors fading in and out of this page plane.
Rail: Are these works that are on the wall of your studio right now on canvas?
Bell: They're on paper. I do mount everything on canvas because the paper tears and breaks easily. When it goes through the plating process, it gets crispy, like a salty cracker. So by taking these parts that I put a lot of energy into coloring to be something, the first thing I do is mount them on something that won't shatter, and that's what the canvas is about.
Rail: Are you comfortable bringing in a conversation about painting into the work?
Bell: Well, I didn't really think of them as paintings, but I guess they're not that distant from collages of a painterly kind.
Rail: Because in a way they do seem related to the early paintings in the sense that they create these spatial illusions.
Bell: They're not so abstract; in fact they're all based on torsos. If you look, you'll see: the line of the neck and the shoulder is something that is in all of them. The source came from the gesture that was made when drawing with a knife, or with a blade cutting through this Mylar with that same line of the neck, and the shoulder, and boob, and so on. And then I could take a corner of that plane that I just made a drawing on with a cut-through line, and take a corner of it and slip it through one of those lines I cut in there, and it becomes a sculpture. Gravity grabs it, and when it can't go anywhere, that's the form. Period. It also had a lot to do with just not wanting to lift heavy shit anymore. [Laughter.]
Rail: It's a way to sculpt but without a lot of physical exertion.
Bell: Right. You get a lot of action out of these things; they do amazing things. Just watch one. Go sit down and just look at any one of them. It moves very slowly with air currents in the room. What you're actually seeing is what the piece sees; you're looking at the reflection of what's around them. They're totally hypnotic. That one over there, it's just doing its thing and there's no particular reason why one starts turning and another doesn't. I think they're magical. They throw off something I call "fairies." They're little bursts of light that are reflected off of them, and they go creeping across the Mylar and sometimes you see them on the floor.
Rail: So for this reason, do you find it useful to live with them, and to observe them over a long period of time?
Bell: Yes, and they collect dust. That's a very interesting aspect of these things too, because the dust diffuses the light off the surface.
Rail: So you don't feel strongly that they should be kept dust free?
Bell: No, everything on the surface of this earth has the right to a patina. Period. [Laughter.]
Alex Bacon
ALEX BACON is a critic, curator, scholar based in New York. Most recently, with Harrison Tenzer, he curated Correspondences: Ad Reinhardt at 100.
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO with Phong Bui
NICOLAS LOBO with Hunter Braithwaite
MARIE LORENZ with Jarrett Earnest
HOUSE OF LADOSHA with Laila Pedro
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BECKY HOWLAND: Weeds of New York
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Pia Camil: A Pot for a Latch
By Michelle Standley
ANECHOIC* MIRROR ANRI SALA Answer Me
POPE.L WILL BOONE
Photo-Poetics: An Anthology
JONG OH
I Am a Lie and I am Gold
MIRIAM SCHAPIRO
By Kim Power
Laura Poitras Astro Noise
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CAMERON ROWLAND 91020000
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Regards Sur Beyrouth: 160 Ans D'images 1800 – 1960
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PETER HUJAR Lost Downtown
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MERNET LARSEN Things People Do
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NONA FAUSTINE White Shoes
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CARRIE MOYER Sirens
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Art Encounters Law
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On the Maintenance of Maria Eichhorn Aktiengesellschaft
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Art and Law Enforcement in a Ring Box: TALWST's Miniature Aesthetic Revolution
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Spring boot prometheus micrometers - Gauge not updating I have a SpringBoot 2.2.4.RELEASE with a RestRepostory like
import io.micrometer.core.instrument.Gauge;
import io.micrometer.core.instrument.MeterRegistry;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;

@RestController
public class MyController {

    private MeterRegistry meterRegistry;

    public MyController(MeterRegistry meterRegistry) {
        this.meterRegistry = meterRegistry;
    }

    private Gauge myGauge;
    private Integer myInteger = 0;

    @PostConstruct
    private void init() {
        myGauge = Gauge.builder("my.gauge", myInteger, Integer::intValue)
                .register(meterRegistry);
    }

    @GetMapping("/count")
    public void count() {
        myInteger = 5;
    }

}

After the application is started, going to http://localhost:8082/actuator/prometheus I can see
# HELP my_gauge
# TYPE my_gauge gauge
my_gauge 0.0

But after going to http://localhost:8082/count/, the value remains 0.0
What's the problem ?  I also don't understand the 3rd parameter of the builder function.  Is the the cause ?
I also tried with a Counter.  And it's working fine when I increment it withing the count function.

A: I know that this is an old question and probably you have already solved or tried another solution to your problem.
I just faced the same problem and, in the end, it was a misunderstanding regarding how the gauge method works. The 3rd/4th, depending on the constructor, parameter of gauge method, receives a lazy function.
I asked a similar question on the Prometheus Google Group and found the solution in the meantime.
Here is the snippet with the solution that I implemented on my API:
private final Map<String, AtomicInteger> statusCodes = new HashMap<>();

.
.
.

private void createOrUpdateMetric(String healthType, Status status) {
    statusCodes.put(healthType, new AtomicInteger(healthToCode(status)));

    Gauge.builder(HEALTH, statusCodes, statusCodes -> statusCodes.get(healthType).get())
         .tags(Tags.of(Tag.of(HEALTH_TYPE, healthType)))
         .description(HEALTH_DESCRIPTION + healthType)
         .register(meterRegistry);
}

Here is the question I asked on Prometheus Groups.

A: I found a way to workaround, seams that meterRegistry keeps the fist value you put, but you can remove the previous value and register one more time, I don't know if is the best way, but solves the problem to me
 public void percentage(String name, AtomicReference<Double> value) {
try {
  var m = meterRegistry.get(name);
  if (m != null) {
    var g = m.gauge();
    meterRegistry.remove(g); //this removes the old value
  }
} catch (Exception e){
  //doNothing
}
Gauge gauge = Gauge.builder(name, value, AtomicReference::get).register(meterRegistry);
  System.out.println(gauge.value()); //this shows a diferent value every time you call the percentage method
 }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Leonard Irell Webster (born February 10, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1989 to 2000. Webster was one of the active players wearing number 42 while playing for the Baltimore Orioles when Major League Baseball retired the number to honor Jackie Robinson in 1997. He made his debut on September 1, 1989 as a defensive replacement at catcher with the Minnesota Twins. His final game was on September 23, 2000 as a pinch hitter for Jeremy Powell with the Montreal Expos.

In 587 games over 12 seasons, Webster posted a .254 batting average (368-for-1450) with 157 runs, 73 doubles, 2 triples, 33 home runs, 176 RBI, 140 bases on balls, .324 on-base percentage and .375 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .995 fielding percentage as a catcher. In the 1997 postseason covering 7 games, he hit .200 (3-for-15) with 1 run and 1 RBI.

Personal
Webster is the nephew of former Major League umpire Charlie Williams.

References

External links

1965 births
Living people
African-American baseball players
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from New Orleans
Boston Red Sox players
Elizabethton Twins players
Grambling State Tigers baseball players
Kenosha Twins players
Major League Baseball catchers
Minnesota Twins players
Montreal Expos players
Orlando Sun Rays players
Orlando Twins players
Philadelphia Phillies players
Portland Beavers players
Visalia Oaks players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Kids are very fond of imagination, and they prefer to explore and experience new things. Significant styles and designs of playground equipment help them in enjoying their mental, physical and above all socio-cultural status. The selected playground equipment in this paper is the Caterpillar-Range that is meant for children from 9 months to 3 years. Caterpillar-Range is a durable range that supports rapid physical, as well as mental growth in the young children, and motivates them as explorers. It is made of plastic and is filled with the colors of rainbow.
Playing in the playground supports them with lots of imaginative and practical knowledge. Success in performing the Caterpillar-Range and ending up with a new end turns up to be a miracle for a child. This gets well-related to the idea of magic, as declared by Malinowski, who considered religion and magic as similar platforms, in order to attain socio-cultural status. In case of human beings in general, the matter of magic is like the attainment of personal power, whereas the concern of religion is related to faith in God that offers them the magical power within. As the matter of miracle or magic gets passed down from one generation to other, it gets clear that the upcoming generation gets the mirror image of the same through various playing equipment in the playground, like: seesaw, a slide, wooden horse, playground train, etc. They learn their inner power and the power of God through their performances, and thereby start believing in the matter of society and culture. Thus, to note Malinowski, the basic need for growth is subject to training, and is necessary for children from a very small age.
As a matter of fact, children start socializing at a very small age. As for instance, in the Caterpillar-Range the child meets many other children of the same age and gets the opportunity to share all kinds of emotions with them. According to the Freudian psychoanalysis, it is the unconscious mind in human being that helps in exploring the feelings that are usually repressed. This is an aspect that can be well-channelized in a child by offering him a very positive and healthy competitive race. This can be well attained through games related to the Caterpillar-Range. By this game, children can well create imaginative thoughts while passing through it. They can also realize that their existence is limited in the vast world, yet can always attain wider exposures, if they end up in understanding the tunnel and overcoming it. This is the representation of the tunnel of the unconsciousness that demands balanced exploration, which can be taught to the child at a tender age.
Implication of the Caterpillar-Range under semiotic aspect signifies a wider range of meanings. There is a clear connection between the aesthetic styles of the Caterpillar-Range, as it adds enough meaning to the mental and physical growth of the child. It is through its structure that the child undergoes the diachronic mode of meeting his imaginations with the practical life. The child gets well-acquainted with the act that there is also another world within the caterpillar, and the same gets applicable to all the other lives that he sees. In a way, there is the link that gets discovered between the plying items in the Caterpillar-Range and the material culture within the child. The child starts realizing that the matter that is the Caterpillar-Range is nothing but the base for understanding the meanings of his imagination with the practical world outside.
It is through the a reading of Berger (2009) that various theoretical approaches can be noted in terms of understanding material culture towards the psychoanalytical set up in any human being. The reference to the playground equipment that is the Caterpillar-Range shows its multifaceted privileges that are picked up by a child in a very fanciful manner. The relation between the Caterpillar-Range with the idea of understanding inside out is the core purpose of this selection. Consequently, it is necessary to add that a child learns a lot by playing the Caterpillar-Range. He is capable to imagine the interior of a caterpillar, though as hollow, or in other words as a place for some objects, digestive system for instance; there remains the scope to understand the same, as he grows older. The child is definitely in a very tender state of mind, yet, his introduction with the Caterpillar-Range is very effective in making him realize that colors that he sees can offer more imaginative ranges to his conscious and the unconscious mind.


text:
Q: PyCharm: Django templates don't seem to be working? I am trying to use Django in PyCharm, but the Django templates are not working. For example {% block %} elements and {{variable}} references are not treated specially and when I view the page preview, it just displays it as text?

A: first go to pychram preferences :

select your project and chooce project structure and assign the values in the top to let pycharm what is you project structure:

from this page select Template languages:

select django


Michelle Flournoy, the DC apparatchik who would have been Hillary's secretary of defense, slammed the pull-out as "foreign policy malpractice," while Hillary's successor at the State Department, John Kerry, threw bits of red meat to the Russiagate-crazed Democratic base by branding Trump's decision "a Christmas gift to Putin." From the halls of Congress to the K Street corridors of Gulf-funded think tanks, a chorus of protest proclaimed that removing U.S. troops from Syria would simultaneously abet Iran and bring ISIS back from the grave.
Yet few of those thundering condemnations of the president's move seemed able to explain just why a few thousand U.S. troops had been deployed to the Syrian hinterlands in the first place. If the mission was to destroy ISIS, then why did ISIS rise in the first place? And why was the jihadist organization still festering right in the midst of the U.S. military occupation?
Too many critics of withdrawal had played central roles in the Syrian crisis to answer these questions honestly. They had either served as media cheerleaders for intervention, or crafted the policies aimed at collapsing Syria's government that fueled the rise of ISIS. The Syrian catastrophe was their legacy, and they were out to defend it at any cost.
During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Clinton, Kerry, and the rest of the Beltway blob lined up reflexively behind George W. Bush. The insurgency that followed the violent removal of Iraq's Ba'athist government set the stage for the declaration of the first Islamic State by Abu Musab Zarqawi in 2006.
Five years later, with near-total consent from Congress, Hillary enthusiastically presided over NATO's assault on Libya, cackling with glee when she learned that the country's longtime leader, Moammar Gaddafi, had been sodomized with a bayonet and shot to death by Islamist insurgents — "We came, we saw, he died!" It was not long before an Islamist Emirate was established in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, while 31 flavors of jihadi militias festered in Tripoli and Benghazi.
In 2012, the CIA initiated a one billion dollar arm-and-equip operation to fund the so-called "moderate rebels" united under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). A classified Defense Intelligence Agency memo distributed across Obama administration channels in August of that year warned that jihadist forces emanating from Iraq aimed to exploit the security vacuum opened up by the US-backed proxy war to establish a "Salafist principality in eastern Syria" — an "Islamic State," in the exact words of the memo.
The memo was authored under the watch of then-Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was convicted this year of failing to register as a foreign agent of Turkey — an extremely ironic development considering Turkey's role in fueling the Syrian insurgency. Predictably, the document was ignored across the board by the Obama administration. Meanwhile, heavy weapons were flowing out of the U.S. Incirlik air base in Turkey and into the hands of anyone who could grab them across the Syrian border.
As early as February 2013, a United Nations independent inquiry report concluded, "The FSA has remained a brand name only." The UN further issued a damning assessment of the role of the United States, UK and their Gulf allies in fueling extremism across Syria. "The intervention of external sponsors has contributed to the radicalization of the insurgency as it has favoured Salafi armed groups such as the al-Nusra Front, and even encouraged mainstream insurgents to join them owing to their superior logistical and operational capabilities," the report stated.
How ISIS overran large swaths of territory in northeastern Syria and established its de facto capital Raqqa is scarcely understood, let alone discussed by Western media. That is partly because the real story is so inconvenient to the established narrative of the Syrian conflict, which blames Assad for every atrocity that has ever occurred in his country, and for some horrors that may not have ever taken place. Echoing the Bush administration's discredited attempts to link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda, some neoconservative pundits hatched a conspiracy theory that accused Assad of covertly orchestrating the rise of ISIS in order to curry support from the West. But the documented evidence firmly established the success of ISIS as a byproduct of the semi-covert American program to arm Assad's supposedly moderate opposition.
Back in March 2013, a coalition of Syrian rebel forces representing the CIA-backed FSA, the Turkish and Qatari proxy, Ahrar al-Sham, and the Al Qaeda affiliate, al-Nusra, overwhelmed the Syrian army in Raqqa. Opposition activists declared the city the "icon of the revolution" and celebrated in Raqqa's town center, waving the tricolor flags of the FSA alongside the black banners of ISIS and al-Nusra, which set up its headquarters in the city's town hall.
But disorder quickly spread throughout the city as its residents attempted to order their affairs through local councils. Meanwhile, the US-backed FSA had ceded the city to al-Nusra, taking the fight to the front lines against government forces further afield. The chaos stirred by the insurgents and their foreign backers had created the perfect petri dish for jihadism to fester.
By August, Baghdadi completed his coup, announcing control over the city. According to the anti-Assad website, Syria Untold, the U.S.-backed FSA had "balked in the face of ISIS and avoided any military confrontation with it." Many of its fighters quickly jumped ship to either the Islamic State or al-Nusra.
When Russia directly intervened in Syria in 2015, the Obama administration's most outspoken interventionists railed against its campaign to roll back the presence of Al Qaeda and its allies, comparing it to the Rwandan genocide. These same officials were curiously quiet, however, when Russia combined forces with the Syrian military to drive ISIS from the city of Palmyra, to save the home of the world's most treasured antiquities from destruction.
Toner strung together empty platitudes for a full minute.
"You're not answering my question," the reporter protested.
When the U.S. finally decided to make a move against ISIS in 2017, it was gripped with anxiety about the Syrian government restoring control over the oil-rich areas ISIS controlled across the northeast.
With help from Russia, and against opposition from the U.S., Syria had already liberated the city of Deir Ezzor from a years-long siege by the Islamic State. Fearing that ISIS-occupied Raqqa could be next to be returned to government hands, the U.S. unleashed a brutal bombing campaign while its allies in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (a rebranded offshoot of the People's Protection Units or YPG) assaulted the city by ground.
The U.S.-led campaign reduced much of Raqqa to rubble. In contrast to Aleppo, where rebuilding was underway and refugees were returning, Raqqa and outlying towns under U.S. control were cut off from basic government services and plunged into darkness.
This October, when Iran launched missile strikes against ISIS, nearly killing the ISIS emir, Baghdadi, the Pentagon complained that the missiles had struck only three kilometers from U.S. positions. The protest raised uncomfortable questions about what the top honchos of the Islamic State were doing in such close proximity to the American military, and why the U.S. was unwilling to do what Iran just had done and attack them. No answers from the Pentagon have arrived so far.
With the appointment this August of James Jeffrey, a self-described "Never Trumper" from the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy, as Trump's special representative for Syria engagement, it became clear that the mission to eradicate ISIS was of secondary importance. In testimony before Congress this December, Jeffrey laid out an agenda that focused heavily on what he called "Iran's malign influence in the region," "countering Iran in Syria," and "remov[ing] all Iranian-commanded forces and proxy forces from the entirety of Syria." In all, Jeffrey made 30 mentions of Iran, all of them hostile, while referring only 23 times to ISIS. It was clear he had regime change in Tehran on the brain.
Trump, for his part, had been mulling a removal of U.S. forces from northern Syria since at least last Spring, when he put forward a vision for an all-Arab military force funded by Saudi Arabia to replace them. But when Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was sawed apart inside his country's embassy in Istanbul this October, Trump's plan went to pieces as well. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exploited the Khashoggi saga to perfection, helping to transform Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman from the darling of America's elite into persona non grata in Washington. As a result, he arranged a front line position for Turkey in the wake of any U.S. withdrawal.
There are now real reasons to fear that a Turkish advance will ignite a resurgence of ISIS. Turkey was not only a source of aid and oil sales to the jihadist group, it currently oversees a mercenary force of Salafi militiamen that includes droves of former Islamic State fighters. If the Turkish onslaught proves destabilizing, Iran and its allied Shia militias could ramp up their deployment in Syria, which would trigger a harsh reaction from Israel and its Beltway cut-outs.
Then again, the Kurdish YPG is in high level negotiations with Damascus and may team up with the Syrian military to fill the void. From an anti-ISIS standpoint, this is clearly the best option. It is therefore the least popular one in Washington.
Whatever happens in Syria, those who presided over U.S. policy towards the country over the past seven years are in no position to criticize. They set the stage for the entire crisis, propelling the rise of ISIS in a bid to decapitate another insufficiently pliant state. And though they may never face the accountability they deserve, the impending withdrawal of American troops is a long overdue and richly satisfying rebuke.
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of books including best-selling Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, The Fifty One Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza, and the forthcoming The Management of Savagery, which will be published by Verso. He has also produced numerous print articles for an array of publications, many video reports and several documentaries including Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie and the newly released Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded the GrayzoneProject.com in 2015 and serves as its editor.


Sujee Maniyam is a seasoned Big Data practitioner and founder of Elephant Scale. He teaches and consults in Big Data technologies (Hadoop, Spark, NoSQL and Cloud) and Data Science. He is an open source contributor and author of 'Hadoop illuminated' (an open-source book on Hadoop) and 'HBase Design Patterns'. Sujee is a frequent speaker at various conferences and meetups. He also advises and mentors various firms.


People like to munch on snacks during the day and that is why food and beverages make optimal gifts for any events. At Promo Direct, you will find an assortment of popcorns, lollipops, candies, Apothecary Jars and other delectable snacks, which you can use to advance your company's promotions. Whether you want to thank your loyal customers or appreciate hard working employees, we have got items for every budget. You can also consider giving sweet mints as a party favor or as a freebie during fundraisers or conferences. Generating leads will not be a bothersome if you place a mint jar at the reception booth where passersby can pick up the mint to munch and see your brand name. Thus, you see with custom food items the opportunities to gain brand awareness are endless. What's more, we also have printed mints that taste divine. With your logo and company details on them, they would make perfect corporate gifts. We also have logo beverages, which you could consider to giveaway at tradeshows, product launches, sponsorships and conferences. Your brand will be soon adored and desired by your clients. All our food items taste great, are cost-effective and available with fast turnaround time. Call our friendly customer care representatives at 800-748-6150 to place your order or to know more about the products. You can also email us with your requirements and we'll do the rest!


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"One man rule"
2018-12-18T17:27:56+01:00Tue, 18th Dec '18, 17:27|
This assessment of the implications of the Venice Commission report published today on the euObserver is probably as good as any you'll read. It presents the problem of hesitation for those at the EU who could do something about this because Joseph Muscat argues that the weaknesses in Malta's constitutional makeup are a problem handed [...]
Appeals court confirms decision: Labour's Aaron Farrugia lied about Daphne Caruana Galizia, Peter Caruana Galizia and Andrew Borg Cardona
The Appellate Court presided by Judge Anthony Ellul turned down an appeal by Labour apparatchik Aaron Farrugia who had been condemned by a lower court to pay Peter Caruana Galizia, Andrew Borg Cardona and the heirs of Daphne Caruana Galizia damages for libel. Aaron Farrugia posted on his Facebook and Twitter accounts a lie published [...]
Truth and Justice: Alessandra Dee Crespo
https://youtu.be/aEHxe5A8U_0 For the past week this monument behind me has been the theatre where ultra-partisan pro-government supporters felt entitled and emboldened to harass and assault people daring to place flowers and candles for truth and justice. Contrary to the relentless propaganda pushed the government of Joseph Muscat and his fanatical supporters, this particular monument was [...]
Truth and Justice: Mark Anthony Borg
https://youtu.be/-zkHIZXayeQ I am an 18-year-old student at University. On most days, I consider my generation to be fortunate enough to be able to get a free higher education of our choice. Yet, I never thought I'd be standing here having to defend our most basic fundamental human rights - starting with our right to freedom [...]
Truth and Justice: Rachel Williams
https://youtu.be/6_ZjgMdMNww Rosa Parks, b'att sempliċi, waħedha, b'dinjita' u bit-tlett kelmiet 'No, I'm not', irrifjutat li tagħti postha lil persuna ta' karneġġjon bajda fuq tal-linja. Kollha nafu x'ġara wara. Revoluzzjoni sħiħa, mibdija minn mara li kienet xebgħet tiġi meqjusa bħala ċittadina second class, bla moħħ, bi drittijiet inqas minn ħaddiehor. Hi stqarret li 'No, the only [...]
Truth and Justice: Julian Delia
https://youtu.be/hemM-4GlvmA The web, made of honey, With a goal and purpose that will leave you gasping. We advertise the country like it's heaven on earth, We speculate without measure, the land of waste and excess. They come, they come looking for a better life, Thinking they'll find wealth, maybe taste caviar; Little do they know [...]
Venice Commission: Malta must investigate if government could have prevented Daphne's killing
2018-12-17T21:17:07+01:00Mon, 17th Dec '18, 21:17|
The Venice Commission in its Malta report, says Malta is obliged to establish whether the government knew of the risks to Daphne Caruana Galizia's life and did all it could to avoid those risks. In its report the Venice Commission said Malta has obligations to establish "that the authorities knew or ought to have known [...]
Italian anti-mafia news-site labels assault on rights activist "an attack on democracy"
Antimafia Duemila, set up by the Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino memorial foundation, reported today last week's assault by government supporters on #occupyjustice activists laying flowers and candles in Valletta. The assault, during which my wife Clemence Dujardin, was physically assaulted by two persons in Great Siege square, was one of a series of incidents [...]
The Venice Commission report on Malta
Here's a link to the full Venice Commission report in full. What no one seems to be acknowledging is that this report is another legacy of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It came about because the Council of Europe wanted to understand why a journalist was killed in Malta and appointed Pieter Omtzigt of the Netherlands as [...]
Chris Cardona went to Liverpool
This is not a Chris Cardona went to Velbert story. Though of course, god knows where he's been. He went to watch a football match. He went with his government colleague Chris Agius known to his friends as il-Wefi and some other mates. The mates include Silvan and Matthew Fenech, cousins of Yorgen Fenech of [...]
Our idea of justice
The Venice Commission report remarks about our proliferation of tribunals presided by quasi-judges that have the power to decide but are casual about the obligations of impartiality incumbent on judges. Here's one. Harold Walls presides over an Industrial Tribunal. And he stretches his mental faculties on Facebook. This wasn't some academic exercise. It is a [...]
One of the candles
Look at the candle in the foreground of this picture. It is one of the few that you can see that is not a classic votive red candles like most of the others flickering around it. It is a bit out of focus but you can figure out a picture of Martin Luther on the [...]
On the fourteenth month
In Valletta yesterday.
2018-12-16T22:00:36+01:00Sun, 16th Dec '18, 22:00|
Played at tonight's Vigil for Truth and Justice in Valletta: https://youtu.be/tGF6vUdq7rs
#occupyjustice: Who owns Macbridge, Prime Minister?
#occupyjustice statement: Nineteen women clad in black stood on the steps of Castille, the office of Malta's Prime Minister, holding cards reading "Who Owns Macbridge?" to mark 14 months since the assassination of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The action, carried out by #occupyjustice activists, was in clear reference to the mystery client company which [...]
This is no democracy
I looked up this piece I remembered writing, one of quite a few in the hours after Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed last year. I did that because the heading — her words, not mine — is always stuck in my mind when I look at the reality around me. Tomorrow the Venice Commission will [...]
Why the shit holes speak
The people the government calls biased asshole — or shit holes, depending on the mood — cannot objectively understand why the government refuses to open an independent inquiry into the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Labour trolls repeat the mantra that three people are awaiting trial in connection to her murder. That's more than Karin [...]
#Reżistenza: Corruption Kills
2018-12-15T08:24:39+01:00Sat, 15th Dec '18, 08:19|
Statement by #Reżistenza: Malta is infested with corruption All Maltese agree that corruption affects each and every aspect of the social and administrative life of our country, but few condemn it and strive to stop this abuse. On the contrary, many hold that corruption is a catalyst for economic well-being and prosperity for all. [...]
Poor Konrad. His rights are breached.
2018-12-14T18:10:00+01:00Fri, 14th Dec '18, 18:10|
Konrad Mizzi thinks his human rights are breached. Now we'll get the usual non sequitur that he too is a citizen and has as much right to resort to the courts as anyone else. That was his line and the line of his Panama gang colleagues when they appealed a lower court decision to start [...]
The warning from Venice
The press is reporting the findings of the Venice Commission into the state of play in Malta and it is also reporting, as it expected to do, the government's reactions to it. The facile answer from the government is that most of the problems listed by the Commission are in the design of our legal [...]
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Robocop strikes again
Media freedom NGOs warn PM they are watching what he's doing about media freedom
The rights of the many and the rights of the one
Consulting in the confessional
How dare you say corruption?
A little subtle political advertising
The "Committee" (4): Two professors
The "Committee" (3): Who else thinks a State Censor is a good idea?
UPDATE: Having Saviour do 'something' about the Daphne inquiry (2)
Doing 'something' about the Daphne inquiry (1)


When you typically think of acne you probably envision an awkward preteen with braces roaming the halls of their junior high being made fun of. And although most preteens and teenagers suffer from embarrassing acne, acne can affect you at any age. Including when you're a baby and an adult. Read on to learn more.
If you aren't familiar with babies or if you've never had a baby of your own then you might not be aware that they can develop acne as well. Appearing as tiny little pimples across their cheeks and noses, baby acne can make many new parents highly concerned for their infant's well-being. However, baby acne is extremely common and isn't anything to be concerned about as it will typically clear up on its own. Unlike with teen acne that is typically brought on by things like hormones, baby acne is typically caused by things like milk or spit-up being left on the skin for long periods of time.
If you are in your thirties or even your forties and are starting to develop a little bit of acne, don't freak out. Although you may have that that you left your acne along with your high school memories long behind, adult acne can easily creep back into your life. Typically caused by things like new facial products or even some hormonal changes (that time of the month for ladies), adult acne is typically treated either with an over-the-counter topical cream or by a prescription topical gel or ointment from Chevy Chase Dermatology.
Acne can affect different people at virtually every stage of life from infancy to adulthood. If you or your infant have acne, it's nothing to worry too much about. However, if it is starting to turn into more of a nuisance, then it's time to schedule an appointment with Chevy Chase Dermatology. Contact our office to learn more!


A latest blog post from Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai says that they will not allow Google's artificial intelligence software to be used in weapons or unreasonable surveillance efforts under the new standards.
Google instead will seek government contracts in areas such as cybersecurity, military recruitment and search and rescue.
"We want to be clear that while we are not developing AI for use in weapons, we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas" said Chief Executive Sundar Pichai.
Google won't help the U.S. Military Anymore?
It merits mentioning that thousands of employees protested against company's work with U.S. military to identify objects in the drone video, using its AI software.
More than 4,600 employees petitioned Google to cancel the deal sooner, with at least 13 employees resigning in recent weeks in an expression of concern.
Google's Principles are not good enough?
However, tech pundits believe that If Google should take the issue of developing AI serious enough to come up with a realistic set of principles to guide future development– one that addresses the ethical concerns head on.


Only $36, these five once-a-week sessions will teach you how to organize and prepare your communications, as well as how to deliver it with style, verve and power. The five week series starts Thursday Sept 25, 7am to 8:30am, and continues for the next four Thursdays after that.
- Practice relating to your audience and building trust.
For more information, and to reserve your slot for this limited opportunity, please contact our SpeechCraft Coordinator, Felicia Douglis atfdouglis@hiringprep.com or call (619) 992-9369.


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As many as 30 million children are at risk of disease and death because of the secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. World Vision's Aftershocks report considers what would happen if the devastating secondary impacts of the 2015-2016 Ebola outbreak on children were replicated in the 24 most fragile countries covered by the UN's COVID-19 humanitarian appeal.
"We are wrong if we think this is not a children's disease. Experience tells us that when epidemics overwhelm health systems, the impact on children is deadly. They are the most vulnerable as other diseases and malnutrition go untreated," says Andrew Morley, World Vision International President and CEO. "COVID-19 has become a devastating pandemic, but the secondary impacts will likely be a lot worse for children in fragile contexts."
Secondary impacts will threaten many more children's lives than COVID-19 itself.
As many as 30 million children's lives are in danger from secondary health impacts such as deadly diseases like malaria, a lack of immunisation, or increased malnutrition, as health systems are overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan
COVID-19 Emergency Response Update April 3, 2020
COVID-19 Emergency Response Update March 28, 2020


Mention the Six Sigma process and what almost immediately comes to mind is a proficiency process for Big Business to implement. But aren't small businesses also vulnerable to costly errors in time and asset management, customer service and accounting mistakes? So, what's the problem?
Cost is the biggest obstacle in deciding to implement the Six Sigma process into a small business entity. Unfortunately, most Six Sigma consulting firms try using a one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to implementation and its associated costs.
Luckily, there are options available for small businesses to take advantage of the Six Sigma process and reap the same revenue-increasing benefits.
Small and medium-sized businesses must seek out either Six Sigma consultants or consulting firms with the knowledge and know-how to implement the process in a cost effective manner for the smaller entity. Many small businesses are family-run, and would best benefit from one or two people being trained in the Six Sigma process and then have them keep their certification level current with ongoing Six Sigma training .
Part of their work load will be implementing the necessary changes discovered during the Six Sigma process and making sure all are being employed and used effectively.
Another avenue available is to hire Six Sigma trained and certified consultants to come in on a yearly or bi-annual basis to selectively audit the weaker or less productive areas of the small business. Obviously, the stronger more productive operations are in as much need of the Six Sigma system, and thus the consultant can focus on the business areas where revenue generation is lacking or nonexistent.
The certified consultant can then explain the needed changes to the company owner and employees in order to ensure an effective transition.
Every company, whether large or small, can greatly benefit and improve their bottom line by adopting and implementing the Six Sigma process. The scope and breadth of the Six Sigma system can be tailored or designed to accommodate any business entity and should not be discarded because of the higher price of across-the-board implementation costs.
The beauty of the Six Sigma system is its adaptability and flexibility; this does carry over in to its actual execution into any company's business model. The small or medium-sized business owner must be persistent in finding a Six Sigma consulting firm with the vision and insight to employ this application on a small scale.


Renowned as one of the great organ virtuosos of France in the middle of the 20th century, Jeanne Demessieux distinguished herself as a composer, pianist, organist and pedagogue. She died of cancer on November 11, 1968 at just 47 years of age. The organ was silent at her funeral at the Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris, where she had served as titular organist for six years, a black cloth draping from the loft to the floor forty feet below. The organ will not be silent on Saturday as we will commemorate the life of Jeanne Demessieux with a program that includes Gabriel Fauré's beloved Requiem, its movements interspersed with selected organ works by Demessieux. These two great French musicians share the connection to that great sacred space, La Madeleine, where Fauré also served as titular organist, a generation before. His Requiem will be sung by the Schola Cantorum of St Alban's Parish Church, Washington, DC, directed by Jeremy Filsell and accompanied by organ, violin, cello and harp in an accompaniment edition by David Hill. Joy-Leilani Garbutt will play the organ works of Demessieux. She is currently on loan to us from France where she is in the midst of a Fulbright Scholarship studying the music of French women composers from the late 19th through mid 20th centuries.


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All you have to do is enter the URL of your blog/website.You can check on all screen resolutions including the iphone.


Trenny Gibson vanished from the Great Smoky Mountains on October 8, 1976 while on a field trip with her high school. She hasn't been seen since.
Missing Since: October 8, 1976 from The Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Tennessee.
Distinguishing Characteristices: Caucasian Female, brown hair, green eyes.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A blue blouse, a blue and white striped sweater, a borrowed brown plaid heavy jacket, blue jeans, blue Adidas shoes and a diamond and star sapphire ring.
Trenny's junior photo, taken the day before she disappeared.


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Jennifer Hudson and Big Sean Appear in 'We Are Silent'
by Njai Joszor April 14, 2014
Jennifer Hudson, Big Sean, Selena Gomez and more are taking part in a Free The Children initiative titled "We Are Silent."
On April 17th, Malala Yousafzai and Shiza Shahid, co-founder and CEO of The Malala Fund, will join international activist and co-founder of Free The Children Craig Kielburger, in taking a 24-hour silent stand to raise awareness for the millions of girls around the world who have been denied the right to attend school.
Malala's passion for education and refusal to back down has inspired millions around the world. Award-winning actors and actresses and chart-topping musicians have joined forces in a captivating video telling Malala?s courageous story in her voice. The powerful compilation promoting the right of all children, especially girls, to an education features Selena Gomez,
Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Hudson, Seth Rogen, J. Cole, Hannah Simone, Clive Owen, Edward Norton, Shay Mitchell, Joe Jonas, Martin Sheen, Reggie Watts, Big Sean and Evanna Lynch. View and share the video below.
Although their voices will be silent, Malala, Shiza and Craig will be loud on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, engaging celebrities and young people all over the world to follow them during the We Are Silent campaign, made possible in Canada by Cineplex, as they speak out for those whose voices are silenced by poverty, exploitation or denial of their rights, including the right to an education.
First announced on-stage at We Day UK in front of 12,000 students, the multi-year partnership between The Malala Fund and Free The Children signals the beginning of an incredible movement of young people willing to make a difference in their communities, and around the world, by standing up for those who are voiceless.
"On April 17, I will be silent to support those around the world who are denied their rights, denied an education and denied a voice to speak out," said Malala Yousafzai. "We all have the right to be heard. By being silent, I hope the world will listen to the silenced voices of girls who want to go to school, and young people around the world who are struggling for equality."
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